I had forgotten all about the mysterious apple pie request by the time I finished my therapy session around lunchtime.

It wasn't actually my schedule today, but after the video call with my family earlier, I had to call Alice for an emergency session.

Tony and Kate's baby was finally discharged from the hospital. My parents named her Lucy—the name that my brother and Kate had chosen for her. She was a tiny little thing, but she was a fighter. There were a lot of times when I couldn't help but doubt her survival, seeing how small and sick she had been—but she was still here, and she was getting healthier and stronger, and she had now beaten the odds.

So, yeah. The stream of tears had been unavoidable. It hit me especially hard—my happiness for her strength mixing with grief that her parents weren't here to celebrate it with us. I saw her little face, sleeping snugly in the crook of my mother's arm, and immediately burst into tears.

Now my face was swollen from all the crying, and I had to spend another half hour composing myself before leaving the room. Imagine my surprise when the heavenly smell of cinnamon and apples hit my senses as soon as I arrived downstairs.

"Oh, it smells just like my birthday," I exclaimed, my eyes once again welling up with tears.

Freddie looked up, for a moment catching my eyes before looking away again, although there was a smile on his face. "I was just about to call you down. Garcia's just getting the pie out of the oven." Then he frowned a little. "You do like apple pies, don't you?"

The confirmation that he did request this for me made me smile. "I do, actually."

He gave my shoulder a quick squeeze once I sat down on the couch. "Dr. Sharma told me yesterday that the last chemo would be your last. Why didn't you tell me? I would've come down to your room and celebrate with you if I'd known."

"Well, I didn't want to disturb you," I told him. I didn't think it had been a big deal—I mean, it had been for me, but I'd just thought he'd had more important things to do.

"That's nonsense," he dismissed. "I would go and order a cake or something but nobody wanted to take it on short notice. Thankfully, I remembered that Garcia is an amazing baker—"

"Not quite, though my wife has taught me some things," Garcia interrupted, bringing with him the freshly baked pie which he gently placed on the coffee table. "Having her on the phone with me to guide me through it was helpful. Sir Ferdinand's presence, on the other hand..."

Freddie rolled his eyes. "I did leave you alone after nearly mistaking cumin for cinnamon—"

I couldn't help but giggle. "Oh, Freddie. You're so pathetic."

"Thanks," he responded dryly.

Garcia handed me a perfect slice, and I admired the way the flaky crust gently crumbled, while somewhat maintaining its shape. "This is all made from scratch?" I asked in awe.

He nodded. "My wife would never let me serve a pie made with packaged pastry."

I was worried about Freddie missing a work call or another meeting, but he told me that his boss was finally letting him take a whole day off. I thought about asking if he was doing okay, but shrunk back in cowardice and swallowed my words. I didn't want to turn this happy moment sour. It had been so long since Freddie and I had sat down and just talked without any tears—mostly on my end—involved.

Garcia's apple pie was so fantastic that I had to give myself a second slice.

In the end, Garcia left with our dirty plates, leaving me and Freddie in the living room. I assumed that Freddie would vacate the room as well, as he usually did after coming down for a meal. To my surprise, he stayed, lounging on the couch while I was curled up into a ball in the plush armchair.

I finally bit the bullet and asked lamely, "How's work?"

One side of his lips twisted into a wry smile. "It's... fine, all things considered. The company's not in the brink of a collapse, at least."

"It was that bad?"

He shrugged. "Honestly, I'm still learning all this shit, so I don't really have the correct grasp of how 'bad' things were going when I joined the company. But the debate's over now—my dad's successor has officially taken over, instead of me. And it seems like the shareholders are taking the news really well." He glanced up at me. "They think it's a good time to announce our wedding story now. They said we should do it a week before they announce my dad's... passing."

"Wait." I sat up straighter in my seat. "Sorry, I haven't been keeping up with the news. You mean—the public doesn't even know that your dad..."

"Yeah," he nodded with a grimace. "It's... I don't know. It was—" he sighed. "It's all been a clusterfuck, actually."

"I thought, um... I thought the company had been... prepared for it."

He nodded again. "Yes, but... ah, I don't know how to say this without sounding very insensitive, but my dad... died at a very unfortunate timing. I won't bore you with the details but with the political climate and the general state of the industry right around the week of his death... all of our consultants strongly advised against breaking the news immediately."

I frowned. "That's... really awful."

"Yeah. It's been really stressful trying to keep my dad's death a secret, watching out for any leaks that could potentially plummet the stocks. Especially since dad... He hadn't signed Harvey's takeover by the time he'd gone completely unresponsive." He shook his head and closed his eyes. "Even until his last breath he wasn't making it easy for us."

I reached out to squeeze his arm, my heart sinking at the thought of him dealing with all of this by himself. "I'm so sorry, Freddie. About Connor... and, I just..." I trailed off. "I'm really sorry."

He waved it off. "It's fine. It's all mostly Harvey's problem, anyway—and the advisors, and the board, and PR... Me, I've just been sitting in the corner and agreeing with whatever they're saying."

I hugged my knees to my chest, feeling the strain as my eyebrows knitted deeper in a frown.

"Harvey's the right choice. I'm... definitely not in a state to take over an entire corporation. I have no idea why it was even up for a debate."

"Hmm. Maybe in five, ten years..."

He chuckled and shook his head. "Try fifty. Ugh, I haven't even finished college."

I shrugged. "Wasn't Steve Jobs a dropout?"

Freddie laughed. "Oh, a lot of CEOs are college dropouts, actually. But I'm not delusional enough to think that I could jump in headfirst and lead the entire company."

I smiled at his exaggerated shudder. Then, I offered my own news, "Baby Taylors is finally home now. They named her Lucy."

His face softened. "She's home with your parents?"

I nodded. "Yeah, she's finally well enough to be discharged from the hospital. She's reeeeally tiny, though." I made a pinching gesture with my fingers. "Mom sent me a bunch of pictures."

I could hear the longing in my own voice, but I didn't say what I wanted to say—that I wished to be home with my family, to meet my little niece for the first time. I didn't want to make him angry again, didn't want to turn this into an argument. I remembered starting our first ever fight by asking for permission to go home before my surgery—I didn't really remember what I said to him now, but it must have been something mean, because I remembered the hurtful look in his face before he turned away from me.

Pretty sure he hadn't looked at me the same way since that day.

But, yet again, what Freddie said next completely threw me. "Actually, the reason why I called Dr. Sharma yesterday was to ask her when it would be safe for you to travel. I, uh... My jet was finally cleared to fly out of state, and I was wondering if you'd be allowed to go... home, and be with your family."

I sat stunned in silence, blinking at him dumbly.

"She said you could go, but only if you feel well enough to travel. And there would have to be extra safety measures. Extra, extra social distancing, every step of the way. We'd have to create, like, a bubble, and nobody's allowed to come near you. I think that's pretty reasonable."

At my continued silence, he looked up nervously.

"Obviously, I'd have to come with... you know, there's no way I could just send you out there alone, and besides I really need to meet your parents—properly this time. We'll also need to have a nurse around..." he trailed off and shrugged, scratching the back of his neck. "What do you say?"

I cleared my throat. "Yeah... yeah. I'd love that. I'd love to see my parents. I'd—yeah." I nodded rapidly, blinking away the tears. My heart swelled at the thought of finally seeing my family again, of being wrapped up in the safety of my parents' arms, to hug my little brother and my sister, and to meet my newborn niece...

Freddie nodded. "Great. I'll... help you pack, when you're ready."

"Thank you, Freddie."

He smiled, and finally, he met my eyes and kept my gaze. There was a slight sheen in his hazel eyes when he nodded at me, right before making some excuse about work stuff in his office and promptly fleeing the living room.