No Better Version of Me Than When I'm With You

Chapter 10

"You're right, absolutely." Thomas nodded. All he had wanted to do was help, but clearly that had been the wrong idea. "Won't happen again, I promise."

Newt looked at him for a long moment, and cautiously, Thomas held up his hand with his pinky outstretched. He waited as Newt stared at his hand for a few long seconds before sighing and shaking his head slightly.

"Little old for pinky promises, aren't we?" Newt said, even as he reached out to curl his pinky around Thomas'.

"Never."

And just like that the tension burst like a bubble and they were okay again. He knew he wasn't fully forgiven just yet - he knew he would have to make it up to him by offering more than a pinky promise of better communication in the future - but for the moment they had worked it out.

"Hey," A voice called from another room; Gally. "You guys kiss and make up yet? I wanna finish kicking Frypan's ass at Sorry."

"Kick my ass?" Came Frypan's reply, "You're talking to the king of Sorry, here. You're all goin' down."

"Get back in here and prove it then, shank." Newt called, releasing Thomas' finger and returning to his seat - albeit further away on the cushion than he'd been before. Their friends gathered back in the living room, easily taking their same spots as before and picking up as if the banter and board game had never stopped.

That was what Thomas loved about their group - they all had their spats now and then and would generally let each other deal with things as they saw fit. Individually, Thomas knew Brenda would tell him she told him so - and he deserved as much; and Minho would give him a hard time for weeks, but all together like this nothing could phase them.

------

"So guess who called on my lunch break today." Newt said in lieu of greeting as he walked in the door after work the following Monday.

Thomas looked up, pausing his note-taking for work he'd been sent home with. "Hmmm, Sonya?"

"Nope, it was my dad."

Thomas frowned at the somber expression on his husband's face, and patted the couch for him to sit next to him. "Don't tell me you've got a family emergency too." Newt wiggled his hand side to side and grimaced, and Thomas shook his head.

"Maybe not as bad as Chuck, but Mum broke her leg the other day. He said she wants both me and Sonya to come visit for a while, if we can. Says she's suddenly aware of how fragile life is, and wants to see us, and I quote, 'before it's too late'."

Thomas raised an eyebrow. "Really shook her up I guess, huh? Is she okay though?"

"Sure did. She will be okay, but for now she's not doing so well. So I told Jorge and he gave me two weeks off to go home 'n see her."

"Wow, two weeks? Your boss is the best." Thomas whistled and shook his head. Newt chuckled in agreement.

"I'm gonna look at flights tonight and see what the earliest one is that I can get without it costing a kidney. Sonya's just booked hers, and is leaving tomorrow afternoon."

"Sounds good." Thomas said, nodding. He went back to his pile of papers while Newt pulled out his laptop to begin searching for flights.

An hour later they took a break to eat dinner, and Thomas looked out at the slowly-recovering garden. He and Newt had been clearing out the muck and torn up plants over the weeks, and had just begun replanting what had been lost. Newt's gaze followed his, and a sigh escaped his lips.

"We should be harvesting everything by now, but instead we're waiting for it to all regrow." Newt commented morosely.

"I'll take good care of it for you, I promise."

Newt looked back over at him, a crooked grin quirking his lips. "Like you took care of it last time?" He teased with a light laugh. "I'm also going to ask Frypan to come check on it every few days too."

"Do you really trust me so little?" Thomas pouted dramatically, slouching in his chair.

Newt laughed, "No offense, but you don't have the greenest thumb. 'Sides, Fry's been wanting to get his hands on our garden since we started it, so this is good for all of us."

"Fine, fine. . .I guess that works." He grouched, but was unable to keep the grin from pulling at his lips.

------

All too quickly, Newt had booked his flight and Thomas was dropping him off at the airport at an ungodly hour of the Wednesday morning. With his car idling in the drop-off-pick-up zone, he pulled Newt into a tight hug. When he pulled away he smiled at him, "Give your mom a hug for me, okay?"

"You know I will." Newt smiled back. His smile fell a moment later, "Wish you could come, too."

Thomas shrugged, "Me too, but there's no way I could take two weeks off with everything at work right now. We're so close to a breakthrough with what we've been working on."

"Maybe by the time I get back, you'll have broken through it."

"Who knows, maybe so." Thomas flashed him another smile and hugged him briefly again before stepping away. "I'll see you in a couple weeks. Text me when you land, yeah?"

"'Course." Newt nodded, and turned away. Thomas waved at him before blowing a dramatic kiss as he began to walk away. Newt laughed and rolled his eyes, but pretended to catch it anyway.

The drive home wasn't so bad, but when Thomas stepped through the front door he realized just how alone he felt; how much Newt's absence affected him already. It was going to be a long two weeks.