Once again, Tallulah worked late. She'd worked late a lot the last few weeks. There wasn't much for her at home anyway. Binging romantic movies no longer appealed, after her own romantic dreams had fallen apart. Tea still had its allure but, conveniently, she had tea in her office.

The string from an English Breakfast teabag hung across the side of her teacup as she typed up her backlog of counseling notes into the computer while the sunset outside her window.

Lance still wasn't out there. For the last few weeks, he'd remained out of her sight. A permanent shift of post perhaps.

She wasn't sure if not seeing him hurt more than seeing him would.

The sky shimmered in purple and pink over the brick facades. A beauty she could share with no one. A beauty that still gave her hope. Because another day would dawn, and that day would be better. Tallulah just wasn't sure when that day would be, because right now she was in limbo, awaiting a call to appear in court to put forward her case for divorce.

Spring was on its way, with trickling water on the streets from melted winter. Buds sprung and birds sang. Perhaps a metaphor for the state of her life. If only spring would come to her heart again as well.

There was no snowstorm this day. But yet there was a late-night knock on her door. The knocks were firm but somehow also cautious.

"Come in," she said, expecting a late-night student visit. Perhaps someone who had lingered in the library for too long, anxious about exams and essays, and needed someone to talk to. Tallulah had, after all, made it known to her students that she often stayed after hours and was available if they needed support, despite her supervisor having repeatedly told her to just see students when they've made appointments. Breakdowns and crises didn't make appointments.

"I hope I'm not disturbing you, Tallulah." The voice was melodic and deep. Not a student. Not at all.

"What are you doing here, Lance?" she asked, unable to shake the thought of another night when he'd stormed into her office.

"I..." he stuttered, suddenly shy to her, and pulled his knitted hat off to reveal sweaty curls plastered to his forehead. "I needed to ask you something. can I... come in?"

"Of course," she replied, displaying a warm smile that wasn't quite sincere. Because it did hurt to see him, but she was still glad he was there.

Lance walked inside, a cautiousness to his gait, and sat down on the couch. The same couch where he hadn't wanted to sit down and talk last time. Tallulah rolled over, on the same damn chair that he had sat on before... their intimate encounter.

Perhaps it was time to replace her office furniture. The couch was bound to be filled with sticky marks from lollipops anyway. On more than one occasion a student had lost their candy among the pillows, and she'd had to stop them from looking for it and pop it in their mouth again.

"I brought you this," he said and pushed a takeaway cup over toward her. She looked curiously at the milky liquid with dark spheres floating around on the bottom.

"It's bubble tea," Lance explained. "A stall just opened by the library--that's where I'm stationed now--and Tyler swears by it, so I figured I would try it." He looked up with a small smile like he wasn't sure if he was allowed to smile at her anymore. "And, well, I thought maybe you wanted to try some as well."

It felt like some kind of peace offering, so Tallulah grabbed the cup. It was cold to her touch. She took a sip. It tasted of sweet milky tea, infused with jelly beans. She could see why Tyler liked it.

"So... how have you been?" she asked curiously, feeling awkward about how they even should talk to each other at this point.

"Good." His eyes shifted away from hers as if he didn't want to reveal whether that actually was the truth or not. "I've started to..."

See someone else? That's what he was going to say right? That must be why he was here. Tallulah braced herself for impact and plastered a fake smile on her face.

"...go to a support group for ex-military people and it's been a relief to have people to talk to. People who knew what it was like. It's made me feel... lighter, I guess."

The relief that washed over Tallulah almost made her fall off her chair. She had to hold on to not embarrass herself. "That does sound nice," she agreed, trying to act normally as she sipped her delicious bubble tea while her heart still pounded out of control.

It did sound nice, and she was glad Lance had found a safe space to air his grievances. As a counselor, Tallulah was very pro the idea of talking things out. Unless it came to her own divorce of course.

Lance nodded and stroked some stray curls--now long enough to shade his eyebrows when he looked down--away from his face. "It is nice," he replied. "It was Tyler's physiotherapist Mike who told me about it. He's ex-army as well and we've been talking quite a bit recently--even outside of the meetings. He's told me a lot about his work and stuff like that. Which made me think about my own career. Which is kind of why I'm here. I figured... maybe you could help me figure some things out since you're a counselor."

"Of course," Tallulah said, a bit too peppily, and walked over to sit in the chair opposite of him. "Whatever you want to talk about, I'm here as a counselor. Or friend. Or whatever you like."

Lance nodded and a shy smile spread over those luscious lips. Lips she couldn't help but think of how they had felt against her own. "I've been thinking that I could maybe..." he started, folding his hat up into a neat package in his hands and then unfolding it again. "... it's stupid though."

He sounded a lot like his cousin when he said those words.

"I'm sure it's not," she assured him, gently putting a hand on his. She just couldn't help but touch him. To her relief, Lance didn't move his hand away.

Lance cleared his throat and fiddled a bit more with his hat. "I've been helping my cousin quite a lot the last few months," he started. "Driving him to the hospital for physiotherapy and prosthetic fittings and stuff like that. I've even coached him through many of the exercises he's been given to practice his balance and gait. And I've kind of liked it. I felt useful. And I can see how he's getting better and more confident."

"That's great," she said, having also seen the same change in Tyler. So far from the defeated boy that she'd met only about six months earlier.

"So I... was thinking that maybe that's what I should do. I should help people who struggle in similar ways as my cousin. So maybe... I could go into physiotherapy, just like Mike. He's told me he probably arrange a junior position at his clinic for me, once I have the diploma for the occupation."

"That sounds like a great career choice for you," Tallulah assured Lance, unable to help herself from giving him a light nudge on the knee. "I think it would suit you well. You're always so patient and caring with Tyler."

"So can you help me? Mike has told me which courses I need and stuff but I'm a bit lost with all the applications stuff. It was a while since I applied to college after all... and honestly, I think my mom probably helped me then." His cheeks reddened slightly at that admission.

This was certainly something Tallulah could help with. You could even call it her secret superpower. She knew the way around college applications as well as navigated the well-filled shoe rack in her closet in pursuit of the perfect match for her outfit.

Quickly, Tallulah reached for her laptop. "I can definitely help you!" she announced, a bit too enthusiastically, and clicked her nails against the side of the laptop as it started up. "You have a bachelor's degree already from Vale U, right?"

Lance nodded and looked up with a cute smile. Dammit, why couldn't she not find that smile cute? "Yes," he replied. "In Geology, since I was intending to work in my father's company once I graduated. Before I joined the army, that is."

Tallulah's fingers smattered across the keyboards as her superpower was activated. She opened websites and filled in data on different sites as Lance talked.

"Do you have up-to-date first-aid credentials?"

Another nod. "We did that every year in the army. So I know my first aid well."

"Good, then..." she clicked a few more links and browsed through the information. "... then you should just need to take some basic prerequisite health courses to be eligible to apply to a Masters program in Physiotherapy."

"I can't just stop working and start studying though. I have a house and... a Tyler to take care of." He sighed with a despondent look.

"There are evening classes for the prerequisites," Tallulah explained and stretched toward her desk to grab an application. "I'll help you fill this in and you can probably start a few classes already this semester. The classes run during the summer as well. So I think you may be able to catch up on everything until next spring semester. And for the Master's program, I think..." she scoured the websites in front of her one more time, "...that you would be eligible for veteran benefits. The army usually has lots of programs for that. I can help you with all that as well. I'm familiar with their forms as well."

Hope lined Lance's eyes as he looked up at her. "That does sound... doable," he stuttered. "Thank you, Tallulah. I knew I could rely on you."

"It's more than doable," Tallulah encouraged him. "It's totally possible and realistic. I'll look through everything and print the right forms for you. Then you can come by here tomorrow to fetch them perhaps."

"That sounds great," he said and unfolded his hat to put on his head. "I guess I should let you go back to work again."

She'd hoped he'd stay longer but she couldn't say that. "Thank you for the bubble tea," she settled for instead and took a slurp out of her almost empty cup.

"You're welcome," Lance replied, another frustratingly cute smile on his lips. As he got up and turned back to look at her with a look that puzzled her. "How is... everything going by the way?" he asked. "With the divorce, I mean."

She sighed. It wasn't going well and she had to tell him that. "Darren's... not cooperating," she admitted. "He's claiming we lived together during the last year and that we, therefore, haven't been separated for the required amount of time yet."

"Did you?" Lance asked. "Live together, I mean."

She looked down, embarrassed to admit to him what had gone down. "We didn't live together," she said. "But... he did stay the night a few times... It just kind of happened."

"Tallulah," he called at her, begging her to look up. "You don't have to be ashamed of that. I know all too well that things sometimes... just happen." He sighed, perhaps thinking back to the things that had happened to himself right before he left the army. "And it was before... we met anyway."

The words were kind and true. They made her feel stronger.

"Do you have a good lawyer?" Lance asked, out of the blue.

"I... have a lawyer," she replied. "I didn't think I needed much representation as it should be an easy case so I picked a cheap option that I could pay by the hour. But I might need someone more skilled now... the case will be brought up in court soon."

"I could ask my mom."

"Aunt Donna?" she asked in surprise.

"Mom Donna," Lance corrected her with a smile. "Or Lawyer Donna in this case. She specializes in family law, although she doesn't take on many cases these days, since she tends to Emmie, but I'm sure she would be happy to help you out. I'll talk to her. I should have brought it up before, but it sounded like it was a quite straightforward process then."

Tallulah gave him a grateful node. "That would be great," she said.

Lance shrugged. "You helped me. So I want to help you too."

He smiled again. So annoyingly pretty. Would there ever be a day when that smile didn't make her insides flutter like they were filled with jiggly bubble tea? Perhaps. But Tallulah didn't long for that day.

Author's Note: I apologize if some of these later chapters are a bit unpolished. I'm just excited to tell the end of this story. I will go back and fix typos and grammar stuff later on.