Archive of Our Own ^beta

It’s Christmas Eve--after the explosion. Linda and Gloria have made up and Gloria has promised to be nicer to everyone. Bob doesn’t put much stock in Gloria’s word (or her much-of-anything, really) but he’s willing to put aside his misgivings for Linda and everyone else’s sakes.

That doesn’t mean that he isn’t hurt.

“Bobby, what’s wrong?” Linda asks as they both go to the kitchen after sending the kids to bed. Bob is gathering some more cookies and Linda is grabbing the wine things. Bob isn’t happy about leaving Teddy alone with Linda’s family again but it’s only for a few minutes and Teddy is in the middle of a story when Bob and Linda leave to get snacks.

Bob considers not answering. Then he considers lying. Neither option is going to help and things are already so tense. Besides, he doesn’t like being mad at Linda.

“You know I love you, right?” Bob begins, trying not to be the Incredible Sulk, as the family sometimes calls him. He fails, as per usual.

“Yeah, of course.” Linda answers immediately as she leans on the fridge to talk, the wine bottle dangling in her hand. Bob wishes that he had her confidence.

“And you know how I don’t like your parents because they treat you like crap?”

Linda cocks her head with a frown. “Yeah, I know.”

“And you know how I don’t like your parents because they treat me like crap, too?” Bob says, getting closer and closer to the issue.

Linda has the good grace to look sheepish, though she doesn’t answer him this time. Bob waits a moment, then powers through the upset to ask the question that he’s had for the last couple of hours swirling in his head.

“So--why did it take until we’re dating Teddy for you to call out your mom?”

“What? That’s not--no…” Linda peters off and her eyes widen behind her glasses. “Wait, is that what happened?”

Bob cocks his head, matching Linda from before. “Pretty much.”

Linda stops leaning and puts the wine bottle and glasses on the kitchen table. She steps up to Bob to gently kiss his cheek. Bob smiles even as his hands on the cookie plate tighten a little.

“Bobby, I’m sorry.” Linda says as she lays a hand on his arm. “It’s not that I don’t love you as much as Teddy--or even some more.”

Bob is flattered but still a little sad for Teddy. Bob and Linda have a history that they’ll never really have with Teddy. Not even if they stay together until the kids put them all in a mediocre nursing home.

So they’ll just have to make a new history with Teddy together.

Linda continues as she keeps her hand, a warm weight, on Bob’s arm. “But Teddy is...well, Teddy. He needs more support than you do. He’s so much more sensitive. So I guess I just got madder at my mom for bullying him.”

“Just because I can handle it doesn’t mean I like it.” Bob says seriously. Linda isn’t wrong about Teddy but it still stings.

“I know, Sweetheart.” Linda gently pries the cookie plate from Bob’s hands and puts it on the table next to the wine things. She hugs Bob and he automatically hugs back. He’s not as sociable as either of his partners, but Linda is still his (first) best friend.

“I’m sorry--really. I should have said something years ago. I should have done more for Gayle, too.” Bob isn’t super thrilled to be lumped in with Gayle of all people but he lets the irritation pass. Gayle, for all her faults, is a victim here, too.

“It’s OK, Lin.” Bob says and he mostly means it. He’s mostly OK now. Linda squeezes him and looks up at him with tears in her eyes.

“It’s not OK, Bobby! I should have never let my parents treat you so badly!” She squishes her face into his shoulder and Bob has a hard time understanding her. “I don’t know how I can ever make it up to you.”

Bob considers.

“Well, getting your mom to back off is a start, so thanks for that.” Bob smiles at Linda when she looks back up at him.

Linda is clearly not convinced. “That wasn’t just about you, though.”

“No, so I’ll have to think of something else.” Bob's feeling a lot better now and teasing Linda will get her out of her funk. “Maybe something naughty.” Bob’s comment echoes when Linda gave him an IOU for letting Gayle and her cats stay over the holidays. She really is racking up so many debts this week.

Linda’s look of shock is quickly replaced with a saucy smile. “Bobby…”

Bob’s grin is just as sly. “And it’ll just be me and you. Teddy can take the kids out to a movie or something.” Not that they don't already have one-on-one time with each other as well as with Teddy but it's the thought that counts.

Linda kisses Bob deeply in reply. They stand a moment longer like that, heart to heart, before Linda pulls away.

“I’ll pencil you in. No, I’ll even use a pen!”

Bob laughs and grabs the cookie plate. “Just don’t misspell anything.”

They walk out together, as close as the narrow doorway allows. Bob is pretty sure that he’s still going to be a little hurt about the whole thing for a while. On the other hand, it’s nice to know that Linda and Teddy, surely, consider him so capable and strong. That they can depend on him and that he’s not a failure.

He’s going to do his damnedest to prove them right.