Everything comes back to you -J.MARIANO

[1.20]

ꪻwo weeks later, Taryn settled down into her usual seat at Luke's diner and was just pulling out her books when he appeared in front of her. He lowered his voice, as to not catch the attention of Patty or anyone else within the diner for that matter. "Taryn, I need you to leave."

"What?" she paused as bewilderment tugged on her brow. She let go of her book and let it slip back into her bag as her frown grew. "Why?"

"Trust me, go," Luke pressed and Taryn just decided to go with whatever insanity was going on as he seemed pretty fixed on the idea that she should leave. She assumed she would get an explanation later and simply picked up her bag and was about to slip off her stool when rapid footsteps came from his staircase.

After a second glance at who had walked down the staircase, she turned to Luke and thanked him in sign before she walked out of the diner completely. She made the conscious effort not to hurry out but found her pace quickening the closer she got to Tas'. Taryn didn't mention anything to Tas, just smiled and acted as if nothing happened whilst they put on a movie and talked over it. They had planned to finally deal with the mess of his garden shed (that used to be their hang out spot when they were younger) but soon changed those plans as it had started to rain.

She watched the rain patter softly against the glass whilst their conversation lulled, her focus not wavering for a second when three rapid knocks on the door echoed through the house. Tas jumped up to answer it, to save his Mom the trip downstairs and Taryn only noticed him leave as the couch shook from his movements. Assuming it was a delivery or something, she tucked her feet up underneath herself and covered them with a pillow whilst finally tuning into the movie.

"Oh hell no," Tassilo whispered under his breath as he opened the door, a frown instantly falling upon his face.

"Taryn!" Jess yelled, refusing to even look Tas in the eye, whilst he hoped she wasn't too far away from the door to hear. Taryn, who by some act of nature had heard the yell, slowly climbed up from the couch and walked over to the door with a certain heaviness within her chest. She stood next to Tas just in time to prevent him from lurching for Jess.

"What are you doing here?" she asked quickly, not quite knowing if she cared about what his explanation contained. Truth was, she hadn't a single idea how to deal with this particular situation and her mind wasn't helping in any way to make some form of decision.

"I wanted to talk to you," Jess responded quickly as he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his hoodless coat. She wondered why he would pick such a coat if he knew he was coming out in the rain, it seemed odd that he wouldn't think of that.

"Tas," she began after Tas did not move when she gave him a specific look that he knew the meaning of. As he looked incredibly unconvinced, she added, "It's fine, I'll yell if I need you."

"I'll be in the kitchen... sharpening my knives," Tas spoke warningly and sent daggers to Jess with his eyes before he disappeared into the house and left them alone again.

Taryn laughed to herself quietly, her gaze fixed on the floor. Her side rested against the open door and finally, reluctantly, flicked her gaze up to his. "So you're back?"

"Only a brief trip," he responded and it was not difficult to feel the tension and awkwardness between the two of them. It rose up quickly and seemed to swallow all the air around them, the awkward feeling settled as a pinching within her chest.

"Conveniently timed... Luke letting you stay?"

He nodded, "If I fix a few things, change my attitude."

"Right," Taryn cleared her throat as she looked back down to the rain speckled floor, not quite knowing where else to go with this conversation. She had half the mind to just ask him to leave and return inside so she could forget but something deep within her thoughts prevented that action. Even when silence fell upon them, she didn't move.

"It did mean something to me," he admitted, seemingly out of the blue. He rocked back on his feet, anxiously combing a hand through his hair as the words were difficult to find. But by the softening of her gaze as it found his, he had the slight ability to form a sentence. "I just... I couldn't find the words, this is sort of difficult for me."

Taryn stepped forward and gently closed the door behind herself, not wanting Tas to accidentally overhear anything as their conversation had reached a point where privacy was necessary. She watched him step back away from her as some tension within his shoulders fell. Jess thought it necessary to keep a good distance away from her as he didn't quite trust himself not to do the one thing he had thought about since he got on that bus out of town. "It did?" she asked softly, her brow furrowed with surprise mixed with a certain emotion that he could see clearly within her eyes.

"I'm sorry," he apologized quickly, the words sounding so incredibly foreign on his tongue. He felt the sentiment though and just hoped she would realize that his quick speech and turn of tone wasn't because he didn't mean it but simply because he never discussed feelings of that sort.

Taryn attempted not to show her surprise too intensely and replaced her wide eyes with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have pushed it, knowing you."

Then, there was silence between them both. Not the silence before, the awkward type, but the type of silence you could lose yourself in. The comforting silence that came with a mutual understanding and a shared conversation that could have a dozen different meanings. "I got to get back to Luke's, my breaks up in five... We good?" he asked hesitantly and simply hoped the answer would be good. He didn't know how to be here in Stars Hollow without her to help him through it. She made coming back worth it and he hoped that one day she'd know that.

"Yes Mariano," she replied with a soft laugh that sent a wave of relief through his stomach. Taryn moved forward, mere steps out from underneath the cover of the roof where the light rain began to fall onto her hair. She moved closer to him and whispered against his lips, "We're good." This time, without the cover of the alcohol or any thoughts of what everything meant, she finally let herself sink into the feeling of just him. And whilst the kiss itself was brief, it swelled such feelings within the both of them that it might as well have been the most important kiss within their history. (In reality, it would never even compare to the most important kiss of their life together.) "You better get back before Luke comes hunting after you," she whispered as he untangled his arm from around her waist, simply unable to hide his smile any longer.

He chuckled softly and pulled away, looking her up and down before he walked away. She watched him walk down the garden path then waved goodbye as he turned for one final glimpse of her before returning to the diner with a certain pip in his step that Luke would later interrogate him about

Taryn re-entered the house and sighed contently as she rested her head against the wood of the door. Her peace and reliving of the moment was ruined by a clattering from the kitchen. She didn't have a second to decipher her feelings about what had just occurred as Tas yelped in pain. "I may have nicked myself with one of the knives," he announced once she came into view.

"Tas!" she blurted and hurried into the kitchen at the sight of multiple trails of blood dripping down his palm.

"I got too enthusiastic at the thought of killing that dick," he attempted to defend whilst she grabbed a clean cloth from one of the cupboards and held it tightly to the wound which still poured out blood.

Whilst Tas winced in pain at the pressure she forced onto his hand, Taryn yelled through the house and hoped someone would hear. "Mother! Your son has done something stupid!"

"Again Tassilo?" Mother yelled back and Tas immediately rolled his eyes. "You'll put me in an early grave!"

"It's just a little blood Mom!" he yelled back whilst Taryn reached for another cloth to clean up the blood on the counter top before it stained the marble.

His mother shrieked, "Blood?"