That night all Thalia could think about was the fact that Jr had kissed her. As in actually kissed her. Not like a quick peck on her cheek thank you for dinner kiss, but an actual kiss that felt .. well ual.

She was laying in her bed as she thought about the kiss, and she snorted to herself. 

Right, ual, snort,. . what was that again, ? She hadn't had since she was about six months pregnant. The doctor had put her on the no fly list, as she had called it, because of the fact that she was contracting far too early and she was carrying three children. And then her husband had passed away and then she'd had to figure out how to cope and raise three children and that had left very little time for dating, not that she'd been interested in dating anyway. So here she was, three children and five years later, less. She snorted again.

Then she shook her head. 

She had no business thinking about her hot neighbour and his hot kisses. No business at all. She was a mother. Of three.  And she knew he was younger than her, she wasn't sure by how many years exactly, but she knew she was too old for him. That had to be the last kiss. It had to.

She tossed and turned as she wondered if she should call off tomorrows outing with the children, but that wasn't fair to them. It wasn't right to punish them for her sins.

So with a weary heart she decided to let him take them to the movies, and it was with a weary heart that she accepted that she couldn't really cut him out of their lives. He was as much his friend as he was hers. Actually he was probably more their friend than he was hers.

She'd just have to set boundaries, talk to him, and let him know that if he was expecting anything from her then it would be better for all of them if he quietly exited their lives now.

Thalia made up her mind and the next morning she woke up nice and early, conviction and confidence flowing through   her. She was doing the right thing. He shouldn't waste time chasing her, for that would be a hopeless endeavour, and she was going to be a good friend and tell him so.

She made breakfast and woke the children up for their baths. Terry, as she suspected would not be woken up. Not until Thalia whispered to her that if she didn't wake up then uncle Jr would have to leave her behind.

Jr was ringing her door bell a few minutes after breakfast, and the children squealed in delight when they saw who it was.

Thalia braced herself, she was polite and she was friendly but she held herself in check, it wouldn't do to send mixed signals. If she was going to tell him no, then she had to act no.

Jr noticed the slight change, and frowned a little but quickly wiped the frown away from his face when the children started asking him where they were going.

He looked up at Thalia and she smiled, " I didn't tell them, I told them it was a surprise" she explained. Jr smiled, and decided that he wanted to keep it a surprise and so he ushered the children and their mother out of the apartment and to his car.

All through the drive, Thalia was polite and friendly with him, but still slightly distant,and he wondered if he'd upset her last night.

But no, he knew she'd enjoyed that kiss as much as he had, would probably have let him keep going too, and he would have if there weren't three innocent souls just a room away.

But something was bothering her and he was going to find out what.

Thalia was trying to find the right time to have that talk with Jr.

She found it after the movie, which much to her amusement he enjoyed as much as the children. He was right he would have looked silly coming to watch it alone.

After the movie he took them to lunch and then for a walk in the park, and while the children burned some energy on the climbing bars, and slide, Thalia took the opportunity to talk to Jr.

He listened attentively while she told him that last night had been a mistake, well no not really a mistake, but she just couldn' let it happen again.

" Why?" he asked, he wasn't upset he just genuinely wanted to know.

Thalia frowned at him.

" Thalia, I don't know if you noticed, but I kinda like you, " he said. 

" You don't , wait what?" she asked,because no she actaully kind of hadn't noticed that he liked her. Jr cocked his head to the side.

" I like you," he repeated, " I am very much attracted to you and I would like very much to get to know you, and I would dislike it very much if I saw you getting to know a man that is not me, " .

Thalia gulped. Well. What was she supposed to do with that.

" How old are you?" she asked. He told her, and she felt like such a cradle robber, ten years, she was ten whole years older than him, ok technically nine, but that was close enough to ten that it was problematic.

" Oh my god, i'm a cradle robber," she muttered mortified.

Jr looked at her curiously, " cradle robber?" he asked.

" I'm thirty four Jr, thirty four, that makes me ten years older than you,"

" nine years older than me, Thalia,  and it doesn't matter, because I don't care,"

What did it mean it didn't matter,? Was he daft? Of course it mattered.

"  Jr i'm older than you, and I have three children, " she tried again patiently.

He grinned, " I know, and I love your children, and again I absolutely do not care how old you are, so if those are your only objections, I'd like to let you know that i'm not going to stop pursuing you,. You'll say yes eventually."

His confident tone, irked her a little, but she was also really flattered that he wasn't phased by what she so as obvious stumbling blocks.

" You'll be waiting a long time, " she finally muttered. And snide little bit that he was he smirked and said, " yes but according to you, I have plenty of time, I am after all young."

She wanted to throw something at him, but he disarmed her by reaching in and quickly landing a peck on her lips and then he fled and joined the kids at the slide.

That was not how she had envisioned the conversation going. He was supposed to politely tell her he understood and he would respect her wishes. He was not supposed to flummox her with his disregard to their quite obvious age difference and her obvious state of single parent hood. He most certainly was not supposed to kiss her and leave her with the promise of more.

She had absolutely no idea how she was supposed to handle this.

Absolutely no idea.