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A small squeeze of her hand could have been just enough to drag her through the remaining distance, were it not for the change in conversation. The last thing Teddy liked to do was mix the two people together, and so she didn't move, but she didn't let go of her either.
"Oh, that's..." She paused, trying to find the best words to fit that situation. But she didn't know, because she had no idea. She couldn't imagine Olivia being anything less than her overtly professional self, especially given that was all Teddy had gotten from her in weeks.
in the end, it was easier to not direct the flow here. She had brought it up, after all; "How was that?"
Natalie meant no harm by bringing up the paralegal, and as awkward as it had the potential to be, she hadn't treated it as such. The hand within her own still held a purposeful connection as she gently pulled the lawyer towards the kitchen. Now that they were up and awake, every animal inside her home wanted to eat. The multiple thoughts in her head were impossible to ignore. And only then did she draw her hand away, though not before setting hers on her hip instead, like it would be a just replacement as she opened up the refrigerator.
"It was... interesting." Natalie replied with a little laugh in reflection. "She was a little distressed because she was lost, so I walked her to where she was supposed to meet her niece." Stacking tupperware containers on top of each other, she pulled six distinct containers out of the fridge, all labeled with names and dates. "I think she was just having a hard day or something, because she started talking about you. How she was so new to dating, and she even called me an Amazonian goddess." Again, Natalie laughed, because she'd never think to label herself as such. "I hope she's feeling better."
Teddy had always been as adamant as possible about not mixing the two. In her mind, there was never any comparison and it was far better that way. They were two completely different people bound together by the only common factor; herself. That left her with great control, until a chance encounter let it all slip from her hands.
She felt the grip on her hand loosen, but just like herself, she allowed it to be led. Settling on her form instead, she shifted slightly to settle at the small of her back, fingertips brushed beneath the fabric of the sweatshirt she owned.
Interesting was not the most promising word to kick things off with, but Teddy tried to borrow some of Natalie's optimism.
Except when Natalie mentioned the compliment given. Bright eyes remained stoic, but her lips slightly pursed at the notion. The rest of the conversation night as well have been a blur. Exhaling slowly, she parted her lips to try and speak, but nothing came through initially.
The distress her dogs had felt in Olivia was paramount, and for which Natalie was sure it was why the paralegal had been so open to talking. She must have let it built up and needed to get it off her chest, and Natalie happened to be the person around. The hand at the small of her back kept her tone light, as she turned the the counter and set the containers down, starting to sort them out. "She sounded better by the end of it, though." Natalie thought to add, recalling the way she had lightened up a little by the time they reached the student lounge.
By then, two of her three cats had made their way into the kitchen, circling their feet. The Persian even daring to rub up against Teddy's shins as he waited. "It was nice to see her visiting her niece. Not too many people get to see family very often when they come to Bellefonte."
Bending down, started to set the dishes down before looking back up at Teddy. It was hard not to see the change in her expression. Her eyebrows rocked upwards in a shot of concern. "What is it?"
On some level, it all made sense. These were two women completely new to dating women, but their takes on it were so different. While they shared an obvious denominator, Teddy knew only one of them would have been comfortable in that conversation. Any conversation between the two, really.
Out of reach now, and so she leaned against the counter with her hip as she listened. Train of thought hadn't seemed so focused for Natalie, which wasn't a bad thing. Her attention was on the subject as a whole, not a small set of words. She herself looked at nothing in particular, until she was called out.
"Nothing." Teddy interjected quickly, snapping out of her frozen daze to look for her eyes again. It would have been smarter to leave it at that, but she couldn't. Control slipped for something get greater.
"I'm not surprise she said that about you." She added finally, glancing away and out again as she tried a smile for her; "You're stunning."
Teddy was quick to snap back, and Natalie couldn't help the way she stared with a little bit of concern. Like she might have crossed a line by bringing the paralegal up. The corner of her mouth threatened a frown as she held onto another dish of food, much to the dismay of a torti cat at her feet.
Even when it was dismissed, Natalie was slow to move again. Though the eventual comment Teddy offered pulled a little humor out of her. "An Amazon goddess though?" Natalie would take a compliment, but even that was a little much for her. "She said it twice, too."
To someone else, Teddy might have called out the absurdity of a comment like that. But not in such company. Internal thoughts were completely reserved for the ears of the only person she could really mouth off too by any capacity, and she was probably still asleep at this hour.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of it, and Teddy knew it was her fault for stringing the conversation topic along as she had. Sure, she tried to jump past it, but she should have known better. A dry laugh passed her lips as she reeled her phone back into view.
"Well, that's more than I've heard from her in the last few weeks." She said offhandedly, starting in on a new message on the device in her hands.
Natalie really knew so little about Teddy's relationship with the paralegal, and admittedly, she was content with the ignorance of it. It was healthier not to know too many details, and she supposed it was her own fault for bringing Olivia up in the first place. Even so, she couldn't help the curiosity that burned within her the moment a statement like that passed Teddy's lips. She could have only assumed that the lawyer was regularly seeing her on the days that she wasn't frequenting her home.
"What?" She hadn't the willpower to stop herself from asking for clarification. Especially since she knew they worked together, and from how Olivia spoke, it had sounded like they were seeing each other more. Though with the help of the multiple felines in the kitchen, Natalie was slow to pick up other hints of the conversation. And before she could think to put another dish down for her other animals, she was moving back towards the lawyer, hands wrapping around her waist, even while Teddy had her phone out.
At the very least, a physical connection might bring some sort of ease.
Tapping away at her phone, Teddy posed deep concentration in whatever was going on on the screen. It was harder to focus on as seconds passed and Natalie was clearly on her level again. It was worse when hands wrapped themselves around her, keeping her close despite how she had absolutely no intention of answering that question.
When she looked up, her jaw slackened, intent not to show tension where she didn't like to carry it. She raised her eyebrows in a quick twitch, questioning the question without actually saying a word.
Gripping her phone in one hand, she rested the other against her chest, not at all ready or willing to push her away. "Don't do that." She said, keeping a lighter tone with the woman who hadn't done a thing to hurt her; "Don't you sympathise with me over this."
Her attention so easily turned to Teddy without a moment's hesitation; hands around the lawyer's form were light but had no intention of moving, and the hand that found its way to her chest hadn't applied any pressure that indicated she should shift away. She even dared to lean in a little closer, eyebrows raising with the sympathy that she said she shouldn't have but couldn't help but to. The corner of her mouth drew up into a small smile, like it could melt away any tension her counterpart might have.
More, she brushed her lips against the lawyer's cheek. When she eased herself away, dark eyes were heavy on the Brit. "So there is something wrong?" Perhaps Teddy was rubbing off on her as she pushed a little on the subject.
A small kiss against her cheek practically had her melting into the hands that provided such comfort. It was far too easy for her to break away at the facade Teddy had tried her best to offer. Too much time with anyone was bound to do that.
She opened her eyes again finally to see a heavy set pouring back at her. She pressed her lips together in the silence, feeling the surge of regret for ever mentioning it.
"I didn't tell you how things ended the night I came here to talk to you because that's not the sort of things we should talk about, is it?" She never liked the idea of mixing the two, and this was the complete opposite of that notion. Even threatening the idea of a discussion felt so out of the ordinary.
She shook her head, settling the idea before it could ever really break. "It's disrespectful to you. I wouldn't dream of doing that do you." Especially when she was almost positive Natalie would give her advice.
At the very least, Natalie could see the small amount of relief that such contact brought, and the animals surrounding them could sense it. It was the least she could try to do, given that she had brought up the topic that caused any sort of discomfort in the first place. But here they were, continuing to talk about it - even threatening the idea of doing so further. Before Natalie could even think to reply, the notion was practically removed from the table all together.
She couldn't help but to lean in again, this time pressing a thoughtful second kiss to her forehead with the advantage of her height.
"You know, I'm a friend, too." She offered with gentle reassurance. She had offered a listening ear in a time of distress for the trainer; there wasn't a reason why Natalie couldn't be so as well. More, was that she wanted to offer that comfort.
Arguing with Natalie was proving to be incredibly one sided. It was like for every set of words she offered, she received something physical in return. And it was almost unfair how well it worked; considering all the thought she put into her answers, it seemed as if second nature could catch the trainer's motives instead. She was so good at this.
Patting against her chest lightly, Teddy couldn't help but smile a little. "I know." She replied quietly. But she wasn't the kind of friend who would agree with her frustrations, which was exactly what she sought on the other end of the phone line. Eyes closed, because looking now was cheating, and she didn't want an unfair advantage.
"It's just so different." She admitted. Now that she thought about it, she realised that that mustn't have been obvious to Natalie at all. She really had no idea what happened at all. "We don't stay together. We don't- We haven't-" Pausing sharply, she eased the phone from her hand and settled it at the counter behind her. Now free, she pressed them to either side of her face.
"I've never seen my self as an unapproachable person - in whatever capacity - but that's exactly how it feels."
Though Natalie didn't know if Teddy would take the offer she made, at the very least she wanted to make sure the lawyer knew it was available to her. And that little smile was enough of a give that she realized that although logic might have deemed this as an inappropriate subject to bring up to one of the two people Teddy was seeing, she needed it, and Natalie was happy to offer any sort of listening ear that she could make available.
She couldn't catch her eyes, and maybe that was easier for Teddy, but Natalie still watched - picking up on anything she was offered. Those details were truly surprising to her - for all she had assumed about the pair, she had been entirely wrong. It was probably better that she hadn't caught her face when the lawyer continued though, because immediate confusion hit her features. Like she couldn't grasp the idea that Teddy could be unapproachable. How anyone could think of her like that was beyond her.
"You're not unapproachable." She replied quickly, because it was the first and most honest thing that immediately came to her mind. "You are wonderful, and caring, and beautiful - and anyone that thinks otherwise is..." there was a pause, eyebrows furrowing as she felt a sting in her chest with the desire to find the right words - "wrong."
Prior rules and personal regulations fell apart so easily it was almost troublesome. For all the kinds of people Teddy knew how to handle, Natalie was certainly an anomaly worth breaking rules for. Shielding someone from something they didn't want saviour from was pointless; it was putting new walls up around herself, not working the prior sets.
And in the end, she felt reassurance, but not in the way she expected. Of course, she knew Natalie would be nice to her. She'd never been anything less.
When Teddy opened her eyes, she allowed curiosity to get the better of her. She wanted to look, because she wanted to be her own version of attentive. And so her eyes searched for every particle of reason and understanding that could appear on her face. That gift was God given, and she couldn't waste it if she wanted to get the best out of generous words like that.
She pulled herself in closer then, breaking the minimal, soft distance between them to keep herself close.
"You're too kind." And though it was an easy statement, she actually meant it.
