Episode 839: I Wanna Hold Your Hand

A few other mourners milled about outside. They noticed Lucy and quite obviously whispered about her.

“It was nice of you to insist on coming with me,” she said to him. “But this is clearly not a great situation and having you here with me is only going to make it worse.”

“You shouldn’t have to sit through all this judgment and sadness alone,” Paul said.

“It’s better to face them with the guy who got me pregnant? That’s the reason they disowned me.”

“They don’t know I’m Hope’s father. You never told them so as far as any of them know I’m just your friend, which you could obviously use today.”

It wasn’t actually high up on Paul’s list of things he wanted to do, he didn’t want to deal with her family, hear what a mistake Hope was. He only pushed for attending the funeral alongside Lucy because he did still care, he wanted to be solid support for her. And yeah, maybe a caring gesture might propel her to take his side in the custody battle. Having Lucy with him on it, he was sure would give him the courage to outright fight for his daughter instead of constantly just talking about it.

“I won’t say anything to anyone,” he promised Lucy. “I’ll just be there for you to lean on if you need it.” He would forever feel guilty and regretful that he hadn’t been there for Lucy when she’d most needed him, when it would have actually been easy to lay claim to their daughter.

“This doesn’t mean we’re a couple,” Lucy said. “It doesn’t mean I’m going in on custody with you. It would just be so that I don’t have to be in there by myself. I wouldn’t owe you anything.”

Paul nodded. He held a hand out to her. She took it after a time and they headed inside.

Outside, Xavier stood there staring after them. He’d thought she might need someone, so he’d shown up for her. She already had someone. Apparently. It confused him. Her ex seemed to cause her nothing but grief, and then there were Xavier’s own feelings, he didn’t know what to make of them or what to do with them, he just knew that feelings were very much present the moment he’d watch Lucy take Paul’s hand.

Episode 840: Deja Vu