He lingered on the edge of the bed for a few seconds longer than necessary, as if waiting for something to happen beyond reality that would give him a reason to stay with her for as long as he wanted to, but Isaac knew that wasn’t the case. He didn’t know what he would do for the rest of the night. Perhaps sleep in her old shelter and think about how much he appreciated her giving him free range of it. Or think about how much he appreciated her letting him stop by and talk her ear off. Or, more accurately, think about how much he appreciated her. He forced himself to stand after deciding against kissing her on the forehead, and he didn’t know why, he just knew that in that moment it felt dangerous to get that close to her. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
A wash of disappointment flooded over her and the worst part was that she couldn’t make herself do anything about it. He was Allison’s boyfriend, she was pregnant with Stiles’s baby, and he was fathering Malia’s. Everything about the idea of wanting him to just…stay was wrong in the moment, so her lips pressed together when he agreed that he should go, because she didn’t want to tell him that she wished he wouldn’t.
He got up from the bed and she watched him, worrying at her bottom lip between her teeth before giving him a little smile and nodding. “Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow,” she promised. And she meant that. Even if she had to seek him out, she meant that.
“Isaac…?” she asked belatedly as he was moving toward the door. “Thank you. Seriously, for tonight. I just really needed this and I really appreciate it. Thank you. So much.” She paused and looked down, a shy smile poking dimples into her cheeks before she looked up again. “Maybe we can find the time to do it again another night. I had fun. You know, once you quit making me stare at the blob in the water,” she teased just to get a rise out of him.
It was so unreasonable, how badly a part of him - no, all of him - wanted her to stop him before he walked out, so when she said his name while he stood in the doorway Isaac stopped abruptly and turned to look at her with restrained hopefulness that he tried to hide. It wasn’t a request to stay… but it was still something good, and Isaac rolled his eyes at her ‘blob’ comment before nodding his head in her direction once. “Yeah, alright, miss dimples. Sit on the bed and look at me with those bedroom eyes as you send me away and call yourself a blob, you don’t even believe it this time. Nice try though.” He grinned, the smile characteristically lopsided in the way it always was but in the way that Isaac had never even realized before.
“We’ll find the time. You’re welcome, Lydia. Get some rest.”