It’s only been a few days, she has to remind herself. But a few days with no contact feels like it’s been forever.

Leaving her suitcase where it is, she walks toward her, eyes trained on Hannah’s face as she sits herself on the edge of the coffee table.

Hannah looks… tired, even as she sleeps. And Caroline is loathe to wake her, but she’s – Hannah is here, waiting for her? She doesn’t know where they go if Hannah doesn’t reciprocate these feelings, or feel like she can reciprocate them. But if two days feels like forever without Hannah, what is she going to do longer term?

She reaches out, stroking blonde hair back from her forehead, unable to help herself from tracing her fingers down the strong line of her jaw.

And Hannah, the light sleeper that she is, wakes up. Gray eyes flutter open and in the clear Christmas lights, they look mesmerizingly translucent.

“Hey,” she whispers, her lips ticking into a smile of their own accord at the cute, sleepy look Hannah is giving her.

“Hey,” Hannah’s own voice is sleepy and sounding a little confused. Before she blinks a few times in rapid succession and sits up further against the back of the couch. “Hey. You’re home.”

“And you’re here. In the middle of the night,” she adds, tilting her head in question.

At her look, Hannah appears to fully wake up, and she reaches out to turn on the lamp next to the couch. The light makes them both flinch, but Hannah is already speaking by the time Caroline’s eyes have adjusted.

“You just… dropped all of that on me and then went to New York.” Her tone isn’t accusatory per-se, but it’s a cross between mystified and upset, but is nonetheless very serious.

“I had – a conference. And you didn’t call.” She pauses, swallowing before she admits the absolute truth, “If you called, I would have come back in a heartbeat. But you didn’t… you wanted a minute.”

Hannah holds her gaze before she drops it to her lap, her legs drawn up under her. It’s only then that Caroline realizes Hannah’s wearing one of her shirts, and… yeah. One entire sucker for this woman, she thinks, not for the first time.

“I needed a minute because you – God, Caroline!” Hannah blows out a breath, shaking her head. “You made the most intense, beautiful declaration to me and it was nowhere near what I was expecting or ready for in that conversation and I just had to think. To wrap my mind around it. To figure out my own words. I needed a minute. And then I realized that I couldn’t really… do this on the phone.”