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Brady suy walked into the kitchen She cohly confused What about their closely guarded secret? "Liz," he said, bending and kissing her lips lightly, "this is my surprise"

"Uuy walked back into the rooht need this"

Liz took it out of his hand "Thank you"

"Liz, I’d like to introduce you to irl I was telling you about," Brady said

She wasso in secret, in the ht, at his place so that no one would know about it This was good This was a step That meant that someone knew about her…someone important in his life That must make her important in his life too

"So nice to lass over to her left hand and shaking with her right

"Nice to meet you too"

"Heher hand and thinking of the only time Brady had lare "You’re still using that sainal? Ihis head, then turning back to Liz "He’s such a sap"

A sap Liz would have never in a million years described Brady as sappy

"People like to hear that I ood eer, or so the speechwriter tells me Plus, you shouldn’t have moved so far away"

"If I hadn’t moved, ould you have talked about?" Chris asked

Brady shrugged "I’ else to uys She had never seen Brady act like this Was he actually cracking jokes and laughing at hiht he was pretty serious Sometimes he was sarcastic with her, but that was dry humor…totally different from this

"Seriously, convince your speechwriter to co how full of shit you are," Chris said as he walked past Brady and took a seat on the couch Liz giggled and then covered her e," Brady said, shaking his head He turned back to Liz with a bright, breathtaking smile on his face He looked so happy and relaxed "What were you laughing at, huh?"

"Oh nothing," she said, unable to hold back her sht" He reached out for her "See what I have to deal with? Both of you thinking I’m full of shit"

"Must irl think so," Chris said, lounging across the couch

Liz’s breath caught Had Chris just called her Brady’s girl? She looked up into Brady’s face and didn’t see any frustration or anger He hadn’t bit back a retort He wasn’t correcting Chris What was happening?

"Must be," Brady said, planting a kiss on her lips and then pushing her toward the couch

She was too stunned to even respond She just sat down

Brady took the seat next to her and draped his arm over her shoulder She had so many questions, not the least of which was Why was this okay? She wasn’t co; this was incredible She just didn’t know that this was going to happen Could she honestly think of a better surprise?

"So, Liz, Brady tellsin?" Chris asked, switching gears He picked up a controller off of the table and tossed it to Brady, who caught it one-handed "You don’t a the last two months?

She broke out of her trance to answer Chris’s question "Journalism I work at the newspaper"

"Nice I used to read the kvetching column every day"

"Oh dear Lord, you’re one of those?" she asked, unable to hold back

Chris and Brady both laughed at that "I didn’t care about e, so it wouldn’t surprise anyone that I’m one of those, as you said" He turned on the XBOX and the icon blasted onto the enora to kill each other on the television screen

"So, journalis with his player "What made you choose that?"

"I’ve alanted to be a reporter, since I was a little kid Most people change what they want to do as they grow up, but oals stayed pretty consistent," she told hi at Brady instead of the screen He was playing video ga that he and Chris said to each other was a riot They could badger each other and still laugh It was very clear they had known each other for a long tirip her, as if she had missed a part of him for the past two months He could very clearly enjoy himself and be normal when he felt completely coeda business degree like Brady Professors hated having us in classes together," Chris told her

"I can see that You two seeether"

"Wait ayou in class They didn’t have a proble he tells you He fucked up as ruain "I bet he did"

"Seriously don’t believe hiainst her earlobe and she shivered