It's settled

Natasha and Dom drove in dark silence. Joy was fast asleep in the back and Natasha sat in front looking out the window, her hand rested on her face.

The roads were silent and basically empty, people usually weren't on the road this time during the weekend.

Dom didn't find the silence comfortable at all, if anything he found it unbearable, he wanted to say something, he felt like he needed to say something, they had not ended things on the right note, and he felt guilty, he felt like he was the one that started the chain of bad relations between them.

"*Ahem*" said Dom as he cleared his throat, trying to get Natasha's attention but she did not move at all.

"So..." he said, his voice trailing off, he really did not know what to say.

"Would you accept my apology if I apologized?" he asked.

"Apologized for what?" asked Natasha.

"For what happened back at the event, for the things I said to upset you and remind you of memories that you would prefer to forget, would you accept my apology for that?" he asked.

"Well it depends, if you had apologized back then when it was hard I would have accepted. It's always easier to apologize when you feel guilty. I think that a true apology that I would have accepted was when you first wronged me in the first place." she said.

"Had I apologized back then even though I still felt like you were the one in the wrong would have been more acceptable for you?" asked Dom confused.

"No, it would not have been, that means you were just pretending if you had apologized." said Natasha.

"Exactly, so what you're saying is that you would rather I apologized and pretended like everything was okay when I actually didn't feel that way because that's what you make it sound like I should have done." said Dom.

"No, I didn't say that, what I meant is if only you had known me well enough to trust that I would never do what I was accused of and instead of hating me you put your pride aside and apologize and we work to fix things together despite the doubt you still had in your heart." said Natasha.

"I'm not saying that you won't be angry, you would, I was also angry, I tried many times to put myself in your shoes and I used that as an excuse to justify the way you treated me so harshly, but I finally woke up and realized that even if I did or did not do what I was accused of, I didn't deserve to be treated so coldly by someone I thought I loved." said Natasha, her words as sharp pins poking at Dom's heart.

"If only you had allowed us get to the bottom of things together instead of investigating it yourself we would have found out the truth sooner." said Natasha.

"The one thing enemies always capitalize on is discord, had we been united, things would have turned out differently." said Natasha as she looked at Dom.

"I know that I really hurt you, I really do, all I want now is for us to move on as hard as it may be, I want us to live in peace with each other." said Dom sombre.

"I want that to we can't change the past, but we can change the present." said Natasha.

"So does that mean that you can find it somewhere in your heart to forgive me." said Dom.

"I don't really know about that, I think that place in my heart is nonexistent." said Natasha as Dom didn't know whether she was being sarcastic or not.

"Is that a joke? Should I be laughing or should I be worried?" he asked worriedly, nowadays, he realized that he didn't really know Natasha, she had changed so much, and he wanted to get to know her better.

Natasha could not help but let out a scoff and a chuckle when she heard his question, he could be so clueless sometimes, she guessed that was one of the things she liked about him in the past.

"I'm being sarcastic." she replied.

"Alright." he replied feeling relieved, he really did not know what to do to mend the broken bridge between them.

"Of course I can forgive you, I already have, but don't expect me to act like I've forgotten, that would take some time to get used to." she said.

"I also want us to live in peace. Joy's getting older, wiser, she can notice things more now than before and I don't want her to get used to seeing us always fighting." said Natasha.

"I agree, I feel the same way." said Dom.

"And on that note, I will try to be nicer and way less aggressive." said Natasha.

"And I will try to be more understanding of your thoughts and the way you prefer to handle things." said Dom.

"That's settled then." said Natasha.

"It is." replied Dom as he just pulled into the driveway.

"And we're home." he said.

"Someone seems to have had too much fun." said Natasha looking back at Joy as she laughed.

"Yeah, she's really tired." said Dom as he laughed and looked at his daughter.

"You go ahead, I'll carry her to bed." said Dom as Natasha turned to look at him.

"You did say that you have important work to finish, go ahead, I'll put her to bed." said Dom.

"Alright then, thank you." said Natasha as she and Dom got out of the car.

"There's no need to thank me at all." said Dom as he carried Joy and she squirmed sleepily in his arms.

"Goodnight my darling." said Natasha as she gave Joy a kiss on the forehead before she walked into the house.

"Goodnight." she said as she stopped to look at Dom.

"Goodnight." he replied as he locked his car and smiled.

...

Four hours later.

"*Ugh* I want to go home already, remind me again why we're still here?" asked Charlie as he groaned, his back was aching from bending down too much.

"Because we have to clean up." replied Michael as he tied up another white trash bag.

"No we don't, we pay people to clean up this mess, it's not supposed to be our job." replied Charlie lazily.

"Well we promised to help Lulu out, and she wants this place cleaned up." said Michael in the once filled hall that was now empty, left behind with trash and dirt.

"But I'm exhausted, I want to go home and sleep, it's already past midnight." complained Charlie.

"Well we're all done down here, I'll go ask Lulu if she needs help upstairs." said Michael.

"Yes, you go do that, and while you're at it tell Lulu that I'm exhausted, I need my beauty sleep, in fact, I'm already gone." said Charlie as he wasted no time at all and left.

Michael shook his head and walked upstairs where Lulu was still cleaning up.

"All down downstairs." said Michael.

"That's great, thanks Michael." said Lulu as she smiled.

"Don't mention it." he replied.

"Where's Charlie?"

"Oh you know him, he just made his escape, his excuse being beauty sleep." said Michael annoyed as Lulu laughed.

"Oh poor Charlie, it's really late though, he's right, you guys have work tomorrow, you can just leave, I'll finish up over here." said Lulu.

"Are you sure?" asked Michael as she nodded.

"Then who's going to take you home?" asked Michael.

"I came with my car, I'll be fine, I can drive well at night, you don't have to stay back here with me, you've already helped enough, and please don't insist." said Lulu.

"Well okay, if you insist, I'll go home, but don't stay up here too late, and be safe." said Michael.

"Of course I will be besides, I'm not all alone here." said Lulu.

"Alright Lulu, see you tomorrow." said Michael as he gave her a kiss on the forehead and she smiled. He didn't want to leave her here, but he knew that she would be upset if he treated her like a little child, which was why he trusted her and let her be like the responsible adult he knew that she was.

"See you tomorrow Michael." she said smiling as he left.

"Now to finish this." she groaned.

"Being the host is annoying." she said.

"You actually have to care about the venue being cleaned and whatnot." said Lulu as she tied up yet another trash bag, who knew that dirt was so easy to form even though all the guests came all dressed up.

She had a newfound respect for cleaners, they had to deal with seeing dirt every single day and they had to clean it as well.

"Why are you still here? I thought you had left by now?" asked Benjamin as he walked up the stairs and Lulu looked at him and frowned.