Southernbookgirl, thank you so much for the request! :)

As Walter would say, love was illogical.

Contrary to what she believed for most of her life, it wasn't a fabricated concept. It was real. And it brought bouts of pain, periods of angst, insecurity, and risk. But it also brought so much more. There was real, genuine happiness, something that never touched her life until recently. Smiles, stability, reassurance, weekly movie night with Chinese takeout, promises that weren't broken, late nights and early mornings of passion, and, finally knowing there was someone there for her, knowing she had found her home.

Her home wasn't an idea constantly making her miserable and alone. It was his arms, his jokes, his whispers and exclamations of love, his lips, and even his stupid hat.

And they had the rest of their lives together. Happy never looked so far into her future until it wasn't just her future anymore, it was theirs.

Comprising part of one, not just herself, but half of an entwined pair, gave her more happiness than she was exactly sure how to express.

Sometimes the love controlled her. It had this hold, this relentless grip she couldn't break free of even if she wanted to. And every day she continued realized how powerful it was. This had never been something she could run away from. Happy had tried, for a long time, to push her feelings so far she wouldn't have to face them. She always ran away or became neglectful instead of head-on confrontation. But, though she hated it, she found herself waiting for him to step into the garage every morning, and disappointed when Friday night came, putting two long days of separation between them. She did her best to ignore him, to ignore everything she knew she felt for him. When he quit cold turkey on her, though, she was more crushed than she wanted to be. He tried to prove his ability to be independent from her. And it hurt. It hurt like hell.

At that point, she hadn't let herself think about the possibility of being in love. Hell, at that point, she was still trying to figure out whether it even existed or not.

But that raw pain, hitting her after he decided he was done, brought what she'd been trying to escape her since she was a child. Loneliness.

So again, she allowed herself to open up.

And falling in love with him was the best thing that ever happened to her.

Happy didn't want to be some girl whose life changed because of a guy. But Toby brought out feelings she didn't even realize were possible for her to have. Everything did change. He brushed aside the wires and wormed his way into her heart. Now, she woke up in love, she ate breakfast in love, she read in love, she showered in love, she watched tv in love. She breathed in love. It was there when it wasn't. It stayed even during periods of distraction or concentration. It'd grown into a part of her.

And every day her love for him increased. He didn't do anything differently, and she didn't intentionally try to cause it to intensify. It just happened. And there was no logical explanation. A while ago, she'd come to the realization that love didn't have a logical explanation. It was reckless, it was dominant, it was painful, it was overwhelming at times, but in the end, it was all worth it. So she let herself fall farther and farther.

Because once she'd stopped resisting, she knew he'd be there to catch her when she fell. She learned to trust that.

She learned to trust a lot of things.

Even though sometimes she still found it difficult to express just how much she loved him. He destroyed the idea that he might ever abandon her, he comforted her when she needed it, despite her tendency to rarely ask, he made sure she knew she wasn't alone, and she'd never be alone again, he could read her well enough to detect the smallest things she wasn't even aware of. Now, she believed wholeheartedly that he would always love her. Toby gave her the comfort and stability she'd always wanted.

They'd both been completely lost until they found their way to each other.

Happy loved him because they could figure out the rest of the way together. She'd always have him. When they stumbled, the other was always there. And more than she wanted to admit, she tripped and nearly fell. But she loved him because he didn't judge her when he helped her up, he just did it, he loved her and he did it.

He taught her how to do the same.