What Have We Done? Ch. 03

Katie stammered for an answer, unsure what to say. Lilian stiffened, which seemed impossible given how tense she already was. "Yeah, that uh, that might have been us. Sorry."

"And then Katie, you called asking for Lilian's address, which was beyond unexpected. You two don't exactly hang out together. I mean, I love you both so much, but you've been at each other's throats since we introduced you two." She pushed her hands into her hair, mussing the curly up-do she'd had all day. "And tonight, there hasn't been any hostility. None. Mild teasing, or whatever, but nothing like I expected. You looked up at her, tonight, by the fire. You looked up at her, Katie, and I couldn't look away. There was so much love on your face. I almost didn't recognize you." Marie covered her mouth as her emotions welled up.

Patrick gathered her close, looking from his wife to their daughters. "Dating?" he asked.

"Yes. For a little more than six months." Lilian answered, still standing stiff and on guard.

"No kidding." Patrick looked down at Marie, who looked up at him. "Do you love her?" he asked Lilian, only briefly looking from his wife to his daughter.

"Yes. I love her." Lilian squared her shoulders.

"I love her, too." Katie added, needing Patrick to know nothing was one sided.

Patrick looked up at her, emotions close to the surface. He nodded, and looked back down at Marie. "They love each other."

She nodded. "I know." She dried her eyes and looked at the girls. "Are you happy? Together? With each other?"

"Yes." They answered together.

Marie placed a hand on Patrick's cheek, smiling up at him. "They make each other happy. And they love each other. I couldn't ask for more for my baby, from anyone." She looked at the girls, who stood, pressed together tight as they tensely awaited judgement. "Come here."

She opened her arms to them, and Katie pulled Lilian with her into Marie's embrace. Patrick didn't hesitate to wrap his girls, wife and daughters, in a hug, kissing their hair and mumbling how much he loved them, no matter what. Tears fell and were wiped away. Apologies were gently refused, and reassurances given. Patrick sputtered out a laugh, which drew strange looks from the women in his arms.

"Sorry. I'm not laughing at anyone. Just. When I asked you to bury the hatchet, this wasn't quite what I meant." He laughed.

Lilian rolled her eyes and pushed at his shoulder. "Dad, that's not funny."

Katie snorted, then burst out a laugh, doing a poor job of covering her mouth.

"What?" Patrick asked, looking down at her, confused.

Marie rubbed a gentle hand over Katie's arm. "Baby, what's so funny?"

"Oh, god, oh no. nothing. Nothing you guys wanna hear. I'm so sorry! I, I can't, god, I just, had a thought but it's not, it's really not what you'd wanna hear! Ignore me." She explained through roughly controlled laughter, pressing her mouth against Lilian's shoulder to help stifle her giggles.

"I don't know what that was." Lilian held up her hands, as if that would prove her innocence.

"Okay, well, in all seriousness." Patrick cleared his throat and placed his hands on Lilian's shoulders. "I'm happy you've found a way to repair your relationship with Katie. I'm so happy you found love along the way. I love you, Lilipad. All I want is for you to be happy, safe, and loved. Unconventional as this is, I don't love either of you any less, and you'll always have a safe place to come home, here, if you need it."

Lilian's nose scrunched against a sudden wave of tears. "Dad." She set her hands on his wrists, tugging at the cuff on his right sleeve. "I love you, too."

Katie, having gotten control of herself, laid her head on Lilian's shoulder and wrapped her arms around her waist. She looked over at her mother, who was similarly wrapped around Patrick. Marie caught her looking and smiled, big and bright through tears.

*****

Later, when Katie moved her bags into Lilian's room, there were gentle jokes about Marie finally getting a craft room, or maybe Patrick getting a man cave. The levity felt good after having spent a good hour explaining their relationship, with the ups, downs, and revelations. Katie left her heels in the bedroom and walked barefoot back to the couch, where she snuggled into Lilian, tired, but happy. This had gone much more smoothly than either of them had expected.

Patrick passed around another round of drinks before settling next to Marie on the love seat. "So, you've caught us up to now. Can I ask about future plans?"

Lilian and Katie looked at each other, realizing they hadn't really made the effort to think past this, coming clean to their parents.

"We haven't really talked about much. Although, we are both open to marriage." Lilian admitted.

"And kids." Katie reminded her.

"And kids. Wow. How many kids? LIke what number is a deal breaker for you?" Lilian questioned, turning to look down at Katie fully.

"No more than four. That might be too many, but we'll take it one kid at a time." Katie smoothed a hand over Lilian's thigh.

"Four. Hmm. That sounds like a good number. You mentioned adoption earlier tonight. Would you be wanting to adopt babies, like infants, or an older kid?" Lilian asked, seeming to have forgotten their parents in the wake of this topic.

"I'm open to a range of ages."

"Is adoption enough for you? Or are you wanting to carry one of our own too?" Lilian asked, tipping her head closer, eyes sliding down Katie's body to rest on her flat belly.

"I think we'll discuss this further when we're ready to become parents." Katie evaded, knowing Marie and Patrick probably didn't need to hear this.

"Spoil sport." Lilian accused without heat.

Katie patted her knee. "Pretty sure our parents would rather talk about us getting married than listen to us discuss our plans for parenthood."

A blush spread over Lilian's cheeks, her eyes darting to where Marie and Patrick were sitting. "Sorry."

"I'd love to hear details, to a point, when it's actually on the table in a concrete way." Marie smoothed her skirt, and gave them both a warm smile. "So, you're both open to getting married. Any plans for that?"

*****

When they had all finally said goodnights and retired to their respective bedrooms, Lilian wasted no time in wrapping Katie up and kissing her soundly. Katie let herself be swept up, relief and a release from the tension of the day quickly turning her loose and boneless in Lillian's arms. She sighed, venting just a little more of that build up, when Lilian's kisses began trailing down her neck.

Lilian mumbled something into the curve where her neck met shoulder and it took Katie a handful of seconds to realize she'd been speaking.

"What?"

"Can't believe you wanna get married. To me. Fuck. I love you." Lilian clutched Katie to her tightly, emotion thickening her voice.

"I only wanna do it once. And I only wanna do it, if I get to bind myself to you." Katie pressed her hands flat against Lilian's back and met her steady gaze. "I love you, Lilian."

Lilian dropped her forehead to rest against hers, letting the moment extend and fade naturally. They stepped away to get ready for bed, helping one another with zippers and folding, until Lilian paused, mid step into her sleep boxers.

"Why did you start laughing when Dad was talking about us making up earlier?"

Katie popped her head up through the thin, oversized hoodie she had packed. She ignored the heat blooming over her cheeks and adjusted the hoodie until it fell correctly. "It was his wording. He said you buried the hatchet. I'm thinking we have a name for our strap on now."

Lilian tripped, her foot missing the boxers and nearly sending her to the floor. "Katie!"

Katie pulled back the sheets and tucked herself primly into bed. "S'why I said they didn't wanna know."

Lilian continued to gape at her, one leg in her shorts.

"At least I didn't tell them we made up because I wanted you to bury something else, which you do with vigorous regularity."

Lilian abandoned the shorts to pool around her ankle, gasping in horror. "You wouldn't seriously have said that. Right?"

"No, but I did think about it." Katie smoothed nonexistent wrinkles from the sheets. "I don't see why you're all up in arms about it. You were ready to discuss babies and whether I wanted to be knocked up or not. Why are you assuming I'll be the one carrying them?" Katie questioned, crossing her arms over her chest with a frown.

"Excuse you, I made no such assumption. I was asking if you had any desire to be pregnant. I would like to carry one of our future babies, too. If we go that route." Lilian finally pulled her boxers up, snapped the lights off, and crawled into bed, pulling Katie into her. "Sorry I didn't clarify that, at the time." She apologized, nuzzling into Katie's shoulder.

"It's okay. I should have asked." Katie softened, rolling to face Lilian. The soft glow from the charging pad on the desk gave enough light for her to see Lilian's worried expression fade.

Lilian kissed away her apology. "No worries, love. When the time is right, we'll sort out all the details and make sure we're both completely on board with how we have kids. For now, I just want to enjoy you all to myself."

"I'd like that very much." Katie agreed, snuggling in close.

"Just promise you won't traumatize our parents with details of our sex life?"

Katie waited, as if truly considering. "I'll do my best to behave, but I make no such promises."

Lilian groaned, sure she would spend the rest of her life keeping Katie out of trouble of her own making.

Katie smirked, nosing in even closer to Lilian's chest. She loved Lilian immensely, and felt a new sense of bone-deep contentment, knowing she was loved just as much in return.