So?

Just a quick little thing that came to me while I was stuck on the Bay Bridge

Vicky was home for the holidays, her new job was famously extravagant on down time during the festive seasons. She lived less than an hour from her folks, and made it over at least once every other week for dinner. During the holidays, though, she stayed with family; it cut down travel time and, honestly, she loved being around her parents.

"So," her mother asked during a pause in decorating. The tree was up and decorated, the lights were put up around the house. Now it was just the Christmas knick knacks that took up residence where pictures and vases currently stood, until January rolled around and they could return to their usual places, above the fireplace or on the built-in shelving.

"So," Vicky questioned. She knew what this was in reference to, but was hoping to avoid the subject.

"Is Danny coming up?"

"No, Mom, he isn't. We split up."

Laura ached for her daughter. Vicky was usually single, and there was a hope that the young man she brought to Thanksgiving dinner might be the one. Laura remembered Danny as polite, handsome, well educated, employed...he seemed to be the perfect catch.

"I'm sorry baby." She truly was, she wanted nothing more for her daughter than for her to be healthy and happy.

"It's fine, he just...didn't fit," Vicky said. Her mother sported a rather lascivious grin at that statement, causing Vicky to laugh, "Stop!" As quickly as her laughter started, it also faded away into a pregnant silence.

Vicky's father came strolling into the living room. "All right, Baby, let's go." For years, he had brought her along Christmas shopping, ostensibly for her "woman's insight" but honestly, it gave them a chance to eat bad food and bond. He pulled his wife into his arms, gave her a long lingering kiss, "I love you."

"More," Laura whispered.

Vicky looked at the scene in front of her, smiling at the couple. They had always been loving, never shy about rather open displays of affection. Nothing crass or obscene, just not shy about making sure the other knew how they felt.

Vicky and her father went to the mall, looking in all the appropriate stores before finding exactly what they were looking for in the Coldstone Creamery. Nothing useful as a Christmas gift, but still...exactly what they were looking for.

"So?"

Vicky sighed. She didn't want to talk about it. Not because it was too painful, but because of what needed to be left out. "We're not going out any more."

"I gathered. You okay?"

"I am." Please don't ask why, please don't ask why.

"Why," he asked. It didn't come out as a question, as much as a way of steering the conversation.

"Dad," she started. It hit her out of the blue, the stress, the emotions, everything. She started crying, right there in the middle of the store, spoon paused with a scoop of fudge, banana, and vanilla ice cream halfway to her mouth.

"Hey," he whispered. "Hey, up here," taking her chin in his hand, tilting it up. "I," a tear on the left wiped away, "love," a tear on the right similarly dispatched, "you," a kiss to the forehead.

"I'm gay," she said in a quiet voice, almost inaudibly. She looked down as she said it, causing him to lift her chin up again.

"So?"

"I'm gay, Daddy. I'm sorry, but I'm never getting married, I'm never going to have your grandkids, and I don't want to, never wanted to, disappoint you and..." her words getting faster and running together at the end, until he shoved her split filled spoon into her mouth.

"You've never disappointed me. Ever. And there's this thing called in vitro fertilization. Finally, if memory serves, gay marriage is like a thing now, right?"

Before this day, every time she thought of this conversation, she knew her father would love her still, but would lament missing natural born grandchildren. Or would think that being a lesbian was perverted or wrong. This conversation, complete with ice cream, was not remotely what she expected.

"You need to tell your mother," he said. "I've never kept secrets from her, and I can't start now. I love you and respect your privacy, but if she asks..."

"I will. Tonight. Can you...could you be there when I do?"

"And then 'Die Hard'?"

She smiled, her soul lightened by the undiminished -- or undiminishable -- love of her father. "Of course! Traditions!"

They arrived home not much later than normal, his shopping complete for the year. Vicky puttered around the house, working up her nerve to tell her mother. If she was being honest with herself, she knew her father would be easier to tell than her mother. Not easy. Easier.

Laura watched the two of them when they came in from shopping. There was an undercurrent between the two of them, a feeling of expectation.

She watched her husband look at his daughter, his gaze simultaneously steely and soft. "Mom...."

"You're gay?"

"Wait. What?" Vicky looked at her father, who shrugged, his expression saying that he had nothing to do with it. Whatever 'it' was.

Laura sat down on the couch, a sigh escaping her lips. "I'll admit, it took me a minute. So many dates, so few relationships. " She patted the couch next to her, Vicky taking a seat beside her mother who took her hand in hers. "Then I saw the look you to gave each other when you came in. Your father was expecting you to say something to me, yet he was being completely supportive. Then, there's..."

"Okay, good grief. No wonder I never got away with anything when I was a kid." She paused, drew in a breath. "Do you...are you disappointed in me?"

Laura looked at her daughter. "Disappointed? Why in the world would I be disappointed?"

"You've always wanted the husband/child/house package for me. And now that's gone."

A smile crossing her lips, Laura looked her daughter in the eyes. "Yes, I have always wanted that for you. Because, to me, that is what made my life perfect. I married the perfect man, I have the most amazing child...why wouldn't I want you to be as deliriously happy as I am? But, baby," she paused, "that's MY happy. That's not necessarily YOUR happy. And you can still have children; you have heard of in vitro fertilization, right?"

Vicky's head swiveled between both parents. "Did you two read the same book?"

"So?"

Vicky stopped. She had no idea what her father was asking. "So?"

"Is there someone...?"

She felt a blush coming on. Her mind went back to the past year, to the woman she kept going back to.

Laura took up the conversation. "Call her. Invite her over."

Vicky's mouth couldn't have dropped further. This night was not going the way she expected. Happily, gleefully, amazingly not the way she expected. "Are you serious?"

"Very," her father confirmed. "We have plenty of food and plenty of space."

Vicky jumped up, gave a quick kiss to each of her parents, and ran to her room to call Emily, the woman who had captured her heart. It was time to make their relationship official.

"'Perfect man', huh?"

Laura grinned at her husband, leading him by hand to their bedroom. "So?" she purred before sprinting the last few steps, her laughter echoing through the house.