'Twas The Night Before... Ch. 02

Kathryn obligingly reached out, pressed Megan's nose with her finger and said, "Zap!"

"That's better," Megan said in her normal voice. "Whew, good thing you're a good girl too."

Kathryn giggled. "So, how'd you get so good with kids? Not as a bartender, I assume."

"No, I have two older brothers and a sister. They're all like one year apart, then an eight-year gap, then me. I was the 'oops' baby. Each of them has a mess of kids, so I've had my whole life to practice being the cool aunt to a pack of rug-rats."

"So, being a Christmas elf comes naturally to you then."

"I guess so. One of the admins at my non-profit does it for extra holiday cash. Last year, they had someone call in sick and she begged me to come with her to fill in. It sounded like a hoot, so I gave it a whirl and ended up staying the entire season. The guy who runs the Christmas village started emailing me in August to come do it again this year."

"I'm really glad you came for dinner. Thanks for the elf thing, too. That'll save me a lot of questions later."

"She's a sweet kid," Megan said, reaching out and twisting a lock of Kathryn's hair around her finger. "Just like her mom."

Kathryn blushed. "So, this was a good first date. I think Cait likes you a lot."

Megan looked down at Kathryn's hand on her knee with a little smile on her face, then back up. "And how about you? How are you feeling?"

"I... I feel... okay. Good, I mean. I think tonight went well and I think... I think I'd like to keep seeing you, if hanging out with a mom and her kid sounds like your idea of a good time."

Megan looked up to meet her eyes. "I'd like that a lot." She dropped the lock of hair she was twirling and gently traced her finger along the soft skin behind Kathryn's ear. Kathryn shivered at her touch, before Megan dropped her hand and looked over at the bedroom door. "How about a movie?"

Kathryn turned on Netflix and they browsed the selections until they agreed on Die Hard.

"I mean, it is the greatest Christmas movie ever made," Megan said, casting her vote.

After the movie, Megan helped Kat finish cleaning up the rest of the dishes, while Kathryn packed up half the leftovers for Megan to take home.

"If you're going to date me, you're going to start eating better than bar food. I can't afford to eat out much, so I've gotten pretty good at cooking."

"That sounds like quite the perk. You've sold me, I'll date you," she said as she cut a tiny slice of the leftover pumpkin pie on the counter which she ate in two bites. She shrugged on her leather jacket, and smiled.

Kathryn laughed as she walked Megan to the door. "I had a really good time. Thank you for coming tonight."

"Thank you for having me. And for trusting me to meet your little girl. Cait's special." She gave Kathryn a hug and turned to go.

Kathryn impulsively reached out and caught the sleeve of her jacket.

"Kat?" Megan asked, looking into her eyes.

Kathryn glanced over at the closed bedroom door once more, then stepped out into the hall and kissed her. A soft, quick kiss. Then she leaned back, without stepping away.

"Yes," she breathed, "I definitely want to see you again."

Megan smiled, then leaned back in towards Kathryn, sliding her free hand up into Kathryn's curly, chestnut hair. Their lips touched again and Megan was in no hurry. Kathryn made a small sound of pleasure in her throat when Megan's tongue met her own. After an eternity Megan pulled back, leaving Kathryn leaning forward to try to prolong the contact.

Kathryn's eyes slowly opened and she looked at Megan.

"You taste like pumpkin pie," she said, smiling.

"Yeah? You taste like my Kitty-Kat." Megan said. She kissed her once more and said, "If I don't go right now, I might make a move that wouldn't be welcome on the first date. See you again soon." She trailed Kathryn's hair through her fingers as she turned.

Kathryn watched Megan walk down the hallway without looking back. She listened as Megan's boots thumped down the stairs, only going back inside her apartment once she'd heard the security door to the building swing shut behind her... girlfriend?

She shut the door, locked the deadbolt and leaned back against the door. My girlfriend, she thought. I want to see her again. Go on more 'dates'... which means... we're dating. Which would make her... my girlfriend.

She felt a smile break out on her face.

"My girlfriend," she softly said aloud. The words sounded even better spoken than they had in her head.

She nearly skipped across the apartment to the tiny bathroom to get ready for bed.

~~ Arlington, Virginia, February ~~

"I don't want to go, Mommy! I want to go on the trip with you and Miss Megs!" Caitlyn whined.

"Baby, we've talked about this. Your Dad and Gramma need to see you sometimes too, okay? It's just tonight. We'll pick you up tomorrow afternoon," Kathryn said, as she pulled into the Target parking lot on Route 50.

"Both of you?" Caitlyn asked.

"Both of us!" Megan said, turning in the passenger seat to give Caitlyn a reassuring grin. "We'll both be here and if Gramma gives a good report, I'll take us to The Lost Dog tomorrow for dinner, okay pumpkin?"

The offer seemed to mollify Caitlyn. "The Lost Dog?! Okay!" Megan had quickly learned the pizza place was Caitlyn's favorite restaurant, although Kathryn rarely had the money to take them there.

"Oh look, honey, Gramma is already here."

Megan turned at the barely-concealed tension in Kathryn's voice, as they pulled up next to a very expensive black BMW at the edge of the parking lot. She unbuckled her seat belt and reached for the door handle.

"What are you doing?" Kathryn asked quietly.

Megan paused and looked back at her. "I was going to help Cait get her bag."

"But... um..."

"Kat, I'm not going to sit in the car like a dirty secret. I just want to meet them."

"Okay, fine. Just... let me do the talking."

"Okay. C'mon Cait! I'll help you with your stuff."

They got out of the car as Amanda and Steve did the same.

"Hello Amanda, Steve." Kathryn said.

"Hey Kathryn," Caitlyn's dad said.

"You're late," said Amanda.

Kathryn looked at her watch. 10:03. She struggled not to roll her eyes.

"Sorry, traffic. You know how Seven Corners gets." She gently nudged Caitlyn.

"Hi Daddy, hi Gramma," the girl offered.

"Hey little bug!" Steve said, and swung her up off the ground into a hug as she squealed and laughed, then set her back down.

"Who is this?" Amanda asked sharply, looking at Megan holding Caitlyn's bag.

"Well, if you'd have given me a second, I was—"

"This is Miss Megs!" Caitlyn interrupted as she ran to Megan, grabbed her hand and pulled her forward.

"This is my friend, Megan Winerock. Megan, this is Steve and Amanda Davis, Cait's dad and grandmother.

"Nice to meet you both," Megan said cheerfully, and held out her hand.

Steve politely shook it, while Amanda did so somewhat reluctantly.

"Are you a nursing student as well?" Amanda asked, doubt plain in her voice as she eyed Megan's leather jacket and motorcycle boots.

"Nope, I'm a bartender," Megan said. She paused for a brief moment as she watched Amanda's mouth start to turn down in a frown of disapproval, then added, "I also just started my third year at Georgetown Law."

Amanda bit down on what was clearly going to be a snarky comment, fumbled for words for a moment, then said, "If only Kathryn would aim a little higher, like yourself."

Megan started to retort, but saw the look in Kathryn's eyes and snapped her mouth shut.

"Kathryn, we'll see you here at three tomorrow. Please don't be late. Come along Caitlyn."

"What... a... bitch!" Megan said when she and Kathryn were back in the car.

"Please let it slide. I just need to get through the next two years of school. I can't afford to antagonize her, so just let it go, okay?"

"Don't worry, I won't fuck things up for you. Steve seemed... inoffensive."

"He can be. But he still lives with Amanda, he has a hard time holding down a job, but he doesn't have to. He just lives off his trust fund and Amanda's money. He drinks too much and yells a lot when he drinks. I've always been afraid of... well, nothing's ever happened and I keep my fingers crossed. I can always tell when he's been drinking when Cait's there, because she won't talk about her visit. When he manages to stay off the sauce, she usually has a pretty good time and tells me all about it."

Megan thought about that for a while.

"'My friend Megan', huh?" she said, finally.

Kat looked pained. "Amanda is really conservative, Megs. I can't... I don't want to share my life with them, especially something that's going to cause me problems with Amanda."

"Okay... just..." She sighed. "Just pull through that Starbucks there, would you? I need caffeine after that and it's a long drive out I-66."

"Where are we going anyway?" Kathryn asked, after they'd obtained lattes and were on the highway.

"That's for me to know, and you to find out," Megan said, sipping at her coffee with a mischievous grin. "That's why they call it a surprise."

Megan had spent the last six Sundays with Kathryn and Caitlyn, as well as any week nights that they both had off from work and school. Most times it was just dinner and a movie or kid's show, then reading at bedtime before Kathryn and Megan could steal a few moments alone. Often Megan would bring her law books and laptop and study alongside Kathryn in the tiny kitchen, while Caitlyn watched cartoons.

With Caitlyn visiting her dad and gramma overnight, however, Megan had insisted on planning something special for just the two of them. She'd called in a favor to get off from her bartending gig for the first Saturday night in months.

"Just keep heading West until I tell you," Megan said. "I'm glad I brought my Bluetooth speaker. I can't believe your car doesn't have a USB connection." She pulled up a playlist on her phone and soon they were singing along with the music. Kathryn tapped the steering wheel with her fingers while Megan danced animatedly in her seat. The next hour passed quickly, until Megan exclaimed, "Oh shit! That's it! Exit twenty-three! Get over!"

Kat managed to change lanes as safely and gracefully as it is possible to do with a few hundred feet's notice, and made the exit, laughing at Megan's inattentiveness while Megan started paying more attention to the directions on her phone. Once off the interstate, and after six or seven miles of twisting, narrow country roads, she directed Kathryn to pull into the parking lot of a very old looking set of buildings whose sign identified it as the Ashby Inn, a cute looking bed and breakfast.

"Are we staying here? This looks adorable!" Kathryn said, as she got out of the car and stretched.

"This is it. Pop the trunk, and I'll get our bags." Megan grabbed the two overnight bags and led Kathryn inside.

"Miss Winerock, welcome to the Ashby Inn. We have you in the Lafayette Room for one night?" The friendly woman at the front desk gave them two keys, and explained the amenities to them. "Your reservation at the restaurant is at seven, check out is at noon and if you need anything, don't hesitate to call the desk. There's a complimentary bottle of wine chilling in your room. You're in the school house building next door, on the second floor."

They made their way back outside the main inn and found their room, one of two suites on the top floor of what once was a two-hundred-year-old school house building. Megan opened the door and ushered Kathryn inside.

"Megan!" Kathryn said breathlessly. "This is beautiful! How can you afford this?"

"Been saving my tips for just such an occasion," Megan said with a grin, closing the door behind them and dropping their bags.

The room was large, with beautiful antique furnishing, a king-sized brass bed, and a wood-burning fireplace. One entire wall was nothing but floor to ceiling windows that faced an expansive slope of grapevines leading up the mountain away from the inn.

"It's beautiful," Kathryn said again. "But... just one bed. I wonder what the woman at the front desk must be thinking?"

Megan frowned. "She'll think I'm here for a romantic weekend with my girlfriend. Is that a problem for you?"

The look on Kathryn's face told Megan that she realized how far her foot had just gone into her mouth.

"Megs... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to... I just, I..."

"It's okay, Kitty-Kat. I know we haven't been out much together outside of your apartment. But we're a couple, right?"

"Yes. I mean, yes, we're a couple. I'm sorry if I have some trouble adjusting to this in public. I've just never..."

"You've never let the world see how hot you can get for your Megs, is that it?" Megan said, stepping closer and folding Kathryn up in her arms. "This is the first time we've been alone since Christmas. Still think you're into me? It's been almost a couple of months since we've been... together."

Megan leaned forward and kissed Kathryn's neck. She reached up and tangled her hand in Kathryn's hair, pulling her head back while she nibbled at her earlobe, then drew her tongue back down Kathryn's neck, while running her other hand over the swell of her behind.

"Yes," Kathryn moaned, exulting in Megan's attention.

"'Yes', what?" Megan said, then nipped a little harder at the soft skin where her neck met her shoulder.

"Yes! Yes, I'm still into you!" Kathryn said, her voice heavy with need.

Megan brought her other hand up to cup Kathryn's cheek and kissed her deeply, then she broke the kiss and stepped back.

"Good. That'll give you something to look forward to for the rest of the day then." She smirked at Kathryn. "C'mon, we gotta get moving. I have a vineyard tour scheduled for us in a half-hour."

"What?! Are you kidding me?!" Kathryn exclaimed, her breathing heavy.

"Serious as a heart attack, Nurse Hayden!"

"I'm not a nurse yet!" Kathryn sputtered, at a loss for a comeback. "I can't believe you walked me in here, got me all hot and bothered, and now you're going to make me tour some stupid vineyard!"

"That's the plan!" Megan was grinning ear to ear. "Just so you can think about coming back to this big, brass bed all afternoon. Think about it all through the vineyard tour, and the wine tasting after that, then the romantic dinner I have a reservation for. And then, then, we can come back here and finish what I started." She kissed Kathryn one more time and pulled her towards the door.

"I can't believe you,"

"Anticipation makes hunger sharper, Kitty-Kat."

The vineyard at Delaplane Cellars was beautiful, with rows of neatly trimmed grapevines stretching away from the tasting room and over the rolling hills in every direction. After walking through the vineyard's buildings with the charming tour guide, and learning the ins and outs of making wine, they had a lengthy tasting of the vineyard's offerings in the tasting room.

Megan stayed close to Kathryn, not quite hanging on her but maintaining contact, rubbing shoulders with her as they stood at the tasting bar together, sampling wine. She softly rubbed Kathryn's lower back while they listened to the winemaker explain each variety's notes.

Afterwards, they bought a bottle of a chardonnay they both liked to take home, then walked back towards Kathryn's car.

"Let go for a walk," Megan suggested. "It's beautiful here."

"It's twenty degrees."

"So, it'll be a quick walk."

They left their bottle of wine in the car and Megan led Kathryn up the slope away from the tasting house, between rows of dormant grape vines. After a minute she reached out and took Kathryn's hand. Kathryn stiffened up and looked around, as if to see if anyone was watching them.

Megan stopped and smiled a slightly sad smile. "Kitty-Kat, I know it's going to take a while for you to get comfortable with letting people see we're girlfriends. but we're in the middle of a bunch of grapevines in the winter. We're the only ones crazy enough to be walking around. No one is going to see us."

Kathryn shook herself and gave Megan an apologetic smile of her own. "Sorry Megan, I just..."

"Just what?"

Kathryn took a sudden interest in a solitary, dead grape leaf, tenaciously hanging on the vine next to them. She reached out and touched a finger to it, then watched it fall and float to the ground.

"My whole life I've thought of myself as straight. I mean, I grew up in Fairfax, not exactly a conservative place. My parents were pretty progressive. I've never had any problem with gay people, I just never... I never thought of myself that way, and I feel really self-conscious about it where people might see us. I want to get over it, I do, it's just going to take me a while, okay?"

"Okay, Kat. As long as you know I've been comfortable with who I am for a long time and when I care about someone I like to show it. I'll do my best not to make you feel uncomfortable, but..." She stepped closer to Kathryn and took both her hands in her own, "sometimes I just want to touch my girlfriend."

Kathryn shivered, but it had nothing to do with the cold. She looked around the picturesque, empty hillside, then tilted her head forward and closed her eyes, her lips parted and inviting. Megan didn't hesitate, closing the remaining distance between them and shutting her own eyes as their lips met, their warm breath mingling and forming a cloud around their heads in the chilled air.

Kathryn made a soft M-m-m-m sound in her throat, then released Megan's hands to slip hers under Megan's leather jacket and wrap them around her waist. Megan responded by cradling the back of Kathryn's head with a hand, pulling them tighter together. Kathryn wasn't sure how long they stood there, gently and insistently kissing, until she felt something wet and cold hit her cheek. She flinched and opened her eyes.

She and Megan looked around without letting go of each other. Fat, heavy snowflakes had started falling. The ambient noises of the wind rushing over the hillside started to die away as the snowfall quickly intensified and started to dampen the sounds of the world around them.

Kathryn looked back at Megan. There were dozens of snowflakes stuck in her dark hair, giving her the appearance of a winter fairy.

"The first time we made love was during a snowstorm," Kathryn said, with a shy smile.

Megan giggled. "Okay, so the snow gods have determined we finally need to get it on again tonight, but if you think we're only going to get together whenever it snows you'd better rethink that idea!"

"Deal," Kathryn whispered, then leaned forward and kissed her girlfriend again.

Back at the bed and breakfast, they arrived just in time for the dinner reservation Megan had made in the restaurant. The hostess seated them at a small table near the fireplace.

"This is so wonderful, I can't thank you enough for arranging this," Kathryn said after they'd ordered. "I haven't been on a vacation or a trip like this in... well, ever, maybe."

"It's my pleasure as much as yours. I think we should make time for ourselves anytime we can, we're both so busy. I know you aren't a fan of Cait going to Amanda and Steve's house, but we should make sure and take advantage of the opportunity when it happens."

"You're right," Kathryn said. She looked around the room. None of the other diners were paying attention to anything but their own meals and conversations. She shyly reached across the table and took Megan's hand in her own. Megan raised her eyebrows, but grinned before taking a sip of her wine with her free hand.

Later, while picking over their desserts, Kathryn said, "Megan, where do you see us going?" She was looking down at the table as she spoke.

Megan's grin turned pensive. "Are we having the talk now?"