Archive of Our Own

Kate swats at the hand that’s inching up the back of her thigh. She refocuses on trying to pack up everyone’s to-go boxes. There’s a system here, and she can’t be distracted. 

Step one. Everyone brings the leftover food from the deck inside to the kitchen. Step two. Kate will survey the food, mentally going down her excel spreadsheet of everyone’s favorite food and dessert. Step three. Ensure portions are equal, she does not want a repeat of the ‘kalua pork incident’. Step four. Take- 

Kate stops. The hand is back, and now it’s brazenly sliding under her dress and grabbing her ass. She reaches back and grabs the offending appendage and turns around. The owner of the hand is giving her a cheeky grin, eyes alight with something Kate recognizes all too well. 

“Lucy,” Kate hisses. 

“Yes, my love?” Lucy snickers as Kate lets out a frustrated grunt. She jostles their joined hands. “If you wanted to hold my hand, all ya had to do was ask.” 

Kate shifts her grip from Lucy’s hand to her wrist and raises it to her fiancé’s eye level. “I’m holding this hand because it was on my ass.” 

Lucy nods. “A likely place for it to be.” 

“A place it does not need to be while we’re in Jane’s kitchen. With our whole family out back. All our nieces and nephews.” 

“But none of them are in here. ” 

“Lucy, any one of them could walk in at any time.” Kate feels somewhat exasperated at how nonplussed Lucy is. “What is it that’s got you so wound up?” 

“Do I really need a reason?” Lucy’s eyes roam over Kate’s form, before settling on where the hemline of Kate’s dress hits a bit high on her thighs. “You just do it for me, babe.” 

Kate huffs and rolls her eyes. “Yes, in this instance I would like to know your reasoning,” she insists. “What about me in your boss’s kitchen, fixing to-go boxes for our family, in a dress you have absolutely seen me in before has got you so worked up you slip a hand up said dress and grab my ass?” 

Lucy shrugs. Kate crosses her arms and continues to study her fiancé. Then it clicks. This is the first chance tonight they’ve had to be alone together. That is since Parker hurt her knee. 

Jesse’s youngest had been carried inside by Alex, crying and sputtering. While horsing around in the backyard with Jake and Alex the little girl tripped and scraped her knee. Alex had sheepishly passed her off to Kate saying, “She keeps asking for ‘Aunt Tate’, and I can’t find Jesse or Heather anyways.” 

So Kate had taken Parker from Alex, cooing over her as she walked them to the hall bathroom. Her tears had dwindled down into sniffles as she was set down on the bathroom counter. Kate wiped away the dried blood and carefully cleaned the scrape before placing a band aid over it. Parker looked down at her knee and back at Kate with wide green eyes. Lifting her knee up she asked, “Kiss it please, Aunt Tate?” 

Kate had chuckled fondly and bent down to brush her lips just above her bandage. “All better?” 

“All better,” Parker chirped. Kate ruffled her hair before setting her back on the ground. She ran out of the bathroom back towards the action, calling out thank you, Aunt Tate! Hi, Lucy! Kate turned around to see Lucy leaning against the door jamb. Kate stilled under her gaze, tracking how Lucy was staring at her with dark eyes, lower lip snagged between her teeth. The spell was broken by Jane calling out Lucy’s name and asking for help in the kitchen. Lucy had winked at Kate before pushing off of the door jamb and walking away. 

“So this behavior has nothing to do with Parker and her knee?” Kate rolls her eyes as Lucy feigns confusion. 

“What about Parker and her knee? Other than the fact she only wanted Aunt Tate to touch it.” Lucy huffs as she uses finger quotes around Parker’s name for Kate. “I just get Lucy, and you get Aunt Tate? How’s that fair?”  

“Lucy, she’s six. You know she has trouble with her Ks,” Kate reminds her. “Plus it’s adorable.” Lucy grumbles in agreement. Kate finally decides to call Lucy on it. “Me with kids really does it for you,  huh?” 

Lucy hums noncommittally and nudges Kate out of the way with her hip and takes over packing up the food. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. And you have no evidence to back up this claim.” 

Kate raises a brow. “Oh really? I seem to recall several times you’ve exhibited this behavior. For instance…”

One of the first times was during their on again, off again phase. They were definitely off this time, because Lucy had admittedly been an ass about something that’d been out of Kate’s control. After a week and a half of icy interactions and sharp comments, Lucy was informed by the team it was time to eat crow and apologize. She stood in front of Kate’s door debating whether or not to knock. Just as she had talked herself out of it, she heard Jane’s voice in her head saying you’re an adult. Do the adult thing and fix this.  

So Lucy lifted a hand and hesitantly knocked. She heard rustling on the other side of the door and the lock click. The door opened to reveal Kate, dressed down in a faded t-shirt and linen shorts with- 

“That’s a baby,” Lucy said in surprise. She pointed at the toddler in Kate’s arms chewing on a little fist, looking at her with curious brown eyes. 

Any planned apology died on Lucy’s tongue. All she could focus on was the fact that her current.. Friend? Frenemy? Her current person with benefits was bouncing a baby girl on her hip. Suddenly Lucy was buzzing, skin tingling with something she didn’t have a name for. Butterflies making their home in her stomach. 

Kate huffed and rolled her eyes. “Yes, she is a baby. Very astute observation, Special Agent Tara. Your investigatory skills astound me.” Despite the sarcasm lacing her words, Kate stepped to the side and allowed Lucy to walk in. 

“Well you don’t have to be so mean about it,” Lucy complained. She cringed, immediately realizing that was the wrong thing to say based of the way Kate bristled and shut the door harder than necessary.  

“I’m not mean,” Kate insisted. “I’m annoyed.” 

“Right,” Lucy nodded. She paused and pointed at the child again. “At the baby? Or-” 

“At you, Lucy!” Kate’s outburst startled the toddler. She quickly brushed a thumb across her quivering chin and kissed her cheek. “Sorry, Moana.” 

Lucy snorted. “Moana?”  She did her best not to wither under the glare Kate shot at her. 

“I can’t help what her name is, Lucy.” Kate impatiently repeated, “It’s her name.” 

“You’re right, you’re right,” Lucy placated, holding up her hands in surrender. “I’m sorry.” She walked closer and held a finger out to Moana who enclosed it with her own little fingers. “So why are you babysitting a disney princess?” 

Kate’s harsh expression softened as Lucy made silly faces to get the toddler to giggle. “Her mom lives two doors down. She works full time and is also a full time student. Sometimes she needs uninterrupted time to study, take a quiz or a test, so I watch Moana for her.” 

Lucy felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket. She pulled her finger out of Moana’s grasp to check it. Her face scrunched up reading the text from Jesse.

Jesse 

You apologize to the ice queen yet? Cause if not you’re gonna have to pull all those personnel files tomorrow by yourself.

Jane and I already decided. 

Of fucking course they did. Lucy shoved the phone back into her pocket. She waved off Kate’s questioning look. “It’s nothing, just Jesse being dumb.” 

“Okay, well did you need something? Or did you just come over for..” Kate trails off. Lucy knows what she’s implying, but decides to be a brat about it. 

“For.. what, Whistler?” She grins as Kate huffs.

“You know what. Which obviously isn’t happening because of this one,” Kate explains, motioning to Moana. 

“Clam jammed by the girl the ocean chose,” Lucy sighs. She cackles as Kate registers her words. 

“Lucy!” Kate hisses. “You can’t say stuff like that in front of her!” 

“Oh please,” Lucy waves a wand. “She’s what, one? Eighteen months at most? She has no idea what we’re saying.” 

Kate growls, “It’s the principle of it, Lucy.” 

“Okay, okay. You’re right.” Lucy mimes zipping her lips shut. “Nothing remotely suggestive in front of the kid.” She bites her bottom lip before continuing. “But I did have a reason for coming over.” 

Moana lets out a whine and squirms in Kate’s arms. She shifts the baby to hold her against her chest. She continues to fuss and Kate gently begins to bounce her. Kate starts singing under her breath and rubbing Moana’s back. Lucy can’t make out what Kate’s singing, but she’s entranced by her voice. The toddler quiets down, rests her head against Kate’s shoulder and falls silent. 

The sight is such a juxtaposition to what Lucy sees at work. At work Whistler is cold, painfully professional. Lucy cringes, knowing people have used less than pleasant words when talking about her. Herself included. But the woman in front of her isn’t Whistler, this is Kate. Kate who apparently likes babysitting and has a beautiful singing voice. They’ve known each other for over a year now. Been doing this- whatever this is, somewhat regularly. But Lucy feels like she’s actually seeing Kate for the first time tonight. 

“Lucy.” She hears her name being called and sees Kate looking at her with amusement. 

“Huh?” 

“I asked what your reason was for coming over.” 

“Oh.” Lucy fidgets. Tucks her hair behind her ear. “I came over to apologize.” She shoves her hands in her pockets. “This case has been tough, and I got frustrated with the lack of information we were getting. You were just the messenger and I took it out on you. I’m sorry, Whistler.” 

Lucy risks a glance at Kate who’s giving her a look she can’t quite read. Before she can continue there’s a knock at the door. Kate clears her throat. 

“That’s probably Lani, Moana’s mom,” Kate clarifies. She moves toward the door, turns to Lucy and asks, “Can you grab the diaper bag? It’s by the couch.” 

Lucy nods and moves toward the couch. She spots the bag and picks it up. She sees a fuzzy tail peeking out from underneath the coffee table. Lucy leans down and sees it belongs to a stuffed monkey. She snags it and walks over to the door. Kate’s already let Lani in, carefully trying to pass Moana off to her mother without waking the toddler. 

Lucy approaches them and holds the monkey up. “I’m guessing this is hers?” 

Lani sighs and nods. “One of these days she’s going to lose it for good and I’ll never know peace.” Lucy chuckles and begins to pass the stuffed animal off to her. 

“Do you want me to carry her stuff for you?” Kate asks. 

Lani shakes her head. “I’m only going up the hall.” She frees up an arm and Lucy helps her slip the strap of the bag over her shoulder. “Thanks,” Lani grins. She directs her attention to Kate. “You know, you could’ve told me you were going to have company tonight. If I’d have known, I wouldn’t have asked you to babysit.” 

Kate stammers. “Oh this isn’t- she’s not company really, she just,” Kate coughs while Lani grins. “Lucy just dropped in for a bit.” 

Lucy snickers as Kate’s face reddens further when Lani cocks a brow at her. “Sure,” she draws the word out, teasing Kate. “Like she dropped in last month and you two didn’t leave your apartment for two days? That kind of dropping in?” 

That memory has Lucy blushing along with Kate. Lani quietly shakes with laughter, mindful of her sleeping daughter. She opens the door and begins to step into the hallway. “Thanks again, Kate. Nice to finally meet you, Lucy. See you around.” 

Kate groans as Lani starts laughing again and shuts the door behind her. She turns around and sighs. “So, that’s Lani.” 

“She seems nice,” Lucy offers. “Like she cares about you.” 

“She does,” Kate nods. “It’s nice, I guess. I’ve had worse neighbors.” 

Lucy hums and takes in Kate without a baby squirming in her arms. Her face is free of makeup, hair in a loose bun. She looks soft. At ease. The most relaxed Lucy’s seen her since that very first night. And Lucy needs to have her. She creeps forward until she’s in Kate’s space. Follows Kate as she steps back until she’s pressing her into the door. 

“I really am sorry,” Lucy murmurs. 

“It’s okay,” Kate mumbles. 

Lucy shakes her head. “No, it’s not. But I’d like to make it right.” She softly chuckles as Kate tilts her head in confusion. 

“You did, though. You’ve apologized. Twice.” 

Lucy shakes her head again. Risks tucking a finger in the waistband Kate’s shorts. She’s rewarded with a soft gasp. “I was out of line. And stressing you out.” She tugs on Kate’s shorts. “Let me help with the relief?” 

She grins as Kate eagerly nods. Lucy drops to her knees and pulls Kate’s shorts down her legs. Kate steps out of them and Lucy tosses them behind her. Bites her lip when she’s met with unfairly cut blue sheer panties. She leans and kisses her mound, pleased with herself when Kate lets out a breathy sigh above her.    

“Please tell me the bra matches,” Lucy urges, sliding her hands up Kate’s bare thighs. 

“You know it does,” Kate whines. 

Lucy presses a kiss to the inside of each knee. Kisses her way up Kate’s thighs, licking and scraping her teeth over spots she knows are sensitive. “A matching set for me?” Lucy hopefully asks. She knows the answer is likely no, seeing as Kate hadn’t known she was coming over. But the thought that the answer could be yes sends a shot of heat to her core. 

“Just wanted to feel pretty today,” Kate answers between huffs. Becoming distracted by Lucy dragging her mouth across her inner thighs, her tongue tracing the edge of her underwear. 

“Tell me it’s for me anyways? I’ll make it worth your while,” she promises. 

“It’s-” Kate cuts herself off with a soft whine as Lucy mouths over her through the panties. “It’s for you, it’s always for you,” she chokes out. 

“Good.” Lucy glances up to meet her blown out eyes before leaning back in to tease her some more. Helping Kate completely ruin her underwear by tonguing over her covered clit. She reaches up and takes hold of the fabric, begins pulling the panties down longs legs she can’t wait to have wrapped around her later. Once at her ankles Kate steps out of the underwear and Lucy tosses them to the side. “Spread your legs for me,” she husks. 

Kate does as she requests, Lucy nudging them even further apart with her shoulders. Spreading her apart. It never fails to give her an ego boost. Seeing Kate outspread and wet. For her. Kate lets out a groan as Lucy’s mouth finally makes contact with her cunt. Licking into her with purpose as Kate drops a hand to tangle in dark curls. 

Lucy pulls back and rasps, “You always taste so fucking good.” She mouths over Kate’s clit, briefly sucking it into her mouth before switching back to soft, shallows strokes of her tongue through her folds.

Kate’s desperately moaning above her, head tipped back against the door. Chanting Lucy’s name. Begging her to let her come. Lucy’s own cunt clenches in sympathy. She needs to make Kate come. Now. She slides a hand behind Kate’s thigh and lifts. She gets the hint and drapes it over Lucy’s shoulder, opening herself up further. Lucy presses Kate further into the door and doubles her efforts. 

Her licks become firmer, rougher. She teases Kate’s entrance with her tongue, briefly sliding it inside before refocusing on her clit. Lucy can feel her thighs shaking beside her head. Grins against her cunt as Kate’s grip in her hair tightens and the rock of her hips stutters. Lucy swirls her tongue around her clit, fluttering over it with quick, firm strokes. She takes it into her mouth again and sucks, sending Kate over the edge. Lucy groans as a mewling Kate comes in her mouth, continuing to work over her with soft, short licks until her knee buckles. 

She moves Kate’s thigh off of her shoulder and shoots up to catch her. Lucy holds her against the door, hands sneaking under her shirt to stroke over her sides while she comes down. Kate catches her breath and opens her eyes to look at Lucy. Her face is flushed, eyes dark. Hair wild from where she’d been throwing her head back against the door. Looking deliciously disheveled.   

“Well, apology accepted,” Kate quips.

Lucy drops a hand down and briefly strokes through her folds, laughing as Kate’s hips jump off the door. “Bedroom,” Lucy orders. “I’m not through apologizing to you just yet.” 

“Okay,” Lucy starts,“that time doesn’t count.” She waves a serving spoon at Kate. “I was there to apologize. Moana just happened to be there.” 

Kate smirks. “So you planned to come over and apologize with your tongue?” 

“No,” Lucy insists. “That just.. kinda happened.” 

Lucy curses under her breath as Kate laughs. She knows it’s a flimsy excuse. But she’s already dug her heels and now has a point to prove. 

“Look, that night was about apologizing. So I apologized, and we stopped snipping at each other at work for at least three weeks. That was the goal.” She scoffs at Kate's unimpressed look. “The team was gonna vote me off the island, I had to make things right.” 

Kate’s face scrunches up. “So you only apologized because the team made you?” 

Lucy’s eyes widen, realizing what it sounds like. “No!” Seeing the slightly dejected look on her face Lucy drops the spoon back into the dish of mac and cheese and reaches for Kate. Her hands land on Kate’s hips and she tugs her forward. When she’s close enough Lucy kisses her jaw. 

“I was always going to apologize. I was such an ass to you but I wasn’t ready to admit I was wrong.” Lucy sighs and lifts a hand up to cradle Kate’s cheek. “You were so good at making it seem like that stuff didn’t affect you. Now that I know you’ve always been a big softy, it just kills me knowing I treated you like that.” 

Lucy strokes Kate’s cheek with her thumb and softly kisses her. “Love you. And I’m still sorry for that case.” 

Kate pulls back. “Love you too. And apology accepted,” she teases. Lucy grins at her callback to that night. “But,” Kate continues, “you admit that eating me out against the front door wasn’t your original intention. You showed up to apologize, saw me with a baby and-”

“Kate,” Lucy loudly groans, cutting her off. “Like I already said, it had nothing to do with you watching Moana.” 

“Really? So what about-”

Another time was after their breakup when Lucy was pointedly ignoring Kate. The blonde acting like a kicked puppy, always trying to meet her accusing gaze with sad eyes. The wound of hearing another woman, Lucy refuses to say or even think her name, calling herself Kate’s girlfriend still open and trying to fester. 

The team had caught a particularly heartbreaking case. A home invasion that ended with a naval officer and her husband stabbed to death in their own bed. Their three year old daughter had remained unharmed. Still fast asleep in her toddler bed when police entered the home, alerted by neighbors hearing screaming in the night. While untouched by the intruder, the little girl still wasn't faring well. 

She was confused by all of the strangers in her home. Crying for her parents that couldn’t come to comfort her. HPD had notified child services, but they were hesitant to take the toddler into their care. The possibility of the intruder tracking down the girl to finish what they started was a risk too big for them to take. So along with taking the case, NCIS took custody of the child until her aunt from the mainland could fly in to collect her.  

The team tried to make her comfortable, but she seemed to still be somewhat in shock. She wouldn’t let anyone get near her except Jane. But she wasn’t talking to any of them. Just looking around wide eyed, jumping at any sudden noise. Lucy and Jane sat with her in Jane’s office. Attempting to coax her into telling them something. Anything. Even stuff they already know like her name, Maia. How old she is. But no such luck. 

A light rap on the office door has Maia flinching, cutting her eyes to the source of the sound. Lucy turns around and is surprised to see Kate standing there. Dressed in a hoodie and joggers with files tucked under her arm. Jane waves her in, taking note that the toddler sitting in her desk chair is watching Kate with curious little eyes. 

“Hey,” Kate quietly greets them. “Based on what was found at the crime scene, the BAU is interested.” 

“Interested in taking our case?” Lucy accuses. Sure Kate’s no longer swooping in with red tape to tie their hands, but scooping their case for the FBI now that she’s one of them wouldn’t surprise her.  

“Lucy,” Jane warns her. She flicks her eyes over to Kate. “But do they?” 

“Not yet,” Kate answers with a shake of her head. “I convinced them they didn’t need to fly out, but I also said that you’d share your findings with them in exchange for them sharing with you.” She pulls the files out from under her arm and holds them out to Jane. “Here’s what they sent over. Tonight has some of the hallmarks of another unsub possibly operating in Southern California.” 

Jane takes the files from her and flips them open, fervently scanning the pages for something of use. “Thanks, Kate. For coming in so late and holding off the BAU. Jesse and Kai will have to dig further into these when they get back from the crime scene.” She motions to Maia with the files. “This is Maia. Lucy and I are on babysitting duty until her aunt arrives from the mainland.” 

Kate looks down at Maia and catches the little girl staring at her before quickly looking away. She steps closer and kneels down in front of her. The toddler warily looks at her again, curling in on herself and regarding Kate skeptically. Kate gets lower, tucking both legs underneath her and sitting back on her heels. Now instead of being looked down on, Maia’s the one who gets to look down at Kate.  

“Hi Maia, my name’s Kate,” she introduces, letting her voice turn soft and warm. The corner or her mouth quirks up in a pleased smile when she gets a hi whispered back. Lucy watches on with rapt attention as Kate continues talking to the girl. “I bet those clothes feel really yucky, huh?” 

“Yeah,” her little voice admits. 

Lucy glances over to Jane to find her boss returning her quizzical look with one of her own. Jane shrugs and waves her hand, indicating to let Kate keep going. She’s gotten more out of the three year old in five minutes than they have in three hours.   

“Do you want to get cleaned up?” Kate prompts. “Maybe get some comfier clothes?” 

Maia nods. “Uh huh.” She surprises all of them by reaching out for Kate who hesitates for only a moment before climbing to her feet and picking Maia up.  As soon as she’s in Kate’s arms, the toddler is resting her head on Kate’s shoulder. Rubbing her eye with a small fist. 

Lucy tries not to take it personally when Kate walks her over to Jane. Telling herself it’s not because of the uneasy tension between the two of them that’s palpable every time they’re in a room together. That it’s because Jane’s a mom and has experience with kids this age. Because Lucy most certainly does not. 

Kate angles herself so Maia can see Jane. “This is my friend, Jane. She’s going to help you get cleaned up and comfy, okay?” 

Jane smiles reassuringly at the little girl and holds out her arms in invitation. “Come on sweetie, we’ll take care of you.” 

Maia considers her for a moment before shaking her head and hiding her face in Kate’s shoulder again. Kate and Jane share a look that Lucy can’t understand before Kate tries again to hand the toddler off. “Maia, it’s okay. Jane and Lucy are here to help you.” 

The slight thrill of hearing Kate say her name is lost when Maia whines and shakes her head again. “No.” She’s worked an arm around Kate’s shoulders, must have a little hand fisted in her hair by the way the FBI agent winces. Maia’s other hand is clutching a handful of Kate’s hoodie. Body language indicating she’s not willing to move anytime soon. 

Lucy feels a bit left out, okay very left out, watching Jane and Kate have a silent conversation. Communicating with head tilts, the raising of brows and the occasional hum. Since when are those two close enough to talk without actually talking? And why are they standing so close together? Lucy frowns when Jane strokes through Maia’s hair and lets her hand trail along Kate’s arm before bringing it back to her side. Since when do they touch each other like that?    

“Guess we’re having a sleepover,” Jane announces. Lucy fixes her face as her boss turns to face her. “You have your go bag, Luce?” 

“Yep,” she confirms. “Just have to grab it out of my locker.” 

“Go do that and meet us by my suv in the parking lot,” Jane instructs. 

Lucy nods and begins to walk out of the office. Nearly trips over her own feet and falls on her face hearing the conversation continue behind her. 

“Is there anything you need to go get?” Jane asks Kate. 

“No, I think I have enough stuff at your place,” Kate responds. “I should be good.” 

Lucy’s mind races, heading towards the locker room on autopilot. Kate has stuff at Jane’s place? What the fuck? 

When Lucy gets down to the parking lot she spots Jane leaning against the door frame of the open backseat. She’s smiling and laughing softly at something. That something is really someone, because as Lucy steps closer she can make out Kate’s voice spilling out from the backseat. She scowls. Insists to herself that she’s not jealous. That there’s no way something more than friendship is going on with her ex and her boss. Right?

“We ready to go?” Lucy asks, getting Jane’s attention. 

Jane looks over her shoulder at her. “Yeah. Kate’s going to ride in the back with Maia. Since we don’t have a car seat, they’re going to sit in the middle.” 

Lucy sneaks a glance into the backseat to see Kate already buckled up, the little girl falling asleep in her arms. Looking away quickly when hopeful eyes meet hers. “I’ll ride shotgun then.” The way Kate attempts to keep her face neutral instead of falling shouldn’t make her feel guilty. But it does. Wordlessly she climbs into the passenger seat, shoving her bag underneath her feet on the floorboard while Jane starts the suv and begins to drive. 

Once they arrive at Jane’s house she and Kate move quickly. Wanting to get Maia a bath before she gets too deep in sleep. She whines about being woken up, cries when Kate leaves her line of sight. So Kate and Jane tag team bath time while Lucy stands awkwardly in Jane’s bedroom. Helping where she can. Like taking a towel and Maia’s blanket to the laundry room to toss in the dryer. Bringing them back so the toddler can be dried off with a warm towel before being helped into her pajamas. Watching as Kate then bundles her up in the blanket, picks her up and begins to sway in place. 

Soon the girl gives in to sleep, but despite being unconscious still seems to be aware of what’s happening. When Kate tries to lay Maia down on the bed and back away the little girl whimpers. A small hand seeking her out. Jane and Kate share another one of those silent conversations that Lucy’s not at all bothered by. Okay, very bothered by. This time she knows it’s about her because Kate’s fidgeting with her hands and Jane keeps glancing over at her. And like before, Jane’s the one to address her after said silent conversation. 

“Luce, you can take the guest room. Kate and I are going to bunk up in here with Maia.” 

She manages to nod. Bids them both a goodnight that she hopes doesn’t come across as stilted as it sounded in her own ears. Lucy leaves Jane’s bedroom, shutting the door behind her and traveling back into the living room where she dropped her bag. Trying to ignore the rushing sound in her ears that comes flooding in along with her irritation. Internally fuming that Kate and Jane are sharing a bed. That they’re sharing Jane’s bed, even though there’ll be a little girl between them.

In the morning Lucy’s the first one up. Woken up by a phone call from Jesse saying that Maia’s aunt should be landing in Honolulu in about two hours. She assures him they’ll have the three year old at the airport on time before hanging up. 

Lucy stumbles out of the guest room grumbling under her breath about the early hour. It’s not like she actually got any sleep. Tossing and turning all night. Unable to get past the fact that her ex girlfriend is seemingly close enough to her boss to talk without actually talking. To have clothes and toiletries stored at Jane’s when none of her actual team does. But most of her ire derives from the fact Kate was in Jane’s bed last night. 

It’s too early. She needs coffee. Lucy putters around the kitchen. Getting the coffee brewing and gathering the ingredients needed to make pancakes. While she works Kate drags in looking unfairly soft and sleepy. Not that long ago when Kate looked like that in the mornings and they had time, Lucy would put breakfast prep aside. Drag her back to bed and have lazy, indulgent morning sex. Then leave a blissed out Kate in bed before finishing up cooking. Lucy shakes her head to rid herself of the memory. 

“Morning,” Kate yawns, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth. 

“Morning,” Lucy replies, her greeting stilted and clipped. Fixes her eyes back on the pancakes cooking in the frying pan in front of her. She hears Kate sigh, can feel her dejection from across the kitchen. 

Kate steps over the cabinets and begins getting out plates and mugs, opening the utensils drawer to fish out cutlery. She sets everything on the kitchen counter, watching Lucy flip a pancake while the shorter woman pointedly ignores her. 

The strained silence is broken by small footsteps charging up the hallway. Maia comes to a stop where the hallway meets the kitchen. Her head frantically turning about looking for something. Looking for Kate. The toddler spots her and runs over, wrapping little arms around Kate’s legs. Tears rolling down her face. 

“You were gone!” Maia cries.

Kate scoops her up and the girl buries her face in the crook of Kate’s neck. She walks around murmuring to her, rubbing Maia’s back attempting to soothe her. Unbidden Lucy’s hit with a vision of something similar happening. Her making breakfast. A little one rushing in looking for Kate. Kate holding a mini version of herself, soothing them while Lucy fondly watches them together.  

“Pancakes are burning.”

Lucy swears at Jane sneaking up on her. She uses the spatula to remove the slightly burnt pancake from the pan. Lucy will eat that one. She scowls at Jane’s snicker. It’s not fair to be teased this early in the morning. She lightly pushes Jane out of the way to get to the plates. Begins loading them down with pancakes. 

They all sit at the kitchen table to eat. Kate cutting up her pancakes into small pieces and feeding bites to Maia. Lucy and Jane clean up the kitchen. Kate is unable to help due to the toddler beginning to sniffle and cry every time she attempts to put her down. Instead she works on getting the girl ready. Getting her into fresh clothes. Ensuring all of her things are safely packed away into her bag. Then the three women get ready, and soon enough they’re all buckled in Jane’s suv heading toward the airport.    

At the airport Maia goes easily to her aunt, the woman relieved to have her niece in her arms. She profusely thanks them for taking care of the little girl. All three of them promising her they’ll do everything they can to get justice for Maia’s parents. On the drive back to Pearl Lucy’s antsy. Can’t stop glancing at Kate in the rear view mirror. Has a fleeting thought of kissing the tired look off of her face, taking her home and tucking her into bed. 

Jane drops both of them off in the parking lot. Thanks Kate for helping on her off time and telling Lucy to go home and grab a few more hours of sleep before coming back. After Jane drives off Kate mumbles what sounds like a goodbye before heading towards her bmw. Lucy watches Kate’s retreating form. It’s been hard being so close to her the last twelve hours. Even harder knowing that Kate was closer to Jane. She knows following after Kate is a bad idea, but she wants to prove a point. What that point is, Lucy’s not entirely sure. But she just can’t help herself. 

She strides after her. Grabs a hold of Kate’s hips and spins her around. 

“Lucy wha-” 

Kate doesn’t get to finish her sentence. Or question. Whatever she was going to say is lost when Lucy pushes her up against the suv and tugs her down into a bruising kiss. Kate squeaks in surprise before giving in. Easily opening her mouth for Lucy to slip her tongue in. Lucy presses in closer, works her thigh between Kate’s legs to press against her core and is rewarded with a groan. She tightens her grip on her hips, encouraging Kate to grind against her. 

She lets out a broken moan before yanking her head back, pushing against Lucy’s shoulders. “Wait, wait Lucy,” Kate pants. Lucy grunts in frustration and looks at her in question. “We’re in the middle of the parking lot. There are cameras everywhere.”

Lucy stills registering what Kate’s just said. And she’s right. They’re in the middle of the parking lot of Lucy’s place of work. On a naval base. She rips herself away from Kate. Spins on her heel and hurries away. Not looking back when Kate calls her name. Lucy knows if she looks back and sees her kiss swollen lips and heaving chest that she’ll be powerless to stop herself from going home with her and finishing what she started. Which is a terrible idea. Right?

“Objection! That time doesn’t count!” Lucy protests. 

Kate lifts a brow. “Why not?” 

“Because it was about the forced proximity, not Maia falling in love with you.” Lucy finishes packing up a to go box. Searches around the counter for a marker and writes Heather’s name on it. “Correlation doesn’t equal causation.” 

She giggles while Kate rolls her eyes. “So you’re going to stay in denial?” 

“I’m not denying anything,” Lucy replies, capping the marker. “I’m just saying what you’re implying isn’t true.” 

“That’s the same thing,” Kate insists. “And I’m not implying it, I’m stating it quite clearly.” She shuffles closer to Lucy and attempts to meet her gaze. “Me with kids makes you feel some type of way.” 

“Debatable.” Lucy grabs a new box from the stack. “If you really want honesty, I was kinda jealous of Jane if anything.”    

“Really?” Kate asks, her voice turning curious. “You were jealous of Jane?” 

“You said you didn’t need to get stuff to stay over because you already had things at her place,” Lucy begins explaining. “Then you guys shared a bed, what was I supposed to think?” She starts transferring various desserts into the to go box. “Now I know it’s because you two were really leaning on each other during that time. But back then I thought you might’ve been moving on with my boss.” 

“Lucy,” Kate breathes out. She presses a hand to her cheek and encourages her to turn her head so they can look at each other. “There is no moving on from you,” she murmurs. “You’re my forever. Nothing’s going to change that.” 

Lucy can’t believe she ever thought this woman had no emotions. Because everyday Kate finds new ways to express her love and make Lucy melt. She doesn’t try to hide the blush that’s creeping across her cheeks. Just tips her head up to meet Kate in a sweet kiss. 

Kate pulls back and kisses the tip of her nose. “Just like nothing’s going to change how me being maternal really gets you going.” 

She laughs while Lucy groans out, “No, I thought we’d moved past that with you being sweet and stuff.” 

“That is still very much part of the stuff side of things,” Kate insists. 

“It’s not like anything really happened that time,” Lucy asserts. 

“Lucy.” Kate fixes her with an unimpressed look. “You were going to make me come in the middle of the parking lot.” 

“But I didn’t.” Lucy balls up the tin foil that was covering the now empty tray of lemon squares and tosses it into the trash can. “Instead I left you high and dry and went home to crash.” 

“Well, you may have left me high,” Kate chuckles before letting her voice drop deeper, “but you definitely didn’t leave me dry.” 

“Katherine!” Lucy glances around to ensure no one was in earshot to hear her.  She swats Kate’s bicep with the back of her hand while she shakes with mirth. “What happened to being on our best behavior because our whole family is here?” 

“But none of them are in here,” Kate smirks, copying Lucy’s earlier statement. “Besides, I’m not done proving my point.” 

“There’s more?” Lucy complains. 

“She says as if she isn’t the instigator in all of these stories,” Kate teases. “I know you remember this one. It was that weekend-”

This time they’re back together. Both supposed to be enjoying a weekend off. But in their line of work, these things rarely even go according to plan and often become complicated by other things. Like being an impromptu babysitter. See, Daniel and his wife were out of town and Alex was supposed to be watching Nate. But he’d picked up an extra shift at Wally’s before being put on baby brother duty. 

So Nate got passed on to Jane, who had to come in to work because of two dead petty officers. On a Saturday no less. So Nate ended up coming into work too along with the rest of the team. Currently Jane’s in a meeting with Navy brass, and Jesse is in the morgue waiting for Chase to complete the autopsies. Which seems very counterintuitive that the two people with kid experience are out doing other things while Nate’s been left with the two who have no idea how to take care of one. I.E., Lucy and Kai. 

Nate’s in his car seat on top of Lucy’s desk asleep while she and Kai work quietly. But someone dropping a stapler onto the floor wakes him and Nate begins whimpering. A telltale sign he’s about to start crying. Lucy and Kai panic, both getting up to hover around the baby but not really knowing what to do. 

“Pick him up,” Kai suggests to Lucy. 

“What?” Lucy asks incredulously. “No, you pick him up!”

“He’ll like you better,” Kai insists. 

Lucy raises a brow. “Why?” 

“Cause, well, you know.” Kai gestures to his chest and vaguely gestures to Lucy’s. She smacks him. 

“Me having boobs and you not having them has nothing to do with this situation!” 

“Well you got a better idea?” 

Lucy sighs and faces the baby. She cringes as she awkwardly picks up Nate and holds him at arm's length. He kicks and squirms as Lucy tries to adjust her hold before giving up. “Now what?” 

A voice rings out, “Guys, he’s a baby, not a bomb.” Kai and Lucy look up to see Kate chuckling at seeing them bickering over a clearly frustrated Nate. Then he lets out a wail that has Lucy and Kai cringing. 

“He won’t stop crying,” Lucy complains. Kate laughs as she walks over, dropping files on the corner of Lucy’s desk.

“Well look how you’re holding him, I’d cry too.” Kate takes Nate from Lucy and cradles him against her chest. She gently bounces him and rubs his back. “Hey little man,” Kate coos, “are they being mean to you?” Nate cries in response. “They are? Don’t worry, I’ll beat them up for you.” 

Kate continues to soothe Nate and he slowly begins to quiet down. She nods her head in the direction of the files. “Take a look at those. Your dead petty officers are clean. But their girlfriend, not so much.” 

Kai picks up a file, flips it open and begins to read. But Lucy can’t help but stare at Kate. She’s more dressed down than usual. Jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers, hair drying into messy waves. “Did you come straight from the beach?” 

Kate nods, bringing a hand up to cradle the back of Nate’s head. “I’d just gotten through surfing when Jane called me. Threw on what I had in the car and went straight to the office.” 

Nate’s cries have tapered off into whimpers and little baby grunts. Kate’s still cooing at him, her voice dropped down into that lower register that Lucy loves. Her mind begins to wander into an increasingly frequent daydream of Kate rocking a baby with olive skin and tufts of blonde hair. 

Kai rudely interrupts Lucy’s daydream to point out something to her from the FBI files. She listens to him talk, continuously glancing over at Kate who’s now sitting in Lucy’s chair. She’s successfully quieted down Nate, who’s now dozing against her shoulder with a tiny hand fisted in the neckline of her shirt. Lucy glances up to see Jane walking back into the bullpen and stopping to smile at Kate with Nate. Jesse and Ernie barrel in just behind Jane, loudly and incomprehensibly talking over each other. Lucy aggressively shushes them and points at Kate. 

“Sorry,” Ernie apologizes. “But I found something and Jesse has the autopsy report.” 

Jane nods. “Good. War room in five.” The team nods and the guys head towards the stairs. “And you,” Jane turns to address Nate. “What am I going to do with you, huh?” She gently runs a hand across his back. 

“I can watch him,” Kate offers. “I’m only here to drop off files.” 

“Are you sure?” Jane chuckles at the brow Kate quirks at her. “Okay, okay. Thanks, Kate.” 

Jane begins walking toward her office and Lucy helps Kate gather Nate’s things. “For the record, this look is really doing it for me.” She snickers as Kate lightly kicks her. 

Kate gently transfers Nate to the car seat and buckles him in. “I’ve yet to find one that doesn’t work for you.” 

“And you never will.” Lucy watches Kate shoulder Nate’s bag. “You want help carrying him out?” 

Kate shakes her head. “No, I’m good. Don’t want you to keep the team waiting anymore.” 

She leans down to give Lucy a chaste kiss. Before she can pull back, Lucy’s tugging her back down and sneaking her tongue into Kate’s mouth. A throat being cleared causes them to separate. Lucy looks over her shoulder to see Jane giving her a pointed look. 

“I said war room in five eight minutes ago. Let’s go, Luce.” 

“Right,” Lucy says distractedly. 

Kate chuckles and kisses her cheek. “Go. Love you, be safe. I’ll see you tonight.” She picks up the car seat with Nate safely buckled in and heads off. 

Lucy watches Kate walk away and rolls her eyes hearing Jane’s foot tapping impatiently. “I’m coming.” She jogs over to Jane and falls into step beside her. “Sorry, boss.”

Jane sighs fondly. “It’s okay.” They climb the stairs and reach the top landing. “And I guess I can’t really blame you.” She gives Lucy a knowing grin. “Kate does look good with a baby.” Jane cackles as Lucy trips over her own feet and reaches a hand out to steady her.

By the time Jane announces it’s time to shelve their investigation until the following morning the sun has dipped below the skyline. They all file out of the office, Jane following Lucy home to pick up Nate. When Lucy unlocks the front door Kate’s in a tank top and shorts cleaning up in the kitchen. Lucy dumps her belongings on the kitchen table, kissing Kate’s bare shoulder as she walks by. She walks into their bedroom and strips out of her work clothes. Dumps them in the hamper and pulls on the t-shirt and shorts Kate laid out for her. 

Lucy pads back into the living room to see Jane and Kate getting Nate into his car seat. Jane pulls his bag into her shoulder and hefts the car seat up. She murmurs her thanks to Kate again and waves goodbye to Lucy. She waves back and waits for the door to shut and then stalks over to Kate. 

“Hey, Luce. Hungry?” Her question is answered by Lucy pinning her against the kitchen counter. 

“No. Undress and get on the bed.” 

Kate’s eyes widen and she bites her lip. “Luc-” 

“Hands and knees,” Lucy interrupts. “I want you from behind.” She smirks as Kate enthusiastically nods, slapping her ass as she hurries toward their bedroom. 

Kate had given up on trying to hold herself up after her third orgasm. Her elbows had buckled and her front half collapsed onto the bed. Lucy hadn't been phased. She’d just tightened her grip on Kate’s hips and hauled them up to where she wanted her. 

The new angle was driving Kate crazy. Strap dragging over that spot that makes her toes curl and stomach flip. Lucy’s got her worked up again in minutes, and Kate’s tumbling back over the edge. Lucy stills her hips, staying buried in Kate as she eases her down until she’s flat on her stomach on the bed. She pants, trying to catch her breath as Lucy kisses up her spine. Kate closes her eyes and hums as Lucy strokes over her sides, drags her mouth up her neck to murmur into her ear. 

“You’re so pretty. Always take me so well.”  

Kate whimpers at the praise. Feels herself leaking around the strap and rolls her hips back. Lucy responds with a light thrust and gently bites her earlobe. 

“Do you think you can be good and give me one more?” Lucy whispers. Kate shakily exhales and nods into her pillow. “Use your words, baby,” she tuts. “I need to hear you say it.” 

“Yes,” Kate groans out.  

“Good girl,” Lucy rasps. 

Lucy begins a slow roll of her hips. Quickly picking up the pace with how easily Kate takes her. The steady stream of praise from Lucy combined with filthy comments of what else she’d like to do to her has Kate back on the precipice embarrassingly quickly. But Lucy doesn’t notice how close she is. Or maybe she does, but she’s reached the point where she’s more focused on chasing her own release. 

Based off the slight stutter of her hips, how her grunts of exertion are turning high pitched and shaky tell Kate it’s the latter. Lucy’s hold on her hips tightens even further, just edging on the pleasurable side of painful. Kate’s going to have bruises in the shape of her fingertips tomorrow. The realization has her letting out a sharp whine. 

“Kate,” Lucy chokes out. She’s so close. She needs just a little bit more. But what that more is she’s not sure. “Katie, baby-” 

Kate reaches back and takes hold of Lucy’s left wrist. Arches up just enough so she can take her hand and press it to her mound. She’s so wet. Lucy’s fingers slip over Kate’s clit. Touching her there is more of a reassurance for Kate versus helping make her come. But Lucy’s so close. 

So she decides to pull out a trick she doesn’t use that often. Lucy sneaks her hand up to press against Kate’s lower belly on her next stroke. Kate goes so loud there’s no doubt in Lucy’s mind that the neighbors know her name. 

Her gamble pays off. Kate locks up. A high, continuous moan falling from her open mouth. She clenches so tightly around the strap all Lucy can do is grind into her. A flood of liquid spilling out of Kate and coating Lucy’s thighs and the harness she’s wearing. 

And that does it. That has all the breath vacating her lungs. Her vision whiting out as she stills her hips against Kate. It now being her turn to shout so loudly there’s no doubt the neighbors know Kate’s name too. Lucy can’t hold herself up any longer as she continues to come. Collapsing down on top of Kate. 

When Kate grunts unhappily Lucy maneuvers them until she’s spooning her. Both of their chests heaving as they try to catch their breath. Kate hisses as Lucy licks up the bead of sweat that’s trickling down her neck. She presses a light kiss to where her tongue just was. Noses into Kate’s damp hair with a content sigh. 

“I think we just made a baby,” Lucy jokes. She grins against Kate’s shoulder when she tiredly laughs. 

“I’m not sure it works that way,” she rasps. Her voice hoarse from use. “But if it was, I think that would do it.” 

Lucy hums and kisses across her shoulder. Softly kneads over Kate’s side. “Of course it would. I worked hard.” She chuckles at Kate’s light hearted scoff. “You ready for me to pull out?” 

“Yeah.” 

She carefully begins easing out. Letting Kate adjust to no longer being full. When Lucy slips out she sits up. Watches her girlfriend wriggle around and stretch her limbs out. Her blonde hair is dark from sweat. Body littered with hickies, bites, and marks from Lucy’s hands. Kate looks thoroughly debauched and well fucked. And Lucy can help the pleased grin spreading across her face. 

“Admiring your handiwork?” Kate teases. 

“Uh huh.” Lucy traces a finger over the sharp jut of her hip. “I always do my best work when it comes to you.” 

Kate snorts and lightly kicks at her. “Dork.” 

“Your dork,” Lucy replies. “Do you want to shower?” 

“Can we do a bath instead?” Kate asks. “I don’t think I can stand up long enough to shower.” 

The implication goes straight to Lucy’s head, making her grin turn smug. “Oh yeah?” 

Kate huffs and rolls her eyes. “Yes.” 

She begins to pout and Lucy caves instantly, the want to continue teasing her brushed aside. “Okay baby, bath it is.” 

Lucy bends down and gives her a quick kiss before climbing off of the bed. She scowls as Kate laughs when her knees buckle. Makes her way into the bathroom and begins undoing the harness. She steps out of it, dumping it and the strap into the sink. She’ll clean them off later. 

As she begins to move around the bathroom, Lucy can help but think about her quip. I think we just made a baby. And okay, maybe it’s something she’s been thinking about a lot lately. Having a baby with Kate. Truthfully, kids have never been something Lucy thought about seriously. It’s not that she didn’t like them, she just could never see herself as a mom. 

But she can absolutely see Kate as one. The way she interacts with the Tiny Tennants. How she takes the ball of chaotic energy that is Parker in stride. Just today she was able to soothe Nate like it was nothing. And maybe Lucy just might want to see her do that with their own kids. 

While they haven’t broached the subject of kids very much, it’s a conversation that needs to be had. Especially since Lucy’s got a ring tucked away that’s waiting for her to find the right moment to propose. She has an inkling of what Kate’s answer will be. About being proposed to and kids. But the minuscule, so tiny it really doesn’t even exist, possibility that Kate says no when she gets down on one knee or floats the idea of becoming moms is still there. 

She sighs. Gripes at herself for letting those thoughts take root. Kate loves her. And she loves her back. Lucy knows she’ll say yes. To the proposal and to kids. She just has to be brave enough to ask. 

Lucy turns on the water in the tub. Runs her hand through the stream until she’s satisfied with the temperature. She plugs the drain and allows the tub to begin to fill. Dropping in some of the essential oils Kate likes. Lucy cuts the lights. Uses a remote to turn on the amber lights attached under the vanity, bathing the room in a warm glow. 

She pads back into the bedroom to find Kate half asleep on the bed. Lucy leans over and kisses her cheek. “Hey, sleepyhead. Let’s get you cleaned up before you pass out.” 

Kate mumbles out something Lucy takes as an agreement and helps her up. Slips her arm around her waist and guides her into the bathroom. She steadies her and helps Kate lower herself into the tub. Kate groans appreciatively at the warm water, scooting up just enough so Lucy can slide in behind her. 

She carefully moves around until she sits in the cradle of Lucy’s legs. Kate leans back against her chest, rests her head on her shoulder. The water ripples slightly as Lucy wraps her arms around Kate. 

Lucy kisses her temple. “Good?” she whispers. 

“Good,” Kate murmurs back. “Thank you, Luce. Love you.” 

She kisses her temple again. “You’re welcome, darlin’. Love you too.” 

It’s only a recounting of a handful of instances. But they’re the most glaringly obvious ones. Particularly that last one. Lucy doesn’t need to look at Kate to know she’s got a satisfied, smug look on her face. And truthfully Lucy knows she has no defense. But she can’t concede to Kate’s observations that easily. It’s the principle of the matter. And her proclivity for being competitive. 

“I guess.” Lucy shrugs. “Maybe.” She still refuses to look at Kate and keeps boxing up food. Lucy knows what’ll happen the minute her hands are free and her eyes land on Kate. And Jane might kill them if she catches them having sex in her kitchen. 

Kate hums thoughtfully. She moves forward until her front is flush against Lucy’s back, the shorter woman pressed into the counter. Kate grips the edge of the counter top on either side of Lucy, caging her in place. She leans in and Lucy shivers feeling Kate’s lips ghost across her cheek. 

“I’d let you put a baby in me.” Kate nips Lucy’s ear and walks away. 

Lucy .xe stops functioning. Kate passes Ernie on her way out onto the deck. Lucy vaguely hears him inquire about his food. Kate nods her head toward Lucy and offers her a wink as she steps outside. Ernie makes a beeline for Lucy and begins questioning her, oblivious to how she’s completely fixated on Kate.

“You did give me and Pike the same amount of kalua pork right?” He launches into an explanation of what happened last time, even though it wasn’t last time and Lucy knows all of this already. But she also knows when he gets on a roll he needs to finish his spiel. Lucy tunes him out, eyes drifting back to the sliding glass door where Kate’s just on the other side. Ernie realizes she’s not paying attention to him, follows her line of sight and smirks. “You okay there, Luce?” 

“Yeah, all good,” she distractedly replies.  Lucy watches as Jane sidles up to Kate. They begin talking to each other, Jane teasingly knocking their shoulders together. Kate smirks and leans in close to whisper something to her. Jane throws her head back and laughs. Kate looks back inside and catches Lucy staring. She winks at Lucy again, and her self control snaps. 

“I think me and Kate are gonna dip out,” Lucy announces. 

“But you haven’t finished with the food yet.” Lucy glares at Ernie and his shit eating, knowing grin. 

“All yours my guy, have at it.” She throws a pair of tongs at him, laughing as he fumbles with the utensil trying to catch it. Lucy’s satisfied with hearing Ernie shriek about her almost staining his new shirt with barbecue sauce. “Oh quit it, you big baby.” She leaves him pouting in the kitchen and stalks out onto the deck to worm her way between Kate and Jane. 

Lucy rocks up on her tiptoes and pulls Kate down. She says lowly into her ear, “We need to leave. Preferably five minutes ago.” 

Kate shakes her head, and Lucy hears her tell Jane told you . They say a quick goodbye to everyone and Lucy all but drags her towards the side gate. Kai calls out see you in the morning! to their retreating forms as Lucy continues to tug Kate along. They get to Kate’s suv and Lucy pats down her own pockets before turning to Kate. 

“Keys.” 

Kate chuckles as she deposits her keys in Lucy’s open hand. Lucy unlocks the suv and clambers into the driver’s seat while Kate takes her time walking around to the passenger side. Kate laughs as Lucy scowls at her, opens the door and slides into the seat. Kate takes note of Lucy’s grip on the steering wheel, preens under the charged look directed at her. 

“I’m not going to see Kai and Jesse in the morning for our surf sesh, am I?” 

Lucy shifts the gear selector into drive. “I’m not going to say you won’t. But just know I’m making it my mission for you to have trouble walking tomorrow.” 

Kate flushes and plays coy. “Get us home and we’ll see about that.” 

The next morning Kate’s sleeping so heavily she doesn’t stir when her alarm goes off. Not budging  when her phone starts to ping with texts and vibrates as a call comes through. All the noise is annoying Lucy. But Kate’s asleep on her chest, and reaching out to grab her phone would mean having to move her. 

Lucy snags her own phone from her nightstand. Unlocks it and begins texting Kai one handed, rubbing over Kate’s bare back with her other. She sends something simple enough to get Kai and Jesse to take a hint and stop trying to reach her. Wore her out last night, she couldn’t stand up on a board if she wanted to. 

She snickers to herself seeing the typing bubble pop up then disappear. Likely Kai typing out a response before he fully read her text. Then throwing his phone to the side once he did. Jesse’s the one who ends up texting her back. You broke Kai. But glad you had a good night! 

Kate mutters in her sleep and presses further into Lucy. She drops her phone to the side and gently starts carding through her hair. Scratches over her scalp to help her ease back into a deep sleep. Kate shivers. Mumbles something that might be Lucy’s name before she goes silent and still again. 

Lucy loves getting to see her like this. Face unguarded and open in sleep. The light dusting of freckles across her nose and cheekbones, not usually visible with the makeup she wears. And while her clenched jaw always stirs something in Lucy, it’s nice to see it relaxed. She kisses the crown of Kate’s head. 

“Kate Whistler, I love you and I’m gonna marry you,” she whispers. “You already know that, but I still like saying it.” Lucy smiles down at her. “I wanna make you a mom too. But I think you already know that too.” 

She brushes her nose against Kate’s hairline. “Soon I’m going to have to work up the nerve to say it when you’re awake. But this is good practice.” Lucy kisses her hair. “Soon, babe. Real soon.” 

Kate is reclined on their bed in just a thin tank top and underwear, mindlessly scrolling on her phone. She hears the front door open and close. She smiles to herself hearing Lucy toss her keys on the counter and chuck her bag to land who knows where. Kate chuckles hearing Lucy stumble around as she’s tugging her boots off. 

“You good?” She calls out, hearing what sounds like Lucy swearing as she tumbles to the floor. Kate hears I’m good! called out from the entryway and footsteps that get closer and closer until Lucy’s in the doorway of their bedroom. Lucy pauses to flash a grin at her and starts stepping toward the bed. 

“Unh uh,” Kate tuts, stopping Lucy. “You need to change.” 

Lucy pouts. “But I literally haven’t seen you all day.”  

“C’mon, Luce. You know the rule, no-” 

“No outside clothes on the bed,” Lucy finishes with a sigh. “You and your rules.” 

Kate fondly rolls her eyes. “Well, the sooner you change, the sooner you can say hello properly.”

Lucy strips out of her clothes, tossing them in the general direction of the hamper before rifling through dresser drawers for shorts and a t-shirt. She pulls them on and spins around only to see Kate looking towards where Lucy’s clothes didn’t quite make it to the hamper. She huffs and rolls her eyes. “Don’t worry, I’ll pick them up before we leave. Now…” Lucy grins as Kate looks back over at her with a sly smile. 

She climbs onto the bed and kisses Kate, groaning when she meets her with an open mouth. She pulls back and chuckles as Kate chases her lips. Lucy leans down and peppers her face with kisses before capturing Kate’s lips one more time.

“Hi.” 

“Hi.” 

Lucy shifts off of Kate and shuffles down until she’s level with her midsection. She tugs Kate’s tank top up and presses a kiss to her exposed belly. “How are my loves doing?” 

“Good. Only got queasy once today, but I think that would’ve happened anyways.” Kate’s face crinkles. “Tyler’s sea bass always smells rancid.  No one in the office can stand to be anywhere near the kitchen after he microwaves it.” 

“Ugh, Tyler. Can’t that guy take a hint?” 

“He’s a lost cause when it comes to cooking.” 

They continue to chat about their days, Lucy absentmindedly rubbing Kate’s hip and dropping kisses on her belly. Then the kisses get lower and lower until Lucy’s mouthing at the top of Kate’s panty line. She looks questioningly up at her and grins against her skin when Kate lifts her hips up enough for Lucy to drag the panties down her legs.

Kate huffs out a laugh. “And I thought my sex drive was supposed to increase.” 

Lucy hums against Kate’s hipbone before lightly biting it. “Can you really blame me? I’m married to an incredibly beautiful woman and she’s carrying my baby? You’re lucky I let you leave this bed.” 

Kate’s laugh turns into a moan as Lucy continues her descent. “Me and kids still do it for you, huh?” 

“Yes,” Lucy finally admits. Any sort of victory Kate feels is immediately replaced by the pleasure of Lucy licking a stripe up her cunt. “We’ve got half an hour before we need to get ready to go to Jane’s. So lay back and let me say hello properly .” 

They’ve only been at the hospital for four hours, but it feels like longer. All the nurses and the doctor kept commenting how lucky they were. Roughly five hours of labor and a smaller baby gave way to an easy delivery. If you can call literally pushing a tiny human out of your body easy.  

Lucy’s stretched out on the convertible chair by the hospital bed. She blinks rapidly to keep from dozing off and cranes her neck to look at Kate. Lucy can only imagine how she’s feeling, seeing as how Kate did all of the work. Her water had broken around midnight and they arrived at the hospital close to one. Dilation from five to ten centimeters happened so quickly there was no time for Kate to get an epidural. By five am they had a baby girl in their arms. 

Lucy studies her wife and daughter in the low lamplight. Kate’s slightly reclined, robe open and nursing the baby. She’s softly humming, eyes fixed on the little bundle in her arms. Lucy knows she has to be exhausted. Her face is still a little red and splotchy. Eyes red rimmed and slightly puffy, bags having formed underneath them. Hair haphazardly piled in a bun on top of her head. And she’s the most beautiful Lucy’s ever seen her. 

“You’re staring.”

“You’re beautiful.”

Lucy’s words have the desired effect. Kate huffs out a laugh and shyly meets her gaze. “Flatterer.” 

“It’s not flattery when it’s true.” Lucy sits up and pads over to sit on the edge of the bed. “The two prettiest girls in the whole wide world are in this room, and they’re both mine.” 

Kate grins as Lucy leans in to kiss the corner of her mouth. She turns her head to softly capture Lucy’s lips. Lucy smiles into the kiss, pulling back when she hears little grunts. 

Lucy looks between them to see the baby has unlatched from Kate. “I think she’s done. Want me to burp her?” 

Kate carefully passes her over. “All yours.” 

Lucy spreads a cloth over her legs and unswaddles the baby girl, carefully positioning her in her lap, just like a nurse showed her. She keeps a hand flat on her little chest, supporting her chin and jaw with her hand. Lucy leans the baby girl forward slightly and starts patting her back with her free hand. It doesn’t take long before soft burps break the silence. 

“I never knew burps could be so cute,” she coos.  Lucy glances over her shoulder to find Kate gazing at her adoringly. “Baby girl is most definitely the cutest to ever do it.” 

Kate chuckles. “Baby girl needs a name.” Her face pinches in pain as she shuffles to the side and pats the space next to her. 

Lucy frowns. “I thought we were going with your pick.” She cleans up the baby’s mouth and reswaddles her before slotting in beside Kate. Lucy lays the little bundle down in her lap.

“She doesn’t look like a Michaela,” Kate says with a shake of her head. She plays with a piece of Lucy’s hair that’s fallen out of her ponytail before tucking it behind her ear. “I think she looks like an Amira.” 

Lucy pauses. “I wasn’t really being serious when I made that suggestion.” She traces an impossibly small nose with her pinky. “It was just a childhood nickname.” 

“A childhood nickname that you loved,” Kate points out. She slides an arm around Lucy’s waist and hooks her chin over her shoulder. “Obviously that doesn’t have to be her name. But biologically she’s yours, and you said teaching her about your culture was important to you. So an Arabic name makes sense.” 

Kate drops a kiss on Lucy’s shoulder. “Plus, she is our little princess.” 

Lucy mulls it over. “So, Amira Jane Whistler?” 

Kate nods against her shoulder. “Amira Jane Whistler,” she echoes. 

“Jane’s going to cry when we tell her.” Lucy smiles at Kate’s soft laugh. 

“Probably,” Kate agrees. While they’d left their daughter’s first name up in the air, her middle name was decided the day they’d discovered they were having a girl. She fusses with Amira’s cap and strokes over the curls peeking out from underneath it. “Have you told the team she’s here?” 

“Yep,” Lucy confirms. “They wanted to give us some time, so they’ll drop by after work.” They fall silent, content to watch their daughter slowly fall asleep. Lucy feels Kate start to lean on her more heavily. 

“Lay down, baby. Get some sleep.”  

“You sure?” Kate sleepily slurs. 

Lucy kisses her temple. “Of course. You did kinda give birth this morning. I think you deserve to sleep for like a week.” 

Kate tiredly laughs and lays back, tugging Lucy down with her. Lucy picks Amira up and cradles her against her chest. She gently shushes her as Amira lets out a disgruntled whine at being moved. When she’s settled in place Kate cuddles into her side. Lucy slides her free arm around Kate, the other curled protectively around their daughter. She feels more than hears Kate mumble I love you into her side and responds with a quiet I love you too. 

Lucy turns her attention back to Amira. “And you, little one, we love most of all.” She smiles as the baby nuzzles against her chest. “And to think, this all started because mama was babysitting a girl named Moana.” 

She feels Kate nudge her leg. “Lucy,” she whines. “Will you ever let that go?” She cocks her head as she contemplates. 

“Nope. But do you still have her mom’s contact information? We need to send them a thank you card.”  

Kate groans and attempts to bury her face further in Lucy’s side “Lucy,” she whines again. 

“Okay, okay,” Lucy relents. “We’ll figure it out later. Rest, my love. I’ve got you.”