Title: Is your daughter a rainbow girl too?
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Written by me...though I don't own any of the characters, unfortunately.
Summary: Jenna, struggling to deal with her daughter's sexuality, decides to attend a meeting for mothers.
Notes: Written for a holiday fic challenge on Livejourna, for the prompt Is your daughter a rainbow girl too? from Red, based on the characters Jenna Fitch and Gina Campbell.
She tentatively opened the door of the community centre, her hand still resting on the outside handle for security until she knew she was in the right place. She didn't know this area of Bristol all that well and was quite frankly a little scared of roaming the streets or turning up in places she didn't even knew.
It all looked above board. A number of women, mostly of similar ages to herself, stood around with cups of tea and biscuits. A circle of chairs sat in the centre of the room, where a couple of the women were already taking their seats.
Jenna let go of the handle and allowed the door to slide closed, jumping as it tapped her on the back.
'Good evening, can I help you?' said a woman, her hair cut short and dyed blonde. For all Jenna knew she could be one of those women, one of those, those gay women that liked to keep their hair cut to a man's length. She'd grown up being told that women have long hair, regardless. The only time you're allowed to cut it short is when you're too old to care. She didn't ever anticipate not caring to keep her hair at a suitable length for a woman.
'I'm here for the Mothers of Lesbian Daughter's group?' she muttered, clearing her throat mid-sentence and glancing warily around the room. Her cheeks flushed, if she was in the wrong place, then this would be awfully embarrassing.
'Welcome,' the woman smiled and held her arms up, she rested one on her shoulder and the other around her waist. Before Jenna knew what was happening she was being pushed towards the others, manhandled by some lesbian woman she hadn't even formally met yet.
Eventually the woman left her alone. She cautiously took a seat and folded her hands neatly into her lap. She could feel the red in her cheeks grow until she was sure that someone would notice. She'd never been so embarrassed in her whole life, except during that meal when Emily had come home and told her she'd been having sex with, with…a girl. Why she had to put it across so bluntly she didn't know. It was hard enough stomaching the idea of her little girl having sex with anyone, let alone, one of those people.
'Here's some tea,' the women said, handing her a mug and sitting down beside her. She took it gratefully and began sipping on the hot liquid, anything to distract herself from thinking about her lesbian daughter or the women in the room.
'Are you a rainbow girl too?' she asked, before regretted her choice of words when the woman stared at her aghast.
'A rainbow girl?' she asked, her eyebrows furrowed but judgement remained absent in her voice. 'How long has it been since your daughter came out?'
'Six years.'
The woman choked back a mouthful of tea, coughing and spluttering for a moment before regaining her composure. Jenna turned away, her face must have been the colour of a tomato by now. She wanted the ground to open up and take her away from this horrible, horrible place.
'Six years? I thought you were going to say weeks, or even days.'
'I've had some,' Jenna began, pausing as she tried to choose the best selection of words. 'Trouble coming to terms with this.'
'Not to worry,' the woman smiled and Jenna felt a little more comfortable in her presence. 'Most mother's come to us within a few months of their daughter's coming out and someone who's known as long as you, well, we don't see many using language as, colourful.'
'What else should I call them?' she asked, shrugging her shoulders. She was completely out of her depth, what did she know about what language was appropriate? She'd seen a television programme a couple of years ago where a lesbian girl described herself as a rainbow, if it was okay for her, why was it so strange for Jenna to use that phrase?
'Lesbian, gay, homosexual, there's a number of other words, more appropriate words.'
'Oh.' Jenna's cheeks flushed again. She placed her tea on another chair and pressed her palms to her cheeks, was she that warm? She felt warm, her cheeks felt like they were burning. 'So are you a, a, lesbian?'
'No,' the woman smiled again. 'I'm a proud mother of a lesbian daughter; it's been five years since she came out.'
'P, proud?'
'Very.'
The woman looked positively happy. How could she talk about her lesbian daughter with such, such, glee? She couldn't understand how this was so acceptable to this woman. Then again, she didn't look like the average housewife. She was wearing a Greenpeace t-shirt after all. She was probably one of those hippies that believed in free love.
'I'm about to begin the meeting,' she said, interrupting Jenna's thoughts. 'Hopefully we can talk after? I'm Gina.'
'Jenna,' she muttered, taking her mug off the seat beside her and trying her best to keep her hands from shaking.
This was going to be a strange evening.
