Author's note: I am not American, but I was really inpired by what happend in the USA yesterday. Congratulations to you guy!
Author's note 2: Those in bold are flashbacks
Author's note 3: Reviews are apreciated.
"Our nation was founded in a bedrock principle. That we are all created equal."
Stef, Lena and the whole family sat in the living, listening careful to the president's words. Earlier that morning they had been woke by an overly-excited/emotional Mariana and when she was asked what was happening, she just told them to turn on the TV.
"Is it really happening? Finally?" Lena looked at Stef with teary eyes.
"I…I guess it is." Stef replied with her voice shaken.
They kept staring at each other, communicating silently, both knowing what was going on the other's minds. The difficult moments, the prejudice, the fight for equality, everything came back at once. Suddenly they became overwhelmed by memories and the only thing they could do was holding each other.
Flashback:
"Folks who were willing to endure bullying and taunts and stayed strong."
A sixteen-year old Lena walked through the halls of her school. For her, it should be just another day in school, but for some reason things seemed difference. There was something strange in the air and even though she tried to shake that thought off her mind, she could stop thinking that something bad was about to happen. People looked at her and whispered, when she walked they parted like the red sea, and caught some disapproving looks towards her. Every step she took she could feel her heart sunk a little.
For her relief, she finally got to her locker and she hoped that she cpuld just pick her books and run for whatever was happening at the moment. But when she eventually opened it, much to her surprise, hundreds of chocolate bars fell. Confused, she picked one of them and indentified it as a Klondike bar.
Was it a joke? She couldn't understand it. She saw a fold piece of paper inside. "Well, at least, whoever did this left a note" she thought, but when she read what it said, her blood ran cold.
"Klondike bars, for the school's dyke"
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"It's a victory for their children whose families one of the recognized as equal to any other."
Mariana and Jesus were at class. Mother's day was getting closer and their teacher, Miss Bown suggested that the students did a card to giver to their respective mothers.
So, just like the others, the twins were drawing and painting and letting their imagination fly. Mariana's cards were pink, with a lot of hearts and glitter all over the place, unlike Jesus' that were full of cars and roller-skates and all of the things that most of boys like.
Suddenly a boy on his way to the bathroom stop and looked, puzzled. It was weird for him that both Mariana and Jesus were doing two cards while everyone else was doing just one.
"Why are you doing two?" The boy, Ethan, didn't hesitate to ask.
"Because we have two moms." Mariana answered nonchalantly.
"How?" Ethan was really puzzled.
"Mom and Mama are married. Just like your mommy and daddy." Jesus said, already used to that type of question.
The explanation given by Jesus jogged the boy's memory and without filtering his words, he spoke:
"So your Moms are dykes?"
"Don't say that word. Moms say it is really bad and rude." Visibly upset, Mariana replied.
"My daddy said that all fags and dykes are nasty and that they are all going to hell." Ethan wouldn't shut up, making the twins more and more uncomfortable.
Jesus knew he couldn't stand there just listening to a random kid talk like that about his family. He saw his sister on the verge of tears, he thought about his Moms and how good they were for him, how much he loved them. He needed to take action, even if he knew it would get him in trouble.
"Shut up!" He shouted before pushing Ethan, who, after a moment of shock, pushed him back.
Before the altercation got really bad, the teacher intervened.
"Jesus, Ethan, to the principal's office, right now!"
Jesus walked to the door, red with anger, and just before he left, she sent one last look to Mariana, trying to reassure that things were going to be okay.
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"I know change for many of our lgbt brothers and sisters must have seemed so slow for so long."
Stef and Tess were cuddling on Stef's couch, watching TV and chatting. Stef's parents were out, what gave the girls full privacy to talk about whatever they wanted.
"Do you think someday I will be able to get married? To have a family like everyone else?" Stef asked. The blonde teenager had just come out to her best friend, Tess Brown, who had accepted her without second thought, and was in need for some emotional comfort after all the stress.
"I really don't know. But let's be positive, if they say there will be spaceships by the year 2000, who knows what could happen?" Tess tried to cheer her up
"What if I get AIDS like the other gay people? What if I die because of that? Pastor says…" Stef started fraking out, but was interrupted before she could go on.
"Hey, hey, hey. Stop freaking out. You're gonna be okay. I don't really know much about it very much, but I promise that you and I are going to figure it out. And I think one day you are gonna meet a beautiful girl and be happy ever after and everything is gonna be okay."
"Do you really think that?" unsure, Stef questioned.
"Of course."
"Will you be by my side?"
"Always."
With that, Stef felt a little less insecure, a little less alone and began to think that maybe, just maybe, things would get better one day.
That lasted for a few moments, until they heard a powerful male voice shout at them:
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?"
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"What a vindication of the belief that ordinary people can do extraordinary things. What a reminder of what Bobby Kennedy once said about how small actions can be like pebbles being thrown into a still lake. And ripples of hope cascade outwards."
Stef and Lena were walking home after a child-free day. Everything had been lovely, they had woken up early and dropped the kids at Jenna and Kelly's house, went to the beach and spent the whole morning and part of the afternoon there, then had lunch at a small restaurant by the beach. Everything had been perfect and now they were walking to their friends house to pick up the kids. Their walk was silent but not awkward at all, and the couple took that time to enjoy silence and peace before picking up the kids.
On their way, they saw a small group of people getting out of a building, chatting and laughing and, just like them, enjoying their day. All of them, kids, adults, elderly people, were dressed with what seemed to be their best clothing and as they got closer, the couple realized that the building was in fact a church.
Worried, Lena let go of Stef's hand, know that not only it could be dangerous for them, given the recent attacks on gay bars by religious fundamentalists, but she knew how Stef still felt about God and religion. All the guilty, the confusion and the anger she had bottle inside of her.
Stef, on the other side, missed Lena's hand. The blonde knew why her partner was doing it, that she was only trying to protect her and her feelings and she really appreciated it, but isn't there a time when a woman has to say that enough is enough? That she had to get up and fight for what she believes in, for whom she love? Stef was tired of hiding, of not standing up for herself, and with that subversive thought she made a decision and did the most revolutionary thing she could do at the moment; she picked Lena's hand once againg, and held it, more proudly than ever. The woman just looked at her, confused but all of her doubts were answered by the strong hold that Stef hand in her hand.
Suddenly, there was no confusion anymore, and the only thing left was the feeling the together they could face anything.
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"We have made our union a little more perfect"
Stef and Lena hugged as the president continued to speak on the background, that was a memorable moment that both of them thought, at some point, that they would never see. It was something to be celebrated and remembered. The kids joined the hug, knowing how important that moment was for their family and for hundreds of families like theirs. At that moment the Adams Fosters were just one.
"Just like ours has ever been" Stef whispered, making Lena hug her a little tighter.