Thursday, August 1st

Summer arrived in Silver Lake and with it a lot of sunshine, heat and tourists from all over the world. Especially the last ones annoyed Sara a lot today. She had no idea how many rental cars she overtook on her way from Angeles National Park back home. What were all these people doing here? Why weren't they on the Hollywood Boulevard? Marching up and down the Walk of Fame? Stand on the Santa Monica Pier? Places, that were made for tourists, places, where they didn't need a car and - most important - weren't in her way.

Stopping in front of her home she found another tourist sitting in front of the door. One, she knew and was happy to see, who had never been in her way. Quite contrary. She had been very helpful since they met.

"Hey Kim, what are you doing?" She greeted the young Dutch woman, who arrived this noon for another one of her two weeks vacations with Sara and Sofia. Why did she sit in front of the door?

"Waiting for somebody to let me in. Your lovely girlfriend wrote me she'd be here but nobody opens the door. Not even your housemates seems to be at home. I mean, I can understand it, with this wonderful weather they should be on the beach."

"Really? I thought Sofia is back home by now, especially because she said, she'll be here when you arrive. Maybe something came up at work, I'm sorry you had to wait. Let me let you in."

"Thanks."

"How was your flight?"

"Steady, a little bit bumpy over Ireland and the Rocky Mountains, like most times. Nothing special, just like the service. I wonder why they don't come along more often with drinks. I don't need snacks all the time, but more than three times a glass of water would be nice. Especially because their glasses are tiny and not like a large one you get here when you're in a fast food restaurant."

"They only serve water three times on a twelve hours flight?" Sara was shocked. You were supposed to drink a lot of liquid when you sat for a long time in a plane and Kim got only three glasses of water? That was more than poor service. She had to remember to take a bottle of water with her, when she flew over to Europe. "And then you come here and nobody opens the door. Not the best start in your vacation."

"Depends on how you look on it. I sat next to a more than cute guy, we talked a lot and became members of a nice club."

"Mile high?" Sara grinned. She knew a few things about this club and remembered it was a nice flight when she joined the club. She didn't really care about the service or the none exiting on-board entertainment.

"I didn't say that."

"Your dirty smirk did."

"Hey, the entertainment program wasn't that exciting, I had to do something in these twelve hours. Unfortunately he stays in San Diego, too far away for another get together and we also don't fly back to Europe together."

"Oh sorry about that."

"Doesn't matter, there'll be other cute guys in Los Angeles. Oi, nice and cool, it was hot in the sun but I couldn't get myself to sit into the shade, we had so much rain the last weeks, I'm in desperate need for sunshine and heat." Kim opened the door to her room. After she had been here a couple of times, she knew her way around and was welcomed by the dogs like a long lost friend. "Hey guys, why didn't you open the door for me?"

"It was locked, otherwise these funny creatures will take themselves for a walk. We had that once and we don't need it again." Sara petted Rantanplan and Scooby, who kissed her hand like gentlemen in the old movies.

"Very smart dogs. If your mommies aren't around, you take care of yourself. Oh my bed, I missed you so much; especially during the flight. Give me five minutes for a shower and then I'm all yours for the next twelve hours. Oh no, I have to go shopping first or I end up without breakfast…"

"Don't worry, Steve did that for you. He bought you blueberry bagels, your favorite and there's plenty of coffee in the kitchen. You're all set for your first breakfast tomorrow and tomorrow evening we'll have a barbecue to celebrate your return. If you need something to drink, you know where the water is."

"I love you guys so much." Kim hugged Sara enthusiastically. "Sharing beer and pizza was the best thing I ever suggested. Give Sofia a kiss when she's back, even when she forgot me, I'm sure she had a good reason and I'm off to the indoor waterfall and my first class bed."

"Sleep tight, my flying Dutch."

"Always flying back to you." Kim vanished in her room to get her stuff for the bathroom while Sara opened the backdoor to the garden and stepped outside with the dogs. Home after a long day in Angeles National Forest. Twelve hours, a busy day and tomorrow didn't look any different. Summer was peak season, a lot of people came to the forest and a lot of people meant a lot of work for Sara. Did she regret becoming a park ranger? Not one single day. She was thankful for her time in Las Vegas, knew she made the city safer by being a CSI, but since she was in Los Angeles she was truly happy. Which was only partly because she changed jobs. Mostly she was happy because of her wonderful fiancé. Sofia, the greatest gift she ever got. To love the blonde, to be loved by the blonde, was too good to be explained with any words. Their two kids, Stephen and Susan just made their family perfect. Yes, she had her own family. Who would have thought this ten years ago? She certainly didn't.


"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I'm late." Sofia came in the garden a little bit after seven in the evening.

"Don't tell me, tell Kim tomorrow. Although she enjoyed the sunshine." Sara pulled her lover into her arms and kissed her. "Where have you been? You were supposed to be back two hours ago."

"I know, I know, but there was a huge traffic jam on the 405 and while I was thinking about getting off the interstate I heard somebody calling for help in the car in front me. A woman, highly pregnant, was in there alone and her baby had decided to come out in the middle of rush hour traffic jam. Needless to say that calling 911 and demanding an ambulance was useless and there was no doctor around so another woman and me helped her deliver the baby. When she had her cute little daughter in her arms the ambulance arrived and took her to a hospital where mommy and baby Sofia Maureen will spend the next two nights."

"Baby Sofia Maureen?" Sara asked amused.

"Yes, she named her daughter after the two women, who helped her."

"I've to say it's a nice reason to be late." The brunette kissed her lover. Sofia helped deliver a baby on the interstate, she was a heroine. Not that Sara ever doubted that.

"Yeah, babies first, I'm sorry for Kim, but I had no other change. And my cell phone battery was empty, so I couldn't call you."

"It all added up. Don't worry, Kim is fine, sound asleep and happy about the blueberry bagels Steve got her."

"Talking about our son, is he still out?"

"Yes, working with Mel and Susan is with your parents. Your mom called half an hour ago and said, she'll keep her overnight so the house is quiet and we can sleep." Susan had been awake for most of the time the last two days, making it hard for both women to get some sleep. Marie saw it as her duty to make sure her daughter and daughter-in-law weren't tired at work and decided to give them a night of sleep. And of course she loved having her granddaughter over.

"Oh, means we have the night off. No guest to entertain, no baby daughter to look after, we can talk about our wedding and practice for the honeymoon."

"Or we can do the laundry, clean the apartment, take the dogs out for a walk and have a look at the books what our financials are saying." Sara suggested mostly to annoy Sofia.

"Seriously? You're such a spoilsport." Sofia made a grimace. They had the night off, no child to look after as Stephen was absolutely fine on his own and her fiancé thought about cleaning and accounting? Was the brunette about to call off the wedding?

"No, I'm sensible."

"Can we find a compromise?"

"How would it look like?"

"We take the dogs for a walk around the reservoir after we started the washing machine, start a second one when we're back, hang the laundry out in the garden, clean the bathroom and take a bath in the freshly cleaned bathtub. No financial stuff tonight, it will only give us a headache. Oh and we talk about our wedding while we're having a bath. The wedding plan."

"And which one of the ten million wedding plans we made in the last months do you like to discuss?" Sara pulled the blonde into her arms and kissed her softly.

"The nicest. And the realistic one. What do you think?"

"I think I'd like to tell you how much I love you."

"Why don't you just do it?"

"Because there are no words that can describe my love to you. All words, no matter in which language, aren't good enough to describe this feeling."

Sofia pulled the head of her lover up and kissed her passionately. No needs for words, this was the reason why she loved Sara, why she knew, she was the one for her, the one, she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. Her future wife. The most amazing, adorable and wonderful person on this planet and surely also in the entire universe.

"You are so going to marry me, Sara Sidle."

"Well, I asked you to marry me, Sofia Curtis and you agreed, so yes, I will marry you."

"When?"

"We talk about this in the bathtub. For now, you do the laundry, I take out the trash and then we take the dogs for a walk. And don't forget to call your mother, thank her for taking care of baby Sue tonight."

"You're such a good daughter-in-law, no wonder they love you."

"They love me because they know I love you. Come on, keep going, sexy ass." Sara slapped her hand on Sofia's backside. Time to do the duty and then they had all the time for pleasure. The faster they finished the duty the more time was there for pleasure.