Hey! So we took my little cousins and little brother to the zoo the other day and inspiration struck me and I thought about how cute it would be if Shelandra took little Rachel to the zoo. Then my mind elaborated on it and I decided to make a oneshot series about Shelandra raising Rachel and I decided to call it the Singer, Dancer, Little Star series.
So I'm taking any prompts you want written, if I can get them to work! xD of course I'll credit your ideas in the authors notes and thank you IMMENSELY for any prompts you send to me. You can either put them in the reviews or PM me. Or, you can put them in my ask on tumblr (my tumblr is the-queen-and-her-savior ).
Tell me what you think! This took me longer than I expected it to, but i'm proud if how it turned out, all the same.
So for this first oneshot, Cassie decides to treat Rachel (and Shelby) to a day at the zoo for Rachel's early birthday present. Oh, and Rachel LOVES pandas. xD
with love always, hayleynymphadora
Singer, Dancer, Little Star Series
A Day at the Zoo
Everything was peaceful in the Corcoran household; as it usually was, at 5 in the morning. Shelby Corcoran and her long time girlfriend, Cassandra July, were fast asleep in bed. Both were aware of the long day ahead of them, and both were anticipating a little ball of energy, (Shelby's biological daughter, Rachel), to wake them up from their relaxed state very early.
And they were right.
The little girl rushed into Shelby's bedroom, an excited little flame with long, chocolate brown hair, and gorgeous, wide hazel eyes. "Mommy! Mama!" she exclaimed, jumping up onto the king bed and pulling back the huge black comforter, exposing her parents to a shocking cold. "Wake up! Going to the zoo!"
Cassandra moaned upon being woke up, but she then remembered that it was Rachel. Cass wasn't a morning person, but for her little Rachel, she could pretend to be one. She sat up and pulled her tangled blonde hair out of her eyes. "Well good morning to you too, Rach," she smiled tiredly.
Rachel sat on her knees on top of Shelby's stomach. She poked Shelby's face to wake her. Cassie laughed,
"Be careful, don't poke mommy's eyes out, okay?"
If Rachel acknowledged her, it went unknown. "Mommy," she poked at Shelby's cheeks and the brunette mother, who was only pretending to sleep, at this point, tried her best not to laugh. As an actress, you'd think it'd be easier. "Mama's up! Going to the zoo?!"
The whole "Mommy" and "Mama" thing grew from the fact that Shelby and Cassandra, though only still considered girlfriends, shared Rachel. Cassandra had been a part of Rachel's life since she was very very young, and ever since Rachel could talk, Cassie was "Mama" and Shelby was "Mommy".
Cassie reached her hand out and squeezed Shelby's side. The gesture made Shelby gasp and move back—her sides were her tickle spots, among others, that made her lose all senses of acting. "Yes, wake up, Shelbs. We're going to the zoo." Cass turned on her side and kissed her lover's cheek, warmly.
Slowly, Shelby's eyes fluttered. "How could I forget?" she smiled. This day trip had been the only thing Rachel had been talking about for a week, ever since Cassie decided to ask, 6 months before her actual birthday, what Rachel wanted to do for her special day of turning four. The young girl, whose real birthday was in December, had begged her mothers to take her to the zoo. Cass insisted it would be her present to Rachel—she always loved to spoil the child.
Even though Shelby and Cassie had been a couple for five years and Cass stayed at Shelby's virtually every night anyways, they didn't live together. They had separate jobs, separate schedules, and liked to take things slowly with each other, (both women had had serious heartbreak and trusting issues from their pasts). In any case, their incomes were separate as well, and Cassie liked to spend every spare penny she earned on their Rachel. She wanted their little star to have the world. Shelby wanted this as well, but Cassie's stubborn nature and insisting on buying almost everything (because she did earn more than Shelby did), left Shelby to pay for essentials like food and electricity.
Because of this zoo trip and Cassie's refusal to let Shelby pay a dime, they decided to each splurge for Rachel's birthday separately—Cassie for the zoo in the summer, and Shelby for whatever Rach decided her little heart wanted in December.
Rachel crawled off of Shelby and started bouncing, shaking the bed frame and making it smack against the back wall. "Come on, come on, come on,"
"Don't jump on the bed, baby girl," Shelby laughed lightly.
"Then get up!" the young Corcoran said, exasperated.
So, her mothers did. Cassie retreated to the closet, and Shelby and Rachel stayed on the bed; Shelby was sitting up, so Rachel supposed it would do, for now.
Cass searched through the clothes in Shelby's closet, finding a white tank top and a black lace t shirt, as well as a pair of jean shorts. She pulled them out, stripped, and put them on. Shelby watched her, accusingly.
"Oh, I'm wearing your clothes," Cassie informed her after the fact, pulling her hair behind her shoulders and walking to the connected bathroom to brush her hair.
Shelby finally stood and went to the closet to find herself something to wear. "Don't you always?" she asked.
Pressing her lips together, Cassie shook her head. "Mmm, not on weekdays…"
Because on weekdays you wear a leotard and fish nets with stilettos…
With an eye roll, Shelby found a pair of black shorts and a purple tank top. She put them on and Rachel bounced in place on the bed, (despite her mother's asking her not to), ever so impatiently. As Rachel Corcoran usually was. "Can we eat and gooooo?"
The women laughed. "Calm down, Rachie," Shelby said kindly. "We have to all get ready before we can go, okay? Did you want pancakes for breakfast?"
Rachel bobbed her head up and down quickly in answer.
"Okay, come on," she picked up her little girl who was growing up so fast and put her on her hip. She walked them into the bathroom, gave Cassandra a peck on the lips and said, "Good morning, by the way,"
"Morning," Cass smiled back, finishing running the brush through her hair.
"I'm going to start breakfast," Shelby informed her.
Cass winced, "Shouldn't you do something with your hair first?" she teased.
Shelby bumped her with her hip. "Hush now you; be nice."
"Yeah, be nice!" Rachel said from Shelby's side.
"I am nice, panda-boo." Cassie scrunched up her nose and looked at Rachel with a smile before poking Rachel's nose with her finger.
They often called her panda-boo because of her love (or, more commonly known as her obsession) with pandas. Hence, her reasoning for wanting to go to the zoo, besides the fact that she loved animals in general and had never, in fact, been to the zoo.
"Yeah, Mommy, she is nice," Rachel turned on Shelby—she never truly knew which mother's side she wanted to take.
Shelby adjusted Rachel on her hip so she wouldn't fall. "How come you always take Mama's side?" she joked. "Maybe she should make you pancakes!"
Rachel bugged her eyes out. "Mama can't cook!" she exclaimed.
At this, Cassandra dropped her mouth in protest, even though she knew it was a very true statement. Shelby grinned from ear to ear. "Oh yeah. That's why I do the cooking, huh Rachie?"
Rachel nodded. "Let's goooo."
Laughing, Shelby carried her out to the kitchen and got out a mixing bowl for the pancakes. Once she had them starting to cook on the griddle, Cassie joined them, ready for the day and gorgeous as always, in the kitchen. She sat at the counter and propped her head up in her hands, watching her Shelby make breakfast. Shelby was so beautiful. She moved about the kitchen with a sort of grace that Cassandra, as a dancer, admired immensely. So many times Cassie had asked Shelby to dance with her. She only did it on rare occasions, but oh did Cassie love when she did.
Rachel sat herself up at the counter next to Cassie, copying her posture. "How many pancakes do you want?" Shelby asked, turning around and spying her families' actions. She laughed. "What are you two doing?"
"Nothing," Rachel said suspiciously, with a giggle.
"Nothing, huh?" Cassie asked her, tickling her sides. "Nothing? Are you copying me now? This doesn't look like nothing!" she laughed along with Rachel.
"Mama…" Rachel giggled loudly. Cassandra stopped tickling her and kissed her forehead.
"Three for me," she answered Shelby.
"Three for me," Rachel copied. Shelby raised an eyebrow.
"That's a heavy load for a little girl," she said. "How about two? And if you don't finish you can just eat it later?"
Rachel nodded at the idea.
"Do you have an outfit picked out, Rachie?" Cass wondered.
At this Rachel shook her head. This was odd, considering the little girl liked to plan out EVERYTHING in advance as soon as she could. Like Shelby, she could often be quite OCD about situations. But the young little Corcoran hadn't thought that far ahead—she had been too busy thinking about waking up her mommies and seeing the pandas at the zoo.
"Come help!" Rachel exclaimed, jumping down from her seat at the counter and running to her bedroom.
"Rachel, please don't run in the house!" Shelby called after her. Cassie shook her head with a laugh.
"She has too much energy in the morning," she said, getting down from her seat and walking towards Shelby, wrapping her arms around the woman's waist and placing a kiss on her cheek.
"Mmm," Shelby agreed. "She has too much energy always. Maybe the zoo will tire her out?"
"Right," Cassie rolled her eyes and kissed Shelby's cheek again before heading towards Rachel's room. She was being summoned as Rachel yelled,
"MAMA! COME ONNNNN!"
When Cassie made it to Rachel's room, Rachel had her closet wide open as well as all of her dresser drawers. "Help," she repeated herself.
"Well what do you want to wear?" Cass asked, sitting on Rachel's bed. "It's your birthday, Rachie."
"Nuh uh!" Rachel exclaimed.
"It's your birthday present," Cass corrected herself. Rachel went over to Cassie and sat on her lap.
After a moment of thought, the little girl spoke, "Can I wear a dress?" she wondered.
At this, Cassie put a finger to her chin in fake contemplation, joking around with the little girl. "Hmmm….how about a sundress?" she said. "And a pair of shorts underneath so you can still run around and play?"
"Okay!" Rachel hopped off of Cassandra's lap almost roughly and rushed to her closet. Rachel had a lot of clothes (as did most spoiled children) and even more sundresses and skirts than she had pairs of jeans. After stepping up onto the stool Shelby had made so that Rachel could in fact reach her clothes, she searched through the dresses twice. Finally, she settled on a black sundress with big white polka dots. (The black sundress was always an ongoing battle between Cassandra, who found the concept of a BLACK sundress to be a little off, and Shelby who argued that dark colors attracted the sun and therefore made it a SUN dress). Underneath, she pulled on a pair of jean shorts that Cassie picked out for her. After she was dressed, Cassandra got out Rachel's hair brush and started brushing the girl's long, straight brown hair. It was so thin and fine, just like Shelby's. By the time she was done with this, Shelby was calling them to the kitchen so they could eat.
After breakfast, Shelby decided to do Rachel's hair for her.
"What do you want, Rach?" she asked. "Braids? Pigtails? Dancer's bun? Ponytail?"
"Hmm…..braids!" she decided.
"How many, baby girl? Two?"
Rachel nodded and Shelby started to separate Rachel's hair into two parts and braid each part.
"Cass, do we have everything ready?" She asked of her girlfriend.
Cass waved her hand at Shelby's question. "I've got everything taken care of Shelbs, don't do your crazy OCD thing today. It'll be fine."
"Okay…" this did not reassure Shelby. Not at all. And she didn't love the fact that Cassandra referred to her preparedness as her "crazy OCD thing".
"Stop worrying, Shelbs. This is my present to Rach. I got this."
"Okay," she still wasn't very certain, but by all means…
Finally, after what seemed like forever to the little girl, they were driving down the road and towards the zoo. Rachel was super psyched about it, and would not stop talking about it.
"Are we gonna see pandas, mama?!" she asked, kicking her dangling legs in a rhythm against the car seat.
"I'm sure we will, munchkin," Cass answered from behind the wheel. She looked at Shelby with a knowing smile and her girlfriend returned the smile, warmly. She was thankful that Cassie was doing this today. Rachel had been so restless and eager to do something this summer and with two mothers who work, (even though Shelby worked from home), doing something every day to occupy their little ball of energy was not something easily accomplished.
"Can I get a panda?" Rachel wondered curiously.
"Not a real one, surely," Shelby laughed. "A stuffed panda, maybe. Like all of your other panda toys? You can add it to your collection."
"Okay! But what about a pet?"
Cassie laughed at their daughter's little imagination. "Where do you suppose we have room for a pet panda, Rachie?"
"My room!" she exclaimed in a "Duh, Mama!" sort of fashion.
"The panda isn't going to fit in your room, sweetheart," Shelby informed her sadly.
Rachel stuck out her lower lip and crossed her arms over her chest. "No fair." She said. And was quiet for the rest of the ride, until she saw the sign for the zoo, and she got excited again.
"Her enthusiasm amuses me," Shelby said softly to Cassie. "They're just animals."
"You know she LOVES her animals, though. You watch, when she gets older we'll realize we'll be raising a vegetarian." Cass said with a smirk as she pulled into the parking lot. "We're here, Rachie," she stated a fact that was obvious to the young Corcoran.
Rachel squealed. "Animals!" she kicked her feet against the seat again, eagerly.
Shelby got to Rachel's door and helped her unbuckle, pulling her up into her arms. But the little girl was too squirrely to keep still in the air, so Shelby slowly put her down onto the pavement and took her hand. "Okay, there are a couple of rules first, Rach. Look at me, please," she crouched down to Rachel's level and Rachel forced herself to look at her mommy instead of the statues of giraffes and lions.
"You have to be holding either my hand or Mama's hand at all times, okay? You can't go running off. This is a big zoo."
Rachel nodded. "Okay,"
"And you have to promise me you'll be good, okay? No fits today. We're going to have fun, alright?"
Rachel nodded again and took her mommy's hand. Cass walked on the other side of Rachel, who then decided to take her Mama's hand as well.
After paying admission, each person's hand was stamped with a purple zebra.
Though Rachel loved animals, she grew up in the city, and wasn't accustomed to seeing all of these different types of animals from all over the world in one place. A lot of them were foreign to her, as well as their names.
"What do you want to see first, Rach?" Cass held the zoo map down to her level so she could point to which animal she wanted to see.
"Pandas!" she said without looking at the map. Cass looked on the map for the pandas, wondering why she even asked what she already knew the answer to.
"Okay, baby girl, looks like the pandas are all the way towards the back. How about we see them last? And then we can ride the train back to the front, how's that sound?" she asked, hopeful. It wasn't as if they wouldn't have to go through the whole zoo to see them anyways. Of course they would be in the back.
"Last?!" Rachel pouted out her lower lip.
"But we WILL see them, okay?" Shelby kissed the top of her little girl's head. "I promise."
"Okay…"
"You want to see the penguinarium first? You'll like the penguins, Rach," Shelby said, reading the map so they knew how to get there.
"Peggins?"
Cassie giggled at the pronunciation. Their daughter was so cute. "Penguins, Rachie, yes. They swim and play on the ice."
"Brr. Okay!" she stuck her hand out and Cassie took it and Shelby took the other one and they walked to the penguinarium.
"We should've brought a wagon or something for her, she's not going to want to walk the whole time," Shelby observed.
"When she gets tired I'll carry her," Cassie shrugged.
Shelby looked at the woman she fell in love with and tilted her head with a smile. "You don't have to carry her. I can carry her."
Cassie rolled her eyes and grinned. "I don't HAVE to do any of this, Shelbs. I want to."
Shelby's stomach fluttered.
. . .
The penguinarium smelled horrible. Like fish and old water and penguins who don't get bathed with soap, just the old water. Rachel scrunched up her nose. "Peggins smell bad." She complained.
Shelby and Cassandra scrunched their noses with her. "Yes," Shelby agreed. "They do."
"Oh, but they're so cute!" Cassie pointed at one who jumped into the water and was swimming around, pressing his little face up to the glass. "Look, Rachie, he's looking at you!"
Rachel giggled and Shelby released her hand so she could run up to the glass and look.
The penguin swam past her 4 times and watched her as it went past her each time. The young little Corcoran was enchanted by it. "Peggin!" she giggled.
Cass smiled. "Pen-guin, sweetheart,"
"Peggin!" she insisted.
"Okay, so I guess we've seen the peggins," Shelby pressed her lips together to hide a smile. Should we go see something else now?
After seeing the lions, tigers, and bears, (after which Shelby did not hesitate to go, "Oh, my!"), they went to see the zebras, which Rachel thought were pretty but not as pretty as the peacocks, which were Cassandra's favorite.
The peacock had jumped out of its fencing and was walking around the concrete paths along with all the people. Rachel laughed. "She's free!" she exclaimed. Cass picked her up and pulled her into her arms.
"Isn't she pretty, Rach?" she asked, pointing out the detail on the peacock's feathers. The blues and greens looked almost reflective as the peacock spread out her feathers and shook her head. "She's so majestic, and she's proud and independent. She's broken free of her cage to show that nothing can hold her back," Rachel nodded and Cassie was almost positive the little girl had no idea what she was going on about. But Shelby heard her, and thought it was one of the most beautiful concepts she had ever heard. Cassandra loved the peacock, not only for its beauty, but for what it stood for.
Softly and quickly, so no one could see and ruin Rachel's day by calling them out for it, Shelby made her way over to Cassandra and placed a passionate kiss on her lips. "I love you," she whispered.
Cassie hadn't realized that she had moved Shelby with her peacock speech, but she smiled all the same, her heart fluttering at Shelby's touch, as it always did. "I love you too," she said.
Rachel giggled and hid her face in Cassie's shoulder. "Ewww kissinggggg…." Her voice was muffled by Cassie's (well, technically Shelby's,) shirt. The two women laughed and carried Rachel to the next animal.
On the way to the next exhibit, the butterfly house, there was a vendor who was painting faces. Rachel lit up as she watched the artist paint one little girl's face as a monarch butterfly and a little boy's face as a tiger.
"Can I?" she asked Shelby, pointing at the vendor.
Shelby looked for the price and shrugged. "Of course, Rachel. Wait your turn, though, okay?"
Rachel shuffled her feet impatiently. "Okay."
"What're you going to get, Rach?" Cassie asked, coming up behind her as it was finally her turn.
Their little girl beamed from ear to ear. "Panda!"
"Why do I even ask?" Cassie laughed.
Rachel shrugged. "Didn't you know?"
This made the blonde laugh harder as she paid for Rachel to get her face painted. Shelby protested, "I could've gotten that—"
"No. I've already told you this is my gift to Rachel."
Shelby didn't like this deal. It felt like Cassie was doing too much. She wrapped her arms around her Cassie and placed her head on her shoulder and watched as their little star got her face painted black and white like a panda.
Later on in the day, Rachel stated she was starving and the women figured lunch might not be a bad idea. She had eaten both pancakes earlier, but it had been a while since breakfast. They asked what she wanted and she looked at the food options on the menu as she sat on Cassie's shoulders. She pointe dup at the giant soft pretzel and Shelby ordered her one.
Shelby viewed the menu herself and sighed. "It all looks so…fattening."
Cass put Rachel back down onto the ground and smiled, poking Shelby's side as she opened the cooler she had been dragging along with them. Shelby was under the impression that the cooler only contained waters. She was wrong.
"I made us salads," Cassie explained, pulling Shelby's out for her. "I knew it wouldn't be likely you'd want anything from here."
Shelby's heart melted and she felt bad for not trusting Cassie earlier when she said she had everything covered. Her girlfriend really had thought of everything. "You didn't have to—"
"I know."
"I'll repay you. Somehow. Any way you want me to….later on…"
Cass noted her suggestive tone and reddened slightly. "I can't wait," she promised. "But you don't have to."
"But I want to," Shelby smiled, teasing her.
They found a picnic table to eat at and watched as Rachel devoured a pretzel with mustard. The table they sat at was right across from a little park where some of the kids were playing, and Rachel finished her lunch much faster than Cassie and Shelby did. "Can I go play?" she asked politely.
Shelby and Cassie took pride in the fact that they were raising such a well behaved (for the most part) little girl.
"Of course baby, but come here first," Shelby said, licking her thumb and cleaning the mustard off of Rachel's face. Rachel scrunched her face and tried to pull back.
"Mommyy…." She complained, trying to get out of Shelby's grip. "Noooo…."
Shelby laughed as her daughter struggled to break free. "Hold still," she grinned, finishing wiping her up. "Okay, go ahead. Have fun, be safe!" she called after her. Rachel was too excited to respond and she ran to the swing set (Rachel's personal favorite thing to do at the park was swing, because she liked going extra high and feeling like she was flying).
"She's growing up so fast," Cass stated, taking a drink out of her water bottle. "Remember how fussy she was when she was born?"
"Remember how fussy she was yesterday?" Shelby teased. It was often that Rachel threw little tantrums, just not today.
Cass laughed. "She's turning four. We're getting old, Shelbs."
Shelby rolled her eyes. "Her birthday's in December. We're not old…"
"We're not young," Cass corrected herself.
Shelby kissed her cheek. "You're still the young and wild and free Cassie I know and love to me, baby."
. . .
After Rachel had finished playing at the park and Shelby and Cass finished eating, they continued to walk. On their way to the sea turtles, they passed a carousel. Rachel was overjoyed.
"Can I, Mama?!" she asked, pointing at the horse painted purple. "Pleassseeeeee?"
Cassie laughed. "Yes, Rachel. How much?" she looked at the sign and saw that it was $5. She took out a $5 bill. Shelby widened her eyes.
"For one ride?!" she questioned.
Cassie shrugged. "You're paying me back," she teased. Shelby blushed and her heart raced at the idea.
As Rachel rode, Shelby took a video on her phone. It was something they often did—took videos and photos so that they could all watch when Rachel was older. Keep the memories they were making.
After which, they had seen the gorillas, the aardvarks, and the alpacas. They saw the dolphins (which Rachel had LOVED) and they saw the polar bears and the arctic foxes (Shelby's favorite, because of their beauty and strength and independence and how they chased after what they wanted, she explained). They showed Rachel the horses (she even got to ride a pretty black one), and every other animal Rachel could think of, even some she didn't know existed. They even got to feed the giraffes, and Rachel laughed as Cassie scrunched up her face and moved her mouth to mimic the giraffe as it snacked on the branch. The only thing left to see was the pandas.
"Pandas yet?" she asked, tired. They had been walking for a long time.
"They're coming up, Rach," Shelby said, softly stroking her daughters head as she held her in her arms. Their little star was exhausted.
Finally FINALLY they approached the pandas. Shelby moved Rachel so that she was sitting on her shoulders and the little girl shrieked excitedly when she spotted her favorite animal. It made Cassie feel like the best person ever to be able to make her little girl's day.
"PANDAS!" she pointed happily, clapping her hands together. All traces of exhaustion seemed to disappear. "Look, Mommy! Look Mama! Pandas!"
Shelby held tight to Rachel's legs so she wouldn't fall as they got closer to the pandas. Cassie took a picture of Rachel pointing, then took a picture of Rachel and Shelby standing in front of the pandas, Rachel's face still painted like a panda. This wasn't accomplished without difficulty, as Rachel kept turning her head around to look at the pandas. After about fifteen minutes in front of the pandas, Cassie noted that if they wanted to catch the train ride back to the front, they had to leave.
This did not make Rachel very happy.
"But Mamaaaaa…" she pouted out her lower lip and crossed her arms over her chest—the first sign of a tantrum.
"Rachel," Shelby said softly. "We've seen the pandas, now it's almost time to go home, okay? It's been a long day. You promised no fits, remember that?"
"But Mommyyy!" she whined. "Pandaaaaaassss!" she held tight to the railing in front of the panda habitat.
"Baby, please don't be difficult. We're going to get you a toy panda, remember? And then you can always see pandas!"
"I have pandas," she complained. "These are realll!" a tear slipped down her cheek and smudged her face painting.
Shelby crouched down to Rachel's level, as did Cassie. "Baby girl, we know you love pandas," Cassie said softly. "I promise you I'll take you to come see the pandas another time, okay? But it's time to go now. Please listen to Mama and Mommy, okay?"
Rachel sniffed. "Fine," she looked down at the ground and Cassie picked her up into her arms, holding her against her shoulder.
"She's tired," she said to Shelby. "You know she gets fussy when she's tired."
"Let's go, before we miss the train,"
Cassie paid for the three of them and they sat together in the seat, watching out the window as they passed by all the animals they had already seen. Rachel sat between her mommies, tired but excited to be able to see all the animals AGAIN as they were leaving. She pointed at all the animals and tried to remember all their names as Cass and Shelby both had an arm around her (she was sitting in between them), pleased that the day had gone so well. Shelby wasn't sure Cassie understood how much she appreciated how well she did with Rachel. Cassandra July was not a kid person. She wasn't really an anybody person. But she did SO very well with Rachel, and that meant the world to Shelby (and Rachel). Cassie really did make an excellent mother, despite her usual doubts that she wasn't very good at it, and her previous doubts that she wouldn't be good at it all, when they had discussed having Rachel to begin with.
Once they made it back to the front, Cassie went into the gift shop and bought Rachel a stuffed panda that was almost as big as she was. It was soft and fluffy and it was a panda, and it satisfied Rachel immensely. She hugged it tight to her as Shelby carried her back to the car, and clicked her into her seat.
As they drove home, Rachel fell asleep against her panda, holding it close to her. It was precious, and Shelby turned around to get a picture of it. After which, she took a minute to look at her beautiful girlfriend, who had done so much for their little star today, even if she wasn't a kid person. Cass had one hand on the wheel and the other hand set in between her seat and Shelby's. Shelby reached out and took her hand, warmly, excitedly. She loved Cassie's touch. It made her feel so alive. And she was so very in love with her Cassandra.
"Thank you, Cassie," she squeezed Cassie's hand.
Cass squeezed back. "Of course, Shelbs. Any time I can make Rachel's day, I'm going to do it."
"I know you're not a kid person…"
"No, but I'm a Rachel person," she smiled. "I love you two so very much."
"We love you too, Cassie."
Cass contemplated for a minute as she drove. She looked down for a split second at her hand linked to Shelby's. They didn't often hold hands in public when they had Rachel, not because they weren't proud of who they were but because they knew that some people would start something and they didn't want to expose Rachel to that so early on and they didn't want to ruin Rachel's day by trying to get themselves out of an argument with an antigay rioter. But she loved the feeling of Shelby's hand in hers.
"You know, you don't owe me anything," she said after a minute, even though the thought of Shelby paying her back excited her.
"I know. But you deserve it." Shelby said to her, tilting her head in that seductive way she knew drove Cassie crazy.
"If you say so."