The small Thai restaurant was crowded and noisy on this particular Friday night. Two woman and a teenage girl sat in a booth by the door, amicably sharing a meal with smiles and laughter. The blonde grinned when the waiter asked if he could refill her drink, even though the brunette beside her didn't seem too happy with this decision. The young teenager also accepted another refill, ignoring the sharp look sent her way across the table from her mother.
When the waiter moved onto another table, Janet shook her head and regarded her dinner companions with an expression that bordered on apprehension. "Are you two sure you want all that? You don't usually do too well with all that caffeine."
Sam giggled and nodded, glancing across the table at Cassie. The girl nodded back as she sipped more of the Dr. Pepper in the glass before her. "Yeah, Mom, we'll be fine. You worry too much."
Raising her Diet Coke, Sam toasted the teenager before inserting the straw between her lips and watching the woman next to her with an amused look. "Oh, come on, sweetie. It's just soda. What could be so bad about that?"
Janet shook her head. "Famous last words," she muttered, leaning over as Sam replaced her drink on the table and placed a quick kiss on her partner's lips. "You taste like Diet Coke," she complained, not missing their daughter's reaction from across the table as the girl rolled her eyes and let out a loud puff of air. Janet's eyebrows raised in mock surprise. "Something wrong?" she asked, already knowing the answer. Cassie had become more and more rebellious in the past months, the recent incident with Nirrti helping and hurting the normal process of the teenager's growth at the same time.
"You two are so embarrassing," Cassie muttered, poking her food with her fork.
"Embarrassing?" Sam asked, picking up her fork and eying the teenager suspiciously. "If I recall correctly, it was you who asked me to move in and be your second mother."
"Four years ago!" Cassie protested, her eyes darting around the restaurant, most likely hoping she didn't see anyone she knew. "Besides, it is so not cool for me to be hanging out with you two. You're so . . ." she trailed off and slumped back in her seat, dropping her fork onto her plate and averting her eyes, choosing to watch the waiters bustling about rather than her mothers.
"Sappy?" Sam supplied, taking a bite of her food as a broad grin spread across her face.
Janet shook her head and added, "Actually, I think 'corny' is the word she doesn't want to say." With a smile of her own, she took Sam's hand and squeezed it gently.
Cassie snorted and shook her head. "No, I think the word I'm searching for is 'old'."
"What?" Both women blurted in unison, their tones a mixture of shock and hurt as they regarded their adopted daughter closely.
Sam was the first to recover as she calmly put her fork down and grinned wickedly. "Well, we'll just see about that." She could feel Janet's eyes grow wide as she picked up her soda and quickly drank the rest of the cold liquid, raising her hand in the direction of their server. "Waiter," she called.
"Sam. . ." Janet trailed off as she watched the man pour her partner another glass of soda.
"It's okay, Janet," the blonde replied, shooting Cassie a look with a challenge behind it. "I think our daughter needs to be shown just how 'young' her mothers can be."
The waiter smiled down at the women, his gaze landing on the doctor. "Anything I can get for you, ma'am?"
"Coffee," she replied, preparing herself for a long night. "Lots of lots of coffee."
It was three in the morning by the time the three of them fell through the front door and landed unceremoniously in a pile on the floor, all three giggling uncontrollably. From the restaurant they had visited the arcade, where they had all challenged each other to Dance Revolution, the added caffeine coursing through their systems aiding their quick movements. Janet had played for a little while, but after her short buzz from the coffee wore off, she resigned herself just to watch.
At two am, the sole worker still around informed them that the arcade was closing and they would have to vacate the premises. Cassie finally conceded that Sam had won and they left, admittedly not as quietly as they should have given the early hour.
They would have gotten home long before three, but Sam and Cassie had wanted to stop by a park on the way home, immediately pouncing on the swings. Janet watched in amusement, marveling at the energy both Sam and Cassie seemed to ooze from every pore in their bodies. "Well," she mused to herself, "I suppose ten refills of soda will do that to a person."
And so the strange night had continued, right up to the giggling pile on the floor. They all managed to move enough so that Sam could shove the door closed with her foot. Then they settled down next to each other on the floor staring at the ceiling with Cassie in the middle.
"Okay," the teenager confessed between giggles. "Maybe you two aren't as old as I thought." She smiled and blushed a little, wiping her hair out of her eyes with one hand. "In fact, you can be pretty cool . . . sometimes."
Sam and Janet laughed and rolled onto their sides facing the girl. "Gee, thanks," Sam replied before her eyes locked with her partners and a sneaky grin spread over her face. She nodded and they both leaned over, tickling the girl from both sides.
Cassie howled and squirmed to get away, but they had her trapped. "No fair!" she squealed, trying to fight them off the best she could. "Okay, this is so NOT cool."