Summary: Grace and Frankie have been together for some time and finally decide to share the news with their kids.
Together
Grace was starting to feel nervous. Grace sat there, Frankie by her side her, her daughters and Frankie's sons, all sitting outside eating lunch on a perfectly nice day. Although it wasn't just any lunch they were having. Frankie and Grace had big news for their kids, news that revealed that Grace and Frankie were a couple. That was still such a weird thing for Grace to think about. They were a couple…
Grace tried to snap out of her thoughts, trying to pay attention to the chatter at the table. Thankfully they seemed too busy talking amongst themselves which gave Grace some piece of mind. She felt that she was on the verge of falling apart and the kids were blissfully unaware of her feelings. Of course Frankie knew something was up, seeing right through the façade Grace was trying to keep up. Frankie eyed her suspiciously, watching her carefully.
"I'm going to go get some more water," Grace said suddenly, taking a half full pitcher into the kitchen. Frankie's eyes followed her into the house, knowing that she had to get away and clear her mind. Frankie waited a few moments before and she dismissed herself from the table. Their children thought nothing of it, completely ignoring the both of them as they continued their meal and conversation.
When Frankie entered the kitchen Grace was hunched over the sink, gripping tightly onto the edge of the counter. Frankie frowned walking up behind her. When she first touched her, Grace jumped but immediately calmed down realizing it was only Frankie. Frankie wrapped her arms around her waist, pressing her body against Grace's back. Grace smiled to herself, feeling a little less tense.
"Tell me what's wrong," said Frankie. Grace turned around slowly letting Frankie withdraw a little bit before placing her hands on either side of Grace.
"I'm afraid!" Grace said, slightly annoyed that Frankie didn't realize the obvious.
"Grace Hanson, afraid of her own kids?"
"It's not just my kids," she said softly. Grace looked down, her fingers fiddling with part of Frankie's shawl. She looked up at Frankie, trying not to let her emotions get to her. "There's been more than a few times when I've been an absolute bitch to your boys, especially Coyote." She couldn't count how many times she had been insensitive to Coyote. God, she didn't even want to think about it.
"Well luckily for you Coyote is the more forgiving of the two and you've already apologized to him a dozen times."
"I know but what if it wasn't enough. What if we tell them, and they're upset."
"Then fuck 'em! If they can accept their jackass dads then they can accept us. We at least have the guilt free conscious that we at least hooked up after the divorce," Frankie reminded her. "Everything will be fine,"
"Promise?" asked Grace, the corners of her lips curling into a small smile. Frankie smirked as she cupped Grace's cheeks drawing her closer before stepping on her toes and kissing Grace on the forehead. Grace smiled, finding it amusing that Frankie was using something that Grace often used to help calm her down.
"I promise," Frankie said with crooked smile. Frankie took a step back putting her hands on her hips. Grace ran her hands over her shirt, ridding it of any wrinkles, though Frankie was sure she was only doing it to stall for just a few more seconds. Grace grabbed the pitcher of water giving Frankie a nod as if saying she was ready.
"Now move that sweet ass out of here!" she said, swatting at Grace's behind making her jump. Grace gave her a side glance obvious disapproving of her actions but Frankie just smiled as she followed her back outside.
They returned to their seats, their kids not even giving them a second glance. They continued to eat for awhile. The chatter being of this and that. Coyote talked little about his sobriety and a few songs he was working on, and Bud talking about his girlfriend. Mallory mentioned her kids and Brianna expressed her glee that she didn't have kids of her own.
Everyone was nearly finished with their lunch when Grace felt Frankie lightly kick her with her foot. Grace swallowed hard, giving her a nod, giving Frankie the okay.
Frankie smiled as she stretched her hands out over the table, drumming her fingers lightly.
"Listen up kiddos!" she announced. "We asked you to come here because there's something important we have to tell you." Everyone gave their attention to Frankie, all looking curious. Frankie opened her mouth but she hesitated for a moment wondering how exactly she should say it. If she had went over what she was going to say like Grace usually did, this wouldn't be a problem.
"Don't tell us you're dating," Bud joked, making the others laugh.
"That would be interesting," Mallory said sarcastically, taking another bite of her pasta.
"Could you imagine our dad's face if that happened," Bri said making her sister almost choke on her food.
"Your mom and our mom," Bud snickered at the thought.
"Come on, guys," Coyote tried to stop them, though he found it rather funny.
Frankie chewed the bottom of her lip getting agitated by their laughter and when she saw Grace sulking, it set her off.
"Well we are!" Frankie shouted cheerfully, giving them a wide smile. All their eyes landed on her.
"You're joking," Bri laughed, but it faded quickly suddenly unsure, seeing their expressions.
"Are you?" Coyote asked, now incredibly confused. Everyone went silent, feeling a bit of tension in the air. Everyone's gaze shifted to Grace who had been awfully quiet, looking to her for an answer. Surely if this was a real, Grace would let them know.
Grace took a deep breath preparing herself for the worst. She reached out her hand and covered Frankie's hand, giving it a squeeze.
"We are together…"Grace confirmed. Silence fell over the group, their kids were dumbfounded. Grace could feel her heart start to pound, her palms starting to clam up and though Grace thought for a moment Frankie was going to take away her hand, she turned it over so their fingers were intertwined, brushing her thumb over her skin.
"Like together, together?" Mallory broke the silence.
"Yes," Grace said, this time speaking with more confidence. "Together, together."
"Holy fuck," Brianna said. Their kids seemed to be lost in thought, once again going quiet.
The silence was unbearable for the two older women, especially Frankie. Frankie rolled her head, hitting the table with her free hand.
"Did an invisible cat just wander up here and take all your tongues or is it really a surprise that we're a thing?" Grace leaned up, her free hand gently rubbing Frankie's arm, in hope that it would calm her down.
"It's a surprise alright!" said Bud, flinging himself to the back of his chair, still looking perplexed.
"Is it though?" asked Coyote. He furrowed his brow. "I mean how many times have we heard mom say she wanted to do questionable stuff with Grace?"
"Frankie's always been like that," said Brianna, looking over to Frankie. Frankie gently nodded her head.
"Guilty," she admitted.
"How long has this been going on?" Mallory questioned. She leaned forward crossing her arms on the table, trying to piece things together.
"About four months," Grace answered.
"Four months and your just telling us now?" said Bud.
"Well we… Well I wanted to tell you all at the same time," answered Grace. "It wasn't easy getting you all here together with how busy you've all been. I know how upset you girls were when you found out over the phone." Mallory and Brianna glanced at Bud, remembering how he was the one that called them with the news that their father was gay.
"I thought you two drove each other crazy?" Brianna asked but her question was completely ignored when her sister asked another.
"And I thought you said you couldn't sleep in the same bed as Frankie?" Mallory said.
"Oh, she can! I just have to really wear her out," Frankie bumped elbows with Grace, giving her a wink. Grace rolled her eyes, shaking her head.
"Have you ever heard the phrase, too much information?" asked Brianna.
"Really Brianna," said Grace giving her daughter an annoyed look and sarcastic laugh. As if Frankie hadn't ever said worse.
"We've had four months to practice and I don't want to brag… Oh who am I kidding, I want to brag! I'm really good with what I do," Frankie said, perhaps being a little too bubbly.
"Can we stop with the dirty sex talk please?" Coyote asked, starting to feel that having this type of news during lunch was a bad idea.
"Sex is only dirty when it's being done right," Grace quoted, starting to feel a bit more courageous now that everything was in the open.
"In which case, it's filthy!" Frankie chimed.
"Whose bright idea was it to tell us this news during lunch?!" Bud asked pushing his plate away, not wanting to finish.
"You can thank your new mom for that," Frankie said with a Cheshire cat like grin. Grace couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm.
"I can finally call Frankie my mom," Bri said, more to herself than to the others.
"Not like you haven't before," Grace scoffed. Brianna shrugged her shoulders.
"Dreams really do come true," she said with playful smirk.
"You don't want us to call you mom, do you?" Coyote asked Grace. Grace surprisingly chuckled.
"Not really."
"Go for it!" said Frankie, nodding her head. Grace glared at Frankie, once again shaking her head.
The rest of lunch played out perfectly. Of course there were a few more questions about how it all happened and how it all came out, but time seemed to go by faster now that Grace wasn't a bundle of nerves. It honestly surprised her how well everything came out and how accepting their kids seemed to be. It wasn't long before their children had to get going.
"Bye moms, thanks for scarring me with the image of you two in bed," Bri said as her and her sister took turns hugging Grace and Frankie.
"If you keep bringing it up then I'll tell you what your mom's favorite thing is. Spoiler alert! It's these artistic fingers," she wiggled her fingers in the air. Brianna cringed as she hurried for the door dragging her sister along with her.
"Love you guys!" Mallory called out before laughing.
Grace took a hold of Frankie's hand pulling it down to her side, making her stop the finger wiggling.
"Will you please shut up about that stuff?!" Grace looked annoyed but Frankie just smirked.
"Only if you make me," she said with a wink.
"Well, Coyote and I are going to go catch a movie. Hopefully forget about some of the stuff that was said today," Bud joked as he fished for his keys from his pocket. Coyote stopped in front of the two, he took a deep breath and hugged both Frankie and Grace. Grace was taken by surprised and patted his back lightly. She'd really have to get used to hugs.
"Bye mom," he said to Frankie and then looked to Grace, "bye mom," he said before turning and following his brother out of their home.
As soon as they heard the door click shut, Grace fell to the sofa, letting out a low groan. Frankie sat next to her.
"Now that wasn't so bad," Frankie said looking over her lover's face. Grace rolled her head to the side to look at Frankie.
"Something's wrong with you," Grace said. She raised her hands, wiggling her finger, "artistic fingers?!"
"Am I wrong?" Frankie argued. Grace narrowed her eyes at Frankie.
"No," she said coolly. "But you didn't have to tell them that."
"Oh, come on. It was funny," Frankie pouted. "How many chances does a parent have to scar their kids anyway?"
"I'm just glad it's over," Grace took a deep breath laying her head back and closing her eyes. It didn't go exactly how she might've wanted it to go, but at least it was done and over with. She felt silly being so worried in the first place. Grace raised her head feeling her shirt being tugged. Frankie's fingers danced over her blouse onto the buttons.
"What are you doing, Frankie?"
"These artistic fingers of mine have a mind of their own." Frankie unbuttoned the first button on Grace's blouse. Grace swatted her fingers away from her shirt.
"We have a mess to clean up," Grace reminded her.
"It can wait," Frankie insisted brushing her lips against Grace's.
"Frankie…" she warned.
"I'm only trying to reward you for a job well done," Frankie said between kisses.
"Cleaning first," Grace squirmed as Frankie's lips brushed across her jaw.
"I'll clean it later," Frankie said.
"No you won't." She argued but she didn't pull away from Frankie's sweet kisses.
"Well I'll help," she said softly. Grace rolled her eyes feeling Frankie's fingers at it again on the buttons of her shirt.
"Fine," Grace finally caved in. Frankie smiled, claiming victory before she gave Grace a tender kiss on the lips, this time Grace deepened the kiss, pulling her body closer. The day turned out better than she thought.
