There was something so peaceful about their lives, well their lives outside of work. It was something that Lara had never thought would be a possibility, for her to feel like the world was right and that there could be so much happiness and content in it. The world outside might not realize that they were secretly at war (though sometimes not so secretly) with alien threats, but it was all worth it as far as they were both concerned. They were trying to make for a better future.

Of course, alien threats weren't the only enemies of the human race.

Lara lay there naked in bed, she was curled up in Alice's arms. Her hands ran over the tattoos that she knew where on her wife's body, each one she knew without looking at them. They were a culmination of Alice's life before the DEO...before they'd met. It was like a tapestry of her past drawn right there on her skin. A past that had made her strong, hard, and yet...never changed the bright and beautiful spirit inside of her no matter how much that past tried to beat her down. That was how Lara saw them...it was more than that, though...more than art...it was more like armor.

"I can always see when you go from happy to…"

"I'm just thinking," Lara whispered quietly. She squeezed her eyes shut as she pressed her ear against Alice's chest, clinging to her, and just listened to her wife's heartbeat. She wanted the world to just fade away around them...or at least their home. Reality was hitting her brain and all she could think about was how she wished it could just be the three of them.

People had it wrong. There were so many that didn't understand the world. They didn't understand people that were unique in their own beautiful and flawed ways. People fear what they do not know, this is something that is passed down. The thing was, Lara had never feared love...and she didn't understand why the world would.

"What's wrong, Love?"

Alice always knew.

"You know people have it wrong," Lara whispered. "It's not the alien threats that the human race has to really fear…" Alice pressed a kiss into her hair. "It's ourselves...and all I can think is that when we're here...when we're home...or when we're at the Harewoods...that is the world that I want Charlie to live in...to grow up in...but that's not the entire world."

"I know, Love," Alice breathed. "It's on us to make it better for her…"

"No matter it seems like there's so much hate in the world."

"And we'll combat it the only way we know how," Alice responded gently as she traced over the scars on Lara's upper arm. She opened her eyes and turned her head upwards towards her wife. "With love…" Alice was smiling now, it was something that Lara swore she only did at home or for very rare occasions. "We didn't always love each other…"

"I didn't hate you-"

"Let's be honest...we both hated each other...but it was because we let the demons inside of us...the demons of us past haunt us for so long," Alice whispered. "We both had dark pasts...and though I thought that I was being punished by having you and Charlie crash here in the beginning...I realized soon enough-"

"It was like eight months, Alice," Lara pointed out with a bright smile. As odd of a beginning was their relationship...one that started at odds and then morphed into friendship and then into something more...until they figured it out...before they found so much love and joy.

"I think it was closer to six…"

It really didn't matter who had the right month, all that mattered was that it had happened. They'd found themselves in each other. "I'm fairly sure that we at least liked each other by the time we were recruiting Danvers…" She caught Alice's smirk. "What?"

"I fell for you long before Danvers joining…"

"Lies…"

"I've told you this-"

"You have not," Lara said. A moment later, she smirked and moved until her lips pressed against Alice's. "At least not recently...but I might love to hear about it...so tell me…"

"It had nothing to do with your inability to take a shower silently…"

"Everyone loves broadway," Lara put out there unapologetically.

Alice just smiled. "Your first mission in the field… I thought that you were going to end up dead...or badly wounded…"

"I never understood why you thought I was so helpless," Lara brushed off. "I was a Marine."

"Because all I saw before that moment was the broken Lara that needed to rebuild her life...you seemed so fragile then."

"You weren't wrong."

"I think we were both a bit broken."

"Good thing I was really good at gluing the pieces back together," Lara teased.

Alice laughed and then shook her head. "I thought I was telling the story?"

"Oh, do go on…"

"When we got back that day...after I left you there alone-"

"The boss was not pleased with you on that one…"

Alice was glaring at her now.

Silence.

"I couldn't believe my eyes...all of those creatures that you'd taken out and fixed the communications equipment...all by yourself...you hadn't even finished standard DEO training and then for the boss to say that he was thinking about making you a field agent-"

"You did not love me then!" Lara argued playfully, with a bright smile.

Alice shut her up with a kiss. "Maybe not," she whispered against her lips. "But I don't think I'd ever been so turned on in my life…"

Lara was gleeful at that response. She kissed Alice and couldn't have been happier than in that moment. "Do you want me to tell you when I first realized I loved you?" she half teased far too brightly.

"No."

"Awww… Really?"

Adler sighed dramatically. "I already know I love you more-"

"Blasphemy!" Lara responded just as dramatically.

They both laughed and just lay there, holding each other.

"Tomorrow's another day," Lara finally whispered.

"We'll take on the world then…"

"One idiot at a time?"

"Depends...sometimes they flock together…"

"Like geese?"

"I was going to say lemurs…"

Lara took that in for a moment. "You know that lemurs are considered a conspiracy, right? Not a flock?"

Alice just shook her head. "Why did I marry you again?"

"Obviously not for my amazing random nuggets of knowledge," Lara said brightly and pressed a kiss to her wife's lips. "I think I won you over with my singing…"

"So help me-"

But nothing was stopping her now.

Lara was in full performance mode and there was no going back. "So, you've come to see if I'm really sick. Is that it?" she questioned in a normal voice. Soon the singing began and she didn't hold anything back because she knew that deep down Alice absolutely loved her singing. "So you can tell everyone there's not a thing wrong with me!"

The End.