Twenty Twenty

Author's Note: a quick glance into a possible future

"I'm too young to be a grandmother!" Gill wailed at everyone currently sitting in her front room. Sammy couldn't contain his grin; at least his mother wasn't angry at his news! Orla reached across the coffee table and put a gentle hand on her mother-in-law's arm.

"That's why we wanted to try now, so you were young enough to have the energy to enjoy the experience when he/she arrives." Gill looked up at her daughter-in-law, practically the daughter she had never had herself, and smiled.

"Really?"

"Really." Orla had become a dab hand at placating her mother-in-law, much more so than her husband. He was still a sensitive lad but as he had progressed through his police training a slightly harder edge had developed, which wasn't really a bad trait to have in the force.

"What about you Julie, how do you feel?" Julie had been sitting quite comfortably on the settee with a cup of tea and the paper when the two younger adults had asked for a word.

"I think it's great news and I know you'll both be wonderful parents." Julie had seen Sammy grow up and become the good-natured young man that he now was. He kept a close eye on his mum and frequently popped round to see her. He admired his mother greatly and she had been his inspiration to go into the police force.

"And about becoming a grandmother?" Julie looked at Sammy with a stunned expression on her face. "You're part of this family, you've got a role to play too."

"I'm not, not really. Great Aunt or something at best." Julie dismissed the notion; having never had any children of her own she'd never even considered the possibility of becoming a grandparent.

"You're much more than that Julie, you should know that by now." Orla spoke up having discussed all this with Sammy at length beforehand. Gill shot Julie an affectionate glance and then turned to her son with a wide, proud smile. He and Julie had always got along well together and that bond had only become stronger as her relationship with her best friend had evolved into a romantic one.

"Yeah, well we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Julie didn't dare risk looking at her girlfriend for fear that Gill had misunderstood and taken it as a dismissal of their relationship.

"You know, you could always make it official before the baby comes. It's been what, seven years?" Sammy helpfully suggested to both of the most important women in his life, second only to Orla. Both Gill and Julie snapped their heads up to look at each other in stunned silence, their guests temporarily forgotten.

"Okaaay…perhaps we should..you know..in the kitchen?" Sammy suggested to his wife, pulled her to her feet and took off as fast as they could before the scene in the living room became even more awkward than it was already.

"He was just being facetious, not really worth any thought." Gill gave Julie a way out of the slightly awkward situation so she didn't feel that she had to say something appropriately slushy and make promises she had no intention of keeping. In the seven years they had been together and of all the things they had talked about marriage had never been mentioned in a personal context. Of course they'd discussed it on a political level when the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill came into force five years previously, but they hadn't equated that with what it could mean for them. They were silent for a while longer before Julie sat up from her comfortable position on the settee and took Gill's hand in her own.

"I sort of assumed you wouldn't want to get married again, after everything with…" They rarely mentioned Gill's ex husband these days, usually only when Sammy and Orla had been to visit or were relaying some sort of message between his parents. He hadn't taken the news about Gill and Julie's relationship well so the less that was said about him the better.

"I didn't…" Gill considered and then suddenly realised how that sounded and corrected herself. "…I mean I don't." Julie looked at her partner carefully and took a deep breath.

"Gill…if I suggested we should get married, what would you say, honestly?" Julie knew it was a backhanded way of asking but she wanted to test the water first.

"We're a bit old for that sort of thing aren't we? And is there really a need?" Julie harrumphed in irritation, that wasn't exactly the response she had been after, even if it had been in the negative.

"Okay, let's try this another way." Julie got off the settee and knelt in front of Gill, hand still in hers. "Gill Murray, the last twenty odd years have been the funniest, most rewarding and happiest years of my life. I had the great pleasure of calling you my best friend before we finally woke up to the fact that we could make each other even happier as a couple. For the last seven years I've slept beside you, cried with you and have loved you like I've never loved anyone else. I want that for the next twenty years and more, so would you do me the honour of becoming my wife?" Gill couldn't quite grasp what had just happened and went to say something but the words wouldn't come out. Julie perched on the floor patiently and waited for Gill's brain to catch up, she'd had her say so it was time to give Gill an opportunity to have hers.

"I…you're serious?" Julie nodded. "It's not just because of what Sammy said?"

"Of course not! I've thought about it a lot over the last few years but because you'd never said anything I'd just assumed you didn't want that." It was strange that they had been able to talk to each other about anything and everything, no matter how difficult the subject but not this.

"I don't know, I never expected…" Gill had never expected their friendship to have evolved into this relationship in the first place but after her kidnapping by Helen Bartlett both of them had re-evaluated lots of things in their lives and the experience had brought them even closer than they had been before. She'd never expected it to have been so easy, both the transition and the acceptance of everyone around her, professionally and personally. Gill had also never expected to have been this deliriously happy. Julie got up off the floor and sat back on the settee when she realised that perhaps she had been right after all.

"Don't feel pressured to give me an answer now or to agree if it's not something you really want." Julie reassured Gill but it was with a degree of disappointment that she had fortunately kept out of her voice. She didn't know why she had suddenly felt hopeful that it was in fact that something Gill wanted after all these years of skillfully avoiding the subject.

"No, no…it's um…it's just a bit of a surprise."

"But not a good one?" This time the disappointment was evident in Julie's voice; she couldn't have helped it and wondered what Gill's reasoning was going to be.

"Julie I…I'm frightened of buggering it up all over again. I'm frightened that it will change things between us when we're doing fine as we are. I'd like nothing more than to marry you but at what price?" Gill looked up at her girlfriend through watery eyes which made Julie's heart clench.

"Oh love!" Julie reached out to her lover and pulled her in for a tight hug. She pulled back slightly to look at her carefully and brushed some errant strands of hair away from her face. "We took that risk when we got together in the first place and look how well it's worked out since then. We've worked through everything that has been thrown at us over the last seven years, why should a piece of paper make any difference to that? It's how solid we are now that counts and I'd like to think that…no scratch that, I know that we are. I'm just as frightened as you, for the first couple of years I thought it was too good to be true that you actually wanted to be with me and I was constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. You're right, we don't need to be married in order to prove anything to other people or ourselves but it will give us that extra bit of security for the future and the chance to celebrate our relationship with everyone who has supported us." The words had just flowed from Julie's tongue and had been straight from her heart.

"Has anyone told you what a beautiful human being you are?" Julie chuckled and Gill placed a quick kiss to her lips. "Okay, let's do it, let's get married."

"Seriously?"

"Most definitely." Julie took Gill's face in her hands and kissed her passionately. Gill let herself get caught up in the moment and kissed back with equal force. The elation of Sammy and Orla's announcement combined with their own news spurred on the need between them. Gill manoeuvred herself practically into Julie's lap as they kissed with increasing passion.

Sammy and Orla returned to the living room after twenty minutes, having made a pot of tea and fished around for some biscuits. Gill and Julie were so engrossed in each other that they hadn't realised they were no longer alone. Sammy and Orla grinned at each other, the embarrassment of catching the two women sharing a romantic moment long since gone due to being caught out a few times themselves over the years. Sammy cleared his throat and Orla put the tea tray on the table. The two older adults sprang apart and giggled.

"Do you have something to tell us?" Sammy prompted his mother.

"How do you fancy organising a wedding Kid?" Sammy let out a cheer of joy and both he and his wife went to exchange hugs and kisses with them. "Nothing too ostentatious mind, just a quick ceremony and a party back here." Julie nodded at Gill in agreement. Gill had already been through the whole big white wedding malarkey and Julie didn't fancy a big white puffball dress much, in fact she couldn't remember the last time she had worn any sort of dress. Although she'd definitely have to invest in a new pair of heels, it was one of her few indulgences and Gill had fortunately allowed her collection to continue since they'd been living together.

Gill looked around at her family and at the gentle swell of Orla's stomach which carried her grandchild-to-be. Years ago she would never have imagined this to be possible, Dave's infidelity and her complete humiliation over it all had crushed her confidence and she'd thrown herself into her career. Sammy and Julie had been the rocks by her side through that dark time and were intrinsically entwined throughout every facet of her life now. She remembered a vulnerable woman, caught up in a macabre childhood of violence and murder. As an adult she'd tried to do the right thing and bring justice to the victims and their families but the traumatic process and press intrusion had proved too much and her thin grasp on sanity had snapped. She'd kidnapped Gill and had intended to take them both to their deaths in order to make someone responsible and to finally get relief from it all. That day had changed Gill's life forever, for the better, and in some strange way she would always be grateful. Briefly she wondered what Sammy and Orla thought of the name Helen…