Six o'clock. Aubrey fixed her hair by the foyer mirror. She thought she looked decent in that expensive black dress and high heels. She grabbed her purse and keys after putting on her coat – it was October and it was getting colder each passing day - and walked out the house. She said she would be picking Chloe in thirty minutes, and she would never forgive herself if she got late for their first official date.

It had been a week after she showed up at Chloe's door, and three days after that she asked Chloe to go on a date with her. Yes, three days only. She could not wait any more time without Chloe. And well, why would she? Chloe's enthusiastic answer to going to dinner on that Thursday night was all she needed to reassure herself that maybe she had done the right thing.

She was knocking at Chloe's door four minutes earlier than planned, when a teenage girl opened the door.

"Hello!" the girl greeted. She was short. Short like Beca Mitchell. But she was too perky and her blonde wild curls and flowery purple dress didn't resemble Beca Mitchell at all. "You must be Aubrey."

"Um- I am." Aubrey gave her polite smile without really having time to ask herself who was that girl before the girl spoke again.

"I'm Gisele, I'm Emma's babysitter. Please come in, Chloe is almost ready." She allowed Aubrey in. "Emma is probably more eager to see you than Chloe is, though." She laughed in a bubbly way, that made Aubrey think that Chloe and this high schooler girl are probably something close to best friends.

The comment did cause some questions to pop in Aubrey's head, though. Was Chloe not eager to see her? What if Chloe was somewhere else in her life in which Aubrey didn't fit anymore? But what about that kiss? And this date?

"But Chloe is very very eager to see you, I mean. I didn't mean to, y'know, say that she wasn't. Chloe has been talking about it for days, believe me. I just mean that Emma apparently liked you very much because she said you are better than I am at tea parties, and-"

"Thank you, Gisele." Aubrey interrupted that girl's rambling, trying to be kind doing so, because it really helped with her silly doubts. "I got it." She gave the girl a reassuring smile.

Gisele smiled back. She had dimples.

The living room was just as much a children's territory as when Aubrey went there for the first time. A cartoon Aubrey never heard speak of (not that she knew a lot about cartoons, but don't kids watch Duck Tales anymore?) was on the TV. The coffee table had some blank pages and crayons on it and Emma was sitting by it, very focused on her art. She was so tiny, but maybe that was because she was four, and Aubrey wasn't used to see a lot of humans in that age.

"Emma, look who's here!" Gisele said and Emma's head turned to the living room's entrance.

"Miss Aubrey!" Emma shrieked running to Aubrey and hugging her legs. Chloe's daughter was a hugger. Like mother, like daughter.

"Hello, Emma. You can drop the 'miss', you know." Aubrey laughed, resting her hand on the little girl's shoulder.

She made small talk with her, promising she would come and have another tea party soon, and made a note to herself to ask Chloe if she could bring some chocolate cookies for the event. Aubrey was not the best with kids, but Emma just made her feel like she could be, and that she wanted to be.

Emma was explaining one of her drawings, asking Gisele and Aubrey – she did drop the 'Miss', as she was just waiting for that permission her entire life - for reviews, when Chloe appeared on the stairs. Aubrey was so sorry she stopped listening what Emma was saying, but the vision before her almost brought her to tears.

Chloe was gorgeous. She wasn't wearing expensive clothes, or a lot of make-up, or anything overproduced. She was gorgeous because she was born that way and Aubrey thought that each passing day she was getting more and more and more stunning. Or maybe Aubrey only thought that because there wasn't a single day she didn't thought about how beautiful Chloe was, inside and out. Her deep blue dress matched her eyes and Aubrey redecided her favorite color in that moment.

"Aubrey, I'm so sorry I'm late, I got stuck in school and-"

"It's alright, Chlo', don't worry, we're still on time." Aubrey reassured, getting on her feet and hugging Chloe. "Shall we?"

"Yes, of course." Chloe kissed her cheek and Aubrey felt her face blushing.

At the door, Chloe said goodnight to Emma, covering her with kisses, and then made some last reminding to Gisele, who paid keen attention while holding Emma to her hip and seemed very unbothered to the mess the little girl was making trying to brush her hair with a doll's comb.

"I'm worried about Gisele's hair." Aubrey said in the car, as Chloe buckled her seat bell.

Chloe laughed and assured Aubrey it would be fine.

She talked a little about Gisele. The girl lived next door and was a very clever kid attending art high school and aiming to study architecture in college even if she was just a sophomore. Gisele was fond of Emma, and did babysitting for Chloe since they moved there, last year.

"She reminds me of myself when I had her age."

"Yes." Aubrey says. "We were very little older than her when we met."

"Insane, right?" Chloe answers, looking out the window. "We were so young. And now we're here."

Aubrey watched her briefly. The city lights passing by her side through the glass were especially beautiful that night, like they were trying to compete with the redhead. She was there, ten years later from the day they met, two years away from being thirty. Chloe was a constant in her mind, since the first time she entered their shared college dorm room, but not in her life. She prayed – Aubrey was not a prayer, but this is an exception, a very good one – that this is just the very first page of the chapter when her life mends with Chloe's again. She used to think it could only happen in her dreams. But, hey, look at who is taking that gorgeous redhead on a date.

"We are here." Aubrey said, one hand on the steer wheel, other moving to touch Chloe's knee, lightly, and sharing a smile with the woman when she finds her eyes.

"We are, Bree. We really are."


It feels so right, for the first time. They are not in the doubt of this being just a college fling, they are not expecting the other one to drop everything and runaway. Of course, they talk about the expectations they have now and work on the hard feelings left the last time they saw each other, still in college. There's a little bit of pain, but there's a lot of effort put into mend things back together.

See, their relationship in college was something they didn't really talked about. Bothe had those obvious feelings for each other and they got lost in the whole experimenting thing and ignored that they had everything to become something great, something for real. Then graduation came and they parted ways with reluctant goodbyes, forcing each other to live without the other. Both found new ways of living and they lost contact. They took the fact that none of them really stopped thinking about each and that they found their ways back to each now and were fully invested in making it work, as green light to their feelings.

And Aubrey is so happy that they are doing it right, that they are not rushing, that they are taking time on their feelings. She is also very happy to hear that she wasn't the only one thinking about what they could've had if things were different and she is also very happy to hear that Chloe is ready to a fresh start as much as she is. Aubrey can't stop smiling for weeks.

They go on dates, they talk on the phone, Aubrey goes to Chloe's almost every week night, - since Emma is in the scene, Chloe going to Aubrey's is very unlikely - and it doesn't even feel weird. She helps cooking dinner, she washes the dishes after, she listens to Chloe's work day, she listens to Emma's stories, she talks a little bit about her work, she brings cookies for Emma, she teaches her make an origami boat. It feels almost like things were never different.

It's not until a very rainy Friday night that they talk about the elephant in the room. Not an elephant at all, more like a four-year-old called Emma. Aubrey calls it a night and grabs her keys, but Chloe suggests she stays. Aubrey is hesitant and Chloe feels it, because, of course, she knows Aubrey and her body language, her eyes' movements, the way she pouts when she is thinking too hard about something.

"We should talk about it, Aubrey." Chloe says, "I've been avoiding it because I was afraid I would scare you, but we need to have the talk."

The Talk. Aubrey knew very well what Chloe meant. She nodded with her head and sat by the sofa. She was relieved that Chloe was able to read her so well. She knew they would have to talk about it at some point.

"Everything is so different now, we're older and we're serious about it. We've gone through bullshit, and we got back to each other. This past month has been so amazing with you." Chloe began. "But it's not just us anymore, because now I have Emma, and I know you are perfectly aware of that."

"So you know why I'm hesitant about spending the night here."

"Yes, and I wouldn't offer if I wasn't sure it wouldn't be a problem. I care about Emma more than anything in this life and protecting her is all I do." Chloe said, kindly, taking Aubrey's hand. "But I've talked to her, Aubrey. She is so okay about this, she is probably handling it better than we are." She laughed and gave Aubrey's hand a squeeze, watching her chuckling slightly. "Of course, she is too young to understand some things, but we will all be fine. She said you're a prince."

"A prince?" Aubrey chuckled.

"Yeah, you know, the one who comes and saves the princess - in case, me." She shrugged. "I don't think we should keep using that term, though, is very heteronormative."

"True." Aubrey brought Chloe's hand to her lips. "What about girlfriend?"

Chloe pretended to be thinking but her lips were betraying her with a smile.

"Yes, sounds aca-awesome, right?" She melted when Aubrey kissed the palm of her hand.

"Sounds aca-perfect." Aubrey said, pulling her gently for a kiss.

The redhead smiled so hard it ruined the kiss, but Aubrey didn't mind, she just kept kissing her face, peppering every single piece of blushed cheek she could, very much like Chloe does when they kiss goodbye and she is not fond of the idea of Aubrey leaving. The thought that tonight she is staying made her pull herself up and straddle Aubrey on to the couch and kiss her full on the lips, deepening the kiss when Aubrey allowed, feeling the blonde's arms around her waist, slipping her hand in the blond locks she loved so dearly. Since they met again, they hadn't gone beyond some hard make out sessions, and Chloe decided to keep things like that, at least for tonight. She softened the kiss, finishing it with a peck on Aubrey's swollen lips and trailed chaste kisses through her neck, until her face was hidden in the blonde's neck. She felt so absorbed by Aubrey, so in love. She did not say tough, not yet.

"Chloe, I'm here, I need you to understand it." Aubrey said, after a few minutes in silence, almost in a whisper. "I'm here for Emma, too. I want it all."

Chloe pulled back to look in her eyes.

"Aubrey-"

"I do, Chloe. I do." Aubrey reaffirmed and Chloe thought she never saw the blonde looking so serious about something, not even about the Bella's oath.

The redhead caressed Aubrey's face. Such a beautiful woman she became. Her eyes were kinder, her smile came more easily. She was falling for someone new and at the same time falling all over again for someone she knew like the back of her hand. She was falling for Aubrey and it felt like knowing all the words to your old favorite song.

"Thank you for saying it, Bree, it means so much to me." Chloe whispered back. "I want you here for all of it, too."

A watery smile broke out on Aubrey's face and a few tears dropped when she pulled Chloe for a long hug. All of it, with Chloe. That's the twist of fate that only happened in her wildest dreams.

"I've dreamed of it for so, so long, Chlo'." She whispered and Chloe doubted if she knew she had said it out loud.

"I'm here, baby, for real."

And, suddenly, Aubrey didn't knew how life could get better than this.