"M, I think we should move out of the city." Evie said, resting a hand on her stomach. Mal looked over curiously. "I don't want to raise our baby in the environment that I grew up in."
"Even if we stay in the city, our baby won't be raised in that environment." Mal pointed out. Evie bit her lip. "Where would we live?"
"There a few small towns in Connecticut near the city that are so charming. Mal, they're so beautiful." Evie replied. Mal rested her chin on Evie's shoulder.
"We can look at some of the towns you've found." she whispered. Evie smiled widely. "No promises, though. You know how much I love the city."
"I know you do. I love it, too, but I think this could be really great for our family." Evie said. Mal smiled.
"I'll start looking for a real estate agent." she said. Evie kissed her wife.
"I love you."
"I love you, too." Mal said, pressing a kiss to Evie's temple.
After weeks and weeks of research, Evie had found a town she'd fallen in love with as well a few houses that were for sale in the town. They were currently touring their fifth house of the day. Mal was dragging, Evie could tell, but it was their last house of the day and then she would take her wife to get some food. The real estate agent was currently explaining the fixtures of the house, when a thought came to Mal.
"What if our kid decides they want to attend private school like we did?" she asked.
"There are plenty of excellent private schools near here. Some of the best in the country." the man said. Mal nodded. "So what do you think of the house?"
"I like it." Mal admitted. Evie looked over with a smile. "I think we need to talk about some things, though."
"Of course. This place is going to go fast, though, so don't wait too long if you choose to make an offer." The women nodded.
"M, look at this place." Evie said, sending her wife a smile as they stepped into a diner twenty minutes later. Mal nodded as she looked around before sitting at a table.
"It's nice." she said. A waitress came over, quickly taking their drink orders. After a few moments, she returned with a glass of water for Evie and an iced tea for Mal.
"You know what the best part about moving here would be?" Evie asked. Mal looked over curiously. "My mother will be over an hour away from us."
"That is a definite plus." Mal replied, sipping her tea. Evie chuckled. "E, I work from home. There's no commute for me. You're the one who's going to have to drive an hour just to get into the city, not to mention the extra twenty minutes it'll take to get to the office. If you're okay with it, then... I think we could be really happy here." Mal said. Evie grinned.
"Sweets..." she whispered, leaning in and kissing her wife. Pulling away, she grabbed her hand. "We'll go home and discuss the houses that we saw today so we can pick one."
"I know which one it is." Mal whispered. Evie raised an eyebrow. "The last one we saw, the one in the town square. It's perfect for us. It's got the style that you grew up with and I know you love even though you refuse to admit it, but it's also got that small town feel that we're going for."
"I thought so, too. Do you want to call the real estate agent before we order?" Mal nodded, kissing her wife.
"E, stop lifting stuff." A month had passed and they were finally moving into their new home. Jay and Carlos had moved to New York three years prior and had agreed to help the pair move. Despite the trio's best efforts to stop Evie from lifting, they'd been unsuccessful.
"Excuse me." Turning her head, Evie smiled politely as a couple approached her. "I'm Kendra and this is my husband Paul, we live next door."
"Oh, hi! I'm Evie, my wife is-" Seeing Mal approach her out of the side of her eye, Evie grinned. "Right here. This is my wife, Mal. M, this Kendra and her husband Paul. They're our neighbors."
"Hi." Mal said, smiling.
"We noticed that you have several more boxes and were wondering if we could help." Kendra offered. Mal bit her lip hesitantly.
"Oh, um-" Evie placed a hand on her wife's shoulder.
"That would be great, thank you so much." Kendra nodded, leading her husband to the moving van.
"E, we don't know these people and you want to let them touch our stuff?" Mal whispered. Evie chuckled.
"We're not in the city anymore, sweets." she said, resting her chin on Mal's shoulder as she watched Jay, Carlos, Paul, and Kendra continue unloading the truck. Mal sighed. "Come on, let's get back to work." the brunette said, grabbing a box.
"E, seriously, stop lifting boxes!" Mal exclaimed. Evie sighed.
"It's a box full of pillows, Mal." she said.
"Sweetheart, sit down. We have this." Kendra said. Giving in, Evie nodded and moved to the porch and sitting down on the chair. Mal sent her wife a smile as she moved to pick up the next box.
"How did you two meet?" Kendra asked. They'd finished moving in and Evie and Mal decided to thank everyone with pizzas. Mal grinned as Evie covered her eyes with her hand.
"We went to the same high school in New York. Evie didn't like me very much, which she let me know every day for four years." she said. Evie rolled her eyes.
"You really need to start saying that we were in different social groups." she said. Mal laughed softly.
"How did you start dating?" Mal looked over at her wife.
"E, do you want to take this one?" she asked. Evie nodded.
"We ended up going to the same college in Los Angeles and having a couple of classes together. We ended up becoming study partners, I think we were both just happy to see a familiar face. Anyway, we became friends and eventually started dating." she continued. Kendra and Paul smiled. "And the rest is history. We got married about five years ago and we decided to move here about a month ago. We wanted to raise our baby outside of the city." she explained.
"That's sweet. It's like your own little fairy tale." Kendra said. Evie grinned.
"I never thought of it like that." she said, turning to Mal with a wide smile before grabbing another slice of pizza.
"That was a nice rundown of the way we started. You left out a large chunk of the beginning of our relationship, though." Mal said as they sat in their bed two hours later.
"I didn't think it was appropriate to tell our new neighbors the entire story." Evie replied, resting a hand on her stomach as she sat down on their porch swing. Mal rolled her eyes with a smile.
FLASHBACK
"You're sleeping with Audrey?" Evie asked. Mal looked up from her notebook.
"Why do you care who I'm sleeping with?" she asked.
"I don't. I just can't believe that someone could actually stand to be around you long enough to sleep with you." Evie mumbled. Mal raised an eyebrow.
"You've been with me for an hour." she said. Evie rolled her eyes.
"She's annoying, how do you stand her?"
"Well, she's not exactly talking much when we're together." Mal pointed out. Evie scoffed. "What's your problem, Evie?"
"Nothing. I just think you could do better." Evie said.
"Like who? You?" Mal retorted. Evie rolled her eyes again.
"You wish." she snapped. Mal smirked.
"Only in your dreams, princess." she said, turning back to her book. Evie stared at the blonde for a moment longer before shaking her head.
...
After five months, Mal broke off her fling with Audrey. When asked about it by Evie, the blonde merely said that she wasn't feeling it anymore. As her relationship with Audrey cooled off, her tentative friendship with Evie grew into a real one. After four months of growing closer to the brunette she'd once despised (and constant attempts by Audrey to start things up again), Mal became scared by the strength of her feelings for Evie and gave into Audrey's requests.
Unbeknownst to Mal, Evie felt the same way as she did. Just as she was about to tell the blonde about her feelings, she heard about Audrey and Mal's reconciliation and clammed up. However, while hanging out one night, she couldn't keep it in any longer. They were watching a movie in Evie's apartment. She could hear Mal laughing and, out of the corner of her eye, saw the smile she'd come to adore. "Mal, can we talk?" she asked, pausing the movie. Mal nodded, turning to her friend. As she tried to find a way to voice her feelings, she stood up and began pacing.
"Evie, are you okay?" Mal asked. Evie bit her lip, causing the blonde to stand up and walk over to her. "Evie-"
"I like you, Mal." Evie said. Mal stopped for a second, glancing up at her friend. "Mal, I... I can't help myself when I'm around you." the brunette whispered, leaning in and kissing the girl. Mal was surprised by the kiss, but quickly recovered and kissed the brunette back. She wrapped her arms around the brunette's waist, pulling her close. After a few moments, Evie began pushing her toward her bedroom, causing Mal to pull away.
"Evie, you know that Audrey and I are..." she trailed off. Evie nodded. "You're okay with that?"
"Right now, I don't really care about anything other than you and me." Evie whispered, kissing the girl again.
...
"So... You and Audrey..." Evie said, tracing invisible patterns on Mal's back later that night. The blonde glanced to the side for a moment before looking at Evie curiously. "I'm fine with it, but... How is this going to work?"
"Audrey and I are nowhere near serious." Mal said, cautiously resting a hand on Evie's neck. The brunette nodded. "Do you want to get breakfast in the morning and talk about this some more?"
"Sure." Evie whispered. Mal smiled slightly, leaning up and kissing the brunette. "Good night, Mal."
"Good night, Evie."
...
Three months later, Mal was still sleeping with both Evie and Audrey, though it was obvious to the blonde who she preferred. If she was being honest with herself, it scared her a little bit. It wasn't until a conversation with Audrey occurred that she decided to give in to her feelings and allow herself to be happy.
"I talked to Audrey today." she commented as she sketched in Evie's apartment that night while the brunette studied at the coffee table. Evie stopped writing, but stared at her notebook with a clenched jaw; it was an unspoken rule that Mal didn't bring up Audrey when she was with Evie and vice versa. "She told me that I need to choose between you two."
"She did, huh?" Evie asked. Mal nodded.
"What do you think about that?" she asked, finally looking over at Evie to gage her reaction. What she saw was a vulnerable person, one that clearly wanted to say what she felt but was also afraid to get hurt. "Evie... I need to know where you are on this subject." Setting her pen down, Evie looked over at the blonde.
"It's time, Mal." she admitted. Watching the brunette, Mal nodded.
"Okay." she said, turning back to her sketchbook. Evie's brow furrowed as she watched the blonde return to her drawing.
"Mal?"
"Evie?" Mal replied cooly, glancing at the girl in front of the coffee table.
"What... What are you thinking?" Evie asked, clearly nervous. Mal took a deep breath.
"I was trying to decide if it would be fun to watch you silently freak out for a couple of days before I asked you to be my girlfriend." she said, setting her sketchbook and pencil down on the couch. Evie's jaw dropped slightly before closing her eyes.
"You are so not funny." she said. Mal chuckled.
"Yes, I am. That's why you like me. That's why you want to be with me." she replied as she watched Evie stand up and walk over to the couch, sitting next to her.
"That's not the only reason." the brunette whispered. Mal smiled softly. "Are you sure about this, M? You can't just change your mind, this isn't The Bachelor." Mal laughed.
"You're still mad about that, aren't you?" she asked.
"Of course I am. It was completely ridiculous and you were pissed, too." Evie pointed out. Mal shrugged, causing Evie to chuckle for a moment before turning serious again. "M... Are you sure you want to be with me?"
"Evie, it's been you since the night we started this. Hell, it's been you since before we started this." Mal whispered. Evie blushed. "E?"
"Hmm?"
"Be my girlfriend?" Mal asked softly. A wide smile on her face, Evie nodded excitedly. "Yeah?"
"Of course." Evie said, leaning down and kissing the blonde. Pulling away, she brushed her thumb over Mal's jaw. "I would love to be your girlfriend."
"Good." Evie chuckled as she leaned against the back of her couch, Mal easily crawling into her embrace. "I just don't know how I'm going to tell Audrey."
"You're worried about Audrey?" Evie asked, slightly surprised.
"I'm worried about what Audrey will do when she finds out." Mal corrected. Evie nodded.
"I'll protect you." she promised.
"You'll be the one who needs protection if you're there when Audrey finds out." Mal said. Evie chuckled. "I'm going to do it tomorrow. I'll find you after."
"M?"
"Hmm?"
"Can we stop talking about Audrey now? We're officially together, why are we talking at all?" Evie asked, pressing a kiss to Mal's head. Looking up, Mal nodded as she leaned in and kissed her girlfriend.
...
"How'd it go?" Evie asked the next day as Mal approached her. Mal sat in her lap with a loud sigh. "That bad?"
"She's looking for you, I think." Mal said. Evie raised an eyebrow. "We should probably lay low for a couple of days."
"You call sitting in my lap in public laying low?" Evie asked. Mal chuckled, causing Evie to let out deep breath as she rested her cheek on Mal's shoulder. "I'm sorry, sweets." Mal raised an eyebrow.
"Sweets?" she repeated. Evie nodded.
"I've decided that that's what I'm going to call you." she announced. Mal shook her head.
"That's not going to become a thing."
"That's what you think." Evie said, pressing a kiss to Mal's jaw.
"If you get to call me sweets, then I get to call you princess." Evie scrunched up her nose.
"Mal, no. That's what you used to call me when we hated each other." she said.
"What makes you think that I don't hate you anymore?" Mal teased. Evie grinned, leaning up slightly.
"You asked me to be your girlfriend." she whispered, kissing the blonde. Mal smiled. "Do you want to go get something to eat?"
"Sure." Mal said, standing up and allowing her girlfriend to stand up.
...
"Hi." Evie smiled as she felt a kiss being pressed to her cheek.
"Hey, sweets." When Mal came around and pulled her into a kiss, she pulled away. "M, Audrey is watching." Evie whispered, creating some space between herself and her girlfriend. Mal turned her head, seeing the shorter brunette glaring at them. "I have to get to class anyway."
"Don't leave me alone with her." Mal pleaded. Evie chuckled. "Skip class, education is overrated. We could go to the beach."
"As much as I would love to see you in a bikini..." Evie whispered, kissing her girlfriend's cheek before pulling back. "I have an exam today. We can go after, though."
"I'm holding you to that." Mal said. Evie nodded. "I'm already done with class for the day, pick me up at my apartment when you're done?"
"Absolutely." Evie promised, smiling at the blonde.
...
"Why are you staring at me, weirdo?" Mal asked. Evie chuckled, pulling down the brim of her baseball cap to cover her eyes as she stretched out on her towel.
"Nothing, you're just really beautiful. That's all." she said, resting on her elbows. Mal laughed softly. "This was a good idea, sweets."
"You're telling me." Mal mumbled, glancing at her girlfriend's bikini-clad body. Evie chuckled again, looking over at the blonde. "Who knew a princess could have abs like that?"
"You're ridiculous sometimes." Evie said. Mal leaned over and kissed the brunette.
"Enjoy the sun and relax, Princess. You've earned it after the week you've had. Dealing with Audrey and studying for your exam... You deserve to relax." she said. Evie grinned. "You relax and I'll stare at you."
"Who's the weirdo now?" Evie teased. Mal smiled. "Thank you for this."
"You're my number one. It's a coveted position to be in. Jay will be pissed to find out he's been dethroned." Mal said. Evie shrugged.
"As your girlfriend, I believe it's my right to hold that position." she said. Mal nodded. "You're my number one, too."
"You like me, huh?" Taking a deep breath, Evie took her sunglasses off and looked over at her girlfriend.
"Mal, I think I'm falling in love with you." Mal let out a gasp, turning her head to look at the brunette. "What do you think?"
"I think there's a reason I'm not here with Audrey right now." Mal whispered. Evie smiled hesitantly. "E, I think I'm falling in love with you, too."
"Sweets..." Evie said, leaning in and kissing her girlfriend, the brim of her cap shielding them from the world. "You and I are going to be a force to be reckoned with."
"I think you're right, princess." Mal said, smiling at the brunette.
...
"You look like you need a drink." Evie commented as she wrapped her arms around her girlfriend two weeks later. Mal shook her head, placing her hands on Evie's shoulders. "Why not?"
"This is the first time we've been to a party since we started officially dating. I want to remember every moment." Evie grinned only for the smile to drop when she looked up to find Mal's best friend glaring at her. "Jay doesn't like me very much, does he?" Evie asked. Mal sighed, pulling her girlfriend outside and sitting on the porch steps.
"Jay is stubborn and has a perceived opinion on certain people." she explained. Evie raised an eyebrow as she wrapped an arm around her girlfriend's waist.
"People like me and my family, you mean." she said. Mal closed her eyes.
"Princess..." Evie shook her head.
"Not the time to call me that." she said. Mal nodded. "Look, I can accept that your best friend doesn't like me, but... You don't see me like that anymore, do you?" Looking up at her girlfriend, Mal pulled the girl into a kiss. Pulling away, she ran her thumb over Evie's cheek.
"No, Evie, I don't." she whispered. Evie nodded with a slight smile. "E?"
"Yeah?"
"You know how I said I thought I was falling in love with you?" Mal whispered. Evie nodded. "It's not a thought anymore. I'm in love with you." The brunette smiled as she was kissed. Pulling away, she rested her forehead on her girlfriend's.
"I love you, too."
END FLASHBACK
"I love our story, M. Every single part of it." Evie whispered. Mal grinned.
"So do I."
"Sweets." Mal hummed in response, staring at her laptop. "Mal." Evie said, shutting the computer.
"What, E?" Mal asked, sighing. Evie chuckled.
"Pay attention to me." she said, leaning in and kissing her wife. Mal smiled. "Can you believe we're here?"
"In Connecticut? No, I can't. I still can't believe you convinced me to leave New York." Mal said.
"I think the fact that my mother is an hour away was what convinced you." Evie replied. Mal chuckled. "I'm serious, sweets. We're twenty-seven. Ten years ago, we hated each other. If I remember correctly, we once got into a screaming match in the middle of the cafeteria."
"And now we're married with a kid on the way." Mal finished. Evie nodded. "If you'd known we were going to end up here, would you have done anything differently? Would you have tried to date me in high school?" Mal whispered. Evie thought for a moment before shaking her head.
"No, I wouldn't have. We wouldn't be here if we'd dated back then." she said.
"You don't know that."
"Yes, sweets, I do." Evie replied, turning her head. Mal raised an eyebrow. "You and I wouldn't have worked back then. We started dating at the perfect time for us."
"Yes, we did." Mal whispered, leaning over and kissing her wife.
"Hey, sweetie." Evie smiled at their neighbor as the woman made her way up the porch steps.
"Hi, Kendra. How's Paul?" she asked, looking back at the child in her arms.
"He's good. Is this little Everly Madeleine?" Kendra asked. Evie nodded. "She's beautiful."
"She's perfect." Evie whispered, brushing the back of her hand over her sleeping daughter's cheek.
"Where's Mal?"
"She had to go to New York for the day." Evie explained softly. Just then, she heard the sound of heels making their way up the porch steps and grinned when she saw her wife.
"Kendra, hi. Did you come to meet the newest Grimhilde?" Mal asked, stepping onto the porch. Kendra nodded as the blonde walked over to her wife. "Hi."
"Hey, sweets. You look beautiful." Evie said, lifting her head when Mal was close enough and accepting her kiss. Smiling at her wife, Mal turned to their daughter.
"Hi, Ev." she said, waving at the baby. Turning back to her wife, she placed a hand on her shoulder. "Do you want to go take a walk through town?" she asked. Evie nodded. "Let me go get changed and get the stroller."
"Okay." Evie said, smiling softly
"How was your day?" Evie asked as she pushed the stroller.
"It was good. I missed you and Everly, though." Evie smiled. "You were right, E. Moving here was a good idea." Mal said, looking up at her wife.
"Yes, it was." Evie said, pressing a kiss to her wife's temple. Mal chuckled. "I love you, M."
"I love you, too."
