Day 13
Lena changed her necklace for the second time and Stef rolled her eyes as she stepped in behind her and bussed her cheek.
"You look gorgeous, my love. Just like you looked in the two other outfits you already had on. They're going to love you. And if they don't it'll be their loss. It also won't have anything to do with your outfit."
"I really want this," Lena said.
"Even though it's nothing like Anchor Beach?"
"I've read everything I can get my hands on about this school. There are good people working here. Not perfect, but they care. And these kids…just about every one of them would break your heart. I can help them Stef," Lena declared and Stef smiled in understanding.
"I know you can. But you've never liked being constrained…" Stef's voice trailed off as Lena smirked slightly at Stef's choice of words.
"You know what I mean. I want you to be happy love, even if that means staying at Anchor Beach."
"Thank you. You don't know how much that means to me. But there's a reason I wanted to quit when I didn't get the Principal's job. It's time. I need to be fully in charge."
Stef quirked her own eyebrow at Lena's word choice and got a quick kiss in return. And then both left their bedroom to start their day.
While Lena waited for her interview at Chavez High School her phone buzzed. She glanced down and grinned at the raunchy picture her wife had sent her for good luck.
"Lena Adams?"
Lena jumped to her feet at the sound of her name and dropped her phone, watching as it slid over to the feet of the secretary who had called her name. Lena flew after it, and just managed to swipe it up before the secretary could reach it. She dumped it into her purse and smiled at the woman as if she hadn't a care in the world. She was met with a stony expression that gave her pause. She had a feeling that this woman came with the place.
"Yes, I'm Lena Adams, and you are?" she asked, still smiling as she held out her hand.
The secretary, an older African American woman, let her hold it out for an uncomfortable amount of time before reluctantly taking it.
"Louann Williamson," she offered before quickly dropping Lena's hand and turning to head out of the lobby and into the back offices, "Follow me."
Securing her bag over her shoulder Lena nodded firmly and followed.
Nearly two hours later Lena walked out into the sun not at all sure how she'd done. Everyone had been nice, but poker faces abounded. And she could feel a soft veil of cynicism greet every answer she gave about ways that she thought she could improve the academic curriculum, after-school opportunities, particularly around music, and overall quality of life for both the students and the faculty.
Lena made her way to her car so focused that she completely missed the cop car trailing her until a soft honk had her jumping out of her skin. She turned around at the same time Stef lowered the passenger side window.
"Wanna ride?" Stef asked.
Lena smiled to herself as she sauntered over and leaned in.
"What are you doing here?"
"I had a call in the neighborhood. Figured I'd stop by and see how it went," Stef shared.
Lena opened the passenger side door and climbed in, her eyes quickly scanning the items in Stef's police cruiser.
"They think I'm a crazy bleeding heart who will burn out in six months," Lena shared.
"They said that?"
"No. But that's what they were all thinking."
"Sure that's not you projecting?"
"I won't burn out," Lena said with complete assurance.
"I know a lot of the students here," Stef replied as she drove away, a destination clearly in mind.
"Just because they've been arrested that doesn't make them bad kids," Lena defended.
"Not all of them. There are a few though…"
"You do realize that our own kids have broken the law, right? Mariana sold Jesus' pills, Brandon stole from my office to create and sell fake ids. If his parents hadn't been police officers…"
"He'd have a criminal record haunting him for the rest of his life. I know. There's nothing fair about the system. And I hope you don't think I'm running after these kids just hoping to throw them into prison."
"Not you, no. But you can't deny that the system does sometimes criminalize kids for being well, kids. Particularly kids of color who live in less than ideal circumstances through no fault of their own."
"I'm not trying to deny that, Lena," Stef replied, exacerbated as she pulled her car into the perfectly secluded spot she'd been seeking out and parked.
Lena, who hadn't been paying attention, suddenly noticed that Stef's police cruiser was completely hidden from view and turned towards her wife.
"You're thinking about sex?!"
"I was. Clearly that was a mistake," Stef said with a sarcastic chuckle.
Stef went to restart the car, but Lena held out her hand to stop her as she looked more carefully around the fairly wide front seat of the cruiser and thought about the logistics of it all, and the fact that it was the middle of the afternoon and even though they were secluded, that didn't preclude the chance of getting caught.
"I'm sorry," Lena said. "I know that it's not entirely your fault that kids are getting screwed in our criminal justice system."
"Thanks. I think." Stef replied dryly.
Lena could tell that she'd pretty much-killed Stef's mood. And it had clearly been a very, very good mood for her to even think about doing something like this.
So she took the initiative and slid fully over to Stef's side of the front seat and nuzzled into her neck.
"So officer, are you going to arrest me?" Lena asked as she nibbled Stef's earlobe while her right hand made its way closer and closer to Stef's center.
"Have you committed a crime?" Stef asked.
"Is having a sex in the front seat of a cop car a crime?" Lena asked.
"Only if you get caught."
"Well then, I guess we better be quick."
Day 14
Thursday dawned bright and early like always and Stef and Lena soon found themselves trapped in workdays from hell.
Lena faced an unending stream of helicopter parents intent on ensuring their precious child had every class necessary to give him or her the best opportunity to get into Harvard or else clearly their baby was going to end up destitute and living out of a box on the side of a road. Lena did her best to reassure and offer alternatives that would work for everyone, but her polite no's were met with either attempts at outright bribery (seriously, one father pulled out his wallet!), or increasing levels of hostility.
Stef meanwhile began her day at the site of a vehicular fatality for which she had to deliver the news to the young man's even younger wife. The girl had greeted her at the door bright eyed and six months pregnant with a baby on her hip. She'd dissolved into nothing the second Stef started talking, and Stef found herself bouncing an adorable toddler while she waited for the girl's mother to arrive, all before 10am. She figured her day couldn't get any worse. Until it did.
Lena arrived home desperate for a glass of wine and a bit of peace, but was instead assaulted by every single one of her children.
"Mama, did you have a chance to talk to your friend about my app?"
"What's for dinner?"
"Can I skip dinner to hang out with Connor?"
"I have work to do, can you guys please keep it down?"
"What was that?" Mariana asked Brandon as she turned up the volume of the music she was blasting on her iphone.
"One at a time, please," Lena said carefully. Mariana recognized that tone and immediately lowered the volume on her music.
"Jude, you've had all day to hang out with Connor, you know the dinner rules."
"Jesus, we're having soft tacos with black beans and rice. If you want to eat sooner, you can get it started."
"Callie, I'm sorry, I didn't get a chance to email Erica, but I promise I will do so before bed, okay?"
Lena looked around at her kids. "Where's Mom?" She asked.
They all looked around and shrugged.
"Still at work I guess," Mariana replied.
Lena pulled out her phone and texted her wife. "Worst day ever. Please tell me you can stop for more wine on your way home?"
A second later Lena's screen lit up with a photo of a full six-pack wine carrier from the grocery store sitting on Stef's passenger seat.
"My hero." Lena replied quickly as she headed into the kitchen to prepare dinner and discovered Jesus had taken her up on the offer and was cooking away.
"Hey, looking pretty good Jesus. What are you using as your taco seasoning? It smells terrific."
"Just the standard. Chili, onion, garlic powder. A little paprika and cumin. I doubled the amount of garlic and added some crushed red pepper flakes. Oh, and salt and pepper to taste."
"You are a life saver," Lena said as she poured the last of the wine that sat on the counter into a glass and leaned against the counter.
"So, are you okay with going back to Anchor Beach?" Lena asked her son.
"Of course. I gotta admit, I kind of missed everyone."
"We missed you too."
"Hey, hey the wine is here," Stef shouted as she entered the kitchen through the back door.
"Thank you…" Lena broke off as she got a good look at her wife and almost dropped her own glass in her haste to get closer.
"Stef, what happened?!"
Stef's uniform was decidedly the worse for wear, ripped and torn in several places.
"I'm fine love," Stef assured, "Just could really, really use a glass of wine right now."
"Are you sure? Do you have a concussion? Have you seen a doctor?" Lena demanded.
"I may have seen a doctor for a couple of minutes and she told me that I clearly have a very hard head. No concussion, just a few bumps and bruises and maybe a couple of tiny stitches," Stef confessed.
"Jesus, can you?" Lena asked, motioning to the food.
"I've got it. Just as long as someone else takes over dishes!"
Lena didn't bother to respond to Jesus' demand as she dragged Stef upstairs to their bedroom.
"Strip."
"And they say the magic never dies," Stef tried to tease, but Lena wasn't having it.
So Stef unbuttoned her shirt and shrugged it off. Lena could then see the bandage wrapped around her bicep.
"What happened?"
"He ran. I chased. Over hill and over dale. And down the side of a ravine." Stef watched her wife's eyes tear up ever so slightly and pulled her into a tight hug.
"I'm fine. Just a bit bruised. And sore."
"Do you want me to call Jenna or do you?"
"We are not canceling on her."
"You think you'll be up for dancing?"
"Honey, it's not until Saturday. And you've got to see this place and all of the young girls on the hunt. They're adorable. And like twelve. And Jenna would hurt me much more if we backed out now. She needs wing women."
"We're wing women now?" Lena asked and Stef chuckled.
"She thinks you owe her one," Stef shared with absolutely no residual heat on her part.
"We'll see how you feel in a couple of days," Lena replied unwilling to fully commit. Her fear at seeing Stef in her torn uniform had receded, but she could tell Stef wasn't 100%. And now she really needed that glass of wine. And bed. She was exhausted.
Stef meanwhile smelled herself with distaste, "I'm gonna grab a quick shower. I'll be back down in a second."
At dinner, Stef downed three ibuprofens and chased them with two glasses of wine. She'd heard the combo once referred to as a cowgirl cocktail, and the name had stuck in her mind. Her liver might not appreciate it as a regular occurrence, but for the evening, the wine eased up her stiff muscles and the drugs took away the pain.
That night, Stef and Lena both collapsed into bed and were halfway to sleep when Stef jerked herself awake. "Damn it."
"What's wrong?" Lena asked, burrowed under the covers and barely listening.
"We have to have sex before we get to go to sleep." Stef reminded.
Lena unburied herself and turned onto her back then glanced over at her wife.
"Do you want to?" Lena asked.
"We're at the half-way point," Stef replied. She wasn't a quitter.
Lena dragged her hand out from under the covers and presented it to Stef. "Two out of three?"
Stef nodded. Lena wrapped her rock up with paper the first go. The both showed scissors the second. Stef wrapped up Lena's rock their third try and claimed victory by cutting up her paper on the third.
Lena sighed. "I am falling asleep in fifteen minutes. Make of that what you will."
And Stef gamely rose to the challenge.