"Carm!"

Carmilla did a little wave, preparing herself for the daily—

"Carm!"

—tackle.

"Hey little monkey." Carmilla wrapped her arms around the five-year-old and lifted her into the air but she brought her down just as quickly, hoping none of the other parents noticed how strong she was for her size. "You hungry?"

"Yup! Can we get some ice cream?" Emma grabbed on to Carmilla's pinky out of habit and started swaying their arms back and forth. "Is mommy going to be home today?"

"Hm… should we call her and ask?" Carmilla led them to a corner of the parking lot and took her phone out. She unlocked it and handed it over to Emma. "Do you still remember how to call mommy?"

"I just press this button and this one," Emma recited as she did just that. "It's ringing!"

Carmilla watched as Emma paced in front of her with the phone pressed to her ear, her small backpack jiggling with every step. It was taking a while for Laura to pick up.

"Huh. She didn't answer. Can I try again?" Emma looked up at Carmilla and pointed to the phone. Carmilla nodded. Emma pressed the phone to her ear after pressing call and started pacing again, this time biting on her lower lip while she waited. Carmilla couldn't help but notice that she was picking up on Laura's habits. "Carm, mommy won't pick up!"

"Maybe she left her phone somewhere again," Carmilla replied, hoping that excuse would do for now. Laura hadn't returned any of her messages or calls all day, either, but she didn't want to tell Emma that. "We can try again later, okay? Let's get you some ice cream."

Emma handed the phone over with a pout and reclaimed Carmilla's pinky. The short walk to the local convenience store was silent and it broke Carmilla's heart when Emma still hadn't smiled after receiving her favorite cookies and cream popsicle.

"So… how was school today?" Carmilla asked, breaking the silence. Emma was already halfway through her popsicle, which was unusual because she usually liked letting it melt in her mouth instead of biting into it.

"We got to play outside today. It was fun, I guess." The reply was short and it worried Carmilla all the more. Emma wasn't Laura's daughter for nothing. Emma was a talker and, like her mother, would ramble on until she was out of breath. Instead, she just bit into the last of her popsicle and flicked the stick away. "Can we go home now? Maybe mommy's already there."

Carmilla could do nothing but nod. She held out her pinky for Emma to take and they walked out of the store toward the bus stop. Laura had been out of town for three days now. Why her journalism internship had to be out of town didn't make sense to Carmilla but she was so eager to go and she said it wouldn't last for more than a few days tops so there really was no argument to be had there.

The bus ride home was similarly silent. Between the two of them, Carmilla always relied on Emma to fill the silence. She always had a story about what they did at school or a new friend she made or what she wanted to do when they get home. Carmilla did consider coaxing Emma into talking about those things but the five-year-old seemed lost in thought, her eyes glued to her shoes as she swung her legs back and forth on the edge of her seat.

Carmilla took her phone out and tried calling Laura one more time. She got a few rings in before the line went dead. Laura must have ended the call on purpose. She decided to send a text instead. "Hey. Is everything alright? When are you coming home?"

Laura's reply came later that evening after Carmilla had already tucked Emma into bed. They were both pretty much quiet throughout the rest of the afternoon except for when Emma asked Carmilla to watch cartoons with her before dinner. Emma had a few laughs at least and so did Carmilla even though she still convinced herself that cartoons would someday rot everyone's brain. She heated some spaghetti for Emma's dinner and made her hot cocoa, which usually cheered her up, but it didn't work so well tonight. "Let's get you in your jammies, little monkey," Carmilla said as she tickled Emma's sides. That merited her some giggles but they didn't last. After Emma brushed her teeth and flossed with Carmilla's help, she was off to bed. She didn't even ask for a bedtime story. Then again, that had always been Laura's job. Carmilla figured that maybe she wasn't worthy of sharing in the task.

"I'll be home in 5 mins," read Laura's text. Carmilla rushed downstairs and waited on their porch. She texted back: "What took you so long to reply?"

"Long story. I'm just around the corner."

Carmilla pocketed her phone and heard a cab approaching their street. She watched Laura pay the fare and wave goodbye to the driver before she walked over and took Laura's travelling bag. "Hey you," she said with a smile. Laura beamed at her and pulled her into a hug. "Don't think this sweetness gets you off the hook, cupcake. We were worried sick."

Laura pulled away and sighed. "I know, I know. Let's just talk about it later. How's Emma? Is she asleep already?"

Carmilla opened the front door and led them inside. "I tucked her in but I doubt she's—"

"Mommy!"

"—asleep."

Emma had run down the stairs and straight into Laura's arms the moment they walked in. "What took you so long?" she asked Laura, stomping her feet with a pout. Laura picked her up by the arm pits and hugged her. "Sorry, sweetie. Mommy was just busy today. I'll make it up to you, okay?"

"Hm?" Emma cocked her head to the side with a big grin. "Can I have cookies before bed?"

Laura chuckled as she set Emma down and ruffled her hair, which now ended just below her chin, reminding Laura of her own childhood haircut. "Okay, okay. You can have cookies before bed. Go get the cookie jar then."

Emma raced to the kitchen, now all smiles, leaving Laura and Carmilla in the living room.

"So what's the story?" Carmilla began as she let herself fall on the couch. Laura remained standing.

"I just needed some time alone. It was a very weird day. I got invited to this party with the other interns after we did some research for our presentation next week and—Don't freak out, okay? But something happened."

Carmilla sat up straighter, sensing that Laura was about to say something terrible. "Look, the last time you told me something happened, something bad had happened. Don't tell me—"

"Something bad happened, mommy?"

Emma had emerged from the kitchen, holding the TARDIS cookie jar with both hands. She stared up at Laura and then climbed up the couch to sit next to Carmilla. "What're you guys talking about?"

Laura and Carmilla exchanged glances. Carmilla shrugged, leaving Laura to explain things herself. She knelt next to where Emma was sitting and took a cookie for herself from the jar. "I was just telling Carm here that I went out with some friends—"

"Ooooh! That reminds me that I made a new friend today."

"Now she tells us," Carmilla muttered, secretly happy that Emma was in a talking mood again.

"That's great!" Laura tapped Emma's knee and took a bite out of her cookie.

"Yeah! He's really nice. His name is Noah—"

Laura immediately met Carmilla's eyes at the mention of her son's name. "Did you know about this?" Carmilla shook her head, looking just as surprised, but before she could get a word in, Emma continued with the story.

"We played on the swings together and I shared my cookies with him and he told me I was cool. I told him he was cool too and he laughed then his mom started calling him. She was wearing this long white coat and I laughed at it but he got a bit mad and told me his mom is a doctor and they have to wear the coat so they can make people feel better and stuff. Mommy, do you need a doctor? Because something bad happened?"

Laura shook her head and smiled at her daughter, willing herself not to put too much meaning into Emma meeting a boy named after her dead son. "I don't need a doctor, sweetie. I already had a cookie, see? And cookies always make mommy feel better. Plus, you know what else?"

Emma shook her head.

Laura grabbed the cookie jar and placed it on the table before launching toward Emma in a tickle frenzy. The five-year-old burst out laughing and thrashed about on the couch in response. "Mommy! Stop! HAHAHAHA!"

Laura let out a few laughs of her own until she stopped tickling her daughter and ended up hugging her really tight. "I missed you a lot, sweetie."

"I missed you, too, mommy. Don't leave for that long again."

"Why? Didn't Carm take good care of you?"

"Of course she takes care of me. But when you're not here she gets really sad. And I'm sad. So we're just sad all day and we miss you."

Laura turned to Carmilla and saw her smile. No comeback or snarky comment. Just that smile that told her that everything Emma said was true.

"I'm sorry I made you guys sad. I was sad, too." Laura kissed Emma's nose and gave her another hug. "Okay, it's way past your bedtime. You can take three cookies upstairs but you have to promise to brush your teeth after you eat them, okay?"

Emma took out three cookies as instructed and counted them in front of Laura. "One, two, three cookies. I promise to brush my teeth after I eat them all."

"Good girl. Then it's off to bed, okay?"

"Yes mommy. Good night!" Emma hugged Laura tightly then walked over to Carmilla and raised her arms. "Carm! You have to hug me good night, too!"

Carmilla laughed as she leaned down from the couch and wrapped her arms around the bubbly five-year-old. "Good night, little monkey."

Once Emma had disappeared from view, Laura sat next to Carmilla on the couch and hugged her arm. Their talk had been way overdue. "Someone slipped something in my drink," she said, almost in a whisper. She heard Carmilla take in a sharp breath. She knew Carmilla would be mad but there was no reason not to tell her. "I felt dizzy at one point but I figured it out eventually. I ran out of there as soon as I could."

Carmilla clenched a fist and she let out a loud sigh. "That does it. You're not going back to that internship thing. You can just find another class to attend for your degree."

"Come on. Don't be like that."

"Be like what? Worried about you? Laura, what if you got hurt? What if… What if it was worse?"

Laura nodded as she rested her chin on Carmilla's shoulder and held her closer. "That's exactly what I was thinking. Suddenly, it was that night all over again. I hated it. I hated myself. Again, I was helpless. I was just lucky I managed to get out of there. And after I did, I had a lot of doubts. Doubts about myself and about raising Emma. I was thinking maybe I'm just not cut out for this. Maybe I really am way in over my head. Then there's you. You've been so good to us but sometimes I wonder whether you'd rather be somewhere else. Wouldn't it be so much easier for you to just leave us? You can go anywhere you want and, you know, feed whenever you want. But you stayed. And I know you didn't just do it for me—"

"Don't be an idiot. Of course I did it for you."

Laura smiled in response, amused at how sweet Carmilla was being. "Can I ask you a question?"

"What is it?"

"You said if I wanted you to turn me, I should tell you, right?"

Carmilla nodded. She slipped her shoulder from under Laura's chin and turned to meet Laura's eyes. "Have you been thinking about it?"

"Well, not really for myself." Laura thought back to what this day had done to her and how it reminded her of the things she had. That and the ones she'd lost. Then Emma just had to meet a boy named Noah on this same day. "I just thought that if you could've gotten to Noah, would you have turned him? So he'd live?" Laura held her next breath. Carmilla showed no signs of wanting to respond. "Oh never mind. It's stupid. That wouldn't be okay, right? He was a newborn. It's not like it'd be easy for him to be a vampire at that age. It would've been hard to get more blood for him, too, and he'd have a hard time understanding why he isn't like the other kids. So, anyway, never mind I said anything."

Laura stood up to leave for Emma's bedroom. Part of her expected Carmilla to call out to her but she didn't hear a peep. Only her thoughts followed. That was a stupid thing to say. Of course she wouldn't have turned him. She didn't want him in the first place. Not even Emma. But she wants this now, right? She's okay with us being a family now, right?