AN: Thank you so much for bearing with me. I will definitely have the next one posted on Thursday. I didn't get as much writing done this week as I would have liked so I am not sure what the status will be next week, but I'll keep it updated.

My dad smiled at us as we walked into the dinning room. He stood up, as we got closer to him. "Dad this is Carmilla; Carmilla this is my dad."
"It's nice to meet you Mr. Hollis." Carmilla said shaking my dad's hand.
"Call me Ron." He said as we all sat down.
"Okay," she said a little awkwardly. I gave her a small smile and she took a deep breath.
The waiter walked over and took our drink orders and then walked away as we began to look through the menu.
"This place has the best French Onion Soup." My dad started. "Laura used to get it all the time. She would burn her mouth because she couldn't wait and let it cool."
"No," I said sternly.
"You did."
"No I mean you can't get that. French Onion soup is the opposite of what you are supposed to be eating. You can have the chicken breast with mushrooms."
"I love you Laura, but you have made me eat chicken without the skin for most of my meals. I need something with fat. The DOCTOR said I can treat myself to less healthy foods every now and then."
"I thought that's why you had Twinkies stashed in your dresser. You forgot I did your laundry when you chose that hiding spot."
"C'mon Laura. At least let me get the duck; I won't get any soup."
I eyed him for a second. "Alright. What are you getting Carm?" I asked her.
"What am I allowed to get?" She smirked at me a little and I glared at her a little. "I don't know what specific diet you have me on."
"Very funny."
"I was going to get the steak; it's been a while since I've had one of those."
"Good to know I'm not the only one she babies." My dad commented.
"I don't baby you. I just make sure you listen to the DOCTORS who just want you to be healthy. And I don't baby Carmilla."
"You actually don't," Carmilla said.
The waiter came over and gave my dad and Carmilla their beers and then put my glass of wine in front of me. He took our orders and then walked away again.
"So Carmilla," my dad started, trying to figure out what to ask. "Laura said you were twenty-five?"
"Yeah," she took a sip from her beer.
"Did you go to school?"
"I started college, but when I was a sophomore the cancer came back and it was easier to just drop out. Between the chemo, radiation, and stem-cell transplant, I would have missed most of the semester. I figured when I went back into remission I would go back. But by that time, I didn't want to do school. So I worked some jobs for a couple of years until it came back again."
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay. You know, Laura never told me what you did for a living."
"I work for the government. It isn't that interesting of a job."
I rolled my eyes as Carmilla smiled. "What do you do there, or is it classified?"
"I work for the Department of Natural Resources."
"Did you always want to work for the government?"
"No, I wanted to be a sheriff for most of my young life."
"A sheriff?" She asked laughing a little.
"Yeah. But then I realized that I didn't live in the old west. So I joined the police academy."
"Why'd you leave?"
"We found out we were having Laura. When my wife told me she was pregnant, we had a lot of long discussions about what we were going to do and what our options were. In the end: we decided to have Laura, that I would take a desk job, and she would stay home with Laura."
"That must have been hard."
"It was," he took another sip of his beer. "But I am very happy with the decision we made. It's been nice seeing her so happy." Carmilla smiled and I took her hand in mine. My dad looked around, trying to think of something to say. "Laura said you have a brother."
"Yeah, Will, he's twenty."
"What is he like?"
"He's an annoying younger brother, I guess. We aren't really that close and he goes to college on the other side of the country. Plus he's sorta always lived in the shadow of the cancer."
"Sorry, I didn't mean it pry."
"No it's fine. Unfortunately the cancer has taken up a large part of my life so things tend to go back to it. Besides the cancer, I haven't done all that much, so there isn't much for me to talk about. But I don't mind when people ask about it."
My dad looked between us. "It's okay, ask her anything." I said as I nodded.
"You mentioned stem-cell transplants," he started.
"Yeah, so my cancer originated in the lymphatic system which helps to fight disease. When it came back the third time they decided to try doing the transplant because it hadn't really spread. I did really strong rounds of both chemo and radiation and then they injected donor stem cells that would form into healthy blood cells."
"How old were you when you did that?"
"About nineteen."
"And that was your third round of treatment?"
Carmilla nodded. "Yeah. I was diagnosed when I was about fourteen, and then it came back when I was seventeen. Then about a year ago, they found it again and gave me the timeline of a little over a year."
Carmilla and I didn't talk about the cancer all that much. I knew most of the basics of when she had been diagnosed, but I had never heard her talk about the cancer like how she was doing now. She didn't sound angry, or upset. But it wasn't like she was a robot reciting something either.
I generally tried not to think about the cancer, but I had still been curious about some things. I knew she would tell me if I asked, but I knew it would change the mood when we were hanging out. It was nice to hear her talk just honestly about everything. Carmilla was giving my dad all of her attention as he asked her a question.

The waiter placed the bill back on the table in front of my dad. "So I don't really know what to say now." My dad said taking his CREDIT CARD back.
"What do you mean?" I asked glancing at him.
"Well if you were dating a guy, I would be reminding him to wear a condom. But I don't know what to say when you are dating a girl."
"Dad!" I said as Carmilla choked on the water she had just drank.
"I'll be back around ten-thirty; try and keep it down when I get back."
"Dad," I said again, sterner this time.
"We are all adults Laura. Am I wrong in my assumption that you guys have had sex?" I glanced at Carmilla whose face was turning pretty red. I could almost guarantee that mine was even worse.
"Really don't want to talk about this with you," I finally said after a moment of very uncomfortable silence.
"Dental dams are things, right?" He asked glancing at me. "When you came out, I attended a seminar on safe sex for same sex couples. It mostly focused on two men, but they talked a little about two women."
"We are not having this conversation."
"Make sure you've cleaned any toy before you use it."
"On that note, we are going now." I said quickly standing up. "Thanks for dinner."
"Thank you Ron. It was nice to meet you," Carmilla said standing up as well.
"It was no problem, it was nice to meet you too."
I grabbed Carmilla's hand and pulled her towards the door before he could say anything else.

Carmilla walked around my room and looked at the old picture frames that littered the top of my dresser. "Was this your mom?" She asked motioning to one of them.
I walked over to her and looked at the picture from when I was about five; she was giving me a piggyback ride. "Yeah."
"She was really pretty." I nodded. "I see where you get your looks from." I bit my lip a little to prevent myself from smirking as I felt my face redden. "Are you blushing?" She asked laughing a little.
"Maybe," I muttered and then walked over to my bedside table to look at my phone.
I felt Carmilla's arms wrap around my stomach and she kissed the back of my head. "You know how beautiful I think you are." I ducked my head a little, letting my hair cover my face some. "Stop that," she pulled my hair from one side, so that it was all over my left shoulder. Carmilla kissed the right side of my neck.
I pulled away a little so that I could turn and look at Carmilla. She was smiling at me and I bit my lip a little again. She was looking lustfully into my eyes. My face was still a little red but I didn't care, I reached up a little and kissed her. "I love you so much," I said quietly when our lips were only centimeters apart.
"I love you too," she said and then kissed me again, her hands cupping my face.