Meredith cooked dinner that night. She made spaghetti, which was one of the dishes she'd never been very good at, but she thought it turned out okay. The noodles were slightly burnt, and the sauce was pretty damn thick and possibly had a bit too high a ground beef:vegetables ratio, but nothing caught on fire, so it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. She set the table and poured up two glasses of red wine, and then followed an impulse and plucked a berry-scented candle from the top of a bookshelf and placed it on the tablecloth. It was romantic, she figured, and… damn, they were gonna have to start being romantic now, weren't they? She even queued up a romantic playlist on Spotify.
Hopefully she wasn't overdoing it, but she figured under-doing it would be worse. Tracy needed to know how much Meredith cared about her, and how desperately she wanted whatever trajectory they were hurtling toward to work out for them.
When Tracy walked through the door, Meredith pressed the play button on her Spotify playlist, only to have a thirty-second ad play first. Meredith grimaced and turned the volume down. She would have thought a classy lady like Tracy had Premium, but evidently not. Meredith strolled over from the dining room to where Tracy was hanging her coat up in the living room (the weather had been pretty miserable lately, with a lot of rain and cold).
"Welcome home, hon," she said, giving Tracy a somewhat rusty flirtatious grin. Damn, she sure was out of practice at this. "Dinner's on the table."
"Great," Tracy said, the corner of her mouth twitching up in a bemused smile. "Is that spaghetti sauce I smell?"
"Yep," Meredith said. "It's my first time making it, so it's not perfect, but… well, it's the best I could do."
Tracy grinned and slipped her hand into Meredith's; the gesture felt almost shockingly natural. "I'm sure it'll be delicious, Mer."
Over dinner, they idly talked about how their days had gone and how awful the weather was, as they often did. Meredith was surprised to discover that the spaghetti sauce had come out a lot spicier than intended, but Tracy said she loved it-although the scent of the candle clashed with the flavour, so Meredith removed it, almost knocking it over and setting fire to the tablecloth in the process. Needless to say she was pretty mortified by this, but Tracy laughed, and at that Meredith found herself laughing it off as well.
"This is a nice playlist," Tracy commented as a slow, sappy song played. "Did you put it together yourself, or…?"
Meredith shook her head. "Oh, no, I'm no good at making playlists," she said. "It's one of them premade playlists they've got on there. But I'm glad you like it," she added, blushing.
As they finished up their dinner, one song faded out and another began with a rhythmic series of guitar strums. Meredith recognized the song-they had heard it at that gelato shop a while back, and she'd liked it so much that she had listened to it many times over the past few weeks, to the point where she now had most of the lyrics memorized. As Tracy pushed her chair back and got up to put the dishes in the sink, Meredith began to quietly sing along.
"I had a thought, dear, however scary, about that night, the bugs and the dirt." She slowly stood up and moved over to Tracy, who smiled tentatively and wrapped a hand around Meredith's wrist. "Why were you digging? What did you bury, before those hands pulled me from the earth?"
She placed her free hand on Tracy's hip, and Tracy put her hand on her shoulder. Meredith took a step back, then a step forward, and Tracy followed her movements. They swayed gently back and forth across the kitchen, Meredith continuing to sing.
"I will not ask you where you came from, I will not ask you, neither should you." She interlaced her fingers through Tracy's and drew a little closer to her. Tracy's breath ghosted across her cheek. "Honey, just put your sweet lips on my lips, we should just kiss like real people do."
Tracy let out a low hum. She closed her eyes and leaned in even closer to Meredith. Heart fluttering, Meredith tilted her head just slightly and shut her own eyes. They came to a stop, Meredith's back against the kitchen counter, and closed what little distance was left between them. It was cautious movement, as delicate as though they were handling a priceless glass object, but a certain one nonetheless.
Their lips brushed together softly at first, so that Meredith could barely feel the contact, and then they firmly pressed together. Deep, blissful satisfaction coursed through Meredith; letting out a little moan of pleasure, she raised her hands to cup Tracy's face. Tracy leaned over her, pressing her up against the counter, and put her hands on either side of Meredith. A tinge of ice danced around her lips, and Meredith was briefly met with a shock of cold which was quickly countered by the fire bubbling up inside her. Not wanting to go up in flame and ruin the moment, Meredith pulled away for a moment and caught her breath.
"Mer…" Tracy whispered, drawing her frosty fingers up Meredith's arm to her shoulder and then the collar of her shirt. "I think I'm in love with you."
"S-same here," Meredith replied, her voice coming out hot and heavy.
She drew a line with her thumb down the side of Tracy's cheek and over the curve of her chin, then stopped to rest it on her slightly parted bottom lip. Tracy bit down slightly on her lip, scraping her teeth against the skin of Meredith's thumb and sending a shiver of pleasure down her spine. God, Tracy really had her in the palm of her hand right now, and she looked like she knew it. A sly grin spread over Tracy's face, and she raised one knee to position it between Meredith's legs, which were positioned about shoulder-width apart. Knees wobbling, Meredith sucked in a breath and fell back against the counter. Tracy curled her arms around Meredith's back and pulled her back up and back into a kiss.
The mood was only briefly broken when another Spotify ad came on, at which point Meredith turned her phone off. With a nervous giggle, she tucked a strand of unruly hair behind her ear and turned back to Tracy, whose cheeks were flushed as she leaned against the counter, watching Meredith like a hawk watching a rodent. Tracy reached behind her head and took her hair out of its tight ponytail, then shook it out. Meredith was captivated by the way it cascaded down her back. She reached over and ran her hand through it, then took a strand and twined it around her finger. Tracy narrowed her eyes, not in anger but like a contented cat, and placed a finger under Meredith's chin to tilt her head back. She then leaned in and pressed her lips to Meredith's neck, leaving a patch of frost lingering at the site of contact. Meredith shivered with delight. They kissed again, slowly, so that they could savour the flavour of each other's lips. Meredith wasn't sure what hers tasted like, but Tracy's tasted like vanilla chapstick and white wine. They were cold, unsurprisingly, but in a refreshing way, like a sip of beer on a hot day.
"Let's take this upstairs, shall we?" Tracy asked in a tone that wasn't quite commanding-Meredith felt like she could say no to it if she wanted to-but damn, she wouldn't say no, not in a million years.
"Mmm," Meredith murmured in agreement, bringing her hand up to cup the back of Tracy's head and sliding her fingers through her silky blonde hair. "Sounds like a plan."
It was hard to break away for long enough to get out of the kitchen. They made it halfway through the living room before Tracy grabbed Meredith by the collar of her shirt and pulled her into another kiss, while her hands fumbled with the buttons on her shirt. A sudden, intense wave of heat swept over Meredith as Tracy's hand brushed against her breast, and before she could stop herself, she burst into flame. That didn't stop Tracy, though, as she turned herself to water and continued kissing Meredith even though she sizzled at the touch. A cloud of steam began to fill the room, and Meredith collapsed backward onto the chair; Tracy placed her hand on it as she leaned in over Meredith and the chair instantly turned to ice before it could even catch fire. The ice cooled Meredith down and she returned to normal, although Tracy continued being water for a moment, lapping gently at Meredith and rolling over her in cool, steady waves. Meredith gasped with pleasure, tilting her head back as a stimulated tingling spread throughout her.
"Tracy," she managed to say as she gasped for breath. "Don't stop."
"Don't worry," Tracy whispered as she reformed into a human shape. "I don't plan to."
She pressed a kiss to Meredith's collar and began unbuttoning her shirt.
Tracy woke up surrounded by a thick, permeating heat that seemed to fill the room and the faint smell of smoke. With a jolt of panic, she scrambled up and off the frozen couch-it was beginning to thaw out now, which meant it was soaking wet, and by extension so was Tracy. Meredith was lying curled up on the couch, in flame mode. Cursing, Tracy grabbed her clothes off the floor and hurriedly put them back on, then jostled Meredith awake, keeping her hand cold as she did so it wouldn't get burned.
"Mmwhah?" Meredith mumbled, raising her head to look up at Tracy (who noted with a touch of amusement that Meredith's Texas drawl was stronger when she was sleepy). She then glanced down at her hand and, although it was hard to tell when her whole body was comprised of fire, it looked like she grimaced. "Ah, damnit. Pour some water on me, would ya?"
"Sure thing, babe," Tracy said, the term of endearment flowing off her tongue so naturally that it took her a moment to realize she'd even said it. "Or how about I just use myself instead?"
"Sure, whatever works."
Tracy turned herself into water and trickled onto Meredith, curling around her like a snake (a liquid snake, one might say, which she was pretty sure was a character in one of the video games Micah liked to play). As Meredith reverted to normal human form, Tracy pressed a quick, watery kiss to her forehead before solidifying. She tossed Meredith her clothes and then hurried off to the bathroom while Meredith was putting them back on.
Upon heading into the kitchen to make breakfast, Tracy discovered a couple of things. One, aside from putting the plates and cutlery in the sink and not washing them, she hadn't cleaned up after dinner last night. There were two dirty napkins sitting on the table, a dirty pot on the stovetop, and some sauce that Meredith had evidently spilled on the counter while preparing the meal. Two, they had slept in and it was a work day; it was now 8:45, and Tracy had to be at work by nine. Three, they were all out of bread. She would have to have cereal, she supposed, except that after pouring herself up a bowl of corn flakes she looked in the fridge and realized they were out of milk as well. All in all, as amazing as the night before had been, this morning was not off to a great start.
"No worries," Meredith said when Tracy explained the no milk, no bread situation. "I'll fry us up an omelet. Have we got any cheese?"
"An omelet might take too long," Tracy muttered. "You can make one for yourself, but I've got to be out the door…" She glanced back up at the clock and gritted her teeth. "Right about now, actually."
Meredith's shoulders drooped, but she leaned over and gave Tracy a peck on the cheek. As Tracy grabbed her keys and unlocked the door, Meredith grabbed a granola bar out of the cupboard and tossed it to her.
"Here, sweetie, eat this in the car," she said. "No need to go completely hungry."
Tracy grinned. "Thanks," she said as she stepped out the door. "See you after work, Mer."
On the drive to the pool, Tracy's mind buzzed with giddy excitement. It was so dizzyingly surreal to think that the events of the previous twenty-four hours had actually happened. She was a lesbian now-or, no, she always had been, but she had only just now realized it-and she and Meredith were together. Wait, were they officially together? She wasn't sure. They had gotten together, though, in a very physical sense. And they had slow danced to a Hozier song-what better way was there to consummate a lesbian relationship? She'd heard Claire talk about that Hozier fellow all the time; she knew sapphic women were crazy about him. Oh, and speaking of Claire, she still didn't even know that her biological mother was still alive, let alone that she was the person Tracy had just hooked up with. She had a lot to tell everyone, and a lot that she wanted to tell but had to keep a secret. Damn, she just wanted to shout it from the rooftops, that she had felt the wonderful, almost ethereal sensation of a woman's lips on hers, and that her mouth (and the rest of her body, particularly the lower region) was still tingling.
When she arrived at her workplace, Tracy took some deep breaths and tried to collect her thoughts before heading inside. One of her coworkers, a young man named Dave, greeted her as she walked in.
"Heya, Strauss," Dave said. "Say, you've got your, eh, your shirt on backward, why's that?"
Tracy froze in place, her cheeks heating up. "Do I?" she asked in as casual a tone as possible. Glancing down at her collar, she saw the tag sticking out at the front. "Damn, guess I do. Funny, huh?"
Dave wiggled his eyebrows up and down. "Fun night last night, Strauss?" he chuckled. "Who was the lucky guy?"
"Guy?" With that word, the faint remainder of her giddy rush died out completely as Tracy remembered, with a twisting sensation in her gut, that heteronormativity existed. "R-right, um… his name was…" She tried to think of a good guy's name, but all that came to mind were the names of her friends. "His name was, uh, No- Pe- Ma- uh, H- Mo- er,...Gabriel? Sure, let's go with Gabriel."
Dave stared at her, his face crinkling as though he wasn't entirely sure what to make of her stammering. "You… have an orgy last night or something?"
"What? No, oh, god no," Tracy assured him, hoping she wasn't speaking too quickly to sound believable. "No, um, I just… it was a very forgettable experience," she said, cringing inwardly at that blatant lie. "You know how it is."
"I mean, not really," Dave said with a shrug. "But whatever, man."
It was a surprisingly busy day at the pool, seeing as how lousy the weather was. Although there were no serious incidents, there were enough instances of folks running by the pool and roughhousing that Tracy was able to keep herself busy throughout the day. Still, it wasn't quite busy enough to keep her thoughts from drifting back to that awkward conversation. If she had been honest with Dave and told him that she hadn't hooked up with a man last night, but with a woman, how would he react? Maybe he, like everyone in the group chat, would have been fine with it-happy for her, even. Or maybe he would think it was hot, and ask if they'd be up for a threesome sometime. Or maybe he would think it was absolutely disgusting and refuse to associate with her (not a huge loss, as she barely knew the guy anyway and didn't like him) or call her a slur or something. If he did any of those things, she would want to freeze him on the spot, but she couldn't do that unless she wanted to go to jail. No, she would just have to stand there and take it. She could tell him off, of course, and she could report him for workplace harassment, but would her boss take her side? Or would he discriminate against her as well? There was no way of knowing for sure, and it wasn't a risk she was willing to take.
She had experienced a sort of discrimination before, of course, having powers and all. At least that was kind of justified, as unfair as it was. She could freeze and shatter someone if she wanted, or drown them; it made sense to be afraid of that. But hating somebody just because of who they loved? There was no justification for that. Thinking about it made Tracy's blood boil, and worse than that, it terrified her. She felt like she was back in that scorching enclosure, restrained by cuffs which scalded her hands and prevented her from breaking free, watching the man she had once loved (or thought she loved) walk away from her. She could yell at him, say "you're one of us, Nathan, one of us," but what difference would it make to those who held power over her? They could turn their back on her and there was nothing she could do about it.
By the time her workday ended, Tracy was so anxious to get back home and see Meredith again that she brushed right past a coworker who tried to stop to talk to her. She didn't even stop to process what they said to her. She didn't like any of her coworkers that much, and whatever attempts they made to befriend her were appreciated but ultimately unwanted. She just wanted to get back to Meredith, to see her and touch her and hear her voice. The previous night had awakened something deep within her, an urge that she hadn't even realized she had, but now that Tracy had gotten a taste of it, she couldn't get enough.
When she got home, Meredith was wearing her shirt half-unbuttoned, and she was just applying some strawberry chapstick when Tracy walked through the door. A sly smile spread over her face, and she popped the lid back on her chapstick tube and slipped it into the pocket of her tight-fitting bluejeans. Tracy's throat went dry.
"Welcome home, honey," Meredith said, and that last word couldn't have been more appropriate, because her voice dripped with it, alluringly sweet. "How was work?"
"What's there to say?" Tracy hummed, brushing her hand over the soft, wavy surface of Meredith's hair as she walked over to her. "Mostly I just stopped some stupid kids from breaking the rules."
"Mm." Meredith tilted her head back, letting her hair spill into Tracy's hand. "Let me tell you, Trace, I feel like a stupid kid right now, being around you."
Tracy gently curled her fingers into Meredith's locks and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Me, too," she admitted. "It's… kind of fun, to be honest. I don't think I've ever felt this way before."
"I kinda have, with Nathan and whatnot, but right now I'm liking you a whole lot better."
"You're better than Nathan too."
Meredith tipped herself backward into Tracy's arms and placed a hand on her cheek, gazing up at her with eyes glistening with adoration. There was a sharp tug in Tracy's belly, and like a magnet she was pulled into a kiss. She ran her hands up Meredith's back, sneaking them under her clothes and feeling her skin, pulsing with a barely contained heat. This was what she should have been doing for a long now, and frankly, the fact that she hadn't was a genuine shame. In fact, a tiny sliver of regret crept into Tracy's mind as she pulled away from Meredith and licked her lips to taste the strawberry flavour on them. She should have done this much sooner. Instead she had wasted her time sleeping with men, and having failed relationships, and then steering clear of sex and romance altogether. There was nothing wrong with that, of course, but… she could have had this, or something like it, a long time ago if she had only realized her orientation sooner.
But then Meredith let out a low murmur of contentment and Tracy remembered that it didn't matter how many opportunities she may have missed. She was here now with Meredith, and even though it was hard to say how long it would last, she planned to cherish every second of it. No matter what the future brought, this was the start of the rest of her life.