"So my mom offered to have Brandon visit her over the Valentine's weekend." Stef whispered suggestively one Tuesday morning a few weeks after the sleepover when she was dropping Brandon off at school.
"She did?" Lena asked with a wide smile.
"Yup." Stef replied. "Three glorious kid-free days."
"Whatever shall we do?" Lena teased.
"I can think of a few things." Stef answered moving ever so slightly closer to Lena. But even that tiny move sent tingles down Lena's back.
"I can't wait." Lena said, her voice deeper than usual.
They had been a couple for a few months now and all the comments and looks had basically died down. The other parents either realized that neither Stef nor Lena were any different for being in a relationship or just took no notice of them at all and both were equally unimportant to the couple in question.
"Me either." Stef said. "I'll start packing his bags tonight." She teased with a wink before heading back towards her car to head to work.
Friday afternoon had finally come and Stef had picked Brandon up from school and put him on a plane to Florida and now she was back home getting her own overnight bag packed for her weekend at Lena's. It was Lena's idea to spend it there since Stef had a habit of constantly doing clean up whenever they were at her place. With a kid living there the house was always somewhat of a mess.
Stef had a few errands to run before heading to Lena's. She'd thought long and hard about how to plan this special day - their first of hopefully many - but in the end she'd decided to do it simple and intimate rather than grand. She wanted it to be just the two of them and so she'd reserved a spot at the burger joint where they'd had their very first meal together and for dessert Stef had tried her hand at a simple cherry pie. She wasn't sure how it would taste but she wasn't disappointed by how it looked. It wasn't exactly bakery material but still it was presentable and she knew Lena would appreciate the effort. Now all Stef had to do was pick up a bunch of roses, a box of chocolate and a bottle of wine and then head over to Lena's.
"Happy Valentine's Day." Stef said as Lena opened the door.
"Happy Valentine's Day." Lena replied as she kissed Stef before giving her space to enter the house.
"Did you clean up?" Stef asked, looking around at the exceptionally spotless living room even for Lena's standards.
"I was afraid you might start if I didn't finish before you got here." Lena teased.
"Very funny, Ms. Adams." Stef said in mock sternest. "You keep it up and all these will be for me." She said, holding up the box of swiss chocolate that Lena loved.
"I'm sorry." Lena gave in. "I'll give you a kiss to make it up to you." She said as she leaned in and kissed Stef passionately, extracting a groan from the blond.
"Okay you're forgiven." Stef said, handing her the chocolate and the flowers. The wine she was saving for dessert.
"I thought that would do." Lena smiled triumphantly as she opened the box and offered Stef the first piece.
"When you said 'first meal' this isn't quite what I imagined." Lena said with a laugh as Stef drove up into the parking lot.
"It was our first meal." Stef justified, looking a little worried that Lena didn't like it.
"I love it." Lena assured Stef. And she did. All she really cared about was being with Stef. Whether they ate at the Ritz or at the burger joint or even the parking lot for that matter, wasn't important.
But for some reason Stef had become skeptical. She had not done enough. Of course Lena was used to much more. When she'd planned this she'd thought it was sweet but maybe Lena was expecting something fancier. Suddenly Stef wished she'd just reserved a place at the Italian restaurant they'd been to like she'd first planned.
Through dinner and then dessert that hadn't tasted at all bad Stef had been trying to overcompensate for dinner. Suddenly the pie that had looked pretty good just a few hours ago was now unpresentable, the roses that Lena had put into a vase looked just a little wilted and the wine wasn't the very expensive kind that she noticed was on Lena's wine rack.
"Stef, what's wrong?" Lena asked as Stef began clearing their plates the moment dessert was over.
"Nothing." Stef replied, though the truth was that she just wanted to get that awful pie out of sight and so she began rinsing the dishes in Lena's kitchen.
"Stef." Lena stopped her, pulling her into the living room and onto the couch.
Stef looked at Lena and saw the genuine concern on her face. "I'm sorry about dinner." Stef finally said. "I thought it was..." But she trailed off because now all she thought it was was stupid.
"Stef, I loved it." Lena said sincerely. "It was thoughtful. Honestly I'd forgotten about that day but you remembered and that says something." She explained.
Stef smiled. She had thought it would be special and she'd done the flowers and the candy like she was supposed to. "The pie was homemade." Stef said both to show her efforts as well as sort of apologize that she hadn't bought a better one.
"And it was delicious." Lena said. She leaned in to give Stef a kiss and though Stef had reciprocated it Lena could sense that she was still holding back.
"What's going on Stef?" Lena asked once again, pulling away and noticing the uncertainty in the woman's eyes. But when Stef didn't say anything she pushed a little harder. "Talk to me." Lena said, giving Stef's knee a little squeeze.
"I just..." Stef began, faltering a bit. "I should have done something fancier." She admitted.
"Why would you say that?" Lena asked. For the life of her she couldn't figure out why Stef was suddenly so upset about dinner. It had been wonderful and fun and easy. It made Lena feel like they'd been doing this for years and it felt familiar and comfortable. Why was Stef regretting it?
"I didn't give you what the others probably did." Stef said, a hint of regret in her voice.
"What others?" Lena asked, wondering where this was coming from.
"Your last girlfriend, the one that travelled." Stef explained.
"Gretchen?" Lena asked in surprise, not expecting her to be the reason.
"She took you places, all over the world and I took you to In and Out Burgers." Stef mumbled the last part, silently cursing herself.
"Stef, I loved dinner tonight." Lena assured. "It was thoughtful and personal. This is what I want. This is what I've always wanted. It's why Gretchen and I didn't work out. I always wanted a home and a family." Lena studied Stef's face to see if she was making a difference. "Did I love to travel, sure but that's not what I wanted my life to be." She explained. "I like holidays and vacations but I don't want to be on the road my whole life. When Gretchen wasn't willing to settle down I knew she wasn't the one for me. And I was right Stef." Lena said when Stef still looked skeptical. "You're the one I want. You're exactly what I want."
"How can you say that?" Stef asked, not believing Lena completely. "You used to travel the world, you've seen more places than most people do in their entire lives. Your wine rack has wine that costs more than my car and you can cook food from every country."
"That's what's bothering you?" Lena asked. "Stef, I came to San Diego before I met you. I have a home and a steady job here because I wanted a place to call home. I travelled and learned to cook but it was just for a while. I always knew I would settle down one day. I met you after I already started that Stef. You just made me realize that I'd made the right decision."
"So this is what you really want?" Stef clarified. "A salaried job and a woman with a past."
"Yes." Lena confirmed though she repeated it all in the way she saw things. "I want a job that I love and a woman whose past has made her the wonderful woman that she is."
Stef smiled. It was the same thing, only the way Lena said it made it sound so much better. "I love you." Stef said. "You've changed my life and for the first time in a long time I'm actually happy with who I am."
Lena smiled back, glad that she had made a difference in Stef's life because she believed that Stef deserved everything. She was an amazing mother and girlfriend and she was even an amazing friend and supporter to Mike. She was friendly and outgoing once she was comfortable and slowly, over the months, Lena was learning how to help Stef out of her shell. She'd made more friends - ones that she didn't need to keep pretending around - and she'd begun opening up and Lena could see how much happier Stef was.
Stef then leaned in and kissed Lena. It was soft and full of love but within minutes it because heated. They couldn't seem to get close enough and they couldn't seem to touch enough and even stopping just long enough to take a breath seemed far too long to both of them. With their bodies still touching and lips still locked they headed into the bedroom and time seemed to have slowed down and sped up all at once as clothes disappeared and hands began to roam. For just one brief moment Stef faltered, realizing that this was a line she had never crossed and was uncertain of what was on the other side but there was no one in the world she'd rather find out with than Lena.