Chapter Twenty
It had been three weeks since Santana's spanking, six weeks since the Gordons had decided to adopt Faith, Tru and Missy, and things were running as smoothly as things do in a household with eight teenagers, four adults and a dog. Bill's glee club and Santana's cheer team had both won their respective Sectionals, and were getting ready for Regionals. Bill was really proud of the kids in his club. Faith had been a great addition to his group and she and a boy named Ryder had been given the duet, and they had "KILLED it", according to Bill, which was apparently a good thing.
Tru was doing well in her therapy, but still had a lot of problems. The police labs HAD found semen in the vomit on Tru's nightgown and while they had no DNA of Martin's to compare it to, it clearly came from a close family member. The search for Martin Lehane had been stepped up, but he had apparently fled Riverside, the nearby town he had gone to work in when he abandoned the girls.
Puck had made remodeling their attic one of his company's top priorities and they had finished the job in five weeks. Cordelia, Kennedy, Tara, Faith and Missy had all picked their rooms in what had been the attic, and Tru, Darla and Buffy had all moved into their own rooms on the second floor. Each girl had been given permission to decorate their room any way they wanted, within reason, of course, and there had been a lot of shopping and painting. Tru, as requested, had gotten the room closest to the parents room, which had proven a good thing. She had already had nightmares twice, which required Brittany to sleep with her. Harper was now exclusively sleeping in Tru's room.
The girls were getting along better now that they each had their own space, though, of course, there were still plenty of fights. No spankings yet, but a few short groundings, several swats, and a LOT of scolding.
Thanksgiving had come and gone and it was now early December. The family was now gearing up for Tara's 16th birthday, which was next week, and for Christmas. They had gotten some exciting news, Santana's parents and grandmother were flying in for Christmas, which was a real treat as Alma Lopez was not in the best of health and almost never traveled. There was also a big Sweet Sixteen party being planned for Tara.
The aforementioned Birthday Girl was at this moment at Willow's house, again spending the night. The two girls were home alone, and were upstairs, lying in Willow's bed, kissing and cuddling. They had grown even closer in the intervening weeks, and now considered themselves "girlfriends" though, nobody else knew about it except Kennedy. In some ways, Kennedy was the sister Tara was closest to, being the closest to her in age (Kennedy was two months older while Cordelia was five months older and the triplets were seven months younger, and the twins thirteen months younger) and because Kennedy was also gay, though she'd not met any girls at Sunnydale High she was really interested in.
"Mmmmmmm", said Willow, resting her head on Tara's shoulder. "YOU, my dear, are getting pretty darn good at the kissage!"
Tara chuckled and ran her fingers through Willow's hair. "And hhow much experimenting have you doen to back that up, young lady?" she asked in a mock stern voice.
Willow shot upright and looked at her wide eyed. "Tara!' she exclaimed. "I wouldn't...I never..." she stammered a moment more before she saw Tara's laughing eyes. "Oh, you BRAT!" she exclaimed, whacking Tara with a pillow. This, naturally erupted into a full blown pillow fight, the, once the pillows were dropped, a wrestling match. The two girls finally wound up entwined in each others arms, panting and giggling.
The two lay there in comfortable silence for a moment, Tara lost in thought. Willow seemed to pick up on this. "Penny for your thoughts," she said quietly.
Tara smiled and snuggled closer. "I was just thinking about my party next week," Tara answered.
"What about it?" asked Willow.
Tara took a breath. She'd been thinking about this since her parents announced she could have the party. She had something to say, and it was now or never.
"I want you to be my official date for the party," she finally said. "I want MY Sweet Sixteen to be OUR Coming Out party. I want EVERYBODY to know you're my girlfriend. I don't want to hide it any longer." She looked at Willow and saw happy tears in her girlfriends eyes.
"Oh, Tara," said Willow, kissing her deeply. "I love that! I never even really understood why we WERE hiding it. This is 2031. There are still a lot of narrow minded jerks out there, but, relationships like ours are so much more accepted now. It was almost twenty years ago that same sex marriages were legalized."
"I know," said Tara. "It's just, well, I thought maybe people would be, like, "Of COURSE she's gay! She has three bisexual mothers!". Plus..." Tara paused shyly. "Everything is going to change. We won't be able to have sleepovers any more, or be alone in one of our bedrooms. My parents will treat this the same as they would a relationship with a boy."
Willow smiled. "Mine would too," she admitted. "So, we don't HAVE to go public just yet."
"I WANT to," said Tara, looking at her, very seriously. "I've been avoiding coming out for those reasons, but, now, they aren't important anymore. Willow, I LOVE you, and I want EVERYBODY to know it. I love you enough I'm willing to accept the changes."
Willow gave her a shy smile. "I love you too," she said. "I think we should tell our parents first, though."
"We will," said Tara, wrapping her arms more tightly around Willow and kissing her deeply. "Tomorrow." She reached over and shut out the light, having already decided to talk to one particular parent alone first.
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Santana sat in the den she shared with her three spouses grading papers. It was a beautiful Saturday morning and she had the house to herself, everybody else already off on some Saturday adventure or another. She sighed. She'd much rather be out enjoying the day too, but, she was a little behind on grading. She knew she'd be done soon though. She noticed her coffee cup was empty, so, she got up and went to the kitchen to refill it. A moment later, the back door opened and Tara walked in, home a bit early after another sleepover at Willow's. Santana smiled as Tara greeted her, then knelt down to pet Harper, who had come up to her wagging his tail as though he had not seen her in a week.
"My goodness," Tara teased the sweet natured dog. "It hasn't been THAT long since you saw me!" Harper just responded by licking her face, making her giggle.
"How was the sleepover, Baby?" asked Santana as Tara straightened up and came over and hugged her. Santana loved all her girls, but she particularly relished Tara's hugs.
"It was good," Tara said as Santana ran her fingers through Tara's hair. "But, I want to talk to you if that's ok."
Santana smiled. "Of course, Mi amor," she said. She indicated the kitchen table. "sit down. Do you want some coffee?"
Tara smiled. "No thank you," she said as Santana came and sat across from her.
Santana sensed that Tara was nervous, so she reached over and took the girls hand. "You know you can talk to me about absolutely anything, right, Baby?" she asked.
Tara looked at the table and nodded. "Yeah, I do," she said. She took a deep breath. "I just have something I wanted to tell all of you, but I needed to talk to you first. It just felt like something I wanted to share with you before Daddy, Mama or Mommy."
Santana smiled at Tara calling Quinn "Mommy". The girls only ever really did that when they were feeling really emotional or vulnerable. She didn't push or prompt, however, she just sat there and waited for Tara to say what she had to say.
It was pretty clear that Tara had a long speech worked out, so, it surprised both of them when she just blurted out,"Mami. I'm gay. And I'm in love with Willow."
Santana ,never letting go of Tara's hand, moved to sit in the chair right next to her. She smiled and kissed Tara's hand. This was no surprise to her. She'd once told Dave Karofsky "I'm a closeted lesbian AND a judgmental bitch, so, I have AWESOME Gaydar." She knew that both Tara and Kennedy were gay, but, had felt it important to let THEM tell HER. "Does Willow feel the same?" she asked.
Tara nodded. "Yeah,"she said. "We talked last night, and we decided she was going to be my official date for my party. We want it to sort of unofficially also be our Coming Out party." She looked at Santana with her big, expressive blue eyes. "I wanted to tell you always says you, Mama and Mommy are bi, but, I know that Mommy is only "gay" with you and Mama, and that you are only "straight" with Daddy. Y-you've kinda been my role model in all this.
"Oh, mi nina preciosa," said Santana, tears springing to her eyes as she pulled Tara into her lap and hugged her tightly. Tara hugged her back, clinging to her and both cried softly. "I am so happy and so flattered you chose to talk to me first. I love you, Babygirl. I love you with all of my heart, and I want you to be happy, whether you are gay, straight, bi, or asexual. And I'm glad you've found someone who makes you happy."
"She does, Mami," said Tara, resting her head on Santana's shoulder. "She's everything. She's...Willow." They both chuckled at that. Tara got a mischievous look on her face. "You know, the night of the party, when we all got in trouble, well, you and Mama interrupted us just before our first kiss when you got to her house to pick me up."
Santana laughed. "I'd say I'm sorry," she said. "But, I'd be lying." She got a bit more serious. "Do you want to talk to Daddy, Mama and Mom first, or to the whole family at once?"
"Daddy, Mama and Mom first,' answered Tara. "I think the other girls suspect."
Santana nodded, resting her cheek on the top of her daughters head. "You know there are going to be some changes, right?" she said. "No more sleepovers, or being alone in yours or Willows bedrooms."
Tara chuckled. "I figured that," she said. "Just do me one favor?"
"What's that, Baby?"
Tara grinned sassily. "PLEASE don't give Willow the shovel speech."
Santana laughed and gave her a light swat. "No promises," she said. She kissed Tara on the crown of her head. "I love you so much, Babygirl."
Tara smiled. "I love you too, Mami," she said.
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Later, after a loving, emotional, supportive talk with her other parents, Tara came out to her sisters during dinner. As she'd told Santana, all the girls had at least suspected it, and were just as supportive as their parents had been, even admiring Tara for her bravery in wanting to go totally public. At one point, Tara had looekd at Kennedy and nodded, so, Kennedy came out too. Again, there were no real surprises, just a lot of loving support.
A bit later, Bill had decided he needed to talk to Buffy about something, so he went up to her room and knocked softly on the door, waiting for her to call out "come in."
Buffy, who was leaning against the headboard of her bed, reading a magazine, looked up as he came in. "Hi Daddy,' she said with a happy smile.
"Hey Peanut," said Bill, walking over and kissing her on top of her head. Her desk was right next to her bed, so he pulled the chair over and sat down. "Enjoying having your own room?" he asked.
"Yeah," answered Buffy. "After fourteen years of sharing a room with Darla, it was a little lonely at first, but, it's really nice having my own space."
Bill nodded, smiling. "Look, Peanut," he said. "I wanted to talk to you about something."
"What's that?" asked Buffy, sitting up and scooting to the edge of the bed, looking him in the eyes.
"I wanted to make sure you were ok," Bill answered. "There have been a lot of changes, coming really fast around her lately. And a big one has been Tru's needs. Sweetie, you're the youngest, even if only by a few minutes, and, we've always treated you as our baby. Well, I feel like we've been treating Tru more like the baby lately. Your Mom's your sisters and I all have. And I was wondering how you feel about that.
Buffy smiled at him lovingly and took his hand. "Daddy," she said. "I won't deny that, at first, I WAS a little jealous. But, Mom explained to all of us how Dr. Janine said Tru had sorta regressed a little, so, in a way, she IS the baby now. If you haven't noticed, I kinda treat her that way too." Tears came to her eyes as she continued emotionally. "Daddy, Tru has been through something horrible. And I understand because, if it weren't for Kitty, I would have gone through something similar. She NEEDS us, Daddy. I love her, and Faith, and Missy, and if being the baby is what she needs, then I want to help her any way I can."
Bill smiled at her, with tears in his own eyes. God, she was so like all her Mom's! She was a little quirky, and often came off as a bit of an airhead, but, she was so smart, and so strong, and so loving. "You are a very special girl, Peanut," he said, pulling her to her feet and wrapping her in a hug. "Don't ever change."
Buffy hugged him back. "I'll try not to, she said. "I love you, Daddy."
"I love you too, Baby," Bill said huskily, kissing her on top of her head. "Tru is lucky to have a "big sis" like you."
"I know," joked Buffy sassily, making them both laugh.
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A/N: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. These three conversations felt very important, to me, and it was amazing how easily they flowed. Please, let me know what you thought.