Chapter 29

She missed her. She was home for the holiday, and yet her heart wasn't really in it. Sofia strolled along the strip, lost in thought.

She had been missing Sara for a long time, she knew that, but missing her after they'd rebuilt their friendship had sharpened that ache; while she was always glad to see her mother and brother, she'd found her thoughts constantly drifting back to Frisco.

And she couldn't help wondering how much Sara missed her in turn. Despite the development between them she knew nothing was definitively before Amy knew about them.

Long-lasting happiness was something that was truly new for Sara. She didn't want to lose it, but she knew that changes were on the horizon, and they would make or break her contentment. Her life right now was going well, but it couldn't remain as it was. Amy would start asking questions, and Sara was aware that she would need to be ready with a definition for what existed between herself and Sofia so she could explain things to the child in such a manner that was comfortable to all parties involved.

Sara sat in the worn sofa near the window, gazing out at the spectacle of feathery flakes falling down, the snow was beautiful. It wouldn't stick, she knew; in a few hours it would past, and there would be no more for decades. But for the moment the silent magic was in full force, and she watched, fascinated.

After all, the last time she'd seen snow had been the winter before she'd graduated from college.

Sara leaned her forehead against the window, ignoring the chill of the pane against her skin, and watched it swirl and tumble down from the sky, endless, pristine. It was hypnotizing in its own way, and if Sara had truly been alone she would have gone out and walked in it for hours, until her toes were numb and her hair wet with melt.

She sighed, watching her breath cloud briefly on the glass, and straightened, rubbing absently at the numb patch of skin on her forehead. Even if it was late Sara decided to wake Amy up knowing the girl would never believe it unless she saw the snow with her own eyes. She carried the girl into the library and sat down keeping Amy on her lap.

With only the light in the globe on, they sat in the semi-dark watching the snowflakes dancing towards the ground.

"It's beautiful, mom, can we go outside?"

"No sweetie, it's too late for that. You'll have to wait and see if it's still there tomorrow."

"But, mom," Amy tried again, "I'm on vacation so I can sleep in tomorrow."

Sara just smiled charitably, "no you can't you're going to visit Sean tomorrow."

"Are we going by the Home with the presents?"

"Yes we are in the afternoon, and tomorrow morning will be spent at the mall, we still have a few presents to buy along with some food products" Sara informed her.

"Can we go by the pet store? I need to buy a gift for Lucky."

"Of course we can, I think we are running low in cat food anyway."

Amy kept silent for a moment, "what shall I buy to Sofia?"

Sara kept a loving gaze on Amy, "Sunbeam, you don't have to buy her anything."

Amy cocked an eyebrow, "of course I do she wrote she got something for me."

"Yes, but I don't think Sofia expect you to buy her a present" she told her daughter.

"But I want to" Amy carried on, emotion flooding her face, "she's nice and… and she almost feels like family with all the time she spends here…" she said, letting her voice drift off.

Sara said nothing at first, she shifted uncomfortably, blushing a little bit, "you really like her, don't you?"

Nodding, Amy tugged her hair behind her ear and cleared her throat, "yeah I really do. It's like having a fun substitute mother. She always likes to do cool stuff and she is almost as smart as you."

"So you don't mind she's here as much as she is?"

"No" Amy replied warmly.

"Good" Sara sighed to herself and decided to just go for it, "because I want to tell you something. Do you remember a while ago you asked me if Sofia was my girlfriend?"

Amy looked thoughtful, "yeah."

"Okay." Sara couldn't quite believe she was having this conversation. "And that I said no, but promised you, you would be the first to know if things changed?"

Amy said nothing, only nodded at her.

"Well it has. We have decided we want our relationship to be more than just friendly" Sara said, cocking her head at the girl, watching her closely.

Amy buried her head in Sara's shoulder and giggled, "Mommy has a girlfriend."

"Yeah guess I do" Sara shrugged, surprised to find herself blushing by the teasing. "But are you okay with that development?"

Amy tilted her head and considered, "she practically lives with us anyway, and I like her so yeah it's okay."

"Glad to hear that." Sara looked thankful at the girl, "and despite this development, you are still the most important person in my life" Sara said, ending it at that.

"Mmm." Amy laid her head down on her mother's shoulder, curving one hand around her neck; Sara's pulse beating strong and slowly under her fingers. Sara pulled her a little closer, and Amy smiled, content.

Sara eventually tucked Amy into bed and took up residence on the comfortable chair in the corner of the room. She watched Amy sleep for as long as she could before exhaustion set in and her eyelids began to droop, she got up and went to bed.

And the snow kept falling.

Sara could feel a pair of eyes staring at her before she opened her own. She peeled one open and then the other. Amy was sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Mom?"

"Mmm-hmm" Sara slowly stretched.

"I've got an idea," Amy said excitedly, crawling further up the bed.

"What is it?"

"Okay, you still remember what we talked about earlier when I thought Sofia was your girlfriend, right?" Sara nodded and the girl continued, "Good, so I was thinking, we should buy a bigger bed as a Christmas gift for Sofia. Wouldn't that be great?"

Sara tried to blink away the tiredness from her eyes. "Yeah," she yawned. "Good idea."

"So we can get it for her?"

"Sure. Whatever," she replied, her head hitting the pillow once more.

It wasn't until an hour and three mugs of coffee later Sara realized what she had agreed to, but Amy was literally bounding on the couch in excitement, so she couldn't find it en her heart to go back on her word.

After buying various grocery and the last few presents Sara followed Amy up the aisle in the furniture store. Amy began to make her way towards the beds closely followed by Sara, but none of the beds seemed to satisfy the girl.

"Mom, don't they have any beds bigger than these ones?"

Sara smothered a giggle, "I suppose so I'm just not sure about where they keep them."

"Welcome! Anything can I help you folks with?" The salesman inquired.

"We need a big bed" Amy's voice piped up.

"This way, ladies" the man motioned gently, and Sara and Amy followed him to the section of king-sizes beds.

Amy's hand slipped out of Sara's as she went looking on her own while Sara kept standing talking with the salesman. A few minutes later Amy's voice was heard when she called out for her mother.

The bed against the far wall where Amy was standing was a full-sized and elegant one with an ornately carved wooden spool frame and tall posts rising from each corner. Sara estimated it probably was oak, and fairly sturdy despite its graceful appearance. She stepped closer patting the mattress with a gentle hand.

"Mom, can we get this one?" Amy asked, climbing onto the bed.

"Gee, sweetie," Sara raised an eyebrow as she looked the bed over, "you don't think it's a bit too much?"

"No it's perfect! The tall posts make it ideal to build a lair in" Amy confided conspiratorially.

"I guess but I don't think Sofia necessary need a bed that can turn into a lair" Sara said clearly amused.

Amy pursed her lips, "hmm no maybe not. But isn't it better to be prepared in case she wants to?" The girl argued.

Sara sighed and decided to just go for it and purchase the bed. It would mean a lot to Amy, and she hoped it would mean a lot to the woman she was in love with.

"Okay, okay" Sara replied, holding out her hands in surrender as she turned around facing the salesman. "I have the impression this is a lost battle so we will take the bed."

"An excellent choice if I may say so" the salesman replied with a smile.

As they reached the cash desk Amy looked at her mother and asked in bewilderment, "mom, how do we get the bed home?"

"The store will deliver it; the question is if they can make it before Christmas" Sara said, smiling kindly at her.

"I'm afraid that might be a problem, but let's have a look" the salesman replied.

After receiving their address he looked up their delivery order, "hmm, well it seems we have a shipment of furniture not too far away from you, so it should be possible to deliver it today but they can't make it before midevening."

"That's fine we won't be home most of the day anyway."

After leaving the store the ladies went home to unload the car and get lunch before they were off to The Rainbow Home to deliver Christmas gifts.

It was early in the evening when the doorbell chimed. "Hey, you got here" Sara smiled at the two men. One of them was long and lean, with a shaggy hair. The other was short and almost baldheaded, and held out a clipboard to her.

"Ms. Sara Sidle?"

"The one and only" she admitted, taking the paperwork and looking it over.

"We made good time," the shorter man ventured.

"I guess you did… well, the bedroom is ready so haul away…"

They did. Moving with the practice of an old team in sync, it only took them half an hour removing the old bed and replaces it with the new one.

Amy helped changing clean sheets onto the new bed and Sara carried the dirty ones to the laundry room, and then it was time for some hot cocoa and board games.

After Sara had tucked a very sleepy Amy into bed, she went into the library to wrap up the presents they had purchased for Amy's friends parents. For Adam's parents Sara had chosen a delicate champagne cooler with a bottle of champagne and two glasses. For Jill's parents she had purchased a gift basket of sweet-smelling bath supplies since they recently had acquired a spa bath.

The afternoon was spent with Jill and her parents, the girls went horseback riding before it was time to exchange gifts. Dinner was consumed at home and then it was time for Jasmine and Glenn's cocktail party.

Late Christmas Eve, Sara located her sleeping daughter and carted her to the car. Once she drove home and was able to deposit Amy into bed, she got to work on the presents. She loaded all of their gifts to the family under the tree and then stood back to take in the sight before going to bed knowing Amy would be up, early.

It was barely 8 a.m. before the whole family arrived. While Craig placed more presents under the tree Sara fetched the coffee, and soon everyone was ready for the present's distribution.

The kid's eyes seemed to grow wider as they opened present after present from pile of gifts. Everything was their favorite, everything they liked more than anything. The adults only smiled as they stuffed wrapping paper into a garbage bag. Sara took great joy in her daughter's bliss, but she still felt the sting of Sofia's absence.

When all the presents was unwrapped Amy turned to Sara, "I've gotta call Sofia and thank her!" She said excitedly.

Sara stopped her. "It's still early, Amy. She could be sleeping."

"Okay," Amy replied brightly, and then dived back into her presents with her cousins.

They all went into the kitchen where breakfast awaited. Done eating the kids went back to the living room to play with their gifts while the adults stayed at the table still in need of more coffee.

"So when are your girlfriend returning?" Craig chuckled.

"On the twenty-… who says..." Sara sighed loudly, "who told you?"

"You just did" Craig's voice was warm with humor, and Sara grinned.

"Well we sort of figured it out on our trip to Vegas, and I finally got around explaining it to Amy just the other day."

"And how did she take the news?" Laura asked curiously.

"Great actually" Sara replied with a smile, "though I'm not really sure she understands the meaning of it."

"Don't underestimate the knowledge of a seven-year-old" Ellen snickered.

"Allison and Ian have surprised us more than once over the years" Craig added, "and so what if she doesn't understand it all, the most important thing is she's fine with it."

Sara's smile widened, "yeah I know."

Since the snow didn't lasted the entire family decided to go ice-skating. They choose the temporary rink on Justin Herman Plaza instead of the one at Union Square expecting less people there.

When they returned back home Craig prepared the goose and placed it in the oven while Sara and Ellen made a light lunch. There was coffee after lunch, and conversation, and eventually a piece of apple pie.

Sara smiled, turning to her daughter who had suddenly become quiet, "what's wrong, Sunbeam?"

"What time is it?" Amy asked.

"It's 2:16 p.m. Why?"

Amy squirmed impatiently in her seat, "can I call Sofia now?"

Sara got up and found her cell phone, and handed it to her daughter. "Press down the number two and hold it."

"Who is number one?" Craig teased.

"Me" Amy giggled. She did as she was told and held the phone to her ear. Sara could hear it go straight to voicemail and quickly advised her daughter to just leave a message of thanks.

"Hey, Sofia!" Amy said into the receiver, "thank you so much for everything. I'm wearing the new charms on my bracelet and we are going to try out twister when I'm done calling. Uh… we bought something for you too, but I won't tell you what it is. Well… guess I'll see you when you get back. Bye."

Amy handed back the phone and everyone got up and went in to the living room to play twister, in the middle of the game Sara's phone started vibrating, she got up and reached into her pocket and got it out.

"Hi, am I disturbing?" Came Sofia's voice.

"Hold on." Sofia heard children's excited voices in the background, and then Sara, saying something she couldn't quite make out, obviously to someone else. A moment later, the sounds dropped off. "Hi, no now I should be able to hear you."

"Where are you?" Sofia asked, and Sara could tell by the low thrum of an engine that she was driving.

"Outside" Sara chortled, "it's quite loud playing twister."

"Do you have time to talk?"

"Yeah, I'm good. You just saved me from breaking my back" Sara chuckled. "So how are Vegas?"

"Same old. Very warm and to lighted" Sofia sighed exaggeratedly, to make Sara laugh.

"Of course," Sara replied with mock indignation, "otherwise it wouldn't be Vegas." The sun had almost vanished in a glory of clouds, and through the receiver she heard the engine stop and a car door open and close. "Did you get Amy's message?"

A click punctuated her words, and Sara's pleasure vanished as she realized that the connection had been broken. Frowning, she pulled her phone from her ear and looked down at it, but everything seemed to be in order. Punching the redial, she lifted it back to her ear, but the voice mail picked up immediately.

Sara's shoulders sagged, and she waited for the beep. "Sofia, we seem…" A hand touched her back, and Sara, startled, spun around, only to feel her eyes widen.

She looked tired and slightly rumpled, but it really was Sofia, smiling at her with her heart in her eyes. "Um... hi," she said hesitantly, her eyes wide and her hands curled into loose fists at her sides. "I, uh... merry Christmas?"

Sara reached out, not quite certain that Sofia wasn't conjured up by her wistful desire. But her cheek was warm and smooth against her palm, her chin firm under her thumb, and the evidence told her that she was there. "Merry Christmas, Sofia," she said.

Then she closed the gap between them, and Sofia wrapped her arms around her happily. Sara returned her hug, and then she put one hand on the back of her head and caught her mouth with hers, and with a rush of stunned joy Sofia realized that Sara had put it out in the open that Amy knew.

Something snapped inside her chest then, snapped into place, and Sofia returned her kiss with everything she could muster, feeling Sara tremble in her arms like she had before, knowing she was shaking just as much.

Eventually they calmed somewhat, more out of a need for oxygen than anything else; they leaned into each other, laughing a little from sheer astonishment. Sara managed to lift a hand to her face once more. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to celebrate Christmas with your family?"

Sofia laughed, stroking her cheek, still trying to take in the fact that her dearest dream had come true. "Yes, but I missed you." She stretched her head just slightly to kiss her again. And again.

The door swung open and Amy came running out, "hi Sofia, merry Christmas and thank you for the presents."

Sofia wrapped her arm around Amy's shoulders and gently hugged her, "hi Amy, you're welcome and a merry Christmas to you too."

Amy turned and looked at her mother, "mom, can I show Sofia what we bought for her?"

Sara flushed a little, her eyes going shy, "um… yeah guess you can" she gave an abashed shrug, and looked at Sofia, "let's get inside."

The house was noisy with chatter. After a quick hello Amy hauled Sofia into the bedroom to show her the bed along with an explanation of how suitable it was for building a lair. Sofia blushed a little and snickered a thank you followed by a hug before they went back to the rest of the family.

In the meantime Laura and Sara had set the coffee table with ice cream and coffee while Allison and Ian had reached a solution to watch 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.'

Sara and Sofia ended up at either end of the couch with Amy in the middle; the young Sidle devoured her ice cream and watched the screen with the dedication of true fans, though she'd seen it many times before. Sara, who perforce had seen it many times as well, savored her ice cream and watched Sofia covertly. Her attention seemed to be fixed on the screen also, though she ate her ice cream more slowly, sucking absently on the spoon when the story got exciting.

Sara decided to simply enjoy the moment. She had her family around her, the family she had only recently learned to value; she had Sofia back in her life, and while that might not be permanent, she had no desire to dwell on the future just now. Instead she interjected the occasional comment and noticed that Sofia seemed to have no trouble interacting with her family.

Every so often Sofia would lift her eyes from Amy or the screen to her, and the long deep looks… she couldn't help returning them for at least a few seconds, though half the time she dropped her own gaze before the movie drew Sofia's attention again.

Sensing her mood, Sofia smiled up at her, serene and sweet, and Sara drank her in for a long, long moment and the last tiny fear at the bottom of her heart finally eased, and she felt as though she were overflowing with intense, urgent warmth.

The end

Author's note: Well, if you made it to here I assume the story wasn't all too bad… Big thanks to those who took the time to review :-) Always nice to hear what thoughts people make about the things I write :o)