Kara put the orange juice down in front of Alex before sitting on the couch next to her, a mug of coffee in her hands. "What, I don't get coffee?" Alex screwed her face at seeing she only got an orange juice.
"Not when you are feeding Chloe." Kara answered, glancing to the pram where Chloe was sleeping soundly.
"You are as bad as Maggie," Alex sighed as she took a drink of the juice. "She won't let me have coffee either," Alex said. "A cup or two. The doctor said I could have one or two cups a day and it wouldn't affect my milk."
Kara gave a little shrug as she took a drink of her coffee before sitting the mug down on the table. "So, how are you doing?" Kara questioned, hoping Alex would open up about how she was feeling, but knowing the general question was enough not to be too intrusive.
"I'm fine," Alex answered. Kara pursed her lips as she broke eye contact with her sister. Alex rubbed her hand over her forehead. "She's talked to you, hasn't she?" Alex said, already knowing the answer.
"She loves you so much," Kara answered. "She's just worried."
"I…" Alex played with her hands as she looked away from her sister. "I feel a lot better," Alex was honest with her sister. She knew it was best to talk about this. "I mean, I cried this morning because I dropped my toast on the floor," Alex told her, looking back to her. Kara laughed lightly and Alex felt herself joining in. "Anything and nothing sets me off," Alex told her. "But it's lessening. And I'm not freaking out that she's not safe anymore." Alex took a deep breath.
"Well that's good," Kara gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "You just keep working through it. And keep talking to Maggie."
Alex couldn't help but smile as she thought about her wife. "Maggie has been amazing. She's my rock. She's my everything," Alex couldn't describe how much she appreciated how understanding Maggie was being and how she didn't make her feel bad or ashamed for how she'd been feeling since Chloe's birth 7 days ago now. "I just wish that I could show her how much I appreciate her."
"I'm pretty sure she already knows it," Kara told her, smiling softly as she squeezed her hand again. "But you'd…you'd let one of us know if it was anything worse, right?"
"Of course." Alex answered. Kara looked behind Alex for a second, hearing her daughter stirring from her nap. She went to stand up but then the sounds stopped, Isabella staying asleep.
"So, I wanted to asked you something," Kara said, taking a drink of her coffee. Alex raised her eyebrows, intrigued. "The house next door to yours," Kara said. "It's for sale right?"
"Yeah." Alex nodded in response.
"Well you see this loft is just way to small now we have Bella and we need more space," Kara started, pausing for a moment before talking again. "We are looking for houses and well, it's a great area, there's that little playground close by, it's close to a great school…." Kara trailed off.
"You want to move next door to me and Maggie?" Alex said, picking up her orange juice and taking a drink. She wasn't really sure how she felt about that. Of course, she loved her sister and Mike and Isabella but she also liked having space from them.
"It's a beautiful house," Kara told her sister. "At least from the outside. The inside will be pretty similar to yours, layout wise at least, I'd imagine?"
"Yeah," Alex answered. The lady next door would sometime look after Isaac, so she'd been in the house. "It's a bit old fashioned so would need a lot of changes done to it, but, yeah."
"So, you think it would be cool if we took a look?" Kara questioned.
"I can't stop you." Alex answered. See glanced around the loft and noticed the very evident lack of space. It very obvious that they needed to find a bigger place.
"Cool well we can call the agent later," Kara said. "Oh my gosh could you imagine living next door to each other?" Kara sounded excited at the thought. "We'd literally be like seconds from each other. You'd be there to help with Bella if Mike wasn't around and I needed to go be Supergirl. I can help with your two, we can leave the fence between the gardens open and we can -"
"You haven't got the house yet, Kara," Alex interjected. "There's been a lot of interest."
"Oh," Kara sounded disappointed. "Well still, someone has to get it and it could be us." Kara grinned and Alex just smiled at her before taking another drink.
Maggie was standing at the school gates, waiting on Isaac. "Maggie, hey how are doing?" Maggie looked around to see, Jane, Dylan's mum approaching her. Dylan's little brother and new baby sister with her. Maggie stuck her head into the pram, smiling at the little girl who was fast asleep.
"I'm good, how is the little one doing?" Maggie asked, looking back up to Jane.
"She is yucky." Dylan's 3-year-old brother answered.
Maggie looked down to him and laughed before looking back to Jane. "She's a dream," Jane answered. "Much easier than the boys were that's for sure," Jane laughed. "How's Alex and….Chloe is it?"
"Yeah," Maggie nodded before pursing her lips at the 'how's Alex' question. "Chloe is a little gem," Maggie grinned from ear to ear as she thought about her daughter. "And Alex, uhm -"
"Mum," Maggie was thankful that the boys appeared out of the school gates when they did, so she didn't need to answer Jane's question on how Alex was doing. It wasn't that she was ashamed but it was something that was hard to talk about. "Mum," Dylan said again as the boys walked over to them. Maggie noticing the clear look of upset on Isaac's face. Which surprised her, giving it was the last day of school for summer break. "Violet didn't give Isaac an invitation."
"What? An invitation for what?" Jane asked as Maggie bent down to Isaac's level, trying to find out what was wrong with him.
"Her birthday," Dylan told her. "She didn't give an invite to Isaac."
"Oh," Jane answered. "Well maybe she could only invite a few people." Jane said, as Dylan hung his school bag over the handle of the pram, his head shaking.
"No," Dylan told her. "Everyone in the class got an invite but Isaac." Maggie looked around to Dylan before looking back to her son, his head bowed as his bottom lip was trembling, like he was going to cry, the little boy clearly upset at not being invited to the party.
"Oh," Jane raised her eyebrows. "Well that's not very nice."
Maggie pursed her lips, feeling anger brewing in the pit of her stomach. She knew exactly why Isaac hadn't got an invitation to Violets birthday party. "It's okay, Isaac," Maggie rubbed his arm. "It's just one silly party."
"I'm not going," Dylan announced as he looked up to his mother. "If Isaac isn't invited then I am not going." Dylan sounded adamant. Like there would be no changing his mind.
"Well, we'll see, Dylan. I think you should go if you have been invited." Jane said.
"No," Dylan raised his voice. "She's not even my friend," Dylan said. "Isaac and me can have a playdate that day, okay Mummy?" Dylan glared up at Jane.
"Well, we'll see," Jane told her son, Dylan scowling at her. "I just don't understand why she would exclude one child from the class," Jane said, looking back to Maggie. "Well, I guess at that age it's more the parents decision anyways. Why would they -"
"Violets parents are very….." Maggie bit her lip as she stood up and faced Jane again. Maggie cleared her throat before talking again. "Let's just say they don't approve of the fact that Alex and I are, well, both women and are married and have kids." Maggie spoke quietly.
"Why should that matter?" Jane screwed her face up. "You are both lovely people and Isaac is a wonderful happy little boy," Jane said, looking down at Isaac who was still looking upset, staying close to his mother. "I don't….it's…." Jane stopped talking, not having the words.
Maggie shrugged her shoulders. "Unfortunately, not everyone is as accepting as you," Maggie told her friend. "I uhm…I'm going to take him home." Maggie glanced at her son, her hand rubbing his back.
"Yeah of course," Jane gave a nod of understanding. "And listen, if you ever need any help with Isaac because of the little one just give me a call."
"Thank you," Maggie gave her an appreciative smile. "But you have new-born yourself. We couldn't do that to you."
"Well the offer is there," Jane smiled. "Dylan always behaves way better when Isaac is over playing," Jane laughed. "And now it's summer he'll need plenty to keep him occupied."
"Yeah, well we'll arrange a playdate soon," Maggie told her. "See you." Maggie said, taking Isaac's hand and walking away from the school, taking a deep breath to keep herself composed.
Alex was feeding Chloe when Maggie and Isaac returned from school. She looked up when she heard them coming into the house. "Hey, bud how was school? You excited to be finished for the holidays?" Alex questioned, Isaac normally coming into the living room right away both to see Chloe and tell her school went. She saw him running passed the doorway to the living room and heard him thumping up the stairs, his bedroom door slamming shut. "What's wrong with him?" Alex questioned as Maggie walked into the room. She walked over to the couch and leaned down, kissing Chloe's head softy before looking up and kissing Alex's cheek before talking a seat next to her, her head falling back and resting against the back of the couch. "Maggie?" Alex questioned.
"Uhm," Maggie sat back up and ran her hand through her hair. "All the kids in the class got invited to Violets party except Isaac." Maggie spoke tentatively as she looked around to Alex.
"Are you serious?" Alex barked. "What, do they think he is going to go turn everyone gay just because he has two mums?" Alex questioned. "They are 5 and 6 years old for goodness sake."
"I know," Maggie held her hands out to the side. "But you know what her parents are like. Especially her mother." Maggie muttered.
"I'm going to call her." Alex said as she made to stand up from the couch.
"No no, no," Maggie put her hand on her arm, stopping her from getting up. "Alex, talking to her isn't going to change anything. Don't make it worse for Isaac."
Alex looked around to Maggie, her lips pursed, her eyes angry. "It's not fair on Isaac."
"You think I don't know that?" Maggie questioned. "But unfortunately, there isn't anything we can do to change her opinion. We are just going have to let this go."
Alex shook her head. "What about when all his friends are at the party and he's not?" Alex questioned.
"Well it's the holidays anyways so he won't know about it," Maggie said. "And Dylan said he's not going if Isaac isn't invited," Maggie gave a little laugh. "So, we can arrange for them to have a playdate," Maggie said, rubbing Alex's cheek gently. "Jane was asking for you," Maggie told her. "Maybe you and her can get together sometime. Imogen is what, 6 weeks older than Chloe?" Maggie questioned. "You can go chat about new babies."
"Maggie," Alex sighed. "I don't need counselling from another new mum," Alex told her. "I -"
"I never said you did," Maggie retorted. "I just thought it would be nice for you to hang out with someone with a kid of similar age and it's not like Jane is a stranger. She is our friend anyways." Isaac and Dylan had been great friends since they both started at the same day care aged 2. Jane was an open friendly person and quickly made friends with both Maggie and Alex.
"Hmm," Alex raised her eyebrows. She knew Maggie was only trying to help her feel better about herself and maybe it wasn't the worst idea. "You should go talk to Isaac." Alex told her and Maggie gave a little nod, agreeing. She stood up from the couch and left the room, Alex looking back to Chloe, who was still taking her feed.
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