"Hey, Mama, guess what?"

Kate's smile dropped at the question. The tone of her voice informed her daughter that she clearly thought whatever she was about to be told was bad news. "What?"

"I'm officially giving you an STD."

There was a pause. "I'm sorry? You're doing what?"

"Give me that…" Serena's voice suddenly became a lot louder as the older woman clearly wrestled the phone away from her fiancée. "I'm sorry, Kate. Your daughter thinks she's funny. Which you're not, by the way, Emily."

"Yeah? Why are you marrying me, then?"

"It's not for your sense of humour, that's for sure." Serena shot back, before sighing heavily. "Sorry, again."

"It's quite alright, Serena. I lived with her for long enough to know how infuriating she is."

"She was supposed to be telling you that we've set a date for the wedding… although I'm not quite sure there'll be one if she carries on like this."

"Ahhh… STD; save the date." Understanding blossomed through Kate and she nodded slowly. "Does that mean you've booked a venue, too?"

"We have." Serena said and Kate could hear the smile in her tone. "I think you'll be surprised; it's not what you'd expect from Em."

"Then I'll probably approve." Kate told her with a chuckle. "Go on."

"We're getting married on the 14th of April at the church where my parents got married."

"That's… that's lovely, Serena." The blonde was taken aback by her revelation. Serena's assumption had been correct; she would never have suspected anything quite so romantic from her daughter. If anything, she had been expecting to hear they were getting married on a boat or on top of a building or something equally unusual. It wouldn't have surprised her if Emily had argued the case of one of those venues and lost. "And the reception?"

"The country club my dad was a member of. Apparently they still remember him fondly, so we got a slight discount."

"It's gonna be well posh!" Emily shouted in the background, causing both women to exhale exasperatedly.

"She's promised me she'll be on her best behaviour." Serena assured her future mother-in-law, only the tiniest hint of doubt in her voice.

"She will." Kate was much more certain. "Emily loves you, Serena. She won't do anything to embarrass you or spoil your wedding."

"No, I know. As long as she stops telling people she's giving them an STD!"

Laughing, Kate asked about work and the family, before they ended the call. Tapping her phone against her lips for a moment, the blonde considered the news, before making her way downstairs to pass it on to her wife.

Osgood glanced up at the sound of the kitchen door opening, before smiling warmly and motioning towards the mug of tea on the table. Gratefully, Kate pressed a kiss to her cheek as she passed, dropping into a wooden chair and taking a long gulp from the mug.

"How're things in Tokyo?"

"Sam seems to have everything under control." Kate informed her calmly. "I've just spoken to him and he's hoping to be back with the merchandise in a couple of days."

"Excellent!" Osgood's face lit up at the information. "It'll be interesting to examine it properly, in person. The readings and images Sam has sent back are one thing, but the chance to actually–"

"I remember the days when you got this excited over me." Her wife teased, looking up under her fringe and sending the younger woman a crooked smile.

Osgood blinked. "Kate…"

"I'm joking, my love." The blonde laughed softly, catching her by the wrist and pulling her onto her lap.

"I know we haven't had much time for us lately."

"I'm as much to blame for that as you are." Kate reminded her. "More so, probably."

"Gordy and Lorna are babysitting tonight, so why don't we take the opportunity to go out for dinner?"

Kate frowned, wracking her brains for the answer to the question she was unwilling to ask. "Why–?"

"The twins' parents' evening, love." Osgood replied, only the barest hint of exasperation in her voice. "Ten past four."

"I knew that."

"Of course you did." The brunette laughed, leaning in and kissing her quickly, before standing up and moving towards the counter to retrieve the bowls of soup she'd made. "You were on the phone for a long time; you didn't even hear me calling you down for lunch. Problems in Tokyo… or closer to home?"

"No, no problems. Emily called just before I came downstairs. She wanted to give us an STD."

There was a clatter as Osgood dropped her spoon in surprise. "She what?"

Kate laughed almost delightedly, pleased that she wasn't the only one who hadn't immediately been able to decipher Emily's perverse sense of humour. "A save the date for the wedding. I didn't get it, either; Serena had to take the phone off her and explain."

"They've set a date? When?"

"14th of April. Serena said they've booked the church where her parents got married."

"That's… surprisingly romantic… and soon."

"My thoughts exactly." Her wife agreed. "Five months…"

"What do you suppose they'll wear?" Osgood mused, her mind flicking back to the story Emily had told them about the disastrous meeting with the wedding planner.

"I don't think there's much point in trying to second guess my daughter. She could decide to wear anything at all."

"I doubt Serena will let her get away with that!"

"No, perhaps not," Kate agreed, "but I still wouldn't like to guess at what she'll choose."

Osgood pondered the situation for a moment, before shrugging. "I bet she'll get another tattoo."

"That wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. D'you think she'll try and convince Serena to get one?"

The brunette wrinkled her nose. "Serena wouldn't… would she?"

"I don't know. You did." Osgood arched an eyebrow at her wife's words, as Kate smiled innocently around her spoonful of soup, taking her time to swallow it before shrugging her shoulders. "You know I think it's incredibly sexy."

"Mmmm…"

"Os?"

"What?"

"Are you OK?"

"Fine."

Kate blinked several times, watching her wife toying with her lunch and wondering what she could have said to cause the sudden plummet in Osgood's mood. In that moment, she understood how Emily felt in the moments where she phoned her mother for help navigating her arguments with Serena. Except that she and Osgood hadn't argued.

"Os? What…?" She reached across the table and touched her fingers lightly with her own. "What's the matter?"

"I'm just being silly." The brunette told her, smiling and shaking her head. She moved the hand that rested beneath Kate's, linking their fingers. "I just don't think sexy is an adjective that describes me."

"Luckily I do and that's all that matters." Kate told her, smiling softly. "But I do wish you could see yourself as I see you."

"I bet you're getting fed up of having the same conversation with me over and over again."

"Where is this coming from, Os? Has something happened?"

"No… No." Osgood smiled weakly and shook her head. "Well… just a conversation I overheard, that's all."

Kate's face darkened slightly. "Who?"

"It's not important, honestly."

"Os, it's clearly important to you, so I want to know."

"Just a couple of new recruits, that's all. I overheard them talking about Em and then you… they were talking about how beautiful you are and it made me smile, so I kept listening." Osgood admitted, ignoring the irritable huff her wife let out at her words.

"They did not say that I'm beautiful." Kate scoffed.

"Well, not in those words, but that was the gist." She said. Kate started muttering about insolent young pups and Colonel instilling more discipline in the ranks, making Osgood smile again. Then she shrugged. "But then one of them told the other that you're married to me and… well… he refused to believe it. He said there was no way someone like you would be married to me."

Kate's face darkened and she clenched her fists angrily. "I'll speak to Shindi about that first thing. As for what they said… it's not true, Os, you know that. Anyone who knows us says that I'm the lucky one and I totally, wholeheartedly agree with them." She exhaled deeply, closing her eyes for a moment. "We're a team, you and me. We've never taken any notice of what anyone had to say about us and we can't start now."

"No… I know." Osgood agreed, reaching out and taking her hand again. "I know you love me as much as I love you. Sometimes I just get… I need to be reminded of it… you know?"

Her wife smiled brightly, moving around the table and pulling Osgood to her feet. She cupped her cheeks for a moment, locking eyes with the younger woman before leaning in and kissing her firmly.

"If you get reminded by random soldiers around the base then I obviously need to up my game." Kate teased, before glancing at the clock on the wall. She started tugging on Osgood's hand, leading her towards the door. "Come on… we've got a while before we have to go to the school and I'm not really hungry for soup any more. Besides, apparently I need to jog your memory about just how attractive you are."