"We're all a little weird. And life is a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness—and call it love—true love."
― Robert Fulghum, True Love
The night slowly started to wind down, the younger children starting to doze off, and the older helping with cleaning up. Taala freed Emily from Noah's clutches and gave her a smile. "We're gonna get going home, this little boy needs to take a bath and go to bed."
Mackenzie gathered up their stuff and nodded. "But, if anyone wants, we're having brunch tomorrow at our place. 1030." She said to the group. "Just let Emily or Derek know the numbers and they can text them to us."
"You don't take me as someone who brunches." Spencer said with a small smile.
A smile crossed Mackenzie's face and her bright hazel eyes lit up. "Honey, we're lesbians." She said laughing. "We invited brunch." Slinging the bag over her shoulder, she jogged to catch up to her wife and disappeared around the corner to their house.
Tara nodded and watched the younger woman disappear. "Imma go for brunch tomorrow because I am FAR too drunk to drive home." She announced with flourish. Everyone else started to gather their things and slowly started to disperse. Derek and Emily cleaned up the yard and led Tara to their spare bedroom. The taller woman grabbed her bag she left in the hallway and walked into the room, shutting the door. After locking up, Derek went back to their room, finding Emily in the shower. After a little while, she came out, hair wet and face fresh and pink, He was already in bed and pulled back the covers.
"I love you." He said as soon as she climbed into bed. "Thank you for...for just being you and loving me."
Leaning over, Emily pressed her lips to Derek's. "Three quarters of the time you make it easy." She replied with a smirk, cuddling into his arms. "The other quarter you're a giant pain in my ass."
Laughter filled their room and he pressed a kiss on the top of her head, wrapping his arms around her tightly.
Emily sipped her coffee on their back patio. It was still early, the world was slowly waking up. She wasn't a morning person by any means, but the curtains they had at Derek's old place didn't fit their new windows and she had been rudely awoken by the bright sun shining into the bedroom. Derek still slept soundly, so she padded out of the bedroom and headed down to the kitchen and put on a cup of coffee.
If this is what domestic life was, then maybe Emily Prentiss was cut out for domestic life. His presence washed over her and she looked up with a smile. He was wearing shorts and a tshirt with his headphones around his neck.
"I'm going to go for a run." He told her, pressing a kiss on her lips. "Tara is still sleeping."
Nodding, Emily leaned back in the sun. "Have fun." She didn't run. She was in shape, but she hated running. She would go to the gym at work, and she enjoyed taking boxing classes, but running? Not her thing. Sliding her sunglasses down over her eyes, she took in the warmth until she heard more footsteps behind her. Tara sat down on the patio furniture and stretched out her long legs.
"Where's Derek?"
Emily didn't open her eyes. "Running."
"Do you ever just stare at him, or make him do yard work topless?" Tara mused looking at her friend and waiting for her to meet her gaze.
Slowly Emily flipped up her sunglasses and stared at Tara incredulously. "No."
"Well you should." Tara grinned and leaned back on the chair. "Get him and Mackenzie to do yard work. I'd come and watch both of them."
"Yeah, he is hot." Emily agreed, though didn't elaborate.
The two women sat in the sun until Derek came home, showered and changed. He shook his head, seeing the two women lying back in the sun with their eyes closed. "Are you two sun goddesses ready to head over?" He asked, leaning down and giving Emily a gentle upside down kiss.
Tara lowered her sunglasses and rolled her eyes. "You two make my teeth hurt." She announced, unfolding herself from the chair. "But yeah, I'm ready to head over."
Smirking, Emily returned Derek's kiss before getting up. She sent Taala and Mcakenzie a quick text before heading up to change. They headed over in a group, ringing the doorbell as they waited. Taala appeared, her long dark hair loose in waves around her shoulders, wearing a loose long tank top and loose capris. "Hey guys, come in."
Derek licked his lips as he inhaled. "Whatever you guys are making, it smells amazing." He announced, toeing off his shoes.
"Mackenzie. I don't do the cooking around here for the most part. I mean I can, but she loves to do it so I let her." Taala said with a shrug.
The walls were adorned with pictures of Mackenzie, Taala and Noah. The first one was of Mackenzie playing basketball, her hair tied up in two braids down her back wearing a UConn jersey. The next was one of Taala and Mackenzie, one in scrubs, the other in a tan uniform. In the next picture, both were wearing white dresses, one strapless, the other with long sleeves. Then a picture of Taala, Mackenzie, and Noah in the hospital, and finally one of them that was taken more recently.
"I didn't know Mackenzie played college ball." Derek said shaking his head in amazement. "That's awesome."
Taala shrugged. "Yeah, she played for three years before doing ROTC through law her last two years of law school. You will have to ask her more about it, it was well before we ever met. All I know is that in March she takes over the television."
They walked down the hallway into the large and open kitchen. Mackenzie had headphones on as she chopped fruit, singing softly to herself. Taala motioned to the coffee on the table before walking behind her wife, pressing her lips on the side of her neck. "Company's here." She whispered Turning, Mackenzie pulled off her headphones and flashed them a wide smile.
"Hey, grab a seat. I'll just toss the rest of the brunch in the oven." She said opening the oven and pulling out two sizzling pans. She poured batter into the pans before putting them back in the oven. Leaning against the counter, she motioned to the fruit already cut up on the table. "Help yourself."
Three of them sat down, Taala pouring coffees and setting them on the table. "I'm making dutch baby pancakes with macerated strawberries and a cherry compote, and then there's a potato hashbrown casserole in the crockpot." Mackenzie said with a small nonchalant shrug. "I wasn't sure about people's tastes...so I made sweet and savoury." She explained, her fingers twisting the edge of the shirt she was wearing nervously.
"Well it smells amazing." Emily said with a supportive smile before noticing the silence. "Are you missing someone?"
A smile lit up Mackenzie's face and she shook her head. "Nah, he's in his toy room." She watched the older woman's eyes and motioned towards a small room off the kitchen. "He's the main reason we have the potato dish." Her hand brushed over the small of her wife's back before grabbing a cup of coffee and pulling herself onto the counter, pulling Taala against her.
The silence was heavy, but not uncomfortable as everyone sipped their coffees. Noah padded out and walked over to Emily, pulling his chubby little body onto her lap. Derek shook his head, reaching out and running his hand over the toddler's curls.
Sipping her coffee, Tara looked at Mackenzie and Taala. "So, tell us how you guys met. Sorry, but the accent gives it away that Taala wasn't born here in the US."
Mackenzie smiled and softly carded her fingers in her wife's hair. "Well, I graduated law school at 21. I would have graduated high school at 17 because of my birthday, but I skipped grade 1. Anyway, I did 3 years of college ball to do my undergrad, and then 3 years of law school along with ROTC. I did a tour of duty in Japan at Okinawa for a year and then got sent to Beirut." Taala looked up at her, her cheeks flushing a soft pink. Continuing, Mackenzie smiled. "We were working with doctors without borders and there was this beautiful doctor wearing a green hijab there. She was smart, and funny, and drop dead gorgeous. ANYWAY, I turned on all my charm and she kept turning me down. She was engaged and apparently straight." She grinned down at her wife and nudged her softly.
"Being gay isn't a thing in the Middle East." Taala explained softly. "I was 33 and had already put off getting married for years. And this beautiful Marine lieutenant walked into my life and turned everything upside down. I ran away because it scared me how I felt for her. And she kept coming back. Eventually, six months later, I called off my wedding and agreed to meet her for a drink. We hit it off right away and...well everything had to be hidden because of where we were, but when she got transferred back to the US, I looked for a job here as well."
The timer went off on the oven and Mackenzie slipped off the counter, grabbing the now risen dishes and placed them on the table along with the fruit topping. She pulled the other casserole out of the crock pot and placed it beside the other dish. "And then the rest is history." Mackenzie finished. "I showed her that being queer was okay and you could have a full happy life." She said snagging her son from Emily's arms. "And that sometimes the people who are the most important to you, aren't the ones with your blood."
She sat down beside Emily and motioned to the food. "Please, dig in." She put a small amount of the potato dish on her plate to cool. "It has cheese, eggs, onions, potatoes, turkey sausage and other spices in it." She explained blowing on the food before putting a tiny fork in Noah's hand. The little boy stabbed at it and brought a piece up to his mouth, chewing slowly. Everyone filled their plates and started eating.
"Shi-uh...shoot Mackenzie, this is great." Derek said, taking another bite. "Didn't know that the Marines had a cooking class."
"They don't." Mackenzie said, shaking her head as she ate with one hand, around her son. "Foster care does. You learn quickly to be able to fend for yourself."
Looks were exchanged, though Mackenzie missed all of them as she juggled eating and feeding her son. "Have you two thought about babies?" She asked, finally looking up.
Derek nodded. "We have, but not until after the wedding." He said quickly, his hand finding Emily's under the table and giving it a soft squeeze.
"I get that, we were married for...four years before we started looking at ways to have a baby." Mackenzie commented. Grabbing wipes, she cleaned Noah's hands and face before setting him free. "And you guys are lucky, because first you both have the right parts to make a baby." She said with a smirk. "And two, it looks like you guys have a great support." Getting to her feet, she started to clear the dishes. "I didn't have a family and Taala's disowned her, so we basically did it all on our own." She explained, placing the dishes in the dishwasher. Once everything was cleaned, she looked back at the group. "Why waste a beautiful day, do we want to move outside?"
The tone had changed, four out of the five could feel it, the youngest of the group oblivious to her words. They followed her outside, settling on the padded outdoor furniture watching as Noah toddled along.
"Your parents disowned you?" Tara finally spit out. The question had been weighing heavily on her and she stared at Taala who just shrugged.
"Like Mackenzie said, being gay is not a thing in the Middle East. My parents are rich and well respected. They were able to move out of Palestine and settled in Qatar. I'm their only daughter, they had it arranged for me to get married to one of my father's business partners. What I did...who I am...it brings shame to the family." Taala ended, looking down at her hands.
Mackenzie reached over and slowly interlaced their fingers, tugging on her wife's hand softly. When Taala looked up, she flashed her a small smile. "Sometimes it sucks, but we've made our own family." She said, her thumb brushing over the back of her wife's hand. After a few silent moments, she got and walked over to her son who was sitting in the flower bed systematically pulling out flowers.
"We all have trauma." Tara said softly, her eyes following Mackenzie. "But all that matters is how we overcome those traumas."
A smirk crossed Taala's face and she shook her head. "Spoken like a true profiler." She said brushing her hair off her face. "We are better off now. There are many women that I know from back home who married and are unhappy. I have a beautiful wife and son. We overcame a lot of crap to be where we are, and we can do it, anyone can."
Mackenzie and Noah returned, the little dirt covered boy crawled into Emily's lap and pressed his face against her chest, sighing deeply.
Derek watched Emily with the little boy, his heart tightening. "Well, you two seem to be doing pretty amazing now."
"Most days." Mackenzie replied with a smile, her light eyes dancing. "Yeah, things are going pretty well. It's tough sometimes, we work a lot and sometimes our shifts are totally opposites. Sometimes I have to do court marshals on a carrier or have to go on an investigation for a week at a time. Taala sometimes works 24 hour shifts. But we make it work."
Emily buried her face in Noah's curls before looking up. "So what do you do if you're both working?" Noah's little body cuddled into her and his baby sweet scent washed over her.
"Sometimes he'll go to the hospital daycare, there's a daycare program at the YMCA that's between here and Falls Church." Mackenzie said with a shrug. "And a few blocks away, there's a beautiful neighbour that will watch Noah when we need her to. It's about community right? The old adage about it taking a village to raise a child? It's especially true when you don't have family."
Despite being the youngest by at least a decade, Mackenzie was well spoken and insightful. After a few hours the conversation died off, and Noah slept heavily in Emily's arms. Taala walked over and reached down to gather her sleeping son. "You would be a great mother, Emily." She whispered softly. Standing up, she ran her fingers through her son's curls. "You guys are welcome here any time."
Derek's dark eyes settled on Emily, reading the microexpressions on her face. He turned back to Mackenzie and Taala and gave them a small smile. "Thanks, we'll have to take you up on that offer. Maybe you guys could help me learn how to cook."
Mackenzie grinned and twisted her hair up on the top of her head. "Sure. Just let me know what you guys like to eat and I can figure it out." She said as they walked through the house to get their shoes. "Thanks for coming, and like I said, look at your schedule and we can figure out a time to cook." She said.
Taala gave Emily a gentle smile, their eyes meeting. She nodded silently and Emily returned it before leaving.