Franky felt a tug on the back of her singlet as she came into consciousness. She opened her eyes, and focused on the clock. It was almost three in the morning. She removed her arm from around the blonde, and turned so she was laying partly on her back, in order to see the young girl behind her.
"I had a bad dream," she said with tears in her eyes. "Can I sleep here?"
"Sure, bub." Franky lifted the blanket, and Emily climbed in over her, and laid between them. After a few knees, and elbows in the stomach, they had taught her to climb in over their legs.
The young girl cuddled in as close as she could get to the brunette, and took a handful of her shirt in her fist.
"You alright?" Franky asked softly as she rubbed Emily's back slowly. She felt the young girl nod. "Think you can get back to sleep?"
"Maybe. Will you rub my back until I fall asleep?" she asked, already sounding half asleep.
"Yeah, I got you." The brunette held her close with one arm while she continued to rub her back.
Bridget woke to the sound of her alarm, and her first thought as she reached over to turn it off, was that Franky was no longer behind her. She turned over to see her wife with her arms around Emily. The young girl's hand was resting on Franky's side, the fabric of the brunette's singlet wrinkled beneath it, indicating that she had been hanging onto it at some point. She figured Emily must have had a bad dream.
The blonde moved closer to the pair, so that she could put her arm over both of them. She knew she should be trying to wake them so they could all get ready for their days, but there was something about the quiet times in the early mornings that made her feel like the world outside didn't exist, and they could comfortably live in this little bubble forever.
Emily was the first of the two sleepers to stir.
"Good morning, love." Bridget said softly.
"I had a bad dream," the young girl mumbled.
"I know." The blonde brushed a strand of hair from Emily's face. "How are you feeling now?"
The young girl looked back at Franky before she answered. "Okay, I guess."
"Whatever it was about, everything is fine now, okay?" Bridget placed a hand on her cheek and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Why don't you go pick out what you want to wear today, and we'll meet you out there in a minute for breakfast?"
The blonde watched as Emily reluctantly got up, and left the room. She checked behind her twice on the way out to make sure that the two women were still there.
"Baby." Bridget placed her hand on the brunette's cheek.
"Mm?" Franky subconsciously leaned into the blonde's touch before she was even awake.
"Time to wake up." She watched as the brunette opened her eyes and attempted to focus on her. She saw Franky glance at the empty spot in the bed between them. "She's already awake. Did she keep you up long?"
"No." The brunette pulled Bridget closer and gave her a soft kiss. "She went right back to sleep."
"Good." The blonde could feel herself drifting back to sleep in Franky's arms, so she took in a deep breath and stretched a bit to try to wake herself up.
"One of my favorite things is waking up with you." The brunette connected their lips in a soft, slow kiss.
"Mm, mine too." Bridget managed to mumble before the younger woman kissed her again. When the second kiss ended, she put her hand against Franky's shoulder and pushed her back gently. "I think we should stop there, or I'll be late for work." she said with a small laugh.
"I could write you a note. Dear governor, please excuse Bridget's tardiness, as she couldn't resist the offer of a morning orgasm from her charming, and highly skilled wife." The brunette laughed at her own joke.
"Awkward." Bridget wrinkled her nose and giggled a bit. "I'll take a raincheck though." She gave Franky another quick kiss before she forced herself to get out of the bed.
"Go get dressed, love, and I'll drop you off at school," Bridget told her niece as she cleared the breakfast dishes from the table.
"I don't want to. I want to go with Franky today." Emily stood her ground in the middle of the area between the dining room and the kitchen.
"You have to go to school." Franky squeezed her shoulder gently on the way by. She had been half-expecting some protest from the young girl considering her dream that night, and how quiet she'd been at the breakfast table.
"No!" The young girl said it so loudly that it startled the three adults.
"Em." The brunette turned around to face her. "You know the deal. You have to go."
"Please?" Emily's bottom lip quivered.
"Hey." Franky crouched down in front of her. "I need you to go get dressed, then I'll drop you off at school, and I'll be there to pick you up this afternoon as soon as it's done."
"Will you walk with me to my classroom?" The young girl blinked as Franky brushed the tears from her cheeks.
"Sure, but you have to be brave for me." The brunette reasoned that it was a small compromise, and something she did occasionally anyway.
"Okay." Emily nodded, and gave Franky a quick hug before heading down the hallway.
"She's got you wrapped around her little finger." Shayne teased the brunette.
"What? No, she doesn't. She's going to school." Franky gave him a look like she didn't know what he was talking about, but in reality she knew he was at least a little bit right.
Franky felt Emily reach up and take her hand as they walked into the school. The closer they got to her classroom, the tighter the young girl's grip became.
"Alright, have a good day, and I'll see you after school, okay?" The brunette was doing her best to ignore the fact that Emily was still upset when they reached her classroom. She crouched down, and gave the young girl a hug. When she went to stand, Emily didn't let go. "Come on, bub." Franky rubbed her back once, then tried to stand again, without success.
"Good morning, Em." Ms. Williams had seen the exchange outside the door, and had come to see if she could help.
"Say good morning to your teacher," the brunette said softly.
"Good morning." The reply was muffled since Emily had her face buried against Franky's shoulder.
"We've got lots of fun stuff planned for today, and we're just about to start our weather journals." The teacher reached down, and placed her hand on the young girl's shoulder. Emily immediately pulled away from her touch.
Franky turned her head so she could whisper to the young girl. "Listen, bub, we have to figure this out, so if there's something going on, I need you to tell me."
"My dream." Emily held onto her tighter.
"You want to tell me about it?" The brunette still wasn't sure what had brought her to their bedroom that night, but she thought that maybe talking about it would help the young girl to calm down.
"You died." It was obvious that Emily was crying hard now.
The words hit Franky hard. She couldn't imagine leaving Emily and Bridget like that, and she thought of all the pain that would cause them. She took a deep breath.
"That was probably pretty scary, but you know it's not real. I'm here, and I'm fine." The brunette rubbed her back. "Sometimes when you have a bad dream, you wake up feeling weird, and it takes a couple hours to shake that feeling, but it'll go away, I promise."
"I want to stay with you today." Emily had loosened her grip around Franky's neck, but she still hadn't fully let go.
"I know, but we talked about this at home. You come to school, and I'd walk you to the classroom." The brunette reached behind her neck, and gently pried apart the young girl's arms. "Go with Ms. Williams, and I'll be back in a few hours."
"Please?" Emily pleaded.
Franky shook her head, and gave her a kiss on the cheek before she stood up. She turned to walk away, but only got a few steps before the young girl's voice rang out behind her.
"Franky! Please!" Her voice echoed off the walls of the now-empty hallway.
The brunette turned around and saw Emily in tears, her teacher standing behind her with a helpless look on her face. Franky knew the young woman was good with the kids, and Emily liked her, but the brunette knew that today, the young girl only wanted comfort from one person.
The brunette retraced her steps, and bent down to hug Emily again. When she tried to stand, the young girl held on tightly again, so Franky reached down and picked her up.
"Would I be able to have any activity sheets or anything you were planning for today? I'll make sure she gets them done." The brunette felt Emily relax against her when she realized she wasn't staying at the school.
"Sure." Ms. Williams gave a small nod, and disappeared back into the classroom. She returned a moment later with a large envelope, and handed it to Franky.
"Thanks, and I'm sorry about the scene." The brunette gave her an apologetic look.
"Don't worry about it, it happens." The teacher gave her a small, understanding smile. "I hope you're feeling up to joining us tomorrow, Em."
Emily remained silent, but Franky thanked her again before they left.
She carried her out the front door, and back to the car that was parked in front of the school. She saw the confused look on Shayne's face when she reappeared carrying the young girl. She opened the back door, and sat Emily in her seat.
"Don't say it." Franky shot him a look, and he turned back around in his seat.
"God, this is so good." Vera took another bite of the lunch that Franky had sent for her. "How have you not gained like fifty pounds by now?"
"I stay active." Bridget gave her friend a cheeky smile.
The governor had asked if they could have lunch in her office today. It wasn't an unusual request, but it normally meant that she had something to talk about that she didn't want anyone to overhear, and the blonde definitely had that feeling today. Bridget had noticed that Vera had seemed a bit off ever since she had come to talk to her the previous week about letting Lana out of the slot to attend a session. She had brushed it off though, assuming it had something to do with work.
"I, uh, asked to have lunch here because I wanted to talk to you about something." Vera sat her fork down.
"Sure, what's going on?" The blonde followed suit and sat her fork down as well. She sensed that this was something important, and she wanted her friend to know that she had her full attention.
"I…for the past..." The governor paused, and took a deep breath. "I've been seeing someone."
"Vera, that's great!" Bridget felt relief flood through her. She'd been expecting bad news, but this was the opposite, and she was thrilled for her friend. "Tell me all about him." She picked up her fork and resumed eating her lunch.
"It's Shayne." Vera wasn't sure how the blonde would feel about it, and she thought it was better to just put it out there, so they'd have more time to discuss it.
Bridget paused with her fork halfway to her mouth. "Shayne?"
"I know…" The governor paused, and let out a long breath. "I should have said something sooner."
"No, it's wonderful! I just wasn't expecting that." The blonde shook her head. "How long have you been seeing him?"
"Since not long after the museum." Vera smiled. "I had a really nice time that day."
"So Em is the matchmaker." Bridget saw the confused look on her friend's face. "She was the one who wanted to invite both of you."
"Oh." She gave a small laugh. "I suppose she is then."
"I'm happy for you." The blonde smiled, as she reached out and squeezed her friend's hand.
Vera let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "I'm relieved."
"He's a good kid." Bridget winced internally at her comment. "He's a good man." She corrected herself and decided to leave it at that.
"Do you think he's too young?" The governor had caught the other woman's slip up, but she wasn't asking the question because of it. It was something that had been on her mind ever since she'd realized her feelings.
"No." Bridget speared a cherry tomato in her salad with her fork, and popped it into her mouth. "I think as long as you're happy, it doesn't matter."
"I am." Vera couldn't help but smile again.
"There you go, then it's not an issue." The blonde could see that her friend had slipped into thought mode again. "What's on your mind?"
"Do you think Franky will be okay with it? I mean, he's her friend, and I'm yours, and she's going to be working with him." Vera hadn't thought much about it until Shayne had mentioned one night that maybe they shouldn't tell the brunette right away.
"Franky will be…" Bridget thought about how she should word it. "She'll be protective of you."
"What does that mean?" The governor knew that the other woman was perhaps being vague on purpose.
"It means that I think she would be a little bit hard on anyone you dated. She did think there was something going on at the museum, but she hasn't mentioned it since." The blonde shrugged, then sighed.
"Are you going to tell her?" Vera knew that while Bridget was loyal to her, the blonde's first loyalty would always be to her wife, and she accepted that.
"I promised her there wouldn't be secrets. If he wasn't staying with us, I might be able to play dumb, but it's obvious he's spending nights somewhere else. She already suspects that he's seeing someone." She didn't want to blow their cover, but she knew Franky would be upset if she found out that Bridget had kept it from her.
"He said he told her that he was hanging out with his mates." Vera had asked him what he was using as a cover story, and when he told her, he'd sounded confident that the brunette had believed him.
"Yeah, and that worked until Friday night." Bridget noticed a slight blush creep into her friend's cheeks. "It's okay Vera, you can talk about him. I'm okay with it." She didn't want the worry about what Franky would think to crush the other woman's happiness.
"I don't know, I just feel relaxed with him. We have fun." The smile returned to the governor's face. "I feel safe."
"Well those are very key things to have in a relationship." The blonde remembered that those were some of the first things she'd felt with Franky as well.
"I, uh…" Vera trailed off, she could feel her cheeks burning now. "I never slept with Jake. We messed around a bit, but it always felt kind of weird, and awkward, so it never went further."
The blonde wasn't surprised by this. Jake and Vera hadn't dated for long, and Vera had never seemed that into him, even at the beginning. Bridget realized that the other woman appeared to be struggling with what she wanted to say.
"Vera." She paused until she knew that she had the governor's attention. "Have you slept with anyone before?"
During the time she'd known Vera, she knew that she hadn't had a relationship with anyone, but her friend had offered up few details of that part of her life before that, and the blonde hadn't pried. Bridget had been open about the people she'd dated, and to a certain degree, her sex life. She'd never given details, but she didn't have a problem admitting when she'd slept with someone. Vera had always taken more of a passive, listening role in those conversations, and now the blonde wasn't sure if that was because she was very private about those things, or if it was because she didn't have anything to contribute.
"No." Vera's cheeks felt like they were on fire.
"Hey, it's okay." Bridget reached over and took her friend's hand. "And things are different with Shayne, so that's a good start."
"They are. We…" Vera got quiet for a second. "Do you want to know this stuff?"
"I'm here to listen to whatever you feel like you want to share." She knew that her friend was experiencing new things, and she was more than willing to hear whatever she had to say.
"We haven't slept together yet, but we've talked about it, and you know what he said?" Vera gave a small laugh, remembering Shayne's words. She saw Bridget smile and shake her head. "He made a joke, and said that guys his age are always willing to have sex, so he wasn't going to bring it up until I did."
"Well, from my experience that's true, yes." The blonde chuckled.
"I liked that he never asked. Jake was bringing it up almost from day one." The governor sighed. "We had decided it would happen Friday night, and we were almost there, but then there was this little bit of hesitation in me, and I said I wanted to stop."
"What did he say?" Bridget assumed that it had turned out okay by the way Vera had talked about him a minute earlier.
"He was fine with it. He just laid with me and asked if I was okay and said we could try some other time if I wanted." She shrugged as if she had been surprised by how well he'd taken it. "But I, uh, wanted to do...something…"
"Okay…" The blonde waited for her friend to continue.
"He only had his underwear on, so obviously I could tell he was…" Vera's eyes pleaded with Bridget to not make her say it.
"Turned on?" She decided to help out the other woman.
"Yeah." The governor cleared her throat. "So we were talking and joking, and I touched him, and anyway I ended up giving him a…" She went to make the motion with her hand so she wouldn't have to say the word, but then quickly realized that the blinds in the windows between her office and the reception area were open.
"Handjob?" Bridget tried not to crack a smile so as not to embarrass her friend.
"Yeah," Vera answered quietly.
"And you both enjoyed it?" She knew she was slipping a bit into therapist mode, but she needed for the other woman to be able to talk.
"I did, and I assume he did. He let me do it again in the morning." She whispered the last part so softly that Bridget almost didn't catch it.
"Sounds like it went well, then." The blonde smiled. She was happy that her friend was having these experiences with someone who seemed to understand what she needed. "A little piece of advice though; make sure he repays the favors. You deserve attention too."
"He offered, but.." Vera shook her head. "Not yet."
"Okay." Bridget smiled again, and gave a small nod.
"You're not going to tell Franky this stuff, right?" The governor had a sudden look of horror on her face.
"Of course not," Bridget reassured her. "The details are between you and me. I promise."
"Do you think it would be better if she heard it from me or Shayne first?" Vera wanted it to go as smoothly as possible.
"She'd probably take it better from you than she would from Shayne." The blonde thought while she chewed on another tomato. "Let me talk to her first, then if she's upset, I can calm her down before she takes it out on him. You might want to give him a heads up though."
"What if he's mad? He was trying to keep it quiet for now." Vera suddenly realized that she may have fucked it all up.
"Vera, relax." Bridget took the other woman's hand again. "He's probably just worried about Franky's reaction. Tell him that you and I talked, and I'm fine with everything, and I'm going to talk to her, and it'll all be okay. You know that even if Franky's upset, it's coming from a place of caring for you, and once she sees that you're okay, and happy, it'll be fine."
"Okay." The governor took a deep breath, and nodded. "And thank you."
"No problem." The blonde went back to eating her lunch.
"Wait, you said his cover story worked until Friday. What happened?" Vera knew he'd spent the night with her, but she couldn't think of what specifically would have tipped off the brunette.
"Franky was being nosey and wanted to see what snacks he'd bought. She found the box of condoms in the bag." Bridget gave her a sympathetic smile.
"Oh god." She lowered her head, and pretended to be very interested in her lunch.
"This place looks awesome." Franky hooked her arm around Shayne's shoulder, and pulled him into a playful chokehold.
"Hey, easy, easy." The young man reached up and tried to pry her arm loose.
"Don't worry, I won't mess up your hair." She reached over with her free hand, and messed up his perfectly combed locks.
"Come on!" He broke away from her and ran his hand through his hair to put it back in place.
"Ugh, you use more hair product than I do." Franky made a face as she wiped her hand on a towel that was laying on the counter. She glanced at the time on her phone. "We should take a break and have some lunch."
"I'll go grab something at the place down the street for us." Shayne took the money the brunette handed him for hers and Emily's lunch, and headed to the small cafe.
Franky took a seat in the corner booth beside the young girl, who was working on one of the activity sheets. She had claimed this spot as hers whenever she wasn't helping out with something.
"How are you feeling?" the brunette asked her.
Emily shrugged. "This is my last sheet."
"You're done everything?" Franky flipped through the pages on the table, and saw that they all appeared to be filled out.
"Yeah, can we cook later?" The young girl added the sheet she was working on to the finished pile.
"We're not really cooking here yet, but we can make something tonight when we go home if you want. Maybe a nice treat for everyone." The brunette had felt bad that she wasn't spending as much quality time with Emily as she used to. Even though she picked her up from school and brought her to the restaurant most days, she didn't end up spending a lot of time actually doing something with her.
"Can we cook here tomorrow?" She looked at the brunette, hopefully.
"There's no food here yet to cook with, and you'll be in school." Franky wanted to slip in there the fact that she expected her to go back to school the next day. She heard Emily sigh. "I promise we'll cook more at home again, okay? I know we haven't done that a lot lately, and that's my fault. I've been away, and busy here, but I miss cooking with you, too." She put her arm around the young girl, and placed a kiss on the top of her head.
Bridget pulled her car into the driveway, and saw that Franky's car was already there, meaning that she, and Emily, and maybe Shayne were already home. She had decided that barring some catastrophe awaiting her when she got home that night, that she was just going to tell the brunette about Shayne and Vera as soon as she got there just to get it out of the way.
"Auntie Bridge!" Emily greeted her aunt with a hug when she walked into the kitchen where she, Franky, and Shayne were preparing supper.
"Hey, love. How was your day?" the blonde asked, setting her bag on the end on the couch.
"Good. I got to spend all day with Franky!" She looked up at Bridget with a big smile.
"You did?" She turned to the brunette.
"Long story," Franky said, glancing up from her chopping.
"Franky, can I talk to you alone in the bedroom for a minute?" She knew it wasn't subtle, but she needed to get it out of the way, especially since Shayne was home.
"Can you keep an eye on things?" the brunette asked the young man as she wiped her hands on the small towel.
"Someone's in trouble." He teased.
Franky shot him a look, and followed the blonde down the hallway.
"Taking me up on that raincheck from this morning?" The brunette thought that Bridget might be upset about Emily not going to school, so she tried to lighten the mood with some humor.
"I would love to, but no." She gave Franky a soft kiss. She wasn't mad at her, and she could sense that the younger woman thought that was the case. "I need to talk to you about something, but first, what happened with Em?"
"I took her to school, and gave her a hug, and she wouldn't let go of me. I tried to calm her down, her teacher came out and talked with us for a minute and everything." The brunette sighed. "She told me that I died in her dream last night, and that she didn't want to leave me. I tried to reassure her and walk away, but she just called out for me, begging me not to leave her there. I couldn't…" She took a moment to compose herself before she continued. "I got all her worksheets and made sure she did them at the restaurant. I think I haven't been spending enough time with her. She's missing us cooking together, and I am too."
Bridget listened quietly until Franky was done telling her story.
"I'll give you the same advice you gave me not all that long ago: do what this thinks is best." She tapped on the brunette's chest where her heart would be. "If it becomes a habit with her, we'll have to put our foot down somehow, but hopefully it was a one time thing because of the dream."
"I hope so." Franky nodded. "What did you have to tell me?"
"Okay." Bridget took a deep breath. "I had lunch with Vera today, and she told me that she and Shayne have been seeing each other." She saw all the emotions run across the brunette's face. "Wait, wait! Before you say anything, I want you to know that she's very happy, and he's been very good to her."
"Gidge!" Franky lowered her voice, remembering that there were other people in the house. "I knew it! I knew it!" She jabbed at the air with her finger in the direction of the kitchen, as if she could somehow make him feel it from there. "I said that day at the museum that there was something going on!"
"Hey, hey." She put her arms around the brunette. "I know you care about Vera, but she is fine. She and I had a nice talk about it."
"He's not good enough for her." It was out of Franky's mouth before she knew it, and she saw the immediate look of shock on her wife's face.
"I seem to remember someone not being happy when that judgement was made about them in the not so distant past." Bridget held the brunette's gaze.
"Gidge…" Franky closed her eyes, and shook her head to clear her thoughts. "He's not a bad guy, that's not what I meant. They're just worlds apart right now. He's still on probation, he's not really supporting himself yet. It's just….it's a lot."
"Okay, I understand what you're trying to say, but he's working on it. If you and I had met just after all the stuff with Penisi, when you were still living with Liz and working through things, would you have loved me any less? Would you have still felt like you deserved a chance with me?" She saw the brunette's eyes soften.
"I would have fallen in love with you even then, and I would have been upset if someone questioned me." Franky didn't even have to think about it, she knew her answer right away.
"Right. They're both grown adults, and Shayne has given us no reason to think that he would ever mistreat her." Bridget could tell how happy Vera had been when she talked about him, and she saw each day how good he was with Emily. "You should have heard her talk about him. She's really enjoying spending time with him, and she's having fun." She saw the brunette make a face. "What? What's that for?"
"I just remembered the condoms." Franky shook her head again.
"And that's a good thing." Bridget saw the brunette make a face again. "He's being safe, he's keeping her safe."
"Yeah, I guess." She had to admit that the blonde was good at making logical points. "I'm still going to scare him though, just so he knows not to fuck up."
Later that evening after Emily had gone to bed, they were all sitting in the living room watching TV.
"So how long were you planning to hide the fact that you're seeing Vera?" Franky made sure the question came out of the blue to catch the young man off guard.
"Uh," Shayne had been laying down, but he quickly sat up, and turned to face Bridget and the brunette. "Well, I wouldn't really say I was hiding it, just maybe omitting certain deta-"
"Shut up." Franky muted the show they were watching and dropped the remote onto the coffee table. "You were spending nights there, and saying you were with a mate. That's not omitting, that's lying."
"Okay, I see where you're going, and I was wron-" He stopped mid-word when the brunette held up her finger.
"I know I can't tell you what to do, but I will say this; Vera is very very special to both myself, and Gidge, and if you hurt her, I'll cut off your dick." Franky saw the young man place his arm across his lap. "I assume that's something you'd rather keep; something you enjoy having?"
"Ye-." He cleared his throat. "Yeah."
"Good, then keep that in mind as you move through your relationship with her, because I'm not fucking joking." The brunette picked up the remote, un-muted the show, and continued to watch it as if nothing had happened. She caught a flicker of a smile from the blonde as the older woman settled in against her again.
"I haven't... we haven't had sex yet." He didn't know why he felt the need to make sure Franky knew that. Maybe he wanted her to know that he was respecting her friend. "She wanted to wait."
"Something to look forward to, then. All the more reason to behave." She glanced down at his lap to make her point, and saw him shift uncomfortably.
"Em is never going to want to bring home a boyfriend to meet you." Bridget said from the bed as she watched the brunette pull on her pyjama pants, and search in the drawer for a clean singlet.
"Why not?" Franky asked absentmindedly as she opened another drawer.
"Because you'll threaten to cut off their dicks," the blonde said with a small laugh.
"If I feel like they need to be set straight." She finally found what she was looking for, and pulled the top on over her head. "But I'd feel the same way if she had a girlfriend instead."
"Would you?" Bridget asked, as the younger woman slid in beside her under the covers.
"Yep." Franky laid on her side, and propped herself up on her elbow. "I don't care if it's Em, or any other kids we have, sons or daughters, or if they have a boyfriend or a girlfriend, or both. I don't care who it is, if they treat them right, then it's all good. But if anyone fucks with them, or fucks around and hurts them, then yeah, they'd better be very scared of me."
The blonde smiled as she reached up, and pulled the younger woman down so she could kiss her.
Franky wrapped her arm around Bridget, and ran her hand down her back. She felt the older woman move in closer, and hook her leg over her hip.
"Can I claim my raincheck now?" the blonde asked in between kisses.
"Mhm." Franky smiled against her lips. "We happen to be running a two for one special on that product right now."
Bridget chuckled as she felt the brunette's hand slip under her clothes. The last thought that slipped through her mind was that she hoped Emily stayed asleep, and in her own bed tonight.