A/N: So obviously, this is the plot of Something New (a film starring Simon Baker and Sanaa Lathan from 2006) turned into a wlw story featuring Lisbon and Hightower. Like the movie, this story will tackle themes of interracial dating/relationships. This is an AU, so beyond the characters it may not resemble TM too much. If that's not your jam, this story probably won't be for you! This is my first wlw story, but I know people have been begging for these in the fandom. Specifically, this goes out to lorastardust for her birthday!

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"So, Madeleine, are you seeing anyone?"

That question. THE question she dreaded answering. Her friend, Grace, would get it out of her one way or another. Still, that didn't mean she had to answer right away. Instead, she chose to take a long sip of her mimosa, one of their Saturday brunch staples.

"Not currently."

Grace grinned like she had something up her sleeve. "What does 'not currently' mean? No new men of interest? No new women of interest?"

She rolled her eyes. This is why she dreaded this question. She met Grace as they roomed together their freshman year of college. Upon meeting Grace, she joked: "I guess I'm like Denise Huxtable." Of course, Grace had no idea what that meant, but over the course of every Sunday and Wednesday night during their first year, they managed to binge all of A Different World together as a ritual. They'd been friends ever since.

As they had been long-term friends, Grace was at the front lines of her own journey of self-discovery when she found herself with her first girlfriend junior year. Ever since revealing that she had interest in dating both men and women, Grace was always looking for a bit of gossip. Though, she was usually a bit disappointed that her friend was rather straightforward and didn't have a messy love life.

Not that she had time for anything like that. Madeleine was a 34 year old, career-oriented woman. She spent most of her 20s in the books and trying to get ahead, exemplifying the black excellence that her parents always encouraged. Now that she'd reached this milestone-in her 30s with a steady career-she was ready to get serious like Grace. She met her fiancee Wayne last year.

Grace knew how serious she was about settling down now, but what she didn't know was just how slim the pickings out here were. She found relationships with women a bit easier to come by because much to her chagrin, the men usually just were not up to her standards. She was ready to settle down, not be tied to a man child who wanted to weigh her down.

"Girl, it's hard out here!"

"Well, I've got you covered." She wriggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"What does that mean?"

"I have someone for you to meet!"

That took her by surprise just a bit. Grace had never tried to set her up with anyone before. Maybe he was one of Wayne's friends. She seemed so happy about the suggestion, and she hadn't had much luck finding dates recently. Maybe he could be the one!

Fast forward a few days, and she headed to the Starbucks where Grace arranged for her to meet her mystery man. Grace had texted her the night before "dark brown hair with an olive green shirt." She looked around the shop, thinking that she should have thought better of it last night and asked Grace for the mystery man's name. That might help.

She looked around a few more times, and she saw a woman waving at her as she approached. "Are you Madeleine Hightower?"

"Um, yeah?"

"I'm Teresa Lisbon!" She looked at the woman in confusion as she extended her hand. She must have caught her confusion. "Grace set us up!"

"Oh, hi." She reached out and took her hand. She smiled brightly. She had a rather beautiful smile, but she also noticed a few other things. Grace set her up with a woman-a white woman at that! She felt her stomach fall; this was not going to go anywhere.

"Should we grab some coffee? I'll buy!"

Without a word, Teresa walked away toward the counter as she looked around. Would it be awful if she just left now? No, she was Grace's friend and that might create some awkwardness. Instead, she followed her up to the counter.

"So, what do you usually get here?"

"I usually get an iced Americano with just a splash of cream. You?"

The woman grinned at her. "I think I'd like the same."

Did she take that as some kind of innuendo or joke? Because just no! She'd never refer to herself as a beverage. If the other thing wasn't an automatic disqualifier, this would be.

After getting their drinks, they found a table. Teresa wanted to sit near a window, but she did not. She wanted to sit facing the exit so she could see who was coming in. Being on a date with a white woman made her extremely uncomfortable. She'd never dated a white person, and that was not something she was into. From birth, her parents instilled in her a sense of pride in being a black woman who loved and uplifted a black man. Later, when she came out to her family, they accepted her with love-and expanded that to loving and uplifting a black man or a black woman. There was a common denominator here, and Teresa wasn't in it.

Besides, she was looking for The One so she could settle down and start a family. She was looking for a husband, her Mr. Right.

"You're beautiful."

She'd actually put on a dress for this. Not one of her finer pieces because after all, she was supposed to meet Mr. Right at a coffee shop, in a casual spot. Teresa wore her green shirt and jeans. She didn't look bad, but it was super casual.

"Thanks."

"So, what do you do for a living?"

"Oh, I'm a marketing executive."

"Fun! Do you write jingles? Create commercials? Create ads?"

"Um…" Just then, she spotted a black man-who worked at the damn Starbucks-coming by their table. She needed to play this cool. Why she became so unnerved, she wasn't sure. She'd gone to brunch or coffee with Grace a million times. No one ever assumed they were together, but still. This was too much. "Hey, brotha. What's good?"

"Ah you know what it is! Can I get you anything?"

She looked nervously back at Teresa who was watching in confusion. "Nah, we good. Stay straight out here."

The man smirked before walking away and she turned her attention back to Teresa. "Do you know him?"

"No, I just wanted to say hi." Nervously, she looked around again. Did anyone she know see her here?

"Oh okay." She smiled again. This was torture. Was she supposed to sit here this whole time and entertain this like it was actually going to go somewhere? "So, what do you do for fun?"

She paused before answering. She could answer the question or she could just go. "Look, Teresa, you seem like a nice woman, but I don't think this is going to work out."

"Oh? We just sat down not even five minutes ago."

"I know, but I'm just not really feeling the vibe here."

"Did I do something to cause offense?"

"No, it's just that you're not really my type?" She didn't mean it as a question, but that's how it came out.

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I thought Grace said that you date women."

"I do. Sometimes."

"Sometimes?"

She sighed. "Teresa, I don't date white people. Of course, this has never come up in conversation with Grace, so she didn't know."

"You don't date white people? Isn't that a bit…" Oh God. She was going to say it. "Well, I suppose it's not racist, but isn't that a bit of prejudice you have there? You've not even known me for five minutes, but the color of my skin is an automatic disqualifier?"

"And I also thought she'd set me up with a man."

"But you date women?"

She folded her arms across her chest. "You do know that bisexual people exist, right?"

"I do, but Grace seemed to suggest that you strongly prefer women."

She shook her head. Just because most of her more recent relationships were with women, that didn't mean what Grace obviously assumed it meant. She had actually corrected her a few times when she referred to her as a "lesbian." Not that it made that much of a difference to her when she dated women. Still, she wasn't going to sit here and debate the intricacies of her preferences with this woman.

"She's mistaken." She stood, smoothing down the front of her dress. "It's not personal."

"Sure it's not. I wish we could at least get to know each other, but you don't seem interested. Have a great day, Madeleine."

With that, she left the coffee shop and bought a bottle of wine on the way home. She'd probably have to talk through that date with Grace the next time she saw her. Oh, the embarrassment of it all!

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On Friday night, she had to go to Grace and Wayne's engagement party. As Grace's maid of honor, it was her duty to be there, of course!

Hopefully, Grace was so busy with her guests that she didn't even ask about the date that absolutely bombed. She'd definitely think twice before accepting an offer of a blind date from Grace again. Why did she even think she knew a black man to introduce her to who she herself did not already know? Though, she was curious what pushed Grace to set her up with Teresa.

When she got there, she greeted her friend. "Grace!"

"Madeleine, thank you for coming! I know we have a lot to discuss, but I'll catch up with you later!"

Leaving her to her own devices, she found Michelle. Michelle was someone who they'd met through their first job. They weren't quite as tight, but it was usually fun to see her.

"Anything new in Madeleine's World?"

"Nope! What about you?" She sipped some of her wine.

"Not really. Are you seeing anyone?"

"Nope." One downfall of getting to this age without a serious, long-term partner was just how often that question came up and how increasingly startling it became to give that answer all the time. She seemed like a loner, and that couldn't be further from who she was. "You?"

She grinned as she whipped her ponytail behind her head and tilted her glass toward the refreshments. "No, but I am wondering if I might be after tonight!"

The man serving portions of meat grinned at Michelle. They turned to each other and laughed a bit. "With a chef?"

"Yeah, why not? It might be fun. You don't have to look at every person you meet like Mr. or Mrs. Right. Sometimes, they're just Mr. or Ms. Right Now." The man behind the table winked at her, making Michelle giggle. Yeah, they'd be spending the night together tonight. Lucky bitch.

Looking around, she noticed the backyard was vastly different than the last time she was here. The floral arrangements and vegetation were just phenomenal. She wondered when Grace had time to do all of this when suddenly she appeared behind them.

"What's up, girls?"

She turned on her heel. "Nothing, but doesn't the bride have a bunch of guests to be entertaining?"

She waved her hand as she made a "pfft" noise. "Wayne is handling it quite well! I wanted to check in with you! Maybe see how your date went last weekend…"

So maybe Teresa hadn't told her. It wouldn't be the worst thing if she got to tell the story first and just go with "it didn't work out." It would save some embarrassment. Instead, she decided to change the subject as she pointed around the yard.

"Your yard is gorgeous! When did you have time to do this?"

"Oh, I didn't! I hired someone." Grace looked over her shoulder, and before Madeleine realized what was happening, she was pulling Teresa over to their group. Her heart fell into her stomach. Oh God. She was also here! Grace smiled sweetly, and that's when she knew that this was no coincidence. "This is Teresa. She's my landscaper. I think you two have met."

For her part, Teresa merely waved awkwardly at her, causing Grace to frown a bit. "This is Michelle."

Of course, Michelle had no sense of any tension. That was one thing that made her very charming. "Nice to meet you, Teresa!"

In spite of the awkwardness, she was rather impressed by this feat. She moved into her own house last year, but because of her busy work schedule, she didn't have a lot of time or energy to put into her own yard. She decided to just ask what she was thinking.

"So, you planned this entire backyard?"

"I planned it, and I made it happen!"

"You and your crew?"

"No, I work alone."

"Oh wow. You are quite talented."

"Thank you. My business rides on people liking my work and word of mouth getting around."

She squared her bare shoulders—that were accentuated but the princess neckline of the black strapless gown she wore—as though she took great pride in receiving a compliment about the fruits of her labor. Someone taking pride in their work and their reputation was always a good sign. With her dark hair into a side swept bun, she noted that she also cleaned up well.

There was a little small talk within the group before Grace's mother pulled her away, and then, the man who had been flirting with Michelle all evening was finally free-so she also peeled off. There she stood, alone with Teresa.

"Listen, I know we didn't get off on the right start the other day, but do you think that maybe we could sit that aside? I think I would like to hire you."

Teresa blinked rapidly. "Hire me?"

"For my yard."

"Your yard needs revamped?"

"I'm not exactly sure 'revamp' is the right word here. It's essentially a pile of dirt! One very large pile of dirt!"

She laughed. "A pile of dirt? I expected you to have a perfectly manicured lawn for some reason."

"Why?"

"You seem so tightly wound and put together."

For some odd reason, she was slightly taken aback by that. Everyone always assumed a lot of things about her, ever since the day she was born. Though, after their first meeting, she probably deserved a bit of ribbing.

"So, what do you say?"

"I can come by tomorrow and give you a consultation if you'd like. If we can agree on a vision, then we can arrange something."

"Deal!" She extended her hand, and Teresa took it. The handshake lingered for a bit long as Teresa looked into her eyes.

"Deal."

She did have rather nice green eyes.

"Can I have your number?"

"My number?" Her request caught her off-guard.

"Yeah. So I can call you on my way over. I'll probably need your address, too." She narrowed her eyes. "If that's okay."

"Oh, sure. That makes sense. You're coming over to work on the yard."

Right, Madeleine. She's a landscaper…and a white woman.

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A/N: Other than changing it to a wlw story, I also introduced this other layer here where here is that while Madeleine gives race as reason for not wanting to pursue anything with Teresa (like in the movie), she fantasizes about a husband. I don't plan for any major. external biphobia or homophobia in this story, but I did want to explore this layer of grappling with what you think you are supposed to want versus letting a relationship happen organically.