Chapter 32

It was Friday morning, and Franky was going over the list of summer courses with Liz.

"So you're doing the kid's one again?" Liz asked, making sure everything was accurate so they could list them in the local paper.

"Yep, loved that one." Franky smiled, chewing on the end of her pen.

"I've also got a pastry and desserts one, flavours of the world, a parent and child class, a couple's class." She flipped through the pages. "We should probably offer the safe food handling course again too. I've been getting requests for it, and it's been awhile since we've had that one. You up for that?"

"Sure. We could probably fit in two groups for that. There's no prep work, just teaching, so it doesn't take as much extra time from me." Franky added it to her notes.

"Alright. I'll get this ready then and send it off to the paper. They'll probably run it the first of the week." Liz gathered up her papers. "How are things with the little one?"

"They're okay I think. She's staying with us while Tim does his rehab. She's quieter than normal, but I think she's just concerned about her dad." Franky laid down her pen and leaned back in the chair. "She hasn't come and got in bed with us this time yet though, which is usually what she does when she can't sleep. So I assume she's at least not waking up through the night."

"You're doing good, love. You both are." She gave Franky a pat on the shoulder before she headed back to her office.

Fridays were Franky's day to finish up early. She checked her watch, and figured she just had enough time to get home, then walk to the school to pick up Emily.

Franky arrived at the school about ten minutes early. As she stood waiting for Emily, she noticed a woman come out of the building, walking towards her with the young girl in tow.

"You must be Franky," the woman said, extending her hand.

"I am." The brunette shook the other woman's hand.

"I'm Lisa Johns, the principal here at Newport Gardens." She gave Franky a smile.

"Good to meet you." The brunette looked down at Emily. "Uh, is she in trouble or something?"

Lisa gave a small laugh, "Oh, no. Em, can you play in the playground for a minute? I just want to have a quick chat with Franky."

Franky took Emily's school bag from her and the girl went over to sit on the swing set.

"I actually just wanted to introduce myself and say hello. Tim contacted me and said Em would be staying with Bridget and yourself again. I've met Bridget of course, and Em talks about you and her aunt a lot. I wanted to put a face to the name, so I thought it would be a good opportunity since she said you were picking her up today." Lisa glanced over to where Emily was playing. "She said you've been teaching her how to cook. That you look after her after school most days."

"Yeah, that's actually how I met Bridget. She enrolled Em in one of my classes. My boss is really understanding and she's a great kid, loves to help out, so she comes to the Centre after school and hangs out until I go home."

"Excellent! I'll let you two get going. It was nice to meet you." Lisa gave her a pat on the arm and turned to go back into the school.

"Yeah, likewise." Franky walked to the swing set. "You ready, bub?" She reached out to take the girl's hand.

"Am I in trouble?" Emily asked as they walked home.

"No."

"Why did Ms. Johns want to talk to you?" She looked up at Franky.

"Your dad told her you were staying with us. She knows Auntie Bridge, but not me, so she just wanted to say hi. Okay?" Franky looked down at her and she nodded, seemingly satisfied with the brunette's answer.

When they got back to the house, the brunette changed into a pair of trackies and an old t-shirt.

"Why do you always change your clothes when you come home?" Emily asked, sitting on a stool in the kitchen.

"It's more comfortable." Franky grabbed a glass from the cabinet and turned on the tap.

"Can I wear my pyjamas?" The girl's eyes lit up.

"Sure!" Franky sat down on the couch with her water.

When Emily returned, she had a book with her. "I'm supposed to read this to someone this weekend. Then you have to sign this." She handed Franky a workbook that contained a log where the girl was supposed to keep track of when she read to someone.

"Okay, bub. Come sit and you can read it to me." The brunette patted the spot beside her on the couch. "Maybe you can read it to Auntie Bridge later tonight too?" The girl nodded excitedly.

As Emily read, Franky helped her when she came to a word she wasn't sure of. Overall though, she didn't need much help, and the brunette could feel herself relaxing into the couch and her eyelids felt heavier by the second. She fought it though, not wanting to make Emily feel like she wasn't listening to her. When the young girl came to the end of the story, she handed Franky the workbook and a pen, then picked up the remote for the TV, and turned on the cartoon channel. Franky signed the book, then placed it on the coffee table. Emily settled in beside her, and it wasn't long before she felt her eyes start to close again.

When Bridget arrived home, she could hear the tv in the living room, but other than that, the house was quiet. No one greeted her, so she quietly walked down the hall and glanced around the corner. She couldn't help but smile. Franky was sitting on the couch, feet on the coffee table, with Emily laying against her, and both were fast asleep.

She tried not to make too much noise as she discarded her shoes, and went down to the bedroom to change. On her way back to the kitchen, as she walked past Emily's door, she saw her lunch bag on her bed along with her school bag. She knew there were probably dirty dishes in there, so she went in to grab it. It looked as though the young girl had gone through her bag to find something because there were some papers beside it on the bed. Most were notices from the school or newsletters, but one caught Bridget's eye. It was the instruction sheet for the volcano project she had seen a couple of weeks ago. Emily must have either not told Tim or he'd forgotten about it. She looked at the date on it. It was due on Monday. She took the paper, along with the lunch bag, with her to the kitchen.

As she sat at the table looking through the list of things that were needed, she figured she had everything except the paint, and that should be easy enough to get. It was getting close to the time to start making dinner. She didn't want to wake Franky, so she decided to look through one of the recipe books she had to see if there was something easy she could make for them. Worst case scenario, she'd use one of the meals from the freezer. She found a recipe for Spag Bol. It was one of her favourites, looked fairly easy, and she thought she had all the ingredients already.

She set to work, frying the ground beef and chopping the onions. Franky had been showing her a few things, and she was hoping this would be a nice surprise to have ready when the brunette woke up. The beauty of it was that she could let the sauce simmer until they woke up, then cook the spaghetti. She had the sauce almost done when she heard Franky stir on the couch.

The brunette carefully slid away from Emily, trying not to wake her. As soon as she woke up, she could smell something delicious, and hear Bridget in the kitchen. "Hey, babe," she walked up behind the blonde, who was stirring the sauce on the stove, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "This smells really good. Can I try?" she asked, reaching for the spoon.

"Be gentle, baby," Bridget said as Franky carefully blew on the sauce she had gathered on the spoon.

"Gidge! This is really good! You're going to steal my job!" The brunette laughed as she stirred the sauce for the blonde.

Bridget shrugged, "It was easy, and you looked comfortable over there. You've been working hard lately, and looking after Em a lot. I wanted to help out." She wrapped her arms around Franky's neck.

"You know none of that is really work, right?" She smiled down at the blonde. "I love to cook and I love spending time with Em. My students call her 'the little sous-chef' now."

"That's adorable." Bridget stretched up to give her a slow kiss. "I've missed this."

"Making out in the kitchen?" Franky gave a small laugh.

"Mmm, just being able to take a minute and stop. I feel like there's been so much going on lately." She moved her fingers in the hair at the nape of the brunette's neck.

"Maybe we can get her to sleep early tonight, and we can have some time, just you and me," Franky said, glancing over towards the couch where Emily was still sleeping. Bridget gave her another kiss. The brunette smiled. "I'll take that as a 'yes'."

The blonde gave her a quick nod, and started filling the pot with water to cook the spaghetti.

"What's this, babe?" Franky picked up the paper about Emily's school project.

"That's Em's project that's due on Monday. I don't know if Tim forgot about it or what, but either way it needs to be done. I just have to go get the paint for it in the morning. It looks kind of fun though."

"I can run out and get that now. It's not that far and I'll be back by the time everything is ready. Then we can get an early start on it in the morning." Franky was already on her way to get her wallet and keys.

"Sure, if you don't mind."

"Nah, it's all good. I'll be back in a few." She gave Bridget a quick kiss, then headed out the door.

"Tim called while you were gone to the store to say he was planning to drop by tomorrow evening." Bridget said, as she sat down on the couch beside Franky with the bowl of popcorn she'd made. They had been successful in getting Emily to bed at a fairly early hour after the blonde let her read her new book.

"He's doing okay?" Franky asked, taking a few pieces from the bowl.

"I think so. He doesn't talk about it a lot, but he's sounding a little more happy. This one okay?" Bridget had found a movie she thought would be good.

"Yeah, sure." The brunette had barely glanced up. She honestly didn't care what they watched.

After a few minutes, Franky noticed that Bridget was trying to move in even closer. She reached out and touched the blonde's hand. "You're cold."

"A little bit."

"Just a minute." The brunette got up and went to the other spare bedroom. She returned with the comforter from the bed.

Bridget smiled, and stood up. "Lay down on your back."

Franky did as Bridget said, and after she was settled, with her head on the pillows that the blonde had placed at the end of the couch, Bridget laid down on top of her. She covered them with the comforter, and rested her head on Franky's chest.

"You know, if you want to sleep, we can just go to bed." The brunette gave a small laugh.

"Mmm, no, I just want to be close to you." Bridget placed a small kiss on Franky's collarbone, then laid her head down again.

The brunette wrapped her arms around the older woman, and trailed her fingers up and down the middle of her back. Every so often, she felt the blonde's muscles twitch.

"Does that tickle?" Franky asked quietly.

"No. It feels nice."

The brunette thought that Bridget may have fallen asleep until she felt the blonde's hand creep down and then up under her shirt a few minutes later. She felt lips press against her collarbone, then the side of her neck. Bridget's fingers traced over lines she now knew by memory.

"Gidge."

Bridget slipped her hand under the waistband of Franky's pants and let her fingertips brush over the younger woman's clit through the thin fabric of her underwear. She felt the brunette's pulse quicken under her lips. Franky turned her head and connected her lips with the blonde's in a deep, long kiss. She felt Bridget shift a bit on top of her, and move her hand so it was now inside her underwear as well.

The blonde felt Franky's leg quiver underneath her as she gathered wetness from her folds, and ran her fingers up and down over the younger woman's clit. "Does that feel good?" Bridget whispered in her ear.

"Mmm, yes." Franky squeezed her eyes shut as the blonde entered her with two fingers. "Fuck."

Bridget knew the brunette's neck was sensitive, so she let her lips trail up and down it as Franky threw back her head to allow the other woman more access. The blonde felt the tension building in the woman's body beneath her. Franky was moving her hips to meet Bridget's fingers, and each time they hit the deepest spot inside her, she let out a small moan. The blonde cupped her hand a bit so that every time the younger woman pushed her hips forward, her clit came into contact with Bridget's palm.

Franky grabbed onto the back of Bridget's shirt with one hand, and moved the other to cup the blonde's butt, pulling her closer and encouraging her to push her fingers in harder. She felt Bridget nip at her neck then soothe it with her tongue as she thrust her fingers in a final time before her orgasm washed over her. She managed to stay quiet, save for one small moan right at the beginning.

After her body relaxed, she felt Bridget's lips lightly brush against hers, and she opened her eyes. "Fuck, Gidge, you're too good at that." She gave a small laugh and pulled the blonde in for another kiss as the older woman slowly removed her fingers.

Bridget smiled. "I assume that's a compliment."

"Mmm, it definitely is." Franky held onto the blonde as she turned them both over, switching their positions on the couch. She pulled the comforter back over them, and ran her hand down Bridget's side. She continued down past her butt and around her thigh to the back of her knee, causing the blonde to hook her leg over Franky's lower back. The brunette felt her push her hips upwards. "I was about to ask how you were doing, but I think I got the picture," Franky said with a smirk on her face.

She placed a kiss on Bridget's lips, then down the side of her neck, and on her chest until she got to the top of the blonde's singlet. She raised herself up slightly and moved down, disappearing under the comforter. Bridget felt a hand on either side push her shirt up, and Franky's warm lips leaving kisses all over her stomach. The brunette's thumb brushed back and forth over the newly-healed tattoo, and she felt Bridget let out a shaky breath.

Franky hooked her fingers in either side of Bridget's pants and underwear, and pulled them down to her knees. She wanted to give them at least a chance of being able to look like nothing was going on if Emily suddenly showed up. Above the comforter Bridget smiled. It reminded her of being back in high school, trying not to get caught by someone's parents. That's as far as the similarities went however, because her partners back then couldn't compare to how Franky was currently making her feel. The brunette had wrapped her arm around Bridget's left thigh, and moved her fingers over the skin where her leg met her hip.

The younger woman ran her tongue over Bridget's folds a couple times before settling her lips in a wide circle around her clit. She flattened out her tongue and licked slowly up and down, occasionally flicking the tip of it across the small bundle of nerves. After only a moment, Bridget knew she wouldn't last long. She tried to slow her body down a bit so she could enjoy a few extra moments of what Franky was doing to her. The muscles in her legs twitched, and she felt the brunette slow her pace a little bit. "Yes, baby," she breathed out, and reached down to find Franky's free hand, and laced their fingers together.

It wasn't long before Bridget felt her muscles start to tighten again, and she knew this time it wouldn't matter how slow Franky went. "Fuck," she whispered, holding onto the brunette's hand a bit tighter. She felt Franky's fingers flex against hers in response. After a moment, Bridget was on the edge, and all it took was a few final movements of the brunette's tongue to release all the tension in her body that had been building up. She wasn't as successful as Franky had been at being quiet, but she heard no movement from the end of the hallway. When her body stilled, she felt the brunette pull her pants back up. Bridget raised her hips slightly to allow her to slide them back up around her waist. Franky emerged from under the covers with a big grin on her face and gave the blonde a kiss.

"Mmm, I tried to draw that one out a bit, baby, sorry." Bridget gave a small laugh.

Franky smiled. "I know. Why do you think I slowed down? You weren't the only one who was enjoying it." She saw the blonde's eyes starting to close. "We should go to bed, babe. Before we end up spending the night out here."

"Mmm I'm sleepy."

"I know, babe. That's wh-" Franky realized there was no use in trying to convince Bridget to get up.

The brunette stood up from the couch, and covered the older woman with the comforter. She walked down to the master bedroom and pulled down the covers. When she returned to the living room, she could tell that Bridget was already asleep. She placed the comforter on the other part of the L-shaped couch, and carefully picked up the blonde. She walked down the hall as quietly as she could and placed her in the bed before crawling in beside her.

"See, we can sleep out here, it's comfortable." Bridget mumbled as Franky moved in behind her, and put her arms around the blonde.

"Yep, sounds good." The brunette smiled and closed her eyes.

Emily woke early the next morning thanks to the fact she'd slept for most of the previous afternoon and all night. Bridget heard the young girl's bedroom door open. The blonde listened as she heard her niece walk down the hall, and out into the living area. She assumed Emily was looking for either her or Franky. A moment later, Bridget heard footsteps returning, and heard the sound of their own bedroom door being opened. She knew they needed to get a start on the girl's project, but she also felt like another hour of sleep wouldn't hurt. She kept her eyes closed, and hoped that maybe Emily, thinking that they were both still asleep, would just climb into the bed and lay down with them.

"Auntie Bridge," Emily reached out and touched Bridget's hand. The blonde tried to stay still and not react. "Auntie Bridge?" Emily pulled on her hand a bit harder this time.

Bridget knew the girl wouldn't give up easily, and she didn't want her to wake Franky, so she opened her eyes. "Good morning, love," she whispered, and saw Emily looking back at her. "You want to lay down here for a bit? It's pretty early."

"Is Franky asleep too?" The girl stretched to look behind Bridget.

"Yeah, she is." The blonde lifted the comforter a bit.

Emily thought for a second then climbed in. "I'm not sleepy."

"I know." Bridget put her arm around her niece.

The blonde was almost back to sleep when Emily spoke again. "When are we having breakfast?"

Bridget sighed. She knew there was no way she was getting any more sleep this morning. "Let's get up and get some now."

Franky had woken up while Bridget was making eggs and toast for breakfast. "Morning, babe," she said, giving Bridget a kiss on the cheek as the blonde stirred the eggs in the pan. "Em." She ruffled the girl's hair as she took a seat with her at the table.

"Auntie Bridge said she and I are going to make this after breakfast." Emily handed Franky the instruction sheet for the volcano project.

"Looks like fun, bub! We can test it out when it's all done!" Franky threw her hands open and mimicked an explosion sound as Emily giggled. She caught Bridget's look from the kitchen. "Outside, we'll test it outside."

Just as Franky was clearing the table, there was a knock at the door.

"Tim, hey you're early!" Bridget greeted him with a hug.

"Yeah, I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. I figured you wouldn't mind."

"Not at all. It's actually perfect. I was just about to help Em with something for school, but I think it would be nice if the three of us could do it." She wanted Tim to be able to still be involved in Emily's life even though she was living with them at the moment. She knew that an important part of recovery was making amends and rebuilding relationships with loved ones.

"Sounds good. Is Franky around though? I'd really like to talk to her first." He took off his sunglasses and put them in his shirt pocket. Bridget noticed that he still looked tired.

"Yeah, she's in the kitchen." The blonde closed the door and followed him into the house.

"Dad!" Emily ran to give her father a hug.

Franky glanced behind her. She said hello to Tim, then went back to putting the dishes in the dishwasher. It wasn't that she didn't like him, she did, but right now he was reminding her of everything bad about her childhood.

Tim walked to the end of the counter, and waited a minute before he cleared his throat and spoke. "Franky, um, I was wondering if we could talk for a minute? Maybe out on the patio?"

The brunette looked to him then to Bridget. "Yeah, sure." She closed the dishwasher, and followed him outside.

"I just wanted to apologize for the other night, for the state I was in when you got there. I knew you were bringing Em back that night, and I shouldn't have been drinking. I put you in an awkward position. You made the right call, bringing her back here, so I also wanted to say thank you. I'm glad that Em has another person who cares about her, and Bridge too." He looked to the ground, then out across the small backyard.

"I'm just glad you're getting help. My mother was a drinker, so it kind of hit close to home for me." She crossed her arms. She didn't like talking about her past, especially to someone she didn't know that well, but she felt like she needed to tell Tim that she knew what Emily was experiencing.

"Your mother, she got through it? Got some help and got better?" he asked.

"Dunno." she shrugged and looked back into the house, then at the fence behind Tim.

"Okay, uh, I'll let you get back to whatever I interrupted." He slid the door open, and waited for her to go back inside before he followed.

"So what's this project?" Tim looked at the table where Bridget had gathered the supplies they'd need to make the volcano with Emily, and the two of them were waiting for him to return so they could start.

"Volcano!" Emily said excitedly.

"I made one of these when I wasn't much older than you." He picked up the info sheet. "How come you didn't tell me about this? It says it's due Monday and you had two weeks to do it."

"I did," Emily said quietly. "You were sad that day. You said we'd do it later, but we never did."

Bridget saw Franky, out of the corner of her eye, stop what she was doing in the kitchen and look over. The blonde rubbed Emily's shoulder soothingly, "It's okay, we'll get it done now, love."

An hour later and the volcano was sitting out on the patio table, drying in the late morning sun. Tim had said he needed to talk with Bridget, so Franky decided that her and Emily could go to the store and pick up some things she needed for a recipe she wanted to try that night.

"So how have you been?" Bridget asked, sitting down on the couch.

"Good. Yeah, I'm feeling a bit better, more like myself. I've got a ways to go through for sure. How about you?"

"I'm good. Great, actually. I'm really happy." She couldn't help the smile that came across her face. "I love having Franky here."

"Great." Tim smiled back. "I actually have something kind of important that I want to talk to you about." He took a deep breath.

"Is everything okay?" Bridget sat up and turned a bit so she was facing him.

"Yeah, everything's good. I just don't really know how this type of conversation is supposed to go." He let out a nervous laugh. "You remember how Sarah and I had a bit of trouble getting pregnant when we decided to have Em?" Bridget nodded. "When we were going through that process, we looked into doing in-vitro. In the end, we didn't have to go that route, but we were prepared to. I was going over some paperwork the other day, you know, with having the new house and everything, and I found papers we got from the sperm bank. We have the option every couple years to renew the storage contract and it was coming due so I paid it for another two years. It's not something I'll be needing anymore. Actually, I kind of forgot that it was even still there. But anyway, what I was thinking is that if someday you wanted to have kids, and your partner was going to be the one to carry the baby, then maybe it would be something you'd like to use. It would be a way for you to both be genetically related to the child." Tim held up his hands. "I know that's not important, there's more to being a parent than genetics, but if it's something you'd like, then I'd like to offer that to you."

Bridget just sat and looked at him. She didn't know what she felt. So many thoughts were in her head at that moment. She had never really thought about whether she wanted to have kids or not. It had never seemed like the right time, or that she was with the right person for that.

"Bridge?" Tim reached out and took her hand, pulling her from her thoughts. "You don't have to say anything right now, okay? That's why I just went ahead and renewed it, so you wouldn't feel any pressure. You've got at least two years now. Think about it when you're ready. The offer will be there."

She nodded slowly. "Okay. Are you sure though? This is a big thing. I'm not saying yes or no. I just need to know that you've fully thought about this, because I definitely need time to think about it."

"I've thought about it. I think you'd be a great mom if it's something you want."

"That means a lot." She smiled at him.

They talked for a few more minutes before they heard the front door open, and Franky and Emily returned from the store.

"Can we have the ice cream now?" Emily asked.

"No, it's for dessert after supper." Franky sat the bag of groceries on the kitchen island.

"I just want to try a bit." The young girl stepped in front of the brunette as she was putting away the items they had bought.

"Em.' Franky stopped and looked at her. "We agreed it was for after supper, yeah?" The small blonde nodded. "Okay, let me finish putting this away, then we'll check and see how the volcano is drying."

Tim caught Bridget's eye and smiled as he stood up. "I should be going. It was good to see everyone." He nodded to Franky, and said goodbye to Emily before he left.

Bridget laid in bed that night watching Franky sleep. The brunette had drifted off quickly. Bridget studied her face, thinking about Tim's offer. Would Franky make a good wife? A good mother? She smiled thinking back to that night at Wentworth...'I promise I'm going to marry you someday'. She found it ironic that such a happy memory could come from a place like that. And finally, she thought of all the times she had watched Franky spend with her niece.