As Franky woke, she felt Bridget stir in her arms.
"Good morning, babe." She said, as she felt the older woman cuddle in closer.
"Morning." The blonde knew as soon as she spoke that something was wrong.
"You okay?" The brunette pulled back a bit so that she could see the other woman's face.
"Yeah." Bridget cleared her throat. "I don't know. My head feels like it weighs fifty pounds." She rarely ever caught a bug, but she was definitely feeling under the weather this morning.
"You don't sound too good." Franky reached down and brushed a strand of hair from the blonde's face. "I think you should stay home today."
"I can't." She rolled onto her back, and immediately felt the brunette drape her arm across her stomach. She smiled. "I have something I have to do."
"You can't do it tomorrow, or from home?" The younger woman wished she could stay home and look after her, but she still had a lot to do at the restaurant.
"No." Bridget shook her head, and immediately regretted it. "There's an inmate being moved today. She didn't take the news well." She opened her eyes, and looked over at Franky. "I should be there."
"Is this the one you've been taking food to?" The brunette admired how committed Bridget was to the women at the prison.
"Yeah. When I left early on Friday, I had Vera give her the lunch I'd brought. She didn't know I'd been doing that until then." Bridget gave her a look that said she knew that had probably been a mistake. "When I talked to Vera yesterday she said she'd decided to move her to another block. They'll let her eat again, and I can stop feeding her."
"Was Vera upset with you?" Franky hoped that her wife's caring nature hadn't gotten her into trouble. Even though she and Vera were friends, the governor was still her boss.
"No, she was just concerned. She didn't want the inmates to pick up on the fact that I was helping her. It causes problems." Bridget stopped there. There was no need to explain further. The brunette was all too familiar with what the inmates had done to Vera, and the consequences for meddling in their plans.
"Yeah, makes sense." Franky placed her hand on the older woman's cheek, and brushed her thumb across it softly. "If I can't talk you into staying home, then I think you should have another hot shower this morning. It might help clear your head."
"Come with me?" The blonde gave her a small smile. She loved the younger woman's concern for her.
"Sure." The brunette loved their showers together. "We should get in now. Em and Shayne will probably be awake soon."
Bridget nodded, and sat up with a groan.
Franky never said anything, but simply walked out to the kitchen and got a glass of water, then stopped by the bathroom on her way back to their room.
"Here." She held out the water, and paracetamol tablets to the blonde. "These will get into your system faster on an empty stomach and with the hot shower."
"Thanks." Bridget swallowed the pills with a mouthful of water, and followed the brunette back to the bathroom.
The older woman undressed as Franky turned on the water in the shower.
When the steam started to build up, they stepped in under the stream of water.
"This was a good idea." Bridget said softly, as she rested her head against Franky's shoulder. She could already feel her muscles relaxing, and her head was beginning to clear. The brunette had taken her in her arms, and positioned her so that the water was hitting her right between her shoulders.
"Feeling a bit better now?" She asked as she rubbed the older woman's back.
"Yeah." Bridget smiled to herself. "It's probably not even that bad. I'm just whiny when I'm sick."
"No, you're not. You wanted to tough out appendicitis if I remember correctly." Franky remembered the blonde's initial idea to wait until Emily had left for school to go to the hospital.
"That was different. Pain, I can handle, but this whole just feeling miserable with a cold thing, not so much." There was something about it that Bridget really hated, and she was thankful that the brunette was indulging her. It was something she hadn't experienced with Julia.
They stood under the spray of the water, and Franky washed the blonde's hair for her, even though it had been done just the night before, saying that it might help her feel better.
"I feel bad, Gidge. You're probably sick because you got so cold in the water last night." The brunette had questioned the wisdom of their decision as soon as she'd felt Bridget shivering in her arms after her orgasm.
"Maybe, maybe not. It doesn't matter." She lifted her head, and placed a kiss on Franky's jaw before returning to her original position. "Besides, I knew it was cold and still chose to go in. You didn't force me to do it."
"I suppose." The brunette couldn't argue with logic, but it wouldn't change how she felt.
They had stayed in the shower as long as they were able.
Franky was currently in the kitchen packing lunches for Bridget and Vera when the blonde joined her.
"I packed you some extra snacks," the brunette told her, as she took a seat on one of the stools, "and, coffee is ready." She placed a mug in front of Bridget.
"Mm." The blonde took the first sip. "I needed this." She smiled as she watched the younger woman place the extra food into her lunch bag.
"What would you like for breakfast?" Normally Franky just cooked whatever, and the blonde was fine with it, but today she wanted to make sure it was something Bridget was in the mood for.
"Eggs on toast?" The older woman was happy with just the coffee, but she knew her wife probably wouldn't settle for that answer.
"Sure." Franky gave her a small smile, then set to work making their breakfast.
"Good morning, love." Bridget greeted her niece.
"Your voice sounds funny," Emily said as she climbed up onto the stool beside the blonde.
"I've just got a bit of a cold." She gave the young girl a reassuring smile.
"You're not feeling well?" the young girl asked as she picked up the glass of juice that the brunette had poured for her.
"A bit under the weather, but I'll be fine." Bridget didn't want to dwell on the topic. "What are you and Franky going to do today?"
When Emily shrugged, the brunette spoke up.
"All the new silverware needs to be unpacked, and put into the dishwasher. Then once it's clean, it needs to be wrapped up in a napkin as a set." She was pretty sure this would be enough to keep the young girl busy for the day.
"Sounds like you'll have a busy day!" The blonde gave her niece a smile that wasn't returned. "How was your evening with Shayne? Did you guys have fun?"
"Yeah, he cooks good, and he even read me a story." The young girl began to eat her breakfast. "Did you see the house I built?" She pointed towards the coffee table.
"I did. Shayne showed them to us last night. I think he had fun, too." It made Bridget happy to see the smile on Emily's face when she learned that the young man had enjoyed their time together.
When they had finished eating, Emily had followed Franky into the kitchen with her dirty dishes.
"I can't come to the restaurant with you today." She looked up at the brunette with a serious expression as she spoke.
"What? Why not?" Franky began to load up the dishwasher.
"I need to stay here and look after Auntie." The young girl gave a nod, as if that was that, and she'd made her decision.
"Auntie is going to work, bub." The brunette put the last few things into the dishwasher, and closed the door. "You're stuck with me today." She gave her a wink.
"But she's sick." Emily then looked over at Bridget who'd just returned, dressed now for work. "Franky says you're going to work, but you're sick. You need to rest."
"I have something important I have to do at work today, love, and I don't feel that bad." While it was true that the blonde was starting to feel better, she was fairly certain that was only because of the paracetamol and caffeine currently flowing through her system.
Franky could see that the young girl was starting to get upset, so she jumped in.
"Em thought you'd be staying home today, and she wanted to stay and look after you," the brunette explained.
"That's very thoughtful. Come here." Bridget held out her arms, and Emily walked over to get a hug. "I have to go in today, but I promise we'll have some time together this evening. I'm going to need some cuddles after a long day. How does that sound?"
"Okay." Emily nodded, accepting her aunt's offer.
"Good." She gave the young girl a kiss on the cheek. "I need to leave now, but I'll be looking forward to hearing about your day tonight."
"I'll walk you to the door." Franky had picked up the blonde's lunch bag. She didn't normally see her out, but she wanted a moment to talk to her wife out of earshot of the young girl.
"Have a good day, baby." Bridget took her bag from the brunette as they stood just inside the door.
"I will." The younger woman gave her a quick kiss. "You should come home early today if you can, and get some extra rest."
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking I might do." The blonde gave her a small smile. She loved that they were so often on the same page.
"Good. See you tonight." Franky gave her a final kiss, then watched her walk out to her car. "Now, time to drag Shayne's ass out of bed," she said to herself as she walked back down the hallway.
"Hey, good morning." The governor greeted Bridget, as the blonde entered her office.
"Morning." She gave Vera a small smile.
"Bridget, are you sure you should be here?" Vera had picked up on the blonde's husky voice immediately.
"No, but I wanted to be here for Lana's move. She said she'd be fine, but," Bridget sighed, "I have concerns."
"Alright, well, " the governor glanced up at the clock, "we should get going. The rest of the inmates should have gone to their work units by now. I've held her back today."
They walked along the corridors towards Lana's cell block, making small talk as they went.
"Thanks for letting us steal Shayne away last night." Bridget gave her friend a smile.
"Oh, it was no problem. I was feeling a bit tired anyway, and I, uh, get more sleep when he's not there." She reached up, and scratched the back of her neck. It was a nervous twitch that she wished she could get rid of.
"He's a restless sleeper, is he?" the blonde asked, teasing the other woman.
"No, he just usually wants to...you know." She saw the knowing smile on Bridget's face. "I know, I know, I could say no, and he'd be fine with it, but I really don't want to."
"Oh, I get it, trust me." She remembered her comment to Franky the night before about the brunette being her kryptonite.
"I hope you were feeling well enough to enjoy your date." Vera thought it would have been unfortunate if their night had been ruined by the blonde's illness.
"Yeah, I was fine last night." Bridget cleared her throat. "I woke up like this this morning. We went to the beach, then had a little swim. I think the water was just too cold."
"Okay, well at least you had a nice evening." Vera gave her a small smile, and slowed as they entered Lana's cell block.
They found the young inmate sitting on her bed, waiting with her things packed into the standard-issue frosted laundry hamper.
"I said I didn't want you to come with me." Lana lifted her head and made eye contact with the blonde.
"I know, but I thought you might reconsider." Bridget knew that the young inmate was more sensitive than she let on, and there was a chance she may change her mind in the moment.
"You're sick." Lana's face softened.
"That's right." Vera spoke up. "Ms. Westfall decided to come in to make sure things went okay today, even though she's feeling under the weather, and should be home in bed resting." The governor gave her friend a look that said she thought that was exactly what the blonde should have done given Lana's initial reaction to her being there.
"I just can't have them thinking I'm so fragile or something that the prison psych has to babysit me." The young inmate did feel bad that she'd been a bit harsh towards Bridget at first.
"Why don't I let you two go ahead," she gestured towards Lana, and Vera, "and if there's no one else in the unit, I'll come in, and we'll have a little chat while you get settled in? That way no one will think I'm babysitting you."
"Is that alright?" the governor asked Lana.
"Yeah, that sounds good." The young inmate nodded her agreement.
"Let's go then." Vera tilted her head towards the door, indicating for Lana to follow her.
"I'll give you a couple minutes head start." Bridget gave the young inmate a reassuring smile as she passed by her.
The blonde sat on the edge of the small bed, and watched as Lana quietly unpacked her things.
"You know, you didn't have to come in just for me if you're not feeling well," she said as she placed a neatly folded stack of clothes onto one of the shelves. "I would have been okay."
"I know you would have, but you were upset yesterday when I told you about the move, and I wanted to be here." Bridget smiled to herself when she saw how carefully Lana was arranging the clothes. It was the classic desire to be neat and have control over something when so much else in your life was chaotic.
"Like what you see?" The young inmate stood, and had seen the blonde's grin.
"I'm glad that you're settling in, yes." Bridget had caught the double meaning behind the question, but ignored it. "How did you sleep last night?"
"About as well as I ever do." Lana shrugged. "How did you sleep after your swim in the ocean?" The young inmate raised her eyebrow when she saw the look of surprise on the other woman's face. "I heard you talking to the governor."
"I slept fine." Bridget wondered how much else she had heard. If Lana had picked up on the comment about her going swimming, she must also know that she went on a date. She glanced at her watch.
"Do you have to leave?" the young inmate asked with slight disappointment.
"No, actually I cancelled the rest of my stuff for today. Once you feel settled in, I'm going home, and back to bed." The blonde stretched out her neck, and shoulders. The effects of the hot shower from earlier were wearing off.
"Bed is always good." Lana gave her a half smile.
"Since this is going to count as your session today, I'd like to know what your hopes are for this move. What do you hope will be different, or stay the same?" Bridget had to get back on track.
"Well, being able to eat would be nice. Although, I'll miss our lunches together." She looked over at the blonde with a slight frown on her face.
"Maybe we can still do that once in a while." The blonde found that Lana was much more willing to talk over a meal, than during a regular session. She thought it might be a useful tool in getting her to continue to open up.
"I'd like that a lot." Lana couldn't help but smile.
It registered with Bridget that this was probably the first genuine smile she'd seen on the young inmate's face.
"Here, I'll make up the bed for you while you keep unpacking." She held out her hand, and Lana handed her the set of neatly folded sheets. The blonde didn't usually offer to help out with stuff like that, but today she wanted to keep busy to keep her mind off the fact she wasn't feeling well.
It didn't take Bridget long to complete the task even though she took her time, and paid attention to detail. She probably took more care making this bed than she ever did her own.
"Looks good." Lana admired the blonde's work. "You know what they say though; you made the bed, now you have to lie in it." She watched Bridget with an amused expression on her face.
"Lana," the blonde said, shaking her head.
They'd continued to talk for another half hour before the blonde was confident that Lana would settle in just fine in her new cell. Now, Bridget was on her way back home, her mind filled with nothing but the thought of a day of sleep in her comfortable bed. Before she'd left, she'd booked Lana in for another session on Thursday. Normally she'd have seen her again tomorrow, but she thought she'd push it back a day just in case she was still feeling under the weather tomorrow.
"Can I go in and see Auntie?" They had just gotten home, and Emily had already checked the living room, then saw that the bedroom door was closed. Franky had told her on the way home that Bridget had left work earlier that day, and they needed to be quiet when they went into the house so as not to wake her if she was asleep.
"Go get washed up first. I need to change my clothes, so I'll let you know if she's awake. If not, we'll let her sleep until it's time to eat, okay?" Franky wanted to let the blonde get as much sleep as possible.
She walked as quietly as she could down the hallway, and slowly opened the door. There was no movement from the older woman, so she began to undress.
"It's my turn to watch you this time." Bridget's voice was still thick with sleep.
"Enjoy the show." The brunette spoke softly, then let out a small chuckle. "Did I wake you?"
"No." The blonde stretched, and turned onto her back. "I woke up maybe a half hour ago, and I figured I'd just be lazy until you guys got home. Come here. She held out her arms to the younger woman.
"You're wearing my shirt," Franky said as she laid down beside her.
"The one you slept in last night," Bridget smiled. "It smells like you."
"Mhm." The brunette pulled her closer, and placed a soft kiss on her cheek. "What do you feel like having for supper?"
"Anything, literally anything. I've been asleep all day and haven't eaten since breakfast." The blonde nuzzled against Franky's neck.
"This is not the way to make the food come faster." The brunette could feel Bridget starting to relax against her as if she were on her way to falling asleep again.
"No, but it'll make you come faster." The blonde laughed softly at her own joke.
"Nice." Franky couldn't help but chuckle. "How many meds did you take today?"
"None. I'm just being silly." Bridget placed a kiss on the younger woman's neck.
"Seriously though, I should get up if you want food. Besides, I know a little girl who's been looking forward to cuddles with her favourite auntie all day long." The brunette gave her a playful tap on the butt.
"Alright, alright. I'm getting up." The blonde reluctantly pulled herself away from Franky, and sat up on the edge of the bed.
Bridget made her way to the living room, and let herself fall onto the couch.
"Auntie Bridge!" Emily had been in her room, but heard the two women move into the living room, and now hurried towards the couch.
"Hey, love!" The blonde quickly added another pillow behind her head so that she was sitting up a bit more before her niece climbed up to lay on top of her.
The young girl made herself comfortable, and rested her head against Bridget's shoulder.
"Are you still sick?" She asked.
"Yeah, but I'm feeling better than I was this morning." The blonde rubbed Emily's back as they talked. "How was your day with Franky and Shayne?"
"It was fun. I got to use the big dishwasher." The young girl played with the hem of Bridget's sleeve. "This is Franky's."
"It is." The blonde glanced over at Franky, who smiled.
The brunette had just gathered all the ingredients she'd need to prepare their meal when there was a loud knock at the door.
The knock sounded again, loud enough this time that Bridget felt Emily jump a bit in her arms.
"It's alright, love." The blonde soothed her niece, as she watched Franky walk quickly towards the door.
As the brunette made her way down the hallway, she could see the silhouette of the person standing outside. She was pretty sure she knew who it was.
She opened the door. "Booms, wha-"
"Franky, I fucked up. I'm so fucked. Fuck." She didn't wait to be invited in, but simply charged past Franky, and into the house.
"Booms, wait." The brunette pushed the door closed, and hurried to catch up with her friend.
"No, Franky, I'm fucked. Like if this is totally and completely fucked," she held her hand out a couple of feet above the floor, "then this is where I am." She reached up as high as she could.
"Booms!" Franky needed her to calm down. She glanced over towards Emily, who was obviously a bit scared.
"Oh." Boomer looked over to see the young girl on the couch, cuddled in closely to her aunt. "Shit, sorry. Don't say them bad words, eh? Fuck, I'm sorry." She apologized to the blonde. "I'm sorry Franky. Shit."
"Just keep walking. We'll talk outside." The brunette put a hand on the other woman's shoulder, and ushered her out through the sliding glass doors.
Franky watched for a moment as Boomer paced back and forth along the length of the patio stones.
"Booms, what the fuck happened?" The brunette was starting to get concerned.
"My boss, he was just on me about shit, ya know? And I tried to think about puppies and jelly, like you told me, and it wasn't helpin'." She could feel the tears of frustration starting to build in her eyes. "I tried Franky, I really did."
"I know you did. It's okay." Franky reached up, and squeezed her friend's shoulders. She knew there was more coming.
"I punched him in the gut." Boomer wiped away her angry tears.
"Booms…" The brunette didn't know what to say. Her friend was one of the sweetest people she knew, but she had a bad temper. Franky had taught her how to keep it under control: think about puppies playing in jelly, but every once in a while, Boomer still lost it. It appeared that this was one of those times.
"Well, I really wanted to twist his dick off, but I didn't, so I figured that somethin', right?" Boomer looked at her, hopefully.
"Yeah, that would have been worse, I guess." Franky could only begin to guess the number of charges her friend could be facing if she'd gone through with that plan.
"I definitely lost my job, didn't I?" Boomer looked at her as if the brunette's answer could magically make everything okay.
"I'd say, yeah." Franky frowned as a whole new batch of tears started to roll down the other woman's cheeks. She knew how hard it had been for Boomer to find that job.
"Fuck, I needed that job." She started to hit her fist against the wooden outdoor table.
"Hey, hey, hey." Franky reached out and took her friend's fist in both of her hands. It broke her heart to see the other woman hurting like this. "Fuck," she said more to herself than anyone else. "Okay, listen. I need a dishwasher for the restaurant. It'd be minimum wage for now, until I see how business goes. You'd just have to wash dishes, and help clean up the kitchen at the end of the day."
"Franky! Thank you! I loves ya!" Boomer wrapped her arms around the brunette and squeezed as hard as she could.
"Booms!" Franky was actually finding it hard to breathe. "You need to let go."
"No. I just loves ya." She gave an extra squeeze.
"Seriously." The brunette took a deep breath as her friend released her. "Now, you need to be on good behaviour! No thinking you'll get away with stuff because I'm your boss. If you have a problem with someone you come to me. Don't try to handle it on your own, okay?"
"I promise, fuck." She went to hug Franky again, but stopped when the brunette held up her hand. "Right, sorry."
"Okay, good. You feeling better?" She saw Boomer nod. "Alright. Now, would you like to stay and have supper with us?"
"With you, and Bridget, and the bubs?" She looked at Franky as if she were surprised by the invitation.
"Yeah." The brunette gave her a warm smile.
"I don't know. I mean, I made a fool of myself. Cursed a lot." Boomer shook her head. "I should probably just go."
"Ah, Booms, don't be a dickhead. You're staying for supper. Come on, let's go inside." Franky stood, and held the door open. She waited while the other woman reluctantly got up, and went inside.
"Hi." Boomer gave a small, shy nod when Bridget and Emily both turned to look at her. "Sorry about earlier, guys. I was just really upset. I talked to Franky though, and I'm all good now. She always was good at calming me down." She put arm around the brunette's shoulders, and pulled her in close against her side.
"Booms is going to stay for supper as a bit of a celebration of her new job." The brunette discreetly stepped out of her friend's grip.
"I'm gonna work at the restaurant," she said, with a huge grin.
"That's great." Bridget gave her a smile, then glanced towards Franky.
"Go sit with them, I'll get supper started." Franky sent her over to talk with Emily, and the blonde while she made their food.
"Why am I not at all surprised that you ended up offering her a job?" Bridget asked as she cuddled in next to the brunette as soon as she got into bed.
"You think I'm too much of a softie." In Franky's mind, hiring Shayne had been almost a no-brainer, but Boomer came with more risks.
"No," the blonde placed a soft kiss on the younger woman's lips, "I think you have a kind, loving, and generous heart, and that makes you an amazing person."
"Yeah?" Franky asked with a small grin.
"Absolutely." Bridget gave her another kiss.
"Speaking of big hearts, how did your thing go this morning?" The brunette just realized that she hadn't asked about the older woman's day yet.
"It went well. I think she's going to be fine in the new place." Bridget could feel the sleepiness starting to come over her again even though she'd slept for most of the day.
"That's good." Franky could tell that the blonde wasn't far from sleep. "Are you going to work in the morning, or can we sleep in for a bit?"
"No," Bridget shook her head, "I already texted Vera."
"Good." The brunette pulled her in a bit closer. "Get some sleep, babe."
"I love you." It was barely more than a mumble from the older woman.
"I love you, too." Franky closed her eyes. Her mind was racing with thoughts of everything that was left to do before the restaurant opening. She tried to focus on the slow, steady rhythm of Bridget's breathing, hoping that it would soon lull her to sleep.
