So Mr. Fowler has just picked up the kids from their grandmum's house. We can tell that the Fowler children are well-behaved, especially Marie. I keep drawing my attention back to Marie for some reason. It must be that tear-shaped birthmark on her face. With how dark it is compared to the rest of her face, it certainly strikes out.

"Children, you remember that lovely lesbian couple with the baby who lives across the street from us, don't you?" Mr. Fowler asks his children. "Well, they decided to stop by for another visit today."

"Sounds great," the oldest boy says without the slightest bit of emotion in his voice.

"Come on, Denny," Mr. Fowler says. "You can show more emotion than that, can't you?"

"Sounds great," Denny says again, only he puts in more effort to sound enthused.

Mr. Fowler just smiles. "That's better."

"Are you my dad?" Marie asks Ruby.

Ruby can only laugh at this. "Aw man, kids say the darndest things."

Mrs. Fowler herself can't help but laugh. "They sure do. In many ways, she reminds me of her father: so funny and charming. God knows what she'll want to do when she grows up."

Mr. Fowler just chuckles. "Couldn't agree more."

We are probably all together only a couple more hours in this room before she changes the subject. There is no good way to pass the time, so I help unwind by engaging in a couple of stories about my parents. I begin by telling them about the time my parents and I visited my Grandma and Grandpa Dahl in Florida. Grandma and Grandpa Dahl had adopted my mother right when the Vietnam War ended in 1971. According to Grandpa, they'd recently lost a baby so when Mom came into their lives, she couldn't have come at a better time. They went on to have more kids after that, but we've hardly ever visited Mom's side of the family. So when we'd visited Grandma and Grandpa Dahl that one time, it was... alright. Nothing too dramatic happened... except for the fact that Uncle Cody had been secretly dating his teacher's daughter. After I've wrapped that story up, I tell them about the time I had to accompany Grandma Diamond for a music festival when I was only six years old.

"Wow..." Denny breathes. "You seem to have an... interesting family."

I'm not sure how to respond. "Uh, thanks?"

He gives me a kind smile. "So, what do you do?"

"Oh... I'm a singer. I sing for public events. It's how I met Ruby."

"Very cool." Denny tilts his head. "How long have you been singing?"

"Oh, about five years. I always wanted to be a professional singer when I was little, but because I'm with Ruby, I don't know if that will be possible back in the States."

"Why not?"

"Well, it's because my dad's family is homophobic. You see, my Grandma Diamond and the rest of her children run the Diamond Brights record company, and they pride themselves on being 'traditional.' In other words, they don't accept anybody who's not straight."

"I see..." Denny motions something at his younger brother. "Hey, Gideon, you wouldn't happen to know who Whitney Diamond is, would you?"

"I sure do," Gideon replies. "Why?"

"Did you know that she and her daughters are bigots?"

Gideon shakes his head. "What about Petunia, though? She's never been hateful toward the LGBT community."

I just let out a sigh. "Guys, please, let's not talk about this. Besides, Aunt Petunia's dead, haven't you heard?"

"No..." Gideon breathes. "What happened?"

"Let's just say... life got the best of her. That's all."

Boy, was that visit tense. I just don't feel like talking about my side of the family anymore. All it does is bring up memories... bittersweet memories... I'll admit, I still miss my parents, even after everything I've been through... even after everything Dad put me through. Still, I'm better off leaving them in the past and making room for my family in the present... my own family.

Ruby takes off her tie and just throws it aside like it's nothing. I'm not even going to bother with bringing that up. The visit has taken its toll on the both of us. After setting Garnet down into her playpen, I take off my coat and my heels and leave them around the vicinity of the couch.

"God, that was awkward," Ruby says. "Maybe we should stop visiting the Fowlers for a while."

"Agreed," I reply.

"I can't help but get this feeling that they only put up with us because we're different from their other neighbors."

"I think they're just trying to be nice, Ruby."

"I guess, but I can't help but feel... that they don't really like us."

"What makes you say that?"

"Just this week, some of my friends have told me that Mrs. Fowler thinks that I'm just 'a man pretending to be a woman' and that she couldn't believe I would 'mutilate myself to feel validation.'"

I audibly gasp. "Is that true?"

"I'm not sure. These are just rumors, after all. Still, it really hurts that people would think that way about me."

"Me too. I hate it when people just assume things about others because they can't be bothered to understand or show empathy."

"Yeah..." Ruby just blushes and kisses me on the cheek. "People may suck, but at least we have each other. Frankly, I'm just happy to have two special people who love me. I'm especially happy that we're going to set good examples for Garnet. Of all the people she'll have to look up to, we're the ones who will make the most difference in her life. I sure as hell don't want to let her down, do you?"

I shake my head. "Not at all. We're absolutely going to see to it that she doesn't have to recover from her childhood."

Ruby heartily laughs. "Aw yeah! You and me and Garnet forever, baby! I love you so much!"

Now it's my turn to blush. "I love you too, eternal flame." I take this as an opportunity to snatch a kiss from her.

We might start making out right here... but all good things must come to an end. Garnet suddenly starts crying, and I immediately jump up to see what's wrong.