Maggie and Sydney had a lot to prepare before they can leave for London. They had to arrange to get their stuff in storage, to give things away, to decide what they needed to take with them and what they could leave behind.
They visited Maggie's mum.
They visited Sydney's sister.
They didn't visit Sydney's parents.
Rebecca was pleased to see them. She shoved baby Hannah at Sydney the moment she was in the house, leaving Maggie to close the door behind her.
"I've been trying to wash my hair for three days," Rebecca said, and disappeared, a minute later the sound of water in the pipes as Maggie and Sydney stared at each other, bemused, then down at the mohawked, redheaded baby. It yawned innocuously, turned in Sydney's arms and fell asleep. Maggie melted at the sight of Sydney cooing to a baby that almost looked like it could be her own. They invited themselves into Rebecca's lounge room, sat on the sofa there, staring at the tiny human like idiots. Sydney smoothed the shock of red hair, caressed a soft cheek, and Maggie took a tiny hand in hers, enraptured by the tiny fingernails, marveling when Hannah gripped her finger. Rebecca found them like that, wrapped in a robe with her hair in a towel. She laughed at the sight.
"She's a heartbreaker already," she warned. "Thanks Syd, can you keep her while I get dressed?"
And Sydney, too breath taken, too wary to speak in case she woke the baby, nodded. Maggie looked up, caught Rebecca watching her watch Sydney with the baby, and blushed a little when Rebecca raised an eyebrow, wondering how she knew Maggie was wondering what it would be like if this was Sydney's baby - and her baby too, somehow, if they were parents of a little miracle like this.
"You'll change your mind when she starts screaming," Rebecca said in response to the unspoken question, and right on cue Hannah woke up, took one look at Sydney's face - a face she had previously been happy with - and opened her mouth the start screaming. Sydney looked at Rebecca, bemused, and Maggie chuckled, took Hannah from Sydney, rocked her gently until the screams turned to hiccupping wails, then to contended silence as she drifted off against Maggie's shoulder.
"She was always better at people than me," Sydney said by way of an explanation. Rebecca smiled.
"People with social disorder are better at people than you. I'll get dressed."
While Rebecca was getting dressed, Sydney watched Maggie cradle the baby, wondering what it would be like if they had their own - a little redhead, like Hannah, from Sydney's DNA somehow. And another, Asiatic baby from Maggie. And maybe a third one, adopted perhaps. And it shocked Sydney, because even when she'd tried to imagine her future with Herschel, she'd never seen babies, never wanted babies. For all her knowledge and skill in that area, she had never truly considered motherhood for herself, and now here she was, Maggie holding a baby - something Sydney had seen Maggie do plenty of times - but maybe it was because the baby was related to Sydney, that she could see Maggie holding their children, kind and patient,, nurturing, probably a better mother than Sydney - but Sydney could manage, could be a better father perhaps, the bread-winner who could take the kids camping and teach them how to drive. Or maybe they could forget rigid gender roles and just be the best coparents they could be.
Sydney went to the kitchen.
"Coffee?" She called out, and got a yes from Maggie and a decaf from Rebecca. She turned on the little machine, wondering if it was too soon to talk to Maggie about this - it had only been a few months, but the time they'd spent apart being for the most part faithful and hopeful made it seem longer, made them seem like a stable couple. But then, perhaps they were falling into a lesbian cliché - Maggie had already made plans to move in with Sydney, and now Sydney was dragging her across the continent. And Maggie was willing to go with her, had barely given it a second thought when Sydney had asked her, had been so distraught at the thought of having to let Sydney go again… Sydney was in this for the long haul, but she wasn't sure if it was too soon to bring up babies with Maggie. Maybe once they went home the magic from her tiny miracle niece - a miracle Maggie had thankfully brought about - would have worn off and Sydney would have a few months or years before she had to raise the subject.
She took the coffee into the lounge room, struck again by how perfect Maggie looked holding her sister's baby. Rebecca came in then, and Maggie moved as though she was going to hand Hannah back.
"No, no, you keep her a while. Never disturb a sleeping baby."
Hannah slept so long that Rebecca disappeared to take a nap of her own, leaving Sydney and Maggie in an awe-filled silence. She came back out when Hannah wailed inconsolably a little while later, took her from Maggie and gave her some breast.
"Sorry, I know you came around to see me, but I can't turn down a chance for a nap these days." And Maggie remembered then the fight Rebecca had had with cancer, the miscarriages, the curse Sydney's parents believed Sydney had brought upon them.
"Don't worry, she's good company. Actually, we came around to tell you we're going to London." Sydney said.
"For a trip?" Rebecca asked.
"I've got a job at Turban General." Sydney said.
"And I'll find something," Maggie said hopefully.
"I'm glad you're not running off and leaving her behind this time. I saw your face when you walked into my hospital room," Rebecca teased, and Sydney blushed, remembering how she'd gazed in wonder when she'd finally seen Maggie again. "It's a pity, I was kind of counting on you to help out."
"You have our parents for that," Sydney said. "It's a shame though. She's lovely, I would have loved to see her grown up."
"You will if you come back a few times a year…" Rebecca said suggestively, and Sydney laughed.
"We'll do what we can." Rebecca looked over at Maggie, sipping her stone-cold coffee now that she'd handed off the baby.
"Thanks again Maggie. Sydney explained how hard the choice you made was, how difficult it was… I have her because of you."
"It's the choice Sydney would have made," Maggie said confidently, but Sydney knew she was too close - she would have saved her sister first, the baby second, and now looking at Hannah she couldn't imagine a world without her in it.
"You did well with her," Rebecca said, inclining her head to Maggie. "Clever and modest?"
"I'm glad you've come around, Bec. It was a rough couple of years."
"I'm sorry I was so hard on you. I just… I thought I knew you."
"And you knew why I had to keep it secret - you saw what it did to our family when I couldn't deny it any longer. "
"I'm just glad you found her before you married Herschel." Rebecca wrinkled her nose. She shook her head, checked Hannah's latching. "Were you… are you…"
"I wasn't. Not until…"
"She made you gay?" Rebecca asked, delighted. "Oh, you've done very well for yourself. If only she was Jewish, but I guess she can convert?" Maggie looked panicked at this suggestion; she was always baffled by the strings of Yiddish that occasionally came from Sydney, kept asking what utensils she could use for anything not from the kosher store, kept mouthwash in her locker and at Sydney's in case she'd forgotten what she'd eaten for lunch. It was too much to learn, all at once, too much to take in.
"She didn't make me anything. She just made me realise a few things, and all the traits I find desirable in a partner, well, she had them all. It wasn't so much a choice as a necessity. Plus, I mean, you've seen Sydney right?"
"Gross, she's my sister." Maggie smirked a little at that, and they spent a pleasant afternoon, Sydney feeling like she'd finally repaired her relationship with her sister. She let Maggie drive home, pondering the afternoon's revelations.
"I want to get you pregnant," Maggie said seriously that night as Sydney got into bed, but Sydney laughed.
"You don't quite have the… equipment for that," She said, and Maggie's face dropped. "Not that I don't like your equipment. I love your equipment, it might just not be... efficient for the job."
"Oh, I know you like my equipment," Maggie smirked. "And there's no harm in trying." She raised her eyebrows and leaned in to kiss Sydney.
"Wait… you said you wanted kids before. With the chlamydia case. You want them… with me?" Sydney asked incredulously, wondering how Maggie had read her mind, how Maggie had beaten her to this punch.
"Can't think of anyone else I'd rather have them with," Maggie said nonchalantly.
"But… adopt or IVF?" Sydney asked seriously. "If it's IVF and you want to carry them, you will have to convert if we want my parents to ever speak to me again."
"I want to have your babies, Sydney, one way or another. Or you to have mine, another way or one."
"I mean.. it'll take a while, either way. The paperwork, and neither of us are British nationals so if it's born in England we'll have a hard time with the adoption by the non-birth parent and then bringing it home as a non-British citizen…"
Maggie paused, propped herself up on her elbows. "You've thought about this." She stated bluntly. "Before today."
"You haven't?" Sydney asked, worried she'd overstepped.
"Well, sure, but… not the logistics. Just how great it would be, in the future."
"Like I said, it'll take a while. Better to get ready, do the thought experiment. Neither of us are getting younger and each year that goes by will lower viability for both of us."
"You big nerd," Maggie said affectionately, kissing Sydney. "We can talk about logistics in the morning, but we might as well start trying now." She raised an eyebrow, and Sydney laughed, kissed her thoroughly, glad they were on the same page.
Author's note:
Sorry about that epic gap - I really hurt myself quite badly and recovery hasn't been going well. Add to that the marriage equality plebiscite and a couple of state emergencies that meant I couldn't be stood down for days, the day-day-night-day-day-night-day-day work routine I'm currently in - that doesn't matter much to me, honestly, because I don't sleep much and use that time to write until the painkillers kick in. They're just excuses, but life has been a little too exciting lately.
Honestly, I got stuck, and I got worried that I'd lost the characters somehow - they didn't talk back any more, they felt forced. I kind of feel like season 5 Sydney is too drastic of a difference to season 3 Sydney, and people do change - but it was a lot, and I lost her voice somewhere.
I'm also doing nanowrimo and I just hit 50000 words so I felt like I owed you guys an update. Sorry again about the wait, and thanks - as always - for reading.
I'll be creating a full chaptered story for this on here soon now they're in order, so you can read them in order easier.