After all the turmoil that Reign had brought to their lives, Sam wanted nothing more than to give her daughter a bit of normalcy.
A slice of the mundane but happy life they'd led before.
Before she discovered a homicidal alien lurking in her subconscious.
Before she spent months trapped in her own mind unable to stop the menace from using her body like a macabre puppet.
Before the badass yet lovable Alex Danvers had stepped in to protect her daughter and literally save Sam from herself.
And now, so many months after the waking nightmare had ended, things were finally heading in the right direction and Sam would do anything to keep it that way.
So, when Ruby's thirteenth birthday had rolled around, Sam ensured everything would be perfect.
From the lack of decorations beyond giant Mylar balloons that spelled out her daughter's name, to the "grown up" outdoor sleepover with Ruby's favorite movies projected onto a large screen in the backyard and even the ridiculously expensive phone Ruby had been raving about that cost more than Sam's first car!
It hadn't taken much to cajole the neighbors into allowing the slightly noisy affair. Sam had always been a model neighbor and she had promised minimal disruption with the projector shut down by 11pm.
Everything was going perfectly.
That is until Sam pulled her daughter inside, with Alex in tow, for a quick chat while her friends gathered snacks before the next movie.
"I can't believe you're doing this to me! Today of all days!" Ruby raged, taking both older women aback.
"Rubes..." was all Alex managed to squeak out before the girl continued.
"I can't believe you're breaking up on my birthday!"
"What?!" Sam finally managed to find her voice as her daughter looked to be near tears. "We're not breaking up. We were trying to tell you we're together!"
The undignified snort the now 13-year-old let out was certainly unexpected. "You're kidding, right?" The teen asked with a hand on one hip. "You guys have been dating for like six months."
"Uh, no, " Alex interjected, face a cherry red. "I just asked your mom out like a month ago."
Ruby looked back and forth between the two women mouth agape and eyes wide. "You're serious?! Everyone at my school and soccer practice and like everywhere we go thinks you guys are a couple!"
Now it was Sam's chance to be stunned. She turned towards Alex who was turning a new, brighter shade of red as she digested this new information.
"Alex," the teen's voice broke through their embarrassed fog. "You're literally wearing mom's shirt right now."
The agent glanced down at her black button up, noting that it did fit a bit long in the sleeves and the fabric was nicer than her usual fare.
"And Mom, Alex stays over like 4 nights a week, you keep her favorite beer in the fridge and you even made space in the hallway closet for her helmet."
Sam was suddenly sporting a blush as bright as her girlfriend's. She and Alex had spent an enormous amount of time together since Reign had been defeated. To anyone else, it certainly would have appeared to be "couple" behavior.
"When you put it like that..." Alex mumbled, twisting her lip in the adorable way that always made Sam want to kiss her.
"Aunt Lena's right," Ruby teased her two favorite adults as they tried, and failed, not to look longingly at one another. "You guys really are a couple of useless lesbians."
"Wow." Sam raised her hands in offense, trying to hide the small smile that tugged at her lips. "First off, no more sleepovers with Lena. Second, you've been 13 for less than a day and you're already going full teenager on me?"
"Mom..." Ruby drawled as she slid into Sam's open arms. "I love you guys but you're like SO oblivious."
Sam yanked Alex into the hug as well even though the agent was still a bit shell-shocked. She pulled back to look Ruby in the eye.
"If you knew, why didn't you say anything?"
The teen shrugged as she pulled away from the pair. "I just thought you guys wanted to keep things quiet. Kids at school say stuff sometimes and I thought you wouldn't want me to have to deal with that."
"So, all this time, you thought we told people we were just friends to protect you?" Sam tried not to tear up at the notion that her private relationship could cause her daughter public pain.
"Some of the parents on my team are kinda...they just don't say nice things. So, I figured you guys just didn't want to deal with it." Ruby ducked her head at the admission.
"Who?" Alex asked in a low voice, her eyes full of that familiar fire that meant someone was about to face her wrath.
"Alex..." Sam moved forward and placed a gentle hand on her girlfriend's neck. "Baby, people talk, you can't go after them all."
"I can try." The agent huffed even though she seemed to melt under Sam's attentions.
"That's sweet but no." Sam insisted with a gentle kiss to the redhead's cheek. "You, on the other hand," she pointed at her daughter, "don't need to worry about what people say about us. We're the adults and we can handle it."
"But..."
"No, buts, Rubes." Alex placed a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder. "Your mom is right; we can handle some gossip on the soccer field. But if it ever becomes more or you don't feel safe, you come to us okay?"
"Yeah." The teen agreed as Alex pulled her in for a strong hug. She kissed Ruby on the forehead softly then pushed her towards the sliding glass door. "Go on! Your friends probably think you're in trouble or something."
Ruby pretended to stumble as she headed back outside before throwing a comment over her shoulder.
"Nah! All my friends know my moms are pushovers!"
With a cackle she ran into the backyard leaving Sam and Alex gob-smacked once more before the agent finally found her voice.
"Moms?!"
