Disclaimers: I do not own PLL or the characters. I do own all OCs. I also do not own Ed Sheeran's song Perfect. All properties belong to their rightful owners.
Spoilers: None
Rating: K+
Notes: Thank you to Boris Yeltsin and Momma Duck for reviewing on the last chapter. And welcome to my followers and favoriters. I hope you like this one. Spencer and Aria have been married for 4 years. They have a daughter, Rosalie, who is 8 months old.
Enjoy! :)
*cooking together – dancing*
They have routine.
Ever since Rosalie was able to hold her head up and keep awake for longer during the day.
They start by feeding her a bottle of formula, then, one of them wears the baby carrier on their chest while the other preps for, starts, and cooks dinner.
This time, it is Spencer's turn to hold Rosalie. She puts on some music, and waltzes around the kitchen.
"Look at Mama, Rose. She is cooking up some yummy spaghetti!"
The infant happily leans against her mommy's chest, with her pacifier in her mouth, and a teddy bear in her arms. Even though being in the carrier makes it difficult for her to actually hold onto the bear, she still always cries unless she has it.
It was a gift from Emily's dad, Wayne, as he sees the baby girl as his own granddaughter.
"Sauce and noodles and water and salt."
Aria chuckles as Spencer just starts randomly naming all the ingredients to their daughter.
"Oh, hush."
Rosie giggles as she looks up and sees Spencer stick her tongue out.
"Can you say, mama, Rose?" Spencer makes her way over to the radio, switching channels. "Mama and mommy. Oh, listen! This is your mommies' favorite song."
Ed Sheeran's Perfect trickles through the radio's speakers, and of course, Aria turns from stirring the sauce to beam at her.
"Come on, Rose! Say, mommy, come dance with us!"
And in response, the baby babbles "on cue", taking the pacifier out of her mouth.
"Ah!"
"There you go, babe." The younger Hastings motions to their baby. "Rosalie has spoken. Come over here, and dance!"
"Spence, I'm cookiinnng!"
Though the protest does not actually sound serious.
"You're holding the baby." She tries next not even trying to stop the laughter as Spencer tries to juggle holding Rosalie's hand, along with her bear, and making sure she does not drop the pacifier, all at once with her left hand, while she takes Aria's hand with her right one.
"You could just put the bear down on the table." Aria quips, pulling it from her wife's grasp but, as soon as the 6-month-old notices what she is doing, she lets out a wail, and reaches for the teddy bear.
Aria pointedly ignores the raised eyebrow Spencer's sends her.
"Come on, babe! Dance with us!" Spencer turns the radio up, and Aria has no choice but to join in.
"Dancing in the dark, with you between my arms[…]"
Spencer twirls her around, outwards and then back.
"[…]
I found a love, to carry more than just my secret,
to carry love, to carry children of our own."
Spencer pulls her in for a kiss, and holds her close.
This part?
This part came true. She got the girl, and they are sharing a home, and a baby. She hopes someday, they'll share more. More kids, grandkids, maybe even a retirement traveling and making memories with their babies, and other friends and family.
"We are still kids but we're so in love.
[…] I see my future in your eyes."
She remembers the first time they danced to this song. At their wedding, just moments after declaring their I do's. It speaks to them: they were kids when they fell in love. They had grownups, family, other kids, all telling them that you're a child! You don't know what love is!
They are still kids – somewhat – but they got their dream come true.
And when Spencer looks into her wife's eyes? When she looks into her baby daughter's eyes?
She sees her future.
"Baby, I'm dancing in the dark with you between my arms, […]
I don't deserve this, darling, you look perfect tonight."
Aria knows that at one point, Spencer thought she did not deserve this; that she thought she did not deserve happiness.
Her father's reaction Spencer coming out as bisexual was, to put it nicely, horrible.
Of course, unless you are well educated, or simply have enough common sense not to say it, then the "normal" response to someone coming out as bisexual would be, "there is no such thing as being bisexual/bisexuality. You're just confused! You'll graduate from high school, grow up, meet a man, and get marry, just like you are supposed to."
That was Peter's reaction, only with a lot more cussing and derogatory name-calling.
It took a while for Aria, and their friends and family, to help Spencer understand that it was perfectly ok to identify as bisexual. It did not mean she was confused, and dating Toby did not mean she was 100% straight just like dating Aria did not mean she was 100% gay/a lesbian.
Finally, though, Spencer was able to say goodbye to Peter, to the part of her that agreed with him, to the part of her that thought something was wrong with her. She embraced being in love with Aria. She welcomed it and, years later, asked Aria to be her wife.
Now, here they are…
"I don't deserve this. You look perfect tonight."
As the song ends, Spencer holds Aria in her arms. Her left hand is resting on Rosalie's head, while her right arm is wrapped around her wife, and both woman just… stand there. Taking this in. They made it.
They made it.
Dating in high school, college, adulthood, marriage, starting a family.
They made it.
"You should probably get back to the noodles before they become lumpy." Spencer whispers, breaking the moment, and Aria laughs as she backs away. She goes forward again, kissing Rosie's on the forehead, and tickling her sides, getting baby giggles in response.
"Let's hope mommy didn't cause me to burn dinner, Rosie!"
And with that…
Aria goes back to cooking and Spencer goes on to entertain their baby girl.
I wasn't sure what I was going to do with this. But then I remembered that I made Ed Sheeran's song, Perfect, a Sparia song, so I decided they would just dance to it! This is not exactly in the Pink TuTu Universe, but yes, their daughter is named Rosie here.
Please review and let me know what you thought! :)