Rachel was twelve.

Although Rose had been growing closer to Sera, things hadn't necessarily progressed any further than they did that first night. Not that they were awkward around each other, or had since gotten more distant. But Sera had kept her promise – they were taking it nice and easy.

After a few months, Rose finally realized what it was, much to her amazement. She felt... ready. In all honesty, she had expected it to take a great deal longer than just a few months. And yet, here she was now, contemplating what she would need to do to set a proper mood and tone to make it feel natural. She had a tendency to over-plan everything else, why not this?

The day Rachel came to her, asking if she could spend that Friday night at a friend's house, it took all of Rose's willpower to respond like she normally would. "No important projects you need to be working on?"

Her daughter's eyes rolled almost instantly and she crossed her arms. "One book report due in three weeks and I've already finished reading it. Come ooonnnn, it's the middle of October, there's nothing going on!"

Between her own excitement and Rachel's prodding, it wasn't as if Rose was going to put up much of a fight here. "Okay okay..." She reached out and brushed her daughter's hair with her hand gently. "I know we can't keep you cooped up here all the time. Are you going to need a ride over there or in the morning?"

"Nope!" Amusingly, the girl puffed out her chest, hands on her hips, grinning wide. "She lives super close, so I can just walk over there. I can take care of it myself."

"Yes you can, sweetie. Yes you can."

Rose lit the candles on the table, then stood back with a satisfied smile. She almost definitely didn't need to go to all this trouble to show her affection, but she felt compelled to nonetheless. Soft lighting, delicious food, a pretty new dress. Hell, she could have worn pajamas and ordered a pizza and Sera would have been equally happy. But she felt compelled to go all-out.

She heard the door open and shut and her heart jumped into her throat. A moment later the other woman walked in, gasping softly. "Woah... Rose, what's the occasion?"

Okay, you can do this. It's simple. Just speak your mind. Approaching slowly, she took Sera's purse from her and set it aside, then grabbed her hands, squeezing softly. "Rachel's spending the night at a friend's house. I thought... maybe we'd take advantage of the empty house, have a romantic evening."

Sera's face exploded in a brilliant smile, tugging Rose in closer and kissing her directly on the mouth. "Look at you! This is amazing..."

Carefully pulling her hands back, she looked toward the kitchen with a soft laugh. "Speaking of which, I should probably go get the food out of the oven before it burns and ruins everything."

While she went and took care of that, Sera followed behind her, leaning up against the counter and gazing around in wonder. "Um, pretty sure literally nothing could ruin this right now, honey. You've done such a good job! It's... perfect." With the gloves on, Rose was able to pull a wonderful-smelling dish from the oven. "...is that blackened tuna?"

Rose turned back to her with a cheery smile, plating up the fish with some broccoli. She was starting to feel truly proud of herself. All that planning was actually paying off. "Your favorite! Would you mind putting these on the table while I get us some wine?" Sera looked genuinely stunned, saying nothing as she took the plates and moved them to the table. Meanwhile, she grabbed a bottle of white wine and swiftly removed the cork, pouring out a healthy portion into two glasses.

Once they were seated together at the table, Sera seemed to find her voice. "Alright, spill, why you winin' and dinin' me, dear?" Her sly smile began to grow ever so slowly. "Not that you aren't a complete sweetheart all day every day, but this is a lot."

"Consider it... a surprise." Rose was doing her best to counter Sera's sass with her own wit. Thankfully, she seemed willing to drop it for the time being and they were able to eat their meal in peace.

After the food was gone and the dishes were all soaking, the next phase of the evening began. Rose tugged her companion into the living room with the rest of their wine and settled onto the couch with her. "Now, for the movie you won't stop telling me about. Imagine Me and You. I'm telling you now, if it's not as amazing as you say, I'm going to be very grumpy."

Sera just chuckled, that same old throaty laugh you got when you had a rough patch of living. It was a sound that Rose was quickly coming to associate with delight. "You're talking a big game now. Just wait until you're sobbing at the end. I know I will be."

True to her word, the movie was pitch-perfect. The characters were lovable, the sweet scenes were beyond saccharine, the sad scenes were heart-breaking, and Anthony Stewart Head got a monologue toward the end that had poor, drunk Rose weeping like a baby. The wine was soon gone, the movie was over, and after she had wiped her face, she carefully pushed herself up so that she could press a kiss to Sera's lips, this time much longer and more passionate. She had never exactly been the best at 'making out', even when she was a teenager. But Sera really knew what she was doing, and it felt as though she'd learned a lot lately – when to kiss faster, or slower, or when to suck on the lip or even to nibble (though that still felt a bit too bold sometimes).

When they broke the kiss for a moment to catch their breath, Sera reached up and gently wiped at her eye with a little laugh. "Missed one..."

"Ah, so..." Rose cleared her throat, looking away for a moment, trying to summon what little courage she could from her inebriation. "You had me figured out pretty quick, I suppose. But I think I can dispense with the charade now. I've grown to really care about you, Sera, and... And I can't keep making up excuses anymore. I want to spend the night with you."

"We already do that quite regularly, sweetie."

Her face felt hot and she felt herself blushing wildly. "I-I'm positive you know what I mean!"

Any weight this moment used to hold was more or less gone as Sera started to laugh softly, brushing her hair as she so often did. "Yes, I do." Surprisingly, the mood returned almost as quickly as she drew her hand up to her lips and kissed it tenderly. Without another word, Sera pulled her up from the couch and led her to the master bedroom.

It felt like a cliché, and yet here it was. James had been a wonderful, amazing husband. And Rose had always enjoyed being with him, in every sense. But it had never been like that. Alternately soft and sweet, then hard and primal, then slow and desperate, and everything in-between. That was the trope, wasn't it? Women knew what women needed, right? Well, it was either that, or Sera was just very good. Either way, Rose couldn't remember the last time she had felt this... at peace. Burrowed in a nest of blankets, she could feel the other woman still idly touching and nuzzling her.

"We're going to have to tell Rachel, you know."

Sera snickered and nibbled playfully at her shoulder. "That we had sex? I'm not sure that's any of her business."

Rose shoved her, just as playfully. "Ugh! You're ridiculous..." After a moment passed of the two of them laughing softly, she let herself look her directly in the eye. "...I love you, Sera. I hope that's not too much..."

"Of course not. You're enough. More than enough. Just right. What am I trying to say here? I... I love you too. Fumbling attempts at witty banter aside." She snickered again, burying her face in the pillows for a second. "Do you... want to tell her tomorrow? Together?"

"No, if we try to make a big deal out of it, she might feel awkward. I'm taking her to school on Monday, I can do it then."

Sera nodded, finally extracting herself from her burrow to slide back on top of her, looking a bit hungry again. "Good idea. You're a little better with your words than I am. Now, enough of that responsible stuff, I do believe I want to go another round."

Well, Rose certainly wasn't going to complain about that particular proposition.

It was easy enough to say that she would take this particular task when she was in the midst of a cozy snuggle session with Sera. It was quite another when she was in the car with Rachel, driving her to school, her heart pounding like a jackhammer. Soft music was playing on the radio and her daughter was staring idly out the passenger window.

She cleared her throat and did her best to just... speak. "Rachel sweetie?"

"What's up, mama?"

This was tough. She gave another quick cough and turned down the next road. "I just wanted to let you know that, ah... your mother and I, we've been getting closer lately. And... well, it wouldn't feel right if we didn't let you know about it."

"Hah, gross." Rose's heart seemed to stop for a split second, and Rachel apparently noticed. Her face dropped and she quickly threw up her hands, shaking her head. "Oh! I mean like... like as a teenager. Like... Like parent romance stuff is supposed to be gross. Not like... I-I obviously... think it's great! Hah, you two haven't exactly hidden it well or anything. Always staring at each other and all. I figured it would happen sooner or later."

Now her heart had gone from skipping a beat to working overtime. "Really? Gosh, now I'm embarrassed to think you might have figured it out before us. You really are too smart for your own good sometimes."

"So when's the wedding?" she asked with a cheeky grin.

Rose came to a short stop outside the school, fully aware that her red face gave away pretty much everything. "Well anyway have a good day at school sweetie don't forget it's spaghetti night tonight I love you!"

Rose had, perhaps foolishly, assumed that would be the end of dramatics for a while. She should have known better.

That Friday, they were all together, eating pizza because nobody felt like cooking. Rose and Sera were talking about work and school with their daughter, vaguely aware that there seemed to be something weighing on her mind. But since they had just dropped something pretty big on her – even if she had seen it coming – they didn't want to press her too hard.

Luckily, Rachel was a fantastic girl with a strong heart, so she eventually appeared to find the strength within herself to say it of her own volition. She set down the slice she'd been working on and looked back and forth between them. "Hey, um, so... So like obviously all things considered this isn't the hugest deal? And I'm sure some people might say something stupid about it considering my 'home life' or whatever. But... but anyway so now is probably as good a time as any to tell you that uh... I think I might be gay? Or something. I'm not sure. But... the other week at my friend's house, we... We kissed. And it was like nice? And kinda weird? But nice. And I don't know if she felt the way about it that I did and... Ugh, anyway, that's all! I just... wanted you to know..."

Almost moving as one, the two women got up and moved around the table to draw their daughter into a tight hug. "Oh Rachel honey! Just because it's not a huge deal doesn't mean we don't care!"

"Yeah, baby girl. And even if your friend didn't feel the same way, that just means you have to try again."

Rose chuckled softly and kissed the top of her head. "When you're ready."

"Exactly. When you're ready. Also, you be sure to let me know if you need any tips for picking up girls. I obviously know a thing or two about getting a perfect woman."

Rachel groaned dramatically, much to their amusement. "I'm never telling you guys anything ever again..."