What follows is a future take of Little Happy Mess, originally donated to the Babies At The Border fic compilation.

For just ten bucks donated to an organization committed to helping the families separated at our southern border, readers got a myriad of stories from all sorts of fandoms - and I'm proud to say that we raised tens of thousands of dollars.

The power of fandom - we are a force.

Once again, the incomparable Hadley Hemingway had my back, despite her workload, family responsibilities, and me pushing the deadline down to the last minute.

She is my favorite person on the entire goddamned planet.

I'll be posting on a schedule similar to the original LHM, once or maybe twice a day as I see fit, until it's finished.

Thank you for joining me.

xo

HBM

"Cheater."

Edward grabbed me by an ass cheek and planted one on me with a peppermint tongue and a grin behind his kiss. I struggled against his iron grip—which was a waste of time and energy— but people were staring, and my daughter was rolling her eyes at us, and my shorts barely covered anything decent.

It was ninety degrees of that awful kind of desert air, baked dry and dehydrated between the heat waves. I'd eaten two ice cream cones and one popsicle in an attempt to cool down, and I couldn't even remember what water tasted like, but I needed it. Bad. Sick in the stomach with a sunlight headache and a seriously spinning case of boycrush. Sweating, despite feeling sucked dry. Edward was sweating too, but it made him look bright-eyed and pleasantly sunbaked. His hair had gone nearly blonde over the summer, and the way he looked at me made me feel like barely-set jello.

"You don't play fair," he whispered against my mouth.

"What game are we playing?" Other than let's get arrested for PDA.

"You look fucking gorgeous. Like, you're glowing."

"I ate too much ice cream. I feel sick."

"You're both so gross." Jacy glared at us.

Edward dug his face in my neck, mumbling into me. "Make her go away. Make everyone go away."

"Make him stop," Jacy whined. If she was my rock, he was definitely my hard place. "I'm gonna be late."

"Ok, time's up." I wiggled out of Edward's grip. "She's got a competition, and your head isn't in the game."

His eyes widened. "It's not. Sorry, Champ. Let's go win a medal."

"Mom, you should go sit in the car."

"You're banishing me to the parking lot?" I gasped at her, a vague sense of déjà vu washing over me. She hadn't sent me to the parking lot in a year, and I was mildly chagrined by the dismissal.

Jacy sighed and rolled her eyes again, a move she learned straight out of my handbook. "You're green. It's probably because you ate like four bowls of granola this morning, and Edward only had one cup of coffee, which means you drank the rest. Plus, you have an ice cream problem, like seriously, a real problem. If you pass out and I lose, I swear to God I'm running away from home." She looked at Edward. "Can I go?"

"I'm right behind you." Edward gave her a nod, and she darted into the crowd, beelining for the arena. Her hat was cocked sideways, her shorts were too baggy, and I could tell she hadn't brushed her hair in days. She still rocked those checkerboard Vans and still liked pink, but she'd veered decidedly "Edward" in the last year, his influence rubbing off in all the right ways.

"I'm scared," I whispered.

"Don't be. She's amazing."

"If she falls…"

"She won't." He frowned at me. "You really don't look so good. Are you ok?" His fingers traced my cheek, and he kneaded the back of my neck. It was either him, or the heat, or both, but whatever had been brewing in my stomach was making me feel wobbly all over.

"It's probably just my nerves, but I feel super gross."

"You should have stayed at the hotel."

I shook my head. "Never."

"I know," he sighed, one last clutch of his arm around my shoulders. "Get some water. Go to the car. Lie down. She'll be fine. I'll call you."

His lips on mine.

"Cross your legs, Babe, and wish us good luck."