"Ashley, don't be such a baby and get your ass down here."

"I'm not being a baby." I pout from behind the bushes.

"I don't understand what your deal is, we do this every Sunday." She huffs as she pulls me by the hand towards the door. I'm stalling and make a big deal of pounding my feet on the ground making me look this close like a petulant child.

"Uh, we come to have dinner and do some innocent, forced smiling and laughing. I do not come and shout out that I'll be ripping their only daughter away from their hands." I hiss through the silence of the evening. The last thing I need is for Spencer's parents to come outside and become a spectator to this little argument.

"You are so dramatic." She says as she rolls her eyes at me.

"Easy for you to say. You're still the innocent party in all of this that was corrupted by the evil lesbian freak."

"Ashley it's been six years. My mom has come around. Seriously." She stresses out the last word in attempt to lessen my fears.

Truth is, Paula did somewhat come around. She accepted her daughter's orientation a very long time ago and any choices she made relationship-wise. That didn't change the fact that things were still very much uncomfortable at times between me and her. I mean sure she doesn't give me the evil eye every two seconds anymore but she isn't exactly crazy about me either. There will always be that tension between us. And me telling her I was about to become her future daughter-in-law wasn't going to help any matters. I can only gulp at the possible freak-out scenarios that are running through my mind.

"Yeah, as long as I don't actually take you away from her. I mean, look what she did to me when she found out I dated you. What the hell is gonna happen when we tell her we're actually getting married?"

"She'll actually rip your hair off this time instead of just pulling it?" she tells me as she bites her lip to keep from snickering.

"So not the time for jokes, right now."

"Look it's going to be okay. She's accepted me being a lesbian and us dating, she'll accept us getting married. Don't worry about it." She says as she takes my hand in hers and starts swinging it between our bodies. I'm still ridiculously pouting and not looking up, but the childlike gesture is slowly but surely breaking any resolve I might have.

"I still don't understand why we need to do this." I mutter under my breath.

"Oh, I don't know? Maybe, because they're my parents and they're entitled to know when their daughter is going to marry?"

"Couldn't we just send them a formal invitations like the rest?" It's what I'm planning to do with mine. I'll be happy if she actually acknowledges it and sent me a 'congratulations-for-now' message. Although knowing Spencer, she's going to drag me to my mom herself. God knows, her incessant nagging about the issue is the only reason why I even bother to visit her now and then.

"Ash." She warns me with a perfectly shaped raised eyebrow.

"E-mail?"

"Ashley." She says more aggravated this time.

"Fax?"

"Ash-leeeey! Stop being so absurd. Look if it makes you feel better, I'll make the announcement. You can just stand there and look pretty. That shouldn't be to hard now shouldn't it?"

She's giving me the sweet smile and head tilt all the while tracing the inside of my wrist. She knows I'm close to relenting and it's only a matter time before I agree if she keeps doing these small things. I guess you can say that she knows me better than whoever. I just hope I can say the same about her.

"Do I actually have to be in the room when you make the announcement?"

"Don't push your luck." She tells me sternly as she admonishingly points her finger at me. I'm quick to pull at it, before bringing it up and kiss the tip of it.

"Fine. But I'm putting off these heels as soon as we're in that house. If Paula's going to hunt me down than I wanna be able to run freely."

"Be my guest. Now let's get inside before mom thinks we've been making out all this time and separates us while dinner … again."

"Can you pass the potatoes, please?"

"Here you go sweetie." Mr. C says as he hands over the plate to Spencer.

We're half way through dinner and an announcement hasn't been made yet. The conversation is light and everyone seems to be relaxed and enjoying each others company. Everyone but me. I've been poking my food since the beginning of the meal and my leg, much to Spencer's aggravation, has not stopped bouncing.

"Ashley, you okay? You haven't touched dinner yet and you're usually the first to ask for a second portion." Mr. C chuckles good-naturally as he flashes me a kind smile.

It isn't him I'm worried about. Mr. C has been supportive of our relationship/friendship from the beginning and I really don't think that he'll have any objection to our announcement. It's the woman across of me I'm worried about. The same woman that threw me out of her home by the hair half-naked. I know that was an eternity ago and that she has come a long way since then, but it's the kind of experience that you do not just forget overnight. It's the kind of experience that resurfaces at times when you break to them you're going to be shacking with their daughter or in this case, marry her.

"I'm fine Mr. C. I just had a big lunch today, is all."

"Well, if you don't feel like eating it now I'll just pack it up for you so you can take it home." Paula tells me kindly.

It's not that she hates me or that I hate her, it's just that you'll always be wary of the woman that tried to rip the love of your life away from your hands. And she'll always be wary of the girl that tried to rip her only daughter away from her hands. It's ridiculous when I sum it up like that, certainly if you see the progress we've made across the years but it's a feeling that only I and her can get. It's something you can only understand when you actually live it.

"I would appreciate that Mrs. C. Thank you." I bashfully tell her. In the mean time I feel Spencer giving my knee a squeeze and I know it's not to ease the bounce in my leg this time. I turn my head to look at her and find her already smiling widely before she gets a serious expression on her face and slowly nods her head. She doesn't need to give me any further explanation as to what possible may come.

She nervously stands up as she gets ready to tell her parents that her little daughter no longer is that little anymore.

"So … uhm," she pauses a while to start fiddling with her fingers, unable to settle her nerves down I'm sure," I have a small announcement to make." She giggles nervously as she ducks her head. And I can't help but smile as I see her willing to do this on her own just so I would feel comfortable. I instantly feel like an ass for putting her alone on the spot and stand up myself. She looks at me surprised first, then relieved and eventually happy as I drape my arm around her waist and give her hip a little squeeze.

"Actually we have an announcement to make." I speak up not taking my eyes off of Spencer's.

"A few days ago Ashley and I decided-" she starts timidly as looks up at her confused parents.

"To take the next step in our relationship." I continue as I watch closely for their reactions. At first they both seem out of the loop and completely clueless, but I swear I could see Mr. C sporting a playful smile after a few moments. Mrs. C just looks genuinely confused. That or she was in a terrible state of denial.

I feel Spencer thread her warm fingers with mine and I know that no matter what happens next, that this touch of her is all I need to go through with it.

"Ashley and I are getting married." She finally lets it out completely.

The next few moments go by in a blur as I immediately spot Mr. C walking our way and giving us warm hugs and congratulating us profoundly. I even think he let out a 'finally' to Spencer along the way. I'm not to sure because my attention is somewhere else. More precisely on my future mother-in-law. I wouldn't say that shock paint her features as she keeps sitting there with her eyes on us, but more a mixture of realization and surprise. It takes her awhile before she shakes herself out of her passive state and saunters her way over to us. She congratulates us far more quietly and contained than Mr. C and even hugs us both even if my hug is more awkward than warm. It doesn't change the fact that she does seem to be happy for us. It just that she completely didn't see it coming, although Spencer suffered from the same thing so you can't really blame her for that. Besides, she's never been as mellowed and laid back when it came to our relationship as Mr. C so I couldn't exactly complain. And as Spencer finds her way back to me, cheekily kisses me on the cheek and raises her eyebrow in an 'I told you so'-manner, I know that the evening worked out well.

"Ashley can I talk to you for a moment." Paula says to me when Spencer backs away lightly.

"Uh … Sure." I whisper and try to contain myself from gulping audibly.

Maybe I spoke too soon.

She sits on the highest porch-step and I hesitate on where I should sit. I don't want to intrude any of her space, but I don't want to look scared by standing all the way by the door. The decision is made for me as she taps the spot next to hers. I take the friendly invitation for what it is but it doesn't stop me from wondering about the strenuous smile she just flashed me.

For minutes we just sit there quietly next to each other, both waiting for one of us to make the first step. I'm fiddling with my fingers in my lap, a habit I took over from Spencer over the years, and I can honestly say that I'm more nervous than the night I proposed. No matter how many times I say that I don't care about what Paula has to stay about whatever was going on between me and Spencer, I still wasn't insensible to her thoughts. She is and always will be my girlfriend's and now wife's mother.

"You know, when Spencer was still a kid she used to be unable to sleep until someone told her a story. And since we had counted her Cinderella and Snow White a million times already to her she wanted another fairytale with, and I'm not making this up, Spencerella in the lead."

I laugh quietly as I try to imagine a five year-old Spencer demanding to be the lead in her own chosen stories. I make a mental note to myself on making fun of her about the anecdote.

"So I started telling her this story about Spencerella with all the ingredients from an old-fashioned fairytale. Spencerella is the beautiful Princess in distress that everyone is jealous of and she was saved from the claws of evil by a handsome and noble dark haired Prince. He took her to his castle, got married, kissed her once and suddenly Spencerella popped 17 beautiful babies." She chuckles at the memory with a far away look in her eyes. It's clear just how much she misses the days back in Ohio were everything went, as I presume, smoothly in their cozy little home in the middle of their ranch.

"And than she just looked at me with this disgusted face, uttered the longest 'ewwww' I had ever heard and asked me if her best friend Jessica could be her Princess Charming instead because boys were icky and were filled with cooties." She giggles a little louder at the memory, but I quickly notice her wiping away a tear before it slides down her cheek.

"I never thought that she pretty much recounted her future back then for me." She sighs as a few quiet moments pass. What do you possible say to that?

"God, everything was so simple back then." She says as she lets some silent tears fall freely now, not even bothering to wipe them off. I don't really know what to say or how to react to her little flashback and idea's about it, because it was still pretty vague. But I could say that this had to be one of the first times were I genuinely understood her and any of her thoughts. We may never become best buds but we have one thing in common that we do not want to lose: Spencer. We buried the hatches a long time ago because of her and I'm sure that we'll try our best to leave our uneasiness and awkwardness around each other behind for the very same reason again.

"I had this deadline I absolutely had to make a few weeks ago. And I was so ridiculously swamped with work at the time so I barely had the time to sleep, you know." I tell her as I look into my lap, not daring to look into her teary eyes.

"Of course when you're in the music business you get used to it after awhile, but that deadline was so important and the stress was just killing me. It was just kicking my ass and I couldn't concentrate and get it right. So, the night before the actual deadline, I decided to stay up and drag my way through it in my studio it until it was done." I continue explaining. I had my own personal little studio right next to our place at the beach. It was literally a half-minute-walk and perfect since I couldn't stand being away too long from Spence for something as work.

"I don't have to tell you that it just wasn't working and anything that I was going to deliver at that time would be pretty crappy. And I think it had to be a little over three when I heard someone come in. I turned around and there she was."

"Spencerella?" She asks me with a hint of a smile.

"Spencerella." I nod with my own smile. " Bed-hair, sleepy eyes, PJ's and insistent yawn very much in place. She had a blanket with her and draped it over my shoulders, because she knows that I never wear anything warm at night and the heater in my studio was broken. Then she put a cup of fresh-made hot cocoa in front me, cause it's my secret midnight beverage and it helps me concentrate. She kissed me on top of my head and shuffled her way back out to the house without uttering one word." I say her bashfully, realizing that I've never really talked to her about anything remotely this personal between me and Spencer.

"I was completely revitalized, made the dead-line and it was some of the best work I had ever produced." I finally work up the nerve to look Paula in the face and find her listening closely to my own Spencer-related story.

"I bought the engagement-ring the next day." I croak out hoarsely. Something about seeing Spencer wake up in the middle of night to take the time to prepare something as simple as cocoa, grabbing a blanket and sleep-walk her way out of the house to the studio just for me made me realize how well she knew me and how much she truly loved me. I wanted that life and not just temporary. I wanted her to bring me hot cocoa and wrap me in a blanket in the middle of the night for the rest of my life without any hesitations or questions asked on either parts. It's funny that it's the simple gestures and details throughout days like any other that define the rest of your life. It took me a sleepwalking Spencer dragging a blanket in one hand and a cup of cocoa in the other to propose to her. And I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

"You know, there really isn't that much difference between a dark haired noble Prince and a dark haired noble Princess." She tells me evenly.

"I'll take good care of her Mrs. C."

"I know you will. You've been taking good care of her for the last six years, so I have no reason to doubt you. And I'm not, doubting you I mean, because I see it. I might've taken me awhile to acknowledge it and come to terms with it, but I see it. And I know that I don't have to worry about a thing because her smile is at its brightest when you're around or even when you're just mentioned. At the end of the day that's the only thing a parent can wish for. For her daughter to be loved, cherished for what she's worth and to be happy. You've taken care of all those aspects." She tells me with a genuine but still quite shy smile. Just like I never told her any personal stories between me and Spence, Paula never really told me in my face how she really felt about me after she finally accepted Spencer for who she was. I knew that she respected me and our relationship, but I never really had an idea just how she truly perceived me without the fear that she might hurt Spencer a long the way.

"You have no idea how much that means to me coming from you." I whisper as try to dissolve the lump in my throat.

"Well, you won't always hear me talk like that but …" she interrupts herself to inhale deeply before continuing, "I'm willing to be a little more vocal about it. You are marrying my baby so I should officially welcome you to the family."

After years of dealing with a father that passed away before he could really fulfill his role of a parent, a mother that is still very much alive but seemingly does not want try and fulfill hers and a sister that came 17 years too late in my life, I finally feel like I truly am part of a family. And the tears that are slowly rolling down my cheeks cannot be stopped, because it's a realization that makes my heart ache and roar of joy at the same time. Ache because I missed my chance of being a part of a normal family for 22 years and roar of joy because I get to have a second chance at living that happiness. And it also makes me realize that my mother maybe does deserve more than one visit every month-and-a-half, that my sister really isn't as bad as I make her to be and that she's been the most consistent person in my life after Spencer and that the little time I spent with my father was worth more than what most children could experience with any of their parents. I think back at the time when he passed away and Paula was there to comfort me, even though I was her biggest fear at the time, she couldn't help but let her mother-instinct take over and just … be there for me.

"Thank you."

It's all I can really say at this instance without making a fool of myself and cry uncontrollably while desperately clinging to her. Silence envelops us for some time as we both try and wipe away our lonesome tears from our faces, erasing every trace of emotion that this heart-to-heart evoked within us.

"Well, I'd better head back inside. I'll send Spencer out." She says as she stands up.

"Okay. Bye mom." I say as I stress the last word with as much exaggeration as possible.

"Don't push it." She tells me sternly as she waggles her finger at me. It's the exact same action Spencer made earlier and it baffles me just how alike the two women really are. From their bluer than blue eyes, to their long blonde locks to practically the exact same posture.

I'm quick to flash her one last smile before she reaches out to slightly squeeze my shoulder. She heads back in and I don't have to wait long before I hear familiar footsteps behind me.

"Guess who." She breathes into my ear, after she places both of her hands on my eyes from behind.

"Veronica Mars?"

"No, but I am witty and smart and hot and deliciously sarcastic at just the right time."

"Me?"

"Shut up," she laughs as she swats my arms," You are so conceited." She continues as she sits herself on my lap.

"It's part of the charm."

"Oh yeah?" she asks me amused as she kisses me sweetly. "Uhu." I retort unable to contain my grin as I give her a short kiss of my own.

"Did the infamous Davies-charm work on my mom too?"

"Why? You afraid I'm calling the wedding off."

"Yeah, like that'll happen. I got you chained to me, baby-doll." She says with a glint in her eyes. God, this girl is going to be the end of me.

"Why not just chain me to our bed instead." I grin mischievously.

"One-track mind." She sighs amused as she looks up into the night sky, giving my a clear view of her exposed neck. Her smooth skin is taunting me and I can't help but lean in and gently sink my teeth into it before kissing the spot where the mark will surely appear later on.

"You know it."

" So I'm guessing by the neatness of your hair that things went well." She says as she twirls a loose lock of mine.

"They did." I nod after a few moments of silence.

"Really?" she asks me while biting her lip unsure.

"Really." I quickly answer her, unable to contain the smirks that appears on my face. "What about your dad?"

"Oh, you know him. He's probably already ordering our wedding gift online."

I laugh quietly as she slowly gets up from my lap and reaches out her hand to pull me off the ground.

"Come on, let's go home." She whispers as we walk towards the car hand in hand. She reaches for the handle of the car door but I turn her around right when she was about to get in.

"What's wrong?" She frowns as she sees me shuffling from foot to foot.

"Do you think that you, maybe, come with me to my mom tomorrow. You know, to tell her. If you got time of course. I mean I know you work and it's the start of-" I'm cut off by a pair of soft lips followed by some giggling.

"I'd love to."