Gail was happy. Normally when she sees Sophie it is still in the confines of the orphanage. As she was leaving from her last visit Jean who ran the place pulled Gail into her office and discussed with Gail about whether she would continue to visit Sophie as she noticed how much happiness that the visits brought the young girl despite the fact that she was grieving for her mother. When Gail responded that she would, Jean let her know that if she ever wanted to take her out for the day that she would be more than happy to assist. Of course Gail was excited at this prospect and agreed a date and time for this immediately.
The moment Gail got home that day, she got straight onto Oliver to find Mella's parents phone number so she could not just take out Sophie for the day, she could add in an extra surprise. She couldn't wait until she could see Sophie's face; she loved it when that child smiled.
As Gail and Holly entered the Orphanage, Jean ran straight over to them. "Hey Gail, good to see you again" she looks at Holly and holds out her hands and says "Hi, I'm Jean".
Holly shakes her hand and says "Hi, I'm Holly".
"Lovely to meet you" she says while smiling warmly at the brunette. "Now Gail we have some paperwork that needs to be filled out before Sophie can be allowed out of here for the day, so if you come this way we can get started".
Gail takes Holly's hand in hers and they walk to Jean's office. Holly is so happy to see Gail so happy herself.
After what seemed like hours, but in actual fact was less than 20 minutes they had finally finished filling in the last form. As they stood up and stretched another lady opened the door to the office and in an instance Sophie let go of the ladies hand and ran excitedly over to Gail.
"Gail!" Sophie screamed in excitement and with her massive smile hugged Gail tightly; it was less than a second that Gail hugged her tightly back. Neither of them wanted to let go, but Gail made sure she didn't let go until Sophie was ready. "Miss Jean told me that she had a surprise for me, oh this is such a good day, it's the best".
"Sophie, I would like you to meet my girlfriend Holly" Holly looks at Gail with a smile for calling her girlfriend and then down at the smiling Sophie. She can totally understand how Gail just loves that smile on the young girl.
"Hi Miss Holly, nice to meet you" Sophie says so happily.
"Lovely to meet you too Sophie" Holly answers back with a big smile herself. Sophie's smile is just so contagious.
Sophie turns to Gail and says "I have drawn you a picture, when we get inside I will get it for you"
Gail softly says back "Well that is going to have to wait, as Holly and I are going to take you out for the day"
"Really, where are we going?" Sophie asked while hugging Gail tightly around her waist again.
"Well that is a surprise young lady" Gail says still smiling at Sophie's excitement.
After getting out to the car and ensuring that Sophie was correctly seat belted in, Gail sent Mella's mum a quick text to let them know that they were on the way to the Mall. Thirty minutes later after they found a car park they entered the Mall. Sophie's eyes were still shining brightly and was smiling away to the whole world while holding Gail's hand in hers.
As they got near the food court Sophie's eyes got even brighter when she spotted Mella and her Mum. Gail hadn't spotted them yet but could feel a tug on her hand so she let go of Sophie's hand and Sophie ran over to Mella. Gail and Holly then walked over to where she had run to and introduced themselves formally as they had only ever talked on the phone to each other.
"Now you are sure that these two aren't going to be too much of a handful for you both" Mella's mum says with a small chuckle.
"No, we've got this and this is such a pleasure" Gail replies as Holly nods yes.
"It is such a beautiful thing you two are doing for Sophie, I am sure her Mum would be proud".
Gail's eyes start to tear up and with Holly noticing she grabs onto her hand and squeezes tighter. With the feel of Holly's touch she automatically feels somewhat better "It's the least anyone could do".
"Well, there should be more people in the world like you" Mella's Mum says back to Gail.
While Gail talked to arrange a suitable time to bring Mella home, Holly turned to the young girls giggling away oblivious to the adults conversation and says "So girls, are you ready for some fun?"
"Is Mella coming too?" Sophie blurts out confused but happy.
"Most definitely" Holly adds and with that Sophie gives Holly a big hug and beams another glorious smile.
Gail sees Sophie giving Holly a hug and can't help feeling happy and contented at the sight.
The four now wave goodbye to Mella's mum and head to the movies. As Holly gets the tickets for them all to see Rio 2, Gail and the girls go and get the food and drinks for the movie. As they meet back Holly can't help but laugh at seeing Gail's hands overflowing full of Popcorn, lollies, Ice-creams, different coloured Slurpies and of course Cheese Puffs. There is more than enough to feed 6 full sized adults with all the food.
After the movie was over the kids were still talking and laughing at all the funny scenes in the movie. It was so great seeing both girls have so much fun in each other's company. "Now young ladies, are you ready for more fun?" Gail says.
"For sure" they both say at the same time.
"Well you better go to the restroom and wash yourselves up and then we will go onto our next adventure" the blonde says smiling at the both of them.
After the girls go to the restroom, Gail leans into Holly and asks if she is having fun to which Holly responds "The best". After she answers they hold each other in an embrace and sneak a quick tender peck or two on the lips.
As they get closer to the games arcade the two young girls seem to get even gigglier. Sophie turns to Gail and asks "Are we going to the arcade?"
"If that's ok with you" Gail says back to Sophie smiling.
"Yay, we love the arcade"
"Me too" Gail responds back with a wink.
As they enter the Arcade, Gail goes off and organises the coins for the girls and for her and Holly too. As she gets back she hands each girl a packet of coins and tells them to go have as much fun as they can. Within a second both of the young girls are gone.
"So what game would you like to play first My Lady" Gail says to Holly.
"I think shooting hoops for me" Holly says with a wink to Gail, knowing that she hates sports.
"Oh you and sport" Gail rolls her eyes and then adds "Well ok as long as I get to play some shoot them up games later".
"Deal" and with that Holly grabs Gail's hand and leads her to the hoops.
Surprisingly Gail isn't too bad at the basketball game and actually beats Holly, she reckons it's because when she is bored at work while in booking that she likes to toss paper in the bin at all different ranges and angles to entertain herself. Holly as a prize gives her girlfriend a kiss for which Gail greatly receives.
"Time for Time Crisis Holly, and you can watch me win again" Gail says while dragging her over to the gun game.
After the game was over Gail says indignantly, "No way, I want a rematch. There is no way you could have defeated a highly trained Officer like Moi" She is also somewhat embarrassed that she lost to Holly.
"Oh Honey, where is my kiss for winning?" At that Gail glints her eyes at her and gives her a very quick peck on the cheek.
"I think someone is a sore loser" and points to her lips with a pout. Gail smiles and gives her a proper congratulatory kiss.
"I will get you next time Holly, next time" the blonde adds as she pulls slowly away from the kiss.
As they both laugh the other two girls come running up to them with big smiles. "Look how many tickets we won"
"Wow, let's go see what prizes you can get with these" Holly says to the girls as she hands them her tickets that she and Gail won on the basketball game.
As they are heading to the counter Gail sees Whack a Mole and can't resist having a go. All the girls laugh at Gail while she tries to whack the heads coming out of the holes, she is so uncoordinated that in the end that she can't help but laugh at her own antics.
As they walk out of the Arcade, each of the young girls are now wearing their prizes of a pink plastic bracelets and some star shaped yellow sunglasses. The two young girls are just so happy that Gail can't help to think that she would love to see Sophie smile like this every day.
After dropping Mella off back at her place they let the girls play in Mella's room for awhile, they know that they have to take Sophie back soon though. While drinking the tea that Mella's Mum has made for them both Holly can see that Gail is getting a little sad knowing that this day of fun with Sophie is going to end. Just seeing her eyes mist up makes her own misty as well.
Back at the orphanage just before dinner time, Gail and Holly walk up the stairs holding Sophie's hands and are swinging her up each step, both are laughing as Sophie says again while she giggles. The closer they get to the top of the stairs the slower Gail is going, her heart is beating faster and she can feel the anxiety building within her.
When they get to the top and open the door, Jean spots them straight away and comes over to enquiry about their day. Sophie tells her all about her fun and adventures and that she can't wait to draw more pictures for both Gail and Holly the next time they do art. After a while they give each other a hug goodbye with a promise to come visit again soon.
As Jean leads Sophie off, Sophie pulls out of her grasp and runs back and gives Holly a huge hug first and then as she hugs Gail, she tells her that she loves her. Gail is all choked up but holds onto Sophie even tighter again and tells her that she loves her too.
A/N
As I was just starting to write this, my Mum called with sad news to tell me my Aunty Jean had passed away. This story is in dedication to her for teaching me strength of character and for making me laugh and smile so much when I was a child.