Patsy was humming to herself as she tossed the keys onto the countertop and reached for a glass from the cabinet. Her day was going great, only one patient cursed at her and she was meeting with Delia for lunch. Filling the glass with water from the tap, she downed half on it before pulling out her phone and scrolling through Facebook. With a sigh, she liked some posts from her mother-in-law, who was touring Ireland with her father-in-law. The cursed woman was going to be back tomorrow, and she was intent on visiting to show everyone what a "great time" she had. Patsy snorted. Mrs. Busby was more than likely going to complain about how different Ireland was from Pembroke, along with how Irish tea was disgusting, or something like that.

If anything, Patsy was just thankful that Delia's parents were so quick to claim Ellie as their own. In fact, they were actually quite fond of each other. Ellie would often ask to talk to "Grandma Busby" whenever Delia happened to be talking to her mother on the phone. It was very cute, though Patsy would never admit it to Mrs. Busby's face.

Patsy was in the process of placing her empty glass in the sink when door banged open.

Mildly surprised, Patsy turned the corner to see the last thing she had expected to find.

Delia was leaning on the wall, bent half-way over as tears were streaming out of her eyes.

"Deels?!" Patsy shouted, grasping her wife's arms and pulling her into a hug.

"My darling, my love, what is wrong?" Patsy whispered hoarsely as Delia began crying in earnest, burying her face under Patsy's chin. Soon the ginger's shirt was soaked with hot tears and Delia was gasping for breath as she tried to describe what had caused her to begin crying.

"I…Pats…Ellie…" She managed, shaking violently in Patsy's arms.

"What?! What happened to Ellie, Deels, what happened to our daughter?" Patsy demanded, thoroughly alarmed now that their daughter was a part of this fiasco.

"I got…a call…from the school," Delia gasped, "She's…been in a fight…bullied…"

Patsy's blood ran cold.

"What do you mean, Delia?" Patsy asked gently, pulling back so as to see her lover's face fully.

"She was 'in a confrontation' during recess," Delia said, taking some calming breaths, "I don't know who with, but the other kid shoved her and she punched him back."

"That's my girl," Patsy said automatically, pride in her voice. Delia spared her a mockingly outraged look as she attempted to dry some tears.

"But Pats," Delia murmured, sadness enveloping her features, "She was bullied…because of us."

Patsy sighed dejectedly as she exhaled a stream of cigarette smoke out of her open car window. She sat in the school parking lot, trying to gather her thoughts before she went rampaging in there.

No one made her Delia cry.

And no one; absolutely fucking no one touched their daughter.

No one.

The saddest thing about the whole situation was that Patsy was sort of waiting for this to happen. It was only a matter of time before Ellie's classmates found out about her adopted lesbian parents…and that was bound to rub someone the wrong way.

Patsy tossed the spent cigarette out of the window, onto the asphalt and tapped the steering wheel, trying to decide what to do. She had every right to be mad; someone was bullying her daughter. But her anger would only cause more hurt feelings. It was in situations like these where Patsy would ask herself, "what would Delia do?". But for the first time, she was at a loss for what her wife would do. Before she left to go pick up Ellie, Patsy had sent Delia to bed with two aspirins because she knew Delia needed to think this over. Unlike Patsy, the brunette did not require comfort during emotional distress; instead, she preferred to come to terms with herself and figure it out that way. This was something Patsy respected, just like how Delia knew when to give her alone time. Besides, they were going to more than likely discuss it that night anyway.

As Patsy was mulling over how her wife pretty much had a heart of gold, an idea came to her. And the more and more she thought about it, a contented smile began to creep across her face. Yes, that would work; almost perfectly.

Patsy placed her sunglasses back on her face and took one last look at herself in the rear-view mirror.

Rampage on.

Patsy pressed the office door open without an ounce of hesitation. She was there to rampage. She hardly took one step, however, before she heard a gasp from the row of seats on the side of the office.

"Mum?" Ellie asked, sitting in a chair that was far too big for her.

"Ellie!" Patsy exclaimed, surprised at how relieved she sounded. Patsy glanced at the secretary, who seemed to not notice Patsy's presence in the room. Patsy went over to her daughter and knelt down in front of her.

"Darling, are you okay?" Patsy questioned, casting a trained eye over her.

"I'm fine mum! I just scraped my hands!" Ellie said, sounding very pleased with herself. As she said this, she exposed the palms of her hands, which were indeed very scraped up with grit still embedded in them. Patsy's stomach twisted into an unpleasant knot as a strange sense of déjà vu swept over her.

"Has someone looked at this, sweetie?" Patsy breathed softly, taking her daughter's small hands into her own. The little girl shook her head vigorously.

"No. They are still icing Chad Harvey's eye," Ellie chirped.

"Is that the kid you punched?"

Ellie nodded.

"You have very good aim," Patsy whispered, smiling cheekily at her daughter. Ellie giggled.

"Mum, my hands still kind of hurt," Ellie murmured, her face contorting into discomfort.

"Of course they do," Patsy said back sympathetically, "I'll wash them up when we get home…but this will make them feel better." Very softly, Patsy gingerly brushed her lips over Ellie's grazed palms. The little girl giggled.

"Is that better?" Ellie nodded.

"I have to go talk to the principal, stay here until I get back."

Patsy rose and approached the secretary's desk. The woman in question was in her late forties, with graying hair and glasses.

She didn't even look up when Patsy asked, "Can I speak with the principal?"

"Do you have an appointment?" the secretary queried, without looking up from her computer screen.

For a second, Patsy glanced to her daughter, (swinging her legs underneath her chair and gazing amiably around the room), back to the secretary, bewildered.

"I…uh…my daughter is the one who got in a fight," Patsy stammered. The secretary jolted as if electrically shocked, and turned to face Patsy.

"Ah, yes, Ms. Mount…erm… He should be in his office."

Patsy bit her tongue. 'Not now,' she thought to herself, 'Not now, you will have another chance…' The secretary pointed at a door to the side, and Patsy drew herself upright before marching over and rapping aggressively on the door.

"Come in!" a male voice called.

Taking a deep breath, Patsy put her bitch face on and plowed onward.

Dr. Winslow shot up as soon as Patsy entered the door, having obviously been tipped off by the secretary.

"Miss Mount, it's a plea-"

"That is Mrs. Busby-Mount, if you will," Patsy interrupted sharply, anger coloring her voice.

"I…of course, of course, I am sorry, please have a seat," the principal stammered. Patsy seated herself in a chair and crossed her arms, waiting for him to continue.

"I'm afraid I've only ever met with your…um…"

"My wife," Patsy said irritably. Wow, he just kept on putting his foot in it, didn't he?

"Ah, yes, such a…uh, pleasant woman." He said this almost wishfully. Patsy decided to let it slide.

"So, what happened today?" Patsy asked idly.

Clearing his throat, Dr. Winslow said, "There was a confrontation on the playground during recess…from what both children say, it was about the nature of your…marriage… and the argument escalated until Chad shoved Ellie down, and then Ellie punched him in the eye."

There was a moment of silence, in which Dr. Winslow sat there sweating and Patsy mulled this over.

"What will happen now?" she finally asked, breaking the silence.

"Well, normally the children involved would be suspended for three days so they could – ah – cool off, if you will."

"I see," Patsy said in a clipped tone, "but that's it?"

"I…what do you mean?" the principal asked warily.

"What I said. The kids cool off, but they never make amends, never actually get to discuss how they feel. It is a critical lesson they must learn, don't you agree, Dr. Winslow?"

"I…well yes, but I don't understand…" Dr. Winslow stammered.

"What I am trying to say, Doctor, is I want Ellie and this Chad to talk things out," Patsy said in a suddenly calm voice, "I think it would be best if Chad were to come over on a 'play date' if you will, so that he can see, and understand, what is truly different and same between his home life and Ellie's."

"…that is a very interesting idea, Mrs. Busby-Mount," Dr. Winslow said slowly, cautiously, "but this would need to be approved by Chad's parents…"

"Of course."

Dr. Winslow leaned back in his chair and cast a thoughtful glance over Patsy.

"Would your wife be agreeable to this?" he finally asked hesitantly.

"Yes."

"You have given me a lot to think about, Mrs. Busby-Mount," the principal announced, clearly as a dismissal, "Allow me to get back with you tomorrow and I will share with you what I think."

"Sweetie, what happened today?" Patsy finally managed to ask her daughter as they sat down to eat their milkshakes. The ginger had patched up her daughter's hands in the car from a first aid kit and the pair had stopped at an ice-cream parlor to relax after such an eventful day.

Ellie looked determinedly at her milkshake, appearing to feel guilty for the first time.

"Mum, am I in trouble?"

Patsy chuckled, mildly humored at how her daughter's mind worked.

"Do you think you would be getting a milkshake if you were in trouble?" Patsy asked.

"…no," Ellie said slowly.

"Then 'no', you are not in trouble. What happened at the playground?"

Ellie shrunk down into the booth as she began to mumble her story:

"Well, we were all playing tag when Chad started talking about his dad and how his dad ran track in college and I said I didn't have a dad." Patsy bit her lip. Technically, Ellie did have a dad, but Patsy wasn't about ready to correct her because he was currently serving twenty to life in prison for child molestation, so it was on a strictly need-to-know basis.

So, instead, Patsy prompted her to go on.

"…and?"

"…and he said everyone has dads, but I said I didn't, I actually have two mums and he asked what that meant, and I said that my mums were married and they adopted me, and he said that was disgusting and wrong and I told him to shut it but he wouldn't and then… and then…"

A few tears escaped from Ellie's eyes and Patsy was quick to reach across the table to brush them away.

"It's okay, sweetie," Patsy soothed, not exactly knowing what else to say.

"…and then I said I didn't care if he thought it wasn't right, and that's when he shoved me, and called me disgusting, but I got up and punched him because I didn't want to hear him anymore, and he was hurting me."

"You did the right thing," Patsy said supportively, "Don't let anyone shove you around, darling."

For several minutes, the only sound was Ellie's sniffles and them slurping the rest of their milkshakes.

The next time Ellie spoke, it was when they were in the car, on the way home.

"Mum," she asked quietly, "why did Chad say it was wrong?" Patsy looked away, biting her lip nervously.

"Because…because some people believe it is not right that people like me and your mam should be married."

"Why is it wrong?"

Patsy swallowed the lump forming in her throat. She knew this conversation was going to happen at some time, she just thought she would have Delia to back her up.

"It is for you to decide if it is wrong or not," Patsy finally answered quietly. Her whole body went numb, her mind screaming at her to retract the statement; to tell Ellie that no, it wasn't wrong, that in fact all those who believed it was were a bunch of assholes. But no. She did not want to lord her own beliefs over her child, like her own father did. It wouldn't be right; Ellie was her own self.

They rode the rest of the way home in silence.

When they did get home, Delia wrapped her arms around Ellie, and Patsy smiled sadly as her wife held their daughter tightly as soft tears seeped out of her eyes.

"It's okay mam," Ellie said, trying to console the shorter of her mothers, "I'm not hurt, mum bandaged my hands!"

"Of course she did, darling," Delia said, wiping away some stray tears.

That night, after Ellie had been bathed and put to bed, Patsy and Delia clung to each other in their bed. In the dimness of the light, they softly discussed the events of the day, gently consoling each other between gentle and passionate kisses.