In The Morning

Tegan wakes up in Sara's apartment

This chapter will be fluffier than the last one

Tegan opened her eyes the next morning and saw Sara, propped up on one elbow, looking back at her. Tegan smiled faintly as the memory of yesterday…or was that earlier today?

"You're finally up." Sara smiled sweetly and tucked a few loose hairs behind Tegan's ear, "You're beautiful when you sleep. You look so peaceful."

"That's your doing." Tegan snuggled up to Sara, "You were in all my dreams…it kept me happy."

"I'm glad I make you happy." A tear welled up in Sara's eye, "I'm so sorry Tegan. I'm so sorry about your family."

Tegan started to rub her back, "Shhh…it's okay. You're here with me now. We don't need to talk about that anymore."

Sara nodded and buried her head in Tegan's neck. They laid like that for a while. Just the two of them, bodies pressed against each other, nothing else in the world on their minds.

Then Sara heard Tegan's stomach growl, "Let's go see what I have in the fridge." She sat up and pulled Tegan with her.

They wandered into the kitchen, Tegan with her head on Sara's shoulder the entire time.

"What do you want?" Sara asked as she opened the fridge, "I have some leftover pizza, ingredients for a sandwich, or I could make some boxed mac and cheese."

Tegan's eyes lit up, "Mac and cheese please!"

Sara laughed at the enthusiasm, "Okay…just grab one of the pots. They're under the microwave." She gestured to a cupboard door.

They talked as they waited for the pasta to cook.

"Listen, about earlier…" Tegan was cut off before she got further.

"Don't worry. We can still take it slow if you want." Sara assured her, "But you needed it…if you want to just date and take your time that's fine."

"Thank you." Tegan loved that Sara understood.

"But," Tegan froze expecting the worst, "Since you told me your past, I should tell you why I moved here." Tegan nodded slowly and Sara continued, "Well, my best friend in high school was gay and she was out and confident about it. My parents hated her for being gay. They always told me not to hang out with her, that she was a bad influence, and that she was living a life of shame. So I waited till after college to tell my parents I was a lesbian. Their reaction was exactly what I expected. They told me I wasn't welcome back home. They said that I was no longer their daughter. But I was okay with that, you know? It didn't matter to me if they called me their daughter, because I didn't want parents who disagreed with my lifestyle. So I moved to a small apartment, got a girlfriend and a job at a local bar. After a few years my girlfriend and I broke up, and I decided it was time to leave. Vancouver just seemed like it was the place to go. It's got a certain beauty to it, and I knew that you lived here. So I said good bye to my few friends and headed out west." Tegan nodded, understanding how difficult it would be to come out to your parents…but she never got the chance to, so her experience coming out to her grandparents was the closest thing she had to compare to. They were a little taken back by it at first, but they never stopped loving her, and they supported every decision she'd made since she was twenty.

"I'm glad you moved here." Tegan smiled and kissed Sara's cheek.

"Me too." Sara pulled Tegan in for a hug.

The timer went off on her stove and she quickly put the finishing touches on the macaroni.

"Where do we sit?" Tegan asked noticing that there was no table.

"I usually just sit on the counter." Sara shrugged and then pulled herself up onto the counter across from the stove and sat there cross legged. She patted the space next to her and started to eat.

Tegan jumped up next to her and they sat shoulder to shoulder and ate in silence.

"I'm sorry your parents didn't accept you." Tegan said after they finished their meal.

"It's really okay." Sara shrugged it off, "Their opinions never mattered to me before that, so it really wasn't a big deal."

"Okay." Tegan smiled even though she could tell something was hurting inside Sara. But she didn't want to pry; Sara would share with her when she was ready.

"Do you want to watch something?" Sara asked as she sat down on her small couch.

"Sure." Tegan took a seat next to her.

"Funny or serious?" Sara asked as she stood up and walked toward a shelf filled with dvds.

"Funny." Tegan didn't want anything that might make her emotional.

"Okay." She looked through her movie collection, "Do you like The Holiday?"

"Yeah." Tegan smiled at her and she put the movie on.

They watched the movie cuddled together on the couch, Sara's hand idly rubbing Tegan's shoulder. Tegan leaned her head against Sara's shoulder and nestled in. She was completely at ease when she was next to Sara. All of here worries were gone. I could get used to this. She smiled at the thought and hugged Sara a little tighter.

"What?" Sara asked as a reaction to the squeeze.

"It's nothing," Tegan smiled again, "I'm just really glad that I'm here…with you."

"I'm glad you're here too." Sara turned to smile at her, "I like being able to see the prettiest girl in all of Vancouver just sitting here on my couch."

Tegan felt a tear come to the brim of her eye, "Why do you say that?"

Sara brushed a few loose hairs out of Tegan's face, "Because it's true Tegan. You are absolutely beautiful." She kissed her forehead.

"Thank you," A few tears rolled down her cheeks, "But I'm nothing compared to you." They smiled at each other and started to kiss when Tegan's phone rang, interrupting their moment.

"Hello?"

"Hey Tegan, where are you?" Ted sounded concerned.

"I'm home." She lied not wanting him to give her a hard time for being at Sara's apartment.

"Bullshit." He laughed into the phone, "Your car isn't there."

"Why are you at my apartment?"

"I have a little something for you. I was going to give it to you but you aren't home."

"Why do you have something for me?" She questioned, "I don't need free stuff Ted."

"No," He sighed through his smile, "But you definitely will want this. And it didn't cost me anything."

"Okay."

"So…" She could hear Ted's internal debate about whether or not he should ask the question on his tongue, "Where are you at?"

"Don't judge me Ted." She bit her lip not sure if she should tell him.

"I won't." She could tell that he was sincere about that.

"I'm at Sara's." She grimaced expecting some lecture about rushing into a relationship.

"Cool Teegs." She could hear his smile.

"Really? Nothing about me moving too fast?"

"Nah! I'll bring your present to her house then." He hung up before she could protest.

She turned back to Sara, "Ted's coming."

"Why?" Sara looked a little scared.

"He said he has something for me." She shrugged.

"Oh, okay." Relief went over Sara's face. She definitely was expecting him to be mad at her for having his best friend in her apartment.

A couple of minutes later they heard a knock. Sara went and answered the door.

"Hi Ted." She gave him a small hug.

"Hey girls." He eyed Tegan questioningly and she glared at him.

"What did you have for me?" She knew whatever it was it was something she couldn't afford. Ted did this about once a month, making up some story about getting something for cheap, and then he'd give it to her. It was usually something useful. Like last time he brought her a microwave to replace her fifteen year old beat up one. And before that it was a shelf system for her movies, books, and had enough room to put her TV on it. Then there was the set of new light fixtures for her ceiling. So she was prepared for anything, except what he pulled out from behind his back.

"It's a Baby Taylor." He handed the small cloth guitar case to her, "I figured it would be easier for you to play than that old full sized acoustic you always use."

She couldn't help but let a smile cover her face and she hugged him around his neck, "Thank you so much Ted."

"Don't mention it." He gave her a quick squeeze, "I'll leave you two alone now."

"Wow…" Tegan sighed out when she opened the guitar case.

"That was nice of him."

"He's always doing this." Tegan rolled her eyes, "He thinks I haven't realized that he always gives me brand new things. He pretends like he got them free, or at a garage sale. But that beautiful bastard just cares too much for me. He always gets me nice things."

"You should play something." Sara was excited about the idea that Tegan could sing something to just her.

"Okay." Tegan pulled out the guitar and checked the tuning. It sounded good, so she started to play.

"Oh I love this song!" Sara started to sway her head to the music.

Tegan smiled and then sung, "Hey little girl is your daddy home? Did he go and leave you all alone? Oh, I got a bad desire; oh, oh, oh, I'm on fire."

Sara smiled through the entire song, still ecstatic over the fact that Tegan was singing Springsteen to her. He was her favorite rock artist of all time. When she finished Tegan just looked down at her guitar.

"That was beautiful Tegan." Sara still had a smile on her face.

"Thanks." She blushed.

"Can I play something?" She gestured toward the guitar and bit her bottom lip.

"Sure." It was Tegan's turn to smile now; she finally would get to hear Sara singing alone.

"This is a song I wrote years ago." Sara blushed and started to play. "I've only ever played this for a couple of friends. Sorry if it's no good."

"I'm sure it's great." Tegan assured her and Sara smiled at her.

"Okay, here it goes," She took a deep breath, "Love pull your sore ribs in. I will pull your tangles out."

"That was incredible." Tegan hugged her after the song ended.

"Really?" Sara blushed, "You think so?"

"Yeah," Tegan nodded, "It was really good. You should definitely write more songs."

"Aw, thanks." Sara was shocked, she never expected someone as talented as Tegan Quin to like her music.

They spent the rest of the evening playing the guitar, mostly doing covers of Bruce Springsteen, a common music interest of theirs. Tegan then played a song Sara hadn't heard.

"I'm coming up only to hold you under/and coming up only to show you're wrong/and to know you is hard; we wonder/to know you all wrong we warn."

"What song is that?" Sara asked when Tegan had finished.

"It's called The Funeral. It's by a band called Band of Horses."

"I liked it." Sara smiled, "It's getting late though, do you want to head to bed?"

"Yeah, I'd like that." Tegan smiled, not wanting to go another second without cuddling with the beautiful woman who was reaching a hand out to her. Sara lifted her up of the couch and led her to the bedroom. They got in bed and immediately cuddled up to each other; Tegan's back fitting perfectly against Sara's front. She fell asleep thinking about Sara, and all her dreams were of that beautiful girl. It kept her calm, and she slept peacefully all night. And that was something she wasn't used to.