Amy, a Day Out, and the Blue Hair

Amy and Bumper were visiting. Despite her better judgement, Beca had agreed to allow Chloe to invite them to stay for the two weeks they would be in town. They and their children were utilizing the third-floor guest rooms, blocking Beca from truly peaceful use of her home studio. It was getting to her. On Saturday morning, she helped Chloe make breakfast for everyone – an egg bake and fresh fruit.

The Beale-Mitchell family took their seats at the breakfast table, watching in curiosity as the Allen family immediately began grabbing things and eating. The three girls watched their mothers for a reaction, but received none. Beca began serving her kids and Chloe before filling her own plate. Once everyone had food, the girls picked up their forks. "What are you guys doing today?" Chloe asked Amy.

"Eh, we thought we'd check out the zoo." Vera's eyes widened but she said nothing. "Would you like to come along?" Amy asked. The youngest redhead lit up, but she remained silent and waited for her mothers to answer.

"I have work to catch up on," Beca said quickly. "I'm going to be in the studio for most of the day." She needed to get several things done – and had been interrupted every time she tried to hunker down in her studio in the four days since they'd arrived.

"Aubrey is coming over early this afternoon," Chloe said. "And I have a lot of odds and ends I need to get done with before then. But thank you," she said with a soft smile.

"We'd be happy to take the munchkins," Amy said, causing Beca's head to shoot up and her eyes to lock with Chloe's.

"I'm not sure – "

"Please!" Vera said, immediately. Bella looked hesitant, but Poppy was offering an interested look.

"Are you sure?" Beca asked. "That's five kids."

"Eh," Amy said. "Your kids are barely human. They're like petite, well-dressed little robots. They listen to everything you say."

"Yeah, that's called good behavior," Beca told her wryly. "Ames, I'm not sure you want all five kids all day –"

"We can just leave ours at the monkey house," Bumper said. "No one will know the difference."

"Dad!" Their daughter, Kayley, cried. Bumper Jr. catapulted a piece of egg bake at his father. Beca glared and shook her head - and he looked immediately contrite.

"Oh, come on, Beca," Amy said. "Don't you trust me?" Beca's eyebrows drew together and her lips pursed as she looked at her wife.

She said softly. "How honest are we being, here?"

"It's fine," Chloe said cheerfully, not allowing Beca to continue. "If the girls want to go, they can go." Poppy and Vera grinned. Bella looked at her mothers to help. "You want to stick around here, today, Bells?" Chloe asked softly.

"Oh, come on," Poppy said to her twin. "It'll be fun. You really shouldn't spend so many Saturdays just reading."

"I do more than that," Bella objected. But actually, spending the day reading sounded much better than traipsing through the potentially-crowded zoo with Aunt Amy and Uncle Bumper – neither one of which she was completely comfortable with. And Bumper Jr. seemed to make it his business to tease her – and was good at not getting caught. "I'm just not really in the mood."

"Don't be a party pooper," Bumper Jr. said with a sneer. Bella scowled at him but acquiesced to her twin.

Beca let out a deep breath. "Okay, we'll give it a shot." They followed the girls upstairs and slathered them with sunscreen after they changed into whatever they wanted to wear to the zoo. After all three girls were ready, Beca followed them down to the living room where the Allen family was waiting. She handed Amy the bottle of 100 SPF sunscreen. Amy looked at it oddly.

"This is a bit excessive, short stack."

"Amy, the sun is hot here. It needs reapplied after four hours – or if they get wet." She paused and grimaced. "Don't get them wet," she added.

"Will they turn into gremlins?" Bumped asked, teasingly. Beca rolled her eyes and looked at Chloe, who walked closer and put an arm around her wife.

"Girls, have fun – and be good," Chloe said. She hugged all three of them, even though Bella was currently going through a phase where she didn't want to be hugged. Beca followed suit. She looked at Amy.

"I am trusting you – be careful." Amy gave her a mock salute and a few seconds later they were gone. Beca began pacing immediately. "This was a terrible idea," she told Chloe.

Chloe smiled. "Becs, they're 10 and 12. They're responsible kids. And even if Amy doesn't always show the best judgement, she does love our girls – and she won't let anything happen to them. They'll be fine." After receiving a picture from Poppy that showed them all arrived at the zoo, Beca calmed down. She went to work in her studio – and surprisingly, the day flew.

It was almost dinner time when her girls returned home. And, much to her surprise and horror, they had blue hair. Well, highlights of blue hair intermingled with red and dark brown.

Beca schooled her expression; she had no desire to scare her girls. Once they were inside, she hugged them and kissed them, and told them to go wash their hands for dinner. She sent the Allen children to do the same. Once they were out of earshot, she rounded on Amy. "Tell me that washes out," she said angrily.

"Of course it does," Amy said uncomfortably. "Who do you take me for, Beca?"

"In how many washes?"

"Um."

"Amy!"

"Oh, come on, Beca. Let them have some fun."

"We have fun, frequently! It doesn't require the semi-permanent change in hair color. They go to a private school, Amy. There are rules! Even if I didn't hate it, it wouldn't be okay. And I do hate it! You can't just change someone else's child's hair color! And how the hell do you get hair dyed at the zoo?"

Chloe came rushing down the stairs – she had clearly seen the girls. "Beca, calm down," she said patiently. "It's okay. This is not worth additional stress. We'll talk about it later – the girls are about to come back down." Beca was fuming, but she took a few deep breaths and forced herself to calm down.

The remainder of the day went quickly. After dinner, there was a begged-for session of night swimming. Chloe and Beca ended the party at nine, telling the girls they needed to get ready for bed.

The Allen children protested and Amy and Bumper insinuated that they were boring and Amy-flat out called them stodgy, but they held their ground. Bedtimes were important – especially with two budding insomniacs in the family.

"We can have more fun tomorrow," Beca told them. Her children didn't argue. They looked quite prepared, perhaps even relieved, to be heading toward routine.

Half an hour later, after helping Vera with drying her hair, she stopped in Bella's room. The young almost-teen was almost finished with her own hair. Beca sat on the bed and watched as Bella continued brushing and drying.

"Will this come out?" Bella asked, after turning off the dryer. She was fingering a strand of blue.

"Yes," Beca answered. "But we're going to the salon tomorrow to make sure it doesn't damage your hair. Did you really want blue hair?" She tried – and succeeded – to sound curious and not judgmental.

"No," Bella said immediately.

"Then why did you do it?"

"Bumper Jr. said I was scared. I wasn't scared – I just didn't want blue hair."

"Reasonable," Beca told her with a nod. She scooted over and Bella crawled under the covers. The other girls and Chloe appeared within minutes, climbing onto the bed. Chloe read from their newest bedtime story – The Golden Compass. As usual, Vera wanted another chapter – just one more – and – because it was a weekend, Chloe indulged. Finishing for the night, Chloe set the book aside and teasingly shooed Vera and Poppy away.

"We'll be in in a few minutes," she called after them. She looked down at Bella. "Now, that was an interesting day."

"Yeah," Bella agreed with a giggle. Her expression changed then, to one of ponderance. "Mama, I have a question."

"What's that?" Beca asked, dreading the response. Having spent the day with Amy, the question could be anything. Truly anything. Maybe not three-dimensional calculus, but still…

She looked at Beca as she leaned against Chloe. "Were you and Aunt Amy really best friends?"

"Yeah, we were. Why do you ask?"

"You are very different."

Beca shrugged. "Sometimes friends are like that. Sometimes it's good for you, even. I think Amy made me take more risks than I might have on my own. We had a lot of fun together. And I like to think I kept her out of serious trouble – and/or alive – through college."

"She is fun," Bella said, giggling at something she clearly remembered from the day.

"Yes, she is."

"She can be kind of embarrassing, though."

"Aren't all adults kind of embarrassing when you're 12?" Bella shook her head.

"You and mom aren't too bad."

"I'm relieved to hear that."

"Whew," Chloe said, throwing her hand up to her forehead in dramatic faux-relief.

"And Aunt Stacie is cool."

Beca laughed. "Well, you're not wrong. She'll be extremely triumphant to hear that assessment. She has always deemed herself coolest in all things."

"So you had fun today?" Chloe asked, wrapping up their conversation with a smile.

"Yeah," Bella agreed.

"Good," the redheaded mother said. "Goodnight, Bells."

"Goodnight, love." Both mothers kissed her and Bella snuggled under the covers, her favorite bear in her arms. Chloe began and Beca joined in one of their favorite bedtime songs,

"Goodnight, sweetheart, well, it's time to go/

Goodnight, sweetheart, well, it's time to go/

I hate to leave you but I really must say,

Oh, goodnight, sweetheart, goodnight."

In the next ten minutes, they spoke to Poppy about why she wasn't keeping the hair dye, to Vera about what chemicals were probably in the hair dye, and sang the song twice more. They were still smiling, arms around one another, as they approached their own bedroom. It was still early for them to go to bed, but they were heading there together until they heard a crash from the living room, shattering their peace.

Beca's hands went to her head. "Oh, God. I can't," she whined. "Chloe, I can't –"

"Go," she said, nodding to their bedroom. "Put on your headphones. I'll take care of it and be back. I'll bring tea."

"I can't let you face that alone," Beca said, grimacing. She wanted to hide in her bedroom, but that wasn't fair to the woman she loved.

"We'll square up later," Chloe told her, winking.

"Oh, dear lord," Beca said, blushing. But she was calmer – and went into her bedroom, closing the heavy door and going into the bathroom. She listened to music as she showered and fixed her own hair. By the time she was finished and climbing into bed, Chloe returned with the promised tea. Beca kissed her before accepting it. "How bad?"

"Material possessions aren't everything," Chloe teased.

"Oh, please, tell me what to expect."

"The Grammys need a new home and we need glass in a few frames. One frame might need replaced."

"The tree picture?" Beca asked, referring to her favorite of their wedding photos that contained a flowering tree.

"Not a casualty," Chloe promised her, dropping a kiss on her head before crawling into bed with her.

"The big one?" It was a large canvas from a photo shoot they'd had done when the girls were six and eight. The three girls skipping into a gorgeous field wearing pastel flowy dresses while Chloe and Beca watched, visible only from the back - in the bottom corner – by one's braids and the other's curls.

"Safe," Chloe promised.

The next day, the blue hair was all gone. Beca's stylist striped the color without damaging the girls' hair. Beca made a new rule that she informed Amy of emphatically – nothing about her daughters was to change without her permission. The rest of their visit was just as interesting – and by the time they left, the Beale-Mitchell household was ready for a two-week long nap to recover.

I apologize for the delay in all three of my active stories - life has been a little harder lately - but I am back to writing after not touching it for two months - so I am hoping to be able to update more regularly. Please do share your thoughts - let me know what you liked, didn't like, one-shots from this universe you'd like to see, etc.