A/N: Well after the events of the past week, I figured we could all use some happiness in our lives. Love is love. Thre is more than one kind of family.
Enjoy!
They're in the middle of a story break when she gets the e-mail, and technically she's not supposed to be looking at her phone, but she sneaks a peak anyway. And when it turns out to be from someone she had been waiting on bated breath for a response from, Ashley excuses herself.
Out in the hallway, she opens the e-mail and after only reading the first three words, tears fill her eyes.
"Hey!" Yael starts, smiling at her friend and fellow writer. When Ashley looks up from her phone, tears in her eyes, Yael grows concerned; it's not every day Ashley visibly cries. "What's the matter?"
"It's-" as her voice cracks, Ashley stops and tries to compose herself.
"Oh, my god! Is it your dad?" Her father's health issues had been a regular topic of conversation between the girls.
"No, no, my dad's fine. It's not bad," Ashley lays a hand on Yael's arm. "It's wonderful." With a hand over her mouth, she holds up her phone and watches as her friend reads the message displayed on the screen.
Yael's mouth drops and then spreads in a wide grin. "Oh, my god! That's amazing! I'm so happy for you guys!"
"Thanks," Ashley laughs, still crying.
After wiping away her tears, and making herself presentable again, Ashley follows behind Yael, and the two quietly sneak back into the Writer's Room, getting angry scowls from their Executive Producers as punishment. They mouth their apologies as they sit, re-joining the break.
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On her lunch break, Ashley runs across the lot to the sound stage Danielle's current series is shooting in. She's out of breath and wants nothing more than to run to her wife and kiss her senseless, but that stupid red light is on meaning they are shooting and no one is to enter or leave the stage. It's an endless and anxious few minutes, but finally, the light goes off and Ashley throws open the door.
"Hey! Landon! Where's Danielle?" She asks the crew member wearing headphones and a tool belt standing next to the Craft Services table. Landon used to be on the crew of the show Ashley writes for, and was the 'B' Camera operator on her first episode, so the two formed a friendly relationship.
"Um, I think she's still on set," he says. "What's up?"
"I'll tell you later," she promises, kissing his cheek as she passes on her way to find Danielle.
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She's squatting by a camera, tinkering with something, shirt riding up to reveal the small of her back; her blonde hair twisted into a bun secured with two chopsticks. Movement in her peripheral vision and the sound of running feet catch her attention and Danielle stands just in time to have her wife crash into her, grab her face with both hands and kiss her. And when Ashley deepens the kiss further and pushes into her mouth, Danielle grabs her wife's waist and pulls her closer. They are both breathless when the kiss ends and they stay standing there, in the middle of the set, foreheads touching, for another moment.
"Hello," Danielle husks. "What was that for?"
"I have some amazing news," Ashley starts, crying once again. She's smiling and letting out watery laughs.
"Okay," Dani nods, her hands still on Ashley's waist.
"Have you checked your e-mail today?"
"No, I've been on set all day; my phone's off."
"Susanne e-mailed us."
Susanne, their wonderfully amazing adoption agent who had helped them every step of the way, through piles of paperwork and home visits and everything in between, since they started the process nearly three years ago.
"And?" It was an e-mail the couple had been waiting for for weeks. Weeks.
"We got him," Ashley's smile widens.
"What!? Really?"
"Yeah," she nods. Now they are both laughing and crying and hugging each other.
"We got him!" Danielle cheers, picking up her wife and spinning them both around.
They had matched with him four months ago. At the time he was a three-day old infant named Javier whose parents had been brutally murdered. He was placed in foster care after it was discovered he had no other living relatives, besides a grandmother who was in assisted living with dementia. Danielle and Ashley had matched with him just days after he had entered the system and then began the long waiting game as to when they would get to take the little boy home. The moms decided to rename the baby, giving him 'Henry' as his first name and making 'Xavier', the English derivative of 'Javier' his middle name. With multiple 'Javier's' on both sides of their family, Danielle and Ashley knew it would be crazy adding another to the mix, but Xavier would be their little nod to the name his birth mother had given him.
Everyone around who had been listening in on the conversation was cheering and clapping for them and the two moms kiss once, twice, three times before their moment is broken when the director comes to tell them they have to get back to work.
Danielle goes back to her camera, and Ashley stays to watch the next side of the scene be filmed before going back across the lot to her office.
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They celebrate over dinner that night: Danielle, Ashley, and Macey; all three of them sitting around the tiny table in the tiny kitchen of their tiny apartment in Manhattan Beach. Smooth jazz music shuffles through over the speakers and the two moms share smiles over bites of enchiladas left over from dinner at Ashley's grandma's house the previous weekend.
"So, Mace, guess what?" Dani starts, getting her daughter's attention.
"What?"
"So remember how Momma and I have been trying to adopt a new baby? And we had the lady from the Adoption place come over and see your room?"
"Yeah, and we played and she asked if I would like a new baby!" Macey pipes up, remembering the home visit they'd had the previous summer.
"That's right! And Momma and I had to sign all those papers. And remember we got sent those pictures of Baby Henry? And I told you that he might be ours, but we had to wait and see?"
"Yeah," The toddler nods, taking another bite of her food.
"Well, we got an e-mail from the adoption lady today, and guess what it said?"
"What?"
"It said that we can take Baby Henry home with us. She said we look like a great family for him to come home to," she smiles. "Would that be okay? If we brought him home."
Macey thinks about it for a moment, a tiny finger going to her chin. "Yeah, I think that would be good," she nods. She had seen the pictures they had been sent of the infant and had fallen in love with him, asking nearly every day if Baby Henry was gonna come to their house to live.
"I'm glad," Danielle chuckles, raising her glass of wine. "To family," she toasts, clinking glasses with her wife and daughter.
"So in a couple weeks," Ashley continues, "Mommy and I are going to get on an airplane and go pick up Baby Henry and you're gonna go stay with Nana and Poppa, okay?"
"And you're gonna bring Baby Henry home to me?"
"Yes, we will," Dani nods. "And you can hug him and kiss him and hold him all you want, okay?"
"Okay. But will he sleep in my room with me?"
"Not right away. For a little while he'll sleep in mine and momma's room. But when he gets bigger, he'll come share your room."
"Will you bring me a present?" The toddler smiles cocking her head, the dimples she inherited from her Momma popping out.
"What? A baby brother isn't enough?" Ashley asks, feigning offense.
"He's good. But I want a present too."
Both moms have to laugh at that. "We'll see."
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After dinner, while Ashley gives Macey a bath and gets her ready for bed, Danielle curls up on the couch. She pulls up her parents' contact information on her cell phone, and, knowing it's late, calls them to tell them the news.
Her mother squeals when she hears and her father cheers just as loud; they are both over the moon to have another grandbaby to love and spoil rotten.
"Are you sure you don't want us to come out there and help you get settled?" Kate asks for the third time.
"No, momma," Danielle insists. "We'll be fine. But if you want to come out here to meet your new grandson, I know him and his older sister and moms would be thrilled to have you."
"Okay, baby," Kate says, and Dani can tell she's smiling, even through the phone. "I love you."
"I love you too. Hold on, Mace wants to say 'hi'." During her conversation with her parents, Macey had finished her bath and had curled up next to her Mommy, wet hair and monkey jammies and all, and had begged to talk to her grandparents.
The phone gets passed over and Macey takes it with pleasure.
"Hi, Grandma!"
"Hi, baby!"
"Grandma, guess what?"
"What?"
"Baby Henry gets to come to our house! Mommy and Momma are gonna go get him and bring me back a present!"
Danielle hears her mom laugh and she rolls her eyes. "I heard! Are you so excited to be a big sister?"
"Uh huh!"
"Good. So me and your grandpa are gonna come see you and Henry and your momma and mommy really soon, okay? And we'll go on an adventure just you and me."
"And not Baby Henry," Macey insists.
"I promise: just you and me. Now, if I remember correctly: it's time for you to go to bed, little one. I love you."
"I love you too, Grandma."
They blow each other kisses through the phone and Macey hands it back to her mom.
"Alright, Momma, I'll talk to you later. Tell Dad I love him."
"I will. I love you."
"I love you too. Bye!" The call ended and the little family continues their night routine for one of the last times as a family of three.
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Two weeks later, in the chill of the too-early morning, Ashley carries her sleeping daughter into her parents' house and lays the little girl on the bed in the room that once belonged to her Aunt Izzy. Ashley tucks the blanket and lamby lovie around her daughter and kisses her cheek before backing out of the dark room. Ashley pulls the door closed, but not all the way, and heads back into the living room where her mom and wife are waiting.
"Thanks for doing this, Mom. I really appreciate it," Ashley says, hugging her mom.
"Ay, Mija, don't worry. We love having Macey here, you know that," Sonia reassures her daughter.
"I know," Ashley sighs. She sits on the couch next to Danielle, throwing her legs into Dani's lap, yawning wide.
Rather than having to drive to the airport and pay for parking, the girls had decided to leave their car at Ashley's parent's house and take an Uber to and from the airport; and their ride was due to arrive any minute.
The three girls sit quietly in the living room; the sounds of their breaths and the ticking grandfather clock in the corner fill the room. Danielle and Ashley fall into a light sleep, waiting for the text message that their ride is here. And ten minutes later, the message comes through.
Ashley gathers their bags while Dani hugs her mom, and meets the two at the open front door. Sonia follows the girls down the driveway where their car is waiting, and makes sure they get their bags stowed away before hugging and kissing her daughter goodbye.
"Bye, baby. I wanna see a picture as soon as you get him, okay?"
"We will," Ashley laughs. "Bye, mom. Love you."
"I love you too." Sonia watches for a few minutes before going back inside to get a few more hours of sleep before her granddaughter wakes her with needs of cartoons and breakfast.
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"Attention passengers! Flight 6036: non-stop to San Antonio is now boarding. Please have boarding passes ready." The security line was no problem, and actually took no time at all, but waiting in the line to board the plane seemed endless. But eventually, they get their tickets scanned, walk down the jetway and find their seats.
And four hours, and a stop for lunch, later, Danielle and Ashley check into their hotel.
The lock on the door clicks and Dani pushes through into the air conditioned room. She pushes her suitcase aside and falls backward, arms stretched out, onto the bed, sighing as she hits the mattress.
"Are you nervous?" Ashley asks, laying down next to her wife, on her side, head in hand.
"Yeah," Dani answers honestly.
"Me too."
"It's the same nerves I felt when we were in the hospital having Macey."
Ashley laughs at that, recalling the memory. "So, scared shitless?
"No, I was just scared. You were the one who was shitless," Danielle laughs, choosing not to look at her wife and the offended look on her face.
"Oh, you are so getting it!" Ashley grabs the pillow above her and smacks Danielle with it. She stands and goes first for her bag and then the bathroom to freshen up before the day's events really began.
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Susanne, looking professional and relaxed in gray slacks and a floral blouse, red hair French braided down her back, meets them in one of the conference rooms of their hotel. They go through and sign final paperwork, and she sits with them while they wait for a person from Child Protective Services to bring Henry.
"Are you guys nervous?" Susanne asks.
"Yeah, a little bit," Ashley says. "But I'm mostly excited. I can't wait to see him."
The minutes tick down, the clock in the room very loud, and Danielle and Ashley are gipping each other's hands.
And suddenly the time had arrived; their new son would be there any minute.
"Oh my god, baby," Dani buries her face in her wife's neck, too anxious to watch.
"Here he is," Ashley says, watching the door open and a woman comes in holding their son. "Baby, baby, look," Ashley coerces Dani into opening her eyes. "Look at him." And now she's crying.
"Oh my god."
And now they're both crying. All of the emotions they had kept at bay all day now coming to the surface and spilling out.
"Would you like to hold him?" the woman from CPS asks. At the new mom's nods, she hands over Henry to his Momma. The four-month-old is so awake and alert, smiling at the new faces as if he really knows they are his new mommies.
He's absolutely beautiful: chubby and round in all the right places, big brown eyes, dimples that come and go (just like his Momma), warm brown skin, and a head full of downy soft brown hair.
"Hi, papas!" Ashley grins. "Look at you! You got so big." She holds him up to the sky and Henry laughs, a chubby hand going into his mouth. Ashley passes Henry over and Dani is suddenly nervous, and the baby responds by whimpering al little bit.
"Oh, it's okay," Dani croons. "I know: a lot of new people, huh? It's been a crazy day for us all." She starts to dance and hum the lullaby she sings at night to Macey, and soon Henry is curling in on himself, his head on her chest, completely relaxed.
Photos are being taken by everyone not holding a baby, and even a few selfies of the new mom and her baby boy, and one of the two moms with their son. Some get sent to families and posted to social media right away; others are saved on memory cards to be posted to professional websites later.
Susanne and the woman from CPS stay for another little while, making sure Henry and his new moms are doing alright. But eventually, they take their leave with hugs and words of congratulations.
And suddenly the room is quiet again, Henry's sleeping breaths filling the room, and there's a feeling of 'what do we do now?' between the new mom's. At least at the hospital when Macey was born there were doctors and nurses and family members coming in and out all day, but now? It was just the three of them.
"Are you ready to go back to the room?" Danielle asks.
"I guess we should huh? I mean we can't hide in here forever."
And so the new family head for the elevators and their room.