The best is yet to come

I've got everything I need

"Yeah well, you'll have to give me more than that." The younger girl joked flipping the phone around and turning it on to give a look.

"I...I'm gifting you with this because I want you to call me. Or text me. Because I want to know where you are and what you are doing during the day." She cleared her throat, not a good choice of words. "Okay well that makes me look like a stalker." She laughed, which made Treena laugh along.

"I know you're not though...are you?" She teased, replacing the device back in it's box.

"I want to know that you got home safe if it's dark outside. And tell me that you'll stop by the station so that I can warn you if we're out on a call. And I want to be able to tell you that I'm fine after a big fire, that there's nothing you have to worry about. I want to call you at the end of a rough shift and to be able to reach you if ever you need any help. I want to ask you how you're doing in the middle of the day, text you good night at the end of it and goodmorning at the beginning of the next one. I want to send you stupid pictures that I took with my siblings and...and I really want to text you if you wanna go out on a date with me tonight, because I really can't ask you that face to face." She emptied her mind and heart, pulling her own phone out of the back pocket to immediately write her a text, having already saved her number in it.

Treena, completely at a loss of words took the phone back in her hands, replying at her text with a 'yes, I would love to.'
Leslie smiled reading the answer, looking up at her.

"I'll text you the details." She spoke a few second later, her smile threatening to split her face in half.

"I'll be waiting." She replied, turning around to walk away.

Leslie remained there for a while, looking at her and holding her phone tight in her hands. Turning to walk back in she let a silly scream come out jumping a little while the door closed behind her.

- December 7th 2024 -

"Is my nineteen year old daughter really drinking white wine on the couch?" Maya asked sitting next to Leslie.

The young girl sighed, slightly turning towards her mother giving her a half smile.

"Are you gonna tell me what's wrong or you just wanna get drunk in front of your mother?" The older firefighter teased leaning on her daughter.

"I wouldn't say something's wrong." Leslie reply came a few seconds later after she had taken a sip of her wine.

"You're simply acting like your mother then?" Maya asked, knowing that something was bothering her, but patiently waiting for whenever she was ready.

"How do you know...how did you know that you were in love with mom?" Leslie finally asked, her glass already empty, eyes still on the wall.

"I -" Maya wanted to simply answer her, but her motherhood instinct was telling her to ask Leslie why she was questioning that.

"Why are you asking me that baby?" She decided to answer with her question, now fully focused on her daughter, turning her whole body towards her and placing her legs crossed on the couch.

"Because I wanna know if I am actually in love." Leslie replied turning towards her mother in the same position.

"With Tyler?" She was finally putting the pieces together, understanding what her daughter was trying to ask her.

"Yeah." Leslie nodded, filling the glass with the bottle she had placed on the table.

Maya's hand reached forward to take the glass that Leslie was holding to her mouth.

"Please. I want you to speak to me sober girl." She spoke, hoping she would be as honest as Maya wished.

"I don't know mom. I - I don't know." She leaned forward, to rest her head on Maya's shoulder. "I think that I'm not."

"You're not what?" Maya saw Carina approaching, holding Joy in her arms and gestured her to stop where she was.

Carina did, turning around to the kitchen. Maya heard Joy asking why they couldn't go watch the movie her mamma had promised, the italian soothed her explaining they would watch it in a few minutes.

"I think I have loved him. But that I'm not...anymore. Cause I have different feelings for...someone else." The girl explained, still leaning down on her shoulder.

"Do I know that someone else?" Maya knew where this was going. She started caressing Leslie's back to soothe her.
The girl nodded on her.

"And does she feel the same?" The blonde asked, knowing that Leslie was aware she knew who she was talking about.

"I don't know. I don't want to disappoint Tyler though." She spoke raising her head looking into her mother's blue eyes.

"Baby. If he loves you, if he really loves you, than he will never, ever be disappointed with you being honest. With you being in love." She replied, holding Leslie's cheek in her hand.

"But I should be in love with him." Carina heard her saying from the opposite side of the room and forced herself not to go and hug her daughter, to tell her she was free to love whoever she wanted.

"No baby girl. There's nothing that you should or shouldn't be to please someone else. You need to make yourself happy, not others." Maya knew, deeply, that there was nothing more true than that, nothing else that she wanted for her beside being happy.

"So what do I have to do?" Leslie asked, her eyes now filling with tears. "What if she doesn't? What if I'm just throwing everything away?" She sobbed, her mother's hand wiping away a few tears.

"Then you'll have learned. And you'll know yourself deeper. There's nothing wrong with that." Maya pulled her in a tight embrace, feeling her shake against her.

"Thanks." Leslie mumbled through the sobs, holding her mother even tighter.

Carina walked with Joy, Elia fast asleep upstairs in the nursery, holding the device that was communicating with the room.
She took a seat on the couch next to her daughter.

"Why you cry Lelie?" Joy asked, reaching forward so that Leslie could take her on her lap.

"Oh baby J, you'll know when you'll be older." Both Maya and Carina chuckled, the italian's hand stroking Leslie's dark hair.

"I'm big!" Joy replied taking her sister's cheeks in her hands and giving a kiss to her nose, just like Carina used to do everytime she would cry. "Better?" The baby girl asked, turning to lean on Leslie's chest.

"A lot better, thanks." She smiled, looking at both women.

"Now. What did you want to watch bambina?" Carina asked taking the remote to turn the TV on.

"Frozen mamma." Joy said, clapping when the movie started and singing along at the opening titles.

Notes

Hello!

I wanna know your thoughts. Are we about to meet Lane again? Get ready.

I'm interested in your opinion about Leslie and Treena, if you like the characters and the idea of a relationship between the two. I thought that with Tyler being so far away for college Leslie needed someone right here with her.
Get ready for the date.

We're almost alligned with AO3

Hope you enjoyed, leave comments

Giulia_Rachel