Happily Ever After

5: Tears, Sunburns and Cuddles

"Oh. Call Maya and Carina, now," Vic declared, looking at who it was and connecting the dots.

The two exhausted wives got back to their cabin late that night after their day full of adventuring, practically asleep on their feet. Carina was just about to flop into bed when her phone rang. She picked it up, seeing that it was Vic.

"Hey, is everything-"

"Mamma! It's Mamma! Hi, Mamma!" Lucia gasped. The seven year old was smiling from ear to ear in Sarah's arms, despite the tears that were flowing down her face.

"Hi, my bambine! It's so good to see you both- wait, what's the matter?" Carina demanded, seeing that that the little blonde was clearly upset, and that there was something bigger likely that she didn't know.

"Is that my Lulu? Where's my Sarah girl?" Maya called out with a huge grin. As much as she was having a blast on her honeymoon, she missed her girls terribly. She did not feel complete unless her daughters were with her.

"Mommy, mommy!" Lucia squealed. Maya appeared on the screen and Lucia hiccuped, her little face turning into a frown. "Mamma, why is Mommy red?"

Vic, who had been talking to someone in the background, ran to the screen to see her friend. Taking one look at the blonde, Vic burst into loud laughter, scaring the daylights out of the cat, Moose, who had settled in Emmett's arms.

"Ahahah! Bishop, what happened?!" Vic cackled, trying to stop herself from giggling out of respect to her poor, burnt friend. Sarah appeared at the screen, smiling until she saw Maya's sunburnt face. "Mom, holy-"

"Yes yes, I forgot to put on sunscreen," Maya grumbled.

"What's going on, Lucia? Why are you crying?" Carina asked.

"Lu, what's going on?" Maya asked gently, her voice full of concern. The little blonde latched on to her sister's body, her eyes filling with tears and her lip wobbling as she shook her head.

"Why don't you tell your moms what happened?" Vic coaxed, rubbing Lucia's arm. "Si, what happened?" Carina asked anxiously, and Lucia shook her head again as she nuzzled into Sarah's embrace.

Seeing that this was not going anywhere, Vic handed the phone to their mystery guest, who had been waiting patiently.

"Jaida, hi!" Maya greeted upon seeing who it was, her voice full of understanding. It was Lucia's social worker, who was helping the Bishop-DeLucas in their mission to adopt Lucia. Their process was longer than usual, due to the courts being backlogged.

"Hi, Captain Bishop- ooooh, that's a nasty sunburn," Jaida commented, and Maya flushed, although no one was able to tell due to her poor, burnt face.

"I apologize for scaring Lucia, I really do," Jaida continued, her face written with concern.

"You're fine, you're okay. What's going on?" Carina soothed.

"I'll make this quick, but we have a court date for Lucia's adoption!" Jaida announced eagerly. "That's amazing!" Maya gasped with excitement, and Carina cheered happily, both of them taking the victory with open arms.

The fact that their familial ties to Lucia had not yet been legalized was something that made the two of them nervous. It was the last thing on their to-do list, the one that they put immense weight into, because the bambina was their baby, and no one else's. Maya and Carina wanted to protect Lucia with everything in them, to sheild her from any further harm. They wanted to wrap her up in a loving embrace and raise her with pride, because the universe had given her to them.