A Big Kind of Little Love

Chapter 2: The Levarion's

"Bella, it's time to wake up, sweetheart."

Camilla talked slowly and soothingly, gently petting the girl's hair as her eyes crept open. She let out a long wordless whine, signaling to the taller woman that she was not ready to wake up from her nap just yet. 

"Oh I know, sweet pea. Auntie Camie is so mean for waking you," Camilla cooed, "Did you have a good nap?"

The girl nodded as she yawned, curling to her side while popping her thumb into her mouth, attempting to escape back into her dream world. 

"No, no, no, Bella. It's wake up time. Your mommy and daddy are here to get you!" 

At that admission, Bella's eyes shot open as she sat up excitedly.

"Mommy! Daddy!" She cheered as Camilla picked her up with a chuckle.

Carrying the little girl down out of the guest bedroom and down the stairs, Camilla tried her best to keep hold of Bella as she bounced with eagerness at the mention of her mommy and daddy. 

"Sweetheart, relax, you don't want Auntie to drop you, do you?" Camilla said gently but sternly, making the girl stop her squirming as they descended the stairs. 

As she got to the last few steps, Camilla noticed her wife standing just inside the front door, chatting with the couple's best friends, Marcella and Adrian. 

She caught the last of their conversation, "You two are a godsend for taking her this weekend, Lucia. We really can't thank you enough," Marcella said gratefully as she hugged Lucia. "And thank you too, Camilla, I don't know what we would do without the two of you."

"Don't mention it!" Camilla said happily as she transferred Bella from her arms into Adrian's, "We're always happy to have her over. She was perfect as always."

"We promise," Adrian replied, "When you two find a little of your own, we'll be there whenever you need a babysitter."

Camilla smiled with a hint of sadness, a feeling that Lucia shared. While Adrian meant well with his offer, it was a stinging reminder to the two women that they, indeed, didn't have a little of their own. 

The families said their goodbyes as Lucia shut the door behind their guests, turning to face Camilla, who's eyes were beginning to well up. 

"Oh, baby, what are those tears?" Lucia asked, pulling her wife into her embrace. Though she knew full-well why her partner was crying. 

"I just hate having to say goodbye to her. I wish we could be more than just babysitters." Camilla said, her tears now fully-formed and streaming down her face.

"I know, my love. I do too," Lucia comforted while rubbing her back, "but we'll find our own one day. Luka is out there searching and we should be towards the top of the waitlist by now. It's been five years." 

"It's just hard not to give up hope after this long. Maybe we're just not meant to find our little." 

"Oh, don't say that, Cam," Lucia said, squeezing her wife tighter, "we have to keep hope. Our little is out there waiting for us."

"How do you know that?" Camilla asked, her tears turning into desperate sobs. 

"Because I can feel her," Lucia responded with a tearful smile, pulling herself away a bit to look her wife in the eyes. "She's out there looking for a Mama as beautiful and amazing as you."

She brushed Camilla's shining black hair out of her face, revealing her wife's shimmering mocha complexion and stunning bright blue eyes. Lucia couldn't help but smile, which made Camilla's smile crack through her slowing tears.

"What's got you all smiley?" Camilla asked with a choked up laugh.

"Oh nothing," Lucia replied with a sly smile, "Just thinking about how lucky I am."

"Lucky?" Camilla responded confusedly, "You just said, we've been on Luka's waitlist for five years. What's lucky about that?"

Lucia looked at her wife with faux concern. 

"Um, I'm lucky because I have the best, and most beautiful, and most loving wife in the whole world?" the paler woman answered with thinly-veiled sarcasm, mocking her partner for asking such a silly question. 

Camilla rolled her eyes with a smile at her wife's mockery, causing Lucia to laugh. 

"I'm sorry," Camilla said sadly as she looked downward, "It just always hits hard saying goodbye to Bella after we watch her. Especially when she stays the night like this weekend. I love Marcella and Adrian, but I can't help but be jealous of them when I see how close they are to her. No matter what, we'll only ever be her aunties."

"I know, my love. But we will have that one day. Not with Bella, but with our own little girl. A little who will be ours all the time."

Lucia planted a kiss on Camilla's lips, pulling her wife out of the spiral of negative thoughts.

"I love you, Camilla Levarion." 

"I love you too, Lucia Levarion." 

The two shared a loving giggle as they continued their embrace. They loved their last name. In Colossi society, when people get married, they typically form a new last name out of a combination of each partners' individual family names that they grew up with. In this case, Camilla's original family name was Levant, while Lucia's was Enarion. So when the two married, they decided on the combination, Levarion. 

 The two women were both now in their mid-forties, which is still considered the early stages of young adulthood in the eyes of the Colossi, as the average life expectancy of a Colossi is about 250 years old. They had heard about Luka through Marcella and Adrian, after they had adopted their little, and soon applied to be on the waiting list. 

It was Luka's job to find littles out in the human world to bring back to Colossus; as a recruiter of sorts. Like humans, many Colossi have a natural caregiving urge. But unlike humans, it is much more difficult for Colossi to reproduce. So while the Colossi population has grown over the centuries since Colossus was founded, it has been at a significantly slower rate than humans. 

Luka, and others like him, travel the world seeking out human littles to quell this caregiving demand. Due to their smaller size and generally more emotionally-drive demeanor, human littles make great substitutes when a Colossi child isn't in the cards, which has been the case for Camilla and Lucia. 

That night, like most other nights, the two women laid in bed talking about all of the fun things they would want to do with their little. They hoped more than anything that their little was out there, just waiting to be found by Luka. They dreamt about it, cried about it, and thought about it just about every moment of the day. Even as Camilla worked as a middle school teacher and Lucia as an at-home graphic designer, they couldn't get their future little out of their minds. 

The two partners fell asleep that night in each others' arms, hoping that a message from Luka would come soon.