Katie walked towards the hospital unit of Starman, a slight pep in her step as she carried four cups of coffee in a holder; one for herself, one for her friend Ash, one for co-worker Jacob and one for her wife, Zoë. She had gotten a text saying that Zoë was in the hospital unit today, which she thought was a bit weird but went along with it since she was the boss, after all, she often spent days in the sensory room. What was also weird was the all caps of Ash's text, "DUDE. YOUR WIFE IS IN THE HOSPITAL UNIT, COME ASAP SHE NEEDS YOU." Ash was the type of person to exaggerate from time to time, so Katie didn't think much of their use of caps, especially since they had been using that way of typing ever since they owned a phone.
When she opened the door, she was surprised to hear nothing but silence in the usually busy and bright unit. She also noticed no one in the reception, not even Sam in her usual desk. She pushed open the door to the main room, hearing a long beep and seeing only three kids asleep in bed and, surrounding one bed were all the doctors, nurses and..... the kids, Skye, Billy and her parents in law??
Michael turned to look at her, prompting the others with tears in their eyes to do so and Katie's smile to drop. The frail elderly man put his hand against a wall and pointed his cane at her.
"How could you not have known she was sick?! My girl is gone because of you! Her heart stopped because of you!"
Katie's eyes welled with tears as she heard the mans sharp words and set her eyes on her wife's lifeless body in the bed, dropping the coffee and collapsing herself.
"Why didn't you come faster?!"
"Where the fuck were you?! All she wanted was you here!"
"Katie? Katie, can you hear me? Are you ok?"
"Katie! I'm here, can you hear me?"
Katie jolted out of her sleep, tears streaming down her face and sweat drenching her clothes, and Zoë right next to her with her hands on her shoulders. Katie looked up at her as her chest heaved, before falling into her arms and hugging her.
"You're ok. You're here."
Zoë smiled, holding back a chuckle. "Yeah, I'm ok and here, amore. What's happening here?"
"A bad dream, A really, really bad dream."
"I gathered that. What happened in the dream though? This is the worst one yet."
Katie sighed, tilting her head back. "It's really bad, Zo. It's awful.
Zoë gave her a soft smile. "I can handle awful. What happened in it?"
"Well, started off great. I was surprising you, Ash and Jake with coffee at work."
Zoë smiled. "This is supposed to be a bad dream? Coffee from my wife at Starman?" Her smile dropped upon remembering the state her wife was in. "Sorry. What happened though?"
"Ash had told me you were in the hospital unit, didn't think anything of it since you could be anywhere in the building. But when I went in, you were gone. Your dad got so mad at me for not being there and not knowing you were sick, and then everyone started yelling at me for not arriving sooner. And then I woke up."
Zoë's eyes darted around for a few moments, biting her lip as she processed what she was told. She then looked back at Katie's tear drenched face, and gently held her shoulders again. "Hey. I'm not going anywhere, and I'm not sick. Are you worried that I am? Did my dad say anything?"
Katie shook her head. "Your dad's the best. He's always been great to me. But my biggest fear since what happened is something else happening with you and me having no clue about it until it's too late. And also that your dad can be pretty scary when someone or something hurts you."
"Hey, your dad can be too." The two women laughed, and Katie wiped away a few tears. "But seriously, I'm okay. I know we're getting older, even if we're only 40, and we're worried about sickness and shit happening to us and our friends. But if anything was going south with me, I'd tell you. And I know you'd tell me too. We wouldn't do that to each other. I'm not going anywhere. I'm here and I'm here to stay. I'm in good health, even my mental health is doing pretty good these days. I'm all good, love."
Katie smiled. "I know that. Just an irrational fear I have. Something happening to you or the kids."
"I getcha. My biggest fear is something happening to ye. You, Max, Brook, El, ye are everything to me."
"Aw, that's so sweet!"
The two women jerked their heads toward the door, hearing the voice from outside of it. Zoë and Katie looked at each other and rolled their eyes, knowing it was their daughter outside.
"El! Come in, please!"
Their teenage daughter walked in after slowly opening the door, with her hands slightly up in the air. "I wasn't eavesdropping, I swear. Just heard Ma yelling and had to take about 5 minutes to make sure I wasn't hearing things."
Zoë rolled her eyes,. "It's ok, kid. Couldn't sleep?"
Elsie nodded. "Are you ok, Ma? Mam isn't an axe murderer or anything?"
"I dunno. I'm still skeptical of her, honestly."
Zoë slapped Katie in the arm, making the three of them laugh.
"Nah, kid. Just a bad dream. It's all okay though. Probably watching too much horror with ye two."
Elsie chuckled at her mother, and walked over and sat down on the bed. She pursed her lips before speaking. "Bella kissed me."
Both women's eyebrows went up in surprise.
"Wow.", Zoë exclaimed, trying to hide her pride a bit. "Do you like her?"
Elsie sighed. "I don't know. She's my best friend, and it kind of just happened. We won a badminton game in PE and she just did it. Probably meant nothing, she just does things like that."
"I think if it was nothing for either of you, you wouldn't be up at this hour thinking about it, love.", Katie said with a nod.
Elsie gulped. "I don't know, Ma. She's my best friend. I don't even know if I like girls, or guys. Anyone, really."
"Hey, you don't have to know anything, kid. Don't have to label anything, your orientation, your feelings towards Bella. It is hard not knowing things exactly, but you're young. You'll figure it out in time, could be tomorrow, next month, next year. Take your time."
The young girl smiled. "Thanks, Ma."
"And, hey," Zoë began. "Don't feel pressured to feel any way because of peers, Bella or even us. This is your own thing, your own journey. There's no right or wrong way to do this. Just go with what you want and what you feel is best for you. If you want us to help in any way, we're obviously there. But we can also step back if you want."
"You? Step back? Let's be for real, Mam."
Katie snickered, and Zoë gasped. "What, now?"
"Remember when you chaperoned the back to school disco and death glared anyone who came too close to me outside of the friend group? Poor Evelyn Williams and Troy O'Keefe get scared whenever they walk past your car now."
"Oh, shit. Sorry, kid."
Elsie laughed. "I'm just fucking with you. It's not that bad. And those two are kind of morons anyway."
"You're right, kid. Aren't they the ones who managed to make a sewing machine catch fire?", Katie asked.
"That sounds like something Billy and Skye would do, honestly. Not that outrageous, K."
The three of them laughed, Zoë looking back at her daughter when they stopped. "In all seriousness, kiddo, you know you can come to us with anything. Thanks for telling us, and just try not to worry about it too much, because it'll really be okay. Luckily, secondary school isn't forever."
"Thank fuck, if I had to put up with Mr Smith for the rest of my life, I'd kill myself."
"That man is a piece of work. Parent-teacher meetings with him are the intellectual equivalent to banging your head against a wall.", Katie remarked with an eyeroll.
Zoë giggled. "That was a good one."
"Imagine being taught by him every day. Did you guys ever have bad teachers?"
Katie snorted. "Did we have any good ones is a better question. Still couldn't tell ya a thing I learnt in secondary school, besides that skipping class with my girlfriend and our friends was so much fun. Don't be like us, kid."
Elsie laughed. "Noted, Ma. I'll stay in school, won't do drugs, the whole shebang." She paused, looking down at her lap before looking back at her mother. "You are okay though, right, Ma? Like, it was just a dream, not one of those ones that's based in reality or telling your future or something?"
"Nah, of course it wasn't. It was like a horror movie, and horror movies aren't real. Don't worry, kiddo.", Katie replied with a smile.
Elsie opened her mouth to say something, but instead just returned her mothers smile. "Okay. I think I'll go to bed. Thanks, guys."
"Goodnight, pet. Try to get some sleep, now. You need to have energy for your match tomorrow."
"I will, Mam, I will."
Katie and Zoë smiled as they pulled their daughter in for a hug, Katie giving Elsie a kiss on the forehead before she returned their smile and headed back to her bedroom.
When she left, Katie sighed and threw herself back onto the mattress. As she sighed and rubbed her hands over her head, Zoë lay back down slowly, pulling the covers over the pair of them.
"Our baby had her first kiss. Shit.", Katie exclaimed.
"I know. I'm still shocked that Max has a girlfriend and he's in his final year of college."
"And Brook moved out last year. How do we stop it before they plan to travel to Australia and stop talking to us?"
Zoë laughed, slapping Katie's shoulder. "They're not going to stop talking to us! We're still close to our parents. They have to grow up just like we did. I think we did, anyway."
Katie turned to look at her and nodded her head with a grin. "We did. We did grow up. We just didn't grow out of having fun and enjoying life. And we definitely still love like those kids. That's a good thing, right?"
"It's better than good." Zoë smiled warmly before placing a hand on Katie's cheek and kissing her, before pulling her head into her chest and waiting until her breathing turned into light snores. However, she didn't sleep at all, only staring out of the window until the darkness of the night turned into the warm light of dawn and all three of their alarms went off at the same time at 7 o'clock.
💛
"C'mon, Elsie, it's your ball."
Elsie sighed as she ran to pick up the tennis ball. She spotted her mothers smiling at her before she ran back to her position on the court. She bounced the ball up and down in her hands a few times before serving. She avoided Bella's gaze as they entered a continuous rhythm with the two girls on the other side of the net, before it ended with the girl opposite Bella hitting it past her.
Elsie huffed down at the ground as Bella retrieved the ball, frustrated with how this game was going for her.
"Jeez, I can't get over what Sarah said about them on the bus. Is it true, do you think? If so, it's fucking disgusting."
"Oh, definitely. I mean, it is a genetic thing, isn't it? It's not really her fault, is it?"
"How can it be genetic, dumbo? Lesbians can't have kids."
"So she's adopted? Pfft, are we sure she wasn't put on the court today out of pity?"
Elsie raised her head from the ground, glaring at her gossiping opponents just as Bella returned with the ball and began bouncing it. As the ball rose the short distance into the air for the second time, Elsie caught it.
"Bel. I got this one." She didn't move her gaze from the two girls as the ball bounced from the ground into her palm repeatedly, the bouncing ending when she belted the racket against the ball and made it bounce against the ground and crash into her opponents nose.
The audience "Ooooooh!"d as the blonde girl doubled over and screamed while holding her nose in her hands. Bella held in her laughs and watched as Elsie walked over to the net.
"Talk about me or my family again and it'll be a broken neck next time.", Elsie spat down at the spluttering girls, holding her gaze until she felt two hands walk her off the court and spin her around.
"O'Carroll! What the hell was that?!", the coach boomed in her face, coffee breath filling her nostrils. "Where's your head, girl? This is the county semi-final and you're messing this up for the school!"
Elsie shrugged his hands off. "Sorry, coach. They were trash talking me and my family. I lost my head."
"Elsie, what's the number one rule of this team?"
She rolled her eyes and dropped her racket. "Keep our personal lives off the court."
"Mhm. You're off, O'Carroll." The coach turned away from Elsie and yelled across the court. "Murphy, you're on!"
Elsie sighed as the coach walked away after glaring at her, and headed for the dressing rooms. She opened her locker and got out her gear bag, sat on the bench and laid it beside her. She grabbed her sun visor off of her head and threw it against the lockers, grunting in frustration.
"Elsie?" She turned her head to see Zoë standing there, holding a Circle-K coffee cup and looking at her daughter with worry. "What happened out there? You were on fire until just now."
"They were talking shit about you and Ma being lesbian, and me being adopted. I just lost it. No one talks about my family like that."
Zoë sighed and walked over to Elsie, sitting down beside her on the bench. "Your Ma and I, we lived in a very different world when we were your age. Things were definitely better than years before that, but there was still that fear of being who we were. Being gay was often something considered to be a joke, coming out was hard. Most people were lovely back then and nowadays, there's no need to be lovely about it because no one gives a shit. But we still got shit from people who refused to understand, even from my own parents who kicked me out."
"But Nana and Grandad are the best. I couldn't imagine them being horrible at all."
Zoë shrugged her shoulders with a small smile, waiting for it to click for Elsie.
"Wait, you're adopted too?"
"Yes, I am, kiddo, And I wouldn't change it for the world. My biological parents were just that, my DNA. But your Nana and Grandad, they're my real and true parents. I don't know is it a universe thing or what, but sometimes, the family you're born into isn't the family you're meant to be in, and that's okay. There's nothing wrong with it, nothing. Don't ever think that. You belong with us, you are one of us. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, especially not bitches like those ones on the court. And don't let bitches like them take away what's important to you, like tennis."
Elsie shrugged. "Thanks, Mam. That's really cool. But, I don't think coach will let me back on after that. I may have broken our winning streak."
"Hey, you're the one who suggested forming a tennis team in the first place. I know Jack is stern, but this team would literally not exist without you. He can't kick you off over one fuck up. And if he tries to, I'll have to say what I want to say in Italian otherwise you could get thrown out of the school." The two chuckled before Zoë turned serious again. "But El, no matter how good the world gets, there will always be assholes. People will be ignorant and horrible over things you can't control. If I beat up every asshole I've come across in my life, I'd be behind bars. And unfortunately, that's what can happen, whether you were defending someone or not. You just can't hit people, love."
"I didn't hit her. The ball did."
Zoë almost choked trying to contain her laugh. "You're definitely our daughter anyway. We were also massive smartasses in school. But it did get us into trouble at times. I don't want you to get into trouble, because you're such a good kid and you're so loving. And I know that's why you did what you did, I can't say I wouldn't have done the same if anyone even looked at any of you wrong. But not everyone will see it that way, and it can end up hurting people more than whatever you did it for hurt you. Even when you act out of love and the need to protect people you love, even with the best intentions, sometimes, it can backfire, and not just hurt you a bit, but hurt who you love even more."
Elsie gulped. "I'm sorry, Mam. Are you trying to say you're disappointed?"
"Oh, no, no. Just trying to caution you. And also warn you that Ma is helping Blondie with her nose and could come marching in at any min-"
"Elsie Rachel Bianchi-O'Carroll!"
Zoë smiled. "Hey, amore! We were just about to head to the van!"
Katie marched towards her wife and daughter, Zoë being more relaxed while Elsie had an embarrassed look on her face. "Elsie, you just broke a kids nose! She's in agony out there! What's going on with you?!"
"K, there's more to it."
"Love, don't speak for her! I need to hear whatever explanation there is from you, Missy."
Elsie rubbed her forehead before looking up at her mother, trying to hide the tears. "They were talking shit about us, our family. I just lost it. I'm sorry, Ma."
Katie's face softened. "Kiddo, you can't beat up everyone who talks shit like that, because that's what they want, for you to look crazy. As hard as it is, you have to ignore that kind of stuff. We've been ignoring it all our lives and it's the best thing to do. Bigotry isn't rooted in logic, and so there's no logical way to deal with these kinds of things. Especially not violence. Next time anyone says anything to you, just turn the other cheek. You're twice the person they are, so act like it."
Elsie nodded. "I will, Ma. I'm so sorry."
"Don't worry about it, love. You just need to learn how to not get things like that get to you. That girl doesn't even know you, so what does she know about you or your life? Just try and think of that way. But you did still do something wrong, so you are grounded for two weeks. You know the drill."
"Okay. That's fine." She took the phone out of her pocket, and handed it to Katie. "What's going to happen with coach though? He pretty much kicked me off."
"Let us handle that pet," Zoë reassured. "We'll try and sort something out. And if you're not let back on, there's always the tennis court at Starman. Plenty of kids play there, good few are your age too. And Bella and the others can come and play too if they'd like. Don't worry about it too much."
Elsie sighed and nodded. "Can we go home now, guys? I don't want to be here when everyone else comes in."
"Yeah, of course. Let's go, love."
Zoë and Elsie stood up and the three began to walk out, Zoë stopping for a moment behind them to pick up Elsie's visor and gearbag before catching up with them.
💛