Lauren looks up from the book she's reading when she hears feet pattering on the hardwood floor. A smile makes it's way across her face when she sees her 4 year old son running toward her. She places the book down on the couch and scoops the boy into her arms.
"Hi, Cam." She kisses his head.
"Hi, mommy. Where is mom?" He asks, his green eyes looking curiously up at her.
"She is picking up sissy from her soccer practice. Are you ready for the party?" Lauren runs her fingers through her son's brown curls.
"Mmhmm. Sissy is turning this old today." He holds up 7 fingers and Lauren leans in and kisses his palm.
"She sure is. Why don't you go get your present for her and wait in her room? She should be getting here any minute now." Lauren sets him on his feet and gives him a nudge in the direction of the stairs. A few seconds alter, the front door opens and her wife and daughter enter into the house.
"Honey, we're home!" Camila yells as she sets her car keys in a basket by the front door.
"Mommy!" Lauren hears her daughter's sweet voice and she bends down so she can scoop the girl up into her arms.
"Hey, birthday girl. How was soccer practice?" The older Latina scrunches her nose when she gets a whiff of her daughter.
"So great! Mom told me her favorite number is 7 so I got the number 7 on my jersey!" The younger girl says enthusiastically and both moms grin at her.
"I would've chosen 10, but 7 is a great number too." She ruffles her daughters hair. "Now why don't you go up and get a shower? Everyone should be over soon. Also, your brother really wants to give you his present before everyone arrives so he is upstairs waiting for you." The now 7 year old nods her head before running up the stairs.
"Hi, beautiful." Camila wraps her arms around her wife's waist and buries her head in her neck.
"Hey, love. How are you holding up?" Lauren strokes her wife's back. Today is always a hard day for the both of them. They should be buying double the presents and celebrating two birthdays, but they are only celebrating one. Each year on this day, they visit their other baby at the cemetery and bring flowers and a slice of birthday cake. They've been doing it for 6 years and tonight after the party, they'll take their whole family and release 7 balloons. Losing her almost broke them, but once all the guilt and blame faded, they realized the only way they would survive losing a baby was leaning on each other, their therapist, their friends, and their family.
"I am." Camila whispers, her voice thick with emotion. The green eyed girl plants a kiss to her wife's temple and Camila pulls back so she can look her in the eyes. "Dinah and Normani should be arriving soon with the cake and Ally and Shawn are about to be here with the pizzas."
"Sofi has the decorations right?" The older Latina asks.
"Yes, she is coming soon with all the Captain Marvel decorations. I love that our child loves Marvel and that Captain Marvel is her favorite." A wide grin spreads across the younger Latina's face.
"You only love that she loves Captain Marvel because you love Brie." Lauren smirks and Camila nods.
"Well fuck yeah, Lauren. Have you seen the woman? Whew." Camila fans herself dramatically as she thinks about the beautiful blonde.
"I'm not arguing." Lauren holds up her hands in surrender. Both women are hopelessly in love with each other and with Brie Larson.
The two moms turn to the door when they hear it open.
"The party has now arrived!" Dinah yells and they both roll their eyes. Normani enters behind her with a birthday cake in tow.
"Actually, now the party has arrived." A younger voice chimes in and everyone smiles when they see Dinah and Normani's oldest daughter, Brooklyn, enter the house holding their youngest child, Hamilton. The two women ended up fostering the child that Lauren and Dinah saved from the wreck. Fostering then turned into adopting and the two women became her legal guardians. About two years after they adopted Brooklyn, Normani and Dinah decided they wanted to have another. It wasn't long before Normani was pregnant with their second.
Camila walks over to Brooklyn and ruffles her hair. "Hey, princess. I know Michelle will be very excited to see you. She's up in her room if you want to go see her." The younger girl nods and heads upstairs. "And you." Camila squats down to get eye level with the little boy. "My sweet Hamilton, are getting way too big." She scoops him up in her arms and he giggles.
"I have been all over Miami looking for a Captain Marvel birthday gift. Of fucking course they have stores full of male Avenger toys, but none of the badass women get their own action figures or toys." Sofi comes storming into the house carrying multiple sacks. "I hate our world I swear." She pauses at the doorway when she sees Camila holding the tiny boy and Lauren covering his ears. "Oops. I didn't know the little ones were here already. My bad."
"Let me help you, Sof." Lauren grabs a few bags from the girl and Sofi follows her into the kitchen. While both of them are unloading everything, the front door opens again and a very pregnant Ally walks in with her husband Shawn trailing behind her. Shawn is carrying multiple boxes of pizza and a sack full of drinks.
"Smallz! You made it!" Dinah wraps the small woman up in a hug.
"Yeah, I stopped feeling nauseous and I didn't want to miss my niece's birthday party." The woman sets the present on the table by the door and Camila takes the pizzas and drinks from Shawn. "Now I'm going to go find a seat on the couch because my feet and back are killing me." Shawn quickly wraps an arm around his wife's waist and guides her into the living room.
Lauren and Camila work on getting all the food ready and set out while the rest of their friends hang the decorations up in the backyard. Michelle has a lot of friends at school and Camila and Lauren offer every year to throw her a huge birthday party, but every year she says she just wants it to be close friends and family. Her wish is their command, so every year they have a small party for their girl.
When all the decorations are set up and the food is laid out on the table, everyone makes their way to the backyard. The kids all immediately run to the swing set and mini playground that Camila and Lauren have set up while all the adults take a seat around the table and catch up.
"So how's expanding the restaurant coming, Smallz?" Dinah starts the conversation.
"Great, actually. We are opening up a restaurant in New York City, LA, Seattle, and Atlanta. We want to see how those do before we open any more." The older women gushes about her pizza business and all of her friends listen intently. "How's the gallery, Lo?"
"It's doing really well here actually. So glad to be doing what I love again. It's refreshing." The green eyed girl replies. "And I get to watch my beautiful wife live out her dream of songwriting and teaching music full time. Life's good."
Camila reaches for Lauren's hand and interlaces their fingers. A few seconds later, a mini Camila runs and jumps into Lauren's lap. "Can we have cake now?" Michelle looks at Lauren pleadingly and Lauren nods her head. She can never say no to those big brown eyes that are identical to her wife's.
"Sure, baby. Go get everyone and we can have cake when everyone is seated." Lauren plants a kiss to her head and smiles when the girl scurries off to get her friends and brother.
A few minutes later, everyone is gathered around the big table in their backyard. Dinah and Normani are each holding a child, Michelle is sitting in Sofi's lap, and Camren is sitting in Camila's.
Lauren and Camila decided that they wanted to raise their children in the house Camila grew up in. Sure, they had enough money to live in a nicer and bigger place, but this house is special to them both. It's also close to Dinah and Normani and they love being only a few houses down from their best friends. Camila nor Lauren had the heart to sell it and once Michelle took her first steps in the house, they both knew they'd raise every single child they had in that house.
Once Lauren finishes strategically placing all the candles in the cake, she lights each one and then everyone sings happy birthday.
Twice.
Michelle's always insisted that they sing it once for her and once for her sister.
It chokes Camila up every time, and every single time Lauren ends up holding her wife as close to her as possible until the tears stop.
"Okay, babe, make a wish." Camila wipes the tears from her cheeks and watches as her mini me grins and then in one powerful breath, blows out every candle on the Captain Marvel cake.
"What did you wish for?" Camila asks as she snakes one arm around her wife and places the other on her daughter's shoulder.
"I wished for my sister to have a happy birthday in heaven." The young girl smiles up at the sky briefly and everyone's heart clenches in their chest. "And I wished for all of us to stay this happy forever."
THE END