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The smell of coffee wafted in through the open bedroom door. Alex took a deep breath and rolled onto her stomach, her right arm reaching for the warm body next to her. She was met with the unexpected feel of cool sheets instead. Her hand patted around the area usually occupied by Maggie. When Alex felt the edge of the mattress she cracked a sleepy eye open in confusion. It took her foggy brain a moment to process the unfamiliar flower-printed sheets and light blue of the painted walls.
“Midvale,” she said, turning onto her back and scrubbing her hands over her face. A smile slowly appeared as realization dawned. “Vacation.”
Alex threw back the covers and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Out of habit, she crossed the room to the closet, knowing her mom would have made sure her favorite high school sweatshirt was hanging inside. Sure enough, the close-to-threadbare Midvale Stallions hoodie was there. Eliza had threatened to toss it in the trash for years but Alex always protested. It was likely a false threat anyway.
Slipping the maroon hoodie over her head, she stretched her arms high and felt her back give a satisfying crack. She reached down to touch her toes and felt another pop. Over the years she had come to appreciate Maggie’s insistence that they go to yoga classes regularly, although she’d never admit it to the other woman.
Alex exited the guest room after a final stretch and walked downstairs. She assumed she’d find Maggie reading on the couch with her morning coffee but didn’t see her as she passed through the living room. She ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to tame her unruly bedhead and continued toward the kitchen where she spotted Maggie.
Keeping quiet, Alex leaned against the kitchen archway, slipping her hands into the pocket of her hoodie. Maggie was standing at the stove with a mug of coffee in hand while keeping a watchful eye on the skillet in front of her. Alex took more than a minute to appreciate her wife’s appearance: a messy bun with loose tendrils of hair falling down against her neck, a flannel shirt hanging open over her tank top and short boxer shorts that barely fell to mid-thigh.
“I can feel you staring,” Maggie said without looking away from her task. She set her coffee aside and pushed a sleeve up.
Alex moved from the archway and stepped into the kitchen. “Your plaids don’t match,” she teased, referencing the clashing shades of red.
Maggie glanced over her shoulder. A small smile with the slightest hint of dimples graced her lips as she took stock of Alex’s appearance. “Says the woman in flying pig pajama pants.”
“Okay. Fair enough.”
Alex poured coffee into an empty mug with her right hand while her left hand snaked around Maggie’s waist and under the flannel, her thumb brushing the bare skin of her wife’s lower back. “Good morning,” she said before kissing Maggie’s temple.
“Good morning.” Maggie picked up the skillet and slid an omelet onto one of the plates on the counter. She started preparing a second one. “Greek omelet okay?”
“More than okay. Mom had ingredients for that?” Her hand slid further up Maggie’s back.
Maggie nodded while adding spinach, tomatoes, feta cheese and Kalamata olives to the eggs already in the pan. “Not only was your mom nice enough to let us stay at the house while she’s at the conference but she left a fully stocked fridge for us, too.”
Having gotten to Midvale extremely late from their drive up the coast, the women did little more than have a glass of wine from the bottle Eliza had left on the kitchen table for them before heading to bed.
“Complete with vegan ice cream in the freezer.”
Alex immediately wrinkled her nose. “Gross.”
“You know you love it,” Maggie responded, bumping her shoulder against Alex’s.
“I know I love you.” Alex ducked her head slightly to kiss Maggie full on the lips. They both smiled into it.
“Smooth, Danvers.”
“I learned from the best.”
They kissed again, lingering longer this time. Maggie tried to pull away but Alex held her close with the hand still resting on her back.
“Your omelet is going to burn,” Maggie chuckled against Alex’s mouth.
Alex gave her a final kiss before removing her hand from Maggie’s back and turning to pull forks out of the silverware drawer. “Worth it.”
“Nerd.”
==
They settled at the small table on the back deck. The sky was a brilliant blue already and the sound of the nearby waves provided serene background noise for their breakfast.
The conversation flowed easily between the women like it always did. They actively avoided work topics but touched on anything and everything else. After a few minutes of pushing potato pieces around her plate, Maggie set her fork down and rested her chin in her hand, fixing Alex with a serious expression. “We should live by the ocean.”
Alex quirked an eyebrow and covered her mouth with a hand as she spoke around a bite of omelet. “Not that I’m opposed, but what brought this on?”
“Life is slower here. Simpler.” Her gaze drifted to a small flock of shorebirds scurrying about in the wet sand. “We sleep better when we’re here. We relax more. We focus on each other and are more present in the moment.” She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“No, Maggie, you’re right.” Alex reached out and laced her fingers with those of Maggie’s free hand, regaining the brunette’s attention. “We have more than enough money stashed away. What do you think about looking for a getaway? A little cottage on the beach. Somewhere closer than Midvale so we can use it more often but far enough from National City that we still have a nice drive along the coast.”
Maggie’s face lit up and she squeezed Alex’s hand.
“I can’t tell you how much I’ve been looking forward to this weekend away from the craziness of the city. To be able to disconnect from everyone and everything but you. My gorgeous, amazing wife.” Alex saw a small blush color Maggie’s cheeks. “We could do this more often. Force ourselves to take time off and recharge. Finally put ourselves ahead of our jobs for a change. I mean, retirement is on the horizon but …”
Dimples popped and brown eyes sparkled. “But not soon enough.”
“It’s a very distant horizon.”
She looked back out at the sand and the water. “Let’s do it, babe.”
“You like the idea?”
Maggie lifted Alex’s hand and kissed the palm. “I do. Your mom will probably be disappointed when we don’t visit as much. She currently has the monopoly on a cheap beach getaway.”
“I think she’ll understand.” Alex cupped her wife’s cheek and gently ran her thumb over Maggie’s lower lip.
They sat looking at each other with gentle smiles. Time had added more laugh lines around their mouths and more crinkles around their eyes but they rarely brought attention to that fact, finding each other more beautiful than the day they met.
Alex picked up her coffee mug and put an end to the moment. “What do you want to do today? Mom mentioned something about an outdoor arts festival being in town this weekend. That might be fun.”
“Let’s plan on going tomorrow. I want to be lazy today. Lay out in the sun. Let you impress me with your surfing skills.” She pushed up the sleeves of her flannel and adjusted her position in the chair, tucking one leg under her and hugging the other to her chest.
“Did you bring that bikini I like?”
“There’s a good chance I did, yes.”
“You can impress me with your sunbathing skills then.” Alex stood up and stacked their empty plates. “Speaking of lazy, I know we’ve only been up a couple hours but since we missed out on a quiet morning in bed, what do you say to a nap?”
“I say yes.” She tugged at Alex’s elbow and pulled her down for a long, slow kiss. “I also say yes to the morning sex we missed out on.”
==
Several hours later, the women lay curled together in the guest room bed, sheet draped low over their hips. Both slowly started to stir.
“Nope,” she said softly, her voice lightly coated with sleep. “I don’t get to be the big spoon often. Let me enjoy it while I can.”
Maggie let out an exaggerated sigh and relented, relaxing back into Alex’s bare chest. “Consider it my anniversary gift to you,” she responded with a quiet laugh.
Alex nodded against her wife’s hair and squeezed her tighter around the middle as Maggie’s hands covered her arm. “I’ll take it.”
Holding Alex’s hand between her own, Maggie lifted it to her lips and kissed the knuckles. “I love you, Alex. Thank you for marrying me.”
“I love you, too, Maggie. Forever.”
Maggie idly played with Alex’s fingers while Alex nuzzled against Maggie’s shoulder. Just when Alex started to doze off, Maggie rolled in her arms and kissed her nose. “Okay, babe, gift’s over. Switch.”
The redhead rolled her eyes and scoffed. “Seriously? That wasn’t even ten minutes!”
“Seriously. I am the big spoon in this relationship and we both know it.” She patted the other woman’s hip over the sheet.
Alex lifted her hand to Maggie’s cheek and drew her in for a long, languid kiss. Their lips and tongues molded together perfectly. When they finally parted to catch their breath, Alex turned to the right and adjusted herself until she was comfortable. Their legs tangled together again.
Now it was Alex’s turn to idly play with Maggie’s fingers, spinning the platinum band on her wife’s ring finger. “Remember when we used to stay here before Mom converted my old room to the guest room?”
“You mean when we tried and failed to share your twin bed? Yeah, I remember.” Maggie smiled against the back of Alex’s neck and Alex could swear she felt Maggie’s dimples against her skin.
“This double bed doesn’t feel much bigger.”
“That’s because we sleep in a ridiculously large king bed. You know,” she paused, “your mom has a bigger bed. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind us borrowing it as long as we change the sheets—“
“No!” Alex cut her off. She released Maggie’s hand and flipped onto her back, her eyes wide. “No no no. That is not something we’re going to do.”
Maggie let out a boisterous laugh at Alex’s reaction, her eyes barely visible and her dimples impossibly deep. “Don’t worry, Danvers, it was just a joke. I’d never do that to Eliza.” She slowly lifted herself up and slid over top of Alex’s body. Crossing her hands and placing them on her wife’s chest, she rested her chin on top of them. “No matter how cool she is with us having sex in her house,” she added with a devilish grin.
The redhead narrowed her gaze and twisted her lips to the side, scrutinizing the expression of the woman on top of her. She poked each of Maggie’s dimples with an index finger. “You’re incorrigible.”
Maggie smiled wider and gave Alex a quick kiss before scrambling out of the bed, leaving a naked Alex with mouth agape, sheet pushed to the foot of the bed and confusion etched in her brow.
“Beach time!” was all Maggie gave in way of explanation as she started digging through her suitcase in the corner of the bedroom.
==
Maggie pulled her gaze from the book she was reading and looked out at the ocean in front of her. Spotting Alex was fairly easy because the beach and, subsequently, the water weren’t nearly as crowded as expected despite the perfect afternoon weather. She watched her wife sitting on her surfboard, bobbing with the rhythm of the surf. She could tell Alex was completely at ease and in a comfortable, well-known environment. Although she couldn’t hear what they were saying, Maggie could see Alex chatting with a college-age young man bobbing on a surfboard several feet away. He must have said something funny because Alex threw her head back in laughter and clapped her hands.
“Excuse me but you’re Alex Danvers’ wife, aren’t you?” A voice startled Maggie from her tunnel vision. She glanced above her to find a vaguely-familiar looking dark-haired man.
“I am.” She put her sunglasses on top of her head and looked at him with a narrowed gaze, searching for recognition. “And you are …?”
“Jake.”
“Bennett,” they finished together.
Maggie stuck a finger in her book and stood to shake the man’s hand. “Maggie. You live down the street from Eliza, right?”
“And I was a year ahead of Alex in school.” He gestured in the direction of Alex and the young man. “My son is out there with your wife.”
“He’s a pretty good surfer. Not that I know much about it, but if he can keep pace with Alex I consider him good.”
Jake nodded in response. “That’s a compliment for sure. Alex taught me how to surf in high school and I taught Tyler when he was younger.”
Maggie turned her upper body and gave him an expression of disbelief. “In high school? Couldn’t find one of your buddies to do that?” A smirk played at the corner of her lips.
“My family moved to Midvale from Vegas when I was in ninth grade.” He shrugged good-naturedly. “I saw her at the beach all the time and thought she was cute. Figured it was a good way to flirt with her and maybe score a date.”
“Did it work?”
“It did. We even dated a few months.”
Taking a step back and crossing her arms, Maggie gave Jake a more scrutinizing once-over. Playing along, Jake flashed a broad smile and flexed his arms to reveal toned biceps. She nodded in approval. “Yeah, I can see that.”
“Hey, Dad! Did you see that last wave we rode in?” Tyler and Alex jogged up the beach, surfboards tucked under their arms.
“I did not,” Jake admitted, looking between his son and Alex, “because I was talking to Maggie, Alex’s wife.”
Tyler raised a hand in greeting and Maggie did the same.
Alex laid her board on the sand behind Maggie’s chaise and pushed wet hair out of her face. “I’ll be right back, Mags. Tyler wants to show me some of his surf photos from Hawaii to make me jealous.” She leaned forward and gave Maggie a quick kiss before trotting down the beach with Tyler.
Jake reached forward and tapped at the book Maggie was holding against her chest. “I don’t want to keep you from your reading. Just wanted to say hi.”
“No worries. I’m glad you did because now I’ll have something to tease Alex about later.”
“How long are you two in town? We should try to get together for drinks or something. If you’re interested, of course.”
Maggie watched Alex and Tyler chatting with a woman she assumed to be Jake’s wife by the lifeguard tower. “We’ll be around for a few more days and can probably figure something out.” She tilted her head to the side and smiled. “If nothing else it’ll be a good excuse to hear high school stories about Alex.”
“Absolutely! Eliza has our number.” He gestured down the beach. “Or Alex will probably end up with Tyler’s. On top of the surfing, he’s as big of a science and astronomy nerd as she is. Let us know what works for you.”
Alex was headed back in their direction and Jake took that as his cue to leave. Maggie stretched out in her lounge chair again, putting her sunglasses back in place and opening her book in her lap.
“Hey,” Alex squatted down next to Maggie and kissed her cheek, unzipping her wetsuit top. Standing, she tugged it off her shoulders to reveal a black bikini top underneath. She dropped it on top of her surfboard. “Get much reading done?”
“Enough.” Maggie rummaged in the tote bag next to her and pulled out Alex’s sunglasses.
Alex slipped them on. “Too many babes on the beach distracting you?” She put her hands on her hips and stared down at Maggie, trying to give her a serious expression but failing to fully contain a teasing smirk. “C’mon, you can tell the truth. I won’t be offended. Much.”
“Well,” Maggie began, “there was this really hot redhead surfing.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. She was super distracting. Hot body. Awesome surfing. You know I’m a sucker for girls in board shorts.”
Alex took a seat in the sand, leaning back on her hands. “Board shorts are good but I like a woman in a bikini more. Especially a blue bikini with white flowers that shows off her killer abs.”
Maggie let out a dramatic sigh. “But then I caught hot surfer girl talking to her boyfriend so that probably doesn’t bode well for me. Being a lesbian and all.”
Alex gaped at her wife. “I was young! He was sweet!” Maggie started laughing. “I didn’t understand my feelings!”
“I mean, he is pretty cute. For a boy.” She rolled onto her side to face Alex, eyes full of mirth. “But boys are gross!”
Narrowing her gaze, Alex glared at Maggie. Maggie’s laughter quickly died away. Even though she couldn’t see Alex’s eyes clearly because of her sunglasses, she knew she was in trouble.
“Alex,” she warned. “No.”
“Alex,” she mimicked. “Yes!”
Next thing Maggie knew, Alex had pounced on top of her and was peppering her face with salty kisses and tickling her sides with sandy hands.
==
Maggie wiped her hands on the dish towel and hung it off the oven door, turning around to lean against the counter. Alex smiled at her from the kitchen table where she was refilling their wineglasses.
“Dinner was great, babe. It still marvels me that you can cook so well.”
Alex rolled her eyes and handed Maggie her glass. “Yeah, well, you know I can only cook a few dishes. And pasta Pomodoro is far from difficult, even with chicken and garlic bread.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Maggie gave her a gentle kiss, small dimples creasing her cheeks when she pulled back. “Good food is good food.”
The redhead hummed in agreement before sipping from her glass. “Did you want to go for a walk? Looks like now would be the time to leave so we can make it down to our spot for sunset.”
Their spot was a small, out-of-the-way area between the house and the jetty. It contained a collection of flat rocks perfect for two people to sit on and was surrounded by tall grasses on three sides, affording a small amount of privacy. It was also the spot where Alex proposed for a second time, almost two years after they had rekindled their relationship. They had promised each other to take things slower the second time around. The extremely small wedding, however, had followed a short two months later. No one was surprised that the women were done waiting at that point.
“Yes, definitely.” Maggie swallowed the remaining liquid in her glass and stood, reaching for her wife’s hand.
They casually strolled barefoot down the beach hand-in-hand, lost in their own world despite the people they passed by.
“So … um, can I ask you something?” Hesitation coated Maggie’s voice as she brushed a wind-blown chunk of hair aside before stuffing her hand in the pocket of her cardigan.
Alex squeezed her wife’s hand and gently brought them to a stop, squaring her body in front of Maggie’s. “Of course you can.” She ducked her head to try and make eye contact when Maggie looked away. “What’s up, Mags?”
The brunette made fleeting eye contact before focusing on the joined hands between them, returning the squeeze. “I’ve been thinking about something since this afternoon.”
Alex nodded and glanced over her shoulder. “Our spot is thirty feet away. We can sit down and have a conversation there, yeah?” She ran her thumb over the back of Maggie’s hand, hoping it would help soothe the nervous energy she could feel radiating from the other woman.
Taking a seat in the middle of the rocky platform, Alex pulled Maggie down in front of her, wrapping her arms tight around her waist from behind, her head resting on Maggie’s shoulder. “What’s going through that gorgeous mind of yours?” she barely spoke above a whisper.
Maggie placed her hand on Alex’s knee, playing with the frayed denim fibers at the edge of her shorts. “Watching you and Tyler this afternoon and then with that little girl that wanted to see your surfboard.” A sigh escaped her lips and her brows knit together in concentration. Alex remained quiet, continuing to offer support with another gentle squeeze of her arms. “Do you ever regret not having kids, Alex?”
Alex opened her mouth to respond but Maggie cut her off by holding up her free hand. “I know it’s a long buried topic and that we’ve had hundreds of conversations about it and were confident in our decision but …” she trailed off.
“But?”
“It’s something that works its way into my brain and nags at my thoughts every now and then.”
A silence settled between them. It wasn’t exactly comfortable and it wasn’t exactly uncomfortable. There was a charged energy hanging in the air as each processed the thoughts and emotions connected to the topic. It was a defining part of their relationship, one that required an enormous amount of communication and understanding from both sides. One that had caused a rift between them but one that had also caused a healing later on.
Closing her eyes and resting her forehead against the back of Maggie’s neck, Alex finally broke the silence. “Honestly?” she paused. “Sometimes.” She felt the body in front of her stiffen immediately. Reaching forward she slid her left hand under Maggie’s, tangling their fingers and brushing their wedding rings together. “But then I think about the rich, full, happy life we have together and I can’t imagine it being different. We can be spontaneous whenever we want, whether it’s date nights or traveling or late night dance parties or sex.”
“As spontaneous as the DEO and NCPD allow, you mean.” The women shared a small laugh at the truth of the statement.
“I think about how our friends have kids that we get to borrow whenever that maternal need strikes.” Alex lifted their joined hands and kissed Maggie’s knuckles. “We get to spoil them rotten and lavish them with attention and fill them full of sugar and be the cool aunts that are the bad influences their parents can’t be.”
Maggie turned in Alex’s arms. “We are the coolest of the cool aunts. All the fun parts of parenting with none of the responsibility.”
“Exactly, Mags. No saving for college tuition. No shuttling kids to soccer practice. Most importantly, no trying to fit in with the other parents we most assuredly would find annoying beyond belief.” She cupped the other woman’s face and kissed her deeply, channeling as much love as she could into the connection. “We made the right decision for us. That’s what’s important and that’s something I will never regret.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m positive.”
The sun had started setting over the slow rolling waves while they were talking. Resuming their previous position, Alex and Maggie lapsed back into silence, only this time it was comfortable. Brilliant shades of orange and gold and deep pink played out in the sky in front of them as they held each other. Minutes passed.
“Sorry for bringing that up on our anniversary, babe.”
“Don’t be. Aren’t anniversaries supposed to be a time for reflection?” Alex asked quietly. “To take the opportunity to think about how you got from point A to point B with all the madness in between?”
“We’ve had a lot of madness,” Maggie replied just as quietly.
Alex hugged her wife tighter and kissed her temple. “But I wouldn’t have it any other way. You’re the one I’ve always wanted to be with,” she said, her voice laced with emotion. She took a steadying breath to try and keep the tears at bay with only minor success. A few stray tears rolled down her face, transferring to Maggie’s since Alex hadn’t moved her cheek from the brunette’s temple.
Maggie reached up to wipe at her own face with her hand coming to rest on Alex’s cheek.
The women closed their eyes, taking stock of the moment they were currently in. The warmth of each other’s touch. The salty smell of the ocean. The calming sound of the grasses moving in the light breeze. The steadiness of their hearts beating.
Finally, Maggie released a deep sigh. “I wouldn’t change a thing about our journey either. The good and the bad, the easy and the challenging, the almost perfect and the ego bruising. Each and every moment of that madness.” She pulled back so they were facing each other properly. Her hands cupped Alex’s face, her thumbs wiping away any remaining tears. “Someone once told me that shadow gives depth to color. Without that darkness we’d be living a flat, mundane existence as bright as it may otherwise seem.“
“My mom told you that, didn’t she?”
“What can I say? I married into a family full of wise women.” The beginnings of a small dimpled smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, “Besides, it’s all considered relationship strengthening or character building or some shit like that.”
They shared a watery laugh followed by a tender kiss. They exchanged whispered admissions of love punctuated by more kisses.
Alex sat back. Her tongue poked out to run across her bottom lip before she opened her eyes and looked directly into Maggie’s. “Character building or not, I’m so glad it’s you, Mags.” Alex leaned in and hugged her wife tight. “I’m so glad we found our way back to each other and didn’t give up on this.” Maggie rubbed a hand up and down Alex’s back and hummed in agreement. They stayed that way for several long minutes.
“Okay, enough of that.” Blowing out a breath, Alex wiped a final tear from her eye. “The sun is down and these shorts are not keeping my legs warm enough with this breeze. So, Mrs. Danvers, what do you say to heading home, opening another bottle of wine and strengthening our relationship in a much more enjoyable fashion?”
Maggie stood and brushed the sand from the seat of her shorts before offering her hands to help Alex to her feet. “That sounds perfect, Mrs. Danvers.”
Alex’s face lit up as she reached for her wife’s hands. “Mrs. Danvers. All these years later and I still get butterflies when you call me that.”
The women walked back to the house holding each other close, Alex’s arm slung over Maggie’s shoulders and Maggie’s arm wrapped around Alex’s waist.