Chapter Text
“W-who are you?” one of the little girls curled up on the train station bench asks me, obviously sleepy.
“My name’s Lina. What’re your names?” I ask in reply, hoping to keep her awake until I can get them both on a train home with me.
“I’m Anne, my cousin Kitty’s here too.” Anne eyes me warily, as though I pose a threat.
“Ok, Anne. I’m going to bring you both home with me, is that ok? I don’t have any clothes or toys for little girls, but I do have a nice, big, warm bed at my house that needs someone- or two someones- to sleep in it. How does that sound?” Anne eyes me still but holds out her arms to be carried. I nestle Kitty in my arms before picking up Anne as well. Neither of them is very heavy. I wonder what Jane’s gonna think, me picking up kids at the train station.
Once we arrive home, I take the girls up to the guest bedroom and go to find two t-shirts that they can wear as pajamas. When I return to the bedroom with two of Jane’s shirts, I find Anne and Kitty huddled together on the bed, crying.
“What’s wrong, girls? You’re safe here, there’s no need for you to cry.”
“W-we thought you had left us, L-Lina.” Anne is trying to speak through her tears, shaking all the while.
“Oh, no, I would never leave you! I’m going to take care of you,” I say, rubbing their backs reassuringly.
“’Zat a promise?”
“No. That’s a fact.”
Once I coax them to sleep, I go downstairs to face Jane. “Where’ve you been?” she asks almost immediately.
“I… brought two little girls home from the train station. They’re up in the guest room. One’s Anne, she seems to be older than her cousin, Kitty. They were all alone, curled up for warmth on that bench. I just couldn’t help it.”
“Aw, Lina, this is exactly why I love you so much. You care about other people, and not just your family and friends. You care about everyone.”
“Wait, you’re… not mad?”
“Not a bit. Now, you get their sizes from their clothes and I’ll go buy them a few outfits.”
Since Jane isn’t mad at me, I feel a renewed sense of purpose. I rush up the stairs and into the girls’ room, careful not to wake them as I take their clothes from the little pile on the floor. I text Jane the sizes and throw the outfits into the washing machine. When Jane finally gets back from the store, she has two bags for each girl. “I didn’t know what colors they like, so I just guessed. I got pink for Kitty and green for Anne.”
“That sounds great. We'll leave the bags here for tonight, they can look through them tomorrow.”
“M’kay honey, you go get some sleep, I’ve gotta do some more shopping for our guests.” Convinced, I head upstairs to our bedroom and go to sleep.
The next morning, I wake up to Anne poking me on the cheek, Kitty standing next to her. “Lina, we’re hungry. Can you make us something?”
“That,” I say, pointing to the other side of the bed, “is Jane’s department.” The girls run over to Jane and Anne begins poking her cheek. Jane grumbles and rolls to face away from them. I decide to join in the fun, poking Jane’s cheek, almost getting slapped in the process. Kitty winces when I dodge Jane’s swinging arm.
“Come on, Janie, we’re hungry!” I wink at the girls. “Will you make us some pancakes?” Anne begins to bounce up and down at the prospect of pancakes. Kitty still looks shaken from my close encounter with Jane’s half-asleep arm.
Jane sits up and rubs the sleep out of her eyes. “I guess I could make some pancakes for you lovely ladies,” she sighs, getting out of bed, “although I could use some help…” Anne and Kitty practically throw themselves onto her while volunteering to help with breakfast. I get out of bed as well and give Jane a kiss on the cheek on my way to the bathroom to get ready.
After breakfast and after the girls have looked at the clothes Jane picked out, I sit down with Anne, determined to get some information out of her.
“So, Anne,” I say, “how old are you and Kitty?”
“I’m 6, Kitty’s 3.” We continue on like this for awhile, me asking questions and her giving short answers. I then realize that she’s uncomfortable around me, so I decide to prod gently.
“Anne, what’s wrong? We can stop talking for today if you’d like.” She’s silent for a little while, then hesitantly speaks up.
“Lina, I’m confused. Why did you kiss Janie earlier?”
Oh, God. “Well, we love each other,” I decide is a good answer.
She cocks her head to the side. “I didn’t know a girl could love another girl.”
“Anyone can love whoever they want in this house.”
“Ok. I’m not confused anymore.” She runs off, I assume to go find Kitty. I go into the living room to talk to Jane.
“How was it with Anne?” she asks.
“It was fine. I think whoever she was living with before might have been homophobic, though.”
“Why do you say that?”
“She told me she didn’t think girls could love other girls.”
“Lina, she’s- how old is she?”
“She’s six.”
“Well, she’s six. She’s still young, no one’s probably told her anything about what being gay or straight or anything else means yet.”
“I guess you’re right,” I sigh, defeated.