Work Text:
tracy had always felt wrong. something about the puzzle that was her life just didn’t fit right. there was a piece missing, and her whole life she’d been searching for exactly what it was. her entire childhood she had been denied a chance to be feminine, when her father found out about her talents he practically locked her in their family’s clock shop to teach her everything. and when her mother had died, it was as if she’d lost the chance to even try to learn how to function in regular society.
so she’d come to terms with the idea of never truly being a woman, and had moved on. she cut her hair with a pair of sheers, and threw herself into her work. and by the time she was 20, became so successful she didn’t even need to be polite to get by.
tracy was loud and brash. she was impulsive and fidgety, and tended to speak over people. she knew the other women in her town talked about her behind her back, calling her unladylike and saying she would never find a husband. tracy pretended not to hear them, but their words only made her missing puzzle piece feel farther away.
it wasn’t until the manor that she finally decided to start her search again. with a group of odd balls such as the manor’s residents, she felt right at home. emma had quickly become her closest friend besides luca, while the other inventor was a riot to be around tracy needed some girl time.
the two had become close, and it wasn’t long before tracy felt a weird feeling in her stomach. as if she was going to be sick. emma had given her a Bouquet of roses one afternoon, rambling on about how lovely the sun was in the summer and tracy could barely pay attention. she was too focused on how her cheeks felt warm and her stomach was doing summersaults.
“emma, i’m really sorry, but i’m not feeling well. uhm-thank you for the flowers. I think they’re beautiful.” tracy gave a polite smile, cutting the poor gardener off as she raced to emily’s office. she must have a fever right? maybe she’d caught the cold that was sweeping through the manor at the moment.
when she opened the door to emily’s office, the woman turned in her seat and gave the mechanic a concerned look.
“what’s wrong tracy? you look flushed. did emma give you those flowers? what a sweet gesture.” emily said, a hand on her cheek as tracy took a seat on the stool across from her.
“I-I think I have a cold! I started feeling really hot and clammy and now I feel sick to my stomach and I don’t know what happened! I was just talking to emma and she gave me these flowers. maybe I have an allergy or something I don’t know.” tracy started to ramble, her cheeks still red as she tried not to think about how emma’s smile seemed to light up the whole room. or how the two would dance to the music aesop would play in the parlor.
emily sighed, shaking her head. “you don’t have a cold my love,” emily said, taking tracy’s hand as she spoke. “now i’m not therapist and I’m not too keen on exactly how you’re feeling but do you think there’s a chance you have feelings for our deer gardener?”
tracy thought about it. that didn’t make any sense. every other friend she’d had in the past hadn’t made her stomach turn and her cheeks grow warm just from a laugh. “i mean, emma is my friend, and she means a lot to me but-“
“do you imagine yourself holding her hand? or perhaps kissing her?” emily interrupted, and tracy stopped in her tracks.
she thought and then thought harder, and after a few long seconds the final puzzle piece of her life fell into place.
“oh.” tracy said, starring blankly at the wall across from her. it seemed to make sense now. her disinterest in anything remotely feminine, the weird feeling in her chest whenever a girl got close to her.
“now you see it, good. now please, do get out of my office. I have an appointment with luca to discuss something similar, I believe in you.” emily smiled, leading tracy out of her office in a trance.
tracy starred blankly into the space in front of her, clutching the flowers emma had given her. it suddenly made sense, and now tracy felt as if her heart was going to burst.
she thought about all the time the two had spent together, tracy teaching emma how to repair basic machines and emma teaching her how to garden. the hours they’d spent reading to each other in the library, or the sleepovers they would have when one of them couldn’t seem to get horrible memories out of their minds.
tracy didn’t even realize she was running until she arrived at the garden. emma was working on her newest flower bed, a row of daises blooming in the light. and tracy nearly melted. she was full to bursting, and couldn’t contain it any longer.
“I figured it out!!” tracy exclaimed with excitement, causing emma to drop her tools.
“tracy you scared me, what is with you today?” emma pushed herself off the ground, taking off her gloves and making her way over to the bouncing mechanic.
“emma! do you remember when I told you I never felt fully complete? and that there was something missing from my life that I couldn’t quite place?” tracy asked, practically vibrating with excitement.
“oh yes, I do remember that. what? did you find it?” emma asked, trying to steady the mechanic who was about to fall over from bouncing on the balls of her toes.
“it’s you!”
“excuse me?”
“it’s you!! emma you’re my missing piece! you’re the reason I was feeling so out of place!” tracy laughed, picking up emma by the waist and spinning the two girls around in circles. once she was finished, she set emma down. the gardener looked concerned, and tracy felt herself shrink when she realized how excited she had gotten.
“tracy, I don’t think I understand. how am I your missing piece?” emma looked as if she was trying to piece together the parts of tracy’s mind that were working at a million miles an hour.
“I talked to emily. I told her I kept feeling all weird and panicky when I was with you. and how my stomach would do flip flops and my cheeks would get all red and she helped me realize that all this time i’ve just liked girls. I like girls and you in particular. you make me really happy.” tracy said, averting her gaze in embarrassment of saying what she felt out loud.
the garden was silent save for the sounds of birds and running water, and it stayed that way as emma tried to process what she had just heard. sure the gardener had known for some time she had a crush on tracy, but she never knew her feelings were returned. until now of course. emma smiled, then laughed, and then picked tracy up in a bear hug.
tracy shrieked in surprise as emma put her down, hands on her shoulders.
“tracy can I kiss you?”
“what?”
“can I kiss you? please? I’ve wanted to for a long time.”
tracy paused, processing what she had just heard. did emma reciprocate her feelings, it sure sounded like she did. tracy’s cheeks heated up again as emma leaned in closer, waiting for the mechanic’s answer.
“yes, I would love that.” tracy said after a moment of silence.
emma waisted no time, she cupped tracy’s cheek and leaned down for a kiss. the height difference between the two was awkward, but with tracy standing on her tiptoes the two made it work.
and it was practically heaven. tracy looped her arms around emma’s shoulders, pulling her in closer because she just couldn’t seem to get enough.
tracy had never felt so complete as she did when she was in emma’s arms. and as the gardener pulled away from their kiss, tracy began to cry. not out of sadness, but out of pure joy. she was finding herself, and she couldn’t be happier.
emma kissed her cheeks, whipping the tears away as she let the mechanic get it out. she knew just how hard it was, finding that final puzzle piece. and emma promised herself that she would be there for her girlfriend every step of the way.