Work Text:
Peyton and Brooke were laying on their couch, cuddling. It was only 10pm but the two women were exhausted. Brooke had worked non stop that week while Peyton had taken some days off to look after their 4 years old daughter, Abby, who was on Christmas break. Christmas was in a week, and they were going to have to start decorating the house because it was their turn this year to host. Everyone was coming back to Tree Hill, including Haley and Nathan, which they hadn’t seen in almost a year.
They had a lot of things to do, and moments like these, where Peyton could just rest her head on her beautiful wife’s laps while they would watch a cheesy Christmas movie, were rare. Peyton was half asleep when she heard small steps in the stairs.
A few seconds later, a cute little girl in a blue onesie, with messy hair and her stuffed elephant in her arms was standing in front of her mom. Peyton sat up next to Brooke, giving her full attention to her daughter.
“I want a dog. I want a small dog, but I don’t want you to buy me one, my friend Callie told me that there are poor dogs in the shelter that were abandoned by some people because they’re not perfect and I want one of them”
Brooke was about to say something when Abby put a finger in front of her mouth, asking her not to interrupt her.
“Brooke, Peyton” she said, looking at each of her mothers. It took them a lot of self control not to burst out laughing. “Sleep on it, we will talk about it in the morning. Goodnight”. She kissed her moms before going back to her room.
“Do you think she’s sleepwalking again?” asked Brooke.
“No I am not” said a voice upstairs.
Both women started laughing, their daughter was always full of surprises. Ever since she had learnt to talk, she had been like this. She probably inherited that from Brooke. She knew what she wanted, and she had quickly learnt that crying for it wasn’t the solution, she would always find solid arguments and would always present them in that very formal way.
The next morning, Abby was up early, eager to know her moms’ answer. She jumped on their bed, trying to wake them up. Peyton woke up first, while Brooke moaned and buried her head in Peyton’s arms “Please tell your daughter to stop yelling”. “She’s your daughter too, you know?” Laughed Peyton. “Not when she’s annoying, she gets that from you”. “Oh really?” Peyton looked at her daughter and nodded. It was a code that Abby understood immediately. The little girl jumped on her mother, tickling her. “I won’t stop until I get a dog! Say yes!”. Brooke tried to resist, but when she saw her wife join her daughter in the tickling, she gave up “Okay, you’ll get a dog, now let me sleep”
“No, the shelter opens at 8, we’re already late”
“Wait, now? today?”
“We’re already late” repeated Peyton, shrugging.
About an hour later, Brooke, Peyton and their daughter were walking in the shelter, talking with an animal caretaker named Gabriel. Abby looked around at all the animals. She was only 4, but she understood what was happening to them, which made her heart ache. Then something caught her eye. It was a small golden retriever. She waved at her moms, asking them to come. She showed them the dog.
“She’s a puppy golden retriever, we found her on the streets two months ago, she was in pretty bad shape, but she’s getting better, she’s one of the strongest puppies I’ve ever met, she fought like hell to stay alive, she’s a fighter.” said Gabriel as he opened the cage’s door.
“I want her” said Abby, whispering because she didn’t want to frighten the puppy.
Her moms could see she was being serious, and that they wouldn’t be able to change her mind, not that they’d want to.
“What are you gonna call her?” asked Brooke.
“Lucky, because she got lucky just like me.” Abby turned around and explained to Gabriel “When I was very very very little, I was like her, I think I was scared because I was alone, but my moms chose me and brought me home, I’m very very lucky”
Gabriel smiled at the little girl “I think Lucky is a really good name, do you wanna say hi?”
Abby walked in and sat down next to the dog. She started petting her gently. She whispered in her ear “Welcome to the family, you’ll see, we have the best moms in the world”.
Abby didn’t really know how to whisper just yet, and in that moment, Peyton and Brooke were really glad they had been able to hear that. Brooke hugged her wife as they looked at their daughter playing with the puppy. They had never seen her this happy. At that very moment, their hearts were filled with joy and love, they couldn’t dream of a better life than the one they had been sharing for the past ten years.