Chapter Text
Barbara wasn’t sure how to go about it; the wooing.
Don’t mistake her, she was unquestionably committed to the task… it was just, well, the last time she attempted this was actual decades ago and she felt woefully out of practice with said ‘wooing’.
On top of that, her previous attempts were with Gerald. This was Melissa and the stakes were so, very much higher.
She wanted to do it right; had to do it right.
Had to show Melissa she was serious about this, about her. That this wasn’t something Barbara would ever regret. Not now, not in a week, or month, or year or the, hopefully, countless ones after. Barbara, after not knowing the depths of her feelings for ages, was now floundering in them and because of this was second guessing every idea that popped into her mind for how to prove to Melissa that they, a relationship between them, was what she wanted, and that the consequences whatever they may be, were more than worth it. That Melissa was more than worth it.
Her floundering meant, though, that Barbara was still contemplating her approach the next morning at work. She was so engrossed in her brainstorming, that she almost didn’t notice Melissa breeze in.
Almost.
But it seemed Barbara’s radar, so finely tuned to the woman, wouldn’t allow such a thing to happen. Instead, it alerted her once Melissa was two steps into the room, allowing her to, she hoped discreetly, watch as the redhead moved toward her and dropped her things in her usual spot next to Barbara.
“Morning,” Melissa greeted, a tentative but sincere smile on her face as she headed straight for the coffee.
A bright smile of her own immediately blooming on her face, Barbara watched as Melissa puttered around the kitchen filling her mug. And she marveled at how she never realized her feelings. Her heart was, quite literally, fluttering at that Schemmenti smile and the thing was, this was no different from how she felt any other day before her realization. Well, there was one difference, she was now acknowledging the fact that her heart flutter was due to Melissa’s smile, her presence, and not some internet diagnosed heart murmur, or too much caffeine, or her blood pressure spiking from something Ava inappropriately quipped before the start of school.
In hindsight, Barbara was a bit embarrassed by her obliviousness. She prided herself on her intellect, had worked hard to become an educated woman, and there she’d been, clinging to any and every excuse, no matter how flimsy, instead of looking her feelings square in the face and recognizing them for what they were.
She could have had so much more time with Melissa if she’d just been brave enough….
But there was no time for regrets now, only moving forward with her whole heart. The entirety of which she planned to give to the delightful Melissa Schemmenti… once she figured out how, that was.
Doing her best not to look smitten, Barbara cocked her head when Melissa settled beside her, moaning about the poor quality of the coffee as she usually did. And when Janine barged in, already going a mile a minute, Melissa just turned to Barbara with a smirk and an arched a brow, as if to say, you see this shit? This energy? This youth?
Lips pressed together to smother a laugh, Barbara took a sip of coffee and wondered at how normal it felt to sit next to Melissa and have these silent conversations. How it seemed as if it were the start of any other day at Abbott.
As if their kisses, touches, and confessions from the night before didn’t happen. And while Barbara was itching to brush her knee against Melissa’s under the table, to tuck that stray hair behind her ear, to just touch her in some way, Melissa was cool as a cucumber.
Heaven above the woman could compartmentalize.
But then again, she realized, Melissa had apparently been compartmentalizing in a whole other way than Barbara these past years. Lord almighty, Barbara could not wait until neither of them had to compartmentalize ever again and she could stop using the word so much it wasn’t seeming real anymore.
It was only then, when Janine said her name, twice, that Barbara realized she was staring at Melissa, specifically her mouth and hurriedly looked to the younger woman, now pretending to listen as she discovered her own ability to compartmentalize had been utterly destroyed by just one kiss from Melissa.
Nodding, Barbara agreed to whatever, likely overenthusiastic, plan Janine proposed and hurried from the room before her complete lack of control, awareness, and, yes, compartments, gave her away.
Throughout the rest of the day, Barbara’s mind was only half on what it should have been, her students and their education, when one of the kids, Felicia captured her attention thoroughly.
“No! My mommy says that my love language is time, not touch. So, no touching!” The girl exclaimed, arms crossed, and feet planted wide.
From the mouth of babes!
Leave it to one of her kindergartners having to be the one to wake her brain up from its endless spiraling. She made sure to chime in that there should be no touching and then instructed her students that it was, blessedly, naptime.
As her students settled into their normal spots, Barbara watching to ensure none of her troublemakers tried to sneak next to each other, she couldn’t help but smile.
Love languages, of course! She would woo Melissa by learning how to love her in every language.