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Chapter Text

Mauka Kiekie Camp was the type of camp Lucy Tara wished she had gone to in her childhood. The place not only offered charming cabins, exciting activities and plenty of outdoor space for kids to run and explore, it also promoted multicultural classes where children could learn about diversity in the natural and fun way everyone should. Plus, there were also several LGBTQ+ flags hanging on the camp's main buildings, which Lucy thinks is  pretty neat. 

Located in the North Shore of Oʻahu, and run by two of her closest friends, Jesse and Heather Boone, MK – as Lucy likes to affectionately call the camp – was one of the main reasons she chose to move to the island in the first place.

Six years ago, after her life derailed and her burgeoning Olympic career vanished from before her eyes, being in Dallas was too much. Everything there reminding her of what could’ve been. Knowing her situation, the Boones invited her to spend some time at their campsite. " Nothing like fresh air and nature to heal a soul ," Jesse had said.

Turned out he was right.

What was supposed to be just a week stay, turned into a whole summer vacation.

It wasn't a magical fix, but it did give her purpose and excitement, which was more than she had back then. Thus every summer since, she has gone back to Mauka Kiekie to teach little kids Martial Arts, more specifically, Taekwondo. 

Although she did have a good time teaching adults – the look of sheer shock on someone twice her size when she easily overpowered them will never get old, nor stop being a delicious boost to her ego – it also reminded her too much of her old competition days. Kids were easier and, somehow, more special too. Maybe it’s their clumsiness that never fails to brighten Lucy’s day, or how their faces break into the biggest smiles when they get an exercise right, or maybe it’s being overpowered by 10+ kids holding on to her like koalas at the end of a class until she eventually taps out, and they all go rushing back to their parents amidst a fit of giggles.

So every third week of June finds Lucy eagerly waiting by the reception of her condo, luggage in hand, for the three signature honks.

Today is no different.

At 5:45AM, Lucy is already perched by the reception door, and when the first honk sounds mere seconds later, she dashes out of the door like a little kid. 

“Lucy, my darling!” The bus driver, Old Pete, greets her with an ear to ear smile.

Every summer, Jesse charters a bus to take those who’d rather not drive to camp, and Old Pete has been the designated driver for 15 years. Despite being in his 70s, he still steers like he belongs in The Fast and The Furious movie — something Lucy was perhaps a little too in awe of.

"Pete!" Lucy throws her arms around the man, squeezing him tight. "How have you been? How's your wife?"

“Both doing good. We’ve been trying that yoga couple’s class you suggested and it’s doing wonders!”

Lucy wiggles her eyebrows suggestively, making both of them laugh. Pete and Sara have been married for over fifty years now and still look as in love as Lucy imagined them to be in their youth. While she did meet Pete through the charter, they developed an off-camp friendship as well, often meeting up for coffee, or even dinner at his place. 

“Oh! Speaking of, she asked me to give you this.” The older man hands her a small tupperware. It only takes a small crack of the lid to tell Lucy it's full of Sara’s famous malasadas. 

She hums, shoving the first one into her mouth and melting at the taste, “Is your wife single?” Old Pete laughs, and swats her arm playfully.

For the next few minutes they chat mindlessly about worldly affairs; Lucy’s job, his family, new TV shows watched and books read, it’s only when Pete’s alarm rings, signaling 6AM, that the pair remembers they better get going if they want to pick up the rest of the gang.

Kai Holman, the swimming and water sports instructor, is their next stop. It was his second year at MK, and although he had been a bit intimidated by all the kids last year, today he walks into the bus with the confidence worthy of an ex-marine turned surf instructor, turned chef.

"'Sup, Luce," He winks, dropping himself into the seat across from her. "Got you something."

A small package, wrapped in yellow and orange paper, flies from his hands and lands on Lucy's lap. The brunette can't help the excitement bubbling up as she begins to open it. 

The feeling however, is short lived.

She holds the Paw Patrol inflatable arm band in front of her face, then smacks Kai with it. 

Next comes Jane Tennant and her nine-year-old daughter, Julie. Jane has been the camp's language instructor since her son, Alex, who is now sixteen and too cool for summer camp, started attending it at the young age of five years old. 

Then there's Joe Millius, the land sports coach. Read: soccer. But if he is feeling bold, he will throw some basketball and american football into the mix as well. He also has a huge, not-as-secret-as-he-thinks crush on Jane, and little Julie has been playing  matchmaker since day one with no luck so far.

The fifth stop is at Ernie Malik’s, the one and only computer wizard and one of the kindest, most genuine souls she has ever met. The kids seem to share the feeling. They are completely obsessed with Uncle E. and even those who are not too fond of programming/computers sometimes sneak in during his lessons just for fun. 

Then we have Hina, Kai’s best friend, who takes turns helping both Kai and Joe with sport stuff – and if Jesse asks nicely, she also gives some baking lessons to the older kids; Wally, Kai’s dad and the camp’s chef, along with his kitchen crew; Pike, the wilderness instructor (although Lucy is not sure how he got the job, considering he is the least wild-sy person she knows); BoomBoom and BamBam, the science instructors, and Dalia, the dance teacher and Ernie’s… Girlfriend? Summer fling? Ex? Lucy can never be sure. 

Their last stop is usually at Katia, the art teacher’s place. This year, however, they pass by her street without stopping and Old Pete lets her know that Jesse said she wouldn't be going to camp this year, something to do with grandchildren. Bummer, Lucy really liked having the 65 year old woman as her cabin buddy. 

With no more stops to make, the group finally begins their journey towards summer. 

+++

Due to today's unusually heavy traffic,  it takes them a little over an hour and twenty to arrive at their destination, when, on a good day, it  would’ve taken no more than 45 minutes. But none of that matters when the bus' door opens and the fresh smell of nature hits. 

Letting everyone make their way off the bus first, Lucy takes her time, stretching her shoulders and back in order to release the tension there. When she gets up, her injured knee shoots a bolt of pain through her entire leg, and she has to bite her tongue to avoid the sharp inhale that threatens to come out. She bids Old Pete goodbye, wishing him a safe trip back, and returns the, now empty, tupperware, asking him to send her thanks to his wife again.

The kids aren't due to arrive for  an hour or two, which gives Lucy plenty of time to chat with the other instructors and take in the almost perfect sight in front of her. Almost perfect, because the huge lake right at the center of it keeps tainting her vision.

"Luce!" A familiar voice greets from behind her, and, without warning, she is being hoisted up by the hips, legs kicking aimlessly in the air in front of her.

"Jesse!" It comes out as a mix of reprimand and fondness that only he can elicit out of her. 

"I missed you, sis," He puts her down and messes with her hair, like she is one of his kids.

Huffing affectionately, she pulls the taller man down for a proper hug, "Missed you too, old man."

"Hey now! I'm only 10 years older than you, alright?" 

The next twenty minutes are spent catching up, each reprimanding the other for not visiting more often.

Even though she has Jane, Ernie, Kai and even Old Pete back in Honolulu, she misses the brotherhood she shares with Jesse. Misses having her best friend slash big brother around all the time.

They met by accident one night at the University of Dallas' Campus. He was there to pick up his girlfriend, and Lucy was hitting on said girlfriend. Misunderstandings apart, the three of them quickly became friends, and often, to this day, laugh about that little mishap. 

"I'll walk you out," Jesse offers when she mentions she probably should take her things to the cabin and get ready for the opening class. 

They walk in friendly silence, Jesse allowing her the moment to breathe in the site.

The camp is, in its essence, a huge round clearing. When she says huge, she  means fucking ginormous. The place has so many acres that Lucy can barely make out the cabins sitting on the other side of the also round lake.

It's all heavily secured and monitored, so it presents no risk to  the children, but Lucy can understand where some parent's hesitation lies. And since the camp has kids as young as five years old, Jesse and Heather decided to install a visiting hours policy, meaning that parents could visit their babies Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1PM to 5PM.

It was a policy that benefited the parents as well as the kids.

As far as the sleeping arrangements go , there are  three types of cabins: the instructors, the kids and the staff. All of them positioned in two concentric circles around the place. The staff's being the ones farthest away from the lake (Lucy’s dream cabin).

Each instructor’s cabin is paired with a  camper's cabin  that houses  five to eight kids and two teenage monitors. Given MK’s age range, five to eleven, the campers located in the cabin next to yours are your responsibility for the next five weeks of camp. 

The prospect of managing up to eight kids freaked Lucy out during her first summer working here, but with Katia and the monitor’s help, she quickly got the hang of it. 

As looks go, the cabins are mostly the same, only varying in size: a rectangular decked house, with firewood stacked at the side and a hanging chair by the front window. Some fairy lights wrapped around the deck making  the place look just as cozy and magical as it feels .

There is one crucial difference though: A badge hanging above each cabin’s door. Each pair of cabins gets a different one, and, during the last week of summer, they all proudly wear their colors and defend their houses in an epic battle of capture the flag meets water balloon competition. The reward is a spot on the camp’s wall of fame. The highest honor of all. 

It's the most anticipated event of the summer, and, a week before, the kids are already vibrating with expectation. And truth be told, so are the adults.

The Red Pandas, Lucy's team, has never won. In the five times she had joined, Jesse won the first; Carter, the previous swimming instructor, the second, and Jane the next three — which, of course, makes sense. Duh , CIA . 

This year however, Lucy's got a plan.

With the camp's plan printed out and a notepad on her belt, Lucy is ready to map out the best hiding spots along with each of her kids' strengths and weaknesses, so she knows where to place them on the field. 

The other teams won't know what hit them.

“Hey, there's something I've been meaning to ask," Jesse says, pulling her out of her daydream. "Since Katia is no longer coming to camp,"

"What happened?" Lucy interrupts.

"Her daughter had twins, and she is moving to Seattle permanently to help out."

"Oh! Twins! I love twins." Lucy bounces up and down on her feet. "I gotta text her!"

"That means you'll be getting a new roomie." Jesse continues, ignoring her previous comments. 

"Is it Jane? Ooh it's gotta be right? Jane, Lucy…" Every instructor was paired up with the person whose name's initial was closest to yours. Since Katia is gone, it makes Jane the next obvious choice. Unless, "Wait. Did you decide to mix things up and put me with Kai?" – a pause – "Oh God, please don't tell me I got Nadia. Oh fuck, I got Nadia, didn't I?" 

Jesse chuckles, "God, I forgot how amped you could get," Lucy glares at him. "Not Jane. Not Kai… Not Nadia."

"Wheew! Don't scare me like this." 

"It's a new instructor, actually. I don't personally know her, but Heather seems pretty infatuated with her. And since it was a last minute hire, I was wondering if you could show her the ropes."

"Of course! I'll be happy to!"

+++

The characteristic sound of wheels on the wooden floor comes when Lucy is almost done unpacking. It's been around half an hour since Jesse dropped her off and, for that fleeting moment, she almost forgot she was getting a new roommate.

Taking the last of her shirts out of her suitcase in slow motion, Lucy steals multiple eager glances at the door while also trying to seem disinterested in whoever is gonna cross the threshold. She sends a quiet prayer to the universe that it's someone pleasant to be around, because she is not above bothering Jesse all camp for a new cabin partner. 

Lucy's jaw hits the floor, a small strangled gasp comes out of her lips as she fails to suppress her visceral reaction at the sight of the six feet tall blonde goddess that walks in.

The woman's eyes are glued to the phone in her hand, the scowl on her face doing nothing to make her less attractive. 

Biting her lip hard enough to dry blood, Lucy's eyes roam the woman's body, taking in a more spectacular view than the camp itself: Blonde, shiny hair tied up in a high ponytail, two strands fall loose framing the woman's face. Lucy's fingertips tingle with the need to reach out and play with it. The most well-defined (clenched) jaw Lucy has ever seen. Lips so pink and soft that it has Lucy tracing her tongue against her own. Lithe figure with legs that could go on for miles. And the most jarring, yet delicious, red pantsuit with a black button-up and high heels to match — Lucy is pretty sure she suffered some kind of brain damage at first sight, because why would the woman be wearing a suit and heels to a kids summer camp. 

Not that Lucy's complaining. At all.

If there was something the brunette always prided herself on was the fact she did not have a type. She doesn't care about body types, hair colors, and whatnots. But if there was something that made her go full 12-year-old-boy-with-his-first-crush it was a woman in a suit. It drew Lucy in like a moth to a flame. 

"Fuck," She mutters under her breath. Luckily the woman doesn’t seem to hear. 

The next five weeks are going to be excruciatingly long. 

"Hi!" Lucy sounds too excited even for her own ears. She has no time to wince though, because the blonde lifts her eyes from her phone and meets Lucy's. 

The room gets about a hundred degrees hotter when majestic brown eyes bore into her soul.

The brunette is pleasantly surprised to notice the small shaped O that forms on the woman's mouth upon seeing her. Her eyes travel along Lucy's body, starting on her legs and moving all the way up to her face. When she does so, her cheeks look a bit flushed. Isn't that interesting?

But whatever that was, it’s gone as fast as it came. A carefully placed mask of aloofness covers up any signs of the previous reaction.

Lucy doesn't know whether to be impressed or intimidated. 

"Hi." The voice is as attractive as the speaker, even with the hint of detachment in it.

"I'm Lucy," She offers a hand to the woman and is surprised to note that she doesn't hesitate in taking it. 

The blonde's hand engulfs Lucy's. Her grip is firm in a way that tips the smaller woman off that she probably does that a lot. Her palms are soft, and her thumb is moving slightly against the back of Lucy's hand, causing goosebumps.

If she feels the same electric bolt that goes through Lucy's veins, she doesn't show it. 

"Whistler," She clears her throat, seemingly catching herself, "Kate."

"Which do you prefer?" When the woman looks confusedly at her, Lucy adds, "The name."

"Oh. Uh, I don't really care," She gives Lucy a forced, almost uncomfortable smile, as if trying to soften her words. "Does anywhere in this place have a signal?" 

The brusque change of topic catches Lucy off guard. She has to blink a couple of times to register Whistler's question.

"Uh, it's a camp." The woman looks at her like that doesn’t answer her question. Lucy sighs, "At the main cabin. Jesse and Heather's office."

Whistler visibly relaxes. By that Lucy means that the three crinkles between her eyebrows have now softened into one. 

"Is that one mine?" The blonde asks, pointing to the bed opposite to Lucy's. Abrupt change of topics seems to be her thing.

The blonde doesn’t seem to need an answer though. Strolling over like she owns the place, Kate drops her suitcase on the bed and wordlessly begins to pile up her clothes into a color coded scheme that has Lucy shaking her head in disbelief. She has to bite her tongue to avoid making a comment about how cashmere and camps don't usually mix. 

She stands correct though. The next six weeks are going to be excruciatingly long. 

Chapter Text

Despite Kate Whistler's standoffish persona, Lucy finds herself enraptured not only by her beauty, but also by the mystery surrounding her. What could a woman, who is clearly uncomfortable with nature and feelings, possibly be doing in a summer camp filled with kids?

"Sooooo," Lucy begins after the woman leaves the bathroom freshly showered and wearing, well, still not camp friendly clothes, considering their light colors, but an obvious upgrade from the suit and heels.

Baby steps.

"You're new," No shit, Lucy . "Well, obviously. Ha! Uh, what, what are you teaching?"

"Art." She says matter of factly, as if Lucy should've known this piece of information.

All things considered, she probably should've.

Still, Lucy's arms twitch in surprise and the pillow she was playing with flies from her hands. Both women watch it as it lands on the floor.

"Are you having a stroke?" Kate asks, looking suspiciously at her. 

"What? No. It's just you don't really… look… artsy?" Lucy truly can't blame the woman for the eyeroll. 

"Are you asking, or stating?"

"Neither," Whistler blinks a couple of times, staring at her like she is still considering dialling  911 to report a possible stroke. 

"Ever been to a summer camp before?"

"Can't say I have."

Shocking .

“Do you like camps?”

“Debatable.”

"Ever taught kids?"

"What is this? The Spanish inquisition?"

"Jezz. Calm down, Grinch . Christmas is still six months away," Lucy mutters under her breath, her defense mechanism kicking up by reflex.

It takes her two seconds too late to realize that the tone Whistler used wasn’t the one Lucy was used to. It lacked judgment and reprimand, and  it was, instead, casual, if not teasing.

One look at Whistler’s clenched jaw and stiff back tells Lucy she heard every word. Shit.

Mustering her most friendly smile, Lucy adds, “I’m just trying to get to know you.” 

Kate just hums, unaffected by Lucy's attempt to smooth things over, as she begins walking to the door. 

"Hey! Wait! Where are you going?" Lucy jumps off the bed and jogs towards the woman.

"Is there not an opening class we need to attend?" She stops in her tracks and it's adorable how genuinely confused she seems. 

"Well, yeah, but you're new," Lucy, once again, states the obvious. Then, in her worst Southern accent, she adds, "God forbid a pretty thing like you getting lost in woods like these." 

Whistler rolls her eyes, but Lucy has never been prouder to see a glimpse of a smile on someone's face than she does now. 

"I memorized the camp's plan. I know where to go."

"Of course you have."

Still, when Kate resumes her walk, Lucy stubbornly strides along. It doesn't seem to bother her nearly as much as Lucy thought it would. 

The path from their cabin to the main building is relatively short, and they make it in silence. Lucy stealing glances at the woman beside her, and looking away when she looks back. 

As they approach the building, the swarm of kids gets thicker. Some, from the previous years, recognize Lucy and come give her a high five, or a hug, but she is happy to see a bunch of new faces too.

To her surprise, some of the kids greet Whistler with just as much enthusiasm, and Lucy gets to witness the most shocking personality switch ever seen as the taller woman crouches down to talk to the kids in soft, caring tones. 

Lucy is aware that she is staring and that staring is creepy, but there's an actual smile on Kate Whistler's face, a real, dazzling one nothing like the one she forced on Lucy when they first met. 

Once the kids begin to disperse and make their way into the building, bouncing in excitement, Kate turns back to Lucy. Her smile is gone, but a lingering softness is still present. 

God, she is beautiful.  

"I have. It's been a while though," Whistler says after a long sigh.

"What?" 

"You asked me if I ever taught kids. I have."

"Good. 'Cause I don't know if you noticed, but there's quite a few of those here," Although her tone is teasing, the smile blooming on her lips is genuine.

Whistler just rolls her eyes and goes into the building, Lucy jogging right behind her. 

+++

The opening class is nothing but a gathering where kids can start to get acquainted with each other and with the instructors. There is food, music, dance and tons and tons of games. 

Every year the Boones bring something special to the class, last year was a human chess game with little hexes and tricks on every move, the year before was a gingerbread house building competition — Jesse was going through a Christmas in July phase. And this year is basically Disney on Ice without the ice.

The huge makeshift stage taking over half of the space in front of them is filled with actors dressed up as the kids’ favorite characters while singing the most iconic Disney songs.  Said  kids are in a frenzy, jumping, spinning and singing along. Some are clutching a grown up and crying  — whether it is by fear or happiness it's unclear. Possibly both. 

Lucy is sitting on the lower step of the side bleacher with Kai and Jane, watching in amusement at the scene happening in front of them. If her eyes roam the crowd searching for a specific pair of brown eyes and blonde hair, it’s simply because of Jesse’s request. 

"How is the new roomie?" Jane asks, as if reading Lucy's thoughts.

"She is…" How does one describe Kate Whistler? "She's ok." 

"Ok, huh?"

"What do you mean 'ok, huh?' " Lucy does a very bad impersonation of Jane, which gets her a light shove.

"You know, I just, I notice things." Jane raises her eyebrows. "Like how you keep throwing glances around."

"Wasn't aware that looking around was a crime."

Jane ignores her, "Heather told me she is beautiful."

Beautiful is an understatement , Lucy thinks but doesn't say. No need to give the woman any more ammunition. 

“Sure,” Lucy says nonchalantly. 

"And very talented too," Jane adds, and that picks on Lucy's curiosity though she tries not to show. 

"Good for the kids.”

She is saved from the conversation by Bruno, one of her eight year-old students, who she catches trying to take down a smaller kid with a badly executed Ap Chagi, A.K.A. front kick, move.

"Bruno! What are you doing?" Lucy jumps from her sitting place and runs toward the boy. 

"Showing him my moves!" He flashes her a wide smile, his leg still up in the air.

"Remember what I told you last summer? We’re not going to use Martial arts to attack or outright hurt someone."

"Only to defend ourselves. I know," The boy deflates, and Lucy ruffles his hair.

"Good. Now, put your leg down. Please."

"Sorry, Matt." Bruno says.

With that one conflict resolved, she turns to go back to the bleachers only to stop dead in her tracks when she sees who has joined Jane and Kai. 

Whistler is sitting in Lucy’s previous spot and looks entirely engaged in the conversation she is having with Tennant. Lucy’s forehead crinkles with something similar to jealousy.

"'Sup Luce," Cole, the music teacher and founder of the gender neutral cabins, greets her. 

"Hey Cole," She greets them absent-mindedly, her eyes glued to Whistler, who offers nothing but a small courteous nod in Lucy’s direction. 

Within minutes, Cole successfully pulls her into mindless conversation. They are good people and during Lucy’s first summer here, they bonded quickly, sharing more than a few interests. Lucy even had a tiny little crush on them.

Despite being engaged in the conversation, her eyes still find their way to Kate from time to time, and she is glad they do because after Jane excuses herself to the restroom, the blonde begins paying attention to the show, and if there is one thing Lucy didn't have on her bingo card today, it was Kate Whistler mouthing along to the words of Some Things Never Change like is actually enjoying herself.

When Lucy feels a smile threatening to take over her lips, she quickly turns her attention back to Cole. Unfortunately for her, Cole loves to meddle in other people’s business and is now staring between her and Kate with a knowing smirk on their lips.

“Don’t,” It’s her first and last warning, but it does nothing to wipe the smile off their face. 

+++

Since this morning Lucy has learned three new things about Kate Whistler – all of which, given by third parties. The woman herself remains a closed book. 

One: She and Cole go way back. Lucy is not sure on the details, but Cole mentioned something about university and sorority houses and Lucy is going to die if she doesn't find out more soon.

Two: She is really, really good with kids. Ok, maybe this one isn't exactly news – Lucy did see her greet the kids, but she had no idea how deep that kinship went. It's like she is a completely different person when she is around them. Softer. More free.

Three: She isn’t afraid to kick a child’s ass at Monopoly if she has to, and that gets a whole other level of respect from Lucy. 

None of those, however, give Lucy any clue as to what someone as pristine as Whistler is doing in a summer camp. Her connection to Cole seems to be the most likely reason, yet, somehow, it still doesn't seem like enough.

The thought followed Lucy throughout the entire opening class and still lingered even as the women made their way back to the cabin for a little rest before the next activity. Kate in her usual poised self, and Lucy trying not to vibrate too hard and tip the woman off about the thousands of questions swimming through her brain. 

Back at the cabin, Lucy doesn’t waste any time plopping herself down on the bed, her left knee thanking her for the small mercy. It’s usually not this bad, but after the long trip and all the walking, jumping and jogging she did today, it’s causing her more than a little discomfort. 

“You ok?” Kate’s voice catches her off guard. 

Rolling her head to the side so she could look at the woman, Lucy gives her a small tired smile. While she may be surprised and, undoubtedly, touched by the woman’s attention, she doesn’t feel like going over it, so she lies, “Just tired.”

Kate doesn’t seem to believe her, but doesn’t pry. Instead she nods and pulls one of the chairs by the table.

Something shiny in her hand catches Lucy’s eyes, “What’s that?”

“A router.”

“A router?”

“A wifi thing.”

“I know what a router is. Why do you have a router?”

“Because I need it?”

“Are you asking or stating?” The flipped question from this morning earns Lucy a small, impressed smile. 

“Neither,” Whistler responds and Lucy can’t help but chuckle.

“Why do you need it?”

“I’m waiting for an e-mail.”

“Long distance lover?” Lucy fishes, but all she gets in response is an eye roll. “Where did you get it?”

“Are you always this curious?” And there’s that tone again, the plain, casual one, in a question that was so many times aimed to hurt.

“Yeah, it’s a manufacturer’s defect I’m afraid,” Lucy jokes to hide the small sting of pain caused by unwanted memories of family, friends and exes making similar questions right before degrading her somehow.

“I wouldn’t consider curiosity a defect,” Kate says, tinkering with her router. “We wouldn’t be anywhere without it.” 

Once again, the lack of malice, or disdain takes Lucy aback. It’s said so matter-of-factly, like it’s no big deal, and it kind of makes Lucy want to cry. 

“Besides, it reminds me of someone I know,” A loving look passes by the blonde’s face before she continues, “I got it from Jesse, by the way. They are available for us if needed.”

“Wait.. We’ve had routers this whole time?” 

+++

The rest of the day goes by as smoothly as a first day can.

After the thirty-minute break, it was time for everyone to gather around the pavilion for the kids to get assigned to their cabins for the summer.  It was a simple event, Jesse and Heather would stand on a little podium in front of everyone and call out some names. Once a small group of kids was formed, they were assigned to a house. 

Lucy can feel Kate tensing up beside her as the names begin to get called. Her back is as stiff as a board, her jaw clenched, and fingers twitching ever so often. Her legs were bouncing up and down until she realized what she was doing and stopped herself. 

Remembering the first time jitters all too well, Lucy wants to offer some kind of comfort, but doesn't know how. Katia was so good at calming her nerves, and when it’s her turn to pass on the favor, all her coherent thoughts are stuck on how defined the blonde's jaw looks right now and how the glow of the fire glistening in her face is creating a hauntingly beautiful look that Lucy can't make herself look away. 

Besides, the woman is very closed off and the last thing Lucy wants to do is cross an invisible line, or offend her by placing a gentle hand on her fidgety ones. 

Luckily, around an hour later, Kate's nerves seem to have remembered who their owner is and quit the nervous jittery moves, with the exception of the discrete nail-picking. 

"Ok, moving to the nine year olds," Jesse announced. "Theo, Keala, Summer, Karolina, Cris Danforth, Chris Santos, and Julie Tennant." 

Each of the girls got up as they were called and formed a neat line beside Heather.

"You are with The Red Pandas , aka Lucy and Kate over there." 

The other kids cheered as the girls made their way to greet them. Lucy scooped Julie up, but realizing she shouldn't show favoritism, she offered to scoop every other girl as well. Kate stayed with an enthusiastic high five while occasionally playing with their hair. 

"Julie Matthews, Sabrina, Tess…" Jesse goes on with the list of kids, but Lucy's focus has already changed to the girls in front of them.

Some faces Lucy recognizes from the previous years; Julie, Theo, Keala and Chris Santos, but the other three are new, and Lucy takes a special time trying to get to know them a bit more and make them feel included in the family. 

Time flies by and, soon, it's dinner time already. In amidst the chaos of hungry kids running to and fro Lucy ends up losing Kate, only finding her again when the blonde places her tray beside Lucy's and sits down. 

She doesn't say anything, just gives Lucy a small half smile that has no business making Lucy's chest expand the way it just did.

It's only when Cole and Jane clear their throats that Lucy realizes she's been staring, and that she missed whatever question they had thrown at her. The rest of the diner is spent fighting the blush that keeps insisting on creeping up at the sight of their matching, knowing smirks. 

After dinner is play time! The kids have around two hours to run around and be kids while the instructors try to keep an eye on all of them without going completely bonkers. 

"Miss Lucy, Miss Lucy!" A little boy named Otis runs towards her with open arms. 

"Hey bud!" She greets scooping him up in her arms. 

"Come play with us!"

And so she does.

There's tag, tic tac toe and charades. She even tries jumping rope until she remembers the precarious state of her knees and has to disappoint a bunch of eight-year olds.

Surprisingly, Kate sticks around closer to her. They even play snakes and ladders together with some five year olds, and lose miserably to the little boy sitting on Kate's lap. His proud, cheeky grin is adorable. 

At eight, Jesse announces bedtime which elicits a bunch of groans from the kids, but, by some miracle, they manage to get all of them into bed by eight thirty. Kate and Lucy leave the campers cabin once the kids start to nod off, bidding the monitors goodnight and asking them to call in case they need anything.  

By nine thirty, the women are already comfortably tucked into bed.

It's strange, Lucy finds herself thinking. Silence was never something Lucy considered to be her friend – no sound usually means too many thoughts. But Kate's quiet presence, and punctual remarks are quite comforting, and Lucy soon finds out she doesn't really mind sitting in silence with her.

She stares in the direction she knows the blonde is at, but in the pitch black of the cabin, she can only make out indistinguishable shapes. 

"Can't believe we've got seven kids," Lucy whispers to the dark, stifling a yawn, her eyes already beginning to close. 

"That's pretty terrifying," Kate says in her first spoken display of nervousness.

Lucy gasps, then says jokingly, "But honey, you promised me ten."

A chuckle falls freely from Kate's lips, and Lucy must really be groggy with sleep because the " It can be arranged ," that is said in a breathless whisper couldn't have been real.

Chapter Text

The second day starts as early as the first.

At 5:30 Lucy is already up and running. Astonishingly, Kate is a heavy sleeper and is unfazed by Lucy's meandering about until her alarm rings just shy of 6AM.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty," That earns Lucy her first eye roll of the day, but the ghost of a smile on the blonde’s face tells her it’s just for show. 

Moving together like a well-oiled machine, the two women go about their morning routine – Kate starts by grabbing her phone and refreshing it five times before giving up and heading to the bathroom with a frustrated groan.

Twenty minutes later, Kate leaves the bathroom and grabs her phone again. She repeats her previous motions, but judging by the frown on her forehead, the result is the same. 

Some lover . Lucy can't help but to think. 

The conversation is kept to a minimum, but Lucy is equally delighted and freaked out by the fact that Kate is the one initiating most of it. The brunette is also disappointed to learn they don’t have any shared group activities for the day. She was looking forward to pestering the woman all day long. 

As far as her bad knee goes, it feels better today. Not good, nor painless, but at least she can stand on it without feeling like it might cave in at any given second. She knows she is limping though, trying to avoid putting too much weight on it – something Whistler most definitely notices, but mercifully doesn't comment on.

Then it's waking up their kids, getting them to breakfast on time and prepping things for her first class of the day. 

“Hey y’all!” Lucy greets the five year-olds in front of her, all looking adorable while twiddling with the belt of their brand new Dobok * . 

Her classes are all divided by rank. It’s not the common Martial Arts belt system given that most kids only practice it during the summer, and that type of ranking requires more time and consistency than a few weeks each summer can provide.

Instead, Lucy uses badges. In total, the kids can gain up to seven badges – one for each year of camp, but it only serves to motivate the students and give them something to be proud of because in the real world, they would all be a white or yellow belt at best.

Although most of her classes have students of all ages, the five and six year-olds each got a class of their own. Lucy had learned the hard way that having kids that small in a class filled with ten and eleven year olds wasn’t the wisest move. So to avoid any further accidents, she stipulated the age rule. 

“How about we all sit on the floor real quick for a round of introductions,” They do what she says, mimicking Lucy’s Seiza position with their little legs folded perfectly underneath their bodies. Picking up a small ball, she continues, “My name is Lucy. I’m 30. My favorite animals are cats and red pandas, and my favorite movie is Kung Fu Panda!” 

The kids giggle, and she tosses the ball randomly to a little blonde girl in front of her. “I’m Tina, and I’m five and a half. My favorite animal is chickens and my favorite movie is Tangled.”

Tina passes the ball to another little girl by her right and the introductions continue until the last kid, a slightly taller boy with ash brown hair and tan skin that Lucy recognizes from last night’s game of snakes and ladders, has the ball. By the way his shoulders hunch as he tries to make himself appear smaller, Lucy can tell he is extremely shy. 

When he speaks, his voice is barely above a whisper, “My name is Micah.”

“Speak louder! I can’t hear you,” One of the other boys screams and little Micah’s cheeks burn  bright crimson.

“Hey Keelan, Micah is very shy. He is going to use the volume he feels comfortable using and we are going to respect that, ok? You can talk to him in private later if you want to.” Keelan lets out a low sigh, and Lucy winks at Micah, who gives her a small thankful smile in return.

The five year-old clears his throat and, stealing himself, tries again, a bit louder this time, "My name is Micah and I'm five. My favorite animal is my dog, and my favorite movie is Into the Spiderverse." 

“Into the Spiderverse? Nice!” Lucy offers her hand for a high five which the little boy happily welcomes.

“Ok! Let’s get this class started, shall we?” She claps, and the kids cheer. “The first position you already aced, which is the one we are in right now.”

Lucy goes on explaining what a ‘ Seiza ’ position is and why they use it before moving onto a five year old friendly version about what Martial Arts is and what they can expect from the class.

Although Martial Arts is fit for all ages, older kids are usually easier to work with. Given that some of its main pillars are patience and self control, one can understand why younger kids are a bit tricky to work with.

Despite Taekwondo being her main modality, she thrives on the opportunity to mix things up and keep the class more entertaining for her little Padawans, so every once in a while, she adds a few Karate and Judo moves as well. It works perfectly, and the kids are engrossed until the very end. 

Lucy can’t help but to notice how Micah tends to stick to the further edges of the classroom, as if trying to hide from his peers. She doesn’t say anything, not wanting to cause any embarrassment, but decides to keep an eye on him anyway — shy kids always activate her protective instincts. 

She’s glad she does. Micah turns out to be one of the most disciplined students she has ever had, paying rapt attention to Lucy’s every word. The spark in his eyes tells Lucy he’s not there just because his parents forced him to, or because he wants to learn how to effectively punch a kid at school. He seems to be there because he is genuinely interested in Martial Arts, and she feels weirdly proud of him for that.

Once the class is done, a monitor comes to pick up the kids and walk them back to their respective cabins, but while the other kids run excitedly towards the teenage girl waiting by the door, Micah sticks around closer to Lucy. His eyes glued to the floor. 

"Hey bud, everything ok?" Lucy signals the monitor to go ahead. She has a few minutes to spare before her next class, so she can take Micah back to his cabin herself.

"Do you think I'm gonna be good like you one day?" The question is muttered so low that Lucy almost doesn't catch it, but his eyes have the same glint she saw during the class. 

Lucy crouches down to talk to him, “I think you are going to be better.”

He looks rather dubious, but there’s a little upside down smile forming on his mouth.

"My Mommy said you were really, really good."

"Oh! Does your Mommy have classes with me too?"

"No," Lucy is confused for a half a second until, "She saw you in the Olympics."

She hopes the utter shock she is feeling isn't so easily readable on her face. It is though, because Micah's cheeks begin to pink, "Did I say something wrong?" 

"No! No, honey. You didn't," Lucy is quick to reassure. It was rare that Lucy got recognized as a result of her short-lived Olympic career. It's even more shocking having a child, who wasn’t even alive during her competition days, recognizes her simply from the stories he has heard from his Mom. "I'm just a little surprised, that's all."

It seems to reassure Micah enough because the tentative smile is back as he states that he too would like to go to the Olympics one day.

"Oh really?" Lucy gives him her biggest smile. 

"And I want to win a Novel Prize.”

Laughter bubbles out of her mouth, "Ambitious. I like it!" Then, leaning forward a bit, she whispers, "And I think you meant 'Nobel Prize'." 

"That!" He giggles, and at that moment right there, Lucy swears she is going to do everything in her power to protect this kid.

Lucy then walks Micah back to his cabin, delighted to notice he is under Ernie's guard. She says so to the little boy, who in return asks her all sorts of questions about the computer genius and their friendship, every trace of shyness gone. Kids are truly marvelous. 

They say goodbye with a promise to meet up at playtime for a battle of Connect 4, "I'm really, really good at it Miss Lucy!" Micah assured her, and who is she to doubt.

Her next class is with the six year-olds, just as tiny and delightful as the five year-olds, though, undoubtedly, more agitated and distracted. Next comes her most advanced students, the ten and eleven year-olds, and as usual, Lucy doesn’t have much trouble with them.

Her afternoon is cleared of classes and her main duty is to oversee the kids who have freetime from 1PM to 4PM. She plays a couple of games with the kids, stuffs herself with some delicious snacks, hangs back in the sun with Heather and Hina and witnesses a very heated debate between Carla – the biology teacher – and Ernie about what type of bug little Anthony is playing with.

It's uneventful in the best way possible.

Now, as to a certain blonde, Lucy only sees her again after dinner when she stops by their cabin to pick up a linen coat, and finds her hunched over the desk, scribbling furiously on her little notebook. 

"Hey," Whistler startles at the sound of Lucy's voice. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."

It's been less than twelve hours since she last saw Kate, but Lucy has almost forgotten how beautiful she is. Except now, with her usually pristine hair tied up in a messy bun, blue paint smeared on her jaw and glasses sliding down the bridge of her nose, 'beautiful' doesn't seem to do her justice.

She simultaneously looks like the artist Lucy doubted her to be when they first met, and art herself. One that should be hanging in the walls of the Uffizi Gallery.

It’s breathtaking. 

"It's alright," She gives Lucy a brief tight lipped smile before returning her attention to the notebook.

Lucy doesn't know how long she stands there, completely mesmerized by the scene in front of her.

The thing that breaks her out of her trance is Kate herself, “Wait. What time is it?” The blonde, however, doesn’t wait for a reply. She grabs her phone and checks the time, "Shit! I gotta go!"

She closes her notebook and darts towards the door, leaving a speechless Lucy behind. 

Shaking her head, trying to rid herself of the lingering Gay Awe in her system, the brunette finally moves to the wardrobe to grab a coat. 

It's not until she is halfway to the door that she notices something different in her bed.

A knee brace — like the one she should carry in her backpack, but is too stubborn to do so, the one Jesse keeps in his medbay for emergencies. She is half touched, half annoyed that she wasn't able to hide her discomfort from him as well as she thought she had. It’s been a while since he last hinted at her need for one. 

She considers wearing it for half a second before shoving it under her pillow and leaving the cabin without looking back.

+++

Micah wasn’t kidding, he does kill it at Connect 4 and it doesn’t take long for Lucy to notice that there is absolutely no need to hold back against him. It actually takes her six tries to beat him. That part, though, is omitted when she tells Kate about it.

"You sure he didn't beat you fair and square?" The woman asks while they get ready for bed, stifling a yawn. 

Unlike yesterday, tonight was hectic. The kids stayed up way past their designated bedtime, and by the time they managed to drag them back to their cabin it was already close to 10PM. Lucy is exhausted and Kate doesn’t seem to be faring much better. 

"He is five. I let him win," Lucy can see as clear as day the smirk Kate is holding back.

"You sound awfully defensive for someone who didn't lose to a five year-old." 

Lucy mumbles a 'shut up' that does nothing to help her case, and decides that a brusque change of topic is exactly what they need.

"So, any word from your boo?"

"My boo ?" Kate asks, her face contorting into something akin to disgust. In response, Lucy just points to the phone in her hand. "Not my boo." – A pause – "Please don't use the word boo again." 

"Buzzkill," Lucy playfully sticks her tongue out, and cozies herself under the duvet.

Rolling her eyes, the blonde turns off the lights and walks to her bed.

“Kate,” Lucy calls, when the tall dark shadow that is Kate is settled in her bed. 

“Yes?”

“Did you know you cannot hum while holding your nose?” Lucy holds her nose and tries her best to do it. No sound comes from it. “Try it!”

“Go to sleep, Lucy.” She feels rather than sees the eye roll. 

A few minutes later, probably when Kate thinks Lucy is already asleep, a surprised gasp comes from the other side of the cabin, a muffled chuckle following suit. 

She falls asleep with a big, groggy smile on her lips. 

Chapter Text

Jesse hates her. That is the only logical explanation as to why the man she considers a brother would put her in lake duty today. 

Luckily for Lucy, she got grouped with Kai, Hina and Jane, which means there’s no real need for her to go in the lake. She can easily bend the rules of her assignment and spend her time hanging on the shoreline, keeping an eye on the kids who, like her, are not too fond of diving deep into that death trap.

Unlike their supervisors, the children show no sign they went to bed over an hour after their bedtime. Quite the opposite actually, the little rugrats seem even more energetic, running and jumping all around. Some cannonballing into the lake ignoring Kai’s protests. 

"Kaylee! C’mon, no cannonball dive, please!" She hears an exasperated Kai say to a seven year old at the same time another kid, Auggie, calls “Miss Lucy! Miss Lucy! Look at me!” before pirouetting and falling into a perfect cannonball much to Kai's despair.

"That's awesome, Augs, but no pirouettes or cannonballs, remember? You can hurt yourself." 

The warning doesn't seem to have any effect until Jane fixes every kid with a glare that says ‘the next one who disobeys gets their lake time reduced’. There’s no more jumping after that. 

After half an hour of relative peace, Lucy gets up from her comfortable spot on a chair by the lake, and signals to Hina that she is doing a round. 

Before coming to Hawaiʻi Lucy never considered herself much of a nature person. Beaches were never her thing, and the maximum contact she had with trees and woods were in Dallas' national parks and botanical garden. Now, nothing comes closer to the feeling of breeze in her hair and clean air in her lungs. 

When she gets to the docks, she finds a small figure sitting there, throwing pebbles into the water. 

"Hey, little dude!" She greets Micah, sitting beside him. Her feet touch the cold water and her face contorts against her will. 

"It's not that cold," Says the kid whose feet barely skim the lake's surface.

"Not a huge fan," Lucy admits.

"Of cold?"

"Of water."

Micah looks at her confusedly, "How do you shower?"

Lucy can't help but chuckle at the question, "Guess I should've said bodies of water. Pools. Lakes. Oceans."

"But you live on an island…" Lucy is used to that one by now, but you see, when it comes from a five year-old, it is a bit hard not to question your life choices.

"You got me there." She looks at the lake, then back at him. “Where is your buddy?”

Despite not being mandatory during day time, the buddy system is always recommended by the instructors, especially for the younger kids. 

The boy points to where all the other kids are playing in the lake.

“Why aren’t you in there too?”

“We don’t really get along,” His honesty takes Lucy by surprise. 

“You don’t?”

Micah shakes his head, “I’m not good at making friends. Mommy keeps saying camp will be good for me, but… I don’t have friends here either.” 

Lucy feels her heart breaking for the little boy.

Despite being part of the cool, popular crowd at high school, before she met Jesse she had no one she could truly be herself with. She can't imagine having these feelings of loneliness at such a young age.

It makes her feel even more protective over the little boy. 

“Hey, it’s only day three,” Lucy offers, bumping his shoulder slightly. She doesn’t say that it’s by putting himself out there that he is going to find his people because she’s pretty sure he has his mother and everyone else saying that already. “Besides, I’m your friend!”

"You are?" He looks up at her with such wonder in his eyes, that Lucy has to blink back the tears. 

"Of course! I mean, you totally ended me at Connect 4, but I think I can forgive you for that," She winks, eliciting a fit of giggles from the little boy. 

Micah reveals himself as an easy child to spend time with. He is as energetic as you expect a five year-old to be, but it’s not the type of energy that drains you. His wit is impressive and he has a sharp sense of humor. Lucy finds herself enjoying her time with him very much. Even when his questions veer towards her past in the Olympics. 

After the accident, talking about that part of her life has proven to be incredibly challenging, but Micah's childlike wonder makes the conversation much more than just bearable. She can’t remember the last time a student was this interested in the Arts, and is surprised to notice that she is genuinely excited to share some of the stories with him. 

“So you got hurt?”

“I did,” She didn’t go into details. No need to tell a little kid about the gruesome details of what exactly happened when she got hit by that car. But when he asked why she stopped competing, she didn’t feel like lying. “My leg got hurt really bad.”

“Is that why you are always wearing pants?” Lucy gives him a little smile and nod. Astute kid that one.

Someone behind them calls for Micah, and both, the boy and Lucy, turn around to see who.

“Dude, I’ve been looking for you everywhere!” Cole says, approaching them. They walk towards the pair, but don't sit down. “Hey Lucy, mind if I steal him for a sec?”

Lucy doesn’t need to answer, Micah is already lifting his arms towards Cole, who picks him up with ease. 

“Hey Uncle C,” The little boy rests his head on Cole's shoulder, rubbing his eyes. 

“‘Sup buddy, someone wants to talk to you,” Cole tickles his ribs, making him squirm. “And then it’s nap time.”

Cole waves Lucy goodbye and Micah mimics it, adding heartily, “See you later, Miss Lucy! Thanks for hanging out with me.”

What an odd, adorable pair.

+++

"Sooooooo, wanna play a game?" Lucy breaks the somewhat comfortable silence. 

Her afternoon duties are way more fun than her morning ones – though she won’t be complaining about her time with Micah. It’s 2PM and she has just finished setting up a handful of kids with their respective parents in the camp's meeting/play room. With Kate. Which is totally not the reason why this is super fun. She is just happy that the kids will have some quality time with their parents. That’s all. 

Kate, always a woman of many words, has had her nose stuck in her kindle for the twenty plus minutes they've been sitting here. Lucy may be starting to get used to the whole comfortable silence concept that seems to follow the blonde around, but twenty plus minutes? That's way too long and everyone would agree. 

"A game?" Whistler asks, eyes still glued to the device.

They have until four to do absolutely nothing, and Lucy will not waste this precious time alone.

"Have you ever, twenty questions, I spy. Your call," The woman slowly looks up from her book, fixing her eyes on Lucy. 

For someone who has made hundreds of thousands playing poker, Lucy is not nearly as good at reading people as she thought — it may have something to do with the fact that most of her poker was played online. 

Her eyes roam Kate's face trying to find a tell, or anything that might help her decipher the feelings going through the other woman's brain. 

"You are like a little kid sometimes, you know that."

Lucy visibly sinks further down into her chair, a pout forming on her lips against her will as she crosses her arms and mumbles "Am not."

A small, gentle laugh escapes Kate's lips, and the sound of it makes the butterflies in Lucy's stomach flutter their wings a bit faster. When did she become such a walking cliché?

"Twenty questions. Go."

The smaller woman has to swallow down the excited squeal that threatens to fall from her lips. She wasn't expecting Whistler to cave in so easily. Truth be told, she wasn't expecting her to cave in at all. 

Millions of questions swirl in her brain, and she finds herself unable to figure out where to start. There are the obvious ones that have been plaguing her mind since the blonde walked into camp, of course, but that, somehow, feels like an invasion of privacy. The last thing she wants is for Kate to go back into her shell, so, with that in mind, Lucy decides to stick with the relatively shallow questions — at least until she is sure that more personal questions won't cause a nuclear reaction. 

"What is your favorite color?"

"Really? That's your first question?"

"It's a perfectly valid question, alright?" An eye roll.

"Mustard."

"You could've just said yellow."

"Well, it's not yellow, it's mustard. There is a difference." 

"Of course. Yes. My apologies."

Another eye roll, "What is your favorite color then?"

"Clear."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Clear," Lucy repeats.

"What is even– You were giving me shit for saying mustard and your favorite color is clear ?"

"I wasn't giving you shit!"

"Anyways," Kate interrupts, clearly not wanting to prolong that conversation, "Where are you from?"

"What makes you think I'm not from around here?"

"The massive amount of times you say 'y'all' in a sentence." That catches Lucy off guard and she can't help the laughter that escapes her mouth. 

She bows her head and lifts her hands in surrender, "Ok, ok, fair enough. I’m from Texas, but I do live here, have done for six-ish years. You?"

"Originally Chicago, then DC. Moved to Honolulu around a year ago."

"What brought you here?" Whistler squares her shoulder in a way that tells Lucy she is treading into the ‘too personal’ territory.

"Needed a change," Lucy is in no position to judge the vagueness of the answer. Not when she, herself, gave the same answer to whoever wanted to know after she first moved. It was an easier, more socially acceptable way to say she was running away. 

That, of course, only serves to pique her curiosity though. The words 'what are you running from?' almost slip through her lips.

"I feel that," She says instead. "Your turn."

The next few questions are lighter. They talk about favorite foods, favorite animals – there's a minor squabble there, when Kate answers dogs and tells Lucy she is not a huge fan of cats, favorite places they've been to, then Lucy makes the mistake of asking about pineapples on pizza and spends the next ten minutes listening to a very passionate discourse on why pineapples don't belong anywhere.

Kate's cheeks get increasingly red and her hands move more frantically as the speech progresses. Lucy doesn’t think she has ever seen anything more adorable. 

"Wow! Ok, yes. Pineapples are evil," Lucy nods thoroughly, though the goofy smile on her lips gives her away. Kate shoves her lightly and they both chuckle.

"What's your fruit nemesis?" Kate asks. Lucy doesn't think she has any, but she makes up a story about why passion fruits, while good in juice form, shouldn't be eaten.  

They go on like that for a while, and it's not until they have only ten minutes left that Lucy remembers a personal but not too personal question she's been dying to know more about. 

"So, about sorority houses…." 

"No."

"Oh, c'mon!"

"No."

"I can just ask Cole, you know that, right?" She gives Kate some time to consider. "Whose version would you prefer me to have?"

"Jesus, you are insufferable."

"You know, you really shouldn't use the Lord's name in vain," Kate's eyes go big in reaction to Lucy's seriousness. Her mouth opens and closes in an attempt to find something to say.

Lucy puts her out of her misery, "Kate, I'm joking. I'm not religious," The blonde visibly relaxes. "But I did meet Jesus once on my way to Texas. Cool dude." 

She met a guy named Jesus, another martial artist on his way to the competition, who gave Lucy a ride from the bus station to the arena. Lucy doesn't bother telling Kate that.

Soon after their question game began, Lucy found out not only how precious the blonde looked when she got confused, but also how easy it was to confuse her given how literal she always takes things. So yes, maybe she did go that extra mile to see the little tilt of her head and the confused frown and pout that came with it. She looked every bit like a golden retriever and it was the cutest thing.

Oh my God, she is going to turn me into a dog person. 

The alarm on her phone rings, pulling her out of her self-inflicted misery. 

Shaking her head, Kate gets up and Lucy can't help but appreciate the way she gently smooths out the creases on her bermuda shorts.

What is happening to me?

She jumps into action, following Kate through the small hall that leads to the area where the kids and their parents are.

"Wait a second," Lucy gently touches Kate's wrist, the bolt of electricity that ran through her body the first time they met comes back in full force. This time, however, she knows the other woman felt it too because she continues to stare at the spot on her wrist long after Lucy lets go, as though Lucy's touch has left a physical mark, "You didn’t tell me about the sorority house.”

Lucy doesn’t know why her voice comes out in a husky whisper. Kate licks her lips and Lucy does her best to convince herself it’s unrelated. 

"What's to tell? Yes, I was a Theta with Cole. Yes, we did a bunch of shit together because we were stupid and young." 

"Can I see a picture?"

"No!"

"I'll show you mine in return!"

"No!"

"Well, your loss. I was a hit with sorority girls." 

Lucy throws Kate one last glance, then with an extra sway of her hips, resumes her walk to the kids. It takes Kate about five minutes to join her. Lucy stores that information in a very important file in her brain.

Chapter Text

The rest of the week goes by in a blur of chaos. When you’re at a camp with hundreds of kids there might be routine – classes, overseeings, sleeping, eating, repeat, but there’s never a dull moment. 

First Julie has food poisoning and has to be rushed to the medbay in the middle of the night. Then one of her oldest students, Robbie, almost breaks another kid’s leg. Accidentally or not, Lucy reserves a time at the end of each class from now on to give a speech on why we must be careful. 

As if that isn't enough, they have a massive storm on Friday and have to keep a hundred kids entertained inside their cabins. Fortunately, her girls were old enough to understand why it wasn't wise to play outside, and were happy to talk strategy for the Capture the Flag battle instead. 

"I'm super fast, Miss Lucy!" Says Theo excitedly, mimicking some karate moves.

"And I'm a great watcher. My team at school never loses!" Chris Santos adds, high-fiving Theo.

The girls go on, listing their strengths and their ideas for the battle. Julie, who is still under the weather, joins in the conversation to promise her peers that she will do her best to spy on her Mother’s plan as soon as she gets back on her feet.

Throughout the entire time, Kate scribbles furiously in her little sketchbook, pitching a few ideas here and there, but leaving the plotting to Lucy and the girls. 

“Miss Kate, what are you doing?” Asks Keala after the discussion dies down, her brows furrowed as she tries to look over Kate’s shoulders. Lucy is glad she asked, because the curiosity was nearly killing her. 

Instead of answering, Kate turns the sketchbook for all of them to see the pages. A smirk forms on her lips as she takes in the shocked expressions around her. 

Holy. Mother. Fuckers.

Inside, there’s a tiny and entirely too accurate hand drawn plan of the camp with their entire game plan sketched out on the pages. Their cabin is marked with bright yellow ink, the hiding spots with baby blue and possible trap points in bold red. Flipping the page, Kate shows them a similar drawing, except that instead of traps and hiding spots, this one contains nine colored dots, one for each member of their team, in scattered positions throughout the camp.

Another flip of pages and four floating heads appear, sketched to perfection with coal: Cris Danforth, Chris Santos, Julie and Karolina. Each drawing comes with around five bullet points beside it, the girls' position, strength and weaknesses. The rest of their group covers the other remaining pages. There’s even a mini Lucy and Kate at the end. 

Lucy’s eyes flicker from the pages to the woman holding them, completely blown away by the talent and thoroughness.

"Ooh, we are definitely winning," Julie whispers, voice laced with the same awe Lucy feels.

Too mesmerized by the art, it’s only when the blonde begins to close the book that Lucy notices, just beside her floating head, the word short written in bold black letters. She gasps loudly, pressing a hand to her chest, “I am not short!”

“You are barely 5’2,” Kate says teasingly. Lucy can hear the girls giggling around them, but her focus is on Kate.  

"And that is a perfectly average height!"

"Is it though? I've seen eleven year-olds looking taller than you," Giggles dissolve into laughter around her.

"Y'all giraffeness does not invalidate my perfectly structured height, okay?”

" Giraffeness ? Really?" Lucy rolls her eyes, huffing and muttering indistinguishable sounds just for the sake of it. 

"I think you are tall enough, Miss Lucy," Says Keana, hugging Lucy’s neck.

Kate has to stifle a laugh. It's a wonderful sight and Lucy will happily be the butt of the joke if that’s the response she gets. 

"Thank you, Keana. I will take that." 

+++

Following the streak of bad luck, Saturday is lake day again and this time Lucy has to actually go inside that death trap. Hina is helping Joe with soccer practice and Jane is busy fussing over Julie, which leaves her alone with Kai and there’s no way the man is going to let her talk her way out of it. 

“You know you're supposed to be in the water, right?" A familiar voice comes from behind her. Lucy turns around, but the snarky remark on the tip of her tongue dies when her eyes land on Kate Whistler in a two piece bikini. 

It’s not a small piece, you see. The bottoms resemble boxer briefs and the top is one of those long-sleeved cropped UV protection shirts Heather always uses when she goes surfing with the boys. It’s not the type of bikini that should’ve elicited such a response on Lucy’s neural pathways. Still, her knees go weak, her jaw hits the floor and every single coherent thought leaves her to fend for herself. Not even the cocky smile Kate does an awful job hiding is enough to pull her out of her trance.

The whispered “She’s afraid of bodies of water,” coming from somewhere beside Kate’s never-ending legs, on the other hand, does the job just fine. 

Lucy snaps back into reality, her eyes zoning in on Micah, who is holding Kate’s hand and looking at Lucy with a funny expression. 

“Dude!”

“What?!”

“Don’t throw me under the bus like that!” 

“I didn’t know it was a secret!”

“It isn’t! It’s just…” Not in front of her, Lucy wants to say. 

She knows it’s not something to be embarrassed about, but when everyone dismisses your fear as something childish and stupid, you do begin to feel a bit self-conscious about who you’re going to tell. 

Fortunately, like everything else with Kate Whistler, she merely shrugs and says nonchalantly, “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Micah is afraid of the dark.”

“Hey!” The little boy looks outraged to have been exposed like that. “And you are afraid of spiders! Even the tiny ones!” He retaliates. 

Kate opens and closes her mouth, but no denial comes from it, “They are creepy, ok? And what I was trying to say is: everyone is afraid of something.”

Lucy gives her a tiny appreciative smile, and Micah just shrugs, “Can we go in now?”

Not waiting for a response, the little boy runs towards the lake and cannonballs into it. 

“No cannonballs!” Lucy and Kate speak at the same time with an exasperated sigh. At least he seems more at ease today.

“Those kids, I swear.”

“Tell me about it,” Kate hums. After a beat she adds “You don’t have to go in, you know? I think Kai and I can handle a dozen kids. That’s why Heather asked me to come.”

I love you, Heather.

“Are you sure? I could go in! I prepared myself for this all morning,” She jumps up and down as if that will, somehow, prove her point. Secretly though, she is lying through her teeth and ready to run away at any given moment. 

Kate chuckles.

"Well, it's up to you really," Lucy opens her mouth to accept the offer to stay on dry land, but then, "I would gladly hold your hand in the big bad if you want to though.”

There are two need-to-know things about Lucy: One, she is a useless lesbian. Two, she is a useless lesbian who will not let some stupid fear prevent her from holding Kate Whistler's hand. 

"Ok," Lucy extends a hand to Kate, who grabs it, and gently begins to pull her towards the water. 

+++

Here is a tip to all lady lovers: Be careful of what you sign up for because of a pretty face and enticing personality.

The second her body is waist deep into the lake, she regrets her choice and starts thinking that maybe being gay is indeed a problem because what the fuck .

"Lucy, if you hold me any tighter, you might actually choke me," Says Kate, trying to loosen the other woman’s grip on her neck.

It's not her proudest moment, and through her terror Lucy barely even registers the proximity of their bodies.

Barely.

She is aware that her bare stomach is touching Kate’s and that their faces are mere inches away. It’s quite frankly the only thing keeping her from flapping her arms around in panic and screaming for dear life.

Micah, on the other hand, is swimming happily around them, sometimes laughing at Lucy’s panic, sometimes looking genuinely concerned. 

"This is my worst nightmare," She whines, coughing out some water after Thomas, a six year-old, decides to jump on top of her, causing her head to submerge for two seconds before Kate pulls her back up and scolds Thomas for not being careful. 

After that little incident, she decided that if she stays surrounded by these tiny menaces for another second, she will most likely develop some sort of PTSD. So when Kate suggests that she should hang out at the docks until lake time is over, she is way too happy to comply.

With Kate released from Lucy’s deadly grip, Micah takes her place in the woman’s arms. The smaller woman sits back watching the adorable duo float and lap around the lake together, sticking their heads underwater up to their noses and blowing bubbles, or seeing who can hold their breaths for longer. 

Micah’s giggles are delightful to hear, but Lucy can’t help but notice the stark contrast to what’s going on around them. The other kids are all in groups playing together, throwing a beach ball around, having races, splashing water at each other while Micah seems to always stick closer to a grown up, having fun but not interacting with the other kids. It makes her think about their conversation from the other day about how the little boy struggles to make friends.

A good few minutes later, Lucy sees Kate pointing to the group of kids, urging Micah to go play with them. He reluctantly does so — or at least, he tries to. 

Like in Lucy’s class, the little boy keeps himself on the extremities. He does a good job trying to join in a game, or a conversation, but it never lasts more than a couple of minutes. It’s clear that he is getting more and more anxious, the heavy rise and fall of his chest getting worse by the second. Lucy is about to jump back into water to help him when Kate pulls him aside, holding him tight as he attaches himself to her like a koala. 

+++

Mercifully, the rest of her day isn't as eventful as her morning. 

In the afternoon Lucy has what they call a free-class , meaning that any student who wants to improve their technique could come for a personalized lesson.

Micah is the only one who shows up.

“There’s my favorite buddy!” Micah hugs her legs, looking up at her with a small smile.

“Hi, Miss Lucy.”

“You can call me just Lucy, bud. Or Aunt Lucy. Or bestie,” That one makes Micah giggle. 

“Ok.” 

Maybe it’s the lack of other kids around, but he seems to have fully recovered from today’s anxiety attack. A part of Lucy wants to sit him down and talk about it, share her own history with those and teach him ways to cope. But the other part is aware that it’s not her place, so she swallows the words down and focuses on the lesson at hand. 

She couldn’t have been more wrong about her previous assessment though.

As the lesson progresses, Micah starts to get more and more frustrated with the fact that he seems to lose his balance every time he tries a front kick, until he completely loses it. 

He falls onto his butt for the millionth time with a defeated scream and starts crying. 

“Hey, hey, hey,” Lucy rushes to his side. She doesn’t touch him though, afraid that might only make things worse. “What’s going on, kid? Talk to me.”

“I can’t get it right!” He sniffles and looks at her, his eyes puffy and red. “I just want to be good like you.”

Lucy’s heart breaks into a million pieces. 

“Buddy, I’ve been practicing for over ten years. That’s like, longer than you’ve been alive!” When that doesn’t do the trick of alleviating the little guy’s frustration, Lucy opts for another approach. “Can I tell you a secret?”

She waits until he nods before continuing, “When I started, I sucked!”

“No, you didn’t.”

“I swear to God! I even had people telling me I wasn’t fit for this and that I would never make it into the Olympics,” It’s the cold hard truth. A lot of trainers turned her down in the beginning. Either discouraged by the fact that she is a woman or because of her size. The taste of proving them all wrong was still sweet on her tongue. 

“That’s stupid,” Micah looks offended, like he can’t believe someone had the audacity to tell her something like that.

“It is. Every beginning is hard. I know it may seem like you spend more time on your butt than on your feet right now, but I promise you. You will get better. It’s all about practice,” Micah wipes the tears that were streaming down his face just a few minutes ago and nods at her. She can see the exact moment his expression becomes determined. “Tell you what. I have a free period Thursday afternoon, why don’t you come to see me and we’ll work on those moves.”

“Really?” 

“Of course! Now, c’mon we still have twenty minutes to go. Let’s practice some balance!”

The rest of the lesson passes without any further incident, and right before Micah leaves, he hugs her extra tight.

“Thank you, Auntie Lucy.”

She spends the next fifteen minutes trying not to cry. 

+++

Micah is not the only one Lucy is growing more and more fond. Neither is he the only one who has been opening up to her. But unlike her tiny friend, Whistler seems to be adjusting nicely to the camp life and after the whole lake incident, she seems softer with Lucy, and they’ve been spending an obscene amount of time together with the kids or without them. 

She pointedly ignores the looks she gets from Jane and Cole. The teasing and knowing smirks can't take away the pleasure that comes with every little thing she learns about Kate. For example, Lucy finally found out what she does for a living! How exciting is that?! The answer, however, is not exactly what she was expecting. Witnessing her talent first hand, Lucy would’ve guessed that she worked as a full time artist, but no. The blonde is a family lawyer who is currently working on building her own small practice.

Sexy and smart, the deadly combo. 

“So where does art fit in?” Lucy asks during one of their strolls through the place.

“It’s a hobby. Mostly. I sell some pieces online when I feel like it, but honestly? It was never something I wanted to do for a living,” She shrugs. “It’s my safe space, something I do to take my mind off the rough cases. I don’t want to jeopardize that by monetizing it, if that makes sense.” 

“It does,” It’s something Lucy never really put much thought into, but it does make perfect sense. We all need a hobby that is just a hobby. “Did you always want to be a lawyer?”

“Growing up, I wanted to be an FBI Agent.”

“No way!” Lucy says way too excited (and turned on) about the thought of Kate Whistler in an FBI jacket like Scully’s. “What stopped you?”

“I don’t know, really. I guess I just fell in love with law.”

“Mm, that’s a pretty cool job too,” Kate smiles at her. “I mean, it’s not FBI, but… I guess it will do.”

Kate shoves her lightly, “Asshole.”

Later, Lucy also finds out that she was actually correct on her assumptions. Cole was the one who convinced Kate that this whole "camp thing" would be a good idea and the perfect way to start her new life in Hawai'i. 

"I hate to admit they are right, but…" Instead of continuing, she just shrugs and gives Lucy a half smile. 

The most shocking revelation, though, comes from Jesse on Saturday morning while a very intense soccer match takes place in front of them. One of the kids from the red team tries a slide tackle to steal the ball from his opponent, but instead ends up kicking the other kid’s knee, which reminds Lucy of something she’s been meaning to talk to Jesse about. 

“Thanks for the brace, but I don't need it," That's relatively true. Lucy appreciates the sentiment but as far as her knee goes, she’s fine. She can even stand without wincing now. If she doesn't spend her entire day running and jumping around, she is just fine. 

“What?” His face twists in confusion.

"The knee brace. You left it in my bed."

"Oh, that wasn't me."

"What do you mean it wasn't you?"

"It wasn't me," He shrugs.

"You are the only one here who knows about my bad knee," Lucy points out.

"Lucy, you were limping for three days. I'm pretty sure people noticed." He emphasizes people as if he knows exactly who people is. 

"Oh you're sure, uh?" Jesse ignores her in favor of clapping and whooping when a little girl scores a goal. "Who is peopl e, Jesse?"

When the man still doesn't answer she slaps his chest with the back of her hand.

"Violence!" 

"Tell me exactly what you know." She demands, pointing an accusing finger at him. 

"Or what?"

"Did you forget I'm an Olympic silver medalist in Taekwondo?" 

"Right," He ponders for a good minute on his next course of action, but ends up giving Lucy a defeated sigh. "Kate asked me for it. She wanted to help."

"Kate? As in Kate Whistler?" She can't keep the flabbergasted tone out of her voice.

"No. Kate Winslet," He deadpans.

Lucy doesn't even have it in her to argue with him for the sarcastic comment. She knew Kate had noticed her discomfort on the first day, but she would've never guessed she cared enough to go to Jesse and ask for something to alleviate her pain. Now she feels like kind of an ass for not having been using it. 

"Oh."

+++

Later, when she sees the blonde again, she doesn't comment anything about her latest discovery. If the woman didn't mention it when she had the chance, Lucy wasn't going to force it out of her. She makes sure to give her an extra big smile at dinner though, and when Kate's hand brushes hers on their way back to the cabin at night, Lucy threads their pinky fingers together for a millisecond and basks in the way Kate's cheeks get pinker.

Chapter Text

Sunday is Lucy's morning off and like most instructors, she should've taken that as an opportunity to sleep late or wander around the nearest neighborhood, maybe even go on a small energizing hike to leave her ready for another week taking care of hundreds of overly excited kids. 

That is what she used to do every year prior to this one.

What changed? Well…

"Absolutely not," Whistler says on their way to the sports field. 

"Oh, don't be a drag. It's going to be fun!" Lucy bounces up and down in a childlike manner. 

MK Summer Camp might be well-known for its killer Capture the Flag (with a twist!) battle, but there are several little traditions that run alongside it.

One of which is to have the instructors partake in the classes of other instructors for an entire week. It seems silly at first, and it’s not mandatory, but it’s incredibly fun and the kids have a blast seeing their tutors fail in the very same classes they are taking. It's also a good kick to the ego, which every so often can be a good thing. Try being laughed at by a handful of five year-olds because you can't follow a simple rhythm. It builds character. 

The first class scheduled is soccer with Milius, which is where she’s heading to right now. Lucy is fairly certain this is the exact reason Jesse gave her the morning off. 

She can’t play soccer. As in physically it’s a very very bad idea, one that will most likely render her hostage to a pack of ice and painkillers until the end of the summer. But she is also awesome at it.  She is small and fast and has a history of scoring more goals than anyone else in the entire camp history – much to Milius' despair.

“Have you seen me run? It's a disaster on its own. You add a ball to that and it’s a horror show.” 

“And that is precisely why I must see it,” Kate fixes her with a death glare and she chuckles. “You are not gonna be worse than Carla. Trust me, that woman may be a genius, but she wasn’t born for soccer.”

As the pair approaches the field, Lucy sees Jesse coming out from under the bleachers, a net bag full of soccer balls hanging over his shoulder.

He stops in his tracks when he sees her.

“What are you doing here?”

Two death glares in the span of ten minutes is a new personal record.

“I’m here to play!” She smiles at him as if nothing is out of the ordinary. She is hyper aware of Kate watching them.

“Lucy…”

“C’mon man, you know I can do it. Besides…” She lifts up her pant leg just enough for him to see the knee brace she put on this morning. “I’m covered.”

“Oh right, when she gives it to you, you use it,” Jesse complains, crossing his arms and pouting. Lucy playfully slaps him on the chest, eyes darting towards Kate, but the woman is already distracted by the action happening in the field. 

“Pretty much.”

“But Lucy, I’m serious,” Jesse takes a step closer and lowers his voice, his face sobering. “You’re playing in the first half and that’s it.”

On most occasions, Lucy treats her injury as a joke. Call it a coping mechanism if you will, but if she allows herself to dwell on the real extension of it, she is terrified she is gonna dig a hole too deep to climb out. So yes, she rather joke and try to spend the least amount of time thinking about it.

But Jesse was there. He was the one who sat by the hospital bed, the one who drove her to endless hours of physical therapy, never once complaining when she lashed out at him. He knows how bad it was and Lucy didn’t have it in her to be mad about the super protection. 

“Ok. Fine.” Jesse looks pointedly at her. "I promise… Dad." 

The man rolls his eyes and walks away, throwing one last worried look at her over his shoulder.

+++

Three goals and a wobbly knee in, Milius whistles, signaling the end of the first half. Lucy is buzzing with adrenaline and endorphins, but she keeps her promise and heads to the bleachers to sit beside an amused looking Kate Whistler, who successfully avoided joining the match despite Lucy's great efforts.  

"What?" She asks, squinting her eyes at the sight of Kate’s smirk. 

"Nothing."

Lucy pokes her index finger into Kate’s ribs, making her squirm and swat the offending hand away. If you told Lucy a week ago that she would be on touching terms with Kate Whistler, she would've laughed. 

“You’re just very… hyped, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m a big kid, you’ve said that a couple of times.” 

Kate looks at her funnily. She starts opening her mouth to say something, but before she can utter a word they get attacked by a small body throwing itself on top of them. Little arms hold them close in a triple hug. 

“Jeez,” Kate exclaims at the same time Lucy yelps a “Buddy!”

“Hi!” Micah says, grinning from ear to ear. Kate scoops him up and sits him on her knee.

“Did you just wake up?” Kate asks, checking her watch. Lucy instinctively mimics the behavior, checking hers as well. 9:13.

“Yeah,” Micah smiles sheepishly at her. 

“Funny how you don’t ‘absolutely need to get out of bed’ at 7am whilst you’re here,” Kate mimics a child’s voice while tickling his sides. 

“I don’t sound like that!” He says between a fit of giggles. 

The five year-old manages to escape the attack and jumps on Lucy’s lap instead. His knee accidentally hits Lucy’s, and she has to force herself to swallow the yelp of pain that threatens to spill from her lips. Unfortunately, she doesn’t do such a good job with masking the reaction on her face and Kate, of course, notices her grimace.

“Micah!” The little boy startles and looks up at Lucy with big wide eyes.

“Your knee…”

“Hey, it’s fine. Don’t worry,” Lucy reassures, looking between two pairs of matching brown eyes. He isn’t the first kid to accidentally do something like this nor will he be the last. 

Still, he wraps his little arms around Lucy’s torso and squeezes her tight, “I’m sorry.” 

“It’s ok, buddy. Really.” She caresses his back. 

Micah stays attached to her until Milius announces the beginning of the second half, then he carefully bounces off Lucy’s lap, giving her a kiss on the cheek and darts off claiming he needs to find Uncle C.

“Well, he see–” Lucy stops mid-word when she turns to look over at Kate and finds the woman with an outraged look on her face. “What’s wrong?”

“I didn’t get a kiss!” She says like Micah has just committed a heinous crime, which, to be fair, Lucy agrees. Who would miss the opportunity to kiss those cheeks. 

With that thought in mind, Lucy’s body takes over and before she can stop herself, she is leaning in, placing a gentle kiss on Kate’s cheek.

It’s only when her lips make contact with the other woman’s skin that she realizes what she just did. Now, too late to back out, all Lucy can do is be grateful that no one is around to see her turn into the live version of a tomato. 

“Now you have,” She says in a fake confident tone to mask the mess of feelings shooting through her body. 

Kate looks as red as Lucy feels, her eyes are everywhere except on Lucy’s face and her leg starts bouncing up and down in the way it normally does when she is nervous. She gives Lucy a small smile and nod.

+++

"How's the knee?"

They’ve been sitting comfortably in silence watching the second half, and purposefully pretending the kiss didn’t happen when the question comes. Kate tries to sound nonchalant, but her eyes trained on the field below and her jaw clenched in the 'I am uncomfortable' way, tells Lucy a different story. 

(Yes, Whistler has different types of clenched jaws. Lucy's been a very attentive student.)

If she has learned anything about Kate Whistler this past week it is that, for her, asking personal questions is just as hard as answering them. Even when Lucy gives her full permission to be nosy, like in their many games of Twenty Questions.

“Oh, uh…” This time, however, her every instinct begs her to deflect the question. Tell a half ass lie, and call it a day. 

She doesn’t. 

“Meh,” She answers honestly. The brace shockingly did its job and the violent, gut twisting pain she is used to feeling after straining it for a long time, is nothing but a throbbing, annoying ache. 

Kate nods, eyes still glued to the field. 

“You can ask,” For the first time, she means it. "I feel like you want to."

"No. I– I don't want to overstep." 

"You won't." Lucy bumps their shoulders together and gives her an encouraging smile. 

Piercing brown eyes meet hers, searching for any sign of dishonesty but finding none — All Lucy can hope for is that those searching eyes also missed the sneaky feeling that's been growing in her chest for a few days now. 

"Ok, but in return you get to ask me a personal question too."

Lucy tries not to seem too excited, but the million dollar smile that breaks out on her lips is a dead giveaway. 

"Deal." 

"I just, I overheard your conversation with Jesse – sorry, by the way – and it seems bad. Like bad bad,” She takes a deep breath. “I guess… I guess what I’m trying to ask is, how bad are we talking about?” 

"I was in an accident, got hit by a car. Drunk driver. I was, uh, I was on my way home from one of the Olympics preliminaries, head in the clouds 'cause I had made it to the next phase, then, the next thing I know, I'm in a hospital bed," She gives herself some time before continuing. "My memories, they, uh, I can't– My therapist said that me not remembering it, was a response from the trauma. A way my brain found to protect me. She said they would come back with time, but they still haven't, and honestly? I think I prefer it like this. The tidal wave that came after was already traumatic enough. 

Now, to answer your actual question: it's pretty bad. Or it was. My knee is the main source of annoyance nowadays, but the bigger damage was actually on my thigh. It got pierced by some type of metal and I lost a significant amount of muscle tissue. With my thigh weakened, my knee did most of the work trying to keep me upright. It didn't take long for it to succumb as well. 

I had to use a cane for around two or three years until I finally managed to strengthen my leg enough to hold my weight on its own."

The story comes out in a single breath. Come to think of it, Lucy is not sure she has ever said those words out loud before. It feels weird. A good weird.

“You are stronger than you let on, you know?” Kate says, a soft expression on her face. 

"Everyone goes through some shit," Lucy shrugs it off. And while that may be true, the words mean a lot to her. 

"Yeah, but if someone said that I wasn't going to be able to practice anymore I would bite their heads off and probably end up locked up in a mental institution."

Lucy laughs, grateful for the change of tone. "Yeah, well. I tried. Ask Jesse." 

"Is that how you met him?" 

"Nah, I asked Heather out on a date in front of him," She says with a sly smile, and Kate bursts out laughing at the unexpected admission. "In my defense I thought he was her brother or something."

“Yeah, that does sound like you.” 

"You're telling me you’ve never hit on the wrong girl?"

"Never," Kate says it so matter-of-factly, that for a split second Lucy thinks she got this all wrong.

"Oh, honey!" Cole's voice appears out of nowhere, making both of them jump. "Let me tell you a little story about Cara, or as I like to call her, The Menace." 

Wheew, thank God . 

"Shut up!" Kate says, covering their mouth with her hands. "No one called you into this conversation. Go mind your business." 

"No please, tell me about Cara, The Menace." Lucy straightens herself up in her seat and looks at Cole expectantly. Kate opens her mouth, but Lucy jumps in "Nope. Nope. I am using my personal question voucher here."

In an instant, Kate seems to regret every life choice that has brought her to this moment right here, but she does uncover Cole's mouth and makes a 'go ahead' motion.

"It's story time!" Cole says, doing jazz hands and Lucy giggles.

This is going to be good.

+++

“Don’t change,” Lucy says when Kate opens her drawer to pick up her pajamas.

They have just gotten back from the kids cabin after making sure they were all settled for the night, and the next logical step would be changing and going to sleep themselves, however, it’s Sunday night.

“Jesse is gonna knock in three, two, one…” Lucy points at the door the same time three faint knocks come from outside. Kate looks at her, her expression a mix of confusion, horror and astonishment.

“How–” The smaller woman just shrugs, walking to the door and greeting a smiley Jesse on the other side. The man lifts a bag of marshmallows, looking between the two women.

“Let’s party,” He says and the grin on Lucy’s lips doubles in size. 

Every Sunday during camp, the instructors gather around a big bonfire, lit by the Boones, to eat some marshmallows and drink hot cocoa. They all might love kids and working with them, but being among adults and adults only is refreshing. Heather even pops open a couple bottles of wine, much to Lucy’s delight.

They talk about everything and nothing. Jesse teases Lucy about her little incident in the lake the other day, and Lucy retaliates by mocking him for losing the match earlier. She keeps an eye on Kate the entire time, afraid she might feel uncomfortable surrounded by dozens of people she is not all too familiar with. But much to her surprise, the blonde seems right at home sitting between Cole and Jane, sipping on her wine with an easy smile on her lips.

Looking at her, Lucy doesn’t know how anybody could have ever made her feel anything less than extraordinary. It doesn’t take a genius to know that, earlier, when talking about Kate’s ex, Cole tempered down a few things out of respect – even if they did a poor job hiding their dislike for the woman, but, from what Lucy can gather, Cara did some damage and had her fair share in helping Kate shut herself off from the world. 

As if to pull Lucy from plotting a murder, Kai grabs his ukulele and nudges her. He strums the first few chords and Lucy gasps as she recognizes I Wonder by Russell Dickerson.

“Dude! You listened!” She jumps excited that someone finally listened to a song she recommended. You listen to country music and suddenly no one takes you seriously. 

Not caring one bit about how off key she sounds, or about Jesse’s protests, she screams out the lyrics making everyone laugh. Ernie makes everyone grab their phones and search for the lyrics so they can all sing along.

The impromptu karaoke session goes on for a while, Lucy choosing most songs since she claims she will only sing if it’s country. The group plays along, trying to follow the lyrics on the screen of their phones or simply scream-singing a bunch of gibberish. She pretends to blush when Ernie asks her to dance, and sees a carefree Kate being spun around in circles by Cole. The camaraderie is everything Lucy loves about this place. 

The song changes to Know My Way Around by Lily Rose, and her eyes meet Kate’s when the lyrics “The night's still young / And I got nothin' else to do / Except maybe catch a buzz / Maybe fall in love / Baby, you can choose / I just wanna know my way around you” hit. She doesn’t blush per se, the heat creeping on her cheeks is simply because of the wine. 

+++

Lucy wakes up at 3:30 in the morning to an empty cabin. She panics for a half a second, scared that something might have happened, when she notices the deck lights on.

Slowly, she slides out of bed and pokes her head out of the crack in the door, finding Kate curled up in the chair, with a blanket on her lap and mug in her hands. Her eyes are glued to the starry night sky.

"Hey," Lucy says softly, not wanting to scare the woman. Kate's eyes move to find hers, still a bit glassy from staring at space, but the smile she gives seems genuine.

"Hey. Sorry, did I wake you?"

"Nah, I got hungry." She motions to the protein bar she snatched before coming to look for the blonde. Waking up in the middle of the night for a snack is pretty much a routine thing with Lucy.

Kate chuckles lightly, and scooches over, opening space in the chair for Lucy to fit in. 

"You ok?" Lucy asks, offering a bite of her protein bar to Kate, who declines.

"I am," She answers, the smile on her face is one that Lucy doesn't think she has seen before. "You know, when Cole told me about this place, I didn't expect… Bonding, I guess, with the adults. I didn't even think I wanted to."

Lucy stops mid bite, too afraid to move and break whatever spell is making Kate open up. 

"Kids are easy even when they aren't, and trust me, I know that doesn't really make sense," She chuckles. "They are brutally honest. If they don't like you, they will make sure you know, and if they love you, well, they'll just love you. You don't have to be perfect, you just have to be there and love them back. Adults are much harder to read. Much harder to please. Despite my job, I don't deal with people well. I don't know how. Never did. They suck too much energy, and you never know if you said the right thing or not. It makes me incredibly uncomfortable. That's why I mostly keep to myself. I don't have a lot of friends, just Cole, really, and it's only because they are very annoying and refuse to leave despite my great efforts to shut them out."

The side smile on her lips, lets Lucy know she is, mostly, joking. The annoying part is true.

She looks at Lucy, really looks at her, a weird expression on her face, "That is what I meant before." Noticing Lucy's confusion, she adds, "When I said you were a big kid. I didn't mean it in a bad way. Well, you do have the energy and stubbornness of a five year-old but that's on another topic."

Lucy's "I am not stubborn" protests are promptly ignored by Kate. 

"What I meant is, you are warm and sweet and easy to be around. I was kind of a dick when we first met, sorry about that by the way, and you still stuck by my side. When I'm with you, I know where I stand and I feel… comfortable," Lucy could cry. She feels the prickle of tears behind her eyes, and has to swallow the knot in her throat. That is one of the nicest things someone has ever said to her. "I don't know when that extended to the other people here, but tonight, at the bonfire, it felt…"

"Like you found your people," Lucy offers when Kate trails off.

"Yeah."

"Welcome to Mauka Kiekie Camp, Kate Whistler." 

Kate smiles at her, shaking her head like this whole thing is unbelievable.

"Thank you, Lucy Tara."

Chapter Text

Calling the following week eventful would be a huge understatement.

One of the counselors, Mr. Galloway has to leave camp in a hurry after receiving a rather distressed call from his daughter. Lucy doesn't have the details and it's killing her. What is she supposed to do with all the blank spaces? Don't tell her one half of a piece of gossip if you don't plan on telling her the rest! But that's beside the point. The point is, with Galloway gone, it's up to Jesse, Heather and Lucy to cover for him. 

Hot tip: Don't be best friends with the owners and say things like "whatever you need, I got you" when you are already neck deep into your own schedule. 

It wouldn't be so bad, if she didn't have plans to extend her Monday classes by half an hour each. Next week would be her turn to host the instructors' class and she never gets anything done with them causing more disruption than the five and six year-olds together. Secretly though, she is incredibly proud of her class being the one that gathers the largest amount of people. Last year, even the kitchen staff and security guards sneaked away for an hour to partake in it! They never join any classes – and not because they can't. They just never want to. 

"Auntie Lucy!" Micah shows up out of nowhere and starts walking with her. "I've been really practicing the front kick you taught me. I even showed it to my Mommy earlier!"

"You did?" Lucy says, always impressed by the little boy's commitment. 

"She says I'm getting really good at it and will kick butt in no time!" He sounds super proud of himself, every remnant of frustration from Saturday’s class replaced by the glowing excitement in his face. There’s truly nothing like a Mother’s comforting praises – not that Lucy is familiar with the concept. 

"That you will!"

The little boy follows her all the way to the dining hall where she steals some snacks for both of them, and back to her class. Talking animatedly about Taekwondo all the way. 

Lucy feels bad for having to almost kick him out when the clock marks the start of another class, but Micah, always a good sport, just waves her goodbye and says they will catch up later. Those were his literal words. Sometimes Lucy thinks she is befriending a mini adult. 

On Tuesday, Jesse has already started to adjust the schedule of other instructors, so miraculously Lucy’s morning is mostly free. She helps out with basic chores, talks strategy with her girls for a bit – their plan to win the big game getting more and more refined each day – and hangs out with Micah for a good part of her morning, hearing him rambling about Pokémon facts that Lucy already knows, but pretends she doesn't for his sake. 

In the afternoon, Jesse tries to get her to help Milius with basketball practice. She hates basketball practice. Not because of the game itself, she adores basketball — Go Mavericks! But mostly because of the obscene amount of height jokes she has to endure every time, and because it's been five years and, somehow, Milius still calls her Laci. Like. Seriously? 

Lucy has nothing against the man. She genuinely thinks he means well, but she is just not in the mood today. So if she fakes a harmless knee pain to get her out of it, well, no one can prove shit.

"Hey," Kate enters the cabin carrying a large canvas covered by a dirty white sheet. Lucy is immediately intrigued, but Kate beats her to the question, "Heard your knee was giving you a hard time today. Do you need some ice?" 

It still blows Lucy’s mind how effortlessly Kate cares. She had misjudged her so badly when they first met that it's almost embarrassing, except she is happy to spend the rest of her life being proved wrong by Kate Whistler. That thought doesn't scare her nearly as much as it should. 

Not wanting to admit her little white lie, at least not yet, Lucy brushes it off, "Thanks, I'm good. I do, however, want to know what on Earth you brought to our place."

Her eyes widen the second she realizes the implications in her words. She is pretty sure Kate's own eyes are just as big. 

"Our summer place," Not doing any better here, Lucy. "Our cabin." Nice. "That we share. Together." Why are you still talking? "In the summer." For Christ sake, shut up! "I'm going to stop talking."

What could only be described as a cocky smirk graces Kate's lips as she shakes her head in amusement. At least someone is having fun with her misery. 

Clearing her throat, Lucy wills the conversion back on track, "So, uh, what is that?"

"Just something I'm working on. It's not ready yet," Lucy opens her mouth. "No, you can't see it."

"Well, that's mean! Why would you bring it here then?!" 

"Right. I forgot I share a cabin with a child." Lucy pokes her tongue out at her. Rolling her eyes, Kate explains, "Friday is instructor's day. I was scared someone was going to pierce a hole through this somehow."

"It's quite likely. Glad, you already realize those classes can be pure savagery."

"Are you kidding me? I joined Dalia's dance class earlier and almost got punched in the face by Ernie. Not sure if it was accidental or not."

"It's probably best if you don't know," Lucy answers, trying her best not to error out at the thought of Kate in a dance class and all the imagery that follows. 

Her shower is colder than usual that night. 

+++

The following day, Lucy has four classes back to back with the seven, eight and nine year-olds all mixed up in what can only be described as a pandemonium. They are her most unfocused students, as shocking as that might sound, and today they seem worse than usual. They pay no attention to what she is saying, and as they joke around, ignoring Lucy's instructions, the woman finds herself missing Micah.

"Micah is just so… Interested," She vents to Kate at lunch time, placing her tray a bit too angrily on their usual table. "And listen, this isn't me playing favorites. I'm not. Kind of. I do love all those little gremlins, but God, I wish more of them had the same discipline and interest as he does!"

"He might faint if you tell him that," Kate says, smiling softly at her plate. 

"What? Why?"

"Are you kidding? All I've been hearing is Lucy this Lucy that. The kid worships you. Ask anyone, they will vouch for me!"

There's no way Lucy ain't letting that get into her head. Not when it feels that good to hear it. 

"It's true," Jane agrees, sitting in front of Kate with Cole by her side.

"Maybe, but I'm still his favorite person," Cole says, pointing their knife at her in a threatening way. Her ego is successfully boosted though. No butter knife threat is going to dampen it. 

Her mood only increases when she gets to Bam Bam and Boom Boom’s chemistry class and finds the duo messing with Kai. Lucy has no idea what prompted it, but the poor man is fumbling and stuttering his way out of the conversation like he can’t get out of there fast enough. 

“Thanks Bam Bam.”

“I’m Boom Boom. She’s Bam Bam.”

“Yes, I, uh, I know. T-Thank you. Both. I appreciate you. Both.”

Kai, then, runs away from the classroom, almost hitting the door on his way out. Boom Boom's eyes meet Lucy's, and she can't help but laugh at the mirth she finds there.

“Too easy,” He says, making her laugh harder. 

That night, Lucy finds herself in the clearing, sitting between Kate and Cole and with little Micah on her knee. The little boy has stolen her phone and somehow managed to get enough signal to download a game that according to Cole he is obsessed with. Menokai , Mekorai , something like that.

"Nooo, you have to think!" He says like Lucy hasn't considered that before. 

The game basically consists of helping a little robot out of a bunch of puzzling 3d dioramas. It isn't hard, but Lucy wasn't born with a cell phone in her hands like the kid who is looking at her like he is questioning her intelligence. She needs time to get used to things.

"I am!" Kate and Cole snicker beside her and she hates them both. 

"Aaaaand you fell in the water again," Micah says, restarting the level much to the other adults' amusement.

"Well, if you had let me play the easier ones, maybe we wouldn't be here right now," Lucy grunts.

"It's level thirteen!"

"Well, I'm sorry I was born into another generation, kiddo!"

"So was my mommy and she is waaaaay better than you!" Hearing Kate chuckle in response, Lucy can’t help but shoot her a stern glare for seemingly taking his side.

"Hit the red one slowly," Kate whispers to her, sending goosebumps all over Lucy's body. "He'll walk to the star, then hit blue and it will take you to the exit." 

Unfortunately, when Lucy does so, it's not very gently and the robot ends up flying to another dimension.

The four of them burst into hysterical laughter. None capable of even pretending that wasn't the funniest thing. 

"Yeah. I think I'll stick to board games and Martial Arts, thank you very much," Lucy says, wiping her tears. 

"Smart," Cole agrees, taking the phone from Lucy and successfully advancing to level 14.

"Show off," Lucy huffs.

"Hey guys," Tennant and Tennant Junior greet at the same time. 

Julie throws herself into Cole's arms, who kisses her temples. There's a weird familiarity there that tickles Lucy's spidey senses. 

"What are you playing?" Julie asks, looking at the phone, now back in Micah's hand. 

They dive into a conversation about the game, and Julie of course nails the level on her first try.

These kids nowadays , Lucy shakes her head. 

Jane, on the other hand, seems to have just as much difficulty with it as Lucy.

"Funny. I don't see the same level of teasing with her," She pokes Micah in the ribs when the boy shows incredible patience in teaching her the correct moves.

"That's because she is Auntie Jane and you are Auntie Lucy," Micah says with a shrug as if that explains everything.

"Yeah. Know your place, Luce," Cole teases, bumping her shoulder.

"I will. As soon as I crush y'alls butts in Capture the Flag," Julie looks up at that and high fives Lucy, with an excited "Hell yeah!" 

"In your dreams, Tara," Jane fires back, her battle face on. Lucy hates to admit that it is indeed a little intimidating. 

"Hmm, I don't know," Kate pipes in, a cocky smirk firmly in place. "Our plan looks pretty shiny."

"Shiny won't get you anywhere here. Dirty will," Cole challenges.

"You of all people should know I can play dirty," Kate's smirk grows and Lucy almost chokes on her saliva at the sight combined with those words. "Or did you forget about all the times I beat your ass at Theta's party games?"

Cole mimics her with a high pitched voice.

"You won what, two beer pong games. That's hardly the skills necessary to win Capture the Flag." 

"You played beer pong?" Lucy asks, quite shocked at this information. Despite how much Kate has warmed up to her, she still has a hard time envisioning the younger University Kate she has often heard in stories. 

"I didn't just play. I was the reigning champion," Kate sounds very proud of herself. It's adorable. "And as far as I heard, a good aim can go a long way." 

“Still,” Jane shrugs in a nonchalant manner. “You are no match for me. There’s a reason why I'm the reigning champion of Capture the Flag.”

To everyone's surprise, it's Julie who refutes it, "I don't know, Mom. Everyone loses eventually." 

"Careful, kid. I pay for your food," Julie only laughs at the empty threat and goes back to her game.  

They keep arguing about the game until the bell rings announcing bed time. Unfortunately Lucy didn’t have any luck picking up a tell or something that gave away Jane or Cole’s plan. She desperately hoped Kate had more luck. 

Kate, Lucy and Julie say goodbye to the other three. Micah, unphased by all the competitiveness earlier, is still happily talking about the game. He grabs Jane’s hand and lets himself be led back to his cabin.

When they are out of earshot, Julie looks up at them, a dead serious expression on her face.

“We gotta beat them.”

On that, they all agree. 

+++

Lucy has no idea how they let it happen. For heaven’s sake there’s over twenty adults in this place and none of them had the ability to catch the early signs. As she considers their situation, a grilled cheese hits her in the face. 

“Pablo!” She admonishes, but she doesn’t try to run after the kid. It would be pointless and she would only embarrass herself by slipping in whatever beverage is now coating the dining hall's floor. 

She looks around and the sight is almost comical. Cole is hiding under a table, protecting themself with two trays, Jesse and Kai look like cartoon characters trying to regain balance on the slippery floor while holding on to each other for dear life, Kate and Heather are scolding a group of kids whilst also trying to swerve the food that’s being thrown at them, Jane is giving everyone ‘the Look’ hoping it has some effect and holding a sticky Julie in place by her shirt. Ernie, well, Ernie has joined the kids and is now tipping a pasta bowl onto a seven year-old’s head, “How do you like that, uh?”

Fortunately (and only God knows how) they manage to stop the kids before the havoc becomes even more chaotic and ends up hurting someone for real. It felt like hours, but when Lucy looks at the clock, it tells her that it was merely a few minutes. 

Every instructor and monitor looks like they have gone to war and back. The kids, sitting at their respective tables while being lectured by Heather and Jesse about how we are not going to waste food like that, look like they just went to Disney. 

"I don't think I like kids anymore," Kate mumbles, picking a french fry out of her hair.

Lucy can relate to that feeling. She doesn't think she will be able to eat grilled cheese anytime soon.

Thankfully, the rest of the day is way less intense and a lot more food-free.

Around two, Micah shows up at the porch of her cabin with his Dobok and a determined expression on his face. Lucy almost forgot she promised to practice with him during her free time today. 

"Aren't you the cutest thing to have ever lived?" Lucy says, reaching out her hand for him to grab. His cheeks assume an adorable shade of pink at Lucy's words, but he tries to act cool about it.

All the practice Micah’s been doing off class is clearly paying off. His struggle with balance has improved exponentially, so for today’s class Lucy decides to start teaching him how to do the Axe Kick as a treat. 

"Auntie Lucy, do you have a boyfriend?" Micah asks when Lucy takes a step back to allow him to test the moves she just showed. "Or a girlfriend! That was very heteroformative of me, sorry!" 

Lucy has been asked this question several times by several different kids, but heteroformativity is new and it's very hard not to burst out laughing. She wishes someone was around to appreciate her efforts. 

"You mean heteronormative?" She asks with an amused grin.

"That's what I said!" He bats his eyelashes. "So, do you?"

"I don't have a girlfriend, no." 

Micah hums pensively. 

"What about a crush?" Blonde hair and glistening brown eyes flash through her mind. 

"Maybe." 

"Is she here? Is she pretty? Is she blonde?"

It's all asked in a single breath, so it takes Lucy's brain a while to make out the words. When it does she chokes on her saliva.

"What?" Then, trying to appear unaffected, "Why do you wanna know? Trying to steal her from me?" 

The boy playfully rolls his eyes. She has never had a five year old roll their eyes at her before, but for some reason the movement seems awfully familiar.

"Just checking," The lilt in his voice spikes Lucy's curiosity.

"Do you know something I don't?" 

"Nope," He pops the p and Lucy squints her eyes at him. "Am I doing this wrong?" He asks, successfully shifting her attention back to his movements. 

It’s not until she is back at her cabin, getting ready for bed that Micah’s words come back to haunt her.

Is she blonde?  

There’s absolutely no way she got caught by a five year-old, even if that five year-old is as astute as Micah, which leads to the question: Did Kate mention anything to him? But then, why would she? But if that’s not the case, how the hell did he notice? Only maybe, he didn’t and was just fishing and Lucy is overreacting for nothing.

She grunts, annoyed at herself for spiraling over a question posed by a five year old. It seems that everything involving Kate Whistler comes with more questions than answers. She is gonna go insane before the end of the summer.

Chapter Text

“Uuuuuugggghhhhh!” Lucy angrily throws the brush in her hands onto the palette beside here, pouting at the offending canvas in front of her.

It’s Friday morning, and seeing that she didn’t have any classes to teach, she thought it might be fun attending Kate’s class — Someone really needs to stop her from setting herself up for failure just so she can spend some more time looking at Whistler’s pretty face.

Don’t get her wrong, the pretty face in question is a fantastic teacher and has the patience of an angel. Unfortunately, for Lucy, it’s gonna take more than that to make her paint something remotely similar to the piece Kate had demonstrated earlier. For some reason, her brain and her hands cannot agree on what to do. 

“You’re doing great,” Micah, who is sitting beside her, reassures. His words sound genuine even though he hasn’t glanced at Lucy onde since he began his… Lucy can’t really tell what his drawing is supposed to be.

“Thanks, bud.” 

Lucy looks around the class, annoyed to realize she seems to be the only one stuck. She shifts her attention back to the canvas, letting out an irritated sigh. She has taken down multiple opponents in a fight, she refuses to be intimidated by a piece of fabric.

“If you stare at it any harder, you’ll pierce a hole through it,” Kate whispers into her right ear. Her annoyance vanishes with the goosebumps that surge on her skin.

“Pff. I wish,” She is extremely proud of how unaffected she sounds.

Pulling up a chair, Kate accommodates herself between Lucy and Micah. The latter gets his hair messed with and, in response, shoots an affronted look at the blonde for almost making his hand slip, ruining his masterpiece.

"Sorry, baby." Then, pointing to Lucy's hands, she asks, "Can I?" 

Lucy is powerless to do anything but nod. 

Kate’s hand is warm on hers. Different colored inks decorate her sinfully long fingers – Nope. Don’t go there. The woman gently guides Lucy’s hand to the canvas in front of her. Then, with five strokes of bright pink, she smudges Lucy’s canvas with five bright pink strokes.

“What the f–,” Lucy catches herself to avoid becoming indebted by a dollar to every child in the room.

“Stop being so careful.” Kate says, unperturbed by Lucy’s outburst. “You know the best part of abstract painting? It’s about feelings. It’s about breaking the traditional rules and making it your own. There are several ways to do it, but the one I find the easiest is: Think of something important to you and let it guide you. No rights, no wrongs. Just you.”

As she speaks, her hands pick up their movements, guiding Lucy’s through the canvas effortlessly. The bright pink Kate gets mixed with lighter tones and different shades of red, orange and yellow, and just like that shapes start to form in front of her eyes.

Lucy has no idea how she is doing it, how she is turning those five random strokes into what looks like the beginning of a portrait. As she watches, the entire class disappears and all there’s left in the world is the two of them. Kate focused on the painting, Lucy focused on Kate. 

Their faces are a mere inch apart, the closest they've ever been, one tiny tilt of her head and her lips would be on the blonde's. Realization washes over her, bringing a flush to her face. What is it about Kate Whistler that makes her feel like a teenager all over again?

“There you go,” Kate says, dropping their hands. Lucy immediately misses the contact. 

Her eyes meet Kate’s and the eye-mouth-eye flicker she sees in them doesn’t go by unnoticed. 

Fuck.

Someone clears their throat, snapping their attention back into reality. Kate’s cheeks assume a dark shade of red as she backs away, clearing her own throat. She gets up from her spot, wiping her hands on her apron and awkwardly throws Lucy the “lesbian salute”. 

Only when the woman is on the other side of the classroom, helping a little boy with his own painting, does Lucy realize she hasn’t seen hers. Theirs. Kate’s. 

Her eyes move from the artist to the art. The gasp that comes out of her mouth gets everyone's attention, but she couldn't care less. In front of her, in the 16x16 inches canvas, her own face stares back at her in hues of pink, red and orange. It doesn't have any strong details, just the overall facial shapes, and it's the most magnificent thing Lucy has ever seen.

“I–,” The words die in her throat because how can her brain function knowing that Whistler just drew her face from memory. 

“Lucy and Kate. Sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” Micah singsongs beside her. Lucy glares at him to no avail. The little girl on his other side giggles, and sings the next part with him. “First comes love.”

“Micah.” Kate warns, her face even redder now. The little boy stops, batting his eyelashes in fake innocence. It’s too late though. The damage is done.

“Then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage!” The rest of the class finishes the song for him. By the rest of the class , she means the instructors too. Ernie specifically has a shit eating grin on his face, while Cole and Jane are almost passing out from laughter.

Lucy wants to be annoyed at all of them, especially Micah, who started all this, but when she looks over at the little boy, he is being flanked by two other kids. Instead of finding panic and anxiety in his eyes, she finds joy. The trio giggling and gossiping together like old friends. 

Goddammit, kids.

Her eyes roam the classroom until they land on Kate, who is also watching the scene, smiling in disbelief. Kate makes a show of rolling her eyes. She mouths an 'of course' before giving Lucy the brightest smile she has ever seen. 

+++

At the end of the class Micah gives Kate his painting with a proud smile on his face. Turns out the huge yellow blob surrounded by splashes of colors is Piffles, his dog. The woman pulls him into a big hug that turns into a tickle war. "This is for earlier" , Lucy hears her say.

Lucy herself, messes with his hair and pokes his ribs when he comes to tell her goodbye.

“Did you not like my song?” He asks amidst a fit of giggles. 

Lucy hums, and threatens him with a “Just you wait until you get your first crush,” that ends up biting her in the ass when his grin doubles in size.

“So you do admit you have a crush on—”

“I admit nothing,” Lucy cuts him off and runs away.

Before she leaves though, she manages to steal Kate’s painting, successfully ignoring the blonde’s many protests about it being just a “rough sketch and not good enough”. Lucy already has a place in mind for it back home, but for now, her bedside table will have to do. 

She takes a step back admiring the work once again. Whistler could spend her entire life drawing Lucy’s portraits and none would ever come close to the meaning this one holds. Lucy feels giddy, like a high-school girl with her first crush. Except that yes, maybe a part of her wants to giggle, twirl her hair and kick her feet, but there’s another part that just wants to pin the woman on the nearest surface and kiss her until they both forget their own names. 

That is all she thinks about for the rest of the day.

Because the Gods seem to be on her side today, Jesse asks her if she would be ok taking the kids to the meeting with their parents. With Kate. As if there was any chance Lucy would say no to spending blissful hours alone with the blonde. 

They only have five parents visiting today, so it doesn’t take them longer than twenty minutes to get everyone settled — Meaning they have around three and a half hours alone and Lucy refuses to leave here without kissing Kate at least once. 

Her plans however start to derail the moment her eyes land on Kate’s battered Prom Night shirt, which is definitely not kid friendly, but it does make her look hot and cool, so the kids will just have to close their eyes. Lucy makes the mistake of saying she can’t understand the hype surrounding slasher films, and let’s just say she is glad she doesn’t have to face Kate in a courthouse. 

“I’m sorry?” Kate looks scandalized with a hand pressed to her chest and mouth agape. “It’s art!”

"How is watching a bunch of stupid teens get murdered art?" Lucy fights back. 

"Says the one who punches people for a living."

"Objection!"

"Overruled."

Lucy pouts.

The squabble goes on with Kate throwing names of random horror films to see which one Lucy has seen and therefore judge her for her lack of taste. When she moves to TV, Lucy reluctantly admits she has watched Bly Manor.

“As if I needed another reason to hate lakes,” Lucy grumbles, making Kate laugh.

Kate goes on with her endless list of movies and TV shows. In the end it isn’t even about horror anymore, just random movies and TV they enjoy watching with the occasional bickering when one of them isn’t a huge fan of something the other likes or has never heard of it. Promises to watch things together are made, leaving Lucy once again feeling like kicking her feet in the air and twirling her hair. 

When Lucy begins to entertain the thought of just going for it and kissing Kate, a teenage girl shows up, saying they have a minor emergency with one of their girls and need one of them at the scene. Kate volunteers to go, it takes everything in Lucy not to pout at having their alone time cut short. 

The girl leaves, but before Kate can follow, Lucy grabs her hands. The woman looks at her, a question in her eyes. Kiss her , everything inside of her screams. Pull her in and kiss her.  

"Good, uh, good luck," She says instead, trying not to read into the disappointment she sees flashing through Kate's eyes.  

+++

Thirty minutes later Lucy swears she is going to die from boredom. She should've brought her phone, or followed Kate's lead and picked up a book. That would've at least helped take her mind off the fact that she didn't kiss Kate. 

Idiot .

"Mommy?" A small voice comes from the door. 

Lucy looks in the direction of it. Micah is standing by the door, looking incredibly cuddly with his oversized PowerPuff Girls shirt and a stuffed giraffe tucked under his arm. By the way he is rubbing his eyes, he has just woken up from nap time. 

Quickly, the woman looks into the visit book, searching for a scribbled 'Micah's parents' beside a name or two. 

"Ooh, I'm sorry buddy. I don't think she is here today." 

He blinks a couple of times, looking around with lidded eyes, “Do you know where she is?”

“I don't, bud. Sorry.” 

The boy scratches his head, frowning as he thinks of possible solutions for this little inconvenience. 

"Auntie Lucy," He says, taking a few steps closer. "I had a nightmare. Can you hold me?" 

Not needing to be asked twice, Lucy opens her arms in a wordless invitation. Micah closes the distance, throwing himself into her arms. He shoves his face in the crook of her neck.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Lucy asks, gently running her fingers through his hair.

"A big monster," He whispers, cradling his giraffe closer to his chest.

"Oh no," Lucy squeezes him tight. "Good thing I'm a gold medalist at the fighting monsters modality."

Micah looks up at her, his eyes widening.

"You are?" He whispers in awe. "Can you teach me?"

“Sure thing!” She can come up with something for their next free-class. It won’t be a problem. The expectant look on Micah’s face, however, doesn’t vanish. “You mean now?”

He nods.

“Oh, well. Ok, uh, let’s see…” She makes a show of tapping her index finger on her chin while buying herself time to think of something. “How big of a monster are we talking about?”

“Ginormous!”

“Ok. What color was it?”

“Blue.”

“You sure it wasn’t just Sulley paying you a visit?” Micah giggles and shakes his head.

“I would’ve known Sulley!”

“Of course you would, silly me!” More giggles. The sound reminds her of one of the few happy memories she has with her parents, and suddenly she knows exactly what to say. “You know when I was little, my Mommy told me all monsters had a weakness and, if I remember correctly, the Ginormous Blue one is terrified of laughter. So next time he comes to haunt your dreams, all you have to do is…”

She stops herself and starts tickling his belly, eliciting the cutest, most wholesome laughter she has ever heard.

"God, you will not believe what happened. Keala stuck her head—" The words die in Kate’s throat, as she walks through the door and notices the scene in front of her. A soft smile begins to form in her lips.

“Mommy!” Micah squeals, jumping from Lucy’s lap and running towards the other woman with arms outstretched. “Auntie Lucy taught me how to defeat a monster!”

“Oh, is that right?

Their conversation gets muffled in the background as Lucy questions everything she has ever known.

Mommy? 

Chapter Text

“So Micah is your son,” Lucy utters each word slowly to avoid any misunderstanding. 

They are back in their shared cabin. One hour has passed since the earth-shattering revelation, but Lucy’s brain is still having a hard time connecting two and two.

Kate is Micah’s mom. Micah is Kate’s son.

The thought was as sweet as it was jarring. The more she thought about it, the more a headache threatened to explode behind her eyelids.

The worst part is that, objectively speaking, it makes sense.

Although they are not carbon copies of each other — Micah’s hair and skin being slightly darker than Kate’s, they do share some obvious similarities. The shape of their nose is the same and so is their facial structure. They have the same piercing brown eyes and adorable shy smile, which may explain why Lucy felt so drawn to both.

Another pretty big clue was how Micah behaved around Kate. For an anxious and shy kid, the little boy has been overly comfortable around her since the very first day when they played snakes and ladders together. He always sticks within arms reach when she is around, and at times, he seems to know too much; Kate’s fears of spiders, Lucy’s not-so-secret crush… One day he mentioned his Mom would only use mason jar as cups, which he thought was weird, and on that very same night Kate came back to the cabin with OJ in a mason cup. Lucy thought it was a funny coincidence. How dumb has she been? 

Truth is, a tiny, self-absorbed part of her thought Micah spent so much time around Kate, because Kate spent most of her time around Lucy. It was laughable how badly she had mixed things up. 

A little bolt of panic surges through her body. What if Kate was only hanging with her because of Micah? Nope. No. Kate had to be attracted to her too. There was no way Lucy misread the signs so poorly.

“I thought you knew,” Kate answers, though it sounds more like a question. She sits down beside Lucy on the bed, the hands resting on her lap clasped together in an iron grip. “I– I thought that was the reason you kept bringing him up in conversations.”

There you go. Another reason why Lucy should've at least suspected something. Whenever she brought up Micah, Kate would soften. The cadence in her voice shifted from fondness to something more. Something that Lucy can now identify as love. 

She really wants to kick herself for not even entertaining the thought before. But at the same time, one can understand why she hasn’t. The big lesbian residing inside of her was blinded, too busy falling in lo–  nope, not now. Too enchanted by the gorgeous blonde she’s been sharing a cabin with. There has been very little room left in her brain for critical thinking. 

“Well, no! I just… He is my little bestie," Micah is the highlight of her day – present company excluded. She loves Micah for Micah. For his wit and politeness and humor. Which, thinking about it, makes total sense. She wouldn’t expect anything less from Kate Whistler’s baby boy.

“Well, as I’ve told you, the feeling is mutual. He’s obsessed with you,” She punctuates the sentence with an eye roll.

Even though Kate is smiling, the bolt of insecurity flares up again. The implications of this latest discovery are too many and her brain feels like it’s going into overdrive. She’s going to need a minute to process everything.

Kate seems to interpret her silence as a bad thing because she becomes fidgety. It’s been a while since the blonde last got fidgety with her. Kate’s legs bounce up and down as she picks at her cuticles. She opens and closes her mouth a few times, considering her next words carefully, but before she can muster the courage to say something, a knock sounds from the door. 

The women turn around to find Jesse’s bodiless head, eyes closed as he squints his face, “You decent?”

“What do you want?” Lucy cuts straight to the chase.

“Heather wants to know if you could cover my shift at the movie session tonight,” He has a sly grin on his face, and Lucy has to fight the urge to give him an eye roll. “Oh. Hi, Kate!” He adds with a little wave.

The blonde’s faint “Hi” is overpowered by Lucy’s “Heather, uh?”

“She would be soooo grateful.” Now, Lucy does give him that eye roll. 

“Yeah. Whatever. Fine,” She relents, not that she could ever put up much of a fight. Jesse would cover for her without blinking twice — as he already has several times. She has no problem in returning the favor. 

"You are the best!" He points at her excitedly. Then, he turns to Whistler, "You got a good one there. See ya!"

Lucy turns just in time to see a faint blush begin to form on Kate's cheeks and neck. Her own cheeks feel warmer than usual as a result of Jesse's comment. She is grateful for it though because it helps restore her confidence that Kate does indeed share the same feelings for her. It also deepens Lucy's craving for something more. She wants to be Kate's ‘good one’ more than anything. 

"You always cave that easy when it comes to pretty girls?" Kate teases, bumping their shoulders.

With that comment, the atmosphere in the room shifts and it becomes clear that their potentially emotional conversation is tabled for now. Thus, Lucy follows Kate's lead. 

"You think Heather is pretty?"

"That's what you took from that?"

Lucy shrugs nonchalantly, "A girl's gotta know her competition." She can't actually believe she said those words out loud, but there they are, floating around the room for Kate to take it.

"There's no competition," Kate's voice is barely above a whisper, but it's as genuine as they come. Lucy feels her throat close with the weight of that admission. 

Before Lucy's able to do anything about it ( read: kiss her ), Kate's phone chimes, alerting a new notification. In a matter of seconds the woman is off the bed and searching for the device like her life depends on it. 

Always the goddamn phone. 

Her reaction, however, is not at all what Lucy was expecting. Her shoulders and face fall, defeat stamped all over her features. With an angry grunt, Kate throws the device onto her bed. 

She runs her fingers through her hair, sighing heavily. 

"I, uh, I gotta go. I– I have, uh, classes."

Lucy knows it's a lie. It's almost five and the last class is ministered at four. She doesn't call her out though, and Kate doesn't look her way whilst leaving the cabin. 

+++

For the next hour, Kate is nowhere to be found. Lucy was hoping to talk to her during their overseeing time together, but it's Cole who shows up instead. When questioned about it, they just shrugged and told her Kate got held up by something. 

Lucy doesn’t start to get worried until dinner time rolls around and Kate is still MIA. Logically, she knows Kate probably just needs some time after whatever notification she’s gotten earlier, but her brain can go to very dark places and when she notices Micah hasn’t been around either, she has to chastise herself from imagining the worst.

“Hey,” She approaches Cole’s table, actively interrupting their conversation with Kai and Boom Boom. “Is Micah ok?”

“Yeah,” They look up confusedly at Lucy. “Why? Something happened?”

“No, no, Just, uh, just checking.”

Knowing the boy is ok helps assuage some of her worries. She leaves Cole and the boys with an awkward smile thrown in their direction and focuses on getting what she needs to set up the makeshift movie theater. It does a great job distracting her from the entire situation.

Tonight’s movie is Coraline. Why Jesse thought it was a good idea to show this movie to a bunch of 11 year olds, Lucy has no clue. If you ask her, this shouldn't even be considered a children's film in the first place. 

As the blue-haired girl on screen crosses the portal to the other world for the first time, Lucy feels someone sneak up to her side, dropping into the empty seat on her left. She doesn’t need to look to know who it is.

Lucy’s heart skips a beat. Kate wasn’t assigned to movie duty today, so it could only mean she came here just for Lucy. Or maybe she just wants to watch the film , a voice in her head counters, trying to stop her from getting her hopes up. 

“What did I miss?” Kate asks, pointing to the big screen. 

The relief Lucy feels at finally hearing her voice again is quickly replaced by sheer shock.

"You've never seen Coraline?" Her voice is a pitch too high and she gets shushed by the kids.

"Not huge on animations," She shrugs. 

Nobody panic! This confirms nothing!

“Uh, I’m sorry. Did I not see you jamming to Some Things Never Change during the opening class?”

“ Jamming is a bit of a stretch, and that’s entirely Mic’s fault."

"Ah yes, blame the kid," Lucy jokes. "This one is right up your alley though.”

Kate raises an eyebrow, “Meaning?”

“Dark and twisted,” Kate rolls her eyes, but Lucy doesn’t miss the interested hum that falls from her lips, her eyes moving back to the screen.

A few minutes in, Kate forces Lucy to give her a recap of everything that happened so far because she is utterly lost in the story. Then, for the rest of the film, they both settle into a comfortable silence. Kate watching the film, Lucy watching Kate watch the film — It's becoming a habit. The hundreds of questions swarming her brain get dampened, while one single thought takes the center stage: I could spend the rest of my life watching her, and that is single handedly the gayest thought she has ever had. 

“Mic’s school,” Kate says when the credits start rolling. “Or what I hoped would be his school. He had a hard time adjusting to his previous one, so I thought about enrolling him in a private school instead. Just heard back from them, and they told me to try again next year.”

“Oh,” Lucy says dumbly at the unexpected wave of words. She has enough friends with kids and grandkids to know how ruthless these application processes can be. It makes her incredibly mad they didn’t take Micah in, so she can’t even imagine what must have gone on Kate’s mind when she read the email. 

“Sorry, I just– you were staring. Given your history, I thought you were going to ask. But if you weren’t, just, uh, forget it.”

“I mean, yeah. Sure,” That was a question that has been haunting her since day one: What’s with Kate and that phone? But upon seeing Kate’s recoiled stance, Lucy tries to ease her nerves with blunt honesty, “But to be fair, I was staring ‘cause you’re really beautiful.”

Kate’s cheeks burn bright crimson, and she fumbles with her next words, “I, uh, yeah. Ok, you, I, uhum.” Lucy thinks is adorable.

The credits have stopped rolling and the kids are all bouncing anxiously in their seats, so the brunette excuses herself for a second and goes to send them off to their respective monitors. Once the small gremlins are gone, Lucy goes back to Kate’s side. The woman hasn't moved and her cheeks are still a bit pink from Lucy's compliment. 

"Does it change anything?"

"I'm sorry?"

“Me having Micah. Does it change anything?” She sounds so small, so afraid. Lucy's heart squeezes in her chest.

"Why would it?"

"Because it always does." 

"Not for me," Lucy says genuinely. Sure, finding out about their affiliation did blow Lucy’s mind, and she still hasn’t exactly recovered from it, but change Lucy’s feelings for Kate? Never. The unconvinced look on Kate's face remains firmly in place, so Lucy decides to shift the mood, "I mean, as long as you're fine with me liking him better than I like you." 

It does the trick, a surprised laugh erupts from Kate's lips, “I think I can live with that.”

Silence falls upon them. It’s late, they really should get going, but neither of them make any mention of getting up. 

Lucy doesn’t know how long they sit there. It’s comfortable and the last thing Lucy wants to do is break the moment, but there’s one question that can’t seem to leave her alone. A question that if she is jumping head first into this, she’s got to know the answer to. So, as tentatively as she can, she starts, "I, uh, I just gotta ask. It doesn't change my answer. At all. I just, well you know me. Ha! I'm curious, so just, uh, is there a… dad? Or, or another mom?"

Judging by the stiff back and clenched jaw, the question doesn’t land as smoothly as Lucy hoped it would. 

The “No,” coming through gritted teeth, makes Lucy wonder if she has just fucked this up with a single question. 

+++

They leave the theater not long after Lucy’s question, the mood being officially broken. Kate remains silent through the rest of their night routine, only answering Lucy's questions with monosyllabic answers and barely looking in her direction at all. 

Lucy tries to mend the situation, apologizing and reassuring Kate she only asked out of curiosity, but it only seems to push Kate further and further back into her shell.

By the time they are both in bed, Lucy has given up trying to say anything at all. Focusing instead on not crying herself to sleep.

Chapter Text

The next morning starts extra early for Lucy. Truth be told, she has hardly slept at all, her brain too busy shooting a whirlwind of emotions through her system. Most of her night was spent staring in the direction of Kate’s bed, willing her eyes to find distinguishable features in the dark, shadowy shape that resided there.

Lucy goes through her morning routine fast, and five minutes before Kate’s alarm is set to go off, she sneaks out of the door for an early morning stroll. She has every intention of lying to herself about the reason why — it's sunny with a light breeze, not too warm, not too cold. The perfect weather for a morning walk. But as much as she tries to fool herself, she still feels like a cartoon character being followed around by a big gray cloud.

The camp feels different without the kids running to and fro. It’s quiet. Disturbingly so. The last thing Lucy needs today is quiet. She needs busy and loud and chaotic, anything to keep her from overthinking and spiraling. Luckily, and surprisingly, she finds Jane already up, sitting by herself in one of the pavilion’s chairs, taking slow sips from her coffee mug. 

"You gonna stare all day, or are you going to sit down?" She asks without looking at Lucy.

The younger woman feels kind of bad for interrupting whatever peaceful, meditative thing Jane has going on, but talking to someone about this whole shitshow of situation doesn’t sound like the worst idea. If anyone can give Lucy an unbiased opinion, that person is Jane. 

"It's very creepy when you do that.”

“ Staring is creepy,” She counters, finally looking at Lucy. “What’s on your mind?”

"Nothing…"

"You are wandering around at 6AM by yourself." 

Sighing, Lucy sags further onto the chair, “Micah is Kate’s son.”

Jane stays silent for a beat, then raises a singular eyebrow, “You didn’t know?”

“Well, no!”

“Is that an issue?” Jane asks, studying Lucy’s face.

“What? No. Of course not,” She says quickly, but the older woman doesn’t seem convinced. “It’s not! I just… I think I fucked this up.”

“How so?”

Lucy shakes her head, embarrassed to admit her faux-pas, “It’s nothing. I’m just being stupid.”

“Hey,” Jane’s hand on her arm squeezes her tighter, compelling her to keep talking.

“I asked if the other parent was still in the picture. No. Don’t look at me like that! It’s a perfectly normal thing to wonder given the situation!”

It’s Jane’s turn to sigh. She looks at Lucy with a serious expression on her face.

“It is,” She says to Lucy’s surprise, the younger woman thought she was about to get scolded. “But it’s also… complicated. Delicate. I’ve been on the receiving end of that question way too many times, and most of the time it’s not about parenting itself, but what it implies.”

“I don’t follow.”

“Putting yourself out there is hard. When you are a single Mom, especially to a kid that young, it’s even harder. There’s too much at stake. And the fact that you… share a kid with someone else, well, that pushes people away. Daniel is always going to be part of my life, and most people have difficulty understanding that.”

Lucy stays silent for a minute, taking Jane’s words in.

It makes sense. She can understand why her question might have sounded off-putting at first. But once she noticed the change in Kate's demeanor, Lucy made sure the blonde knew that nothing she could say would put her off. To no avail, though, because Kate just kept pulling farther and farther away. It's like they are back to square one. 

She says so to Jane, who listens attentively. 

“I made sure she knew I wasn’t going anywhere. That I wanted this. Her. That I love Micah.”

Jane’s quiet chuckle catches Lucy off guard. She expected a lot of reactions, amusement wasn’t one of them.

“And you think that makes it less scary?” 

It's a slap in the face, a bucket of cold water pouring over her head. Kate is afraid. There’s too much at stake for her.

Lucy groans loudly, covering her face with her hands in shame.

"I'm so stupid," The sentence is muffled by the hands on her face. "I scared her off."

"Hey, stop it," Jane's tone is final, allowing no room for self-pity. "I can't speak for Kate, can't guarantee you where she stands. I can, however, speak for what my two little eyes have observed in the course of these two weeks," — dramatic pause — "That woman is crazy about you."

"No, she is not," Denying is Lucy's first instinct, but despite her insecurities, she isn't blind. She notices the looks Kate throws her way when she thinks Lucy isn't paying attention, notices the dazzling, soft smile she seems to save for Lucy and only Lucy. She notices how comfortable Kate is becoming around her. Enough so to pester Lucy about resting and icing her knee as often as possible, which always causes a delightful banter between the two of them. It has barely been two weeks and Lucy, somehow, feels more comfortable in her skin than she's ever felt since the accident.

Now that she's considering it, she can understand Kate's fears. If so much has changed in such little time, who will they be at the end of the summer? 

God, this is too much for someone who hasn’t had their first coffee of the day yet. 

"Ok, yeah. She may have a tiny bit of a crush on me."

Jane chuckles, shaking her head in amusement as she probably wonders what the hell she did to end up in the middle of a lesbian drama. 

"But enough about me!" Lucy says, slapping her thighs enthusiastically. She needs a change of topic before her brain goes into crisis mode again. "What are you doing out here at 6AM?"

“Are you kidding? Listen,” Lucy tries, but all she can hear is birds and the soft rustling of leaves. 

“I don’t hear anything.”

“Exactly,” She sighs happily, and sips her coffee. 

Apparently the silence isn’t all unsettling for everybody.

+++

The rest of her morning is uneventful. Lucy spends most of it thinking about her conversation with Jane, while at the same time doing everything in her power to avoid Kate. 

It's not that Lucy doesn't want to see her. Quite the contrary. It's insane how much she already misses Kate's presence. But after hearing everything Jane had to say, Lucy is afraid. Terrified even. She has this annoying history of not having much of a filter between her brain and mouth, and just the thought of making things worse between them is enough for her to crawl behind a bush to avoid bumping into the blonde on her way to class. All in the name of giving Kate space and time to figure her things out — or so Lucy tells herself.

"What are you doing?" Jesse's voice comes out of nowhere making her jump.

"I, uh…" She looks around trying to find something, anything to serve as an excuse as to why she is on all fours on the dirty ground. "Lost my earring." 

The man crouches down beside her, raising a hand and placing it on her forehead. She swats it away and moves to sit properly in the cold, damp dirt. 

"Can't a girl enjoy some dirt without getting questioned about it?"

“Sure, Taissa ,” He jokes, referencing yellowjackets , the latest show they got obsessed with.

She wants to laugh, but how can she do that when the first thought that crossed her mind after Jesse’s reference was ‘ don’t tell Kate I secretly enjoy one dark and twisted show about lesbian cannibals.’

Sensing something is wrong, Jesse scoots closer and wraps an arm around her tiny body.

"You want to talk about it?"

"Can we just sit?"

"Sure."

And so they do.

Lucy loses track of time after a couple of minutes. She is aware that he probably has something more important to be doing right now than sitting with her in the cold ground. But, selfishly, she wants the comfort only her best friend can provide.

Eventually, Jesse breaks the silence, "Remember when you came here for the first time?"

How could she forget? She had just gotten the worst news of her life and was trying to adjust to a life she didn't want. 

"I was really worried," He continues. "In the two years I had known you, I'd never seen you so… wrecked." 

"You gotta work on your pep talk," Lucy mutters, but he continues as if she didn't say a word.

"It took you almost two years to smile like you again. Did you know that?" She did not. "The first time I saw that Lucy Tara MegaWatt smile after the accident I almost cried. After that day I promised myself I would always do everything in my power to keep it in place." 

"Are you just into making me cry or do you have a point?" She says, mostly to stop herself from getting too caught up in the emotions threatening to take control.

"My point is I lost count of how many times I've seen it this summer. I don't know what is going on between you and Whistler but whatever it is. I'd say, stop overthinking."

"I'm not–" 

"You are hiding in a bush," She doesn't have a defense for that. "As I was saying, stop overthinking because anything that makes you smile like that is worth the risk." 

She doesn't think she has ever heard Jesse talk like that about any of her previous relationships. Her eyes begin to well up with tears, and she shoves her face in the crook of his neck. 

"Thank you."

+++

After lunch, Lucy is casually leaning ( hiding ) against a tree, waiting for Kate and Cole to disappear from her line of sight when she spots Micah walking towards her. He’s carrying a sheet of paper and his stuffed giraffe, which probably means he was either taking a nap or is about to. Lucy softens at the thought, and as his face lights up looking at her, she is hit with the crushing realization that she has missed him so very much. 

Spending her entire day running from Kate, consequently caused her to see less of Micah. She actually hasn't seen him at all today. 

"Hey, nugget!" She doesn't know where the nickname came from, but it makes Micah laugh so Lucy decides to keep it. 

"Hi, Auntie Lucy!" He greets with a cute little excited smile. Then, looking around suspiciously, he asks, "Are you playing hike and seek?”

Lucy can't think of a way to explain that she was actually hiding… from his mother. So she does the second best thing: She lies.

“I am…Yes.”

“Cool! Can I play too?”

“Uh, sure. C'mere."

Micah hugs her legs, squeezing himself so they both can fit behind the tree and stays very still, the stuffed giraffe and paper sheet nudging the back of Lucy's leg. Her heart melts at the scene and she feels like an asshole for lying to him.

In order to distract herself from the guilt, she calls for Micah's attention, wondering about what he brought with him.

"Ooh, I almost forgot!" He detaches himself from her and hands her the sheet of paper. "It's for you!" 

"For me?" Lucy asks, touched by the gesture.

On the paper there are two stick figures, one tiny, the other one tinier, and a brown rectangle at the tiniest figure’s feet. Lucy can only assume that's Piffles.

"It's us!" He says, pointing proudly to the figures.

"I can see that! My hair looks rad," She says examining the spirals he drew as her curls. She has to admit, it looks better than anything she has drawn so far.

There's just one thing she doesn’t quite get.

"Thank you, nugget. I love it so much, but uh, i– it’s not my birthday," She points to the top of the sheet where some shaky strokes spelled out 'Happy Birthday. Love, Micah' with the D written facing the wrong way. 

"I know."

"You know?"

"Yeah." 

"Then uh…" She points to the page dumbly.

"Well, your birthday has already passed according to Auntie Jane, but I didn't know you then. It felt wrong. So I made you a belated gift so we could pretend!" 

Lucy does not mean to cry, but it's the loveliest thing someone has ever done for her. She hastily wipes the tears that have escaped her eyes and pulls Micah to her, wrapping him in a big hug. "I love this so much, and I love you, kid." 

"I love you too, Auntie Lucy." 

They hold each other for a little while, Lucy doing her best to control the outpouring of emotions. She sniffles and briefly pulls away from the hug.

"You're a very special kid, you know that?" 

Micah's cheeks get pink, but before the boy can say anything, they both almost have a heart attack when someone screams " Boo !" from behind Lucy. The boy gives a high pitched scream, and Lucy thinks she does too. She loses her balance and falls to her butt with Micah toppling over her.

"Oh shit! Sorry!" Kate appears in her line of vision, pulling Micah away from her. She balances him on her hip and kisses his temple. "Sorry, baby."

Unlike Lucy, whose heart is still pounding,  Micah recovers quickly.

"She found us. Quick! We have to tap in!" Micah says, not waiting for a response, nor checking to see if they are following as he speeds through camp. 

It would be comical, if it hadn't just left Lucy alone with Kate.  

"Good to know we can't count on him if there's a zombie attack," Lucy tries to joke, but Kate doesn’t laugh.

"You're avoiding me," She says instead, her tone is very matter-of-fact.

"No," Lucy says, but it sounds fake even to her ears.

"Lucy."

"Fine. Yes. I'm avoiding you," And I'd like to continue , she doesn't add. 

Even though she was the one who brought it up, Kate looks utterly devastated at Lucy's response. It makes Lucy a little angry. 

"Last night you—"

"Acted like an ass. I know," Kate interrupts. "I'm sorry, Lucy. I didn't mean, I– I didn't mean to shut you out. I apologize."

The apology feels genuine. Lucy can see, stamped all over her face, how sorry she feels. But it doesn’t seem like she is going to give Lucy any more details, and as desperate as she is to know the whole story, she doesn't ask.

Give her time. 

"Thank you," Lucy says. "I also didn't mean to–"

"No. It's fine. You have nothing to apologize for." 

Lucy nods, smiling faintly at the woman.

An understanding seems to have been made. Things aren’t exactly the way they used to be. There's still some tension there in the shape of an unanswered question. For now, though, Lucy is glad she doesn't have to hide in the bushes anymore. 

"Should we go after him, 'cause he's just like," Lucy gesticulates widely. 

"Oh yeah, let's go."

Chapter Text

The next morning the air feels clearer. The women go about their morning routine quieter than usual, but once Lucy feels brave enough, she makes a teasing and flirty remark and gets a flustered and stuttering Kate in response. It feels almost normal.

Afterwards, just as they step foot into the dining hall for breakfast, Pike announces his Hike with Pike , holding up an ugly bold orange t-shirt with the words printed on it. Jesse then says that every instructor who doesn't have class this morning is to accompany Pike on said hike. Life must have a sense of humor because the only instructors that are free are Lucy and Kate. 

"This was a horrible idea," She hears Kate muttering a couple of steps ahead of her as she pushes away the branch that almost hit her in the face. 

“Well, I told you to wear comfortable sneakers,” Micah says looking up at her with the best ‘I told you so ’ look a five year old can muster. He has his hands on his hips and everything.

“These are comfortable!” Kate says pointing to her white espadrilles. Who in their right mind comes on a hike wearing espadrilles? 

“Those aren’t sneakers,” Micah counters.

Lucy can’t help the snicker that falls from her lips. The two of them have been bickering since they left camp and it’s been as amusing as this latest conversation.

As much as things are starting to go back to normal between Kate and Lucy, things between Kate, Lucy and Micah are still a bit tricky.

Yesterday, after they went after Micah, they found him by the main building jumping rope with some of his new friends, completely over Lucy’s fake hide and seek game. It didn’t give them time to interact as a trio. This morning, however, Micah greeted her with an overly enthusiastic hug and regaled her with multiple stories of what he and his friends had been up to last night. Lucy listened to it attentively, asking questions just as enthusiastically until she realized Kate was watching the interaction from afar. Then she was suddenly at a loss of how to act normally around the little boy. 

She is not sure whether it was Jane’s words about how Lucy loving Micah didn’t make things less scary for Kate, or if she was afraid of crossing some unknown, invisible line. All she knows is that ever since, she’s been keeping her distance, ignoring Kate’s questioning looks and Micah’s confused ones.

Her inability to keep her amusement to herself gets the duo’s attention, and soon, Micah’s hands are on hers, pulling her towards Kate.

“Sneakers,” He points to Lucy’s feet. Then, pointing to Kate’s feet, “Not sneakers.”

Kate looks at him with a look Lucy has seen aimed at Jake and Julie more often than not by Heather and Jane. The Mom Look as Lucy calls it. 

“The son of a lawyer indeed,” Lucy says teasingly. 

Kate rolls her eyes, grumbles something unintelligible under her breath and keeps marching after Pike and the other kids, leaving Lucy and Micah behind.

"She is not very outdoorsy," Micah whispers conspiratorially. 

"You don't say," Lucy fakes surprise.

"I heard that," Kate yells back at them.

Micah looks at her. She looks at him. Soon, both of them are dissolving in a fit of laughter, unable to stop even at the sight of Kate's annoyed expression. 

That's when Lucy realizes that there was no need for her to be weird in the first place. Nothing changed, they are still the same trio they were before Lucy found out two of them were actually related to each other.

Confidence starts to slowly build in Lucy's chest. She is gonna prove to Kate that she doesn’t need to be afraid, prove that she can be solid, if only Kate gives her a chance. 

+++

Twenty minutes later they finally arrive at their destination. A waterfall.

“Seriously?” Lucy complains, throwing her arms into the air. “You made me leave water to see more water?” 

“It’s an island,” Pike says as if Lucy isn’t aware of this fact.

She mutters a few curses under her breath as Pike explains to the kids the wonders of waterfalls, while also teaching them about the risks of waterspouts after heavy rain. Once again, Lucy is left wondering why a person would submit themselves to this kind of risk when they could just chill in a bathtub. 

“Fortunately, today is super safe to go in,” Pike continues, eliciting a bunch of excited screams. “But when I say leave…”

“We leave!” The kids finish the sentence.

While Lucy has always been skeptical about the man’s aptitude for outdoor activities, she’s got to give it to him; he’s a good instructor and seems to have affection and respect from every kid around. 

Luckily, she was smart enough to bring her phone and earbuds, so she finds herself a comfortable rock to sit on and watches the kiddos have fun splashing around — Read: Does her best trying not to ogle at Kate, soaking wet in her bathing suit. 

About the time the fourth song in her playlist comes on, Kate leaves Micah with a kiss on the top of his head, which earns her a 'moooom' worthy of a teenager. She grabs a nearby towel, wrapping herself in it, much to Lucy's grief, and joins Lucy on the rock.

“They make some friends and, suddenly, they are too cool for you,” Kate lets out a gloomy sigh, but there is a mischievous sparkle in her eyes that tells Lucy she likes it that way. Then, she steals an earbud from Lucy's ear and places it in her own, which causes her to immediately frown.

"What?"

"I was expecting some bad country song." Lucy playfully slaps her arm in retaliation. 

“My music taste is impeccable, ok? There are no bad songs on this bad boy,” She says waving the phone in her hands.

“Mm, we’ll see about that.”

Kate slides down to the ground, resting her back on the rock and nods encouragingly for Lucy to do the same. Which obviously she does. 

They sit in silence for a while, Kate's head bobbing gently to the rhythm of whatever song that comes on. She gets particularly excited when You're On Your Own, Kid starts playing, claiming it's her favorite Midnights song. It shouldn't surprise her that Kate is a swiftie, but it kind of does. Lucy herself has never considered herself one, but she can appreciate good music. And if she is honest, she has always had a thing for tall, hot, blondes.

After their brief Taylor Swift conversation, silence falls between them again. Until…

“It’s complicated.”

“Sorry?”

“My life. When people look at me they see this organized, always in control person, but my life is not… It’s messy.”

Lucy doesn’t say anything right away, thinking about the best way to put into words what’s been swarming her brain. She doesn't know what Kate thinks she's expecting from her, but it's definitely not perfection. Not even "normal". If there's one thing Lucy doesn't believe in, it's being "normal". 

“I don't trust easily. Never have," Kate continues before Lucy can say anything. "After Mic… I– I don't let people in. Not when he can get hurt in the process." 

Lucy nods. Jane's words come to her once again, "Too much at stake." 

"Too much at stake," Kate agrees. She takes a deep breath, then gives Lucy a lopsided smile. "But lately, I've realized that some people might be worth the risk."

A breathless gasp falls from Lucy's mouth. She doesn't know how they've gotten so close, but now Kate’s face is mere inches away and her eyes are moving from Lucy's eyes to Lucy's mouth, then back again.

"Can I– Ouch!"

Lucy doesn't get the chance to finish her question as Micah throws himself on top of them much like he did during the soccer match. Except now he is soaking wet and freezing cold.

"I want to take pictures!"

“Micah, for Christ sake,” Kate says, her voice strained. She looks like she could strangle him at any minute. 

Lucy shares the feeling, but only for a fleeting second because Micah, sweet, clueless, darling Micah looks utterly confused by his Mom's pissed off look. 

"Are you mad?" He asks, tilting his head like a little puppy. "What happened?"

"Nothing," Kate says, sighing. Like Lucy she is incapable of being mad at him for too long. Still, she shoots an apologetic look in Lucy's direction, who just winks and chuckles quietly to herself. "Why aren't you with your friends?"

"They went looking for bugs. I'm not a huge fan of bugs," He scrunches his nose adorably. When his Mom doesn't say anything else, he turns around and hugs her face, patting her cheek gently, "Can we take those pictures now?" 

+++

The rest of Lucy's day is spent in high spirits. Even though she didn't get to kiss Kate yet, she is confident that whatever is going on between them is mutual and only bound to improve. Oh, the difference a day makes. 

Her phone chimes when she is on her way to the dining hall. She unlocks it and her conversation thread with Kate reveals fifteen new pictures. The firsts are of Micah by the waterfall making all sorts of silly poses, then a few of him and Lucy pulling faces at the camera together. Four are of Lucy and Kate by the lens of a five year-old, a bit blurry, definitely crooked and with a peeking finger at the corner of each frame. But the ones that make her stop in her tracks are the last two. Selfies of the three of them together, faces all pressed together so they could all fit in. 

Zooming in on Kate's face, Lucy feels overjoyed. The woman's words from earlier coming back to circle her brain non-stop.

She thinks I'm worth the risk. She thinks I'm worth the risk! No one has ever thought I was worth the risk before!

Her giddiness doesn't go unnoticed by her peers and she gets called out for it more than a couple of times. She couldn't care less about the teasing though, Kate Whistler thinks she is worth the risk and there's absolutely nothing anyone can say to dim her light right now.

During dinner, as usual, Kate sits beside her, but today Lucy is hyper aware of every little movement the blonde makes, who in turn keeps glancing at Lucy, smiling knowingly.

They don’t, however, attempt any type of physical interaction. At least, not until they are both on their way out of the hall and Kate pulls her aside. 

"Are you free right now?"

"I am."

"Come with me to the docks?" There's something almost shy about the request, as if she is nervous Lucy will say no. As if.

"Of course!" It comes out too excitedly, but she doesn't care. "I just, uh, I gotta talk to Jesse real fast about a favor he asked me earlier. But I'll meet you there, say in… fifteen minutes?"

"Yeah, ok," Kate says goodbye with a smile. Once the blonde is out of sight, Lucy does her little happy, awkward dance of victory.

Ok, now she has to go find someone and beg them to cover for her tonight because you see, she may or may not have told a little white lie to Kate regarding her availability. 

Luckily, she doesn't have to go far.

"Heather! Just the woman I was looking for," She greets, jogging up to the woman with her MegaWatt smile in place.

"Hey Lu, what's up?" 

"Could you maybe cover for me tonight? If you are free of course!" She quickly adds. 

 Heather narrows her eyes at her. 

"Ok, but if you are going to have sex, please put a 'do not disturb' sign on your door. I do not want to explain any incidents to a concerned parent."

"Heather!" Lucy exclaims, not sure if the woman is joking or not. She feels her cheeks burn as she stutters through her next words, "Noooo. I, we I– We wouldn’t, I just, I– Heather!" 

The woman is doubled over with laughter, hands braced on her knees and all. Lucy just stands there completely flustered for God knows how long until Heather's roaring laughter dissolves into light giggles. 

"God, you should've seen your face," She wipes her eyes with the back of her hands.

"Are you done?" 

"Not quite, but I don't want to be a cockblocker. Or wait, pussyblocker, is this what you all say?"

"I'm gonna go," Lucy says, ignoring Heather's comment and already speed walking away from her.

"Use protection!" She hears the woman yell. Lucy flips her off without turning back and literally bolts through camp, swerving the unexpected kids that pop up along the way. 

"Hi!" She says, a bit higher than intended. Fortunately, it doesn't make Kate jump. "Sorry I'm late. Heather wouldn't shut up."

She plops down beside Kate, scooting closer than she would've had the balls to do yesterday. Her shoes are still on, so instead of dipping her feet into the cold water like the blonde, she angles her body towards Kate and crosses her legs. 

"I thought you were talking to Jesse?"

"Jesse, Heather. They are essentially the same person," She shrugs it off.

A charged silence falls between them, leaving Lucy suddenly feeling like a teenager; too awkward and anxious in her own skin. Her hands are clammy, and a nervous chuckle is already bubbling up in her throat.

Kate breaks the silence before Lucy can embarrass herself somehow, but it's not at all what she was expecting to hear.

"He is not mine. Biologically speaking," It comes out in one breath, so fast that Lucy has a hard time registering the words. "Micah, I mean."

When Kate asked her to come down to the docks, Lucy was expecting a heavy make out session, not a heavy conversation session. She opens and closes her mouth like a fish, giving her brain time to rewire its expectations and react accordingly. 

"W-What?" Is all that comes out. "But he looks so much like you!"

Once she started to observe them through the lens of mother and son, it became uncanny how much they resembled each other. Again, not carbon copies at any rate, but for that, Lucy just blamed the man in the equation. 

Kate gives a low, self-deprecating chuckle. Her eyes move from Lucy to the water. 

“That’s because we are related,” Kate stays quiet for a while, as if waiting for a light bulb to light up on top of Lucy’s head. It doesn’t. And at the sight of Lucy’s lost expression, she continues. “He is… theoretically my nephew. My brother, he, uh, he worked for the state department. So did his wife. They traveled around a lot, and during one of their trips there was, uh, an accident. We don’t really know the details, just that it was a car crash and they both died at the scene.” 

For someone who was expecting the father to be a random dude from a mistake or experimentation during Kate’s college years, this took a wild, dark turn. There’s a knot in the back of Lucy’s throat that she has to swallow down.

She can feel Kate shaking slightly beside her. It’s visible how much the story is wearing her out, and it’s no wonder she had shut off completely after Lucy’s question. Wanting to offer some sort of comfort, Lucy reaches out her hand but doesn’t grab Kate’s, instead she patiently waits for the woman to take it. Once she does, Lucy squeezes it lightly and gives her a small, encouraging smile, even though the blonde isn’t looking at her.

“Micah was with my parents when it happened. He wasn’t even one,” Kate hastily wipes a rebel tear that has escaped her eye. “Noah and Ollie left the guard to me. In their will, they said Micah was going to need a mother and they couldn’t think of anyone more fitting for the job.”

“They weren’t wrong,” Lucy says softly, but Kate shakes her head.

“I hated them for it. Don’t get me wrong, Micah was my little guy, but I was fresh out of University, barely knew how to take care of myself and I’d just lost my best friend. How did they expect me to take care of a baby?” 

Through the seriousness of the conversation, Lucy makes a mental note to tell the Boones they better not die and leave her three kids. But just the thought of losing them, punches her back into reality, making her sick to her stomach. She can’t even begin to imagine what must have felt like for Kate to actually live it.

“My parents, they, uh, they helped out at first. Micah cried a lot, all the time, and I was clueless on how to comfort him. It became easier with time. I learned how he liked to sleep, how to differentiate the crying, how to feed, bathe and basically keep him alive,” A faint smile forms on her lips. “He is still my little guy, even though he drives me nuts sometimes. And he reminds me so much of Noah. Ollie too, but I didn’t grow up with her pestering me at any given second, so I can’t tell for sure.”

Lucy chuckles quietly, but remains silent, sensing Kate isn’t done. 

“It feels selfish sometimes. That I’m the only parent he knows when Noah and Ollie were the best people I’ve ever known.”

“It’s not selfish. It sucks, sure, but it’s not selfish,” Kate gives her a small tired smile. 

"I talk about them often, but Micah is just so… indifferent. He keeps staring at me with those big eyes as if he is asking why am I wasting his time with all that when we could be talking about dinosaurs instead." 

"Kate, he is five. Maybe when he is older he will want to know more about his biological parents and you'll get the chance to tell him all about the stupid shit you pulled with his dad when you were kids." Kate bumps her shoulder against Lucy's, rolling her eyes at the comment. 

They sit quietly for a couple of minutes, Kate staring intently at the sight in front of her while Lucy tries to digest everything. 

“What happened to your parents?” Lucy asks gently. Kate looks at her funnily, so she explains, “You said they helped out at first . No anymore?”

Kate squints her nose, much like Micah had done this morning and it’s just as adorable.

“There’s a whole other level of drama, I’m not sure you want to know.”

“If you are comfortable telling me, I’m comfortable hearing it.”

Kate studies her face for a while, nodding when she realizes Lucy meant every word.

“Micah’s first word was ‘mama’. He was eleven months old and it was directed to me,” Lucy smiles softly imagining an eleven month old Micah. “My mom didn’t take that well. I’m not his mother. In her eyes, I’ll never be.” 

Lucy is speechless, which is not an easy feat to accomplish.

“I ignored it for as long as I could, but it started to affect Micah. He didn’t want to stay with them anymore, he started having anxiety crises… It became too much. I needed to get away. I had some friends on the island, Ollie's was born here, so it made sense."

"Fuck," Lucy thought her parents were messed up, but Kate's are really giving them a run for their money. "Kate, I don't even know…"

"Welcome to the mess I call life," She says with a self-deprecating smile. "Now you know exactly what you're signing yourself up to."

"Are you kidding me? Tragedy, fucked up parents, running away to Hawai'i? I feel right at home," Lucy tries to joke, and fortunately, it makes Kate laugh.

"Are you sure? I wouldn't hold it against you if you backed off now," There's something fragile in her voice. Almost as if she expects Lucy to do exactly that.

Lucy does the only thing she can think of, the only thing good enough to assuage Kate's fears and make her understand that she is a hundred percent in. She kisses her. 

Kate's lips are soft. Incredibly so. At first neither of them move, they just bask in the feeling of their lips pressed together. It's everything she has dreamed of since the first time she laid eyes on Kate. Her heart is beating so fast, she is genuinely concerned she might pass out from the chastest kiss she has ever had. 

Her hands move to cradle Kate's face, pulling her closer. The movement causes Kate to let out a tiny moan and Lucy's entire body lights up. She opens her mouth, drawing Kate even closer.

Kate's hand that was tangled in Lucy's hair, pulling gently, moves down to her neck. At the feeling of the faint brush of Kate's thumb on her chin, Lucy moans so obscenely that Kate chuckles against her mouth.

Lucy doesn't know for how long they kiss, tongues exploring each other's mouth, basking in the feeling of pure bliss. The only thing that stops Lucy from pushing Kate down and straddling her lap is the sound of someone clearing their throat. They jump apart as if burned. 

"I'm so sorry to interrupt," A sixteen year-old monitor says, looking genuinely apologetic. "But, uh, Miss Kate we have a situation."

Lucy's body goes stiff as a board. Her blood cooling in her veins. She looks over at Kate only to notice that the woman has already jumped into action, worry stamped all over her face. 

"Where?" She asks, her voice strained.

"The infirmary."

The blonde doesn’t look back as she runs towards the one place no mother ever wants to run to.

Chapter Text

"Micah!"

The little boy, currently sitting on a gurney and hugging his knees, looks up at the sound of his Mom's voice. As soon as Kate is close enough, he throws himself into her arms. 

“Mommy,” He sobs, attaching himself to Kate. 

“Hey, baby. I’m here,” Kate squeezes him tight, pressing him closer to her chest. She caresses the boy’s back, drawing soothing circles on it.

Lucy watches the scene in front of her unfold, feeling every bit like an intruder. When Kate bolted, her natural reaction was to follow. Not only was she worried about little Micah, but she also wanted to be there for Kate if needed. Now, watching Micah sob and Kate whisper sweet reassurances to him, she can't help but think that it may have been a lapse in judgment to do so. 

On her way over, Lucy's anxiety spiked as every worst possible scenario exploded in her brain. Seeing the boy in one piece, placates at least three quarters of them. Deeming that as enough, Lucy quietly escapes the infirmary. 

She manages to take one step towards their cabin. One step then her feet freeze on the ground. She doesn't understand why she can't move, why her body doesn't seem to be following her brain's command.

Looking down at her hands, she notices they are a bit shaky. Actually, her whole body seems to be shaking. But her breathing is normal. Isn't it? Lucy places a hand against her sternum to make sure and, yeah, normal. Not a panic attack then. So why is she trembling? 

"Lucy!"

Lucy snaps back into reality. Two pairs of brown eyes stare at her. There's a little cold hand on her cheek and a bigger, but equally cold one on her shoulder. 

"Are you ok?" Kate asks, her eyebrows drawn together with worry. “I’ve been calling your name for a while.”

"Yeah," Lucy says, but even her voice sounds shaky. She clears her throat, "Yeah. I'm good."

Her eyes land on Micah, curled up in Kate’s arms, his nose and eyes puffy and red from all the crying. Somehow, he still manages to seem worried about Lucy’s state. Like that is even important right now.

"Hey, nugget. How are you feeling? Are you hurt? Let me see," Lucy grabs his legs and arms checking for injuries. Then does the same with his head, brushing away the strands of hair on his forehead. 

“I’m ok,” He says, laying his head back on his Mother’s shoulder now that Lucy is responsive again. He sucks on his bottom lip and starts playing with Kate’s hair, his eyes already closing. 

“Is it ok if he stays with us tonight? I know there are rules–”

“Who gives a sh– damn about rules? Of course he can stay.” When Kate doesn’t seem convinced, Lucy says the one thing she knows will convince her: “Even Jane breaks them.”

If there’s one thing about this camp it’s that everyone respects Jane Tennant more than they respect the actual owners of the camp. Even the owners themselves. If Jane says ‘do it’, Jesse and Heather do it. No questions asked. It’s very impressive.

For the sake of it, Lucy adds, “Besides, your girl here is basically family with the bosses.”

Kate’s eyes almost bulge out of their sockets. It's only then that Lucy realizes her words.

“By your girl, I mean… not like yours , just like, you know, yours as the one who is here. Now. With you. Your girl–” She gets interrupted by a hand gently covering her mouth. 

“Please, you are just going to dig a deeper hole for yourself. And me.”

Lucy hears a small, faint laugh coming from Kate’s shoulder. Micah, who had his eyes closed just a moment ago is now seemingly tuned into everything that’s being said.

Well, at least she made the kid smile.

"Thank you. I appreciate that," She says once Kate removes her hand. 

"You're welcome."

Micah's soft giggles continue until he finally passes out cold halfway to their cabin. 

+++

At the cabin, Kate places Micah on her bed, skillfully changing his dirty clothes to one of her sleeping shirts. It looks gigantic on his little body, but also super cozy. Once he is comfortably settled underneath the sheets, Kate walks to Lucy’s bed, dropping herself onto it with a loud sigh. Lucy sits beside her, resting a comforting hand on her shoulder. 

“Don’t have kids,” The blonde gives a watery chuckle, covering her eyes with her hands. An attempt to hide the tears no doubt. “I was so scared.”

“I know,” Lucy says, gently pulling the woman into a hug. Kate shoves her face in the crook of Lucy’s neck, sniffing softly, and that single act of vulnerability means more to Lucy than words ever could.

Lucy holds Kate until the tears on her shirt start to dry and the violent sobs are nothing but small hiccups.

“I’m sorry,” Kate says, hoarse from the crying. “I didn’t mean to…”

“Hey. Don’t worry about it,” Lucy says, placing a kiss on her forehead. “It’s what I’m here for.”

"Not really, but thank you," Her voice is small, but genuine. 

“Can I– What happened?”

Kate draws a shaky breath, “Some kids sneaked out to play Ghostbusters.”

“Oh no.”

Ghostbusters is what they affectionately call the ghost hunting game they play with the older kids. Ten kids, plus two instructors are selected to play the ghosts, while the others have to find and capture said ghosts. All of the lights are off, except the ones in the cabins and by the lake — Jesse once told her that the first time they played it was so dark that a kid fell in. He was fine. He knew how to swim and thought it was hilarious, but from that day on, the lights at the lake stay on at all times. 

Anyone under the age of nine is strictly forbidden to join, so Lucy has no idea how Micah could’ve possibly got dragged into it.

“Oh yes. Apparently his friends invited him and he thought that if he didn’t go it would be lame.”

“Oh no,” Lucy repeats because apparently that’s all the vocabulary her brain can come up with right now.

“At one point they got jumped by one of the ‘ghosts’. It scared the shit out of him, and to make matters worse, the group ended up scattering around. Everyone running to save themselves. He just stood there crying and frozen in panic. Thank God, Johan woke up and noticed some of the kids were gone."

Lucy feels the tears prickle at the imagery of Micah crying by himself in the clearing until the sixteen year-old found him. 

“I told him they were going to play that game tonight. Told him to stay in the cabin.”

“Well, he is five. And he just got these cool new friends—” She doesn’t get to finish her thought.

“I feel like that’s partially my fault though.” Kate interrupts.

“What?”

“I didn’t want him to turn out like me,” Kate admits quietly. “That’s the real reason we came here. I don’t have a lot of people. I have two actually — Micah aside. I was scared that he would end up like me. He was never a very social kid, but after the anxiety attacks started it’s gotten worse. He wasn’t making any friends at school, there was some bullying involved too. He looked miserable and I didn’t know what to do. ”

Lucy is unable to contain the tears any longer, but she doesn’t get a chance to speak before Kate continues.

“Cole suggested the camp. Said it was a great environment and if something went South, they would be here for Mic. I was skeptical at first, I mean, six weeks away from home? But then the art instructor spot opened up, I just… At least I would be here to keep an eye on him.” She pauses, wipes her eyes and stares at the sleeping boy. “I’ve been pushing him to make friends and now…”

She doesn’t end the sentence, but Lucy hears the self-deprecation and guilt anyway.

“Kate.” Lucy calls as she gently lifts the woman’s chin up. With Kate still laying on her shoulder, the movement leaves their mouths mere inches from each other. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t think this had anything to do with you. Sure, there may have been the ‘ I don’t want to be lame ’ situation, but we saw him with the bugs this morning. I firmly believe that if he went to the ghost hunt it is probably because some part of him thought it would be cool. I mean, he is your kid, are you really surprised he’d be into weird shit?”

A faint and slightly proud smile graces Kate’s lips, as she rolls her eyes at Lucy. 

“He’s too little though.”

“On that we are in agreement,” Lucy says, stroking Kate’s hair softly. “But it’s not your fault.” Kate still doesn’t seem very convinced, so Lucy, in her usual Lucy fashion, tries to lighten the mood. “He just wanted to keep you on your toes. Now you know what your mother felt all those times you sneaked out.”

“Oh, I’ve never snuck out,” Kate seems almost offended by the comment. Then, almost in slow motion, her eyes double in size. “Oh my God, Micah is going to become a teenager. I’m gonna have a teenager at home, and if he’s anything like Noah I will die before I turn forty five. Oh God.”

Lucy can't hold back the laughter at Kate's panicked expression upon realizing her baby boy isn’t going to be a baby forever.

"Let's just hope nurture trumps nature, yeah?"

Kate stares at nowhere for a while, probably contemplating every life choice that has led her to this moment, then she just sighs and settles on flipping the question.

"Have you ever snuck out?"

“Oh, all the time,” Lucy answers honestly. “How do you think Dad’s little doll and the school’s cheer captain got so good at fighting?”

Kate sits up with a bolt, “You were a cheer captain?”

"Really? That's what you got from all that?" Lucy asks amusedly. "Such a lesbian…" 

"Hey!" Kate slaps her arm. "Don't dodge the question."

"Yes, ma'am. Apologies, ma'am," Lucy jokes only to get slapped on the arm again. "Yes, I was. I am very flexible."

Lucy half expects Kate to get bright crimson like she always does when someone implies anything remotely romantic or erotic, but to her surprise, the woman just smirks.

"Still got the outfit?"

"Katherine!" Lucy chastises, but little goosebumps arise on her skin and her heart doubles its speed at the implication.

This woman is going to be the death of me.

"What? It was an innocent question."

"Oh, sure it was." 

Kate laughs, positioning herself back on Lucy's shoulder, "Ok, so how does, what did you call it, Dad's doll? How did she get into Taekwondo?"

"It's a long story. Boring and dramatic."

That doesn't seem to discourage Kate, who simply bats her eyelashes expectantly. 

"Fine, but don't tell me I didn't warn you."

Maybe it's the fact that Kate, even back when she kept Lucy at arm's length, has never judged her that makes it so easy for Lucy to tell her everything.

She starts at the beginning: her family's company and dirty money. Tells her all about how she was the perfect little girl growing up, always abiding by her daddy's rules. Her entire family always had high expectations for her. "This one is the next CEO!" Family members used to say. Nevermind that she didn't want to be. 

Martial Arts happened accidentally. She needed some place to escape to, some place she could be herself and in entire control. Cheering was that place for a while, until she got outed and all of the girls started acting weird around her. 

"I sneaked out one day to go to a party,” Kate narrows her eyes at her. “Don't look at me like that, ok? I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Anyways…"

At that party Lucy met this kid who used to wrestle. They told her about how it was a great way to de-stress, a place you could just be, and that got her attention.

After hunting down the nearest place in Dallas that offered a beginners class, Lucy started to sneak out at 4AM every morning to attend a 5AM class in a close by neighborhood. She was back home at 7, right on time for her mother to knock on her door, saying that breakfast was ready. 

They never noticed, despite Lucy's many slips. Or never cared enough to notice. 

"Kicks were always my strength. These legs may be small, but they are powerful," Kate's eyes instinctively move to Lucy's legs. Lucy doesn't miss the way she swallows. Hard. "My coach noticed that and sent me to a friend who could help me build on that strength."

That's when she was introduced to Taekwondo.

Before then, Martial Arts was an escape. A way to take her mind off worldly affairs. A good punch in the face really does help you put your life in perspective. But the more she learned about Taekwondo, the more in love she felt. 

It taught her discipline, self-control and focus. It gave her peace of mind, and helped her work out her emotions. Suddenly, it wasn't about escaping anymore but about finally finding herself. 

When she dropped out of business school to pursue an "unworthy and manly career" — her parents words exactly — it was the last straw for them. They cut her off for good with a threat that she couldn’t come back home crying to them when her career didn't take off. 

"I started training harder than ever after that day. Promising to be so fucking good, that when I got that gold I would go home just to shove it in their faces. It never happened, though." Surprisingly, saying that doesn't hurt as much as it once did. It didn’t get her the gold, but it did get her here.

"It may offer you no comfort, but I think a bronze and silver medal are already pretty impressive. Let alone all of the other golds outside the Olympics."

Lucy smiles softly at her, then she narrows her eyes, "Wait. How did you–  Oh. My. God! That's right! You are a fan!"

Kate scoffs, "Excuse me? I– I was not– I am– no.”

"Yes, you are!" Lucy giggles to herself, while Kate's scowl only deepens. "Micah told me the day we met. He said his mother told him I was reeeeally good."

"Well. That is an objective fact. It doesn't prove anything."

"No, but the look on your face right now does." 

"You know that evidence will never hold, right?" 

"Overruled!"

"That is not how that works."

"I don't care. Now tell me, did you have shirts with my face on it? What about a twitter account with me as the profile pic? Were you @ilovelucytara94_?" Kate shoves her so hard that she loses balance and almost falls off the bed. She doesn't lose the joke though, "But did you?"

+++

Lucy wakes up with no memory of falling asleep. She needs to pee. Desperately. But there's a weight on top of her preventing her from getting up. 

Her muscles are as sore as if she had worked out the day before. It must be because of the adrenaline. As she reluctantly cracks her eyes open, the first thing she notices is that the room is still dark. But even the lack of light does nothing to obscure the familiar shapes of Kate passed out on her left shoulder, and Micah on her right.

Great. I'm gonna pee myself.

She fights her bladder for as long as she can until it becomes unbearable and she has to get up. Extracting yourself from one person is hard enough, two is nearly an impossible job. 

Thankfully, Micah is just as much of a heavy sleeper as his mom, and she manages to escape from their hold without waking them up.

After relieving herself, Lucy returns to the warmth of her bed to find the Whistlers in the same position as she left them.

She takes a second to just look at them, her heart doing a funny little dance inside her chest. 

Too early for this, she shakes her head. 

Funnily enough, getting herself back into the bed proves to be harder than getting herself out.

"Shh, it's ok. Go back to sleep. It's 3AM," She whispers into Kate's hair when she stirs for a moment. 

It seems to do the trick, because the woman cozies herself up against Lucy, her breathing evens out. 

As she looks down once more at the two figures positioned identically against her, she thinks back to Kate’s comments from earlier about worrying Micah is going to turn out like her. Seeing them like this now, she thinks they’re already more alike than Kate realizes.

She tucks a strand of Kate’s hair behind her ear as she whispers, “I think Micah will be so lucky if he turns out anything like you.”

Chapter Text

The next time Lucy wakes up, she is prepared for the comfortable weight on top of her. But to her slight disappointment, she only finds a light and barely there weight. Micah. 

She opens her eyes, blinking a few times to adjust to newfound brightness. The little boy is starfishing on top of her, his mouth hanging open in a cute little O-shape as he drools all over Lucy’s stomach. Is it weird that she finds it cute? Probably.

Shaking the thought away, Lucy looks around for any sign of Kate. She isn’t in the room, but Lucy can hear the faint sound of water running in the bathroom. It’s the one thing that keeps her from panicking and overthinking the entire situation. 

Lucy is almost falling asleep again when the door to the bathroom opens. Kate comes out wearing a plain cerulean blue blouse and beige bermuda shorts. No one should look that good in bermuda shorts. It’s unfair. The blonde stops in her tracks when she sees that Lucy is awake, an adorable blush begins to show on her skin.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"I'm sorry for… I didn't mean to…" Kate points in Lucy's general direction.

Lucy chuckles, "It's fine. Definitely not how I imagined us sleeping together for the first time, but equally rewarding." 

"Lucy!" Kate's eyes widen, the blush on her cheeks turning bright crimson.  

"What?! Micah is asleep," Lucy says defensively. "I even had to check to see if he was breathing, because I don't think he moved all night."

"Yeah, he does that," Kate chuckles, walking towards her. For a second Lucy thinks she is off the hook, but then Kate punches her arm. "But no sex talk with the kid in the room."

"Katherine!" Lucy pretends to cover Micah's ears. "Don't use the S work in front of the kid!”

Kate looks at her unimpressed, but Lucy is very pleased with herself for turning her words against her.

Feeling bold, Lucy decides to aim high.

“Kate?” She calls, putting her best smile on. “Can I get a good morning kiss?”

“After that?” Kate asks, raising an eyebrow. “No.”

Lucy pouts, suddenly having a very clear picture of what her future is going to look like.

Ignoring Lucy’s sulking, Kate continues to collect her things. Only then Lucy realizes how late it must be if Kate is already dressed up. She panics thinking she must’ve slept through her alarm.

“It’s early enough. Besides, it’s your morning off,” Kate says without even looking in Lucy’s direction. It’s a bit appalling how well Kate can read her already.

“Oh. Right. Thanks.”

“Listen, when Mic wakes up, tell him I had a class, will ya? It’s a free-class so he can meet me there if he wants to," She says, then stops at her tracks, her eyes widening. "I mean, i–is it ok? Can you stay with him? I didn't mean to just, like, assume… I can totally wake him–"

"Kate. It's fine," Lucy chuckles. "I'll be happy to laze around with the little dude all morning."

Kate smiles softly at her, "Thanks.” She walks up to the bed and leans down giving Micah a quick kiss on the forehead. Lucy hears a murmured ‘ I love you ’, but the boy doesn’t even stir.

She turns to walk towards the door, but seems to think better of it. Spinning on her heel, Kate leans down again, this time to give Lucy a not so quick and not so chaste peck on the lips. 

“Bye,” Lucy hears her say, but by the time she snaps out of her daze, Kate is long gone.

+++

Micah only begins to stir at 8AM. Lucy had already extracted herself from his arms twice to go to the bathroom, but the little boy remained unphased. She holds a firm belief that this one would actually sleep through the end of the world and wake up as confused as he does now, looking at Lucy as if she is the one who crashed in his bed. 

“Auntie Lucy?”

“Morning, buddy. How’re you feeling?”

“‘M good.” He rubs his eyes in the adorable way only kids know how to do, and tilts his head like a puppy, “Where's Mommy?

"She had classes. She said we could meet her there if you wanted to."

He considers for a while, then moves up on the bed and lays on Lucy's shoulder.

"I'm hungry."

"We better get you some breakfast, then!” She tickles Micah’s sides, making him giggle and squirm out of her grasp. “C'mon, let's take you back to your cabin so you can shower and put on some fresh clothes, shall we?”

As they walk, Lucy thinks about bringing up last night’s incident, but Micah seems to be doing ok, a bit jumpy, but not critically traumatized, so in order to prevent a meltdown she stores her questions away, making a mental note to ask Kate later.

Back in his cabin, Lucy waits for him to shower and reappear wearing SpongeBob shorts, a white sleeveless shirt and a spiderman hat.

“Nice fit!”

Micah looks down at himself, his cheeks getting a little pink at the compliment, "Thanks, Mommy gave it to me."

Lucy can’t help but smile at the thought of Kate Whistler in one of her powersuits walking through Target with little SpongeBob shorts draped over her arm. 

Their next stop is the dining hall. The place is mostly empty, the kids already off to their morning activities. Micah makes his own plate while Lucy follows close by, occasionally straightening his hand to keep the bagel from falling off every time his plate tilts a bit too much when he goes to grab another food. Afterwards, Lucy makes her own plate and they head to the outdoor area to eat.

“So you and my mommy?” Micah asks in a nonchalant manner after relative silence. He takes another bite of his bagel and stares at Lucy expectantly.

The woman chokes on her waffle. When the coughing fit ceases, she feigns confusion, “W-what about me and your mom?”

Very subtle, Lucy.

"You like her?" He asks, his stare boring into her soul. Lucy is not very proud to admit she feels  a bit intimidated by a five year-old. But, again, he is a lawyer’s son. 

“I do. She is a great person.”

An eye roll, "But do you like her,  like her? Like girlfriends?"

"I, uh, is it– is it ok with you if I do?"

"Yeah," Micah nods. "She likes you a lot too."

"Oh, does she?" Lucy rests her elbow on the table, and braces her chin in her hand, incredibly interested to know where this is heading. 

"I think so. She smiles a lot when you are around. I like when she smiles."

The gentleness in his tone takes Lucy by surprise. It feels like someone kicked her right in the chest and stole all of the air from her lungs.

"Yeah? I like when she smiles too," Lucy says once she no longer feels like that 'crying shaking throwing up' meme she sends in the group chat all the time. "And you. I like when you smile too."

Micah gives her a toothy smile, and Lucy tries, but she is unable to resist pinching his cheek.

"You are adorable, kid."

After breakfast, Lucy takes Micah to his Mother.

"Knock knock," She says, even though the door is open. "Special delivery."

Micah giggles beside her, letting go of her hand to run to Kate. The classroom is rather packed for a free-class and Lucy is just a little bit jealous. 

"You want to stay?" It takes Lucy a beat to realize the question was directed at her.

"Oh no, I've had my fair share of painting for the entire summer thank you very much."

Lucy winks at Kate and delights herself in the pink tinting the woman's cheeks. 

"See ya!"

+++

In the afternoon Lucy has overseeing duty with Cole, Kai and Boom Boom. They are all hanging by the clearing, chatting while a few kids play around. Lucy feels a bit out of the conversation, which is admittedly her fault. Every two seconds her brain keeps wandering off to last night. 

“So what do you think, Luce?” She hears Cole asking her in a conspiratorial whisper.

“I’m sorry. What?”

Cole looks at her in disbelief, “Are you telling me you paid no attention to the way Kai and Boom Boom basically ran out of here to go make out somewhere in the woods?”

“WHAT?” Lucy sits up straight, staring at Cole with wide eyes. “Kai and Boom Boom? Since when?”

“Dude, where have you been in the last couple of weeks? There’s a literal bet going around about those two.” Lucy feels like a moron for not having noticed it before. Her gaydar didn’t even blink in the men’s direction, but now that Cole has mentioned, it makes total sense. The teasing, the blush on Kai’s face every time he was in the same room as Boom Boom, the playfulness. God, she has been so caught up in her own summer camp romance that she is missing all of the other tea! “There’s one for you and Kate too. Thank you very much for not waiting another week, by the way.”

Sarcasm drips from their words and it takes Lucy a second to fully comprehend what they are talking about.

 “You made a bet about me and Kate?” She slaps their arm.

“Ouch! Not me, Ernie!” A gasp falls from her mouth. Never in her five years of camp has she ever made a bet on the will they, won’t they saga Ernie has going on with Dalia. She is going to kill that little bastard for this betrayal. 

“Wait. Wait another week for what?”

“To get in her pants! Now my money is gonna go to Jesse!” 

“Jesse is involved?” Oh, this summer camp is about to turn into one of those in Kate's favorite horror films. 

“Yes. Everyone is. I’m genuinely surprised you are only hearing about this now. There’s no way we are all this stealth,” They chuckle like this entire thing is amusing. 

Lucy stares at them in disbelief, until the first part of the sentence registers, “I– I didn’t get into her pants! What are you talking about?”

“Johan saw you two making out last night. He was thrilled. The kid bet five dollars and is gonna come out with over fifty.”

“You dragged a monitor into this?” Lucy asks, horrified. With that much talk going around, it's no wonder Micah has been so aware of what was happening between the two of them.

“Oh, don’t look at me, that was Ernie as well. I'm pretty sure your precious five-year old has been feeding them information. I bought him a bike for Christmas and that's how he repays me."

“Oh my God. I need to lie down,” Lucy says, sliding off her chair in a dramatic way. She doesn't make it all the way to the floor, but she is splayed out enough on the chair to cosplay a blanket. “Does Kate know you’ve been using her kid as a super secret agent?”

“Do you want us dead?”

“With the overwhelming amount of information I just got? Eh, maybe you had it coming.”

Cole chuckles, playfully slapping Lucy's arm.

"Don't worry. I would've never allowed it to go on if it was harming him somehow," Lucy wholeheartedly believes this. "I think he’s clueless about the whole thing and is just a hopeless romantic who is excited that his mom seems to like someone. I think the last time Kate showed any explicit interest in someone he wasn’t even alive yet. And even if it costs me 30 bucks, I'm happy for you."

Lucy feels a little blindsided by the turn this conversation took, and for the second time today, she has to try her hardest to keep the tears at bay.  

“Thanks, Cole.”

The rest of their conversation is lighter. Cole catches Lucy up on the summer gossip, including a major scoop about Ernie that leaves Lucy gasping. Apparently, after his last break up with Dalia, the woman truly moved on… with Carla Chase! The very same Carla Chase Ernie has been trying to conquer for the past few weeks. Lucy feels so bad about the whole situation, she doesn’t even blame him for starting the bet anymore.

“That leaves like… Jesse, Ernie, Milius and Jane outside the alphabet community.”

“Just Ernie, Jesse and Milius. But let’s be honest… It’s a bit unclear for at least two of them,” Cole chuckles, trying and failing to deviate from the key piece of information in that sentence.

“I’m sorry. Go back. Jane is a what now?”

Cole shrugs, but doesn’t answer. 

“Cole…”

“It’s not up to me to discuss people’s sexuality!”

“We were literally doing just that three seconds ago. Besides, I’m not asking for the letter. I’m asking how do you know that?”

Lucy might have been unaware of most things happening around her this summer as her entire focus has been on Kate and Micah, but Cole and Jane hang out with them often enough for Lucy to have picked up on a few things here and there. 

“None of your business.”

“Funny how that only seems to apply when it isn’t my relationship we’re talking about.”

They have a staring contest, one that Lucy refuses to lose. She doesn’t even blink until Cole caves with a defeated sigh.

“We’re dating,” A pause. “Jane and I.”

The squeal Lucy lets out is worthy of finding out Taylor Swift played your favorite song as a surprise at a concert you did attend.

“How did that happen? How long? Do the kids know? Does Kate know? Can I tell her?”

“Jane called me one day. Alex wants to go to Berkeley to study music and she was freaking out a little. We kept in touch and I don’t know, it just happened. Eight months now. They do. She does."

"How did they take it? I mean, Alex can be a little standoffish sometimes when it comes to Jane’s dating life."

"Julie was thrilled and Alex was mostly cool, actually. There was some threat to bodily harm in case I fucked up, but I respect that," They both laugh at the comment. "You're lucky yours is only five because I assure you, he'd be saying the same thing to you." 

"Oh, I have no doubt. I feel like I'm arming him to end my ass if I ever hurt Kate."

They dive into a conversation about their girls and their respective babies. It feels nice to talk to someone who understands the multitude of feelings that come with dating someone whose whole heart is walking outside their body. 

Lucy ends up venting about last night’s infirmary scare, about how panicked Micah looked, about how she randomly froze outside. She still couldn’t understand exactly what happened back there.

“Jane,  Julie and I developed this habit of riding our bikes every Sunday morning. One day, Julie fell and scraped her knees. There wasn’t even that much blood. She was fine, you know. Just dusted herself off, hopped back on the bike and kept pedaling. I knew she was fine yet somehow I almost ended up in the ER myself,” They laugh at the memory. “I was so nervous. Jane was too, I could tell. That night, when I talked to her about it, she just shrugged it off and smiled. She said it was a normal feeling, and that I was gonna get used to it. Several minor injuries have happened since and I still freak out every time. I don’t know how parents live with this constant state of anxiety and panic, but I guess that if we are going to live with them, we are going to have to learn how to deal with those feelings ourselves. Because to us it is not only about the kids. It’s about the Mom too.”

Once again, Lucy is thankful for having someone to share this with. Because when Cole put it like that, it makes total sense. She wasn't losing her mind. She loves Micah and is falling fast for Kate. She cares about them and seeing not only Micah, but Kate too, in distress, was going to take some kind of toll on her. 

“So we just get used to it?”

“We just get used to it.”

+++

Later that night, the women arrive at Jesse’s bonfire gathering hand in hand. Everyone already knows about them because of that stupid bet and Johan’s big mouth, so there’s no reason to even attempt lying to the group. Ernie is the first to notice their presence, he lets out an excited scream and soon there’s a choir of finallys and about times that has Kate rolling her eyes. 

“You know it’s only been two weeks, right?” The blonde asks when Carla dramatically exclaims she thought they would never get over themselves. 

“Time is relative, my dear girl,” She points out, making Lucy laugh.

When the initial uproar dies down, Kate and Lucy find themselves sitting on one of the benches. Both nursing a glass of wine while Lucy’s head rests on Kate’s shoulder. 

“Did you talk to Micah?”

“Yeah. Turns out you were right. He thought it would be cool to hunt ghosts like Scooby-Doo,” Lucy chuckles, lifting her head to look at Kate.

“He’s so your kid.”

Kate hums, “Can’t argue with that.”

“Is he ok, though?”

“Mostly. He wants to sleep with us tonight,” Lucy feels giddy with the way Kate said ‘us’. “I managed to convince him to stay in his cabin while we are here in hopes he will fall asleep, but knowing him, I doubt it.”

“You know, after the first time I sneaked into my brother's room to watch a horror movie with him I slept with my parents for a whole month. And I was eight!”

“Well, I truly hope it doesn’t last that long,” Kate raises a suggestive eyebrow and Lucy almost falls from the bench. She hasn’t let herself dream too much about all the things she wants to do with ( to ) Kate given where they are and that they have only just kissed. She wants to do things right and not rush Kate into anything she is not ready for. But now, with that implication thrown into the night, Lucy feels her entire body go warm.  

“I hear you.”

Kate’s smile is dizzying and Lucy feels herself leaning in. The kiss is soft, chaste, but it still evokes whistles and catcalls from their peers.

“Oh, what are y’all, twelve?” Lucy complains half-heartedly while Kate just stares shyly at the ground, face covered by her hair. “They are so annoying,” She says, this time just for Kate.

“She says like she wouldn’t do the same if it was any of them kissing instead.”

“Hey!” Lucy exclaims, bumping Kate’s shoulder with her own.

Comfortable silence falls between them. It lasts for a couple of minutes until Kate clears her throat, “What you said… Last night. Thank you.”

Lucy looks at her, slightly confused about what she’s referring to. 

“About Micah turning out like me. Thanks.”

“I mean it,” Lucy nods. “You’re pretty great, Kate Whistler.”

“You’re pretty great too, Lucy Tara.”

Chapter Text

"Ok! Are we ready?"

Lucy is not ready. She is not ready at all. Still, the question is asked with her brightest smile on, masking a confidence she does not have right now. 

It’s finally instructor’s class day for her. The room is packed with adults in gym clothes and kids in their Dobok. Despite the air conditioning, the place feels impossibly warm. 

Everyone looks at her expectantly and she wills her brain to begin the class, but all she can focus on is the trail of cold sweat down her spine and Kate Whistler in leggings and a crop top in front of her.

“I, uh… Yes! Ok, yes. Let’s go!” The kids look at her as if she is having a stroke while the adults, who have a very clear idea about why she is so flustered, don’t even try to hide their knowing smiles. “Kids! Kids, ok. You’re gonna help me out today. How does that sound? You think you can teach that old bunch some moves?”

The kids’ excited screams muffle the offended huffs and ‘who are you calling old?’ questions.

At first Lucy was planning to only have the ten and eleven year olds with her, but all it took was one puppy dog eye from Micah this morning for her to cave and allow him to join. He had nowhere near the experience the others had, but she trusted the older students to have patience with him and trusted Micah to stand his ground. 

Lucy begins the class giving a general overview of what they are doing today and taking some time to familiarize the newbies with some ground rules: No punching, no attacking below the waist, no turning your back on your opponent, no pushing, pulling or grabbing your opponent. After she makes all of them repeat the rules back to her, she calls for the kids and asks them to form a line between her and the adults.

“We are going to start off easy. Front snap kick and nothing more,” As if on cue the kids kick the air with beautiful precision. “For those of you who retained some knowledge from last year, you can attempt the roundhouse kick.” Again the kids demonstrate the kick flawlessly, making her heart swell with pride.

The next ten minutes are used for warm ups; neck circles, trunk and hips twist, knee circles (which already made at least three people lose their balance) and some thigh and glute stretches to close it out. Lucy spends the entire time mesmerized by Kate’s body. She is very proud of herself for not visibly drooling all over the mat. 

Then, it’s time to start teaching the kick. She goes through the motions fairly quickly, since they have less than two hours to cover everything.

“For now, I want you all to focus on the first part. Start with the ‘knee reaching’. Do not attempt the full kick. I don’t want anyone snapping their knees.” She asks the kids to go around the room, checking and helping people with their balance and stances and is delighted with how serious they take the task. Her favorite thing is little Micah, with his barely 3’6 of height, trying to help a 6’ tall Jesse to balance himself on one foot.

Kate is suspiciously accurate with her movements.

“Must’ve picked something up by watching Micah practicing nonstop,” She says with a nonchalant shrug.

Lucy doubts that she could’ve mastered the thing only by watching Micah practice, but it is Kate Whistler they are talking about and Lucy is never betting against her. 

Twenty minutes into practicing Lucy thinks they are okay enough to try the full kick. She demonstrates a couple of times, then asks them to try it out.

“Start off slow. Work through your movements. Don’t rush.”

Kate mustn’t have heard the slow part, because as the entire class struggles to balance themselves with an extended leg up in the air, she executes a perfect Front Snap without breaking a sweat. It’s the most attractive thing Lucy has ever witnessed and it takes her every ounce of control not to moan. 

She is not the only one utterly impressed by the woman. Micah lets out an adorable little squeal and attaches himself to her legs.

“That was so cool! How did you do that?" He asks in awe.

Kate picks him up and turns him upside down. 

“I may or may not have taken some lessons back at Uni,” She admits. Then, winking at Lucy, she adds, “Had some pretty great inspiration.”

The thought of Kate Whistler taking Taekwondo classes because she got inspired by Lucy's performance is unfathomably hot. If they were anywhere else, Lucy would fall to her knees in front of her and not get up until they were purple and bruised. 

God, how she wishes they were anywhere else. 

+++

Kate is good. She has a solid base and a pretty strong kick. They have now moved into pair work, and Lucy is aware of the irony of telling people to pair up to somebody their size, and ending up paired up with Kate. 

Jesse mocks her for it, but she uses that as a great example on how the front kick can be used. 

"Ok. For exactly how long did you take those classes?" Lucy asks when, after a few tries, Kate manages to get the hang of a Crescent Kick — one that Lucy considers to be a tricky one.

"A couple of years, I think."

"A couple of— And you didn't think to mention it to me?" The audacity!

"It never came up."

"You could've brought it up just for the sake of it!"

"And miss the look on your face after I aced that Front Kick? Never."

Lucy rolls her eyes playfully, "Fine, Miss Know It All. Let's amp this up."

Throwing away the conventional basic kicks, Lucy decides to test Kate, see how far she can go, and she soon finds her limit to be the Hook Kick. She has a wonderful time watching Kate losing her balance and almost falling to the mat.

“Lift your leg like you’re going for a side kick, then hook it.”

“Easier said than done,” Kate huffs, pushing aside the loose strands of hair that have fallen from her ponytail. “Ok, show it to me again.”

Lucy does, adding a couple flares to it. But unfortunately, Kate looks entirely too focused on the movement to pay attention to the way Lucy’s muscles flex. Bummer.

Kate gives it another shot and if it wasn’t for Lucy’s arm holding her steady, she would’ve plummeted to the ground. Her little frustrated growl is adorable and reminds Lucy of Micah. Once you notice how they are basically the same person, you cannot unnotice it. 

“Try it like this,” Lucy moves to stand behind her, pressing her body into Kate’s. 

“Lucy, what are you–”

“Lean on me.”

“W-what?” Kate’s voice trembles and Lucy is thrilled to finally get a reaction out of her. She should’ve thought about this sooner. 

“Lean on me and kick those insanely long legs of yours, will you?” Her voice drops an octave and she can feel the goosebumps that rise on Kate’s skin. 

Kate does what she is told, depositing her weight on Lucy as she practices kicking the air a few times. Despite being twice as small as Kate, Lucy has no trouble supporting the woman’s weight.

After a few more kicks on Kate’s end, Lucy’s hand develops a mind of its own and moves from the blonde’s hips to her bare stomach. To her misfortune, Kate is mid kick when Lucy’s warm palm makes contact with her skin. She twitches so hard, she ends up losing her balance and collapsing on the floor, bringing Lucy along with her. 

“Jesus fuck,” Lucy says in a breathless chuckle. 

“I’m so sorry!” Kate rushes to apologize. It could’ve been worse, at least Lucy is on top.

That thought alone is already a bad idea, then Kate turns her head to face Lucy and their lips are merely inches apart, and what was once bad becomes even worse.

Logically, Lucy knows she is pretty much straddling Kate's lap, she also knows that there are not only kids around but also adults who will tease them mercilessly for the rest of their lives if they don’t get up right now. 

Still, she leans down. Just a fraction. An imperceptible move to anyone that isn’t her or Kate. She’s about to close her eyes and lean the rest of the way when she is hit by a blunt force on her back. Her nose hits Kate’s and they both hiss in pain. 

"Oopsie! I'm sorry!" The source of the blunt force says from somewhere on Lucy's back.

"I think you broke my nose, dude," Kate grumbles, holding her nose and checking for blood.

“I’m so sorry, Mommy!”

“It’s alright, just… Next time, give us a heads up, alright?”

“Will do!” He says, attaching himself to Lucy’s back like a backpack. “Now, why are we in a human pile?”

Kate’s eyes meet Lucy’s and they both start laughing, much to Micah’s confusion.

Oh kids.

+++

Lucy spends the rest of the day trying to get her mind off Kate. Kate’s eyes, Kate’s legs, Kate’s messy hair, Kate’s breathless laughter. It’s driving her insane.

They still have three weeks of Summer Camp left. Three weeks of having to behave, and try to keep the very same thoughts she is having right now at bay. Or at least, keep them at bay for as long as Micah is staying with them.

Last night, just like Kate had predicted, the little boy was anxiously waiting for them to pick him up. Wide awake and wide-eyed, he threw himself into Kate’s arms the second he saw her. He shoved his face into his mother's neck, keeping his eyes closed all the way over to the women’s cabin. 

“There’s no monsters here bud,” Kate whispered to him. “It was just a kid. It was a game, remember?” But Micah was adamant that there were ghosts and he didn’t want to see them. 

Lucy couldn’t see him sleeping on his own at the cabin for at least a couple of weeks. And as annoying as her sexual frustration was, it was even worse realizing how genuinely scared of the night Micah was. Her heart tightens in her chest just thinking about it.

“My mouth is bleeding,” A shaken voice pulls Lucy out of her reverie. She opens her eyes to find Micah on the other side of the porch with his mouth indeed covered in blood. She almost throws up her heart at the sight.

Jumping out of the hanging chair, Lucy runs towards the little boy and crouches in front of him.

“Did you hit it? Did someone do this?” Then angrier, “ Who ?”

“I was just eating an apple,” He says, his eyes beginning to water as he hands her a half eaten apple. “I couldn’t find Mommy, so I came here.”

Lucy is suddenly hit with a very clear memory of herself in the same situation over twenty years ago. She gently lifts his chin to assess the damage, grinning to herself when she sees the empty space where a tooth used to be. 

“Looks like someone lost his first baby tooth!” For some reason she can’t explain, she feels very emotional over this fact. “Let’s get inside so we can stop this bleeding.”

Grabbing a paper towel, Lucy wets it slightly and slowly presses it against the gap where his central left incisor used to be.

"Can you hold it there for me?" Micah nods in response. Lucy studies the apple, hoping he didn’t swallow the tooth like she did. Her Mom was inconsolable for weeks. Fortunately for Kate, there it is. The little tooth is accounted for and stuck firmly in the bloody area of the apple.

“Hey, look. It’s your tooth!” Lucy says with a big smile, showing it to Micah. He looks a bit pale at the vision. Ok, yeah. Bad idea.

Lucy quickly washes the tooth, ridding it of any sign of blood, then sits on her bed and opens her arms for Micah to cuddle close to her.

The little guy doesn't need to be told twice. He lays his head against Lucy's chest and closes his eyes. He lies so still that after a couple of minutes Lucy is certain he fell asleep.

"Auntie Lucy," He says then. His voice small, but not at all sleepy. "If you are dating my Mommy, does that make you my Mommy too?"

Lucy freezes. She swears that for a couple of seconds every cell in her body stops functioning. She knows what she has to say. No, also known as the truth. But Micah has lifted his head and is staring at her in such a way that renders Lucy incapable of uttering the words.

“W-what?” She manages to ask, voice shaky.

“Rebecca, a girl from my class, got a new Daddy because her Mommy got married,” Micah is so smart and articulated that sometimes Lucy forgets she is talking to a five year old. Of course, this new relationship in his Mother's life will cause some confusion. “So will you be my Mommy too?”

“Well, your Mommy and I aren't married. Yet,” God, did she really say the 'yet' out loud? It’s been two weeks for Christ sake! Kate is going to kill her. "And it's all a bit too new for us to tell what's going to happen."

Micah doesn't seem very convinced by her half answer. He even looks a bit… disappointed? Lucy tries not to read into it. 

"But you like her?"

"I do."

"And you like me?"

"Very much."

“And you are with my Mommy?”

“Yes.”

"But you are not my Mommy?"

"Uh, I— Not yet?" What the fuck is going on today, why can't she say a straight out no to this kid?

"Are you asking me?" He looks even more confused and Lucy wants to laugh at how similar this is from her conversation with Kate on the very first day.

She is saved by the bell, when the door to the cabin opens and Kate walks in looking every bit of the goddess she is in shorts and a… Chicago Bears shirt?

"Oh God, you're a Bears fan," She sighs. "Why is nobody perfect?"

Kate doesn't even register Lucy's words, her eyes instead zone in on Micah's shirt. Micah's bloody shirt. Lucy sees the exact moment her face loses its color. 

"Why is there blood on his shirt?"

"I lost a tooth!" Micah says, way more excited about it now that the bleeding has stopped.

"You lost a…" Lucy opens her hands and shows her the tiny tooth on her palm. "You lost a tooth? Baby!" 

Kate lifts him up from Lucy's chest and spins him around.

"Oh God. My baby is growing up," She says, squeezing him tight to her chest. "Let me see that smile."

Micah gives her his biggest, sweetest smile, and Kate giggles at the sight of the missing tooth. She coos over him for a while longer, then joins Lucy on the bed.

"Thanks for keeping it," Kate says, giving Lucy a quick kiss on the cheek.

She picks up the tooth from Lucy's hand and examines it, a mix of awe and bittersweetness grace her features.

Lucy remains frozen solid, not daring to move or say anything. It’s not just Kate she’s watching, it’s a mother experiencing a momentous milestone in her child’s life. It makes her think of Micah’s mommy question. She’s worried that she’s going to just blurt it out to Kate and ruin whatever magic she’s having the honor of witnessing.

She looks to Micah to make sure he’s not going to give the game away and almost chuckles at what she sees. Whilst Micah is not like your typical 5 year old, he still has that inbuilt homing beacon guiding him towards any phone in the vicinity. He has already commandeered his mother’s and is in the process of finding a game to play. Clearly having forgotten about that topic of conversation. At least for now. Lucy should do the same. Metaphorically speaking.

"Ok, uh, may I direct us back to the topic: Kate Whistler, are you a Chicago Bears fan?"

+++

Later, when the sun has already set and most of the kids are either off running or having dinner, Kate leads Micah and Lucy to God only knows where. Lucy doesn’t recognize the place and isn’t even sure if they are still on camp grounds.

After the whole tooth ordeal and the not so surprising revelation that Kate didn't actually like football; Noah did, and that it was actually his old shirt she was wearing, the blonde left Micah with Lucy and went out to grab something for a "thing" she was planning. She came back, not long after, with a picnic blanket and a couple of snacks. Lucy didn't question it. Kate said 'let's go' and she followed. 

"Are we there yet?" Micah asks for the third time.

"We actually are."

Kate has taken them to a higher ground of sorts. High enough for them to see some kids running in the clearing below and uncluttered enough for them to be able to lie down on the blanket she brought. 

"Cool, right?" Kate asks as Lucy takes in the sight. "Heather brought me and Jane here the other day. Said it was her secret spot."

Lucy gasps. That traitor ! Ten years of friendship isn't enough for the woman to show her her secret spot, but little over two weeks apparently is. 

"Don't worry. You're still her favorite," Kate chuckles, easily reading into Lucy's jealousy. "We went on a hike the other day and we ended up here. Not sure if it was her intention or not, but now we have permission to use it." 

Lucy watches as Micah explores the place, still a bit wounded that Heather hasn't shown this place to her before. 

"They were actually helping me out with the whole school situation… Micah! Get off the edge!" The boy, who was trying to take a peek of what's below them, runs towards them, giving Kate a cheeky grin. "Anyway, it turns out Jane has a friend who works at a Montessori school that was still taking applications and put in a good word for us. He starts in September."

"Kate! That's awesome news!" Lucy is so relieved to hear that. She knows how much the entire situation was haunting Kate. "Are you excited?" She asks Micah.

"Not really," He says with blunt honesty and Lucy can't help but laugh. 

"Fair enough." 

"Well, I am. But that is not why I brought us here." She lies down on the blanket and pats the empty space beside her. "C'mere, you two." 

Micah claims the space between the two of them, scooting closer to Kate while Lucy maintains a respectful distance from both. The boy is having none of it, he pulls Lucy closer, cozying himself further between them.

"Look up," Kate says once they are settled.

Above their heads Lucy finds the starriest sky she has ever seen. Millions of blinking dots stare back at her hypnotizingly. In the midst of it, a majestic full moon stands, illuminating the otherwise pitch black sky. It’s easily one of the most beautiful views Lucy has ever seen.

“Wow! So many stars!” Micah says, gasping softly. His wonder, however, lasts for about five minutes until he starts to get fidgety. Lucy’s been spending enough time with him to know that it means he is bored. 

“What is your favorite constellation?” Lucy asks him, in an attempt to entertain him. She doesn’t want to leave here just yet.

“I don’t know any constellations… Do I, Mommy?” He looks at Kate, his brow furrowed.

“Not that I’m aware of. To be fair, I also don’t know any.”

Lucy huffs, “Of course you guys know! Look, that is Starborg.” 

Kate and Micah look in the direction she is pointing, both looking equally confused. 

“That doesn’t sound like an actual constellation name,” Kate says, narrowing her eyes at her.

“That’s because I just made it up,” Lucy says matter-of-factly. "Alongside Lion's Mane over there.”

“You cannot just make constellations up, Lucy.”

“Of course I can. People buy stars all the time, why can’t I name them?”

Kate seems to consider her point, but before she can cave in or argue back, Micah pitches in with his own made up constellation, “That is Olaf!”

“Uh, it does look like Olaf,” Lucy says, studying the mingled assortment of stars he is pointing at. 

“Your turn, Mommy!”

Kate looks at the two of them in disbelief. Then, she rolls her eyes and studies the sky.

“That one is Lavender."

“Well, that is boring,” Micah says, looking underwhelmed at Kate’s answer.

“You named yours Olaf!”

“Yeah. And Olaf is fun .”

Lucy can’t help but laugh at their bickering. 

They keep naming stars and constellations for what it feels like hours. At one point, Micah surprises her by grabbing her hand and placing it on top of Kate’s. She looks at him questioningly, but he just smiles and lets his head fall to her shoulder.

Then, as quietly as he can so Kate doesn't hear it, he whispers something that shifts Lucy's entire world, "When you marry my Mommy, I'll really like having you as a Mommy too." 

Chapter Text

The third week of camp has gone by as fast and chaotically as the first two did, but in a much more spectacular way — filled with lots of sweet kisses and make out sessions, and just as many interruptions by a certain tiny someone. Lucy couldn't think of a better way to spend her summer. 

There were endless hours spent with Kate, trying to get to know each other better and just basking in each other’s company. With every new little detail she learned about Kate, Lucy only felt herself falling faster and faster for the blonde. It had never happened so fast before. Sure, it’s a bit scary when you stop to analyze it, but it feels right and she feels happier than ever. 

They’ve made sleeping together a bit of a habit — as in actually sleeping, they haven't gotten past second base yet. Not for lack of wanting, but there were… complications. At first, there was Micah, too terrified to sleep in his own cabin, but now it finally seems like he’s got over the whole ‘I bumped into a ghost’ event and for the last two nights it has just been Kate and Lucy. Why haven’t they got into it then? Well, because now Lucy feels weird. Hyper aware that they are in a camp… filled with kids. She should probably talk to Kate about this, so they can work it out, but she doesn’t want to look too desperate. Even if she is too desperate.

Speaking of things she probably should tell Kate, the "M-bomb", as Lucy has been calling it in her head, remains between her and Micah only. The little boy hasn't mentioned it anymore, which Lucy is grateful for, but she knows she's got to stop postponing this conversation with Kate.

It's only when Sunday rolls around, and Lucy finds herself with too much free time on her hands that she starts spiraling about these very same topics. Every time she thinks about sitting the blonde down and talking, her mind gets assaulted with images of every other non-PG-13 thing they could be doing during that alone time instead. It’s incredibly counterproductive.

"Well, you look… ansty. Is everything ok?" Lucy startles with Heather's voice coming from out of nowhere. The redhead sits beside her and smiles apologetically, "Sorry. Didn't realize you were in another plane."

Lucy shakes her head, "I'm fine, just, uh, thinking."

"About a certain tall blonde? Are you two ok?"

God, when did she become this predictable?

"We're fine. Great even. I'm just… Nevermind," Lucy stops herself, unsure. She wasn’t a person who typically had problems getting into a woman’s pants. She was hot, charming and charismatic. There wasn't a problem that one of her MegaWatt smiles couldn't solve. This entire situation is so out of her league that she can't even fathom how to start a conversation about it. 

Fortunately, she doesn’t have to.

Her face must tell on her, or it’s just Heather’s special ability of always knowing when and how to embarrass her because the woman’s mouth falls into an O, her eyebrows hitting her hair line. 

"Oh my God. You guys haven't done it yet, have you?" She says, loud enough for the entire camp to hear. Lucy shushes the woman, her cheeks assuming a bright shade of pink. Thankfully, there are no signs of kids, all busy enjoying a soccer match on the other side of the camp. "Wow, Luce. You used to have more game…"

"Oi!" Lucy slaps Heather's arm. "I have game, ok? My game is fine. Awesome, even. The problem isn't me, it's…" She gesticulates widely in circular motions to the space around them. 

"Sorry, I don't follow."

"Here. Camp. It feels weird to do it here," Then in a whisper, "There are kids here."

One thing Lucy does not expect is for Heather to burst out laughing. Lucy pouts at the woman.

"You feel weird to do it here. In a cabin. With her. Alone. With kids nowhere in earshot distance. Are you being serious? How do you think Jesse and I do it in a house with three kids?" 

"First: Ew. Second: I have never thought about you two like that. Ever. Third: When you put it like that, it makes me feel stupid." 

“Good!” Heather says, getting shoved by Lucy. “Listen. I get the paranoia, ok? But if you are actually serious about this thing with Kate, you've gotta get used to the admittedly uncomfortable idea of having a kid in the same house where adult activities happen.”

Lucy had thought about that. When they get out of here Micah is going to be present one way or another. However, hearing it so bluntly makes her slump back into the chair with a grunt. 

“I’ll be happy to give you some pointers. I’ve had over 15 years of practice in sneaky sex. I’m basically a professor in Sneaky Sex 101. Huh, maybe Jane can help me out…” Heather looks like she is actually thinking about giving Lucy a lecture, and just the idea of it has the power to scar Lucy for life. “Anyways, if I had known camp was such a turn off I could’ve changed your schedules and sent you off to town. I heard there’s some pretty great off the road motels around.”

“Oh my God, I’m begging you to stop,” Lucy cringes.

“What? Motel sex can be pretty hot. There was this one time Jesse and I—”

“Nope. No. La la la,” Lucy says, covering her ears. It’s not enough to muffle Heather’s laugh, though. 

+++++

Heather’s words don’t leave her alone for a single minute that day. 

You gotta get used to the idea. You gotta get used to the idea. You gotta get used to the idea. Lucy chants over and over to herself throughout her daily activities. And at night, in their cabin, when Kate pulls her into her lap, she is sure she is one kiss away from accepting the idea fully. 

“Shouldn’t we be heading to the bonfire?” Kate asks, her voice sultry.

She brushes Lucy's hair away from her neck, replacing it with her lips. Lucy hadn’t realized how chastely she has been living in these last few days until she hears the obscene moan that falls from her lips at the feeling of Kate's lips on her pulse point. Her eyes roll to the back of her skull as her hips grind forward.

"I'll take that as a no," Kate says with a chuckle. Lucy hasn't got it in her to argue, not that she wanted to. There's no way she is leaving this cabin tonight. 

Kate's mouth begins to move South, from Lucy’s pulse point to her collar bones, then up again. Her hands leave Lucy's hips and start roaming her body. Warm palms cup her breasts, playing with the hardened nipples through the fabric of her shirt. It’s the farther they have gone and with every swirl of Kate’s thumb, Lucy's resolve crumples to the floor.

"Fuck it," She whispers more to herself than to Kate, then pushes the blonde down onto the mattress. 

The kiss that follows is ravenous, ferocious. It's open mouthed and sloppy with tongues everywhere and teeth clattering every once in a while, but it's the hottest, most fucking phenomenal kiss Lucy has ever taken part in. 

Kate moans in her mouth, her hands traveling under Lucy's shirt. Lucy feels blunt nails lightly scratching her back, and it makes her head spin. 

Taking advantage of her position, Lucy mimics Kate's earlier actions, trailing kisses all over the woman's neck, paying renewed attention to the little moles she finds there. When her mouth travels south, Lucy doesn’t stop at the collar bones, she keeps going until she finds Kate's breasts. Her teeth tease the hardened nipple, gently grazing and pulling on it. 

"Take it off."

Lucy doesn't need to be told twice. Once the shirt is on the floor, revealing no bra underneath it, Lucy's brain errors. She doesn't know how long she sits there open-mouthed and staring, but it must be long enough because Kate starts to get impatient under her.

"Lucy, I'm flattered by the shock and all, but can you, uh, can you do something?" Her words snap Lucy back into her body. She blinks a couple of times, her eyes struggling to leave Kate's breasts and focus on her face. The smug smirk painted there is enough to spring Lucy into motion. She leans down, capturing Kate's lips in a searing kiss. Everything that's been keeping her nervous about having sex at the camp vanishes. All she can see, taste and smell is Kate and she wouldn't want it any other way.  

+++++

Lucy wakes up from her doze a little after 2AM, her body already sore in a way that her regular work out sessions can't induce. She can feel her knees throbbing, complaining about the exertion, but she couldn't care less. Not when Kate's naked body is tangled up in hers.

She takes her time admiring the blonde’s peaceful features in the dimmed light of the cabin, tracing her index finger across her cheek bones, nose and lips. She gets lost in the slow rise and fall of Kate's breathing, in the small puffs of air coming from her mouth and how they tickle her bare skin. She feels giddy.

"Staring is creepy," Kate mumbles after a few minutes, catching Lucy off guard. Her voice is hoarse with sleep. Sexy , Lucy catches herself thinking.

"I'm not staring. I'm admiring. Those are two very different things," Kate hums, rubbing her nose on Lucy's shoulder. Something about the movement makes her heart soar. 

"Is it morning already?" Kate asks, blinking a couple of times.

"2AM," Lucy kisses her nose and delights herself in the way it crinkles under her touch. "You're very cute." 

Again, Kate only hums. She places a gentle kiss on Lucy’s shoulder before untangling herself and stretching her bare limbs. The movement is every bit as mesmerizing as you’d expect. Then, she props herself onto her elbow and looks at Lucy with a soft smile that kind of makes the brunette want to shove her face into her pillow and scream.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

Lucy is unable to resist closing the distance between them, her lips meeting Kate's open ones. The kiss is slow and soft, but sensual enough to lead them into another round. It doesn't last nearly as long as the first ones did. Especially because, as she is working on giving Kate her second orgasm, her knee decides it'll no longer hold her weight and she falls face first into the woman’s chest. She is not complaining, but the little mishap definitely doesn't go unnoticed.

She stays very still and watches as Kate has her light bulb moment.

“Shit! Your knee!” Kate disentangles herself from Lucy, sitting up and looking at the brunette with concern. "I'm so sorry, I completely forgot…" 

“Don’t worry about it. It’s fine. I just got a little wobbly,” She says, brushing Kate’s worry off. The blonde is having none of it though. She crosses her arms and worse, crosses her legs. Lucy whines, "Kaaaaaaate."

"Nope. Nuh uh, you are going to rest. I'm not having sex with you again until you learn how to respect your limits." 

Lucy looks at her in shock, "You're joking, right?"

"Try me."

Remind Lucy again, why she thought it was a good idea to date a lawyer…

“Fine,” Lucy grumbles, mirroring Kate and crossing her arms. “It’s not like I need my knee for what I want to do with you anyway.”

Lucy begins to pull Kate towards her, but the blonde swats her hands away.

“Should’ve thought of that before falling face first into my chest.”

“Didn’t hear you complaining about my face in your chest last night,” Lucy says, smugly. “Besides, are you really denying what can possibly be the best orgasm of your life?”

“Mm, that happened a few hours ago.”

“Oh, do tell,” Lucy props her chin on her fist, looking expectantly at Kate.

The blonde covers Lucy’s face with her palm and pushes it sideways, “Yeah, like your ego needs that kind of boost.”

Lucy chuckles.

"Since you're cuddle-zoning me,"

"That is not a word."

“It is now,” Lucy opens her arms. “Come here.”

Kate scootches close, laying on Lucy's shoulder, her arms and legs wrapping around the shorter woman. A content sight falls from her lips and Lucy melts on the spot. 

“Kate?” Lucy calls softly after a while. This is probably not the best time to bring up what’s been plaguing her mind for days, but she feels comfortable and safe and sure. About this. Them. She racks her brain for the right way to say it, not wanting Kate to panic, but comes up empty. Her mouth seems to become tired of waiting for her brain because she just suddenly blurts it all out, “Micah asked me if I’m gonna be his mommy too!”

Kate jerks out of her embrace. Lucy doesn’t think she’s ever seen a person’s eyes widen quite as much as Kate’s just have, it’s like something out of a cartoon. She’s opening and closing her mouth like a fish too, on anyone else that would be so unattractive but on Kate…well Kate could never be even the tiniest bit unattractive in Lucy’s eyes.

When a couple of minutes goes by and Kate is still paralyzed, Lucy starts to worry, “Breathe Kate.”

“Sorry I um- that was just- ugh.” She drops her head back onto Lucy's shoulder, letting out a groan. “I can’t believe he just… Ugh! I’m so sorry, Luce, I—”

Her frustration is so endearing that it almost makes Lucy forget about her own anxiety, “I’m not mad.”

“You’re not?” Kate looks up, her eyes big and her mouth falling into a small pout. She looks like that teary eye emoji. 

“No! I mean, I understand where he is coming from, he is a baby, and for what I gathered you aren't one to bring your dates home. He was bound to be confused," Kate covers her face with her palms and Lucy continues, “I’m not telling you this to embarrass you, or for you to be mad at him. I’m telling you this because… I guess I just, I need to be sure. We are doing this, right? Not the Mom thing! That’s waaaay too soon. B-but the us thing, right?”

Kate, still looking like a tomato, uncovers her face and looks at Lucy with a slightly amused smile, “The us thing?”

“This. You and me. Here and…outside.”

“Mmm, not one for public sex, but I mean if anyone could convince me it would probably be you.”

Lucy is not one for blushing, despite what these last couple of weeks might have suggested, but damn Kate Whistler. Fortunately for her, Kate is feeling merciful.

“Yes. I’m in if you are,” While the ‘yes’ sounded sure, the rest of her sentence came out a little shaky. 

“Totally in,” Lucy reassures, smiling brightly at her.

“I’ll talk to Micah. He’s… God. Why are kids always embarrassing us?”

Lucy falls back onto the pillow beside Kate, “Don’t stress about it. It wasn’t the first time someone called me Mommy.”

Believe it or not, Lucy meant that as innocently as possible. She meant other kids at camp, kids at her studio. Who never called their teacher Mom at least once, right? But Kate’s entire face shapes into a mix of shock, amusement and interest and that’s when Lucy realizes her mistake.

“I meant the kids! Jesus, Whistler.” She shivers. 

Kate bursts out laughing. Lucy feels too flushed for her taste. No. She’s got to restore control somehow, and she knows exactly how to do that. 

She gives Kate a few moments of glory, but as soon as the woman’s laughter dies down, Lucy starts. “You know, since we are on the us topic, I was thinking…” Her hand starts to draw circles on the blonde’s bare stomach, fingers tracing her belly button, it doesn’t take too long before Kate’s entire torso starts to tremble under her touch.

“Lucy.”

“Don’t worry. The way I want you puts no pressure on my knees,” Lucy says, making sure her voice is in the one timbre she’s learned Kate is unable to resist. Still, the blonde tries. Her mouth opens but instead of words a small, breathless moan falls from it. “Shall I take that as a yes for the earth-shattering orgasm I’m about to give you?”

+++++

They don’t get much sleep that night, and the limp she does her best to hide from Kate the next morning is utterly and completely worth it. 

Chapter Text

Like every year, around the third, or fourth week the days start to blend in together. Everyone has already found their routine and gotten used to camp life, so things progress much smoother — for the instructors at least. The kids remain their usual chaotic and loud selves, but at least they haven't had any accidents in the last 4 days and that is a victory! 

“I don’t know, Luce. If Tennant’s cabin is the strongest one, we shouldn’t waste all of our time on her… There are 28 more cabins for us to focus on,” Kate points to her little hand drawn map of the camp, gesturing to the place the ‘weakest’ cabins should be. 

She has a point. Keeping their team entirely focused on stopping Tennant’s might be a waste of time, but God if that woman wins again Lucy will break something. She says so to Kate who stares at her unamused.

"I feel bad for everyone who has ever competed against you." 

"You should," Lucy says with a smug smirk. It's been a while since she's felt this smug about the good ol' days. It's not that she isn't proud of it. She is. But for the last six years, the accident and the unachieved gold have loomed over her head, clouding her vision of every other win throughout her career. 

She doesn't care if it's too soon for this amount of sappiness, but the unabashed truth is that being with Kate — and consequently, Micah — has slowly begun to change her vision. 

Kate is proud of her. It's a funny thing to admit, even to herself, but she is. She admires Lucy for all that she accomplished, not seeming to care whether the medal she had won was gold, silver or bronze — or even if there was a medal at all. Her questions were never about the prize, but about the fun and details of the competition itself. How long did she have to prepare, who was her favorite opponent, what was her favorite trick to use, if she managed to explore all the cities she's been to, which one was her favorite, and so on. It made Lucy reminisce about things she didn't even know she remembered. It reminded Lucy that Taekwondo was always more than just a series of lost medals. 

On top of that, there was Micah's endless admiration. His dreamy sighs and 'I hope I grow up to be as good as you 's’ at the end of every class and practice (even when Lucy only sat there watching him kick a dummy).

Lucy is blindsided by the wave of feelings that hits her. She swallows the burning lump forming in her throat and smiles at Kate, not caring that the woman seems blissfully unaware of Lucy's striking feelings as she stares intently at the little map on her lap. The pensive little frown on her forehead is adorable.

"Hi! What are you doing?" Micah asks, peering at the map on his Mother’s lap. Lucy has no idea where the hell he came from. And he is not alone. Three other little kids follow him along. How did she not hear four kids approaching? Jesus .

The kids sit on the grass in front of them, looking up expectantly. Kate closes her sketchbook and smiles at him, "Just talking about the game. No biggie."

Micah shrugs like he couldn't care less about it. Then, the little boy to his left whispers something in Micah's ear and he nods in response.

"Do you want to play a game?" Micah says, probably passing along the message from his buddy.

Lucy can't help the smile that forms on her lips. She is well aware that Micah's anxiety is far from gone. He still has a hard time initiating and maintaining conversation with kids he doesn't know and Lucy had to help him through a meltdown just yesterday over a presentation he had to make for Jane's language class, but among his peers, he's been blossoming into this talkative and funny little person that Lucy has always known him to be. It's a beautiful thing to witness. 

"Sure!" She says excitedly. "What do you guys want to play?" 

+++

Tip: Do not agree to play twenty questions with kids. She was fine with being robbed at monopoly, but questions like what is your favorite Pokemon and why are unfair and straight out mean. It was a question that had layers to it, are they talking about favorites as in 'they are cute i love them' ? Or as in 'they absolutely destroy you and don't leave any scraps behind’ ? 

The kids don't seem to care about any of that though. A chorus of Pikachus flies through the air and Lucy shakes her head. Such lack of depth, she thinks. Luckily, since they are still young, there's still hope for them.

Kate, however, surprises her with a "Mewtwo". At Lucy's choked gaze, she shrugs, "What? I used to play Pokemon growing up."

"We have legendary cards!" Micah jumps up and down excitedly as the other kids gasp. 

"Correction: You have them. They were your Dad's and he never let me play with them," Kate crosses her arms and pouts.

"Yeah, and now you don't let me play with them," Micah complains, and Kate smiles sheepishly.

"I do let you play with them… When you are not covered in chicken nuggets or ketchup," By the look on Micah's face, that means, at least on his time perception, never.

Lucy watches their interaction as if she isn't dying inside over the knowledge that they have legendary cards. She has always wanted those, her brothers all had them, but when she asked her parents they refused, stating it was a boy's game. When she was old enough to buy them with her own money, those cards were nearly impossible to get your hands on.

"Anyhow," Micah says with an eye roll that gets him poked in the ribs. "My turn. What is y'alls middle name?"

"You did not just say 'y'alls' ?" Kate deadpans at the same time the other kids scream excitedly “Andrew!” “Elliot!” and “Avery!” The blonde turns to Lucy and whispers, “I’m forbidding you from talking to my kid.” The threat would've been more efficient if she wasn't so clearly trying to hold back a smile.

"Oh, please. You melt at my southern drawl, beautiful." Lucy whispers back, proving her point by accentuating it and watching as Kate's cheeks light up in a faint pink. The woman huffs and crosses her arms, but doesn’t even try to deny it.

As brief as their banter was, it was enough for Lucy to completely forget about the game. But when she finally turned her gaze away from Kate, she found four little faces looking at them. At first, she feels deeply embarrassed by the fact there were kids watching their interaction, even though it was strictly PG. Then, Micah prompts, "So?" And she is faced with an even worse situation. 

“You know my middle name,” Kate states.

“Yeah, but they don’t,” Micah points to his buddies.

“Marie,” Kate says easily, and Lucy can’t put into words how envious she is of her boring middle name. Katherine Marie Whistler. Beautiful. Simple. Not embarrassing. Unlike hers.

“Auntie Lucy?” Micah asks.

“U–uh, I– don't have a middle name,” She doesn’t know how she thought she could fool Kate, or Micah for that matter. Both of them raise an eyebrow at her, but there's no way in heaven or hell that Lucy is telling them her actual middle name. She stares at them for long enough to be believable that she is just postponing the inevitable, then sighs defeatedly “Elise.” 

"That's a nice name," A little boy says, like she was just being silly. The other kids agree, but Kate doesn’t seem entirely convinced. Luckily, she doesn't press and Lucy quickly changes the focus to Micah.

"What's yours, bud?"

"Alexander," He says proudly.

“Micah Alexander Whistler,” Lucy tests out the sound of it. “Pretty cool.” 

Micah gives her a cheeky grin and passes the question torch to the kid on his right. 

“Who is your favorite cartoon character?”

Noooo. Goddamn these kids!

+++

Kate's giggles are the most endearing thing that has ever graced Lucy's ears. It makes her feel all fuzzy and warm inside, and every last inch of self control she has, is used to prevent her from turning into a puddle on the floor. 

"Kaboom," Kate says, giggling some more. "That might be the best ship name ever."

After hours of playing every single game possible, the women finally managed to squeeze in some alone time before dinner. They probably had no more than twenty minutes, but neither of them seemed to care. 

Kate is lying beside Lucy on the wooden boards of the dock, her feet submerged in the water while Lucy keeps her legs bent to prevent hers from touching the cold surface.

"Not sure it beats Kacy," Lucy says, grinning.

Kate shakes her head and mutters something that sounds a lot like a 'it definitely does' that Lucy chooses to ignore it.

"But it's definitely better than Jole… Cone? Yeah, no. We're gonna need to use their last names."

How this conversation started, Lucy has no idea. One moment they are rating sapphic ships then a second later they are naming every single couple they know.

"Tenliveira?" Kate suggests.

"Too long."

"Olinnant?"

"That sounds… wrong."

"Teveira?"

"How about we just use JaneCole? Like TaiVan or LottieNat ."

Kate raises an eyebrow, "What happened to not watching disturbing shows?"

"Yellowjackets isn't disturbing. It's basically the L world with a better plot."

"Oooh," Kate's laughter is so loud, it makes Lucy's stomach flutter. "I know people who would be so mad at that statement."

Lucy just shrugs, she couldn't care less. 

Kate continues, "Honestly, I've always prefered Palner instead. There's something special about mixing the names. I don't know." 

"We'll figure something out then," Lucy says. Whatever her girl says. "In the meantime, how do we feel about Darla?"

"Carla and Dalia?"

"Yup."

"Love it."

"Jeather?"

"Sounds cool enough."

"Mikacy?" 

That one has Kate faltering, "Who?"

"Micah, Kate, Lucy," Lucy explains, not daring to look at Kate as she speaks. "I mean, by the number of interruptions just this week I think we ought to include the little guy."

There's a beat of silence, neither of them daring to move, or even breathe.

Just as Lucy's self confidence starts to waver, her brain panicking and coming up with excuses, Kate whispers softly, "I think he will be very pleased to be included."

With her MegaWatt smile firmly in place and her confidence restored, Lucy opens her hand in a silent request. Kate intertwines their fingers and smiles back at the brunette. 

+++

"Auntie Lucy!" Micah calls during play time after dinner. He runs toward her and raises his arms. Understanding the cue, Lucy picks him up and places him on her good knee. His body sags on her lap, his head dropping to her chest, eyes blinking heavy.

"Hey, nugget," She kisses the top of his head. "I thought you were with your Mom."

"He was," A voice says from behind Lucy's hair. She looks back to find a slightly out of breath Kate. "But someone thought I was too slow."

Micah shrugs, "Auntie Lucy, do you wanna know what I learned with Miss Carla today?"

The question worries Lucy a little bit. As good as Carla is with kids, the woman doesn’t have much of a filter. 

"Uh, what?" Lucy asks, looking at Kate who seems distracted opening a little juice box.

"That our heart has actually nothing to do with love!" Lucy exhales, relieved it's something kid appropriate, though admittedly a bit advanced and harsh to teach a little kid. Micah doesn’t seem discouraged though.

"Really?" Lucy feigns surprised. 

"Yup. Our brain does aaaaaaall the job. It releases some thingamabobs that make our heart beat faster, but it's all here," He taps at his temple, and Lucy smiles endearingly. "So, next time you want to say 'I love you' to Mommy, you should say 'I brain you' instead!"

Kate, who was taking a sip at the worst possible time, chokes on her kid sized OJ. Lucy, on the other hand, is torn between bursting into laughter and begging the Earth to swallow her whole.

She does neither. Choosing instead to act dumbly, "I, uh, mhm. Yeah. Love. Brain," 

"Love is an emotion, baby," Kate starts. If not for the lingering pink on her cheeks, one wouldn't be able to tell she almost choked to death a few seconds ago. "It might be released by the brain, but it's still love."

Kate looks in Lucy's general direction, but doesn’t quite meet her eyes. Lucy can't really blame her for that. 

Micah ponders on his Mother's words for a while, then shakes his head, "No. 'I brain you' is better… I brain you, Mommy. And I brain you too, Auntie Lucy." He smiles widely at them, "See! Better!"

Who is science to argue with an adorable five year old.

+++

By now they should've been used to Micah's antics, but his comment from earlier on still looms over their heads as they walk back to their cabin in silence.

"I'm sorry for…"

"I adore that kid."

They say at the same time as soon as the cabin's door is closed.

"Sorry, you first," Lucy says, smiling at Kate.

"I just… Sorry about Micah, he's just…" 

"Steering the ship," Lucy chuckles.

Kate rolls her eyes but nods, "Apparently Mikacy was more accurate then I initially thought."

"Don't stress it," Lucy says, sitting on the bed and pulling Kate towards her. "I adore him and his comments that make me want to fling myself into space. Besides… He is not too far off."

It's said in a nonchalant manner, but she feels everything but. You're gonna scare her off , a little voice in the back of her head screams. Shutting it up, Lucy lets the implication hang in the air around them, and bravely, bravely tucks a strand of Kate's hair behind her ear. 

The blonde is looking at her with an indecipherable expression. Lucy holds her breath until she leans down, placing her lips on Lucy's. 

At first, the kiss is brief, just a soft press of lips. But when they break it, Lucy opens her eyes to find Kate with hers still closed, a faint, dreamy smile on her lips and she is powerless to resist the feeling that shoots through her veins.

+++

"So," Kate clears her throat. Her voice hoarse and breathless as they fall side by side on Lucy's bed. "If Mic isn't too far off, what's your actual middle name?"

Lucy chokes on air. Today's game had completely slipped from Lucy's mind, especially that one damned question. 

Why Kate is still thinking about it after a semi love confession and four rounds of mind-blowing sex is unbeknown to Lucy. 

"What?"

"Oh, c'mon. Elise? You didn't actually think you fooled me, did you?"

Lucy sighs, "I didn't, but I desperately wanted you to forget. Which brings me to the question, was the sex good? 'Cause this is not what you are supposed to be thinking right now." 

"It was awful," Kate says in mockery. "Never worse, and as a reward for having endured that you should definitely tell me your middle name." 

"Asshole. You didn't have to go that deep," Lucy bumps their shoulders and pouts. 

"Mm, not the words I heard a few minutes ago." Lucy can't help but laugh, she had handed that on a silver platter. Kate turns sideways, propping herself up on her elbow, her voice is soft when she speaks "You don't actually have to tell me. I just like messing with you."

"Oh, I'm aware. You and your kid are competing for my head," Lucy mimics Kate's position, her free arm resting on the woman's middle. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, "It's Gwendolyn."

When Kate doesn’t laugh, Lucy opens her eyes. The blonde looks amused, her mouth falling open in an adorable surprised smile, but she doesn’t laugh nor make fun of her.

“Lucy Gwendolyn Tara.”

“Lucille.”

“What?”

“My name.” 

“Lucille Gwendolyn Tara?” Kate asks, this time a small, soft giggle falls from her mouth. “Sounds almost… Royal.”

“That’s what my parents think they are sometimes.” 

Kate chuckles, pulling Lucy into her arms. The brunette melts into the embrace, shoving her face into the crook of Kate’s neck.

“It’s not nearly as bad as you think it is.”

"Liar," Lucy mumbles against Kate's skin. "But thanks."

"It is true. I think you are pretty cool, Lucille Gwendolyn."

"I hate you."

"But I thought you brained me."

"Oh God," Lucy reaches for the nearest pillow and hits Kate with it. 

Chapter Text

By Wednesday of the fifth week, the entire energy of camp shifts, the approaching battle day is keeping everyone on edge. The kids stop interacting as much with their friends, staying closer to those they share a cabin with instead. The instructors follow their lead, maintaining a distance from other instructors and conversations that may jeopardize their plan. Until Monday, everyone is their enemy.

Needless to say Lucy is very grateful to share a cabin with Kate.

“This game is really making you tense, uh” Kate says Thursday night, kissing Lucy’s shoulders.

Lucy groans, rolling her shoulders in an attempt to ease the tension there, “The question is: how is it not making you tense?”

“Compartmentalization. You should try it.”

Huffing, Lucy says, “That is not an actual word.”

“It is,” Then, something in Kate’s tone changes. The next sentence comes out like a purr, and it makes Lucy perk up immediately. “I know how I can make you relax, though.”

“Yes, please. I’ll take five of that.”

Kate raises her eyebrow, “Five, uh? A little ambitious for someone who was yawning a minute ago, don’t you think?”

“I do not. Now, c'mere.”

Their lips meet in a fierce kiss, hands roaming all over each other’s bodies. Lucy doesn’t think the feeling of having Kate’s body pressed against hers will ever get old.

They don’t get very far though, as soon as Kate hands find the hem of Lucy’s shirt a light knock comes from the door. They jump apart, looking at each other with wide eyes.

“Meeting at the main building in 10!” Jesse says from the other side of the door, they count to three then hear the faint sound of footsteps disappear as he leaves. 

Lucy slumps back into Kate, "He has such good timing."

Kate laughs, wrapping her arms around Lucy for a quick hug, "He does." She kisses Lucy's temple then gets to her feet, "Now let's go, get your cute ass up." 

"You think my ass is cute?" 

"Among other things," Kate shrugs one shoulder, nonchalantly.

"I would like to hear them."

"If you don't move said ass, you never will," With that, Kate leaves the cabin without looking back for Lucy. She didn't have to. She knew Lucy would be right behind her.

+++

The meeting is procedural. Every year, the Boones like to gather the instructors to go through the basic rules and safety of Capture the Flag (feat. Water Balloons). By now Lucy knows them by heart, but she thinks it is adorable how focused Kate is while she scribbles in her little notebook as Jesse speaks.

Lucy peeks at the page.

1. The game is split in two halves of 30 minutes with a 20 minute break between them;
2. Each team gets a flag (Well, that is quite obvious, Kate) and they must have at least two people guarding it;
3. The flags are all hide-able — come up with good hiding spots! (Dork);
4. To win, your team needs to have the largest amount of stolen flags;
5. Each team has exactly 100 balloons. Use wisely (Amen to that);
6. Once stolen, a flag cannot be "re-stolen" by another team;
7. For the Flag Heist to be successful you have to make it all the way back to your team's podium and hang the flag in its appropriate spot (Flag Heist. You're so fucking cute, Kate Whistler);
8. If you get hit by a water balloon in the meantime, you have to give back the stolen flag;
9. If you get hit by a water balloon while not carrying a flag, you'll be escorted by one of the judges back to your podium and only then you can restart your game (A.K.A don't ever get caught);
10. Don't get hit by a water balloon.

Lucy can't help but giggle at that last topic. At that moment she is hit with what must be the most terrifying, and yet exhilarating thought: She really wants to win the game, but staring over at Kate, she thinks she has already won the Summer. 

Friday is slow. Sweet. Lucy has a couple of classes in the morning, but for the rest of the day she is mercifully free. She spends most of it with the kids, playing catch and some board games, and trying to lose Ernie who seems to be spying on her every move.

When she goes to the bathroom and finds the man lurking around, she finally confronts him.

"Dude, what are you doing?" She slaps his arm, getting a loud, high-pitched ' Ouch!' in response. The question, however, is mostly rhetoric. She knows exactly what he's been doing because she's been doing the same with Jane. "You are not gonna get anything out of me."

"Maybe I already got it."

"You didn't. You wouldn't have followed me to the bathroom if you had anything substantial about our plan."

They have a staring contest for a while until Ernie caves with a sigh.

"Having a team of five year olds is so hard! They can't keep secrets, they don't understand my strategies. I'm doomed!" He lifts his hands to the sky as if begging for mercy. The sight is comical, but Lucy can understand his frustration. A couple of summers back, she and Katia were responsible for the six year olds and it was pure chaos. They could barely concentrate on the game, too preoccupied the kids wouldn't hurt themselves in the madness. 

"There's always next year, buddy," Lucy pats his shoulder affectionately. "Speaking of which, since you know, you are doomed and all, we could maybe unite forces? You tell me your plan and we blow you a kiss when we win?"

Ernie stares at her, huffs, pushes her hand from his shoulder and walks away muttering curses under his breath. You can't blame a girl for trying.

+++

Later, she is laying on the ground, her head resting on Micah's leg as he tries to braid her hair. His forehead is furrowed in concentration, his tongue peeking out. A spitting image of Kate. She wonders how alike Kate and Noah must've been for Micah to resemble her so much. A little twinge of pain pulls at her heart imagining everything Kate has lost. 

"Micah."

"Yeah?"

"Where is Piffles?" The thought came to her randomly, as she tried to get rid of the sadness brought by the imagery of Kate and Noah together. If Kate, Micah and Cole are here, who is taking care of the dog?

"Grandma Betty."

"Oh, I thought…" Lucy catches herself before saying something like 'I thought your grandparents were assholes and you weren't in contact with them' . She doesn’t want to imagine the hole she would have to dig to get herself out of that situation. "Is Grandma Betty your Mommy's Mom?" She should be ashamed of digging for information from a five year old, but she isn't.

"No. She is Mommy's friend, but she is my Grandma 'cause she helps Mommy take care of me and I love her!"

Lucy has to blink a couple of times. Slightly taken aback by the ease he says that. The kid has a better understanding of what family means than a lot of adults around. But why is she still surprised? 

"She seems like a wonderful woman," Lucy says, smiling up at him.

Micah's grin turns mischievous, "Mommy says she is the worst example ever because she taught me how to say shit . But I think she is the coolest!" 

"I can see how you would," Lucy says, her eyes widening. She cannot imagine Kate's face when she heard sweet darling Micah cursing for the first time. "Should you, uh, should you be saying that though?"

He shrugs, "She said it's technically not a bad word cause it means poop and everybody says poop. Why shouldn't I be allowed to say shit, then?"

"Uh," Lucy's gotta give it to the woman. That is a way of seeing things. "Still, you might not want to say it with your mother around."

"Say what with me around?" Kate says, sitting beside Micah.

"Shit," Micah and Lucy say at the same time. Lucy is pretty sure she just didn't get a slap in the arm because Micah is present and conscious. 

"Yeah, you should definitely not be saying that. At all," Kate narrows her eyes at them.

"Don't look at me like that, I just wanted to know where Piffles is!"

Kate shakes her head, cheeks slightly pink, "I should've known Betty was involved in this somehow."

"Speaking of, she seems delightful. When can I meet her?" Lucy says, eyes sparkling. Anyone who manages to get Kate flustered by just being mentioned, is someone worth knowing. 

Kate's eyes bulge out of their sockets, "Oh God, my life is about to become a living hell."

She drops down on the floor, head resting next to Lucy's. 

"Mommy is being silly. I think you and Grandma Betty will be great friends!" Micah says, not catching on to the real meaning behind Kate's words.

"Yeah. That's what I'm afraid of."

+++

When Sunday rolls around you can pretty much feel the entire camp vibrate. The instructors are all busy setting up the place for the game. Loose tires, sand bags, podiums, scaffolding, wooden walls, inflatable bunkers and a lot more obstacles for tomorrow's game are being set up all over the camp's grounds. The good thing about being the one putting the course together, is that as you do it, you can already start to list the best hiding spots, fastest paths and attack zones. 

They spend the entire morning and early afternoon on it. The scorching sun, merciless on their skin. Lucy is positively sure she is gonna end the day with the worst sunburn ever.

Once the camp field is ready, they move to the lake to start filling the balloons. Some dye is added along with the water to match each team’s colors, and for the first time in forever, Lucy is jealous of people swimming around the deadly pit. In this heat, anyone would kill for some fresh water on their shoulders. 

“Hey. You ok?” Kate asks, sitting beside her in the shallowest part of the lake. She is dripping wet, the cool droplets covering her body reflect the sunlight, making her body shine. 

"Hot," Lucy says, not knowing for certain if she meant the weather or the woman in front of her. Probably both.

Kate presses a cool hand on Lucy's shoulder and Lucy, involuntarily, lets out a moan. God, it feels wonderful.

"If I knew all it took for you to moan like that was a cold hand on your shoulder, I'd have done it when we first got here,” Lucy rolls her eyes, not dignifying Kate with a response. "Wait here.”

She gets up, walks towards Kai and steals the bucket placed by the man’s feet.

“It’s for a good cause!” Lucy hears her scream as she runs away from Kai’s protests. 

With the bucket filled, Kate walks back to where Lucy is. She stops right in front of her and lifts the bucket, “Hold your breath.”

Lucy does what she is told, nodding when she is ready. Deliciously cold water hits her, calming the burning sensation on her shoulders and arms. She should’ve thought of that the second they moved to the lake. It would’ve saved her some miserable time toasting in the heat.

"Better?" Kate smiles down at her.

“So much. Thank you.”

Kate drops down beside her again, "Anytime.” Then with a lopsided grin, she adds, “If we are going to be a thing, expect plenty of beach dates. Micah looooooves the beach.”

Lucy groans, letting her head drop to Kate’s shoulder. What has she gotten herself into? But to be fair, if she is going to endure a day at the beach, she couldn’t think of better company.

“You should’ve told me that before I agreed to do this,” Lucy jokes. Sadly, it doesn’t land very well, because Kate stiffens under her. “I’m kidding.”

When a couple of minutes pass and Kate still doesn’t say anything, Lucy looks up, “Kate. It was a joke. I would jump into the ocean for you two if I had to. I just… I’d rather stay on the sand.”

Kate softens, “You would? Jump into the ocean for us?”

“Well, yeah. Do you not remember I kind of brain you two?”

Lucy doesn’t have time to overthink how easy it is to say those words because Kate’s smile is as blinding as the sun, “We kind of brain you too.”

“Would you kill a spider for me?” Kate’s face contorts. She takes a bit too long to answer and Lucy gasps. “Katherine Marie Whistler!”

Kate laughs, “Yeah, I’d kill a spider for you… If it was a tiny one. If it’s a slightly bigger one, you are on your own.”

Lucy laughs, shaking her head, “Asshole.”

“Fine. Let’s compromise then.”

“I’m listening.”

“I’ll buy you a kid’s beach bucket that matches Mic’s, so you don’t have to go anywhere near the ocean and you’ll keep the house spider free for me. How does that sound?”

“Like you are getting the most out of this agreement… But whatever you say, love.” The endearment falls accidentally from her mouth. She doesn’t mind though, and apparently neither does Kate. 

“It’s a deal then. Get ready to get buried in the sand by a very clumsy five year old.”

“Oh Christ.”

Chapter Text

“Listen, remember what we talked about, yeah?” Lucy half shouts, half whispers, if that is even possible. “We keep to the plan, we have fun and we kick everyone else’s butt!”

Game day has finally arrived and Lucy can barely contain the excitement that courses through her veins. The entire camp is awake and ready at seven in the morning, each team wearing their cabin’s color and symbol. Kate looks adorable in red pants and a white shirt with a red panda printed on the front. But this is not the time for gayness, they need to focus and take these last few moments to go over their plans again. 

“God, I feel like I’m gonna throw up,” Julie says, holding her stomach. Lucy’s eyes widen with a mix of worry and despair. They can’t afford to lose a team member. “I mean that in a good way!” Lucy tries not to look too relieved. 

Besides the typical stomach ache, they are all feeling pretty confident. Lucy makes them all stretch first — she doesn’t want anyone cramping mid running, then a loud horn sounds through the camp speakers. 

“Players, get settled.” Wally, who is going to be the main judge for this year’s game, warns. “Starting the countdown.”

The girls position themselves, ready to scatter through camp at the first notice. Two of them, Karol and Chris D., are staying behind at the podium to guard their flag and tie the ones they bring back. The rest of them are on the move, Lucy and Julie are covering the North and West; Kate and Theo, the South and East, and Summer, Keala and Chris S., are the runners — they have no fixed position, instead they will be running throughout the camp, observing the movement, slowing down the other teams and reporting back to the three positioned teams if necessary. It’s the first time Lucy has tried this sort of division, but she is feeling good about it.

A loud whistle sounds through the speaker.

“LET’S KICK BUTT AND CHEW BUBBLE GUM!” Lucy screams before darting out, not looking back to catch Kate’s utterly confused look. 

Lucy and Julie arrived at their destination fairly unscathed. There were more hiding behind a wall than Lucy previously anticipated, but overall they are unscathed. Their plan of action basically consists of not acting for the first five or so minutes of the game. Which is completely unlike Lucy, who would much rather dive straight into attack. But it was Kate’s suggestion that they took those minutes to study the movement of the game, so they could act accordingly. It may be logical, but the real reason she agreed to this is because she is a hopeless lesbian who will do whatever it takes to please her girl. 

Lucy marks the time. Watching, trying to identify the patterns that Kate said would be there. Around five minutes in, Lucy notices the first one. 

The girls, Adeline and Fatima, from Darla's (Carla and Dalia) cabin, have a weak spot on their right as most of the attack is done by their left. She nudges Julie, who is watching her mother’s podium, located in the opposite direction, with fire in her eyes. Quickly they come up with a plan — Lucy is gonna distract them, while Julie sneaks through the other side to try to steal the flag. 

They move quickly. Lucy aims a balloon at Fatima's back, hitting the target effortlessly. The girl turns immediately, shooting balloons at her. Lucy ducks behind a set of tires praying to God, Julie managed to run while Fatima and Adeline were busy with her and some other kids. 

She stays ducked until Julie shows up at her side, almost getting hit with a balloon in the process. 

"We gotta move. The flag was already taken." 

"What? How?" Lucy asks. It's impossible, they've been guarding the flag since the beginning of the game. Surely they would've noticed something.

"I don't know," Julie says. "But we gotta go!"

By the time they leave their safe space, the game is in full force. There are kids and grown ups all around, Lucy hits a boy right in the chest, who curses her as Tom, one of the judges, carries him back to his starting point.

Together, Lucy and Julie manage to steal Milius' flag. Julie hides it, and Lucy covers her until she gets hit in the back by a purple balloon. She mutters 'little shit' quietly to herself, and is escorted back by another judge. 

“How are we doing?” Lucy asks, when she gets to their podium.

“We’ve got three so far!” Karol tells her, while hitting a poor kid right in the face. “Oops, sorry!” 

Three is alright, but not nearly enough if they want to beat Tennant and twenty minutes have already gone by.

“Julie is coming with another one. Hopefully.”

As if on cue, Julie arrives, quickly passing the flag to Chris, who ties it up neatly below the others. Lucy high fives Julie.

“Let’s go!” She screams.

When they are about to run off, an out of breath Keala shows up, “We need reinforcements in the East.”

“Got it! Keala, go with Julie, aim for the weakest cabins.” The girls nod and Lucy leaves them, running East.

Lucy finds Kate and Theo cowering behind a stack of scaffolding as a rain of balloons falls upon them. Instead of joining them, Lucy tries to find their gunner. She sneaks through the trees, careful not to alert her presence. She finds a trio of kids that Lucy recognizes as being in Cole's cabin, wasting pretty much all their ammo.

Lucy waits. When they stop to pick up more balloons, she attacks. She hits the first one in the leg. The loud yelp they let out, makes Kate and Theo peek out from behind their hiding spot. Noticing the trio is somewhat disarmed, they join Lucy in the attack, eventually hitting the other two. 

“Go, go! I’ll hold the rest of them off,” Kate screams and Theo bolts out running in the direction Lucy had just come from. She looks around, her body tense. Her eyes land on Lucy and she visibly relaxes. “So you are our savior, uh?”

“At your service, Milady,” Lucy does an exaggerated bow. “Are you good?”

“Yeah, you?” She makes a point to look at Lucy’s knees.

“Fine,” Kate arches her eyebrow. “A little sore, but I’ll live.”

Kate hums and Lucy quickly changes the subject.

“Wanna steal a flag together? Micah’s cabin has gotta be somewhere over there.”

 Kate gives her a mischievous grin, “Let’s go.”

+++

That was a bad idea. Horrible, disgraceful idea. Lucy has never been terrified of five year olds before, but right now she finds herself swallowing hard and praying for them to go back into cute tiny cuddlers. 

The moment they step foot into the Grey Sharks cabin, a familiar little voice greets them, “Where do y’all think you’re going?”

“Again with the y’all?” Kate tries to joke, but as they turn to face their little opponent, they find three five year olds grinning at them. It's not the sweet, 'I'm happy to see you' grin. It's the evil, 'I'm gonna throw a balloon at you if you move' grin. 

How the fuck did we not hear them coming? 

“Hiiii,” Lucy says slowly, her eyes moving between the kids. She is not sure if she and Kate would be fast enough to get to the closest barricade unscathed. 

“Hi baby,” Kate says sweetly. 

“Hello Mother. Aunt Luce.”

Lucy's hands move instinctively to her belt, where the balloons are stored in a small sac.

"Don't," Arthur warns. 

“What do we do?” Lucy whispers to Kate. She can’t see a single favorable outcome for them. They are trapped. By five year-olds.

“Run!” Kate screams, Lucy doesn’t need to be told twice. 

She hears the kids battle cry as they run after them. They are fast, naughty little creatures. Somewhere between the trees, Lucy hears a yelp followed by a “I changed your diapers, you little traitor!” 

Lucy almost trips on a loose branch trying to hold back her laughter. She gets hit on her right calf not long after, and defeatedly walks back to her podium. She can only hope the rest of their team is having better luck. 

+++

The second half is messier. With the ending looming over their heads they start to get reckless, foolish. Lucy spends most of her time being escorted back to the podium than running around being useful. For all her competitiveness, Lucy is not complaining. Her knee is throbbing, and every step feels like a stab. Still, she does her best, hiding and slowing the other teams down by hitting them with balloons. 

At one point she walks into Jesse. The man looks completely disheveled as if he’s been through hell and back. They look at each other, then silently agree to just keep going wherever they were heading. 

Around ten minutes later, a loud horn sounds, announcing the end of the game. Lucy falls to the ground exhausted. Every year she looks forward to it, and every year she wants to die by the end of it.

“Need a hand?” Kate asks, showing up out of nowhere.

“Please,” Lucy accepts the outstretched hand, using it as a support to get herself back onto her feet. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

They walk in silence, meeting the rest of their team by the pavilion where every other team is getting reunited. They are all smelly and sweaty, their clothes dyed with several different colored water splashes. The instructors all drop into the first chair they find, while some of the kids keep running around. 

“How many did we get?” Lucy asks Summer, who has been counting and recounting the flags since they got here. 

“Nine,” The girl says sadly. “That’s not enough. Last year Miss Jane got eleven!”

Goddamn Jane Tennant , Lucy curses half-heartedly.

“Hey we never know!” Lucy says, doing the math in her head. There are a total of thirty cabins, so maybe they… Yeah. No. They're fucked. She lies though, “Well, at least we did our best.”

“And we had fun!” Kate adds, wrapping her arm comfortingly around Summer in a half hug.

The girls just grumble in response.

“If Mom wins again, I will riot,” Says Julie, crossing her arms and pouting adorably. 

Jesse and Heather go up on the little stage in the front of the pavilion and call for everyone’s attention. He has a winning smile on his face, but it doesn’t worry Lucy. He always wears that smile, even when his team only managed to get one flag a few summers back.

“Alright, alright! Now that was a game!” He says. 

The kids all cheer. Lucy’s eyes scan the crowd and she spots Micah, smiling big with his arm around Arthur’s shoulders. They have really become best friends and it’s adorable… when they are not carrying balloons ready to be thrown at you, that is.

Lucy nudges Kate, pointing to the scene with her chin. Kate melts at the sight, beaming at her little boy. Then a frown takes over her features, but before Lucy can say anything, Kate asks, “Are those… flags?”

Lucy’s eyes snap back to the friends. There, on Arthur’s hand, she sees a conglomerate of flags. His tiny hand grips them tightly together, making it difficult to tell exactly how many are there. Judging by the volume though, it’s a lot.

“My team lost,” Jesse says, eliciting laughter from everyone except his teammates, who are grumbling to themselves. A commotion starts, everyone looking at Jane expectantly. “I don’t know what you are all looking for, Jane was demoted to third place,” Jesse continues.

Through the surprised gasps, a wild Julie screams, “Ha! In your face, Mom!” Which gets her a death glare from Jane. But shockingly the woman doesn’t seem too phased by this loss, she looks even mildly… impressed? Amused?

"Julie, I wouldn't be so excited," Jesse says, and all her girls deflate. "Red Pandas you did good. Pretty good actually. You beat Jane and secured yourselves the second place!”

Second place. Again. Awesome.

The bitterness however, lasts for only a couple of seconds. 

“You just somehow couldn’t stop your little guy,” It takes a while for Lucy to fully grasp what he’s implying. She looks at Kate who seems just as astonished as she is. Even the girls have wide eyes and jaws hitting the floor. “In a stunt never seen before and a collection of thirteen flags, I’d like to congratulate the Grey Sharks. You are the champions of the 2023 Capture the Flag battle!”

“Did we just lose to five year-olds?” Keala asks. Then the place explodes. 

Everyone is clapping, cheering and screaming as the littlest team gets up on the stage to receive their medals and take the picture that is going to become legend in the hall of fame.

Kate is still frozen in shock and Lucy is not very far behind.

"Little bastard," Lucy says under her breath. 

“My guys!” Lucy hears Ernie say, pulling them all for a group hug. “I’m so proud of you all.”

Lucy watches as Jesse gives Micah his medal, playfully messing his hair afterwards. His sweet, gap-toothed smile is so big that Lucy’s heart does a little pirouette in her chest.

“How are you feeling?” Lucy asks Kate, watching Jane hug Julie from afar. 

“Like I could cry. I won’t. But I could.”

Lucy laughs, wrapping her arms around Kate’s middle for a quick hug. Micah's eyes find them and he points to his medal, his smile doubling in size.

Maybe there is something better than winning first place after all.

+++

“I hear congratulations are in order,” Lucy says, sitting down beside Ernie, who is admiring his little guys celebrating. 

“I’m sorry,” He says, dramatically placing a hand behind his ear and leaning forward. “I didn’t catch that.”

Lucy playfully smacks him on the arm.

“How did you do this? You were literally complaining all the time about how hard it was to have a team of five year-olds!" Lucy had sympathized with him. Oh, to know it was all a ruse. 

"Ever heard of acting?" He asks, laughing. "You guys were so sure you would never lose to a bunch of tiny, adorable kids that one: you talked freely about your strategies with them around, and two: there wasn't a single team actively watching us. You all ruled us out so fast, and I used that to our advantage. I knew no one would pay attention to those little bundles of joy running around laughing and giggling. They are five, but they are not stupid. They wanted to win just as badly as everyone else."

Lucy has got to give it to him. That was an incredibly smart move. She thinks back, easily spotting the times where she was talking to Kate about the game with Micah around. She’s sure every other instructor did too, and never suspected a thing. 

“That tiny, sneaky, little super secret agent…” She says, but the smile on her face wouldn’t trick anyone. 

“My very best one,” Ernie agrees, and she can’t help but laugh. 

"God, I still can't believe they won," Lucy says, joining Kate in the hanging chair on their porch.

The sun is setting, and the golden glow of it illuminates Kate's face and eyes giving her a dreamy look. She looks so stunning that Lucy's heart physically hurts. 

"Tell me about it. We'll never hear the end of it," Kate's tone is playful. They both know very well that the likelihood of them being the ones not letting Micah hear the end of it is way more probable than the other way around. 

"I think I'm ok with that," Lucy says, leaning back.

She has never seen Micah look so confident, so carefree within his skin. He looked every bit like a child. A goofy, competitive, slightly ego-centric child. The stark contrast to the shy, reclusive child she had met during her very first class is beautiful. 

"Yeah. I am too," Kate says, smiling at her. Then, her eyes land on the ice pack in Lucy's hand. "How bad is it?"

"On a scale of one to ten? Probably a seven," It's the first time Lucy admits being in pain so easily. She has always hated these scales, never knowing what to compare her pain with. When does a seven turn into an eight? How do I know that a pain is a ten? Have I experienced a level 10 pain? Or is there something worse?

"How trustworthy are you with these scales?" 

"Probably a seven," Lucy jokes. 

Kate rolls her eyes. She steals the ice pack from Lucy, checking the coldness, then grabs Lucy's leg and places it carefully on top of hers. 

"Does that hurt?" Lucy shakes her head, too enamored by the care to form coherent thoughts. 

The blonde touches Lucy's knee with the ice pack gently, checking for any sign of pain. There is none. All that Lucy feels is the immediate relief the cold brings. 

"Me saying you gotta be more careful won't do anything, will it?" Kate asks after a while.

"Nope," Lucy pops the P. "But I do promise that I'll be more careful from now on. There are still a lot of spiders to catch and sand to be buried in." 

Like everything with them, what is actually being said is so much more than what either of them is able to put into words right now. Lucy's fingers move to tuck a loose strand of hair behind Kate's ear. She starts to lean in, but a flash of something moving in the corner of her eye catches her attention.

Micah. She doesn't need to look to know it's him.

"Oh, would you look at that? The champion found some time to come and greet the mere mortals!" Lucy jokes, putting on an exaggerated medieval accent. 

Kate turns around, "Hey, Super Spy. Come here."

Micah giggles, climbing up the stairs and cozying himself up against his mom. He rests a hand on Lucy's ice pack, his brows furrowing, "Did the game hurt you?"

"Nah, I'm good. Just a little sore," She reassures him. He nods, relaxing beside his mom. 

"So, my little champion. Did you party hard with your friends?" Kate asks, kissing the top of his head. It's customary for the winning team to throw a small party just for themselves to celebrate their win. They get the best food, best drinks, best candies and best music.

"Yeah! I drank sooooo much apple juice," He pats his belly adorably, making both women laugh. "Oh! I brought you candy!" He hands each of them a package of sweets, "It's yummy." 

"Thank you, baby." Kate says at the same time Lucy says, "Thanks, nugget!"

Micah moves to Lucy’s side in order to steal some candy from her and they eat in silence. Kate watches them amusedly, probably wondering how the hell she is gonna handle a sugar high Micah and a sugar high Lucy.  

"Mommy?" Micah says after they are done. Kate hums and he rests his head on Lucy's chest. "I'm really glad we came here."

Lucy eyes lock on Kate's, her entire body tingling. She can see Kate's eyes glistening as she blinks away the tears. 

"I'm really glad we came here too, buddy." 

Kate is not the only one who is on the verge of tears. Lucy can barely hold in the multitude of feelings going through her tiny body.

As she boarded Old Pete's bus, she could never imagine that everything she had ever dreamed of would be waiting for her on the other side. Kate and Micah changed her life in so many different ways and in so little time. They brought love, comfort and acceptance. It might sound cheesy and even corny, but the last six weeks have been the best ones in her life. She is so incredibly thankful for these two. So incredibly grateful for getting to experience life with them in it. To think this is just the beginning, makes her heart soar. 

"I'm really glad y'all came here too."