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The tiniest yawn came from the sofa before Adora noticed a pair of small, pale-orange, clawed paws and a tuft of blonde hair sticking out from between the cushions. She could barely see the rest of the kid’s body, and even though she had no idea why or how they had gotten themself stuck like that, she bit back a laugh as she pulled the ball of messy fur and muffled whines onto their feet.
Finn balanced themself and adjusted their pajamas while Adora brushed her fingers through their hair to straighten it back out and asked through soft laughter, “What happened?”
Finn rubbed their eyes and smiled sheepishly, their ears downturned. “I fell asleep,” they answered.
Adora shook her head and watched the little ears lift up and turn slightly to capture the distant popping of the last bit of fireworks that were sounding off in the distance.
“Did I miss midnight?” they asked.
“Yeah, you did. But you made it past eleven!” she replied, trying her best to cheer them up, but it seemed Finn was too tired to think about anything but pillows and warm blankets. They were struggling to keep their eyes open. “Come on, let’s get you to bed,” Adora added, and taking the cutest, softest, little hand in hers, started toward Finn’s bedroom.
Catra had actually designed it—she was good at that sort of thing. Adora pushed open the lavender wooden door with Finn at her heels. The walls were crème white, the trim around the floor was a warm gold, and the windowsill was big enough to be a loveseat, separated from the rest of the room by a pair of paper-thin floral curtains, and covered in decorative pillows and stuffed animals. The bed was small but pretty. It was oval, a bit like a nest, and covered by the same paper-thin curtains, baby blue this time, that hung in a cone shape from the ceiling. It seemed fit for a prince or princess, even though Finn was somewhere in the middle. There was a rainbow rug in the middle of the floor to fill the large space, but the toys, books, games, clothes, and other junk covering it made it difficult to make out most of the colors. Both Adora and Catra had been meaning to ask Finn to clean it up, but they were always so busy that it seemed to have slipped their minds more than once.
In any case, Finn crawled eagerly into their nest-bed and immediately reached for the horse plushie at the end of the bed that was half their size. Adora picked it up and placed it into excited paws, watching blue eyes sparkle at it. It reminded her so much of whenever Catra would get excited about something.
Adora kissed Finn’s forehead and said good-night, but they stopped her before she could get up all the way. “Mommy, wait.”
Adora turned back around. “What do you need, baby?”
They pushed themself up against the many pillows and stroked the stuffed horse’s mane, trying to find the right words. Finally, they asked, “Can I have a bedtime story?”
“Yeah, sure,” Adora replied, and stood up to walk to a bookshelf on the other side of the cluttered rug. “Which one?” She picked out several books of all colors, all incredibly thin with gold or silver spines, and held them up.
Finn shook their head, golden hair shaking with it. “I want to hear one of your stories.”
“My stories?” Adora repeated.
“About She-Ra.”
Adora raised her eyebrows, shrugged, and put the books back. “Okay. I can do that.” She sat back down on the bed and smiled.
Adora glanced down at the horse plush and remembered the party in Elberon about a year and a half before the war ended. She remembered Catra’s trap, and how Bow and the townspeople had come to her rescue.
She fidgeted with the ends of the blanket, searching around in her brain for a place to start. “There was this time the people of Elberon threw a big party for Bow, Swift Wind, and I because we saved them from the Horde,” she began.
Finn’s eyes lit up. “Really?”
Adora nodded. “Yeah. We were having lots of fun, but then someone came running from the forest and said they saw a big, scary robot nearby!”
Finn gasped. “Did you kick its butt?” They were sitting up now, bouncing excitedly.
Adora laughed. “Yeah, I did. I was all, like, ‘RAAHHHH!’ with my sword!” She raised her arms, wielding an invisible blade, and swung it several times, making the dumbest angry face she possibly could.
Finn was rolling. Their giggles always made Adora’s heart melt, whether they were tiny or hysterical.
“But then,” she continued, “when I sliced the bot in half with my sword, it grew back into two more bots from the broken pieces!”
Finn’s eyes widened and their mouth hung open. Adora fought off the cute aggression and kept talking.
“But Swift Wind was there too,” she added. “And he kicked them—like this!” She picked up the horse stuffie, which had been abandoned next to her, and began to make it kick its back legs at Finn, who was still laughing while trying to block them.
The sarcastic clapping that came from the doorway startled Adora, and she heard that familiar rasp she loved. “Wow, hon, you sure you’re okay being a Rebellion warrior? It seems like acting is your true passion,” it said.
Catra entered the room and sat down behind Adora, wrapping her arms around her waist and shaking her slightly. “Your mother’s being an idiot as per usual, I see,” she teased, looking at Finn.
They giggled, but then said, “I don’t think idiots normally save the world.”
Catra pondered that for a moment. She turned her face toward Adora’s, replied, “Yeah, you’re right,” and rested her chin on Adora’s shoulder. “Well, come on. I want to hear the rest of the story, too,” she added, nudging her.
Adora put her own hands over her wife’s and turned her eyes toward her. “Oh, well, I’m sure you would, because when I got back to the village after destroying those robots, everyone had mysteriously disappeared!”
“What?” Finn whispered to themself, and Catra’s eyes darkened for only a moment before she realized what had come over her and had to take a deep breath. After ten years into a marriage and six years into being a parent, she couldn’t believe she was still healing and bettering herself; it was mostly because forgiving herself for what she’d done to Adora had proved to be many times more challenging than she had thought it would be. Still, at this point, she was able to catch and fix her negative reactions before anything bad happened, so she supposed that was worth something.
“Yep,” Adora kept going. “But there was one person who didn’t get taken, and they told us that Horde soldiers had come and kidnapped everyone in the village while I was off fighting the robots! And I felt terrible for leaving them all unprotected, so I went to go look for them.”
Finn looked as if they were going to explode from anticipation. “But you were busy trying to save them from a different threat. It wasn’t your fault,” they commented.
Adora had to hold back tears from that one. She still hadn’t really figured out how on earth she never failed to be perfect in Finn’s eyes, especially when she knew she was anything but it.
“Yeah, but I still got cocky. It wasn’t a good move,” she told them. Finn shrugged and nodded, so she continued, “That was when I found out the villagers had been kidnapped by the big, bad villain. She was my mortal enemy, you know, but she turned out to be a big softie in the end.” Adora felt Catra squeeze her gently.
“Well, who was it? What was her name?” Finn asked.
Catra exchanged glances with Adora. To be fair, she had been kind of stupid all those years, as valid as her trauma was. Maybe it was time for her to own it.
Letting go of Adora, she stood up, grabbed a pen from the cup on Finn’s desk, and held it out in front of her like a sword. She deepened her voice. “Fear me, She-Ra, for I will be your end!”
Adora was able to stifle her laughter by biting her bottom lip but her smile escaped and she protested playfully, “That is not how it happened!”
“I know, but—no offense—your story sucked. I’m making some adjustments,” Catra said, and Finn giggled, but it was clear they were getting sleepy again.
Adora picked up a chewed pencil and turned to face Catra. “Stand down, Horde scum. I don’t want to hurt you.”
Catra threw her head back and gave her best villain laugh. She might have been a little too into this, but she didn’t care—she was enjoying making fun of her past self. “I’d like to see you try.”
Adora made a motion with her pencil and her best swooshing sound effect, but Catra dodged it and hurried back toward the bed. She wedged herself between Finn and the pillows as gently as she could, put her hands on Finn’s shoulder’s, and began to shake them lightly, announcing, “Behold, my shield! You wouldn’t dare risk hitting this child with your sword!”
Finn was half asleep but still laughing. Somehow the shaking had not stirred them at all—if anything, it made them even more tired.
“Oh no, my one weakness: an adorable baby!” Adora cried, and fell onto the end of bed, eyes closed and tongue hanging out, pretending to be dead.
When she opened her eyes, Finn was laying there, fast asleep. They had fallen to their side, their head resting on the horse plushie, still clutching Catra’s pen. “You’re such an idiot,” Catra whispered, and Adora smiled.
“Should we put that pen away?” Adora asked, nodding toward Finn’s hand.
Catra shook her head. “They won’t give it up, I’m sure. You’ve seen this kid’s grip on shit when they fall asleep with it in their hand.”
“You’re right. Come on, it’s late and I don’t want to wake them up again.”
Catra carefully lifted herself from Finn’s mattress and stood up, letting out the breath she was holding. She turned back toward the bed to cover them with the blanket and kiss the side of their head, then linked her arm with Adora’s and pulled her toward the door.
“Impressive,” Adora said after they were out of the room.
“What can I say? I’m a master of stealth,” Catra replied, grinning.
Adora raised an eyebrow. “Do your credentials also include using your own child as a shield?”
Catra just laughed as quietly as she could.