Chapter Text
This day just couldn’t be over fast enough, Mariana thinks.
She’s been crammed with work the whole day and when she went to get Regina from the daycare room they ambushed her with a stupid problem. A stupid problem that needed fixing today.
When she was done arguing there was no one around anymore to watch her daughter and so she called her babysitter, asking if it’s possible to pick the girl up at her work on short notice. Regina had made a fuss when she was handed over and realized her mother was not going with her. So now Mariana felt overworked and guilty on top of it.
To make her day even worse, Ana has been in only sporadic text message communication today, claiming that she’s incredibly busy but that she’s going to make up for it big time. She knows it has to be serious, otherwise Ana would not miss any opportunity to talk to Mariana, even if it’s just one text every hour. But she also knows Ana’s work is really taking off, having scored a bunch of new clients in the last two months. Doesn’t mean Mariana isn’t sad about it.
She loves the woman and she’s doing everything in her power to get back to her as soon as possible, but this separation is seriously getting to her. She knows this whole moving to Tijuana thing would have been hard in any case, because she’d have missed Ana even if they had not confessed their love before her leaving.
This now is worse, but she’s determined to get through the next months and make it back to her family.
###
She fixes the problem in an hour.
She’s pretty sure it could have waited until tomorrow, but she’s on her last two months here in Tijuana and she doesn’t need the drama. She texts the babysitter when she leaves the office and there’s no reply. Mariana isn’t worried though, having pretty early on noticed that no reply means everything is fine. The girl only ever texts her back when she has a question or Regina needs something she can’t help her with.
She’s tired when she finally reaches her apartment building and all she really wants to do is cuddle with her daughter for a little while, maybe try texting Ana again and receiving an answer. If so she’ll even try calling and vent about her shitty day. She’ll take a nice, long bath, initiating one of their more intimate video chats, showing Ana exactly what she’s been missing by being out of reach the whole day.
She unlocks the door to her apartment, hearing distant whispering and then one of the doors in the back of the place closes softly. Her key goes onto the dresser, jacket thrown haphazardly just on top of it. She's tired, she really doesn't care tonight.
“Sofia, I'm home” Mariana calls into the living room, unlacing her shoes and kicking them off her feet, leaving them where they land for now. “I'm really sorry for calling you ao last minute. I hope Valentina wasn't too much trouble tonight”
“Don't be mad” a voice that is definitely not her babysitter replies. Mariana stops in the hallway for a moment, shaking her head. Is she going crazy already? “But I've sent her home about 30 minutes ago” The voice continues, and this time Mariana is sure she didn't hallucinate anything.
Ana's casually lounging on her couch, one foot tucked under herself. The smile on her face morphes into a laugh at her girlfriend's perplexed expression.
“Are you crazy?” Mariana manages to finally say. “You are here. What on earth do you think I could be mad about?!”
Yes, she seems to have a babysitter who doesn't seem to think it necessary to inform her of leaving her daughter with people that are strangers to the woman. But this is only the second most important thing on her brain about now.
Because Ana is here. In her living room. Waiting for her to get a grip.
And so she does. Takes a deep breath. Discreetly pinches herself just in case. Then she's smiling, too. Because the pinching hurt - and Ana is still here.
And then she’s crossing the last few steps that separate them, pulls Ana up from the sofa and hugs her like she’s been dying to do for the last five months. Their lips find each other in a kiss that is way too short for either one’s liking but still conveys every emotion necessary.
“God, I can’t believe you’re here” Mariana still doesn’t let go, keeps her arms securely around Ana’s waist. “I’ve missed you so much”
“I’ve missed you, too, darling” Ana kisses her again, longer this time, cradling Mariana’s face in her hands. Searching every bit of skin to skin contact she can get.
“How long are you here for?” Mariana asks, pulling her down onto the couch, head resting against Ana’s shoulder.
“The whole weekend” Ana laces their fingers together on her leg, playing softly with their entwined hands. “I really hope you’re still free for that?” It’s more like a question. Ana knows she’s supposed to only work weekdays now, but with what happened today it’s a legitimate thing to ask.
“Nothing in the world would get me to show up to work tomorrow, believe me” She turns her head just slightly, placing a soft kiss to Ana’s cheek. Lets out a content sigh. Then,. “Did you, by any chance, have something to do with the problem I had to fix earlier? So you can surprise me like that`?”
“Yes” Ana, says with a smile. “That does sound like me, but this time luck just was on my side”
Mariana isn’t a hundred percent sure if she believes it. Not that it matters, but Ana’s right. It does sound an awful lot like something she would do.
“Don’t be too hard on Sofia, though” Ana casually starts after a moment and now Mariana feels guilty. She loves her daughter and she would kill whoever did any harm to the girl, but having Ana in her arms might have made her forget the fact that her babysitter should have definitely called or texted her when she left Vale in the care of someone else. Doesn’t matter if it’s her other mother. “She almost didn’t even open the door”
It makes the situation just that tiny bit better and so Mariana clings to that, because she really wants to focus on Ana and their weekend and not on having to schedule uncomfortable conversations. “So why did she?” She’s still curious, though.
“She recognized me from the pictures you seem to be showing around all the time” Ana answers with a shrug of her shoulder, making Mariana’s head nod up and down where it rests.
“There’s absolutely no way I’m going to be embarrassed about bragging about my hot girlfriend” It’s just as casual, making them both laugh.
“I’m not sure if she’s going to come back to work for her regular paycheck, though”
“You bribed her, didn’t you?” Mariana laughs again.
There’s an eye roll Mariana can’t see and a heavy sigh. “I mean, did you really want her to be here?”
In answer, Mariana turns, detangling their limps just long enough to push Ana back against the arm rest. She connects their lips again, this time without the pretense of a slow and gently greeting. She nips at Ana’s lower lip, smiles against her mouth when the blonde emits a moan upon the first touch of Mariana’s tongue against her own. Ana’s hands wander beneath the brunette’s top, caressing every inch of skin she can reach from her position. Mariana’s fingers start unbuttoning Ana’s blouse, taking her time. She’s almost done when…
“Right, okay” Ana comes to her senses, reluctantly pulling away from her girlfriend and her wandering hands. “As much as I love where this is going, I’m not alone” Mariana is intrigued enough to not pout about the absence of soft lips against her own. Of course Ana would bring Regis, but it’s late and both girls are probably asleep enough for Mariana not to wake them up now just for cuddles. She’ll have both her daughters for the whole weekend after all. “Ro and Cecí are in the nursery, probably to avoid seeing exactly this”
“Yes” They can hear a muted reply to a question that hasn’t even been asked. “And we are giving you exactly one minute before we’re going to come crash your reunion”
###
Both Regina and Valentina are, just as Mariana suspected, almost asleep. That makes for only a very short moment where she actually has both her daughters to de-stress, but Mariana takes what she can get. She has Rodrigo and Cecilia and Ana to help with that.
They follow their nightly routine while the teenagers set up their sleeping quarters in the living room. Interestingly enough, after spending all this time apart, both women still follow the exact same steps they did when they were getting the children to bed together every day.
They find Ro and Cecí changed and technically ready for bed when they step out off the nursery. But of course they won’t be satisfied just as easily as the toddlers have been. They’ve missed Mariana, too. And they just happen to be articulate enough to express that fact freely. So Mariana leads Ana into her bedroom, dragging her light carry on with her, ready to change into their own sleepwear and rejoin the children in the living-room for another while longer.
“I know, she’s your girlfriend” Cecí calls after them, head leaning back on the sofa’s backrest to keep them in her sight for a moment or two. “But we are fully prepared to barge in there and drag you back out here if you take longer than the socially accepted changing time” Ro makes a face clearly indicating he’s not as fully prepared as his sister makes him out to be.
“We’ll be right back, I promise” Mariana can’t help but laugh, earning a glare and a light punch to her shoulder from her girlfriend. Seems Ana isn’t that fond of her childrens’ teasing as Mariana is.
They make good on their word, though it is incredibly distracting watching the woman you haven’t been able to touch for months get undressed in front of you. They do sneak in the occasional kiss or two, but Ro and Cecí’s chatter drifting muffled through the closed door helps in keeping their hands off each other. For now.
“Not that I’m not incredibly glad to see all of you, but how did this happen?”
The couch is too small to hold all four of them comfortably, so Cecília and Ana share the floor, shoulders resting against the cushions. Mariana is playing with a stray lock of blonde hair and Ana's fingers are tracing absent patterns over Mariana's bare leg.
“Mom was miserable” Ro answers, making himself more comfortable. Looks like Cecí will be sleeping on the floor. “So we decided to surprise her”
“I was not” Ana is determined to have them all know, that she is not even remotely close to miserable. Not over her daughter and girlfriend being several thousand miles away from her and she doesn't know how to function properly without them around. Because that is ridiculous. She's Ana, she's colleted, calm and always knows how to handle things.
“I was” Mariana's casual admittance breaks her mind out of the obvious lie it's trying to tell itself. Of course she was a miserable wreck without the two of them for the last few months.
And it's not even solely because they are together now, because pretty sure she's been all that ever since she's fallen in love with Mariana.
“Anyway” Cecí cuts in before this is going to turn into a romantic, mushy kind of situation. She's happy for them, but still. “We booked two flights for her and Vale”
This explains a lot, but still not how they all four ended up in her apartment. Mariana decides to wait, because obviously there has to be any kind of continuance to this story. She doesn't have to wait long.
“But I knew they were missing you, too. So I decided to make this a family vacation weekend” She knows Mariana is also sad about being away from Ro and Cecí so this was the perfect opportunity to make all six of them happy.
They spend another hour talking, catching Mariana up on whatever has happened in the teenagers's lives and Mariana finally venting about the stressful day she's had.
They make plans for the next two days. What to do. Where to go. Turns out, there is actually a lot to do even with little children, but Mariana hasn't had the time or motivation to do much of it yet. They decide to change that before she's leaving Tijuana for good.
They say their good nights eventually and Ana pulls Mariana up from the sofa and leads her in the direction of the brunette's bedroom. The children make themselves more comfortable, too, Ro stretching out on the recently vacated sofa, giving his sister not even a chance at claiming it for her own.
“These doors are pretty thin” Cecilia calls after them. It's a subtle hint that's actually not so subtle at all and Ana rolls her eyes at her daughter.
“When did you get like this?” She asks, genuinely curious. “I'm pretty certain you never did that when I was with your father”
“We were children back then” Ro shrugs his shoulders casually.
“And I'm pretty certain I never came home to collect your clothes from the hallway when you were with dad” It is just as casual as Rodrigo's comment has been and Ana can't help the groan that escapes her lips. Mariana chuckles next to her when Ana buries her embarrassed face into her neck.
And yes, Cecilia has a point, but they'll very likely never hear the end of this.