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As far as Morgan was concerned, absolutely nothing was going to pull Serra away from her obsession with film. David had evidently almost entirely raised her on it, and without his expertise, she had even less idea of how else to parent her.
"Parent" wasn't actually a word she felt comfortable using yet, outside the safety of her thoughts. It would be accurate to do so, but it was... always going to be a lot to take in. Even for her.
So, she hadn't made much of an effort to take Serra's eyes off the screen. She liked to think she had made an effort, at least more than David, but without any active cases, there was only so much work she could make her new paralegal do. All the work she had done, she hadn't done particularly well, given her complete lack of legal knowledge. It wasn't a foolproof method by any means, and so, the fixation remained intact. The only additional resource Morgan had provided so far was a phone for Serra, but she was still unsure if that was a good idea.
Even her "Popcorn-Friday Nights", thirteen-hour marathons entirely lacking in popcorn, had remained a tradition. One that Morgan wilfully attended, having not much better to do than keep watch over the girl who was now her main responsibility. If it wasn't such an impossible task, she would scold herself for not providing Serra many new hobbies.
Why was she thinking about all of this now? Because Serra had asked a question again.
Every single time the two of them sat down for a movie session, Serra would have "one quick thing" to ask Morgan before she pressed the play button, completely unrelated to the task at hand. Quite often, these questions were not fitting for the "quick" descriptor, broaching difficult topics such as Serra's own capabilities or place in the world, or even worse, Morgan's.
She was thankful that, as they settled in for their second-ever Popcorn-Friday Night, Serra's new query was much less immediately challenging.
"Adonai, are you gay?"
It wasn't a subject she had actively given thought, but it wasn't one that she needed to give thought in her circumstances. She could just say yes and move on, done and dusted with a single word.
That did spark thought on its own, admittedly. Why was her only instinct to say yes? Though that little question may as well answer itself.
"Yes, as far as I've thought about it. Why do you want to know?"
...She fucked it.
All Morgan had to do to end the discussion was stop after the first word. But instead, she admitted it was only the first thought off the top of her head, and asked a question to Serra in return - and not sarcastically or rhetorically, as a genuine response. All around, it was a terrible move for her original goal.
So it wasn't her goal any more. What she had just done was facilitate a fairly important conversation with Serra, and now she was going to carry it out so that it wouldn't crop up another three times in their following movie nights.
That may have been her goal all along. At least, she could pretend it was!
"I had multiple reasons. For one, to better understand your relationship with Emma Rockford, and-"
"Hold it."
Never mind, this was a mistake and she was never going to live it down.
"Have I said something wrong?" Serra squeaked.
"You said something surprising, which also happens to be wrong." Morgan argued, "I'm not dating Emma, and I have no idea where you got that idea from."
"That is not what I meant by 'relationship', Adonai." Serra calmly explained, before growing a confident smile. "It's very telling that you assumed it was!"
"My mistake, then. But whatever it is you're insinuating, it's not correct."
"You know exactly what I mean, don't play dumb." Serra performed another of her famous pouts.
"I am not romantically attracted to Emma Rockford. There, have you got that noted down now?"
"This is not an interview, Adonai. I have no need to keep a record of this information."
"Because you don't believe me?"
"That is not the point I was making, regardless of its truth."
"What makes you so convinced, in that case? If verbal confirmation isn't enough to change your mind."
"I didn't expect you to be honest with me, Adonai. This is something lots of people keep hidden from themselves, you are no exception."
"What makes you think you know my emotions better than I do?"
"You have mentioned the names "Emma", "Rockford", a combination of both, or a variant of either, 16 different times in the past two weeks." Serra regained her smirk. "That's more than once a day."
"...Only barely, and that doesn't prove anything. Of course she'd come up often, a lot of my work revolves around her. I'd even call her a friend!"
First time she'd ever said that. Needed to quell this situation somehow.
"I remember the contexts as well." Serra clarified, "10 of those 16 were about your personal connection. Primarily neutral stances, but the number of times you expressed them lead me to believe there was unmentioned significance in your relationship to her. This conversation has made it much more clear to me why that is."
Morgan wasn't getting anywhere. Her earlier outbursts had only made Serra more convinced of her false belief. The only logical thing left to do would be to... examine its truthfulness after all.
So she thought about Emma, for just a second. There were two things about her that always stuck out in Morgan's mind - Her ruthlessness, and her kindness. The former was what led to their unending courtroom rivalry, where Emma ignored any familiarity she had with Morgan or sympathy she had for the defendant, in favour of making some of the most efficient legal arguments Morgan had ever heard. She played the game just like Morgan, as much as you'd never guess from how she acts from the moment one trial ends to the moment another begins.
The latter actually annoyed Morgan significantly more. Emma wasn't putting up a front outside of court, she actually wanted to be friendly with Morgan, talk about the minor inconveniences in their life and slightly help each other out through passing remarks. Trials were a match of cunning, but social interactions weren't, she actually felt compelled to talk to people when she didn't have to. She enjoyed it.
That positivity, and that dedication, was what made Emma the most difficult case Morgan had ever taken on.
"Adonai, you haven't spoken in ten seconds. Do you wish to end this conversation? I can begin the film now if you'd like."
Great, now Serra was offering up a solution on a silver platter, and she couldn't let herself take it.
"No, Serra, we can continue talking. For the moment."
Morgan involuntarily took a breath, and continued.
"I'm reconsidering my answer to your original question."
"How so?" Serra's eyebrows perked up, but Morgan wouldn't describe her as confused, just intrigued. She couldn't've known where this was going, but Morgan never quite knew what was going on in the girl's head.
"I can admit, I feel uniquely about Emma compared to anyone else I have ever met. Your assumption of romantic attraction is worth considering. But if that is the case, it's the very first instance of it. I may be... somewhere on the aromantic spectrum."
Serra nodded in understanding. "That makes sense. What about sexua-"
"We're not having that discussion."
Serra noticed her nervousness, and seemingly understanding further, nodded again. "That makes sense as well. Aromanticism often coincides with asexuality, as I understand."
Morgan caught onto Serra's implication. Once again, it was not something she particularly cared to consider, but this entire conversation had essentially forced her to think about it - This was a step too far, she needed to change the subject. She had a good idea of how to.
"Well, you seem to have learned a lot about me through this little exercise in self-reflection. But I can't help but recall your claim that you had "multiple reasons" for asking this tonight. What else did you have in mind?"
Serra appeared to hesitate now.
"This will likely not be surprising to you," She admitted, "but I was asking for the sake of myself as well."
"As in?"
"I was hoping you could help me with... I'm not quite sure how to phrase it."
That was a first as well. Whole lot of new territory being broached tonight.
"Figuring yourself out?" Morgan suggested.
"No, I am quite sure that I'm bisexual." Serra looked downwards with a smile, evidently imagining something in her head. Or someone. "More accurately, I was looking for advice about dating. Specifically with women."
And now, Morgan had finally given up the idea of this being a simple question from Serra. This was shaping up to be one of the most loaded things she'd ever asked, below the surface, and Morgan was a lot less prepared than she would've liked.
The topic was a nightmare for any parent, she imagined, but this was something else entirely. She had no example to follow from her own parents, because the topic had never been relevant for her, and the ambiguity around Serra's technical details complicated it severely.
It was a gamble, even continuing the conversation past this point. Morgan had to think of it like that to get herself through it.
"Who's the girl?" She shot. "I imagine your sight's set on someone."
"Yumi Sato, the medical examiner we met while investigating Father's death." Serra explained, developing stars in her eyes. "I think I was attracted to her when we first met, but I've talked with her more since, I conducted an interview and she gave me her phone number afterwards and we've been texting every couple days and she's very-"
"Serra. Slow down. Take all the time you need, this is a delicate situation."
It would also be helpful for allowing her to process any of that information.
"Of course. Thank you."
The room fell silent for all of two seconds.
"As I was saying, I've kept in contact with her through text messaging. I haven't had much to say outside of film trivia, but she listens to me throughout all of it, and her insights into dead bodies and medicine are astonishing, she's incredible at relaying new information in an interesting and understandable way! I'd like to think I could do the same, with enough practice. And she's also very physically attractive."
Serra seemed to be finished speaking after that.
Morgan didn't immediately know where to start, unpacking all of that. The crush developing because of Yumi's information-relaying skills said a lot about Serra which she could joke about, but it wasn't the time for that. Nor was it time to ask how exactly she managed to contact Yumi in the first place for that interview, or exactly how often she'd been texting with Yumi, or anyone else as far as she knew. Giving her a phone already may have been a mistake.
Eventually, she decided it was best to clarify one more thing.
"Serra, are you planning to ask her out?"
"I'm hoping to reach that point, yes."
"...She's an adult, Serra."
The room fell silent for more than two seconds. Morgan decided not to count, but it felt like at least ten. During that time, Serra had initially been frozen in place, trapped in her thoughts, but had now moved on to curling up in her blanket in the corner of the sofa.
"I understand the issue, Adonai." She breathed.
She was glad to hear that, awful as it sounded. The complications of Serra's age, her being only two years old physically but obviously older mentally and it wasn't clear to anyone how old (probably a teenager?), made it impossible for Morgan to explain this all on her own.
Serra was smart. She knew herself, and she knew what she was getting into - At least, she realised now.
"For what it's worth, it sounds as if she likes you a lot, Serra." Morgan reached out a single hand to console her companion, after several seconds of hesitation. "As a friend. I imagine that's valuable to you as well."
"It is. It still hurts." Serra simply replied.
"Of course." Morgan considered her words very carefully. "You're allowed to feel that way. Better not to bottle it up, as you said earlier."
A smile creeped back up on Serra's face. "I suppose I could tell her anyway. Have everything out in the open, that would make it easier to move on."
"Now you're getting it."
She said as if she had any experience in the field. And as if she had ever truly opened up about anything.
"You could even try it for yourself with Emma, Adonai." Serra smirked, having settled back into her previous position outside of the blanket. Her confidence was on full display again.
"Absolutely not, we aren't close enough for that."
"Did you not say you would call her a friend?"
"Very different type of friend. I don't even have her number."
"Perfect place to get started!"
"You don't get to give me dating advice, Serra, you were the one asking me for that."
Serra shrugged. "Let us call it even, then. Do you want me to start the film now?"
"Yes."
That was an easy question, a yes-or-no with yes as the prevailing outcome. What Serra had originally chosen to ask had spiralled into a minutes-long argument, where both of them had been forced to reconsider at least one sizeable aspect of their life.
Morgan couldn't say she regretted it, though. This was just the kind of thing she had to do now, taking care of a child. If she wanted to, she had full reign to sell Serra off somewhere once they'd gotten out of court, but she'd brought it upon herself to take her in.
And it was the right decision, she liked having Serra around. Alleviated more stress than she created.