Archive of Our Own

Trinity was washing dishes when she heard the quiet opening and closing of the front door.

“Hey, Huck, how was work? Oh, and can we do take out tonight? I’m not really feeling like cooking,” She shouted out while scrubbing the last plate in the sink before placing it in the dish rack and walking her way over to the door, expecting to see a tired and drowsy looking Whitaker.

Instead, she was met with the sight of her girlfriend. Her girlfriend. Yolanda Garcia, the most fierce and focused surgeon she knows, and the most stubborn person that Trinity has ever met in her entire life, besides herself of course. They were finally official after over a year of skirting around each other and avoiding feelings, or after being complete idiots, as Walsh likes to remind Garcia. 

Yolanda was wearing her purple scrubs and her backpack was slung over her shoulders. There were dark bags under her eyes, formed from both the nights she had trouble sleeping and the long days she’d had to work. Her shoulders were slumped and her head was slightly tilted to the ground, but Trinity didn’t miss the redness in her eyes. Santos wanted to walk over to Garcia and just hold her, but kept her distance. She knows how Garcia gets after rough shifts. Trinity’s experienced many days like this, none of them being Yolanda’s fault, of course, but the excruciating circumstances that come with their work are enough to cause her girlfriend’s demeanor to take a complete spin at times.

Santos crossed her arms before speaking, “Hey, I didn’t realize you’d stop by tonight.”

She was testing the waters, attempting to not to bombard Garcia with questions about her day because she knows how much the other woman dislikes it. 

Yolanda’s face did something, a feature that Santos couldn’t exactly figure out. Santos, for all her glory at reading people, always had trouble trying to read Garcia, especially with how well she hides her feelings. Yolanda sighed before she spoke.

“I’m sorry, I just,” Her voice was shaky, that was the first thing Trinity noticed. “I couldn’t be alone tonight. It was a really rough fucking day and I—“ She swallowed the lump in her throat, trying to stabilize her voice before continuing. “I needed to see you.”

Garcia was still so hesitant with her actions when it came to Trinity. This relationship was still new to the both of them, and there’s nothing either of them wanted more than to navigate it correctly. Their time spent casual hurt the both of them in ways that needed time to repair. Garcia doesn’t like to dwell on that time. Every day spent together ever since becoming an official couple has made Garcia realize ways she can learn to love Trinity, and part of those ways meant giving Trinity space when needed and keeping a healthy amount of distance so they don’t become too codependent. But tonight was different, and the both of them knew this would be a night spent together. 

Trinity didn’t wait another second before she strode over to Garcia and took the taller woman in her arms, wrapping her arms around Yolanda’s shoulders while Garcia wrapped her own loosely around Santos’ waist and clung to the fabric there.

Part of Trinity’s heart faltered when she felt Yolanda break down against her body. Garcia was a strong woman, simply to put. Anyone in the hospital who has worked with her would say that. She doesn’t take shit from anyone. She doesn’t hesitate with surgical procedures. And she certainly doesn’t break her facade in front of others. 

She buried her head between the junction of Trinity’s neck. She was quietly whimpering, almost as if she was trying not to cry, but she couldn’t help herself when tears started dropping. Trinity moved her hand to the back of Yolanda’s neck, then slightly pulled her head back and moved the same hand to Garcia’s face. She was met with warm, wet tears, which contradicted the slight chill and flush on her face from the cold outside. 

She cupped Yolanda’s face and rubbed her thumbs around her eyes, trying to wipe the tears away. Yolanda leaned her head against Trinity’s and nudged her nose against Santos’ own. 

“Couch?” Trinity asked. Once she felt Yolanda nod in confirmation against her she pulled away from Yolanda but entwined their hands and moved the two of them to the couch. 

Santos guided them through the tiny apartment and internally cringed at the dumb Christmas romcom movie that she had playing on the TV. Sue her, it’s not her fault she’s a sucker for a good romance movie. 

Santos sat first and guided Garcia next to her, the both of them sitting criss-crossed.  The two were facing each other and their knees were slightly touching. Santos shifted closer and put her hand on Garcia’s thigh, rubbing her index finger on the fabric that laid there and feeling the heat from the warm skin underneath. From the glow of the Christmas tree to the festive pajama pants that Trinity was wearing, it felt disgustingly domestic, despite the current state of Yolanda. Yolanda waited a few beats before she spoke.

”I lost a patient today.” 

There it was. Santos could practically feel a weight drop from Garcia’s shoulders as she said the words. Her voice was small and not typical of how she normally sounds.

”Her name was Liliana,” Yolanda’s eyes met Trinity’s own before speaking again. “She had dark brown hair like yours and these green eyes that reminded me of you. Her skin was a darker tan color though, almost like mine.” Trinity didn’t miss the hitch in her voice as she continued speaking.

”I was joking with McKay saying how she’d be the perfect love child of ours.”

Trinity smiled slightly and looked at Garcia. Her eyes moved to the other women’s lap, where she was fidgeting with her fingers, picking at the skin near her nails. Santos grabbed one of Garcia’s hands away and pulled it into her own lap before smoothing over it with her thumb.

“Ask a girl for a drink first, will you?”

The line gets a laugh out of Garcia. It’s an inside joke the two of them always have with each other, since Garcia did actually ask Santos out for a drink on her very first day at the hospital. Only after dropping the scalpel on her foot, of course.

Garcia continued. “She was only 13 years old, she was so…young,” All of the events from work replayed in Yolanda’s mind, and a fresh wave of tears escaped her eyes before she could prevent it.

”Her step-dad he…” she started through gasping breaths. “He beat her…badly. She came into the ER with blood everywhere. It was…fuck, Trinity it was horrible.”

Yolanda was sobbing out every word now, now caring to compose her voice.

”McKay and I were there as soon as she arrived with the paramedics, thank god, and we were able to clean up her wounds and check for major injuries. Whitaker performed a closed reduction to realign her dislocated shoulder.”

Trinity breathed out a sigh. Cases like this, domestic abuse ones, are never easy, so to say. Santos has had her fair share of treating them herself, but it takes so much out of her to not break down in front of her patients during them. 

“Her face was just…caked in blood and her breathing was barely noticeable. I don’t understand how someone could do this to a child.” Yolanda paused and brought her free hand to her eyes, rubbing away the tears there.

“Her mom’s boyfriend had been abusing her the entire time. She had bruises on her stomach and arms, old ones, that we noticed when we removed her clothing. Her mom was by her side the entire time…said she had no clue her boyfriend had ever laid a finger on her daughter.”

“It’s all bullshit,” Yolanda’s voiced was raised now and she continued speaking. “How do you not see that something’s wrong, how…how ignorant do you have to be to not see that your own daughter is hurt.” 

Trinity sighed again before speaking, keeping her eyes focused on her own lap where she was holding Yolanda’s hand.

“Some people are just better at hiding it than others,” 

They both looked up at the same time. Their eyes locked and Yolanda immediately understood where her girlfriend was coming from. Trinity had spent nearly her whole life hiding in pain, and her whole career she’s been told to not bring her baggage to work. For the longest time, she felt she didn’t belong, especially after the Langdon situation. She still remembers how she felt that day, during her first shift when Langdon was dismissed, and later on when Garcia called her trouble. She remembers all the times how out of place she’d feel whenever she’d bring up a point about a certain case and if there was anything suspicious about the way someone was acting but was always dismissed.

It took her a long time to realize that she belonged at the Pitt, and luckily for her, her colleagues and superiors actually listen to her input on cases now. 

“She was stable. We administered morphine to her so the pain wasn’t as bad. She was fine.”

She was fine.

It came out as more of a question than Yolanda would’ve liked. The truth is, while she was sitting here explaining what happened and reflecting on the case, nothing was fine. But that wasn’t how she was supposed to act. She was supposed to move on from cases quickly and repeat the same fucking phrase all over again just like every single other doctor does. I’m fine. I’m fine. I’m fine.

Trinity was still quiet. Partly from the lack of words her brain is conjuring up right now and partly out of respect for wanting the girl in front of her to finish what she was saying. 

“And a few hours later when she woke up, we just…talked,” 

If the situation wasn’t so morose right now then Trinity would’ve quipped something back saying how Yolanda Garcia is the last person she’d expect to talk to a patient out of all people.

”I didn’t have any upcoming scheduled surgeries, and no one called me or paged me so I just stayed with her. I learned that she loved drawing and wanted to be an art teacher one day,” Yolanda’s voice was soft, as if she was reminiscing the moment over and over in her head. 

“I told her why I wanted to become a surgeon and she just looked at me with adoration. At some point I had left to go get her a stuffed bear from the gift shop,” Garcia paused before she huffed out “It was a cheap piece of shit, but it had done good for the time being.”

“And she—“ Yolanda was choking out gasps, her breathing faltered and her body failing her. “She named the bear yoyo because she heard Langdon call me it while passing by. She said she wanted something to remember me by. I didn’t even know what to say to her. Saying thank you didn’t even feel good enough.” 

Trinity’s brain kept rewiring the more Yolanda was talking. She hates this. She hates seeing the woman she loves have to go through something as upsetting and heart breaking as this. 

She moved her hands to Yolanda’s cheeks and wiped her tears away. 

“Breathe, baby,” Trinity kept both of her hands on Yolanda’s face and forced them to stay eye to eye. “Just breathe with me, I’m right here.”

Yolanda’s breathing came in shuttering and uneven gasps. Her voice was wrecked. Trinity didn’t even realize she was crying herself until she tasted salty tears at the corners of her lips. 

“There you go, I got you. Slow breaths, in and out,” Yolanda took a small inhale for air, and shakily exhaled it. They kept breathing together until Yolanda was breathing normally again. 

Then Trinity’s hand came to the back of her head and before she could say something she realized Trinity was undoing the two neat buns that she has up.

She was fiddling with the hair ties keeping them in place, trying to lean over Yolanda and see where she was working. She ended up half on top of Yolanda with one hand on her shoulder to stabilize herself while the other was still around Garcia’s hair. 

“This stupid piece of shit—okay, you know what, can you do me a favor and turn around?” 

Yolanda let out a series of giggles so adorable that it had Trinity laughing unabashedly too. Trinity smacked Yolanda’s shoulder which caused Garcia to laugh even harder, throwing her head back and smiling to herself. 

”I’m serious, you asshole! Christ, did you superglue these to your head this morning?”

Yolanda rolled her eyes. ”Perks of having curly hair. I can’t just put it in a ponytail and call it a day, it’ll get frizzy during work otherwise.”

Trinity doesn’t bring up those first few months of her being at the Pitt, when Garcia would still pull her hair up into a low bun and would have little curls sticking out that Santos thought were absolutely adorable. 

Yolanda obliged and turned around so she was sitting in front of Santos and facing away from her while Trinity was behind her. Yolanda sat with her legs crossed on the couch while Trinity had one leg folded beneath her and the other dangling off of the couch. Trinity started carefully working at her hair again, successfully taking out the buns and letting Yolanda’s curly hair free. She ran her hands through the wild mess of curls in front of her, starting at the roots and massaging through her scalp. 

Silence stretched between them. Trinity let her arms come around Yolanda’s middle at some point while she rested her head on the woman’s back, occasionally leaving gentle kisses on her neck.

Yolanda wishes she could just turn around and curl up into her girlfriend. She knows Trinity wouldn’t care or be against it, but she also just couldn’t bring herself to move. Her mind was numb and her heart was heavy as she just stared off into the vast distance in front of her, looking at the wall that had framed pictures of Santos and Whitaker together. She can see the polaroid pictures of her and Santos, one being her kissing Trinity’s cheek and the other being the two of them slumped together on the couch that Whitaker took without their knowledge. 

Garcia didn’t cry again before she started talking, but Trinity wrapped her arms around her harder anyways and held her. 

“Her blood pressure was 123 over 80. Heart rate was 75 bpm. CT showed a stable hematoma. I didn’t send her immediately to surgery, decided it would be best to keep her in a room so she could rest while we closely monitor her. I told her I had to help with other patients, and that I’d see her later to check up on her. I left. McKay and Javadi had been watching her while I was gone.”

”I didn’t even—“ Yolanda let out a shaky breath. “They called me immediately. I rushed down when I heard the news that something had happened. I didn’t even ask them, I just knew we had to take her straight to the OR. She fell into hemorrhagic shock, and I don’t—I don’t know there must’ve been some type of abdominal pressure that caused it. And I froze because I fucking—I couldn’t even do my job. I stood helplessly outside the operating room because Shamsi thought I couldn’t operate, because she thought I was being hysterical. It was fucking humiliating.”

”Yolanda,” Santos said softly.

Garcia cut her off. ”It was too late. Trauma performed an emergency exploratory laparotomy but there was just too much blood and she didn’t have enough oxygen.” The lump in Garcia’s throat grew tighter. 

“And after they called the time of death I went in and I felt her body and—“ She paused. “She was so cold.” 

”It was my fault. I should’ve done something, anything, to rule out all the cases of unexpected emergencies or—or gotten Doctor Shamsi downstairs to re-evaluate and now,” Her voice turned to a whisper. “Now I can’t stop seeing her in my mind.” 

Trinity sat back against the armrest of the couch and guided Yolanda back so she was resting on Trinity’s chest. She buried her head in her girlfriend’s neck while Santos brought her own hands to rest near the small of Yolanda’s back. 

A full body shudder tears out of Yolanda before she can stop it. She tucks her face further into the warm space of Trinity’s neck and lets her tears fall. Trinity felt them down her neck.

“I’m so tired, Trin.”

“I know, just let it out, baby, I’ve got you,” Trinity murmured. “You’re okay, I’m with you.”

After a few moments of being held, Yolanda eventually spoke, her voice muffled against the fabric of Trinity’s shirt. “I really do hate this job sometimes.”

Trinity sighed loudly. “Me too.”

Trinity continued. “You’re allowed to grieve. You’re allowed to be angry about what happened. I’m not saying that you have to dwell on it—I know you hate doing that,” Yolanda smiled against Trinity’s neck.

“But don’t treat this like nothing. Yolanda, you’re fucking incredible at what you do. You walk into work, into trauma and operating rooms everyday, and each time you never know what you’re going to see, yet you have saved countless of lives. One patient does not define how you are as a doctor, and it absolutely does not define who you are as a person.”

Yolanda let out a small, broken sound and rested her head on Trinity’s chest. She could hear Trinity’s heartbeat, calm under her ear.

They laid there together, silence engulfing the room around them. Trinity’s hand moved up and down her back. Yolanda took in her warmth.

”I love you,” Yolanda murmured against her chest. “When the hell did you get so emotionally smart?”

Trinity gave her a look. “When I decided I wanted to date you.”

”Touché.”

Trinity smiled. “You hungry?”

Yolanda looked up and Trinity and nodded.

”Starving, actually.”

Trinity smiled. “Go shower, you smell like antiseptic and latex. I’ll start making dinner.”

”Wow, babe, way to make a girl feel special,” Yolanda rolled her eyes. “And didn’t I literally just hear you say you didn’t feel like cooking?”

Trinity shrugged. “This is…different,”

Garcia wasn’t convinced. ”Right..”

She continued before Santos could speak.

“You don’t have to do that. I can always just whip up something real quickly, seriously it isn’t a problem. I feel bad enough for interrupting your night already.”

Trinity gave her a look. “You aren’t serious, are you?”

”Trinity I—“ 

”In no way did you “interrupt” my night,” Trinity placed a hand on Garcia’s cheek. “You went through an emotionally distressing day and needed someone to be there for you,”

Trinity continued. ”Besides, I want to,” She said it like it was the easiest thing in the world, like she really meant it. “Also, I was hoping you’d stop by tonight.” 

Yolanda leaned further up, her hands near Trinity’s head and lowered her voice before speaking. She brought her face closer to Trinity’s, her dark curly hair tickling the other girls cheeks.

”Oh, yeah?”

”Duh, why wouldn’t I want to see my super sexy rich surgeon girlfriend?”

”Oh my god, you are such an idiot.”

”You love me.”

Garcia smiled. ”I do. So much.”

Trinity snaked a hand down Garcia’s back, down to the curve of her waist before sitting up and shimmying her way out of being under Garcia. Trinity stood up herself and stretched her arms over her head, letting out an exaggerated groan. She grabbed Garcia’s hands to get her to stand up off the couch. 

“You,” She pointed at Yolanda who stood in front of her. “Shower. Now. I have busy work to do in the kitchen.

Yolanda gave her an unimpressed look but went anyways because she was embarrassingly hopeless and would do anything her girlfriend said. In Trinity’s bedroom, she stripped out of her scrubs and tossed them in the hamper. She picked out a pair of pajama pants and one of Trinity’s spider-man shirts before going to the bathroom and turning the water on. 

Yolanda stayed under the pouring hot water for much longer than Trinity’s water bill would’ve liked. She scrubbed her skin raw, till the flesh was red and burning. She bathed until she felt that she got every piece of today out of her system, until it was all a distant memory that wouldn’t crash back into her until the next morning. 

She stepped out of the shower and dried herself. She stared at herself in the mirror for a bit. Looking from her tired, teary eyes to the dark circles that lay under them to the quiver in her bottom lip that she still couldn’t hold back. 

She quickly did her skin care routine and brushed her teeth before putting on the clothes and heading to the kitchen where her girlfriend was.

She immediately smelt something salty and savory when she stepped inside the kitchen. Trinity was standing near the stove with her left hand on her hip and her other hand mindlessly flipping through pages of one of the cookbooks she owned. Yolanda walked up to Santos and wrapped her arms around the shorter girls waist and pressed a kiss to the back of Trinity’s head.

Trinity relaxed into her. “Good shower?”

“Very good,” Yolanda hummed. “What are you making?”

Yolanda glanced at the food on the cookbook and the chicken that was still cooking on low heat in the pan next to them. Her eyes brightened up in realization of what Trinity was cooking.

”Pollo al Ajillo? Trin, you didn’t have to do that.” Yolanda’s eyes immediately began to sting. It was something so simple, just making dinner for each other. They’d done it hundreds of times. But it was something about tonight, about Trinity holding and loving and taking care of her that made her feel so grateful. 

“I know, but you love this meal, and I love you,” Trinity turns in her grip and plants a gentle kiss on Yolanda’s lips. “Go sit, I’m almost done.”

“Let me help,” Yolanda says instantly, because hates the idea of being helpless, of having someone do everything for her. She didn’t grow up like that. Her parents and older siblings were hard on her, and told her that if she wanted to survive in life that she’d have to provide for herself. She didn’t whine or complain to anyone about it, and in reality, who was she supposed to talk to? She didn’t have any close friends, but she never thought of it too much, she just kept going with life. Yolanda was independent, maybe too much for her own good.

Maybe too much to keep a relationship a tiny voice in the back of her head tells her.

She knew that wasn’t true though. She knows that Trinity understands how she gets and how she needs much more space than the average person. She knows that Trinity understands how to love someone without scaring them away. She also knows the girl in front of her has gone through unbelievably traumatic events, but has picked herself up each time and is capable of loving so hard when another person will allow her. 

She’s pulled out of her thoughts when she hears Trinity’s voice. “You can help by sitting down,” She points at the dining table, that’s already set with two glasses of wine, to annunciate her point. “And letting me take care of you tonight.”

“Trinity, that’s not fair, you should at least let me—“ 

Santos cuts her off. “What’s not fair, is the fact that you’re still standing up after being on your feet for nearly 13 hours today. Go sit, please?” Santos furrows her eyebrows and slightly pouts at Garcia, giving her those eyes that she knows her girlfriend can’t resist to say no to. 

A few minutes later, Trinity was serving dinner for them. They ate in silence for a few minutes, occasionally taking glances at each other across the table, like they were two nervous teenagers on their first date. Garcia took a sip of her wine and caught Santos watching her lips move around the rim of the glass. A drip of red wine escaped her glass, and slowly dribbled down her chin. She put the glass down and caught the liquid with her thumb, swiping up to chin and to the corner of her mouth, and then putting her thumb in her mouth and swirling her tongue around it, all while maintaining eye contact with Trinity. She noticed the flush on Trinity’s cheeks that made its way up to the tips of her ears. 

Yolanda smiled and put on her best confused and clueless voice. “Something wrong, Santos? You look a little flustered.” 

“If you’re trying to seduce me, it’s working.” Santos grumbled out, not bothering to act nonchalant. 

“You’re cute,”

”Shut up, Garcia.”

Yolanda let out a laugh. She stood up and took Trinity’s and her own plate to the sink and washed both dishes. She looked over at the stove and saw the time. It was just shy of 9:45, and if she wanted to have a good start of the morning tomorrow she’d better get to bed soon.

As if Santos read her mind, she said, “I’m calling you out tomorrow.”

”What?“ 

“I said—“

”No, I know what you said. Trinity, today was fucking awful, don’t get me wrong, but I can’t just take off of work for it.”

Sue her, maybe she was a bit too much of a workaholic, but she’s spent her entire life bottling her emotions and moving on, and she can do the same thing for tomorrow and the days to come. 

Trinity sighed. “Or, just hear me out, you can take tomorrow off and take a mental break so you aren’t a walking ticking bomb ready to blow the second something goes wrong at work tomorrow,” Trinity stood up and walked over to Yolanda, who was still standing near the sink with a dumbfounded look on her face, and placed her hands on Yolanda’s waist.

“We can sleep in, watch shitty Christmas movies, go ice skating, get ice cream even though it’s literally below freezing outside,”

Yolanda smiled and wrapped her arms around Trinity’s neck before the shorter girl spoke again. “Anything you want, baby. Just tell me.”

Yolanda didn’t answer, just leaned down until their lips were barely touching and then kissed her hard. She poured all her emotions out into their kiss. She moved her hands to Trinity’s face, holding her with gentleness and care. 

Trinity licked into Garcia’s mouth and deepened the kiss. Her hands were persistent, moving from Garcia’s back to settling low on her waist. A whine escaped Garcia’s mouth and Trinity swallowed it right up. When the need to breathe became stronger, Garcia broke apart from Trinity, the two of them panting heavily. 

“Okay,” Garcia shook her head, signaling agreement to Santos. 

“Okay?” Trinity repeats back, a sly smile on her face and a questioning tone in her voice.

Yolanda brings her forehead to Trinity’s and nods. Santos makes a fist pump motion, which Yolanda laughs at because it’s absolutely ridiculous and endearing at the same time. Yolanda takes Trinity’s hands and drags her to the bedroom, more than ready to finally put this day behind her and go to sleep.

They move around each other easily, something you’d expect from two people who’ve spent nearly everyday for over a year together. They brush their teeth side by side, sneaking glances at each other in the mirror. The two settle into bed after a few minutes, getting under the comforter to warm up. 

They lay in the middle of the bed, the two of them facing each other. Yolanda brings a hand to her girlfriend’s face and strokes the soft skin there. She drags a finger from Trinity’s cheek, up to her forehead, and down the bridge of her nose, giggling when Trinity’s face scrunches from the ticklish feeling of it. 

“Can you hold me?” Yolanda asks in a gentle voice, so quiet that Trinity nearly doesn’t hear it. 

“Of course,” Trinity said, meeting Garcia’s gaze. 

Yolanda turned around so that she wasn’t facing Trinity anymore. She felt her girlfriend’s arm come around her waist and basked in the warmth she gave off. Yolanda had one arm resting underneath her pillow, while the other was holding Trinity’s arm that was on her stomach. It wasn’t typical that Yolanda was the little spoon when they cuddled, but Trinity had no problem with holding her girlfriend tonight. 

Trinity intwined their fingers together and whispered, “Goodnight, I love you.” Her voice was full of sleep. 

Yolanda smiled. “I love you, too,” Before letting sleep take over her body.

 
                                      *

Yolanda woke up to a bright light in her eyes from the sun outside. She shivered slightly and moved to pull the covers up. She turned around, expecting to see Trinity still sleeping, but that wasn’t the case. She flung her arm out against the sheets and felt that they were cold. Her girlfriend must’ve gotten out of bed a while ago.

Last night was, undoubtedly, the best sleep that Yolanda has gotten in a while, but she wishes she could’ve woken up in her girlfriend’s arms. She grumbled before getting out of bed and going to the bathroom to make herself look a little less dead. Her hair was a halo of curls, but it was better than getting up at the crack ass of dawn to slick her hair back and put it up. She brushed her teeth and went to the living room. She spotted Trinity on the couch, who was reading a book while the TV buzzed lightly with sound. She was wearing her glasses, something Yolanda didn’t see often because she’d opted to wear contacts at work. Yolanda’s footsteps caught her attention and she looked up. She smiled immediately. 

“Hey, how did you sleep?”

”Like a baby,” Yolanda replies swiftly.

”How are you feeling right now?” 

Yolanda sighed and looked to her left where a mirror lay against a wall. Underneath it was an assortment of car keys, an ashtray, Trinity’s carabiner, and a few tubes of chapstick. Trinity buys extra and keeps them there because she says Whitaker always loses them, but Yolanda easily figured out she uses them for herself when she’d kiss Trinity and taste a faint hint of strawberry on her lips. 

Yolanda’s eyes were still slightly red from how much she cried last night. Her face was puffy, and her lips slightly cracked from the dryness of them. Her head was pounding, and she knew that headache would probably be everlasting for the next few days. 

“Honestly? Like shit.”

Trinity tilted her head and sighed. There was a pained look on her face. She knew Yolanda didn’t like to be coddled or pitied or upfront with her emotions. Trinity wasn’t going to sit here and make her feel like anything less than she is, but she did want Yolanda to feel comforted. She also knows Yolanda likes being in control, yet she is everything but in control right now.

“Come here,” Trinity patted her thigh. 

Yolanda went up to her girlfriend and sat down in her lap. Her thighs bracketed Trinity’s waist and she wrapped her arms around her neck. Yolanda settled her face into the crook of Trinity’s neck. She exhaled, her breath warm against the Trinity’s skin. Trinity’s hands rested on the small of her back. 

Then, Yolanda left gentle kisses on her skin, trailing up to the sensitive spot behind her ear, and up to Trinity’s chin. She left soft kisses on the apples of her cheeks before bringing their lips together. They gave each other slow, lazy kisses. It was domestic in a way that the both of them couldn’t wrap their heads around. 

Yolanda broke their kiss and spoke, keeping her lips close to Trinity’s. “Thank you for last night, for being with me. I love you. I’m sorry I was an emotional wreck.” 

“Don’t apologize for being vulnerable,” Santos stole another kiss. “Also, you look gorgeous right now.”

Yolanda giggled against her lips. “I absolutely do not.”

Trinity gave her a look. “That is objectively false.”

“I literally just woke up.”

Trinity shrugged. ”My point still stands.”

Yolanda smirked. ”You’re getting bold, Santos.” 

“I’ve always been bold, Garcia.” 

“Oh right, how could I forget the REBOA you did on your first day?” 

Trinity poked Garcia’s cheek with her finger while Yolanda tried to smack her hand away.

“Y’know, you can always just say that you’re pissed because you didn’t get to see it.” Santos retorted back with her usual snark. 

Yolanda lowered her voice and leaned in so her lips were right above Trinity’s ear. “Trust me, I had enough of your confidence on your first day.”

Trinity scoffed. “Thank god, we wouldn’t be here,” She gestured to their position. “Without it.” 

”Are you kidding me? I asked you out for drinks after you stabbed me in the foot with a scalpel. If anything, my confidence got us here.”

Trinity internally winced, the moment from her first day replaying in her head. “First of all, I dropped it on your foot. Stabbing and dropping are two totally different things. And don’t forget, I literally made the first move at the bar by—“

Yolanda cut her off with a searing kiss, locking their lips together. Their tongues moved slow and deep against each other. Yolanda slid her hand up Trinity’s waist and under her shirt, her palm warm on Trinity’s skin. She rested her hand there, stroking her thumb against the area of her stomach. They broke apart with flushed cheeks and swollen lips. 

Trinity took a few shaky breaths before speaking. “—kissing you.” 

Yolanda, who was still on Trinity’s lap, looked down at her girlfriend and launched into a fit of giggles. She peeled Trinity’s glasses off, despite how adorable they looked on, and put them on the coffee table. She turned around and connected their lips again, giving Trinity a few quick pecks before pulling back a standing up and pulling Trinity with her. Yolanda started walking to the kitchen while Trinity trailed behind her. 

“Coffee’s in the pot, babe.” Trinity said.

Yolanda muttered a quick thank you and poured herself a cup of coffee, just black with no excessive sugars or milk, unlike Trinity who needs an assortment of things in her coffee. 

Trinity tapped the kitchen table with her fingers. “You’re seriously sure you’re okay?” 

Yolanda’s eyes widened a bit, a little caught off guard that Trinity had asked her the same question again. 

“I will be. My brain just…it gets loud. I’m not the kindest to myself in my head right now.”

Trinity hummed. “It’s okay, baby, I understand,” Trinity crossed the kitchen and took Yolanda in her arms, the two of them embracing in a loving hug. “You can always come to me, always. Don’t think for a second that you’re too much, or that I don’t want you here, because I always have and always will want to be wherever you are.”

Yolanda gripped Trinity’s shirt like a vice and rested her chin on top of Trinity’s head. 

“Okay.” The voice crack that came from the woman was devastating, and Trinity gripped her girlfriend tighter, kissing the side of her neck. 

Yolanda pulled back and placed her hands on Trinity’s chest, rubbing up until she reached Trinity’s neck. Her thumbs came up to cradle her cheeks and her palms rested near her jaw. 

Yolanda smirked before speaking. “Are we still down for ice skating?” 

Trinity smiled back at her and pecked her on the lips.

“I thought you’d never ask.”