Fic: Fallen (15/?) *ANNOUNCEMENT*
Fallen
by Erin Griffin
Fandom: Murder In Suburbia/Imagine Me And You crossover
Pairing: Ash/Scribbs, Rachel/Lucy
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: ITV owns these characters.
Summary: When Ash falls and hits her head one rainy afternoon, she wakes up without her recent memory. What she does remember leads her to believe she is married to Scribbs, so to help her get better, Scribbs has to care for Ash as her wife, which leads to many new revelations about her partner... and herself.
Warning: This story has heavy angst, mentions of murder (duh), rape, and other unpleasant things, which is why it will only be mentioned. There is also hurt/comfort, something I don't do that much if ever in fic, so we'll see how it all works out.
*ATTENTION!*
Due to the economy being shit and me being laid off, I am having issues writing lately, so I am thinking of putting Fallen on a short hiatus. No more than a couple of months if everything goes well, but at the moment, nothing has been written in Fallen in about 2 months, so I need to figure things out. Thanks for reading so far, and I am leaving you all with a long, fun-filled chapter before I take my little break.
Chapter 15
After work that evening, Scribbs went home with Ash and they both took turns taking a shower. There were heated kisses in between, but in the end, both women dressed on their own. If they’d made love in the shower, there would’ve been no knowing how long it would have taken for them to get ready. Ash had shown Scribbs the wine that she’d ended up buying, and she saw that it was a good brand. She approved, though she shouldn’t have been surprised to know that Ash would choose the best wine for the occasion. Looking at the clock after Scribbs’ shower, there was a few minutes left before they absolutely had to leave the flat in order to still be on time. Ash and Scribbs decided to use that time, spending it in each other’s arms, exchanging their kisses and snuggles before they left the flat again.
When Rachel had called Scribbs at close to four o’clock that afternoon, she had given her directions to Hampden Court, which was the part of Middleford where the newer homes had sprung up over the last five years. At the time, Ash didn’t approve. “Like we need more potential murderers here,” she’d said on a particularly bad day. Scribbs, however, liked the new homes. She liked how modern the whole neighborhood looked, and had almost considered buying a flat in that area.
After slight bickering between the two detectives on whether to turn left or right at Hampden Court, Scribbs was able to get them into the drive. The only reason they knew it was the right one was because they saw Rachel waving at them madly from inside the flat. Scribbs secured the car and Ash got out, carrying the wine up the stairs to Rachel, who’d just opened the door.
“Hi! Hope you made it okay.”
“Yeah, we did fine,” Ash replied as she handed over the bottle.
Rachel admired it for a second as she read the label. “Ooh, thank you! This should go fairly well with supper.” She reached out and gave Ash a one armed hug and then waved them inside. Ash waited for Scribbs to join her on the steps before she walked into the house, extending her hand behind her for her wife to take. Scribbs grabbed her hand, letting their fingers link. The two women could smell the food in the next room and shared a look. Both of them were getting hungry.
“Honey,” Rachel said, “company’s here.” She looked to her left, where the kitchen was, and the detectives followed her gaze. There, Scribbs smiled as she saw a familiar redhead dealing as usual with greenery, only this time it was broccoli instead of rose stems. Without a word between them, Rachel went over to the oven where Lucy was standing and her spot there. “I’ll finish here. You go ahead.”
Lucy agreed and walked towards the two detectives, wiping her hands on a tea towel on her way out. She then reached out her hand to shake theirs. “Nice to finally- formally meet you, Lucy said, looking to Scribbs as she said the last part. Scribbs smiled again as she shook her hand. Lucy then looked to Ash. “So you’re Miss Ash. You’re very popular here, I must say. Plus, with Scribbs- Emma coming in for flowers for an Ash, we were very curious about you.” The redhead looked Ash over for a second as if to line up the mental images of her to the woman standing before her. “I’m Luce.”
As they walked further into the house, a loud thud could be heard from upstairs. Lucy looked up the stairs with a small scowl on her face. “H,” she said to her guests. “She hasn’t been downstairs since we all got home,” Lucy explained. There was another loud thump at the top of the stairs this time, which forced Lucy to call out, “Careful up there!”
Suddenly, the large thumps turned into smaller ones before H was seen hopping down the stairs. She had on a maroon sweater with the Gryffindor crest on the heart, and a black skirt. Her hair was pulled out of her face with a black hair band, and her small golden star earrings showed. She smiled somewhat sheepishly at Lucy before looking between Ash and Scribbs. “I’m so glad you guys made it,” she said.
“Of course we made it,” Ash replied, looking at the girl as if she was mad for thinking they wouldn’t come.
“Did you find us alright?” H asked, and Lucy nodded as if to also ask with her own facial features.
“We’ve been out this way before, but being new homes, it was hard to tell them apart,” Ash told them. This was another one of her arguments against the new homes.
Lucy nodded as she listened to this, then she said, “I’ll show you the downstairs here, since I’d been a few minutes from being finished with the cooking before Rachel took over. I can finish the tour later if you like.” She went to their living room and showed them outside to a beautiful new garden that Rachel and Lucy were building with H’s help. She then indicated the entertainment area, where Scribbs admired the combined collection of movies. Then they sat on the couch.
“Well, the insides of these homes look spacious, even if you can’t quite tell from the outside,” Ash offered.
“Let that be a lesson to you,” Scribbs murmured, but in a louder voice so that Lucy and H also heard her. As the twelve year old giggled, Lucy smiled at the remark.
“I always thought that building these houses was a bit like playing Tetris for the construction workers,” H put in. Ash and Scribbs smiled, both knowing that the blonde DS would’ve probably described it the same way.
“So how long have you lived in Middleford?” Scribbs asked after a slight pause.
“Er, we moved in here about seven months ago. We’re from London originally, but after Rach and I got together, things became awkward with Rachel’s friends, and H got teased at school because of us.”
“You’d think living in London, there’d be more acceptance.”
“It wasn’t really London; it was the friends and family there.” Lucy shrugged. “We shopped around and decided to look for something completely new. Middleford seemed like a nice place to live. Surprisingly lesbian friendly.”
Scribbs bit back her comment on how it could really be in Suburbia, but she supposed she only felt that way due to her job. “Yeah, this does seem to have become the place that lesbians migrate to,” she said instead.
“Lesbians and gold diggers,” Ash added.
“Lesbian gold diggers,” Scribbs completed. They shared a small snigger, which earned them an eyebrow raise from Luce even as a smile snuck onto her lips.
A few seconds later, Lucy went on, “We were in the process of moving when Rachel’s parents decided they wanted to go on holiday to fix their marriage, so we had H come live with us. Part of me thinks Rachel’s mother hopes to plant H here so that we would start thinking about having children of our own, giving her grandchildren, but that’s between you and me,” Lucy said.
H nodded enthusiastically. “I wouldn’t mind having a niece or nephew.”
“You’re twelve. You’d be the youngest aunt I’ve ever known,” Lucy said. She put a hand on H’s head, applying a little pressure as she rubbed the top of it, which caused the girl’s head to wobble about playfully. H frowned as she tried to slap Lucy’s hand away. Then Lucy placed the hand on H’s shoulder and H leaned into her. If Scribbs didn’t know otherwise, she wouldn’t have known that H and Lucy weren’t related by blood. Lucy looked to Ash and Scribbs. “We like having H here, but after seven months, she probably misses her friends in London. Don’t you?” she asked, looking down at H, who shrugged.
“Not so much. I mean, after Natesh broke up with me so that he could date Natalie, I’ve been better off here with you. I think the arrangement is perfect. I only wish Mum ‘n’ Dad would move here, too.” At this, Lucy tried to hide her look by facing away. Both guests didn’t need to use their detective skills to know how Lucy felt about that thought.
There were sounds of dishes being moved about in the kitchen, and Lucy said to H, “Go help your sister.” She gave a quick pat on the shoulder and added, “We’ll be in there momentarily.
H nodded and walked quickly into the kitchen area. The three women heard her announce, “I’ve come to help!”
“Oh good!” they heard from Rachel. There was more clanking. Ash and Scribbs looked at each other, both wondering how Lucy must go through hell living with both sisters under one roof.
“Would you two like some wine with dinner?” Lucy asked as the three slowly followed the trail that H had taken a couple of minutes earlier. There was a hesitance to answer. Ash nodded when Scribbs shook her head.
“I’m driving, so I shouldn’t be tempted.” With that, H opened up the refrigerator and offered the many other beverages that she drank on varying occasions. “I’ll have what you’re having,” Scribbs finally said, and watched as H got out a fruity red drink and poured two glasses. Then she put the glasses on the table next to the place setting where Ash had set her wine glass. Knowing that Scribbs would sit next to Ash, H set her own glass next to Scribbs’ place setting and sat in that seat.
Rachel transferred food from the cooker to serving dishes and placed a couple of them on the table. Lucy went to help her, and before the couple sat down they shared a quick peck on the lips. Lucy looked to her guests to gauge their reactions; she found they were unfazed by the exchange, and they had, in fact, appeared glad that both of them were open in their relationship. “Well, eat up, then,” Rachel said.
“Yeah, ‘cause if we don’t, it’s lunch tomorrow,” H put in. Scribbs couldn’t tell how the preteen really felt about the idea, because H’s tone was disgust but her face held some delight at the idea. How she pulled it off was something else entirely.
“I thought you liked it. I made it for you,” Lucy said.
H smiled. “I do. I was joking,” she said.
“Brat,” Rachel said fondly.
Ash watched the exchange between sisters, then looked down her right at both H and Scribbs, noticing again how similar they were. She’d seen it at the park when they’d made the dinner arrangement, but up close, their personalities shined almost the same.
There was a moment where nothing was said and everyone took the first tentative taste of the main course. “Rach? Did you add more salt?” Lucy asked in a lower voice so that she didn’t embarrass her partner.
“Yeah, why?” Rachel asked in response, looking to her sister, who seemed unconcerned with the state of the food, and if H didn’t like it, something was certainly wrong. H wasn’t as picky as the rest of them.
“I’d already added the salt, honey,” Lucy informed her, trying not to smirk. Rachel’s look was apologetic to Ash and Scribbs. “Let it be known that if it’s too salty for you, its Rach’s fault.”
“I’d still eat it,” H offered, right before taking a large bite to prove her point. “You could always make more without any salt, mix it in with this batch, and there, my lunch for the rest of the week. Two birds, one stone.” H tapped her temple twice, an action that caused Scribbs to giggle and her sister to grin at the girl in amusement.
“Thanks, H. Will consider that,” Rachel said, then looked to her guests, “but seriously, if it’s no good, I can make something else.”
“No,” Scribbs said, trying to be polite, “mix it with the broccoli and it’s just fine. Don’t go out of your way.” Ash did just that, and then nodded in agreement.
“Thank you. This is lovely,” Ash added in once she’s swallowed her bite. Rachel smiled gratefully at them and then gave her girlfriend a look that seemed to say, ‘See? They like it well enough, so shut up.’ In response to the look, Lucy took Rachel’s hand.
“I think I’m in trouble,” Lucy murmured. “On the bright side… It could’ve been Heck cooking.” That earned a chuckle from Rachel, and there was a small look of relief from Lucy.
A few minutes later, H put her fork down, chewed thoughtfully, and then looked to Ash as she swallowed her bite. Both detectives could tell she wanted to ask a question, but had to use her manners and wait. H drank from her cup, and then asked, “So, you two are married, yeah?”
Ash, having food still in her mouth, simply nodded while Scribbs said, “Yeah.”
“For how long?”
“Not even a year yet,” Scribbs replied.
“Did you date long before you got married?” H shot at them, and Ash started to feel sympathy for anyone stuck in the Interrogation room at the station with her and her wife.
“It felt like we did for much longer than we actually had,” Scribbs told the girl. ‘That should be a good enough answer,’ she thought to herself.
“Yeah, but how long did you actually date?” H pressed.
Ash looked over at her wife and asked, “How long ago was Birch Grove?”
Scribbs thought back on it and said, “Two years maybe?” Doing the math, Scribbs had to make up a specific amount of time they’d been married. “So, we dated about a year and a half before we got married,” Scribbs concluded to answer the girl’s question.
“Since lesbians can’t get married here, did you get a union thingy?” At the term ‘union thing’, Scribbs was reminded of her phone call with Chelsea earlier that day. H seemed to have forgotten the food on her plate, as the topic interested her and Scribbs was answering all of her questions. She decided that even if she hadn’t been the wife of Miss Ash, she’d have liked her.
“No, we have a marriage certificate from Canada,” Scribbs replied. She too gave up on her meal for the time being. “It means that by Canadian law, we are married, but it isn’t recognized here.”
“Why haven’t you gotten a union thing here, and be married here? I know it’s not quite the same, but at least you’ll be married here, too.”
“H, let them eat!” Rachel cut in, though she was also curious about Ash and Scribbs’ relationship. When she first met her, Scribbs had spoken of Ash as a friend, but was now her wife. Of course, Rachel knew that the possibility of the women living a somewhat closeted life, especially with people they’d just met was there, but something was off about that idea. Ash looked at Scribbs in a way that was too open, much in the way she herself looked at Luce. If they were hiding at all, they would’ve taught themselves to hide that look in front of other people. Rachel knew that it wasn’t something she could bring up in this setting and would have to find a way to speak with Scribbs alone.
“No, it’s okay,” Scribbs assured her hostess. She looked from Rachel to Ash, locked eyes with her for a fraction of a moment, and then spoke directly to H. “Like you said, getting a civil union isn’t the same. It wouldn’t have felt the same, and even though we were married in our own sense, it was just a lot more binding to actually hold onto that marriage certificate even if it was from another country.”
H was nodding as she listened to Scribbs, and when she was sure she could, she asked, “Did you have a wedding?” The girl wondered in her mind what a wedding between two women- these two women in particular would have looked like. She just couldn’t picture either one of them in a wedding dress like Rach had been, but she could imagine Miss Ash in a suit of sorts, much like the suit she was wearing during their first meeting at her school’s playground. H thought Ash would make for a handsome ‘groom’.
Scribbs looked over to Ash, who had a look of concentration on her face. She looked as if she was trying to remember these things that Scribbs was telling H, but the blonde could tell she was drawing blanks. Part of her wondered if all of this was making things worse on Ash and her memory, even if it might do good for their marriage. Scribbs stayed silent for a moment, not sure how to answer the girl’s last question. She could feel the curious looks from the others around the table.
“No,” Scribbs replied after a moment, “we didn’t. We sort of had a short little ceremony where we stood in front of the people that we knew and loved, and said out vows to show our love for each other.”
H took this information in before she asked, “How many people were there?”
Scribbs took a drink of her juice as a way to give herself a little more time to think. If H asked many more questions, Scribbs would soon enough dig herself too deep and she’d eventually have to flat out lie. As it was, Scribbs was using her knowledge of the both of them to guess what sort of arrangements they would’ve made together had they really gotten a wedding. She continued to do that, seeing as so far it worked out okay. Ash had yet to cut in with some other ideals that she’d conjured up in their six year friendship. “There was Kate’s mum ‘n’ dad, her bother David, our dear friend Greg,” The blonde tried not to twitch when she said that about their boss, but was relieved that feeling by adding, “who’s our boss, but has been a really good friend of Kate’s since before I met her. Then there was my mum and my sister Chelsea, who brought my niece Marcie.”
Thinking about her sister and aunt’s wedding, H nodded again and thought about the guest list, which, she knew, would’ve been greatly changed and reduced from Rachel and Heck’s. Her parents joked once that they’d paid plenty for Rach’s wedding the first time around, so they were glad that she’d be marrying a florist the next. Even they knew that Rachel loved Lucy enough to marry her eventually. The twelve year old let herself think on this some more. She knew that if Lucy and Rachel were to get married, their parents on either side, which included a new stepfather for Lucy, she herself as ring bearer of sorts, Miss Ash and Miss Scribbs hopefully, and a couple of scattered family that seemed unfazed by the sudden divorce from Heck. Speaking of, Heck would of course be invited, as Rachel and him were still friends, but H wasn’t sure if he’d attend since he was writing his second travel book.
H wasn’t sure if there would be many other people there to attend the wedding, as neither woman had made any other friends than the two detectives sitting with them at the table. This worried H a little bit because she cared for Rachel and Lucy as they cared for her, and to close themselves off to some of the people in this town wouldn’t be good. The fact that they also made no hints or plans to get married kind of bothered the girl as well, as she knew that her sister was wary about being married again. She’d once admitted to H that she was afraid of possibly having the fear of commitment, and of that being part of the reason she ran to Lucy to begin with. H had told her sister that it was rubbish, that Heck was just meant to be with her, not Rachel, and if only they had listened to that when she was six… Though that had gotten a laugh, it didn’t seem to ease any of that fear.
With these thoughts floating through H’s head, the preteen fell silent as she finished eating her food. Scribbs and Ash both watched the girl, waiting for her to start up with another round of questioning, and were surprised when she didn’t. Scribbs used some of this time to eat some of her own food, mixing her vegetables with the main course. She wasn’t lying when she told Rachel that it all tasted just fine while it was all blended together. The main course gave the vegetables a little more flavoring, while at the same time, the vegetables took flavoring away from the noodles.
All the while, Scribbs watched H, hoping she hadn’t said anything that had offended the girl or made her feel bad in any way. She had done her best to answer all of her questions in the best she knew how without feeding her a bunch of lies. For the moment, the blonde saw that she was fine, not hurt or angry, but contemplative of what had been said.
Ash, too, remained silent and continued to eat. Having not done much of the talking, Lucy, Rachel and Ash finished at about the same time. The brunette waited until Lucy stood up to take care of some of the dishes before she too got up, quick to lend a hand. Pots and pans were heard as the women worked together. Rachel took this moment to stare at Scribbs, as if she was willing her gaze to burn a hole in the detective’s head long enough to catch her attention. When the blonde woman looked up at her, they shared a quick glance before Rachel’s head gestured quickly towards the kitchen with a question clear on her face. Eyes darting to H and back to Rachel, Scribbs noticed that H wasn’t even paying attention. Scribbs got Rachel’s message but pretended that she hadn’t. Rachel knew that she had gotten the message and hoped that she could catch her alone soon because the curiosity was killing her.
The blonde DS had sensed Rachel’s confusion earlier that day when Ash was introduced as her wife, and she didn’t know what to tell Rachel now. Though Rachel was a good person, they’d only just formally met, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to involve her and Lucy in Ash’s complete situation. It was obvious to Scribbs that Rachel wasn’t stupid and knew that something was up, but Scribbs couldn’t bring herself to go into it with her, especially with Ash in easy ear shot.
To escape Rachel’s stare, Scribbs also stood up, even though her plate wasn’t completely empty. She took one last bite en route to the kitchen and placed her plate where Lucy told her to. Scribbs didn’t realize until she almost collided with her that H was right behind her. The kitchen was crowded now, so after a short silence, Lucy suggested, “Why don’t you show Ash and Emma the upstairs.”
“Please, you can call me Scribbs,” the blonde DS said.
“Right,” Lucy agreed with a smile, then looked again to H.
This seemed to put the preteen into action and she linked her arm with Scribbs’. “Yeah, I can show you my room, too.” She said. She seemed to wait for Ash, but the brunette shook her head.
“Actually, if you don’t mind, I’d like to stay and help clean up.” She looked to Rachel and Lucy after H shrugged, and they both made their gestures of agreement.
“Though you don’t have to,” Rachel added in to make sure the DI knew that it was fine either way.
“I’d like to. That way it’ll be done faster,” Ash insisted. She didn’t add in the fact that she hated a dirty kitchen, no matter whose it was or whether she was a guest or not.
With that, Scribbs was carted away up the stairs. H pointed to this and that, though the DS saw that there wasn’t too much to look at on the stairs. It wasn’t long before Scribbs found out why. As they neared the top of the stairs, H pointed to a nail sticking out of the wall. “That’s where I accidentally knocked off me mum and dad’s photograph,” she felt the need to explain. After witnessing- or rather, hearing H’s behavior on the stairs, Scribbs figured that the girl was a bit accident prone. The detective continued to follow H up to the top, where she saw a couple of pictures hanging up of Lucy as a teenager, and one of Rachel from not too long ago. One of H’s school photos sat framed on a small table next to a vase of fresh lilies.
H pointed out Lucy and Rachel’s bedroom as well as the toilet, then she opened up the door to her room. “This is my room,” she announced, though it wasn’t necessary. Scribbs looked around the slightly smaller room and knew right away what H wanted to be when she became an adult, or at least, she knew the girl’s passion in life. She saw that the whole room was painted blue with cut outs of planets and solar systems. There was a large printed satellite photo of Middleford, where H had written ‘you are here’ under a circle, and an arrow pointed at it.
Scribbs walked further into the room to inspect the homemade poster, and saw after only a few seconds where and her and Ash’s flats were, along with the police station and her favorite pub. Scribbs smiled, looking away from the poster, and her eyes landed on plastic glow in the dark stars. It took her an extra moment before she realized that these stars had been placed in the Plough constellation. She was going to comment on that when she saw the telescope in the corner by the bed and the window. On the wall next to the window, an image made Scribbs laugh outright, for a cut out picture of Marvin Martian and his dog in a space ship was there, along with cut outs of Josie Lawrence, Tony Slattery, Colin Mochrie, Clive Anderson, and Greg Proops from Whose Line is it Anyway, who were positioned in a way that made them seem trapped inside the ship with wide eyes and silent screams. The tail of the ship had Ryan Stiles hanging on for dear life as they all seemed to head for the moon.
Along that same wall, a desk with a computer and computer chair sat cluttered with disks and other pictures of galaxies and constellations. Scribbs saw that the computer itself was an older model, probably used only for games and possibly a word processor. It didn’t seem as if it was connected to the Internet. Looking at the disks and small boxes on the desk, she knew that she was right about that. She smiled, knowing that she would’ve loved to have had H’s room when she was younger.
H stood in the doorway, watching as Scribbs seemed to admire and appreciate the personality within her room. She knew that as soon as her parents got back to reality, she’d go back to London and live in a room pretty much identical to this one in Middleford, but she was glad that Lucy allowed her to make it hers. “Are you preparing to be an astronaut?” Scribbs asked her, ending the silence between them.
“Not just that,” she told the detective, “I’m going to be the first Prime Minister of Mars.”
Scribbs’ eyebrows rose at how sure of this fact H seemed to be. “That’s big,” Scribbs said.
“Or a detective in space. Either one, really. I’d be like Miss Ash,” H said casually, as if comparing two very similar jobs like a writer and a librarian.
“I’m trying to imagine myself solving a murder in a space suit,” Scribbs told the girl, “and I must say, I’ve worn crazier things while under cover. And I’ve seen Ash go sick at even the thought of getting on an airplane, so there’s no way we’d get her up in space.”
“Well, Earth needs detectives like you guys, so I’d understand if you wanted to stay, but you’d still get a free pass to come visit me in space whenever you like.”
“Of course. Who could deny an invite from the Prime Minister of Mars?” Scribbs wondered, and the two shared a smile. The clatter of pots and pans was heard downstairs, and H slowly closed the door behind her. She looked at Scribbs a moment and seemed to have gone serious.
“I want to apologize for asking so many questions back there,” the girl said.
“You don’t need to worry about asking questions, H. Most of my job is asking questions to get to the bottom of things,” Scribbs responded in a tone she hoped was reassuring. “I’ll do my best to answer them if I can.”
“I’ve already asked most of the ones I had, but they seemed to make Miss Ash uncomfortable. I didn’t mean to do that, I just- I wanted to know what it was like to be married like you two are.”
“Because of your sister and Lucy?” Scribbs asked. H only nodded. “That’s perfectly understandable,” the detective said, though it was more to herself than to the girl.
“You know, I’d see Lucy as my aunt whether or not they got married. I already do,” H said suddenly, “but I don’t see why they won’t. They are so perfect for each other.”
H went over to the window and looked out for a second before walking to her bed. She sat down, and sensing she’d be there for a while, Scribbs pulled the computer chair out and sat down in it to face the girl. She rested her arms on her knees and leaned forward a little bit. H copied her posture and they sat about two or three feet apart, facing each other. Scribbs waited for H to speak, and when she didn’t, she offered, “It probably isn’t the right time for them.”
“But they’re so in love,” H protested, “how much more time do they need?”
Scribbs let out a soft chuckle and replied while shaking her head, “I don’t know. That’s not for me to decide.”
H looked thoughtful for a second, as if she wanted to ask another question, but fought herself on whether or not she should. Finally, she spoke up. “How did you and Ash know that it was the right time to get married?” H’s voice was filled with curiosity, and Scribbs knew that she had the girl’s complete attention. The only problem was, she had to think of something to say to H because she’d never gotten the time to decide that being married to Ash was right for her. It just happened. Eventually, she had to voice her thoughts, which was hard for her to do.
“Well… I love Ash, and I know she loves me. And… I would’ve done anything for her, to help her.” H was slightly confused by Scribbs’ last statement, but assumed that the detective meant that she’d do what it took to be there for Ash, which wasn’t a wrong assumption. “And to be perfectly honest,” Scribbs went on, “it took me a while to get used to the idea of being married to Ash, but now… I can’t see myself with anybody else.”
Scribbs knew this was the truth, whether or not she wanted to admit to it. She felt happy that she could feel this way, be it for her female best friend or any of the men she’d dated. She was getting used to saying those three words to Ash and meaning them whenever she did. She didn’t know exactly how to say the words she’d just said to H and direct them at her partner in a way that she’d understand. She couldn’t just say all that she’d wanted to say because she’d have to let it slip that they weren’t legally married anywhere. Even if she didn’t need to worry about that, Scribbs had never been known for being articulate with her words, nor did she expect for anyone she dated to be. Feeling how she felt for her wife, she now wished she was.
“That’s how I feel about Heck,” H said, which broke off the detective’s thoughts. “I know I’m meant to marry him.”
“Heck?” Scribbs wondered.
“Rach’s ex husband before she met Luce,” H explained easily as if it was common knowledge. “I want to marry him in eight years, but knowing my luck, he’ll have married Saundra, the stalker from the airplane.” H didn’t even try to hide her disgust at the thought of it. “I’ve been in love with him for literally half my life.” Not knowing who Heck or Saundra was, Scribbs could only nod at this. Being as Heck was Rachel’s husband, Scribbs knew there had to be a lot of back story that she may never be aware of. She could also see this as being the reason why Rachel and Lucy wouldn’t want to get married right away.
Scribbs shifted in the chair a little bit, and her knee bumped into the desk. Though it didn’t hurt the blonde, it was enough to jostle the mouse and make the monitor come to life a little bit. On the screen was a Nancy Drew style mystery game where the player had to go through town- one house in particular- and play mini-games in order to get clues to solve the mystery.
“That’s one of my favorite games. I’ve already solved it the first time, but I can never seem to find all of the clues because some of the games are hard to complete,” H said when she noticed that Scribbs was staring at the screen for almost a full minute. “I have lots more.” She opened up the cupboard on the desk and went through each and every arcade, card, board, action mystery and racing game that had been for the most part Lucy’s collection before she gave them to H. A lot of the newer looking games must have been bought during the months H lived there, as they seemed to be older videogames converted for the computer. As Scribbs looked through the Mahjong’s, the solitaires, and some of the action games, she was tempted to borrow one of H’s games, but wasn’t sure how she’d come across. “My favorite game is actually downstairs. Wanna see?”
Scribbs wanted to be polite, so she said, “Sure.” H stood up and started for the door, Scribbs doing her best to keep up. She watched as H tumbled her way down the stairs, and wondered how she could move down them like that without tripping the rest of the way. Scribbs’ steps were silent in comparison to H’s thumps, and she heard Lucy tell the girl to walk a little softer. The thumps then ceased. Scribbs leaned a little into the kitchen to see Ash and Lucy working, while Rachel watched H go into the living room. Scribbs followed.
There, H took out the box that up until that point had been leaning against the wall next to the television, and the girl began to assemble the floor pad belonging to the deluxe home version of the arcade game ‘Dance Dance Revolution’. Scribbs then watched as H turned on the TV and started a new game. “Come on, Scribbs. I set up player two,” the girl prompted, pointing to the second floor pad next to the one she stood on, but Scribbs shook her head.
“I’ll watch you for a bit to see how it goes.” H liked that idea.
Lucy, Rachel, and Ash worked harmoniously in the kitchen. Rachel put the leftover food into containers, one of which was then set into a small bag with a heart on it. She’d then hand the dishes to Lucy who washed them and set them into the rinse water, where Ash would dry them and set them on the rack. A few minutes in, Rachel finished with the food and began putting the dishes away in cupboards. Together, they were a silent, well oiled machine.
Ash had been off in her own thoughts. She wasn’t sure exactly what to think of the whole evening. Sure, her hostesses were lovely, and dinner really had been fine, but she could tell the couple wished it’d gone better. Still, it was pleasant enough, but there was still that awkward air about them all due to the fact that they were all still getting to know each other and didn’t want to push any boundaries. Ash was confident, though, that with time the four adults and H would end up really good friends.
When H and Scribbs had come down the stairs, Rachel seemed distracted as she watched her sister tinker with the game consol and footpads for a game that Ash recognized, but she didn’t know anyone who owned it. Ash noticed the slight longing on Rachel’s face as she watched. Lucy noticed this as well and smirked. “They’re going to need supervision in there, if I know H correctly,” she said, but Rachel didn’t seem to hear her as she walked into the living room. With Rachel gone, Ash and Lucy continued to work, sharing a smile between them at Rachel’s behavior. “That’s Rachel’s favorite game. H’s and mine, too, I suppose, but Rachel’s addicted. Knowing her, she’ll be the one in need of the supervision.” The two women laughed at that, then went back to the tasks at hand, Ash trading with Lucy, as she didn’t know where the dishes belonged. Lucy alternated her energy between putting the dishes away and wiping down surfaces as they were cleared.
“Thank you for your help,” Lucy eventually said as they finished up, “I don’t know if I’ve said that yet. You really didn’t have to, but the task did go faster.” She tossed the rag carelessly.
Ash gave a small nod and said, “No problem.” This made her briefly think about her brother and she hoped that David had made it back alright and wasn’t staying at work too late.
“Alright, Ash?” Lucy asked, which startled the brunette out of her thoughts.
“Yeah. I was just thinking about my brother,” she admitted. “He had to rush back to work this afternoon.” Lucy nodded. There was a cackle of laughter from the other room, and Lucy twisted around the wall to get a glimpse of what was going on. Ash took the steps necessary to join her, and saw H and Rachel standing behind Scribbs as they watched her try to play the game. H was encouraging her while Rachel laughed at the somewhat frantic look on Scribbs’ face. Lucy turned from the scene and watched her guest. The look of adoration was there, and though she too had seen the strangeness of the relationship, she knew Ash and Scribbs did love each other even if their story was wonky. The looks of confusion on Ash’s face made Lucy wonder even more. She’d known that Ash was hospitalized, and if she remembered right, Scribbs had mentioned that first time that her ‘friend’ Ash was in a coma. Maybe…
Ash continued to watch her wife struggle before the song ended. She heard H tell Scribbs that she hadn’t done bad on her first try, and Rachel agreed, telling her that she couldn’t even finish a song the first few times through. Of course, that was because she had picked the stage for the song and not its difficulty level. Rachel then took the player two footpad and let Scribbs pick the song.
“You’re going to flatten me,” Scribbs protested, but she picked another easier level.
Slowly, Lucy walked into the living room with Ash a couple of steps behind her. They watched as Scribbs’ concentration split between her feet and the screen as arrows floated upwards during a techno version of a song she’d heard a few times while flipping through the television. She seemed to be holding her own for the most part next to Rachel, with H cheering behind her, egging her on. Still, she missed her steps a lot and fell behind. For a moment there, Scribbs paused completely in order to get her steps back in rhythm, which allowed Rachel a larger gain in her lead. Once Scribbs’ rhythm went back with the game, towards a fairly okay finish, Rachel looked over to Scribbs and began to miss a couple of steps herself. From Ash’s view, it seemed as if Rachel was being nice and had messed up on purpose so she wouldn’t have as great of a lead, but she couldn’t be sure. The move proved to make Scribbs a little happier that if nothing else, she could hold her own against Rachel, whom had played the game a lot longer than she had.
“Eh, I could get a better score than that in my sleep,” H bragged to her sister, and as Scribbs sat down on the nice couch, the girl took up Player Two’s pad and Rachel moved over to the Player One pad.
“Move your feet like you move your mouth and you just might,” Rachel retorted without skipping a beat. (Ha-ha)
“Seeing as I play winner- and I use the term lightly in your case- I will,” H shot back playfully.
“Lightly or not, I’m still one up on you.”
Ash couldn’t tell which sister was older just then. Watching them verbally spar with each other like they did, they could almost be twins. There was no doubt that the two were sisters, though.
“Actually, I think that’s enough,” Lucy spoke up, and the look both H and Rachel was giving her was further proof that the two shared blood. Ash followed their gaze and was surprised to se the slight smirk there. “Besides, I’m reigning champion in this household and you peasants could only dream of beating my score.”
“Is that a challenge I hear?” Rachel asked as she moved towards her girlfriend in what could only be described as a saucy swagger. She then draped her arms over Lucy’s shoulders and the redhead looked away as if unaffected. Ash could tell that it was hard for her to keep up the façade.
“Your powers of seduction will not work here,” Lucy said. “It was not a challenge, it was merely fact.” She continued. The smirk was back.
H didn’t try to hide her ‘ick’ face as she reset the game and took her spot as Player One. She looked around at the adults, then called out, “Okay, I’m restarting the game now, so whoever wants to join me, do it now.”
At this, Ash hesitated before walking up to the Player Two footpad, looking down at H as she did so. She then looked down at her feet as she tried to see where her feet should move. Just then, she heard the sudden start of the level and she called out, “Hey!”
“H, you cheat!” Rachel called out. Ash did her best to keep up before H stopped the level.
“Okay, seriously this time.” H said through her laughter. “You ready?” The only reply she got was the playful glare from the DI. There was another laugh, and then she restarted the level. Ash began to move her feet as the game directed her. As each arrow floated upwards on the screen and swelled with each correct movement, Ash felt more confident in her movements. “You’re a faster study than Scribbs is,” H commented. She seemed to be using a lot of her concentration this time. Both players had their eyes glued to the screen with the exception of the time H’s eyes would flicker to Ash.
Scribbs, Rachel and Lucy watched in amusement as both players continued to get ‘Good!’ ‘Great!’ and ‘Outstanding!’ from the game. In the end, H won the level by a few dozen points, and the girl looked at Ash in amazement. “I thought I completely had you beat,” she said to the brunette as Ash went to sit on the couch next to Scribbs. Ash winked in response, and then took her wife’s hand. Lucy slowly untangled herself form Rachel, leaving a kiss on her nose, and went to join H at the game.
“Ready to learn?” she asked as she stood in the middle of Player Two’s footpad. There was a grin that could’ve made the Cheshire Cat nervous, but H only rolled her eyes while she started the game.
“From you? Learn what, how to lose gracefully?” H asked, and Lucy swatted her on the shoulder. The move was so quick that no one saw it coming, but it wasn’t hard enough to throw H out of her rhythm as the song started up.
“Respect your elders,” Lucy ordered, but there was no force to it.
“Speaking of,-“ H started to say, but Lucy cut her off.
“Don’t you dare play the age card,” Lucy warned. H laughed.
“Heh,” she huffed, “but it’s a winning hand!” With that, the two fell silent except for the thuds and the music from the game. Ash and Scribbs weren’t sure who to root for, but they were having fun watching Lucy gain the lead and beat H without breaking a sweat.
“PERFECT!” the game said.
H went to sit on the couch between the two detectives, which forced their hands apart. H leaned forward, using Ash’s right and Scribbs’ left knees as arm rests. The three then watched Rachel and Lucy step on the game pads and restart the game once more. Together, they moved in sync, every now and again exchanging smiles with each other, but unlike Ash and Scribbs, H wasn’t impressed.
“That was the first song they danced to in the arcade. Of course, they’d get perfects on it,” she said. “I’d like to see the two of you get perfects on the Riverdance stage,” she told her sister and aunt.
“There’s a Riverdance level?” Scribbs asked the girl.
“It’s so hard. I tried once, but I tripped on my own two feet-“
“You do that anyway,” Rachel interrupted, laughing when she looked back and saw the look H was giving her. She looked forward to see that Lucy had selected another level. The detectives watched as the couple got perfect scores, only this time, they both had to try harder for it. This time, H had nothing snarky to say. When the song was over, Scribbs clapped for them, and Lucy let Rachel pick the last song of their difficulty level. Within seconds, Rachel skipped a step, allowing Lucy to take the lead and then win with the third perfect score.
“Alright, I admit that you’re reigning champion, but don’t let yourself get comfortable. I’ll be back to challenge you again soon.” Rachel said in the voice of a Renaissance knight.
“Looking forward to it,” Lucy replied.
H then jumped up as if she had been burned in the butt. “DOUBLES!” she called.
The next hour was spent in doubles play, in a somewhat competition to see which pairing made the best dance team. Not surprisingly, Rachel and Lucy made the best team, followed by H and Rachel, and then surprisingly, H and Ash. Scribbs, though not as good at the game as the rest, still found herself having a lot of fun.
“It was after 9:30 when everyone decided they’d had enough, and Lucy turned off the game for the night. Ash and Scribbs politely told them it was time to leave so that they didn’t impose on their hostess’ time any longer than they had. Rachel disappeared for a couple of moments as Lucy and H argued lightly over why H had lost her match with the redhead, and came back just in time to cut them off. She had come back with a container with cheesecake in it and said, “Here’s the dessert we never got around to having.” There was a smile on her lips that suggested that she didn’t mind this fact as their contest was fun for her.
“Thank you for the fun evening. We’ll have you all over soon,” Scribbs said, accepting the hug from H and then from Rachel. There was a nod between her and Lucy. There were quick hugs to Ash from the sisters and a hand shake between her and Lucy.
“It was nice to meet you,” Ash told her.
“Yes, nice to meet you too,” the redhead responded, and saw the two detectives to their car. “Take a right at the end of the road, then two streets later, take the left to get out,” she told them.
“Thanks, and thanks again for having us over.” Scribbs unlocked the door for her wife, and then went around to the drivers’ side.
Fog had descended over Suburbia, so Scribbs had to drive a lot slower to get them out of Hampden Court. She made chitchat with Ash as they finally got out of the housing development. “I really like that lot,” Ash said suddenly. Scribbs nodded with a laugh.
“H sure is a breath of fresh air,” the blonde agreed. There was a short silence, then, “You think if we had a daughter, she’d be like H?”
Ash looked over at her wife. She couldn’t remember having a discussion on children with Scribbs, and she wasn’t sure how the blonde felt on the topic. The fact that she was asking now made her wonder. “She’d look like you, I bet,” Scribbs went on.
“Yeah, but she’d be a hell raiser like you.”
“Or she’d look like me and be very practical like you,” Scribbs added in, and Ash let herself think on this a little more. She thought about H and the other girl she kept seeing in her dreams, wondering which of them would be the most like a daughter of theirs. Though anyone could mistake H for Scribbs’ daughter, there was just something about the redhead tomboy that charmed her. She felt a lot of affection for this girl, but also a little bit of sadness that she couldn’t explain. She didn’t want to tell her wife about this because she didn’t want to worry her, and she had the feeling that Scribbs wouldn’t be able to help, anyway.
The two fell into their own silences as Scribbs, too thought about this. She’d never thought much on children before, or at least of her having any. She was always too busy trying to keep a man in her life. None of them seemed to want to marry her, let alone start a family with her. Even now with Ash, she found it somewhat difficult to see children in their lives. It wasn’t like their careers were child friendly, and if the couple couldn’t completely agree on pet issues, there was no way they’d do well with parenting. Still, the image of a naughty mini-Kate Ashurst or a proper mini-Emma Scribbins running around made her smile. The thoughts continued to run through both women’s minds as Scribbs continued to get them home safely.
by Erin Griffin
Fandom: Murder In Suburbia/Imagine Me And You crossover
Pairing: Ash/Scribbs, Rachel/Lucy
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: ITV owns these characters.
Summary: When Ash falls and hits her head one rainy afternoon, she wakes up without her recent memory. What she does remember leads her to believe she is married to Scribbs, so to help her get better, Scribbs has to care for Ash as her wife, which leads to many new revelations about her partner... and herself.
Warning: This story has heavy angst, mentions of murder (duh), rape, and other unpleasant things, which is why it will only be mentioned. There is also hurt/comfort, something I don't do that much if ever in fic, so we'll see how it all works out.
*ATTENTION!*
Due to the economy being shit and me being laid off, I am having issues writing lately, so I am thinking of putting Fallen on a short hiatus. No more than a couple of months if everything goes well, but at the moment, nothing has been written in Fallen in about 2 months, so I need to figure things out. Thanks for reading so far, and I am leaving you all with a long, fun-filled chapter before I take my little break.
Chapter 15
After work that evening, Scribbs went home with Ash and they both took turns taking a shower. There were heated kisses in between, but in the end, both women dressed on their own. If they’d made love in the shower, there would’ve been no knowing how long it would have taken for them to get ready. Ash had shown Scribbs the wine that she’d ended up buying, and she saw that it was a good brand. She approved, though she shouldn’t have been surprised to know that Ash would choose the best wine for the occasion. Looking at the clock after Scribbs’ shower, there was a few minutes left before they absolutely had to leave the flat in order to still be on time. Ash and Scribbs decided to use that time, spending it in each other’s arms, exchanging their kisses and snuggles before they left the flat again.
When Rachel had called Scribbs at close to four o’clock that afternoon, she had given her directions to Hampden Court, which was the part of Middleford where the newer homes had sprung up over the last five years. At the time, Ash didn’t approve. “Like we need more potential murderers here,” she’d said on a particularly bad day. Scribbs, however, liked the new homes. She liked how modern the whole neighborhood looked, and had almost considered buying a flat in that area.
After slight bickering between the two detectives on whether to turn left or right at Hampden Court, Scribbs was able to get them into the drive. The only reason they knew it was the right one was because they saw Rachel waving at them madly from inside the flat. Scribbs secured the car and Ash got out, carrying the wine up the stairs to Rachel, who’d just opened the door.
“Hi! Hope you made it okay.”
“Yeah, we did fine,” Ash replied as she handed over the bottle.
Rachel admired it for a second as she read the label. “Ooh, thank you! This should go fairly well with supper.” She reached out and gave Ash a one armed hug and then waved them inside. Ash waited for Scribbs to join her on the steps before she walked into the house, extending her hand behind her for her wife to take. Scribbs grabbed her hand, letting their fingers link. The two women could smell the food in the next room and shared a look. Both of them were getting hungry.
“Honey,” Rachel said, “company’s here.” She looked to her left, where the kitchen was, and the detectives followed her gaze. There, Scribbs smiled as she saw a familiar redhead dealing as usual with greenery, only this time it was broccoli instead of rose stems. Without a word between them, Rachel went over to the oven where Lucy was standing and her spot there. “I’ll finish here. You go ahead.”
Lucy agreed and walked towards the two detectives, wiping her hands on a tea towel on her way out. She then reached out her hand to shake theirs. “Nice to finally- formally meet you, Lucy said, looking to Scribbs as she said the last part. Scribbs smiled again as she shook her hand. Lucy then looked to Ash. “So you’re Miss Ash. You’re very popular here, I must say. Plus, with Scribbs- Emma coming in for flowers for an Ash, we were very curious about you.” The redhead looked Ash over for a second as if to line up the mental images of her to the woman standing before her. “I’m Luce.”
As they walked further into the house, a loud thud could be heard from upstairs. Lucy looked up the stairs with a small scowl on her face. “H,” she said to her guests. “She hasn’t been downstairs since we all got home,” Lucy explained. There was another loud thump at the top of the stairs this time, which forced Lucy to call out, “Careful up there!”
Suddenly, the large thumps turned into smaller ones before H was seen hopping down the stairs. She had on a maroon sweater with the Gryffindor crest on the heart, and a black skirt. Her hair was pulled out of her face with a black hair band, and her small golden star earrings showed. She smiled somewhat sheepishly at Lucy before looking between Ash and Scribbs. “I’m so glad you guys made it,” she said.
“Of course we made it,” Ash replied, looking at the girl as if she was mad for thinking they wouldn’t come.
“Did you find us alright?” H asked, and Lucy nodded as if to also ask with her own facial features.
“We’ve been out this way before, but being new homes, it was hard to tell them apart,” Ash told them. This was another one of her arguments against the new homes.
Lucy nodded as she listened to this, then she said, “I’ll show you the downstairs here, since I’d been a few minutes from being finished with the cooking before Rachel took over. I can finish the tour later if you like.” She went to their living room and showed them outside to a beautiful new garden that Rachel and Lucy were building with H’s help. She then indicated the entertainment area, where Scribbs admired the combined collection of movies. Then they sat on the couch.
“Well, the insides of these homes look spacious, even if you can’t quite tell from the outside,” Ash offered.
“Let that be a lesson to you,” Scribbs murmured, but in a louder voice so that Lucy and H also heard her. As the twelve year old giggled, Lucy smiled at the remark.
“I always thought that building these houses was a bit like playing Tetris for the construction workers,” H put in. Ash and Scribbs smiled, both knowing that the blonde DS would’ve probably described it the same way.
“So how long have you lived in Middleford?” Scribbs asked after a slight pause.
“Er, we moved in here about seven months ago. We’re from London originally, but after Rach and I got together, things became awkward with Rachel’s friends, and H got teased at school because of us.”
“You’d think living in London, there’d be more acceptance.”
“It wasn’t really London; it was the friends and family there.” Lucy shrugged. “We shopped around and decided to look for something completely new. Middleford seemed like a nice place to live. Surprisingly lesbian friendly.”
Scribbs bit back her comment on how it could really be in Suburbia, but she supposed she only felt that way due to her job. “Yeah, this does seem to have become the place that lesbians migrate to,” she said instead.
“Lesbians and gold diggers,” Ash added.
“Lesbian gold diggers,” Scribbs completed. They shared a small snigger, which earned them an eyebrow raise from Luce even as a smile snuck onto her lips.
A few seconds later, Lucy went on, “We were in the process of moving when Rachel’s parents decided they wanted to go on holiday to fix their marriage, so we had H come live with us. Part of me thinks Rachel’s mother hopes to plant H here so that we would start thinking about having children of our own, giving her grandchildren, but that’s between you and me,” Lucy said.
H nodded enthusiastically. “I wouldn’t mind having a niece or nephew.”
“You’re twelve. You’d be the youngest aunt I’ve ever known,” Lucy said. She put a hand on H’s head, applying a little pressure as she rubbed the top of it, which caused the girl’s head to wobble about playfully. H frowned as she tried to slap Lucy’s hand away. Then Lucy placed the hand on H’s shoulder and H leaned into her. If Scribbs didn’t know otherwise, she wouldn’t have known that H and Lucy weren’t related by blood. Lucy looked to Ash and Scribbs. “We like having H here, but after seven months, she probably misses her friends in London. Don’t you?” she asked, looking down at H, who shrugged.
“Not so much. I mean, after Natesh broke up with me so that he could date Natalie, I’ve been better off here with you. I think the arrangement is perfect. I only wish Mum ‘n’ Dad would move here, too.” At this, Lucy tried to hide her look by facing away. Both guests didn’t need to use their detective skills to know how Lucy felt about that thought.
There were sounds of dishes being moved about in the kitchen, and Lucy said to H, “Go help your sister.” She gave a quick pat on the shoulder and added, “We’ll be in there momentarily.
H nodded and walked quickly into the kitchen area. The three women heard her announce, “I’ve come to help!”
“Oh good!” they heard from Rachel. There was more clanking. Ash and Scribbs looked at each other, both wondering how Lucy must go through hell living with both sisters under one roof.
“Would you two like some wine with dinner?” Lucy asked as the three slowly followed the trail that H had taken a couple of minutes earlier. There was a hesitance to answer. Ash nodded when Scribbs shook her head.
“I’m driving, so I shouldn’t be tempted.” With that, H opened up the refrigerator and offered the many other beverages that she drank on varying occasions. “I’ll have what you’re having,” Scribbs finally said, and watched as H got out a fruity red drink and poured two glasses. Then she put the glasses on the table next to the place setting where Ash had set her wine glass. Knowing that Scribbs would sit next to Ash, H set her own glass next to Scribbs’ place setting and sat in that seat.
Rachel transferred food from the cooker to serving dishes and placed a couple of them on the table. Lucy went to help her, and before the couple sat down they shared a quick peck on the lips. Lucy looked to her guests to gauge their reactions; she found they were unfazed by the exchange, and they had, in fact, appeared glad that both of them were open in their relationship. “Well, eat up, then,” Rachel said.
“Yeah, ‘cause if we don’t, it’s lunch tomorrow,” H put in. Scribbs couldn’t tell how the preteen really felt about the idea, because H’s tone was disgust but her face held some delight at the idea. How she pulled it off was something else entirely.
“I thought you liked it. I made it for you,” Lucy said.
H smiled. “I do. I was joking,” she said.
“Brat,” Rachel said fondly.
Ash watched the exchange between sisters, then looked down her right at both H and Scribbs, noticing again how similar they were. She’d seen it at the park when they’d made the dinner arrangement, but up close, their personalities shined almost the same.
There was a moment where nothing was said and everyone took the first tentative taste of the main course. “Rach? Did you add more salt?” Lucy asked in a lower voice so that she didn’t embarrass her partner.
“Yeah, why?” Rachel asked in response, looking to her sister, who seemed unconcerned with the state of the food, and if H didn’t like it, something was certainly wrong. H wasn’t as picky as the rest of them.
“I’d already added the salt, honey,” Lucy informed her, trying not to smirk. Rachel’s look was apologetic to Ash and Scribbs. “Let it be known that if it’s too salty for you, its Rach’s fault.”
“I’d still eat it,” H offered, right before taking a large bite to prove her point. “You could always make more without any salt, mix it in with this batch, and there, my lunch for the rest of the week. Two birds, one stone.” H tapped her temple twice, an action that caused Scribbs to giggle and her sister to grin at the girl in amusement.
“Thanks, H. Will consider that,” Rachel said, then looked to her guests, “but seriously, if it’s no good, I can make something else.”
“No,” Scribbs said, trying to be polite, “mix it with the broccoli and it’s just fine. Don’t go out of your way.” Ash did just that, and then nodded in agreement.
“Thank you. This is lovely,” Ash added in once she’s swallowed her bite. Rachel smiled gratefully at them and then gave her girlfriend a look that seemed to say, ‘See? They like it well enough, so shut up.’ In response to the look, Lucy took Rachel’s hand.
“I think I’m in trouble,” Lucy murmured. “On the bright side… It could’ve been Heck cooking.” That earned a chuckle from Rachel, and there was a small look of relief from Lucy.
A few minutes later, H put her fork down, chewed thoughtfully, and then looked to Ash as she swallowed her bite. Both detectives could tell she wanted to ask a question, but had to use her manners and wait. H drank from her cup, and then asked, “So, you two are married, yeah?”
Ash, having food still in her mouth, simply nodded while Scribbs said, “Yeah.”
“For how long?”
“Not even a year yet,” Scribbs replied.
“Did you date long before you got married?” H shot at them, and Ash started to feel sympathy for anyone stuck in the Interrogation room at the station with her and her wife.
“It felt like we did for much longer than we actually had,” Scribbs told the girl. ‘That should be a good enough answer,’ she thought to herself.
“Yeah, but how long did you actually date?” H pressed.
Ash looked over at her wife and asked, “How long ago was Birch Grove?”
Scribbs thought back on it and said, “Two years maybe?” Doing the math, Scribbs had to make up a specific amount of time they’d been married. “So, we dated about a year and a half before we got married,” Scribbs concluded to answer the girl’s question.
“Since lesbians can’t get married here, did you get a union thingy?” At the term ‘union thing’, Scribbs was reminded of her phone call with Chelsea earlier that day. H seemed to have forgotten the food on her plate, as the topic interested her and Scribbs was answering all of her questions. She decided that even if she hadn’t been the wife of Miss Ash, she’d have liked her.
“No, we have a marriage certificate from Canada,” Scribbs replied. She too gave up on her meal for the time being. “It means that by Canadian law, we are married, but it isn’t recognized here.”
“Why haven’t you gotten a union thing here, and be married here? I know it’s not quite the same, but at least you’ll be married here, too.”
“H, let them eat!” Rachel cut in, though she was also curious about Ash and Scribbs’ relationship. When she first met her, Scribbs had spoken of Ash as a friend, but was now her wife. Of course, Rachel knew that the possibility of the women living a somewhat closeted life, especially with people they’d just met was there, but something was off about that idea. Ash looked at Scribbs in a way that was too open, much in the way she herself looked at Luce. If they were hiding at all, they would’ve taught themselves to hide that look in front of other people. Rachel knew that it wasn’t something she could bring up in this setting and would have to find a way to speak with Scribbs alone.
“No, it’s okay,” Scribbs assured her hostess. She looked from Rachel to Ash, locked eyes with her for a fraction of a moment, and then spoke directly to H. “Like you said, getting a civil union isn’t the same. It wouldn’t have felt the same, and even though we were married in our own sense, it was just a lot more binding to actually hold onto that marriage certificate even if it was from another country.”
H was nodding as she listened to Scribbs, and when she was sure she could, she asked, “Did you have a wedding?” The girl wondered in her mind what a wedding between two women- these two women in particular would have looked like. She just couldn’t picture either one of them in a wedding dress like Rach had been, but she could imagine Miss Ash in a suit of sorts, much like the suit she was wearing during their first meeting at her school’s playground. H thought Ash would make for a handsome ‘groom’.
Scribbs looked over to Ash, who had a look of concentration on her face. She looked as if she was trying to remember these things that Scribbs was telling H, but the blonde could tell she was drawing blanks. Part of her wondered if all of this was making things worse on Ash and her memory, even if it might do good for their marriage. Scribbs stayed silent for a moment, not sure how to answer the girl’s last question. She could feel the curious looks from the others around the table.
“No,” Scribbs replied after a moment, “we didn’t. We sort of had a short little ceremony where we stood in front of the people that we knew and loved, and said out vows to show our love for each other.”
H took this information in before she asked, “How many people were there?”
Scribbs took a drink of her juice as a way to give herself a little more time to think. If H asked many more questions, Scribbs would soon enough dig herself too deep and she’d eventually have to flat out lie. As it was, Scribbs was using her knowledge of the both of them to guess what sort of arrangements they would’ve made together had they really gotten a wedding. She continued to do that, seeing as so far it worked out okay. Ash had yet to cut in with some other ideals that she’d conjured up in their six year friendship. “There was Kate’s mum ‘n’ dad, her bother David, our dear friend Greg,” The blonde tried not to twitch when she said that about their boss, but was relieved that feeling by adding, “who’s our boss, but has been a really good friend of Kate’s since before I met her. Then there was my mum and my sister Chelsea, who brought my niece Marcie.”
Thinking about her sister and aunt’s wedding, H nodded again and thought about the guest list, which, she knew, would’ve been greatly changed and reduced from Rachel and Heck’s. Her parents joked once that they’d paid plenty for Rach’s wedding the first time around, so they were glad that she’d be marrying a florist the next. Even they knew that Rachel loved Lucy enough to marry her eventually. The twelve year old let herself think on this some more. She knew that if Lucy and Rachel were to get married, their parents on either side, which included a new stepfather for Lucy, she herself as ring bearer of sorts, Miss Ash and Miss Scribbs hopefully, and a couple of scattered family that seemed unfazed by the sudden divorce from Heck. Speaking of, Heck would of course be invited, as Rachel and him were still friends, but H wasn’t sure if he’d attend since he was writing his second travel book.
H wasn’t sure if there would be many other people there to attend the wedding, as neither woman had made any other friends than the two detectives sitting with them at the table. This worried H a little bit because she cared for Rachel and Lucy as they cared for her, and to close themselves off to some of the people in this town wouldn’t be good. The fact that they also made no hints or plans to get married kind of bothered the girl as well, as she knew that her sister was wary about being married again. She’d once admitted to H that she was afraid of possibly having the fear of commitment, and of that being part of the reason she ran to Lucy to begin with. H had told her sister that it was rubbish, that Heck was just meant to be with her, not Rachel, and if only they had listened to that when she was six… Though that had gotten a laugh, it didn’t seem to ease any of that fear.
With these thoughts floating through H’s head, the preteen fell silent as she finished eating her food. Scribbs and Ash both watched the girl, waiting for her to start up with another round of questioning, and were surprised when she didn’t. Scribbs used some of this time to eat some of her own food, mixing her vegetables with the main course. She wasn’t lying when she told Rachel that it all tasted just fine while it was all blended together. The main course gave the vegetables a little more flavoring, while at the same time, the vegetables took flavoring away from the noodles.
All the while, Scribbs watched H, hoping she hadn’t said anything that had offended the girl or made her feel bad in any way. She had done her best to answer all of her questions in the best she knew how without feeding her a bunch of lies. For the moment, the blonde saw that she was fine, not hurt or angry, but contemplative of what had been said.
Ash, too, remained silent and continued to eat. Having not done much of the talking, Lucy, Rachel and Ash finished at about the same time. The brunette waited until Lucy stood up to take care of some of the dishes before she too got up, quick to lend a hand. Pots and pans were heard as the women worked together. Rachel took this moment to stare at Scribbs, as if she was willing her gaze to burn a hole in the detective’s head long enough to catch her attention. When the blonde woman looked up at her, they shared a quick glance before Rachel’s head gestured quickly towards the kitchen with a question clear on her face. Eyes darting to H and back to Rachel, Scribbs noticed that H wasn’t even paying attention. Scribbs got Rachel’s message but pretended that she hadn’t. Rachel knew that she had gotten the message and hoped that she could catch her alone soon because the curiosity was killing her.
The blonde DS had sensed Rachel’s confusion earlier that day when Ash was introduced as her wife, and she didn’t know what to tell Rachel now. Though Rachel was a good person, they’d only just formally met, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to involve her and Lucy in Ash’s complete situation. It was obvious to Scribbs that Rachel wasn’t stupid and knew that something was up, but Scribbs couldn’t bring herself to go into it with her, especially with Ash in easy ear shot.
To escape Rachel’s stare, Scribbs also stood up, even though her plate wasn’t completely empty. She took one last bite en route to the kitchen and placed her plate where Lucy told her to. Scribbs didn’t realize until she almost collided with her that H was right behind her. The kitchen was crowded now, so after a short silence, Lucy suggested, “Why don’t you show Ash and Emma the upstairs.”
“Please, you can call me Scribbs,” the blonde DS said.
“Right,” Lucy agreed with a smile, then looked again to H.
This seemed to put the preteen into action and she linked her arm with Scribbs’. “Yeah, I can show you my room, too.” She said. She seemed to wait for Ash, but the brunette shook her head.
“Actually, if you don’t mind, I’d like to stay and help clean up.” She looked to Rachel and Lucy after H shrugged, and they both made their gestures of agreement.
“Though you don’t have to,” Rachel added in to make sure the DI knew that it was fine either way.
“I’d like to. That way it’ll be done faster,” Ash insisted. She didn’t add in the fact that she hated a dirty kitchen, no matter whose it was or whether she was a guest or not.
With that, Scribbs was carted away up the stairs. H pointed to this and that, though the DS saw that there wasn’t too much to look at on the stairs. It wasn’t long before Scribbs found out why. As they neared the top of the stairs, H pointed to a nail sticking out of the wall. “That’s where I accidentally knocked off me mum and dad’s photograph,” she felt the need to explain. After witnessing- or rather, hearing H’s behavior on the stairs, Scribbs figured that the girl was a bit accident prone. The detective continued to follow H up to the top, where she saw a couple of pictures hanging up of Lucy as a teenager, and one of Rachel from not too long ago. One of H’s school photos sat framed on a small table next to a vase of fresh lilies.
H pointed out Lucy and Rachel’s bedroom as well as the toilet, then she opened up the door to her room. “This is my room,” she announced, though it wasn’t necessary. Scribbs looked around the slightly smaller room and knew right away what H wanted to be when she became an adult, or at least, she knew the girl’s passion in life. She saw that the whole room was painted blue with cut outs of planets and solar systems. There was a large printed satellite photo of Middleford, where H had written ‘you are here’ under a circle, and an arrow pointed at it.
Scribbs walked further into the room to inspect the homemade poster, and saw after only a few seconds where and her and Ash’s flats were, along with the police station and her favorite pub. Scribbs smiled, looking away from the poster, and her eyes landed on plastic glow in the dark stars. It took her an extra moment before she realized that these stars had been placed in the Plough constellation. She was going to comment on that when she saw the telescope in the corner by the bed and the window. On the wall next to the window, an image made Scribbs laugh outright, for a cut out picture of Marvin Martian and his dog in a space ship was there, along with cut outs of Josie Lawrence, Tony Slattery, Colin Mochrie, Clive Anderson, and Greg Proops from Whose Line is it Anyway, who were positioned in a way that made them seem trapped inside the ship with wide eyes and silent screams. The tail of the ship had Ryan Stiles hanging on for dear life as they all seemed to head for the moon.
Along that same wall, a desk with a computer and computer chair sat cluttered with disks and other pictures of galaxies and constellations. Scribbs saw that the computer itself was an older model, probably used only for games and possibly a word processor. It didn’t seem as if it was connected to the Internet. Looking at the disks and small boxes on the desk, she knew that she was right about that. She smiled, knowing that she would’ve loved to have had H’s room when she was younger.
H stood in the doorway, watching as Scribbs seemed to admire and appreciate the personality within her room. She knew that as soon as her parents got back to reality, she’d go back to London and live in a room pretty much identical to this one in Middleford, but she was glad that Lucy allowed her to make it hers. “Are you preparing to be an astronaut?” Scribbs asked her, ending the silence between them.
“Not just that,” she told the detective, “I’m going to be the first Prime Minister of Mars.”
Scribbs’ eyebrows rose at how sure of this fact H seemed to be. “That’s big,” Scribbs said.
“Or a detective in space. Either one, really. I’d be like Miss Ash,” H said casually, as if comparing two very similar jobs like a writer and a librarian.
“I’m trying to imagine myself solving a murder in a space suit,” Scribbs told the girl, “and I must say, I’ve worn crazier things while under cover. And I’ve seen Ash go sick at even the thought of getting on an airplane, so there’s no way we’d get her up in space.”
“Well, Earth needs detectives like you guys, so I’d understand if you wanted to stay, but you’d still get a free pass to come visit me in space whenever you like.”
“Of course. Who could deny an invite from the Prime Minister of Mars?” Scribbs wondered, and the two shared a smile. The clatter of pots and pans was heard downstairs, and H slowly closed the door behind her. She looked at Scribbs a moment and seemed to have gone serious.
“I want to apologize for asking so many questions back there,” the girl said.
“You don’t need to worry about asking questions, H. Most of my job is asking questions to get to the bottom of things,” Scribbs responded in a tone she hoped was reassuring. “I’ll do my best to answer them if I can.”
“I’ve already asked most of the ones I had, but they seemed to make Miss Ash uncomfortable. I didn’t mean to do that, I just- I wanted to know what it was like to be married like you two are.”
“Because of your sister and Lucy?” Scribbs asked. H only nodded. “That’s perfectly understandable,” the detective said, though it was more to herself than to the girl.
“You know, I’d see Lucy as my aunt whether or not they got married. I already do,” H said suddenly, “but I don’t see why they won’t. They are so perfect for each other.”
H went over to the window and looked out for a second before walking to her bed. She sat down, and sensing she’d be there for a while, Scribbs pulled the computer chair out and sat down in it to face the girl. She rested her arms on her knees and leaned forward a little bit. H copied her posture and they sat about two or three feet apart, facing each other. Scribbs waited for H to speak, and when she didn’t, she offered, “It probably isn’t the right time for them.”
“But they’re so in love,” H protested, “how much more time do they need?”
Scribbs let out a soft chuckle and replied while shaking her head, “I don’t know. That’s not for me to decide.”
H looked thoughtful for a second, as if she wanted to ask another question, but fought herself on whether or not she should. Finally, she spoke up. “How did you and Ash know that it was the right time to get married?” H’s voice was filled with curiosity, and Scribbs knew that she had the girl’s complete attention. The only problem was, she had to think of something to say to H because she’d never gotten the time to decide that being married to Ash was right for her. It just happened. Eventually, she had to voice her thoughts, which was hard for her to do.
“Well… I love Ash, and I know she loves me. And… I would’ve done anything for her, to help her.” H was slightly confused by Scribbs’ last statement, but assumed that the detective meant that she’d do what it took to be there for Ash, which wasn’t a wrong assumption. “And to be perfectly honest,” Scribbs went on, “it took me a while to get used to the idea of being married to Ash, but now… I can’t see myself with anybody else.”
Scribbs knew this was the truth, whether or not she wanted to admit to it. She felt happy that she could feel this way, be it for her female best friend or any of the men she’d dated. She was getting used to saying those three words to Ash and meaning them whenever she did. She didn’t know exactly how to say the words she’d just said to H and direct them at her partner in a way that she’d understand. She couldn’t just say all that she’d wanted to say because she’d have to let it slip that they weren’t legally married anywhere. Even if she didn’t need to worry about that, Scribbs had never been known for being articulate with her words, nor did she expect for anyone she dated to be. Feeling how she felt for her wife, she now wished she was.
“That’s how I feel about Heck,” H said, which broke off the detective’s thoughts. “I know I’m meant to marry him.”
“Heck?” Scribbs wondered.
“Rach’s ex husband before she met Luce,” H explained easily as if it was common knowledge. “I want to marry him in eight years, but knowing my luck, he’ll have married Saundra, the stalker from the airplane.” H didn’t even try to hide her disgust at the thought of it. “I’ve been in love with him for literally half my life.” Not knowing who Heck or Saundra was, Scribbs could only nod at this. Being as Heck was Rachel’s husband, Scribbs knew there had to be a lot of back story that she may never be aware of. She could also see this as being the reason why Rachel and Lucy wouldn’t want to get married right away.
Scribbs shifted in the chair a little bit, and her knee bumped into the desk. Though it didn’t hurt the blonde, it was enough to jostle the mouse and make the monitor come to life a little bit. On the screen was a Nancy Drew style mystery game where the player had to go through town- one house in particular- and play mini-games in order to get clues to solve the mystery.
“That’s one of my favorite games. I’ve already solved it the first time, but I can never seem to find all of the clues because some of the games are hard to complete,” H said when she noticed that Scribbs was staring at the screen for almost a full minute. “I have lots more.” She opened up the cupboard on the desk and went through each and every arcade, card, board, action mystery and racing game that had been for the most part Lucy’s collection before she gave them to H. A lot of the newer looking games must have been bought during the months H lived there, as they seemed to be older videogames converted for the computer. As Scribbs looked through the Mahjong’s, the solitaires, and some of the action games, she was tempted to borrow one of H’s games, but wasn’t sure how she’d come across. “My favorite game is actually downstairs. Wanna see?”
Scribbs wanted to be polite, so she said, “Sure.” H stood up and started for the door, Scribbs doing her best to keep up. She watched as H tumbled her way down the stairs, and wondered how she could move down them like that without tripping the rest of the way. Scribbs’ steps were silent in comparison to H’s thumps, and she heard Lucy tell the girl to walk a little softer. The thumps then ceased. Scribbs leaned a little into the kitchen to see Ash and Lucy working, while Rachel watched H go into the living room. Scribbs followed.
There, H took out the box that up until that point had been leaning against the wall next to the television, and the girl began to assemble the floor pad belonging to the deluxe home version of the arcade game ‘Dance Dance Revolution’. Scribbs then watched as H turned on the TV and started a new game. “Come on, Scribbs. I set up player two,” the girl prompted, pointing to the second floor pad next to the one she stood on, but Scribbs shook her head.
“I’ll watch you for a bit to see how it goes.” H liked that idea.
Lucy, Rachel, and Ash worked harmoniously in the kitchen. Rachel put the leftover food into containers, one of which was then set into a small bag with a heart on it. She’d then hand the dishes to Lucy who washed them and set them into the rinse water, where Ash would dry them and set them on the rack. A few minutes in, Rachel finished with the food and began putting the dishes away in cupboards. Together, they were a silent, well oiled machine.
Ash had been off in her own thoughts. She wasn’t sure exactly what to think of the whole evening. Sure, her hostesses were lovely, and dinner really had been fine, but she could tell the couple wished it’d gone better. Still, it was pleasant enough, but there was still that awkward air about them all due to the fact that they were all still getting to know each other and didn’t want to push any boundaries. Ash was confident, though, that with time the four adults and H would end up really good friends.
When H and Scribbs had come down the stairs, Rachel seemed distracted as she watched her sister tinker with the game consol and footpads for a game that Ash recognized, but she didn’t know anyone who owned it. Ash noticed the slight longing on Rachel’s face as she watched. Lucy noticed this as well and smirked. “They’re going to need supervision in there, if I know H correctly,” she said, but Rachel didn’t seem to hear her as she walked into the living room. With Rachel gone, Ash and Lucy continued to work, sharing a smile between them at Rachel’s behavior. “That’s Rachel’s favorite game. H’s and mine, too, I suppose, but Rachel’s addicted. Knowing her, she’ll be the one in need of the supervision.” The two women laughed at that, then went back to the tasks at hand, Ash trading with Lucy, as she didn’t know where the dishes belonged. Lucy alternated her energy between putting the dishes away and wiping down surfaces as they were cleared.
“Thank you for your help,” Lucy eventually said as they finished up, “I don’t know if I’ve said that yet. You really didn’t have to, but the task did go faster.” She tossed the rag carelessly.
Ash gave a small nod and said, “No problem.” This made her briefly think about her brother and she hoped that David had made it back alright and wasn’t staying at work too late.
“Alright, Ash?” Lucy asked, which startled the brunette out of her thoughts.
“Yeah. I was just thinking about my brother,” she admitted. “He had to rush back to work this afternoon.” Lucy nodded. There was a cackle of laughter from the other room, and Lucy twisted around the wall to get a glimpse of what was going on. Ash took the steps necessary to join her, and saw H and Rachel standing behind Scribbs as they watched her try to play the game. H was encouraging her while Rachel laughed at the somewhat frantic look on Scribbs’ face. Lucy turned from the scene and watched her guest. The look of adoration was there, and though she too had seen the strangeness of the relationship, she knew Ash and Scribbs did love each other even if their story was wonky. The looks of confusion on Ash’s face made Lucy wonder even more. She’d known that Ash was hospitalized, and if she remembered right, Scribbs had mentioned that first time that her ‘friend’ Ash was in a coma. Maybe…
Ash continued to watch her wife struggle before the song ended. She heard H tell Scribbs that she hadn’t done bad on her first try, and Rachel agreed, telling her that she couldn’t even finish a song the first few times through. Of course, that was because she had picked the stage for the song and not its difficulty level. Rachel then took the player two footpad and let Scribbs pick the song.
“You’re going to flatten me,” Scribbs protested, but she picked another easier level.
Slowly, Lucy walked into the living room with Ash a couple of steps behind her. They watched as Scribbs’ concentration split between her feet and the screen as arrows floated upwards during a techno version of a song she’d heard a few times while flipping through the television. She seemed to be holding her own for the most part next to Rachel, with H cheering behind her, egging her on. Still, she missed her steps a lot and fell behind. For a moment there, Scribbs paused completely in order to get her steps back in rhythm, which allowed Rachel a larger gain in her lead. Once Scribbs’ rhythm went back with the game, towards a fairly okay finish, Rachel looked over to Scribbs and began to miss a couple of steps herself. From Ash’s view, it seemed as if Rachel was being nice and had messed up on purpose so she wouldn’t have as great of a lead, but she couldn’t be sure. The move proved to make Scribbs a little happier that if nothing else, she could hold her own against Rachel, whom had played the game a lot longer than she had.
“Eh, I could get a better score than that in my sleep,” H bragged to her sister, and as Scribbs sat down on the nice couch, the girl took up Player Two’s pad and Rachel moved over to the Player One pad.
“Move your feet like you move your mouth and you just might,” Rachel retorted without skipping a beat. (Ha-ha)
“Seeing as I play winner- and I use the term lightly in your case- I will,” H shot back playfully.
“Lightly or not, I’m still one up on you.”
Ash couldn’t tell which sister was older just then. Watching them verbally spar with each other like they did, they could almost be twins. There was no doubt that the two were sisters, though.
“Actually, I think that’s enough,” Lucy spoke up, and the look both H and Rachel was giving her was further proof that the two shared blood. Ash followed their gaze and was surprised to se the slight smirk there. “Besides, I’m reigning champion in this household and you peasants could only dream of beating my score.”
“Is that a challenge I hear?” Rachel asked as she moved towards her girlfriend in what could only be described as a saucy swagger. She then draped her arms over Lucy’s shoulders and the redhead looked away as if unaffected. Ash could tell that it was hard for her to keep up the façade.
“Your powers of seduction will not work here,” Lucy said. “It was not a challenge, it was merely fact.” She continued. The smirk was back.
H didn’t try to hide her ‘ick’ face as she reset the game and took her spot as Player One. She looked around at the adults, then called out, “Okay, I’m restarting the game now, so whoever wants to join me, do it now.”
At this, Ash hesitated before walking up to the Player Two footpad, looking down at H as she did so. She then looked down at her feet as she tried to see where her feet should move. Just then, she heard the sudden start of the level and she called out, “Hey!”
“H, you cheat!” Rachel called out. Ash did her best to keep up before H stopped the level.
“Okay, seriously this time.” H said through her laughter. “You ready?” The only reply she got was the playful glare from the DI. There was another laugh, and then she restarted the level. Ash began to move her feet as the game directed her. As each arrow floated upwards on the screen and swelled with each correct movement, Ash felt more confident in her movements. “You’re a faster study than Scribbs is,” H commented. She seemed to be using a lot of her concentration this time. Both players had their eyes glued to the screen with the exception of the time H’s eyes would flicker to Ash.
Scribbs, Rachel and Lucy watched in amusement as both players continued to get ‘Good!’ ‘Great!’ and ‘Outstanding!’ from the game. In the end, H won the level by a few dozen points, and the girl looked at Ash in amazement. “I thought I completely had you beat,” she said to the brunette as Ash went to sit on the couch next to Scribbs. Ash winked in response, and then took her wife’s hand. Lucy slowly untangled herself form Rachel, leaving a kiss on her nose, and went to join H at the game.
“Ready to learn?” she asked as she stood in the middle of Player Two’s footpad. There was a grin that could’ve made the Cheshire Cat nervous, but H only rolled her eyes while she started the game.
“From you? Learn what, how to lose gracefully?” H asked, and Lucy swatted her on the shoulder. The move was so quick that no one saw it coming, but it wasn’t hard enough to throw H out of her rhythm as the song started up.
“Respect your elders,” Lucy ordered, but there was no force to it.
“Speaking of,-“ H started to say, but Lucy cut her off.
“Don’t you dare play the age card,” Lucy warned. H laughed.
“Heh,” she huffed, “but it’s a winning hand!” With that, the two fell silent except for the thuds and the music from the game. Ash and Scribbs weren’t sure who to root for, but they were having fun watching Lucy gain the lead and beat H without breaking a sweat.
“PERFECT!” the game said.
H went to sit on the couch between the two detectives, which forced their hands apart. H leaned forward, using Ash’s right and Scribbs’ left knees as arm rests. The three then watched Rachel and Lucy step on the game pads and restart the game once more. Together, they moved in sync, every now and again exchanging smiles with each other, but unlike Ash and Scribbs, H wasn’t impressed.
“That was the first song they danced to in the arcade. Of course, they’d get perfects on it,” she said. “I’d like to see the two of you get perfects on the Riverdance stage,” she told her sister and aunt.
“There’s a Riverdance level?” Scribbs asked the girl.
“It’s so hard. I tried once, but I tripped on my own two feet-“
“You do that anyway,” Rachel interrupted, laughing when she looked back and saw the look H was giving her. She looked forward to see that Lucy had selected another level. The detectives watched as the couple got perfect scores, only this time, they both had to try harder for it. This time, H had nothing snarky to say. When the song was over, Scribbs clapped for them, and Lucy let Rachel pick the last song of their difficulty level. Within seconds, Rachel skipped a step, allowing Lucy to take the lead and then win with the third perfect score.
“Alright, I admit that you’re reigning champion, but don’t let yourself get comfortable. I’ll be back to challenge you again soon.” Rachel said in the voice of a Renaissance knight.
“Looking forward to it,” Lucy replied.
H then jumped up as if she had been burned in the butt. “DOUBLES!” she called.
The next hour was spent in doubles play, in a somewhat competition to see which pairing made the best dance team. Not surprisingly, Rachel and Lucy made the best team, followed by H and Rachel, and then surprisingly, H and Ash. Scribbs, though not as good at the game as the rest, still found herself having a lot of fun.
“It was after 9:30 when everyone decided they’d had enough, and Lucy turned off the game for the night. Ash and Scribbs politely told them it was time to leave so that they didn’t impose on their hostess’ time any longer than they had. Rachel disappeared for a couple of moments as Lucy and H argued lightly over why H had lost her match with the redhead, and came back just in time to cut them off. She had come back with a container with cheesecake in it and said, “Here’s the dessert we never got around to having.” There was a smile on her lips that suggested that she didn’t mind this fact as their contest was fun for her.
“Thank you for the fun evening. We’ll have you all over soon,” Scribbs said, accepting the hug from H and then from Rachel. There was a nod between her and Lucy. There were quick hugs to Ash from the sisters and a hand shake between her and Lucy.
“It was nice to meet you,” Ash told her.
“Yes, nice to meet you too,” the redhead responded, and saw the two detectives to their car. “Take a right at the end of the road, then two streets later, take the left to get out,” she told them.
“Thanks, and thanks again for having us over.” Scribbs unlocked the door for her wife, and then went around to the drivers’ side.
Fog had descended over Suburbia, so Scribbs had to drive a lot slower to get them out of Hampden Court. She made chitchat with Ash as they finally got out of the housing development. “I really like that lot,” Ash said suddenly. Scribbs nodded with a laugh.
“H sure is a breath of fresh air,” the blonde agreed. There was a short silence, then, “You think if we had a daughter, she’d be like H?”
Ash looked over at her wife. She couldn’t remember having a discussion on children with Scribbs, and she wasn’t sure how the blonde felt on the topic. The fact that she was asking now made her wonder. “She’d look like you, I bet,” Scribbs went on.
“Yeah, but she’d be a hell raiser like you.”
“Or she’d look like me and be very practical like you,” Scribbs added in, and Ash let herself think on this a little more. She thought about H and the other girl she kept seeing in her dreams, wondering which of them would be the most like a daughter of theirs. Though anyone could mistake H for Scribbs’ daughter, there was just something about the redhead tomboy that charmed her. She felt a lot of affection for this girl, but also a little bit of sadness that she couldn’t explain. She didn’t want to tell her wife about this because she didn’t want to worry her, and she had the feeling that Scribbs wouldn’t be able to help, anyway.
The two fell into their own silences as Scribbs, too thought about this. She’d never thought much on children before, or at least of her having any. She was always too busy trying to keep a man in her life. None of them seemed to want to marry her, let alone start a family with her. Even now with Ash, she found it somewhat difficult to see children in their lives. It wasn’t like their careers were child friendly, and if the couple couldn’t completely agree on pet issues, there was no way they’d do well with parenting. Still, the image of a naughty mini-Kate Ashurst or a proper mini-Emma Scribbins running around made her smile. The thoughts continued to run through both women’s minds as Scribbs continued to get them home safely.