Generations: The Long Game

Sorscha and Clodagh

T/W: Fertility treatment and infertility

2025

Sorscha woke that morning with a start. The light was already coming through the window in their room. She had overslept. She quickly sent Marjorie a message that she would be there ASAP. She must have turned off her alarm instead of hitting snooze. She hadn't been sleeping right for the last week. With Clodagh and Quinn gone off to Clodagh's family's she just couldn't settle at night without them. Their phone call last night hadn't made things any easier.

Clodagh's family didn't like Sorscha and didn't want her around for these visits, so usually she stayed home to forego the drama. To them she was the bad guy. The person who had brainwashed their little girl and turned her from her religion and family. She hadn't had the energy for many years to fight their ignorance. If Clodagh had asked her to attend she would, but they both knew how it would turn out. They accepted Quinn, but likely wouldn't have if she had come from Sorscha's womb. To them she was Clodagh's and Clodagh was a single parent.

Last night however they crossed the line with Clodagh and she was getting the first flight home this morning. Quinn had mentioned missing mommy, and they kept telling her Sorscha was not her Mommy. They kept after the little girl until she was hysterical, and Clodagh went to a hotel for the night until she could get a flight. That was the last straw for both of them.

The Doyle side of their family was supportive and held space for them. Sorsha's mom sometimes overstepped but was easily put back to right. Neither family knew the details of Quinn's conception and the couple didn't intend to share them.

Sorscha knew if Clodagh's family knew they would treat Quinn differently for sure, and that broke her heart for the little girl. Her family probably wouldn't care much, but as they planned to have more children, they didn't want any favoritism to arise.

Sorscha having quickly showered and pulled her hair quickly into pigtails ran out the door still thinking about the debacle that had occurred last night. It made her so angry, but she was also glad her girls were coming home.

Clodagh called her at her lunch break and said they had made it safely home. Quinn was playing in her room, and seemed less affected by the events then she had last night.

The rest of her day passed by quickly and she rushed out the door. She couldn't wait to get home to her girls. As soon as she walked through the door Quinn made her way to her calling for mommy and wrapping her little arms around her legs. Sorscha bent down to pick her up and smiled at the young girl who giggled away at finally seeing her after such a long week.

Once she placed her in the highchair for supper, she grabbed her wife around the waist and placed a soft kiss on her lips. "I missed you. I can't believe how lonely it is here without the two of you. I really thought I might go stir crazy."

"We missed you too babe," Clodagh responded as she plated their supper and cut Quinn's into small pieces. "It was a long and horrible week. I don't care. I am not going back. They crossed a line last night that I won't tolerate." She had been dealing with it for far too long. Sorscha hadn't even been her first girlfriend, but her family still thought she somehow turned her into this raging homosexual. Clodagh would laugh if it hadn't been so sad.

If anything she had been closer to being Sorscha's first girlfriend. She had dated one girl in her last year at school and when someone threatened to out them, the girl ran off with some jock and was pregnant before graduation. Sorscha would have been heartbroken if the whole situation hadn't been so bizarre.

Clodagh and Sorscha met in their first year at Uni and were inseparable from that point forward. After Uni they proposed to each other on a night that was comical if not romantic and they never looked back. When they decided to have a child, they didn't imagine how long it would take or the heartbreak they would suffer together. During their original testing they found out that Sorscha would never be able to carry a child. Thankfully, that wasn't the end of their journey. It just meant things would be more difficult and more expensive.

In the end they decided to do reciprocal IVF. Their first transfer hadn't resulted in a pregnancy. Their second transfer was eventually confirmed to be a blighted ovum. That was a dark time for both of them because they had gone several weeks believing that they were going to be parents and had begun to dream of a life with their child.

Their third and final transfer brought them Quinn. Their last viable embryo. What felt like their last hope. She was their miracle, and they would never forget that. They were always in awe of their little girl, and what it had taken to bring her into the world.

After they got Quinn settled into her bed for the night, Sorscha followed her wife to their room. Clodagh was still stressed, so Sorscha sat at the end of the bed rubbing her feet while she let her wife get a week worth of drama off her shoulders. She listened intently until Clodagh went quiet. She had learned early on it was best just to let her unload everything at once. She processed and moved forward much easier that way and didn't need Sorscha to get all riled up in her defense. Sorscha was her protector and Quinn's too, but sometimes she just needed to get things off her chest without Sorscha trying to intervene or fix it.

They sat comfortably in the silence for awhile before Clodagh beckoned Sorscha to the head of the bed. They sat together just kissing like a couple of teenagers not really moving to escalate things. Simply happy to be in each other's presence again. Clodagh pulled away first and looked as Sorscha. "How would you feel about trying to have another child? We have the money that we put away, and if we start soon Quinn will be three before the baby would be born." Sorscha gaze turned downward. She wanted another child. They had never wanted Quinn to be an only child. She just didn't think she could go through it again. All the hormones, the egg retrieval, the wait. So much waiting.

Sorscha spoke quietly. "What if we don't do reciprocal IVF this time?" She expected that Clodagh would be hurt or upset. She expected an argument to begin, but Clodagh just said okay. Sorscha looked up surprised.

"Look, babe, I know how hard that was on you and your body. I remember. I want us both to be happy so if we do it another way then so be it. We could even do it at home like Charlie and Mia did. Without the tequila of course."

They both laughed before snuggling up and making plans to see the clinic as soon as possible. Sorscha fell asleep midway through a sentence, and slept the whole night. Her girls were home. They were going to have another baby, and all was right in the world again.