Beyond the Family Ties

Part 38

Things easily clicked into place after that first date, as if they'd been teetering on the edge for the longest time and had finally fallen in completely, and not just in love with each other, but fallen into life with each other, to the fullest extent. Becky signed the necessary paperwork to resign at the DEO, turning in her badge and gun and handing over the keys to the company car. Freen was cleared for work after a couple of months of rest and relaxation, working odd hours as she saved lives, and Laurel went back to school in the fall, for the new year.

September passed by quietly, the weather cooling slightly and bringing light showers with it as November approached. Becky found herself sleeping in Freen's bed every night, until one day her clothes were hanging up beside the pastel cardigans, tweed skirts and flannel shirts, and they found themselves with a guest room. Their gentle touches grew bolder, wishful kisses became commonplace, but no less thrilling, and Becky found herself relaxing around Freen in a way she hadn't in forever. There was no worrying about her fingers lingering for too long on Freen's hand, or whether it would create some awkwardness between them if they saw each other in various stages of undress. They were in love, and they didn't have to hide anymore, from anyone, including each other.

As December crept upon them, they made preparations for their first Christmas as a couple, putting up their tree as a family, making a whole day of it one weekend when Freen was off work. They baked gingerbread and filled the apartment with its homely smell as they strung lights and baubles on the tree. Over the following couple of weeks, presents wrapped with festive paper and tied with ribbons piled up beneath the tree, the weather turned cold, and they built a fire in the hearth most nights, Christmas music flooding in from the kitchen as they played scrabble in front of the flickering warmth, both women helping Laurel spell out words when she got stuck. It was the best holidays that Becky could remember having, made all the more better when she woke up beside Freen each morning, or fell asleep beside her at night.

For the first time, they shared a kiss as they watched the New Year roll in at Sam's house, all of their friends gathered together to drink the night away. With her daughter asleep upstairs, carried upstairs by Freen after making her best attempt to make it to midnight, Becky found herself enjoying herself, wrapped up in Freen's arms, drinking champagne and laughing with her friends. It was everything she'd ever wanted for herself, that safety and love, the simple act of having fun, having a family.

They moved quickly, as if making up for lost time, which they'd wasted plenty of, and it was strange to Becky how much things stayed the same, yet how different they were. In a sense, all those years she'd lived with Freen, raising her daughter with her, sharing everything with her, had been exactly the same as things were now. It was the small things that had changed. It made Becky realize just how much she'd loved Freen without even knowing it, how much they'd shared already before they'd even known about their true feelings.

It was mid-February, a mild winter's day in Albany City when Becky found herself home with Laurel on a Saturday morning. Things had been going so great in her life that she sometimes forgot all of the hardships she'd been through to get there. Her life was a completely different story to how it had been that time the year before, and she'd even recently started a new part-time job as a family therapist at a nearby clinic, wryly judging herself to be qualified to deal with even the messiest of clients that would come through her door, and she found herself settling into a good routine. She dropped her daughter off to school every morning, picked her up in the afternoon and spent every weekend with her. When Freen was off work they went out as a family, visiting museums and parks, ice skating rinks and bowling alleys, or just going for breakfast at Winn's diner, and she cherished those moments of ordinary happiness.

But there were days like that morning where she found memories nagging at her, threading their way through her mind and interrupting her thoughts with their sudden arrival. In peaceful moments, her mind would turn to her family upon occasion, or more pressingly, her mother. She hadn't seen Lillian since that day at Sunny's funeral, and although she knew that her mother was still in the protection of the DEO, she felt restless with not knowing how she was. It wasn't so much that Becky worried about her wellbeing, but it was the unfinished business between them. She felt like there were still things unsaid between them, and she found herself unsettled by it at times.