Camila sat sideways with her legs curled underneath her in the large chair next to the bed, leaning over and gently running her fingers through her sleeping son's hair before removing it to quickly wipe away a silent, stray tear with the sleeve of her oversized sweater. She then tucked her hand under her chin and her other arm around her body as she molded back into the seat in her exhaustion. But her eyes stayed alert, searching over Julian's features. He was starting to look more like Lauren the older he got. Gabriel too obviously, but he was hopefully fast asleep at the moment in his own bed.
Clara was at the house helping Alex keep him preoccupied and answering all the tough questions Camila was relieved not to be responsible for. Like where his brother was and why. And why Camila wasn't home, hoping he wasn't drawing a parallel between her absence and Lauren's. She tried to keep herself from instinctively fearing that he would grow up with abandonment issues, seeing her wife's arched eyebrow in her mind as a sign of how ridiculous she was being even entertaining the thought. But still, a hospital just wasn't the place for three kids right now.
Just then Julian's IV pump began rhythmically beeping, indicating the bag of fluids was empty. After settling herself from the shock of the harsh noise cutting through the silence of the early morning hour, Camila quickly reached over and pressed the silence button the nurse has shown her then the call button itself.
"Can I help you?" A grainy voice asked through the intercom.
"His IV is beeping." She answered calmly, returning her hand to the lightly stirring child's hair. Like his mother, it was the trick to getting him to sleep. For all the kids actually. All it took was a little reassurance that she was still there and they drifted off into a peaceful place.
"The nurse will be right in."
"Thank you."
Camila smiled lightly as her son rolled onto his side facing her to get more comfortable but fell right back to sleep. She brushed his lengthy hair behind his ear and trailed the back of her fingers over his cheek before retracting it completely. He was going to be okay.
"Camila?"
The actress turned to look over her right shoulder to see Lauren in the doorway behind her. There was no hesitation before she was up and crashing into her wife's arms. Nothing had a chance to register to her. Not what the brunette was wearing, the color of her blouse, the look on her face. Nothing. All Camila cared about was feeling their bodies touch. Turns out she needed that physical reassurance as well.
Lauren stumbled back a step from the impact but reveled in the crushing embrace, pulling the smaller woman even closer with an arm around her should and the other hand lacing into the dark tresses that wafted their scent into her nose. Her eyes screwed shut as she fought to keep from crying and after a few seconds of no movement, the brunette only shifted her head, turning it into her wife's neck and kissing it lightly. She opened her mouth to speak but it came out a soft, chocking half-sob.
Camila lifter her head, turning it to kiss Lauren's cheek before quickly moving to a chaste and then deeper kiss on her lips. Her breath caught in her lungs when Lauren took control and connected with an even deeper, lingering, and sensual kiss, holding her there like she had wanted to for the last week.
When they pulled away, their foreheads remained pressed to one another as they panted to catch their breath. Hands moving on their own to touch and feel as much of the other as they could, relearning the skin and warmth they brushed over. But the smiles on their faces were that of a shared embarrassment that they couldn't even go a week without seeing each other and not feeling completely lost. But Lauren stubbornly stood by her often used excuse. They had lost enough time being apart after high school. They were meant to be together.
