Homecoming (Complete)

Chapter Nineteen

"So? How was it?" Kate smirked as Babs and Dinah wandered into the kitchen the next morning, freshly showered, fully clothed, and holding hands.

"Kate!" Alex threw a wet dishcloth at her from the stove where she was flipping pancakes.

"Ew!" Kate said as she peeled the cloth off her shoulder and threw it back. "What? You didn't say I couldn't tease them!"

"Actually, I explicitly said 'Don't tease them Kate,' " Alex caught the cloth and tossed it back into the sink. "Pancakes will be ready in a minute if you're hungry," she said to Dinah and Babs, noting with an inward smile that they seemed to be quite at ease, and not in the least perturbed by Kate's teasing.

"Oh yeah," Kate grinned. "Guess I forgot."

"Just because you've been out for a hundred years...," Alex lectured.

"Hey!" Kate said.

"...doesn't mean everyone else has had a chance to come to terms with it yet," Alex finished with a smile at Babs and Dinah.

"It's okay," Dinah smiled back. "We were expecting Kate to say or do something. She wouldn't be Kate if she didn't."

"Kate's incapable of not gloating," Babs added matter-of-factly.

"Hey!" Kate said again.

"Or being an ass," Babs added.

"Hey!" Kate said.

"Or a general pain in the ass," Babs continued.

"Hey!" Kate said.

Babs let go of Dinah's hand and walked over behind Kate's chair to hug her shoulders and mock whispered "you're good at dishing it out but not at taking it" as she tickled Kate's ribs, and then laughed and dodged away as Kate spun in her chair to try to grab her.

"She is what she is, and the situation is what it is," Dinah said, grinning as Kate chased Babs, who was giggling like a madwoman, across the living room. She looked at Alex and smiled sheepishly. "How long have you had it figured out? I'm assuming you're the one who pointed it out to Kate. She's been around us too long to have noticed on her own or she'd never have let us get away with it for as long as we did. We were more 'work' friends before you came into our lives, and didn't really hang out socially much, but I'm pretty sure if Kate had noticed...."

"From the first moment I saw you two together at the yacht basin," Alex said. "I had actually assumed, like Diana, that you were already sleeping together." She looked at Dinah. "By the way, why the hell did you never tell me you were friends with her?" She held up her hand. "Never mind. Later. You really should talk to her you know. About this, I mean. I think she was surprised to know you two weren't sleeping together all these years." Dinah nodded.

"Anyway," Alex continued, "it wasn't until I met up with you and Babs for drinks that night—the first time I met Babs—that I realized that you two hadn't acknowledged how you felt about each other. Later there were little odds and ends that made me think that maybe Babs had put it together, but that you were still in the dark. I'm really sorry Kate accosted you last night," Alex said with concern in her voice. "That wasn't very nice. I know she didn't really mean to be vicious, but it could have come across that way."

Kate walked into the kitchen with Babs—smacking her on the ass and grunting "put me down" between laughs—thrown over her shoulder. "I am really sorry," Kate said sincerely as she swung Babs down onto her feet. "It was a bitch move, and I don't have any excuse other than too much wine coupled with occasional vindictive streak." She looked from Dinah to Babs and flushed. "I think I had meant it as a tease but it sure as hell didn't come out that way. Can you forgive me?"

"I don't know, Kate," Babs tried to keep a straight face, then gave up, grinned, and hugged her. "It's okay. Really. I'm not sure I would have chosen for things to play out exactly the way they did, but the final outcome was...," she paused and looked at Dinah with a playful grin, "satisfactory."

"Satisfactory?" Dinah growled and then looked at Alex plaintively. "Satisfactory she says."

"Maybe you just need more practice?" Alex grinned at her.

"Well that's a given!" Dinah roared laughter. "I thought you said no teasing?"

"Sorry. You set it up—it's not like I could ignore it, could I?" Alex was still grinning. "C'mon. Everyone grab a plate. Pancakes are ready."

They sat and chatted through breakfast—very comfortably Alex was happy to note—and by the time they were done, any remaining awkwardness and embarrassment from the night before had burned itself away. Babs and Dinah were no longer oblivious to the little touches and nuances between them. Instead they seemed to linger over them with a little bit of awe. Alex felt herself grinning. Everything was bright and shiny and new to them. There was nothing like a fresh love newly discovered—all its nervousness and scariness, excitement and eagerness. Babs and Dinah would be fixated on one another for the next little while. Alex was almost envious. Then she looked at Kate and admitted that long term relationships most definitely had their benefits too.

"You've got a goofy grin on your face love," Kate said as she stood up to collect the dirty dishes. "And you have syrup on your chin. Is that for me?" She grinned and bent to kiss Alex then licked the syrup off. "I can think of other places..."

"Kate!" Alex laughed and swatted her on the butt as she squeezed by.

"I hate to eat and run," Dinah said, getting up from the table. "But I've got my first class in a couple hours and I have to run home for a change of clothes."

"You really should leave some clothes here," Alex said from the sink where she'd gone to help Kate with the dishes. "Both of you. This isn't the first time you've crashed here, nor is it likely to be the last. That room is officially yours whenever, and as often, as you want it."

Dinah bent to kiss Babs. "Ooooooo....!" Kate said then giggled when Alex elbowed her. Dinah stuck her tongue out.

"You know what they call that don't you Dinah?" Kate said with a devilish grin.

"Kate!" Alex said. "Leave her alone."

"No. What?" Dinah asked innocently. "A lesbian with a hard on?"

Babs spit her coffee across the table and started coughing, while Alex roared laughter and Kate stood with her mouth hanging open.

"I may be new to this," Dinah waved her hand, indicating her and Babs, "but I have heard a thing or two." She gave Kate the same devilish grin that Kate had just given her. "We decided, Babs and I, that there isn't anything you can say to 'get our goat' anymore Kate. We choose not to be embarrassed." Then added more seriously, "If we can finally admit that we're in love, what's there to be embarrassed about? Love is love, and sex is sex. Neither are neat and orderly, nor are they exactly the same for everybody so...well...we'll figure it out." She walked to the sink and reached past a still gaping Kate for the dishcloth, and went to hand Babs a napkin and to wipe the table.

"I don't believe you just said that!" Babs gasped between coughs as Dinah patted her on the back.

"Neither can Kate, obviously," Alex said still giggling.

"I like her," Kate finally said, looking at Alex. "Can we keep her? Please?"

Dinah threw the dishcloth at her and grinned. "I have to run. See you all later?" She was gone out the door before anyone could answer.