The Spirit Guardians Book 4: Liberated

Chapter 7

"I'll help you with dishes," Lillian offered as the crowd began trickling away from the kitchen to lay down and enjoy their food coma. Mitsuki felt Lillian nudge her side and hesitantly agreed to help clean as well.

"Well, if you're sure," Jane Black said. "If you do that for a bit, I can get your air mattress set up down by the T.V. I figure Marc can sleep on the couch up here in the living room."

"Thank you," Lillian said quietly as her mother walked away.

Mitsuki had never experienced a more awkward Thanksgiving of her life. She had come for moral support, but she hadn't expected Lillian to become so involved in the evening. It was nice spending time with Lillian during the holidays, but she'd rather they did that alone without Cassie's mother hovering the entire time. And now they were going to clean up the entire kitchen? Mitsuki didn't understand why Lillian was desperately trying to act so kindly toward her mother this evening.

As Lillian began to run dishes under the sink, Mitsuki walked by and pinched her arm. Lillian turned, staring at her confused.

"Lean down," Mitsuki hissed.

Lillian tightened her grip on the dish she was watching and lowered herself slightly so that she was closer at eye level with Mitsuki. Checking no one was around, Mitsuki stood on her tip toes to gently press a kiss against her girlfriend's neck.

Lillian made a sound of surprise and quickly stood back up, her attention once again focused on cleaning the dishes. Mitsuki pouted, about to complain, when Lillian spoke up.

"Don't do that," Lillian said, her eyes glued to the bowl she was carefully washing. "Just because no one is in plain sight right now..."

Mitsuki rolled her eyes. "Calm down," she murmured, placing some of the washed dishes into the dishwasher. "You get flustered over neck kisses though, huh?"

"I—" Lillian was cut off by Jane Black's resurgence into the area with a blow-up mattress.

"Thanks for helping again. I'll move the tables and chairs down there," she said, walking down the bit of steps that separated the kitchen from the T.V. room. Lillian was turned to the sink again, though Mitsuki couldn't tell what her facial expressions meant. 

Despite the awkwardness of the night, the food was good, and Mitsuki was feeling uncomfortably full. Still, she'd have rather stayed at the cabin, eaten some food, and cuddled with Lillian during her food coma rather than endure the unpleasant nature of Cassie's house and family. She acknowledged Jane Black's kindness in caring for Lillian's drunken state that one night over summer, and for inviting them for Thanksgiving, of course, but she didn't feel like Lillian needed to do anything in return. If it were Mitsuki in Lillian's place, she doubted she'd ever forgive the woman.

"God, how many more?" Mitsuki complained as Lillian handed her dish after dish.

"Not too many," Lillian said, their conversation cut short by the jarring noise of the air mattress blowing up. Mitsuki appreciated that at least they would have something comfortable to sleep on, and the fact that Jane had separated her and Lillian from Marc for a reason. Though it wasn't like they were going to try to do anything risky when anyone could walk into the room they were sharing at any moment.

As the noise shut off, Mitsuki turned her head as Jane Black ascended the small staircase. She glanced at the nearly clean kitchen and blinked.

"Oh, I didn't expect you two to do all the work," she said, collecting the last bits of food scraps off the table. "Thank you again for coming, Lillian. I'm glad you did. And you too, Mitsuki."

Both she and Lillian nodded quietly.

"Well, since that's the last of it, I'm off to bed. Do you two need anything?" she asked.