My Favorite Camren One-Shots (Part 2)

Isabella Cabello-Jauregui

It was the ending of autumn, winter had slowly begun to weave its way through New York City and the Jauregui-Cabello’s were preparing to take their newly arrived daughter, Isabella out for the first time. Lauren, Isabella’s birth mother was putting so many layers on to her that the little girl resembled a ball of coat more than the beautiful fair-skinned baby hidden underneath. Isabella’s stunning green eyes and the little tufts of black hair that she had inherited from her mother were the only parts of her visible except tiny hands that were outstretched to her other mother who was pacing their apartment’s hallway with the excitement and anxiety that was accumulating within her. After placing gloves over the little girl’s exposed hands Lauren picked her up and turned with amusement towards her now full-scale gone beyond panic almost as if an apocalypse were nearing their apartment within a matter of seconds’ wife who was now pacing so quickly Lauren thought she might burn a hole in the carpet. The smirk Lauren sported was met with Camila’s pallid face and frenzied speech “Lauren are you sure it’s a good idea to take her out?? It’s so cold outside what if she freezes? What if she gets a cold? What if she gets pneumonia??” Camila’s voice was becoming increasingly panicked as her mind raced through all of the worst case scenarios.

Camila was extremely cautious with their child; she hadn’t even let her younger sister, who was now 10 hold her by herself. Lauren had guessed it was something to do with how hard they had fought to have her, Camila had found out when she was a teenager that she was unable to carry children and the whole process of sperm donors and IVF had exhausted the two of them not just financially but emotionally. The decision to have children was not one that the two of them took lightly Camila had found herself extremely upset at the thought that she would not feel the connection to the baby that Lauren would feel. This had prompted her to try and involve herself as much as possible occasionally to the point where Lauren would end up crying and Camila would end up making Arroz con Leche with the questionable addition of pickles at 3am. When they had settled down a bit and brought Isabella home Camila’s mission had become less intense and she had let herself relax more into the role of a mother. Camila’s reluctance to let Isabella out into the cold was understandable the girl had been born prematurely in a dramatic turn of events that meant Camila nearly missed the birth for one of the legendary singing lessons she instructed. The determination Lauren had found to continue after she had lost their first child to a miscarriage from stress still amazed Camila every day, all of these things and more made Isabella their little angel.

Lauren wheeled her little girl towards the lift in their apartment building watching with slight concern the paleness that had overtaken her wife’s face. She adjusted the pram to move it in front of Camila and she gestured for her to push. Camila found the confidence that Lauren hoped she would when she was given more control over their little girl. The lift dinged open and Camila wheeled Isabella forward, Lauren’s hand resting carefully over her wife’s. As they were preparing to leave their building Lauren noticed the buttons on Camila’s jacket were done up unevenly smiling she reached out to do them up correctly in a gesture of affection that Camila found extremely comforting. They braced themselves against the wind and headed straight for central park walking at a leisurely pace. They stopped to sit on a bench, Camila held Isabella tightly to her chest, the pram next to her and adjacent to the bench. Isabella gurgled away happily her little hands curling and twisting Camila’s hair through her fingers as she looked around the park wide-eyed.

Meanwhile Lauren was staring intently, observing every person that walked past them with a detached focus Camila had not seen in her wife for a long time since the intensity of the past year. Lauren was people watching, one of her favourite pastimes. Camila’s mind wandered to dates that they had spent in a comfortable silence, her brain like her body could never remain still her mind flittered easily and she had always had trouble focussing it on one particular task. As a child her teacher’s had encouraged her parents to seek out medication to deal with her lack of focus, they were all still thankful to this day that her parents had flat out refused to go there, Camila was Camila and she didn’t need to change. When high school came around socially she had struggled but academically she applied herself knowing how important the good grades she received were. Growing up she never felt like her family was struggling things just were the way that they were she was unaware that some people’s mothers and fathers didn’t work 4 or 5 jobs to afford the necessities. With the benefit of hindsight Camila could plainly see how much her parents sacrificed for her to have a better life and as she grew older she became more and more determined that she would take every opportunity she could to make herself happy and to make her parents proud. Lauren’s childhood had been different her parents had always gotten by some times were harder than others but she had always felt comfortable. High school had passed by fairly uneventfully apart from the discovery and repression of her sexuality with frequent boyfriends hoping one would fill the gap that she always felt with them, it never worked. It took some years but she accepted and one day began to embrace herself. Lauren was focussed and would remain so on one task reluctant to move on until she had completed it. When they met Camila was enthusiastic, easy to trust and not afraid to be herself to whomever she met. Lauren was the opposite, she was reserved, distrustful and distant from all the new people she met. These differences intertwined to make them perfect for each other. Camila could easily evoke a playful side of Lauren and Lauren could bring out a serious, more mature Camila. The two had disliked each other for the first six months of their friendship, only being forced into each other’s company because of a mutual friendship with Ally, who insisted that the two of them were perfect for each other. Ally had set the both of them up on a ‘blind’ date, both being unaware that their date was the other person. They had eventually resigned themselves to conversation as neither of them was willing to leave their favourite restaurant, a small diner tucked away between a cash machine and a tattoo parlour. Learning so much more about each other they became impossibly close and neither of them ever looked back. They still went back to the diner, ordering sloppy joes, milkshakes, a shared portion of nachos and incredible brownies every anniversary of their first date.

They sat there contentedly for a little while longer until Camila felt as though her butt had frozen solid to the bench. Isabella was sound asleep by this point her little body curled up into Camila’s chest, her eyes fluttering sleepily. Camila placed a hand over Lauren’s knee, knowing physical contact would be the only way to regain Lauren’s attention. It worked. Lauren turned, slightly startled and reached her hand down to hold Camila’s. Standing slowly she watched as her wife gently placed their little girl in the pram and turned around taking hold of Lauren’s hand again. The older girl watched on in amusement as her wife tried to steer the pram one handed. Camila noticed the laughter her wife was trying to hide and spun around defensively, “what’s so funny??” The image of her wife with her arms crossed in front of her chest, a pout decorating her subtle features making her nose crinkle in what Lauren thought was the cutest way possible was more than the older girl could handle. Laughing she said “Camila you can’t even walk in a straight line without tripping over something. I don’t think you can push Isabella one handed.” The younger girl’s face formed a petulant frown that was quickly replaced with a thoughtful expression, succeeded by a mischievous grin that Lauren recognised all too well. Before she had the ability to process her wife’s possible actions the younger girl had turned and sped away pushing their little girl in her pram with a  single arm, her head  thrown back laughing as she ran. To anyone around the two of them would have looked crazy, Camila was smiling wildly and running pushing the pram in front of her with a frustrated Lauren trying to catch up, the after effects of not working out for several months taking its toll and slowing her down. Eventually catching up Lauren grabbed her wife’s waist from behind, turning her she pulled the girl towards her and kissed her on the top of the head. Chastising her gently, putting on the mum voice Camila knew Lauren had been practicing almost since the beginning of her pregnancy she said “Camila, you can’t do that. Isabella could have got hurt, you could have got hurt. What would I do without my girls?” After the younger girl bashfully whispered “I’m sorry, Lo.” Lauren leant down to peck her shorter wife on the nose and watched the smile spread over her face. Camila leant up to kiss her, their lips joining gently, their hands moving to cuddle each other closer. Locked in a gentle embrace Lauren made a suggestion of getting home putting Isabella to bed and ordering in pizza, the takeaway food idea delighting Camila to no end.