A/n: Oh my god, you guys, why am I so tragically sappy? This is literally the mushiest thing I've ever written. But it was in my head and I couldn't seem to finish the newest chapter of Never As It Seems until I wrote it so...here you go. (Ch 4 of NAIS should be up in a few days). As usual, this is un-beta'd. Also you've been warned about how shit it is.
Disclaimer: I don't own Skins but I do love it a whole lot.
On the day that Katie went to adopt her brand new three-month-old daughter, Naomi went with her. It was less of a choice and more of a forced accompaniment brought about mainly by the fact that she had been the only person around when Katie had gotten the news...
It was half past two in the afternoon and it was such a slow news day that Naomi was already home from work. For the first time in months she had the luxury of not having to sift through endless amount of columns written in by people who though they deserved to be in a newspaper but who, it came about, knew absolutely nothing about anything that was going on in the world. And because Naomi liked to torture herself the first thing she did when she got home was set herself up cross-legged at the kitchen table with a nice cup of tea and sat down to read a paper that wasn't hers.
She was halfway through the first page when Katie slammed open the front door without bothering to knock and went right up the stairs calling Emily's name. Naomi debated between sitting and listening to Katie search in vain or calling out and decided the latter would make her go away faster.
"Kitchen!"
Katie clomped back down the stairs and darted into the kitchen. She looked disappointed and scowled when all she saw was Naomi and a newspaper.
Naomi scowled right back at her. "It's called a doorbell, Katie. Use it."
"It's called a wardrobe, Naomi. Get one," Katie shot back. "And learn to lock your door."
"You'd just use your key," Naomi grumbled as she sipped her tea. She replaced it on the table and sighed. "And anyway you're getting ready to be a mother shouldn't you be entering people's houses with more decorum?"
Whatever comeback Katie had to that was lost when the word 'mother' registered behind her eyes and her earlier excitment came back with a vengeance. "Where's my sister?" the older twin demanded.
Naomi raised an eyebrow. "Work," she said dryly. "Where most people are around this time of day. Except, evidently, bored journalists and excitable interior designers."
Katie looked dangerously close to actually bursting into tears. "But I need her," she whined. "She has to come with me! I can't do this without her."
"Do what without her?" Naomi asked innocently. Oh, so innocently. She wasn't prepared for what came next.
"I got the call," Katie said as she bounced - yes, bounced, like a dark-haired imitation of Pandora - over to table and actually hugged Naomi. "She's ready, the papers are ready. Everything's all set. I just need to sign. I'm ready."
That was quite possibly the understatement of the century. Katie had been ready for more than a month before the paperwork had gone through. Her flat was child-proofed, the nursery was all set up, and this child had enough clothes to fit ten babies (Naomi was just grateful that they didn't make leopard print baby clothes, although it wasn't for lack of trying on Katie's part).
"Okay then," Naomi said. She made a little shooing motion with her hands. "Go get 'em, tiger. Show 'em what you got. Step up to the plate. Various other encouraging cliches of your choice."
"I can't do it alone," Katie whispered. "Please, Naomi? I need someone."
Maybe if she didn't look so scared, or so anxious, or so terribly terribly hopeful then Naomi would have turned her down. Maybe if Katie hadn't used a kicked puppy look with eyes that reminded her disconcertingly of Emily. Maybe if this wasn't the first time Katie had every truly asked her kindly for something.
"What about your Mum?" Naomi asked desperately. It was her last ditch attempt to get out.
Katie perked up, sensing victory. "She and Dad are still in Scotland visiting family with James. Besides I wouldn't want her there anyway, you know how she feels about me adopting as a single mother. She thinks the baby should have a father as well."
Naomi nodded, but she knew there was something more. Cook was around for a significant amount of the preparations: painting the nursery, building the crib and rocking chair, attaching locks and bumpers around the flat, and always showing up with a new toy. And the way he looked at Katie when the former WAG wasn't looking. And the way Katie looked back. They hadn't admitted anything, maybe not even to themselves, but it was painfully obvious the baby was closer to having a father than Jenna Fitch knew.
Finally she sighed. "What do you want me to do?"
Katie squealed. "Nothing! Just come with me and maybe hold my hand and try not to act too much like a lezza."
A sudden memory flashed through her mind. A cat flap and holding a warm hand on a cold night. It made her smile. "Come with, hold hand, be less gay," Naomi checked off. "Got it. Let's go, then."
But Katie didn't budge. "Not like that," she said as she looked the blonde up and down.
Naomi looked down at what she was wearing: an old pair of grey joggers and a shirt she was 99% sure was actually Emily's. She sighed again. "Fine. I'll change."
...and so now here she was, sitting in a chair watching little kids play in a room while Katie was in the office crossing the t's and dotting the i's as it were. She was also getting strange looks from most of the little kids. Not because she was the only adult in the room (there were several others who worked here wandering around keeping an eye on things and even more over behind the desk in the corner) but because she was new.
Naomi fiddled with her phone again. She'd already called Emily's school and left a message with the secretary there but classes didn't let out until three, the woman had said, and since it was only just three now it was likely Em wouldn't be there for another twenty minutes at the minimum. She had already sat through the hand-holding part and the part where Katie had talked her ear off anxiously.
There was a flash of white-gold and suddenly a little person was sitting next to her. She couldn't have been more than five years old and she contemplated Naomi with such a serious face for such a little girl.
"Hi."
Naomi blinked. "Hi," she said back.
"Why are you doing that?" the little girl asked, pointing to Naomi's hand.
"Doing what?"
"That thing!" The little girl made a twisting motion with her right hand over her left.
Naomi looked down and sure enough she had been twisting her ring around on her finger. It was a common habit she had developed and it made Emily smile every time she caught her doing it. "Nervous, I guess," she said.
"About what?"
"My friend is adopting a baby today and I suppose I'm nervous for her," she admitted truthfully.
The little girl nodded solemnly. "The pretty woman with dark hair? She's adopting Abby."
Naomi nodded, abruptly recalling that the baby's new name would be Abigail Emily Fitch. "Yes, that's right."
The girl nodded back. Naomi thought they must look like a right pair of bobbleheads. The two of them sat in silence for about half a minute before the girl started to swing her legs back and forth. When she looked at Naomi again it was with big brown eyes full of hope.
"Are you married?" she asked.
Naomi choked a little on the breath she just drew in. "Um, yes. What do you know about people being married?"
"When two people love each other very much they go to a church and they get married and then they wear rings like yours and they live happily ever after for the rest of their lives," the little girl said matter-of-factly.
"Well, um, yes, that's right," Naomi said. She was a little awestruck, to be honest, both at the wealth of information this little girl had and at the fact that she had said that whole sentence without taking a breath. She started to twist her silver wedding band again.
"When did you get married?"
Naomi felt like she should be mad, or annoyed, or tired of questions, or all of the above. Instead she found the little girl's curiosity endearing. "Two years ago next month."
"Is he handsome?"
She paused, unsure of how to explain the next part. She opted out instead. "What's your name?"
The little girl scrunched up her face into a grimace. "Rhiannon."
Only iron clad control and the knowledge of how much she hated it when people laughed when she was introduced stopped the giggle from coming out of Naomi's mouth and even then it was a close call. She made a face right back. "And I thought Naomi Campbell was a hard name to live with."
Rhiannon shrugged. "It's some goddess. Dunno which one. People call me Mia cause my middle name is Amelia."
"I think it's a pretty name," Naomi assured her. "Well, Mia, yes I am married. But the person I'm going to be with for the rest of my life is a woman." She wasn't sure why she was so nervous for this child's reaction.
Mia just nodded again as if this made all the sense in the world. "Is she pretty?" she re-worded her question from earlier.
Naomi smiled, thinking of red hair and brown eyes and the world's sweetest smile. "She's the most beautiful person I've ever met. She's my very best friend in the entire world."
"What's her name?"
"Emily," Naomi said, and her smile grew bigger. It amazed her that even years later just the sound of Emily's name still made her heart beat just that much faster.
"I like that name. Do you love her?"
Naomi swallowed around in her throat. "Very much," she said. "I've loved her for a very long time."
Neither the adult nor the child noticed that Katie had stepped out of the office with a sleeping baby in her arms and now stood with some of the people that worked there who were now very very curious. It was safe to say that this little audience was just as engrossed in the conversation unfolding in front of them as the participants were. Not even Katie had ever heard the whole story.
"How long?" Mia asked.
Naomi debated telling the whole truth and decided the little girl wouldn't be asking if she didn't want to know. "Since I was twelve years old."
Mia's eyes got big. "Wow. You got married when you were twelve?"
"No!" Naomi laughed, something she very rarely did with anyone but Em. "I fell in love the first time I saw her. And the first time I saw her I was twelve."
"What was she doing?"
"Raising her hand," Naomi said. Mia snickered and Naomi laughed with her. "Hey! It's true. We were in the same primary. They called her sister's name and then hers, and I was curious so I looked over and that was it."
She still remembered that day even at twenty-five years old. Remembered how Emily had raised her hand shyly (just like she would do again years later in college) and put it back down when the room broke into whispers over the novelty of twins. Remembered catching her first glimpse of those warm brown eyes and smiling at Emily hoping that maybe, just maybe it would relieve the poor little redhead's nervousness. Remembered the pounding of her heart when Emily smiled back.
"And then what happened?" Mia asked. She had turned fully in her chair and crossed her legs to give Naomi her full and undivided attention. "She was your girlfriend?"
Naomi mimicked her position. "No, not for a while."
"Why not?"
She frowned. "Why not what?"
"You loved her. Why wasn't she your girlfriend?"
"Well I didn't know if she felt the same way, did I?" Naomi pointed out. "And then when I found out she did I wasn't sure what to do. So I ran. For a really long time."
"Why?"
Naomi bit her lip and tried to think of a good way to phrase her mixed up, messed up bundle of feelings back then to a five year old now. "Do you ever watch scary stuff on the telly?" she asked finally.
Mia looked a little guilty but nodded.
"When something scary comes on you cover your face, don't you?" Naomi asked. "Because if you can't see it then maybe it can't hurt you."
Mia was frowning. "Emily scared you?"
Naomi nodded. "Emily terrified me. Sometimes when someone loves you that much its scary. So I ran because I figured maybe if I did that then she wouldn't scare me so much."
"Did she run after you?"
"Yes," Naomi smiled fondly, thinking of mumbled confessions in caves under Bristol and MDMA brownies and a thousand other little moments too numerous to fully recall.
"Why?"
"To this day I have no idea. She says its because she loves me. I think its because she's very, very stubborn."
Mia giggled. "And then you were girlfriends?"
"No," Naomi said sadly.
Over by the office the little audience had grown to listen to what Katie thought might just be the most heart-tugging little story she'd ever heard. Somewhere around the time that Naomi was recalling the first time she saw Emily the object of the conversation had shown up. Katie watched her sister, and Emily looked at Naomi as if watching the blonde pour her heart out to that little girl was the most important thing to ever happen in the entire universe.
"Why not?" Mia asked.
"Because I did some very stupid things," Naomi admitted. "And I was still scared."
"Did Emily get tired?"
The lump was back in Naomi's throat and now it was accompanied by a tightness in her chest. "Yes," she said. "Emily got very tired of running after me."
"So you stopped, right?" Mia leaned forward and she was frowning as if she didn't already know the end of this story, as if she hadn't seen the rings. "You stopped and waited for her to catch up?"
Naomi shook her head and Mia looked heartbroken and disappointed. So did the little audience behind them, but neither of them knew that.
"I did something better," Naomi smiled and waited for Mia to smile back before she elaborated. "I stopped running. I stood still for a really long time and thought about what kind of life I would have if I didn't have Emily. And then I turned around and started running to her instead of away from her. It was the smartest thing I've ever done."
Mia's grin lit up her whole face. She reached out and touched the ring on Naomi's finger. "And then you lived happily ever after?"
"Yup."
Mia's whole demeanor changed suddenly. She leaned back and her eyes were serious. "And now your friend is adopting Abby, because Abby is a baby and babies are cute and they don't know any better. Everyone does that."
Naomi frowned, concerned at the sudden change. "Does what?"
"Adopt babies," Mia shrugged. "They're cuter and cuddlier. No one wants a big kid running around."
"Hey! I like big kids," Naomi said. "Less house-training."
Mia giggled again but her eyes were too far away for a child. "Why?"
"Why what?" Naomi asked.
"Why do you love Emily?"
The question was like a punch to the gut. It knocked out her breath and stopped her thoughts for a minute. It wasn't because she couldn't answer it, it was because she had so many answers she needed to sort them out.
"She thinks I can be better than I am," Naomi said finally. "Emily sees every bit of me and loves it all. She sees things in me that I don't see in myself. And she is brave and strong and kind. She's the best person I've ever met. Sometimes," she confided, "I think she might actually be an angel."
Mia nodded as if that made the most perfect sense ever.
Emily couldn't stand it anymore. She walked over and tucked a stray piece of blonde hair behind Naomi's ear. "Also I'm very stubborn," she said. "I didn't give her much of a choice."
Naomi leaned into the touch. "True. You're very annoying."
"You seem to inspire it in me."
Mia was watching Emily with big, awestruck eyes. She looked at Naomi. "She is pretty," she said.
Just at that moment the doors at the other end of the room opened and one of the other workers came up to gather up the kids for dinner. He herded them as best he could and when he caught sight of Mia sitting and talking with them still he turned and made his way over. Naomi's heart hurt.
She looked up and locked eyes with Emily, and in a quick second a rapid-fire silent exchange took place. Not for the first time Naomi was grateful that they were the kind of couple who could hold entire conversations with their eyes.
Are you sure? You're the one who brought it up last week. And you snapped at me. I'm not snapping now. That much is obvious. It could work. Of course it can. Same page? Same page.
Naomi grabbed Mia's hand and stood up. "Come with us for a minute?" she asked.
The little girl nodded trustingly and followed them over to Katie, who had a look of dawning realization on her face.
Emily just shared a smile with Naomi and they both looked at the notary who had signed off on Katie's papers.
"So," the redhead began. "This adopting thing. How does that work?"
A/n: I'm vaguely disgusted with myself. Thoughts, comments, damnations? (Also does anyone else feel awesomely inadequate after reading a new chapter from HyperFitched? Like if Hypes and Heather Hogan wrote a Skins book it would be the best thing ever in the history of the universe?)