baby girl || dianetti

two

as soon as she walked into the house rosa felt uncomfortable. she'd promised her parents that she'd go to a big family gathering once every few months.

'ay rosalita, you came!' rosa heard her mom call from the kitchen

'didn't have a choice.' rosa said in her usual deadpan tone before she felt her mom wrap her arms around her. rosa was uncomfortable, hugs were the worst.

'still no boyfriend mija?' mrs diaz said as she pulled away from her daughter.

'no. no girlfriend either.'

mrs diaz pulled her daughter aside into an empty corner where nobody could hear their conversation.

'mija we talked about this-'

'no, you told me what you thought and i said i didn't care. and i still don't.' rosa raised her voice slightly before walking away into the room where most of her family were.

—————

'so diaz is real nice...'

'don't take it personally, she's like that with everyone,' the other latina detective told gina.

'don't take it personally, are you a 58 year old woman? you remind me of my grandma.'

amy scowled at gina before turning back to her desk, leaving gina smiling at her phone.

'she's like that with most people babe... well not me because i'm cool.' jake reassured his girlfriend

'i mean not really... you're dating arnie by choice, you can't be that cool.' gina told him, not looking up from her phone

'it's amy and we're the coolest couple to ever exist.'

'sure you are...'

'how do you know gina so well anyway?' amy asked

'we grew up together, same elementary school and then we saw each other nearly everyday at nana's.'

'it was pretty cool,' the auburn haired woman chimed in again. 'until your family moved away.'

'yeh, how've you been?'

'pretty great. i have a kid, she's great, that's basically it.'

'you have a kid?' jake asked, shocked

'yeh i have a one and a bit year old. i don't get why people say it in months like just say your kid is three or whatever like i don't go around and say i'm 371 months old do i?'

'yeh totally... but you, gina linetti, have a kid? are you married?'

'jake your girlfriend is right in front of you, plus you're not really my type. sorry boo.' gina skimmed over the question

'what's her name?'

'the enigma, iggy for short.'

'did- did you pick that?' amy asked, spinning on her chair to face gina

'yeh, if you don't like it then i don't like you... but you weren't my favourite anyway to be honest.'

the detective once again scowled at the assistant before turning back to her desk once again.

—————

'mija, your mother told me you spoke to her.' oscar diaz said, pulling his daughter aside

'i don't wanna talk about this right now, nobody else has brought it up.'

'no i know mija, i just want you to know that if you do want to talk about anything i won't judge. i'll try to understand.' rosa gave her father a brief smile before returning back to her family

'tia rosa,' a young girl came up to her, 'my mommy says you like boys and girls. i like boys and girl too, rico is a boy and he's my best friend but i like isabella too,' the six year old smiled

rosa kneeled down so she was eye level with the girl, 'you can like whoever you wanna princesa, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.'

the girl hugged rosa and smiled before running off to play with the other children

'what did you tell her?' rosa heard from behind her as she stood up

'does it matter?'

'yes it does mija, i don't want you spreading to other people in the family.'

'you say that like it's a disease.'

mrs diaz hesitated before replying, 'i just don't want this family to be full of... gays.'

'what's so wrong with supporting who people love?' rosa's voice was slowly getting louder as more attention turned to her

'no, nothing jus-'

'if there's nothing wrong with it then why can't you just support me!'

'it's just different mija, you're different to all the rest of us.'

'i'm probably not, maybe if you accepted me then everyone else wouldn't be scared to tell you that they're gay too!' by this point the room was silent

'everyone else?' one of the abuelas questioned

'ugh none of you get it! i'm bisexual, i don't care if you don't want me to be because i am!' some of the adults in the room gasped at the word bisexual. 'there's probably other people in this family that wanna come out but they're scared because of how you all reacted when i came out.' rosa had calmed down slightly but still didn't listen to what anyone else had to say, she just left the house leaving everyone in it stunned.

—————
it was nearing the end of the day, gina had just finished her last bit of a paperwork and was packing her stuff away in her bag.

'hey gina,' jake called from his desk, 'we're going to shaw's tonight, you wanna come?'

'i'd love to but i also wouldn't, plus i kinda have a kid to look after...'

'can't your boyfriend do it? i wanna catch up with you,' jake said grinning

'no, he's working. and no i can't get a sitter.'

'next time tho?'

'uhh yeh, sure.' gina said before entering the elevator.

as the elevator doors opened on the ground floor of the precinct, gina saw rosa and her stomach flipped

'what are you doing here? i thought you had to leave early,' gina questioned the detective

'i did leave early, now i'm back.'

'you okay diaz?'

'i'd be better if you didn't ask that.'

'i've known you for less than a day and i know you're not okay.'

'you've known me since i was 11, you were like 14.'

'you remember that?'

'yeh.'

'okay then, i've known you for 17 years... on and off, so i know you're not okay. what's up?'

'nothing.' rosa said before turning away from gina and walking out of the precinct.

'i thought you were going to finish paperwork?' gina said as she caught up with the detective

'i'm not now. don't ask anymore questions, you know enough.' rosa said before walking away.

written: march 2021
published: march 2021