Becky Mercer and Emie Morris hate each other. There's no getting around that. But when their trainer gets in a hospital that will leave him incapacitated for two months, the girls know that they must put aside their differences. Unfortunately, there...
"Do you want to meet Bianca?" Aunt Mary asked Emie as soon as they had stepped through the threshold.
"She's such a beautiful baby," Emie's grandmother commented from the baby's room which was painted a light shade of green. "She'll surely have all the boys running."
"Who decided that Bianca's a she?" Emie quizzed, starting to have a bad feeling about the visit. "Who decided that they would be attracted to boys?"
"Emie darling, that's Bianca's gender." her mother said through clenched teeth, elbowing her in the ribs, conveniently ignoring the part of who the family decided Bianca's sexuality. "Show some respect." She seemed to decide that smiling would make the rest of the family unable to hear the dispute. Don't cause a scene. Was the silent demand from the elbow.
Sensing the tension in the room, Aunt Mary spoke: "C'mon, Bianca's this way."
Emie noted the lack of pronouns and smiled. At least Aunt Mary understood what Emie had been saying. That was why Aunt Mary had been the first family member Emie had come out to. Aunt Mary led them down the hall to the minimalist living room, complete with a fur rug, grayscale paintings, and a leather sofa. Even though it was a relatively cold color palette, Emie had always found the room warm and inviting.
The baby was adorable, with a few strands of golden hair emerging on their head. Emie decided at that moment that she would protect Bianca to the best of their ability and use they and them in reference to the child until they were certain of their gender identity. Emie knew what it was like to grow up misgendered and didn't want to wish the same on Bianca, even if they should find that they were cis.
"We haven't picked a middle name yet," Uncle Earl announced, breaking Emie from her thoughts. "Do you have anything in mind?"
"Jamie!" Emie found themself blurting out. "Err...I like the name, Jamie."
There was an angry glare shot her way from their mother at the outburst. Fortunately for Emie, Aunt Mary seemed quite delighted by the suggestion and oblivious to the death glare.
"Jamie!" she clapped her hands and scooped up the child. "Bianca Jamie Morris. It's perfect!"
Applause erupted from the family, besides Emie's mother of course. Uncle Earl and Aunt Mary began ushering everyone into the dining room where platters of snack foods were laid out. The crystal chandelier sparkled overhead and the crystal wine glasses—filled with nothing in particular—refracted the lights, spraying elegant rainbows of fractured light all around the room.
"I brought cake!" Emie's grandmother announced, happily pushing her way to the front of the crowd, cake in hand. "For the little birthday girl!"
Emie internalized their anger and did her best to look unfazed by the comment. Some people will never change. She supposed. Emie hadn't gotten a glance at the cake until the candles were lit as it was brought into the dining room. Aunt Mary proudly held the serving knife, balancing little Bianca's hand on it while posing for pictures. The camera flashes seemed to be never-ending. Emie internally sighed when the pictures were finally over. Uncle Earl was passing out little glittering party hats to everyone while Emie stood in disbelief.
The cake was pink. Not just pink, but with the words "Baby girl's first Birthday" in hot pink icing. How dare they assume that Bianca was going to be cis! It was enough to make Emie pound their fist on the table before she even knew what they were doing. They were so consumed by their own rage; their own pain.
"How dare you!" she shouted at everyone, causing all the heads in the room to whip around. "How dare you treat Bianca like some cis-girl before they can tell you otherwise! How dare you dress them in little pink dresses and tiaras before you know whether or not they like them! How dare you make jokes about them attracting all the boys. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves!"
Silence met their outburst until her mother pushed through the crowd and grabbed her by the ear, dragging them outside the dining room and to one of the spare bedrooms.
"Are you finished?" she demanded, spit flying from her mouth. "I will not have you...infect...this child, are we clear? You chose to be trans and that's fine but this child...this girl...will not end up like you. Got it? That's the last thing we need!"
"From your words, it seems that it isn't fine with you," Emie commented, voice surprisingly level.
"What isn't?" her mother demanded, as enraged as ever.
"Being anything but the perfect straight cis!"
Silence filled the spare room beside the shaking and angry breaths of those inside it. Emie knew at that moment for the first time ever how her mother truly felt about them being trans and if they were honest, she was grateful. If she had it their way, it wouldn't have been during Bianca's first-ever birthday, but she was grateful nonetheless.
"I'm done," Emie said suddenly, surprised by the firmness of their voice.
"Excuse me?"
"I said 'I'm done'. I'm leaving."
Emie marched out of the room, leaving her mother open-mouthed.
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