"Can you bring those out when the timer goes off?" Jennie asks her wife, pointing over to the vegetable dish cooking in the oven.
"Of course," Lisa says, and smiles when Jennie gives her a kiss on the cheek for it.
They finish setting the table, and Jennie calls Lisa's parents and Yuki to the table. Jennie sets her in the booster chair and they all take their seats.
"So, Jennie-ah... how has work been?" Lisa's mother asks her with a kind smile. Her mother always took kindly to the two new additions to Lisa's life.
Lisa's father looks slowly back and forth between the two of them, face not giving away any expressions. Her father wasn't as happy initially with the situation as her mother, but he's slowly coming around, especially after they got mated officially, matching marks on their necks.
"It's great," Jennie answers, her warm sweet smile stretching her pink lips and crinkling her eyes. Lisa thinks she's still just as in love with it as when she first saw it.
"I'm studying to get my master's in nursing," Jennie adds. "And then I'll make more money. But it'll pretty much be the same job," her smile grew even bigger.
"That's great, Jennie-ah," Mother praises, and Lisa wraps her arm around her shoulders and gives presses a kiss into her hair, just because she wants to and she can.
"And Yuki's been doing well in preschool," Lisa tells them.
"Ah, you're growing up, aren't you?" Her mother cooes at her, reaching across the table to wipe at her face with a napkin.
"She sure is," Jennie then Lisa look at each other at the same time. It's time.
They link hands under the table and Lisa sits up a little straighter. "Actually. We invited you two over because we have an announcement to make."
Jennie rests her free hand over her stomach. Lisa sees her mother's eyes instantly go wide with understanding, while her father still waits.
"We're expecting..." Jennie says. Despite not knowing how the news will be received, she still has an excited smile waiting to break free on her face, teeth biting into her lower lip.
Lisa grins, too, remembering the day they found out, how ecstatic they were. They're making their family on their own terms.
"Is it yours this time?" Lisa's father asks, lips pressed into a tight line and arms crossed.
"They're both mine, father." Lisa said, not loudly but with enough ferocity in her eyes that she's daring her father to fight back.
"The adoption went through. They're both my children."
Her father's eyes drift over to Yuki but Lisa doesn't wait to see his reaction. She turns, tucking her face against Jennie's and leaving a kiss on her neck, right above her mating mark. She's never been close enough to someone to speak without words, but she can understand what Jennie's saying now when she nuzzles her cheek back and squeezes her hand gently.
When Lisa looks back up, her father has a small smile on his face, and her mother is beaming.
Her father extends a hand across the table, and Lisa takes it wordlessly. "You're a good woman, daughter."
Lisa simply nods. She never needed anyone's approval to embrace the best thing in her life.
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Lisa puts their daughter to bed that night while Jennie cleans up from dinner.
"Daddy," she says as she snuggles into her bed. She's always been daddy, hasn't been a moment since she was born that she wasn't.
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"Can you read the Cinderella book?"
"Of course."
She reads her the story and gives her forehead a kiss before turning off the light and joining her wife in the living room.
"How did it go?" She asks.
"Good. She was out like a light."
"Perfect. You need to watch the new episode of La Casa De Papel with me," Jennie smirks, tugging on Lisa's hand to bring her over to the couch. Lisa knows that's still code for let's make out.
Jennie slots her lips against her lazily, practiced. Lisa's thumbs rub circles into her hipbones.
When they break to breathe for a moment, Jennie plays with the hair at the nape of her neck. "It was nice. What your dad said today," she says.
Lisa gives a slight shake of her head. "I guess. I never really gave a fuck, you know? Who cares what anyone else thinks?"
Jennie showed her gummy smile. There's a glimmer in her eyes as she places Lisa's hand over her stomach, both of them together. "I know. That's why I'm lucky."
Lisa's slow with faces, needs time to map out their beauty before she can appreciate the entirety of them. She thinks she could spend a lifetime and still not be finished finding all the beauty in Jennie's face, with every face she makes.
"You know," Jennie starts. "There's have a secret I haven't told you yet."
"Oooohh?" Lisa says, curious.
"Remember when we first met? And I gave you those brownies?"
Lisa nods. "They were so good, almost made me come in my pants."
Giggling, Jennie continues, "Well, I lied a little."
Lisa's expression turns to confusion, furrowing her brows. "What?"
Jennie looks up at her. "I didn't really introduce myself to all the neighbors at that place. I just saw you walking to the mailbox from the window and thought you were cute."
Lisa lets out a loud laugh, incredulous. "Really?"
"Yes, really!" Jennie insists. "The movers had dropped off my stuff and I was inside. I just happened to look out my window and saw a super cute girl with bangs getting the mail. And then a few minutes later I heard your door opening and I looked through the peephole and saw your hair."
Lisa laughs again, dropping her forehead onto Jennie's shoulder. "You're ridiculous. I would have kissed you if you told me that when you first met me."
"I was pregnant! I didn't think anything would happen. I just wanted to meet the cute neighbor," Jennie says, a hint of a pout in her voice.
Lisa lifts her head and kisses Jennie slowly on the lips, both of them smiling into it. "Will you make me more if I ask nicely?"
"Of course," Jennie says before going in for another kiss. "I'll even put some nuts in some of them to surprise you."
