Forever

Chapter 10 _ La Calma

During the week the girls met up everyday leading up to Halloween. The more they fell for one another the harder it was to stay away.

That Friday as promised Valentina dressed up as Supergirl and Juliana went as Lena Luthor. Juliana picked Valentina up from school and they headed over to the Fab 40s like they had originally planned. They spent the majority of the afternoon and part of the evening walking through all the festive streets and getting candy here and there.

Around 6pm Valentina led Juliana to Mercy General Hospital which was a few blocks down from where they parked.

"What are we doing here?" Juliana asked curiously.

"When my mother got sick and they could no longer help her Placerville she was transferred here, to this hospital. Even as sick as she was, she always thought of those around her. So she made me promise that every year I would come visit the family center and read to the children who couldn't go out on nights like these and make them feel like they weren't missing out on anything. That included chidden who were patients and those brought here to visit a family member. I used to get annoyed at having to do it on 'fun' holidays but the older I got the better it made me feel to be here. It made me feel like I was making her happy." Valentina said heading to wing the Carvajal family built, in honor of her mother, for the children to come and have a bit of fun.

"That's so sweet of you, Val. Your mom would be proud of the woman you've become." Juliana said giving Valentina's hand a squeeze.

"Yeah so I wanted to bring you here, to introduce you to the rest of my family and bring you into my world little by little. You said you wanted to get to know the real me. We'll start here." Valentina said looking at her tenderly and pulling her towards the door to the family room.

Once inside the room Valentina stood up straight and became a woman with a grace and elegance Juliana had yet to experience. It was magical to see her soft cuddly girlfriend embrace her power and place in society with such class and still have a tenderness for the children and those around her. Juliana payed attention to the way Valentina interacted with her siblings. Sweet and slightly childish with Guillermo yet strong firm in front of Eva. The Carvajal family had a certain poise about each of them, all so elegant. It made Juliana nervous and shy, she knew this was not what she expected her first love to be like. She did not expect to fall for media royalty but Valentina seemed so at ease with all the people present, she belonged here, she shined brighter.

Juliana tried to fit in and ignore the feelings of not belonging or being enough for such a powerful family. She spent most of her time with the hispanic children, taking to them in Spanish and making crafts with them all the while scanning the room as Valentina went from place to place sharing her light with this audience that loved her.

Juliana found herself sitting with a particular 5 year old on her lap. The girl had told her she was waiting for her mom to come home, that she had been coming to see her every day but her dad never let her stay the night. She was very curious as to how Juliana was friends with Valentina.

"Pero how did you meet her?" The curious child asked her.

"We met at a coffee shop. She was all alone and I needed a place to sit, we talked and became friends." Juliana told the little girl while playing with her hair.

"But she's Valentina! The prettiest girl on Earth!" The little girl said still not understanding.

After answering about 10 more questions she made eye contact with Valentina who was looking at her tenderly from the other side of the room. Valentina began making her way over to her girlfriend and the little girl, deciding to introduce herself to the stranger in Juliana's lap.