Trois Mots

Quinze

Since Christmas, Anne and Cathy's relationship had done nothing but grow. They were both happier than at any point in either life, and the feeling seemed to have carried to the rest of the house. There was a bigger spring in each of their steps, a wider smile on their faces. And as time passed by each queen found their place in the household.

Jane and Catherine were in charge of the domestics; it had been that way since day one. Cooking, tidying and keeping the general order in an otherwise chaotic mess was their calling, be it because of their level-headed nature, or stern mama bear face, no one knew. But they had a talent for controlling the gremlins.

Anne and Kitty were the light of the house, there was always something going on with them that could bring a smile to anyone's face, whether it be a stupid game they'd invented, or the muffled sound of their belting to Disney from behind one of their doors.

And Anna was often part of this chaos, always ready to offer a sarcastic comment or quick witted banter. But she had also seemed to adopt the role of peacekeeper. Cathy had been the first to discover her surprisingly wise outlook on life, and when she wasn't causing trouble, Anna was always there to knock some sense into whoever needed it.

Speaking of Cathy, it was a known fact that she was an introvert at heart - contrary to her girlfriend who just needed a little push to get back to her extroverted nature - She spent every free second she had with her laptop, and if it wasn't for the others she probably would have been quite content staying up in her room day after day. But she was still part of the family, and so she made sure to always join in on family movie nights, or trips to the parks, or keeping the gremlins out of trouble.

Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or possibly just her natural aura, but she was the most calming presence of anyone in the house, and while Anna could solve an issue with a blunt and no-nonsense solution, Cathy was most often the peacekeeper purely because she herself was just that: peaceful. Whether you needed a vent, or a story to distract you, she was always on hand and ready. Kat benefited from this trait most, as she'd managed to acquire a collection of nearly all of Cathy's books and would re-read them multiple times, finding Cathy's storytelling abilities most effective when trying to forget a nightmare.

All of them had their role, and each of them fit it perfectly. And the six of them grew closer each day. the love and light that glowed within their little family holding a sense of comfort that washed away all darkness.

One afternoon, Anne strolled down the stairs with Cathy buried under a number of hoodies, a winter coat, a scarf, gloves and bobble hat piled on top. While Anne could most generally be described as a chaotic gremlin, Cathy had found that underneath, she was actually the most caring and considerate soul. Which is why she found herself suffocating under the layers of clothing, just to humour her girlfriend.

"You sure you've got enough layers there, mate?" Anna laughed from the couch where she and Kat were watching a film.

"This wasn't my idea." Cathy replied, voice slightly muffled by the large scarf.

"I've learnt my lesson from last time." Anne explained. "She won't be getting sick today." She grinned triumphantly and Anna laughed at Cathy's raised middle finger that looked slightly less offensive from under the woolly pink glove.

"Excuse me are they my gloves?" Kat accused as the sight.

"We used mine to make flour bombs remember? And then Aragon threw them over the hedge. I never did find them again." Anne said sadly.

"Ah yes that was a good day." Kat smiled fondly.

"Twas." Anne reminisced. "Anyway, we're off." She ushered Cathy out the door, intertwining their hands and closing the door behind them.

Halfway down the drive Anne started to drift ahead a bit, when Cathy looked down she found out why.

"For God's sake, You did not bring the heelies." She shook her head at the sight, though the smile threatened to peak through her false exasperation.

"Oh I did." Anne grinned, backing up for a run up. "Jane thought she was so clever hiding them in the washing machine. Little does she know I'm the smartest person in that house." Those were the words that left her mouth milliseconds before she ran over a stick and went flying.

Now, Cathy was not the most athletic person alive. She possessed no hand eye coordination whatsoever for that matter. So how she managed to drag her little legs to a mid-flight Anne and catch her before her face hit the tarmac, she herself did not know.

"What was that you said?" She twizzled Anne round in her arms with a sly smirk on her face. "Smartest person in the house?"

"Shut up." Anne pouted and straightened up, before Cathy clasped her hand and pulled her back down.

"No Thank you kiss for your knight in shining armour?" She feigned offence as Anne rolled her eyes.

"You forfeited that privilege when you questioned my intelligence." She raised an eyebrow with a smirk and Cathy let out a laugh.

"Ok then, you are the smartest person in that house." Anne grinned before she continued. "Except, for a certain someone that doesn't go around tripping over sticks."

"I guess I can live with that." Anne replied before pressing a sweet kiss to Cathy's lips.

They carried on walking for a while, eventually deciding to head back as the sun started to set behind the trees.

Anne rested her head on Cathy's shoulder and hummed in appreciation. "You know, I think this amount of layers should be a regular occurrence, you're very comfy."

"I'm boiling."

"At least your won't get sick."

It turned out that Anne's method of cold-prevention wasn't very effective, as Cathy came down with an even worse case of illness than the first time.
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Funnily enough I'm writing this while in bed with a cold - and no it's not corona.