eli

“Scout asked me if you and I were married, and I said no, and he asked if you were married to someone else.”

“Is now when I’m supposed to fess up?” Kai chuckled, propping their phone up against the vase on the coffee table. “Where’d he get that from?”

“Well, he knows that people wear rings when they’re married, and you wore a lot of rings the last time you were here, so you’re definitely married.”

“Soon you’re gonna have to explain polyamory to him.” They raised their eyebrows as Amelia rolled her eyes. “What’d you tell him?”

“That people can wear rings without being married. But, I’m pretty sure he’s telling Link that you and I are married, which will be a super interesting conversation next time I see him.”

“You ever think about it?”

“Think about what?”

“Getting married.”

“No,” she chuckled, “because I know I don’t want to.” She paused, biting her bottom lip as she thought. “Do you think about it?”

“A little, but that’s mostly just because we’re constantly seeing things in the news about gay marriage, so it’s a little hard to avoid.” Amelia watched as they picked up their laptop and leaned back into the couch, her stomach sinking as she recounted their words.

“Do you want to get married?”

“Not particularly. I’m not opposed to it, but I don’t need to, and you don’t want to, so I’m fine with that.” They looked over at their phone. “Did I freak you out with that?”

“A little.” She pursed her lips. “That’s just how things ended with Link, and you said it, and it just,” she shrugged. “It brought back some not-so-great feelings.”

“Well, it’s not something I need to happen. We can get paperwork to do almost anything that a legal marriage would give us, and who knows if we’ll even be able to get married in a few years from now.”

“That’s a little dark.”

“I’m being realistic.” They shrugged. “But, we don’t need to be married to be with each other. Queer people have lived all throughout history without getting married.”

“Thank you,” she smiled. “How would you feel if I made you my emergency contact?”

“It’s a little humiliating to have a Paw Patrol bandaid,” Kai muttered, glancing at their hand as Amelia finished pressing down the bandaid.

“Well, that’s all we’ve got. I used the last of the Ninja Turtle ones last week when Scout scraped his knee.” She crumpled up the wrapper and tossed it into the trash can.

“What happened to the dinosaur ones?”

“I have more of those at home, but my purse is pretty limited in its’ contents.” She turned around to wash her hands in the sink. “You’d think that as a doctor, you would own some sort of first-aid kid.”

“I’m never here. There’s one at the lab, but I also don’t normally burn my finger on candles.”

“Candles are overrated, anyways.” She stepped back in their direction, running her hands through their hair and brushing it back. “Battery-operated ones are significantly less dangerous.”

“So, you’re saying I need to babyproof my apartment.”

Am I seeing you tonight?

Amelia drummed her thumbs against the side of her phone as typing bubbles appeared on her screen.

I can’t tonight, I’m sorry. FMD.

She frowned, immediately pulling up Google and typing in those three letters.

Fibromuscular Dysplasia?

"There you are," Amelia smiled, sitting up in bed as Kai walked towards her and holding out her arms. "I'm not a big fan of waking up without you."

"Sometimes I work out in the morning." They leaned into Amelia's embrace and kissed her cheek.

"I can smell." She scrunched her nose as she dropped her arms around them and pulled back. "I do think you're a little insane for going to the gym at five in the morning."

"Well, I'm working for most of the day, and then my night is occupied by you, so I've gotta fit it in somewhere." They walked over to their dresser, dropping their gym bag and pulling open a drawer.

"You know, if you wanted to go after work, I would happily come watch."

"Yeah?" Kai grinned, turning to Amelia after slinging a shirt over their shoulder.

"You think I'd pass up on an opportunity to watch you work out?" She tsked. "I get to still wake up with you next to me, I get to watch you work out, and I get to shower with you afterwards."

"Yeah, but then you have to deal with me sweaty on the way home. I'm not a fan of showering at the gym."

"We'll stick your cologne in your bag." She hopped out of bed, trailing her hand across their back as she walked past them. "Just get me some coffee and stick me in a corner with my computer, and I'll be all set."

"I'm gonna have to wash my hair tonight," Amelia chuckled, shutting her eyes as Kai brushed the front strand of her hair behind her ear. "Unless you want to be sneezing from pollen all night."

"I'll help you wash it." They kissed her forehead and set another flower in her hair. "Stay still, because these are gonna start falling out."

"Here!" Scout shouted, running over with a fistful of dandelions.

"Thank you," Kai grinned, turning to Scout and holding their hands out for the flowers. "You wanna get some of those pink flowers?" They pointed towards a tree, and Scout ran back into the grass.

"Please don't put those in my hair," Amelia muttered, taking one of the dandelions.

"Yeah, we just gotta get rid of them before he gets back." They held out their arm, shaking the flowers until all the seeds blew away in the wind. "We're not about to have these spread throughout the house for the next month."

Kai tossed the stems into a nearby patch of taller grass, brushing off their hands before returning to Amelia on the picnic blanket.

"Make a wish," she smiled, holding up the dandelion she'd taken from them.

"You better turn because the wind is going to blow these right into your face." She leaned to the side, and Kai blew onto the flower.

"What'd you wish for?"

“If I had known you would look this good in that suit, I would’ve kept us way more on track in the lab,” Amelia muttered, walking up behind Kai in the mirror and wrapping her arms around their waist. They chuckled, fiddling with the buttons on the cuffs of their sleeves.

“You still aren’t ready.”

“I don’t wanna put on a dress and heels yet,” she spoke against the fabric of their suit jacket. “Once I put them on, we have to go and be social and listen to a bunch of men tell us how they were just about to do the same exact thing we did, but we happened to beat them to it.”

“I know, but we do that,” they turned to face her, “you get a big, fancy award, and then we come home to celebrate.”

“I appreciate your optimism, but,”

“No buts, Shepherd.” Kai placed their hand under her chin, gently guiding her face upwards. “We both know that you’re going to be on that stage in a few hours accepting a Harper Avery award, and I’m not going to let you be humble about this.”

“You deserve it just as much as I do.”

“This is an award for a surgeon. It’s specifically for the incredible things you did, things that I and 99.9% of this population cannot do. My name’s in all the research, and anyone who matters will find it there.” They placed their hands on her hips. “This is your day, Amelia Shepherd, and you better enjoy every minute of it.”

“Fine,” she whispered, biting her bottom lip and doing up the buttons of their shirt. “Will you at least help me get ready?”

“Oh, absolutely.” They pushed down the waistband of her sweatpants.

“I thought you said no butts, Bartley.”