#reignvers

That was the second indication something was wrong; from within the bundle of blankets a groan resounded, and the voice that grumbled out a reprimand belonged to none other than Samantha Arias, who seemed to be equally oblivious, for her chastising was aimed at Ruby.

The third indication? When she looked around the room - Sam’s, not her own - she found a gleaming ring settled on her ring finger. When she looked at the woman beside her there was a matching band to be found, and the only logical conclusion was that they had to be wedding bands.

“C’mon, moms, I wanna surprise Ruby!” The child had yell-whispered. “You promised you’d let me help with her birthday preparations!”

A brief silence as both women were processing what exactly was going on, and that’s when Alex started to recall. She recalled that Sam and her were, indeed, wives, and mothers to not only Ruby, but also this child, who they named Amber. But she also remembered how the day prior to this, she’d only been contemplating asking Sam to make this relationship a serious one.

Alex supposed she had gotten what she’d wanted, though she’d been thinking of girlfriends rather than wives.

“Amber, why don’t you go ahead and grab some flour and sugar from the cabinet,” Alex started, and much to her delight the child seemed to light up at that. “We’ll be right there, we just need a minute.”

“Okay!” She chirped, rushing off the bed and to the kitchen.

When Amber was finally out of earshot, Alex and Sam turned towards each other. “Either I’m getting early dementia, or we just got into a 9-year marriage overnight,” Sam remarked.

“Definitely not dementia.”

“Rubes! Wake up! It’s your birthday!”

Ruby frowned as she tried to recognize the voice, as well as the feel of the small hands currently shaking her less than gently. She couldn’t place it, but when she opened her eyes to look at the young girl, her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. 

Her wish had come true.

She had a little sister now, and if that part of her wish came true, there wasn’t a doubt in her mind the second part of her wish came true as well. 

And indeed, when she entered the kitchen area - led by a very excitable Amber - her mother was standing there with Alex. As if that wasn’t exciting enough, the table was stacked with waffles and pancakes, her favorite kinds too. 

In the midst of being thrilled to bits Ruby failed to notice that the two women were still trying to figure out where to go from there, didn’t understand what was going on, but decided to dedicate this day to her (their?) daughter and figure it out later.

And if you were to ask Ruby, the day couldn’t have been better.

It wasn’t about the presents, despite the fact that they were awesome; the four of them spent the entire day together, playing games and talking and laughing and completely comfortable around each other. 

Ruby hadn’t missed that Alex and her mother had been a little stilted around each other at first - even more so around Amber - and it was easy to see that to them it was just like how it was for herself: remembering yesterday as it was, only to suddenly wake to being a family of four. She wasn’t planning on telling them it was because of her wish; it would probably spoil the fun they were having and Ruby wanted it to last as long as it could. If they weren’t gonna bring it up, she sure as hell wasn’t going to.

By the end of the day it wasn’t brought up, and Ruby fell asleep in a blanket fort next to her little sister and mothers, wishing every day could be like this.

Samantha didn’t wake until she felt a movement against her back, slowly bringing her to consciousness from her slumber. She slowly turned around, towards the source of the disturbance.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you,” Alex whispered.

She hummed quietly. “It’s alright,” Sam responded, before slowly opening her eyes to look at the gorgeous woman in front of her. The ruffled bed hairdo made her smile softly. “Do you have somewhere to be?”

“No, no, it’s…” 

Alex glanced at their fingers, reminding Sam of the day before. Of being married and casual touches and kisses on cheeks and chaste kisses on lips, the closeness of their dating multiplied and amplified, and simply being a family together. She only properly noticed now that they weren’t in bed but rather in the blanket fort they’d fallen asleep in. Looking at their fingers as well, she gasped.

The rings were gone.

That should be a relief, right? She hadn’t actually married Alex, and while they’d agreed yesterday to pretend they were married for the time being until they’d deal with it later, but now it had been dealt with. They were no longer married, they could just go back to dating and taking it at their own pace.

As they should.

As they wanted.

But then why did she miss the weight on her finger already?

She looked back at Alex, who was watching her and licked her lips nervously. Sam shook her head lightly and opened her arms. “Lie with me?”

For a moment it looked like she wouldn’t, and Sam was convinced the other woman would bolt. Already a monologue was assembling in her head, a plead to get her to stay, that they’d have to talk about this eventually as they said they would, that yesterday had actually happened, but there was no need. With a soft sigh Alex relaxed and lowered back down into her arms, facing her and bringing their foreheads together. Her eyes were closed, and as they shared their breaths Sam closed her own, simply lingering in the moment and revel each other’s presence.

They lay like that in silence for several long moments, before Alex murmured, “I’m gonna miss Amber.”

Sam’s eyes shot open wide, not having thought about checking up on the kids yet and feeling slightly guilty about that. A look towards the area of the fort where the girls had fallen asleep confirmed it was just Ruby sleeping peacefully, without a trace of Amber anywhere. “Me too,” she breathed, her eyes not moving from Ruby and the empty space. It was hard to wrap her head around the fact that a living being faded in and out of existence just like that; Amber may have been there for only a day, but the girl had found root in her heart quickly.

“Hey,” If it weren’t for Alex gently guiding her head back to her, she’s not sure she would’ve looked away any time soon. Alex’s brows were knitted together and her mouth was pinched into a sad smile, but there was a confidence in her gaze as she spoke. “It’ll be okay. I’m sure she’s okay too, wherever she is.” Her eyes diverted as she continued, sounding more uncertain as Alex drifted off. “She may not have been really ours, but...”

Sam waited for her to finish her sentence, watching as her cheeks grew more and more red. The lingering silence whispered how she thought the sentence was going to end: but she felt like she was; but I would have liked her to be; but she could be, if we wanted to.

With a shake of her head Alex looked back at her, that reassuring certainty having made its return. “But Ruby is real. She may only be yours, but I’m pretty sure she likes me, and I like her, and I like you. That’s real. Our feelings are real.”

Unable to resist, Sam teased with a smirk, “Alex Danvers, are you telling me you have feelings for me?”

“Shut up!” Alex laughed softly, still minding her volume as Ruby was asleep next to them, and playfully shoved her shoulder, “As if you didn’t know.”

“Well, I hoped you did, else it would be a little awkward when I’d ask you to be my girlfriend.”

Alex’s eyes went wide with a gasp, and she groaned out a “No!”

“No?” Sam frowned; had she completely misread the situation? Didn’t Alex just say she had feelings for her?

“No- yes.”

Sam made a face at Alex, and it was enough to get her to take a breath without having to tell her to do so, or telling her to pick one, not both, you’re not making sense.

“Yes, I would like to be your girlfriend.” Alex finally clarified.

A tilted head. “So then why the ‘no’?”

“Because I was going to ask you!”

Sam laughed at her for a moment, making the badass agent actually pout and laughing a moment longer because of it, she finally gathered herself and cupped Alex’s face. “Do you want a redo and ask me, or can we skip to the part where we make out until Ruby wakes?”

That effectively wiped the pout off her face and replaced it with a grin, eagerly placing a kiss on Sam’s lips. “Making out sounds good,” Alex commented, before closing the distance once more and they got lost in each other.