Take me in your arms (suddenly there's sunlight all around me)
Yolanda proposes. (Garsanshimi, within the Parent AU)
Well deserved fluff for my babes @santospilled @black-plant-leg @blueeyesshyskies (and the rest of our little unhinged club) kiss kiss enjoy
Yolanda has had the website bookmarked for years. She started searching just after Jahan had started calling her Mamá, knowing with a deep certainty that this relationship was going to be forever. She had still sometimes felt like an outsider in the relationship that had formed between her girlfriends in her absence, still carried the guilt of causing Trinity pain, but every time Jahan reached for her, every time Baran searched for her embrace in her sleep, every time Trinity sleepily kissed her bare shoulder the feeling shrank smaller.
She just hadn’t found the right time to buy the matching rings. Hiding them would be nearly impossible, and she wasn’t exactly known for her patience either. She identifies what she wants, and she gets it. Who needs patience? Not Yolanda, not once in her life.
But now there’s another child running around their home, more solid proof that her girls aren’t going anywhere. A baby conceived from Trinity, from a Baran lookalike donor, and brought to life from Yolanda’s own body. There was simply no reason, no excuse, to delay the question now.
—
The ring she’s chosen isn’t a traditional engagement ring. No diamonds, just a simple moss agate encased in delicate engraved leaves. White gold for Trinity, rose gold for Baran. She’ll order her own set when she buys the matching wedding bands, a soft smile on her lips as she imagines picking them out with the help of her fiancées. Her fingers hover over her screen, hesitating to contact the jeweler for the customization she wants to request. She knows this isn’t a common occurrence, is a little scared that her purchase will be declined, but this is a queer-owned company. Surely it will be okay.
She types her message in and presses send.
—
The next month is… hard. The jeweler had readily agreed to her customizations, and now she’s left with the urge to hide her phone from her girlfriends. She’s never done that before, even easily handing her phone to Trinity during their casual days — you kind of get over it when an intern or resident sometimes has to pull your phone out of your pocket and read your messages to an entire surgical theater. Her phone doesn’t even have a passcode.
Baran has a knowing smirk on her face, amused at Yola’s attempt to keep a secret, but Trinity… Trinity is barely concealing her anxiety. Yolanda cannot wait for the damned rings to be finished so she can finally, finally, claim her forever.
She does her best to give Trinity extra attention, extra physical reassurance that everything is fine, but she can tell that Trinity is weary.
Trinity confronts her the same day she gets the notification that the rings have been delivered to the PO Box she set up for this exact reason.
“If you’re leaving, please don’t take Alma with you.” Trinity murmurs the request into the hollow of Yolanda’s throat. Yolanda freezes, then blinks rapidly. What? What?
“Trinity, baby, no,” she grasps the younger woman’s chin, guides her face gently up to look her in the eyes. “I’m not going anywhere.” She almost folds at the wet sheen in Trinity’s green-grey eyes, almost confesses then and there, but she wants to do this right. On one knee, two rings held out in offer.
—
They’re at the zoo today, Kian joining his brother and sister for an afternoon to give the other couple a break in exchange for them taking the children for the night.
Yolanda’s plan is simple. Have a wonderful day at the zoo and aquarium. Drop the tired-out kids off with Baran’s ex husband. Take her girls out for an expensive dinner, bring them home, and drop to her knees to ask them for forever with her. They’ll say yes, obviously, and they’ll spend the night together without the limits of keeping quiet.
Her plan goes to complete shit during hour three of their excursion. Alma is fussing, the two-year-old overstimulated and sleepy. They’re taking a break to eat overpriced hotdogs, Trinity a few paces away pushing the stroller back and forth to help Alma fall asleep.
Alma is screaming, people are staring. They’ve been dealing with the comments all day. It’s so nice that your nanny came out with you today! Is she looking for more work? Yolanda has been seething for the last hour. The children look enough alike that they’re clearly siblings, and Alma looks so much like Trinity. It should be obvious that she’s not a babysitter — if anything, Yolanda looks like the outsider.
And then the worst possible comment comes from an old white woman, directed at Baran. Maybe you should help your daughter with your granddaughter, hmm? Baran stares wide-eyed at the woman, not sure how to respond. Trinity has stilled, hands frozen on the seatbelt of the stroller. None of them are strangers to the comments on their age gaps — out as a trio or on couple dates — but no one has ever assumed that Trinity was Baran’s child before.
She sees red. Speaks before she thinks.
“She is our wife.” Yolanda glares, fists clenching. Baran holds a hand to her mouth to hide a laugh. The woman stares openly, mouth agape. Trinity slowly resumes taking Alma from the stroller, propping her on her hip, and cocks her head at Yolanda. Wife? She mouths. And Yolanda blushes.
So much for her surprise.
—
The kids are passed out in the third row, Baran and Trinity in the pilot chairs of the second row. Yolanda can’t believe she’s driving a fucking minivan now, but none of their cars were big enough to fit their family when Kian wasn’t with his own parents. Baran’s hand is on Trinity’s knee, the one prone to swelling and pain, and Trinity has her eyes trained on Yolanda’s through the rear-view mirror. The rings sit heavily in her pocket the entire drive to their next stop.
Farid is waiting outside with Madison when they arrive, and Trinity and Baran easily hand over still-sleeping Kian and Alma to the couple. Jahan wakes up on his own, plants a kiss on Yolanda’s cheek, and hops out of the car with a shouted bye, moms! See you tomorrow! as he lets himself into his second home. Yolanda shakes her head, amused at his energy so soon after waking up from his short nap. She hands Farid the two overnight bags, and Baran and Trinity take their seats again, Trinity in the front this time.
“They should invent a minivan with a three-seat front seat,” she says, smirking. “Specifically for me and my wives.” Baran laughs from the back seat, and Yolanda gathers Trinity’s hand in her own. She starts driving, twisting her torso to check behind her as she backs out of the driveway.
“You don’t mind that I said that?” She asks, biting her lip. Trinity shakes her head.
“Only if you didn’t mean it.” From Trinity.
“Definitely not.” From Baran.
Yolanda releases the breath she swears she’s been holding since the picnic table at the zoo.
—
They don’t even make it inside the house before Yolanda is pulling the rings from her pocket and holding them out to her girls.
“I had a whole plan. Dinner at Altius, then back home. I was going to light the fireplace on the patio, turn on some soft jazz, and dance with you both. And then I was going to drop onto both knees — one for each of you — and ask you to marry me.” She shakes her head. “But waiting has never been my strong suit, so… will you? Marry me?”
Yolanda is glad she’s standing because Trinity launches herself at Yolanda, wrapping her limbs around her body, and she almost drops the rings trying to catch her. Baran follows shortly after, wrapping her arms around both of them. She pulls Yolanda into a soft, easy kiss. Trinity, to her credit, doesn’t whine, just presses her own kisses to any patch of bare skin she can reach.
They pull apart long enough to actually enter their home, and Yolanda slips the rings onto each of their fingers.
“I thought you were going to break up with us.” Trinity says, admiring the ring on her finger. Flexing her hand to test the weight.
“Where is your ring?” Baran asks, head cocked to the side.
“I need to buy it still. I didn’t want to order it until you both said yes.” She explains, shrugging. Baran laughs, full-bellied and true.
“Oh, you think you’re buying your own ring?” Overlapping with Trinity’s “I’m buying your ring!”
Yolanda drags her fiancées up to their room. She feels so happy, so warm. She can’t believe they said yes, can’t believe she ever thought they’d say no. They’re hers. Maybe not on paper, they’ll have to figure that out, but tangibly, visibly, hers.
—
They’ll argue about who’s paying for what rings later — obviously Yolanda is paying, she’s the one who asked, after all.
—
She does not win the argument of who will buy her ring.
(Trinity buys Yolanda’s engagement ring, the same as hers and Baran’s in yellow gold, and they buy the wedding bands using the shared account they all contribute to. Baran buys them all necklaces to wear their rings on at work.)
