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Apr 7, 2025

It Worked (9/?)

12.7k words: Fluff. Pure fucking fluff

MINORS MUST NOT INTERACT

Pairing: Agatha x Rio x Reader

Summary: There was a beat of silence—not heavy, but full. You didn’t see the way Agatha and Rio exchanged a glance over your shoulder. A look passed silently. One of those rare, weighted glances—half conversation, half vow. Not quite a promise, but close. Something blooming.

Where the Future Sat Waiting

It didn’t change overnight. But when it did, it was because you let it.

Rest was no longer something you fought off or rationed out in guilt-ridden hours. It was something you welcomed. Craved, even. You let your body sink into it, let your muscles go soft against their touch, let the ache melt away into blankets and cushions, and the echo of two voices who loved you far too much to keep watching you disappear.

You kept your promise: winter break would be for family. For softness. For rest. No school. No stress. Just time. Time to nap in the glow of a quiet afternoon, to snack on little things throughout the day, to feel your body slow down and catch up with itself. Time to feel the way you were growing—all of you.

And BeanSprout was thankful. You could feel it in the steady stretches beneath your skin, the way they seemed to roll with joy after you finished a bowl of fruit or when you curled into a warm lap and let yourself drift. They responded not to panic or pressure but to stillness, to safety. You were feeding them now—not just food, but joy, ease, love. They expanded with you. A shared delight in a season that asked for nothing but breath and warmth.

No longer did Rio watch you with silent panic every time your eyes fluttered closed mid-conversation. No longer did Agatha pace like a cat outside the study door when you worked past midnight. No longer did they trade whispered worries when you stirred by noon and still looked pale. You had scared them—yes—but you had also promised them. And this time, you kept it.

It happened often now—that slow slip into sleep with one of their hands draped over the curve of your belly, the sound of some half-watched movie filling the space with calm. Sometimes you woke with Agatha’s voice murmuring beside you, her thumb rubbing idle circles into your arm as she read from a book she’d sworn she wouldn’t re-read again. Other times it was Rio’s soft hum that pulled you gently back from dreams, her fingers intertwined with yours, a smile just barely tugging at the edge of her lips.

Even the smallest things felt different now. Softer. More sacred. Like the way Rio would toss you one of her bigger hoodies from across the room with a wink and a, “For the bump. But also because I like you in my clothes.” Or the way Agatha always knew when to hand you a snack before you realized you were hungry, muttering something about Baby Bean liking bananas like it was a ritual incantation.

It was easy, in the way the best things are. Easy to fall asleep with your face buried in Rio’s lap while Agatha read aloud nearby. Easy to wake up to the sounds of laughter from the kitchen as they prepared something together, voices overlapping in mock arguments about pie ratios and oven temperatures. It is easy to feel full—not just from food, but from love, from rest, from the slow and steady belief that you are finally safe.

So when Thanksgiving arrived, it felt less like a holiday and more like the natural continuation of the peace you’d all finally found, not in grand declarations or crowded tables, but in the hush of a house that had learned how to breathe again. There were no guests. No traffic. No need to change out of pajamas. Just you, Rio, and Agatha in a world that had narrowed down to comfort, quiet joy, and the warm smell of roasted vegetables filling the air.

It was the first holiday since everything had changed—since your body had screamed for rest and finally been heard. And this time, you listened. You let the day unfold not as something to conquer, but something to savor.

The morning began slowly, with socks that didn’t match and hair that remained tangled from sleep. Agatha padded barefoot through the kitchen in one of her oversized black sweatshirts, sleeves pushed back just enough to reveal the edge of an old tattoo curling along her forearm. She stirred something fragrant in a pot, muttering as steam curled toward the windows. Still in plaid flannel boxers and a tank top that clung to her back, Rio danced across the linoleum with two mugs in hand—tea for Agatha, ginger-laced cider for you.

“We’re doing nothing today,” Rio had announced, planting a kiss to your cheek before collapsing onto the couch beside you. “Nothing but eat, nap, and love each other obnoxiously.”

And gods, she meant it.

There were no place settings—just mismatched plates you passed back and forth while half-watching old movies in a cozy sprawl across the living room. Agatha burned the first batch of bread rolls and swore so creatively that Rio started writing them down on a napkin between bites of mashed potatoes. You laughed so hard your ribs ached and had to lean into Agatha’s side, breathless with joy.

It was the kind of day that lived in exhalations. In the slow bubbling of something savory on the stove. In the comfort of bodies that no longer braced for collapse but curled into the spaces between one another like roots sinking into soft, forgiving soil.

The three of you moved like a tide—close, drifting, returning. Agatha perched on the arm of the couch for a time, balancing her plate on one knee as she nudged roasted carrots onto your dish with her fork. Rio sprawled at your feet, picking stuffing from your plate when she thought you wouldn’t notice, humming tunelessly to the old holiday vinyl crackling on the record player. You didn’t need to speak much. There was something deeper than words weaving between you—shared memory, shared relief, and a peace that pulsed like a heartbeat under the floorboards.

At some point, the pie made it to the table, cooled just enough to hold its shape, the crust golden and flaky and smirking like it knew what it had survived. Agatha tried to deny it was her doing. Rio gave her away in a heartbeat.

“She whispered to it,” Rio said around a mouthful of sweet potato. “Like a literal incantation. It was very sexy.”

Agatha arched a brow, not looking up from her book. “You found the phrase ‘bind, rise, and render unto me a golden edge’ sexy?”

“Absolutely,” Rio replied without hesitation. “Ten out of ten. Would beg for it.”

You nearly choked on your cider from laughing. The baby rolled inside you as if stirred by the joy of it all—by the taste of cinnamon, the sound of laughter, the way you leaned back into Agatha’s side and felt her arm curl reflexively around your middle.

Later, you drifted in and out of a nap while the credits of a black-and-white film scrolled lazily across the screen. Rio ran her fingers through your hair, absentminded and reverent. Agatha’s socked feet pressed against yours beneath the blanket. Your belly rose and fell steadily, full from both food and something deeper: peace.

By the time the first real snow arrived, you were just past twenty weeks, and the world outside your windows had gone still. The kind of hush that came not from silence, but from softness—snow blanketing the ground, rooftops lined in white, and bare branches crowned with pale frost.

The town had dressed itself up overnight. Wreaths hung from lamp posts. Windows glowed with the soft golden blink of string lights, each little shop radiating warmth like they were holding their breath just waiting to be opened. Inside your house, nutmeg clung to the air like perfume, sweet and grounding, drifting from the warm oven or the cinnamon sticks Rio kept tossing into cider like she couldn’t help herself.

Agatha had started setting up the tree that morning. She worked slowly, methodically, wearing one of Rio’s hoodies and her glasses low on her nose. She didn’t speak much while decorating—just moved in a quiet loop between the boxes and the tree, carefully placing each ornament like she was composing a poem. Every so often, she’d pause to re-read the tag on an old ornament or run her fingers across the warped wood of something handmade. You knew better than to interrupt her when she got like that.

Rio, on the other hand, was full chaos. She tossed tinsel over her shoulder like confetti, added candy canes where they absolutely didn’t belong, and adjusted the lights with a sort of dramatic flair that made you snort into your tea.

You watched them from the couch at first, bundled under two blankets and a hot water bottle pressed to the side of your belly to help with your skin stretching, one hand resting on your belly. BeanSprout had been rolling more than kicking lately, small gentle shifts that felt like a secret only you and they shared. Not strong enough yet for anyone else to feel—but constant. Steady. Comforting. Eventually, though, you stirred.

“I want to go out,” you said over breakfast the next morning.

Agatha looked up from where she knelt by the hearth, sorting through her ever-growing collection of taper candles and hand-carved ritual pieces. “Out?”

“Just for a little while.” You pushed the blanket aside, already shifting to stand. “I want to get a few things. Yule things. Christmas things. I need air. And—I’m fine.”

Rio poked her head in from the kitchen, brow raised. “Define ‘fine.’”

“Fed. Slept. Low blood sugar snacks in my bag. Comfortable shoes. And—” you leaned forward slightly, lowering your voice like a confession, “—I want to find you both something. Something good.”

You didn’t ask them to come with you.

Agatha had a pile of books beside her, glasses perched low as she re-read her favorite poems for the hundredth time, her pencil making faint underlines in the margins. Rio was elbow-deep in flour and determination, swearing under her breath as she tried to recreate her grandmother’s sugar cookie recipe from memory.

So you bundled yourself up, breath puffing out in soft clouds at the door. Your coat barely closed over your stomach now—twenty-one weeks and counting. The baby didn’t kick so much as roll, slow and steady, like they were tracing the shape of your ribs from the inside. Constant. Grounding. A quiet reminder that you were never truly alone.

You wrapped one of Agatha’s scarves twice around your neck—soft, worn, still faintly carrying her perfume—and adjusted it like a promise. Then you gave them both that look before stepping outside.

“I’ll be back before it gets dark,” you said as you buttoned your boots.

Rio peeked up from her dough-covered hands. “Text when you stop walking. I mean it. I want updates.”

Agatha didn’t look up from her book, but her voice was soft when she said, “You call us if you need anything. Anything at all.”

You smiled, pulled on your gloves, and stepped out into the hush of winter.

-------------

Downtown was dressed like a memory. Lights strung from lampposts. Wreaths on every shop door. The sidewalks had been salted but still crunched beneath your boots, and the air was sharp and clean against your skin.

You took your time. Stopped at the local bookstore and lingered in the poetry section, fingers trailing along spines you’d seen on Agatha’s desk. Picked out a slim volume with a cover you knew would make her smile. At the artisan market, you found a pair of fingerless gloves in soft green yarn, hand-stitched and perfect for Rio’s always-cold hands and her habit of carrying too many papers without a bag. Your last stop was at a local jeweler; your order had come in, and picking it up made everything seem to sparkle a little more.

It felt good. Not just to move, but to do something—something thoughtful, something just for them. For the home that was beginning to stretch and shift around the shape of your future.

When your feet began to ache, you paused in front of a little café with fogged windows and a chalkboard sign out front that read “Warm drinks, good soup, soft chairs.” It felt like a whisper made just for you.

You stepped inside.

The door jingled softly behind you. Warmth pressed in at once—radiator heat, the scent of cinnamon and espresso, the low hum of conversation and clinking spoons. A small miracle in a world of cold sidewalks and salted roads.

You peeled off your gloves, your scarf, the top buttons of your coat, and found a seat in the corner—a little booth near the window, half-shadowed and quiet. Your back sank gratefully into the cushion.

You pulled out the granola bar Agatha had tucked into your coat pocket that morning, took a few slow bites, and set your water bottle on the table like a promise kept.

Then you snapped a photo of your boots, snowy and crossed beneath the table, and typed:

Hydrating. Sitting. Not dead.

Rio’s reply came seconds later: Good girl. Eat another snack while you're at it. Wifey’s orders.

You grinned, tucking your phone away and letting your eyes drift toward the window. Outside, the snow kept falling—soft and steady, muffling the world. But in here, there was warmth. Quiet. Time.

You weren’t just surviving this winter. You were inhabiting it.

--------------

By the time you got home, you were exhausted. But your cheeks were flushed, your coat dusted with snow, and your eyes bright. The tree greeted you at the door, warm and glowing in the corner. The mantle had slowly transformed into a winter altar of its own—framed photos, a vase filled with pine and eucalyptus, and three little knitted stockings Rio had picked up at a craft market.

“You’re just in time for sugar cookies!” she called. “I only ruined one tray.”

Agatha looked up from the couch, her lap blanketed with a new book. She raised an eyebrow and asked, “How many?”

Rio’s head popped around the corner. “...Three.”

You laughed, cheeks still pink from the cold, and shed your coat with a sigh. “It’s beautiful out there,” you said. “But this—this is better.”

Agatha set her book aside and opened her arms without a word. You crossed the room and let yourself be folded in, the quiet thud of your heart slowing to match the rhythm of hers. “You okay?”

You nodded, leaning into her shoulder. “Just tired. But it felt good to be out.”

You’d barely settled back into the couch when the scent of something warm and sweet drifted in from the kitchen—vanilla, sugar, and the faintest trace of peanut butter.

Rio appeared a moment later, triumphant and flour-dusted, holding a mismatched plate of cookies like it was a ceremonial offering.

“Okay. Important mission,” she said, kneeling beside the couch with all the gravity of someone delivering state secrets. “Taste test for Bean. Three contenders: sugar, peanut butter, and chocolate chip. I need a ruling from the source.”

You sat up slightly, the blanket slipping down your shoulder, and grinned at the plate like it held treasure. “All right. For science.”

Agatha leaned in, one arm still behind your back, and murmured near your ear, “I’m noting your methods, Professor.”

You took the sugar cookie first—soft, delicate, dusted with glittering crystals that crunched faintly between your teeth. Sweet, familiar, safe. You nodded thoughtfully, then reached for the peanut butter. That one came apart in your mouth with a quiet crumble, rich and nutty but a little dry around the edges.

And then the chocolate chip. Still warm, the chips just shy of melted, the edges crisp but the center soft enough to fall apart on your tongue.

That’s when BeanSprout moved—an eager little roll, more insistent than the rest, like a stretch of approval.

You paused mid-chew, one hand drifting instinctively to your belly. “Chocolate chip,” you said, voice half-laugh. “It’s not even close.”

Rio whooped, full-bodied and delighted. “I knew it! Our kid has taste.”

Agatha raised an eyebrow and stole the remaining half of your cookie. “A very particular palate.”

“You’re lucky I’m too tired to fight you,” you murmured, settling back into the warmth of the couch, Rio’s triumphant plate balanced now on the coffee table as she curled beside your legs.

The tree blinked in the corner, soft and steady, casting gold patterns on the walls. Outside, the snow thickened. Inside, everything was still.

Your gaze drifted, not up, but across.

The mantle was glowing—lined with a quiet, thoughtful kind of clutter. Evergreen boughs laid carefully over the top, threaded through with a single strand of warm lights. Nestled between the garland were picture frames of different sizes, colors, and tiny chips in their corners that only made them feel more loved.

There, just left of center, was a photo of the three of you from your first Christmas together. Taken on Rio’s old film camera. You were standing in front of the bookstore downtown, cheeks pink from the cold, eyes shining in that half-dazed, still-new kind of joy. Rio had one arm around your waist, Agatha was half-hiding her face behind a to-go cup, and you were all laughing at something long forgotten but deeply felt.

Next to it—framed in soft silver—was the ultrasound. BeanSprout, suspended in motion, spine arched like they were mid-turn, a tiny hand lifted near their face. Just seeing it again made your chest pull tight in the best, most tender kind of way.

You breathed in through your nose, long and slow.

“What do you want for Christmas?” Rio asked then, voice soft now, reverent as the room itself.

You paused, the warmth of home still sinking into your bones. “This,” you said honestly. “This is everything.”

Agatha kissed the side of your head. “Be specific.”

You turned toward her, eyelids heavy. “Matching pajamas. Something ridiculous and soft.”

Rio lit up instantly. “Done.”

Agatha nudged your knee with hers, the corner of her mouth tipping into a knowing smile. “And if we’ve already ordered something completely impractical for you?”

You laughed, eyes fluttering closed. “Then I’ll pretend to be shocked.”

But you didn’t fall asleep. Not yet.

Not with the tree glowing. Not with the cookies cooling. Not with the weight of Agatha’s hand resting gently against your leg, and Rio’s shoulder pressing into yours like a promise.

You stared a little longer at the photo. At that silver frame.

“I really would be happy with anything,” you said softly.

Agatha looked down at you then, her thumb brushing your wrist beneath the blanket.

“But I’d really love to start setting up the nursery before New Year’s is over,” you continued, voice soft but certain. “Nothing big. Just… colors, maybe. Themes.”

Her hand tightened slightly over yours in quiet agreement.

Behind you, Rio stirred, lifting her head from where it had been resting against your knee. “I’ve been thinking about it too,” she said gently. “The nursery.”

You turned toward her. She gave you a crooked little smile—equal parts excitement and restraint, like she’d been waiting for permission to dream.

“We should do it,” Agatha said. “Just start with one thing. Colors. Paint. It’ll feel real.”

“I keep seeing sage green,” you murmured, your thumb grazing the edge of Agatha’s sleeve. “Not too bright. Something soft. Something quiet.”

“With texture,” Agatha added, her voice already dipping into imagination. “Not just smooth walls—depth. Layers. A room that breathes.”

Rio let out a soft laugh, brushing flour from the leg of her sweatpants. “Okay, you two are dangerously close to designing a nursery that doubles as a meditation studio.”

You grinned. “Would that be so bad?”

“No,” she admitted, nudging your shin with hers. “But I also want one wall with stars.”

You blinked. “Stars?”

She nodded, eyes lighting a little. “A night sky. Navy, maybe even indigo. Tiny hand-painted constellations. A ceiling that glows in the dark when the lights go off. It should feel like... dreaming.”

Agatha’s lips curved faintly. “So a miniature cosmos. Abstract forest and deep space. This baby’s going to think they’re being raised by philosophers.”

“They are,” Rio said, unapologetically.

“Poets and queers and stargazers,” you added, smiling. “Seems about right.”

The three of you fell into the kind of silence that only comes after laughter—the kind that breathes, stretches, stays.

You leaned back into it. Let it hold you.

The dreaming came easy in their voices. You could almost smell fresh paint and sun-warmed wood, hear the soft creak of a rocker in the early morning hush. The room wasn’t real yet—but it was close. Close enough to step into.

Agatha hummed, already flipping through her mental palette—pale creams, soft moss, warm woodgrain. “You want something that grounds the room.”

Her fingers brushed your hip beneath the blanket, slow and absent. Her voice dipped lower. “I keep picturing clouds. Not literal ones—more like… space to breathe. Pale walls. Floating curtains. Natural light.”

“Exactly,” Rio said, shifting closer, her leg brushing against yours under the blanket. “A space BeanSprout can grow into. Something we don’t outgrow after the first year.”

You let the name settle in the room. BeanSprout. It felt both playful and sacred, a nickname and an identity forming by degrees.

“A rocking chair’s a must,” you said, a little firmer now. “By the window, if we can. Big enough to sink into. I want to sit and not feel like I’m balancing on the edge of something.”

There was a beat of silence—not heavy, but full.

You didn’t see the way Agatha and Rio exchanged a glance over your shoulder. A look passed silently. One of those rare, weighted glances—half conversation, half vow. Not quite a promise, but close. Something blooming.

“And a sound machine,” Rio added. “I refuse to live in fear of every floorboard creak.”

You laughed—real, bright, head tipping back just slightly. And both of them turned toward you with that soft, sunflower-warm focus you’d come to know by heart.

“Bookcase,” Agatha said at last, her voice soft. “Low shelves. Poetry within reach.”

“This baby’s going to come out quoting Kelly,” Rio said, grinning up at you.

“We should all be so lucky,” Agatha murmured, her voice brushing the shell of your ear like a secret.

But her hand didn’t leave your belly. Not yet.

She stayed there, quiet, as if listening.

And then: “Do you want to find out?”

The question came softly—not abrupt, not sharp. Just a flicker of something real, something hanging unspoken between the three of you for days. Maybe longer.

You turned your head slowly, the weight of the question settling into your chest like snowfall. “Find out?”

Agatha’s hand moved a fraction lower, resting more deliberately over the curve of your stomach. “If BeanSprout is a boy or a girl.”

The room shifted then—not tense, but still. Like a breath caught in the air, waiting.

Rio sat up from where she’d been lounging against your knee. “I’ve been thinking about that too,” she admitted, her voice softer than it had been all night. “Not because it changes anything. But… I don’t know. I think I’d like to know. I want to picture them more clearly.”

She paused, her thumb pressing into her palm. “Right now it’s just… blankets and belly rolls and dreams. But if we knew, even just that one little thing, maybe it’d start to feel more real. Like we’re not just preparing for a mystery. Like we’re preparing for someone.”

Agatha stayed quiet. You could feel her thinking. Always measured. Always weighing every angle before she stepped into it.

Finally, she exhaled through her nose and said, “There’s something about waiting, though. About letting them arrive without expectation.”

Her voice wasn’t distant. It was tender. Careful.

“I guess I keep thinking… if we don’t know, we can’t unknowingly push. Can’t shape them too soon.”

She looked down, tracing the curve of your belly with her eyes before whispering, “We let them show us who they are. In their own time.”

Rio didn’t argue. She didn’t scoff. She just leaned forward, elbows on knees, eyes on you. “But we’ll do that anyway, won’t we? Whether we know or not.”

She reached out—palm flat on your shin, grounding you. “I’m not saying we label everything in pink or blue. I’m saying… I want to speak to them like they’re a person. Not just an idea.”

You looked at them both—Agatha, quiet and poetic, a scholar of mystery and meaning. Rio, open and earnest, a historian aching to archive every part of this before it slips away. And you—somewhere in the middle. Trying to give shape to a love still growing beneath your skin.

You dropped your hand to your belly and let it rest there. Felt the soft echo of movement. BeanSprout was still. But present. Always.

They couldn’t feel it yet—not from the outside. Not with their palms or fingers. Not with the certainty you had. But they waited. They dreamed. And every time you touched your belly, you saw it: that flicker of longing in their eyes, that hope just beneath their breath. Their turn would come. You knew it. But for now, the feeling was yours alone to carry.

“I don’t need to know to love them,” you said, your voice even. “But I think I’d like to.”

Agatha looked up at you, something unreadable passing through her expression.

“Not because it will change anything. Not because it defines them forever,” you continued. “But because I want to start. To speak to them. To pick the colors, the poems. To imagine more clearly the hands that will one day reach for mine.”

Your thumb brushed the hem of your sweater.

“And honestly…” you smiled faintly, palm spreading wider over your belly, “BeanSprout already promised—there’s been enough surprise to go around.”

Rio laughed, quick and warm, leaning forward to press a kiss against the top of your knee.

“Then we find out,” she said, her voice a little rough with emotion. “Together.”

Agatha didn’t rush. She let the quiet linger. And then, slowly, she nodded, fingers tightening around yours beneath the blanket.

“Together,” she echoed, like it was more than a word. Like it was a vow.

You exhaled through your nose, feeling the shape of the room shift around you—not from uncertainty, but from intention. From decision. From something sacred beginning to take root.

The three of you sat there for a long while, wrapped in the hush of falling snow, the glow of tree lights, and the promise of someone waiting just beneath your ribs.

Not just a heartbeat anymore. A name. A story. A child becoming.

----------------

Later, the night stretched long and soft around you, the three of you wrapped in layers of low lamplight and quiet. You lay curled sideways on the couch, legs tucked beneath a throw blanket, your phone resting lightly on your belly. The warmth of Rio pressed against your side, her hand sprawled across your bump, fingers moving with gentle, almost absent-minded reverence.

She was drawing again. Stars. Constellations of her own invention.

“That one’s BeanSprout Major,” she murmured, her fingertip tracing a slow arc near your hip. “Right beside the Belt of Blanket Crumbs. You can only see it when the sky’s clear and someone forgot to vacuum.”

You huffed a laugh, tilting your head to look at her. “You missed your calling. You should’ve been a stargazing witch in the mountains.”

“Too late. I already married into academia,” she said, grinning. “Now I make maps out of freckles and stretch marks.”

From her corner of the couch, Agatha looked up over the top of her book—one of the slim poetry volumes she returned to again and again. Her glasses had slid low on her nose. She didn’t speak, but her gaze softened as she watched you both.

Then your phone buzzed.

A video from Billy.

You opened it and hit play, and immediately, your grin bloomed wide across your face.

“Oh my god. Oh, you have to see this.”

Rio leaned in. “What’s he doing now?”

Agatha set her book aside. You tapped up the volume.

Onscreen, Asher stood in the middle of the living room, proudly clutching the tiny toy guitar you’d given him for his second birthday. His hair was a mess. His socks didn’t match. His confidence could’ve leveled a building.

“This plant was green, and then it died,” he sang in a glorious, wobbly melody, “Daddy said it was tomatoes but he lied…”

Rio started snorting.

“I ate one. It was gross. But then I cried. Then I found bubbles. Then I—”

The video cut off with Eddie laughing full-force in the background, followed by a muffled “He’s been like this for an hour.”

The text beneath the video read:

Your Godson is performing his one-man show. I’ll let you know when tickets are available. Love y’all. 💙

You laughed so hard you had to clutch your belly. “He wrote a whole song. A ballad. About tomato death.”

“You did give that child a guitar,” Agatha said, but she was smiling behind her mug.

“Eddie said if it had been a drum set, he’d have mailed it back in pieces,” you added, wiping a tear from your cheek.

You passed your phone to them both. They watched the video together, Agatha biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing, Rio leaning into her shoulder.

“God, I miss them,” you murmured.

The ache was gentle but real.

Six months ago, Billy had taken a temporary job with the National Park Service—supervising search and rescue efforts in wildfire zones out West. It was important work. Life-saving work. And you were proud of him. So proud. But it also meant the timing was never quite right for a visit. His hours were long, and unpredictable, and calls—when they happened—were brief and full of dropped signals or missed goodnights.

“We should tell them,” Agatha said suddenly, quietly, as the laughter faded from the room.

You looked up. “Tell them?”

She nodded toward your belly. “About BeanSprout.”

“I haven’t told anyone,” you said, sitting up a little straighter. “Outside of us, it’s just Dr. Marcus. And the folks I had to email when I adjusted my class load. That’s it.”

Rio shifted beside you, her voice low but sure. “Before it gets out… we should let them know. They’re family.”

You didn’t argue. You didn’t need to. You just nodded.

Agatha rose from the couch and crossed the room. She opened the drawer near the bookshelf—the one where she kept the important things—paperclips, stamps, a dried sprig of lavender you gave her last spring, and now, carefully folded between old letters, a onesie. She returned with it in hand. Inside it, tucked like a secret, was one of the early ultrasound photos—grainy and precious and breathtaking.

You took the bundle into your lap and stared at it, throat tightening. You hadn’t looked at this onesie in weeks. You hadn’t needed to. BeanSprout was with you now, every day. But this—this was the first moment they’d made it into the world. This was the first onesie that Rio held when you shared the news with them.

You opened your phone and hit FaceTime.

It rang once. Then twice.

Billy answered with a burst of light and movement, his face flushed, the sound of a kettle going off in the background. Eddie leaned into the frame a second later, grinning like he’d just won something.

“Look who it is,” Billy said. “All three of you. You look like a damn Renaissance painting.”

“Hi, loves,” Agatha said warmly, waving.

“Where’s Asher?” Rio asked, peering closer.

“He crashed right after the show,” Eddie said. “He tried to crowd surf on the ottoman and passed out mid-riff.”

You laughed. “Sounds like him.”

You laughed, adjusting the phone a little so all three of you could fit into frame. “We just wanted to check in. Say hi. See how y’all are doing.”

“We’re good! How about you all?” Eddie asked, eyes narrowing slightly in the way he always did when he knew you were building to something or holding a secret.

You nodded. “Yeah. We’re good. Really good, actually.” And then you looked down at the bundle in your lap and swallowed.

“We called because we wanted to tell you something,” you said softly. “Something big.”

Billy stilled. Eddie leaned in. Their smiles didn’t fade—but they deepened. Braced themselves. You flipped the camera. The onesie. The photo. The future laid bare in cotton and grainy grayscale.

Silence.

Then: “HOLY SHIT!” Billy shouted loud enough that you startled.

Eddie smiled, grabbing his shoulder. “No way! No way—oh my god!”

“You’re serious?” Billy said, eyes wide. “You’re—?”

You turned the camera back, face flushed with happy tears.

“We’re having a baby,” Rio said. “And you’re the first people we’ve told.”

Eddie’s eyes glistened. Billy didn’t even try to hide it. “Oh my god. Holy shit Asher is getting a cousin!”

Eddie elbowed him gently, voice low. “Shh—you're gonna wake him up, and I am not doing round two of The Tomato Ballad tonight. You guys. You’re gonna be amazing parents. This kid is gonna be so fucking loved.”

“They already are,” Agatha said, her voice low, full of something that shimmered and settled in your chest like light.

Rio leaned in. “They’ve got three moms and a whole village.

You stayed on the call a little longer after the announcement, talking in that easy, sacred rhythm that only exists between people who’ve known your heart in every season. Billy asked about how far along you were. Eddie asked about names. Agatha smiled and said you hadn’t settled on anything yet. Rio joked that the baby already had opinions—and they were strong.

But you didn’t mention the nickname. Not yet. BeanSprout was still just yours. Yours, and Agatha’s, and Rio’s. A little secret the three of you carried like a charm tucked under your tongue.

Eventually, Billy glanced off-screen. “They’re calling me in for a late debrief,” he said, voice tight with that familiar frustration of distance. “Fire activity’s up with the winds tonight.”

“We miss you,” you said, and your voice caught just a little at the end.

Billy smiled, his eyes glassy. “We miss you too.”

Eddie leaned closer, gaze drifting to Agatha and Rio on either side of you. “I especially miss my professors.”

Agatha rolled her eyes. “You were never my student, Edward.”

“Speak for yourself,” Rio said, grinning. “I’m pretty sure I taught him everything he knows about queer history and dramatic flair.”

Billy chuckled. “Well, we miss our honorary faculty.”

“We miss our favorite students,” Agatha murmured dryly, but the corners of her mouth gave her away.

“You married your favorite student, Agatha. I mean, excuse me, Dr. Harkness. If I remember correctly, I walked in on you both in your…”

“You were sworn to secrecy, Eddie. ” Agatha deadpanned.

The laughter was quiet this time—close to the bone, threaded with love and years of history. The kind that said: we’ve been through everything together, and somehow we’re still here. Agatha’s hand settled gently over your shoulder. Rio gave a final wave as the call ended.

The screen went dark and for a moment, the quiet in the room stretched out—long and soft and full. You leaned back against the couch, exhaling slowly, your whole body sinking into the cushions. A smile pulled across your face—no rush, no strain, just the sure kind. The kind that lives behind your ribs.

Beneath your skin, the flutters began again. Small. Steady. Sure. Like a song with no melody but one you knew by heart.

Agatha leaned in and kissed your temple.

Rio’s fingers threaded between yours.

And BeanSprout rolled again—soft and low—tucked in like a secret.

---------------

The room hummed with that low, watery rhythm—the whoosh and thump of life measured in tiny beats. You lay back against the cushioned exam table, the paper beneath you crackling faintly with every breath. The gel was warm against your skin, spreading under Dr. Ezra’s gloved hand as she guided the ultrasound wand in slow, practiced motions across your belly.

Agatha stood to your left, fingertips light on your shoulder, her other hand wrapped firmly around your wrist like she was anchoring you in place. She wore that rare expression—the one she only let show during moments like this. Not awe, not fear. Something quieter. Devotion.

Rio was on the other side, one hand clutching your knee through the blanket,. Her eyes were locked on the screen, wide and shining, like she could memorize every flicker, every curve, every shadow.

Dr. Ezra adjusted the wand again, eyes focused but warm, as the sound of the baby's heartbeat filled the quiet. It pulsed like a lullaby beneath everything—steady, strong, alive. The monitor glowed softly in the dim light of the exam room, and the image sharpened until there they were.

Your baby.

No longer just a blur of promise. You could see them now—clearly. The delicate curve of their spine, the defined bend of their knee, the roundness of a growing belly that mirrored yours. One tiny foot flexed, as if waving hello. Their hand moved, slow and thoughtful, fingers exploring the space around them like they were dreaming already.

Ezra stilled her hand and smiled, a touch of awe in her voice. “You’ve been resting.”

You nodded, a slow exhale spilling out of you. Agatha’s palm pressed more firmly into your shoulder, her body leaning close. Rio’s hand remained steady on your knee, thumb brushing the seam of your leggings like she needed to feel you anchored beneath her.

Dr. Ezra glanced between the three of you, then back to the screen. “And they enjoy it, it seems. Everything about their movements tells me they’re not just healthy—they’re happy.”

She tapped the monitor gently. “I’d say they’re hovering right around a full pound now, maybe a little more.” Her voice was reverent. “Which tells me two things: one, they’re growing beautifully. And two… they needed that rest just as much as you did. This kind of progress? That only happens when both of you are safe and cared for.”

Then she turned, eyes soft. “Have you been able to feel them rolling more? Any movement you can notice?”

You nodded immediately, your hand slipping instinctively to your belly. "Yeah. Definitely. They've gotten stronger every day. Not just flutters anymore—it’s like they’re swimming sometimes.”

Rio laughed, shaking her head. “Still nothing for us yet. I keep hoping I’ll feel it through your skin, but…”

Agatha’s voice was low but fond, rich with anticipation. "I’m looking forward to it too.”

Ezra smiled, her gaze flicking back to the image frozen on the screen. “Well, by the looks of it, you won’t be waiting long. The way they’re moving now?” She raised an eyebrow with a playful hum. “I’d say any day. Just make sure you’ve got a hand nearby when they start practicing their karate.”

Rio grinned. “I’ll keep one there all day if I have to.” You smirked faintly. “You already do.”

Ezra’s chuckle was soft as she turned back to the console, removing the wand and wiping away the gel with practiced tenderness.

Then she looked you in the eye—really looked at you. “I know it might not seem like much, but you’re finally where you need to be. Your weight’s right on track now. Not five to eight pounds under anymore.” She smiled gently. “I’m proud of you.”

You blinked fast, your hand never leaving your belly. "I've been eating," you said softly. "Resting too. We all decided to tell my committee I needed the rest and would only focus on finishing the edits they requested. I haven’t felt dizzy. No faintness, no headaches, no shakes. Nothing like that since… since the scare.”

Ezra nodded, placing her hand lightly over yours for a moment of grounding stillness. “Good. That’s all I needed to hear. You’re not just surviving anymore—you’re healing. Both of you.”

The silence that followed was golden, suspended. Your baby shifted again on the screen—just a nudge. A ripple through the fluid. A hello.

And then Ezra, her voice warm and full of knowing, asked, “So… do we want to know what we’re having?”

Rio chuckled, voice low and full of affection. "We do... but not yet," she said. “We talked about it. We decided we wanted to find out when we were ready.”

"Of course," Ezra said, and her grin was full of something more than medical professionalism—something maternal, something deeply, tenderly proud. "You three never do anything halfway."

She tapped a few final notes into the console, then wiped the gel from your skin with the kind of care only someone who’s watched you grow—body and soul—could offer.

"All right then," she said, standing. “Give me just a moment.”

She left the room, and for a minute, the silence shimmered with possibility. Agatha leaned down and kissed your temple. Rio rested her cheek briefly against your shoulder. You didn’t need to speak. The love in the room had a sound of its own.

When Dr. Ezra returned, she held something reverently in both hands—a thick ivory envelope, double-wrapped, sealed tight with two layers of folded paper and an outer layer of silver ribbon. No smudged ink. No names. Just a tiny sticker in the corner: a gold star.

"The photo’s in there too," she said quietly. “Labeled discreetly, so you’ll know what you’re looking at when you’re ready.” She handed it to Agatha first, who ran a finger across the smooth paper like it was an artifact. Then to Rio, who tucked it gently into her coat like it was glass.

Ezra turned to you last, brushing a strand of hair from your forehead. "Whenever it feels right, open it. But I know I don’t have to say this—this baby already knows how deeply they’re loved."

You couldn’t speak. Just nodded, your throat tight. And as you stood to leave, with your coat pulled gently around your shoulders by Agatha and Rio’s hand resting protective at the small of your back, you carried that envelope out with you.

---------------------

The door eased open with the gentle hush of cold giving way to warmth. Rio shouldered it with her hip, one arm curled protectively around her coat where the envelope rested. You stepped through first, your breath hitching slightly at the shift in temperature, the scent of pine and cinnamon and something just baked hanging in the air like a held note.

Agatha was just behind you, already reaching to unbutton your coat before you could do it yourself, her hands steady, her touch lingering longer than necessary. You leaned into it without thinking, and she kissed your temple without ceremony.

Rio closed the door behind her, locking it out of habit, and crossed the living room with a purpose. You watched as she moved straight to the mantel.

Just beside it sat the frame that hadn’t been there last week—the one Rio had quietly placed there after your last appointment. Inside it, the newest ultrasound photo: your baby, curled and luminous in grayscale. The little profile, the curve of a cheek, a hand caught mid-motion like they were reaching for something only they could see.

Rio’s fingers brushed against the frame like she was afraid to smudge the glass. Then she picked it up, cradling it with both hands, her thumb stroking slowly across the corner. “They’ve grown so much already,” she murmured—almost to herself.

Then, as if remembering, she reached into her coat and pulled out the envelope. Still double-wrapped. Still sealed with that thin silver ribbon and the tiny gold star. She placed it gently on the mantel, just to the left of the photo.

A Christmas gift, waiting. Not in glitter or bows, but in breath held back. In patience. In joy not yet spoken aloud.

Agatha came to stand beside you, her hand resting warm and sure over your stomach. Neither of you said a word. The lights blinked soft gold across the garland.

Rio was still holding the ultrasound frame like it meant everything. And in her eyes—it did.

-------------------

The shop was quiet, tucked between a florist and a bakery that always smelled like cinnamon. Agatha had passed it a dozen times without noticing. But today, something had pulled her inside—something steady and slow, like gravity.

She wasn’t looking for wallpaper samples or light fixtures. Not yet.

Just the chair.

She spotted it immediately near the back, set up beneath a soft overhead lamp, as if the store had already decided it was meant for late nights and whispered lullabies.

It was nothing like the sleek, modern gliders she’d seen online. No slim angles. No barely-there padding. This was a chair. An oversized, thickly cushioned, deeply upholstered thing with a matching ottoman in front of it, sturdy and square, like it had already memorized the weight of tired feet. It was meant for movement—the slow, steady rhythm of rocking that kept the world still.

The fabric was a soft warm stone, textured just enough to suggest warmth in every season. She stepped closer, fingertips trailing the curve of the armrest. It felt like something you’d curl into after a long day—like a second bed, like a pause. The kind of chair that welcomed you with its weight. That didn’t ask you to sit—it held you.

It wasn’t delicate. It didn’t pretend to be stylish or minimalist or sleek.

It was built to stay.

Agatha stepped closer and ran her fingers across the armrest—wide and solid beneath her palm.

She saw you first.

The nursery was quiet, wrapped in the hush of early spring. Rain tapped faintly at the windows, and the first green leaves shivered on the trees outside. You stepped barefoot across the floor, wearing one of her old hoodies—loose, oversized, soft with time, instinctively pulling your sweatshirt up as you crossed the room. You settled into the chair like it was second nature like it had already memorized your weight and guided the baby gently to your chest, skin to skin, the warmth of you meeting theirs with ease.

The baby latched with a quiet sound, their tiny fist tucked against your side, their small body pressed into yours like they belonged there. Like they’d always belonged there. One hand cradled the baby’s neck as you leaned back, your head resting against the cushion, your breath slowing as they nursed. The lamp beside you cast a glow against your skin, and your face held that quiet kind of joy—the kind born of exhaustion and awe.

When they finished, you moved with care. You eased her sweatshirt back over your shoulder, lifted the baby gently, and tucked them into your chest. Their cheek flattened against your heart, their breath damp and even. You held them close. Both arms wrapped fully around their small body, your hands wide and steady and sure.

You weren’t fully awake. But you weren’t asleep either. You existed in that sacred in-between—the place only new parents and newborns ever truly find. Your lips brushed the crown of the baby’s head. You whispered something.

Not language. Not poetry. Just breath. Just rhythm. Just a hum shaped like love.

Agatha saw the way your body curved around the baby, how your shoulders softened, how your eyes blinked slow—like your body had finally let go of everything it had ever carried. You rocked, slow and steady, your eyes fluttering closed even as your arms stayed firm. Holding. Grounding. Safe.

And in that moment—

You weren’t a professor. You weren’t a wife. You weren’t holding anyone together or reaching for something more.

You were a mother. And you were already home.

Then—Rio.

Spring light this time. The kind that crept in slow and quiet, pooling blue-gold at the edge of the nursery rug but not yet reaching the crib. The house was still asleep, the world outside not yet stirring. But Rio was already awake. She sat barefoot in the rocking chair, one leg tucked beneath her, the other stretched toward the ottoman, toes just brushing the edge. Still in boxers and a worn tank, soft with sleep. Her curls were a riot of dark spirals, flattened on one side from the pillow, haloed on the other like wild constellations.

She wasn’t rushing. She wasn’t laughing. She was just there.

The baby rested against her, cheek pressed soft into her chest. One of Rio’s hands cradled the back of their head, the other curved protectively along the baby’s spine. Her thumb moved in slow circles—comfort, rhythm, breath. Spanish slipped from her mouth like water over stone—low, warm, threaded with affection she rarely let anyone outside of you all see. A hush of syllables that curved like smoke into the stillness.

“Cuando yo era niña, tu abuela me decía que las estrellas eran almas que regresaban a mirar…” She paused to press a kiss to the top of the baby’s head, her eyes never leaving the window where light was beginning to bloom.

The room was hushed around her. Wood against floor. Breath against skin. Every motion she made was slow, grounded, deliberate. She saw Rio smile faintly as the baby stirred. She wasn’t trying to soothe. She already had.

“Estás bien, mi amor,” she whispered again. “I’ve got you, my little one”

Then—her.

The cry was small.

Not loud—just that thin, trembling whimper that pierced the quiet like wind through reeds. A newborn cry. Raw. Ancient. The kind of sound older than language, deeper than need. Not a plea for comfort, but a question breathed into the dark:

Are you still there? Am I still known?

Agatha was already moving.

Blanket slipping from her lap, feet brushing the floor with soundless ease, she stood. No hesitation. No alarm. Only instinct, only love. She stepped toward the bassinet, voice a hush against the dark:

“I’ve got em’,” she whispered—not to you, but to the room itself. A promise. A prayer. A declaration spoken like breath.

She reached in with both hands—steady, practiced. The baby shifted beneath her touch. Their skin was warm, impossibly soft, limbs still curled in the shape of before. Less than a week old. Newer than language. Smaller than memory. They pressed instinctively toward her as she lifted them, that small, scrunched shape folding into the hollow of her body like a note never meant to be lost.

She held them close as she stepped into the hallway, where early spring light spilled faint and golden across the floorboards, catching in her hair and brushing the walls like watercolor.

Their body fit against her chest like something that had always been hers. Like gravity. Like breath. She pressed them skin to skin, her robe parting just enough to let them feel the beat beneath her sternum—old, steady, familiar.

And the cries? They softened. Not gone. Just reshaped. A murmur. A breath. A sound that no longer needed to prove it was alive.

Because they knew her.

They had known her voice from the beginning—wrapped in the hush of your body, surrounded by warmth and love and stories. They had known her in laughter. In poems. In the low hum of lullabies, she had read not to impress but to connect. To remind them they were never alone, even then. Now, nestled against her, they remembered.

Agatha exhaled. She crossed into the nursery. The door barely creaked. The room welcomed her like a ritual. It smelled like lavender and cotton, the softest parts of night clinging to the corners. The chair was already waiting by the window, the faintest breeze pulling at the curtain. On the shelf: books, stacked and waiting. A blanket, folded and warm. A lamp glowed softly in the corner, its halo of amber casting long shadows across the room.

She lowered herself into the rocker. And they settled. Their cheek rested over her heart. One hand pressed beneath their chin. Their tiny feet barely reached the crook of her arm.

She rocked. One hand cradled the back of their head, fingers brushing through newborn curls. The other curved across their spine, her thumb drawing shapes not for meaning—but for love.

Not routine. Not duty. Wonder.

They had only been in the world for a few days. But already—already—they knew her.

Agatha’s eyes fluttered half-closed.

Her whole world narrowed to the warm weight in her arms. The rise and fall of a new chest, still learning its rhythm. The faint smell of milk and skin. The quiet creak of the chair beneath them—soft, deliberate—as if the room itself had learned to breathe in time with her.

They slept.

Softly. Completely. Without fear.

She thought of galaxies. Of constellations strung like silver stitches across the dark. Of the infinite unknown—a cosmos so vast, so unreachable, it had once made her feel small. Alone. Like a breath lost in a storm that no one knew how to name. But then—she looked down. And her entire world was curled, sleeping, in her arms.

Their breath rose and fell against her collarbone. Their fingers—no larger than the length of her knuckle—twitched with dreams. Their skin, impossibly soft and pink with newness, rested over the steady beat of her heart like it had always belonged there. Like it recognized the rhythm.

And Agatha—speechless, undone, infinite in her stillness—whispered.

Not loud enough to wake them. Just enough to stitch her voice into the silence.

Not a poem. Not yet. But every prayer she had ever known. Every line she had ever memorized about grace, and wonder, and mercy, and light. Every word she had once read and never truly believed—until now.

And she didn’t speak to a god. Not to a deity. Not to anything with a name.

But to the universe itself.

To whatever force had let her survive the worst of her childhood. To whatever mercy had let her live long enough to find this softness. To the quiet kindness that had carried her to this house, this home, this family. To whoever—or whatever—had decided she could have this.

A child who was hers. A life where she was safe and loved by two women. A moment where she didn’t have to be anything but here.

And into that quiet, she breathed the only words that mattered:

Thank you. Thank you.

Not for perfection. Not for ease. But for this.

For the honor of being known. For the gift of being needed. For the miracle of being trusted enough to hold something this small

—and call it love.

-----------------------

Agatha saw the moment like a memory. Not imagined—remembered. Like it had already happened and was simply waiting for her to catch up. The chair. The room. The quiet. Love, layered into the fabric of it all. Because that chair wouldn’t belong to one of you. It would belong to all three.

It would hold the weight of everything—not just stories and feedings, but lives unfolding in slow, sacred layers. It would hold naps and confessions. Books read out of order. Fingernails painted on tiny toes. First words whispered into shadows. Midnight tears and sleepy giggles.

Love in every language you spoke—spoken into curls, into breath, into open palms and tiny socks. She sat down slowly. The cushions welcomed her like something that had been waiting. The ottoman sat steady in front of her, patient as moonlight, ready to hold tired legs, scattered toys, dreams pressed between pages.

The rocker moved once. Then again. Gentle. Certain. Like it already knew the rhythm of your home. Agatha breathed in. Eyes fluttered closed. This wasn’t just furniture. This was a beginning.

She reached for her phone. Opened the camera. Snapped a photo—cropped close. The armrest. The soft curve of the cushion. The way the light warmed the fabric like a secret being kept. The ottoman just barely in frame, steady and waiting.

She opened a message thread—not to both of you. Just Rio. Her thumb hovered a second before typing:

Found it. The chair. It’s perfect.

She hit send.

And her stomach fluttered with quiet electricity—the kind that came from knowing she’d found something real. Something right. The kind that came from love just beginning to bloom into form. What she didn’t write—what you’d see in her eyes when she showed you—was this:

She’d already seen it. Already felt it. You. Her. Rio. Each of you.

Already home.

-------------

Across town, Rio saw the message light up her phone.

She was leaning against the kitchen counter, sipping the last of her coffee, the house still hushed in the early hour. When her screen lit up, she expected something small—an update, a note, maybe a question on if she needed to grab something on the way home.

But then she opened the image.

The armrest. The soft curve of the cushion. That worn-in, waiting kind of light. The ottoman in the corner of the frame like a quiet invitation. It wasn’t just a chair.

It was the chair.

Her chest filled with something deep and quiet and certain.

She glanced over her shoulder—subtle, instinctive—to make sure you weren’t nearby.

You were in the living room, curled beneath a blanket, just beginning to stir. The early morning light had started to stretch across the hardwood, catching on the edges of your hair. You’d noticed their absence in bed—reached out to find the space beside you cold—and wandered out half-asleep, waiting for the scent of coffee or their return.

You hadn’t seen her yet. Not fully awake. Not close enough to catch the glow on her screen.

Good.

Rio turned back toward the phone, a crooked little smile rising at the corners of her mouth.

Not just at the chair.

But at Agatha’s eyes in the message. The certainty in the text. The way the photo seemed to hum with the weight of the future already written into it.

She could see it too, now— The curve of your body curled into the cushions, half-asleep with the baby on your chest. Agatha curled around your shoulder, reading aloud. Her own voice in the stillness, soft and steady, tracing stars into tiny limbs.

A room filled with breath and book pages. A life beginning in stillness. That chair—their chair—at the center of it all.

Rio didn’t ask for the price. Didn’t ask if it needed to wait. Didn’t ask if there was time.

She just typed, her thumb already moving before the thought had fully formed:

Buy it now.

And then she hit send.

No questions. No conditions. Just yes.

------

The snow had started falling just after sunset, soft and slow, like it knew better than to rush. Outside the windows, the world was hushed and blanketed in white—light catching on the crystals, dancing like stars fallen to earth. Inside, the house glowed. Not brightly, not loudly. Just the kind of quiet golden hue that only ever seems to exist on Christmas Eve. The fireplace had burned low, now just warm embers behind the grate, casting a faint orange flicker over the room like the heartbeat of something sacred.

The floor beneath the tree was a nest of comfort—pillows stacked two deep, every quilt and spare blanket pulled from closets and draped into a makeshift haven. This had been tradition for years now. You always spent Christmas Eve under the tree. Lying together beneath the branches, watching the lights shimmer against the ceiling, breathing in the stillness before morning came.

You knew your back would ache sooner or later—pregnancy made it so—but you didn’t care. Not tonight. Tonight was about this.

Cocoa mugs sat on the low table nearby, mostly forgotten in favor of warmth and proximity. The scent of chocolate and cinnamon still lingered in the air, mixing with the evergreen from the garland and the faint wax of the lit candles nestled on every ledge. It smelled like memory, like family, like the kind of peace you used to think didn’t exist outside of stories.

You were tucked into the middle of the makeshift bed, resting back against the couch cushions that had been dragged closer to the tree just for this. Your matching pajamas—soft cotton with little snowflakes, roomy enough not to dig where your belly curved—fit just right, for once. Agatha sat at your side, her legs curled beneath her, her sleeves messily pushed up and her twist of dark hair falling from the pins that once held it. One arm was wrapped around your hips, the other hand resting just below your navel, fingers warm and still. She didn’t move much anymore. She didn’t need to. Her presence said everything.

Rio was stretched out beside you, half on her side, half across your lap, one foot hanging free from under the tartan blanket that had been thrown over all of you. Her head rested just against your belly, cheek turned slightly so she could watch the tree lights flicker above, the green and gold bouncing off the ceiling like fireflies. Your hand moved through her curls in slow, absent-minded strokes, as familiar now as breathing.

Agatha’s hand remained where it was—curved around your body, just behind Rio’s cheek, the two of them nearly touching through you. You felt surrounded. Anchored.

The movie played on, but none of you really watched it. The volume was low, the dialogue half-lost beneath the sound of your shared breathing and the soft pop of the fire. It was more tradition than entertainment at this point—something to mark time while the rest of the night unfolded around you.

You closed your eyes for a moment, letting it all wash over you. The lights. The warmth. The gentle weight of them both against you.

This was the last Christmas like this. The last one with just the three of you, with soft mugs and pajamas and nowhere to be but here. Next year would be ribbons and squeals, and Rio on the floor surrounded by half-built toys, swearing softly as she tried to assemble something plastic and complex. Agatha searching the kitchen drawer for more batteries with thinly veiled exasperation. You wiping syrup off a tiny cheek before it found its way into the pages of a picture book.

You all knew it. Could feel it.

There was a stillness in the air that only comes with endings. The good kind. The kind that makes space for something new. And it was bittersweet, the way change always is.

To you, the baby had already been real for weeks—the flutters, the rolls, the private knocks of life from the inside out. But for your wives, it had only ever been glimpsed in grayscale photos and the shape of your silhouette growing slowly beneath your shirts. You’d wished—ached, even—that they could feel what you felt. That they could know the way you did. That there would be a moment of proof, of presence, that couldn’t be reasoned or observed—only felt.

And tonight, in the stillness, in the hush of snow and garland and the fading firelight, you closed your eyes.

When you were younger—before Agatha, before Rio—you had never been one for Christmas wishes. Your life had been hard enough to make magic feel like a myth. Something meant for someone else. The idea of a star delivering happiness felt laughable when survival was your only prayer.

But that had changed. Slowly. Over years. In touches and trust and late-night whispers. In the way they looked at you like you were sacred. Like home.

And so, in the flicker of light beneath the tree, your hand still stroking Rio’s curls, Agatha’s hand steady at your side, you whispered inside the quiet, “Give them a gift, little one. Something Mommy and Mamí will never forget.”

You didn’t say it aloud. You didn’t need to.

The wish settled between your ribs like breath. And beneath the tree, the room glowed gold.

Rio’s head shifted slightly on your belly, curls brushing across the fabric of your pajamas as she tilted her face upward—her gaze not on you but on the tree. The lights were reflected in her eyes, soft gold and green, flickering like memories. Her cheek stayed pressed to your stomach, her breath slow and even, but something in her had changed. You could feel it in the way her hand stopped moving, fingers curling slightly into the blanket. Thoughtful. Still.

For a moment, no one spoke. The movie murmured on. The snow whispered softly against the windows.

And then Rio said, her voice low, like a secret, “I love this.”

Her cheek stayed pressed to you, her breath warm through the fabric of your pajamas. “This night. These nights. Being right here with you two, tucked into this little quilt cave under the tree. We’ve done this every year since…” She trailed off, a breath of laughter curling from her chest. “God, since that first winter with you.”

You felt Agatha shift, her arm wrapping tighter around your waist.

Rio continued, grinning now. “We had the whole house. But you came in, and—suddenly, the living room was the only place that mattered. You dragged every pillow and blanket out of every closet and said we needed to be close to the lights.”

Agatha chuckled beside you, her thumb still stroking soft arcs into your hip. "And you made cocoa," she added dryly, “with that expired mix you bought at the corner store because you were too nervous to ask if we had any.”

You groaned into a smile. "I didn’t know it had an expiration date. It was still powder. Mostly.”

"No, it wasn’t," Rio laughed, eyes shining. “That shit was fossilized. I think it crunched when we stirred it.”

You were all laughing now, quiet and warm, tucked into each other like petals folding in for the night. The tree lights danced above you on the ceiling. The scent of cinnamon and chocolate clung to the air like a memory. And somewhere beneath the humor, beneath the flicker of flames and twinkle lights, there was something else: the weight of what had changed.

Because that first Christmas hadn’t just been laughter and burnt cocoa.

It had been healing. It had been the beginning of home.

Agatha and Rio had built the walls. Filled the shelves. Planted the roots. But when you came in, you brought the breath between the bricks. The love that softened everything. The laughter that lived in the kitchen tiles and the books that kept appearing on every flat surface. The stillness in their bed at night that hadn’t existed before you.

And now, this would be the last Christmas before everything shifted again. A new layer of family. A new kind of joy.

But just for tonight—just for now—you were here. In the in-between. The before and the after touching hands beneath a patchwork quilt.

The laughter faded slowly, like the last echoes of a song, and in its place came something softer. The kind of hush that always follows joy when it settles deep enough to touch something old.

Rio was still lying across your lap, but her smile had softened. Her cheek still pressed against the curve of your belly, but her gaze had shifted downward. Not to the tree. Not to the lights.

To you. To them.

Her fingers drifted, absent, over the rise of your stomach—right where she’d felt the faintest flutter just days ago. The way her hand stilled told you everything before her voice ever did.

"I just… I know it’s going to be better,” she said, her words slow and careful, “I know that. And I can’t wait to meet them.” She paused, her breath catching lightly. “I just—”

Her fingers traced a soft, wandering path above your navel. “I’ve had years of this. Of you. Of Agatha. Of being cradled between you both like I’m the lucky one.”

Her voice went quieter still. Almost lost beneath the crackle of the fire. "And I guess part of me…”

She didn’t finish at first. She didn’t have to. You felt it. “Part of me’s going to miss this version of us.”

Agatha, still beside you, exhaled a long, slow breath. Her hand found the place where Rio’s fingers had just passed and settled there. She leaned her head gently against your shoulder again, her voice quieter than you’d heard it all night. "I understand."

She didn’t try to chase the sadness away. Didn’t wrap it up in logic or spin it into something lighter. She honored it. Let it rest, like a truth that deserved to be spoken before anything new could grow.

And for a moment, the silence stretched. Not empty. Not cold. But full—of love, of longing, of what had been.

And then, just before the ache could take root, Rio blinked up at you, her lips curling into a slow, teasing smile. Mischief tried to mask the glimmer in her eyes.

"Should we open it?"

The question cracked through the quiet like a spark. Not jarring—just enough to stir the air. Enough to make you inhale.

"What?" you breathed.

Rio sat up slightly, propping herself on one elbow, her smile wide now—but trembling at the edges.

"The envelope," she said. “Should we open it? Let Beansprout in on the magic of Christmas Eve?”

Agatha lifted her head again, her brow arching in elegant amusement. "That’s quite the pivot, mi amor.”

Rio let out a short laugh, her eyes still on you. “I’m being romantic. Whimsy. Holiday wonder. All that.”

You looked between them—Agatha’s eyes soft and searching, Rio’s full of hope and nerves and something that looked a lot like love spilling over.

And slowly, the ache in your chest unfurled.

What had been a quiet mourning for one season was now making room for the next.

Your lips curved up, slow and sure. The weight in your chest gave way to something warm and trembling, like the moment before a star is named.

You nodded.

The envelope crinkled slightly as Rio pulled it from the mantel, the silver ribbon already loosened from too many days of anticipation. The weight of it was delicate in her hands, but the moment it held felt monumental. Sacred.

She crossed back to the little nest of blankets beneath the tree, sliding in beside you with Agatha already leaning in close. No one spoke. The world had narrowed to this.

Rio placed the envelope in your hands like it was something breakable—porcelain, holy, impossibly light but filled with weight. The soft silver ribbon still clung to it, curling at the corners from the warmth of the room, the breathless anticipation it had endured all week.

You sat up just a little straighter, feeling both of them press in on either side of you. Agatha’s hand never left your belly. Rio rested her chin gently on your thigh, her eyes flicking between your face and the envelope with all the restraint of someone holding back a thousand bouncing thoughts.

The lights from the tree danced along the paper in your hands. Outside, snow fell in slow, silent swirls, the windowpane already frosting at the edges. The fire cracked low behind you, just enough to remind you that time still moved forward. Even now.

Your fingers worked slowly, reverently, as if any sudden movement might shatter the moment into something you couldn’t put back together. The ribbon felt smooth beneath your fingertips—soft satin, silver, its edges curling from where Rio had looped it days ago, tying and retying it each time she passed the mantel with too much anticipation in her hands.

You didn’t untie it. You unwound it—gently, with a kind of breathless care. Like you were unraveling a spell.

The vellum sleeve slipped free, whispering against itself as it parted. Beneath it was the card—thick, weighty, folded with precision. Not glossy. Not dramatic. Just intentional.

You opened it.

And the world tilted.

Inside, tucked neatly in the fold, was a new ultrasound photo. One you hadn’t seen yet. The baby’s profile was clearer now, more defined—tiny nose, bowed lips, curled fists. The image felt impossibly intimate, like they were looking right at you. Like they knew.

Beneath the photo, written in Dr. Ezra’s unmistakable hand—neat, curved, and careful, like she’d taken her time—was a single word.

Just one.

And suddenly you couldn’t breathe.

The card sat in your hands like a secret the universe had been waiting its whole life to reveal. Not loud. Not showy. Just… true.

You stared. Your lips parted. Your chest rose. But nothing came.

Your breath caught halfway through the first syllable. It lodged in your throat, tangled in the sudden flood rising behind your ribs. Tears welled without permission, flooding your vision, the ink of the word smearing in your periphery.

Your heart thundered. Not fast, not frantic—just hard. Like it was trying to press through your bones. Like it was trying to reach them.

Agatha moved beside you, quiet as the hush before snowfall. She didn’t speak. Didn’t ask. Just reached out, her fingers steady but soft. Careful not to touch you too firmly. As though the paper in your hand—and everything it now meant—might dissolve if jostled too quickly. You passed it to her like a relic. Like something ancient and holy. She took it with both hands. And read it. She didn’t react at first.

The fire behind you seemed to quiet, dimming to a low pulse of gold and orange. The movie on the screen flickered into silence. Even the snow outside the windows fell slower, heavier, as if the world had paused to bear witness.

Agatha’s eyes didn’t move from the card. Her breath didn’t come right away.

And then—she smiled. Not a grin. Not joy bursting free. A bloom. Slow. Wide. Disbelieving.

The kind of smile that starts somewhere inside the chest and climbs, trembles, breaks gently across the face like sunlight cresting over the horizon.

Agatha’s silence said everything.

You watched the way her eyes lingered on the card even after the word had surely registered. The way her breath stilled—not from shock, but from the effort it took to hold something that vast inside her chest. The way her fingers didn’t tremble, but her lashes did, catching the gold glow of the firelight like threads spun from reverence.

And when she turned the card toward Rio, silent and slow, something inside you cracked. Not in pain. Not even in awe. In release.

Because you had known. Somehow, in the marrow of you. In the dreams you hadn’t dared to name. You had known.

Rio’s fingers brushed the card. Her breath hitched—sharp and bright, like the moment cold air hits warm lungs. You watched her eyes sweep across the word, and in them, saw your own astonishment reflected back to you, softened by love, blurred by tears.

She didn’t say anything. Neither did Agatha.

The silence between the three of you pulsed with something sacred. The world had changed, but no one had named it yet. The word lived in the space between your ribs. The syllables curled behind your tongue.

And then— finally. Finally. You let go.

Your breath came in slow, steady. Your spine lengthened. The air around you felt charged, like the space before lightning splits the sky.

Your lips parted. The match inside your chest trembled. And you struck it.

"It’s a ...”

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