Mira wants kids but Rumi doesn’t and neither can understand the other. Zoey is just trying her hardest to steer clear of it all.
It isn’t until Rumira get into a veritable screaming match that reaches its pinnacle with,
“Having a baby ended my mother’s life, Mira! Excuse me for wanting all of us alive! To hell with a baby!”
that Zoey comes running in between them to stop anyone from saying anything else. Mira and Rumi are nearly chest to chest, breathing hard with tears of frustration pricking at their eyes when Zoey inserts herself and forces them both back a few steps.
There was many land mines in that conversation and playing Switzerland hadn’t saved Zoey from the explosion anyway so she says, “We either talk about this in therapy or we don’t talk about it at all,” staring Rumira down in equal measure until they relent.
With a huff, Rumi and Mira turn in opposite directions to leave but Zoey’s not done.
“Stop.” They freeze. “Apologize. Both of you.” They glance at one another and promptly look away.
“You two let the argument get out of hand enough that I HAD to step in as mediator so no one is going anywhere until I see some hugs, a kiss, AND some apologies.”
Given how fraught the situation was, Zoey let them get away with derivatives of “I love you, I’m sorry”s but usually she’d have them say what they were sorry for and how they were gonna change in the future.
And while she did promise to let them leave after the apologies, she changed her mind at the last second. She drags them to their shared room (formerly Rumi’s room) and gestures to the bed, “Actually, it’s mandatory cuddle time. Rumi will hold Mira for thirty minutes and then you’ll swap,”
Rumira both begin to protest but Zoey’s answering glare is enough for them to change into something more comfortable and start their cuddle sentence.
It takes all of five minutes for Mira to lose the tension that had been bunching up her shoulders while snuggled into Rumi’s collarbone. Rumi playing with the hairs at the base of Mira’s neck didn’t hurt either.
When they swapped, Mira just shimmied further up and rolled over, pulling Rumi on top of her. Rumi was fond of curling up when upset so she ended up with her knees parallel to Mira’s torso and her head tucked snugly under her chin resting squarely on her chest. Mira’s hands snaked under Rumi’s shirt and trailed lazily up and down her spine until she was suitably boneless, fighting off sleep and failing.
When Rumi’s soft snores clued Mira in to her unconscious state, she spoke to Zoey though she couldn’t see her while flat on her back.
“You were right… we needed this.”
Zoey appeared to the left of her, Chesire like, “You don’t say?”
Mira would’ve rolled her eyes but she couldn’t trivialize what Zoey had done or how much Zoey hated having to do it in the first place.
“I know sweetie,” Zoey brushes a hair out of Mira face before dropping her phone on the side table and snuggling up to Mira’s side.
“I just-” but Zoey’s hand covers the entirety of her mouth.
“Therapy or not at all. And definitely not while Rumi is asleep.”
Mira kisses the hand covering her mouth in acquiesce and Zoey lets her go.
“Now sleep. We all need it.”
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