Private We're Complementary, Like Colors and Candy

[Ellie Mors]

D E N O N

H O M E​

M I D D A Y​

"I don't want this to be goodbye."
"I don't want it to be either."

How do you say anything but yes to a woman after that? Yes was the only word that existed in the entirety of her vocabulary for at least a solid five minutes after the question had been posed, but that was a while ago now - she was, for the most part, over the initial excitement. It was reality now, marriage and all of the things that came with it were now a certainty. It wasn't something she'd even dreamed would be a possibility for her, for them, even on that last afternoon lazing about in a dorm room when she'd considered popping a somewhat less serious, but altogether similar, question of her own. A younger Ellie had already been in love with her best friend long before they'd came out and said it to each other and, in a way, this felt like a rather satisfying closure to that chapter of their lives.

"Do you think we'd make good parents?" She asked out loud from the kitchen sink, rinsing the same glass for the fourth consecutive minute as she slowly pulled herself out of the daydreams she'd been floating in for the same length of time. She shut the water off, grabbing a towel to dry the glass with shortly after, and turned towards Sylvia Virtos with a curious look on her face. There wasn't some strong desire for parenthood or anything along those lines, it was just the natural destination that her train of thought came to after deciding this was a good point in her life to decide that she was finally grown up from that little girl she'd been on Bastion. She couldn't help but feel that, at least in some way, she had lagged behind a little bit in that respect to Sylv. "Just kind of wondering if, y'know, not having my own parents would make me a worse mom if we ever adopted or something."

It was the sort of thought she'd normally shrug off, but conversation was conversation and in her head married couples usually had kids - not that she expected either of them to suddenly want one - so it only made sense to think about these sort of things now before feelings about having them became overwhelming.

 

[Sylvia Virtos]

When they see just one, do they see us two?
Ellie Mors ​

---

It was a quiet night like any other, cuddled up to Ellie on the couch. The thought had come out of nowhere. An impulse-driven moment, in complete contrast to the way it was 'intended' to be done. She'd have to get her that ring afterwards, she supposed. The most important thing was making sure Ellie knew just how much she meant to her. That couldn't wait.

"Hey, Ellie, I just realized there's something I really want to ask you."

And there was the spike in heart rate.

"Yeah, I gotta do it. Do you want to marry me?"

---

Sylvia opened the door and was met by someone holding a package. After a quick exchange of hi's it was held out to her and after a quick nod and thank you, the deliveryman moved on to his next address. The door was shut once more and Sylvia made her way back out of the hall. Right as she tossed the package onto the settee to open later, Ellie's voice drew her attention towards the kitchen. The look Sylvia got was returned in fashion. "Hm?"

Now that was a question.

Sylvia made her way over to the kitchen and planted a quick kiss on Ellie's cheek. She had come over to see if there were more dishes left to be done, but all there was left to be done was to put it away. It wasn't much, but she could take at least that out of her fiancé's hands. "I think you'd make a good mom, actually. Better than me, in any case." While it was said lightheartedly, the sentiment was genuine. Ellie she could see as a mother. As for herself, she couldn't even imagine how she'd manage it. Spark was a tiny droid, and that was a handful and then some already.

With one hand Sylvia opened the cupboard and with the other she put the two plates back where they came from. "Wait, is this you telling me you want to adopt a kid?" Her head turned towards Ellie first, then the rest of her body followed as she gave the cupboard door a push. The two of them as parents wasn't something Sylvia had pictured in her head before.

 

[Ellie Mors]

Was she?

"I don't know." She answered, genuinely unsure where the train of thought was supposed to go. "I guess, maybe, I'm a couple of steps before that kind of question." It was hard to explain, really, but it didn't really feel right to think about that sort of stuff, raising a child specifically, without considering where or not Sylvia Virtos was even going to be receptive to the idea down the road in the first place. "I just sort of found myself wondering whether or not we - us, together - would be good parents, and then when I was starting to think about what kind of kid we'd raise if we did have one of our own I realized I was starting to, like, think about something that we hadn't talked about before." She said.

She shrugged, as if to express visibly that she understood that it probably wasn't something that should've needed to be talked about before she was actually asking to consider adopting in at least the near future, but the whole thing and her relative awkwardness around broaching the subject reminded her of something, too. Patting her hands dry against her shorts, Ellie leaned a bit further back against the sink's edge. In her mind's eye a familiar scene that she'd replayed countless times overlapped with reality as an old dorm was overlayed against the backdrop of their apartment. Phantom weight of longer hair rustled against her shoulders and the middle of her back while she mulled the thought over in her mind, though Sylv, who was now turned towards her, remained unchanged by this simultaneous walk down memory lane paired with their current conversation.

"I guess I just want to know if it's something you think we could - or shouldn't - do someday. If it's something you'd want."

And then it was just the two of them in their apartment again, a more mature Elle asking a question that a younger Ellie would've let die in her head. "I don't have a preference, not right now, but I don't want to think about it and end up wanting something if it isn't what you're open or comfortable with." She said, letting her hands slide down to her hips where they ended up resting.

 

[Sylvia Virtos]

Ellie Mors ​

---

Sylvia had actually never thought this seriously about children until now. The topic had been dropped into her lap out of nowhere, though she figured she should have seen it would be coming eventually. The question, then, was how she felt about the idea herself. To her own surprise, it wasn't the resolute 'no' she'd felt the last time it crossed her mind many years ago. It wasn't a complete one-eighty, but the door wasn't immediately slammed shut anymore.

"Yeah... I can see it, I think. Someday." Perhaps it was the fact Sylvia's mental image of it had Ellie in the picture now, too. "Couple-a years older and wiser, a pet... it would fit right in. A bit cliche, but we deserve to indulge a little bit," she mused. Grinning, she stepped away from the cupboard and closed the small amount of distance between Ellie and herself. "You have my permission to think about it," she jested as she wrapped her arms around her soon-to-be wife. The grin turned to a full-on smile as she reminded herself of that.

"Makes me think, though- it'd be really confusing if we both were 'mom', right? 'Mom' and 'ma', maybe? Who gets to be which?" The inquiry wasn't entirely serious, but it was interesting to think about. "Lots to figure out." A chuckle, then a kiss. "Good thing we got time."

After everything they'd been through, Sylvia had come to treasure time above everything else.