Work Text:
Lydia’s experience with winter hasn’t been exactly pleasant. In her youth, it bit her through drafty doors and clothes riddled with holes, and that’s to say nothing about the emotional sting of holidays.
That’s why living in Houston has been worth the unbearable summer. She hasn’t seen snow in years, and truthfully, she doesn’t miss it in the slightest. Sure, it might be about 70 degrees on Christmas day, but she and Kiira have their own ways of feeling festive.
A snowball hits Lydia and she really wishes she had kept it to cutting out paper snowflakes.
“Got you!” Kiira laughs, and Lydia puts on a smile. Kim gives her an apologetic wave.
She had zoned out watching Kim play with Kiira. Her daughter already considers Kim to be like a second mother- although the term she uses is ‘auntie’- and so Kim had wound up on their trip to the indoor snow park. Just a few more hours, Lydia reminds herself. Kiira gets to have a simulated winter experience and then it’s back to thin jacket weather outside.
“You did get me,” Lydia comments, her smile growing. Kiira looks adorable with her rosy cheeks and the snowflakes in her hair. She reaches down and starts to pack a little snowball, only for another snowball to knock the hat right off her head.
“Looks like this time, I got you,” Kim says, “Ms. Rodarte-Quayle.”
Kiira bursts into laughter. Lydia shakes off her nerves- she does not like surprises, even snowy surprises- abandons her snowball and shakes the snow out of her hat. She isn’t sure she can put it back on.
Kim pats Kiira on the shoulder. “How about you get the decorations for that snowman, Kiira? I’m going to talk to your Mommy for a minute.”
“Okay!” Kiira sings, skipping away. Kim approaches Lydia, giving her a sympathetic smile.
“You could warm up in the lobby,” Kim offers. “I’ll hold down the snow fort, so to speak.”
“I want to keep an eye on Kiira. Not that I do not trust you. You have been taking great care of her-- in truth, you’ve made this whole trip.” Lydia sighs. Her breath forms a cloud in front of her. “I am not much of a winter person.”
Kim takes off her hat and places it on Lydia’s head. Lydia settles into it, watching Kim carefully. “I know, I must have hat hair.”
“It is not that. Um.” Lydia makes herself look away from how pink Kim’s face is. “You look beautiful right now.”
“Why, Ms. Rodarte-Quayle. If I didn’t know better, I would think you’re flirting with me.” Even though Lydia isn’t looking, she can hear the smile in Kim’s voice.
Her voice quiets. “That would be because I am.”
Lydia is careful about PDA, and they do little in front of Kiira. Still, Kim takes Lydia’s gloved hand and gives it a squeeze. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” Lydia looks back at Kim. Warmth seems to flow into her body from their joined hands.
“You should join us for building the snowman.”
Lydia tenses. “I don’t know. I mean, I’ve never…”
“You’ve never built a snowman?”
“I have not. I have neither had the opportunity nor desire.”
She’s very aware that Kim is still holding her hand. Being with Kim gives her the opportunity to relax her worries (well, some of them)-- she’s been able to do things that she could never do alone. Kim has always respected her wishes when she asked for space, and she’s understood that Lydia doesn’t exactly have fond holiday memories.
Still, there’s a sparkle in her eye. “Well, then. How about I show you how to build one?” She begins to lead Lydia toward a site where Kiira has begun rolling a snowball into a snowman’s base. “Will you help me build a snowman, Lydia?”
Holiday wishes are just that-- wishes. Lydia hasn’t had to wish for things. All the success in her life, she’s made come true with her own two hands.
One of them is in Kim’s hand right now, and the other- for one reason or another- is itching to build a snowman. She lets out a chuckle.
“Okay. You win. Let’s build a snowman together.”
Kiira lets out a little ‘whoop’ of excitement, and the three of them set to building a snowman together. Like a family, Lydia thinks.
Maybe one wish has come true after all.
“Lydia, above you.”
Lydia isn’t sure what she had been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t a mistletoe. A part of her thinks Kim led her here on purpose.
“Oh, um…” They’ve kissed plenty of times. But in those cases, it had been by choice. “I’ve never, um, done something like this. Kissed someone because of a- a plant.”
She read once, somewhere, that mistletoe is parasitic. It attaches itself to a host, usually a tree, and leeches energy from it.
When Lydia had started dating Kim, she had felt more like a parasite than a partner. She was always so anxious, and even though Kim had said she didn’t mind, Lydia wound up relying on her help to care for Kiira.
There had been chances all year long for Kim to find a fault in her and let her go. Lydia had anticipated how and when it would happen. Maybe they would have a conversation at the table after Kiira went to bed. Maybe Kim would learn something in her office that she wasn’t meant to know. No matter how much she braced herself, it hadn’t happened.
Kim had taken every opportunity to get closer to her, instead, and Lydia’s heart has never felt so full.
“Well,” Kim says, “I’m not one to disobey tradition.” She brushes a strand of hair out of Lydia’s face. “May I?”
“Yes. I would like that.”
For a moment, Kim just looks at her. Lydia doesn’t like to be stared at; typically, she would be looking for a mirror to check for something like food between her teeth. But being with Kim isn’t ‘typical’ for her. She feels calm (well, calmer). She feels like she’s being admired, not scrutinized.
And then Kim is leaning in, tilting her head. Her pretty red lipstick has survived the faux-snow, Lydia notes, her eyes fluttering shut. Kim places a hand on the small of her back.
It’s a small kiss, sweet, lingering for a moment before they both pull back. Lydia wishes again that they weren’t in this snow park. When Kim starts to show her affection, it’s hard to just stop.
Hearing Kiira making gag noises is pretty sobering, though.
She’s prepared to interrupt their snow day with a lesson about how two women can be in love, just like how a man and a woman or how two men can be in love. And she would bring up Gus as an example, omitting the more sensitive parts of his history.
Instead, Kiira just says, “kissing is gross. I wanna go sledding.”
Kim laughs. “I don’t think it’s so gross. I would enjoy some sledding right now, though.”
“Are we going as well?” Lydia asks, perplexed. “We only have two sleds.”
“I suppose you’ll have to hold on tight, then.”
Oh.
Before they know it, they’re walking up the hill, laughing and chatting as normal. Lydia might not have fond memories of winter in the past, but she thinks this will be one day she’ll never forget.