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Emerald stretched her body, arms raised high over her head. The light blanket had slipped off of her, pooling around her lap. The girl slumped forward, allowing the early morning sun to cast its warmth over her through the barely opened blinds. After a second of rest, she instinctively glanced back at her wife, Nora. A smile graced her face, and she leaned over. Initially, she intended to kiss her gorgeous lover. But she held back, lazily admiring her features. The electricity scars that curved up her front and ended on the lower half of her face, her button nose, those long eyelashes she so adored. Thinking about it all made a warmth spread in her chest, and she finally planted a soft peck to Nora’s cheek. As quietly as she could, Emerald snaked her way out of their bedroom.
Once in the kitchen, the smooth-skinned girl began to carefully dig around in the pantry and through the cupboards, finding the ingredients so familiar to her that it was almost reflex to make the recipe. She cracked open the cardboard box containing the pancake mix and poured the required amount into a mixing bowl.
*
A scent, heavenly and achingly familiar, stirred Nora from her soft slumber. She never was a heavy sleeper, but it seemed that Em could always slip past her. She glanced over at the quickly cooling, empty spot next to her. The girl took a second to gather herself, before sliding out of bed, all but throwing the blanket off of her. She knew the smell of pancakes, and the thought of her wife making something so special and dear to her made her pulse quicken, but it always had.
Heavy-footed, Nora made her way across the smooth wooden flooring of their home. Leaning slightly into the kitchen, she felt her heartbeat spike and drool try to escape her open mouth at the sight of lovely golden pancakes. She was on them in less than two seconds, devouring them, syrup and butter already ladled on by an attentive, knowing wife. The ginger’s eyes skittered up, and through a food-stuffed mouth, she smiled at Emerald.
Emerald deliberately sliced into the pancakes on her plate. There weren’t as many as Nora had, but Emerald never ate much anyway. Besides, Nora liked them far more than she did. The girl's eyebrows raised and a small smile made its home on her face when she made eye contact with her wife. This was nice. While Nora went back to absolutely demolishing her own cakes, Emerald slowly finished hers, finishing it off with a sip of fresh lemonade. It was just a little past lemon season, early spring. That also meant that she would need to go and check on the lemon trees again. It was never much of a job she liked doing, but it produced the best fruit in her opinion, so that was enough to make it all worth it. Nora herself was more of an apple and orange gal, so they had all three kinds of trees.
With a minuscule clink, her empty glass was placed onto the little square table they had been gifted years ago by their friends, Jaune and Ren. It was a wedding gift. The thought reminded her that she would need to buy a wedding gift for them as well, as they had been engaged for a while now and it was nearing their wedding date. She filed away that thought for later, she would have to have Nora’s input as well. Emerald glanced down at the rose gold ring on her ring finger. It stood out beautifully against her skin. And she couldn’t help but glance over at Nora’s ring, a pretty neon sage with a red ruby in the middle. She felt her heart flutter.
“Nora,” Her voice rang out clearly, slow and rumbling. “Would you help me with the garden? We need to check on the trees and flowers.”
The flowers that resided in their garden were just starting to bloom, and it was important to check on their growth beforehand. Both were quite beautiful, and they had picked them out for each other. The snapdragon seeds had been both a gift from Nora and a gift from Yang. It was more for the symbolism with Yang rather than the love from Nora. The blonde had had trouble accepting her and Nora’s relationship, after all, she had done so many terrible things to their groups when she was on the wrong side. Yang had come to accept her redemption, though, just as Nora had. Both girls knew how hard she worked to redeem herself and be a good friend and ally to them.
The gladiolus seeds had been a gift from the rest of team ALPN and Emerald herself. They symbolized strength, and they felt it important to show Nora how much she meant to them. The type of seed they got bloomed all year round without dying in the winter. It was quite expensive, which is why all of them had to chip in. That was way before they had gotten married, when Ren and Nora were still dating. That was also way before Emerald had any non-platonic feelings for her now-wife. Still, she had appreciated Nora for far longer.
“Sure! I’d be happy to help!” While it had taken Nora a while to respond, who was gonna blame her when she had a mouthful of delicious pancakes from her loving wife?
*
The soft crush of still-there autumn leaves under their boots was nearly the only sound as they worked. Of course, the numerous birds and bugs chirping away was ever-present, but it very quickly became background noise in their lives. Nora would usually run her mouth while they were doing their chores, but for now, she remained silent and focused. The clicking sound of the rake hitting rocks became familiar in the little time they worked. Currently, Nora and Emerald were finally cleaning up last season's dead leaves. They gathered all of the leaves into smaller piles before pushing them all into one big pile. Whenever one of them would hit a rock, which they did often, they would simply toss it to the side. After all, it’s not like they could remove rocks from nature.
Maintaining the flowers was made easier with the long-lasting Gladiolus’, but not so much for the snapdragons. Neither required much maintenance, anyway, but it was still something nice to do.
The sun beat down harshly on Emerald's back, but she held out. The warmth itself was nice, but she was sure that if she was out in the heat any longer, she’d get skin cancer. The girl leaned onto the handle of her rake, taking a moment to rest, her sun hat flopping over her eyes.
“Come on, Em! No sleeping on the job!” Nora jabbed playfully at her wife, flipping her hat back up onto its original position on her head.
Emerald huffed while a good-natured smile spread across her face. She locked eyes with her lover and dramatically pulled herself up into a standing position. Slugging her rake over her bare shoulder, she turned and gestured for Nora to follow her.
“Come on, then! We’re just about finished anyway. Gimme your rake and I’ll put them away while you water the flowers.” She made a grabbing motion with her left hand, relenting when the familiar heaviness settled into her palm. The girl made her way to the brown shed, the vines swarming the sides of it not a match for her superior strength. She had torn them away from the door easily, and they hung in tatters. Swinging open the door, she was met with dust and cobwebs. Oh well, that’s what she gets for not checking on it.
“I’ll be out in a sec to pick off the dead buds from the snapdragons,” Emerald called back loudly towards her wife, shoving the rakes towards one side of the shed. She sighed heavily.
“Time to get to cleanin’, I guess.”
*
Nora deliberately filled her watering can two-thirds of the way full, before taking her fourth trip to the flower bed. She was, graciously, on the last row now. Housework like this was never her favorite, but Emerald made it better most of the time. Now was not one of those times, unfortunately. The ginger huffed indignantly, leaning back in the grass and all but throwing the now empty can away from her. She hated chores. But. The sun was nice right now, partially clouded by clouds but still filtering through determinately. There was a slight breeze ruffling the grass trying to engulf her, but falling short. She sighed and finally let herself relax a little. Her bare arms and legs were happy to not be of use. Her own hat had abandoned her head a long time ago, haphazardly lying in the grass a few inches from her.
Relaxation came rarely, her body had other plans. The electrocution scars left her with a little more than mild chronic pain, and they liked to bite at her resolve. It was the worst in the winter, or when it got cold in general. It always made her body ache to the point she really couldn’t do much of anything. Nora always tried her hardest though.
Her gentle thinking was interrupted by Emerald’s familiar, fox-like steps. She was always so quiet, it took Nora a while of being around her to even begin to hear her footsteps. Cracking open her eyes a tad, she was met with her very dirty-looking wife.
“Geez, Em. Did you wrestle a raccoon nest from our shed or something?” Nora teased lazily. Even so, she gestured for Em to lay with her.
Emerald did as suggested, letting herself relax next to her wife. She had just remembered the snapdragons and begrudgingly went to sit up. The girl felt a strong pair of arms pull her against Nora’s chest. She huffed in annoyance, but allowed herself to relax once more. Really, what better place to take a nap than your wife’s chest?