Rory had been over the moon excited at the idea of traveling to London for her birthday. The trip itself was going to be a dream (and a lot of steps to be taken toward their future), but then there was the simple fact they were allowed to travel again. The road trip had been amazing for Maris' book tour, and then Rory felt like she nearly forgot how to behave on a plane it had been so long.

Actually arriving in England felt different than any other trip she'd gone through Heathrow. She'd been a handful of times, but she'd never gone in with eyes-open like she was looking at the place as her new home. All along the cab ride that took them to their lodging, she kept squeezing Maris' hand, looking at the countryside as they drove by, the big buildings she recognized, and jumping a couple of times when she sort of forgot the other side of the road-deal.

Rory wasn't the kind of person who demanded the entire month or even week to be solely dedicated to her birthday, but it was kind of fun to roll it all into one.

The morning had been luxurious as they were wan to do, a couple good hours to enjoy each other in a foreign bed and then some more in a shower after some coffee and these amazing breakfast pasties leftover from the day before. "Do you feel like we're going to become actual tea drinkers instead of our mainlining coffee when we move here?" She asked Maris as they walked off the tube, her hand clasped in hers. She paused while waiting for her answer to consult the map that would take them to The Flask, which just seemed a highly appropriate name for the bar that frequented the likes of Keats, Shelley (ugh, not the good one), and Byron.

As excited as Rory was to have their lunch at a bar that she could already tell could become a real favorite to settle in with, her main excitement was swirling around their afternoon appointment with the London realtor who would open up their house for a look through. Rory needed to not get ahead of herself, but they'd wanted this place for months. It felt like things were happening.

"I think drinking here will make us way more poetic." She grinned at Maris as they walked into the restaurant, pausing just to lean over and steal a quick kiss.

Maris had only been to England once before and even then it had only been an occasional pit stop, a sight to see a handful of times while she was in Europe as an exchange student during her senior year of high school. She wanted to actually take her time and take it in this time around.


Ever a master of masking her emotions, Maris kept her excitement mostly in check. She hardly ever held anything back in any sense (or in any scenario) with Rory anymore, but she was a little worried about being pegged as a tourist so she used her trademark self possession for good this time around.

"Oh, I dunno," Maris said sucking her teeth a bit. "I like my tea iced. Isn't that blasphemy around here?"

They'd arrived on an unseasonably hot day even though it was still a milder summer than Maris was used to. A drink was very welcome, but her face fell a bit as they entered the pub and she saw the table she wanted was spoken for. It was hardly the same table where Keats used to sit but it did have a plaque with his face on it hanging over top so Maris was determined, filled with a kind of silly possessiveness that had her grabbing Rory's hand and tugging her behind her until they reached it.

"Hi," she said shortly. "Are you done?"

A college aged blonde with impeccable beach waves looked up from her phone. "Oh yeah, my mates just left and I got sucked into a text -"

"Great," Maris said, cutting her off and plopping down into the booth as soon as she rose from it, though she did take a moment to make sure she didn't sit in anything before completely settling in. Wearing white pants (which she'd paired with a black tank) was tricky business, an exercise in avoiding the stains that lurked around every corner.

Fully aware she'd probably just broken her vow not to be a rude American (and really not caring), Maris smirked at Rory once the girl was gone. "Told you I'd get us the good table."

It was kind of funny how the two of them took giant leaps where others might take steps - and yet every time it felt like the exact right thing. They had moved in together, officially after months of never sleeping without one another. But when time came to look for their home, of course they'd jump across the Atlantic and settle into an entirely new country. Rory was just excited for everything a whole new place would bring them, and the life they would build here.

"Is it? God I hope not, we're going to have to learn the right way to order drinks and cuisine... oh they're gonna hate us here until we adopt our Madonna accents." She laughed, swinging their hands a little bit. She was wearing a blue sundress, which was only a problem when they were stepping into places with their AC blasting. Thankfully the bar wasn't going overkill at present.

Rory watched Maris work her magic in a kind of awestruck amusement as she marched over and made the table effectively their territory. "Thank you!" She chimed in as the girl scampered off to meet her friends. She clicked her tongue at Maris, an amused grin stretching across her face. "Oh you're good alright."

Sliding into her side of the booth, she nudged Maris' ankle with her foot before turning her attention to the plaque. "I think we'll have to have this plaque bless us when we're getting pregnant later. Just to really make it a full circle thing."

"We just have to ease in to the accent," Maris said knowingly, even though she was hardly an expert on such things. "A hint of British, then gradually work our way up. We can't be full on Dick Van Dykes."

Feeling very pleased with her little joke, Maris smirked as she nodded at a waitress who looked in their direction to wordlessly ask if they needed help.

"Oh, we're stealing this," Maris said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, her tone in no way implying that she was joking. "We're stealing this and putting it right over his crib. Other kids have mobiles, ours is having a plaque of his namesake."

She ordered her usual once the waitress arrived, needing something to take a bit of the edge off.

As excited as she was to finally see their dream home in person, she was nervous too. Expectations always didn't line up with reality, especially with things seen online, but she was almost more worried the house really would be perfect.

It was huge. It was expensive. It would mean really doing this and starting the process of setting up a home in an entirely new country.

It meant really telling her father she'd be moving half a world away.

Not that she thought he'd try to change her mind or even be disappointed, but it was a lot. She was ready for it, all of it, no matter where they ended up but... it was a big. And anything big was always a little scary, no matter how exciting.

She let the cherry in her glass soak up a bit of the whiskey inside before popping it in her mouth, chewing thoughtfully before looking at Rory, giving her hand a light squeeze.

"I'm kind of not hungry," she admitted softly, wondering if Rory was battling the same kind of nerves.

"Oh that's way smarter. Otherwise we really just won't get the inflections right and all of that." Rory nodded seriously, though it actually took her a moment to recall the whole of Dick Van Dyke's accent. As soon as she did, her face broke into a smile and she laughed, shaking her head. "We shouldn't go regional either, just sort of ... posh." Her made sure to flip her hair a little at the use of the term.

Maris' plan shouldn't have been shocking at all that it was coming with a whole story around it. Rory grinned, leaning forward over the table like they were actually conspiring. "He's going to know that brilliance is expected of him from day one. Staring down at the crib on him. Stern. I like it." She nodded, only barely finishing her sentence before the waitress arrived. She ordered the cider she was obsessed with, suddenly giddy that she could get it anytime she wanted when they moved here.

Everything about being here felt big, and Maris' giddiness was rubbing off on her in a big way. She felt like her emotions were heightened in a way, as they were potentially making really big moves. She remembered back to the day she had looked up their dream home as well, months into the pandemic, just bracing herself that it wasn't meant to be and someone would have scooped it up. She knew that seeing it in person would make her stomach do even more flips.

Maybe it wouldn't be perfect, but then maybe it wouldn't need to be. There were just so many variables to contend with, and they would.

Rory sipped at her drink, only when Maris spoke did she realize her knee was bouncing. "I'm not either."

Squeezing Maris' hand back, she stood up, moving the short distance to scoot into Maris' side of the booth with her. She kept hold of her hand, lacing their fingers together and leaning over to bump her chin on Maris' shoulder. "This is a big trip, isn't it? Just starting to assess putting down roots ... does it scare you at all?"

Maris' lips twitched a little as Rory joined her, grateful for and soothed by her fiancee's company, but she still stared into her drink for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts.

"It's a lot," she agreed, sitting down her drink and pushing it away to give Rory her full attention. "A good sort of a lot just... I guess I'm just anxious? You know how it feels when you're in the theater, finally seeing a movie you've been waiting months to see and the lights go down and your heart starts beating really, really fast? Its a good sort of excitement but still..."

She trailed off. "If this goes well, we're going to have so much more to do. And I want to. I want to do it but... I guess its sort of a things might not ever be the same kind of deal?"

She let out a snort, hating that her words were coming out as a bit of a ramble when she usually measured them so carefully, priding herself on them coming out right but feelings were tougher.

And always a bit of a struggle as far as Maris was concerned.

"I mean, we might not even like it," she said, even though she already knew that was a bit of lie. She'd had her heart set on the place for months even though she was hardly the sort of person who got ahead of themselves, a realist with little time for wishful thinking and the usually crushing blows that came with getting your hopes up but...

"Do you think everyone will be confused?" she said suddenly. "If we do it. No matter where we end up, moving so far away is pretty impulsive. Especially for us."

This would, when all was said and done, be their biggest move, and not just geographically. Their marriage was everything she had ever wanted, the step that felt the most natural thing in the world. Rory knew that was going to happen, and was more and more excited by the day. But a move away from their family and friends was a huge life change. Moving to a new country, finding new jobs, building something that was based on just them ... it was big. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't nervous to be an entire half world away from her family, even if the space of the US was between them already.

"No I completely get it." She nodded, squeezing her hand as she slid her fingers to lace through Maris'. "I feel the same way. I kind of think it would be abnormal if it didn't feel that way, you know?"

Rory listened, her gaze unwavering from her fiancee as they sat together. "What are you worried wouldn't be the same?" It was a valid concern, and a huge commitment to buy a house and not just ... rent a place for a while. But they really were in love with the house, weren't they?

"I feel like whenever I'm about to do something big, I get this immediate feeling of 'okay what if I didn't do it and just kept right on with the status-quo instead?" She knew that they'd love the house, unless the photos online really were a complete lie. "But then I usually am so glad I did the thing."

Her thumb brushed along Maris', and she looked down at their hands for a moment and nodded. "I think it probably will. My mom will probably cry." She laughed with a roll of her eyes, but it did tug at her heart a little. "Impulsive so isn't our strong suit, is it?" She smiled, leaning over and kissing the side of her face. "But I think if there's anyone who can do this and make it seamlessly become our new life, it's us."

Rory looked at Maris again, her gaze more intense than before. "If at anytime you want to scrap the whole idea, just tell me. I only want to do this if it feels right for both of us."

Maris knew that apart from their location, most of this wouldn't be that much of a change. She'd already moved away from her father and Eli. She was used to sharing her space with Rory by now and in a way going back to teaching, even in a new country, would be going back to normal, or at least the job she'd been trained for.

She'd adjusted to not seeing her loved ones as often as she was used to but if they did move, she'd see them even less. Maris' father was always supportive, the sort of parent who had always encouraged her to follow her dreams and go her own way, but she couldn't help but feel a sort of sinking feeling every time she thought of breaking the news to him and what his reaction would be.

"I want to," she said firmly, punctuating her statement with a kiss to reassure Rory and soothe both their nerves.

"Even if it isn't this house or even England I just..." She sighed, raking a hand through her hair. "Want to know exactly where we're spending the rest of our lives together before the wedding. I want to have a place to look forward to, you know? To picture us in when I'm...." She shifted in her seat a little, mumbling because she knew it sounded sappy, "walking down the aisle or whatever."

Rory knew that if this happened, it would be a big adjustment and not just for them. The time difference of when to call home, for example. The flight times for family and friends coming to visit. All of those were just the first round of what would change, when next came them having to adjust to a new city, a new country. New cultures and traditions, words they didn't know or had different meanings back home. It was one hell of an adventure, and one that terrified her as much as it excited her.

The blank slate that London would be was daunting, but it was thrilling all at once. They could build something for themselves, their family that they wanted. Hell, maybe eventually their families would move across the pond as well. Probably depending on how things settled politically in the coming years.

Rory nodded at Maris' affirmation, kissing her back softly, and taking an extra moment to bow her head against Maris'. It felt good to actually voice their hesitations, to take such a big move seriously. It wouldn't be natural if both of their mindsets were "yep!" and jumping in without hesitation.

"I completely agree with you. I think we're both so excited just to start our life together." A smile grew across Rory's face as Maris began to mumble, and she reached for her, cupping her face by the opposite cheek and pressing her lips against the one nearest to her. "I love you," She giggled her words, squeezing her hand again. "Let's go see the house when we're done, and I just think ... if it's where we're supposed to be, we're going to feel it. And if it's not, we'll go from there." She knew that she could be literally anywhere in the world, and so long as Maris was with her, everything would be alright. She didn't need to say it aloud, Rory knew that Maris knew that.

Feeling her own sense of slight relief now that they'd talked about things, Maris finished her drink before taking Rory's hand and heading to the nearest curb to fetch them a cab.

She was quiet on the ride over and not just because she'd always felt a bit awkward carrying on a conversation in a taxi since there was always a sort of interloper in the front seat.

Nerves had her stomach in knots and she wasn't entirely sure what to say. She just wanted to get to their appointment soon.

Smiling ever so slightly when she thought of a way to soothe herself, Maris pulled her phone out to fire up their wedding playlist, giving Rory an airpod to listen too.

There really was no better soundtrack for this particular moment, which, like their wedding, she couldn't help but feel was the beginning of something big.

The drinks helped take a little bit of that edge off, but likewise Rory felt a world better now that they'd both spoken over how big this decision really was, and how seriously they'd both be taking it. It didn't surprise Rory that they were on the same page, not in the slightest, but it was good to have those talks.

Rory sat close to Maris in the cab, holding her hand tightly as her eyes wandered outside. She wanted to get a feel for the neighborhoods they were passing by, what might be close to their home, the city that could be theirs. She was glad the house wasn't out in the countryside somewhere, but rather central - but also not in the noisy epicenter of the city.

Turning to Maris when she handed her the earbud, she grinned, leaning over and kissing her cheek softly as she took it. It amazed her, just how much that calmed her to listen to songs that they decided were theirs.

That soothing feeling carried her until their driver let them off outside the house. "Cute street." She said, still clutching Maris' hand as she peered over the curb to look down the street. Fairly quiet, a couple of kids playing kickball (or something?) down the other side. Now she was just buzzing with her nerves and excitement all at once.

Maris took her time putting her phone away, not sure why she felt the need to prolong seeing the house just yet, but did so all the same.

It was a nice area. The sort of quiet, but not too quiet sort of suburban street she and Eli had grown up on.

The sort of place she wanted for their kids, even if they'd potentially grow up around kids with way cooler accents. She squeezed Rory's hand before heading up the driveway. There was a little black compact car already parked, a sign that the realtor they'd been in contact with was already there, but she didn't make an appearance until Maris and Rory started up the front steps.

Louisa was a middle aged woman in a navy blue business suit that looked a little too formal for the occasion and a little too hot for the current weather. Her choppy, short haircut bordered on... well, Karen but there was a smile on her face that had Maris cautiously optimistic that she'd be a little easier to deal with.

"Maris and Rory?" she said, sticking out her hand so introductions could be made. "You know, my son's called Rory. Isn't that funny?"

Not nearly as funny as Louisa's accent. It was thick, most of her words blurring together. The fact that she seemed to be a fast talker hardly helped matters. Maris raised an eyebrow, doing her best not to laugh, but nodded politely like she understood.

Even though she sort of felt like she only caught every other word.

She smirked at Rory as Louisa lead them inside, knowing her fiancee knew she was on the edge of losing it.

Rory was an optimistic person by nature, but even she didn't want to get ahead of herself as they approached the house. The street was sweet. The area of town seemed nice - below the Thames, but a tube would take them to any number of places they needed to go. She really did love how great transportation was here.

She suddenly got a burst of nerves as they walked up the drive, squeezing Maris' hand back for reassurance. It was crazy to think that they might be stepping into their future home, but she couldn't get too ahead of herself.

Louisa. Rory made sure that her face was a pleasant neutral, even when she tried to suss out a few words that seemed to blend into others. She was pretty good with accents and understanding people, but she wondered if Louisa was from one of the more distinct areas like Liverpool or Manchester areas.

"That is funny! That's a good sign." Rory said pleasantly, shaking the woman's hand with a big grin. For good measure she squeezed Maris' hand, pressing her lips together once Louisa turned away from them to stifle an actual laugh.

Thankfully, the house was a distraction. As Louisa began her whole spiel about crown moldings and the history of the house, Rory just stepped in to take in the space. The foyer was bigger than she thought it would be, leading them into any number of pathways into the house. Don't fall in love yet, she warned herself, but already worried she was going to fall more and more in love with the house as they were introduced.

Maris stayed close to Rory as they wandered inside, really only half listening to Louisa's spiel. It didn't really matter if she could understand the other woman or not (and after a bit of the initial shock wore off, she found that she did, it was just that her accent was so jarringly different than what she was used to). She didn't need a sales pitch. Maris already knew she liked this house. Maris already knew she wanted it.

She just needed to see it with her own two eyes.

"Now, there are three bedrooms," Louisa said, Maris having tuned in during the middle of her speech. "The smaller one was technically a bathroom but the previous owners turned it into a nursery. I personally think its a little small to be a proper guest bedroom, but you can do what you like, eh?"

Louisa nudged open the small room with her hip to give them a peek and Maris'stomach tightened a bit as she felt a slightly ridiculous sort of pressure behind her eyelids.

She didn't know why she was getting so emotional over a room. The house was much bigger than the one she grew up in. Space was always at a premium no matter where you were in New York, but her childhood bedroom had been similarly tiny, a nursery that had eventually become a cramped bedroom because her grandfather had occupied the second bedroom for as long as she could remember.

Adam spent so much time at the house when Maris was a toddler, especially after her mom left that it didn't make sense for him not to move in.

But it wasn't just childhood memories that were getting to her. The house still had furniture in place. She wasn't sure if it was because the owners were still living there or the result of the realtor wanting to make the place look appealing but the sight of cherry yellow walls, a tiny toddler bed complete with railings so whoever was occupying it wouldn't fall out in the middle of the night and a stuffed brown rabbit on the windowsill were almost too much.

Because they were a glimpse of what could be.

She nodded a little, squeezing Rory's hand without even realizing it. "I think it's fine the way it is," she murmured, more to her fiancee than anyone else.

Maybe it was a sales tactic, but walking around the fully furnished house like it was ready, just waiting for them to move in and start this next chapter was kind of working on Maris.

Everything about this already felt right, like they were sort of where they were supposed to be.

"Here, let me show you the master bedroom," Louisa chirped.

The house had so much natural light, and that was one of the very first things Rory noticed. Louisa droned on, but she couldn't really pay attention. She was too busy with imagining the two of them living there. Imagining growing a family. There weren't a lot of rooms, all in all, but there was space. While she and Maris weren't exactly carpentry lesbians, she imagined they could expand if and when they might need to later on. As it stood now, it felt perfect.

Rory had kind of hoped that it wouldn't be, if only because then it wouldn't be them putting all of their eggs into this beautiful basket. Maybe the ceiling was caving in somewhere, or the pipes were bad. Nope, Louisa seemed to answer before she could ask, that the place was sturdy, that a central air and heating unit had been installed three years prior. "Not that you need the coolin' much!" She said, and Rory grinned to Maris. That was a brogue more than an accent, really.

Maris wasn't the only one with a gut reaction to seeing the tiny nursery. She felt an immediate tightness in her throat, her heart slamming into her ribs as she looked around the staged room. Or was it staged? She couldn't tell, either. Rory and Maris liked to dream of their little Keats and Jane. They liked to imagine the children they would have, what it would be like to watch them grow up, and love them unconditionally. But somehow seeing even a nursery that was not crafted specifically for them made Rory realize just how much she wanted that. She huffed a little sound, squeezing Maris' hand back as she fought back obnoxious emotion. It was just a nursery ... but it felt like so much more.

"I think so too." She agreed, sharing a look with Maris. She was truly loving the house more and more, but she nodded, maybe in a final hope that the master bedroom would be a disaster.

It wasn't. "Now it might be a little small for some expecting a master suite, but there is plenty of room to expand, should you need more room. You'll see there's just as much natural light in here, with a nice view out into your garden..." Rory smiled, liking how Louisa (probably using yet another selling tactic) had begun referring to the parts of the house as theirs.

Maris had the opposite of a green thumb. She'd never really been able to keep a plant alive. Even the flowering cactus Jenna had gotten her as a housewarming gift when she moved to Maine had ended up in the garbage under her care, but she liked the idea of a garden, especially with the extra space and a view like that giving her incentive to try.

Apart from the kitchen floor looking a bit too rustic (which as far as Maris was concerned was a synonym for ugly and worn out) for her tastes, there really no glaring flaws Maris could see. She let Louisa lead them out to the studio. In all honesty, the little shed with all it's windows was Maris' favorite part of the house, the thing that really caught her eye even though she had no clue what they were going to do with it.

Louisa rambled on about how one half of the couple that owned the house was a painter by trade, something already made painfully obvious by the canvases scattered around the room and the faint chemical, but not entirely unpleasant smell still lingering in the air.

Maris' wandered a bit aimlessly, letting herself take in the space, struck by the realization that the windows reminded her of the ones in the botanical garden they were thinking about renting for the wedding. Suddenly everything made a certain sort of sense.

"Well, I'll let you two talk," Louisa said finally, pulling Maris out of her thoughts. "I'll be in the backyard answering some texts if you need me."

She waited for the other woman to leave the room, taking another glance around before looking over her shoulder at Rory.

"Do you want it?" Maris asked softly, teeth sinking into her lower lip as she realized just how much she did.

Rory could imagine they'd be able to plant some things - vegetables, herbs. She could imagine going out to the little patch of a garden and because it was on her mind, she could imagine a pair of tiny hands digging in the dirt with them. The imagery was so strong in her mind and twisted her heart in her chest so much it almost took her breath away.

There were little projects around the house. The flooring, maybe some new cabinets eventually, expansions if they wanted them. She was grinning even before they walked into the shed, but it was truly something wonderful. She had no ideas for it yet, but something would come to them. Of course it would.

"Thank you." Rory said to Louisa, turning to Maris. She felt like a child who had just brought home a puppy and wanted to beg can we keep it???, trying to hedge her excitement.

She gripped Maris' hand as she spoke, and she saw what she wanted in her fiancee's eyes. "I love it." She sort of expelled the words in a sigh, almost emotional and feeling ridiculous because of it. "I can see us living here. I can see us building our life and family here. What do you think?"

When Rory said she wanted the house too, Maris was struck by a few different emotions, each a little more intense the last.

Relief, joy, excitement, that indescribable, slightly heavy, scary one that came along with knowing you were in the midst of something big and things would probably never be the same.

It was a beginning but how would they even begin to...

"I don't know how to do this," she blurted out suddenly, blushing in a way she never did because she was hardly the type of person to admit when she needed help. Maris was stubborn, proud and never wanted to seem anything but smart, capable, even though she knew nobody knew everything.

"Houses, I mean. I've never bought a house," she admitted somewhat begrudgingly. Her grandfather's had been a gift, after all. Like most New Yorkers, her life had been spent in a string of (increasingly nicer) apartments once she left her parent's house.


"Maybe you should...do most of the negotiations?"

She'd even stepped back during the tour, letting Rory have most of the conversations with Louisa because she was a little afraid of asking some sort of stupid question, trusting Rory to get the job done.

It was definitely a joint decision, their biggest yet as a couple (and probably the start of many more) but Maris had sort of already let Rory take the lead on this one.

And she was about to let her officially take charge.

It was a rare thing and they both knew it. They may have worked as a pair, a partnership, but Maris craved control in nearly every situation.

Loosening the reigns a bit was not her idea of fun but it was fitting, a nice precedent to set for this next phase of their relationship.

And honestly what needed to be done if they really were going to buy the place.

Maris wasn't about to let anything, especially her own stubbornness, get in the way of them having their dream house.

This was big. They knew that it would be, and it was always going to be a bit of a shock if they really did say yes. But now they were saying it, and suddenly the path of their future was solidifying right in front of them. It was scary, it was exhilarating. It made her happy even if there was some fear there, too. Rory just knew however, that they could do absolutely anything if they were just together.

They had been through so much together, apart, and Rory knew that nothing was insurmountable when they were a team.

Rory knew her fiancee really well. She knew how hard it was for her to relinquish any kind of control, or admit she wasn’t entirely knowledgeable about something. So for Maris to turn to her and ostensibly hand her the reigns, she knew it was bit. She smiled softly, reaching for her fiancee and cupping her face in her hands as she kissed her lips quickly. She understood her, entirely.

“I’ve got this, babe.” Rory assured her, feeling this kind of thrill of confidence that she could be the leader of the two of them in this. Buying her own home had been a bit of a process the first time around, and more recently she’d been going through the logistics of putting that home on the market. She didn’t need it anymore, anyway. She’d had a realtor take her through everything the first time, and, being Rory, she took notes and wanted to actually learn instead of going with the “just trust me” mentality for her realtor.

Her hands slid down Maris’ arms until she gripped her hands, giving them a squeeze as she leveled her gaze at her fiancee. “So we’re really doing this.” She felt her heart beating faster, but a grin edged itself onto her face after she said it.

"We're really doing this," she echoed softly before letting an uncharacteristically giddy laugh at just how happy she was. It (and the fact that she knew Rory could handle this wholeheartedly) helped chase some of her nerves away.

But not nearly as much as the kiss she gave her immediately after. She was happy enough to lift Rory off the ground a bit, a little dramatic but fitting considering it was one of their first kisses in their house, but as the initial rush of excitement faded, Maris softened a bit. The kiss deepened, her hands sliding down to rest on Rory's hips as visions of that cheery yellow room and just who would occupy it began to run through her head. Her hand brushed the other woman's stomach for a moment, but she took her hand away as quickly as it had ended up there, straightening in an attempt to snap herself out of the daydream as she slowly pulled away.

Not yet. But someday and no matter when or how their children entered the picture it would happen here.

Rory's laugh echoed Maris', a kind of bubbling, giddy and absolutely elated kind of laughter that yes, this was it. She was all grin, maybe some tears in her eyes, but thankfully Maris had grabbed her for a kiss.

She kissed her back deeply, holding onto her tightly and laughing again as Maris lifted her. Rory clung to her tightly, and even though she knew they had a lot of things to do, getting together their offer, selling their houses, inspections, the actual move -- none of it felt insurmountable because this was it. This was right. She didn't have a worry in the world.

Her breath hitched a little as she felt Maris' hand brush over her stomach, a softer smile gracing her features as she leaned in and kissed her cheek. "I love you so much." She said softly, the weight of how much this was the true embarking of their life together not lost on her. "C'mon, let's go talk numbers." She gripped Maris' hand and kissed her one more time. "Don't get too turned on when I start talking about escrow and interest rates."