Rebecca woke at least twice in the night, greatly relieved to remain unbothered by the continued proximity. She only cried a little bit, the first time, and stopped when Sam half-woke and curled closer before resettling.

The second time she remembered being conscious, Sam's cheek was already touching her shoulder. The faint tickle of breath across Rebecca's collarbone brought pleasant goosebumps, and she tilted her head to brush the side of her face against Sam's forehead. When Rebecca rested a hand on her waist, Sam stirred enough to put hers on Rebecca's arm before subsiding back into the even breathing of sleep.

Rebecca opened her eyes again after dawn, but while the world outside the window was still only palely lit. She tried to doze off again, but heard faint sounds of movement from the front of the house and couldn't suppress a stubborn tingle of excitement. She and Sam had disentangled in their sleep at some point, so Rebecca carefully tucked the edge of the blanket around Sam, dragged her clothes up from the foot of the bed, and wrapped herself in her mother's robe again.

Sue looked up at her with a "mrrrp" from where he sprawled on the throw rug in the hallway when she opened the door, and she frowned at him. "Oh shut up, you pushover. Let her sleep, you can kiss up later."

Laura leaned into view from the kitchen at the sound and waved with what Rebecca could only think of as a "happy glow".

Well, fair. Rebecca waved sleepily and detoured to the bathroom, rinsing her mouth out and splashing a handful of water on her face before wiping it and her hands dry. Sue hopped up onto the counter next to her as quietly as seventeen pounds (last she heard) of Norwegian Forest Cat could do, and Rebecca rolled her eyes.

"Fine, you spoiled brat. But only because I missed you." She turned the faucet on to a slow trickle and let him lap at it for several seconds while she pet him, then shut it off and shooed his disgruntled self off of the counter on the way out to the kitchen.

Laura looked up from the counter and smiled at her. "Good morning, sweetheart."

Rebecca smiled back and opened her mouth to reply, but stopped and blinked when the inhale brought a familiar scent to her nose. "Is that..."

Laura's smile turned to something of a proud grin. "My cornbread that you wanted every time you came home?"

"Yes."

"It is."

Rebecca squealed as quietly as she could and scampered over to her mother and hugged her. "Then yes, it is a good morning." She continued as her mother chuckled. "But why are you up so early? I don't even know what time it is."

"Somewhere a little before seven. But, I couldn't sleep any longer, and thought this would be a nice surprise for you. And before you start indulging in what is apparently a family tradition and apologizing for me being awake and all excited, let me head you off and say that puttering about nervously and knowing my kid is right there, safe in the next room, is no bad thing at all."

"Aww, Mom." Rebecca propped her elbows on the island countertop and beamed at her. "Did you sleep okay, before that?"

"Yeah, once my excitement wound down enough. Sue came in and was good company, we don't all have a cute redhead to cozy up with to help us sleep. I had my suspicions, but I appreciate you saving me from the awkward parental conversation, asking if you're a couple."

Rebecca blinked and frowned slightly. "Uh... not that you're wrong, but what?"

"Rebecca, the walls in this old house aren't as thick as you think they are. But I'm glad the two of you seem to know how to make each other happy."

"Wha- ohmygod." Rebecca felt her cheeks heat and covered her face with both hands. "Oh god, Mom. I'm sorry, this is so embarrassing. Just kill me now, I thought we were being quiet. We didn't— I..."

Laura outright giggled at her, hand over her mouth and all, which didn't entirely help with the blushing but might have reduced Rebecca's blazing mortification a smidge. "Oh, sweetheart. I have never seen you turn that red before, not even all the times I inevitably humiliated you as a teenager."

She walked closer and put an arm around Rebecca's shoulder. "I doubt anyone else other than Sudoku heard, and you can probably blame him for my door being cracked. I don't mind, you're an adult, and I want you to have a good life." She kissed Rebecca on the temple. "I admit though, I didn't know you liked girls. If you ever felt like you had to hide it from me, I'm really sorry."

Rebecca bashfully lowered her hands, resting one on the counter and the other on Laura's hand where it grasped her arm gently, and took a deep breath. "I didn't really either, on both counts. There were a couple classmates I thought were cute, and some celebrities so badass they were automatic WCW material, but Sam's the first I've had a real spark and connection with." Rebecca paused for a half-second, glad Sam wasn't awake to tease her about dual electricity puns like that. "I didn't exactly date a huge number of guys either, so..." She shrugged. "Funny thing is I made the first move, too. From the sounds of things she might have been hoping I would, but I was unsurprisingly clueless the entire time." Laura's scoff sounded very entertained, and Rebecca shot her an accusatory look. "What?"

"Oh, you just always did tend to miss things that were right under your nose."

Rebecca shook her head. "Sam's made the same joke. The best part is, usually I'm supposed to be the long distance lookout and overwatch, which just makes it worse. But, no, Mom. I know you've always had my back."

Laura tightened the arm around her, then went back to moving batter-coated bowls and spatulas to the sink. "Good. I guess that's one upside of us having to rely on each other after your father passed. I've never doubted I could count on you. I guess it's no surprise you found me after all!"

"Heh. Please, let me help with those, huh?"

Laura lifted her hands in a surrendering gesture and walked to the big wood stove to peer in the oven and firebox doors. Rebecca didn't want to get water on the sleeves of her mother's robe, so left it folded loosely on one corner of the island before she moved to the sink.

Laura gasped behind her. "Holy shit, Rebecca!" Her voice sounded shocked, but not immediately scared of something, which was a small relief.

"What?" Rebecca turned, and since her right hand was already wet, lifted her left self-consciously to her neck, wondering if Sam had scattered marks during their evening romp. Her mother's eyes followed the movement, and she realized Laura was staring at the scar on her upraised left shoulder. "Oh." She lowered her hand as she looked at the scar herself. Good thing she didn't see it three months ago.

Her mother unfroze and strode back over quickly. "Not just that!" Laura turned Rebecca towards her and pulled the neckline of the wide-strapped tank top over towards her right collarbone. "What the hell, child?"

"Mom, I..." Rebecca sighed. "Remember those long stories you mentioned? Well, those are part of the one about where we got the fanciest of our gear. The guys who snatched Pat and Chrissie, we tangled with them a couple of times, but came out on top."

Laura shook her head disapprovingly. "Did you kill those fuckers too?"

Rebecca had to stifle a chuckle at the thought of the old epithet Epstein had first used for the Black Tusk forces, confident her mother would not approve of her laughing right now. "Any that I was in a direct fight with, yes, and we chased off the rest."

"Don't worry, Mrs. C." Sam's voice made them both turn to where she'd appeared at the end of the hallway. "'You should see the other guy' has sort of become a motto for us. You all okay?" Rebecca caught sight of a red dot shining through the cloth of Sam's robe that went out just before she eased her hand out of that pocket. "I heard your mom yell."

"Yeah, we're good. Sorry, Rosie. I hadn't really told her about my scar yet and—"

Laura plucked at her collar again grumpily. "Uh, hello, scars."

"... scars, and they surprised her when I took the robe off to help with the dishes." Rebecca patted her mother's arm and walked around the island to Sam, sliding her arms around her. "Sorry we spooked you." She touched her forehead to Sam's, and then kissed her cheek. When Sam looked up at her questioningly, she smiled. "I was going to talk to her today, but... Mom figured us out overnight." Rebecca really hoped she wasn't blushing again, she didn't want to spread the embarrassment to Sam unnecessarily.

Fortunately, her attention had shifted to Laura with small cringe. "Ah... sorry about stealing your daughter and your cat."

Laura laughed quietly. "It's fine, Sam. Technically, you didn't steal her away, you brought her back. I had a hunch last night you were special to each other, but it clicked by the time I saw Rebecca this morning. I still mean what I said. You make her happy, and take good care of her."

Rebecca left her arms around Sam but looked back at Laura. "She really does. How much longer do you think on the oven?"

Laura glanced at the big stove speculatively. "Maybe a half hour, forty-five minutes once it cools." She glanced back at Sam. "By the way, you just apologized, so we get a freebie. Each."

Rebecca giggled at how Sam smirked. "Sorry if you were hoping she'd gang up with you all the time."

Sam looked her in the eye. "Fine, but you just used yours, so..."

"Ah, dammit. Clever girl." She chuckled when Sam winked at her. "If you want to go get cozy again and come back in a while, there will be delicious carbs." As Rebecca slid her arms back from Sam's waist, she adjusted the tuck of her robe so not quite as many freckles were showing with a slightly scandalous narrowing of her eyes, blocking her mother's view of the movement with her own body.

Sam glanced up to her with a mild eyebrow arch, then looked past her shoulder to Laura. "Mrs. C, I meant what I said too, you do know the ways to my heart. Warm showers, baked goods... especially if she learned to bake from you."

Rebecca stepped back and turned partially so she could see them both while her mother replied. "Don't forget to add my own child to that list, you lovable conniving strumpet. Also, yes. I did teach her everything she knows about baking."

"Hey!" Rebecca frowned playfully. "YouTube helped!"

Sam chuckled, turned Rebecca's face back towards her with a finger on her chin. "If your mom knows anyway..." Sam kissed her briefly on the lips, half-winked again, and sauntered back to the bedroom.

Rebecca watched her go for a moment, then grumbled as something furry followed her down the hall. "Goddammit, Sue."

Laura shook her head as the bedroom door closed and Rebecca looked back her way. "A, don't worry, she'll regret that when he's bitching to get out ten minutes after she gets comfortable. B, I saw you futz with her robe, and C, I think she did that last part just to embarrass you in front of your mother."

Rebecca held up three fingers one at a time. "Good, I know but it was more for her benefit than yours, and I don't doubt it." She dropped her hand and looked back towards the hallway. "Did she lift her foot when she did?"

"Oh yeah. Classic toe-point. Movie poster grade."

Rebecca sighed. "It's a trademark move."