“I’m sorry, miss. There’s no record of a “Madison Sutton” working here,” the HR woman, Heather, said calmly.

‘Great, so whatever caused this didn’t convert my info over…’ “How about Matthew Sutton?” she asked, tapping her nails against the kitchen table where a whole mess of paperwork was strewn about.

“Just one moment, miss.” A long pause followed, filled with droning, low quality hold music. “I’m sorry, miss. There’s no employee here by that name either,” Heather said when she returned. “Are you certain you have the right company?”

Maddie let out a long sigh. “I guess not, sorry for wasting your time,” she apologized, “have a great day.”

“You t--” Heather began, but Maddie cut her off by hanging up the phone.

“No luck?” Ash asked, frowning.

“Nope. So that makes all my credit cards, the bank, and my job. Thankfully everything else updated, or I’d be completely fucked.”

“Well, not completely fucked,” Ash said with a wink, wiggling her fingers suggestively.

Maddie felt her face go hot, and she quickly cleared her throat and returned to shuffling papers around. “Th-that’s so unfair, Ash. Talking dirty while I’m t-trying to work on things.”

“I know, but I don’t fight fair,” Ashley teased, breaking down into giggles at the sight of her very bashful girlfriend.

“Guess… guess I’m back to job hunting then, huh? I don’t even have a former workplace to put on my resume… good thing my degree transferred over, or I’d look completely hopeless.”

“Well, your updated license says you’re 23. Not an entirely unrealistic age for a college grad to be looking for work. Besides, it means you’re a little younger than me now, so I’m dating a younger woman.” She winked playfully at Maddie.

“S-still, I’ll never get a management position with no experience…”

“Probably not, no, but you could always come work at my company as an intern, or… you could be my stay-at-home girlfriend.”

Maddie swallowed the lump in her throat. ‘Stay-at-home? Like… like a stay at home wife? Well, it’s true we don’t really need my income with what she makes, and it would give me time to do some projects around the house I wanted to, and I would have more time to play around in the kitchen…”

“You okay, babe?” Ash asked, placing a hand on hers.

“Wh-huh-yeah! Yeah. I’m fine. I… I think I could give being a housewife a try, you know, see how it goes.”

Ash beamed happily. “Good, I want to take care of my cute girlfriend!”

Maddie blushed hard, again. “W-well, I’ll um.. I’ll let my… beautiful girlfriend take care of me,” she mumbled into her hands.

==========

“Honey, I’m home,” Ash shouted dramatically as she stepped through the door. A month of coming home to the smells of Maddie’s cooking, and to a house that felt much more like a home now than ever before had done a lot to boost her mood and ease her stress. 

“Hey, babe! I’m in the kitchen just finishing up dinner.”

Ash happily moved to the kitchen and swept up her adorable girlfriend in a hug from behind, eliciting a squeak from her as she planted kiss after kiss on her neck and cheek.

“A-Ashley! Stop it! You’re going to get me all worked up before dinner!” Maddie halfheartedly pried at Ash’s arms around her waist, giggling.

“What if that’s exactly what I want?” Ash whispered in her ear breathily, before nibbling her earlobe.

A shudder ran through Maddie’s body and she had to take a deep breath to steady herself. “W-wow… Um…” she bit her lip, looking at the oven timer. “Give me… ten minutes to get this out of the oven?”

“Better be quick,” Ash said with a forced stern tone, “I’d hate to have to punish you for being late to ‘work’.”

Maddie’s face colored intensely again. “God, you’re terrible, get out of my kitchen!” she swatted Ash with an oven mitt playfully.

“See you in ten, cutie,” Ash said, slipping down the hallway towards their bedroom.

‘My god, how did we ever end up here?’ Maddie wondered, watching the oven timer. ‘She’s so much more affectionate with me now. Though, I guess I am with her, too… things have been better in general.’

She thought back over all their rough years together. All the arguments, the fighting, the near-breakups. 

The oven timer beeped, drawing her out of her introspection. She pulled the casserole out and set it on the stovetop to cool. “Don’t go anywhere,” she said, pointing at the meal as if it were a pet being told to stay.

==========

Maddie hit the mattress, gasping for air. “O-oh god, Ash, that was amazing… you’re so fired up tonight… it’s hot!”

Ash grinned, straddling her hips. “Glad you feel that way, hon.” She leaned forward and pressed her lips to Maddie’s, enjoying another moment together before breaking the contact. “Wait right here, and close your eyes. I have a special surprise for you.”

Maddie bit her lip, but kept her eyes closed. “Alright, they’re closed!” She felt Ash’s weight lift from her, and felt the bed shift. The distinct sound of a zipper - her purse?

“You can open them,” Ash said.

She opened her eyes to find Ash kneeling next to the bed, facing her.

“This isn’t exactly the meal I imagined we’d be sharing for this occasion but I can’t say I’m disappointed…”

She had a small box in her hands. ‘Oh my god…’

“Madison Sutton, would you become my beautiful wife?”

Maddie’s brain hit full stop for a moment, and everything seemed to lock up. Her heart caught in her throat, her breath went still, everything about the moment seemed frozen in time.

When it all came rushing back, she found her response rushing with it: “Yes!” she said, throwing her arms around Ash’s neck and hugging her tightly. 

Ash smiled, feeling Maddie’s happy tears roll down her bare shoulder. She felt her own building, threatening to escape. “Just wait, I’ll make you the happiest woman around.” 

Maddie pulled back, smiling happily at her girlf-- no, her fiancée, holding a hand out as Ash slipped the engagement ring over her finger. 

The two fell back into bed after that, and settled in for a long celebratory evening.

The obedient casserole remained exactly where it had been told to, though it would be stone cold by the time they remembered it.

==========

CW: Anti-LGBT slurs, deadnaming, misgendering, general awfulness (let me know if it needs any others, or if I should put this warning at the start of the chapter instead!)

A severe looking man and woman, both of whom appeared to be in their early fifties, sat across the living room from Maddie and Ash, looking as if they’d both sucked a lemon every day since birth.

“You mean to tell us that, through means you don’t understand, you’ve become this… this… woman?” her father asked incredulously.

“Yes dad, but I’m much happier this w--”

“You’re much happier?!” her mother snapped, “You’re a man, Matthew!”

Maddie lowered her gaze to the coffee table between them, wringing her hands in her lap. She’d worn a nice dress, done her best makeup, styled her hair… and yet…

“You need to get this fixed, Matthew. I won’t abide my son parading around as some kind of… of… transv--”

“Shut your damn mouths!” Ashley shouted, standing up quickly. “I’m not going to let you speak to my fiancée that way!”

Maddie’s parents looked at her with mixed reactions - one part shock, the other rage. Her father stood first. “Now look here, I didn’t mind you dating my son, but I’ll be damned if I let some ‘bi-sexual’ dyke push her LGBLT agenda on him!”

Ash tugged on her vest to straighten it out, her jaw set firmly as she marshalled her anger. “You need to leave,” she said firmly. “Madison wanted your blessing, but I don’t need it to marry her.”

“You’ll never have my blessing, you cu--”

Ash was across the dining room table in an instant, tackling the much older man over the back of the sofa he’d been standing in front of.

Maddie and her mother both gasped. Her mother shrieked at Ash to get off of him. Maddie was too stunned to say a word.

The solid slap of flesh-on-flesh echoed over the shouting, and Ash fell backwards, her right eye squinted closed.

Maddie’s father sat up, his right fist clenched. He was still wearing his usual collegiate ring on that hand. “That’ll teach you; if you want to act like a man, I’ll hit you like one.”

“Get out of my house, dad,” Maddie said, her fists clenched now, too.

“I’ll leave when I’m convinced my son isn’t going to throw away his life as a--”

“Shut the fuck up, dad! I’m not your son, and if you ever want any hope of me being your daughter, you need to apologize to my fiancée and get the fuck out of my house right now!” 

Her father looked as if he might cross the room and go after Maddie next, until Ash raised her phone. 9-1-1 was visible on the screen.

“Get out of our house or I’ll have the police escort you,” Ash threatened.

“Fine, but when we walk out that door, we’re gone for good. Unless you swear to undo this and come to your senses, Matthew, you’re dead to us.”

Maddie took a deep breath, and leveled an empty stare at them. “My name is Madison, and if that’s how you feel, so be it. Goodbye.”

A tense moment passed before her mother and father left, still glaring daggers at Maddie until the moment Ash slammed the door behind them.

As soon as they were gone, Maddie broke down, dropping back to the sofa and covering her face with her hands.

Ash was by her side in a flash, cradling her. “I’m so sorry, Maddie, I’m so sorry. Nobody deserves to be treated that way. You don’t need them.”

“They’re… they’re my family, Ash. My only family,” she sobbed.

“No, baby… they’re not.” She tightened her hug. “You’ve got me, and my family. They’re your family now too, and you know they love and accept you.”

Maddie had no words in response to that. She just gripped Ash tighter, and cried into her shoulder.