I slump further back into the passenger seat, the seat warmer and heat turned on high and doing their part to keep the chill outside air far away from the inside of the car. Watching the snowy trees as we drive by, I try not to worry too much about the looming gathering. Stella’s voice snaps me out of my thoughts, “You okay there, Firefly?”

“Oh, yeah. Just, you know, nerves.” I chuckle drily, taking a sip from my sports drink to try and distract my thoughts a little. I find it helps to distract myself from my worries when I’m drinking or eating something sweet and slightly fruity. I pop a gummy bear into my mouth for the same reason.

“It’ll be alright, I’m here for you. If you feel uncomfortable at all, you just say the word and I’ll drive us home.” She doesn’t tear her eyes from the road at all, but she does smile gently. I feel some of my tension ease at hearing that. I don’t know what I would do without Stella around, she’s been my anchor for so long now.

Thankfully, I don’t think I have to worry about that. Things between me and Stella have been as perfect as I could imagine. She’s even helped me get over most of my major body issues and with how insurmountable those felt, I don’t think there’s anything Stella can’t do.

I’m certainly glad that I got over those issues too. My mind conjures up many memories of any number of the several times we’ve made love since that first time and I can feel myself getting hard under my skirt. I pop another gummy bear into my mouth as I try to calm myself down. I’m about to go meet my family, as much as it would be nice to be distracted from that thought, I don’t really want to have to deal with trying to hide that when I’m meeting with my family. Especially not with how stressful this will probably be on its own.

“Can you get me a peach ring, Firefly?” Stella asks, her attention focused on the road.

I reach into her bag of candy and hook my finger through the middle of one, holding it up for her to bite off. Not taking her eyes off the road, she opens her mouth and takes the whole thing into her mouth with one gentle bite. She takes plenty of my finger with it though, sucking on it gently as she slowly pulls her head away. I can feel myself get more aroused as she licks her lips happily, her eyes never having left the road. “Thanks, Firefly,” she says, a small teasing lilt to her voice.

I’m too flustered to respond, so I just nod dumbly. “You’re a menace,” I mutter through the embarrassment, trying my best to cool my thoughts and trying not to focus on how hot that was. Sometimes I forget that as soft and gentle as she usually is, she’s still a huge tease when it comes to me. God, I love this woman so much.

She chuckles to herself and then keeps on driving. Thankfully, we still have some time before we make it to my moms house. As we draw closer to our destination, I realize that Stella’s distraction worked. We’re on the final road when my anxieties finally start to rear their head again. Unfortunately, not all anxieties can be dismissed easily.

We end up parking a little bit down the street, several cars already lined up and down the street. Some I recognize as the vehicles of my extended family, and some I don’t. Other people live on this street too though, so it’s hard to tell exactly how many people mom invited over. Her house is big enough that it could turn out to be a lot of people though, so I try to mentally prepare myself for having to answer a lot of questions.

We both get out of the car, Stella circling around the car to hold me. Her arms wrap around my waist, her body keeping the cold at bay. “You ready, Jen?” She asks, kissing the top of my head.

Taking a deep breath of the cool winter air in, I nod. “As I’ll ever be.”

Unwrapping herself from me, she takes my hand instead. Hand in hand, we walk down the street towards my mothers house. The street is empty, it’s far too cold for most people to want to walk around. Aside from the rushing of the wind and the gentle chiming of windchimes on some nearby houses, the street is quiet as we walk.

Neither of us talk anymore, but we keep our hands entwined closely. I can feel some apprehension from her the closer we get. Despite all of the assurances she’s given me, I know that she’s been nervous about this gathering too.

Right before we turn onto the driveway, I feel Stella stop. Looking up at her face, I see confusion written across it. Following her gaze, I see her looking at a car parked along the side of the road. Hanging from the mirror is a little bunny figurine, it’s my moms car. I tug on her hand gently and it shakes her out of her thoughts. “You okay, Starshine?”

She shakes her head, looking towards the house. “Yeah, just a weird thought. Let’s head in.”

I nod and I turn down the driveway walking towards the house. Before we can get to the front door, it opens. The two of us stop, the nerves hitting me full force as I realize that this is it. Taking a deep breath, I squeeze her hand tightly and she squeezes mine back.

Out through the door steps my mother and she looks tense. That expression almost instantly turns to confusion as she looks at us. No, as she looks at Stella. I grimace slightly at that, holding in a sigh. I told mom I’d be bringing my girlfriend, she shouldn’t be surprised. I open my mouth to say something, but it dies in my throat as my mom speaks first.

“Stella?” She says quietly, her eyes never leaving Stella’s.

Thoroughly confused, I look up at Stella and she is completely frozen in fear. I squeeze her hand, “breathe, Stella, breathe.” I pull her arm a little closer and she turns slowly to look at me. Her eyes look… scared. More scared than I’ve ever seen her. If mom knows Stella, what did she do to elicit this intense reaction from Stella.

I can feel Stella’s breathing start to come out erratically as she glances between me and mom, her body shaking slightly as she tries to back away. I frown, taking her other hand and forcing her to look at just me. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. Breathe, babe, breathe. Just focus on my voice and breathe, okay? Just focus on me.” I can see her eyes trying to stray towards my mother, but I gently reach up and cup her cheek to keep her from looking. As I touch her, I can feel her whole body shudder slightly. After a moment, she leans into the touch.

Her breathing starts to normalize and I continue to hold her face gently, whispering to her. I try not to pay attention to my mom, but I know that she’s there, watching us. I lean my head against hers and she doesn’t hesitate to lean hers against mine. When she’s finally stabilized, she whispers to me. “I’m sorry, Jen. I’m so sorry.”

Before I can ask what she means, she pulls away and looks at my mom once more. My mom looks confusedly between the two of us and I can tell that she wants to say something, but can’t. Stella takes one more deep breath before folding her arms in front of her and looking to the side. “Hello, Carolyn. Long time no see.”

“What are you doing with Br-” I grimace as my mom is about to deadname me, but the name dies in her throat. Looking up at Stella, I can see her giving my mom a death glare. I’ve never seen someone shut her up so effectively. Mom gulps slightly before continuing, “what are you doing with Jen.”

Feeling left out I pipe up from beside Stella, looking between the two of them. “Mom, how do you know Stella?”

Mom flinches, looking guilty. Stella looks uncomfortable and I don’t want to press her too much since she already seems to be struggling. I look at mom, waiting for an answer. Her voice comes out uneven, “Shouldn’t you know? You asked me to invite her. I know it’s been a while, but you should have been old enough to remember your aunt Stella.”

My mind goes blank as I try to process what I’ve just heard. My… Aunt Stella? I look up at Stella and she pulls away slightly, looking incredibly guilty. My brain feels sluggish as I try to pull all of my thoughts together, but the one thing my brain can process is that I don’t want her pulling away. I reach out as she tries to pull further away, catching her hand. She looks at me uneasily, her expression difficult to read beyond that with the slurry my brain is in.

As we stand there, my hand gripped around her wrist, I let my eyes drop to the ground. It’s a selfish thought. Of course she’d pull away. I’m her… I’m her niece. If I say it, she’ll think I’m sick. She’ll hate me more than she already must. I can’t stop the words from leaving my mouth as the first tear streaks down my cheek and onto the ground. “Don’t go…”

A wrist pulls out from my hand and I feel the dam inside me threaten to rupture as I take a shaky step back. Before I can take a second one though, I feel arms wrapping around me tightly. I can feel my body shaking slightly as Stella whispers into my ear. “I’m not going anywhere. Maybe I shouldn’t, but… I still love you. If you want to break up, I’ll understand. But no matter what, I will always be here for you.”

Is it wrong that I still love her too? My scattered thoughts make it hard to think, but one thing is clear to me right now. I do still love her. I pull my head back, caressing her cheek as she looks at me. I lean forward into a passionate kiss, tears still on my cheeks. Stella returns the kiss just as passionately. I can vaguely hear my mom stuttering something out off to the side of us, but I ignore her. After a few years or so of passionate kissing, I pull back and stare Stella in the eyes. “I still love you too. Besides, we, uh, can’t really make it any weirder than it already is.” I blush brightly at the thought and Stella does too.

“I, you- what-” I sigh at the sound of my moms sputtering, turning to look at her. “Stella! What have you been doing with my son!” she says, finally landing on outrage.

Now though, Stella doesn’t look afraid anymore. She untangles from me, still holding firmly onto my hand. “You don’t have a son, Carolyn. But if you really must know, I’ve been dating your daughter.” Her voice is dripping with a sarcasm I’ve only had the pleasure of hearing every so often. I have to hold in a giggle at the absurdity of the situation as my mother looks absolutely appalled by the exclamation.

“I-I-I… I cannot believe you! I knew that I was right to cut you out, you really are sick, Stella. How could you date my… my…” She seems to lose a little bit of steam as she glances towards me, I’m still holding her sister's hand tightly, “My child.”

Stella scoffs, shaking her head. “Do not think that this is my fault, Carolyn.”

“Of course it’s your fault! You’re his- I mean her- whatever! You’re the Aunt!” Mom is furious, pointing an accusatory finger at her chest.

Stella just looks at my mom, thoroughly unimpressed. “I’m sorry that you cut me out of her life.” As Stella says this, I see mom stumble backwards. A lot of the fury dies from her face, replaced by a look of intense conflict. Stella doesn’t stop talking though. “I’m so sorry that I didn’t recognize my niece who I haven’t seen in over ten years who happened to have transitioned and turned into a lovely young woman. I’m sorry for finding love for the first time in a long time and becoming attached.” Moms face is filled with guilt with every word and I can see as each barb stabs right past her defenses and hits her directly in the heart.

Stella quiets down, glancing towards me as she continues. Her voice has lost most of its venom and sounds much more sincere. “I’m… I’m sorry for falling in love with your Daughter, Carolyn… but I do love her. She’s beautiful, smart, funny, incredibly sweet, she’s not judgemental, she’s gentle, her eye’s light up when we’re watching a show and she goes on cute little tangents about the historical accuracy or inaccuracy of something. She knows exactly what to do to cheer me up if I’ve had a rough day and she doesn’t hesitate to make time for me.” I’m stuck listening to Stella as my heart swells immensely at each and every word. “I didn’t know she was your daughter. My… niece. I know it’s weird, don’t think I don’t know, but… I will take care of her, and I would never do something to hurt her. Believe me please when I say that all I want is to make her happy.”

I look over to mom and all of the anger is gone from her eyes. She looks uneasy, but she doesn’t look like she’s close to blowing up anymore. She looks more defeated than I’ve ever seen her, shaken to her very core. Even more so than Stella made her look before. She opens her mouth several times, trying to say something, but she closes her mouth each time. After a few seconds, she turns to me. “Jen… Do… Do you really love her too?”

I turn to look Stella in the eyes, tears already threatening to fall once again. “I do. I love her so much, mom. She’s been nothing but caring for me and I’m afraid that I’ve fallen hopelessly in love with her already.” I turn my eyes to mom and she just looks more uneasy. “I’m not going to leave her, not for anything. I love you mom, and I do appreciate you trying recently, but… If you push her out of your life again mom, I’ll go with her.” I tell her quietly. I don’t have to elaborate because I can see that last comment hit my mom like a brick.

Whatever last wall she had crumbles as she leans against one of the house's posts supporting the front deck. “Fuck…” she says quietly, before shouting it again but louder. “Fuck!” She turns back to us and I can see tears falling down her cheeks. I struggle with something inside of me wanting to console her, but I feel Stella’s hand squeeze against my own tightly. Glancing over, she shakes her head slowly. Right, I have to wait. “What have I done…” she says, wiping at her eyes with her sleeves.

The door opens again and I tense up, looking up to see one of my uncles from my dads side. “Everything okay out here?” He asks as he opens up the door. His gaze falls on mom first before sweeping towards us. I can see his eyes narrow on me slightly before turning to Stella. It takes him a moment, but he manages to recognize Stella after a moment. “Stella?”

Mom is wiping her eyes, her voice cracking slightly with emotion as she addresses my uncle. “Go back inside, Tom.”

He steps further out, looking suddenly angry as he realizes that mom is crying. “What the hell did you do, Stella?”

Mom breaks out of her emotional haze instantly, a look of anger crossing her face. Before Stella even gets the chance to say anything, Mom whips her head around to glare at Tom. “I said go back in, Tom.” There's a very familiar and dangerous edge to her voice that I was on the receiving end of many times growing up. Even now, when it’s not directed at me, it still sends a chill down my side.

Tom jumps back at the look, glancing at Stella. “But-” He’s cut off and I can’t see mom’s face, but I know that she just narrowed her eyes at him. “Okay, okay.” He says, backing up into the house and closing the door behind him.

As soon as the door clicks shut, I see mom deflate physically. After a couple seconds of silence, she turns around to look at us once more. “You’re right, Stella. This is my fault. I pushed you both away and it took losing contact with Jen for me to finally get around to seeing a therapist. Did you know that I have anger issues?” She laughs bitterly, looking down at her feet. “I do, now. I’ve been working on a lot of things, but that one’s been the hardest.”

She sits down on one of the steps for the front porch. She shivers as she does so, the pants she’s wearing clearly not having done much to guard against the cold. “I don’t have any right to criticize either of you. I pushed you out of my life, both of you, and you found each other when you were alone. You were both just… trying to be happy. And I keep on getting in the way of that. Even when I’m trying to be better, I can’t control my emotions for long enough to realize that it’s not your fault. Right after I just got done telling my therapist that I would try my hardest to listen to both of you and understand.” She leans forward, putting her head into her hands.

Stella lets go of my hand, walking up to the porch and sitting next to my mother. She doesn’t touch her or anything, she just sits there. Mom looks over at her after a moment and I make up my mind. I sit on the opposite side of mom, looking up at the sky. Mom looks over at me too and I just sigh, looking over at her too with the best smile I can. She frowns, looking down at her hands. We all sit there in silence, none of us sure what to say.

Stella is the one that eventually breaks the silence. “I’m proud of you for finally going to therapy, ‘lyn. It sounds like it’s helping.” Mom looks over at her, struggling with her emotions. I can’t see her eyes, but I can see her lip quivering. “Can we start over, sis?” Stella says, her tone more hopeful than it has been in a while. Mom nods enthusiastically, breaking down into sobs as she embraces Stella for the first time in too long. I can see Stella crying herself as the two hug, but she looks happy.

I can’t keep the tears away from my eyes either as I cry for maybe the umpteenth time today. I’ve lost count at this point. I hug my mom from behind and I can feel her sobs wracking her whole body as I squeeze her tightly. We all cry together, huddled on the front doorstep for a while.

I disentangle first, wiping at my eyes with my sleeves. So much for my makeup. I look over at Stella and her makeup isn’t faring much better, but she looks happy. I smile at the sight of them embracing, happy that my mom did actually make up with her sister in the end. Also I’m dating her sister, which I should probably feel more weird about… Oh well, I love her, so who cares.

They both stop hugging after a while and Stella reaches into her purse, handing mom a tissue silently. She accepts it, wiping the remaining tears from her face before blowing her nose. She hands me a makeup removing wipe, which I happily accept. I remove the light makeup I had applied, it wouldn’t be that hard to reapply. I would rather have no makeup than messy and smudged makeup for now. “Thanks, Starshine.” I say as I hand her the dirty makeup wipe back.

“Of course, Firefly.” She puts the makeup wipe inside her purse with her own dirty makeup wipe. She had cleaned up her own makeup and offered mom one for herself too.

Mom sighs, getting up from the front porch after wiping her own makeup away. “That will take some getting used to,” she looks between the two of us nervously.

“Sorry,” Stella says, getting up from the front step. I stand up too, sticking close to Stella.

Mom shakes her head, “don’t be. I understand. Well, not really, but I support you two. You both seem… happy together. And I’m trying my best to be done with interfering with your lives. I just… I need some time to try and get over it.”

Stella nods, taking a deep breath before grabbing my hand and holding it up. “Well, we better get heading home I guess.”

Mom frowns, her eyes turning to the house. “You don’t have to, I mean, I invited you both because I wanted you to be here. I don’t want to have scared you away again.”

Stella shakes her head, reaching over and taking her sister's hand gently. “Don’t worry, ‘lyn, it’s not that. I just found out that my lover is my niece though, I don’t think I’m ready to face the rest of the family right after that.” I nod in response to that, similarly uneasy at the thought of having to go to the family reunion after this.

Mom looks between the two of us, her eyes going wide. “Lover… does that mean that you two have already…?” She looks uneasy as she asks the question and she shakes her head after a second. “Actually, I don’t think I need to know. Just… take care of her, okay?”

Stella gives her a gentle smile, pulling me close as she does so. “Of course. Always. I do want to reconnect though, ‘lyn. If you’re still willing, that is. Would you like to go out for food together in a couple of weeks? Just the three of us?”

She smiles, nodding gently. “Yeah, we should do that. Should give me some time to work out this particular episode with my therapist too.” She chuckles a little at that, still looking slightly off kilter.

Stella nods, “You just tell us when and we’ll plan around it.”

I smile, looking towards the house. It won’t be the first reunion I’ve missed, or even the first Christmas I’ve missed, since I had avoided the last couple while I was transitioning, but hopefully it’s the last one I miss. “Sorry we can’t come to the reunion, mom.”

She nods quietly. “It’s okay.” Her eyes light up and she holds a finger up. “Wait here one sec.” She leaves the two of us standing there outside while she dashes inside quickly. I can hear a couple questions asked by various people as the door shuts slowly behind her.

Before it can close completely, a head peeks out the door to look at us. I recognize the girl looking at us as my cousin, Uncle Tom’s daughter, Esther. She slips out the door before I can react, walking up to us.

“Jen!” she says, wrapping me in a hug.

I accept the hug in surprise, not expecting her to recognize me. “Esther, hey.”

She pulls back from the hug, looking me up and down. “Wow! You look great! I heard that you transitioned and I was super proud! I was really hoping you’d show up. Is this your girlfriend?”

I look over at Stella and we both wince. I nod tentatively, “Uh, yeah, she is.”

“Hi, I’m Stella,” her voice is quiet as she extends her hand out to shake and Esther leans in to look at her closer.

“Wait a minute… Auntie Stella?” She asks, shocked. Stella slowly pulls her hand back, rubbing her arm uncomfortably. Esther, surprisingly, doesn’t look disgusted or shocked, but she pouts. She actually pouts. “Damn, that’s hot. Nice catch, Jen.” I feel myself go beet red at her response, my mouth dropping open and unable to reply. “I forgive you for stealing my childhood crush, but only if you text me how it happened because I heard a bunch of shouting and then crying out here, so it sounds like a wild story.”

The door behind her opens once again and I see my mom carrying two wrapped boxes. She looks at Esther in confusion and then at the two of us in concern. I’m still too thoroughly shocked by what I heard to say anything. I glance at Stella and she looks just as flushed as I feel, pointedly avoiding looking at either her sister or Esther.

“Esther?” my mom says carefully, tucking the boxes under her arm as she looks at the girl.

She flashes a charming smile towards my mother, “Just saying hi to Jen, Auntie!” She turns back to me, miming tapping something out on a phone as she whispers, “details!” She winks, skipping back up the steps and closing the door behind her.

Mom looks at the door for a moment before smiling slightly and shaking her head. She has no idea what Esther said. I feel my mouth snap shut, not wanting to admit what she had said to us. Stella keeps her mouth shut too, so it seems we have a tacit understanding.

“Here,” mom puts a present in each of our hands and that is enough of a surprise to pull me out of my stupor. They’re the same size and mine has my name on it. Stella’s is unmarked and she glances up at her sister. “I didn’t get you a gift because you said you weren’t coming, but I did get a gift for whoever Jen brought.” Mom looks embarrassed as she explains and I can’t help but sigh happily. I lean forward and give her a hug, which she returns.

“Can we…?” I hold my present up inquisitively. She nods her head and we both start opening the presents. As I open the box, I gasp at the white opalescent heart locket inside. Pulling it out carefully, I open it gently and it’s empty. Turning it over in my hands, I realize that it’s engraved. My name is engraved on the back. Jennifer.

I can feel myself tearing up as I look at the engraving. I’ve already cried so many times today, so I try my best to hold back the tears. She really has been trying. “I know I’m not the best at getting your name or anything else right… Jen. But I wanted you to know that I’m trying my best, so I asked my therapist for some help and she came up with this. I left it empty so you could put whatever in there.” I look over at Stella’s locket and hers is a heart made of a darker colored cat’s eye gem that contrasts my locket’s white color.

“It’s perfect mom. You got your present already, right?”

She nods, “It’s already under the tree. I’ll open it on christmas.”

Stella shakes her head gently, placing the locket back into the box gently and tucking it into her purse. “Me and Jen pooled to get your gift, but now that I know who the gift is for I feel like I should get you a gift of my own.”

Mom smiles, “You can pay for our meal in a couple weeks then.”

Stella laughs happily, nodding her head as she does so. “Sure thing, sis. My treat.”

Wistful-Shiver

We're approaching the end. Next chapter will be the last, but it's a NSFW chapter. If that isn't your thing, this will probably be the end of the story for you. I hope you enjoyed it. If that is your thing, I'll see you next chapter. Also, if you haven't, I'd appreciate if you could rate the story. It does help with getting impressions, and it's always nice to know how people feel about my stories. That's all for now, until next time.