Isabella Delallo (isa_delallo) wrote in freedomtownic, @ 2021-04-05 11:59:00 |
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Entry tags: | isabella delallo (isa_delallo), rachelle martin-bale (rockinrachelle) |
Who: Isabella and Rachelle
Where: The End Zone, Freedomtown
When: Prior to Rachelle publicly announcing her pregnancy
What: Old friends catching up
Rating: Low
Status: Closed; Complete
Since she hadn't seen her friend in a few weeks, Isabella had arranged for Sin and Quinn to babysit Nathan while she went to visit Rachelle at her bar in Freedomtown. Isabella's time had been divided between raising her son and working as a teacher as of late, which left very little room to be social. And so, she decided to change that. Isabella walked into The End Zone, still wearing her dark grey dress pants from work, but she'd taken off the matching shirt to reveal a low-cut maroon tank top. The lady was... alarmingly fit for her age. She cleared her throat when she spotted her friend. "Working hard, I see," she said dryly. She managed a smile for her friend, but it betrayed the sadness in her eyes.
"C'mon, man. You know you gotta do your regular job PLUS more now. Don't want my delicate fucking self straining, right?" Oh god. Rachelle was going to milk the fuck out of this, wasn't she? Especially with her most beloved punching bag. She shook her head, tsking at her longtime friend/drummer/bartender. "Dammit, Kenny."
Turning when she heard that familiar voice, Rachelle spun around with a big smile, looing radiant in practically-painted-on black jeans, a tight, green Boston Celtics tee, and a black leather jacket. "YOU! Fuck you been, bitch? Bring it in." She said, opening her arms wide for a big hug.
"Not far," Isabella replied, going in for that hug. She hadn't had much in the way of physical contact lately (although Nathan had been giving her a lot of hugs lately, come to think of it, he must have sensed in that strange way that children do that she'd needed it), so she appreciated the gesture. "It's cruel how amazing you look."
"...that a classy way of saying you'd love to be all up in this?" Chelle asked in her typically classy way,winking playfully at the older woman. "So... why you look like someone who just watched their puppy get shot right in front of them? And don't insult me by lying and saying nothing's wrong, because I know you better than that."
Isabella narrowed her eyes. "Nothing's wrong." She held up a hand to stop the inevitable spray she would get. Sometimes it was easy to hide how much she missed her wife. Sometimes she really wanted to drink and wallow. "Nothing more than usual," she amended.
"Nuff said." Chelle replied with a knowing nod. "Kenny! Get the lovely lady here a drink." She called out, before grabbing the soda she was drinking and taking a chug of it. "So talk to me, gorgeous. Anything happening lately? I mean, outside of us all getting involuntarily involved in a Star War."
Isabella chuckled and thanked Kenny for the drink. "That has to be one of the stranger things to happen lately." Nathan was more amused than frightened about it, but that was a conversation for another day. "But beyond that, nothing new to report. I know. I live an exciting life," she said dryly. "What about you? How are Morgan and Neely?"
"On cloud fucking nine right now, to be honest." Rachelle looked around... the bar was mostly empty at the moment. Nobody near them, anyway. "You may or may not have noticed my current drink of choice." She added, holding up her glass, suspiciously devoid of an alcoholic beverage at the moment.
Isabella smirked. She'd suspected either liver disease or pregnancy. Pregnancy was a much better outcome. "You know that Morgan isn't going to approve of soda," she pointed out with a lopsided smile.
"Please. She's so over the moon right now that I mentioned being willing to pay cash money for video of Queen Bea and her fiance scissoring and I didn't even get a withering glare." Chelle said with a grin, like a kid that knows it's got free reign to do anything it wants. "So, we're telling people slowly. For obvious reasons, the girls are leery of just.... blurting it out too soon, when so many variables could still happen. But we're starting to tell the people closest to us. Thus, why I'm telling your sexy ass."
Isabella clapped a hand over her heart, touched by Rachelle's words. "I'm happy to give you some pointers." Granted, Isabella had become pregnant much later in life than Rachelle, so the risk was greater for her. Still, the principles of pregnancy were the same. Eat well, don't stress and certainly don't overexert yourself. She smirked at the last thought. This was Rachelle. "Eat what you like. Have sex as often as possible. Kick your feet up when your ankles swell and appreciate every single moment." She paused. She knew that her voice was filled with nostalgia, but... that comes with age and experience. She sipped the beer that Kenny had given her, tossing a wink of thanks his way. "They grow up so fast."
Then again, Rachelle had helped to raise Aubrey and Kate. Granted, they were teens when Rachelle and her wives took them in, but still. Rachelle knew the tail end of the journey. Not the beginning. "Be unfailingly patient." A beat. "And try not to swear so much."
"You know... you had me onboard all the way until the end there, babe." Rachelle said with her usual unflinching honesty. "There's a big part of me that still thinks this is too good to be true, you know? Like I'm already waiting for the other shoe to drop." She reached over though, to give Isabella's hand a loving squeeze. They'd always had an unusual relationship. Somehow equal parts flirty friends and mother/daughter. "I'm glad though... that no matter what happens, I have you here to help me through it."
Isabella nodded in understanding. In that way, they were very similar. "Of course," she promised. Isabella had... kind of turned into a hellbeast at the tail end of her pregnancy, but at least she was funny to watch and had mellowed out a hell of a lot since. "If you need anything I'm just a phone call away," she promised.
"I appreciate that." Rachelle told her, raising one eyebrow slowly before asking her friend something that had clearly been nagging at her: "I gotta know... should I expect to become an even bigger pain in the ass to everyone than I am now? Because I kinda thought I had already hit my personal ceiling for crazy."
"It seems likely," Isabella replied with a chuckle. "But you do have the good fortune of having two wives who will dote on you and bend to your every whim. ... Which will either keep you mellow or push you to levels of crazy this world has never seen." It could go either way!
"I have a sinking feeling Morgan is going to give so many Withering Glares that her beautiful face is gonna stay that way." Rachelle said with a hilariously real amount of fear in her voice. "Methinks I'm about to find out if their love for me has limits or not." She chuckled nervously.
Isabella scoffed. "Please. You might be insufferable at times, but they did marry you. The whole 'unbreakable bond' thing comes to mind."
"True." Rachelle sighed, thinking for a moment. "At least I'm pretty sure I won't try to murder anyone again. I mean that's a step in the right direction, isn't it?" Oh god, she was serious. And... 'pretty sure'? Yikes.
Isabella chuckled. "I don't know that I believe that. If anyone ever hurt my boy... They wouldn't be able to find their corpse once I'm done with them." Mothers were a fierce bunch, to be sure.
Rachelle looked at her for a moment. Before raising one eyebrow. And looking at her again. "Bitch you are so hot when you go into Mama Bear mode." Yep. That's what Rachelle took from that statement. As has been damn-near everyone's tagline when talking about Rachelle for ten years running: she means well.
Isabella smiled at the compliment. "I can only imagine how you would look in the same position," she admitted. Crazed came to mind, but fierce was more likely.
"Moment of complete honesty?" Rachelle said with an embarrassed chuckle. "While I'm eternally grateful for the support and love Neels and Mor are showing me... I couldn't even imagine doing this without you around. You've been such a goddamn amazing support system for me over the years..."
Isabella liked to think that she was a good, stabilizing influence on her friend. Although in retrospect, the same could be said about Rachelle's influence on her. They certainly seemed to bring out the better side of each other. "You've been for me as well. I'm grateful that you're here. I love Sin and Mathew to pieces, but they do drive me batty sometimes." Only sometimes. Heh.
"Hey. You've managed to not murder either of them, and.... for that I'm really fucking proud of you." Chelle said with a wry deadpan, an eyebrow going up slowly. Her nice way of saying that while she liked both of them, they could both be extremely irritating.
"Oh, I won't lie and say that I wasn't tempted to sometimes," Isabella admitted. Especially Sin. Isabella knew that she meant well, but sometimes she did want to strangle the girl.
"Sin's a cute kid. If I were just a little younger I'd probably flirt like mad with her. But damn... I feel like I didn't truly understand what 'motormouth' meant until I met her." Chelle laughed, shaking her head. "She's proof that it is indeed somehow possible to be even more chipper and energetic than Neely."
Isabella chuckled. "There's rarely a quiet moment of silence with her," she agreed. Still, the warmth and affection in her tone was clearly evident. She loved the girl. "Rebecca would be proud of the woman that she's become."
"Speaking of Rebecca..." Rachelle sighed, for once being completely serious and caring. "How are you holding up, sweetie? I worry about you. I know firsthand what it's like to not have your One True Love with you... and it's not something you need to go through alone."
"I'm not alone," Isabella murmured. She had her son, her step-daughter, her brother and Rachelle. Still, she understood where Rachelle's concern came from and she was grateful for it. "I come and go," she admitted. She thought about mentioning her friendship with Amilyn and the potential for something more there, but she knew in her heart that Rebecca was the only one for her and had shot Amilyn down fairly quickly. "Some days are harder than others."
"You know you can call me any time, right?" Rachelle asked her, reaching to squeeze Isabella's hand comfortingly. "I mean, if I'm in the middle of fuckin' The Wives, I might have to call you right back, but you can seriously call me anytime." She had to believe this would turn out well. Isabella was too good of a person to get fucked over completely by life here. "I have to believe she'll get here for you, eventually."
"Eventually," Isabella agreed with a sad smile. It was getting harder the longer that they were apart, but... Isabella would preserve. "In the meantime? I'm going to live vicariously through you," she said, smirking and raising her drink in salute to her friend before taking a sip.
"Can't really blame you... say what you will about my life, but there's never a goddamn dull moment." Rachelle laughed, holding up her soda in a returned salute. "Friends forever, bitch."