Adora knew the moment she woke up that something was different.
At first glance, nothing had changed all that much. The bedroom she shared with Catra on Darla was essentially the same, but there were some things missing. Little things — some of the photos they had framed and hung on the walls over the years, the laundry basket in the far left corner that seemed to be eternally overflowing with dirty clothes, the claw marks marring her bedside table from their kids learning how to use them.
The walls she was looking at now were filled with Catra’s drawings but otherwise mostly bare. When she reached out to touch the indents where tiny claw marks had dug in and left deep marks, there was nothing. Everything was oddly pristine.
Then she looked down at the woman curled into her side and it all clicked into place. Catra looked so young, free of some of the creases and lines that came with age. Not that she looked much different in the future. She’d aged gracefully and was, in Adora’s very biased opinion, even more beautiful in the time she’d come from than she was right now. Still curled into herself as she slept, though, even with her head on Adora’s shoulder, insecure in a way that her wife in her time had mostly gotten through.
She knew now that this was it, the timeslip she’d been anticipating for years. She’d never known exactly when it was coming, but she knew when she turned forty that she was getting closer and closer to that time. She remembered Catra telling her about this, trying to fill in the three-day gap in her memory but keep it vague enough that it didn’t screw anything up. Now she finally got to create those memories herself.
She shifted as carefully as she could to free herself of Catra’s limbs and get out of bed, letting her take a little extra time to sleep. Her bracer sat on top of her bedside table and she slipped it on over her wrist before sliding the drawer open to grab a spare hair tie and pull her long hair up into her typical ponytail. She was good about wearing it down more often than not these days, but it always went up in the mornings, on shift, and when training.
(Okay, so maybe it was still up about fifty percent of the time. But she was well past thirty and her hairline was excellent, Catra, thank you.)
She was halfway to the door when there was a huff from the wall across from their bed. Her heart jumped into her throat and as soon as her eyes landed on the source, a wall of emotion slammed into her chest, tears welling up and clouding her vision.
“Spirit,” she breathed, crouching down and reaching out as her puppy climbed out of his dog bed and padded over to her. She wrapped her arms around him and gave him some good pets, biting her lip when he started licking her face so she wouldn’t wake Catra by making too much noise. She was trying not to let herself feel too overwhelmed, but her puppy was here. Her first baby and here he wasn’t gone.
Gods, she was going to enjoy every second she could of this little slip into the past.
“Let’s go out, buddy,” she whispered. She stood up and headed toward the sliding door with Spirit trotting along beside her.
She settled right back into her old routine, letting Spirit out, feeding both the pets and giving them all the scritches and love their little hearts desired. Darla was quiet at this time of the morning; the sun had risen and it was just shy of seven o’clock when she decided to head into the kitchen and start making breakfast for the rest of the household.
Over the years, she’d learned to fend for herself in the kitchen. Catra outshot her by miles, but she had her collective of dishes she could manage, and thankfully, with their little visitor from the future, her past self (present?) and Catra had stocked up on food and filled the refrigerator and freezer to the brim. Out came the packs of bacon and ingredients for pancakes (chocolate chips included). Soon, the smell of bacon sizzling on the stove was permeating the air, and she was too tempted to keep from taking a slice for herself.
She had bitten off half her slice when she heard Spirit whining at her feet. She rolled her eyes fondly but dropped the other half for him to snack on (how could she resist her little fur baby, really) and when she looked up, she saw a very familiar figure standing in the doorway, staring at her.
“Hey, Catra,” she grinned. “Surprise?”
All Catra could do was stand there and - gawk? Yeah, she was probably doing some gawking. Her mouth dropped open and everything, eyes wide and pupils wide because… “What?”
Adora waking up before her was routine. Always the early riser for a run out with Spirit, and that was around the time she typically began to stir and force herself from the comforting warmth and scents of their bed. Finn’s presence shook it up a bit - with them around she’d wake up with Adora, one wrangling their lost-in-time offspring while the other began working through the motions of the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Spirit would be let out to roam with Melog somewhere in between, and it was just - kind of seamless, the way it was going.
There were some learning bumps in the way but it gave Catra the confidence that they could do this, and maybe she wasn’t a terrible being that was incapable of raising an emotionally competent person. Having Finn wasn’t something she thought she might ever want but having them here, a perfect mix of the two of them with their own uniqueness - how could she not love someone they made? How could she not want this?
Today started a little differently. Finn had been worn out from an eventful evening last night. They’d done the whole pumpkin patch thing - the rides and activities and pumpkin picking (with Finn claiming it was tradition for her birthday, how crazy). They had come back home, carved designs into them (she and Finn were able to put their claws to use) and it had gotten messy, but. It was fun. They’d fallen asleep watching a movie, and after gently putting them in bed (in the room they now knew would be theirs), she and Adora promptly passed out.
But Melog stayed with Finn now, every night they were there. Catra expected them not to be there but for Adora to just - not wake her up with everything going on was kind of strange? Maybe she’d woken up earlier than normal, but she crawled out of bed and did her hair into this messy bun. Checked on Melog and Finn - still asleep - and then made her way to the lower deck where the kitchen was.
The smell of bacon was a surprise.
Though seeing an older Adora standing there, radiant and familiar and different and greeting her with such attractive confidence (and smugness?) was an even bigger one. Some people had been aged up, others had been aged down so it wasn’t anything out of the norm for this wave of Vallo’s fuckery except she didn’t expect this and -
“Um, hi, what are you -” Catra took a step forward and tripped over nothing but thanks to excellent reflexes she didn’t fall flat on her face. This kitchen was suddenly hot, her skin felt hot, was her face hot? It shouldn’t feel hot, she was wearing sleep shorts and one of Adora’s shirts except maybe she’d feel better if she took it off?
Wait, no.
Adora’s eyebrows raised and her smile widened when she realized that Catra, on top of being surprised, was a little bit flustered. That was fun. Catra didn’t fluster easily or often, especially when it came to her, and definitely not so much that she was tripping over her own feet. She had always been the more graceful of the two of them while Adora was the one tripping over air — something she was doing decidedly less of nowadays.
“Hey, you,” she chuckled, letting her eyes rake over her in all her fresh-out-of-bed ruffled cuteness. She turned off the stove so she could take a minute to say a proper hello, closed the distance, and raised both hands to cup Catra’s cheeks. “I was hoping to surprise you and Finn with breakfast, but I guess I didn’t give you your kiss good morning, huh? We’ll have to remedy that now.”
The next second, she sealed their lips together without hesitation. The twenty year time gap currently separating them made no difference whatsoever. The girl before her was still her wife, even if they hadn’t quite crossed that bridge at this time, it wouldn’t be long. Besides, not kissing her when she was standing there all blushy and adorable and tempting would be the weirder choice.
“Good morning, sweetheart,” she murmured when they parted. She kept their foreheads pressed together and brushed her thumbs across the familiar patterns of freckles on her wife’s cheeks. “Hope that near-fall means you’re happy to see me.” Her lips curled into a playful smile; there was definitely some smugness behind that little tease.
Catra’s knees almost, almost buckled when the distance between them ceased to exist and - her mouth was on her, and oh my gods did this most unholy sound reserved only for the bedroom find its home in the back of her throat. Kissing Adora was often like this, but she was now kissing an older Adora that was infuriatingly attractive even with age.
Oh. Wait.
This was why she was feeling hot. Duh.
“How are you,” she started with a breath and a gulp, putting her hands on Adora somewhere - like her arms, that was a safe area. Catra was drinking the sight of her in. The faded scars on her jaw, the faint lines of her face that only time could bring. “How are you this attractive still, it’s not fair?”
There was another kiss and even a third right before she made a detour and pressed her nose into her neck for a sniff. It was Adora still, her Adora. That meant her purrs were instant, and the scent-marking she was doing was a tad aggressive.
“You’re even more unfairly attractive, trust me. Now and - my now.” Adora let out a sound that was close to a laugh but was taken over by her breath hitching. Her neck was always a favorite spot, and it was always where Catra marked her, scent and otherwise. She made it easy for her, angling her head back to give her more room to nuzzle in there and be sure of what she was smelling. She wasn’t complaining.
In fact, she tangled her left hand in the messy bun Catra’s hair was in this morning, careful as always to avoid the scar left behind by Prime’s chip, while the other hand slipped down to her hip and under the waistband of her shorts just a fraction to stroke the fur there. She wasn’t going to do anything too dirty when their child and Melog could come marching down any moment demanding breakfast, but she also wasn’t going to entirely hold back. She was allowed to touch Catra however she wanted.
Adora was touching her in a fairly dangerous zone and - look, Catra might be deceased soon. Honestly. Fangs scraped against her pulse with the promise of a bite but she had a modicum of self-control here. Right? Even if she was kind of arching into her like a cat in heat, she could behave.
She didn’t understand why this Adora was here but there was obviously no point in trying to make heads or tails as to why Vallo did what it did. She was here regardless, a living and breathing testament about a future they’ve made for themselves.
Which - she kinda wanted to know about?
“Bet you’re real smug that you ended up getting a baby out of me after all,” Catra snorted. This was her attempt to regain some composure and aloofness to everything and not be this fumbling simp that was clearly really into Adora. “How’s life when we’re old, princess?”
A baby. Adora smirked, considered blowing Catra’s mind a little more, then decided to save it for later. Maybe when Finn went to bed tonight, she could get into some deeper details and soothe away all those inevitable worries and insecurities that would follow with kisses and cuddles. She knew exactly what space Catra was in mentally right now, and she knew that she was going to jump to the bad things before the good.
So, definitely later.
“We’re extremely happy,” she assured her wife, stroking a stray tendril of hair back out of her face. “Vallo’s still Vallo and doing what it does, but we’ve had a really good life, I promise. Finn’s all grown up, but they’re happy, too. Total drama queen, but I guess that was inevitable given who they come from,” she teased.
The drama queen tendencies were actually a little more measured now that Finn was venturing out and making their own way as an adult, but most of their teenage years had been a trial. They hadn’t been too rebellious, but there were plenty of shenanigans that made Adora anxious as hell even as she’d calmed down over the years.
“I think my phone came with me.” She leaned in and gave Catra another kiss, softer this time as she stroked her hair. “I’ll show you some pictures after breakfast. Want to help me get the pancakes going?”
The teasing didn’t even phase her, as she may still be stuck on the whole we’re extremely happy part and that might have melted her insides. Or whatever. Maybe it made her purrs intensify, maybe it was why her tail wrapped around her waist to bring them closer. Catra might still be in awe knowing that they could have something like this. Were going to have something like this.
So she was a little delayed in responding to Adora, giving into the softness of that kiss and the way her fingers worked through her hair, and did they really need breakfast? Catra was convinced they didn’t. Plus she was still kind of weak in the knees and would have a difficult time moving around (so claims the drama queen, shut up). “I’m gonna have to unpack the fact that you can make bacon after that one incident you had,” she mused as her hands skimmed up her arms then towards her neck, claws tickling the base. “Are you sure you need help? I can’t just hold onto you while you finally get to impress me in the kitchen?”
Catra also kinda wanted more spoilers about their life together but she was still riding that we’re extremely happy high Adora had told her.
One thing that hadn’t changed and would never, ever change was how Adora reacted when there was purring involved, from any member of her little magicat family. But she was especially weak for Catra. She would never get over knowing that she made Catra feel comfortable and safe enough that she could purr without any qualms. She still remembered when Shadow Weaver tried to beat every bit of those catlike qualities out of her, and she had made it her mission since then to make sure Catra knew it was okay to let those instincts out. Their kids knew that too.
“That bacon incident was once,” she protested with a fond roll of her eyes. “You have to learn to let it go.” But she knew Catra wouldn’t. Even after years of learning in the kitchen and showing that while she was no expert, she could hold her own and be trusted, her wife teased her constantly. It was part of their banter in the kitchen at this point, and it grounded her to hear it here again now.
“You can cling to me all you want if you don’t want to help,” she acquiesced. “But I’m sure someone very demanding will be down here soon expecting breakfast, so I better get back to it.” She cupped Catra’s chin in one hand and stole another soft, lingering kiss. She couldn’t resist the happiness on that face. It was all she’d ever wanted to see.
Catra rarely beamed but boy did she beam at that - yeah, she planned to do a lot of latching. The kiss stifled a chuckle, did nothing to keep the slow grin from slicing across her face and she supposed she could let Adora go back at it. Feeding Finn was important, she needed to do that.
Instead of being fused to her front, she gracefully slipped behind her and tightened her arms around her waist. Clearly Adora could function like this and if she couldn’t, she better learn quickly. Catra was too busy rubbing her cheek against the back of her shoulders to contribute anything helpful.
But she did kind of - think about something. “Hey.” Her nose scrunched up as her brain tried to do a guess of basic math in her head. “How old are you? You said Finn’s grown up but you still look pretty young. Are you slowly aging because of She-Ra or is Finn just a teenager and you’re having feelings about them growing up too fast?”
Adora was functioning just fine with Catra attached to her back. This was hardly the first time she’d been in this situation, and over the years, she’d learned to work with it and keep doing what she was doing while her wife clung to her. It was nice, actually, having her so present without standing beside her and batting her out of the way if she did something Catra wouldn’t have. Her crazy little Iron Chef had become very particular in the kitchen.
“I’m forty, but I’ll take that slowly aging thing as a compliment,” she answered with a grin, turning the stove back on and grabbing the pancake mix she’d already gotten all put together before Catra woke up. “And Finn is all grown up, in that older-teenager-but-not-quite-adult way. They’re definitely not snuggling up in bed with us at night anymore.”
Catra felt as if she swallowed butterflies - it was definitely the sensation in her gut anyway, the swishes and flutters. Knowing that Finn would exist in general ignited something so strangely primal in her, but imagining them older and more of their own person somehow kicked it up a notch. To think that they added a whole ass person to the universe by accident because Adora was so powerful with a magical strap-on was whack.
(That was going to be a conversation for later and she was judging the Sword of Protection so fucking hard right now.)
Anyway, gooey feelings aside she was still attempting some brain function. Like a vague attempt at math. This Adora was forty. Present Adora was twenty-one, hitting twenty-two in January. “So then - it happens in a few years?” Catra asked, trying to wrap her mind around it. “When we have Finn?? Should I even know the answer to that question or is it going to mess things up? Is there anything we do need to know to make sure we’re doing something right?”
There was a pitchiness to her voice that indicated a level of panic and WHAT IF FINN DOESN’T HAPPEN?
Oh, Adora was very familiar with that tone of voice. Even present Adora would have recognized the barely-contained freakout that pitch in Catra’s voice was betraying. She liked to think she’d always been steady enough to handle this and comfort Catra without any trouble — and she was, sure, but twenty-one-year-old Adora probably would have started panicking a little herself. She did have a tendency to worry herself to death at that age, but thankfully, it had been mostly tempered with age.
Without missing a beat, she flipped the pancake on the stove and turned around in Catra’s arms to face her, a hint of an amused smile pulling at the corner of her lips. “Soon enough,” she replied, calm without forcing herself to be — that probably was a newer thing for this time’s Catra. She reached out with both hands at once to soothingly scratch around her wife’s ears. “I don’t want to give you exact dates and put pressure on either of us. But that baby is an inevitability, I promise you.”
It was a big promise and not something she technically could promise, but she believed it with all of her heart. No matter what happened or how they handled the aftermath of the timeslip, she believed they were meant to have to the family they’d built. They would make damn sure of it, too. She had learned a long time ago that the only way to have the life she wanted was to make it happen. And they would make Finn happen, some way or another.
Soon enough. Soon enough. What did that even mean? Catra understood why Adora was being vague and all but ‘soon enough’ could be a lot of things, like in the next year or -
Oh, right. She was having a spaz moment, wasn’t she. It might not be expressed in flailing arms and banshee shrieks but it was probably all over her face and the way her tail moved, ears flickering - though that motion was soothed by Adora’s hands giving scritches. Her muscles lost the tension that had built up in them, and Catra let out a deep breath that was meant to ground her. Finn was inevitable. That was what she needed to hear.
“Fine,” she mumbled with a somewhat embarrassed pout - she was getting so easily flustered by Adora and it was only a little mortifying. Stupid Adora, being stupidly hot at forty. It was also weird to have her so chilled out but that was a good thing, she thought. It was a really good thing. “I just - you know, would hate to mess anything up and kids are still weird and childbirth seems like the fucking worst but I… want Finn.” Catra huffed. Her face got redder. “Eventually.” Then, a pause. “I think I need a glass of water.”
Adora’s heart fluttered in her chest. She knew that, of course. Even her younger self probably knew it at this point, but it was still always good to hear it out loud. Catra wanted Finn. She wanted their family and their life. She may not be ready for it yet, but it was good to see her opening her mind and heart to these things. They were big things, so much so that even now (in her own time — so confusing) there were moments it all felt overwhelming, but she could handle it and so could Catra. They could handle it together.
“We’ll have them,” she said again, pulling her wife in for another kiss. “Eventually. And…maybe a couple more.” She grinned as she pulled away, turning back to the stove like she hadn’t just dropped a bomb on Catra. Even without looking at her, she could picture how her face would look — mouth open, eyes wide, ears flat, and tail flipping even more wildly.
Stunning Catra was one of her favorite things, mostly because she couldn’t usually get away with it. Here, she had the advantage, and she wasn’t giving away too much by admitting that Finn wasn’t the only one that her magic and her shape-shifting sword were responsible for creating.
We’ll have them. Catra smiled. Okay. Phew.
…
“Wait hold on, did you just say a couple -”
“Moms??” came this scratchy, tired little voice from the entrance of the kitchen. Finn, obviously - hair a mess, dressed in footsie pajamas with a skeleton design (for Halloween!) with Melog glued to their side. That meant Catra had to inevitably get her shit together (she seemed to be constantly losing it throughout this trial period on parenthood), but let it be known that she and Adora were going to have a serious talk tonight.
Catra did pinch her beloved girlfriend in the ass as retribution though before sauntering over to what she was now beginning to realize was their firstborn, and easily scooped them up in her arms. They were small for their age - much like Catra had been at that age too - and nestled comfortably in her arms with a sleepy purr. “Morning,” she chuckled and gave Finn’s forehead a kiss. “Mama’s making breakfast but don’t be surprised if she looks a little different.”
Half of that caught Finn’s attention. “Is Mama supposed to be cooking??” they asked, peering over Catra’s shoulder to blink at their other parent.
Melog seemed to adjust to the changes without much communication on Catra’s behalf, too. They definitely seemed to radiate the smitten feeling she seemed to harbor, rubbing up against Adora’s leg and rumbling up a little thunderstorm of vibrations from their throat.
Saved by Finn! Adora had every intention of going into enough detail to satisfy Catra about that particular tidbit, but having to let her hang in suspense and postpone until a little later made it all the better. She’d be dying for answers by the time they got more than five seconds alone.
“Mama can cook just fine, baby,” she sighed, scooping her first official pancake out of the skillet and onto a platter. She poured out another bit of mix from the blender and gave Melog some affectionate scritches before joining Catra and pressing a kiss to Finn’s head. They were so tiny, nowhere near the same age as the teenager Adora had kissed goodnight twentyish years from now (and also last night, for her).
“I’ve had a lot more practice since the last time you saw me. Look.” She knew she’d aged fairly well, but there were definitely a handful of physical differences in her appearance that Finn would be able to see. “I missed you a lot.”
Finn let out the most adorable mrrrrrp at the mom kisses and looked at Adora with some scrutiny. But it was short-lived, don’t worry, because all it took was for them to get a good whiff of her scent for them to know in their bones that this was mama. “Mmkay,” they yawned, resting their head on Catra’s shoulder.
They looked at her with bright eyes and blinked. Slowly.
“Mama’s only ever bought me breakfast - not made,” Catra smirked and pressed her cheek into Finn’s temple. Both of them began to purr softly. “Hope these pancakes blow my world.”
“E’stra whips cream,” Finn yawned cutely, mouth wide open to reveal the cave of tiny little razors for teeth. “I can help you if you want, mama. But I need coffee.”
“You’re too young for coffee, kid.”
“No, I’m five.”
“Exactly.”
“No coffee for you, Mommy’s right. Maybe when you’re much, much older,” Adora echoed, pressing one more kiss on that sweet little face. They were extra adorable, especially with their demands for coffee coming out of such a tiny thing’s mouth. They had picked up on Catra’s love for it early on and wanted to be just like her, so the request was made frequently — and continually denied until they hit teenage years.
“Why don’t you go ahead and get comfortable on the couch, okay?” That part was directed at Catra and a kiss was bestowed on her wife’s lips. “Snuggle up and watch some cartoons with Melog and the pets, I won’t be much longer.” She had this down to a science after all these years, and she was sure Catra would be suitably impressed.
Oh my fuck, was she ever going to stop blushing around this version of Adora? Seriously, it was getting ridiculous. It was a kiss. Why did she feel hot even to the tip of her ears, ugh. “Yeah yeah,” Catra mumbled with a nose wiggle, trying to be all cool and indifferent to save face even if she was totally failing.
Her tail was curling up into this half-heart shape and it was just the worst.
Finn seemed happy with the suggestion though, and lifted their head so they could squish mommy’s cheeks and push their noses together. It made Catra blink widely but god were her pupils blown out of love. “Let’s watch Finding Nemo!”
“Sure.”
Not that Catra had any clue what that even was, though she was sure Finn would waste no time enthusiastically explaining with some mispronunciation on some words. It was fun, hearing them chat and watching their dramatic hand motions and oh crap there’s a couple more??