That was a new development — a very new one, taken on with a much more determined passion and commitment than the wishy-washy, defeated attitude she’d always given Catra before. Things had changed; her wife was pregnant, and while she obviously wasn’t incapable and still cooked when she wanted to, Adora had been doing her best to step up. They were having a baby! In her head, part of being a good mom was being able to cook something for Finn that was more than just processed sugar.
(She had learned the hard way when Catra was baby-sized that was a bad idea for a little one. There had been lots of throwing up. Darla was fairly self-cleaning, but that was a mess Adora had to pick up herself. It was not fun.)
She was working her way through a host of simple dishes she’d looked up, exercising her patience with each one. Ultimately, Catra hadn’t been wrong — following a recipe wasn’t that difficult when she wasn’t frantically trying to achieve perfection. She felt she’d made some acceptable dishes that Catra could stomach with her sense of smell all out of whack, so mission accomplished.
Tonight, she was trying meatloaf, which meant she had time to kill after she got everything prepped and in the oven. Teela was out and Adam was still out on patrol which meant they had the place to themselves a little while longer, so Adora wandered back out into the living room to cuddle up with her wife.
Only to find her poking at Darla’s console.
“Looking for something, babe?” she questioned, eyebrows raising curiously.
“Yeah,” Catra answered distractedly, claws tapping at an array of lit buttons in. Lots of beeps and boops, and fuzzy holographic displays started to project from it. Darla served as a permanent home, retrofitted and modified in a way that parts of the inside resembled the inside of a residential home which was neat - but what was even more neat was that, in its core, was an archive of information.
Information dated a thousand years ago (give or take) but whatever. Information, nonetheless. It was all they had to go by with what she was looking through.
It took a few seconds for the imagery to settle, but before them was a display of stardust and spirals. A snapshot of galaxies. “Can you,” she began, nibbling her lip as she took a step back to observe, a hand settling over her stomach. A little over halfway done with the process, it had grown - couldn’t blame it on bloating anymore - but her clothes were still stretchy enough to accommodate it, form-fitting and comfortable. “Can you find the galaxy Etheria’s supposed to be in?”
She waved a hand around the projection, like she was sliding through images on her phone and it switched to another image of the star-system. “There’s lettering over what I’m assuming are planets but it’s all First Ones’ writing. It’ll take me too long to decipher it all.”
That didn’t really answer Adora’s question, but she just shrugged. Whatever the reasons were, she was sure they were good ones. She reached out to flip through the stack of galaxies Darla had produced at Catra’s request, reading each line of text with a furrowed brow. It took a minute, but then she found it.
“Here we go!” she announced with a triumphant smile. She reached out, fingers pinched together to pluck the correct galaxy free and let it loose so it spread across the entirety of the observation deck. The lights dimmed as the holographic stars, suns, moons, and various planets lit up, each labeled with more First Ones’ writing.
Her eyes scanned for a moment before landing on Etheria, which she pulled closer to them with one hand. “And here’s home sweet home.” Their home planet was small, made up of blue, green, and white swirls, surrounded by twelve moons, the biggest of which was pink and bright as a sun.
“Darla, translate, please,” she requested, and a moment later, the First Ones’ inscriptions shimmered and changed. “I always meant to teach you to read First Ones’ writing. Maybe Adam and I can work out some lesson plans for you.”
Ugh, she should have thought of that. The translating option. They didn’t utilize the archives as much as they should, which was a shame - Darla was full of history. Whether or not it was all relevant still was up to debate, but this right here was exactly what she had been looking for.
Etheria, and the galaxy it rightfully lived in. It was beautiful. Made her a little homesick but the feeling was bearable; home was wherever they were, together.
“You guys should,” Catra smirked, giving Adora’s chest a pat-pat before she leaned in to press a quick kiss to the corner of her mouth. “Thanks, princess. Leave that up for me, yeah?”
And, with literally no additional explanation, she flitted back towards the couch to reunite herself with a sketchpad she had left open there. There was a specific spot she had claimed for herself (full of pillows for back support, plus a fuzzy blanket to wrap herself with when she so desired), and she got herself cozy and started taking a pencil to the blank page.
Adora received the chest-pat and the quick kiss with a dopey, slightly confused little smile, watching Catra return to the couch to settle in. When she picked up her sketchpad, it finally clicked that oh, this was an art thing. That made more sense. She wasn’t sure why, specifically, her wife wanted their home galaxy, but she didn’t protest. She liked being surrounded by the stars they should have been seeing all their lives; it was both uplifting and a little bit sad, knowing they’d just gotten that back when they were pulled away from home.
After a moment, she padded across the room to settle on the opposite end of their big sectional couch, stretching her long limbs out across the length perpendicular to Catra. She watched her draw for a few minutes without commenting, eyes soft. She always looked so at peace this way.
“So, um, is there any reason you’re drawing the galaxy?” she finally asked, reaching out to poke at those clawed toes to get Catra’s attention.
“Mmmm,” Catra hummed out at first, the non-drawing hand curved around her own neck with her elbow atop the cushion. The pencil was pushed against the paper with these quick, short flicks - the etching of lines, a little bit of shading. Her lap wasn’t the best support with what she was doing (her stomach also was becoming invasive, what a shame) but she didn’t intend for this to be a masterpiece quite yet. “There is.”
Whatever the reason, she was taking her sweet time in revealing it. Instead of her eyes lifting to look at her wife (Adora was always a nice view, why wouldn’t she) they went to the projection of stars and, after a few seconds of scrutinizing, she focused back onto the paper and kept on doodling.
Her mouth fought to form this knowing little smile. No success - she was smiling. “It’s for the nursery,” she confessed quietly, flipping the pencil to erase something real quick. “I’m kind of waffling between framing art or just - doing a whole wall? Like an accent. But I’m thinking it would be neat to have Finn’s room have the stars from back home. I could paint Etheria, all its moons…” Catra shrugged one of her shoulders. “Unless you had something else in mind?”
Adora sat up at once, her smile wide, eyes going from soft to bright and eager. “Really? No, no, that would be amazing! Yes, please, do that!”
She’d had thoughts about the nursery, sure. With Catra at twenty weeks, she was about halfway through the pregnancy which meant their time until the big moment came was shortening. The four of them (because Adam was being a solid uncle and already pitching in where he could, and of course Teela was more than willing to help, too) had converted the room Finn had claimed as theirs into something more baby friendly, replacing the bed with a nice crib and bringing in all kinds of furniture: changing table, dresser, rocking chair, a few lamps with softer lighting.
The walls hadn’t been touched, though. Adora had considered just leaving them as they were, but cold, gray, metal walls didn’t exactly scream baby friendly. So her next thought was some kind of wallpaper they could put up, with dinosaurs or sheep or dragons or unicorns or something on them. But Catra’s idea was better.
“What made you think of that?”
Catra halted the outlining, tapping the pencil against paper in thought. “I mean - we’re on a spaceship,” she chuckled, finally lifting her gaze from her lap to her wife. Adora was so excited. It would never stop being stupidly cute. “Finn can have all the stars and constellations from back home, and when we have the girls we can - do some sun and moon combo for them? Earth’s sun and moon. Since Earth is where your mom’s from.”
Her fingers scratched at the scar on her neck, sheepish. It was too early to plan for the twins but she liked the thought of the nursery themes tying together. And, like, she was hormonal and her baby bump was getting big and she had lots of feelings. Lots of thoughts. Ideas.
Worries, too, but she tried to drown them out with all of the positives.
“Shut up,” she scowled and went back to sketching since she was sure Adora was about to get all dopey looking and Catra felt her cheeks inevitably color. Her tail was lashing. “Don’t judge me.”
That lashing tail wasn’t the dangerous kind, Adora knew that already. She was very good at reading Catra’s body in every circumstance, and nearly two years of living together in an intimate relationship had only made her more attuned to her very beautiful, very sappy wife and all of her moods. She slipped occasionally, but overall, she thought she had a pretty good score.
“I’m judging you but in the best way,” she insisted, scooting closer and lifting Catra’s feet gently into her lap. The shifting might mess up her drawing a little bit, but hopefully, the foot rub Adora began bestowing on her would make up for any smudging that might occur. “It’s really, really sweet that you’re thinking about stuff like that. Especially for the girls since…we don’t even know when that’s gonna happen.”
Most of her focus right now was on Finn because, well, their arrival was much more imminent. But she was eager to meet the twins her future self had teased Catra about — to find out their names, what they looked like, and now to decorate their nursery when the time came.
The short interruption was welcomed. It didn’t mess much up anyway. This was a rough mock up, and Catra’s intention was to map all that surrounded Etheria to see how she could apply it on an actual wall. This wasn’t going to be a quick process but they had time.
Besides, Adora rubbing her feet - fuck, did that feel nice. Her clawed toes did a little wiggle.
“Hope that happens anyway,” she mumbled under her breath, fighting back the exhale of a sigh. Futures had changed; not a lot was permanent or set in stone. There were friends that were supposed to stay here that they lost, their absence still a persistent ache. “But.”
Her other hand went to steady the sketchbook, and she glanced back up at the projection for another quick study so she could keep on doodling. “I’m going to plan like they’ll be here regardless. Kind of attached to the whole idea, you know?”
This idea of their family - them, and Finn, and two little girls. Melog. Clawdeen, the future cubs. The pets they’ve brought into their lives. Catra wanted all of it, and it was sometimes scary to want in a place that could split you from your loved ones.
Adora went somber for a moment, too. A lot had changed since Finn’s first visit with them. Important people to them were gone, quite a few of them, and their loss was still very keenly felt. But they had to move forward, and that was what Adora kept focusing on. Maybe their future wouldn’t be exactly the same, but they had to have faith that some things were inevitable, here or home or wherever they landed if Vallo kicked them out.
She was crossing her fingers that their children were the most inevitable part.
“Me too,” she agreed, giving Catra’s toes a quick, reassuring little squeeze. “It’s gonna happen. It has to. We already know we make really pretty babies. It would be a waste not to have as many as possible.” And, behold, the most obnoxious eyebrow waggling in the world, accompanied by a big grin.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you,” Catra snorted loudly, a laugh mixed into it since - yeah, she knew how Adora enjoyed this entire thing. “I was thiiiiinking, though…”
Tongue sticking out in concentration, she forced herself to shift around on the couch - which was still possible without much discomfort, phew - and reel her feet off Adora’s lap. Catra burrowed herself now besides her wife, back leaning against her so she could see the rough concept she’d drawn on the sketchpad. “We make Etheria the focal point of their room, add the moons around it - and we can draw lines to connect the constellations? If we do a whole wall I’d just have to get some kind of special paint to cover metal and give it a more drywall kind of look. It’ll probably take a week or two to finish depending on how things go.”
Between naps, Vallo hiccups, work - life stuff. The second trimester had been pretty good to her, though. Her energy levels have been better, her appetite had increased, and she was able to feel these tiny flutter movements right below her belly button. Catra was actually enjoying the whole process better.
Adora instantly shifted to accommodate Catra, arm winding around her and her hand laying across the curve of her wife’s belly. Every chance she got nowadays, her hands were there, and she was nearly always radiating with this intense sort of pride. Her hand slipped up the front of that snug shirt, but her eyes shifted down to the sketchpad as she listened to Catra explain.
“I really like that idea,” she agreed. She liked the idea of Finn being surrounded by their home, even if they may not ever see it themself. And it was pretty to look at; she remembered how overjoyed she’d been to see it as they approached after rescuing Glimmer and Catra, even knowing the trouble that awaited them with so many people chipped. Vallo had become their home, but she’d always love Etheria, especially knowing how full of potential it was now that the war was finally over.
“You’re kinda brilliant, you know,” she murmured, kissing the top of Catra’s head. “Just tell me how I can help and I’m there. No way you’re doing all of that yourself. Maybe we can get stencils or something? To help get the lines on the wall?”
“Duh,” was Catra’s reply to both things - the comment about her smarts, and how this wasn’t going to be a solitary project. She tipped her head back to look up at her, smiling wryly. “Definitely need stencils. She-Ra’s height too, for reaching all the spots I won’t be able to reach.”
Doubtful that Adora would let her climb a ladder anyway while she was like this, but that was fine - they were in this together, and their kid’s bedroom was definitely a both-parents project.
Sketchpad set aside, she clasped her hand over Adora’s for a squeeze as a vibration of content purrs began to rumble. Catra was super fucking comfy, all snug against her wife. She was feeling a wave of sporadic little nudges too, and she moved their joint hands over that spot. Feeling anything on the outside wasn’t a milestone they’ve hit yet but they had to be almost there. “I think they like the idea too,” she murmured. “Got a few flutters.”
Another project, perfect. Adora was good at projects, and getting some stencils custom made to get this starscape Catra was envisioning on the nursery’s wall would be a snap. The height thing, too — She-Ra came out less often these days, but she didn’t mind taking her out for household things instead of just for big battles. She’d offer Adam and He-Man, too, but the less she saw that loincloth-and-suspenders get-up, the better if you asked her.
“They already know how brilliant you are, too,” Adora chuckled. She let her hand be guided, a small frown tugging her lips downward when she still couldn’t feel anything from the outside. She’d known she was in for a wait, but the impatience bled through occasionally. Sometimes she wished she could switch places with Catra and feel those little flutters for herself.
“I should be able to feel them move soon, right?” She’d left her phone in the kitchen or she’d check the tracker app they’d both signed up for. “You won’t let me miss it?” She’d already gotten that promise, but she was very invested.
“I absolutely the fuck would not let you miss it,” Catra assured, the words so violent but the way she said it was soft, in a way - a promise. It was something she was always promising, and she intended to keep it. “But don’t fret too hard, okay? Any day now. You just gotta give them time to get bigger. They’re, like, growing every week - and every week the movement’s a little stronger.”
It had been so weird to feel at first. She had assumed it was gas bubbles or whatever - some stupid and annoying symptom she had to deal with but after a few days of consistent nudges she knew otherwise.
Turns out she really loved it. Feeling them. Knowing they were there, really there.
Man, did this shit turn her into a goddamn sap.
She leaned up, peppering kisses to the most available spot of her face. Chin, jaw, her cheek. “You could be fighting some giant beast and I’d happily interrupt your daily ass-kicking to make sure you got your moment.”
“Mm, as long as that interruption is a phone call, like we talked about,” Adora insisted. She reached out with her free hand to take her wife’s chin in her hand and lean down into a real, lingering kiss. “No running out in the middle of the giant beast fighting, okay?”
She didn’t have too many worries that was a real possibility. Catra had been very good about trying to keep away from Vallo’s particular brand of crazy. She’d stepped away from Defense of her own accord, before Adora had even asked her to, because she wanted to make sure nothing would happen. Even while Finn was still growing, she was already making amazing mom choices.
“Y’know,” she murmured, breaking the kiss just a bit, forehead still resting against her wife’s. “Adam’s still at work, and dinner’s got a while left to cook. You wanna…do stuff under the stars?” She grinned playfully, her hand on Catra’s belly slipping out from under her shirt to journey upward.
Oh.
Catra quirked a brow in a sharp, wicked sort of way. The grin she wore matched - toothy and salacious - as she allowed that hand to go where it pleased. “You’re so romantic,” she chuckled and sealed their mouths for a kiss, one that was firm and slow and a yes. Hormones made her insatiable when it came to sex, and it turns out that Adora could, uhhhh…
Really match that energy.
Her bottom lip was snagged between her pointed teeth, and she took a little nibble before pulling away. “Get me comfy on the floor, though,” she murmured. “I think Adam is beginning to realize how much action has been happening on the couch.”
Poor soon-to-be uncle.
“Um, I don’t think so,” Adora scoffed, pressing another kiss to the corner of Catra’s lips and sliding her hands under the curve of her wife’s growing breasts. “This is our couch—” She straightened up, hands shifting to her hips to help turn her around and lean her back into the little pillow and blanket nest she’d made for herself. “—and if we want to have sex on it, then that’s what we’re gonna do.”
Sorry, Adam. She loved him, really she did. But not enough to move her pregnant wife, who was uncomfortable half the time, onto the floor. Even though they had a really nice, comfy rug laid out, it wasn’t happening. Maybe after the pregnancy, if they ever had Finn-free time to have sex again. Now? Nope.
Catra wouldn’t have minded it but she was also a little distracted by the way Adora was touching her - firm, gentle, softly placing her where she wanted. She spent years getting manhandled by her. They rough housed, fought, and even in their established relationship she always liked to show how strong she was (tossing her around, pinning her) and while she never made it easy for her Catra loved it. She missed it.
But this was doing it for her, too.
“Well damn, princess,” she laughed huskily, cozy up in the cloud of comfort she had formed for herself earlier with the chaos of her hair splayed out. Mismatched eyes were positively gleaming with amusement, the dimness of the room making them even more bright. A clawed finger was crooked to beckon her closer. “Fuck me for trying to be considerate, then. That’s a hot way to assert dominance over our couch.”
Adora’s chest puffed out as she reached for Catra’s legs, parting them at the thighs. “I like claiming what’s mine.” And her hot wife, spread out before her in all her glory, was absolutely hers, every single inch of her.
She made sure to lavish every single one of those inches with attention over the next while. The two of them had turned this intimacy into an artform over the past two years. Clothes were shed quickly and efficiently, and Adora wasted no time getting to work.
After she’d finished Catra off (twice) and curled up around her for snuggles, she checked the timer on her watch and saw she still had a little less than ten minutes to spare. She nuzzled into Catra’s cheek, then turned to look up at the system of stars and planets still slowly rotating around them. She reached up when Etheria drew closer, pulling it in more.
“Do you think we’ll ever really see it again?”
Nngh. Catra was, like, boneless. Useless. Just - complete and utter goo on this couch, toes still curled and body buzzing. That meatloaf might as well be wasted and burnt because there was no way in hell she was letting Adora get up. Her leg was more or less hooked over her waist (to save space on the couch, too), tail wrapped around her leg, stomach pressed against her side. They were tangled, content, and my god was she purring.
So, so loud. It was criminal.
“Don’t want to,” came her somewhat slurred reply, sleepy and sated but she forced an eye to crack open to drink in the sight of their home planet. “Chances are if we do see it, then…”
She trailed off, not seeing the point of finishing that sentence. Adora could probably surmise the next words. They wouldn’t be here. There was comfort knowing that if they were ever taken back home they’d be back to each other, and that was everything.
But so was this life.
Her other eye opened, and her fingertips gently danced over the scar on Adora’s chest. “I don’t want to lose this.”
Adora nodded, turning back to nuzzle her nose into her wife’s cheek again. “I don’t either,” she said quietly. She liked to think they would have this at home, too, that Finn and their future girls were not just a Vallo inevitability but a multiversal (was that the word?) inevitability. But they didn’t know that. They didn’t know when they’d go back or what they’d go back to — it could be the end of the war, it could be five years after that, it could be before Prime’s ship.
The life they’d built here was important. She would never want to let it go, but there would always be a part of her that wondered about home, too. About the friends that had been here and gone and those that had never come at all. About what could have been.
Her hand returned to its home on Catra’s belly, cupping just beneath her belly button. “I love you.” She pushed up on the opposite elbow, blonde hair cascading down to tickle her wife’s cheek while she looked into her eyes. “Both of you.”
“Love you too,” Catra choked out, and gods she felt stupid for sounding like that - for the tightness in her throat, the twisting ache in her chest that felt sudden. It was hormones, probably. The idea of losing Adora had always terrified her, and they both knew that if the other vanished there was nothing that could be done. It was a possibility she dreaded.
Then she got pregnant. The anxiety worsened. Losing Adora would have been terrible before that. Losing Adora now would be absolutely devastating, for her and Finn. But again - hormones. Fuck ‘em. Their recent string of losses didn’t help, though.
She smiled through it though, cupping her cheek and stroking the scars lining her jaw - searing every little feature of perfect imperfections to memory like it was the first time all over again. “Just don’t ever go too far. Don’t go to a place where I can’t follow.”
“Never,” Adora assured her fiercely. She meant it with every fiber of her being; she refused to let herself linger on the thought of ending up on a disappearance list all the time. Her anxiety was manageable now, and the moment she started dwelling in that dark place again, it would go through the roof.
“Wherever we end up, we’re going there together. You, me, and Finn,” she continued, dipping down to press a kiss to her wife’s lips. She hoped if Vallo decided to get rid of them, it would at least be kind to them in that respect. She liked to believe that families that disappeared went someplace else together.
Catra wasn’t about to let that kiss be a small one. That hand slipped from her cheek towards the back of her neck to anchor her close, to kiss her in a way that was deep and fierce; a kiss that was the embodiment of stay. She loathed to linger on topics like this. It was inevitable given literally everything. Came with the baggage of being in a place like Vallo, a situation that was the perfect mix of a blessing and curse.
Her other hand roamed. It mapped her body, from the curve of her hips and dip of her waist - the texture of marks etched into her back, the firmness of lean muscle that rippled softly under her skin. She knew everything. Loved everything. She drew Adora in until every part of them touched, skin to skin with heat that was set to a low simmer.
This was the kind of kiss that left her a bit breathless too once their lips parted. “That’s the promise,” she whispered, noses rubbing. “I’ll even sacrifice my comfort and follow you into the kitchen. I might not have the effort to put on clothes, but…”
The deepening kiss hadn’t been expected, but Adora didn’t hesitate to sink right into it, receiving that plea to stay and reciprocating with one of her own. Tears welled in her eyes, but she willed them back as she settled curve to curve against Catra, a perfect fit even with Catra’s growing belly. They had fit together since they were nothing more than tiny Horde cadets, and that was never going to change.
“You can stay here for that,” she chuckled, crinkling her nose up and placing one more kiss — a peck this time — on waiting lips. “I’ll help you sit up so you can see me, okay?” The kitchen had doors, but they were always open these days; there was no sense in separation. “And I’ll help you get dressed while the meatloaf’s cooling.”
Extracting herself from their joined bodies was a reluctant process, but when the alarm on her watch finally began to beep, it was that or let their dinner turn into charcoal. She grabbed the shorts and tank top she’d been wearing and got into them quickly, reaching out to offer Catra her hands.
“I don’t need that much help,” she drawled, debating the whole moving process again. The sofa was warm, there were pillows - blankets, still warm from Adora’s weight. A nap sounded incredible right about now but she could recognize the grumbles of a different appetite needing to be satisfied.
Catra took her hand regardless, the blanket she had draped over herself dropping to her hips. That hair was a mess - rumpled, wild. It was a look. Hair brushes were for losers. “I do wanna see you move around the kitchen though.” Her arms stretched over her head, grinning. “S’hot. You’re hot. I knew you wouldn’t be bad at this if you gave yourself an actual chance.”
“I know, I know.” Adora smiled, reaching out to smooth her hands over Catra’s wild mess of a mane. She had been stubbornly anti-kitchen, but she really had improved when she’d re-set her expectations and taken another crack at it. Was she perfect? Not even close. But maybe she was one step nearer to being the hot, pancake-making, forty-year-old who had visited Catra from the future.
“You were right, like always.” Another peck, this time to her nose. “I’ll be right back. Let me just set the meatloaf out to cool.”