WHAT: Adora leaves for one hour and Catra goes through it; upon her return, they breakdown some timeline differences and similarities WHERE: Darla WHEN: Today WARNINGS: Talk of war, brainwashing; babies being (gross) babies STATUS: Complete
Grocery shopping. Thatâs all Adora was doing. Groceries. Picking up a few things for restocking, extra diapers and wipes for Finn. An hour, tops sheâd said. Catra could handle an hour. She could hold down the fort easily, not a problem! Finn was napping in their crib (there was a video projection of them up in the area so they could watch and hear them if anything), and Adora insisted she peruse through this thing called Netflix so they could watch something together. An hour would pass quickly.
But she was restless.
Restless in a new world, on a ship she sort of recognized, with an alternate version of her former best friend (and frenemy with benefits, letâs be brutal with that honesty here) that was married to an alternate version of herself that was some kind of housewife â and she was surrounded by photos, and art, and knicknacks of their life here. Catra did her best to stay busy, and there was a lot to busy herself with for the first two days. She was looking through photo albums, comparing stories with Adora of what was the same and what wasnât, learning all the gritty details of handling a baby. She was reunited with a different version of Clawdeen, and met tigon cubs, and learned what the deal was with Melog (or some vague notion, Adora was careful with what details she divulged).
This was an hour of downtime, and she wasnât sure if she wanted downtime. She wanted to contribute. She didnât want to inconvenience Adora more than she already felt she had, because each morning they woke up and realized nothing had changed, she could see the disappointment - because she wasnât her wife, and while there was an irrational sting to it, she understood.
The kitchen, Catra decided, could use some wiping down. She did that pretty easily; tackled the stove, tossed away some stuff on the counter that needed to be thrown out, she tidied up the table (sheâd watched Adora organize the placemats just so, so she was trying to mimic that). There were dishes in the sink that needed to go into the dishwashing device box, and it didnât take rocket science for her to figure out how to stack them right. There was a tiny compartment for soap, and - that was what the bottle sitting on the sink was for, right? She didnât understand how a small dollop could clean all those dishes but, hey. The dish soap was squirted in, and she plugged up the compartment so nothing would leak out. A few button presses later, and it whurred to life. Dishes were being washed!
That wasnât so hard. Catra felt triumphant, until she heard Finn fuss over the speakers. She froze, listening, wondering if she should wait it out until they could soothe themselves back to sleep - but the fussing turned into wailing, and she didnât hesitate to make way towards the nursery. The scene she stumbled upon wasnât fun. It was stinky, and she winced sympathetically into the crib. There was a term for this. Adora had warned her about it.
A diaper blowout. On their clothes, a bit on the crib sheets, somehow up their back. So she picked them up carefully, and tried to peel off the crib sheets to throw in the laundry - until Finnâs butt made an unpleasant noise and â âHow are you pooping even more?!ââ
She stripped them from their clothes. Their diapers. She left it all on the floor to hurry them to the nearest bathroom. Turns out, though, Finn did not like taking baths. So they cried, and cried, and Catra was trying her best to wipe them down. âItâs okay, itâs okay, itâs okay,â she hushed, a little frazzled. âI know, itâs not fun, Iâm just trying to help, itâs okay.â
(Little did she know that putting regular dish soap in a dishwasher was a mistake, and a swarm of bubbles began to seep out and all into the kitchen floor.)
As far as living with a Catra who was not her wife went, Adora felt like they were both getting through.
It was a little awkward and a little strange, there was no claiming otherwise. They got along well, though. Clawdeen apparently belonged to a version of Catra â maybe not this specific one but one much closer than Adoraâs wife â and introducing her to their life was fun. She remembered the combined fascination and apprehension that had come with the early days in Vallo, and seeing it on Catraâs face again was cute. They had never lived in a world like this, and the peace of being somewhere without a war being waged in the background was unmistakably good.
Learning the differences between Catraâs world and her She-Ra origins â the First Ones were Magicats instead of Eternians, the look of her sword and her She-Ra â was genuinely interesting, too. Adora had never really considered what kind of other versions of them might exist out there in the millions of universes in existence, and this was a cool glimpse. Did it break her heart to think of Horde Lord Adora and what that meant? Yeah, of course it did, but it made sense. One shift in who got that sword, and maybe it all could go differently.
While she was here, Adora tried to make Catra as comfortable as possible. She let her help when she wanted to help but didnât push her if she wasnât feeling up to it. She showed her the basics of how the electronics and appliances worked, talked her through how to take care of Finnâs basest needs, and she figured that was enough to get her by. Ultimately, she was hoping this situation would be resolved and her wife would come back â kind of like the timeslip and how it messed with peopleâs ages but put them right again in the end. She didnât want to overwhelm this Catra with too much if she was only here for a visit. She deserved the closest she could get to a vacation from her world.
The grocery store run was a sudden realization. She was used to making a list with Catra and either making the trip herself or taking the family out for it. In this particular case, with Finn napping, she made a list of necessities that couldnât wait and asked Catra to watch over the baby for her. The trip would hopefully be quick, and delivery times were ridiculous at this time of day, even for portal services. She hoped, too, that letting Catra handle things would give her a little more confidence in her capabilities. What could go wrong in an hour, at most?
Well, the answer to that question was answered when she stepped off the elevator with shopping totes full and was greeted by a chipper, wet-pawed Spirit pouncing on her to greet her. Immediately, she wondered how his paws had gotten wet; he wasnât known for playing in his water bowl, not since heâd grown out of his puppy phase. Heading toward the kitchen to put some of the food groceries away answered that question straight away â soapy water was pouring from the dishwasher and had covered the kitchen floor with about an inch of standing, bubbly water.
What.
âDarla, turn on the heated floors in the kitchen,â she called out. It was thankfully an easy fix with the technology onboard the ship, but it was one of the last things sheâd expected to return to after only an hour away. She must have forgotten to go into depth about the difference between dish soap and the dishwasher pods, and in an attempt to be helpful, Catra had created a little havoc. Okay, no big deal.
She didnât realize that Catra was missing until after sheâd stocked the kitchen, and the floors had mostly dried. She looked at the monitor projection as she peeled off her damp-soled boots and realized the crib was empty. She frowned and took to the stairs with the extra diapers and wipes tucked under one arm to see what was going on â only to find the bathroom down the hall wide open.
âOh no, what happened?â she cooed with concern, dropping her bag on the floor to swoop inside. Catra was still fully clothed in the water, holding a half-sniffling, half-hiccuping, naked baby Finn in her arms.
Finn crying was the worst. Not because crying babies sucked or anything â she knew it was the only way they could communicate right now â but seeing this kid that could be hers one day sob like they were being tortured was distressing. Catra succeeded in cleaning them, though in the middle of the mayhem she just climbed into the tub with them and held them until they settled.
Or almost settled. That was what Adora witnessed upon arrival. A sopping wet Catra with a sopping wet baby pressed against her chest, and they were both looking like they had gone through it.
âThey had a blowout,â she replied, leaning her head against the edge of the tub with a sigh. âAnd it gotâeverywhere, Adora, and they needed a bath, and I underestimated how much they hate baths. So I got in with them, because I hate baths too, so now weâre hating baths together.â
âI can see that,â Adora sighed fondly, lips twisting into a sympathetic smile. Catra didnât look outright miserable, but sitting in a bathtub in sopping wet clothes after cleaning up a very dirty baby probably hadnât been her ideal outcome for her hour alone. âFinnâs a little better with sink baths, but baths in general arenât their favorite thing at all, are they, buddy? Come here.â
Gently, she scooped the now admirably cleaned little one up with a towel from the rack, gently pat-patting them dry and wrapping them up warmly. They would get over the ordeal in no time, she was sure of that. At five months old, they were already a dramatic little thing, but they also got past the big emotions to turn into a gummy, smiley little thing just as quickly.
Once sheâd tucked them carefully in one arm, she reached for another towel to offer Catra. âI really appreciate you taking care of them, you did a great job.â She looked her up and down before suggesting, âYou might want to just⊠shower at this point? I can bring you some clothes, then Iâll get Finn together again.â
You did a great job. Catra twisted her nose up at her. Maybe she was just saying that to make her feel better - hard to feel like she did much of anything when Finn was throwing a tantrum. âMight as well,â she sighed, looking down at herself in all her soggy glory.
She stood up, grimacing at how drippy she was, and began peeling off her shirt. âTheyâreâugh,â Catra groused, struggling a little with how it stuck to her, âtheyâre going to be okay? Like thatâsânormal for babies, right? I didnât do anything I wasnât supposed to do?â
âYou didnât do anything you werenât supposed to do,â Adora assured her, returning the towel to a reachable spot on the counter. âBabies⊠Itâs all just uncontrollable. Thereâs no way you could have predicted it, and you got them cleaned up quickly, so that helps. Trust me, Iâve seen it get really, really disgusting.â
It was an inevitable part of motherhood. Maybe not one that Adora would count as enjoyable, but it came with the package, and she had learned how to deal with it. For someone with little experience with anything other than trips to the Horde nursery, Catraâs instincts had served her well. She could say that even without checking what was waiting for her in Finnâs nursery.
âIâll go grab you some more clothes and leave this bathroom to you.â She smiled, reached for Finnâs tiny hand, then waved it in Catraâs direction and in a baby voice, she said, âSee you in a little while!â
The only thing that improved her mood was the fact that they were, well â they were cute. Finn, and Adoraâs stupid baby voice. Having the privacy to breathe and decompress from all of that was appreciated, but Catra wasnât confined to the shower for long. She was eager to be out, to be useful, as if she had to earn her keep while she was transplanted.
Fresh clothes awaited her when she stepped out, and she dressed herself swiftly after dumping all her waterlogged clothes in the laundry basket. Catra was taking a brush to her hair when she stepped into the common areas carefully, carrying her feet lightly (like she could somehow walk too loudly, or something).
âDo you, uhhh, need help with the groceriesâŠ?â
Clean-up was not fun but simple enough. It took about ten minutes for Adora to clean up the nursery, strip the cribâs sheets, then get Finn diapered and dressed in their hooded dino onesie (a choice that elicited a baby squeal of delight when she playfully flopped the hood over their head). It was downstairs they went after that, with Adora quickly poking her head in to see the kitchen had dried out before bringing Finn into the living room to settle on the comfy rug together.
She turned at the sound of Catraâs voice and smiled at her. âOh no, thatâs okay. I took care of it before I found you two. We should talk about the dishwasher, though. The, uh, soap by the sink? Doesnât go in there. Just so you know!â
Catra blinked at her blankly, wondering how the fuck she could even tell thatâs what she used, and then â
âI broke your kitchen, didnât I?â
Shitshitshitshitshitshit.
âNo, no!â Adora insisted. âNo, you didnât break anything. Just caused a very small flood in the kitchen. But itâs fine! Darla has absorbent floors, and heated, too! So it was fine, it dried right up. But there are these little pods you can actually put in thereâ Iâll show you later. Itâs really okay.â
She wasnât angry at all, and that was clear in the way she brushed the accident under the rug. But she knew Catra, knew sheâd want to know if sheâd made a mistake, so she wanted to tell her.
Catraâs face went red. She believed Adora when she said it was fine. Mostly. âSmall flood,â she grumbled under her breath. âCool.â
She joined them on the rug, still running the brush through her hair. It was going to take a minute to get it thoroughly taken care of; she didnât have the time to get it cut, and it had grown long and thick in the past several months. âIâll remember that for next time. I just - donât really know what to do with downtime? Felt weird to just sit around and find something to watch,â she admitted, and once she let her eyes fall back to Finn, she added softly, âI like the outfit though, sâcute.â
Hopefully they wouldnât shy away from her after that traumatic bathtub experience.
Adora was glad Catra joined them. She thought about offering to brush her hair, but it felt like a boundary she maybe shouldnât cross so she refrained. Finn was entertaining enough anyway; they had the little Super Cat toy Kara had bought them a few weeks ago in their mouth, but even around that, the smile they gave Catra was visible and so cute.
âWe have them, too,â she told Catra. âIt was my Catraâs idea, actually. Sheâs a big matching outfits dork these days. We have matching overalls, too. And buttflap pajamas, but that was all my momâs doing.â
Sometimes Catra didnât recognize herself when Adora told her details about the other â her â Catra. She didnât understand how all the violence theyâve bred (because they were enemies in each version, and they kept hurting one another in each version) resulted in this kind of softness. It took time, obviously, but not fully knowing what that time was like in between war and domestic bliss brought a lot of disconnect.
âWonât ask what buttflap pajamas are,â she snorted, dropping the brush to the floor, and scooting closer to hold a hand out to Finn. They reached for her finger without hesitation, and her ears picked up on the lightest sound of purrs that rumbled out of them. âHi, baby claws. Bet your real mommy would have handled that a lot better, huh?â
Finnâs response was to stick her finger in their mouth and gum on it with that Super Cat toy.
âMakes me wonder how my Adora would have reacted to all of this. To them.â Catra pulled her finger away after a moment, contemplating on fetching one of those frozen teething toys from the freezer for them soon. âIf sheâd want this over Horde conquering and power.â
âI donât think I can definitively answer that,â Adora admitted after a quiet stretch of thought. She wanted to think that any version of her would want this eventually. Catra and a life with her, if not a family. She would have been okay without the family if sheâd kept on having Catra, but she couldnât say the knowledge that they would have these three great kids, pieces of the two of them put together and made into complicated, wonderful little beings, didnât make her feel whole in a different way.
âBut I think the biggest problem any of us had during the war was being apart,â she continued. She pushed Finnâs hood down and combed her fingers gently through their little platinum mane of hair. âAnd I think having control of the Horde and having her hands on that power is how she can feel like she has control over a situation when she has no control over you being gone or coming back.â
Catra settled in closer. Almost arm to arm, but there was maybe half an inch of space before they touched. Distance was â hard. It was always hard. Like Adora said, the biggest problem was being apart, and maybe that was why she stuck so close to her orbit.
Sheâd feel like she was starving otherwise.
ââNothing bad can really happen as long as we have each other,ââ she recited, rolling up the sleeves of the flannel shirt she had on. âItâs â gotta be weird for you, right? To think youâre in that kind of position? Because itâs weird as fuck for me to think that I donât go with you and stick with the Horde,â Catra went on to say, smirking at her for the next part. âWould have been really nice if we could just make things easy for each other. We would have won the war in, like, a few months if we had teamed up with our counterparts.â
âThat wouldâve been nice,â Adora agreed with a little smirk of her own. Sheâd wished that so many times over the years, but three years out from the end of the war, she had accepted that the struggles theyâd been through couldnât be rewritten. She waffled on whether she believed it was meant to happen that way, but it had, and that was all there was to it. The past was past; the present and the future were what she had to focus on now.
(That was how she felt on her good days, anyway. There were still plenty of guilty days where she followed one of her promises to Catra: kisses instead of sorries.)
âHere,â she said, picking up Finn and plunking them into Catraâs lap. âYou deserve some non-traumatizing hangout time with the baby. They make everything feel right in the world, if you ask me.â
âIâll take it,â Catra gasped softly, faking the drama in the spirit of baby talk. She didnât shy much from Finn despite her inexperience because, gods, how could she? Their eyes matched her blue one. They had her ears. They would sleep like Adora a lot, mouth hanging open and oblivious to the rest of the world. They wereâ
Fucking perfect.
She lifted them up gently from under their arms, and hoisted them up into the air so she could blow raspberries into the fabric over their belly. Finn giggled loudly, and Catra did it again. âYour mamaâs all nice and hot and all,â she grinned up at them, âbut I think youâre the best part of this whole thing. Shhh, donât tell her I said that, sheâs literally right there.â
âI suddenly canât hear,â Adora played along, rubbing dramatically at her ears. âDid either of you say something?â It made her heart happy to see Catra â any version of her â so at ease, and she was even happier that Catra enjoyed Finn so much. This could easily have gone a very different way, with her having to chase this new version of Catra down and beg her to listen, but she had really kind of lucked out.
âMaybe someday you and the Horde Lord will get one of these, too,â she offered softly. She thought the possibility was there, at least. There was no way to say for sure if Catraâs universe would play out exactly like hers had (despite their reversed positions), but she didnât think giving her some hope would hurt anything. âWhich, yeah, by the way. Itâs weird to think I was the one that stayed in another world, but I think it makes a strange kind of sense, too.â
Catraâs grin became a tight-lipped smile. Maybe someday. Vallo rekindled a fragile sense of hope, and she wasnât sure how to nourish its flame. Seeing what could be was a balm to her stupid heart, a dream she wanted to lose herself in. But she wasnât naive enough to assume that she could claim this path as hers.
This Adora and Catra won their war. What if one of the differences in these timelines was that she loses hers? She wasnât meant for heroics, and maybe Adoraâs She-Ra was just better. Maybe she was the right She-Ra.
(She hated her fucking brain.)
âEnlighten me,â she shrugged, setting Finn down into the cradle of her lap. âBecause the times Iâve tried to talk, itââ Catra paused to let out a frustrated sigh. âLike I said, we donât know how to talk to each other anymore.â
âItâs not that you donât know how to talk to each other. Itâs that you donât know how to listen to each other,â Adora explained. She didnât like the way Catraâs expression had turned, but it was understandable. These conversations were tough, even between her and a version of Adora she didnât really know. She kept Finn in her lap, though; that was good. Hopefully the baby could provide a feeling of comfort.
âYou can talk all day long. So can she. Everyone can make their cases endlessly for why you should come back or why she should give up and go. But both of you are so set in your way being the right way that itâs hard to see past that to really listen. You hear her â and I heard my Catra. But it took a long time to really listen.â
Every fiber of her being wanted to protest. She tried. There were a lot of grumbled âbutsâ and âwaitsâ and âuhhhs,â none of it fully interrupting Adoraâs words because then that would just prove a point. Catraâs noises dissolved into a huff, tail making a very pointed thwap against the floor that only served to excite Finn. They reached to play with it.
âYouâshe,â she bit out, correcting herself from what must be the millionth time in the past forty-eight hours, on the precipice of coming up with a counter argument â but for once, she stopped herself. Finn began purring as they fiddled with her tail, and her bodyâs response was to purr back through the tension. âFine. Iâm listening.â
Well. Adora hadnât necessarily meant Catra needed to listen to her â this her, anyway. Her own Adora back in her world was what sheâd meant. Her circumstances, war-wise, at least, were closer to Catraâs than to the Horde Lordâs. But she had been thinking about this. For almost two days straight, part of her brain had been thinking of what it would be like â imagining scenarios, imagining encounters with the positions flipped. She could still only guess, but she was Adora, even if she wasnât Catraâs Adora. Maybe she could summon up some insight.
âYou remember how young we were when Shadow Weaver started telling me I was destined for greatness.â Whatever the hell that meant was up for interpretation these days; she didnât think their old mentor would approve at all of what Adora considered greatness these days. âI fell for it. I thought she couldnât be lying, not about that. It made me say things, to Catra, especially, that I regret. A lot. If I thought I stood a chance of making up for that down the line by being that Horde Lord? If I thought that somehow, it would make you safe? If she was still whispering in my ear⊠I can see where I would stay. Especially without the Sword, without Bow, without Glimmer.â
She shrugged. She didnât think it was some grand revelation. Sheâd had some doubts about the Horde, but sheâd always been more likely to trust and think that the horror they went through was for a reason, for the cause, than Catra had. If that was the only thing sheâd ever known and the only choice she had any reason to believe, to trust?
Yeah. Maybe it made sense sheâd have become the Horde Lord instead of She-Ra.
It wasnât exactly a grand revelation, but it was the first time sheâd heard it explained that way; open and sincere, void of the snark and resentment from all their arguments. Less emphasis on fixing things, which drove Catra up the wall every time Adora used that as the foundation for her actions.
But the making up for things part â
âPart of the reason I left was because I knew she couldnât keep me safe,â she admitted, swallowing the lump stuck in her throat. âI thought about staying with her when I found the sword. That, I donât know, maybe we could take it down from the inside? But I knew it wouldnât work, not with how loyal she was to Shadow Weaver. I knew that if I didnât leave, Iâd justâdie there. She would have killed me, I think. Maybe she would have even tried to frame the princesses for it to speedtrack your ascension to the top.â
Catraâs tail brushed against Finnâs nose. Their giggles filled the lull in the conversation.
âIf I had just told her that I loved her,â she started up again, soft, eyes on Finn, âdo you think it would have been enough for her to leave? Because if she didnât, then I think that would hurt more than her outright rejecting me.â
Adora had wondered the same thing so many times. If Catra had told her she loved her when they saw each other again, would she have gone back to the Horde? If she had told Catra she loved her then and there, would she have left the Horde and joined the Rebellion with her? It was a painful thought experiment, and it was impossible to really say one way or the other. Because the facts were that neither of those things had happened. She had to accept that neither of them were ready at that point â she hadnât understood her feelings, and Catra had been afraid.
âI think,â she began instead, trying to select her words carefully. She picked up one of Finnâs toys (a non-slobbery one) to twist between her fingers. âThis is gonna sound horrible,â she sighed. âBut I think what happened had to happen. Whichever way it goes, one of us got the sword and the entire tide of the war changed. As messed up as it sounds, the two of us not staying together means we got out of that rut. We changed things, and weâŠuncovered a bigger threat that I donât know if weâd have been able to handle otherwise.â
She hadnât explicitly told Catra about Prime. He wasnât her favorite topic of conversation to begin with, but she was also trying to tread carefully. She doubted Catra would go back to her timeline and remember anything that had happened here in Vallo, but it was hard to say. And even if she didnât, that wasnât the kind of crisis Adora wanted to heap on her while she was here, away from it all.
Catra wanted to know the nitty-gritty details. She wanted to know everything. She wanted to take the information back home, and win, and put an end to this once and for all - but remembering this was unlikely, and she tried to tell herself those details donât need to matter if this was their possible outcome. All the stuff before that, though? What happened had to happen? That stung a bit. It was an honest answer, and Adora expressed it with kindness.
It sucked to hear. It sucked to go through. They were still going through it. âSomehow thatâs brutal and inspirational all at once,â Catra snorted, trying to act all cool and nonchalant, as if having this discussion wasnât like there was a tight, permanent grip on her heart. âBut I guess I have to believe you, because youâre happy.â
Finn started mouthing at her tail and she took that as a cue to help guide the pacifier in their mouth. It was a cute look, with them suckling on it gently, all dressed in those pajamas. âHappyâs a good look on you,â she added, shifting her eyes from Finn to Adora. Their faces were a little closer now. âI havenât seen you happy in a really long time.â
Adora knew Catra wasnât pleased with that answer even before she said anything. It wasnât an answer she relished giving, but it was a truth sheâd accepted for herself over time. No matter how much guilt and regret she may feel for the choices sheâd made and not made during the war, what had happened had happened. She couldnât change that.
Her response to Catraâs comment was a soft smile as she shifted closer, stroking Finnâs tail between two fingers while they suckled contentedly on their pacifier. âIâm really happy,â she agreed, eyes lifting from Finn to Catra. âAnd she will be someday, too. So will you. I know it.â
Catra kissed her.
She didnât think. She just did. It wasnât some desperate, savage press of lips like sheâd instigate back home; something that would come after a battle, an argument, something that would shut them up and let them feel instead of think. This was chaste, mouths pillowed together gently, almost unmoving.
Shame was what cut it short. Her cheeks burned with it, and she tried to keep from outright jerking back. Finn on her lap was something to be conscious and careful of. âSorry. That wasâI crossed a line.â I always do that, she thought. It was why she and Adora got into their entanglement. She couldnât keep her damn mouth or feelings to herself.
Adora was undeniably surprised, but she couldnât say that kiss was completely unreciprocated. She made no attempt to deepen it, but she enjoyed the feeling. She missed her wife so much, and Catra was her, but she wasnât. It was confusing territory, but she liked to think her Catra would understand.
âItâs okay,â she assured her. âIt was nice, and this is⊠not easy.â They still loved each other, even if they were loving other versions of each other. Being constantly in each otherâs orbit was bound to lead to a few moments like this, right? âYouâre still Catra, and I told you, Iâll always love any version of you. Any version of me will.â
For a second, an image of Catra Prime â a dream long banished, long let go â popped into her mind and her heart clenched in her chest. Even that dream, that terror that sheâd subconsciously created herself, she had loved her.
Not easy. Fucking understatement. This was hard. Adora was right there, not hating her guts, and â
Yeah. Hard. Catra thought space might do them some good, but she couldnât bring herself to budge. Their faces remained close and she did nothing to eradicate the gap between them. Sheâd just have to sit there, and want, and miss while looking right into her eyes. âTwo for two so far,â she replied, and before she screwed up a second time - her forehead dropped into her shoulder.
She sighed.
âIâm very insightful,â Adora replied, her tone playfully gloating. She dropped down to kiss the back of Catraâs head and rested her face there just for a moment. She smelled the same, or close to it, in her opinion, but of course her sense of smell was nothing compared to a Magicatâs. âWe can cuddle if you want. You donât have to keep your distance.â
Did she think repeated kissing was a good idea? Probably not. Her wife was very understanding, but she probably still wouldnât appreciate that. Future Catra was different; at least she was Adoraâs Catra.
They can cuddle. Something about that made Catra snort out a laugh, and her reply would have come next if she didnât feel a sudden weight on her arm, like she had caught something. She lifted her head and blinked down.
Finn had fallen asleep while sitting and had fallen against her a little. She could feel the roll of a purr with their soft exhales, and every few seconds thereâd be this cute suckle on the pacifier. âGuess they still want a nap,â she said quietly, adjusting them carefully to cradle the baby in har arms. âWhere do you want to put them?â
âBassinet,â Adora tilted her head behind her. They kept one down here for them for these sorts of circumstances; this was hardly the first interrupted nap in Finnâs short life. She pushed up to her feet and extended her hand downward to help Catra to her feet with the baby in her arms. âHopefully theyâll be out for a while now.â
Catra got up carefully. Carefully. Finn felt like a fragile bomb in her arms, and one off shift could wake them up â maybe?? She had witnessed them sleeping through a lot of noise. Spirit liked to bark and play with Melog a lot. She didnât know, not for sure with it having been only a few days, and was too worried to risk being cautious.
Was she taking very exaggerated, quiet steps towards the bassinet in all seriousness? She was. The baby was put down slowly - almost too slowly - and when their back hit the mattress and she was able to pull away, she blinked down owlishly at them.
âI feel accomplished,â she breathed out. âMy redemption arc for the dishwasher and the actual shitty incident.â
Finn was a good sleeper when they were out. There were days they woke up easily, but they tended to sleep through a lot of noise. She wanted to encourage Catra with that information, but she was set on her journey, so Adora just watched. The way she practically tiptoed the small distance across to the rug to the bassinet had her stifling a smile behind a fist and biting back a full laugh when Catra declared herself redeemed.
âYou did a great job,â she complimented her, grin amused but the words sincere. âAnd the dishwasherâs really okay, butââ She extended a hand, snagging Catraâs in hers to pull her off in the direction. âLet me show you the pods for next time.â
âIf thereâs a next time then Iâve definitely been here way too long,â Catra sighed, not putting up a struggle at being tugged along. They werenât the only ones in this predicament at least, but each day she woke up here added a little extra dose of worry over how long this would all last. She felt like she was robbing this other Catra of time with her family. âBut I just remember you using this for some of the dishes in the sink, and ââ
She snatched the bottle up and shook it for emphasis, nose scrunched up into a glaring pout. âI made assumptions.â
âItâs okay,â Adora assured her again. She reached up into one of the cabinets and pulled out the box containing the pods. âIt was an easy assumption, but theseââ She reached into the box and pulled out a singular pod. ââare what youâre really looking for. We need to restart it if you want to pop this in there.â
Okay, yeah, pods made more sense. The little thingy she put the soap in was pod-shaped. However - she had opinions, and thought it was dumb, and why do you have to buy two separate kinds of fucking soap for dishes? Shouldnât the same shit, in theory, work?
Whatever. âI know how to at least press the stop button,â Catra huffed, clearly a little offended by something as innocuous as dishes. She took the pod, opened up the hatch, stuffed it in where it was supposed to go and shut it with a very pronounced click, like she was determined not to be bested by a machine. âAnd, uhâbacktracking to our earlier conversation, in which I was an idiot and you took it well.â
We can cuddle if you want. She did. She did want. They were just versions of the people they loved in love with other versions of themselves (that gave Catra a funny headache), so was it â weird?
âAm I the little spoon most of the time here?â
Watching Catra get all huffy and puffy was adorable. She remembered similar little annoyances getting under her wifeâs skin when theyâd first been here. Vallo had its similarities to Etheria, but technology wise, it seemed to be much more similar to Earth. There had been some tough learning curves for them both while they adjusted to life in an entirely different world.
Selfish as it may be, part of her hoped there wouldnât be a next time for Catra to deal with either. She was happy to have her here, happy to get to know her, but she ached for her wife.
âSeventy-five percent of the time,â she answered, stepping up to loop her arm through Catraâs. âBut sometimes she likes to be the jetpack, too. You want to go lay on the couch and watch TV while Finn naps?â
Hah. Hah. Oh. Was she obvious? That was a dumb question. Yeah, duh, of course she was obvious and Catra felt her face get all hot again. She half-expected some teasing about it but this Adora took everything with an insane amount of grace. She might be a little touch-starved. The Rebellion liked their fair share of hugs - she preferred them in moderation, and for them to only last about three seconds - so she limited them to what she could tolerate. She was picky.
She had a favorite, though, and that favoriteâs arm was hooked around hers, making her an offer she was weak in the knees for. It was a miracle she hadnât entirely botched the war with how annoying her feelings for Adora were.
âStill a novel concept,â she snorted, ultimately agreeing. The couch was big, and comfortable, and it was her turn to pull Adora towards a direction. Catraâs tail was swishing, brushing against her not-wifeâs side. âCan we watch something funny to avoid over-analyzing alternate timelines and the decisions that molded them, alongside thoughts of existentialism and dying?â
Catra was being a cheeky shit, batting her lashes.
Adora let herself be led without protest, checking on Finn as they passed them by in their bassinet to see they were still soundly sleeping. The couch was her next stop, settling down comfortably and grabbing an oversized blanket for them to share. She wasnât sure Finn would stay down for the length of an entire movie, but that blowout incident had worn them down enough to hope.
âOkay, but what if it has those things and itâs funny?â she questioned. âBecause I have the perfect movie for that scenario.â
Catra squinted at her suspiciously before settling down. âI could bite,â she acquiesced, sitting arm to arm with her because she â wasnât really sure how to go about cuddling beyond this, or a hug. Well, she did, but overthinking was going to be the death of her in this world and it was weird to flounder about it.
What if she just⊠flopped? Justâpushed her weight into Adora, and cocked her head towards her like she was a stray surrendering to human contact?
Because thatâs what she decided to do, anyway. She flopped. It was nice.
Adora grinned â not just because she would get to put this version of Catra through a showing of the Barbie movie but because the flopping was such a familiar move. She shifted her arm to wrap around Catraâs back, the other hand snagging the remote from where it had gotten stuck in the crevice of the couch, and turned on the smart TV that connected to Darlaâs windows.
Spirit popped up at their feet, deciding to do a flop of his own across their legs, head against his front paws. There was some minor snuffling, but he was overall content pretty quickly.
âPrepare for the best cinematic experience you could ever ask for,â Adora said seriously. She scrolled through her purchases and the screen lit up with the bright pink and blue Barbie title card; the title character winked at them with her sunglasses pulled down to her nose as the movie loaded in.
âSince the beginning of time, since the first little girl ever existed, there have been dolls.â