Lilian panted heavily, laying on top of Miranda in bed, still grinding herself against Miranda's thigh as Miranda's fingertips gently slid up and down her spine. After a few minutes of coming down from the sensation of her orgasm, Lilian stopped moving and just lay there, exhaling, her breathing softening now. She thought about the day ahead of her, and bit her lip, grinning.

"This is a good way to start a Valentine's Day, don't you think?" Lilian asked, and Miranda giggled, nodding in response; Lilian continued, kissing Miranda's neck softly between certain words, "we could do something tonight too, when I'm back from the job, if you're interested. God you're so pretty."

"What would you want to do?" Miranda asked, blushing.

"No idea, I'm just throwing the option out there," Lilian said, pulling up and grabbing Miranda's face in her hands and kissing her on the lips longingly, whispering, "but whatever we do will be fine, because we'll do it together. That's all I want to do, is do things with you."

Miranda blushed deep red. Her whole life all she'd wanted was exactly what she had right now, right here. This...this was heaven for her. Not many people get to have their dreams come true. Lilian rolled off Miranda and lay beside her, still breathing hard, her hair a tussled mess. As she stared at the ceiling, despite the fantastic sex she'd just had with the woman she loved more than anything else in this world, all she could think of was Alexis. This would be Alexis's first time back at work in months, and she was worried she wouldn't be able to handle it. She'd stayed sober, sure, but what would happen when she was at parties again, specifically adult parties where booze was often a heavy feature? Lilian chewed her lip nervously, until Miranda leaned over her and kissed her, surprising her, making her laugh.

"What was that for?" Lilian asked.

"I need a reason now?" Miranda asked, continuing the kiss.

It was only 9am. They had time.

                                                                               ***

"Who has a Valentine's Day party?" Alexis asked as she and Tyler stood at a nearby table in a dorm room; her eyes scanned the room at all the people her age or younger engaging in socially acceptable levels of public copulation, making out and necking, as the kids say. Alexis fidgeted nervously and touched the cigarette in her coat pocket to calm her down as she asked, "and why would they want themed characters for it?"

"Well," Tyler said, "pirates are known for being lushes, and the west was known for having saloons. I can kind of see where they're coming from. Plus, with everyone our age eternally stuck in a perpetual state of arrested development, it makes sense to have fun parties with costumed characters."

"Yeah, but, like...why not get drunk with Batman? I'm just sayin'," Alexis said, making Tyler laugh as they turned to face the nearby table and look at the various snack spread laid out; Alexis continued, "after all, it isn't like I'm going to be participating."

"So you're stone cold Steve Austin sober then?" Tyler asked, making Alexis chuckle.

"I can't be trusted with alcohol, because I know that if I give into one vice, and it doesn't go poorly, it'll make me believe I can successfully navigate all the others without issue, and I know that isn't the case. I'm not going to go back down that road cause everyone hated me while I was on it, so better to avoid the detour altogether."

Tyler frowned a little. He hated how Alexis thought everyone else thought of her, but after the way Vera had treated her because of her habits, how could she see it any other way, really? Still, he wished she knew just how much the group, as a whole, liked her. The two stepped aside as some of the college kids walked to the table for drinks and snacks. Alexis bit into one of the heart shaped frosted sugar cookies she'd snatched from the table and chewed, watching. The guy this girl was with...he looked so much like Rick. She couldn't get him out of her head, and she hated it. She'd never been like this with someone before, and she wanted to go back to being that detached.

"What's everyone elses assignments today?" Alexis asked, and Tyler cleared his throat, sipping on his drink.

"Well," he said, leaning against the wall, one hand on his belt, "Lily's going to an elementary school, and I think she's stowing Maddie away with her for help. Vera's trying to come up with a character and a costume, and John....I couldn't tell ya. I think he took the day off."

Alexis nodded. She didn't pry about John's motives, because she didn't have to. Sure, she didn't have certainty, but she figured she knew why he'd take the day off, and as it turned out, she was half right.

                                                                              ***

"Didn't realize schools made such a big deal out of Valentine's Day," Lilian said as she and Maddie walked down the hall together, both in matching princess costumes, each one holding a basket filled with candy and cards to be passed out amongst various kids. This was Maddie's first time doing the job at a school, a neighboring school but a school nonetheless, and thankfully with Lilian by her side she didn't feel any fear or doubt, even when kids snickered at her costume. As they walked down the hall, though, Maddie - despite loving working with Lilian - couldn't help but feel a smidge jealous at not simply being a student receiving Valentine's cards and gifts.

"You know it's just a corporate holiday, right?" Lilian asked as they stopped at a bench in the hall so Lilian could adjust the straps on her heels; Maddie looked at her confused and she smiled, continuing as she put her foot up on the bench, "any day is a good day to tell someone you love them. You don't need a federally mandated holiday to do that. If anything, it cheapens it, because your partner will simply think 'oh, they had to be REMINDED to do this for me' instead of it being a naturally occurring thing as it should be."

"I know, but..." Maddie said, sitting on the bench now, plopping the basket in her lap, "but it still seems like something I should participate in. I feel like I'm missing out on all the things adults called cherished childhood memories."

That broke Lilian's heart. She did her best to give Maddie a normal childhood, but, truthfully, her childhood had been anything but normal thusfar. After all, her mother had tried to kill her father, killed a child instead, then tried to kill him again. Maddie didn't exactly live the ideal adolescent life, even if the life she currently had was better than before.

"I'm sorry," Lilian said, sitting beside her, "...you can open one of these if you want."

"You don't have to be sorry, you're amazing, you and Miranda are the best moms," Maddie said, warming Lilian's heart; she added, "it's just...I feel like everyone got to be a kid except me. And now I'm scared that because I didn't get to be a kid, I won't know how to be an adult. Would you still love me if I was an adult who couldn't do anything?"

Lilian felt her eyes tear up and she reached over, rubbing Maddie's back.

"You can be as messy an adult as you want. Alexis was an outright trainwreck, and she's my best friend, so yeah, I'll always love you. Far as I'm concerned, even if not biologically, you're the closest thing I may ever have to a daughter, and you never turn your back on your children, no matter what your family might have taught you."

Maddie smiled and hugged Lilian and, for a brief moment, the snickering and pointing from the other kids didn't matter anymore. She had something far better than their acceptance. She had stability. And that was more than most kids had.

                                                                             ***

Helen was eating cereal on her couch when someone knocked at her door. She groaned, stood up and went to answer it, only to find Vera there standing on her porch. The two women looked at one another for a minute before Helen stepped inside reluctantly and allowed Vera entrance.

"What are you doing at my home?" Helena asked.

"I can't do this," Vera said, "I...I can't..I just...I can't come up with a character design."

"It's a costume for chldrens parties, Vera, not a big budget fantasy film," Helena replied, spooning more cereal in her mouth, "anything from any kind of costume shop will suffice."

Helena headed into her kitchen, Vera hot on her heels. Helen put her empty cereal bowl on the counter and started up her coffee maker, as Vera took in the sight of her new boss in her black silk pajamas with white trim and her suspiciously perfect hair in the morning. Helena came off so...well put together. Even at this time of day. It just didn't seem normal. Then again, who was she to question what was normal? Nothing about her life had been normal for so long now.

"A birthday is supposed to be a childs happiest day of the year," Vera said, sitting at the kitchen counter, "sure, they have other days; Halloween is fun, or whatever winter holiday they celebrate is always nice, but a birthday is the one day, the one singular day, that is ALL about them. I want to be a part of what makes that special, but I can't do that unless I really have this character down pat."

A moment passed, and Helena sighed. She turned to face Vera, leaning against her fancy moss green kitchen tiled counter and crossing her arms.

"When I was a little girl," Helena said, "I loved fairy tales. I used to have this big book of fairy tales that my dad would read to me every single night. The creatures, the monsters, the brave knights and the magic and the fantastical world...I loved all of it, but my very favorite part was the fairies. I loved the fairies. These small, ethereal little things that could be just as strong as anyone else. I identified with that greatly."

Vera looked at Helena, confused as to where this was going, but she didn't interrupt, she just let her keep talking.

"...but eventually you learn that no matter how strong you are, there is a greater evil out there that will vanquish your seemingly resiliant spirit. Eventually you get worn down by the awfulness of the world. Because real life isn't a fairy tale, and more often than not, the monsters win. You picked a fairy as a costume, Vera, for your own personal reasons that I do respect and agree with, but that means you need to imbue it with a sense of identity, not just for yourself, but for the other little black girls you'll be presenting for. The little girls who can still believe in magic."

Vera nodded slowly as Helena turned back to her coffee machine to adjust a setting and add something. Vera looked down at the floor, then back up towards Helena.

"What happened to your book?" Vera asked.

"The same thing that eventually happens to everything you love," Helena said, "it went away."

                                                                               ***

Star was sitting on the floor of her room when John entered. They smiled at one another and, as was routine, she leapt up quickly and rushed to hug him. John hugged his daughter back, and then the two of them seated themselves on the floor once more. Star went back to doing her large piece puzzle as John watched happily. They didn't need conversation, simply being together was good enough, primarly because each one didn't think they would ever again the night of the accident, so it was a little quiet miracle they shared. After a bit, John handed Star a gift, wrapped up, and she happily took it, excitedly opening it to reveal a series of her favorite story books.

After they completed the puzzle, they cuddled up on the bed and he read to her until she fell asleep in his arms. John stayed there and held her, still flipping through the books, taking in the pictures. He'd never openly admit this, because it sounded kind of selfish and weird, but...he was kind of happy to have things the way they were with Star. First off, he was just thrilled she was alive. But secondly, he liked having her always mentally be a child, because, in a way, it was as though they were stuck in time forever the way they were when the accident happened, when John was at his happiest. When she was at her happiest. He loved what they had now.

Sure, it was sad not getting to see her grow up, become an adult, do something with her life, but if John had learned anything over the course of his own, it was that doing something with ones life was vastly overrated and there was nothing wrong with simply existing. Societal expectation and pressures to conform and be successful were bullshit. He was glad she'd never have to endure those hardships. But this whole thing came with an unspoken fear...the fact that, inevitably, he would die long before she did, and what would happen to her then? He hated this, and he didn't like thinking about it. So he didn't, and instead he kissed the top of her head and held her close.

John always brought her gifts. She was his little girl, after all. But today was different. Today was the anniversary of the accident. And he figured what better way to escape that reality than to participate in a world of fantasy literature. She didn't understand it. She didn't know it was today. And he was happy for that.

At least, since he had no romance in his life, Valentine's Day had some kind of meaning, and he got to spend it with the person that he loved most.

                                                                             ***

Tyler didn't know where Alexis had gotten off to, and that worried him.

While he'd been talking to some guys about their college baseball team, she had seemingly slunk off to parts unknown, and he'd spent the last fifteen minutes trying to find her. He stopped and asked various girls and guys if they'd seen a girl dressed as a pirate, but to no avail. Tyler, now growing increasingly frustrated and worried, a concerning mixture of emotions to say the least, didn't know what to do. He then heard a soft banging against a nearby door that immediately caught his attention, so he headed on over towards it and pulled it open, only to find Alex on the opposite side, inside a bathroom, with a beer bottle in her hands and trying to uncap it against the doorknob. Tyler entered and shut the door behind him before looking at her.

"Say it," she said, "go ahead, call me a disappointment."

"Where did you ever get the idea I'd do that?" he asked, confused.

"I know how everyone thinks of me. They aren't happy I'm sober for my benefit, they're happy because it means they don't have to worry anymore. I'm no longer a 'problem' to them. That's what it's really about. So don't pretend like you actually care about my sobriety for the benefit of my wellbeing so much as you care for it for the benefit of your comfort level."

Tyler stood and stared, uncertain how to react. Alexis finally stopped trying to open the bottle, and Tyler look it from her, got the cap off against the edge of the sink and then handed it back to her. Alexis, her eyebrows raised in surprise, took it back from him and looked at it, before setting it down on the floor beside her as she sat on the toilet.

"It's about choice," Tyler said, "it's a choice you have to make every day. That's why I opened it and gave it back to you. Because see, you don't really wanna go back there. But I was willing to let you, if you wanted. You're not getting sober out of guilt. You're getting sober for you."

Alexis started fingering the silver necklace with the emerald broach around her neck, chewing on her lip as she did. Tyler sat on the side of the tub beside her and waited.

"I met this guy in rehab," Alexis said, her voice shaky and quivering, "and he was...he was amazing. He was so funny, and so talented. He painted a picture of me. He gave me this necklace. And he liked me. Genuinely liked me. But by the end of it all, I had to end things, not because I was leaving but because he wasn't ready to get sober and...and I knew myself well enough to know that if he didn't, and we did try, that I'd be pulled right back in with him. I put myself first. I've never done that. I've always been a people pleaser."

"Well you should feel proud of that then," Tyler said, smiling.

"I don't," Alexis whispered, about to cry, "I mean...it was the right choice, yeah, but...as nice as having sobriety is...I think I'd rather have him."

And she started to cry. Tyler stood up and pulled her head against him, hugging her as she sobbed. Tyler didn't know what to say or do, so instead he simply was there for her. And Alexis wept loudly, not caring who heard. Even now, all these months later, she missed Rick so bad. She would lay in bed at night and think about how it'd be to have him there with her, to hold her, to fuck her, to keep her safe. Sure, her sobriety was nice, but it came at the price of loneliness from the only man who ever genuinely loved her, and that hurt.

"If he really cared the way you say he did," Tyler said softly, "then there's a good chance that one day, if you two meet up again, he'll still care. Until then, we're here for you. I'm here for you."

Alexis smiled weakly and nodded. She'd incorporated the necklace as part of her costume, despite really just wearing it because she missed him, because what kind of pirate doesn't show off their treasure?

                                                                              ***

Maddie was sitting outside under a large tree during lunch while Lilian continued to pass things out to the nearby kids. Maddie was eating lunch - Lilian had run downtown and gotten them something while the kids were in class earlier - and couldn't help but feel bad for not helping, but Lilian had insisted. She was still a kid, after all, and eating was important. Maddie looked down at the sandwich in her lap as she sipped her soda, and then felt the bench creak. When she looked to her right, she expected to find Lilian, but instead found a girl her age. A girl in a white collar, long sleeved button down shirt and a black skirt, with a black blazer, the school uniform. She had very long, very light blonde hair and she was clutching her backpack to her chest tightly.

"Um...hello?" Maddie asked.

"...you don't know me, do you?" the girl asked, and Maddie shook her head; the girl reached into her pocket and took out a piece of candy that Maddie had given out today, then said, "you gave this to me in the hall earlier."

"...do you not like nouget?" Maddie asked, making her laugh a little.

"No, no, um...my brother...he died a while back," the girl said, "and...and it was because of this. This candy. He had an allergic reaction to it, and he died. He was my twin, so I shouldn't have it either."

"Do you want a replacement? I'm sorry," Maddie said, feeling bad.

"No, I don't," the girl, Lux said, "because..."

The girl looked at Maddie and they locked eyes, and that's when she realized. She gasped and the girl nodded.

"He died at your party," she said.