762. Chapter 762

“She has nowhere to go, Mom,” Alex argued on the phone, using Sara’s room instead of their own so Maggie wouldn’t overhear the heat of the conversation. No need to subject their girlfriend to that.

“And I’ve told you, Alexan – Alex – I’ve told you, Maggie is more than welcome to come to our home for the holidays. She can celebrate Chanukah with us, and I’d be more than happy to put up a Christmas tree for her – ”

“We were… thinking of spending the holiday on campus, Mom.”

A long, tense silence. “So you don’t want to come home this year.”

The very thought made Alex uncomfortable; holidays had been tough between them and Eliza since Jeremiah died on that damned plane, but they had been home every time, nonetheless.

“I… Let me talk to Maggie. See what she wants to do.”

“She deserves a home for the holiday, Alex. Not a poorly decorated dorm room with cheap whiskey and beer.”

“Hey – ”

“I know my dau – my child. I know. And it’s okay, Alex. But, with supervision, you can both have more expensive whiskey and beer, here. In a home, with me, and with your sister. And your girlfriend. Just think about it, Alex. I know holidays haven’t always been easy for us since your father – ”

“I gotta go, Mom,” Alex stumbled at that. “Love you.”

They hung up without giving Eliza a chance to respond.

“She using your pronouns right?” Sara asked, sitting with her knees splayed open on the edge of her twin bed.

Alex shrugged by tossing their hands behind them, in what Sara and Lucy had long ago termed their “gay shrug.”

“She’s trying, I guess. And she wants Maggie to come home with me for the holiday.”

Sara lit up. “Sounds like it’ll be a holigay.”

“Oh my god.”

“I aim to please.”

Alex rolled their eyes affectionately before hugging Sara and heading off to find their girlfriend.

Because Eliza got a lot wrong, but she was getting this exactly right: Maggie deserved to be around family who love her.

And Alex definitely, definitely loves her.

So, they packed a bag and climbed onto Maggie’s Triumph and started the long drive to Midvale.

“Oh, all my college kids are home,” Eliza crushed a blushing Alex and a beaming Kara (who’d flown in on the path above Alex and Maggie’s stretch of road) in a hug.

Maggie clasped her hands in front of her belt buckle and smiled softly and maybe more than a little sadly, eyes down, letting the family have their little reunion.

But then she felt warm hands on hers, and she looked up into Eliza’s knowing gaze.

“I was including you in that, sweetie. Come here.”

Overwhelmed and trembling, Maggie let herself lean into her enbyfriend’s mom’s embrace. She shuddered a small sob into Eliza’s chest, but no one laughed or scoffed or rolled their eyes. Kara and Alex just came over to put supportive hands on her back.

Alex’s hands shifted after a moment, though; they were reaching for something Maggie couldn’t see. They gently pulled something warm and fuzzy down over their girlfriend’s ears.

She pulled back from Eliza, head tilted and eyes wet and lips quirked into a curious grin.

“Alex, what –”

She tugged the material off her head to reveal a red and white Santa hat. She stammered as Alex beamed, rocking back and forth slightly on the balls of their feet like a puppy awaiting approval.

“But you guys don’t even celebrate Christmas,” Maggie objected weakly, a new spring of tears welling in her eyes.

“Oh, I still plan on teaching you all the Hebrew blessings. If you still wanna learn.”

“Of course I do, but – ”

“But someone in our family is celebrating Christmas this year,” Kara supplied for her sibling. “So we all are.”

With that, she jammed a Santa hat onto her own head, and proceeded to chase Alex around the yard, trying to put one of theirs, too.

“They really are a pair, aren’t they?” Eliza put her arm around Maggie, and Maggie melted into a mother’s touch that wasn’t full of shame.

“Yeah, Dr. Danvers,” she said as she watched Alex tackle Kara and cackle in victory until Kara started tickling them right there in the snow. “Yeah, they really are.”