Daph introduces Lilly to her unborn daughter, Hazel, and has a very hard conversation about where Georgia's daughter came from
A distant follow-up story to my novel 'For Her,' showing that both Daph and Lilly have grown up since then.

Featuring amazing art from SapphicBump on Twitter! I got this a while ago, but wanted to have a story to go along with it before I posted it. Just in time for Mayternity!
Enjoy!
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“So are you actually good at math?”
“Sure. I think so, anyway. They were always my best grades.”
“That’th fucked. I’ve never met anybody good at math.”
On a sunny, spring afternoon, Holly and Daph sat waiting in Central Park. Across the street, the Guggenheim art museum cast its shadow across 5th Avenue, as good a landmark as any you could find in New York City. A nearby playground, one of many scattered around the park, was full of children enjoying their spring break, their high voices mingling together like a wind chime. Daph watched them from the bench, her eyes jumping from one to another, with her hand resting atop her pregnant middle.

She was well into her ninth month and looked it. Her hoodie was worn open with her belly swelling well outside its reach, undershirt stretched to its absolute limit to keep her clothed in public. If Daph were at home, she wouldn’t have bothered with it. Despite her size and the pain in her feet, she insisted on standing and leaned against the back of the bench. She knew from experience that, this far along, sitting for too long would make it even harder to get back up.

“…to solve.”
“Huh?” Daph shook her head and glanced back to Holly. “What wath that?”
“Math always felt like a problem to solve. It was fun.” The lemur sat on the other side of the bench, though her height nearly brought her to Daph’s eye level, even while seated. Holly followed Daph’s gaze and smiled at the sight of the playground. Leaning back, she reached out with her long arm and slid a hand across Daph’s belly. “Getting distracted?”
“Hard not to.” She moved Holly’s hand higher, where the baby was wiggling. “Hazel’s getting jealouth.”
It had taken them nearly the entire pregnancy to do so, but the pair had finally decided on a name for the baby: Hazel. If Holly was a tree, and Daphodille was a flower, then their daughter would be a nut. Putting a name to the wiggling, kicking, shuffling thing in her belly reminded Daph that it was a child – her child – that would be coming into the world very, very soon.
“She’ll probably be climbing before she even walks,” said Holly. “We’re going to have to baby-proof the overhead lights.”
“Apparently, Lilly chilled out after she learned to read. Definitely got that from her dad. My mom thaid she couldn’t keep me thtill long enough to learn the fuckin’ alphabet.”
“And you never did…”

“Nope. You’re gonna have to teach both of us our ABCs.” Daph picked up Holly’s hand, kissed the back of it, then held it underneath both of her own, against her belly. “For real, you gotta be the one that teacheth her math. I’m worthless with that shit.”
“It’s not hard if you teach it right. Not like I’m a professional, though.”
“Well, if she suckth at it, you can go ahead and blame me.”
“I won’t.” Holly gave Daph a warm smile and fanned out her fingers, giving her wife’s belly a tickle. “Because then she’ll be good at a million other things, instead.”
“Aw fuck…” Daph whipped her tail and looked away, blushing hard beneath her fur. “Fuck, dude. You fuckin’…You alwayth get me . I’m never ready for it.”
“If just a little bit of romance makes you melt like that, why would I ever stop?” Holly smirked and pulled Daph closer to the bench, looking up with her chin on her belly. “You’re going to lose it the minute you see the baby.”

“I’ll be fine. I done thith before.”
“But Lilly wasn’t yours . It’s different.”
“I mean, I’m gonna be happy but I ain’t gonna lose it. ”
“Yes, you will.” Holly reached up to stroke Daph’s cheek, looked into her eyes, and said, “Hazel’s going to have tiny little hands and paws that she curls up when she sleeps.”
Daph looked back at Holly with an incredulous frown. Then, as the image took shape in her mind, her lip began to twitch. In seconds, her eyes were brimming with fresh tears that she hurriedly wiped away before they fell down her cheeks. “Fucking…god damn it. Shit. I’m gonna fucking lose it.”

Holly gave Daph a moment, pulling her hand back and stretching both arms above her head. The air was cooler than she’d like, but the sunlight coming through the trees helped warm her fur, especially her black stripes. She wished she’d had Daph’s foresight to bring a jacket. Glancing up at her, she found Daph looking again at the children on the playground. She had one hand on her belly again, but was drumming her fingers across its surface – a restless habit.
“You okay?”
Daph opened her mouth to answer, but paused, sucked on her teeth, and let out a sigh. “Georgia’th gonna have Lilly with her.”
“I know, I’m excited to meet her.” Holly cocked her head and sat up. “Is that a problem?”
“No, I love Lilly, she’th great. But I haven’t theen her in a while, and she’th never theen me all…” Daph puffed out her cheeks and drew a circle over her pregnant middle.

“Oooohhh…” Holly sighed with a nod. “And you don’t know if she knows where babies come from, yet.”
“Yeah, that too, but I don’t know what questionth she’s gonna ask about where she came from. I don’t know what Georgia’th told her yet.”
“How old is she? Six?” Holly paused to count back on her fingers, making sure. “Well, five. Either way, Georgia will be here. She can help explain things to her.”
“You never know what kinda little shit is going to thtick with a kid for life, y’know? And, like, bein’ told that your mom didn’t actually give birth to you might be thome traumatizing shit for a five year old.”
“I don’t think you’re giving either of them enough credit. I’m sure Georgia’s brought it up by now. And kids understand things better than we think we do. When they told my nephew that her uncle was an aunt now, it was like a switch flipped. Easy peasy.”
“But what about the shit I ain’t even thure about? Like, are Hazel and Lilly sisterth? Does thayin’ that make it thound like Georgia ain’t her mom? What if I thay thomething that totally fuckth up how she seeth the world?”

“Daph.” Holly reached out and took her arm, stroking her inner elbow. “Your blood pressure. Take a breath. Hold it in the top of your lungs, count to fifteen, then blow it out hard.”
She did so, sucking in a deep breath of air that made her shirt ride a few inches up her belly. Daph’s tail whipped and swished behind her as she held the breath, her foot tapping out a quick rhythm on the sidewalk. Then, she let it out, releasing the breath with a heavy ‘hooooh’ until her lungs were empty. With a pause, Daph let her tail relax and took Holly’s hand.
“Thankth.”

Georgia had told them she and Lilly would be there around two in the afternoon, but it wasn’t until 2:45 that Daph spotted them rounding the corner at the end of the walk, both holding ice cream cones. Georgia was a little heavier than Daph had last seen her, but she looked happier for it, her cheeks fuller and her smile wider. Lilly, who was fighting a losing battle to her melting ice cream, walked like she was trying to kick her shoes off, a few paces ahead of her mother. She wore a pink dress with a red sash around her waist, her hair tied in a high ponytail that her bushy tail occasionally batted like a pinata. Though a different color, it curled up just like Daph’s did. She felt a lump forming in her throat and fought to stay dry-eyed. The sight of Lilly was a look into the future of what Hazel might look like.
“ Daph! ” Georgia, evidently finished with her cone, tossed it over her shoulder in the vague direction of a trash can, where it landed with a splut on the sidewalk. She raised both arms and waved while picking up the pace.
At the sound of Daph’s name, Lilly’s eyes widened as she ran ahead toward them. However, after a few feet, the little squirrel slowed to a stop, her eyes fixed on her godmother’s pronounced bump. She then turned and ran back to Georiga, pulling her down into a crouch as she stood on her tip toes and whispered in her ear.

“Uh oh,” Daph said.
“It’s okay.” Holly stroked her lower back. “This is just new to her.”
Georgia stroked a lock of Lilly’s hair from over her face and spoke quietly, too far away for them to hear. She gestured toward Daph a few times, talking with her hands as she mimed the rocking of a baby. After taking the slopping remains of her ice cream, Georgia dabbed Lilly’s hands clean with a napkin from her pocket and nudged her down the path toward Daph. She approached, but with some noticeable hesitation.

“Hey, peanut!” Daph shouted, her voice carrying far. She pointedly put her hands on her hips, away from her belly, as if to avoid drawing attention to it.
“Hi.” Lilly opened and closed her hand in an awkward wave.
Daph scratched her chin with an exaggerated frown. “Hey, are you getting thmaller?”
Lilly’s hesitation broke a little as she giggled behind her hand. “ No. ”
“I think you are. I think you’re shrinking.” Daph lowered her hand toward the ground, trying not to make it obvious she couldn’t bend over. “I should probably thtop callin’ you peanut in case you turn into one.”
“I’m not turning into a peanut,” Lilly said beneath more laughter.
“Who’s turning into a peanut?” Georgia had caught up with her daughter and glanced between the two of them with her hands on her hips. She stood in a ray of sunlight, making her blonde fur shine like gold.
“Your kid’s shrinkin,’ Georgia. Gonna have to carry her around in your pocket.”
“Yeah, we’ve gotta shoe box full of tissues for her to sleep in,” she nodded, not missing a beat. Lilly’s eyes snapped to her mother, widening slightly to a look of fear. Georgia quickly dropped to her eye level and muttered, “No, baby, you aren’t really shrinking.”

“Thorry peanut, we were jutht messin’ with you,” Daph said, squatting as low as she was able – which wasn’t much. “Knowin’ your dad, you’ll probably be taller than me next time I see you.”
“On my birthday, my daddy and me stand, um, behind the door in, um, in my room,” Lilly said, stammering as her thoughts ran faster than her mouth. “And he, um, draws a line on the wall and it shows how much, um, how much bigger I am than the, um, than the last time.”
We’re totally doing that , Daph thought to herself as Hazel shifted uncomfortably in the womb.

“ Speaking of getting bigger…” Georgia leapt to her feet and hurried to trap Daph in a side-hug, pinning her arms to her sides as she squeezed. “Oh my God , look at you! Getting so close! The minute she’s here, I’m booking another trip up here to see her. I don’t care what I have to do – walk, hitchhike, skateboard – I will put eyes on this baby.”
With one arm still around her shoulders, Georgia reached down and harassed Daph’s swollen belly, stroking it up and down through her shirt. Not easily embarrassed, Daph felt her cheeks grow hot as she watched the confused frown return to Lilly’s face, her eyes once again fixed on her bump.
“ Hey! ” Georgia chirped. With Daph still wrapped in a hug, she looked past her shoulder at Holly, who was sitting patiently on the park bench with her hands in her lap. Reaching her arms out, she made grabbing motions with her hands as she said, “You’d better get over here, too.”

Coiling her long tail around one of her legs, Holly wore a bashful smile as she stood and awkwardly shuffled toward them. The moment she was within reach, Georgia snatched Holly around the waist and pulled her into the hug as well, her head coming to the middle of the lemur’s chest. This was only the third time they had met.
“As soon as you told me, I was like ‘Finally!’ Because I knew it was only a matter of time.” As she talked, Georgia returned her other hand to Daph’s belly, roaming it like a crystal ball. Daph knew what she was looking for and moved her friend’s hand to a spot Hazel had been kicking minutes before. At the moment, she wasn’t cooperating. “I know what happened. The minute you got a look at Lilly, you thought, ‘Damn, now I want one.’ ”
“Uh…I mean…” Daph scratched the back of her head, glancing at the little squirrel she’d given birth to nearly six years ago. “Not right away… ”
“She’s excited,” Holly added. “But she’s playing it cool.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t work on me anymore.” Georgia gave Daph a loud, sloppy kiss on her cheek before finally pulling away. “I called it. I called it years ago.”
“Mommy?”
“Every time you came over to babysit, I saw you with Lilly and I knew you were going to have one of your own, eventually.”
“Mommy?”

Lilly grabbed hold of her mother’s tail swishing above her head and pulled on it to get her attention. After motioning Georgia closer, she stood on the tips of her toes and whispered something in her ear.
“Why don’t you ask her?” Georgia answered at full volume while glancing up at Daph.
Her heart skipped a beat in anticipation of the awkwardness to come, though she cleared her throat and did her best to keep her voice casual. “What’th up, peanut?”
“Does. Um. Can you…um.” Lilly held her tail in front of her, wringing it in her hands. “Does the baby move around a lot in your tummy?”
Daph breathed a relieved sigh. Apparently, the hardest question had already been answered. As if responding to the question, Hazel turned over slightly and began lazily pushing a foot against the right side of her mother’s uterus.

“Oh yeah, all the time. But since she’th gonna be born soon, she doesn’t have a whole lotta room left in there.” For the first time, Daph rested a hand on her belly as she talked to Lilly, pointing to the subtle lump made by her unborn daughter’s foot. “She’th movin’ a little right now. You wanna feel?”
“No fair…” Georgia pouted as she encouraged Lilly with a hand on her back.
She stared, wide eyed, at Daph’s middle as it loomed above her, but was beginning to seem more curious than hesitant. Slowly, she raised her arm above her head and touched her tiny hand to the center of her godmother’s belly, just above her protruding navel. Daph tapped her finger, directing Lilly a few inches to her left, guiding her to the spot Hazel was kicking. The moment her hand reached it, Hazel’s lazy movements turned into a single, hard jab that thumped against Lilly’s hand and made Daph wince.
Startled, Lilly stumbled away a few feet, her breath quick as she wrung her tail in her hands. She made noises of stress behind her pursed lips and glanced between Daph and Georgia.

“Lilly. Lilly, sweetie, it’s okay.” Georgia was quick to crouch at her side, gently pulling her tail from her hands. “That’s just the baby kicking, okay? It’s just a baby.”
As Lilly’s breath began to slow, she swallowed as she returned to Daph, putting her hand back where Hazel had kicked it.
“She doeth that all the time. It doethn’t hurt or anything, I promise,” Daph said in a soothing voice. Hazel shifted again and prodded out with a softer, more gentle push that was visible a few inches from Lilly’s nose. She gasped again, but followed it up with a nervous giggle as she moved her hand to that spot.
“So she’th got the gist of everything,” Daph asked Georgia while gesturing down at her own body.
“More or less.” Georgia shrugged. “I gave her the CliffNotes of ‘The Talk.’ That Aunt Daph is gonna have a baby, that babies grow inside their mommies for a while, the basics.”
“So what did she whisper on your way up?”
“Oh.” Georgia snickered. “She wanted to know if you were still able to pick her up.”

Daph blew a raspberry. “Hell, was that it? All she had to do was ask.” She leaned over and reached out for Lilly. “Of courthe I can thtill…”
“No, you can not,” Holly said, stepping in to pull her back by the shoulders. Daph struggled in her grip for a moment before jerking free and rolling her eyes.
“God. Fine.” Throwing up her hands, she added, “Whatever.”

“She’s getting a little too big to get picked up, anyway.”
“Sayth you,” Daph added, flexing her biceps.
“Aunt Daph?” Lilly asked in a small voice. She still had her tail in her hands, but wasn’t wringing it quite as hard. “Is…um…are…is your baby, um, gonna be a boy or a girl?”
“A girl.” Daph beamed proudly and patted her belly. “Her name’th Hazel.”
“Hazel,” Georgia sniffed, growing misty-eyed every time she heard the name.
“So, um, is that where, um, where all babies come from?”
“…Pretty much.”
“So was, um, was I in my mommy’s tummy when I was little?”

Silence fell between the adults. Georgia glanced at Daph, giving her a wince as a form of wordless apology. Lilly looked between them, sensing the tension and growing confused. After a few moments of held breath, Georgia made an uneasy, non-committal sound. “Well…”
“Thingth were a little different with you, peanut.” Daph put a hand on her back and groaned as she sank to her knees on the sidewalk, making sure she was eye-to-eye with Lilly. She took a deep breath – difficult to do in her position – and continued.
“Before babieth are born, they grow inthide their moms until they’re big enough to come out. But it can be really, really hard and some people don’t have bodieth that can do it. Your mommy couldn’t have a baby that way, so she athked me for help.” Daph touched her belly. “You…grew inside me, before you were born. Jutht like Hazel.”
Lilly blinked at Daph, listening with rapt attention, but not fully understanding. She turned again to look up at Georgia, who gave her an obviously forced smile.

“So…um…so…” Lilly looked down for a moment, pulling at her fingers. “So…are you my mommy?”

“No.” Daph answered quickly. When she and Lilly met eyes, she said it again. “No. Georgia’th your mommy.” Looking up, Daph met eyes with Georgia, next. The blonde squirrel had her arms folded tightly over her chest and her eyes were shimmering with tears that had yet to fall. Her mouth was pursed into a tight, thin line. For the moment, she was holding it together, but Daph could see why she’d put off this conversation for so long.

“Maybe thith will make more sense when you’re older,” Daph continued in a slow voice. “But…just becauthe you came from thomebody, doethn’t make them your mommy. Your mommy is the one that taketh care of you, that feedth you, that gets you clothes and taketh you to school, that reads you thtories and makes you food.” When she paused to take a breath, she was surprised to find a lump in her throat. Daph felt Hazel move and her voice came out unsteady. “The…one that teacheth you things and helpth you with your homework. Or taketh you to the park and playth with you. That does…does anything to…to make you happy.”

Daph took a gasping breath and wiped her eyes with the palm of her hand.
“Lilly. I gave birth to you. And I love you. But I’m not your mom.” Daph and Georgia met eyes. “You already know who your mommy is.”
Rather than confused, Lilly’s brow furrowed in thought as she began to process, in a child’s way, what she’d been told. Her hands gradually relaxed around her tail, allowing it to slip free and swish across the ground. Stepping back, she turned in place, oscillating like a desk fan between looking at Georgia and Daph. After a pause, she ran to her mother, shoes click-clacking on the pavement, and buried her face in Georgia’s shirt.

“Cuhn yuh still be muh muh-muh ib-”
“Lilly,” Georgia sniffed, composing herself as she wiped her eyes. “Sweetie, I can’t understand you.”
Pulling back, Lilly looked up and asked, “Can you still be my mommy? Even if I wasn’t in your tummy?”

Georgia took a sharp, halting breath that caught in her throat, then soothed herself with a sigh. She stroked Lilly’s cheek and beamed. “Of…Of course.”
“Oh fu- I mean, frick.” Daph, still on her knees, shuffled as she tried to stand. With a sigh, she held her arms out at her sides. “Babe. Legs athleep.”
“On it.” Hurrying to her back, Holly crouched, hooked her arms underneath Daph’s armpits, and lifted her pregnant wife back to her feet, grunting and straining the whole way.
“Yeah yeah, alright, we get it,” Daph said as she steadied herself against Holly’s shoulder. “We’re heavy.”
“Lilly,” Georgia said to her daughter in a gentle voice. “Do you have any questions for me or Aunt Daph?”

The little squirrel first shook her head, then paused and chewed on the tip of her finger. “Um…is my daddy still my daddy?”
“Yes, sweetie. He’s still your daddy.”
“Um. So. Um.” Lilly pointed at Daph’s belly, asking her, “Does your baby have a daddy?”
Daph opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again, then blew a raspberry and scratched her head. “Uh…It’th…No, she doethn’t. Hazel’th gonna have two moms.”

“Why?”
“Be…cause…” Daph glanced at Holly, who blinked back at her through thick glasses. “…Because.”
Instead of letting Daph continue to flounder, Holly stepped ahead of her and sank to her knees. Even then, she towered over the diminutive Lilly, casting a shadow across her.

“Hi, Lilly!” she said, waving despite being only feet apart. When that looked awkward, Holly smoothed her hands on her thighs, then held one out for an even more awkward handshake. Lilly uneasily took the lemur’s hand and Daph suppressed a snort behind her fist.
“My name’s Holly. I’m Aunt Daph’s wife, and…” Holly reached out and smoothed a hand across Daph’s belly from the side. “…I’m Hazel’s other mommy.”

Lilly’s eyes jumped between them, gears turning in her head. She’d yet to let go of Holly’s hand.
“But, um, but…I thought that babies, um, had to have a mommy and a daddy?”
Holly swallowed and began to speak, but Daph interrupted her.

“Nope.”

“Oh.” Lilly blinked and chewed on the tip of her finger. “Okay.” She whirled around to Georgia, pointing past Holly. “Mommy, can I go to the playground?”
“Only if Aunt Holly goes with you.” Georgia met eyes with her and raise an eyebrow. Holly, her face brightening, scrambled to her feet.
“Y-yeah, yes. Sure. Absolutely.”
Holly stood aside as Lilly hurried down the path, only for her to stop and whirl around.
“You gotta hold my hand,” she demanded, holding it out for Holly to take.

As they left, Daph was surprised as Georgia once again through her arms over her in a tight squeeze. In a small voice, she mumbled, “Thank you.”
“Course.” Daph patted her on the back.
“I know I should’ve told her, but I kept putting it off and putting it off. I didn’t want to talk to her about it without you here. I was so scared what she would think.”
“I think we got her thtraight. It’th not like anything’th different for her.” Daph paused, then added, “Kids understand thingth better than we think they do.”

Georgia pulled back to look Daph in the eye. She smiled. “You’ve grown, too.”
Daph, clearly bashful, rolled her eyes waved off the comment. “Only around my fuckin’ waistline, maybe.”
“Oh shut up,” Georgia said before grabbing Daph’s cheek and planting a kiss on it. “You’re gonna be a good mom.”
Daph paused, nodding to herself with a thoughtful look. “…Yeah, I know.”

“You’re supposed to be all insecure about it and let me, the experienced mother, reassure you.”
“Yeah, but…nah. I’m good. I got this.”
“Sure, up until you’re calling me at 3am like, ‘Why won’t Hazel go to sleep? Why does she keep eating stuff she finds on the ground? How do I keep her from climbing out of her crib?’”

“Yeah, maybe.” Daph put her hands in her jacket pockets, rubbing the sides of her belly through it. “But I’ll only be calling ‘cause I know you’ll answer.”
Georgia sighed and felt again for the movement of her friend’s unborn daughter.
“Always.”