Chapter Five

Laurie opens the door and walks into her house, heading towards the kitchen with Kate following close behind. 

"You know where I keep 'em. I'm just gonna get in the shower real quick." Laurie says before making her way up the stairs.

Kate had spent enough time in Laurie's house to know where everything was and her mate had never shown signs of being uncomfortable with her in her space so Kate had gotten comfortable moving around.

She made her way around Laurie's kitchen, grabbing a muffin from the jar Laurie had kept out in the middle of the island and moving to start making coffee for them, taking bites out of the muffin as she went. 

Kate was highly impressed with Laurie's creations and was only too happy to be her 'test subject' of sorts. Her mate loved to bake. She was damn good and Kate was not shy about showing it. She had given Kate a batch of cookies to take home and Kate had made the mistake of bringing them over to Iris and Nate's house for a meeting. She had turned around for not ten seconds and the cookies were gone. She had since learned to take whatever goodies Laurie made her straight home.

Kate was on her fourth muffin when Laurie popped into the kitchen, hopping on top of the island, sitting cross-legged in the middle, and reaching into the jar for a muffin. She was dressed in jeans and a green fitted sweater. 

"You going somewhere?" Kate asks, handing her a cup of coffee.

Laurie nods. "Yeah, I need to go grocery shopping. I'm running out of food." 

"Do you need help? I could go with you." She wasn't entirely comfortable with Laurie going to town on her own. It wasn't exactly dangerous but Kate was still anxious to be away from her. 

Near everyone in town knew of her kind or were something else entirely but it was never spoken of. She had made sure everyone important knew who Laurie was and she had spent enough time with the smaller blonde that anyone 'special' who wasn't from here would be able to smell Kate's scent on her. No one was stupid enough to piss her off but it wasn't an impossibility. Laurie was her mate but technically, she hadn't claimed her yet and that had made things tricky.

"I could even show you around. You haven't really seen much of anything." Kate says, settling herself on one of the stools in front of the island on the other side of Laurie.

"I guess if you don't mind." Laurie was ashamed to admit she hadn't really left her house much. It was a forty-five-minute drive out to town and she was perfectly fine staying home.

"I don't mind. How many times do I have to say it, I like spending time with you." Kate shrugs, finishing off her food. Laurie ducks her head slightly to hide a blush at how nonchalantly Kate had said that as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

She looks up after a moment and has to hold in a laugh as she catches Kate eyeing the jar of muffins longingly. Kate looks up at her and back at the jar. It was adorable. 

Laurie sighs, rolling her eyes before sliding the jar over to the taller woman. She hears Kate mutter a quick 'thank you' before happily reaching into the jar.

"I swear sometimes I think you use me for my food."

...

Kate's mate is a child.

They were in the grocery store for a good ten minutes when Laurie asked Kate to grab her some flour. She takes her time looking for the kind Laurie had asked for, eventually finding it and walking back in search of her mate. Kate nearly drops the bag of flour when she sees Laurie. The smaller woman had hopped on the metal rod under the pushcart and was using it as a makeshift scooter, zipping through the isles.

She heard a high-pitched squeal followed by laughter that could not have belonged to Laurie. Her mate stops when she sees her and gives her a sheepish smile. 

Laurie was minding her business in the vegetable aisle when a little girl with brown hair and brown eyes that couldn't have been older than three, had walked up to her and asked if she could sit in the cart. Laurie was reluctant at first but the little girl had pointed out her mother and Laurie had recognized her as the woman who owned the store. After a quick nod from the woman, she had given in and soon enough, the child, Molly, had convinced her to race through the isles. She was a sucker for little kids.

Kate walks closer and spots a familiar face sitting inside the cart.

"Auntie Kate!" The little girl shouts excitedly, drawing stares from other shoppers around them. 

Laurie looks at her from where she's perched on the cart, raising an eyebrow. "Auntie Kate?"

"Hey, nugget. Where's your mom?" She asks, reaching in to pick the little girl up. 

Molly points towards her mother. "I play with Laurie." She says, smiling sweetly at Laurie.

"Did you?" Molly nods, settling in Kate's arms. 

"Pretty Laurie." 

"Laurie's pretty?" Kate asks and the little girl nods. Kate looks up at Laurie, enjoying the light blush spreading across her cheeks.

Molly starts to squirm in her arms and Kate sets her down. 

"I go to mama." She mumbles, waving goodbye to both women before running off to her mother.

"She's adorable," Laurie says as she grabs a bag of apples from the shelf and places it in the cart. 

"Yeah. She's my best friend Nate's niece. She seemed to like you. She doesn't normally do well with strangers." Kate points out. Molly was a shy child and almost never approached people. 

"She's a sweetheart." Laurie shrugs. "I used to work on kids a lot back in California."

"Really?" Kate asks, curious.

"Yeah, lots of little hearts needed fixing and I was good with kids. That and my best friend Casey is a Pediatric surgeon. We worked well together." It wasn't the first time Laurie had mentioned her friends. She had even met Laurie's friend Lydia when she facetimed her in the middle of movie night. 

Laurie stops and reaches out towards some serial, it was on the top shelf and she struggled to reach it. 

"Need some help?" Kate says, smirking as she leans on the cart. She had taken to teasing Laurie about their height difference a couple of days into their 'friendship', finding the smaller woman's glare to be one of the most adorable things she's seen.

"No." Laurie huffs, jumping a little to try and reach the box before giving up releasing a heavy sigh. "Fine. Yes, please."

Kate stifles a laugh as she reaches up to grab the box with ease. 

"Here you go, little one." She says and can't help but laugh at the glare she receives. 

"I am not little. I happen to be of average height. You're just really tall." Laurie says indignantly, starting to push the cart towards the check-out.

Kate walks up behind her, playfully pressing against her back and placing her hands beside Laurie's on the bar, effectively trapping her in between Kate and the cart. "I don't know. I think maybe I have to go shopping with you more often. How are you supposed to make me cookies if you can't reach the flour? Wait, is that why you made me get it?"

Laurie blushes as Kate laughs behind her. She was getting flustered enough when the other woman pressed up against her. 

"Shut up. I'm not short. Just a little, I don't know, vertically challenged." Laurie huffs in annoyance when Kate breaks into laughter behind her. She wasn't really mad but she enjoyed the sound of the other woman's laughter and Kate seemed to get a kick out of this.

Laurie leans back against a still laughing Kate and tilts her head up to look at her. Her lips were level with Kate's jaw, perfect for what she was about to do. "Well, I'll be over by the check-out when you're done." 

Laurie leans up and plants a kiss on Kate's cheek, dangerously close to her lips. The laughter stops abruptly and Laurie walks towards the counter, leaving a dumbfounded Kate in her wake.