Archive of Our Own ^beta

Lucy sighed as she packed the last of her henleys into her suitcase. Kate was out picking up their dry cleaning so Lucy was tying up some loose ends before they left for their trip in the morning.

To say that Lucy was unenthused for this trip would be a massive understatement. Two weeks. Two whole weeks. Kate and Lucy had finally sat down together and decided that it was time for them to meet each other’s families. Lucy was beyond nervous for this. Though her dad was an expert at acting fake - you had to be in the business world - there was no telling what he might say to Kate or herself if he got worked up enough. Lucy was afraid simply bringing Kate home with her alone might be enough to do that. But she really hoped that she was wrong.

She left her suitcase on the bed for Kate to go through when she got back. Kate was quite the planner and had a two page long packing list for each of them. She knew that Kate was as nervous as Lucy was, so she was more than willing to put up with how much they were overpreparing for this trip.

Lucy made her way out into the living room and collapsed onto the couch. The last week had been so busy and so stressful that Lucy just wanted to curl up in bed with Kate and not leave for a few days. She wished more than anything that that was possible. This trip had to happen though. So she pulled out their lists to look over them a few more times.

Aside from the packing list - that was all Kate’s doing - they had also formed three other lists. “Topics to avoid”, “Distractions to get back on track”, and “Escape plans (hopefully foolproof)”. Each set of parents knew that they were bringing each other with them to visit, but that didn’t mean that it was going to go well. Lucy’s parents sounded fine on the phone when she told them, but whether that was because they were distracted hosting another one of their big dinners or they were actually cool with it was still up in the air. She and Ernie actually had a bet going.

“Okay, Lucy. Y’all got this.” She laid out all three lists on the coffee table and started scanning them to make sure nothing was missed.

Topics to Avoid (Kate):

• Noah
• Weddings
• Kids
• Law school
• Hawaii 

Kate’s list seemed pretty standard. Lucy’s on the other hand, was a bit more specific.

Topics to Avoid (Lucy):

• Oil
• Business
• NCIS work
• MONEY
• Military
• The words “Lucy” and “job” in the same sentence

There was lots more that could potentially set her parents off, but Lucy thought she did a good job at covering all of the heavy hitters. She was about to start on the others when she heard Kate’s key turning in the lock.

“Hi, baby.” Kate went straight to the bedroom to deposit the laundry before making her way back. “Did you get the packing done?”

“Yes ma’am,” Lucy stood to walk over and meet her by the table. “All finished,” she pressed a quick kiss to Kate’s lips.

“Thank you. I really appreciate it. I know things have been insane lately,” Kate walked through the living room to sit on the couch.

“You can say that again.” Lucy sighed as she sat down next to her. Kate’s gaze fell to the table and naturally found the lists Lucy had left laid out. She raised an eyebrow as she turned to Lucy with an amused smirk on her face.

“Going through the lists again?”

“Listen,” Lucy huffed. “You have your lists, I have mine. I just want to make sure that things go as smoothly as they possibly can.” Lucy laid her head on Kate’s shoulder as Kate’s arm found its way around her.

“I know,” Kate rubbed Lucy’s arm up and down. “I know. Two weeks is a long time.”

“So fucking long,” Lucy laughed humorlessly. “But on the bright side, if we can survive this, we can survive anything.”

“Considering the fact that we survive work every day arresting people who quite literally want to kill us,” Kate leaned down and pressed a kiss to Lucy’s cheek. “I think we’ll be alright.”

“Ha,” Lucy scoffed. “You clearly don’t know much about my parents.”

“Babe,” Kate sighed and turned to face Lucy. “We have been through so much as a couple. Like, an insane amount of shit,” she grabbed Lucy’s hands. “We are strong enough to make it through two weeks of visiting our parents. Nothing they do or say is going to make me love you any less. Nothing that they say is going to make me leave you. I promise.”

“I’m sorry,” Lucy let out a shuddery breath. “My brain knows that, but every other part of me is trying to convince me the exact opposite.”

“I know. This is going to stir up a lot of emotions for the both of us.”

“I’m sorry. I’m spiraling and I feel like I’m not giving you any room to feel nervous or scared and I know that you are.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Kate rubbed her thumb along Lucy’s hand.

“Okay,” Lucy hopped up and clapped her hands together. “We have the whole flight and then two weeks after that to freak out. Tonight, let’s just have a fun last night.”

“That sounds perfect,” Kate stood up and followed Lucy into the kitchen.

“What are we feeling for dinner?”

“Babe, we agreed that we would order out. So we wouldn’t have dishes or leftovers. Because we’re leaving tomorrow morning.”

“Right,” Lucy hid her face in her hands. “It’s been a long day,” she laughed.

“You’re telling me,” Kate teased. “How about we figure out what to order and then pick out a movie?”

“Deal,” Lucy smiled.

“I’m gonna go get changed really quickly and then we’ll decide.” 

Lucy sighed as Kate made her way into their bedroom. This whole trip was fucking with her a lot more than she had anticipated that it would. She knew that her and Kate’s relationship was strong, but her parents brought out a whole new side of her. Around them, she was either determined to be the perfect daughter, or she was snapping at everything remembering the way that they treated her.

Lucy wanted Kate to meet her family and take that next step, she knew that it was important. But when Kate finally saw all the raw parts of who Lucy used to be, was their love going to be enough?