All I Need

Later that night, Ashlyn lays almost passed out on her back porch in a chaise lounge, glass dangling lightly from her hand. Alex had gone inside to use the bathroom to come back out to find her nearly asleep. She tries to take the glass from Ashlyn, but Ashlyn stops her hand. 

"We was happy..ya know? I just wanna make her happy.. I can't stay here...not in this house" 

Alex sits down on the chaise lounge opposite Ashlyn, looking at her friend with sad eyes. Wishing she could erase all the pain her friends have gone through the past few years.  

"Come on Ash, lets get you to my car. You can stay with Serv and I for a while." She says pulling the blonde up and dragging her to her car.  

______________________________________________________________________________ 

7 Years Ago... 

It was a beautiful day in Orlando, slightly breezy which meant the waves were good. All Ashlyn could think of was hitting the beach and catching a few waves. Instead, she was wandering the streets with a real estate agent, Linda, that could have been part of the Brady Bunch. She saw the look Linda gave her and Ali got when they got out of their car at the first apartment.  

"Oh...Hello. You must be Ali, and..Ash? When Ali called and said Ash would be joining her I just assumed Ash was a man. Anywho, this is the first apartment." She said flippantly, waving her arm as if the building were a prize on a game show.  

Both women look up at it, it was typical Florida. Pink stucco exterior with a tile roof. Ashlyn wrapped her arm around Ali's waste and leaned into her, "What do you think babe?" 

The brunette looked up, it wasn’t exactly what she was expecting. It was only five stories tall and in a very suburban area. She put on a fake smile before turning to Ashlyn, "We will see. Let's go upstairs and look at it." 

They go upstairs and the apartment is old. Everything about it is old, the kitchen, the bathroom, the walls, all old.  

"So what do you ladies think? This one has a real charm to it don't you think?" Linda gobbs.  

Ali give Ashlyn one look. The look says it all, "Linda, I don’t think this is the one. Let's keep looking." 

That's how the whole day went. Fifteen apartments and none of them seemed to be right. Not new enough, not enough character, too much character, not a good view, too good of a view. The last one Ali argued that they couldn’t possibly get that one because it was too good to be true, there had to be a catch. You name it, Ali found a problem with it.  

"Thank you for your time, Linda. We will get back with you if we make a decision." Ali says politely. The three of them head for their respective cars, Ashlyn stopping Ali before she can get in.  

"Babe. What's up? Half of those would have been perfect for us!" Ashlyn asks wrapping her arms around the brunette, leaning them against the car.  

Ali looks away, anywhere but into the hazel eyes she has fallen in love with, "None of them felt like home." She knows she's being petty, but she can't help it.  

The blonde brings her hand up to Ali's face, guiding it so she looks at her. "Al, none of them are going to feel like home yet." She brings her hand down to Ali's bringing it back up to her chest. Placing her the brunettes hand over her heart. "Feel that? That's home. Wherever you want to physically live, that’s fine by me. My home is wherever you are." She ends by kissing the top of Ali's head, the brunette leaning her face into Ashlyn's neck.  

"What about the beach?" Ali says sheepishly, looking at the ground.  

"I fucking LOVE the beach!!" The blonde yells, startling passersby and Ali.  

Ali pulls back laughing at the outburst. "There's that smile I love."  

Ashlyn pulls Ali off of the car enough to open the passenger door, allowing Ali to slip in. Ashlyn jogs around to the driver side and starts the car. "We'll call Linda in the morning and have her show us some properties on the beach?"  

Ali slips her hand over Ashlyn's strong hand on the gear shift, "No babe. We will find another real estate agent. That bitch kept giving us the stink eye." Ali laughs as she says it.  

Ali never ceases to amaze Ashlyn. "Glad to know it wasn’t just me noticing that." 

Over the next week they had gone to every little beach town east of Orlando looking for a house. On Thursday Ashlyn couldn’t go with Ali because she had a press meeting, trying to get more publicity to the new Orlando team.  

Ali's mom had driven up for the day to look at houses with her daughter. They had already seen two houses that day. Both were too 90's. The third house they came to was on a decent size piece of land. The house was tucked back in the trees a little, a winding road leading up to a decent size bungalow style house. The house was white with light blue trimming. Beachy, but elegant.  

Ali got out of the car, and went to the front of it, leaning on the hood to take in the house. Deb got out of the car and came to lean next to her daughter. "Well this isn't too shabby!" She said while bumping hips with daughter and raising her eyebrows as she follows the real estate agent into the house.  

Ali looks up over the house again, "No, no it isn't..." She mumbles to herself before following her mom.  

That night Ali tells Ashlyn all about the house. She tells her about the perfect living room with a wall of windows looking out to the ocean. About the beautiful white kitchen, the huge master bedroom with an amazing bathroom. She made sure to mention the huge soaking tub. She ended by telling her about the four spare bedrooms.  

"There are four spare bedrooms, hun. They're perfect for kids." Ali says talking as fast as she can. Most of it coming out as one long mumble that blends together. "There are two that have a Jack and Jill bathroom and then the other two have private bathrooms. We could obviously keep one for guests, but the other three could be kids. Well you know eventually. But if we are going to do this" she says flailing her arms about to insinuate she's talking about the entire life they plan to build together, "then I don't want to wait much longer. After the Olympics this coming summer, let's make a baby!" 

The blonde tries to keep up with what Ali is saying, "That all sounds great babe, but we aren't even married yet. Shouldn't that happen before we do anything else? I know you want to have a big wedding with everyone you love there.." 

"I do." The brunette chuckles at her own little joke. "The baby making process will be a bit longer since you know..no penis." She waves her hand down infront of Ashlyn's pants. "We can start looking at donors while we plan the wedding. What do you say? September 2016 to get married? Baby by June?" Ali says matter of factly.  

Ashlyn leans down to kiss her fiance, moaning when she feels Ali melt in her arms. "Sounds like we are buying a house..."