Saturday mornings were the best. Neither Sunyoung nor Amber had work and they could stay in bed as long as they wanted to. Or not. This morning they’d decided to go get pancakes for breakfast – the big fluffy ones with whipped cream on top – and then for a nice, leisurely stroll in the park. Hand in hand, they did an easy loop around the walking track, enjoying each other’s company and taking in the sights of the other visitors.

                Dogs chased Frisbees on one side and children played tag near the playground. Parents watched over them and there were some couples setting up picnics with blankets over the greenery and baskets of food. It was a beautiful day as well. Not too hot and not too cold and only a handful of clouds flitting across the bright blue sky.

                “You wanna get a drink?” Amber suddenly asked, spying a vending machine nearby.

                Sunyoung looked at her and smiled, taking in the once again almost ageless features and short brown hair. Long shorts, a t-shirt and an open button up completed her ensemble but she just looked happy and comfortable and it made Sunyoung happy in turn. “Sure. I could go for something,” she agreed, brushing back a strand of her own brunette hair.

                Jackson had been successful with his task. They had all returned to their appropriate age appearance, though they definitely felt the lost time. According to Ren, who was now the official go between of the realms, for the time being anyway, things were settling down on the Imago side as well. Both Wonshik’s and Aron’s efforts had proven successful too, though there had been a definite upheaval of, well, everyone, as they had to get used to a new way of life. The class discrepancy had been noticeably reduced and with the Metropolises being ground bound, except for 1, they’d had to develop a better relationship with the poorer members of society who at least knew how to keep busy. The importance of the Royals too had been downgraded and they were learning to accept their new roles with mixed degrees of grace.

                The sound of a bottle dropping dragged her attention back to the present and Sunyoung smiled as Amber pressed a cold coffee into her hand. “Here you go,” she smiled, searching her pockets for more change.

                “Thank you,” Sunyoung smiled, uncapping the drink and taking a sip as she watched in amusement. She envied Amber her pockets but the woman had a knack for losing things in them. “Here,” she finally laughed, fishing out a bill from her purse to use in the machine.

                “Ah. Thanks,” Amber chuckled, accepting the money and turning her attention to making her own choice.

                Life for them had returned to relative normalcy as well. Sunyoung had to make up some kind of BS reason as to why she’d missed several days of work (like the guys had) and she’d had to feed her parents a false story so they would stop worrying about her – they hadn’t been able to reach her for several days after all. But after all that, things had returned to a strange sense of normal. Well, as normal as it could be when your former bedroom mirror wasn’t really a mirror anymore and was in fact the only portal between worlds. She had been successful but because she hadn’t known where to anchor the point, her own full length mirror had been what she’d settled on. They were still working on a better placement for it in the meantime.

                “Good?” she asked when Amber finally chose a drink.

                “Yep,” her girlfriend responded, holding up a bottle of tea instead.

                “Good. Let’s have a seat then. I see a bench with some shade,” Sunyoung pointed, eying the running pups across the way.

                “You see dogs,” Amber chuckled knowingly as she took Sunyoung’s hand again.

                “Never said I didn’t,” she grinned, happy all the same as they wandered over and took a seat on the wooden bench. It was nice sipping on a cool drink and watching the playful critters running around. Oh, children weren’t excluded from that observation, but dogs always held her attention better. Satisfied, Sunyoung leaned her head against Amber’s shoulder and sighed in contentment.

                Amber kissed the top of her head and took a sip of her drink before she spoke again. “What do you think about getting a dog?” she asked, the question light and at least semi-spontaneous.

                “I think that’s a good idea,” Sunyoung smiled, squeezing Amber’s hand.

                “Okay. How about two?” she amended thoughtfully, one brow obviously raised, even if Sunyoung couldn’t see it.

                “Even better,” she responded, grinning harder.

                “Good, because I told the shelter near our apartment we’d be by a bit later today,” Amber explained nonchalantly.

                “Sneaky woman,” Sunyoung giggled, turning to look at her profile.

                “Well, I figured it couldn’t hurt to at least look,” Amber explained, turning to wrinkle her nose at Sunyoung. Then she leaned close enough to kiss Sunyoung’s nose and laughed at the wrinkle she got in response.

                “You’re just lucky my apartment allows dogs,” Sunyoung shook her head, though her heart was happy.

                “Eh. Even if they didn’t, we could always just send them through to the other side to hide them if we needed,” she shrugged mischievously.

                “Oh, you’re terrible,” Sunyoung laughed, stealing a quick kiss.

                “Resourceful,” she countered, returning the favor.

                Sunyoung had to concede that point at least. She nodded in agreement and turned to take a drink, watching the pups as she did so. “Still, it’s a good idea.”

                “I’m glad you think so,” Amber admitted, leaning her head against Sunyoung’s.

                “I imagine you’ve already got names picked out for them, don’t you?” Sunyoung wondered aloud, giving the other woman a sidelong look.

                Amber shrugged. “Maybe one or two.”

                Sunyoung laughed. “Alright then, lady. Let’s go see about finding a dog or two. I get to name one of them,” she mandated with a finger pointing at the taller woman.

                Amber held her free hand up in surrender, the expression awkward with the drink in it. “Of course,” she grinned. “Wouldn’t have it any other way,” she added, standing up and pulling Sunyoung to her feet in the process.

                “Were you thinking big dogs or little dogs?” Sunyoung wondered as they started walking.

                “Dunno. I figured we’d just look and see which ones called to us,” she answered, raising Sunyoung’s hand to her lips again.

                No matter how many times she did it, the affection always made Sunyoung smile and her stomach do a little flip. “I guess that’s as good a plan as any,” she laughed, bumping into the other woman lightly with her shoulder. Amber laughed at the motion and freed her hand to sling an arm around Sunyoung’s waist.

                “Better than nothing,” she nodded, grinning harder when Sunyoung wrapped her arm around Amber’s waist in turn.

                “Indeed,” Sunyoung smiled, happy and content and ready for the next part of their lives together. It wasn’t perfect, but it was enough. That was all that mattered at this point.

(a/n: Finished! Not what I would call one of my strongest works but it was definitely fun and I made the deadline! Huzzah! So thank you for those who followed along and I hope that you enjoyed the story. If you're so inclined, I'd love to know what you thought and if not, I hope you have a wonderful day all the same. Thank you!)