When Love Wins

Chapter 1-3

“Yeah, but it’s not really a surprise to me either, I really think it was just not important to me what s*x you preferred. You’re my friend, and that’s all that’s important to me.”

Tyler nodded, still astounded at how easy this had ended up being; there hadn’t been an awkward strange moment between them.

“So, who?” Tyler asked, prodding her friend.

Shenin narrowed her eyes for a minute. “Well, Terri, definitely.”

She named their lieutenant, who was very butch, and also a really great team leader and everyone in the unit had the utmost respect for her.

“Too easy,” Tyler said dismissively.

“Okay…” Shenin said, narrowing her eyes again, then looked at Tyler again. “Jean,” she said, naming another member of the unit.

Tyler smiled, nodding. “And the last?”

“That’s harder,” Shenin said, but then when she thought about it, it really wasn’t, they were the two women, that seemed to totally get Tyler. “Sheila.”

“You are good, Sheila is very stealth,” Tyler said.

“It has nothing to do with her,” Shenin said. “It has to do with you; the three of you seemed to totally get each other. I originally chocked it up to your time together in the unit, but now I know that’s not the only thing.”

Tyler nodded, again. Shenin seemed to grasp even the most subtle things about her and her lifestyle.

“Hey…” Shenin said then, her tone suspicious. “Now I totally get that whole toaster joke between the three of you,” she said, her eyes narrowed.

Tyler started to laugh. “Oh, no, don’t include me in that, I’m just a bystander.”

“So how does that joke go again?” Shenin asked.

“Well, we don’t really spell it out, usually, but for you, I’ll make an exception.” Tyler said, winking. “Basically, if a lesbian can recruit a straight woman to the life, they get a free toaster.”

“And here I thought they were being nice to me,” Shenin said, making a face. “Bitches!” she exclaimed, laughing.

“Nah, they like you, they just think you’re hot, too.”

“I see,” Shenin said, grinning.

Tyler grew quiet for a moment, reaching down, she took Shenin’s hand in hers, and squeezed it gently. “Thank you for this,” she said sincerely.

Shenin smiled softly. “Always for you,” she said, her tone strong.

The next few days were spent visiting Tyler’s old haunts and meeting her family. Tyler had a lot of family; Shenin ended up feeling like Tyler was related to at least half of Maryland. It was interesting to Shenin that none of Tyler’s family seemed to have any problem with her being gay, in fact many of them seemed happy to accept the idea that Shenin was her partner. Tyler had to explain over and over that Shenin was just a friend. The more time Tyler spent around her family, the more comfortable she became, it warmed Shenin’s heart to see it in her friend.

One night, three days into their visit, they were eating in a local restaurant having dinner, just the two of them. Tyler suddenly stopped talking and was staring just over Shenin’s shoulder. Shenin glanced over her shoulder and saw a man standing there his eyes fixed on Tyler. He looked around the same age as Tyler, maybe a couple of years older, but it didn’t seem that time had been as good to him as it had been to Tyler.

“Jason,” Tyler said, nodding to the man that had once been her fiancé.

“I heard you were in town,” the man said, stepping toward the table, his eyes going to Shenin. She noted the hostility in them. So did Tyler.

Tyler was on her feet instantly, putting herself closer to Shenin. Shenin could sense Tyler’s tension and recognized her defensive move to protect her.

“Yeah, I’m here to visit my family,” Tyler said.

“Guess you weren’t brave enough to face me though, huh?” he asked, his tone snide.

Tyler took a long pause, letting her eyes travel from his thinning hair, past the beer belly to his dirty tennis shoes then back up to his face.

“I don’t see what I’d have to fear from seeing you,” she said, her tone calm.

“You f****d me over, Tyler,” he snapped, gesturing toward Shenin with a dismissive wave. “For that.”

Tyler glanced behind her at Shenin, her blue eyes sparkling with barely contained malice. “That,” she repeated to Shenin, her tone flat and sardonic, then she looked back at Jason. “That,” she said again, her head nodding back toward Shenin, “could take you apart with her bare hands, so I don’t think you want to f**k with her. As for what you think I did to you, get over it, it was years ago.”

Jason looked stunned, this wasn’t the easy-going Tyler he used to know. She was harder, it had to be the gay thing. Being gay made women hard like men. Besides, that’s what they all wanted, to be anyway, right?

“You lesbians are all the same,” he sneered, glad that people were now staring at them. “You all just wish you were men.”

Tyler grinned, having heard that one often enough. “No, dumbass,” she said, her voice calm. “It’s men we’re trying to avoid, that’s the whole point.”

“f*****g dyke!” Jason exclaimed, reaching out to shove Tyler, a move she easily dodged, grabbing his arm and wheeling around to wind it up behind his back, wrenching it upward, making him stand on his toes. It was a move she’d used a lot on drunken airmen, and they were usually in much better shape than Jason was.

Shenin stood up, stepping over to Jason and leaning in.

“You might not want to call her that,” she said, her tone conversational. “She doesn’t like it and she might just break that oversized chicken wing of yours.” She smiled sweetly, her look belying her words.

Tyler patted Jason on the shoulder with her other hand. “So why don’t you run along now, so I don’t have to plant your face on the floor. Okay, sweetie?”

With that she let him go, giving him a shove that had him stumbling to keep from ending up on the ground. Jason quickly left. Tyler looked around the restaurant that had grown silent and still during the incident. She noted a number of nods and approving looks.

“Sorry for the disruption folks, but boys will be boys,” she said wryly, sitting down as Shenin did the same.

There was laughter from a few patrons, and even a little bit of applause.

“Well, that was fun,” Shenin said, grinning, as they resumed their meal.

“Sorry, about that,” Tyler said looking chagrinned.

“You can’t help how other people act,” Shenin said.

“No,” Tyler said, “but I’m sorry that my baggage is piling up near you.”

“Ty,” Shenin said, reaching her hand out to touch Tyler’s, “I’m never going to stand by while a man acts like that toward any woman, let alone my best friend.”

Tyler smiled. “Even if it gets you splashed with gay paint?”

Shenin narrowed her eyes slightly. “There are much worse things to get splashed with, like bigoted mini p***s paint for one.”

That had Tyler laughing out loud, nearly snorting soda up her nose as she did.

“Seriously, though,” Tyler said, her look direct, “thank you for that.”

Shenin shrugged, shaking her head. “Just backing my partner’s play,” she said.

It was a simple statement, but it spoke volumes to Tyler. She knew in that moment that her faith and trust in this woman was well placed. Shenin could have easily been very put out, even angry about being involved in this kind of scene, and to be assumed to be gay as well. But none of that seemed to bother Shenin, she’d been there for her friend, no hesitation, no questions asked. It was amazing. Tyler was finding out all the time that the world was filled with amazing people.

The rest of the trip was less dramatic, and before long it was time to leave. They’d enjoyed their stay, visiting historic places such as the Dr. Samuel Mudd house, as well as touring some of the museums and veteran monuments in Washington, D.C.

As Tyler said goodbye to her parents, her father hugged her for an extra moment.

“We love you,” he told her. “We just want you to be happy,” he said then, bringing tears to Tyler’s eyes as she nodded, unable to speak for a moment.

“I love you guys too,” she finally managed.

Shenin looked on, happy for her friend, and knowing that it was what Tyler had needed to hear.

Later on the plane, while Tyler slept, Shenin reflected on the trip. She’d learned a lot about her friend in the past ten days. She’d learned that her best friend was gay. She’d also finally been able to assign the appropriate word for the way Tyler was so often: gallant. It described actions like picking up things for other women and it also described the instinctual reaction Tyler had when she’d intervened between Jason and her. Tyler was gallant, like the knights in medieval days, or the cowboys. That thought made Shenin grin; Tyler lived in her favorite cowboy boots when she wasn’t on duty and when it wasn’t hotter than Hell outside. She was also known to wear a cowboy hat on occasion. It was endlessly ironic to Shenin. What she did know was that her friend was an incredible person, and she was very happy to be associated with her.