Always the Same

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Takes place after Graduation

Lucy had been acutely aware that her parents were planning to attend graduation. She was just as aware that at least one of them wouldn't know how to be quiet. It seemed when it came to the Serrano family, shouting in the middle of the ceremony itself was just protocol. Sure, her father was proud of her. But did he really have to say it? To everyone? Not to say she didn't love it. Of course, part of her had to. She hadn't managed to see them properly for over a year, and the journey with a little kid in tow mustn't have been easy.

But when the ceremony was over, they weren't the first people she went for. She sort of banked on the fact that she could disappear into the haze of students long enough to catch her counterpart. Just like she had last year. And just like last year, she met her lips with an excited force of pressure and a deserving smile. Because it was over, right? She got to leave now. They got to move on, together.

It was short lived, because interruption was about to catch her in the form of a six foot bloke with long dark hair and a lion on his forearm. She should have expected it - Luka Serrano always knew how to make an entrance - but she hadn't. Familiar, strong arms wrapped around her waist and hauled her away from the contact with significant force and a boisterous laugh. Ripped out of the contact by a man who rightly had no boundaries, but every interest in forcing her into a hug that dragged her off her feet completely.

"C'mere, you!" He called, after the fact.

Her own hands were quick to press to his to absolutely no avail; "No, dad, c'mon-"

"You're not getting away that easy, love!"

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

They'd been waiting for this. There had been a time where Penny herself had doubted Lucy would graduate. She recalled the only yearbook she had written in; congratulating her on finally graduating, later finding out it wasn't the case. Two years late, but Lucy still did it, and for that she was proud of her counterpart.

It was impossible to not know that her family was present. Although Penny had distanced herself from them during the ceremony, they were loud. She clapped while her counterpart's name was announced and her diploma handed to her, but she was sure it wasn't heard over the booming voice of Lucy's father.

Once the ceremony ended, Penny was quick to her feet. So often invisible in a crowd, Lucy was still just as quick to find her in the mass of students and families. Her hands instantly found the ink manipulator's cheeks, pressing palms against them as she felt a smile against her lips. Were Penny herself not smiling, feeling her do so certainly would have dragged one out of her own.

Unaware and uncaring of who might have noticed or seen them, the sudden lack of contact as her counterpart was quite literally ripped away from her came as a shock. She sucked in a sharp, desperate breath, eyes opening wide to the sight of Luka Serrano. Her hands remained mid air, where Lucy had only just been, for a spare moment before they dropped to her sides, taking in the sight of father and daughter.

Although her chest was heaving already, she pressed her lips tightly together, not daring to interrupt.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"I mean, come on." Her father continued, without missing a beat and without acknowledging the other person in the midst of the moment. Yet. Because he was proud of himself now. At least, proud enough to gloat; "You thought you could skirt your mum and me after we've come all this way-"

" Please-" Lucy had tried weakly, but she wasn't fighting him any more. Not physically, anyway.

"After she's been dying for this since you were sixteen. Did you forget you coulda graduated so early?"

"...No."

"And I kept saying 'No, love, she's not an idiot. She'll make a decent go of it.' And bloody well look at you now!" Another squeeze to the oldest Serrano daughter's form, and she couldn't help the shot of air that fell from her lips on a laugh. After all, he did have a point. And despite the difficulty, he was genuinely proud of her graduation.

"I get it, I get it; yay graduation- Can you put me down now?"

Sure enough, Luka was slow to comply. He allowed her feet to touch the ground, but arms were still fastened around her waist with too much precision to get out. Lucy felt her nose crinkle when he leaned in to rest his chin against her shoulder. "God knows how much she cried when you left!" He pressed on, only then sharing a glance towards the girl he'd ripped his daughter from. A knowing grin and a short wink for the British one he'd heard so little about before he leaned in to press his face against Lucy's with force; "Almost as much as you did!"

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penny was at a loss; other than through Skype, she had never gotten the chance to see Lucy in the company of her parents. Getting a glimpse of it now was a sight within itself. She tried not to look so surprised by the exchange. Or how alike the pair were, more than the lion tattoo they shared. Her eyebrows rose as Lucy's father quite literally held her in the air, but more, the laugh that passed Lucy's lips in the end.

As annoyed as she tried to look, it was seeming to fail on some level. Penny's lips remained pressed together, although this time to keep her own amusement at bay. There were few things that Penny found funny, but a squirming Lucy Serrano in the arms of her vocally proud father was certainly one, coupled with the fact that Lucy should have - in theory - graduated four years ago. It was something to hold onto.

Her amusement was short lived, however, once bright blue eyes landed on her. Although a short exchange between herself and the Serrano father, she was taken aback by the wink offered to her. It was friendly in nature, but Penny by default was not, and thus she averted her gaze back to Lucy. Thank goodness he did too, even better as he continued to prod his daughter.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

The lack of a warm response was hardly something that could discourage the confidence in Luka Serrano. Seconds in his daughter's presence and there were obvious strings that interlocked their personalities. It was the very reason why he hadn't let go; why he couldn't. A year was far too much time to distance families, considering Lucy couldn't be away from her counterpart for a week without being rendered somewhat useless.

"So where can we go, huh?" He asked, hands easing away from her waist slowly. Just enough to circle her shoulders instead, "This is bloody huge! Gotta do something for it!"

Lucy was fast by proxy to raise her hands again, this time pressing her palm to the familiar lion that sat so perfectly on her father's forearm. A year with no attention and it looked a little worse for wear; she didn't need to look to know it felt faded. "We don't. Seriously, it's okay." She tried eventually, "It's not a big deal." But it was, and everyone knew it. Even she couldn't believe the words that passed her own lips.

"Not a big deal?" He repeated instinctively, "You gotta be fucking kidding me!" And just as instinctively, he cringed, losing the amused grin that suited him so perfectly. His bright eyes searched the British girl again. "Sorry, love." He offered, turning his head a second later to press his lips quickly against the ink manipulator's cheek; "She doesn't like swearing, does she?"

"Not a whole lot, no." Lucy replied, and this time the way she laughed was far more genuine.

"How the bloody hell does she put up with you?"

Immediately, Lucy's eyes searched for her counterpart. She sought some kind of understanding, or at least recognition. From what little her parents did know, they at least knew enough to grasp that. So she raised her eyebrows up a hair, as if finding some kind of daring spark; "Sparingly?" Lucy asked, though she wondered if her love could consider something more fitting.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penny kept her distance, although she never viewed it as anything negative. Watching Lucy interact with her parents from an outside perspective was more enthralling than the Brit could have imagined. It gave light to another side of Lucy. For once, the psychometrist wanted to watch the social encounter. So she remained quiet, the corner of her mouth twitching upward in the slightest, hidden by an index finger as she brought her hand to her mouth briefly. Not one for celebrations, even Penny knew well that this was a big deal.

Cursing proved to draw the same response out of Penny regardless of where it came from. Her nose crinkled as the other Australian swore. She was almost late in catching his gaze, having been looking at Lucy, but the distressed features quickly turned surprised as an apology passed his mouth. More, the nickname tagged along with it.

Were it not for the laugh that passed her love's lips, she might have gotten caught up in the exchange, and as if on cue, the wrinkle at the bridge of her nose formed again at another curse.

Dark eyes easily met those equally so, and Penny felt relieved for the connection. What Lucy searched for was what was given in the exchange of eye contact. Eyebrows rose to match pace as Lucy's response turned a question. And there, Penny exhaled with the lightest amount of amusement. Hardly a laugh, but humor still existed as it briefly flashed across her features. "Forgivingly." She offered.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

The response Lucy received was one she wasn't quite sure she deserved. She easily remembered the moment where she offered to swear less; despite the stipulation she put in place, it was more often than not that she failed. The corner of her mouth dragged up instinctively, twisting into something far more genuine as seconds passed. But she could hardly forget the presence of the person who pressed their face right against hers.

"Anyone ever told you you're a bit useless with introductions?" Luka started again, perfectly cementing himself back in the moment.

"You picked me up!"

Hands pressed to her shoulders instead, offering a reassuring pat at either side; "Still had your mouth, didn't you?"

Lucy breathed a heavy sigh, definitely feeling the sting of suddenly being younger than she actually was. She supposed it was the difficulty with parents, but it never got any easier to deal with. "Dad," She tried, curling fingers around his wrist and gently easing it over her shoulder and towards her counterpart, "This's Penny." Penny? Was that right? That was what she called her, but she didn't know anyone else who wore the right to, "She's my- We're- She's Penny."

Failure in its greatest form, and Lucy had to wonder just how bad it might have sounded. Though she could manage the all important words to the psychometrist, figuring out how to to other people still seemed and felt incredibly foreign.

"Luka," He offered finally, "Good to actually get to meet you."

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Eye contact proved more telling than ever; a way to communicate without actually offering much of a verbal response in front of the Australian's family. However, Penny was the first to break it was her eyes flicked downward to the smile Lucy wore. She lingered a little too long, because within the next moment the ink manipulator's father was working back into the conversation again. It had never occurred to her that a proper introduction was missing, and before she could point out that it was somewhat unnecessary due to the fact that she knew who he was, and he her, the pair were already at it again.

She looked to the hand that was being directed at her, or rather, the hand that was doing the directing. Slowly, she followed the contours of Lucy's arm until it met her shoulder, then the line of her neck and finally to her eyes as she introduced the Brit with a name only she could rightly get away with calling her. Still, Penny made no attempt to correct her, already planning to do so if it were brought up.

Because she was struggling. It had been some time since she saw Lucy fumble in such a way when it came to affection. Parents always made a situation different, and this seemed to be the case. In the end, however, she couldn't help the desperate way she looked at her counterpart wishing to reach out to her. The explanation might have been seen as a failure to some, but so few often described the psychometrist as anything, and what Lucy ended up with was oddly perfect. She was Penny, to her.

She smiled weakly to the Serrano father, trying her best to display genuine emotion despite the sudden hit of nerves that sparked through her veins. "A pleasure." She responded in turn with a tilt of her head downward. Her hands found each other, index and forefinger coming together around the only ring she wore, twisting it with unconscious moment.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

When his hand collided with an unfamiliar one, Luka squeezed it lightly. He offered the slightest shake; just a simple drag up and an equal one back down before he let go. Or perhaps it was the hand on his arm that dragged him back before he got to keep contact for too long. For the psychometrist's benefit, of course. After all, Lucy was acutely aware of just how infrequently she made contact with others.

And rather than fight it, her father seemed to take the hint. More to the point, his attention could only be flagged by the way the girl he just met seemed to fiddle. Or rather, what she fiddled with.

"Wait a second." Quick to the charge, he shifted a hand from her shoulder and curled it around her wrist, dragging her left hand into view. His eyes widened, and she held her breath at what she knew was coming next; "Lucy Ellis Serrano."

"Shit."

"You're getting married?"

"Dad-"

"They're getting married!" He repeated, turning over his shoulder to catch sight of the woman who finally found them in the dwindling crowd. Her mother - often defined as the matriarch of the Serrano house, and for good reason - was taking perfect strides to meet them. And she was always impossible to ignore. Much less the toddler held at her hip so expertly.

"Did you know?" Luka asked her.

"No, I didn't." She replied, and despite the lack of a chill to her tone, Lucy felt herself grow exceedingly tense.

But the second they got close enough, the little hands of the youngest daughter were reaching for the oldest, and even Ellis Serrano lost the nerve to ignore her evident needs. Nothing could cut the potential ice Lucy wore like the presence of the proverbial supernova.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

The contact with Lucy's father was short, and Penny was incredibly thankful for that, sparing a glance towards her counterpart, sure that she was somehow insuring it was so. He seemed like the hugging sort, from the small exchange she witnessed, and thank god he didn't try such affection with the Brit who wouldn't have known how to handle it.

Penny rarely fiddled, but the band of metal she wore was one of the few items the psychometrist felt comfortable playing with, never doing so on purpose, and certainly never to draw attention to it, either.

She hadn't an idea that they didn't know. Confusion flashed within her dark eyes momentarily as Luka called out his daughters name in full. It only grew as Lucy's single word response put a sour note in her features, only to clear away with the widening of her eyes. Her jaw almost dropped at the sudden news Lucy's parents received, her own surprise turning to Lucy as she silently asked her if this was really happening.

How could she have not told him? Or her?

Her gaze shot over to yet another Australian accent, catching sight of the head of the Serrano household, and then to the little hands that reached out towards Lucy. Briefly, her lips parted to speak, but words failed her at the most critical of times. Or possibly, silence was best. She was sure to hear enough from her parents in due time.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

A vacant stare and a dropped jaw were the only things Lucy could give to the familiar eyes she loved when they offered that silent question. Sure, she could have tried to explain herself then and there, but between her father, mother and youngest sister, she doubted she'd manage to get a word in at all.

Especially because she had to turn her attention away to meet her mother. Perfectly cradling a kid with one arm, Ellis curled her free hand around the back of Lucy's neck, following the motion inward to briefly press her lips to the top of her head; stoic silence did so suit the head of the household perfectly. The exchange might have been short, but at the very least, it was enough to make the ink manipulator feel a little less tense. At least she wasn't in any kind of trouble. Well, she assumed not.

And the closeness was a perfect way to exchange just who held her youngest sister, Nova. Small arms were quick to loop around her neck when she was in that proximity, and in turn Lucy hooked an arm around her legs to press her close. When she was free of their mother's grasp, her other arm circled the small form against her own and - in the small, minimal amount of time she was given before the conversation could flare up again - she squeezed her with a few steps away from her parents.

"Okay, okay," Lucy tried, pausing to press her lips against the smaller face twice in succession. And on the third time, she couldn't help the way she lingered, her nose crinkling at the smile she received in turn. "You can't get mad." And really, the statement was an open one for everyone to take. Even her own tone took a lighter edge now that she held something so precious, like she lost the drive to argue before the argument had even started.

"I'm not mad," Luka insisted. Then sure enough, his eyes landed on the Brit again. Of all the people in the Serrano family, he was by far the easiest to read. With his attention drawn, he extended his arms out and threatened a step towards her.

"Don't;" Lucy shot a hand up briefly, allowing it to collide with her father's chest to stop him in his tracks, "I don't even like it when you hug me."

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Although her question was answered with nothing in return, Penny should have expected as much considering she hadn't verbally let it hit the air as it was. No doubt, her counterpart had caught the look Penny had offered her, but everything was moving so fast that even if Lucy had wanted to answer it, she doubted the Australian had the time. From the moment her father dragged her away to the sudden unexpected news of marriage, Penny could barley keep up.

Especially now that Lucy was holding a baby. Dark eyes remained transfixed on the ink manipulator and the little one she held so close. From the way her nose crinkled, and the smile that Nova Serrano wore, Penny lost her breath, unable to regain it for the moments that passed. Even as the ink manipulator addressed everyone, Penny couldn't help but to think it was spoken towards Nova with defined purpose.

Even so, she certainly hoped that her parents wouldn't be mad. Between the news itself and the fact that Lucy hadn't informed them of it, it could easily be a first step in the wrong direction as means of introductions. Getting off on the wrong foot was the last thing Penny had wished for.

She was oblivious to the bright blue set of eyes on her, her own transfixed on the eldest and youngest of the Serrano siblings. It wasn't until Luka had taken a step did he sudden show back up on the Brit's radar, and with wide eyes she instinctively took her own step towards Lucy. Easily seen as a rude move, a quiet breath of relief passed her lips as a familiar hand went to stop him for her sake. Again, she looked to Lucy, this time with a more genuine look of thanks.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy could tell when her counterpart felt overwhelmed. Truth be told, she was certain that overwhelming quality was going to be an inevitable feeling when it came to eventually meeting anyone in her family. Parents were daunting; meeting them was obviously - and rightfully - nerve wracking. This time last year, Lucy could easily attest to just how difficult it was to handle that first point of contact; she had been positive for so long that she ruined it all just by being who she was. So if there was anything she could do to make it easier, she would. It was why her hand had found her father's chest so quickly. It was why she kept him at bay, fueled predominantly by how Penny had stepped closer to her in the first place.

And she knew he wouldn't take it personally. He never did. It took a lot to move him into feeling offended; he could brush off just about anything with a smile like the one he offered in response.

"So we totally don't have to talk about it right now." Lucy quickly conceded, intent to pick up the pace where they'd dropped it. Aside from the point, she could hardly help the rhythmic bounce another life had brought to the way she stood at the center of everyone's attention.

Her mother was silent. Stoic and watching with an obvious hint of amusement playing at the corner of her mouth. "Guessing I don't wanna know how long it's been a go?"Lucy's father asked anyway, that sense of chiding hovering about his tone. As if he could ever really shake it off.

Immediately, a higher pitched hum passed the ink manipulator's mouth. Dark eyes went from looking at her dad to looking at her sister, and any guilty notions quickly managed to melt with a broad enough smile. A quick twitch from her mouth and a crinkle to her nose in a split second and everything was fine again. Because a small green dragon was shaking itself to life, and she had to drag her free hand into the sight line of the smallest eyes in the group for that.

"We can fight about it over dinner. Y'know, like most families do." Lucy finally replied, eyes widening with those nearby, though hers in a feigned sense of wonderment as the smaller tattoo ran lengths around the curve of her arm. When she dropped her eyebrows, she searched for her love's eyes again, refusing to cringe at how minor hands slapped against her arm to try and catch the dragon. "You're not allowed to say no." She added, because she couldn't dis-invite herself like Lucy had to the mirrored proposition last year.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Stepping closer to Lucy was her only real defense against the Serrano parents. Although they both seemed friendly enough in nature, especially her father, there was still a nervous lump in the psychometrist's throat over the interaction. Within touching distance, Penny's fingers twitched with the desire to reach out to her counterpart. However, her hands were busy, and Penny couldn't help but to watch the dragon ease itself to life as little hands tried to make a catch for it.

That was one way to avoid a question, and at that point, Penny was thankful it had been skirted for the time being. Not informing her parents of an engagement was bad enough as it was, she couldn't imagine how it would go when they learned it'd been almost seven months.

Taking it to a dinner table seemed appropriate, and Penny gave a small nod of her agreement. Although it was barely a tilt of her chin, at least she wouldn't be there for it.

"What?" The thought cut short as her gaze went straight for Lucy again, eyes meeting her familiar ones. A shot of stress ran through her features in a brief moment of anxiety. Last year, Lucy had managed to get away from dinner with her parents. Now, however, they were another step forward in their relationship. Could she say no?

"You haven't seen them in a year." Penny argued weakly, eyebrows raising in her defense.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Surprise seemed to shake Penny more than it usually would. It must have seemed a little strange when all Lucy could do was smile. It was as if nothing - not even the prying nature of her interested parents - could dent the mood she'd found.

But her love was stressed. Lucy could see it from the look in her eyes to the tension in her jaw. And then Lucy felt the negative connotations that came with having collective sets of eyes on her. Part focused on the parents who waited for her, the ink that circled her skin and of course, the person who looked at her like that.

"Don't you want to?" She asked, her voice finding a much more genuine tone than it might have in any other moment. The threat of what could only be a type of anxiety bubbled in the back of her mind; the last thing she wanted to do was make her counterpart any more overwhelmed than she probably already was.

Quickly, she took a chance. Her hand breached the distance between them, and she pressed her palm against her shoulder lightly; "That's okay."