Chapter Text
“Are you nervous?” Lia asked Cait. Who was staring out the window at the lush green Swiss countryside.
She let out a small sigh and turned to look at the girl driving, “Me? Nervous? Nope, never, I’m excited.”
They had just landed in Switzerland and had rented a car to drive to Lia’s house. Cait was about to meet Lia’s family for the first time and was feeling quite nervous, despite what she had just told Lia. Meeting a girl’s, her girlfriend’s parents was a big deal. Wasn’t it? Plus being in a new country that spoke a language that made her headache was overwhelming. She wasn’t about to tell Lia that she was a little anxious and nervous. She knew how excited she was to be back home and to see her family again.
Lia’s face lit up the moment the plane started to descend and she could see the expansive landscape of the mountains and small villages. The look in the girl's eyes was enough to make Cait’s anxiety worth the trip.
Caitlin was a complete sucker for her eyes or a simp as Beth liked to joke. But it was true, anything Lia asked Cait did with basically zero protesting. Whether that was trying something different in the bedroom or cleaning something that Cait found pointless to clean. Those eyes, could make Caitlin do the most stupid things, but they also made her feel the safest.
“Don’t be nervous, you met them on FaceTime a hundred times, and they already love you,” the girl reached over and gave Caitlin’s thigh a squeeze.
“It’s just that I have never met a girl’s parents before. What if I say something dumb, or they talk in Switzerland and I can’t understand a thing,” the words came out quicker than she expected. If Lia hadn’t guessed she was nervous, she had now.
“First off” Lia sighed “I’ve told you plenty of times we speak Swiss German, not Switzerland” Lia paused, “Plus, you would have actually had to have had a girlfriend in order to have met the parents,” Lia teased and interlocked her fingers with Cait’s.
“You're hilarious, you know.”
“Just don’t stress, they are so excited to meet you. Plus Meret is going to be there and I think she might be the most excited to meet you.”
Cait turned and looked back at the window, while absently mindedly stroking Lia’s hand that was still entangled in hers. The view was quite breathtaking. Even though she had been to a lot of beautiful places, she had never seen such beautiful scenery. The huge rolling hills were picaresque green. The big cottage-looking houses along the road that spread out into the hills made her feel like she was in the movie “The Sound of Music”. Lia explained numerous times that had been filmed in Austria, not Switzerland.
The pair pulled into a rather large-looking home, still in the same cottage style as all the others around. It had brown trim and was painted white. Flower pots were hung along the walls and scattered on the ground. It somehow wasn’t what she was expecting but yet was the perfect fit for the Walti family.
As soon as they had parked the car Lia’s parents and sister were already making their way out the front door to greet them. Lia gave Cait’s hand another reassuring squeeze and a smile to go along with it.
When she stepped out of the car Meret swallowed her in a hug. “Caitlin, so great to finally meet you,” the younger Swiss proclaimed.
Caitlin still wasn’t a huge fan of hugs, but for some reason Walti's hugs always made her feel safe and happy. She leaned into the hug, her relief vanishing with it. “Oi, great to meet you”
She turned and looked at Lia’s parents who had just finished engulfing Lia in a huge hug. “Nice to meet you as well,” she placed her hand out to shake their hands. But instead, they also brought her in for a hug.
“Welcome, glad we finally get to see each other in person”. Lia’s mom said.
They walked inside, Caitlin and Lia’s father carrying the suitcases in behind them. They hadn’t set a return date so they had brought quite a bit of clothes just in case they decided to stay for a long period of time.
The house felt warm and cozy. It still gave her that “Sound of Music” vibe. They all sat in the living room catching up. Lia and Meret kept switching to Swiss and Cait figured that it was about stuff they didn’t want her to hear about.
Lia and Cait were in the Swiss girls’ bedroom unpacking their suitcases. Well, Cait was lounging on the bed, while Lia sorted through the bags and hung clothes up.
“Are you and Meret going to be doing that this whole trip?” Cait asked
“Doing what?” Lia said without turning away from the wardrobe.
“Whispering and talking in Switzerland”
“Swiss,” Lia said and Cait could hear her eyes roll, “but I don’t know what you are talking about.
“You don’t know what I am talking about?” Cait sat up on the bed now. “You don’t know that you keep switching to talk to Meret in Swiss . You know that hurts my head”.
Lia just shrugged.
“Fine, I’m going to talk to Meret,” Cait said getting off the bed to leave the room.
Lia turned her face pouting. Cait walked over and placed a slow long kiss on the Swiss girl’s lips. Lia returned with three kisses on Caitlin’s cheek.
“I have to make sure she likes me,” Cait said before leaving the room.
----
Cait found Meret in her old bedroom and knocked on the door before entering.
“Come in,” Meret called from the other side of the door.
Cait opened the door and stood there a little awkwardly, “Hey, how is it going.”
“Good,” Meret cocked her head to the side raising her eyebrows, “you can come sit, you know.” and patted to a spot on the bed next to her.
“I need to ask you a favor,” she said as she sat crisscrossed on Meret’s bed.
“Of course.”
“Where is Lia’s favorite place to eat around here? Nowhere in England is open, and I want to take Lia on a proper date.” Cait said.
Meret smiled, “There is a restaurant in Thun, called Dampfschiff, It is one of her favorite places. It's right on the water and beautiful.”
“Awesome, thanks,” Cait fell silent again, not sure what to say. She hadn’t really ever spoken to Meret alone, besides a few seconds on Facetime. But even then Lia was usually next to her. She had so many things she wanted to ask. She wasn’t really having doubts about her relationship with Lia, but she couldn’t lie that part of her always wondered if she was just a rebound. Or at least was a rebound at first.
Meret must have noticed something in Cait’s eyes, she was just staring at her. Caitlin felt like she was reading her mind, could see all the questions and insecurities she had.
“You know she’s head over heels for you, don’t you?” Meret said as if Caitlin had the question plastered across her forehead.
The Aussie let out a slight sigh of relief. She had known it to be true, but to hear it from Meret was refreshing. No one knew Lia better then her sister, it took all doubt away from her mind.
“I’m not sure how I got her, but I might be the luckiest person ever.”
“Just so you know I might be a pacifist, but I have no problem destroying your life if you hurt my sister.” Meret’s face turned into a wicked grin before returning to a smile.
“Losing your sister from my life would be destroying it,” Caitlin said with a deep sigh.
----
Meret wasn’t wrong. The restaurant had a breathtaking view of Thun lake. Cait stared at the menu wide-eyed, the words seemed all scrambled together and she had no idea what she was looking at. But if she was honest most of her attention was on the brown-haired green-eyed girl sitting across from her. It was still light out and the sun was hitting her eyes just right that they were sparkling.
“Lia, can you please read me this menu. I don’t know what any of these words say,” Cait proclaimed setting her menu down and sliding to sit closer to Lia menu. Her hand slipped to lightly rest on top of the girl’s thigh. The Swiss was wearing a skirt so Cait’s hand made contact with the girl’s skin, and she gave a slight shudder at the touch.
“You really need to learn Swiss, sweetie,” Lia said.
“There is no way I can learn Switzerland, I barely know English,” Cait said with a laugh.
“It’s just Swiss,” Lia rolled her eyes, “How about I order for you?”
“That sounds great,” Cait said and moved back over to her side of the table.
“How did you know that this was my favorite restaurant? Is that why you ran off to talk to Meret?” Lia questioned.
“Well, I wanted to take you on a proper date, since I haven’t been able to” Cait started “But I also wanted to get to know Meret. She told me some embarrassing stories of you.”
“What! What did she say?”
“Sorry babe, I am sworn to secrecy” Cait laughed and Lia rolled her eyes.
Lia order their food when the waitress came back over with their glasses of wine. Cait tried to follow along with their conversation, pretended to at least. She would nod her head every once in a while when the waitress would look at her. Which come to think of it was a lot granting she wasn’t saying anything, just looking at the two with a blank stare.
They went ahead and places an appetizer and the meals at once since Lia had been there plenty of times and knew exactly what she wanted. Caitlin was fully aware that Lia probably ordered something she like so she could eat some of it. For as healthy as Lia was, she was always picking food off of Caitlin’s plate. She would try to be sneaky about it and distract Caitlin by pointing to something out the window. But Caitlin always knew, cause when she would turn back Lia’s mouth would be full and have a cheeky little grin on her face. That and the fact that every time Caitlin fell for it she could never see what Lia was pointing too.
Their food came and went, it was all very delicious. Caitlin hardly knew what she was eating or how to pronounce it even though Lia tried to teach her multiple times. She was right, Lia ordered Caitlin her second favorite dish from the restaurant because she wanted both.
They decided to take a walk after dinner along the lake to take in the sights. Caitlin had to admit Switzerland was more beautiful than she thought. Their hands were tangled together as they walked along a path. They were telling stories from their childhood. Caitlin had just finished tell Lia about the time that Alanna and her were meant to race against each other in a track meet. They are always going up against each other from a young age, their schools were rivals so it was always a big deal. In this race, Cait had tried to jump the last hurdle and face-planted straight on the ground. Alanna still brought it up, whenever they were around each other.
Caitlin was in her own world when Lia started telling a story about her childhood. All she could think about was how much she loved this girl. She wanted to say, had wanted to for a while now, but wanted the moment to be perfect. And as beautiful as this scene was with the sun setting over the mountains, walking hand and hand along the lake, it still didn’t feel good enough. Caitlin knows that Lia deserves nothing but the best.
“You aren’t listening to me are you?” Lia stopped and turned to face Cait, tilting her head to the side.
“I’m sorry, I got distracted”
“What were you thinking about?” Lia pressed.
“Just how happy I am with you, and how beautiful the country is,” Caitlin answered with a slight blush, which matched the Swiss’s.
The Swiss wrapped her arms around the Aussie’s neck and pulled her in for a kiss. It was simple but Caitlin could feel the passion and love behind it. Before she even realized what she was doing three words slipped out of her mouth, smooth and soft “I love you”.
Lia pulled back slightly looking at Cait’s face, staring into her eyes. Which were wide and searching the Swiss back. She was waiting for her to say it back, or anything really. But the girl just looked at her for a moment. Then she let out a soft laugh.
“Umm, I’ve never said that before, but something tells me a laugh isn’t the right response,” Cait said letting go of the girls waist.
“That’s not the first time you’ve said it,” Lia said. Caitlin's expression turned to confusion, “you really don’t remember do you?”
“Remember what?” Cait asked.
“You have already told me that. At first, I thought you just didn’t mean to say it, but you must have really forgotten”
“Wait when did I say it?” Cait asked as her confusion grew. She could not think of a time when she would have said it and forgotten about it.
“On our walk home, from Leah’s”
“How come you never mentioned it?”
“Well I was going to, but then you said you had not remembered anything from that night.” Lia paused, “to be honest I wasn’t sure if you meant it because you were drunk.”
Caitlin took Lia’s hands in hers “I may not remember it, but I meant it. I mean it.” She said with one of her charming but sincere smiles.
Lia face blushed a bright red, “I love you too”.
Caitlin hadn’t expected those words to do so much to her. They made her heart race and stop all at the same time. They sent chills throughout her body as Lia’s touch did. They made her nervous and at home all at once.
That wasn’t the first time she had heard someone tell her that they loved her. But for the first time she knew that she meant it, and that she also felt the same way. She felt so much happiness with this bossy Swiss girl.
She pulled the Swiss in and placed her hands on her waist, this kiss was much longer and full of more passion.
“We should head home,” the Swiss said when she pulled back and started dragging Cait back to their car.