"Mmm, what smells good" spoke Tony as he walked through the front door of the Melana house.

"Ah, shit." Vera mumbled.

Tommy closed the Victorian stained glass door.

The three of them noticed a black woman wearing a singlet and jeans, with a white apron tied to the front of her body; the words bakers gonna bake with images of iced cupcakes stacked next to the text.

The black woman folded her arms across her chest "You forgot."

The two males looked at Vera. They knew, they've been in Vera's shoes with their own partners.

"No." Vera scrunched up her face "Business is just taking a little longer." She lied as she unscrunched her face.

She rolled her black eyes "It was one thing, Vera. One fucking thing." She looked at the two males "Food will be done in five, you can have it."

"Thanks, Z." The males chimed together.

Vera lowered her head in defeat as her girlfriend went back to the kitchen.

"Don't worry, V. Zasha will forgive you. Missus always do." Tony spoke.

Tommy and Vera looked at Tony, they both raised their eyebrow at him.

"What?" Tony stated.

"Clearly you don't know, Zash." Vera replied "Just..." She sighed "Go clean up."

The two males headed upstairs to the bathroom while Vera wondered to the kitchen.

She wrapped her arms around the waist of Zasha "Sorry, Zasha." She kissed the black woman's cheek.

"Date night, Vera. You promised me tonight would just be you and me. We planned for this." Zasha complained as Vera held her arms around the woman's waist while Zasha moved around the kitchen.

"I know" Vera had trouble keeping the simplest of promises even when it came to Zasha, Vera tried her hardest to keep her promises with her girlfriend, but Vera always managed to screw it up. "I'm sorry."

"I know you are, V." Zasha sighed before pulling away from her girlfriend's grip.

Vera and Zasha were separable no one expect for Tony and Tommy knew about Vera's relationship, everyone easily believed that Vera was an unlovable woman, they easily believed Vera went through men more than the hours in a day, but they didn't know her secret. The one secret she needed to keep from everyone. Vera had always done her best to keep her Queen safe even if it meant pretending Zasha didn't exist; it of course, hurt Zasha but she had eventually leant to deal with the ignorance.

The two of them had meet two years ago when Vera was on her way home from a meeting, she saw a woman being harassed by two males; she was close to being raped when Vera forced Tony to stop the car. With the help of Tony, the two of them managed to protect Zasha from the pain the males were willing to inflict on the black woman. They took Zasha to the hospital for her physical wounds, six months later the two of them began to date and a year later Zasha moved in with Vera.

In the public eye, the two females barely interacted with each other. Zasha carried on with her life as if Vera wasn't part of it. Running her business with no help from Vera; Zasha's Bakery.

Behind closed door, the two woman were just like teenagers with their hands all over each other.

Zasha didn't look at Vera as she spoke "Can you add two more places, please."

Vera nodded, she searched through the kitchen for two extra sets of cutlery and two extra glasses. She carried them out to the dining table and laid out the two places.

She smiled a little seeing Zasha had already laid out two places side by side, Vera never sat at the head of the table.

By the time Vera had finished laying out the extra places at the dining, Tommy and Tony had walked into the dining room. She looked up at the two males, watching as they took their seats across the females seats.

Tommy and Tony sat with their backs to the wall with the perfect view of the hall to the front entrance. Vera sat down across from them, her back to the hall of the front entrance.

Tony had never seen Vera sit at the head of the table while Tommy had only seen her sit at the head of the table possibly twice in his life since the murder of Dexter. The only person who knew why Vera very rarely sat at the head of the table was Vera herself, she refused to share why with anyone else.

The silence in the house was interrupted with sounds coming from the kitchen, Zasha could hear the three of them starting to talk.

"How many is that now?" Tony asked curiously, he had been Vera's driver long enough to know some of her secrets thought she tried her best to keep him out of the loop. She wanted Tony to strictly be her driver and not be heavily involved with aspects that could force him to it against her.

"Enough." She sighed "There's just something about them that can't do honest work." She noticed her girlfriend without her apron, walking out of the kitchen carrying two plates of food "Would you like a hand?" Vera watched as Zasha placed the plates down in front of Tony and Tommy.

Zasha shook her head before stepping back into the kitchen.

"I think we need to be careful. Three in three days, his got something up his sleeve." Vera looked at Tommy and Tony.

Zasha brought out the final two plates, she placed one plate in front of Vera and another in front of her own spot.

Zasha sat down next to Vera.

The males didn't hesitate to eat before the females had a chance to even pick up their own cutlery.

Zasha started to notice Vera picking at her food, Zasha knew that as a sign that she should be concerned about her girlfriend; Vera rarely picked at Zasha's cooking unless something was on her mind.

"It's getting close." Vera looked up at the males "I think next time we can't send..." Before Vera had a chance to finish her sentence, Zasha had cut her off "What have I said about work at the table?" Zasha looked up at her girlfriend.

"Sorry." Vera responded.

Tommy and Tony looked at each other; this wasn't new, Vera would always find something that she wasn't supposed to do, she would break another promise that she made to Zasha even though Vera never meant to.

"This is really good, Z." Tony complimented Zasha's cooking as he looked at Zasha "Maybe one day you could teach me your secrets." He joked.

Everyone knew that Tony was a microwaved food type of guy, he loved coming over to his boss's house and never turned down anything that Zasha cooked up.

"How about Ton, next time V invites you over. I'll show you my secrets."

Tony's eyes lit up "Yes, Ma'am."

Zasha laughed.

Vera smiled at the interaction between Zasha and Tony. The girls loved Tony; they didn't care how long he stayed over, nor did they care about the way he treated them. To him, they were both his daughters. To him, this was his family.

Tommy never felt jealous of the way the girls were with Tony, he never felt the need to. Tony was just the man everyone needed in their lives. Tommy aspired to be loved just like Tony.

"How's the wife, Tommy?" Zasha asked.

Tommy shrugged "She ran off with our daughter" he sighed.

"Shit, man. I'm sorry." Tony replied.

Tommy shook his head slightly "Don't be, I guess this job takes a toll on everyone and Claire just couldn't handle everything."

Vera looked at Tommy "How about you go chase after her. Go find Claire and Charlie, take as much time as you need."

Tommy shook his head again "Thanks, V.Bbut it's better if I don't."

"Tommy, don't say that. You love Claire, go chase after your family." Zasha placed her hand on Tommy's hand.

Tommy looked down at their hands; he did miss his daughter. He hadn't seen his family in three months, three months he missed Charlie's smile and his wife's touch. He looked up at Vera "I'll take that time off."

Vera smiled "That'a boy."

The rest of the dinner, the four of them joked around together while enjoying their time together.

Tony leaned back in his seat as he finished his plate, he reached for the jug of water and poured himself another glass of water "You've out done yourself, Z."

"You always say that" Zasha beamed "And I love when you do."

Vera pushed her finished plate forward slightly.

Zasha and Tommy were the last two to finish their plates.

Zasha rose from her seat "Hope you three still have room, I want you all to try something for the bakery."

Tony's eyes lit up, he loved when Zasha used them as taste testers.

Vera stood up, she and Zasha cleared the table. Vera placed the dirty dishes in the sink "Do you want me to help you carry everything out?"

Zasha shook her head "I'll manage. Now, go sit with the boys."

"Mmm...Yes, ma'am." She kissed Zasha's cheek.

Zasha couldn't help but laugh at Vera's response.

Vera sat back down in front of the two males.

"I'll leave in the morning; V. I just hope Claire is still at her parents."

"That's fine, Tommy."

Tommy had been dating Claire for seven years, they had a three year daughter. Since Tommy had spent most of his life around Vera, Claire had to struggle with sharing her partner. Claire tried to actively encourage Tommy to spend time with her, even when Claire fell pregnant, Tommy has missed almost every step along the pregnancy and almost missed the birth of his only child.

Not long after Charlie's third birthday, Claire couldn't do it. She packed up her and Charlie's stuff and just left, leaving Tommy to find a I can't do this anymore letter.

The mood in the room shifted when they noticed Zasha carrying a pink cake box. She placed the box down in the middle of the dining table "I call these strawberry essences. There white vanilla cupcakes, the middle has a strawberry in the shape of a heart. The top of the cupcake is decorated with a pink swirl and chopped strawberries." She opened the box and carefully lifted out the cupcakes.

She handed three of the cupcakes out to her family.

Tony carefully pulled away the casing of the cupcake, he took a bite.

Zasha beamed when she heard Tony's satisfising sound.

"Best ever." Tony managed to say.

Tommy and Vera both took a bite out of their cupcake, they didn't over dramatize their reaction, but they did both agree with Tony that strawberry essences was delicious.

Zasha sat back down in her seat, she reached for her cupcake before unpeeling the casing and taking a bite. She always took a bite out of her offering last; she always made a habit of watching the three of them react to her food.

Once the four of them had finished eating, Zasha took that as her cue to clean up the table.

Vera and the two males walked towards the front door

"I'll be fine without you, Tommy. Don't worry." Vera hugged Tommy; he didn't want to let her out of his arms.

"I know you will be, V" He whispered.

Vera slowly pulled out of Tommy's arms and smiled slightly.

"Bye Zasha!" Tommy called out.

"Bye Tommy!" Zasha yelled from the kitchen.

Tommy opened the front door.

"Tony, have the day off. I need to spend the day apologising to Z."

"Thanks, V." Tony didn't need to make any uncomfortable jokes to ruin the mood, when he had first meet Vera, she quickly made it clear that she didn't want any sexist jokes and if Tony were to make any than she'd quickly replace him "Night, Z!" he called out.

"Night, Tony!" Zasha called out from the kitchen.

Vera watched as Tony headed towards the car parked in the gravel driveway while Tommy walked towards the house that shared the same property as the Melana home.

She closed the front door and locked it, she turned to see her girlfriend standing by the stairs.

"So, you're going to spend the day apologising to me, huh?" Zasha smirked as she folded her arms across her chest.

Vera nodded as she stepped closer to her girlfriend and wrapped her arms around Zasha's waist "The whole day. Just you and me." She kissed Zasha's lips.

"Maybe I have plans for the day." Zasha playfully teased.

"Or maybe you can cancel them."

The females leaned their foreheads against each other.

"Not when it's work, V." Zasha tried not to ruin the mood.

"Well than I better start apologising now." Vera kissed Zasha's lips again "I'm sorry, Zasha for forgetting date night." She kissed her girlfriend's lips again.

"What else?" Zasha whispered.

"What else?" Vera felt Zasha move her arms away from her chest and around Vera's shoulders.

"V!" Zasha playfully sounded annoyed "Did you really forget? You told me to stay home today."

Vera's eyes lit up "Shit." She lowered her head "Sorry, Z." Vera had forgotten their anniversary.

"Three years, Vera." Zasha reminded her "And in that time, you still haven't remembered."

Vera lifted up her head "Well I did say I was going to apologise" She reached for her girlfriend's hand.

Before Zasha had a chance to say anything, Vera was leading her girlfriend up the stairs to their bedroom.