#|| and vaggie starts shutting it down because she knows that Lute was genuinely worried

[mxthbladed]

It was, honestly, a lot to deal with in the moment. There was so much tension and a single very strong tie between them. Vaggie had to pause when their daughter spoke but as soon as she did speak and she realized what was going on, Vaggie had to bite her lower lip to stifle the laughter that threatened to bubble up in her throat.

Esperanza grumbled, "I'm still mad at you."

Vaggie finally finished with the wounds to her legs and arms, reached out to gently brush their daughter's cheek. "Ok, mija. Time for me to clean up your face." Esper was drawn away from Lute and blinked when Vaggie grabbed her chin. "Also, I know you're upset. But we just got you back. I think we can leave that conversation for another day."

"But-"

"Mi cielo...please. We will have time to discuss what happened later..." She started to clean the cuts on Esper's face and, when her daughter winced, she murmured, "Sorry, honey." There was a bit of a pause. "We just want to savor having you back safely. That's all."

After a couple more moments of silence, Esper sighed and muttered, "Yeah...you're right..." She settled back down and leaned her head on Lute's shoulder.

"So am I, little bird." She responded, pressing a gentle kiss to Esper's temple and pulling her a bit closer. Her gaze moving back to Vaggie, Lute swallowed past a twist in her throat and just watched silently as she worked on their daughter's injuries.

Her attention was pulled back to Esperanza again when she spoke, confusion flickering across her face quickly before Lute realized what she meant. "Oh. Yes, alright." She responded, nodding slightly in agreement with a hint of relief in her expression for an instant. "Whatever you want."