———- ———–
Outside . . .
———- ———–
The crowd that had been waiting outside attempted to look like they hadn’t been eavesdropping when the two women had come out the door. Alyidana had turned to Veronica and started to say something. Then she had remembered that the other woman probably didn’t speak the language, so she pointed first at her head and then at Veronica’s. Veronica nodded.
{{ It’s . . . nice . . . to meet you, }} she sent after establishing a telepathic link. Once the link was up, she found Veronica’s mind to be very clear. She had apparently become quite adept at communicating with her mind.
{{ Likewise, I’m . . . }}
Veronica had started to respond when they heard the sounds of furniture being roughly relocated in the room behind them. Even with the door closed, there were some pretty distinct and very unflattering words coming from inside. Within a minute or so, Eliza had come storming out and made a beeline for the portal. Veronica hurried after her lover as the crowd parted to let the two women through. She noticed the looks on the onlookers’ faces, ranging from pity to disgust. She was beginning to wish that she hadn’t encouraged Eliza to come back here.
The guards at the top of the ramp looked nervous as they stepped aside. Eliza just plunged through the barrier and onto the other side, where people didn’t seem to pay her any mind at all. They were all too busy with their own lives to pay attention to one crying woman and her lover.
As soon as they hit the night air outside Point Terminal, Veronica moved to get in front of Eliza.
“Sweetheart, what . . .”
“Get out of my way,” the white-haired Hybrid said. “I think I listened to you too much already,” she added, pushing her way past.
“I didn’t mean . . .” Veronica started, but there was no one there to listen. Eliza quickly vanished into darkness. Veronica felt the tears welling up as she headed for her hotel. She wanted to chase after her girlfriend, but she knew Eliza was in no mood to listen. As soon as Veronica got up to her room and flopped down on the bed, she heard a knock on the door from the adjoining room. “Go away!” she said. Then she heard the door opening. “What part of ‘go away’ did you have a problem with?”
“It’s hard to understand you when you’re crying,” Vicky said as she sat down on the bed and stroked her sister’s hair. “I was just waiting to see how things went with your lady-friend’s folks. Not well I take it?”
“I’m not sure if she’s madder at me or her father.” Veronica rolled over and laid her head in Vicky’s lap. How many times had they consoled one another just like that after a job or relationship had gone south? “I always thought she was making it up, you know? How things were between her and her dad. But she wasn’t. He was just so . . . and I almost forced her into this stupid confrontation when I should’ve just let well enough alone.”
“You thought that things between them should’ve been more like us. And you were right to do it. Whatever happened was inevitable, and at least now they’ve gotten it out of their systems. And don’t be too hard on her father. He may actually not KNOW how to deal with this.”
“From the sounds of things, he’s NEVER known how to deal with her. Hell, I’m still having problems figuring her out, and I’ve been sleeping with her for over a year. I live in her mind half the time, so how come I didn’t just believe her?”
“You wanted a happy ending,” Vicky crooned. “And it’s never too late for happy endings.”
“I just want to go to sleep and wake up when everything’s better.”
“So why DON’T you get some sleep?”
Veronica sighed. “Damned Hybrid physiology. I don’t sleep more than a couple hours a day unless I’ve expended a hell of a lot of energy.” She looked up at her sister. “I’m glad you’re back. Sorry I had to go and have a scene on you.”
“It’s okay. You’ve always been the one to want to see the best in people, but this time it kind of bit you on the ass.” Vicky stopped and kissed her sister on the forehead. “By the way, are you comin’ home with us? I think Mom and Dad want to smother me with love and brownies, and I don’t think I can handle that much of either on my own.”
“Yeah, I guess so. I’m going to stick around for Kelik’s funeral services. I owe him that. Then . . . I just hope Eliza has calmed down by then.” She stifled a yawn. “You should have seen her . . . I never realized just how powerful she was until she and her father started breaking things. Her mother seemed nice enough . . .” She rested her head on her sister’s leg. Talking with Vicky usually helped calm her down.
“Veronica?”
“Yes?”
“After we visit with the folks, mind if I come stay with you for a bit?”
“I GUESS so,” Veronica said with exaggerated exasperation before managing a chuckle. “I’ll have to warn you though, we have some WEIRD roommates.”
————– —————–
The next evening . . .
————– —————–
Veronica stood next to Eliza, slightly separated from the rest of the crowd of mourners at the funeral services for Ambassador Kelik. The blonde woman had found her lover sitting on the steps of the hotel the next morning, her eyes having turned an indefinable shade after crying all night. Veronica had just sat down next to her lover, but Eliza took Veronica’s hand and held it. There was no blame to be allotted or apologies to be made between the two women. Eliza knew that Veronica had only meant well, and Veronica finally understood her lover’s frustration.
They had gone back up to the hotel room, gotten cleaned and dressed, then headed back across to Terra with the rest of Eliza’s team in tow. Both women made it a policy not to meet anyone’s gaze. They had gone to a teleportation station and almost instantly arrived in the small town that Kelik had lived in his younger days. They found that Thug and Tiny were already there. The trolls had been visiting some old acquaintances before the ceremony.
Things had been tense at first, when Eliza and her father saw each other, but they sat apart, didn’t speak and let the procession go on without interruption. With two trolls directly behind her, no one was about to give Eliza any trouble. Kelik’s body had been put in stasis until it could be returned to his homeworld, allowing for an open viewing and a traditional Whispering. The Whispering was a vampire tradition where mourners leaned in and told a secret to the dead so that the departing spirit could take a piece of that friend, acquaintance or loved one with him or her as they crossed to the other side.
Eliza took her turn, then Veronica. Neither asked what the other had said, and neither would intrude on each other’s thoughts to find out. As soon as the service was over, the two Hybrids headed down the small hill where Kelik had been laid to rest, vanishing into the darkness to their carriage. But there was someone waiting at the base of the hill. Eliza’s mother had whispered early so she could intercept her daughter.
[[ No matter what, I want you to know I love you, ]] the woman said. [[ And though you don’t want to hear it and probably won’t believe me, so does your father. ]]
Eliza hugged her mother, trying not to avoid crying again. [[ Would it kill him to say it? ]] she asked. [[ Just once? ]] Her mother gripped her hand for a moment then kissed her on the cheek before Eliza climbed into the carriage and signaled the driver to go.
“So you’ll be going to your parents then?” Eliza asked, desperate to ward off her sorrow with conversation. She had buried a friend in enemy territory, and she wanted so badly to escape to the safety of her compound on Earth.
“If you like, I could . . .”
“No, go,” Eliza said. “I’ll be okay. I just need to see what the gang wants to do now that we don’t have to save the world for a while.”
Veronica stared for a moment, then kissed her girlfriend slowly and softly. “In case you had any questions as to whether or not I loved you,” she said with an emphasis on “I.” “By the way, Vicky wants to come stay with us for a while afterwards. I told her that’d be alright, since I didn’t think we’d be taking any jobs anytime soon.”
“That’s fine, as long as you trust me around another lesbian that looks JUST like you,” Eliza joked feebly.
“Don’t EVEN go there,” Veronica said. “Always check the eyes before sex,” she said, pulling down on the skin just below her eyes. “And stay away from Terillia! If you start having any ‘needs,’ fall asleep between one and three o’clock in the morning.”
“See you in my dreams?” Eliza asked.
“You can count on it.”
————— ——————-
A few nights later . . .
————— ——————-
Eliza was pissed off at her mental error. She had planned on a dream meeting with her lover the previous night, but had completely forgotten the difference in time zones. She knew Veronica would never let her live that down. She felt a little foolish, having dressed for sex that would only happen in her head. Ever since the two women had established their mental link over a year earlier, their minds had gotten closer to the point where they shared very . . . explicit . . . dreams. This connection had allowed Eliza to help rescue Veronica from her kidnappers, though at a terrible price to her own health. But even while unconscious and recovering, the two women had managed to provide comfort for each other.
So while dressed in a tiny thong, a silk bra and with a faint waft of perfume floating around her bedroom, she lay underneath her covers and tried to get some shuteye.
“I just hope you’re online,” she said to the ceiling before closing her eyes.