Work Text:
Something was different.
Judy could tell by the way Violet’s shoulders sat. There was a new weight upon them. Judy watched from her desk as Violet gathered papers from Maria. Her face was expressionless, which was very unlike Violet. She at least had a grimace on her face when she was unhappy. Hm.
Violet began to walk past Judy’s desk. Judy spoke without thinking.
“Violet!” She exclaimed, surprising herself and those around her with her volume.
Violet jumped, frightened by Judy’s sudden outburst. She turned towards Judy, eyes widened.
“What?” She responded in a panic, checking her outfit to make sure nothing harmful was on her.
“Sorry! I was just wondering if you wanted to go to the deli today. A new one just opened up across town and I-”
Violet cut off Judy’s rambling.
“I can’t today, Judes. Sorry. I have a lot of work to get done.” Violet avoided her eyes. Judy’s heart sank.
“Oh… okay. Raincheck?” Judy said, trying to keep her voice steady. She smiled, but maybe it was more of a pained expression.
“Raincheck.” Violet shot her a half-hearted smile and made her way back into her office, shutting the door behind her.
Judy took a deep breath. She began organizing her desk while trying to do the same with her thoughts. Violet had never cancelled on their lunches. She enjoyed getting out of the office. Judy’s eyebrows furrowed as she tried to get back to work. Her mind, however, kept straying to the woman behind the wall. What was troubling Violet?
By the time lunch had come around, the office had cleared out. Everyone was desperate to spend as little time as possible in the walls of Consolidated. It seemed like a prison with it’s gray walls and cool lighting. Judy shivered. She finished up the report on office efficiency and set it in her drawer for when she got back. She grabbed her pink coat (her favorite) and her bag and started to head towards the elevators, but paused in her tracks. Maybe she should go make sure Violet didn’t want to go eat. Maybe she had already finished her work, but thought the invitation was no longer offered. Regardless, Judy turned on her heels and marched up to Violet’s office door and knocked.
No answer.
Maybe she was on a conference call? Judy cupped her hands to the tinted glass to get a view inside. The lights were off. She tried the doorknob, but it was locked. Violet was not in her office.
Judy felt the all too familiar tightening in her throat. Tears sprung to her eyes as she wrapped her coat closer to her body. Through blurred eyes, she managed to make her way to the elevator and hit the close button rapidly, praying no one would come on.
Violet purposefully skipped on Judy. She didn’t want to eat with her.
And she lied about it.
Judy tried wiping away the tears in her eyes before they fell, but it was too late. Hot tears streamed down her cheeks and landed on her blouse. Judy rolled her eyes at herself. She really needed to get her emotions under control.
I will not cry.
She repeated it to herself until she was sure she was okay.
Once she made her way to the parking lot, she had already made herself presentable. Being an emotional person, she had practice. Judy stepped out into the chill of the fall and shivered. She needed to buy a thicker coat. With her keys in her hand, she made her way to her car when she noticed something.
Violet’s car was still in her parking spot.
Judy’s curiosity was going to be the death of her. She began walking towards the car, squinting to see if someone was in it.
“Violet?” Judy said to herself.
Judy was standing at the passenger side window and looking at Violet, who was hunched over her steering wheel. She knocked tentatively on the window and Violet jumped for the second time that day. Violet unlocked the door and looked away as she wiped her face.
“God, Judy. You’re gonna give me a heart attack one of these days.” Violet said, still avoiding Judy’s gaze.
Judy crawled onto the bench seat and locked the door behind her.
Violet laughed humorlessly at Judy’s carefulness.
“Vi, what’s wrong?” Judy got straight to the point. They spent all day beating around the bush.
Violet’s face changed, relaxing itself into a faux content expression.
“Nothing. Nothing is wrong.” Her lip quivered, and she touched her hand to her mouth.
Without thinking, Judy grabbed her free hand with her own and began stroking circles into Violet’s smooth skin.
“Violet..” Judy spoke at almost a whisper, still trying to meet Violet’s eyes. She wanted to see her. Perhaps her eyes would tell her what was troubling her.
“It’s… complicated.” Violet wiped a tear quickly with her free hand.
“Violet, look at me.” Judy pleaded, hand coming up to Violet’s cheek. Violet faced her reluctantly, sighing as Judy’s thumb wiped away a tear. She was melting into Judy’s touch.
“You can tell me anything. I want to be here for you.”
Violet’s tears came faster after that because she was experiencing too many emotions at once. She began to sob and Judy wrapped her arms around her and pulled her into her embrace. Judy held her tight, rocking her gently as she cried into Judy’s shoulder. Judy closed her eyes and willed her own tears away. She knew being so emotional would be her downfall.
After a while, the tears slowed and Violet’s breathing had normalized, but Judy continued to hold her and stroke her hair. She never wanted to leave this proximity. She could live forever in Violet’s arms, the feeling of her soft hair against her cheek. Judy sighed. Violet pulled away and Judy managed to let her go, but clasped Violet’s hands with her own.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” Violet blurted out. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were flushed and it crushed Judy to see her like this.
“Violet.” Judy warned.
“I-.” She began to apologize again, but caught herself. She smiled weakly, looking at their clasped hands rather than Judy’s eyes.
“I have been trying to figure out how I feel about things. People, my job, and relationships to name a few. And… what’s been really hard-,” Violet stopped suddenly to look up. Big blue eyes met Judy’s.
“... is trying to come to terms with how I feel about you.”
Judy’s eyes widened. She gripped Violet’s hands tighter.
“Vi-”
“I figured it out this morning. I always knew things with you were different. I always wanted to be near you. I would always go out of my way to make sure we would touch. I always wanted to… but I never wanted to do any of that with Doralee. So I wondered. Could it be possible… that I’m attracted to women? I spoke to my therapist and she said something about “internalized homophobia.’” Violet broke their hands to do air quotes and Judy felt the breath leave her chest.
She rejoined their hands and continued.
“But it’s true. I think I might have possibly fallen in love with you.” Violet’s cheeks were flaming.
Judy was speechless.
“I don’t know what to say.” Judy spoke after a moment. Her breathing seemed to be quickening.
“We can just forget about this if you-”
“Violet, stop.” Judy tried to cut her off, but Violet was in a panic.
“No, seriously, I don’t want to make you-”
“Violet, look at me!” Judy raised her voice. Something she rarely does.
Violet’s mouth parted as she looked at Judy in shock. She had finally shut up. Judy considered her next move. There were sure to be consequences, but she was through with living in regret. She was going to take her chance.
Judy leaned forward and captured Violet’s lips in a kiss. Violet froze, then started to kiss Judy back. Time seemed to slow. They pulled away and looked at eachother. Violet smiled and Judy returned the smile, both leaning back in. Judy’s hands traveled up to Violet’s hair and Violet was exploring Judy’s back. The kiss was slow and sweet. It was exactly what they needed. Judy pulled away.
“What’s wrong?” Violet said, cheeks red and lips swollen. Tears filled Judy’s eyes for the third time that day. Good grief.
“I love you.” Judy said with a teary grin. She took Violet’s hand in hers and looked at their fingers intertwined. What a perfect fit.
“I love you too.” Violet said, trying not to sound sappy, but failing desperately. She couldn’t bring herself to care about how silly she probably just sounded. She had the woman of her dreams in her arms.
Judy grinned and their lips met for a third time.
Then a fourth.
Then a fifth.
They ended up coming back from lunch with something way more meaningful than an overpriced deli sandwich.