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A good dose of sun and recent rain has left the park lush and green, the smell of grass and blossom strong as Eve walks along the footpath to their destination.
“So, Kenny,” she asks her colleague, “how’s Audrey?”
“Um, fine.”
“She got over the whole ‘firefighting is dangerous’ thing yet?”
Kenny sighs, and Eve looks over her shoulder to watch him tug a little at his thick uniform in the late spring warmth.
“She’s getting there.” He says. “At first she thought it was attractive, she told everyone she was dating a firefighter. I guess that wears off after a while though.”
Eve gives him a sympathetic smile.
“Subtle reminders that you’re a selfless hero work, I’ve found.”
Kenny scoffs a little.
“Not sure I’m capable of singing myself those kinds of praises.”
“What!” Eve laughs. “If we don’t get to brag about saving lives then what do we get? It’s a perk of the job! If I have to deal with the smell of ash never leaving my curls then I’m damn well going to give myself a good pat on the back for doing all this.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Kenny mumbles with a smile.
Eve readjusts the heavy ladder under her arm, jostling Kenny a little as they carry it between the two of them.
“How much further did they say she was?” Eve asks, eyes searching through the dense tree coverage in their area of the park.
“Should be just up ahead.”
Sure enough, a few people stand at the base of a tall tree, trunk gnarled and thick with age and branches sturdy and wide, the perfect kind of branches for climbing. The people are staring up, covering their eyes from the sun and squinting. Eve sighs. She hates when this sort of thing draws a crowd.
“Okay people,” Eve calls as they approach, “it’s just a cat up a tree, off you go, nothing interesting happening here.”
The people slowly meander away, throwing glances back as Kenny and Eve set the ladder down against some large roots curling out of the ground. One woman hangs back.
“Hi, I made the call about the poor cat.” The woman tells them. “I didn’t want to leave until you got here.”
“Thank you,” Eve nods at her, “so, it’s up this tree?”
“Yeah,” the woman looks uneasy and glances up, “but-”
“No need to worry, we’ve done this hundreds of times.” Eve says. “You can go now, carry on with your day.”
“Uh, okay, but…” the woman trails off, pointing upwards.
Eve and Kenny follow her gaze.
“Oh for god’s sake.”
There’s a woman in the tree.
Eve takes a deep breath in to calm herself.
“Ma’am, what are you doing up there?” Eve calls up.
“Saving a cat.” The woman shouts down. She holds a small bundle of brown fur out. “Obviously.”
“Jesus, don’t dangle it.” Eve groans. “Just, keep it close.”
Eve turns to Kenny.
“Okay, this just got slightly more complicated.”
“Why is she up there?”
“Saving a cat!” The woman’s voice comes from above. “Why is this hard to understand?”
“How were you planning on getting back down?” Eve tries to keep the exasperation from her voice. She sees the woman shrug, cat wriggling in its grasp.
“Climb down, obviously.”
“And you haven’t because…?”
The woman doesn’t say anything.
Eve looks at Kenny.
“She’s stuck in the damn tree.” She puts her hands on her hips. “This just became a rescue operation.”
“I’m not stuck!” The woman yells. Eve turns to stare up at her. From what she can tell through the branches, the woman is blonde and slim, wearing blue jeans and a loose grey T-shirt and holding a cat to her chest that seems to have spread all four of its limbs out to grab hold of as much of the woman as possible.
“Who are you?” The woman shouts.
“Fire department.” Eve calls up. “Got a call about a stuck cat. Wasn’t expecting a stuck woman, too.”
“You’re a firefighter?”
Eve looks down at her uniform, which she thought made it quite obvious, then frowned back up at the woman.
“Yes?”
“Huh,” the blonde says, leaning back against the trunk, “aren’t you a little short to be a firefighter?”
“Aren’t you a little old to be stuck up a tree?”
“I’m 27!” The woman yells indignantly. Eve throws her arms out.
“And that is 20 years too many to be stuck up a tree”
“I am not stuck.” The woman snaps.
Eve rolls her eyes.
“Uh huh.”
“I’m not!” The blonde yells. She has an accent, Eve notes, Eastern European maybe. “I was helping the cat like a good citizen, then decided to… stay up here.”
“Okay,” Eve smiles a little, “come down then.”
The woman pauses, adjusting the cat.
“...no.”
Eve groans a laugh and drags a hand over her face.
“You can’t stay up there, it’s dangerous.”
“Is there a law against it?”
Eve purses her lips.
“No-”
“Will I be arrested if I do not come down?”
“No, but-”
“Then I will stay in the tree. By my own choice.”
Eve sighs, looking to Kenny for help who just shrugs.
“What about the cat?” Eve calls up.
“What about it?”
“Well, the cat clearly doesn’t want to be up there.”
“And how do you know that?” The blonde asks haughtily.
Eve laughs, entertained yet irritated.
“I can see it digging its claws into your arms from here.”
“He’s fine.” The woman barks. “He’s just excited.”
“Excited?”
“About being up the tree.”
Good lord, this woman was a character. Eve rubs her face with both hands this time before checking her watch. She really doesn’t want to be here for too long, and dreads the thought of having to get the police involved to coax this damn blonde out of a tree.
“Okay,” Eve calls, “the cat needs to come down. Can I come and get it, if you’re not going to? Is it even yours?”
“Yes it’s mine!”
“Uh huh,” Eve deadpans, “what’s its name?”
The blonde stays silent for a few seconds.
“...Bird.”
Eve closes her eyes.
“Your cat is called Bird?”
“Yes,” the woman says firmly, “he… loves heights.”
“Alright,” Eve turns to Kenny and indicates the ladder, “come on, let’s get this open and up.”
The pair pick up and turn the ladder, extending it to the height needed then slowly leaning it against the tree trunk, maneuvering it within the thickest branches. They dig the bottom in and make sure it’s sturdy.
“Ladder ready.” Kenny declares.
“What?” The blonde calls down. “Why?”
“To get Bird down.” Eve says loudly, stepping into the bottom rung.
“What bird?”
Eve rolls her eyes and clunks her forehead gently onto the metal in front of her.
“Your cat?” She drawls.
“Oh, right. Bird.”
“That cat doesn’t belong to you, does it.” Eve states.
The woman huffs and rearranges the cat again.
“Okay fine, no, but it was stuck and I was being a vigilante.”
“That’s wonderful,” Eve says sarcastically, “a true asset to society, now will you please get ready to pass me the cat.”
Eve is a few steps up now, and the blonde only just seems to notice.
“You’re coming up here?” She sounds alarmed.
“Yes.”
“Up the ladder?”
Eve gives her a look.
“Well I’m not going to fly up.”
The woman makes a sound then, a surprised huff of laughter.
“Oh,” she says through a smile, “you’re funny.”
“Thanks,” Eve grumbles, slowly climbing, “it’s a requirement for firefighting.”
“Because you have to do things like save cats from trees?”
“Because we have to do things like save women from trees.”
“I don’t need saving!” The woman says shrilly. “I’m not stuck!”
“Sure, whatever,” Eve says flippantly, and this woman’s persistence would be impressive if it wasn’t so annoying, “get ready, okay?”
“Okay.” The woman concedes. Eve watches as she pulls the cat up to her face, staring it in the eye. From this distance Eve can see the sharp slope of the woman’s jaw and the brightness of her skin. The woman sighs at the cat, dramatically. “Goodbye, Bird. You were a good cat and a good bird, I’ll never forget the time we shared- agh!”
Eve’s head snaps back up from its focus on removing an obstructing branch.
“Are you alright?”
The blonde is holding the cat away from her now, precariously dangling it once more and making Eve speed up her climb.
“He scratched my face!” The woman shouts angrily.
“Yeah he’s stuck up a tree, ma’am, he’s probably scared shitless.”
“Don’t call me ma’am.”
And for the first time, Eve is close enough to see the woman’s eyes, narrowed and glaring at Eve, maybe hazel in colour and shining beneath the dappled sunlight breaking through the leaves and branches.
Typical that the crazy cat lady stuck up a tree would be attractive.
“Okay,” Eve nods, “what shall I call you?”
“Villanelle.” The woman tells her grumpily. “And who are you?”
“Eve.” She says. She reaches Villanelle and the cat, finally face to face with the honestly unfairly good-looking woman and the incredibly pissed off looking cat. “Pass him to me and I’ll take him down, then I’ll be back for you.”
Villanelle hands the hand over happily, seemingly done with the hero charade as soon as the animal left those three blood red scratches across her rosy cheek. Eve winces.
“We’ll need to look at those cuts when you come down.”
Villanelle crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow at Eve.
“ If I come down.”
Eve rolls her eyes and shrugs.
“Okay.” She says as she holds the cat to her chest and begins to climb down.
Kenny is there as soon as her foot touches the ground, scooping the cat from her arms and popping it in a crate after checking its collar.
“Huh. That cat’s name is Dog.”
“ Dog ?” Eve whirls on him, bewildered. “Jesus, that’s worse than Bird. Don’t tell her the cat’s name is Dog, whatever you do.”
Kenny nods and busies himself pouring some water for the animal and Eve turns back to the ladder.
“Last chance to climb down yourself, Villanelle.”
“No,” the blonde shouts down, “I am officially protesting as of right now.”
Eve sighs.
“What are you protesting?”
“The fire department.”
“You’re protesting the entire fire department?”
A pause.
“ Eve of the fire department.”
“Oh great.” Eve mumbles to herself, before calling out again, “okay, I’m coming back up.”
She hears the blonde huff fifteen feet above her.
Eve gets to the top quicker this time with no branches in the way, the ladder firm against the tree. She smiles at Villanelle, eyebrows raised expectantly.
“Hi.” Eve says, folding her arms on the top run of the ladder.
“Hello Eve,” the blonde says disinterestedly, “what do you want?”
“For you to get out of the tree, please.”
Villanelle is draped very casually over the branch she’s on, surprisingly relaxed for someone so high up. One of her legs swings backwards and forwards in the air.
“No.” She says slowly, determined yet lazy stare focused on Eve.
“Okay,” Eve shrugs one shoulder, “we can just talk instead.”
The blonde looks a little wary at that, so Eve continues.
“How come you don’t want to leave the tree? And don’t give me that protest bullshit.”
Villanelle glares for a moment, then looks away.
“I like it up here.” She says calmly. “It’s nice.”
“Alright-”
“Why did you become a firefighter?” Villanelle cuts through Eve’s reply.
Eve is a little startled at the question, mouth gaping for a second before snapping shut. Eve frowns in thought.
“I wanted to help people?” Eve tells her, looking up into the sky through the leaves.
“That feels like the answer people like you are supposed to give.” Villanelle drawls. “What is the real reason?”
Eve looks back down and finds hazel eyes pinning her in place, light pink lips slightly open as she gazes at Eve.
“I like feeling like the good guy.” Eve admits. “It’s an ego-booster.”
Villanelle’s lips curl into a small smile.
“I thought so.”
“I do like helping people though,” Eve adds, “that wasn’t a lie.”
“Sure.” The blonde turns away from Eve, snapping a twig off an overhead branch and twiddling it in her fingers. “So are you just going to hang out with me up here, or…”
“I guess so.” Eve sighs dramatically. “Seeing as you won’t come down. I guess all the other cats up trees can stay there for the day. Hopefully no fires start, considering I won’t be there to put them out…”
The blonde gives Eve a deadpan stare.
“Hopefully no house fires… with people inside…” Eve continues, purposefully airy as she tries to guilt trip the blonde.
Villanelle just continues to stare.
“Would be a shame if there were some pets in those houses too…”
Villanelle shrugs one shoulder, completely uncaring, and Eve scoffs.
“Don’t you care that people might die?” Eve asks, and Villanelle simply shrugs again. Eve chuckles. “You’re weird.”
“Weird?” Villanelle seems confused. “You’d call that weird?”
“Yeah.”
“Huh.” Villanelle puckers her lips in thought. “Most would call it psychopathic.”
“I’m just a firefighter,” Eve says with a shrug of her own, “not my place to make that kind of judgement. Plus, you did climb a tree to save a cat. Not very psychopathic of you.”
“Maybe I have a hero complex.”
“Something tells me you don’t.” Eve smiles.
Villanelle stares at her, and Eve suddenly feels very studied. Those hazel eyes scan her features carefully before lifting to her hair, tied back in a high bun. Eve feels stray curls tickle her face, loosened from her climbing through the tree to and fro.
“You are very pretty for a firefighter.”
Villanelle’s directness takes Eve back, and she laughs.
“Are firefighters not usually?”
“Not the women.” Villanelle says.
“Know many female firefighters, do you?”
“No,” Villanelle says slowly, “but usually it is the men who are the attractive ones. All muscular and tanned.”
“This is London, not a movie.”
Villanelle rolls her eyes and opens her mouth to reply, but Eve cuts across, feeling playful.
“Besides, I’ve got my jacket on. You don’t know what kind of tanned, rippling muscles I might be hiding.”
The blonde’s eyebrows lift in surprise as her eyes dart down to Eve’s arms. Eve smirks a little.
“Do you?” Villanelle asks.
“Do I what?”
Villanelle nods towards Eve’s covered torso with an arched brow.
“Have muscles.”
“That’s for me to know and you to-”
Eve stops, realising what she was about to say. For the first time in their conversation Eve falters a little. Villanelle tilts her head to the side, a victorious smile on her lips as she appraises Eve once more, her gaze starting to drag across her now rather than simply look.
“Find out?” Villanelle finishes for her with an expectant look.
“Just…” Eve starts, shaking her head, “just get out of the tree please.”
“Have dinner with me.”
Eve blinks at the request, surprised.
“Sorry?”
“Have dinner with me.” Villanelle says again, easily. “Or drinks.”
Eve is taken aback. She adjusts her arms on the ladder for something to do.
“Are you asking me out?”
“Yes.” Villanelle says, frowning a little as if it’s blatantly obvious. Which… it is, Eve admits. She wills some of her confidence back, tries to get this conversation back under her control.
“You’re bold, aren’t you? What if I’m married?”
“Are you?” The blonde asks, gaze unreadable.
Eve sighs, unable to hold back a slight chuckle.
“I get the feeling it wouldn’t matter to you regardless, would it?”
Villanelle smirks at that.
“Nope.”
Eve purses her lips and taps her fingers against the run she’s holding, sparing a glance at the branches around them moving gently in the breeze before staring back at Villanelle, head cocked to the side.
“If I say yes, will you get down?”
Villanelle’s eyes flash as her smirk spreads wide.
“Oh I’ll get down alright.”
Eve almost loses her footing as she laughs in surprise.
“Jesus you're inappropriate.”
“I know, it’s charming isn’t it.”
“It’s something alright.” Eve shakes her head. “Now come on, down you come. Wait til I’m at the bottom before you climb down.”
“I’m staying here.”
“Oh for-” Eve rolls her eyes, “I swear to God I will sling you over my shoulder and carry you down myself!”
“Pff,” Villanelle scoffs, crossing her arms, “as if you could, look at you, you’re- ah ! Eve, stop it, no!”
Villanelle bangs her fists against Eve’s back as she pulls the tall blonde over her shoulder easily.
“Admit I can carry you and I’ll put you down.”
“No!” The blonde yells. “Help, man boy!”
Eve hears Kenny stutter awkwardly from below as she starts to climb down.
“Leave me out of this.” He says.
“Eve, put me down right now!”
“Admit it.” Eve sing-songs.
Villanelle’s fists are slowing in their banging against her back, turning to grip now instead as they move down the ladder.
“You are a child.” The blonde says grumpily.
“Says the woman stuck up a tree.”
“Put me down .” Villanelle growls.
“Too late,” Eve says lightly, carefully climbing down, “we’re fully on the ladder now.
“There are people watching.” She hears Villanelle groan.
“Probably because a grown woman is having to carry another grown woman down a tree? Plus, your shrieking isn’t doing any favours, you’re drawing crowds like some kind of banshee.”
“You did not just call me a banshee.” Villanelle says, voice low, and Eve grins at the tone.
“Would it help if I called you a hot banshee?”
The blonde is remarkably silent for a second.
“...a little, yes.” She finally murmurs with what Eve can tell it’s a small smile.
“Okay,” Eve says, “a hot banshee, then.”
Getting down the ladder takes much longer than getting up it, seeing as Eve has a woman over her shoulder so using her hands on the rungs takes a little more skill. At least the blonde has stopped wriggling now.
“Huh.” Villanelle says.
“What?”
“This isn’t so bad,” the woman admits, voice relaxed, “will you carry me on our date?”
“I don’t remember agreeing to the date.” Eve forces herself not to grin too widely. The blonde scoffs.
“You said if I came down-”
“I meant voluntarily-”
“Well, you didn’t specify,” Villanelle states, “and then you took the chance away from me by picking me up, so who’s in the wrong now?”
“The woman stuck in the tree.” Comes Kenny’s voice, much closer now. Eve laughs.
“Man boy, what is your problem?” Villanelle snaps. “What is your name? I will protest you too.”
“Leave him alone.” Eve chuckles. “Look, we’re almost there.”
“Yippee.” Villanelle drawls sarcastically, pulling another chuckle from Eve. This woman is a pain in the ass, but she likes her.
Her feet touch the ground moments later and she immediately places Villanelle down carefully. When they both straighten, Eve isn’t surprised to see that the woman is a couple inches taller, and even more gorgeous in the open daylight.
“You want some antiseptic for those cuts?” Eve nods at Villanelle’s cheek. “Cat scratches get infected real easily.”
“I’ve had worse.” Villanelle says, standing tall and looking Eve up and down, one eyebrow slightly raised. “Thank you for saving me from a tree I did not need saving from.”
“You’re welcome.” Eve smiles. “Don’t do it again.” She turns to start collapsing the ladder with Kenny, but a soft hand on her wrist stops her. It tugs her, and Eve finds herself stumbling a few steps away.
“Hey, you,” Villanelle says to Kenny, “you can do that yourself, right?”
Kenny looks between the ladder and Villanelle.
“Uh, yes, but-”
“Good, now be quiet.”
“Don’t be rude.” Eve chuckles, looking up into hazel eyes while crossing her arms. “So. What do you want.”
“I have to tell you something.” Villanelle says conspiratorially, gaze boring into Eve’s own.
“What?”
“I was stuck in the tree.”
Eve laughs loudly.
“You don’t say.”
“I do.” Villanelle nods. “I know, I was very convincing.”
“Uh huh.”
“But it was all a ruse.”
“Uh huh.”
“To get you to carry me down.”
“Right.”
Villanelle narrows her eyes.
“Are you buying any of this?”
“No.”
“Okay,” Villanelle nods again, “that’s fair.”
Eve shakes her head with another chuckle, then pulls a small work pad and pen from one of her many pockets. She scribbles something then tears it out, handing it to Villanelle.
“Here.” Eve says. “My number.”
“Oh?” Villanelle takes the piece of paper and smiles at Eve, the most genuine she’s seen so far from the blonde. “So… it is a yes to the date, then?”
Eve bites her lip.
“You have leaves in your hair.”
“All part of the plan.” Villanelle says smugly.
Eve raises her eyebrows once more, then turns and walks back to Kenny, who has started to carry the ladder off by himself.
“Sure. The plan.” Eve says over her shoulder.
“I’ll text you!”
“Okay.” Eve laughs.
“We’ll go for dinner! And drinks!”
Why the woman is still shouting after her Eve really doesn’t know, but it fills her chest with warmth regardless.
“Okay, Villanelle, bye.” She shouts, not looking back.
“Wear something nice!”
“I’ll wear what I want!”
Silence, and then-
“Wear the uniform!”
“No!”