Chapter Text
The two treasure hunters needed a moment to catch their breath from completing yet another climb up to their destination. Admittedly, the view was quite nice. Like countless times before, Chloe slipped her phone from her back pocket and snagged a picture. The previous conversation about her father already becoming a dull ache in her thoughts.
Nadine had stepped closer. "Hey. You alright?" She asked. Her tone was careful.
Chloe sighed, not really wanting to talk about her feelings again much less think about her father and his legacy. "Yeah," She put her phone back inside her pocket. "Sorry, I just...need to get my head back into the game and I'll be—"
Suddenly Chloe was taken off balance and tipping over the edge of the cliff they were standing on. She scrambled, reaching out— her heart in her throat— and successfully grabbed Nadine's forearm. Nadine didn't have the time to lean away from the momentum to counterbalance Chloe's falling weight and soon they were both plummeting toward the water below them.
During the fall Chloe managed to get out an angry "Hey! Nadine Ross!" They had just dried out from their last mandatory dip.
The cold, soothing water met Chloe's skin with a splash. Nadine's dampened splash sounding not far from her under the water. She didn't bother opening her eyes beneath the surface and let her own buoyancy push her back up to the top. Nadine had already surfaced just seconds before her, she must have made more of an effort to breach the surface. She was a little out of breath from the kicking.
Chloe inhaled and wiped her face with her hand and shot Nadine a look. "What the Hell?"
She was laughing. "Your head back in the game now?"
Chloe paddled over to her. "Oh you're a smart ass."
Nadine's giggles started to subside. "Full disclosure, I didn't expect to fall in after you. You've got quite the grip, Frazer."
Chloe splashed Nadine in the face in a half attempt to get revenge.
The smile on her partner's face as she looked away and then back to Chloe told her she was in trouble. "Oh so that's how it's going to be, eh?" Nadine chased after the woman in front of her and latched onto her shoulders.
"Oh no, no, no," Chloe shrieked and took a deep breath. Nadine kicked off, putting all of her weight down onto Chloe's shoulders and dunked her under the water. A hand flailed up and out toward her attacker and gripped Nadine's neck, mostly to cling on for dear life.
Nadine allowed Chloe to surface once more, giggling away at her soaked friend who was now gasping for air.
The panting subsided. "You can let go now," Nadine said warmly.
Chloe had forgotten her hand was placed on her neck, Chloe's other occupied by a fist full of Nadine's shirt. Instead of letting go she touched her forehead to Nadine's, looking down into the water and taking a deep breath trying to ground herself again.
Nadine went still and wide-eyed due to her sudden proximity.
"Ok," Chloe's grip loosened. She pushed away ever so slightly and was returning her gaze up to meet Nadine's when her partner, acting on impulse, kicked off to close the increasing distance between them. She gathered Chloe's small face in her hands and hungrily placed a kiss on her lips.
And Chloe kissed back.
The fall hadn't scared Nadine at all, but this sure had her pulse racing. She separated the kiss first and laughed nervously. Chloe just looked up at her with curious eyes. "I, uh, don't know what came over me. Sorry."
Chloe smirked. "Don't be," She said coolly. "I was wondering when you were going to do that." Tired of the water she swam back to shore.
Her partner looked on dumbfounded and after a moment followed her lead. "You...knew I was— That I wanted to kiss you?"
The woman before her had undone her ponytail to straighten and wring out her hair. She began tying it back up when she decided to answer Nadine. "I mean, the playful banter, the tender moments, even the quibbling. Nadine, I've known for a while. I just figured you were waiting for us to not be, well…"
"Running for our lives?"
"Yeah." Chloe looked up at the rocky outcrop that they'll have to climb again. "C'mon let's get going." She looked back toward her partner. Nadine looked like she wanted to say something, but was hesitating.
"We'll talk about it later if we make it out of this mess."
"Alright."