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“Time?”
“You got 15 seconds, IQ.”
Monika took a deep breath and, as she quickly reloaded her 552, cursed her luck. She knew who the last defender was, and she wasn’t looking forward to having to attempt this while being spotted. She leaned her rifle up against one of the filing cabinets and clambered up onto a desk, taking the defuser off its clip on her side. Monika held perfectly still as she started to type in the code, listening for footsteps and hoping that the desk would protect her from any nitro cells below.
Hearing nothing, Monika made the split-second decision to stick the defuser plant. As the beeping started and she closed the case, the German flipped up her scanner before hopping off the desk. She carefully gave the room a once over, breathing calmly and feeling the adrenaline coursing through her veins. Seeing nothing around her, she flipped the Spectre back down and grabbed her rifle again.
Suddenly, there were footsteps pounding up the stairs on her right, then the tracers of a pre-fire flying next to her head. Monika crouched behind one of the desks, just barely able to see the rotation between the room and the stairs, and both of the windows on her left. She was glad she had decided to forego a helmet today, it would only have blocked her view more.
There was movement to Monika’s left through one of the windows. She snapped to it and shot, seeing a white puff come up as she hit her target.
“Simulation complete. We won. Nice job, Monika.”
“Danke, Emma.”
Monika turned off her headset, and walked over to the window. She wasn’t happy in the slightest. The engineer had quickly done the calculations in her head and knew that she shouldn’t have won the round. It just didn’t add up.
“Where is your nitro, Meghan?,” she sternly inquired, “Didn’t you hear me planting?” The interrogation continued as the American sat up and looked at her, “Meghan,” Monika’s voice lowered, almost to a whisper, “why did you let me win?”
Meghan still looked a little dazed, and an interaction like this with her crush certainly wasn’t helping. However, she quickly found her composure.
“I knew you were on the desk, the nitro wouldn’t have caught you,” Meghan stated matter of factly, gesturing towards the defuser case.
“If you say so,” Monika still looked unsatisfied. “Let's get you on your feet.”
The German hauled the other woman up, holding her gently to let her catch her balance. Meghan blushed slightly as she felt Monika’s petite hands on her waist, looking anywhere to try to avoid eye contact with her.
Monika let go once she was sure of the American’s ability to stand, and started walking towards the attacker locker room.
“Oh, and Meghan,” she called over her shoulder, “you should wear your hair like that more often, it looks nice.”
Meghan felt her face burn at the comment.
“Thank you,” she managed to squeak out, before heading off to her own locker room.
Monika finished her shower, dried off, got dressed and stepped out into the hallway. She sighed, looking out at the empty parking lot. The German was obsessive, always the first to arrive and the last to leave, but as she exited the building, she noticed something strange.
Meghan’s car was still there.
As Monika approached, she heard its feeble attempts to turn over. She knew the problem, there wasn’t enough spark and too much gas. She also knew that all the stores were closed, and Meghan wasn’t going to find new spark plugs anywhere at this time of night.
“Hey Meghan,” she started, before freezing. The American had popped the hood, and was stepping out to look at the issue. She was only wearing a tank top, and her muscles were gleaming in the moonlight. Monika shook her head, she had felt attraction to Meghan before, but wouldn’t let herself give into it.
The Seal didn’t notice the slightly awkward way Monika was looking at her. “Hey Monika, I’m kinda stuck here. It’s the spark plugs.” She rolled her eyes and closed the hood, sighing.
“You could come home with me.” Monika slapped her hand over her mouth. Did she just say that? Sometimes her mouth moved faster than her brain but surely not that fast?
Meghan looked at her with a small twinkle in her eye.
“You sure?”
“NO,” Monika’s brain screamed. It made her incredibly anxious to think about Meghan coming home with her. It was spontaneous, something that Monika hated, and she hated even more the thought of Meghan learning about the way she lived.
“Yes, I’m sure, come on.”
The way Meghan perked up did not escape Monika’s notice. It filled her with dread to see someone feel like that around her, but she had to admit, worse people had taken a liking to her than the American.
The car was nearly silent as Monika drove home, the only sound was Meghan softly humming. Normally the German would be annoyed, but something about Meghan was captivating to her, and she enjoyed the soft tune.
“Monika?”
“Hm?”
“I think you looked breathtaking in that tracksuit earlier today”
Monika was grateful for the cover of the night, she felt blood start to rush to her face.
“Yeah?”
“Mhm, quite beautiful,” Meghan mused.
Monika felt butterflies in her chest. The way Meghan looked at her, talked about her, and now apparently thought about her, was almost too much.
She was silent the rest of the drive home, until they stepped into the house.
“Straight to bed. Another early day tomorrow.”
Meghan nodded, yawning. Monika cursed under her breath, why did the American have to look so cute all the time?
Monika gently brushed her hand through the American’s hair. “You take the bed, I’ll sleep on the floor or the couch.”
“Okay.”
Meghan was too tired to disagree, and gently slipped herself into the bed, feeling the softness of the sheets. She made a mental note to herself, Monika’s birthday was coming up.
The Seal watched as Monika made herself at home on the floor, and felt the words tumbling out before she had time to think.
“Come sleep with me, Monika.”
The German froze, surely she had misheard.
“What?”
“I said come sleep with me, the bed is big enough,” Meghan drowsily slurred out.
Monika looked over and saw the American lifting the blankets for her. Her feelings threatened to come pouring out at any moment, she wasn’t sure how long she could keep them bottled.
“Alright.”
As she slipped in, she tried to shift herself as far away from Meghan as possible, she wanted the other woman to have her space, and to get some rest. Monika was a restless sleeper, and the last thing she wanted was to kick Meghan in her sleep.
“Monika?”
“Yes?”
“Come closer, I don’t bite.”
Monika blushed. She gently shook her head, but she felt herself gently gravitating towards Meghan. She flinched as she felt the other woman’s touch, then relaxed as Meghan’s arms wrapped around her.
“Better?”
Monika could only nod, unable to find words.
Then she passed out.
—
Monika woke to the birds softly singing and the sun shining in her face. She looked at the clock, and noticed that it was 10AM, much later than she would usually get up. She felt panic and dread setting in at missing her self imposed deadline, when a familiar hand met her shoulder.
“Coffee?”
Monika nodded. Meghan gave her a mug and sat down next to her, wrapping her arm around the German’s waist.
“I thought you were a restless sleeper?”
Monika nodded.
“You weren’t last night.”
The engineer looked stunned. She had been in relationships before, sure. She had been in other women’s arms before, sure. But she had never, ever, gotten a night of sleep without voices in her head, or without tossing and turning through the night.
Monika shook her head slowly, dumbfounded. Meghan gently pulled her closer.
“I have something to tell you.”
“You like me.”
“I love you.”
Monika turned bright red. There was no way this was right? She thought hard, about the way Meghan looked at her, the way that she finally got a good night’s sleep, the feelings she had suppressed for so long. A solitary tear rolled down her face as she realized what was happening and gave in.
“I love you too.”
Meghan took the mug from Monika’s trembling fingers, set it down, and gently rubbed her back.
“Easy there, it’s alright.”
Monika looked at Meghan, and suddenly wrapped her arms around the other woman. The tears were flowing freely now. Monika was afraid of jumping in, of diving too deep, of emotionally relying on someone else. Yet here Meghan was, despite all of the pushing away, and the countless attempts at distancing. She was always there. Always.
Monika had her eyes closed, but she felt Meghan’s lips wandering towards her, her breath growing closer, until finally, she felt the kiss.
Meghan’s lips were smooth and warm, it was almost overwhelming. Monika threw herself into it, ready to make up for lost time all in one moment. She didn’t give Meghan time to breathe before diving in again, her hands feeling the other woman’s muscles, soaking up the feeling of the American’s hands in her hair.
Meghan was the first to come up for air, and noticed Monika was still crying, but this time, the tears were accompanied by a smile. She kissed the German woman’s forehead, and hugged her tight against her chest.
“You want to call in today?”
Monika felt the words on her forehead more than she heard them, and, more importantly, with Meghan pressed tight against her, for the first time in 30 years, she felt a reason to not be productive.
She nodded.