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It’s cold.
Amelia can count each one of her fingers and she knows the number is ten but the actual number she can feel is much lower than that. She stuffs her mittens into the pockets of her coat. Her breath is misting and biting at her cheeks. She can’t feel her nose and she gave up all hope of wiggling her toes four minutes ago.
“Here.” Ina appears in front of her. She’s smiling like Amelia is cute and Amelia pouts, annoyed that her girlfriend doesn’t seem bothered by the cold at all. She’s mollified a bit by the cap Ina wears. There are two little slits for her flaps to poke through. Every time snow falls on them they do a little twitch that’s gonna send Amelia into cardiac arrest if it keeps being that cute.
Ina is holding up a scarf, “C’mere popsicle.”
Amelia spots weakness. She bows her head pitifully and looks up with doe eyes, “Ina, I’m cold.”
“I know dear.” Ina’s smile is widening, the tip of her fang poking out. She’s gently winding the scarf around Amelia’s neck. “We can go back if you’re not feeling good.”
Well. Amelia sniffs, burying her nose into the warmth of the scarf. She wouldn’t mind heading back home and making something warm to eat. She’d get the added bonus of cuddling with her girls and that’s just extra warmth. Double score.
Except Gura is nearby having a blast in the snow. She’s got a sled out and she’s trudging up and down a hill with energy that’d put the strongest rescue dogs to shame. Every time she rides down the hill all Amelia can see is her tail poking out of the snow. The giggles are what have her wrinkling her nose.
“I’m not gonna ruin the fun.” Amelia shuffles closer. Ina opens her arms for her and accepts her into them. The warmth of Ina’s coat isn’t much. Amelia sighs, greedily sticking closer to her side. She’s nosing at Ina’s collar to find any skin she can latch on to.
Ina kisses the top of her head, “Little turtle, what am I going to do with you?”
“Turtle, that’s cute.” Amelia shivers as a snowflake finds a home on the spot behind her neck. “I want to be a warm turtle. One really dry turtle.”
“All wrinkled and dying,” Ina says. Her gloved hand reached up to hold the back of Amelia’s head. The feeling of being trapped in Ina’s arms is nice. It’s too embarrassing to admit she feels safe there. She hums when Ina’s lips find her ear. “You’re silly.”
“I’m a sickly turtle,” Amelia says. “Respect the dying.”
Ina giggles quietly. The sound is nice. Amelia likes it quiet like that. It was a laugh meant only for her in this quiet snowfall. It made her heart skip a happy beat.
“Okay.” Ina’s other hand is coming up to her face. This is a moment Amelia wishes Ina wasn’t wearing gloves. When her thumb strokes along her cheek she’d really love to be able to feel her hand instead of scratchy gloves. “Can the turtle last any longer?”
“Mmh.” Amelia gauges the numbness of her limbs. Her arms are fine. Her legs were a lost cause at this point. Her fingers were starting to warm back up the longer she spent huddled in Ina’s care. “A minute.”
“A minute,” Ina repeats. She sounds like she’s trying not to laugh at her expense. “The great Amelia Watson-”
“The intellectually brilliant.” Amelia adds haughtily.
“-and gorgeous detective,” Ina adds. There’s a mischievous tilt to her smile. “Brought low by a little bit of snow.”
“Human,” Amelia says. “I get a free pass.”
“Okay, alright.” Ina chuckles. “Nothing is free here, missy.”
Amelia playfully leans against Ina. She’s putting more of her weight against her to add to the theatrics, “You’d scam me...when I can barely stand.”
Ina makes a strangled noise, “Oi.”
“When I’m dying. ”
“Ame, I’m gonna drop-”
“When I’ve done so much for-”
Ina yelps, “Ame-!”
Amelia laughs as they topple. Her nose bumps Ina’s shoulder as they go down. Ina doesn’t let her go, her arms cradling her as they flop into a snowdrift. Ina exhales sharply with Amelia’s weight on her. The detective is moving to help, but Ina’s hands are drawing her back to the priestess.
“No, no, you stay.” Ina pulls her down firmly. “You made our grave, you lie in it.”
“Ina,” Amelia struggles as she feels snow touching everywhere she doesn’t want it to. She can barely speak with how hard she’s laughing, “Ina please it’s so cold.”
“Begging?” Ina humphs. “You think begging will fix this?”
Amelia stops. She looks down at Ina and there’s something about her framed by white, laying beneath her with midnight hair cascading like ink into the snow. Her face is flushed. She’s smiling.
Amelia cries, “Gura, help!”
Ina hisses, “Oh no.”
They’re on a raft alone in the open sea. Instead of water, it’s snow. The fin that’s approaching them is the top of Gura’s woolen hat. She lifts her sled above her head. Amelia lets go a hysteric laugh when she notices the amount of snow packed onto it.
Gura grins down at them menacingly, “Long live the king.”
“Gura!” Amelia shrieks. She’s laughing as a shower of powdery white snow falls on them. Ina is being her hero and shielding as much of her as possible with her arms. It doesn’t do much to help. Amelia feels snow falling down her back and into spaces that make her want to cry. She swipes snow at the shark but it barely even reaches her feet, “You’re cruel!”
“I’m king.” Gura corrects. She’s crouching beside them with a grin, “C’mon Watson, the cold too much for you?”
“Gura.” Ina chides. There’s a smile in her voice. “We don’t want her to get sick.”
Amelia likes the attention. She sniffles and says, “I’m cold.”
“Poor baby.” Gura coos. She’s extracting Amelia from Ina’s arms. Her hands are demanding as she pulls her close. Amelia huffs, leaning against her shark petulantly. The kiss she receives to her cheek loosens her up a bit. “Stop pouting, we can go get some hot chocolate.”
“That sounds lovely.” Ina is taking off her cap to brush off the snow. “Do we want to stop for some on the way home or make some when we get there?”
Amelia mumbles, “Home.”
“Yeah, you would want that.” Gura giggles in her ear. She’s nuzzling her nose just behind it and the sensation nearly sends Amelia jumping out of her skin.
“Gura, that’s cold!”
“Kiss, kiss, kiss.” Gura sings, “Kisses for Watson.”
Amelia’s voice raises an octave when the shark doesn’t relent, “Cold!” She retaliates by grabbing a fistful of snow and slapping it into Gura’s face. Gura shrieks with laughter, ducking away from her to hide behind Ina. There’s snow crystallized on her cheeks and in her eyelashes. It brings out something radiant in her blue eyes.
“That was dirty!” Gura cries.
“I watched the whole thing,” Ina says peacefully.
Amelia sticks her tongue out. She’s half-expecting Gura to start a snowball fight with her. Ina tilts her head just a little bit so that her lips touch Gura’s jaw. There’s an instant change. The mischief melts off Gura and she’s softening, her tail curling close to her legs as Ina cups her face. Amelia watches in amusement. Ina has her wrapped around her finger.
“Good girl.” Ina smiles, gifting a kiss to her nose. “Now let’s go home.”
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Amelia towels off her hair. The reflection in the bathroom mirror tells her of a few bruises on her shoulders and one on her elbow. She touches them experimentally. There isn’t any pain. Good, she thinks. She’d rather not go to bed with body aches.
The bathroom door cracks open. Gura pokes her head in. She’s already changed into pajamas. Her hair is tied back into a single ponytail.
“Hey.” Gura greets. “How’re the fingers?”
“All ten accounted for, captain.” Amelia says. She wiggles them around for emphasis. Her skin was still blotchy red from the cold. She frowns down at them. “Sausage fingers.”
“Delicious.” Gura grins. She’s wandering closer. Amelia smiles dryly at the little red bow tied to her tail fin. Gura meets her smile with raised eyebrows, “Hey. I’m festive.”
“Do I get to unwrap my present?” Amelia asks slyly. The playfulness in her dies when Gura takes her fingers into her hand. Her shark looks them over tenderly, her fingers tracing over Amelia’s knuckles and down to her nails. Blue eyes look up to meet her. She doesn’t break eye contact as she raises Amelia’s hand to her lips. Amelia feels the breath frozen in her lungs. She can’t even move under her stare.
Gura kisses her ring finger first. She goes down the line at a leisurely pace, each kiss slow and delicate. When she runs out she moves her lips up to her knuckles. Amelia’s face burns as she gives little kitten licks there.
“I know I’m a snack.” Amelia mutters, “But can I have my hand back?”
“Mmh.” Gura leans back. She doesn’t let go of her hand, instead threading her fingers with hers. “C’mon. Ina has our drinks ready.”
Amelia abandons the towel to the sink. She lets herself be guided out of the bathroom. A warm smell wrapped around her. She exhales. When she finds herself in the kitchen, it’s to her priestess setting out steaming mugs onto the table.
“There she is.” Ina floats around the table to kiss her on the cheek. Amelia leans into it. “Gura wasn’t coming back and I thought I’d have to get a crowbar to pry you guys out of the bathroom.”
“It was really tempting to push her up against the sink, not gonna lie,” Gura says this casually as she scoops up her drink and attempts to down it in one go. She sputters and chokes, her tongue hanging out as she sets it down with watery eyes, “Hot! Holy shit it’s hot!”
“Idiot,” Amelia says.
Ina laughs. She fondly reaches over to pat Gura’s head, “Burned your tongue?”
“Yeah.” Gura kicks out her chair. She sinks into it with her arms crossed childishly. “Watson didn’t even say thank you. I was being so romantic too!”
“I’m sure you were.”
Amelia pipes up, “You’ll get what’s coming to you.”
Gura grins at her with all teeth, “Yeah?”
Ina sighs. She sits down beside them with picture perfect grace and says, “Let’s enjoy our drinks and then we can get back to kissing either other.” She holds up a finger as Gura reaches for hers again, “Please don’t burn yourself, Gura.”
“I’m not kissing fish breath,” Amelia says. She takes a sip of her own drink as Gura makes a face at her. It’s hard to hide her smile when she looks that cute. “I’m kidding, Gura.”
“Hmmph.” Gura tilts her head like a haughty rich girl. It makes Ina laugh and Amelia lets that noise settle in her ears. She closes her eyes and savors the hot cocoa. The conversation from her girlfriends floats around her.
She’s warm.
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