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It was a hot summer day, and not for the first time Grace cursed her unnaturally fast metabolism. She felt like she was suffocating in the Jeep's backseat, like she was starting to melt into the leather. When would Sarah be back? A snack run shouldn't be taking this long. Maybe she was talking to an old friend – Sarah Connor, it turned out, had a friend in every lost corner of the world. Which was useful when they had to lay low from the police, and not useful when Grace and Dani were waiting in the car.
Grace turned her head slightly to look at Dani and couldn't help smiling. Dani was clearly more used to the hot weather than Grace was; she seemed unbothered as she rested her head on her chin, looking idly out the window. A light sheen of sweat covered her brow and slightly damp hair was the only indication that she was even hot. Dani made looking sweaty sexy. Grace just made it look painful.
Dani turned her head to look at Grace, and Grace gave her a smile and placed her hand over Dani's. Dani inhaled sharply and looked away. After a moment her hand retreated from Grace's own.
"Do you think Sarah will be back soon?"
This had been happening more and more recently. Grace would offer some casual gesture of affection and Dani would either pretend she didn't see it or would pull away entirely. Grace didn't understand it. Just a few days ago Dani would fall asleep on Grace, would return her touches as eagerly and easily as Grace gave them. Since the final fight against the Rev-9, though, she didn't. Now she always made sure to take a nap leaning the other way, so she wouldn't wake up with her head on Grace. She never touched Grace, outside of combat training. Grace would be lying if she said it didn't bother her. It bothered her immensely. What had changed? Did Dani not feel safe around Grace anymore? Her heart clenched at the thought. She would lay her life down for the woman without a second thought. It was her mission, her entire purpose in life to keep Daniella Ramos safe and the woman wouldn't even fucking look at her.
Grace frowned. They needed to talk about this.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong." Dani said, still studying the car door intently. "I don't know how that lady survives on snack food. Americans."
"Dani," Grace couldn't help herself. Her traitorous hands reached out to brush some hair back behind Dani's ear, and Grace's fingers lingered on her chin. "Look at me. Please."
Dani let Grace turn her head to face her, and Grace swallowed at the emotion brimming in her eyes. Dani is showing signs of arousal, Grace's cybernetics helpfully offered, and Grace told them to shut the hell up.
"Please, Dani. Tell me what's wrong." Grace was strong, she hated the weakness of begging, but her voice was trembling now as she blinked back tears. Dani's eyes darted to her lips, before her smooth hand came up to fold over Grace's own. Grace could focus on nothing else but her cool skin, the feeling pinging against all her enhanced senses as Dani held her hand and lightly brought it away from her face.
"I don't think we should do this." Dani said quietly but firmly.
When it clicked in Grace's head, she quickly jerked her hand away to fold it in her lap. She felt awful. She had thought – but if Dani didn't want this, if she had been reading the signals wrong… she felt her stomach turn. She had made Dani feel unsafe.
"Of course. If that's what you want." Grace said meekly, eyes lowered so she didn't have to see disgust, or worse, fear in Dani's eyes.
"I mean," Dani continued, "You – in the future, I mean, and I – it's not that I don't like you, it's that I can't –"
Grace looked up sharply. "What do you mean?"
Dani waved her hands helplessly for a moment, mouth opening and closing like a flustered fish. "You said, in the future, that I raised you."
"...Yes?" Grace didn't understand why that made Dani's mouth twist. She thought about it for a few moments and her eyes widened. "Oh!" The absurdity of it all wrung a laugh out of her. "Dani, you're not my mom."
Dani rolled her eyes. "I know that." Impatience crept briefly into her timid tone. "But I'm not… You said I raised you. That makes you family. And I can't… I can't like you like that way. Not if we're family."
Now that Grace understood Dani's hesitation, she felt stupid for not confronting her about this earlier. She could sympathize with Dani, absolutely, and she felt bad for causing her misery. She was quiet for a few moments as she figured out how to proceed.
"When I said," She started carefully, "That you raised me, I didn't necessarily mean like a mother. Or that I ever saw you as a mother. If, by your definition, what you did for me makes you my mother, you – in the future – are the mother of three thousand people." Dani's jaw clenched at the word mother, and Grace filed that away as a conversation for another time. "Dani, you rescued me. You saved me. I always looked up to you for that. It's not like," Grace thumped a closed fist against her thigh for a few moments, piecing words together. How did she explain this?
"Do you know baseball?" She blurted out. Dani's brows came together slightly. Grace forged ahead. "I loved baseball as a kid. I loved the Baltimore Orioles," (Dani shook her head and fondly muttered Americans under her breath) "and I had a favorite player. Luke Scott. I saw every game he was in, if I couldn't watch it I made my dad record the game for me. I, uh," And there was no way to make this not sound stupid, "I cried when he quit the Orioles to join the Rays." And Dani was nice enough not to laugh at her, though she bit her lip in a smile.
Grace continued carefully. "I thought about him a lot. I had a poster of him in my bedroom. I looked up to him, but it wasn't like I thought of him as a dad. He was my idol. You were my idol, Dani." Grace looked up to meet Dani's eyes, round and serious. "I looked up to you. I thought about you, like you were some hero. You were my hero."
Dani swallowed. Grace looked away, realizing the silence between them had become thick. She gave Dani her time, even though everything inside her was screaming to do something. Her hands were shaking like she was starting to crash, and for a brief moment Grace wondered if she actually was going to crash.
Dani's hand came out to cover her sweaty, shaking one, and Grace's whole body shivered.
"Grace." Dani's voice was serious. "I don't want to be your idol."
"I don't want to be your daughter." Grace said, barely above a whisper.
"Okay."
Grace wasn't sure who leaned forward first, but then they were kissing and holy shit she was kissing Dani. Grace carded a hand through her hair, careful to avoid pulling on the tangled curls, leaning her own head down to give Dani better access. Dani's lips were soft, just like her hands, just like her hair, and Grace couldn't breathe but that was fine, because she was kissing Dani and it was perfect. Dani's hand was hot on her waist, and they were pulling each other closer, wrapping around each other.
The Jeep door slammed and the two of them leapt about a foot in the air before scooting backwards. Sarah Connor said nothing as she threw chip bags and jerky onto the shotgun seat and started the car.
Grace and Dani were both flushing, and Grace tried not to look like she'd just been making out in the back of Sarah's car. The three of them were silent as Sarah started driving.
Sarah adjusted the mirror, and her eyes met Grace's for a brief moment. She looked as unimpressed as she always did.
"Finally." She groused.
In the backseat, Dani's hand crept over to hold Grace's own, and Grace smiled.