Chapter Text
Tissaia parked the car barely inside the lines, grabbing her purse from the passenger seat and hastily getting out. She nearly forgot to close the door.
Tissaia had already been gone for over forty minutes in her despair and this was the last store in the area to check. She knew it was past four in the morning but certainly one store had to be open.
She frowned, a flash of panic crossing already frenzied features at the ‘closed’ sign on the door.
“No. Damnit!” The brunette grabbed the handle, pushing and then pulling helplessly before groaning and crossing her arms. “Fuck!”
“Are you alright?”
Tissaia whipped around, coming face to face with a younger woman smiling sympathetically as she approached.
“No.” Tissaia took a steadying breath, glancing back at the convenience store. “I need baby formula for my daughter and everywhere nearby is closed too.”
The woman’s brows furrowed as she nodded, pulling her phone out of her pocket and holding up a finger for her to wait.
In the midst of the panic, Tissaia thought the woman looked beautiful, in a pair of dark jeans and a grey sweatshirt.
Tissaia herself had thrown her hair up in a messy bun and was wearing an old pair of pink pijamas Rita had bought her almost four years ago. Grimacing, she remembered there was dried up baby spit on her shoulder.
The woman typed something on her phone and looked back up.
“What’s your name? I’m Yennefer.”
“Tissaia de Vries.”
Yennefer nodded, smiling again and glanced down at her phone when it pinged.
“Well, Tissaia de Vries, I’m going to climb the window out back to get you that formula. Give me, like, fifteen minutes.”
“What? No, I can’t let you-”
Yennefer waved dismissively, already walking backwards towards the alley with a mischievous grin.
“It’s fine, promise. Sit tight.”
Tissaia was left gaping, alone, staring at the dark alleyway where a stranger had just agreed to commit a crime for her.
Her own phone alerted her to a message from Philippa. Ciri was finally asleep but would be hungry once she woke.
Two knocks startled her and the brunette turned back to the store entrance.
There stood Yennefer, holding up two options of baby formula with a questioning gaze.
Still incredibly confused, Tissaia hesitantly pointed to the one on her left hand and then Yennefer disappeared in the darkness of the building.
Ten minutes later, Yennefer walks out of the alley, waving the formula while speaking on the phone.
“Yeah, I'm out, you can set the alarm again. Thanks, Triss. Tell Sabrina she looks like she drops common loot. See you later. Love you, bye.” The woman hangs up, smiling as she offers Tissaia the formula. “Crisis averted.”
Tissaia accepts, confused.
Her fingers touch a warm hand as the formula is passed. The brunette swallows at the contact.
“Thank you but how-”
“My best friend is the owner. I asked her to deactivate the alarm and went through the window.”
The brunette blinks, nodding slowly as she processes the statement.
“I don’t know how to thank you.”
“You already did.” She grins. “Just glad I could help you and your daughter.”
“Ciri. My daughter. My sister Phil is with her now.”
“Well, happy to help Ciri. I won’t keep you any longer. Catch you around?”
Tissaia found herself smiling at the possibility.
“Hopefully not at four am.”
Yennefer laughs, slipping her hands into her back pockets.
“Well, I work the till on Mondays and Tuesdays. Or you can swing by The Dandelion Thursday to Sunday for a drink. Since you’re not breastfeeding, I mean. I make a wicked Painkiller.”
“You’re a bartender?”
Yennefer beams, nodding happily.
“Yeah, my foster brother and his husband run the place. I was heading home from my shift. You got lucky I didn’t take my bike tonight.”
Tissaia is suddenly hit with some very not innocent visions of Yennefer on top of a bike, shaking her head lightly as she stares at purple eyes.
“You have a bike.”
Yennefer grins, taking a step forward and into Tissaia’s personal space.
“Happy to take you for a ride tomorrow.” Tissaia sputters, hold on the formula tightening. “Sorry, too much?”
Shaking her head, she clears her throat, cheeks turning pink.
“Just surprising. You heard me say I’m a mother, didn’t you?”
Chuckling, she nods her agreement with a shrug.
“I got that part, yeah. Listen, no pressure, okay? If you want, you know where you can find me. But for the record, Tissaia?”
Yennefer tugs a strand of brown locks behind Tissaia’s ear, smiling.
“You look adorable when you’re flustered and I think it’s really sweet that you were willingly to participate in what you thought was a robbery for your kid. Also, you’re really fucking beautiful and I want to take you on a date.”
Then she steps back, smiling all the while and winks.
“Tomorrow?” Tissaia asks before she can second-guess herself. “I’ll ask my sister to babysit and you can make me that drink.”
“It’s a date, gorgeous.” Yennefer's smile shifts, more genuine and less flirty, watching as Tissaia heads back to her car and waving when the brunette looks back.
Her phone pings.
Sabrina: Fuck you, I do not.