Work Text:
It’s been four months since I last saw my girlfriend, Abby. I know she went after Joel. We’ve talked about it a lot, but she promised to leave it alone. And in the couple of months before she left, she actually told me she wouldn’t go after him because I thought it was too dangerous, yet here we are.
It’s fine. I stopped being angry a long time ago. Isaac wouldn’t allow more people to go after them, so I had to settle with waiting for her to come back on her own. If she ever would.
I worked in the weapons factory, making bullets and fixing broken guns. The days were long, especially when you make a few hundred bullets a shift. It gets boring, but I know it’s important work and needs to be done. I store the last of the gunpowder away and clean up my workstation.
“Hey, Steven? I’m out, okay?” I told my boss. The guy barely looked up from the AK he was working on and harrumphed. This was generally the only response I got from the guy.
I picked up some dinner from the cafeteria and quickly ate it as I made my way to my room, ready for a night reading one of the new books I loaned from our library.
I push open the door and stop in my tracks. Before me stood a muscled body with their back to me. “I was wondering when you’d get off.”
“Abby?” I questioned. She turned to face me. The door closet behind me with a thud.
“Hi, babe.” My eyes narrowed at her.
“Hi, babe? Really?” I seethed. “You leave without telling me and then you come back months later with a hi, babe?” She wrung her hands together.
“Look I know I fucked up, but-” I held up a hand to stop her.
“Fucked up? You just left. What if you got killed out there, I wouldn’t even know about it.” I hold in a sob. “You didn’t even say goodbye.” Her face softened and she stepped toward me, but I stepped out of her reach.
“Can we please go back to how it was?” She tries. “You know, before I fucked up.”
“That’s not how this works. Am I supposed to just forget that you left me?” She looked like a wounded puppy. She looked at me like I did this to her. “It’s not fair. It was supposed to be you and me and now…”
“It still can be. Baby, I’m so sorry I left without telling you, but I needed to do this. For my dad. For me. And I know if you knew you would have come with me, but I didn’t want you to get hurt.”
“Bullshit. You know we’re better together. We always have each other’s backs.”
“I know. And you’re right. I didn’t want you to see the person I’d become. I did some fucked up shit out there.” She explains, her eyes never meeting mine.
I close my eyes for a second, trying to compose myself. I knew what she had done, she wouldn’t be here otherwise. “You did what you had to do, Abby.” Her eyes shoot up to collide with mine. “I get that. If it was my father he had killed, I would go after him too. But still it was so risky. You could have gotten hurt. Worse, you could have been killed. You had no idea what you were walking into.”
Abby nodded her head at me. “Thank you for understanding. And I get why you’re upset with me, but I hope I can make it up to you and gain your trust again.” I walked past her and wrapped my hand around her wrist pulling her along to my bed.
“You can start by telling me everything.” I plopped down on the bed and patted the spot beside me, waiting for her to sit down as well.
Over the rest of the night she told me the whole story. Where they went, how they found Jackson, how she was saved by Joel and his brother. And finally how she ended it. At this point we were lying on the bed, Abby on her back and my head resting on her shoulder. She talked a lot with her hands, moving them up and down, right and left in tune to the story.
“When did you get back?” I finally asked her.
“Just now.” I sat upright in bed.
“Did you even get something to eat?” She looked at me sheepishly.
“You need food and sleep, Abby.” I climbed over her body and got off of the bed. “Wait here, I’m going to get you something to eat.”
“No, babe. You don’t need to do that. Food can wait till morning.” I looked at her as I put my boots back on. “I would like to sleep though. It’s been a rough few months.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.” She mumbled. I kicked my boots back off again and marched back across the room to the bed. I grabbed the duvet from the end of the bed and pulled it over Abby’s body. “Will you lay with me?” I hesitated for a second, but in the end I crawled back over her and settled against her hard body, my leg coming up to rest on top of hers. She hummed. “I’ve missed this.”
“What? Cuddling?”
“You. I’ve missed you.” I try to suppress a smile, but it’s clear to see on my face that I needed to hear her say that.
“I’ve missed you too. And don’t you even think about running off again without telling me first.” She grumbled in response, far too tired to hold a real conversation. Right as I think she’s fast asleep I feel her lips brush against the top of my head. A silent thank you for being by her side and letting her sleep soundly for the first time in months.
Things between us weren’t fixed and it would take some time before we would get there, but it was a start and I know with a little work on either side we can be us again. Maybe we really could go back to how it was.