Work Text:
Justice startled as Cara slumped onto the barstool next to him, dropping her head to the bar top with a groan.
"Everythin' alright there, Cara?" he asked quietly as he took a sip of his sand tea.
She waved her hands about before dropping them to the bar top next to her head. Justice reached over and gently rubbed her upper back.
Cara let out another sigh before twisting her neck and looking at her best friend. "Just want a break. Yan has me doing four commissions every day, regardless of whether I finish up the ones from the day before, plus all the town projects, and a special commission just for him. Why does he need me to build him shit? He's the commissioner! He should just do it himself!"
Justice snorted. "Maybe because he's shit at actually building?"
Letting out a laugh, Cara sat up, Justice's hand pausing on her shoulder, just a moment, before falling away. "Truth," she replied as Owen walked around the bar after delivering some meals.
"Cara! Welcome! Here for some dinner?" Owen asked.
Smiling at the gentle saloon owner, she replies, "Owen, you know I love your cooking, right? Like you are the best cook ever, kind of love?"
Owen looks at Justice, who shrugs, before nodding, "Uh, yeah?"
"Good. Then you won't be offended if I ask if Grace is here to make me one of her extra strong coffees?" Cara continues with a small, slightly sheepish smile.
Owen barks out a deep laugh. "No offense taken. She's a damn sight better at drinks than I am. She's in the back, I'll get her to make ya one. You sure I can't get you some food? I've seen you running all over today…"
"She'll take a rice," Justice spoke up.
"Justice!" Cara whinged, "I'm not hungry, Owen, just need a pick me up to get me through the evening. I ate… earlier."
Justice nodded at Owen, who slunk away, knowing not to get in the middle of this fight.
"Seriously, Justice, I'm fine." Cara continued.
"Ya haven't had a damn thing but coffee today, have you? Ya need more than caffeine to fuel yourself, ya know." Justice told her. "I won't have ya collapsin' from hunger on my watch."
"Fine." Cara mumbled, picking at a rough spot on the bar.
"Besides," Justice continued, putting his drink down and smirking at her. "Yur a right bitch when yur hungry."
"Hey!" Cara snapped, pushing Justice to the side and off his barstool as he laughed.
"Tell me I'm wrong," he teased.
She stuck her tongue out at him in response, "I resemble that remark."
They laughed and joked while waiting for Owen to come back out. It wasn't long, though, before Owen slid Cara's rice, coffee, and a sandwich for Justice, who glared at his oldest friend, in front of them.
"What?" Owen asked. "You haven't eaten today either, have you?"
Cara picked out a pea from her rice and flicked it at Justice. "Hypocrite."
"Yeah, yeah, just eat, woman." Justice scowled, though the smile he couldn't stop ruined the effect. Taking a bite of his sandwich, he gave a nod of thanks to Owen, who had already wandered off to help someone else order dinner.
"So how's your day going Jus?" Cara eventually asked between bites.
"My day? Uneventful. I've been doin' paperwork tryin' ta catch up and get ahead as much as I can. Unsuur's been patrolin' and keepin' an eye on things. I need ta go down inta the Valley tomorrow ta clean up some monsters still lurkin'. I'm tryin' ta work out logistics. See if I can risk taking Unsuur and leaving the town unprotected or if he needs ta stick close and I just need ta go it alone."
Cara frowned, "Wouldn't Pen watch the town so you could take Unsuur? Or, I guess you could take Pen, that's technically an option. You shouldn't be out there alone, especially fighting."
"Hmm," Justice hummed as he shook his head. "Pen don't help us none, unless the Minister is involved. And she has already told Trudy that she wouldn't share him for this kinda thing. 'It's a Civil Corps issue, not for a church enforcer to lower themselves to.' I think was her words."
"Matilda seriously said that? Never mind, I can totally see her saying that. You know she took Trudy's desk when she left City Hall?"
Justice snorted. He could see their minister doing something petty like that.
Cara continued, "Well, let Unsuur stay here and watch the town. I'll go with you."
"What? No, Cara, you just told me how busy you were!"
Waving him off, Cara shook her head, "Nope, decision made. You shouldn't be out there alone, and someone needs to keep an eye on things here with Logan still out there."
"Cara—"
"Justice. Let me help you. Am I busy? Yes, but it's also the same thing every day. This will at least be different. This is why you gave me the part time position, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is. But Cara…" Justice sighed and ran a hand over his head, his locks jostling in the tieback he had them contained with. "Fine. But we'll make it official so Yan can't give ya trouble over it."
"Deal!" Cara said quickly, then downed the remains of her coffee and stood. "See you tomorrow, Jus!"
As she started to leave and get back to work, Cara paused, then turned and wrapped her arms around Justice's broad shoulders, giving him a tight squeeze from behind. His hand automatically reached up and gripped her wrist, giving her a squeeze in return.
"Thanks for letting me help you," she said quietly, giving him another squeeze before quickly turning and running out of the saloon.
Justice sat, frozen, for a moment before dropping his hand to his lap and taking a long pull of his tea, wishing it were something stronger.
"You are so gone, my friend," Owen said with a light laugh from where he had been standing.
"Oh, like half the town isn't," Justice snapped back before standing and leaving without looking back.
Owen shook his head, "But none of the rest of us have her attention back. Idiots, the pair of them."
Cara tried to get up early the next morning, but it had been another late night gathering supplies and working on commissions. Yan had caught her shortly after she had left the Moon and was asking after the recycler he had commissioned.
And by that, she meant that Yan was demanding it be completed basically right then.
So after smacking her alarm clear across the room and going back to sleep for an hour, she now felt like she was running late as she packed lunch and made sure she had all the things she might need on an adventure of unknown length.
She hoped Justice was at least running on time, which gave her just enough time to grab the eggs from the chickens and get them out of the heat. The rest of the chores would have to wait.
Stepping out of the door, she ran right into Justice, who had startled from setting his hammer down next to her pick-hammer. Justice dropped the weapon and grabbed her shoulders as she stumbled back.
"Whoa there, Partner!" he said as he steadied her. "You alright? What's the rush?"
"Sorry, Justice! I… I didn't expect you to be right there," Cara laughed.
Justice laughed as he ran a hand on the back of his head. "Yeah, well, I know we said first thing, but I got ta thinkin' last night that ya normally have mornin' chores ya do so ya might want some help. So I wanted to be here early ta help. So ya don't get behind on my account."
"Oh. Really?" Cara said, blinking at Justice, slightly thrown off. "I mean, I just need to get the eggs inside, really, everything else can wait—"
"But would doin' it now help ya?" Justice asked.
Cara just nodded. She could set up her machines to run while she was out, getting a head start on the commissions she had reserved the night before. Yan didn't like it when they did that, so it was more like Mi-an was going to grab them for her when Yan wasn't looking and leave them on her workbench.
"Ok, that's settled then. What can I do?" Justice wiped his hands on his pants and gave Cara a smile.
Cara relaxed and smiled back. "If you could take care of the chickens, feed them, get their eggs, clean the coop, and then water the plants, that would give me time to reset the machines for the day."
"Chickens and plants, on it!" He saluted her before moving off to start, leaving Cara just standing in her doorway.
She took a deep breath and looked down, trying to hide the grin that was forming. No one she had ever helped had offered to help her in return like this. Shaking her head, she put her bag down and went over to her machines. The sooner she got started, the sooner they would be done and on the road.
It was about half an hour later when Justice walked over to her, carrying a basket full of eggs. "What ya normally do with all these?" he asked.
Looking up from being elbow deep in her recycler, clearing the small obstruction, she had to take a moment to understand what he was asking. "Normally, I trade them to Grace for a morning coffee, but you can put them on the counter inside for now. I'll take them over when we get back."
Justice nodded and walked away while she finished up. If clearing this stuck bit of iron didn't get things running, she'd give up.
It was another ten minutes before she finished up with the machines. Everything, even the stuck recycler, was humming along with their orders for the day. She looked up to find Justice, a smile forming as she grabbed a rag from her workbench to clean the grease off her hands, only to frown instead.
Justice should be long done, but she didn't see him around the yard. She moved to poke her head inside, but didn't see him inside either. Moving to wash her hands real quick, she tried to think back to the last few minutes. She didn't remember him saying anything about leaving, and his hammer was still outside, so he hadn't started to the Valley yet.
Looking around the kitchen, something seemed wrong; she just couldn't put her finger on what it was. Everything was just as it was when she packed lunch. First-aid chest on the table after restocking her kit; counters clean and empty.
'Wait,' she thought and stared at the counters.
Movement outside the kitchen window caught her attention, and she looked up, seeing Justice just getting to her door. A knock rang out before the door opened, and his head poked in.
"There ya are! Finished up then?" he asked as he walked in.
She threw the towel she had used to dry her hands onto the table as he handed her a warm cup, steam slowly seeping from the small hole in the lid.
"Hope it's alright, Grace said it was the one you got most often."
Cara blinked at the coffee in her hand. "You went and got me coffee?"
Justice shrugged. "Ya said that's what ya normally did, so, uh, yeah."
Cara took a sip to hide the blush threatening her cheeks. "Thanks, Jus," she said quietly, humming as the glorious caffeine hit her stomach. She wasn't coffee's biggest fan, but she was caffeine's, so she put up with a cup when she needed to wake up a little.
Which was often as of late.
"So, what's the plan?" she finally asked after they sort of stood there awkwardly for a few minutes.
"Oh! Right, the plan. Well, the report said that the pack of rockenarolls that live out between here and the Valley were getting close to the train station, so that's step one. If they run, good, but we'll cull their numbers if they put up a fight. Their Alpha normally hangs out right there at the entrance to the Badlands. Hope to avoid that fight, but he's a bit stubborn."
Cara nodded; she'd run into that pack before. It was huge and always seemed to be pushing its boundaries.
"Then, there are a handful of plierimps still roaming the Valley itself from when we set up that air purifier thing. If we can, I'd like to clear it, full stop."
"That's a lot of ground to cover." Cara pointed out.
Justice nodded, "It mostly depends on that pack of rockenarolls. If they give us a bunch of trouble, we won't have the time or energy to do a full sweep. If need be, though, I can go back—"
"We."
With a roll of his eyes, Justice nodded, "We can go back. I just don't wanna give them a chance to move back in if I can help it."
"Sounds like a plan. I packed food for the day and first aid supplies in case we need them. Please don't. Anything you need to grab before we go? My chores are done, thanks again for that. You set me up for the day."
Justice smiled. "Glad to be of service," he said quietly, "I'm good if you are. Thanks for thinkin' of food, I didn't. Just grabbed my hammer and pistol."
Cara shook her head, "Figured, it's why I packed the way I did."
Sticking his tongue out at his best friend, who just laughed at him, they moved outside and started walking towards the tracks and the Valley of Whispers to begin their day of hunting.
Jensen had just sent the morning train on its way and looked up to see Cara and Justice leave the builder's house and make their way towards the tracks that separated town from the desert. He smiled at the pair, hoping it was a date, though the hammer and supplies carried belied that.
Justice's hands were waving all around as he told Cara some story; her face lit up in a smile, and her eyes twinkled in mirth. He shook his head as he watched them pass, taking a moment from their comfortable conversation to wave at him.
"Young idiots in love," he mumbled to himself with a light smile, new spring in his step. He loved it when the kids in town found love. He hoped they would just figure it out soon. It was cute to watch them dance around it at first, but now it was just getting sad.
Cara laughed as she jumped to the side, dodging the rockenaroll Alpha's swipe and trying to get her own hit with a twirl of her daggers. She and Justice had managed to get the bulk of them up to this point to turn and run, but, as Justice said earlier, this one was stubborn.
They had split to handle this group as the Alpha was alone, prowling the path, and the three others were off to the left on the rocky ledge over the valley entrance. Justice had slowed and made his way to the group while she had slunk towards the Alpha.
The alpha had noticed her before she could get the surprise attack in. After a few swipes and dodges, she was getting impatient. Another swipe and she saw her chance. She leaped at the animal, slicing its neck with one blade and putting the other straight into its heart.
Turning, she saw Justice had swung his weapon at the two hyenas closest to him and managed to down one and stun another. She pulled her pistol and aimed at the third, unharmed monster as Justice lined up another swing, aiming at the stunned hyena.
She fired just as he loosed his swing, both animals dropping.
"Nice shot, Chief!" Justice exclaimed before he cleared his throat and looked away.
"I had a good teacher," she replied with a teasing tone. Fighting with Justice had always come easy, even back at the Geegler Headquarters, when they had barely known one another, they fought seamlessly. It came naturally to both of them, switching off and instinctively knowing what the other's next move was.
Justice turned back and beamed at Cara, the blush darkening the skin of his cheeks.
Cara, feeling bold after the fight, threw a wink at him as she holstered her gun. His bark of a laugh caused her to widen her grin.
They left the animals where they lay; she'd worry about breaking them down if they were still there at the end of the day, and made their way down the hill towards the valley entrance. After a brief fight with a lone plierimp, they sat for a quick break.
Cara took a swig of water from her canteen when she spied some aluminum scrap having been uncovered by the fight.
"Hey, Justice?" she crooned, trying to sound sweet. "I know we're here to fight and all, but…" She looked at him, batting her eyelashes and pouting as she pointed to the scrap.
Justice just blinked at her before laughing and shaking his head. "Go on."
"Yes!" Cara exclaimed, reaching over and hugging Justice to her side, before bounding off to dig through the scrap. She hadn't seen much aluminum so far, and she was excited to see what she could build with it.
It took them a few hours to clear the center and southern part of the valley. She stopped at several points to dig through some scrap, but tried to stay mostly on task. The northern section was a bit larger, but they hoped that, as it was more cut off from the badlands, it would be sparsely populated.
"Well, want ta stop for some grub before we tackle the other half of this place?" Justice asked after they had cleared the last group of plierimps.
Cara stretched her neck, "I could use a bit of a break, yeah. Let's go over there under that scaffolding? It's a bit of shade and, well, away from the bodies."
Justice chuckled, "Good thinkin', that."
Cara threw the bag to the ground and flopped down onto her back. It wasn't hard work, but she always felt tired after spending hours in the sun.
She reached up and bat Justice's hand away when he started poking her in the nose.
He laughed and sat next to her, grabbed the bag, and dug out the food. "Might wanna reapply that sunscreen ya always carry around. Yer goin' a bit pink."
With a groan, she sat up, reaching out her hand. Justice smacked the tube of extra-strong sunscreen she always purchased from Arvio into her palm and set the wrapped sandwiches and bag of crackers between them.
She was slathering the lotion over her body when she saw Justice's hammer next to him. "Question for you, Justice."
Justice, having just taken a bite of his sandwich, waved her to continue.
"How did you pick a hammer as your weapon? It's not one of the training options at the ring."
Swallowing, Justice smiled. "It was Email who turned me onto it, the commissioner from when I was a kid. I kept gettin' inta trouble around town. Nothin' to bad, just bein' a nuisance. Finally, Email had had enough and dragged me off ta Mason's and told old Mason ta give me some work ta do. Mason, who wasn't as lazy back then, took me off ta the scrap yard and taught me how ta use his pick-hammer ta break up the scrap.
"I'd break it up, and he'd dig through ta find if anything was worth savin'. After I broke the second pick-hammer though, he sent be back ta Email, told her ta get me a real hammer and let me loose, he was tired of remaking his tools. Well, she did just that. Built my first one herself."
Cara was smiling. "She sounds like she was fun."
Justice laughed, "She was. Always had the Moon laughing till late. All us kids hated when we were sent home in the middle of one of her stories. And she ran that guild hall like it was a machine. I'm sorry ya never got ta meet her, she was so much better than Yan could dream of bein'." Justice paused, looking off into the distance before taking a deep breath and continuing, "It was a sad day when she left. Just quit one day and went back ta her hometown. It was after the rush, you see, and the town, well, it was fallin' fast. B3 and Howlett, along with Trudy and Theo, managed ta put a pin in things, but, well, ya see how we're doin' now."
Reaching over, Cara put her hand on Justice's arm, "Mi-an and I are here now, we'll help you pull it all together and get this town back on the upswing."
Covering Cara's hand with his own, Justice smiled sadly, "How do you always stay so positive, Cara?"
She shrugged, "What's the point of being negative? What's going to happen will happen. All being negative will do is make you upset while it's going on, and I'd rather be happy."
Justice stared at her, "You're amazing," he whispered.
Cara blushed and looked down. Her hand was still on his arm, under his hand. She cleared her throat, pulling her hand back and grabbing her sandwich.
"I don't know about amazing, but I am hungry," she said with a laugh, unwrapping and taking a large bite.
Justice let out a laugh and bit into his own sandwich, which had been set aside as he spoke. They were quiet for a few minutes, enjoying each other's company.
"Why did you become a builder?" Justice suddenly asked.
With a shrug, Cara answered, "I always wanted to be one. We went on a field trip to the local yard one day in primary school. They showed us all kinds of tools and machines, and we each got to make a little something. It was just a wooden puzzle box, all cut out and ready to be assembled, but I remember what it felt like to finish it. The builder who was doing the tour, Lee, told me I did such a fast, clean job that I'd make a good builder. I don't think I stopped smiling for days. I carried that puzzle box everywhere, showed everyone who stopped long enough."
"I can see a little version of you doing that." Justice laughed.
Cara bumped him with her shoulder. "I wanted to work in that yard for the longest time. It was my advisor at the builder's school who turned me off to it and had me apply for jobs around the free city that were outside of corporate yards. I wasn't sure when I received the approval for here, Sandrock, that I'd take it. I had gotten a few approvals from all over. The idea of being out here, though, in the middle of the desert, and helping people who really need it, that won out. So here I am!"
Justice smiled at Cara, her eyes bright with happiness, "Well, I for one am very glad you took the offer. I don't know where I'd be without ya."
She looked away and at the horizon, "Oh, you'd be right here. I have faith this town would have made it here just fine without me."
He didn't say anything, just shook his head. He couldn't say what he was thinking, that the town might have made it here, sure, but he'd be lost without her.
"Well, let's clean up and get a move on before we sit here all afternoon," he said instead.
With a stretch and a yawn, she nodded and stood, packing the wrappers from lunch in her bag before slinging it around her shoulders. Unsheathing her daggers as Justice picked up his hammer, they made their way north.
The next few hours were spent hunting the small packs of plierimps that had secreted themselves around the northern part of the valley. They ran into a few bandirats and doomshrooms as well. Just as they were getting to the end of the valley, where the cliffside rose up tall, Cara paused.
"Wait," she said quietly.
Justice stopped immediately and crouched, ready to swing his hammer. "What is it?" he asked in a whisper.
"Something doesn't feel right," she said, looking around, trying to spot something out of place. Something to make sense of the feeling she was getting. Everything looked normal: rock and sand, and the occasional tree. She sighed. "Never mind, I must be imagining things."
Looking around, Justice didn't relax, "No, I trust ya. Ya say somethin' ain't right, it ain't right."
Cara whipped her head around at that and took a breath to reply when she heard it.
It started with a few pebbles falling from the cliff. Just a few tick tick tick of them hitting other stones on their way to the ground.
Then it was a crack.
More stones started to fall.
Justice grabbed Cara's arm as he pulled her back, moving them both away from the cliff face.
A loud crack that reminded Cara of when lightning struck the tree outside her childhood home reverberated around the valley. A slim, jagged hole appeared in the cliff in front of them. Large boulders displaced from the shifting stone began to roll loose. Justice and Cara both skipped back further, away from the falling stone.
Cara looked at Justice, out of breath. "Thank you, I don't know that I would have moved fast enough—"
"WATCH OUT!" Justice yelled as he pushed Cara out of the way of the spear that came flying out of the crack in the rock.
"Justice!" Cara yelled as she watched the spear graze his thigh, slicing his pants and drawing a thin bead of blood. She let out the breath she was holding, having expected the spear to fully hit him.
"Bandirats!" Justice yelled as he jumped forward and into the swarm of rats that were pouring from the new opening.
Pulling her pistol, Cara shot until her magazine was empty, picking off the rats she could. Holstering her empty gun, she pulled her daggers and tried to get to Justice, where he had fought his way to the front of the pack.
"Justice!" she yelled as she sliced a rat that ran up to her left. A rat on her right went down to another swipe of her daggers. Stepping forward, the rats moved between them to keep them apart. She watched as he swung his hammer, downing two in one swing as a sword wielding rat slashed his arm. "Peach, damn it!" she swore as she pushed forward.
Justice was starting to get overwhelmed, and the rats, sensing this, turned from Cara to press on the more vulnerable target. Cara took the advantage and moved around the pack, closer to Justice. She sliced and stabbed as she went, but for every rat she saw go down, more came out of the cliff.
This had to be the whole colony!
Cara screamed as she saw Justice take a knee after a swing of his weapon. As the weapon finished it's arc through the air, nailing the rat he was aiming for in the temple, he used the momentum to stand. Cara could see he was out of breath and had multiple injuries.
Slashing the back of a rat in front of her, she leaped into the air, over the last few rats, and directly into Justice's space.
Justice, knowing it was Cara, spun and used her surprise appearance to knock a few rats back. The rats right in front of him fell back on the row behind them, knocking them all down. He shouted as he saw Cara's arm get sliced by a sword, pulled his pistol, and started firing into the pack.
The onslaught was starting to thin as the bodies began to pile up around the pair. An ambitious rat ran to try and get between them again, but Cara's quick work with her blades stopped him in his tracks. They moved to be back to back, slowly spinning as the rats took a moment to try to force an advantage.
As a large rat, fully twice the size of the others, bounded out of the crack and barreled towards them, Cara sheathed one blade and reloaded her pistol, as best she could one handed.
The rats in front of it parted, clearing the way for it. It was halfway to them when she managed to get her spare magazine in place.
Taking aim, she fired. She felt Justice's form spin, saw him raise his weapon from the corner of her eye, and heard the shots as he too fired on the giant monster.
The berserker rat took shot after shot and still kept running.
She continued to shoot, watching as the rat would twitch with each hit, but not slow.
Bang, twitch…
Bang, twitch…
Click.
Empty.
She dropped her pistol and grabbed for her dagger.
The rat fell at her feet.
The rats still surrounding them went quiet. She could feel Justice's hard breathing next to her; hear his ragged breath. Hear her own.
She dared not take her eyes off the rats to check on him.
A rat screamed.
The tension broke. Rats turned and ran.
None ran back into the cave, all choosing to run out of the valley instead.
Cara narrowed her eyes as she watched their backs. She gripped her daggers harder.
A hand on her arm startled her. She spun, swiping with her blades automatically.
Justice leaned back, her blade sweeping through the air and missing his chest. She fought to stop the motion as she cried out. Justice just smiled at her, having expected the action.
"Hey, now. It's ok. They ran. It's over," he said quietly, reaching down to pry the dagger from her clenched fist. "They're gone, it's over. Come on, Chief, let's go over there, yeah? Away from this… pile?"
She didn't move. Her breathing was still ragged. She looked up, eyes slightly wild, at Justice, giving him a quick once-over to make sure he wasn't missing a limb or had a sword stuck in his body.
He looked like he had a lot of scrapes and bruises, much like she thought she herself looked, but nothing serious.
She let out a breath and closed her eyes, breathing deep and trying to calm down.
"Cara, Chief? Come on, let's move."
Her eyes flung open, glaring at Justice. "What the fuck were you thinking?" she yelled. "Why did you just charge in there like… like an idiot? Did you seriously think you could handle them all? All by yourself? You just ran in there, Justice! Pushed me back and then ran in!"
Her arms were waving, and she was screaming. Justice just stared at her, wide eyed. "Uh, well, ya see—"
"NO! I'm not done yet!" Cara interrupted. "Do you know what it felt like, being outside of them, fighting to get to you? Watching you get sliced up with swords and spears? I…" She let out a quiet sob and turned away from him.
Justice reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, "Cara, I'm sorry—"
Cara spun around, knocking his hand away, and gripped his shirt in his fist. "Peach, damn you," she said as she pulled him forward, crashing his lips to hers.
Justice, eyes wide, fell into her, just able to keep them standing. He stood, frozen, for only a moment before he raised his hands to her face, softly cupping her cheeks, closing his eyes, and returning the kiss.
As the kiss slowly turned from hard and punishing to soft, Cara slowly relaxed her hand. She let go of Justice's shirt and flattened it on his chest, feeling his racing heartbeat. Just as she had poured all her worry into the kiss, Justice poured all his reassurance and love.
They were still out of breath when they slowly parted, Justice leaning his forehead to Cara's. Their breath mixed as they just stood there, surrounded by carnage, and stared into each other's eyes. Neither wanted to break the spell, but as the adrenaline of the fight waned, their injuries made themselves known.
Justice dropped one of his hands to hers before leaning in and giving her a short but soft kiss. "I know we got injuries ta see ta, but before we go, I have somethin' for ya."
He reached down and pulled his holster off his belt, flipping it over. Cara looked down at the leather and sucked in a breath. Recessed at the top was a bright green heart knot. The same green as her eyes. She looked back up at Justice.
"I… I ain't one for this kinda thing, but Cara, I'd be lost without ya. I been carryin' this around cause, well, I ain't seein' you ever returnin' my feelin's. I was just content ta be your friend, didn't wanna risk it. Lose ya at all."
"Justice—"
Justice continued as if she hadn't spoken, "I still made this and carried it, though, cause I wanted a piece of ya ta keep close. If I couldn't have ya, I could keep this close and remember that I love ya, and that's enough. Was enough."
He had been staring at the heart knot in his hand, but looked up at Cara now. "I… It's not gonna be enough, now. If you'll have me, that is." He pulled her hand, palm up, and slipped the heart knot into it. She swallowed as he closed her hand around the threads so perfectly wrapped together.
"If you think I'm letting you get away from me after that, you have another thing coming, Sheriff." She reached into the bag that was still amazingly at her side, pulling out a yellow and red heart knot of her own.
Justice stood, frozen again.
"I did this a while ago. It matches your uniform. I never liked yellow and red before, but it makes me smile now. And feel safe." Cara looked up and into Justice's eyes. "I always had it with me, just in case I ever got the nerve to ask. I… You didn't give anything away. I never knew whether you were just my best friend or felt more than that. I was scared and didn't want to ruin our friendship by wanting more." She held out the heart, and Justice reached out and gently took it, amazement in his eyes.
They just stood there, staring at each other, staring at the knotted hearts they each held.
Cara didn't know which of them laughed first, but after a second, they were both laughing, shaking their heads, and cursing their own fears for keeping things locked up from the other for so long.
Justice placed a gentle kiss on Cara's forehead. "Let's get moving, my chief. Get away from these dead rats and patch ourselves up."
They walked, hand in hand, through the carnage and over to a shady place that was free of corpses. They laughed as they worked to clean and patch up the scrapes and cuts each had received in the fight. Gentle kisses and touches were made with each bandage needed.
Neither could stop smiling, even through the sting of cleaning a wound.
When they were done, Justice reached out a hand to help Cara stand. "I, uh, will have to do the paperwork on all this tomorrow, but, um, well, that is…"
Cara smiled and shoulder checked her boyfriend, giggling like mad in her head that she could call him that now. That they exchanged heart knots.
"Spit it out, Justice."
Justice let out a breath and rolled his eyes, "Wanna come over and get some dinner? I'm no Owen, but I can cook a damn good chop."
She smiled and reached up to kiss him. "I'd love to."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Ok."
Cara reached over and grabbed his hand, linking their fingers.
"Love you, Sheriff."
"Love you, Chief."