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Jumping from moving trains was becoming easier for Debbie. It wasn’t something she ever anticipated being a skill she’d develop but she was sort of mastering the art of safely rolling to one’s death.
“If I had a nickel for every time I had to jump from a moving mode of transport,” she groaned and rolled to her knees. “I’d have three and they’d all be your fault.”
She was the first to her feet, which had never been the case with Judith. And when the taller woman’s only response was a strained chuckle, Debbie knew something was off. Judith, in all her disguised glory, was clutching her thigh and trying diligently to rise to her feet without help.
“Whose blood is that?” Debbie asked pulling her to her feet as best she could. “Is that your blood? Are you bleeding right now?”
“Yes, Deb. That ninny with the knitting needles got me while you were hosing down the train car attendant with the fire extinguisher.” Judith only allowed herself one pained look at the wound before looking out to where they’d landed.
“Well what are we gonna do? We have no idea who those people even were and now you’re bleeding all over the place. And we’re in the middle of nowhere.” Debbie rambled, arms waving around the darkening sky.
To anyone else it’d look like absolutely nothing. They’d tumbled over the bramble-covered railway right out of view of the train cars. But to Judith the brush was familiar. And one look toward the thick woodland had her feeling just a bit more hopeful than she had been when they jumped.
“We need to get to the other side of this ridge. There’s a cabin…”
“A safe house from the agency? Is that safe for us? It’s not like you left that gig on the best of terms…” Debbie questioned, but pulled Judith’s arm over her shoulder and headed down the hill anyway.
“No, no, no. No agency connection. I haven’t been there in years, but we can at least figure out what to do and who the fuck they were.”
“A random cabin that has no affiliation to your assassin life? Judith, that’s somehow even more concerning. How far are we going? Are you gonna be able to make it like this?”
Judith knew Debbie’s questions were rational and in the spirit of honesty she actually paused to assess everything. She was bleeding far more than she’d like and if she remembered correctly they still had a ways to go before they even caught sight of the little cabin. But night was falling and they needed coverage.
“I’ll be fine. We just need to get going. The markers’ll be harder to see in the dark.”
The cabin was dark. No lights. It almost looked uninhabited. The wood was weathered, the grass ran high and the porch swing creaked in the wind just enough to make even Judith jump a bit. It’d been years, but the place still stood.
Judith stopped just at the porch steps and leaned against the railing. With her splitting her weight between her uninjured leg and the rail, Debbie rolled her shoulders out with a heavy sigh.
“Thank god, that’s over.” Debbie climbed the stairs, eyes fanning over the rocking chairs and dead plants. She got up to the door and paused momentarily, realizing Judith hadn’t followed her up. “What’s the matter? Aren’t you gonna bust us in there? My feet are killing me!”
Judith had every intention of “busting them in there” as Debbie so eloquently put it. But the weight of returning to this cabin seemed to be having a stronger impact on her than she thought it would. It’d easily been ten years since she’d even been on this side of Europe and her body still shuddered under the memory of the days spent here.
“Yeah, I’m coming.” Judith spoke, forcing her mind back to the here and now. But just as Judith hobbled onto the porch, the door creaked open and a woman stood in its place. Debbie, for all her exhaustion, jumped about two feet in the air and scrambled to stand behind Judith.
“Must you always show up bleeding on my porch?” The woman deadpanned as her eyes swept over Judith.
Judith’s cheeks reddened under the attention and she dropped her gaze to the steady stream of blood falling to the damp wood. “It wasn’t my intention…”
“Right. Inside.” The woman turned leaving them both on the porch. Debbie felt the tension leave Judith’s body and her interest was instantly peaked. Judith released the railing and started making her way over the threshold. This was apparently someone Judith trusted and listened to.
“Wait wait wait, we’re just gonna follow her inside?” Debbie asked suspiciously. Sure Judith was shedding the whole assassin-hood but surely that didn’t mean she’d just start following women into their secluded cabins while bleeding. “Judith who is this woman? She’s wearing slippers and a fuzzy robe. I don’t think we should assume safety just because she looks approachable. This could all be a trap. A cozy-murder-mystery-esque trap conjured up by whoever that knitting nana works for.”
Judith leveled Debbie with one raised eyebrow, “Would you rather sleep in the forest tonight with nothing but bears and trees to keep you warm?” At Debbie’s silence, Judith limped over the threshold pulling her friend right along with her. Judith pushed the door shut behind them and leaned against the wood with a deep sigh. Before Debbie could get too far, Judith reached for her wrist and pointed toward her feet. “Remove your shoes.”
Debbie gawked at her and looked around the hallway, “Are there trip wires and lasers?”
“What? No. She just doesn’t like anyone tracking dirt in.” Judith very carefully kicked her shoes off and almost instinctively pushed them into the open space next to a pair of red rain boots.
Despite the outside looking dilapidated, the inside of the cabin screamed cozy warmth. The walls were lined in log paneling and tall bookshelves. Blankets and pillows piled high on the couch. Antique lamps tucked in every corner. And an electric fireplace warmed the room. The definition of cozy cabin.
Judith led the way through the hall, Debbie’s eyes flew from wall to wall trying to catalog every crevice of the place and paused in the doorway of the kitchen. All their squabbling had given the slipper-clad mystery woman plenty of time to line the kitchen island with all the contents of a first aid kit. She turned on her heels with a pleased smile and pointed toward both of their feet, “You remembered. Thanks.” Judith flushed under the attention and shrugged in response. The woman pulled on a pair of gloves and nudged the closest stool toward Judith in a silent familiar order. And to Debbie’s never-ending surprise, Judith sat and rolled the hem of her dress up with no argument. No mumbled excuses, no glares, not even resignation. And when the woman softly grabbed at her knee to adjust her, Judith shuddered and settled against the counter.
Debbie watched in awe as the woman began to clean and inspect the wound. The woman hadn’t so much as looked at her since they’d arrived and she couldn’t tell whether that was good or bad. She didn’t know the woman’s name, had no clue where they were, and had the sneaking suspicion that if she opened a drawer it’d be stacked with weapons. But Judith had said, she wasn’t a part of the agency. Said this was a safe place for them to stay, temporarily. What Judith hadn’t mentioned is that she and this woman obviously had history. They hadn’t taken their eyes off each other since the porch. Judith was doing literally whatever the woman asked. And this was the first time she’d seen Judith truly relax in anyone other than her own presence.
The woman must’ve sensed Debbie hovering and finally looked at her over her shoulder. “I’m sorry— feel free to get comfortable. This shouldn’t take long.”
Debbie smiled politely and bowed her head awkwardly, “Thank you, I’m Debbie by the way.” The woman nodded in greeting and turned to focus on Judith’s injury again but Debbie spoke again. “And you are?”
Judith lifted her head to glare at Debbie briefly, “Deb, go sit down.”
Debbie raised her hands in innocence, “What? I’m just introducing myself to our host.”
Judith moved to argue, but the woman standing over her softly pushed her head back in its resting position. “I’m Y/n. Nice to meet you Debbie. Help yourself to anything.” And then she was back to working over Judith’s skin.
As soon as Y/n’s back was turned to Debbie she allowed her jaw to fully drop trying diligently to meet Judith’s eyes around the woman. But Judith was too busy watching Y/n work. Resigning to being shocked and confused on her own, Debbie wandered into the living room and flops on a couch with a sigh.
Once alone, Judith cleared her throat and spoke, “Thank you.” It was all she could think to say. She pulled her eyes away from Y/n’s hands to her eyes and tried to convey literally anything going through her head. Which admittedly wasn’t much.
Y/n smiled softly and met Judith’s eyes briefly. “You know you don’t have to thank me, Jude.” Judith smiled at the nickname and ducked her head again. “Glad you finally decided to pay me a visit.”
“Well it wasn’t exactly planned.”
“Well I’d hope you didn’t travel all this way just to have me patch you up. Where were you headed?” Y/n asked shuffling through the bandages on the counter.
“Cambodia. An island you can’t see or something.”
“Ah, sounds transformative.” Y/n hummed. “Alone?”
Judith’s smile fell into something sadder, Billy’s face flashing behind her eyes. “Yeah. Just me now.” Y/n watched the shift closely and recognized that pain almost immediately. There’d been someone and a plan but they were gone, maybe forever. She smoothed a bandage across the length of Judith’s thigh and patted the bare skin in comfort.
“Well, sometimes that’s when you learn the most.” Y/n took a step back to admire her work and lowered Judith’s leg carefully. “All done. Go sit and I’ll bring you both something to eat on before bed.”
“That won’t be necessary-” Judith automatically rebuffed but it was no use now the same way it had been no use ten years ago. “Right.”
When Judith flopped onto the couch next to Debbie she made it a point not to meet her eyes. Even when Debbie leaned over to get into her line of sight. “Stop that.”
“You stop that. What in the Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman is going on here? Brian couldn’t even keep you that still and you were barely conscious for that. Who is this woman?”
Judith looked over the back of the couch, eyes trained on Y/n as she pulled leftovers from the fridge. She didn’t really know how to describe her. Who was Y/n to her really? In the last ten years, she’d been a memory. Sometimes a dream. A person Judith wished to return to only in her quietest hours. She’d been a complete stranger. The kindest stranger. A pillar of goodness in Judith’s eyes. “She’s good.”
Debbie leaned back against the couch thoughtfully. She knew there was far more to this story than she was ready to give. “Right. Good.”