THE RIZZOLI REVELATION pt2 END

RIZZOLI & ISLES-fanfic. Set during the end of episode six, season one, Jane was looking forward to a lazy day off. She hadn't counted on Maura and the rest of the Rizzoli family having their own ideas. (Jane Rizzoli/Maura Isles)
Part two of two.

Read THE RIZZOLI REVELATION pt2 END

Disclaimer found in part 1.





THE RIZZOLI REVELATION pt2 END
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by Carola “Ryûchan” Eriksson





“Right!” Angela snapped into action, making both Jane and Maura jump. “Frankie Jr needs to get back to work now, and I need to go to the grocery store.” She urged her husband and son into motion, then stepped forward and hugged the surprised Maura. “It was lovely to see you Maura, as always. Jane really should bring you over for dinner sometime soon, maybe next weekend?” She beamed at her daughter and mouthed an exaggerated ‘CALL ME’ at her that neither of the women in the room missed. “Oh and Frankie, pick up the dog will you? Your father and I are dog-sitting today.”

With that Angela Rizzoli bustled all her family sans her daughter out the door, plus one small but happy canine, and closed it behind her. Silence reigned in her absence for a while.

“She stole my dog!” Jane blurted, snapping out of her shock.

“I’m sure she merely borrowed your dog, Jane.” Maura assured her helpfully. “You’ll get her back tomorrow.” She frowned a little at the bag in her hands. “I bought pastries for your parents.”

Idly remembering how Frost had used the word ‘endearing’ to describe Maura, Jane felt some of her mortification give way for her affection for the other woman. She smiled. “That just means there’s more for us. Why don’t you get a cup of coffee and start in on them and I’ll come join you as soon as I’ve taken a quick shower?”

Her cause aided by Maura’s empty stomach as well as her supreme sweet tooth, Jane quickly had the other woman suitably distracted to make a run for the bathroom. It took her a moment to get going because she was too charmed by the little smile on Maura’s lips when she admired the decorations on the small pastry before eating it, but after that she made quick work of her usual morning routines.

With images of Maura dancing on the inside of her eyelids and the various things her family had suggested about the two of them buzzing around in her thoughts, Jane stepped into the shower and, with some embarrassment, set it to cold.

“Cold water is invigorating once in a while.” She told herself. “That’s all.” As if to defy her the images of Maura only became clearer and more insistent, Maura smiling, Maura blushing, Maura in various states of undress, Maura’s cleavage from their undercover night... Jane repeating that little move the bartender had performed on her, only this time she was the one licking a path down Maura’s neck...

Jane smacked herself in the face and rubbed the shampoo into her hair a bit more forcefully, desperate to ignore the fact that her stomach was doing flip-flops at the thought of kissing Maura. Since when did she fantasise about pushing Maura up against the kitchen counter, or possibly lay her down on it, to kiss her until the sun went down anyway?

It was a rather guilty feeling and nervous Jane that sidled into the kitchen, only to find that after one look at Maura licking crumbs off her fingers all thoughts of food was forgotten, as was the ability to think altogether.

Now Maura Isles might not have been the most socially suave of people, but she was a certified genius, and with that came at least some observation skills. She noticed her friend’s wide-eyed stare at her lips, and after the brief initial surprise realization set in. Maura smiled.

Realizing what she had been doing and that the other woman had caught her doing it, Jane blushed badly and looked away. “Ah, uh, sorry Maura.”

“That’s alright, Jane. I’m flattered actually.”

“Its just, my family, they... they’ve been assuming things, a lot of things, about you and me.” Jane sheepishly tried to explain. “They’re making my head spin, really. Oh, and in case you didn’t know it...” She grinned briefly at Maura. “My entire family adores you. After a short bout of ‘oh my god, Jane is gay’ my mother was all but planning our wedding.”

Maura smiled, clearly happy to hear that she was well liked by the Rizzoli family, but there was also a touch of anxiousness in her expression, suggesting that she wasn’t sure where Jane was heading with the conversation. Jane wasn’t too sure herself, and felt plenty anxious too.

“Dad and Frankie were both kind of angry with me because they thought that I had put in an ad to meet other people while I was already involved with you. I tried to explain to them, which I think is about where you came in? That was what all that was about.”

“So...” The smile faded and Maura’s brow furrowed. “You didn’t mean it?”

The hurt that crept into Maura’s eyes hit Jane surprisingly hard, and although she had meant to say something else to try to laugh it all away, one look at Maura’s expression had her instinctively blurting out the truth. “No! No, I meant it! I mean I do.”

Confused with herself and what she really wanted to say or do Jane slumped down in her chair a bit and, without being entirely aware of it herself, pouted at Maura.

“I meant what I said too.” Maura’s voice was warm, and deep affection and perhaps a touch of adoration virtually shone from her. Jane blushed and fidgeted at the sight, unable to hold onto her unintentional pout when faced with that.

“My family has decided that I’m gay, and nothing I say will change their minds. Ironically though, before all of this I had never even thought about it.” She hesitated slightly. “Have you?”

“Have I considered that you might be interested in women romantically, that I might be interested in women romantically, or that I might be romantically interested in you specifically?” Maura asked for clarification but didn’t wait for the somewhat stunned Jane to answer. “Yes.”

“...yes?”

“Yes.” Maura confirmed quite calmly.

“Yes, what?” Although Jane didn’t notice it herself she was leaning forward over the table, almost visibly hanging on Maura’s answer.

“Yes, I have considered that I might be attracted to women before. I was in a relationship with an older girl for almost a year back in my student days. And yes, when we first met I briefly wondered if you might have been a lesbian.”

“You were in a relationship with a girl?” Jane goggled at the thought, although it also sent a curious trill down her spine. “When?”

“College.” Maura seemed a bit amused by Jane’s reaction. “It didn’t end badly, but it did end.”

“Why didn’t you say anything when we were going undercover?”

“It was a long time ago and had no real relevance to the case. And as the expression goes, I do not ‘kiss and tell’... not the ones that meant something, anyway, and not unless you specifically ask.”

“And...” Jane realized something was being omitted. “...what about the third option?”

“Have I ever considered that I might be interested in you romantically?” Maura hesitated and Jane stopped breathing. “Yes. Yes I have. I don’t anymore.”

Jane felt absolutely crushed, and it stunned her that she felt that strongly this fast. Hadn’t it all simply been something her family brought up just earlier today? In that case, why did it hurt to know that Maura had considered her, however briefly, and decided she wasn’t interested anymore? Since the other woman simply could not lie Jane could count on it being nothing but complete and utter truth, too.

“I stopped wondering because I found the answer.” Maura didn’t look like she was faring much better than Jane, uncomfortably squirming in her seat and avoiding meeting Jane’s eyes. “I am... interested in you, very much so.”

“Oh!” Just like that Jane’s spirit lifted and she felt cautiously hopeful. “You are? You never said anything.”

“I didn’t intend to tell you. It didn’t seem like something a good friend should be feeling.” Hands fluttered a bit aimlessly on the tabletop, until Jane with a fair deal of awkwardness reached out and put her own hand over Maura’s. Maura continued in a hushed voice. “I thought that if I dated a lot it would pass, that I might become interested in someone else instead... but it hasn’t worked so far.”

“I’m kind of glad it hasn’t worked.” Gently squeezing Maura’s hand Jane spoke a bit more shyly than she was entirely comfortable with. “Given the things you’ve heard me say today and the fact that you’ve already caught me ogling you I’m sure its no surprise, but... I, I think I might be, that I’m kind of... interested too.”

“It might have been in the back of my mind for a while, but I haven’t really thought about it until today... well, yesterday... no, okay, the undercover thing.” She got a little flustered admitting that out loud. “Anyway, what I meant was, if you’ve thought about it... would you want to give it a try? Dating me, I mean. You pretty much know my awful track record when it comes to romance, and when it comes to being involved with a woman I’ll probably be even more clueless, plus you know of my temper and my hang-ups. Would it be worth taking a chance on?”

“Yes.” The answer was immediate and instinctive, causing Maura to flush and look a bit dismayed with herself. Jane thought it was very flattering. “I mean, yes, if it was up to me I think it would be worth it. I would have liked to try.”

Jane intertwined their fingers. “Okay. Then, would you go out with me, Maura? Dinner and a movie, possibly with sinful amounts of chocolate?”

“I’d love to.” Maura said softly, a smile starting to chase away her uncertain expression from before. “Perhaps we can make that dinner and then a movie at my place? With sinful amounts of chocolate and ice-cream? I need to feed Bass.”

“But Jane? I have to ask you something...” Maura delicately cleared her throat and shifted a little in her seat. “Have you ever thought about... kissing me?”

“Actually I seem to be doing that a lot, today.” It was embarrassing to admit, but if Maura was that honest about everything Jane had to do her best to be as well. Her eyes tracked to Maura’s lips and stayed there until she managed to force herself to look away. “I’m doing it right now apparently.” She muttered, more to herself than anything meant to be heard by the other woman.

Maura nodded and withdrew her hands. “Would you like to try?” She asked mildly.

Jane stared at her.

“Before you commit to dating me, would you like to try kissing me to find out if you would be comfortable with that kind of... closeness between us at all?” Maura clarified, head tilted in contemplation. “You might discover that it is not something you would enjoy.”

After unsuccessfully working her suddenly quite dry mouth for a while Jane settled for a shaky nod, no longer sure at all what she was doing but momentarily overruled by long suppressed baser instincts that said that she was not about to refuse a kiss from Maura Isles for anything.

Nodding slightly herself, Maura got up and rounded the table. She hesitated only very briefly before sitting herself down straddling Jane’s lap, nearly causing the taller woman to choke in surprise.

She smiled at Jane and very lightly put a hand to her cheek. “I’m going to kiss you now, okay?” Dimly Jane marvelled at how calm and unconcerned Maura seemed in this situation, when Jane herself felt her heart pounding somewhere in the vicinity of her ears.

The first impression was of softness, such softness, as Maura very gently and carefully moved her lips against Jane’s. After a few passes she made to withdraw, but Jane surged forward, finally responding to the kiss and quite unwilling to let Maura go. Her hands came up to loosely encircle Maura’s waist.

With a small pleased sound Maura returned with a much firmer kiss, her hand reaching up to tangle in Jane’s hair while their lips moved together. Abandoning gentleness for passion Maura soon slid her tongue into Jane’s mouth, and with a moan the kiss ignited.

Maura found herself crushed against Jane’s body by a pair of long arms, one surprisingly strong hand on her rear making her twitch with every rhythmic squeeze. Jane had both of Maura’s arms wrapped firmly around her head and was so determined to devour the other woman that when Maura finally had to draw back slightly to gasp for air, Jane immediately locked onto her neck and unintentionally fulfilled her own fantasy from earlier that morning.

“Oh my God, Jane!” Maura gasped and bucked a little as Jane found the pulse point on her neck and fervently latched onto it.

Slowly brought out of her haze by the sound of her own name, Jane reluctantly released Maura’s neck and drew back, blinking rapidly and trying to come back to her senses. They stared at one another, still breathing rather heavily while the crushing hold eased into a warm embrace. Maura found rational thought first.

“Oh Jane...” She shook her head, smiling somewhat ruefully. “If you tell me that you didn’t enjoy that, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Jane chuckled and pulled Maura forward a little until their heads nestled together. “Well, there’s no chance of that now, is there?” She leaned into Maura’s hair and breathed deeply, deciding she loved how the other woman smelled. “And wasn’t it you who told me that I’m not your type?”

“Oh, you’re not my type.” Jane could feel the edges of Maura’s grin underneath her ear. “That doesn’t change how I feel though.”

“Will it make it any better if I promise not to wear shoes to bed?” Unable to resist Jane started playing with Maura’s hair. She grimaced a little when she recalled the other reason given why she was not Maura’s type. “The other thing I might need some help with, sometimes.”

She was self-aware enough to know that there were times that relaxation didn’t come to her easily, it was something she thought came with the job.

“That sounds just perfect to me.” Was the happy reply. “And if you give me a little time I’ll get those Celtics tickets you wanted.”

“Celtics?” Jane drew back to look at Maura, amazed. “You’d get tickets for... why?”

“Well you said you’d ‘flip’ for those.” Maura smiled contentedly. “I thought I’d... hedge my bets.”

“Sometimes you’re just too cute.” Jane mumbled to herself. “But you know what? We have a problem.”

“We do?” A touch of insecurity began creeping back into Maura’s expression, causing Jane to hurry to reassure her.

“Yep, we do. I’m starving, and I’m sure you’re no better off, so I should really take you out to dinner as promised.” She grinned at Maura. “But that means I have to let go of you first, and I’m not sure I can do that.”

To prove her point she squeezed the other woman a bit more, earning a startled but delighted little laugh for her efforts.

“Isn’t that just too bad?” Maura sounded anything but regretful. “Of course, if we could possibly force ourselves to move for a little while... we could swing by that little Italian restaurant on the way to my place, or maybe the Chinese... get dinner to go... save the going out part of dinner for next time, and just eat at my place.” She fluttered her lashes at Jane. “I have some very nice wine and some of your beer to go with it if you want.”

Amused and trying to figure out if the latest little manoeuvre was meant to be flirtatious or if Maura was joking with her, Jane smirked and pretended to think it over. “Is that so? Skipping the actual date part of the date for later? Hmm... I can’t decide. Got any more incentive?”

“A big, comfy couch...” Maura fiddled a little with Jane’s hair, making her shiver. “...an even bigger flat-screen TV and anything on it or in my DVD collection that you want to watch, and very little chance of any member of your family letting themselves in unannounced.”

“Wow...” Jane grinned. “You sure know how to woo a girl.”

“Speaking of which, since your parents won’t return your dog until tomorrow you don’t really need to come back here tonight. You could spend the night at my place if you want?”

Feeling a definite kick somewhere south at the probably rather innocent suggestion, Jane cleared her throat and replied with a voice that was just a touch deeper than usual. “A sleepover? Alright... so I should... pack a bag?”

“Pack a bag.” Maura nodded and beamed happily, easily hopping up from Jane’s lap to watch as Jane wobbled unsteadily to her feet before turning her attention to the kitchen table. “I’ll clean up here while you get your things together.”

Her head swimming a bit with everything that had happened Jane staggered into her bedroom, managed to locate her gym bag on automatic and tossed toiletries and random underwear into it, only remembering to add her sleepwear as an afterthought, before heading towards her closet for something to wear at work in the morning.

“Did I ever tell you that I own a Jacuzzi? It’s big enough for two.”

The loud bang that followed that statement had Maura come into view for a worried glance through the bedroom door. Jane smiled sheepishly and hid the fact that she had just torn the closet door half off its hinges by leaning up against it. “I, uh, don’t know where I’ve put my swimsuit?”

“Oh, that’s alright, you can borrow one of mine.” Relieved, the smiling Maura returned to whatever she was doing in Jane’s kitchen. “If you want one.”

Swallowing hard and no longer seeing her clothes, Jane just grabbed what she could and hoped that she at least got one of each needed item, because at this point she no longer cared what she’d look like at work tomorrow.

“Done!” She called out a little too loudly, leaning the broken door against its mate and promising herself that she’d fix that later, before hefting her bag and snagging Maura’s already neatly made up one on the way out.

“Me too.” Maura smiled and handed Jane her jacket. “Did you decide what you want? I could call in an order for us while you’re driving, that way we just need to pop in and pick it up.”

Putting her jacket on and gently ushering the other woman ahead of her out the door before locking it behind them, Jane smiled. Had she decided? Oh yeah.

“Yeah, I did. I know what I want.” She answered and waited the brief moment it took for Maura to look up at her quizzically. Dropping both bags to the floor she wrapped her arms around Maura, backed the startled woman up against the door and proceeded to kiss her deeply.

After a good long moment Jane stepped back, a smile on her face and feeling rather happy with the world for once, picked up the bags in one hand and offered the other to the dazed-looking Maura.

“Oh.” Maura sighed dreamily, taking Jane’s hand. Then, as her mind caught up with her, she beamed brightly. “Oh!”

She gave Jane a loving look that made her insides melt. “Me too.”

Unable to contain herself anymore Jane tugged on Maura’s hand and started off down the hallway, feeling like an overgrown teenager in love.

The thought came to her mind just as the two of them exited her building that her mother would never let her live this one down.

For once in her life Angela Rizzoli had played matchmaker on her daughter’s behalf... and succeeded.

THE RIZZOLI REVELATION pt1

RIZZOLI & ISLES-fanfic. Set during the end of episode six, season one, Jane was looking forward to a lazy day off. She hadn't counted on Maura and the rest of the Rizzoli family having their own ideas. (Jane Rizzoli/Maura Isles)
Part one of two.

Read THE RIZZOLI REVELATION pt1

Disclaimer: I actually have no idea who Rizzoli & Isles belongs to, just that it is not me but I am still quite grateful for the episodes I’ve seen of it so far.

This story is set at the end of episode 6, season one: I kissed a girl.





The Rizzoli Revelation
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by Carola “Ryûchan” Eriksson





After several days of hard work, in her own personal opinion going above and beyond for the job, Jane Rizzoli had simply looked forward to an evening of mindlessly sitting on her couch, with her dog, leftover pizza and as many beers as she could down before falling asleep to something utterly mindless on TV. She knew it was not to be when she found Maura Isles waiting for her in the lobby, eyes wide and bright and her smile even brighter, a large bag in her hands.

She smiled wryly at her friend who bounced slightly in place at the sight of her, eager energy practically sloshing from her in waves. Jane already knew she’d cave, because for some reason it was just so hard for her to refuse when it came to Maura. Even on those rare occasions when they were truly fighting and the other woman had managed – always by accident and because Jane let her own insecurities have her misunderstand the literal minded and rather socially awkward woman – to get that famous Rizzoli temper flaring, Jane almost immediately wanted to cave. When it came to Maura Isles Jane was simply a pushover, and she truly hoped none of the guys realized it.

“I’m way too tired to go out tonight.” Was her greeting as Maura fell into step with her. “I was just going to veggie out in front of the TV with some beer and the last of the pizza in my fridge.”

Maura nodded happily, clearly not seeing any problem with that arrangement and in fact looking as if it was the best idea ever. Jane thought she was cute that way, always reacting as if the most mundane things Jane came up with were party material. “We could stop by and pick up a couple of pizzas on the way to your place,” Maura suggested as they made their way to Jane’s car. “and I brought Jorge’s chocolate, so we can have that for dessert.”

Jane made a weak attempt at an annoyed glare at Maura whom simply blinked a little in response, although in truth she wasn’t really angry at Maura for the Jorge fiasco. It was a sore spot, sure, and she was most definitely going to make the other woman help her get rid of this very unwanted suitor, but Jane couldn’t really blame anyone but herself. It was always the same old story, the good, or let’s face it, relatively normal guys fled her like the plague, while the weirdos flocked to her like flies. It was quite depressing really, no wonder she lived for her job.

Perhaps that was why it had turned out so strangely satisfying and flattering, the undercover job as a lesbian using an online dating service that she had just now finished. It had quite frankly shocked her how many women were interested in her, using no more than her photo and Maura’s surprisingly accurate – Jane was so ‘sporty’ and not ‘butch’, and she reminded herself that she was going to make the guys pay for that one later – profile of her. Attractive women at that, most of them, and of those that she had encountered on her little ‘speed date’ most had seemed fairly normal and at least in possession of half a brain, if a bit desperate perhaps. So the flirtatious bartender had turned out to be a murderer in the end, but for a while there Jane had felt attractive and desirable, and it had been both a heady and novel experience.

“I’ve got the day off tomorrow,” She gave it one last, albeit weak, attempt. “so I won’t be going in to work in the morning.”

“It’s my day off too.” Maura informed her as she fastened her seatbelt. “I don’t need to be anywhere early either.”

With that the case was closed, and Jane was actually quite happy about that. She enjoyed the other woman’s company and their little sleepovers, and Maura’s presence always chased Jane’s demons away, not that Jane had ever told her that. If she was honest with herself Jane knew that a few beers into the evening and she would have been on the phone with Maura anyway, because ever since the two of them had started socializing outside of work there had not been a single evening that they had not at least phoned each other. Jane had spent several evenings almost falling asleep to the warm sound of Maura’s voice over the phone, although she was careful not to think too much about why and if this was really normal behaviour.

Now instead she was treated to the quite remarkable pleasure of watching crap TV-shows with a too literal-minded genius whom, much like Jane herself, thought nothing of commenting out loud every little thing happening on the screen. It was hilarious fun, and Jane wondered idly if she dared to take Maura to the movies sometime, or if they’d get themselves thrown out.

Eventually they gave up on TV and moved over to the bed. Jane felt a bit ratty in her tank top and boxers compared to Maura’s perfect golden silk pyjamas, but shrugged it off as she watched with amusement how Maura carefully tucked Jane’s dog into the foot of the bed while asking it not to crawl up and kick her in her sleep. The dog, happy with the attention, wriggled her tail and snuggled in, and Maura, satisfied that she had gotten her message across, climbed up next to Jane and did the same.

They talked about silly things from their childhoods until they both drifted off to sleep. That the last thing that lingered in Jane’s mind was the image of Maura’s sweet smile and her up close and personal introduction to the other woman’s shockingly generous and rounded cleavage, well that was something that would not occur to her until quite some time into the next day.

The new day started with a phone ringing much too early for two sleepy women. Not awake enough to open her eyes Maura nonetheless reached out and blindly scrambled until she got hold of the phone.

“Mm, Maura here.” She husked with a very sleepy voice. “Who? Ah, Jorge. Yes, yes she is. Hold on.” Maura nudged the arms that were wrapped around her. “Jane, honey? It’s for you.”

Jane groaned, tightened her grip on the warm body in her arms and burrowed her face deeper into Maura’s neck before rumbling her reply. “Tell ‘em to go away. We’re sleeping.”

“Mmmm, that’s nice.” Maura hummed in somnolent pleasure. “Sorry, we’re sleeping.” She repeated obediently before hanging up, simply letting the phone slide out of her hand as she returned to deeper sleep.

Some time later their sleep was once again disturbed by the sound of the phone ringing. This time Jane, still plenty sleepy but also irritated, reached over Maura to grab the phone.

“What!” She barked into the receiver, causing Maura to grumble a little and turn around, tucking herself into Jane’s shoulder. “Frankie? Wha... wait, wait, what did you say? What do you...”

“Is something wrong?” Maura groaned a bit from the area just below Jane’s ear. Jane didn’t even think about how her instinctive response was to squeeze the other woman a little tighter to her.

“It’s Frankie.”

“Hi Frankie.” Maura said dutifully, sighing a little.

“Yes, that was Maura.” Jane growled at the phone. “Well she was sleeping! Now wait, back up... who saw what online?”

“No, but that’s... Frankie, no. I said no! Don’t be an ass.” Jane was getting even more agitated, and in response Maura started to gently rub soothing circles on her stomach. Strangely enough it seemed to help. “Look, the whole thing is job related and I’ll tell you about it when I see you, okay? Now get off the phone and let me wake up!”

As an afterthought, half screamed while she sat up, suddenly wide awake. “AND DON’T CALL MA!” The beeping of her phone told her she was too late, and with a mighty groan she threw herself back down. She was done for, she just knew it.

The slightly bleary but still very concerned eyes that met hers as the violently jostled Maura raised her head to face her made Jane smile a little despite everything. Just as Maura began to speak a loud rattle came from the apartment door, sending Jane from gosh-she’s-cute to WARNING!-INTRUDER! in one painfully thundering heartbeat.

By the time the loud clatter changed into the front door opening Jane had rolled out of bed, grabbed her gun and stalked forward, ready to take on whatever dared enter her apartment.

Except perhaps for her agitated mother who came loudly bustling in as if she didn’t even see the gun in her daughter’s hand, aimed quite clearly at Angela, with Jane’s father and brother shuffling in behind her. All the blood in Jane vacated to parts unknown as with a slightly trembling hand she lowered her gun.

“Jesus Christ, ma!” Jane gasped, shocked that she had drawn a gun on her mother. “Are you insane? You know you can’t just come barging in like that without warning, you damn well know that I’ll shoot whatever tries to force its way through my door without permission!” She sank down on the arm of her couch. “Shit.”

Angela Rizzoli halted in taking off her coat to frown a little deeper at her only daughter. “Jane, language!”

“Ma!” Hating the whine that came into her voice as she protested her mother’s admonishment and feeling no small bit surreal, Jane wondered if she just closed her eyes hard enough it would all have been a bad dream brought on by too much chocolate. “I mean it! I could have shot you!”

“Nonsense dear, would a burglar have used a key to get in? You would have realized it was me.” Angela dismissed her daughter’s concern to hang up her coat and urge her husband to do the same. Both of the Rizzoli men offered sheepishly apologetic looks in Jane’s direction, Frank Jr looking particularly guilty.

Jane sighed deeply. “It isn’t burglars I’m worried about, ma.”

To her surprise gentle hands wrapped her bathrobe over her shoulders and gingerly took her gun away. She blinked owlishly and felt something deep inside just subtly shift as she looked up at Maura, nary a wrinkle in her golden jammies and her bed-tousled hair no worse than what Jane’s hair looked like after a day at work, all calm and with a friendly smile towards Jane’s family.

“Good morning Angela, Frank.” Maura greeted them, giving no sign that she at all noticed the odd looks her best friend’s family was giving her. “Hello again, Frankie.” Carefully she put Jane’s gun on the coffee table, taking an extra moment to arrange it so that it was aimed well away from any of them and towards a wall while the Rizzoli family remained uncharacteristically quiet around her.

“I believe that having been personally made the target and at the mercy of a particularly vicious serial killer, it is only natural that even a detective of Jane’s calibre would react to a sudden and unannounced attempt to force entry into her home with fear and violence.” Maura proceeded to inform the room, missing the chagrined look followed by a shushing motion sent her way by Jane. “Especially when she’s not entirely awake.”

“Oh. Um, sorry sis.” Frankie muttered and scratched at the back of his neck. “I should’ve realized.”

Frank Sr nodded, his eyes troubled as they flitted over his daughter, while Angela looked utterly stricken. “Of course. I’m sorry sweetheart, your mother and I won’t do it again.”

“It’s alright dad.” Jane sighed and did her best to move the conversation away from what was for her quite a touchy subject. “It’s kind of my fault anyway, for letting ma keep a key to this place.” She pulled the robe closer around herself. “But what are you all doing here this early? Did you know it was my day off?”

“When your brother asked for you at work they said it was your day off, so he took an early lunch and called your father and me.” Angela got back into her stride, her voice taking on an increasingly noticeable mixture of reproach and indignation. “We rushed right over as soon as we heard.”

“Lunch?” A glance to the clock confirmed it, although it certainly would be an early one, lunch was definitely on the horizon. “Gosh Maura, we slept really late.”

“That’s alright, we stayed up really late too.” Maura patted her on the head as she passed her by on the way to the kitchen where she started the coffee machine. “I’ll just pop into the shower really quick, is that okay?”

For some reason that little pat on the head made Jane feel embarrassed, and the way her brother stared at her as if he knew something made it all the worse. To her own surprise Jane was actually blushing as Maura passed her by on the way back into the bedroom, but fortunately silence apparently meant approval as the other woman prepared for the shower, taking her spare clothes out of Jane’s closet where she had hung them the previous night.

“So it is true.” Frank Sr said slowly as Maura, ever the helpful one, laid out an outfit for Jane to wear as well before disappearing into the bathroom. His wife, having stared goggle-eyed at Maura until the door closed behind her, made several high-pitched squeaks at her daughter before finally managing a “Honey!” that was several octaves higher than it should.

Jane winced. She knew what this was about, and if she could only find him at some point where he was not at work or with their parents, she would beat the snot out of her brother for it.

“Is this why you’ve never dated any of those nice men I found for you? Is this why you insist on having such a dangerous job? Oh honey...” Angela sobbed a little, dabbing at her eyes.

“Look, ma, calm down. I don’t know what Frankie has told you and dad, but it is all just a misunderstanding...”

“Yeah, right.” Frankie snorted. “The female colleague of mine that told me about it this morning also showed me the website, sis. It has your picture on it and everything. Don’t see how we could misunderstand that.”

Just as Jane was about to explode at her brother, possibly also her mother for good measure, Frank Sr stepped in with a calm and disapproving hand on his son’s shoulder. “Quiet, son. Let your sister speak.”

Her anger deflating quite a bit at her father’s calm demeanour, Jane scratched a little at her head and sighed. “Look, ma, dad... I was undercover, alright? A member of that lesbian date site got murdered a couple of days ago, and because we realized that the victim and I look a lot alike, I had to put out an ad to try to find the killer.” She gave her brother an annoyed look. “And hey, guess what, I did. Case closed, although late last night so the fake profile hasn’t been shut down yet.”

“Quite simple really, and Frankie would have known about it if he’d spoken to Korsak or Frost before he decided to call in the cavalry.” Jane was feeling really hurt, and she didn’t even know why. “Or, you know, if he’d actually asked me and let me tell him before calling either of you!”

Silence followed her outburst for a long moment before Frank Sr cleared his throat. “So it was all just a disguise for work?” When Jane nodded he nodded as well, but the expression on his face did not exactly say that he was convinced. He looked past Jane’s shoulder and continued in a slow and thoughtful tone of voice. “Sweetheart, are you really sure about that?”

Following her father’s gaze Jane found Maura, freshly stepped out of the shower and so beautiful that it made something in Jane’s chest hurt, looking very awkward and uncomfortable with the tension in the air.

“Just a quick shower.” The smile on Maura’s lips was that small and fragile one that wasn’t really meant as a smile at all and that Jane rarely ever saw the other woman wear anymore. It made her want to hug Maura, which was another strange and awkward thought in itself. “I figured you might want me to take Jo Friday for her walk while you got dressed and talked to your parents, Jane?”

“That would be great, Maura. Thank you.” A bit uncomfortably aware of the warm and affectionate way her own voice sounded, Jane squirmed a bit but was unable to do anything to change the way she spoke to Maura. The dog, brought alive by the word ‘walk’, danced around Maura’s feet as she, with a wide and genuine smile this time, fetched the impossibly pink leash and headed for the door.

It was quiet for a moment as Jane watched the door even when Maura had already closed it behind her, the other Rizzoli family members exchanging glances and shifting uneasily in place.

“So... Maura is a very nice girl...” Angela started with for her an unusual amount of hesitation. “We all love her, you know we do.”

“I’m glad you do, ma, but Maura really doesn’t have anything to with all this. Or rather,” Jane amended “she does because she was undercover too and was the one that actually filled in my profile, but... you know what I mean.”

“So you’re admitting that there is an ‘all this’ then?” Jane’s mother wanted to know, taking on what Jane thought of as her I’ve-got-you-now face.

“I know you’re all determined to make it into something.” She regretted the sarcastic answer almost as soon as it left her lips. “Look, what is this really? An anti-lesbian intervention?”

“Of course not, sweetheart...” Frank Sr began but was immediately interrupted by his wife. “I just want to see you safe and happy, with someone that takes care of you! Is that so bad?”

“Ma, I’ve told you time and time again, I’m a cop. It is what I do and it is what I am. I’m not going to change and become a housewife or anything else, so please try to accept that. I also don’t need or want a guy to take care of me, and most of all I don’t want you, Frankie or anyone else to try to find me one.” She was tired of having the same argument with her mother, and definitely too tired to get angry. “I take care of myself, and if I end up with someone it will be because I love that person... not because I want someone to ‘take care of’ me.”

“Sis... you said ‘person’ and ‘someone’. Not ‘he’ or ‘him’...person. You know what that means, don’t you?”

“Dear God, you’re just not going to give up are you?” Jane groaned. “It was for going undercover! You can just go ask Korsak since you don’t believe me.”

“But you’ve got to admit it adds up. No husband, no kids...” Frankie started ticking things off his fingers but quickly stopped, letting the rest of his sentence peter out, as the evil glare his sister sent him reminded him that, yes, she could still easily kick his ass no matter how grown up he thought he was, and oh yeah, she would. Right now if he didn’t shut up.

“Honey, we’re not upset that you’re... gay...” The fact that Angela had some difficulty saying the word suggested something contrary to her words, but Jane chalked that up to needing to get used to the idea. “We’re upset that you didn’t come to us about it!”

“To have to find out through strangers...” Frankie nodded gravely, unable to resist and earning a swift kick to the shins from his sister.

“Sure, it will take some getting used to... but women like you can marry in this state, and when it comes to kids, well, your brother is a healthy young man...”

“Hey! Any kids of mine are going to be kids of mine, ma!”

“What he said!”

Angela paid no attention to the protests of her offspring, which she very rarely did anyway. “The point is that as long as you’re happy and safe, everything’s fine. But those lonely heart websites... they’re not safe! Are you really in such a desperate situation to find a date, dear? You know cousin Vinnie, his youngest daughter is like you. She is a nice and pretty girl, and I’m sure we could arrange a little get-together for the two of you.”

Jane was too busy trying to cough her tongue up from where she had swallowed it at the horrified realization that her mother wanted to set her up on a date with a woman to reply, which might have been just as well.

“What about Maura?” Jane’s father wondered. “She is a really nice and lovely girl.”

“Oh!” Angela’s face lit up with delighted realization. “And she’s a doctor too! Not to mention wealthy... I would never have to worry about you financially again!”

Ignoring his wife’s outburst Frank Sr continued with an approving hum. “She is a good one, and we all like her a lot. Maura would be welcome in our family.”

“And she already tends to take care of you, doesn’t she?” Angela continued undaunted by her husband’s interruption, or possibly simply unaware of it because she just didn’t listen to him. “I know she tries to make sure you eat well, and she can share your troubles from work... oh and she sure knows how to dress.” She made Jane jump as she suddenly clapped her hands with a little squeal. “She likes to shop! I could have a daughter-in-law to go shopping for clothes and shoes with! Oooh!”

Angela continued planning for all the things she could do with Maura once she had forced Jane to marry her, her family all taking a small step back from the older woman because of the nearly maniacal gleam her eyes had taken on.

Frankie cleared his throat and spoke over the small squeals and mutterings of his mother. “She’s stood by you through some pretty awful things already, sis. Clearly she cares about you. Do you really think its fair to her, what you’re doing?”

Her head spinning crazily from everything her various family members had just bombarded her with, Jane just couldn’t follow what he was saying and felt vaguely stupid for it. “Huh? What?”

“Your brother is talking about this looking to date other people business.” Her father said somewhat awkwardly but with a clear sense of disapproval. “I told him when he was a boy and I’m going to say the same to you now: that’s no way to treat a woman.”

Jane spluttered wordlessly, distantly wondering if her family had woken up today determined to kill her once and for all. “Hey wait just a minute here... I told you the dating ad was for work! Work! Besides, Maura was there undercover too!”

“The poor girl.” Angela sighed surprisingly mournfully. “Having to watch all that.”

“What about the poor me?” Jane protested. “I’m the one that was trying to get a date with a killer! Maura served drinks.” And looked gorgeous doing it, a treacherous part of her mind said, calling up the image of Maura’s cleavage once more. Jane mentally drop-kicked it into submission. “I ended up having to have a strange woman lick my...”

The horrified expressions that faced her, not to mention how her mother immediately clasped her hands over her son’s ears, had Jane all but whisper the last part of her ill-chosen sentence while gesturing weakly towards said part. “...neck.”

Feeling terribly embarrassed, tired and really just wanting to have a shower and get dressed, preferably before she started asking herself a bit too much why during all of this chaos she had yet to stand up and tell her family that she was not gay, Jane rubbed at her eyes.

“Look, I love you all, but this intervention thing is not necessary. The ad was just for work and will be gone in the morning, and if you really feel worried about it still, Frankie can have his friend keep an eye out for my name on those sites... I guarantee you it won’t appear on one again. I’m also not about to get married anytime soon, so you can all just relax.”

“For now I’d appreciate it if you’d leave though. I need a shower, to feed my dog and maybe go get something to eat myself, and I’m sure you all have places to be. Frankie needs to get back to work soon, anyway.”

“And what about Maura” Frankie mulishly wanted to know, not willing to leave without getting some kind of answer.

“It’s not what you think, Frankie. We’re friends, that’s all. And if we weren’t...” In trying to get him to leave Jane was a bit more plaintively honest than she had intended. “...do you really think that if I had a beautiful and wonderful woman like Maura interested in me, I’d ever have a reason to look anywhere else?”

The silence that followed pricked at the back of Jane’s neck. It seemed as if no one even breathed, until the scent of warm pastries reached Jane at about the same time as she heard the soft patter of her dog trotting across the floor.

Jane’s eyes snapped to the doorway where, much as she’d realized, Maura stood frozen, holding a paper bag aloft. The immediate thought that crossed her mind was that she had never seen Maura blush before.

Slowly, agonisingly slowly the shocked and frozen expression melted into a wide and brilliant smile, although the blush did not fade. Maura first looked down and then shyly at Jane. “Thank you.” She said softly. “And likewise.”

AQUALUNG OF LOVE pt3 END

Strike Witches-fanfic. Eila knew when she woke up that she would have a pretty bad day, and she wasn't proven wrong. Still, she didn't expect this.
Sequel to "Airplane of Lust".
(Eila/Sanya, mention of Minna/Barkhorn)
Final chapter.

Read AQUALUNG OF LOVE pt3 END

Disclaimer: See part 1.





AQUALUNG OF LOVE pt3 END
-------------------------------------------------------------
by Carola “Ryûchan” Eriksson





“The camera is not a problem, I’ll ask Trude to take the pictures.” Hartmann informed them blithely before giving Lynette a speculative look. “As for the girlfriend, how about Lynette? Untie the hair and fluff it up, undo a couple of buttons, and have her draped on Eila. It should look convincing enough.”

When both women in question blushed hotly and waved their arms in a strongly emphasised and mortally embarrassed ‘no’, Hartmann harrumphed and scratched her chin, thinking. “How about Shirley then?” The grin this time was positively evil. “She won’t mind, and she’ll drape herself all over you as much as you need.”

The sound that the chair Sanya had been sitting on made as she stood in one swift but stiff motion was not loud, but still cut rather sharply through the ongoing conversation.

Everyone watched in silence as Sanya stood next to Eila with both arms wrapped about one of hers, glaring far from discreetly at a rather amused Hartmann. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to.

“I think that will be just perfect.” Hartmann sounded far more gentle than was her norm as she smiled at Sanya clinging to Eila’s arm. Lynette and Miyafuji both smiled and nodded approvingly as well. “Why don’t the two of you get started on replying to the letters and I’ll go ask Trude about the camera.”

With Lynette and Miyafuji’s help the reading and replying to the dreaded letters was less painful and awkward than Eila had expected, especially since either or both of the other girls managed to distract Sanya whenever her mood seemed to darken over a particular section of text or two. By the time Miyafuji and Lynette were called away by Major Sakamoto Eila was shocked to find that they had somehow picked up the Commander along the way, and the older redhead seemed to be an expert in the subject.

Hartmann had left but eventually returned with Barkhorn in tow, and the equipment was put in place and the background arranged. Eila and Sanya both suffered through some fluffing, primping and even some light makeup before the others deemed them fit to have their picture taken.

The actual posing was more of a problem. It was quickly decided, between the three people behind the camera and not Eila or Sanya themselves, that simply standing or sitting in front of the camera with smiles on their faces was not enough. Something more convincing was needed, and in fact the Commander seemed surprisingly keen on convincing Eila’s faraway admirers to stop writing so there was nothing to do but agree and pose to the best of her ability.

Eila would never object to anything that would allow her to hold Sanya in her arms no matter who was watching, and to look at her with obvious affection and adoration was not a difficult thing either. To do both of those things, especially while told to do so and while Sanya herself was told to do the same, well, that was more difficult, if for no other reason that Eila found it very hard to stop blushing. At least Sanya blushed as well.

As those behind the camera discussed things Sanya rested her head against Eila’s shoulder. Shifting a little to better accommodate her, Eila leaned her head against Sanya’s and spoke softly into her hair. “Are you tired?”

“Mm, just a little.” Eila couldn’t see the smile the younger girl wore when she tightened her arms around Sanya at that admission, but she could feel the movement when Sanya gave her shoulder a tiny kiss in gratitude. It nearly made her knees wobble.

“Thanks...” She said even more quietly after a little while. “...for doing this. I hope you’re not regretting volunteering to be my pretend girlfriend?”

Sanya drew back just far enough to pin Eila with a displeased and slightly hurt look. “Pretend?”

Eila’s heart did a rather painful somersault and lodged itself square in her throat. She was dimly grateful that she had Sanya in such a firm hold, because as dizzy as she suddenly felt she would have ended up falling on her face for sure otherwise.

“P-pretend?” She repeated weakly, voice squeaking embarrassingly on the single word. Engrossed in the moment and each other neither Eila nor Sanya noticed how their three onlookers had gone completely still and silent, with their commanding officer keeping a hand firmly clasped over the mouth of her youngest countryman. “D-did you, um, I mean...”

“You... don’t want to be my pretend girlfriend? Is that because you don’t want to pretend you like me? Or is it...” Eila trailed off, unsure of how to ask but desperate to know the answer.

“I am not your ‘pretend’.” Sanya quickly leaned back towards Eila’s shoulder, hiding her face, but not quite fast enough for Eila to miss the blush spreading on pale cheeks. “Don’t want to be ‘pretend’.”

Something exploded in Eila’s chest and she wasn’t even sure what. She was however quite sure there should be trumpets, or flags, or at least some confetti flying around now. She felt both giddy and shy, all at once. “Does that mean that it would be okay... if it wasn’t ‘pretend’?”

The silent nodding made Eila smile like no tomorrow.

“So... being my girlfriend would be okay, if it was for real?”

When the nodding continued Eila cleared her throat and in a rather bashful voice asked something she had wanted to for a long time now, longer even than she herself had realized. “Sanya, would you be my girl?”

“For real?” Came the timid question, somewhat at odds with the hand that came up to tug slightly at the tie Eila had been made to wear.

“For real.” Eila confirmed, and when Sanya looked up at her Eila allowed herself to look back without trying to hide all the boundless affection and adoration she had for the girl in her arms. The green eyes that looked back were swirling with emotions as well, pulling Eila in.

“Yes.” Sanya’s slowly widening smile was the sweetest Eila had ever seen. “My Eila.”

A pale hand came up to tenderly touch Eila’s face, and Eila held it there as she leaned forward until their foreheads touched.

The moment was broken by a sudden sharp noise, and Eila whipped around, chagrined and shocked that she had completely forgotten that she and Sanya were far from alone in the room.

Hartmann offered them a sheepish grin as she tried to catch the metal containers she had dropped and get to her feet, all at once. The other two were blushing slightly and smiling more apologetically, or in Barkhorn’s case more like wincing apologetically and coughing into her fist before pretending nothing was out of the ordinary, not even looking in Eila and Sanya’s direction.

“Sorry about that.” Hartmann didn’t sound too sorry as she dumped the dropped metal containers on a nearby table with a clatter. “But hey, so the two of you are going out now? That’s great!” The blonde ace grinned and gave Sanya an almost comically exaggerated thumbs-up, which had Eila’s brand new girlfriend smile bashfully and intertwine her fingers with Eila’s.

“So when will you have your first date?” Hartmann asked Sanya who in turn directed wide and wondering eyes towards Eila.

Eila started to panic slightly, she’d only had a girlfriend for maybe a minute and people were already expecting her to have at least one date planned for them? She hadn’t spared a single thought to anything of the sort, what they could do, where or when, during the whirlwind of events, and clearly that was careless of her. What was their schedule again?

Unexpectedly the Commander came to Eila’s rescue. “If the current schedule holds, the two of you have some time off the day after tomorrow.” There was something strange about the way she glanced at Barkhorn when she spoke, Eila thought, but after Major Sakamoto’s warning she wasn’t too keen on speculating what it might be. And either way, a helping hand was a helping hand. “You have enough time off to, say, take a short trip into town for, oh, an early matinee and dinner before curfew?”

Eager again Eila grinned widely and looked at Sanya who simply smiled and nodded in reply to the unasked question. “That sounds great! Thank you Commander.”

Hartmann leaned towards them and began suggesting a variety of things from transportation to suitable matinees and good restaurants to Sanya, but Eila found herself only half listening, distracted by the sight of her commanding officer not only gluing herself to Barkhorn’s back but quite conspicuously pushing her chest into the other woman as well.

When the redhead whispered something into Barkhorn’s ear the expression she wore could not quite be covered by merely ‘sultry’, and the terribly embarrassed Eila realized with a start that neither woman knew they were being watched. Of those in the room only Eila was turned towards the camera by now, behind which Barkhorn and the Commander were, well, Eila thought one could call it standing. At least on Barkhorn’s part.

She scratched her head and wondered if she should excuse herself and Sanya now and make a run for it, preferably before either Hartmann turned around or before the Commander realized Eila had been standing in front of them. She wasn’t too keen on finding out what either woman would do if embarrassed.

“Erm, well, I’m sure we got a few very good pictures out of that. I’ll let you know when they’ve been developed.” Barkhorn almost sounded her usual self to Eila. Almost. “I’ll just... finish up here, so why don’t you go...”

Clearly blanking out on what reason she should give to get the rest of them to leave herself and the Commander alone, Barkhorn turned towards her partner for help. It didn’t matter as Hartmann, apparently ignorant of what was going on behind her, jumped in with eager helpfulness. “I’ll help you out, Trude. We’ll get everything tucked away in a flash.”

“I thought I’d impose on you, Trude, to take a photo or two of me as well if you don’t mind?” The Commander intervened smoothly, much to Eila’s admiration. “Since you have all your equipment out and all? You girls can go right ahead, I’ll stay and help out afterwards and we’ll catch up to you in a little while.”

“A photo?” Hartmann brightened even further. “It has been ages since the three of us last had a photo taken! What a great idea!”

Eila wasn’t sure why she stepped forward, just that the stunned and slightly disappointed looks she was faced with struck a cord. It wasn’t such a big thing, to want to be able to take a picture as a couple, was it? It seemed mean if she didn’t try to help somehow. “Actually I was hoping you could go over the letters Sanya and I wrote, being more experienced at this than we are. I was also kind of hoping you would let me, um, write down your suggestions for our date? I haven’t really been off-base here for more than the bare necessities so I’m not very familiar with what would be good places to take Sanya.”

While it rankled her a bit to have to make herself seem even more incompetent in front of Sanya, it really was the only thing she could think of. And catching the startled looks directed at her while Hartmann was occupied by grinning at Sanya had Eila feel rather good about herself. She made a small gesture for the other two to back her up.

“Ah, I see.” The Commander stepped in, going from blinking in surprise to warmly convincing in less than a heartbeat. “Yes, you go help them out, it really would be a relief to have that settled finally. And the three of us will make sure to have our picture taken next time, right Trude?”

Eila didn’t hear whatever Barkhorn answered as the three of them were discreetly ushered out of the room, because she turned her attention back to Sanya and, gathering courage somehow, did something she had only dared to imagine before. She leaned in to place a brief but tender kiss right above Sanya’s ear before gently tugging her along.

Her reward was not only a pretty blush and pleased smile, but Sanya also wrapped her free hand around Eila’s arm and pulled closer, leaning her head against Eila’s shoulder lightly as they walked. Eila knew she was grinning like a fool, but she neither could nor would do anything about it. After all, Sanya had agreed to be her girl.

The rest of the day passed quickly and in something of a haze for Eila, despite the teasing she had to endure once certain people found out that she and Sanya were now officially dating, and almost before she knew it bedtime had arrived.

She supposed it should have been awkward, for her at any rate, or different in some big and obvious way, especially since they were to sleep together as was their habit, but strangely she didn’t find it so different at all. Although Eila might have blushed a bit more as she looked away from Sanya when they were both changing into their sleepwear, well, that was not too far from their usual routine.

It was when they curled up in bed like they had that morning, sharing a blanket and wrapped tightly in each other’s arms, with Sanya using Eila for a headrest more than their single pillow, that things felt different. Eila placed a few gentle kisses to the top of Sanya’s head and brushed slow, soothing circles on her back with one hand, and not only did it seem to be quite acceptable to Sanya, Eila received a sweet little kiss to her cheek before Sanya burrowed in deeper into her shoulder and played with Eila’s hair until she fell asleep. Happy and at peace Eila joined her with a smile still on her lips.

---------------------------

The day of the date came before Eila felt she had prepared herself properly for it, but thanks to the help she had gotten the date itself was at least well planned. On the insistence of her superiors Eila was going to wear her uniform even though she hadn’t intended to and Sanya was not, because they thought that being easily identified as a member of the 501st would help ensure that they would not get any unwanted attention in town. Giving herself a quick but thorough polish that had both Major Sakamoto and Barkhorn nod in approval, Eila at least felt her uniform shone to the best of its ability.

She still felt hopelessly drab and unappealing a few moments after she laid eyes on Sanya. It took a few moments for her to regain her breath, much less her ability to form coherent thought, because the other girl was just too beautiful. Eila had seen Sanya get whisked away by a smiling Commander earlier, after overhearing the tail end of a conversation in which Sanya appeared to have asked the older girl to help her ‘make pretty’, but as Eila already thought Sanya was the most beautiful creature alive she really didn’t think there was anything that could be improved upon.

The bashful little angel in a white dress and a short pale blue jacket that was receiving a last-moment application of lip-gloss by the Commander when Eila walked in was just so stunningly beautiful that Eila was left grasping at her heart, held more or less upright by her smiling friends.

Once her wits had returned Eila regretted not looking better herself, but at the same time it became quite clear to her why it had been suggested she go on their date in uniform. Surely any single male in town, or anyone at all actually, that were to lay eyes on Eila’s beautiful girl would try to catch her attention any way they could. Hopefully all the things the uniform indicated would let them enjoy their handful of hours of leave, and if not... Eila straightened with determination.

The Commander fussed over a shy but happy Sanya much like a mother would for her daughter going on her first date, and it made Eila feel infinitely grateful towards the older girl to behold. With her parents gone somewhere half a world away her Sanya could do with some motherly or sisterly pampering sometimes, or just someone besides Eila herself to go to for advice. Eila soon felt more embarrassed than anything else as the Commander tucked the lip-gloss into Sanya’s tiny handbag and gave some final instructions in a low voice and while wearing an expression that made Eila worry. Finally though she had Sanya’s slender hand in hers and the two of them set off for the transportation that would take them into town.

If asked, Eila would not have been able to say much about the matinee she took Sanya to. In fact she did not even recall the name, all she was aware of was her arm slung over Sanya’s shoulders and Sanya’s head leaning on hers.

Completely mesmerized by the girl in her arms Eila never paid any attention to what they were watching, all her focus on Sanya’s face, Sanya’s hand in hers, the scent of Sanya’s hair, how it felt as they cuddled together in the dimly lit theatre. So overwhelmed were her senses that Eila could feel her powers wanting to activate, her second ears itching to come out from just under the surface. She had to push the urge down several times before the show was over.

Dinner was easier, because the restaurant Hartmann had recommended to them was perfect for the occasion, and because they managed to relax and laugh a lot. It was also in part more difficult, for during at least some of the meal Eila could swear that Sanya was deliberately flirting with her. Feeling more than just a bit flushed and light-headed at the end of their dinner, Eila was grateful for the slightly cool air as the two of them took a small stroll through town before meeting their ride back to base.

Just before leaving Eila managed to procure a single flower for Sanya from a street vendor, which made Sanya disproportionally happy and earned Eila a sweet little kiss to the cheek, all despite not being the red rose that Eila had wanted to get for her girlfriend. For the ride back they couldn’t really cuddle as they might have wanted, Eila was drawn reluctantly into conversation with the soldier that drove the truck while Sanya simply sat silently admiring her new flower. They managed to discreetly hold hands though, which to Eila’s mind was a pretty wonderful thing all on its own.

Once dropped off at the base Sanya took control and steered them not exactly to the main entrance, but rather to a slightly secluded corner not far from it, hidden by a tree and some bushes. Briefly the glowing blue-green antenna-like shape of Sanya’s power made an appearance – the glowing crown of her beautiful princess, as Eila liked to think of it – as the younger girl made sure the two of them was truly alone. After she had been satisfied that there was indeed no-one lurking in the bushes or anywhere else, Sanya turned to Eila with a shy smile and stepped close enough to slowly slide her hands up Eila’s shoulders until she had her arms wrapped around Eila’s neck.

Eila suffered a brief bout of panic when Sanya tilted her face upward and closed her eyes, very clearly asking to be kissed. Nervous but determined to do it right Eila wrapped one arm tightly around Sanya’s waist, pulling her even closer, while touching the side of her face with the other. Swallowing hard, Eila leaned down to gently touch her lips to Sanya’s.

It was even sweeter than she had imagined it would be. One brief touch was not enough, and by the way Sanya’s arms tightened their hold around her neck and refused to let any space between them, the younger girl agreed. They kissed again and again, becoming a little bit better at it and a little bit more involved with each passing.

Finally they had to stop to gasp for breath. Sanya blushed and hid her face against Eila’s shoulder, but Eila could still clearly feel her smile against the side of her neck. They held each other lovingly and Eila was so happy she felt she could just burst.

“I love you.” On impulse she whispered the truth, her truth, into soft silvery hair near Sanya’s ear.

Sanya drew back a little to look at her with large and astounded green eyes that were quickly tearing up. Despite already being in Eila’s arms she managed to tackle her with enough force that Eila took a stumbling step or two backwards before regaining her footing, the girl she loved so much sobbing slightly in her embrace.

“I love you too, Eila. I love you too!”

Eila gasped. The skies opened up and rain came pouring down, quickly going from drizzle to downpour. It didn’t matter, it was still the most perfect moment in all the world.

Torn between laughing and sobbing at the same time, Eila lifted her girlfriend and jubilantly spun her around and around, until they were both laughing like the children they could have been. A clap of thunder eventually encouraged them to finally head inside.

Hand in hand they raced through the rain, still with wide smiles on their faces. Eila decided that whatever happened she would never let go of that hand in hers. No matter what life threw at them.

AQUALUNG OF LOVE pt2

Strike Witches-fanfic. Eila knew when she woke up that she would have a pretty bad day, and she wasn't proven wrong. Still, she didn't expect this.
Sequel to "Airplane of Lust".
(Eila/Sanya, mention of Minna/Barkhorn)

Read AQUALUNG OF LOVE pt2

Disclaimer: see part 1.





AQUALUNG OF LOVE pt2
---------------------------------------------------------------------
by Carola “Ryûchan” Eriksson





Eila had never really been inside Miyafuji’s room before, but much as she’d heard it was fairly bare apart from the basic necessities. Even Sanya’s room had more decorations than this, and Sanya barely seemed to use hers.

The sight of a pillow and blanket on the floor beside the bed made her smile, apparently Miyafuji could be quite gentleman-like when she wanted to. It wasn’t as if the bed wasn’t big enough for her and Sanya to comfortably sleep in together, in fact it was the same size as the bed all three of them had shared during their stint on night patrol. Still Miyafuji had gallantly given Sanya the bed to herself, unknowingly winning even more approval from Eila.

Sanya was frowning in her sleep, and although she wasn’t crying right then her cheeks were wet from tears. Eila’s heart just ached at the sight.

As she reached down to gently shake Sanya awake the sleeping girl began to whimper pitifully, and almost before she had touched a pale shoulder teary green eyes snapped open with a sob.

“Eila!” Although clearly still not awake, Sanya still threw herself into Eila’s arms, sobbing softly into her shoulder. “Don’t go! Don’t go, I’m sorry!” Sob. “I’m sorry.”

Gently Eila hushed her, hugging the girl to her and rubbing a slender back as soothing and comforting as she could. “I’m not going anywhere. It’s alright Sanya. I’m right here.”

A pair of pale arms reached up to encircle her neck in a surprisingly firm hold for a girl that was still mostly asleep, and Eila found herself all but carrying the smaller girl. Smiling a little to herself Eila kissed the top of Sanya’s head as the girl burrowed deeper into Eila’s neck.

“Don’t let me go.” The shuddering request came out muffled against Eila’s neck, to which the taller of the two immediately vowed “Never.”

Once Sanya appeared to have calmed down Eila felt she had to ask, if for no other reason than that it seemed a bit cruel to have Miyafuji waiting in the hallway all night. “Do you want to stay here tonight Sanya, or should we...”

The way Sanya immediately shook her head had Eila smiling, and she nodded slightly. “Alright. Let’s go home then.”

As Eila hooked one arm underneath Sanya’s knees to carry her better and managed to get a grip on Sanya’s pillow at the same time, the door opened and Miyafuji hesitantly stuck her head just inside the room.

“If you want to you can both stay in here tonight, Lynne-chan says I can sleep in her room.”

With Sanya in her arms Eila just shook her head and eased through the door. “Thanks for the help, Miyafuji. We’re going back to our room now, so try to get some sleep.”

Much as Eila suspected Lynette had joined Miyafuji in the hall, and her starry-eyed and quietly squealing reaction to Eila walking by with Sanya in her arms had Eila blushing rather badly. Some people’s thoughts showed only too clearly on their faces sometimes, and Eila wouldn’t have minded if she hadn’t been able to see the various romantic notions that crossed Lynette’s as she walked past.

Miyafuji at least only grinned as she raced ahead and opened the door to Eila’s room for them, although Eila knew that girl would be squealing too, later. She gave them a brief nod and let Miyafuji close the door while she steered over to the bed with her precious cargo.

It was a little bit awkward, yanking down the covers without letting Sanya down, but somehow Eila managed enough to carefully ease the other girl into bed, pillow and all. Quickly stripping down to her sleepwear Eila then climbed over her and pulled the blankets up, tucking them in.

Once she lay down Sanya abandoned her fluffy black pillow to once more burrow into Eila’s shoulder, and Eila, heart melting a little at the cuteness of it, was more than happy with that development. She wrapped her arms around Sanya and hoped that her naturally warmer body would help drive the night chill away from slender limbs.

Sanya, perhaps because she had not been entirely awake to begin with, fell asleep quickly and deeply, undisturbed by further bad dreams. Eila on her part lay awake for a long time, at first a bit too wired to sleep even though she felt at peace with Sanya in her arms, and later because of her thoughts.

They had never slept like this before. Sanya ended up in Eila’s bed often, nearly every night in fact, one way or the other and quite regardless if Eila invited her to or not, but at best they slept side by side. They never slept cuddled up like this, and Eila couldn’t help but think it significant that they now did.

Also while Eila knew why she hadn’t wanted Sanya to see the letters and find evidence of her youthful indiscretions from before the two of them had ever met, she didn’t quite know why it had upset the other girl so. It seemed too far out of proportion to be simply disappointment in her ‘protector’ and friend, in fact, to Eila it seemed very much like jealousy.

She could be wrong of course, because for all her flirting around when she was younger and in her previous squadron, Eila had never really been in a relationship. She had dated a few times, but nothing came out of it and she’d parted with those girls as friends, at least from her perspective. She had never been in love until the day a military escort brought the much talked about white night-witch from Orussia to the 501st.

Eila had looked right into those beautiful green eyes and felt like all the air around her had been sucked away, and she was falling out of the sky.

It took embarrassingly long for Eila to realize what had happened and how she felt about this pale girl that through mutual though unspoken decision never left her side. Just being apart for a short time now hurt, and to even think of parting, of having to go back to Suomus without Sanya... it hurt so much that Eila thought she might just die if it were to really happen.

Still, Sanya had never shown any signs of thinking that way. If anything Eila felt that Sanya had seen her as a best friend and protective older sister or caretaker for most part. Sanya was so very young, after all, and Eila had tried never to hint at anything else. And now that Miyafuji had come along, Eila had started to be convinced that Sanya might be developing a crush on the friendly but hormone-crazed Fuso girl. That hurt a lot as well, but it wasn’t as if it was Eila’s place to say something about it.

But now, Sanya’s reaction to the letters, was Eila completely turned around if she thought the jealous hurt was the kind of thing one might expect from a girlfriend rather than a best friend? The way they slept tonight, too, wasn’t that more of a thing for lovers than for friends?

On that hesitantly hopeful note Eila finally fell asleep, in the early morning hours, officially ending her long and tumultuous day.

When she woke up again she was groggy with lack of sleep, the morning call had already sounded so there was no time to talk, and of course they discovered that in everything that happened, Sanya’s clothes had been left behind in Miyafuji’s room.

Eila hurried to get herself ready and fetch Sanya’s clothes before they were expected at breakfast, which to her great and probably disproportionate joy this time turned out to be a hearty Britannian breakfast. She came alive from her groggy state to pile both her own and Sanya’s plate high with food, gobbling down her own at an alarming rate and causing several people around the table to stare at her, some with astonishment and a few with a touch of sheepish guilt. Afterwards Eila and Sanya both fell asleep on the couch in the living area while waiting for their superior officers to come in and give them the training schedule for the day.

It wasn’t until somewhat later that day that Eila finally had the opportunity to sit down with Sanya and do her best to get them to talk about the previous night. It was awkward for her and she didn’t really know what to say, something not exactly made easier by their friends flitting by every time she thought them alone, so in the end Eila simply tossed the letters on a small table out of the way and urged Sanya to sit down.

Just seeing the letters made the younger girl’s expression darken, so Eila took her hand and tried to smile a little as she sorted them into two piles. The ones from her family and friends she put to the side as those weren’t really the problem, at least she didn’t see how they could be.

“Sanya,” She began gently, trying to be as soothing as possible while not letting her own lingering embarrassment show. “since we didn’t really talk about it last night I haven’t explained about this yet, and I was hoping you might let me do that now. Will you hear me out?”

Green eyes lifted from their attempt to glare the decorated letters aflame and softened as they met Eila’s own. As usual Sanya did not say much, but the look in her eyes and the tiny nod that accompanied it was answer enough to someone that knew her as well as Eila did.

“Well, um, back when I was in my old squadron... long before you and I met... I guess I was a little more like Hartmann, or Miyafuji.” She had never been this ashamed of how she behaved back then, and never regretted it quite this much. She couldn’t keep looking Sanya in the eye.

“I flirted around, a lot. Dated a couple of times too, though nothing serious. It was just... I just...” She cleared her throat awkwardly. “It was meant to be fun, and despite that I was making a name for myself as a soldier I was just too much of a kid to even think that anyone might take me seriously.”

“Girls... liked me. Or they liked the uniform, rather, and I knew it. I certainly never thought anyone would remember me once I walked out of a room, much less write me letters. My superiors at the time were kind of indulgent about the way I and a lot of the others in the squadron behaved, and by the time I got my act together I was shipped over here.”

“I’ve tried to tell the ones that write to me that I’m not interested, and, as politely as I could, asked them not to write to me anymore. Still the letters come.” Eila could tell she was blushing fairly strongly by now, but there was nothing she could do about it. She kept her eyes fixed on the tabletop directly in front of her. “I, uh, I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to find out about it. I was afraid that once you knew, you wouldn’t want to be around me anymore.”

It wasn’t exactly what she wanted to say, but somehow Eila just couldn’t find the words to tell Sanya how deadly afraid she had been that the younger girl would think less of her, or even dislike her if she were to find out how Eila had used to behave. To her horror the delicate hand slipped away from her own, and Eila felt her heart quietly break. Tears stung her eyes but she tried very hard not to let them fall.

Mentally Eila prepared for something, she wasn’t sure of what exactly, just that Sanya would say it and it would hurt more than anything. Instead a pair of hands reached up to cup her face, one of them feeling cool against her cheek. Instinctively Eila closed her eyes and leaned into them.

“So red.” Sanya’s voice was soft and affectionate, and it drew Eila’s eyes back to her. “Eila’s face has gone so red.” Gentle hands stroke Eila’s cheeks and discreetly wiped away a building tear.

They simply looked at each other in silence for a moment, Eila so transfixed by the girl in front of her little else remained in her mind.

“Did... did you... like them, Eila?” Confidence left those green eyes Eila was so mesmerized by, and sadness came over them as they looked away. “Did you... love... them?”

“Who?” Eila dimly asked, too absorbed in staring dreamily at the other girl to really have full use of her faculties. After a moment she shook herself back to the conversation. “Wait, what? L-love? As in – NO! No. I never did.”

“...Really?”

“Yes, really! I meant it when I said that I didn’t know who some of the girls that had written to me were.” Eila fidgeted guiltily. “I keep telling people that I’m not interested but they keep writing anyway.”

A hand slipped back into hers and Eila grasped it gratefully. “I’ve been trying to come up with something to convince them, so I was thinking I’d tell them I have a girlfriend now, and see if that works.”

Something changed in Sanya’s expression, somehow looking even softer and more shy than usual as a light dusting of pink spread across her face. Eila, charmed at the sight and smiling now that it seemed that the things she had worried about weren’t going to turn out that bad at all, sheepishly scratched at the back of her head. “They probably wouldn’t believe me though.”

Sanya, without letting go of Eila’s hand, silently shuffled her chair closer to Eila’s.

“What if you sent them a picture of you and your girlfriend? Wouldn’t that convince them?” A voice spoke up from further inside the room, causing Eila to shoot to her feet while blushing furiously. Erica Hartmann smiled disarmingly from her prone position on the couch not far away, while behind her Miyafuji and Lynette looked sheepish and embarrassed, respectively.

“You! How long have you been here?!”

Hartmann looked a little puzzled at that. “Me? For nearly all of it, I think. Didn’t you see me come in?”

“Lynne-chan and I have been here for a while too.” Miyafuji laughed a bit awkwardly while Lynette twirled her fingers and blushed even more. “We didn’t want to interrupt though.”

Eila was about to explode at all three of them in sheer mortification when a pale hand tugged at her sleeve. As she met Sanya’s eyes Eila’s anger was derailed and she found herself merely blinking with a touch of confusion. Sanya turned towards Hartmann and tilted her head slightly in question.

“How would a photograph work?”

“Well, I don’t know... if she posed all cuddled up and couple-like with someone and was convincing about it, those other people might give up finally. It worked when I posed as Shirley’s girlfriend for some pictures she sent back to Liberion to get rid of some persistent admirers.” Hartmann rolled over on her stomach and grinned at Sanya. “Oh, and it wasn’t in a photo but I’ve had Trude pose as my girlfriend a couple of times in the past, to get rid of some pesky people. It worked.”

The carefree expression shifted for a moment as Hartmann seemed to think of something, then cleared as she continued as happily as before. “Don’t mention that to Trude though, she never knew about it.”

“Where will we get a camera?” Miyafuji sounded far too enthusiastic about it, Eila thought, but at least she was more than willing to help out. “And who will pose with Eila-san?”

AQUALUNG OF LOVE pt1

Strike Witches-fanfic. Eila knew when she woke up that she would have a pretty bad day, and she wasn't proven wrong. Still, she didn't expect this.
Sequel to "Airplane of Lust".
(Eila/Sanya, mention of Minna/Barkhorn)

Read AQUALUNG OF LOVE pt1

Disclaimer: I’m no longer sure who owns the rights to Strike Witches, either way I’m just borrowing the girls for a little bit. As with the previous story this is written before I’ve seen anything from season 2.

Sequel to “Airplane of Lust”.





AQUALUNG OF LOVE pt1
-----------------------------------------------------------
by Carola “Ryûchan” Eriksson





It had started of a less than stellar day for Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen.

First of all she had woken up to find herself lying on the floor next to her bed rather than in it, head down and butt into the air. It hadn’t been the warmest or gentlest of ways to start the day. Then at breakfast it turned out that Miyafuji had once again commandeered the kitchen in order to force-feed them all some horrible concoction from her homeland.

Eila was convinced by now that the people of Fuso either thrived on tormenting themselves, or were all completely bereft of tastebuds. She wished she could say that it was just Miyafuji that was simply incompetent in the kitchen, but Major Sakamoto had forced equally awful things on them recently too. Whatever had she done to either of them?

After a breakfast she couldn’t really eat, they were all set to go water-training. Which was all well and good in itself, Eila had passed her proficiency test before and were only required to put in a token effort before she could pass the rest of the time as she chose. Except of course that the one thing Eila wanted to do was to go back and find herself something edible to fill her protesting stomach, and that, of course, was not allowed.

Things looked up for a while when they had just reached the beach, as Eila pulled Sanya, the only person on the base with a complexion fairer than her own, into the shade to share her sunscreen. She knew the younger girl was far too sleepy to have remembered to bring her own.

Squirting a fair amount into Sanya’s hands she instructed the drowsy girl to remember to cover all of her skin with it, before she started vigorously working on her legs while sending a few evil glares at the rest of their companions.

“Its fine for those exhibitionists,” She muttered darkly while glaring at Shirley, Lucchini and Hartmann romping around in the water. “We at least know the difference between a pair of pants and a pair of underwear.”

A tiny hand on her shoulder distracted her from further grousing at her carefree friends, and when she turned around Eila was met with the sight of Sanya looking shy with her bikini top in one hand and the other holding a towel firmly to her chest. Eila immediately felt the onset of heatstroke.

“Eila.” Sanya said in her usual gentle, soft-spoken way. “I can’t reach my back. Could you help me?”

That nearly did her in then and there. Somehow Eila managed to gather herself enough to apply sunscreen to Sanya’s back with extremely shaking hands, forgetting to breathe through it all so that when the other girl was finally all done, Eila more or less collapsed.

Apparently taking this as an invitation, the beautiful young Orussian then proceeded to quite thoroughly apply the sunscreen to Eila’s back and legs with slow and careful strokes. It was almost too blissful and too stimulating for Eila as she was forced to concentrate quite hard on not letting her young friend know just how much she enjoyed her touch.

Afterwards she was quite exhausted, and with Sanya by her side she took to sitting near the surf, just quietly enjoying the breeze on the suddenly much too hot day while her stomach loudly protested its unfair treatment. Eventually Sanya leaned in to rest her head on Eila’s shoulder while taking a nap, and Eila, while blushing a little at her friends’ knowing grins at the sight, carefully put an arm around the girl to keep her from falling over in her sleep.

By the time they finally made it back to the base Eila was starving, but as she sat with Sanya and some of the others waiting for dinner to be served, Eila pulled a warning out of her tarot cards. Calamity was approaching, and there was some sort of bad omen for her personally. Eila did not care to look into it further, simply put her tarot cards away and stared with increasing apprehension towards the kitchen.

As it turned out Perrine had volunteered herself to make a delicacy of her home region, and the scent alone as she carried the food to the table was enticing enough that nearly everyone had eagerly leaned forward in their seats. Once it became clear what the tiny shells actually were the reactions became quite different though, ranging from a high-pitched squeal from Lynette, Shirley nearly falling from her seat, and Barkhorn silently turning quite ashen. Eila caught on in time to stop Sanya from eating, and once the younger girl realized what the food before her was she all but climbed into Eila’s lap, trembling.

Although Miyafuji was in Eila’s opinion scarily eager to try Perrine’s food herself, she was still quick to offer to serve leftovers from breakfast to those that absolutely would not eat anything containing snails. The response to that was only slightly and very cautiously enthusiastic, and not because anyone feared Perrine’s affronted anger. Eila, quickly realizing she would be left without anything substantial to eat all day, suffered a bit of a temper snap and hurled herself across the table to snatch a baguette practically from out of Hartmann’s hands.

Pulling Sanya with her she darted into the kitchen, tore the bread in half and gave the larger half to her friend, and rummaged through the cupboards until she found butter, tomatoes, some wilting lettuce and just a tiny sliver of Spem leftover from when Shirley had last brought a can to the table. Quickly Eila buttered the bread and stuffed it with what she had found, poured them a glass of milk each, and, with a glare at their gaping audience and a protective pat to Sanya’s head, growled in her superior officers’ general direction.

“We actually need to be able to eat if you expect us to be able to fight.”

She received not only a grateful hug from her younger companion for the quickly thrown together sandwich, but also a look that seemed to say that Eila had become Sanya's own personal hero. Severely flustered but happy Eila took Sanya by the hand and led her out of the room, while behind them chaos broke out. Evidently at least Shirley, Hartmann and Barkhorn fought each other fervently over the remaining baguette, while Perrine loudly complained their collective ingratitude and Miyafuji repeated her offer of breakfast leftovers.

While Eila cared not one whit about the pandemonium she had helped create in the dining room, she soon regretted letting her temper flare towards her superior officers. She actually respected them both a great deal, and it had been unfitting behaviour for a soldier. She felt even more embarrassed when her commanding officer summoned her to her office and Eila found herself facing not only the Commander, but also Major Sakamoto and Barkhorn, and thus assumed at once that she was going to get reprimanded for her behaviour earlier that day.

The red-head merely smiled benignly from behind her desk as Eila immediately and quite seriously came to attention, her posture crisp and ramrod straight. The Major and Barkhorn both nodded approvingly and smiled as well, further confusing Eila until she was told to be at ease.

She felt compelled to apologize, and apparently it showed as a small wave stopped her before she had even begun speaking.

“I thank you for bringing that situation to my attention earlier today, Major Sakamoto and I have agreed that we need to look things over and implement some changes in our kitchen routines. We have staff for a reason, and we are simply too few to always have several squadron members working in the kitchen instead of working on their skills or resting up for combat.”

“If anyone feels they have too much time on their hands I’m confident Barkhorn or I can make sure they have something productive to do.” Sakamoto nodded with determined satisfaction, echoed by Barkhorn although with somewhat less of the insane gleam the Major’s one eye took on whenever the subject of increased training came up.

Eila at once felt worse. Yes the food from Fuso was inedible to her, at least what she’d gotten exposed to through the Major and Miyafuji, but Miyafuji genuinely loved cooking. It felt mean to be the reason she wouldn’t be allowed to do that anymore, but at the same time it was true that they all really needed to be able to eat and sleep regularly, otherwise they wouldn’t last long in the air.

“That wasn’t the reason you were summoned though.” The Commander’s voice was warm as always, but there was also something slightly weary in it. She had an open box on her desk, and as she reached into it Eila realized with a sigh what this was all about. “We have gotten mail, and there are quite a few letters from Suomus this time.”

Reluctantly Eila accepted the impressive bundle with her name on it and, because once she got into that mindset she always found it a bit tricky to stop, saluted the Commander and stood waiting to be dismissed. At least the Commander was tactful enough to hide her smile when she nodded back and, far more casually, told them all that they could leave.

She had been the first one out, but when Eila heard the Commander speak up in a tone of voice unlike anything she could recall ever having heard from her superior officer before the immediate reaction was to stop and turn around. Major Sakamoto was immediately behind her, looking back at Eila somewhat surprised, while Barkhorn had yet to exit.

“Trude, if I could have a moment in private?” The words might have been innocent enough, but what had both of Eila’s eyebrows rising in surprise was the sultry and, dare she even think it, seductive quality in it.

Major Sakamoto’s entire face seemed to twitch as Eila strained her neck to be able to look past her into the room. Barkhorn turned around immediately, and as Eila leaned past an uncooperative Major she could have sworn that the Commander was pulling Barkhorn closer by the ribbon around her neck, all the while making what was clearly come-hither eyes.

A strong grip on her shoulder pushed Eila back while the door closed with a bang. One look at Major Sakamoto told Eila perfectly well that she was in trouble, and that even before the Major had stopped twitching enough to open her eye.

‘I could have sworn the Commander was dating you!’ was on the tip on Eila’s tongue when Sakamoto’s eye finally did open and she thought better of it. That eye promised all sorts of painful and unpleasant things, and Eila didn’t really want to step right into the potentially lethal minefield that the various relationships between her superior officers might be. She swallowed hard, effectively getting her naturally strong sense of curiosity under firmer control.

“I’m sure... she had... personal mail?” Eila offered weakly, grimacing slightly at the utterly unamused expression on Sakamoto’s face.

“I’m sure she did.” Sakamoto’s words were slow and very precisely enunciated. “Should any mention of this... personal mail... get around,” The grip on Eila’s shoulder got a bit stronger. “I will know who it came from.”

Frantically first nodding then shaking her head Eila held up her unwanted pile of letters like it was a white flag, and began backing off as quickly as she could with any dignity left. If Major Sakamoto looked as if she was wishing she had her sword nearby, Eila just thought it was a wiser thing to be as far away as at all possible.

She took refuge in her room, tossing her letters on the table while dropping bonelessly onto her bed. She hoped fervently that the Commander and Barkhorn either learned not to be so obvious about whatever they had going on or that they’d simply come clean on their own, because Eila feared what Major Sakamoto would do to her if the secret came out and Eila was in any way suspected of being the cause.

Realizing suddenly that she had no idea where her Sanya was, and worse, with whom, Eila promptly forgot all about her superior officers and their potentially tangled love-lives. As she hurried out to find the younger girl she hoped Sanya had remembered her warning about not going into the sauna with Miyafuji unless Eila was there to protect her.

The evening of Eila’s less than stellar day had not been so bad by comparison, at any rate it had seemed normal enough that she had forgotten about her premonition that morning and relaxed. When she returned to her room to go to bed she was too tired, and to be honest still rather hungry, to spare a thought to the no longer so neatly tied bundle of letters waiting on the table.

Sanya on the other hand, naturally trailing along to Eila’s room rather than her own without either of them having mentioned the sleeping arrangements of the night, caught interest for the letters instantly. Had she remembered them at all, Eila would have put the letters away before Sanya caught sight of them, but instead she only recalled the pile as she saw the other girl rifle through them.

“Ah! T-that’s nothing i-interesting!” Eila stuttered slightly in a sudden bout of nerves. “Just some letters from my old base. I haven’t even looked them through yet.” Internally Eila crossed her fingers that there would be nothing too incriminating on any of the envelopes.

Watching Sanya’s expression darken as she gathered up the letters Eila knew fate had once again kicked her in the shins. Feeling rather defeated it was all she could do to simply watch as the frown grew and those brilliant green eyes narrowed. Sanya said nothing, simply held up Eila’s mail in front of herself, holding out one letter at a time for Eila to read the name of the sender.

“Oh, that’s a friend of mine from my old squadron.” Eila peered at the first envelope before it was tossed aside and a new one was thrust out in front of her, wisely not attempting to take the letters from Sanya. “That one is from my family, that’s nice.”

“Another old buddy of mine... I actually don’t know who that one is from...” The next one had little hearts drawn on it, and Sanya looked utterly unamused. “Er, yeah, I’ve told that one that I’m not interested, but she still writes...” Sanya’s expression darkened even more when the next envelope also had hearts on it. “Don’t know that one, and the last one is...” Eila swallowed nervously. “...I, uh, dated her, once.”

Those beautiful green eyes were not only very angry suddenly but also very hurt, and the last letter was dropped onto the pile as if it burned.

With a tight voice Sanya whispered an angry sounding goodnight before quickly stalking out of the room, while Eila found herself utterly unable to move, speak or even breathe, because of a gleam of something that looked like tears in Sanya’s eyes.

Grasping weakly at her chest Eila tried to understand why it could hurt so much that she couldn’t breathe, and, far too ashamed and miserable to try to chase after the other girl, she sat down at the edge of her bed and waited for Sanya to return, fighting the stinging in her own eyes.

Hours later Eila knew Sanya didn’t intend to return, and, trying to pretend that she didn’t have to wipe away a tear or two before leaving her room, she set out to find her.

Finding Sanya’s room empty even though midnight had passed and as far as Eila knew there were no patrol scheduled that night made Eila panic a bit. She ran over to the hangar to check that Sanya’s strikers were not missing, and once she found nothing out of place there besides Lucchini sleeping in an odd spot again, she went on to try all the common areas that she thought Sanya might have gone to and accidently fallen asleep.

Exhausted and upset that she couldn’t find the girl, Eila finally turned back towards the bedrooms, wondering who she could wake up and have help her search. Miyafuji’s quietly whispered “Eila-san?” nearly had her jumping out of her skin. “I was looking for you.”

“Miyafuji?” The younger girl was dressed in her sleeping robe and was coming from the direction of Eila’s own room. “You’re awake, that’s great... Look, Sanya’s missing, and I...”

“That’s why I came to find you!” Miyafuji interrupted, looking quite worried. “Sanya-chan is in my room, she asked if she could sleep over tonight.”

Oh. Sanya was in Miyafuji’s room? Of course. Eila tried to ignore how that made her feel even worse and instead focus on the fact that at least Miyafuji was a friend Sanya could go to when she needed one, even if Eila would rather she didn’t spend any time alone with the girl while undressed.

“Well, um, Sanya-chan started having nightmares, and she’s crying in her sleep.” Miyafuji hurried through her explanation as they moved towards her room. “When I heard her call out for you, Eila-san, I thought...”

“Thank you.” By the time Miyafuji had gotten through her short explanation Eila had already reached the door. “Really.” She told the younger girl seriously.” Thanks for being a friend.”

Miyafuji merely smiled warmly and nodded in return. When Eila hesitated for a moment with her hand on the doorknob, the brown-haired girl took a step back, as if to show that she would be waiting outside, giving Eila and Sanya some privacy.