a journey; long or meandering

Talking was the last thing that Tyler wanted to do. Her head was already pounding, the thud of built up pressure not letting up at all since her last fight. Whatever stress Emmy was about to lay on her would inevitably only make it worse. Ty was prepared to get right up out of her seat to go dive down in the water, but the stiffness in her body had her moving far slower than she would have liked. By the time she'd shifted her feet down to the ground to escape to the water, Emmy was already up and in the seat next to her. "I feel like I probably would prefer to sink to my untimely death first. Before the talking," she suggested. It was a fruitless endeavor and she knew it, but she had to at least mount the protest.

If Emmy knew any better, she'd think the situation she found herself in at the moment was similar to telling a kid you already had that they were going to be a sibling even though they desperately didn't want to. She was neither a sibling or had any other kids to have that experience with, so she could only make assumptions on what that felt like. She knew telling her best friend was going to be tough, that there was a reason why she waited until they'd actually conceived to tell the woman anything. What she didn't expect was how much she was going to have to spell it out for her — but, of course she would have to, especially when this was the other's first time being presented with the information. How was she expected to just know what was happening without Emmy having to utter another word and thinking they could just go about their merry way now that the words she did choose to utter were out in the open.

A year was a long time. 365 days of time that Yasemin had been counting on to dissipate the feelings she carried for Sage. It had been the best for both of them to take the time away to nip the whole thing in the bud before it ever escalated to the point of hurting Asher. Yet, somehow, the year had only served to stoke the flames that Yas had deep inside of her for the woman that was now electrifying her in every spot they were touching. Too many to ignore. The hand resting at Sage's side pulled forward, guiding the other woman in closer, even as Yasemin knew they needed to do anything but. "Well, I suppose we're in quite the predicament, then, huh?" she mused, a soft smile flickering across her lips. She should have moved away, gone back to Asher's room, done anything to get herself out of the pull Sage had on her, but she couldn't. Whatever consequences could come from their late night rendezvous, Yas just didn't have it in her to care right now. Not after so many months away, dreaming of the moment just like this where she'd fall right back into Sage's arms.

There was a lot Sage should have thought about in that moment. Her sister, the best friend of the woman who's arms she'd practically fallen into, was just the tip of the iceberg. What the future involved, how she saw this playing out, Maggie being involved... those were all things that made up the rest of the body of the iceberg, beneath the sea where she'd have to dive deep to figure out, to question why and how and it was so, very impossible to do that when the inches between them continued to lessen until the space was essentially nonexistent and she could feel each breath the other took. She lifted her head, gaze meeting Yasemin's, bottom lip pulled between her teeth firmly to stop herself from being tempted to put her lips elsewhere, even though they were tempted to pressed against the slight pulsing on Yasemin's neck or the woman's own lips that were so familiar to her already. Her free hand, the one that wasn't the only thing keeping her steady as it gripped the edge of the island top, reached up to brush a stray strand of hair behind the other woman's ear, lingering as her thumb ghosted across the soft skin of her cheek. "Seems like a predicament that's better off being tomorrow's problem."

Of course they wouldn't want this to happen again. It was bad enough that it had ever happened at all and with Asher still in the dark about it, risking it again would just be stupid. Yet, standing there with Sage mere inches away from her, it became harder and harder to keep Asher front of mind. "Definitely wouldn't want this to happen again," she hummed back under her breath, words saying one thing, actions saying something completely different. Her fingers had curled into Sage's side, a pressure there now instead of just a palm for support. Sage's first question had gone unanswered, Yas not trusting herself to say anything within the boundaries that they were already pushing to the limit. Letting out a breath that she had been holding in, Yas let her eyes flash to the hallway, doors still closed, Asher and Maggie both not stirring at all. In the dark, away from any other eyes, Yas could feel herself drawing in closer to Sage, their bodies now barely apart in the kitchen. Any thought of focusing on the tea was long since past, the bags left on the counter next to her and forgotten for the time being. "I thought a year away would...make this easier. I don't think it has."

The grip pressed into her side caused a fire to bloom on her, flames flickering beneath the t-shirt she'd thrown on for bed hours ago. Asher could walk in at that very moment and she wasn't sure if she would even have the willpower to pull away. The year apart clearly did nothing to change the pull they felt between them, the same one they found the night they met years before. Sage had given it her best effort when her sister started with the blind dates, actually entertaining the first two or three, before realizing that nothing would fill the ache she had in her chest for one particular person. Now that that very person was standing within inches of her, hand pressed into her side, the ache felt like it was going to explode at any moment. What would she do then? What a gaping hole in her chest and her heart on display for Yasemin to see, to finally figure out that it was more than just their moments in bed or shared whispers under the blanket of darkness? Flustered, Sage dropped her forehead to bump against the other's shoulder, a breathy laugh of irony falling from her lips. "I don't think ten years away could make this easier."

It was a few weeks out from her last fight and the recovery process was still ongoing for Tyler. Every time it got harder, which only made Ty all the more dead set on pushing herself beyond her limits. The morning had gone by in more of a haze than anything. She had breakfast or was at least pretty sure that she did. She took care of the dogs, which she knew for sure that she did. And then the incessant buzzing of her phone had started. Ty knew it was probably important, as her team tried not to bother her if it wasn't, but she couldn't bring herself to be bothered. Instead, she found herself out by the pool in the backyard, gazing out at the lake. It was quiet, woodsy, her property far enough from other people that there was almost a silence from where she sat. The only noises were the rustling of leaves and the occasional movement of one of the dogs that were scattered about the pool deck. That and the phone. The buzzing and buzzing and buzzing that didn't seem to be stopping. Deciding she was fully and completely over it, Ty opted instead to just lob the phone into the pool, watching it sink to the bottom where it could no longer bother her.

She knew Ty could swim, she wasn't doubting that much. The summer days, much like this one, they spent finding lakes hidden away outside of the city when they were teens told her that much. Simpler times, she supposed. Before the other woman decided to let her brain get knocked around her skull a few too many times (not even in her own opinion, it was basically fact at that point). Now, Emmy had no clue what post-fight Tyler was capable of and that included the having knowledge to actually swim if she were to fall into the water. If she could, she'd move her best friend in with her and call it a day, but she supposed that would be the start of a third world war if she even brought up the idea of it.

The fact that it had been so easy for them both to just go along with Yasemin staying in the home for the next few weeks was probably ill advised. They'd done enough to hurt Asher in the past and the last thing Yasemin wanted to do was take advantage of her best friend's generosity by letting anything happen with Sage while she was staying there. Easier said than done, though, as the closeness between them was already toeing the line of what might have been acceptable. "If it's too much having me here, though, say the word and I'll be out," she promised, wanting to at least make sure that the option was there. There were plenty of hotels she could stay at if she became too much of a burden or, more realistically, things got too heated with her and Sage.

Sage would never say the word. Even if things between them caught the entire world on fire, even if they were already toeing a dangerously thin line between what they were feeling and what Asher was privy to, there wouldn't be a single word uttered to cause the other to leave. Selfishly, she wished Yasemin would stay forever, that they could live in the world of two in the morning kitchen meetings under the guise of needing a drink of water or some tea. How had a year passed with no contact between them and yet, they were right back where they started? Would it always be a never-ending circle? She supposed that would depend on where either of them expected this to go and, honestly, she wasn't entirely willing to think about that yet. And thankfully, she had an old rug to blame for why she couldn't think on it in that exact moment. A familiar palm fell to her waist, steadying her, a teasing voice low and close. The position caused Sage's lips to curve ever-so-slightly, "And what if it was?" came her response, barely above a mumbled whisper, desperate for the two blondes upstairs to stay asleep. Her feet were planted firmly on the ground, but she made little effort to move. "Of course, we definitely wouldn't want this to happen again."

To be there in Sage's kitchen acting like there was nothing going on at all between them was as difficult a thing as Yasemin had done recently. The only thing keeping her from making a bolder move towards Sage was the fact that her best friend was quietly sleeping just a few doors down, blissfully unaware of the betrayal that was consistently on the brink of happening. As she reached to grab a glass for water, Yas could feel the pull even more, as if Sage had a gravitational force trying to drag her in closer. Pulling back away felt like she was accomplishing the impossible, her body resisting with every inch she shifted towards the refrigerator to fill her glass.

"You could never," Sage reassured her with a swift shake of her head, not even needing a second to consider. Maybe she should have hesitated, played it off as though she were chill, but the moment that the brunette stepped closer to her, reached inches around her to simply grab a glass, she was anything but chill. She was weak. Forget that Asher was just right up the stairs, sleeping soundly as the two of them mingled in a way that definitely wasn't appropriate for her older sister and best friend to do. Her lips quirked at the mention of Yasemin collecting stuff for her in the last year, thinking of her even. What the other didn't know is how much the blonde had thought of her too, something she'd be all too willing to tell the woman under the cover of darkness and the privacy of her room. Even the thought left her cheeks heated and she barely caught the offer that fell between.

It was entirely typical of Asher to forget to mention big things and this, Yas would have assumed, was a big thing. Perhaps, though, for Asher it wasn't a big deal at all. For someone that didn't know how quickly the tension between her and Sage could mount, it was just another friend staying over for awhile and not a big deal at all. A part of Yas was annoyed that it hadn't gotten mentioned, as it would have saved both her and Sage this momentarily awkward conversation. On the other hand, Yas was glad that it hadn't come up, as it had meant Sage didn't have a chance to say no to her being there. Yasemin hadn't had the willpower herself to say no to what was obviously a bad idea.

She would have said yes. Despite every alarm in her brain going off saying it was a bad idea to share a house with Yasemin for weeks, the older blonde wouldn't have even hesitated before saying yes. How were they supposed to last weeks when she couldn't even get through that very moment without her heart feeling like it was attending a gymnastics class of its very own and a familiar heat pooling low in her stomach in anticipation of something that was definitely not going to happen — she wasn't going to let it happen, no matter how much every bone, every nerve, every muscle in her body ached for it. Sage convinced herself she could stay strong. Taking a deep breath, in through her nose and out through her mouth, she reminded herself of that.

As the birthday party had wound down to an end, Yasemin had been doing everything possible to keep herself busy. It would have been too easy to just happen to be out in the hallway once all the guests had left, leaving just Sage as the other person to run into. Asher was now passed out asleep after a few hours of hanging out in her room, catching up on all of Yasemin's adventures in Africa. Yas should have just knocked out herself and gone down to sleep, but try as she might she couldn't keep her eyes shut. The pull of knowing Sage was just a few doors down in her room made it impossible to get any real rest, a consequence Yasemin hadn't considered when Asher had made the offer for her to stay there until her house was ready again.

A sleepover or more aptly considered a night where the two had too much wine and reality shows and spent the entire night gossiping about the drama happening at the hospital wasn't something that was of a rare occurrence with Asher and Yasemin. It was usually on those nights that Sage busied herself late at the bar until she was sure both would be locked away, asleep, in the younger blonde's room and she wouldn't chance running into the brunette that stood before her now. It was always tricky to maintain her composure around the other, either fumbling over her words or a flush coating her cheeks or a gaze that seemed to exist only for the woman who was, unfortunately, her sister's best friend. Asher had failed to catch on so far, but her sister wasn't stupid.

The longer stretch of silence from Sage was hard to miss, but Yasemin was happy to stand there, shifted in closer to the woman than was probably safe. Being around Sage had always been a game of playing with fire, but now after being gone for so long, it felt like every inch closer they got was just adding fuel to the flames. Yas herself had to take a moment to bite down at her lower lip, the closeness she'd been so boldly confident to create now catching up with her. Letting her teeth graze up her lip before letting it lose, Yas let out a soft hum of agreement. "You make a great point. I guess we'll just have to let her be spoiled and enjoy all the gifts I brought her. I left all of Asher's inside and...yours are in there too." Yas didn't know if bringing something back for Sage had been a good idea or if Asher would think anything of it, but she hadn't been able to help herself. When everything she saw somehow reminded her of the woman, it had been impossible to resist buying at least a few of them.

Asher would never set her up with the right one, because the right one happened to be the same blonde's best friend and no one would ever think setting up your best friend and older sister was a good idea — if only she knew what's gone on behind the scenes. Though, if Asher knew, they likely wouldn't be standing there, having a conversation about gifts and work and blind dates. No, they'd likely be buried six feet under a field somewhere after the younger Franklin was through with them. Yet, Sage couldn't help herself, toeing the line of fire again and again, just begging to be burned. Why did it feel so good to wave her hands through the flickering flames? "I'm sure it's difficult, with the right person not being at the hospital, after all."

There was an overwhelming sense of relief when Maggie didn't hesitate at all in jumping right into her hug. Yas had been in positions like this plenty of times through work, greeting kids that she'd worked with that barely remembered her as a blip in their lives. In their cases, at least, it was something of a miracle when she was removed from her patients lives for long enough that they didn't have a strong memory of their days in the hospital. With Maggie, it was different. She cared. Too much, perhaps. This time, at least, she was able to brush aside any concerns that Maggie had fully forgotten her and instead present the young girl with a surprise bag of gifts.

The lack of space that developed between them managed to short-circuit her brain enough that she completely forgot they were even talking about Maggie, the toddler long distracted by the bag of gifts that the other had handed her. It was only when her mind processed Yasemin's words — a solid minute and a half after the woman spoke them — that she responded, "Me? Be the bad cop? No way. By the time she's a lucid human being I'm going to be old and decrepid, I need some brownie points that'll get her to like me and I'm not going to get those by being the bad cop." Her voice was less convincing, though, words getting caught in her throat every single time her eyes flit to the other's deep brown ones, wondering (deep in the back of her mind where logic didn't even bother to exist in) how long it would take for the birthday girl, or anyone else for that matter, to notice that they'd both disappeared from the party if they were to find themselves in a familiar hallway that led to a familiar bedroom.

The top to her drink popped and the challenge issued, Yas made quick work of her first few sips as well, gulping down the liquid with a hum of approval. "I can't even tell you the last time I had one of these." Things were a lot harder to come by when out in the smaller villages that she had been traveling and working around in Rwanda, though there had been little time at all to spend on luxuries like drinks. Already she was feeling the warmth spread in her chest, a fact that she was willing to attribute to the first few sips of alcohol she'd had in a year and not at all to the woman standing in front of her. Part of the impetus to spend the year away had been Sage and the growing closeness between them and Yasemin had hoped that the time away would dull it even just slightly. Five minutes into seeing her again, however, she was very quickly faced with the realization that her hopes had been misplaced.

Sage could handle her alcohol as good as any other, maybe even better after her years spent grieving at the bottom of a bottle, but there was something about pairing the alcohol with the intoxicating presence of the other that already made her dizzy and she wondered if she would fair any better than the woman who probably didn't have much alcohol at all over the last year. If she were prompted, the flush that crawled up the back of her neck and spread onto her cheeks was solely from the rush of the first sips of alcohol and the heat of the summer's evening, but she guessed Yasemin didn't have to prompt her to say anything to realize that it was less about the beer in her hand and the heat and more about being called out for hanging onto every word her sister spoke about her best friend.

Just as quickly as her hand had lifted up to steady Sage, it fell back to her side, the immediacy of the emotional wave it sent her on prompting her to pull back before she lingered for too long. As much as she could have let herself get caught up in the moment, the familiar, loud voice of her best friend kept her from doing so. It could have been so easy to let the smallest touch pull her right back into Sage were they not in full view of the rest of the party, Asher never far from their gaze. It was a momentary blessing that she had to stoop down in front of the cooler, pretending to dig through each and every can inside to find just the perfect one.

The thought of the other catching up, either of them (or worse, both) under the influence of alcohol after going the last year without seeing each other seemed like a disaster waiting to happen, but Sage felt like that was a risk she was willing to take — even with the sound of her sister somewhere entertaining a group of kids across the backyard. It was growing more difficult to hear Asher with the sound of flames rushing through her ears, her heart thumping wildly against her chest as she tried to swallow down the fire that was threatening to expose every aching thought she'd had over the last year. Partially to bury the feeling even further and partially because Sage was a Franklin and Franklins could never resist a challenge, she lifted the beer to her lips and took a few large swallows to bring the liquid midway down the bottle. "We'll see about that," She ended up teasing, her lips curving just slightly as her gaze watched Yasemin finally stand, the first words out of her mouth made her want to melt into the ground.

Yasemin's life had always been about being of service to others. From the young age where she'd dedicated her time to her ailing sister to her life now spent absorbed in her career as a doctor, everything she did revolved around helping others. She'd never expected that path to take her to the far side of the world, a research opportunity pulling her away from the home she'd been building in Providence Peak and landing her out in the rugged terrains of a village in Rwanda. In a time where her life had felt like a swirl of chaos, the opportunity had been exactly what she'd needed to get away and reaffirm with herself what she was meant to do with her life. Now, a year removed from her life in Providence Peak and with a renewed sense of self, she couldn't have been more grateful to be returning back to a place that felt more like home than it ever had before.

The touch burned right through the skin of her arm, filling her veins with an overwhelming fire that seemed to have roared back to life the moment the other stepped foot in her backyard. How had it been a year since she felt it? How was it so easy to forget about it while Yasemin had been out of sight, but somehow, it was still there, still unshakeable despite everything that made it impossible for them to continue to act on it. How many years would they need to put between them before it dulled altogether and faded away? How long until they could be in a room together and not be drawn toward each other? Asher's voice ringing out across the yard, ever so extraverted and so excited to be there, was the only thing that drew her out of the moment, allowing her some clarity as the brunette stepped to the side to fish through the cooler.

As much as Alejandra was mouthing off, she didn't have a plan of what she would actually have done to back it up. It was all just bullshit, yelling to yell. Being called out on it brought her to a stop, any movement forward towards Skipper halted as she had to take herself out of the moment to look at what she was doing. It was stupid, everything about it was stupid, but her emotions were ruling her decisions lately, not her brain. Her head shifted down towards the fists that had curled together, a breathy laugh following. "I don't know. Maybe. You do kind of have a punchable face," she mumbled back, some of the anger deflating out of her. Whatever beef she had with Skipper, her reaction had nothing to do with it. It was entirely her own trauma that was speaking right now, lashing out at the first person she'd seen in days that wasn't the family that had been kind enough to take her in.

"Fair. If it'd make you feel better to punch me, go for it. I can take it." She'd survived a hell of a lost worse during basic training, not to mention the decade of service that had come after. If a punch was all the other needed to let the anger out, so be it. "It's not like I wouldn't deserve it from your point of view, so why not. Get it over with and all that." Though she was offering to take a punch, her lips still curved just a bit with a slight amusement at the entire situation. She hoped to God that the woman didn't take her up on it and actually land a fist against her jaw — healthcare for veterans was absolute bull to deal with.