#abbyxmaya

“Maya!! Maya, get back here!” Abby yelled at her friend, who had quickly become excited by something and darted ahead of her, disappearing into the trees. “Oh for or the love of…” she groaned and began jogging in Maya’s direction. 

“You know you’re a real pain in my ass!” she yelled, having lost her past the first line of trees. “You’re not supposed to stray off the path!”. Maya was gone. Why did she always do this? Whenever Abby went on patrol with another soldier, they were always quick and to the point. Secure the perimeter, make sure there was no funny business going on, and then head straight back. It was pretty rare that Maya ever joined her on a perimeter walk like this, but Abby knew she got out of the hospital so rarely that whenever she asked it was so hard to say no. 

It was relatively safe, all things considered. Just a couple miles out from the inner perimeter and there hadn’t been a sighting of infected this far out in weeks. Still, Abby worried. 

“Maya, where are you!?” she called again, anxiety heightening slightly. She got past another line of trees and was suddenly looking out over a small hill, the hospital visible in the distance. It was late afternoon, and light was beginning to shine through the trees at just the right angle. “Golden hour?” she questioned under her breath, remembering the conversation she and Maya had been having just a minute earlier before she had made a mad dash for the trees. 

“Over here!” called Maya from a little ways down the hill, breaking Abby’s train of thought. She was crouching in front of some plant, staring intently. 

“You need to stop pulling shit like this.” Abby scolded in frustration as she made her way towards her. “There’s no way you saw that plant from the path, what the hell did you run after?” 

Maya was still completely focused on the plant at her feet, pinching one of the leaves between her fingers. Abby could almost see the gears turning in her head, as if she was cataloging the specimen in the rolodex of her mind. As she crouched there, unmoving, Abby noticed how the golden afternoon light got caught in her hair, bringing a new warmth to her dark curls. She tilted her head slightly, in thought, Abby assumed. There was almost no breaking her attention away from something she was focusing on. 

“Maya!?” Abby huffed one last time as she took her final steps toward her. Her attention faltered slightly as she blinked a few times. Maya looked up at her and gave an easy smile, as if she hadn’t just been scolding her. 

“Hm?” Maya hummed. Clueless, absolutely clueless. 

“Argh… Oh my God.” Abby said quietly, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose. “Stay on the path please” she requested, though she knew it was in vain. 

“But look!” Maya responded, plucking one of the leaves off the plant she was studying. “It’s a potato plant!” Her smile was wide and her eyes full of genuine excitement as she held the leaf out to Abby. She took it, almost reluctantly. It was completely ordinary, looked about the same as every other damned leaf in the forest. 

“Maya…” Abby began, “You might be surprised to find out but...we actually grow potatoes here.” Her brows furrowed in mild confusion as to why she might find a potato plant, of all things, so interesting. “I’m pretty sure you had some for breakfast this morning. You’re not exactly stumbling on some great discovery here.” She teased. 

“Abby…” Maya started, annoyance in her voice. She had turned back to focus on the plant but Abby could almost feel her rolling her eyes. “They’re wild potatoes.” Her hands were in the dirt now, clearly digging for the starchy vegetable. “Don’t you know how rare it is to find these in Northern Utah?” She asked that as if Abby would actually know the answer. 

“I don’t know... very?” she replied, sitting down on a log near where Maya was crouched, giving in to their impromptu detour. She was still annoyed but at least now she could be annoyed sitting down. 

When Maya didn’t respond right away Abby took the chance to study the leaf again, trying to find what was so special about it. Maya was giving it such particular attention, she almost looked like she was back at the lab, trying to look at something under a microscope. She admired that about her, her ability to give something her full focus, as if it was the most important thing in the world. Like when they were being given a debriefing on day to day operations or on the rare occasion when Abby decided to pop into one of her fathers lectures, she always found Maya vigorously taking notes. She was always fully invested, even in conversion with Abby when she would talk about something stupid; like the way she cleaned gun or about the best way to bring down a clicker. She always looked at her so intently, brown eyes wide with interest. 

Abby supposed the least she could do is return the favor and wait for her to finish her examination of the plant. She rested her elbows on her knees and her chin on her hand and watched as Maya kept rummaging through the dirt. 

Not much time passed before the light in the trees caught her attention again. “So this is golden hour?” she asked, almost absentmindedly, as she studied how the light danced on Maya’s warm brown skin, revealing that, much like her hair, it also had a warm golden undertone. 

“No, I don’t think so,” Maya replied, “They’re probably some kind of russet potato, I’d be really surprised if it ended up being a yukon gold.” her voice was distant, still digging. It was a miracle she wasn’t up to her elbows yet. 

“Oh my god” Abby brought her hand to her mouth, trying to stifle her chuckle. She had been trying to bring up their earlier conversation about photography and how photographers in the old world used to take photos as their job. A concept which Abby found fascinating.  It had gone completely over Maya’s head. 

“Aha!” She exclaimed, hitting pay dirt. She finally pulled her hands out from the dirt to reveal a few small (very small) potatoes. The biggest one couldn’t have been bigger than a golf ball… and that was being generous.  

“Wooow” Abby said lazily, a small smile playing on her lips, “That looks ... appetizing”. Now Maya was really rolling her eyes at her. 

“I’d like to see you be able to find a potato plant in the middle of the forest.” Maya taunted, dropping the tiny spuds back to the ground and beginning to wipe the dirt from her hands. 

“You know it really is one of my life’s goals, so maybe I’ll work on that” she teased. “You should take those back to the cook.” she went on, “I’d love to share the singular bite of mash they make with you.” She really let herself laugh a little at that last line as Maya shot her one more annoyed glance before getting to her feet. She stepped over to the log Abby was at and plopped down next to her. 

“Whatever, Abby.”, the irritated tone in her voice was clearly half hearted. “You never know when you’re going to need to know this kind of stuff.” she said with a shake of her head. 

“I’m sure if I’m ever in a situation where I have to dig something out of the ground to eat it, you’re gonna be right there by my side to tell me which one” she retorted, smirking. “And you’ll do it in the most know-it-all way possible. I’m sure about that.” 

“Pffft, you’d better hope and pray that I’m there, Abigail” she said, laughing herself. “But knowing you…” Maya bumped shoulders with her. “I would tell you what to eat and you’d think I was lying to you.” She stopped a moment to think before turning to look directly into Abby’s eyes “Or! You would find the first thing that looks edible and pretend to eat it, just to spite me.” 

“Can’t say you’re wrong” Abby chuckled back, maintaining eye contact. “I do love to watch you panic.”

The sun was now blanketing Maya’s face directly, bringing her softly sculpted features to full focus. Sunlight pooled in her eyes, turning them from their usual medium brown to a warm golden honey. 

She broke eye contact first.

“I bet you can’t even tell me what this is!” Maya declared, bending over to pick at a small shrub near their feet. She brought a leaf between their faces. It was a very light green and almost translucent in the sunlight. “Is it poisonous, or not?” she asked plainly. 

“Uh…” Abby had no idea. Her lips parted slightly in thought. “I’m gonna say yes. Very poisonous, extremely poisonous.” She said, very unsure but searching for the answer in Maya's golden eyes. 

“It’s mint, Abby” she chuckled, still holding her gaze. “They use it to flavor toothpaste” she broke their eye contact to roll her eyes. “Here, try it,” she instructed, holding the sprigg to Abby’s lips. 

“Are you saying my breath stinks?” Abby asked in a low tone. 

“Yes that’s exactly what I’m saying” She said back sarcastically. “Just try it.” she ordered as Abby finally took the leaf in her mouth. She tested it. It was bitter, but she wasn’t lying, it was in fact mint. 

“How is it?” Maya asked, staring at her with that attention that she gave everything that was important to her. 

“It…does in fact, taste like toothpaste.” Abby snickered. 

Maya was inches from her, sunlight still filling her face. 

She sniffed. “Oh great it’s working already!” she teased lightly. 

They both erupted in laughter. Maya turned away for just a second, bringing her hand up to her mouth, attempting to hide her smile. When she turned back her eyes were still soft. A  moment passed, perhaps the longest in Abby’s life, and then, she just went for it.

Abby closed the space between them and her lips met Maya’s. 

She could feel Maya’s initial shock, but it quickly faded. Maya rested her hand on Abby’s thigh and leaned into her deeply. Almost on instinct, Abby’s hand shot up to cup her jaw and bring her lips even closer to her own. Maya was soft under her touch and responded only positively to Abby’s hands on her. Maya chased the kiss and Abby relished at the feeling, taking the opportunity to part her lips slightly and deepen the kiss even further. 

They probably could have stayed this way forever. In some alternate plane of perfection that Abby had never known before. But reality is a cruel thing, and it pulled Abby back down to earth in the form of staticky communication coming from her walkie. 

“Blue One, do you copy? This is home base. Blue One, do you read me? Over.”

Over the years Abby had become all too accustomed to hearing her code name over the radio. She would drop anything she was doing and come to the attention of whoever was at the other end of the radio the second she heard it. 

She pulled away from Maya, with barely a second thought, catching a glimpse of her stunned face. There was a slight pink tint mixed in with her golden undertones that was visible on her cheeks and slightly parted mouth.

“This is Blue One, I copy. Over.” Abby responded after pulling her device off her belt. 

“Blue Two is requested back in the medical wing. Are they with you? Can you confirm? Over.” 

“Yes, I can confirm. They’re right here. Headed back to base. Over and out.” Abby said, cutting off communication. All at once her world came crashing back to her. She was in a bubble, and she had no choice but to burst it. 

Maya was still sitting beside her, breath hitched slightly, trying to catch it. Abby shot up quickly off the log. 

“On your feet.” she ordered, taking her by the arm and pulling her up. Abby engaged in  soldier mode, not daring to make eye contact. “You’re needed back at base, and we’re still a ways out. We’ve gotta hustle.” She said, her voice so flat she didn’t even know it was possible after what they had shared.