#allimanda

It’s so obvious for Allison, Amanda is staring at her even as she struggles to free herself from the trap. She’s not sure when it comes, or how, but eventually the trap snaps open and she finds herself tucked against Amanda, the woman is shaking a little even as she carries her out to set her on the hospital steps. Later, much later, Allison will wake up to Amanda sat by her side, looking distraught. She’d been struggling, obviously, to forgive herself for what she had almost done to Allison. It’s hard for Allison to ignore it, even if she knows she shouldn’t care so much for the woman. She does care, she always cares. By the time everything starts falling apart she’s already got Amanda away from Jigsaw, the two moving away from town. Much later the two would discover that they were a perfect pair,

“No…. No hospitals…. They’d arrest you.” Allison’s voice is sharp. Amanda takes a breath, then finds ice and the needed ways to remove the acid. It had been easy to heal the cuts and wounds at Allison’s waist, but these, the acid wounds, are proving more difficult. “Allison… Please… stay still if you insist on staying here.” So she does, Allison holds as still as possible, allows Amanda to cleanse her wounds, allows Amanda to cool the still burning skin with melting ice, tries not to show how much it hurts, curling into Amanda as soon as she’s allowed to move, finding peace tucked against the woman who saved her from an impossible trap, an impossible situation.

It’s not unusual for there to be wardrobe malfunctions with John or Amanda, but somehow Allison’s is instantly far more deadly. The wounded woman is almost hanging by the chain by the time Allison finds her, lowering her quickly and easily and unwinding the chain from around Allison’s neck, stroking her cheek lightly when Allison finally breathes easily again. “There we go…” Allison is silent, her eyes locked on Amanda and the way Amanda winds her chain and badge around her fingers, twirling it over and around her fingers until it’s impossible to see how deeply the chain cuts into Amanda’s fingers. The two have always been somewhat uneasy, but now their bond will be almost impossible to break.

Allison isn’t sure what to think about the letter, Amanda has disappeared into the night, as she always does, but the letter feels heavy, like it’s a challenge, a dare to find a way to love her and Allison’s hands shake as she opens it at last. Amanda’s penmanship is weak, shaky, the signs of a woman on the edge. An admission, not of her crimes, that would be too risky when Amanda isn’t sure she loves her, of course, but of love… She follows Amanda’s hints, stops her capturing Lynn and pulls her away from the hospital, ignoring Amanda’s protests as she cuffs her, driving them both home before pulling the woman inside and only daring to kiss her once she’s safely inside, pulling her closer. “I love you too, ‘Manda…” Her voice is rough even as she pulls back, pushing hair from Amanda’s eyes. “Leave him…” Amanda trembles, but shakes her head. “He would kill you…” Amanda’s voice shakes. “Just… keep my name off the records, arrest him.” Later Amanda’s hands shake as she opens a letter from John, Allison curled into her side even as a tape falls from the letter. Matthews confession of planting evidence she was even part of the Jigsaw killings, that he had mistreated and cajoled Allison into the affair, everything. Some may have been lies, but Amanda didn’t care, not when the truth of his pressure on Allison is finally revealed.