#slightlynyx

They reached a point in their ascent that had begun to leave a burn in Gabi's thighs and glutes, they weren't superhuman for fucks sake, making it a point to concentrate her breath into even deep breaths through their nose, slowing their pace fractionally, more and more of the surrounding city becoming visible as they moved higher and higher, overtaking quite a few of the smaller buildings that would have blocked out their view. Finally coming up to their destination, Gabi took the last few steps upward, leaning back against the building for a moment to catch her breath, eyes examining the short catwalk to the door she'd hopefully have to pick again. "Do me a favor?" they grinned, "Don't watch me do this, yeah? You're gonna give me performance anxiety."

Everything ached, it was when she could sleep, when training and rounds and throwing her fists into bags left her feeling less of the tension under her skin and the restlessness. Nyxs days were filled of it and today was no different, walking patrols and training those who needed it. They all needed it, in truth, a shitty cop-out of a town filled with entitled children calling themselves victims and they were, but not entirely out of their control, not entirely their faults either. They were just cattle and nyx had two jobs, preparing them for slaughter, and preparing them for self defense, because preparing them for freedom in Nyx’s mind was off the table the moment she got Corey back home to her mother and siblings. There was nothing in her that wanted these kids out of here and living in the world her family lived in. Keys had been dropped to the table beside the door and it had been kicked shut, sealing her off into her own sanctuary. Nyx had taken the stairs and ignored the kitchen, as she would until morning. Right now she peeled fabric off as she went, keeping pieces in her hands to drop to the floor beside the dresser upstairs before she sunk down on the end of the bed to pull a pair of sweatpants on in exchange, to accompany her tank top. Amber eyes moved to the laptop on her beside table, a pull to call Marley but… Her mind doing her math on the time difference making her think better of it. Instead distraction came with pulling at the wrapping that was tight around her left hand, wrapping she pulled free just to clench her jaw and rewrap tighter to feel it.

A levee could only hold so much pressure before it broke and that’s the way the pressure in her veins felt now. It was at a breaking point. Her chest ached, every minute of every day for the woman that was her home and her home was just… Too far away. She had been too far, for eight months and she knew well the way that she could’ve called it at any point up until now but. Now was the moment. Corey was home and safe, with Iris far away from any threat to them any more. Now… Now she needed to get Nyx. She needed to see her, not through a computer screen, needed to hear her not through the static of a phone. She needed the real deal. It was like… Drinking a diet drink. Yeah, it tasted similar, it soothed that itch for that carbonation, that sweet, cool relief to your throat but… It wasn’t the real thing. She moved now, running a hand back through her curls and she pulled on clothes, swapping out her little shorts for a pain of skinny jeans but nyx’s NYPD hoodie stayed on, the scent long since stale but she could find notes of her there. She needed the real deal. With boots being slipped on, she shifted, calling to her element and focusing on her home, knowing where to find her. The island materialized around her and boots found solid ground, only looking around for a moment before she figured out which way to go.

So much of waiting felt like an incessant itch, the not knowing. This time of night she reminded herself of all she didn’t know. She didn’t know of Corey was home safe, she knew she was on her way but, official word had yet to come and there were days when nyx couldn’t call home, having to watch carefully on even lines she was told were secure to be sure that remained unnoticed. She didn’t know the images of Marley at night when the kids were gone and the house was quiet, but she swallowed the images her own mind fabricated like shards of glass. They were the worst, even knowing Marley, knowing the bravery in her and the resilience, the fight, it was far easier for nyx to torture herself with seeing tears shed to their pillows when Marley was curled up with one of her shirts, than it was to actually realize the truth, was that it may not be that bad, because she knew Marley, she knew her distaste for crying, most of all on her own, and nyx swallowed away images of that being the truth. Her head fell back where she sat on the edge of the bed, eyes touching shadows on the ceiling and lips parting for a breath. It wasnt too late to call, it was never too late to call, it never would be too late. She was moving to scramble a bit more rushed over the bed, just to grab her laptop and flip it open, fingers tapping on the keys quietly like she could wake it up faster.

Marley moved with impatience, yes, but that didn’t mean she didn’t leave prepared. A note had been left for Chance and Conor, short and sweet. ‘Getting Momma. Love you both.’ She thought to text Corey the same, not lost from that look that had found Corey’s eyes when she’d realized that she’d beaten Nyx home. And when Nyx hadn’t showed in the short time that she’d stayed. Marley was so glad that she was home, that she was safe, that Nyx had gotten their baby girl out of there but now… Now it was time to bring home her home, the woman that she had endless pride for and the woman thst their children looked up to. They needed her… But Marley needed her more and she’d never feel sorry for that. Looking around the island now, she figured out where the housing was, moving toward that now and her eyes focused on numbers, sorting out which way she needed to move until she found the number that she knew held Nyx inside. She swallowed weakly but she didn’t hesitate, moving for the door and she thought to pick the lock but her hand on the knob proved she didn’t need to, feeling the give that came with slight pressure. Marley pushed inside then, so instantly hit with nyx’s scent and that… That was the moment that her eyes burned. She hadn’t allowed it, not once in eight months and it wasn’t for a lack of hurt. The hurt was there but her home wasn’t and that was the difference, Marley pausing enough to close the door but then she was moving for her, for Nyx, For her home, blue eyes scanning the downstairs She remembered the look in Coreys eyes when she’d asked if she was coming too, knowing she couldn’t right then because the act of two girls suddenly breaking free over night needed to be covered and dust needed to settle. It had, not without questions about nyxs knowledge on it, which her cover with trp aided in her keeping her alibi, but that look…she could see it now because she could see the look that would have flooded Marley the moment she saw it too. Nyx shook her head and wiped her left hand over her face, focus in the dull ache, eyes adjusting on the light of her laptop where she saw Marley’s icon on the Skype window accompanied with the tiny white dot. She was offline, and nyx knew, when they were on they were on, when they weren’t, it was for a reason, but it stayed on always when it could be. Very likely to nyx it meant her line wasn’t secure right now, which wasnt in her hands to fix, it was in her hands to wait, and so her chest sank with that where she sat for a long moment just looking at it. It was like waiting for the internet to reconnect after a storm, your router worked, your laptop worked, but there was nothing for either of them to hold onto. Her fingers moved to her braid to pull the tie free and put it on her wrist to snap lightly, one of Marley’s hair ties, more focus with each snap before she found idle moments of loosening her hair into loose curls, until she heard a shift. She heard it, she felt it too, like a low hum, shadows being disturbed and sound waves that felt like they rippled out to her element. Her housemate was never here, sometimes but, not this time of night. Nyx was moving to grab her gun from her belt on the dresser and it was clasped in her left where her right hand covered under the clip. It was easy to use powers for self defense but nyx was trained as a guard and the weapon she was to meet residents with was in her hand now, powers were the last resort, so she moved quietly, negation bullets loaded, down the stairs to peer around the corner, right as scent hit her square in the chest. Scent. Home. Marley. The gun was dropped and the job was done, her eyes locking onto blue and the clatter to the floor ignored as she closed the spade in the dark to wrap her hands around her wife and lift her with ease up into her arms.

Marley had done her time, waiting as patiently as could be expected of her given that her home was away from her and in danger, a very real possibility that she’s never see Nyx again. She didn’t think on it too much because she knew that they’d both do what it takes, whatever it takes, to get back to each other. Nyx had explained it all to her, all the risks and the possible rewards, and it hadn’t been a choice. Nyx would go, get their little girl back, and she might not make it back herself. To her, there had been an acceptance of that fact for the way it was a possibility, but outside of that… Marley would do whatever it took too, whatever it took to at least try to get Nyx back home. Both of them were needed. Breathing in her scent now hit her hard and her eyes stung, her element keeping her eyes clear for the sake of searching for her home, her wife, and with the sound of footsteps moving toward her, her heart stopped, stilled completely in her chest, eyes going toward the sound and… Just as instantly and Nyx dropped the gun, Marley ran toward her, not stopping until she was crashing into her body and wrapping her up tight. The levee broke and her eyes flooded, breathing her in more deeply, more truly, finding her scent and pulling it deeply into her lungs where the last breath of her wife had grown stale. Tears streamed her cheeks and she didn’t hate them because they were for her wife and her wife was here, in her arms now. She was home. Marleys hands found her mate, running up her sides before she pulled back enough to cup her cheeks, looking at her for the longest moment because it’d been too long since she’d seen her other than through a computer screen and seeing her now was the with the most clarity, almost to the point of being surreal. That’s when she found her lips, her own trembling and she kissed her, soft only once before she was kissing her deeper, finding the taste that she’d been missing, the taste of her wife, her home.

It didn’t feel real the way her heart was drumming in her chest when for months she was certain she didn’t feel it beating at all. Her chest felt hollow and empty, lacking, but it was thundering with her pulse the moment she saw those blue eyes, amber hues pooling over and the gun dropped as useless. It was, there was something to be said for that, for the facade Nyx had to keep up while being here. The gun was useless as it had been since it had been issued to her. The only thing she wanted in her hands was her whole world and Nyx’s hands found the small of her back to lift her up, she needed to feel her, the weight that her muscles had memorized and missed. Her lungs expanded all at once, lavender and cherry, home, filling her up and filling in the lack. She needed to feel the slightest difference in height, her hands moving into Marley’s curls to run back into them, eyes locking on blue. She knew what Marley being here meant and she was nodding so stubbornly, tears hitting her cheeks and one hand brushing over her wife’s cheek, her thumb over her lips.  “it’s over, babylove. It’s okay, it’s perfect, it’s over.” she whispers, sliding her hand back into Marley’s curls to pull her to her lips, kissing her slow and soft and then catching blue eyes before she was kissing her deeper. Marley’s scent was here and here had been lacking in her, here didn’t know Marley, and she was eager to change that, she needed to change that, because for the first time the walls here felt warm and she shivered with a contrast she hadn’t felt without her. “are you okay, mare?” nyx broke from her lips only enough for the words, pressing right back to her lips and smiling, her whole body trembling. She was giddy, she felt the shock in her system that rolled through her with tremors and made her nerves jump under her skin, but her smile was wide on her lips and emotion deep in her eyes drinking her in, kissing across her lips and her cheek, the arm around the small of Marley’s lifting her up into her arms to make her thighs wrap around her.

Her lungs had been lacking her mate, her arms had been lacking her home, their home together had been lacking in light, lacking in shadow, lacking in her scent, her presence. It felt like there was a hole in her heart, in their home and now… Now that hole was so instantly and beautifully filled, so instantly it was patched over just in seeing her, in breathing her in, in feeling her in her arms. The ache in her chest eased and she felt Nyx lift her, her arms wrapping around her more and she felt her body against her own, the warmth she’d been lacking, her own little personal heater and she cried silently into her neck, hearing her, her hand running up into her curls to flex her grip there. It felt so surreal but she knew… She knew it was. The tears didn’t stop the smile, breathless and wide on her lips in knowing that she was okay, she was here, she was safe now. It spread more seeing her again, finding golden eyes that always felt like home and she heard her question, felt her touch. Marley swallowed weakly and nodded stubbornly, finding her lips softly again while her arm curled more to shield her wife’s head. “m'perfect now.” she murmured. That was her truth. Those eight months… Those eight months had brought their baby girl home safely and now, now those eight months didn’t matter. All of the hurt and the ache and the missed moments….it all had led to this and this was worth it. Not that she’d want her wife gone just for reunions, no that was far from her truth. But she knew that everything they had been through had been worth it with corey and iris safe, together, far away from threat and now nyx was safe, in her arms and she dared anyone to try her now. “are you okay, beautiful girl?” she asked, finding those amber eyes and wrapping her up more, feeling her kisses and smiling more, a breath if her laugh leaving her lips and God, how long it had been since that sound had been true on her tongue. She returned the kisses, stubborn in the way she wanted to kiss her all over too and she did, soothing her nails over her scalp while her other hand cupped her cheek, not letting her escape the kisses but she knew nyx wouldn’t fight her there either. “I missed you so fucking much.”

She still remembered the days that passed without Corey coming back home, she remembered the worry in Marley’s eyes that spread more and more with each passing one without word from their youngest daughter. It was Corey to stay away, as much as they hated it sometimes, but when days stacked up, turned into weeks, turned into months without word, soft worries turned to fear, they’d searched on scent alone only to come up empty, fear turned to panic, turned to holes I’m their chests that one of their babies was missing from them and it seemed she’d stepped off the edge of the earth. The day nyx learned otherwise, the day she’d been contacted on a lead to her whereabouts, there was no hesitation in her or Marley; their daughter was theirs and she was to be returned home to them. Nyx remembered processing it with Marley, talking about it, talking the same side, the way Marley pulled her bag out for her because she knew….nyx wasn’t going to rest. How could they rest? They had a child who was somewhere without one of them, without any of them, couldn’t stay that way. Nyx felt vengeance for anyone who touched their child, felt a burning in the pit of her stomach for what was keeping her from home. Looking at Marley, she knew she had to go, because she saw those thoughts in blue eyes, she saw her thinking about Corey putting her head down at night being scared, she saw in blue eyes the wondering if she had enough to eat, even worrying about the fifth or sixth dinner roll, of anyone dared stop her at four. Her throat tightened holding Marley now, knowing the sacrifice that wasn’t really a sacrifice at all, but still the loss of time, no matter what, it lacked regret, but it was still time lost and she was holding her desperately. Nyx was finding Marley’s eyes and smiling on her lips through tears, pecking her lips over and over again. “perfect, I’m holding my home.” she whispers, kissing her lips a little deeper, tasting the flavor that was purely Marley’s, the flavor she craved over every other in the world, her drug. “I love you, Marley.” she whispers, her hand tightening in her curls despite the ache there in her wrist she held her securely, moving with her keeping her in her arms, with ease bending down to grab her gun from the floor before she was carrying Marley upstairs to the bedroom that had been hers for eight months, minimal but, pictures of Marley on her bedside table, of the two of them smaller than they were now, of their children both growing in tummies and in the safety of their hands, but… None of their faces, little feet, tiny hands, tummies. She couldn’t ever risk pictures of their children being found and any one of them being hunted down, she could already imagine the sound Corey made when she had been bested and taken away. Reaching the bedroom though, Nyx placed the gun to her dresser and sat on the end of the bed with Marley in her lap, her hands both free to claim her cheeks. “I missed you more.” she whispers, her eyes burning more and tearing over. “You’re so beautiful, how is it that you always get more beautiful?”

There had never been a question that Nyx would go, once they’d learned of Corey’s location, what had happened. It had never been even a hiccup in her mind to nod her head and help Nyx pack her bag, to make sure that she had everything, to wait with as much patience as she could muster, yo encourage her and remind her at every chance that she was loved and to let their children talk to her. She hadn’t faltered through any of it because Corey was their daughter and their daughter belonged to them, belonged at home, not to a rogue government, not to anyone else. They could manage Corey wanting to find her own home, roaming from town to town, but they couldn’t handle her being held somewhere against her will, when she’d done nothing to deserve it, other than exist. Marley hadn’t hesitated and neither had Nyx, and because of that, Corey was safe with Iris, far from this island of hell. Because of her wife and her precision, her fortitude and her smarts, she was alive and in Marleys arms, safe again and soon enough she’d be getting her off this island too. For now… She was feeling her, smiling against her lips and kissing her, little pecks to deeper searches for her taste, the taste she’d missed out on for eight months. She wouldn’t deny that things had happened, that they both had missed out on things, especially each other but eight months was a drop in the bucket compared to a lifetime without their child, compared to a life without Nyx. She knew it was worth it, now, and she felt her wife move, watching her reach for her gun and she clung to her as they moved upstairs, blue hue curious to see where her wife had been living but more intent on looking over her home. Still, that didn’t stop her from seeing the little pictures, her smile spreading tenderly more because she knew the way Nyx had protected them, seeing pictures of tiny feet, little hands… Nothing that could identify them. But they knew. There was a picture of cade and chance’s hands, covered in paint, working on little fingerpaintings for their fridge. There was Corey’s feet, dirty up to her cut-off coveralls and there was mud on the material there, but she was holding out the little raccoon that she’d found. There was conor, from his neck down but you could see his superman cape draped around his shoulders, his tiny hands presenting a bouquet of flowers, one of his magic tricks. There were pictures of them, younger and just as in love as they were now, but less too because they had grown so much, had figured out so much more. Marley smiled, her heart aching in a beautiful way and she settled in more against her wife as she sat on the edge of the bed, hearing her and shaking her head lightly but it wasn’t in denial. “I think the same about you, you know. You always get more beautiful… Somehow sexier too, every time I look at you.” she tells her, arching a brow softly but her smile shone through, so blissfully happy to be right here with her. “I love you the most, my beautiful girl.” she told her, reaching now for her hands because she wanted to hold them, to kiss them but her brows narrowed feeling her left in her own hand, knuckles swollen and she brought it closer to look, concern in her hue as she looked to her wife. She’d seen bruises like that before on her mate’s knuckles and she kissed them softly, knowing very well that it could just be her taking out too much anger on a punching bag but she pulsed her element to take the edge off, at least for now. “what happened?” she asked quietly, still loving softly on her hand but her free one went to push her curls back behind her ear, her thumb dragging softly over her cheek.

It felt like ages since Corey headed back home and with iris at her side, the latter a surprise to nyx more than she’s expected that two birds free, not many stones. Nyx kept her stones in a row and she’d been waiting with those loaded in her gun. All at once with Marley in her arms, the stones were useless, they didn’t matter. Nyx could think about other peoples kids in here but they all drank the water and they slapped every hand that offered aid; how many times she’d been kicked in the stomach for trying to help only to spit blood and take aim, to pull her own trigger that eliminated them as anything worthy of being helped. She had home in her arms and she was smiling through tears, gold eyes that couldn’t stop moving over Marley anymore than her hands could. And they really couldn’t. Her fingers ran up her thighs to her hips, to take to her sides and trail up over her ribs, feeling her shape against her as she breathed in every breath that left her lips. She saw mare’s eyes move over pictures they knew, not needing the faces to know which little hands belonged to who or who’s tiny feet carried which little body. They knew. But Marley, her she drank in all of her, she needed to see her, without a shit connection and a screen. Somehow she’d grown more beautiful and her muscles jumped with flexing her arms around her frame, spasms jolting through her the way they did when you were sitting and rested a foot on the ball, feeling when muscles weakened from holding that balance and suddenly your leg was riddled with trembling that came from fatigue. This wasn’t fatigue, she held everything in her arms and she moved her right hand to Marley’s cheek to pull her back into her lips, even as she felt her wife’s hand on her left, nyxs breath catching as the ache dulled out. The inquiry she expected and she wouldn’t hide it from her, Marley made it feel better and nyx wasn’t a sucker for punishment or that proud, never with Marley. “happened last week, just hasn’t gotten much better and I’ve just been using it too much but, know when you stop, mostly.” she mutters, knowing she’d been mostly babying the hand, save for gearing up and things like stopping the bag after swings from her right, grabbing her water bottle. “cradle it a lot at night when the wrapping comes off, ice water first and cleaning it up but it’s not as bad as it looks. Promise. Ryder’s face was worse.” she knew they’d had a week of not getting connection enough to call, it happened a lot and she hated it, but she knew Marley would know the cracks on her knuckles mostly and some swelling there, her wrist had been jarred but there weren’t any breaks. Her beautiful healer. Nyxs eyes moved to blue and she ran her right hand into her curls, smiling softly on her lips. “I can still take care of you.” so it definitely wasn’t that bad. Nyxs eyes burned all over again and she moved her left hand into Marley’s curls, pulling her gently into her forehead and breathing her in, feeling Marley’s touch on her cheek that had her eyes wanting to fall closed, also had then unwilling to leave her wife as she leaned in to press her lips to hers, gold eyes staying in blue in the dark even as she kissed her, tasted her with a gentle roll of her tongue over her bottom lip.

Blue eyes moved over the pictures, over the space her wife had been living in for the last few months. She was curious, but this wasn’t their home and her home was in her arms now. She found her, looking at her and drinking her in while she listened to what had happened to her hand, nodding once before she pulsed her element more into her wife’s veins, soothing the ache in her knuckles, her wrist, the cracks in the former, the deeper bruises that were healing already. She pushed gently, wanting to take that hurt from her wife and she breathed a smile at her words, finding golden hue more. “I’d hate to see his face then.” she hummed, mostly jest in her words because she knew it wasn’t that bad, but she still didn’t like seeing that bruising there, nor knowing that she was hurting, uncomfortable. Her words now had her smile spreading more on her lips and a more playful look shifting into her hue, arching a brow at her softly but she found her lips. “I want you to take care of you… And you take care if me…” she murmured, a purr on her lips for her wife. She felt her pull her closer and Marley wrapped her up more too, her hand on her cheek running back into her curls and the one on nyx’s hand running down her arm and up to her neck, resting over her pulse, feeling that beat there and she breathed a sigh of content against her lips. That’s when she was met with them, seeing the way Nyx didn’t close her eyes to her and she didn’t either, drinking her in while getting to taste her on her lips and she pressed deeper, tongue rolling in search of its mate while her hand on her neck fell lower, dragging over her chest, resting over her heart for a long moment before her hips rolled softly and couldn’t help the whine, soft but there and wanting her wife. She moved for that, that hand on her chest falling lower still to slip under her shirt and she gasped across her lips, feeling her skin, so soft, so warm. Her hips rolled again and she flexed her grip over muscle, running higher to claim her breast while she held her eyes, not losing her wife. Not here, not now, not ever again.