Title: Late Nights
Author: OpheliacAngel
Pairing: Sherry/Merrill, hints at Sherry/Merrill/Marty
Genres: Romance/Friendship
Rating: Teen
Summary: Sherry wants something other than late night studying.
A/N: Written for femslashficlets for prompt #041 interrupt.
Professor Murdoch's been distraught ever since Sherry was brought into their fold, a direct result of a missing Drew and the Elders agreeing to spare her life on pain of death if she should ever be bitten or reveal the existence of vampires to the other day students.
Despite the startling approval of the Elders, the Professor excuses himself to suffer in silence from migraines and preoccupies himself with Sherry's schedule, which has now been drastically adjusted to allow for active hours both in the daytime and nighttime. He assigns Merrill to help with this, instructs her to help the human adjust to their world. Sherry, Merrill realizes, is little more than a recruit to their cause. Despite Professor Murdoch's steadfast rule which remains steadfast but for this one exception, that humans shall not mix with vampires, he is forced to teach the human of vampire history, weapons training and protection from the vampires she has now come to befriend.
Merrill admits her indifference toward the human at the start, her irritation that Marty annoyingly pointed out as jealousy and her near outright refusal to respect Sherry or maintain patience with her.
As the nights wore on, however, Sherry begins to grow on her. She's a quick learner and proves genuine interest in vampire history and general knowledge, and her excitement motivates Merrill to take an active interest in the human as Sherry is already taking an interest in her. When Sherry's supposed to be sleeping, the two talk long into the night and early morning of anything and everything. Merrill learns about Sherry's life and her parents, her interests and her frustrations. They never speak of Drew, even though he is the root of the distance left between them, but Merrill soon begins to savor her moments with Sherry. She is the bright face among uncertainty, and since the Elders trust her and depend on her loyalty, Merrill will too.
Soon, Merrill's duties lessen. Karl and Sherry train together with Murdoch standing by, while Essie helps maintain Sherry's humanity. The two are alike in so many ways: gossip, fashion, manicures, and Merrill often takes delight in watching them.
Sherry and Marty are a different story. Merrill often finds them training alone. Marty will often slow things down and take them step by step, making sure Sherry's having fun in addition to learning. Merrill disapproves of his methods at first, but Sherry's laughter often draws her closer so as to eavesdrop and watch in silence as the two spar. Marty's always good at comic relief yet also answers her questions.
And Sherry has a lot of questions.
Today, Merrill pokes her head around the door. Marty and Sherry are sprawled out on the floor of the library, Marty telling her some over-exaggerated story.
"What are you two up to?"
Marty lifts up his head and beams at her. "Merrill! Hungry? Can't sleep?" He pats the space beside him and Merrill accepts, suspiciously eying the blood bag he offers her. "Sherry swiped it," he grins, wrapping an arm around the human. "Seems like she's developed a soft spot for my stories. Can't say as I blame her."
Merrill tsks and takes the bag away from him. "Accepting bribes, Marty? You're lucky I don't report you to Professor Murdoch."
"Aww, Merrill," he pouts. "Don't be boooring." He bumps his shoulder against Sherry's. "Merrill here, as I'm sure you've figured out already, never likes to have any fun. You're ruining our prisoner here, Mere. Sherry's gonna die of boredom if I don't do something about it."
Merrill sees Sherry's pointed look and smiles around the straw as she takes a sip of blood. "Die of boredom, huh?" She swallows delicately, savoring the taste of warm blood.
Marty applauds. "Living dangerously huh, Merrill?"
They talk late into the night. Again.
This time she likes having Marty for company.
Merrill curls up on the couch outside the Professor's office, writing in her journal. Professor Murdoch would be upset to know that she came here, with the day students sleeping right upstairs, but he's grown lenient lately and Merrill enjoys living dangerously sometimes. Besides, the silence is comforting. It's just her pen scribbling across the page and what's fitting enough to put down on paper.
She hears Sherry walking down the stairs. Other than the human's yawn, Merrill has come to recognize the light tread of her footsteps. The vampire looks up, admiring her bunny covered sleep pants and the way she pulls her hair over her shoulder, running her fingers through it.
Sherry plops down on the couch across from her. "Thought I'd find you here."
Normally, Merrill hates to be disturbed, or at least hates to be disturbed by Marty, but Sherry is different somehow. "Did you want to go through the next chapter?"
The human shrugs and yawns again. Merrill's worried about her sleep lately; Sherry receives fewer hours than any of Professor Murdoch's students, but she seems to handle herself pretty well for this extra weight placed on her shoulders. "I was thinking about something else instead." Sherry gets up and moves over to the couch where Merrill's sitting. The vampire immediately closes her journal and places it on the table in front of her. It isn't that she doesn't want Sherry to read what she's been writing, just that she doesn't want Sherry to think she's snubbing her.
"Alright then," she smiles, giving Sherry her undivided attention.
The human leans forward and before Merrill realizes what she's up to, kisses her. Her lips are soft and warm, and her hand finds Merrill's to take the pen she's still clasping. When Sherry pulls away she notices it's tucked behind her ear, and Merrill's eyes widen as the human licks her lips and shyly looks away. "Hope I didn't interrupt?"
"Marty's going to get confused," Merrill points out helpfully.
Sherry glances up, her thumb swiping over Merrill's bottom lip. Merrill's tongue pokes it playfully. "Then let's make sure he doesn't."
FIN