She didn't know how long she'd been bleeding for. There'd been a moment of panic, a sprint, a tumble, and the shattering of glass, and then she was curled up in the corner with her arm laid out on her lap. She might have been able to tell the time, if she just looked away, but she couldn't do that. The TV was still on.
She'd just been flicking through the channels when she saw the noose, the dangling feet, and everything came flooding back.
Celeste's face had flashed through her mind. From the smiles of their first meeting to the imagined stiff pallor of her last expression. Her heart was pounding and her skin slick with sweat, and she knew that she knew how to deal with it, but the facts slipped through her fingers like so much air. She needed something to drink, something to clear her head and stop her fingers from shaking.
She'd been halfway there when she slipped and hadn't moved since. She didn't have to think if she focused on her arm, on the steady sanguine flow down to the clotting pool on her lap. Perhaps she'd stop breathing eventually. It was getting harder by the moment. She'd hoped for that once before.
The door was suddenly open, and with it came a flood of light, and a figure at the threshold. That was familiar, too.
"Adrian Andrews!" It was a voice that could cut through anything, even her reverie. She dragged her eyes up from her wound just in time to see someone coming towards her. Her vision was blurry and her head unclear, but the silhouette became clearer with every step.
"G-Glass..." Adrian's throat was dry, but she had to warn them. The figure strode the other way around the island and then they were at her side.
"How long have you been here?" There was that voice again, and Adrian's eyes flicked up. Familiar eyes. Gray, cool, loving, there.
"F-Franziska..." Adrian remembered where she was, who she was, and who was coming to see her. "I-I don't know..." She confessed and looked down again. She was bleeding and she hadn't done anything. She was such a fool.
Franziska cast her eyes over the scene and nodded. "Can I touch you?"
"Yes..." Adrian whispered. Franziska's fingers were clad in gloves, thin and black, she'd just gotten home from work. She lifted Adrian's injured arm higher up and braced it with her knee.
"Breathe. This will not last forever." Franziska assured her with a voice as soft as a breeze. Adrian could almost believe her. "We're going to clean your arm, then seal the wound, and then we can move somewhere more comfortable, if you want to. Is that okay?"
"Yes..." Adrian watched Franziska stand up and grab the first aid kit from the kitchen cabinet. She always knew what to do. She was a genius and kind, kinder than Adrian had ever been, and she was there to fix the mess she'd made of herself. She probably knew what had happened already. She'd been winning cases since she was thirteen, of course she could put together the circumstances that lead to her stupid girlfriend fallen on the floor with a bottle of wine on the side and a shattered glass at her feet.
"That planner you bought me has been very useful." Franziska said, as she knelt back beside Adrian and started to clean the area around her wound. The washcloth was quickly turning pink with her blood.
"O-Oh?" It was only a small thing. Something to keep track of her days, of her evidence, of all the things she had to do. Adrian had been using them since she was in college.
"Breathe." Franziska reminded, as she set about her tender ministration. She'd taken off her gloves, Adrian noticed. Sometimes she'd let Adrian paint her nails, as long as she knew she wouldn't have to take them off at work. "It's the colored tabs. I don't have to rely on fools to keep track of what I'm doing. They always forget or write down the wrong things. It's my fingers, Ms von Karma! You keep whipping them!" She scoffed.
Adrian let out a half of a giggle at that. Franziska's lips twitched into little smile.
"I wouldn't have to whip them if they wrote quicker!" Franziska shook her head, then put the washcloth to the side and took out a little light from her wallet. "This may sting." She warned and waited for Adrian's nod before she inspected the wound, with a few little tugs and the help of her penlight. "What was I saying? The planner! If it could brew my coffee, I wouldn't need any subordinates at all. How did you come up with such a thing?"
"I didn't," Adrian winced as Franziska softly cleaned the cut. It hadn't even been hurting before, but now that she was with the real world, it stung like nothing else. "I didn't, um, invent it."
"But you did suggest it. It's very helpful." Franziska assured her, as she set the wipes aside. "I don't know why I ever doubted you."
"There are mini ones, too." Adrian said. She could hold her arm of her own power, she could feel it, but she didn't want Franziska to let go of her. "For personal use. I have some old ones I can show you..."
"I'd like to see them." Franziska was wrapping bandages around her arm. She was cool and efficient, her fingers skilled and steady. She'd probably seen so many dead bodies over her career that nothing less than a dismemberment would have surprised her. "Perhaps there are pink ones with ribbons?"
"Why would..." Adrian felt a little heat rush to her cheeks. "All my others were being washed."
"Did I say I didn't believe you?" Franziska arched a sculpted eyebrow, but there was a glimmer of wickedness in her eyes that made Adrian feel comfortable. Franziska rarely let her guard down so much as to share a joke with someone, but she did with Adrian. "Your arm is finished now." She said. "Would you like to get changed into your pajamas? Your clothes are quite filthy."
"Okay." Adrian breathed. Her heart had stopped pounding in her chest and she felt like she might even be able to walk, if she tried. But she still felt grateful for Franziska's arms wrapped around her, helping her to her feet, then the sturdiness of her body to lean against. "I'm sorry for the mess..."
"It won't take more than a couple of minutes to tidy." Franziska escorted her through to their bedroom and set her down on the bed. Adrian expected her to go straight to the closet, but first she leaned down before Adrian and gently plucked her glasses from her head. "We don't want these to get tangled up, do we, Adrian Andrews?" She asked, then leaned forward to brush their lips together.
No kiss had ever been so welcome.
"What would you like to wear?" Franziska asked, as she helped pull Adrian out of her top. "Something colorful? Flowery, perhaps?"
"One of yours." Adrian said, as her bra was unhooked.
"One of mine?" Franziska knelt down to unbutton Adrian's pants, then hooked her fingers in them, along with her panties, to pull them off. Adrian hadn't needed help to get out of her clothes in years, but Franziska helping her with it was soothing all the same. She was always in control.
"You smell good..." Adrian admitted. "And I want you here."
"I already am." Franziska said, as she tossed the clothed into the hamper and strode to the closest. "But if that is your wish, who am I to disagree? Let's see..." She looked for only a few moments. "Ah. Some traditional American jinbei." She said, as she retrieved a loose top and shorts combination. They were bright teal, with silver circles patterned all over them.
"Why, um," Adrian had an idea. She thought most of them were silly, but Franziska had assured her many times that it was always safe to share her thoughts, no matter how silly they might seem. "Why don't you wear some of mine, too? It might be fun."
"Why don't I..." Franziska paused. "Why not? I will opt for the old Steel Samurai t-shirt and boxer shorts." She extracted those item from the closet and carried them to the bed, along with the jinbei.
"I always look like a slob when I wear those..." Adrian groaned, with a long look at said items while Franziska helped her into her pajamas. Her hands were just as soft as before, her touch just as warm. She couldn't wait to cuddle up to her and let the last...however long it had been, fade away.
"A slob, Adrian Andrews?" Franziska scoffed. It was then that she began the long process of stripping out of her work clothes. "If that's the definition of the word, I have a good few tutors in need of a whipping."
Adrian blushed. Whether it was because of the compliment or because of how beautiful Franziska looked, even in the dim light cast from the other room, she couldn't say. But she was content to watch in silence as Franziska changed into her pajamas, then crawled onto the bed alongside her. Adrian snugged up beside her, resting her head on Franziska's shoulder with one arm wrapped around her and the other ending in a pair of held hands.
Sleep came earlier than Adrian had expected, and Franziska soon fell asleep with her, but was the first to wake. It had been little more than a nap for her, while Adrian still slumbered. She waited for a time, just watching her girlfriend rest contently, before remembering that the mess in the kitchen. She wrapped Adrian up in the sheets, careful so as not to wake her, and went to the kitchen.
It took some brushing to clean up the glass, a moment to turn off the TV, and Franziska still felt plenty awake. She grabbed one of the books from her bag, discarded at the door when she entered, and went back to their bedroom. She crawled back beside Adrian and opened the book to where she'd been before. It was quite clear that she still had a lot to learn about helping Adrian, and it was that which gave her the determination to keep reading.
Franziska von Karma might not have had a perfect win record, but those losses were nothing compared to the chance of losing Adrian.