AN: So. There's been a lot of pain, hasn't there? Well, I decided that I was going to reject that pain and have some fluffy fun instead. I really want to see more interaction between Carmilla and Mattie that shows them being sisters, and I want to see Mattie and Laura caring about each other because Carmilla loves them both, and I want them to become that happy little family unit I know they can be. This doesn't accomplish that, it's more some fun in the sun and the consequences behind that, but still. I want it. I apologize now- this is unedited and was written at 2 am, than queued up for now. I hope you still enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Carmilla: The Series. U by Kotex does.
It had been Mattie who suggested they leave behind Silas for the sun, at least for the weekend. With Vordenberg more concerned with the other members of the Board to pay too much attention to them, Lophii actually calm from the harmonized minds of her worshipers, and a striking lack of students showing up at the medic center with wounds, it seemed like the perfect weekend to go. Mattie knew the perfect private beach they could go to, a secluded little piece of land Mother had gifted her for her nine-hundredth birthday, that included everything two vampire sisters could want: soft sand, water clear enough to see through, and enough locals nearby to go on a spree without raising too many eyebrows.
So, when Mattie brought up this little vacation idea, Carmilla had quickly been on board.
But being on board meant Laura was coming along too, apparently, along with the Ginger trio, the little parasite that had taken up residence in William's body, and the dog. Because, it would seem, when Carmilla had tried to invite just her little human play toy, Laura had thought the invitation extended to her entire little goof troop, and Carmilla hadn't had the heart to say otherwise.
And when Carmilla's 'pouting kitten' look had come into the equation, all Mattie had been able to do was sigh and call the airport to get a larger plane.
So far, though, she hadn't actively regretted not putting her foot down. The humans and Not William were amusing, at the very least. Between the puppy pinning for the giant and Curly Q practically tackling everyone with skin fair enough to burn with sun screen, it was almost like a sitcom. Better, even, since it had none of that caned laughter, only the real stuff as Carmilla chased her through the surf, their game only ending when she had picked up Laura and practically thrown her at Carm at the last moment, sending both of them toppling backwards into the waves.
Laura had come up gasping, her glare making her look more like a drowned mouse than a human, but it had only lasted a moment. Carmilla had popped up a second later, knocked Laura legs out from under her and lifted her into her arms, kissing quiet the shriek of surprise as she did so.
Mattie had rolled her eyes and turned to yell at Not William when he and the puppy had run past her with a frisbee, kicking up sand, but it had mostly been to hide the smile breaking out. She was never going to admit that a relationship between a human and vampire could work; it was practically dating your food! There was probably some law against it somewhere in some rulebook Mother had hidden in her library.
But it was nice to see Kitten smile-a real, true smile-after so many years of smirks and frowns.
Although it hadn't been the vacation she had been hoping for, Mattie was glad it had happened the way it had.
At least, she had been until Carmilla had threatened to tear out Curly's throat if she coated her with suntan lotion again, leading to her little system spending the next ten hours out in the sun in her skimpy little bathing suit, completely protected.
The poor thing had been almost purple by the time they came in, and even after two bags of blood she was still bright red. It would heal, but until then…
"Mattie, you're pressing too hard."
"Oh, shush," Mattie said, poking the back of Carmilla's head, one of the few places the vampire hadn't been burnt, with her free hand as she massaged the aloe into her sister's back, the almost sticky liquid leaving a thick covering over her peeling skin. "If you had actually paid attention to your skin, or actually taken the Den Mother's advice to lotion up, you wouldn't be in this situation."
"Maybe, maybe not," Carmilla said, refusing to admit, even for a moment, that Mattie might be right. "But either way you're pushing too hard. It hurts."
"And you're acting like a child. You've had worse." Tapping the bottle against the palm of her hand, Mattie squirted a glob onto the middle of Carmilla back, chuckling as she jerked and squeaked.
"Most of that came from you," Carmilla said through gritted teeth, though she relaxed again as Mattie began to spread the gel, this time not pressing quite as hard. "Like the time Mother made you play nurse for a week because you pushed me off a cliff and I broke the left side of my body."
"Don't spread lies," Mattie said, her tone almost scandalous. "You only told Mother I pushed you. You jumped all on your own, despite me telling you that the river at the bottom wasn't deep enough."
"And I only jumped because you dared me to in the first place!"
"And is it my fault that I thought you wouldn't," Mattie asked, wiping off her hands onto the towel next to the bed, removing as much of the gel as she could. Grabbing a hair band, Mattie quickly twisted Carmilla's wet, knotted hair into a bun, freeing the tops of her shoulders from the strands so they too could be treated. "Though," Mattie begrudgingly added, "you were only a hundred then, and too stubborn for your own good. Got that from me."
"Are you admitting that you might have been wrong," Carmilla asked teasingly, a fake tone of shock in her voice. That tone was quickly turned into a pained groan as Mattie blew on the gel, the sudden cold almost more painful than the burn, quickly shutting her up.
"You know that's not my style, darling," Mattie said with a smirk, leaning over so she could look Carmilla in the face, her smirk widening into a smile as she dabbed a bit of the gel onto Carmilla's burnt nose. "I'm never wrong, and even if I am, I never admit it. You should know that by now."
"Yeah, yeah," Carmilla said, rolling her eyes. "You say that, but I know you, Mattie. Give it another couple hundred years, another night binging, and you'll come around and admit I was right."
Mattie opened her mouth to respond- to maybe give some snarky retort, maybe to start bringing up the very long list of things Carmilla had been wrong about, just to knock her off her high little horse- but she paused when a knock sounded through the room, the door opening a moment later to reveal a still sun-flushed and sand encrusted Laura.
"Hey," Laura said softly, coming in with two mugs blood, the handles wrapped in paper towels- even from the doorway Mattie could smell the liquid, the normal taint that came from microwaving the blood absent. "Perry heated you guys some blood on the stove. How she kept it from burning, I have no clue, but, well, Perry's kind of great with those kinds of things. Oh, and she made some cookie." Letting herself fully in, Laura handed one mug of blood to Mattie and placed the other on the bedside table, kneeling so she was face to face with Carm.
Mattie almost choked on her blood at the look that appeared on Carmilla's face, half too love stuck to even realize how much of a fool she looked, half beyond pitiful, as if she truly was a little kitten who wanted to be picked up.
"How're you doing," Laura asked, gently brushing a few strands of hair out of her face.
"I'll heal," Carmilla said almost overdramatically- it was as if she had been shot with an arrow instead getting an already healing sunburn, "but it might go quicker if I have a kiss?"
"Alright then," Mattie laughed, unable to keep it in. Carmilla, for all her talk about being aloof and separated from the petty concerns of humanity, was a sucker for romance and fluff. "I'm going to go get cleaned up if you two are going to start making me gag. Just don't let her roll over," Mattie added to Laura as she rose to her feet, taking her mug of blood with her. "I don't want her getting aloe all over the sheets."
She might as well talk to the deaf and dead for all they heard, instead quickly becoming reabsorbed with each other.
As she closed the door behind her, prepared to fight some of the children for the cookies she could smell being made in the kitchen, Mattie couldn't help the smile that appeared as she heard Carmilla laugh, a sound that had been common this trip.
Maybe a couple hundred years, when Laura reached five hundred, she'd admit they were good together. Until then, she would keep her thoughts to herself and enjoy their little vacation.
Which, to herself, she would admit she had been wrong about- even with the humans and Not William, it was good.