Relation to other stories: Stand alone.
Disclaimer: Characters aren't owned by me, just appearing in my story featuring the characters of Mutant X.
Valentines
Shalimar smiled down at the bed she sat on. She looked down at the pile of cards and felt warmth in her heart. She looked up to the door upon hearing a soft knocking interrupt her thinking. She smiled as she saw Emma peek her head inside her room.
"Hey, Shal, what's up?"
"Not much. Come on in."
Emma smiled and walked herself over to sit beside Shalimar on her bed. She looked down at all the pink and red cards that covered her comforter and looked back to Shalimar with a raised eyebrow.
"I guess you've got a lot of admirers."
"Nah, these are old."
"Ah, reminiscing?"
Emma reached down and lifted a large heart shaped pink and laced red card. She opened it carefully and read the inscription for Shalimar. She couldn't help but smile at the flattering words she found.
"Hmmm…" she began. "Mitch, huh."
Shalimar blushed slightly and slowly removed the card from Emma's hands.
"That's one I'd rather not remember."
Shalimar set the card aside on the bed and Emma smiled at her with lightened eyes.
"And whys that?"
Shalimar opened her mouth to answer and paused for a moment before grinning.
"I've had better."
Emma laughed at the ferals response.
"Oh you have?"
She picked up the next nearest card and thumbed through it.
"You mean like Scottie?" she smiled and looked down at the card. "He certainly has some interesting things to say about you."
"Not worth mentioning."
Shalimar rolled her eyes and Emma laughed at her hinted accusation. Emma looked at her expression as she giggled as well.
"So what is this 'the many suitors of Shalimar' collection?"
"Kinda," Shalimar answered in a sigh. "I was just thinking, well, torturing myself with thoughts of how I don't have a valentine this year so I decided to remember the days when I did. It's been a while though," she informed regretfully.
"Well, Valentines Day's not over," Emma reminded. "Maybe you'll get one. Besides, we all gave you one."
"I know but it's not the same."
"Oh," Emma said pretending to be offended.
Shalimar smiled at seeing her poor excuse of a performance.
"I get it." Emma stood to her feet and lifted a card off Shalimar's dresser. "So I guess my card isn't enough for you either."
Emma's grin told the feral she wasn't as upset as she was acting to be. She stood from her bed and showed herself over to stand in front of the psionic. She smiled a sly smile and slowly reached for the card in Emma's hand. She placed her own hand over hers and held it there while she slowly slipped her fingers through the card.
"It's more than good enough," she reassured and removed the card from Emma's grasp letting her fingers slide across hers softly as she did so. "It's my favorite." Shalimar smiled and set the card back down. She looked back to Emma to see the blush that covered her face.
"Really?"
"Yes, really. I love it."
Shalimar leaned in to embrace her friend tightly. When she felt the woman's arms around her and her chin on her shoulder Shalimar quickly forgot all the discomfort she'd been feeling.
Emma finally pulled herself back while keeping her arms tightly wrapped around the ferals waist. She moved her left hand up to stroke the ferals soft, blonde hair. The way Emma smiled and looked into her eyes made Shalimar's heart skip every other beat. She smiled back at the only thing she really wanted for Valentine's Day.
"I still have to give you your present," Shalimar reminded. She gazed at the psionic so devilishly that Emma's interest quickly sparked.
"And what is it that you're hiding?"
"I don't know," Shalimar played coy. "Guess you'll just hafta wait and see."
Shalimar stepped out of the psionic's arms and began to pile up the valentines on her bed. Emma stood beside her and looked at the pile of cards.
"Need a hand with all those, lover girl?"
Shalimar laughed and replied, "Yeah, thanks."
Emma began to pick up the cards that covered the ferals bed.
"Wait, not that one," Shalimar interrupted as Emma reached for one of the cards. She caught the psionics hand with her own and removed the card. "That one's new. It's from Brennan." She turned to place the card on her dresser next to Emma's.
"Oh," Emma replied softly. "Reading that one much?"
"Kinda," Shalimar replied. She turned back to Emma to continue picking up her cards. "He asked me to have dinner with him tonight. On a date."
"So I guess he's gonna be your valentine huh?"
"Hmmm…I don't think so."
"Oh."
Emma hoped she didn't sound too excited at the news. She thought since they'd spent all night cuddling the night before Shalimar might have attempted to make plans with her today. She had to admit she felt hurt the feral didn't have anything special in mind involving her, especially since they'd been working towards it for so long.
"Why's that?" Emma asked.
Shalimar took the cards Emma held and turned to place them back in her desk drawer. She looked back to Emma and tried not to grin but couldn't seem to help herself.
"'Cause I have someone else in mind for that position."
"Really? And who might that be?"
"It's a secret."
Emma crossed her arms and turned her head at the feral.
"Do I ever get to know?"
"Maybe someday."
Shalimar smiled and opened her door.
"Not to be rude but get out."
She couldn't resist smiling as soon as she said the words.
"Excuse me?"
Emma smiled and walked over to Shalimar gesturing at the door.
"I have some things to do," Shalimar explained.
Emma sighed and walked over to the door, stopping when she stood beside the feral. She twisted up her face as if she was thinking the offer through.
"Ok, I'll go," she finally agreed and kissed the feral on the cheek. "But you owe me a present."
"You got it."
Shalimar winked at Emma before closing the door behind her.
Emma made her way down Sanctuary's hallway until she reached the sitting room. She entered to find Brennan laying on the couch and Jesse sitting at his laptop desk. She made her way over to stand in the middle of the room and placed her hands on her hips.
"What are you guys doing?"
"Hey, Em," Brennan replied. "Nothin' much."
"Em, I'm glad you're here," Jesse said with a smile. He stood from his computer and walked over to the psionic. "I've been wanting to talk to you. Can we go somewhere private?"
"Oh, sure."
Jesse smiled and turned to lead her into the hallway and out of sight.
"What's up?" she asked.
"Well, I was just wondering if you had a valentine yet?"
"Oh, um, not exactly."
"So then I still have a chance?" Jesse smiled and winked at her as to make his desires certain.
"Well," Emma tried to stall. She didn't know what to say. If she told him she already had a valentine she'd be lying. If she told him she wanted him to be her valentine she'd know he wasn't exactly her first choice. She didn't want to reject one of her closest and best friends on a romantic day such as this and risk hurting or upsetting him. She knew she definitely didn't want to be alone on Valentine's Day but also knew the one she really wanted to be with was Shalimar. She'd been certain they'd be spending the holiday together and even though the feral hadn't been as forward and loving most of the day today, Emma didn't want to risk it. She knew if she agreed to be with Jesse she'd really be thinking about Shalimar the whole time and she knew her friend deserved better treatment than that. Besides, if she did agree to be Jesse's valentine and then Shalimar did ask her, she'd be "stuck" and didn't want to miss out on a true romance opportunity with her ideal mate.
She looked back to Jesse to see his eager and excited face anxiously awaiting her response. She had to think of a gentle way to let him down as quickly as possible.
"The thing about it, Jesse, is I'm not sure us being together is the best thing right now. I mean I have a lot of other things going on in my personal life."
"Oh," Jesse answered calmly.
Emma wondered if she was glad he didn't seem too hurt or offended. She reminded herself she should think so selfishly like that. She had no interest in Jesse other than remaining the good friends they already were.
"I'm sorry," she offered back with a smile. She reached out and grasped his shoulder in a friendly reassurance.
"Hey, it's ok," Jesse replied. He drew himself closer to hug her. He smiled as he pulled back. "I gotta get back to my work. My offer still stands though." He smiled and headed back into the sitting room.
"Thanks."
Emma felt flattered by his gesture as she made her way to her bedroom. She knew it was actually Shalimar she wanted all her flattery to come from, especially today.
She opened her door as she reached her room and stepped inside with a dragged out sigh. She'd been up most of the previous night with Shalimar and hadn't slept much. She kicked her shoes off as she sat on her bed and reclined herself under her sheets. She felt a large relief wash over her as her head hit the soft pillow beneath. She smiled as she found herself thinking of Shalimar as she drifted off to sleep.
Sometime later Emma awoke to hear a knocking at her door.
"Huh?" she asked and twitched in her bed. She looked over to her door to see Shalimar enter and she quickly offered her a friendly smile as to encourage her to come further into her room.
Shalimar obliged and made her way over to sit beside Emma. She reached out and held the psionics arm as she gently shook it as to encourage her to fully wake up.
"Gonna get up?" Shalimar asked. "Or should I just come back at Christmas?"
Emma smiled and sat up in her bed.
"I guess I fell asleep."
"I'll say," Shalimar informed. "It's St. Patrick's Day," she teased.
"Very funny."
"So you gonna stay up? I have a surprise for you."
"Well, I certainly wouldn't wanna sleep through that."
"I'll let ya wake up."
Shalimar stood up and walked over to the door.
"By the way, looks like you got something over there."
Shalimar gestured to the beautifully painted vase filled with roses that was sitting on Emma's dresser. She smiled as she left the room, closing the door behind her as she did so.
Emma smiled as she felt her heart all a flutter again. She quickly slid from her bed and walked over stand in front of her dresser. She looked down to the red envelope bearing her name in gold gel pen and couldn't help but blush. She opened it to reveal a very simple card decorated with a heart filled with flowers. She felt her cheeks burning as she opened and read it.
All Emma saw inside the card was one sentence reading, "Meet me in the dojo please. Love, Shalimar."
Emma smiled at reading the words. She set the card up on her dresser and bent forward to sniff the beautiful, fresh flowers before her. She quickly headed out of her room and towards the dojo looking forward to seeing the feral once again. She could feel her excitement radiating off her like a light beam as she made her way down the hall. She didn't know what the feral had in store for her but she was sure she not only wanted it but would love it as well.
"Hey, Em," Brennan greeted as she entered the dojo to see him working out alone.
"Hey, Brennan. Where's Shalimar?"
"She'll be here," he reassured. "We were just training. You're welcome to join in."
"I'm not really in the mood."
"Aw, come on, please?" he persisted.
"I kinda wanted to talk to Shalimar."
"She said to wait here until she gets back. Now come train with me." He waved his hand to gesture for her to step up to the training platform with him. Emma sighed and smiled back as she did so.
After training for about twenty minutes Emma was already becoming tired once again. She leaned against the wall and attempted to catch her breath. Brennan smiled and watched and decided to give her the breather.
"I'm beat," she said. "I think I'm gonna go look for Shal."
"No, wait," Brennan quickly interrupted.
"What?"
"Can't you go once more?"
"Not really, Bren, I'm whipped. I only slept like three and a half hours last night if even."
She turned to leave but Brennan quickly grabbed her arm and she turned to look at him.
"Then how about we talk?"
She furled her brow as she was starting to become suspicious of him from the way he was acting. Her psionic senses told her something wasn't quite right and she couldn't help wonder what it was he was up to. He released her arm and smiled at seeing she didn't seem to be ready to run off.
"Let me ask you something," she began. "You and Shalimar, are you dating or working towards it?"
"No. I asked her out but she said it wasn't the right time. Why?"
"Just curious."
"Why you got a thing for me?" he joked as he took a few playful swipes at her to get her energy levels back up and running. She smiled at his question.
"Not really."
She turned once again to try and leave but Brennan quickly grabbed her arm once again.
"Hey, where ya goin'?"
"I told you I had to talk with Shal remember?"
"But I thought you decided to stay?"
"Ok, Brennan, what's going on?"
"What do you mean?" he asked innocently. Though he did a good job of acting natural it wasn't nearly enough to fool the clever psionic.
"Where's Shal? She asked me to meet her here and then she doesn't show up? That doesn't sound like her and you grabbing my arm just to keep me here to make small talk? I know something up." She raised her eyebrows at him to inform him not to continue with his game as she wasn't the least bit fooled. "So what is it?"
"Ok, I'll tell you. "Brennan sighed and rolled his eyes in the now obvious knowledge that he'd been caught.
Shalimar smiled as she looked around Emma's room quite content with what she'd done. She got on her link and called to Emma.
"Emma. Emma, you there?"
"Yeah, Shal, I'm here. The question is where are you?"
"I'm in your room. Can you come in here I wanna talk to you?"
"Sure, I'll be right there."
Brennan looked to Emma as she cut her link. She smiled at him and hugged him before turning to leave.
"Happy Valentine's Day, "she wished.
"Back at ya."
Emma smiled as she hurried down the hall to her room. When she reached it she stopped outside the door for a moment before finally turning the knob and stepping in. She soon realized what she stepped into didn't seem like her room but like the setting of some romantic movie scene. She slowly walked inside and closed her door. She removed her shoes and left them by the door before walking across the floor which was covered in rose pedals. The feeling of the soft flowers beneath her skin soothed the psionic. She noticed how they trailed up to cover her entire bed. The scent calmed her nerves and she realized there also seemed to be another delicious smell filling the room hat tickled her senses. She looked around to notice dozens of bouquets of beautiful flowers all over the place as well as singles and scattered flowers as well. She couldn't remember the last time she saw any garden that came close to matching the newfound beauty of her room.
The light had been dimmed to the perfect shade and she watched the many lit candles around her room flicker and create small shadows on her walls and furniture next to where they'd been placed. The scented candles heightened the romantic inside her and she walked across her floor to the nightstand on the other side of her bed which was in the middle of the room. She noticed her nightstand had been cleared off and now held a large heart shaped box of chocolates, a vase with chocolate roses in it, a bottle of fine wine, and a small jewelry box with a red bow on it.
Emma reached for the box first and untied the bow to open it. She nearly gasped as she saw the gold heart necklace on a matching gold chain. She felt the weight of it and lifted it out of the box. She smiled as she noticed the inscription reading "I Love You" on the front and "Happy Valentine's Day" on the other side.
Before she thought to put the necklace on she turned to her bed at the large white teddy bear that caught her eye. She noticed he was holding an envelope and she reached down to pick up the most beautiful Valentine's Day card she'd ever seen. When she finally finished reading it she was sure there wasn't a tear left inside her she hadn't shed at the most beautiful and thoughtful words she'd ever read. She watched as her tears of joy landed on the card, moistening it. She stood trying to regain control of herself and suddenly saw delicate fingers reaching from behind her shoulder to whip the tears off the card. She turned to find Shalimar standing in front of her in the most sexy red lace piece of lingerie she'd ever seen. Her jaw dropped at seeing the stunning feral before her and she smiled in complete happiness. She felt so glad suddenly that Brennan had agreed to keep her busy so Shalimar could arrange this for her.
Shalimar took the card from Emma's hand and placed it on the nightstand beside them. She took the necklace from her other hand and gently turned the psionic around. She pushed her silky, red hair to the side and draped the gold token around her soft neck. She lingered on her soft skin as she clasped the closure on the back. When she finished she wrapped her arms around Emma's waist and held her hands in her own as she kissed her neck with slight, soft touches of her lips. She turned the psionic around still holding her hand tightly and brought their lips together in a slow, sweet, sensual kiss that nearly swept them both off their feet.
"Happy Valentine's Day," Shalimar said when they finally broke away if for no other reason than to catch their breaths.
"Happy Valentine's Day," Emma echoed. She leaned in to kiss the feral once more. "I love my present."
"I'm glad. But I have one more for you."
"And what is it?"
Shalimar pushed them both back until she had lowered Emma down to the bed. Emma sprawled her hands out on the sheets to allow the pedals to make more room for her body. Shalimar's own quickly lie atop hers as their mouths communicated their desires further. Emma wrapped her arms around the ferals mostly exposed body and pulled her as close as she could. All too soon she felt Shalimar pulling away and fought to keep her as close as she could for as long as she could before she'd fully backed up. Shalimar straddled the psionics legs and grinned at the woman below her. She played with the tie of her bra in between her fingers and brought it up to suck on the tip of it.
"You need to unwrap it."
Shalimar smiled before lowering herself back down to the psionics awaiting arms to allow her to unwrap the best present she'd ever receive.
The End