Based on a Tumblr prompt. My first shot at B99.

It really sucks, having feelings.

After the whole "jail" fiasco, that she does her hardest to forget everything about, things should really have gone back to normal. But they don't. She breaks up with Adrian, because even though there's a part of her that he'll always get in a way no one else will, she's not sure it's a part of herself she wants emphasised.

Really, it all comes down to Gina. And being really fucking mad at herself when it comes to everything about Gina. Gina being with someone else, Gina being happy with someone else.

Rosa possibly having once had the power to avoid all of that, if she hadn't denied her own feelings for so long. For too long.

She's missed her shot. And it really fucking sucks.

She tells everyone she needs a vacation to clear her head after the Hawkins thing. Really, she just needs a break from everyone and everything familiar to her. A chance to forget. A chance to go somewhere she doesn't know, and drink until things feel less shit.

She buys a ticket to London, and there's two Nancy Myers movies on the plane. On one hand, they make her feel better, but they also remind her of Adrian and how much she fucked that up (he had not taken the break up particularly well, but given his disposition, it could have been a lot worse). Also, thinking about romance isn't ideal at all. She puts on action movies for the rest of it, but avoids Die Hard because it makes her think of the Nine Nine too much.

London, it turns out, is comforting in the sense that it's big and busy like New York, but also totally unlike New York in its own way too. Best of both - different, but not enough to disorientate.

She checks into her hotel and then heads out to find a bar after dressing up a bit. After playing it rough for so long, she hasn't had a chance to wear a nice dress in a while, so she tries to find a place that's a bit classier.

The place she ends up in has nice booths and well dressed patrons that don't look too boring, so Rosa is counting it all as a plus. She sits at the bar, orders three shots of tequila to start, and downs them instantly. Then she orders a glass of whiskey and nurses it more slowly.

It's a couple of minutes before another glass of the same is put in front of her.

"I didn't ask for this," Rosa says to the bartender.

He just nods towards one of only two corners of the room visible from where Rosa is sitting, and she follows his gaze to the blonde woman sitting in the corner booth and watching her intently.

Rosa eyes for her a moment, finishes her first whiskey without breaking eye contact, and takes the gifted whiskey with her to the stranger's booth.

"Hey," Rosa says, nodding before sitting down.

"Hey yourself," comes the reply, as the really very attractive stranger sips at her extremely colourful drink. She's got a blonde bob and bangs - or do British people call it a 'fringe'? - and it's not a hairstyle Rosa's particularly cared for before, but somehow this woman makes it look different.

"Thanks for the drink."

"I've got to admit, I wasn't sure it was going to work," the woman says, making a face. "This is my first time trying any of this stuff, I don't really understand all of the social cues."

"Solid half of all social cues are dumb as hell anyway, don't worry about it," Rosa says, shrugging. "Besides, you did it just fine."

"Did I really?" She looks rather impressed with herself. "Huh."

They fall into a long, awkward silence. Rosa realises that she is going to have to be the one to advance the conversation by way of personal inquiries. It's a fairly horrific thought.

"... what's your name?" she asks, resisting the urge to make a face just from having to get the question out.

"Quill. You?"

"... Rosa." She's not sure if Quill has given her first name or her surname, but realistically, she doesn't really need to know.

"I've not met many Americans," Quill says after a brief silence, voice thoughtful. "I work with one, but she's overly short and rather irritating. Scared of me, though, which is nice."

Rosa smirks. "All of my colleagues are scared of me. Even though they're my friends, too. Still terrified. It's pretty awesome."

"Impressive," Quill replies, lifting an eyebrow. "What's your occupation?"

"I'm a cop, NYPD. You?"

"Schoolteacher," Quill says, making a face of extreme distaste. "Unfortunately. Physics. I teach physics. To a bunch of idiotic, obnoxious teenagers."

"Yeah, teenagers are the worst," Rosa agrees. "I could never do that."

"Yeah, it's pretty shit." Quill takes a large gulp of her drink. "So, what brings you to this side of the earth, then? I'm assuming the NY is for New York."

"Duh," Rosa says, trying to act like she hasn't tensed up at the thought of what - or rather, who - has driven her here. "And, I dunno. Dumb stuff. Needed a change of scenery. And to not see anyone I know for a while."

For some reason, Quill finds that strangely amusing, and snorts into her drink. Rosa narrows her eyes at her.

"What?"

"Nothing," Quill says. "You're just not a very good liar."

"Excuse you, I'm an amazing liar," Rosa growls.

"Prove it."

Rosa lifts an eyebrow. "Okay. Two truths, one lie. You played before?" Quill shakes her head, but her eyes are intent, serious, and interested. She's game. Rose normally despises this game, despises telling other people anything about herself. However, she also never backs down from a challenge. "Exactly what it sounds like. I say two truths and a lie. You try to work out which one is the lie."

Quill quirks an eyebrow, and her lips twitch too. "Alright."

"Okay." Rosa takes a moment to consider what she's going to say. "I was once an accomplished ballerina, and I'm still pretty good at it. I have seven brothers. And my favourite movies are romantic comedies directed by Nancy Myers."

"Hmm." Quill sips her drink, regarding Rosa intently. She's so strangely attractive that Rosa is just enjoying being under her scrutiny, being the object of her attention, which is super weird. Finally, Quill smiles, just a little. "You don't have seven brothers. I doubt you have any."

Rosa's eyebrows lift. "Wow. That's… impressive."

Quill shrugs. "I'm good at picking liars. Well, with the exception of this one teenager, but that's a whole different thing, it was one time and I'm still impressed he pulled it off. Also, you're far too impressive to have grown up surrounded by men."

Rosa lets out a bark of laughter at that. "Okay. Your turn."

"Me?" Quill looks surprised. "Oh. Alright." She thinks it over, and her frown deepens, a strange frustration tinting it. Finally, she smiles, the devious kind of smile that would make a lesser person nervous. "Despite being a physics teacher, I don't have a teaching or physics degree, or any degree at all. I live with three teenagers that I have no blood relation to. And the school I work at has such a high rate of staff and student mortality that we have a memorial board that takes up an entire wall."

"How the hell can two of those be true?" Rosa asks, incredulously, narrowing her eyes.

Quill shrugs, still smirking, but the action is almost coy, and she looks very pleased with herself.

Rosa considers her options. The teenager thing, as with the memorial board, is a weird thing to pull out of nowhere for a lie. She's not sure how Quill could have a job without a degree in this economy, but weirder things have happened.

Quill definitely hates teenagers. But does she purely hate them because of her job, or because she has to live with some? Why would she be living with three teenagers she isn't related to? She hardly seems the foster mother type.

"Memorial board," Rosa say, "that's way too weird."

"Wrong," Quill says, smirking. "There are only two teenagers, that I live with."

Rosa narrows her eyes. A half lie. She isn't sure why she didn't consider that technique herself (actually, probably because it involves telling more truth about herself, which is never going to be what she does voluntarily). She lets the annoyance about her defeat go, and instead processes the new information.

"Why the hell do you live with any teenagers?"

"It's not by choice," Quill says, a scowl darkening her features. Rosa, luckily, is an expert at knowing when to change the subject when an unfortunate one has come up, and doesn't waste any time.

"So the school you work at is really that messed up?" Rosa asks, and Quill just nods. "Wow."

"Yeah."

"Why do you even work there, then?"

"Again, don't have a choice." There's a strange finality, and distinct lack of hope, in the way she says it. It stops Rosa from inquiring further.

"You're weird," Rosa says, and Quill doesn't seem offended at the words - possibly having heard them many times before - but does look pleasantly surprised a moment later when she looks up and sees the faint smile curling Rosa's lips.

There's another stretch of silence between them - comfortable, this time, as they hold each other's gaze. Quill's eyes move to the scar on Rosa's eyebrow.

"How did you get that scar?"

"Tripped over a thing of Lego when I was a kid," Rosa says honestly, instead of spinning her usual tale of bullshit about something extreme happening to her.

"Damn, I was hoping you got it in battle," Quill sighs, and Rosa gives her a funny look.

"In battle? Who says that?"

"I do," Quill says defensively, before looking glumly at her drink. "I used to have scars. They were good scars. I miss them."

"What, did they fade, or something?"

"Yeah." Another sigh.

"Did you get yours 'in battle'?" Rosa asks, half mocking, half not.

"Yes. I was a soldier."

"Oh shit, really? Where?" Rosa is sitting up straighter now, regretting her joking. She has a lot of respect for soldiers, obviously, even if most of the wars being waged right now are beyond pointless.

Quill shakes her head and finishes her drink. "Doesn't matter. It's all gone now." She laughs morosely. "And here I was thinking that going out might make me feel better."

"Sorry. Didn't mean to bum you out," Rosa says. She feels pretty uncomfortable. This is far too close to feelings stuff for a conversation with someone she's just met. This lady clearly has issues.

"Don't be sorry, it wasn't you, not really." Quill waves her hand dismissively. "On the contrary, you're the best thing to happen to me all day. I mean, seriously, look at you. You're gorgeous. You're a prime example of the fact that this planet actually gets some things right."

Rosa lifts an eyebrow. "Thanks. You're not too bad yourself." Normally she would leave it there, but something prompts her to express herself further. Probably the desire to potentially get laid. "By which I mean, like, you're insanely beautiful."

Quill smiles, properly, for the first time. It's small, but genuine. "Thank you." There might even be a faint blush to her cheeks.

They stare at each other for a moment, eyes running over each other, seizing each other up. Rosa is even more aware of how attractive Quill is now, almost uncomfortably so. Quill's eyes are darker now too, as they linger on Rosa's face and arms and neck.

Naturally, as is the way of the world, this is when they are interrupted by some obnoxious white man in a suit.

"Hello, ladies," he says, with a large grin and an accent that isn't nearly as nice as Quill's or the fancy kind you hear on shows like Downton Abbey. (Which, yes, Rosa has watched a fair bit of, but no one knows about that and they never will.) "Couldn't help but notice you two looking a bit lonely over here."

"Not lonely, not interested, get lost," Rosa tells him, glowering.

"You've deeply misread the situation," Quill agrees, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Come on, let me buy you both a drink. Me and my friend over there have been admiring you from afar, it only seems fair."

"Nope, only seems creepy," Rosa replies. "Told you, not interested."

"Just one drink-"

"She has rejected you twice now, you idiotic man, are you being deliberately obtuse at this point or are you really actually as stupid as you're coming across?" Quill asks him, eyes flashing.

"Hey, fuck you-"

"You wish," Quill retorts, standing up and planting her palms on the table. "Now. I'm going to ask you one more time. Turn around, leave, or I will smash your forehead into this table until it splits open. Are we clear?"

Her voice is hard, aggressive, eyes deadly serious, and the guy finally takes a step back, and gulps.

To ring the point home, Rosa takes out her pocket knife, flicks it open, and twirls it around in her hand, all while keeping eye contact with him and not blinking. She knows for a fact that it's the fastest way to disconcert someone completely.

"You heard her," she says. "Scram."

He turns tail and hurries back to his table.

Quill takes a deep breath to steady herself and looks at Rosa, who is still twirling her knife, just absently, now. Her focus is instead on Quill and how she had just gone from beautiful to insanely hot in the space of ten seconds. Rosa is sure that Quill's aggression would translate well in… other areas.

Quill's gaze is intense as it rests on Rosa, and Rosa simply tilts her head and lifts an eyebrow at her, curious to see if she'll make a move or if she herself will need to do it.

"Do you want to have sex?" Quill asks.

Well, that's that, then. Anyone who isn't Rosa might find that far too forward, or at least hesitate, but this is exactly how Rosa wishes everyone would act about this sort of thing. Short. To the point. No bullshit.

Rosa grins a little and finishes her drink in one go. "Hell yes. My hotel is a few blocks away."

"Perfect," Quill says, sliding out of the booth, only to look back at Rosa, who hasn't yet moved. "Well, come on then."

Rosa, vaguely impressed, chuckles and hurries after her. They leave the bar and head off down the street, walking side by side and not seeming to know quite how they should be behaving with each other now.

They come into the hotel lobby, and stride purposefully towards the elevator. Once inside and once Rosa has punched the number in, she finds herself being pressed against the elevator wall by Quill with a forceful kiss.

It's fucking fantastic. It's been too long since she had sex with a woman, or even kissed a woman like this, and usually it's at least a little bit soft. Which is fine, usually, but right now not what Rosa wants or needs. This is a woman who seems eager to give exactly what Rosa needs more than anything else in the world.

Rosa kisses Quill back, grasping the leather jacket so similar to her own and meeting her lips with equal force until the elevator doors ping open.

"This way," Rosa says, grabbing Quill by the wrist and dragging her along.

They get into Rosa's room and Quill tries to pin Rosa to the door the moment that it's shut, but Rosa pushes her backward into the room, and shoves her onto the bed. Quill blinks at her with surprise. A moment later, a grin curls her lips, hungry and fierce.

Rosa meanwhile slips off her shoes and dress with expert speed until she's standing there in her underwear. "Your stuff too," she says to Quill, "or else I'm going to rip it, and I'm not lending you any of my clothes to leave in."

"God, I knew I liked you," Quill says, before stripping completely.

Rosa climbs on top of her, kissing her roughly, biting her lip and pushing her tongue against her lips. Quill's legs wrap around her waist and next thing Rosa knows she's been flipped, and Quill is on top of her.

"My god, you're beautiful," Quill says, before leaning down to kiss and suck along Rosa's neck, making Rosa arch gladly into her touch.

Of course, Rosa isn't about letting people get the better of her in the bedroom. In the bedroom, as with most aspects of her life, Rosa is in charge. That's just how it works. Even someone like Quill is going to have to get with that programme.

Rosa flips them back over at first opportunity, and relishes the look of surprise on Quill's face. Rosa just smirks and pins Quill's hands above her head as she kisses her again. She lets her knee press between Quill's legs, and Quill moans, and it's one of the best sounds Rosa has ever heard.

Quill makes a few more attempts to switch the power dynamic again, but Rosa doesn't allow it, and soon enough Quill gives up. Quill might be an obvious badass, but it seems she doesn't necessarily have a problem with following someone else's lead.

Besides, Rosa can't see why she'd have much reason to complain when Rosa's head is busy finding its way between her legs.

The sex is… fucking amazing. Quill doesn't take long to tire of Rosa being in charge, and the power struggle that ensues is violent and glorious. Quill also has the most incredible stamina, more than even Rosa could dream of having. Rosa hasn't enjoyed sex this much in years.

Finally, Rosa collapses into the pillows, spent and satisfied and trying to catch her breath.

"Wow."

Quill, also with her face half in a pillow, offers her a smirk. "Good?"

"Good would be a huge understatement."

"For me as well. Can I... sleep here, or do you want me to go?"

Normally, Rosa wouldn't be comfortable with a stranger sleeping beside her. With being vulnerable like that. But there's this feeling in her gut, something totally nonsensical, that tells her that it's Quill that's vulnerable in this scenario, somehow. And not just because Rosa has a knife under her pillow.

"You can stay, I don't care," Rosa says, shrugging.

Quill nods, turns over, and Rosa follows her lead. Time to sleep.

It's weird, waking up with a soft, feminine body shadowing hers and not Adrian's hard, masculine form. It's familiar, though, faintly. She's been here before, with women, just not in a while.

"Gina?" Rosa mumbles.

"Who's Gina?"

The question, as well as Quill's English accent, snaps Rosa out of what she had thought was just another fanciful dream. She feels a pang in her heart as she turns over to see Quill eyeing her curiously.

"Shit, sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Why are you apologising?" Quill asks, arching an eyebrow.

Rosa stops, frowns, gives a single shrug. "I dunno. Saying someone else's name in bed is pretty uncool, I guess." Of course, Quill really doesn't seem remotely bothered, which admittedly should probably have been easy to predict.

Sure enough, Quill just shrugs back. "It hardly makes a difference to me. But it makes me wonder who this Gina person is. Let me guess, ex-girlfriend?"

"No," Rosa replies, sitting up in the bed, holding the covers to her chest. "She's just…" Rosa swallows her words. She hates talking about herself. About her feelings. Why is she considering this for even a moment?

Quill studies her face. "Oh, I see. Someone you want."

Rosa sighs. "Yeah. I guess."

"So what's stopping you from being with her?" Quill asks.

"I dunno. I guess for ages now I've just been-" Rosa swallows, hating herself. Hating talking about the thing she has refused to admit even to herself for so long. "Scared. I was a coward about this for so long and now it's too late."

"Why scared?"

"Because it was different to how I'd felt about anyone before," Rosa says. "It was… stronger. It… it freaked me out, I guess." Something ugly curls in her gut. "And now she's with someone else, and she's happy, she's so happy it makes me want to be sick!"

She's thrown a pillow across the room with rage and knocked a lamp off the table. Quill doesn't so much as blink at the crashing noise it makes when it hits the floor, she just keeps regarding Rosa with interest.

"And?"

Rosa doesn't know how Quill knows there is more, but she's riled up enough now that she adds, "And all I can think is that if I'd just acted on this sooner, she wouldn't be with him, and things would suck so much less."

"Do you know if she feels the same way about you?"

Rosa wants to say no. But deep down, she knows that Gina loves her too, or at least, she used to. Rosa might be one for denial, but she isn't blind, and she's had to very specifically not notice the way Gina would look at her with quiet longing, the way Gina would talk about Adrian with disdain and barely disguised jealousy.

"She did. Dunno if she still does."

"Then go to her," Quill says simply, sitting up. "Go to her, and tell her how you feel. She has to know that you're an option, or she won't pick you."

Rosa has a vivid flash of memory of once telling Jake something very similar when he had been pining over Amy. Damn. She's been foiled by logic again. Why does Quill have to think so much like her?

Her heart hammers in her chest. Can it be this simple?

Of course it can. She's never been one for making this kind of thing complicated before, why start now? She loves Gina. And that has been terrifying, which is why she had discouraged all of Gina's tiny advances, but now Rosa realises just how stupid she's been.

"I'm such an idiot," Rosa says, shaking her head. "I need to get back to New York."

"Yes, good, go and get your girl," Quill says, nodding with approval, before an odd look crosses her face. "I don't suppose you want to have sex again, before you leave?"

Rosa snorts. "Not gonna lie, I'd feel pretty weird about it, now."

Quill sighs. "I was worried you might say that."

"You're weird."

"It's been noted before, yes."

Rosa shakes her head and heads for the shower, leaving Quill in the bed, and washes quickly before heading back into the bedroom and getting dressed while Quill just watches from where she's stretched out on the bed like a cat.

"If I'm leaving, you need to leave too, I need to check out, you can't still be here," Rosa tells her.

"Urgh," Quill says, but she gets out of bed and pulls her clothes back on with an admirable efficiency. By the time she's done that, Rosa is all packed up and they head downstairs.

Once Rosa has checked out, they linger outside Quill's hotel while Rosa uses her phone to book herself onto the first flight home. Once she's done that, she puts her phone away and looks at Quill.

"Well, thanks, I guess. For the advice. Not the sex." Rose makes a face, and then smirks. "Actually, thanks for the sex too. That was dope."

"Is... dope good?" Quill asks, looking completely confused.

Rosa laughs. "Yeah. Super good. Hence the thank you. That and the advice."

"God, that's weird to hear," Quill says, shaking her head. "I can't remember the last time anyone thanked me for anything." Her eyes are on the pavement, the toe of her high heel digging into the pavement absently.

"You don't really have any friends, do you?" Rosa asks, frowning.

Quill laughs a little, rather humorlessly. "What gave it away?"

"Kinda obvious." Rosa considers what she's about to do, before deciding to hell with it. "Give me your phone."

"Why?"

"Just give it to me," Rosa says, and Quill does. "I'm giving you my email. If you ever want someone to-" She pauses to shudder at what she's about to say. "-talk to, just message me. Don't expect me to get sappy or anything lame like that, but you're pretty cool, and I owe you one."

Quill stares at her with surprise, that strange vulnerability flashing across her face for a moment. "I - thanks. I'll… think about it," she mutters, with an offhandedness that isn't quite convincing.

"Seriously," Rosa says, holding her gaze. "Thank you."

Quill swallows. "You're welcome, Rosa."

"I don't know why, but it feels super weird when you call me that. Probably because I still don't know you that well. Call me Diaz," Rosa replies, with a small smile, holding out her hand. To her surprise, Quill smiles too, and clasps her arm.

"Best of luck to you, Diaz."

"Rosa! Where have have you been, girl? Jake said something about you going to London? Why are you already back?"

Rosa's heart lurches the moment she hears Gina's voice after arriving back at the 99th Precinct. Other than Holt, whose greeting had been brief, everyone else seems to be out working on cases, or at least not in the bullpen.

"Gina, hey," Rosa says.

"Hey yourself."

"Everyone seems to be like, out, or something," Rosa says, uncomfortably. "Why don't you tell me what I missed while I was gone?"

"You were gone, like, two days."

"So? Loads of stuff can happen in two days. And we haven't talked properly in ages."

Gina eyes her curiously, before shrugging. "True that. And, of course, we all know that keeping everyone up to date on office gossip is my real job here, the secretary thing is such a drag."

They head into the break room and sit at the table once Rosa has made coffee. Gina talks all the while, about Jake and Amy being sickening cute, Scully and Hitchcock being gross as per usual, Charles being… Charles. She spends a good minute or two talking about Terry's new workout routine.

"What about you?" Rosa asks reluctantly. "How's things with Milton? And the baby?"

Gina gets a strange look on her face. "I haven't worked out how to tell anyone about that yet."

"About what?"

Gina shrugs. "I mean, it's not that big a deal, I guess, I just don't know how Amy and the others are going to get about it. Especially Charles."

"About what?"

"Milton and I are just friends, now," Gina says eventually. "It was fun and stuff, but we decided it worked better. We're awesome co-parents anyway, like the dad, mom, and kid emoji. I'm happy, like weirdly happy with things now, but I don't think Charles is gonna get it."

"Oh," Rosa says, because she isn't sure what else to say. "That's-"

"Surprising? Disappointing?" Gina asks. "Maybe to you guys, but-"

Rosa shakes her head, trying to make sure her face doesn't get any weird ideas about smiling idiotically with the news she has just received, because suddenly she has proper hope. "Not disappointing. Not to me, anyway. As long as you're happy, who cares what anyone else thinks? People are stupid."

"Right," Gina says, nodding, but there's a tiny hint of suspicion in her gaze. "Okay, Rosa, your turn. Why'd you go to London?"

"Needed a break."

Gina narrows her eyes, does that dangerous little head tilt. "Not good enough. Why'd you really go?"

Rosa lets out a long sigh, and gathers up all the courage she's failed to have so far. "Because," she says, through gritted teeth. "I was being a coward."

"About what?"

"About… my feelings." Rosa says the word like it's poisonous, making a disgusted face.

Gina's expression is reserved as she watches Rosa with a rare solemnity. "Feelings about what?"

Rosa holds her gaze. "I think you know what."

"I want you to say it."

"I really don't want to."

"Then you're still being a coward, Rosa," Gina says, getting up from the table emphatically, looking at her with disappointment and shaking her head. "And I am done waiting or hoping for you to get over this whole thing you have going here! I have better things to do, like tweeting my way into a threesome with at least two of Rihanna's hot male backup dancers."

"Wait, Gina," Rosa protests.

"What?" Gina asks, with exasperation, pain flashing through her eyes. She looks tired. So tired. "This is it, Rosa, okay? You either say something, right now, or that's it. Because if I've become sure of anything by being with Milton, it's that I am an exquisite creature of indefinable worth, like Ariana Grande. And I deserve better than this."

"I know," Rosa says, voice thick. "I'm sorry."

They stand there, staring at each other, and Rosa can't do it, and Gina just sighs and turns to leave, and Rosa's heart pounds because her last chance is about to walk out of the door.

So she does the only thing she can.

She grabs Gina, pulls her in, and kisses her, hard.

Gina lets out a little noise of surprise, but then a tiny moan escapes her as she starts kissing Rosa back. Rosa clutches at Gina as tightly as she can, because finally she's kissing Gina, like she's imagined doing so many times. She feels warm and complete and like she isn't a failure anymore. And Gina is so eager, pressing herself against Rosa's body as her hands hold Rosa's face and her lips seek out Rosa's greedily.

"Oh!"

The voice makes them both jump apart, only to see Holt standing in the doorway of the breakroom, with an astounded Jake and Amy just behind him.

"Whaaaaaaaat?!" Jake exclaims, a look of confused delight on his face.

"Gina and Rosa, kissing," Amy says, sounding rather dazed, the expression on her face the kind that anyone that isn't her would wear while trying to work out a particularly difficult math problem. "Rosa… and Gina…"

Holt, meanwhile, has an odd little smirk on the corner of his lips. Of course - his gaydar must be pretty decent, he might have picked up on all of this ages ago. Or else, he and Gina are close enough that she might have just confided in him.

"So, I guess we have some explaining to do, huh," Rosa says, glancing at Gina, who gives the others a sheepish grin.

"Man, I wish I could express the shrug emoji in real life, right now," Gina complains, making several of the others look at her with utter disbelief.

"You can, it's called shrugging," Amy says, bewildered.

"It's not the same, Ames, god, why are you so beneath me when it comes to any kind of basic understanding?" Gina asks, shaking her head.

Rosa can only roll her eyes with reluctant fondness.

"So, what was it about London that made you come running back here?"

Rosa and Gina are stretched out on Gina's bed, having stopped for breath after having been kissing and getting extremely handsy with one another for at least half an hour. (It's been awesome.)

Rosa takes another deep breath, knowing she can't get out of this. And that sex is almost definitely out of the question until she owns her dumb feelings and gives Gina the confirmation she'd denied her when she'd chickened out and gone for the more direct, physical approach.

"Honestly?" Rosa asks.

"No, I want you to lie to me some more," Gina says, giving her a weird look. "Yes, honestly."

"Went to London to try and forget about you. And how I felt about you. You know. Drink my feelings, all of that crap," Rosa says, shrugging. "Then I met someone. A woman." She smirks. "A weird, hot woman."

Gina lifts an eyebrow. "Okaaay. And?"

"And we had sex," Rosa says bluntly. "Like, seriously amazing sex. She was crazy strong, and weird, and honestly one of the hottest women I've ever met."

"Wow, super romantic story, Rosa, you telling me about having sex with some crazy English Amazon," Gina replies dryly.

"Shut up, there's a point, okay?" Rosa says, rolling her eyes. "Point is, I kinda maybe said your name in my sleep. As I woke up. She wanted to know who 'Gina' was, and I guess I told her. Not sure why. She was just a lot like me, so it didn't feel too gross. And then she told me that I had to come back here and tell you how I felt. Her logic felt like my logic. So that's exactly what I did."

"Okay, so, you went to the other side of the world, hooked up with some super hot weirdo who helped you realise you couldn't run from your feelings for me, and came back here to confess your love?"

Rosa shrugs. "Pretty much, yeah."

Gina considers this, and then grins. "Well, damn, that's a pretty awesome story. Nice one." She holds up her hand for a hi five, and Rosa grins back at her before slapping their hands together. Rosa uses the connection to yank Gina in by her hand, and Gina happily kisses her, moving to straddle her hips.

"Does this mean we can have sex now?" Rosa asks.

"Obviously," Gina replies, smirking. "But first, I want to hear more about the hot weirdo. Because you, and a hot Amazon lady who acts like you? That is a sweet, sweet mental image that I need more of."

Rosa laughs.

Rosa receives an email two days later from a quilljustquill. It's brief and to the point, with zero introduction, just like Quill in person.

How did things go with your girl?

Rosa smirks and types out a quick reply.

I now have a ridiculous, awesome girlfriend. Thanks.

The reply that comes makes Rosa snort a little. You're very welcome. Now, please, tell me some interesting stories about your work so that I can resist the urge to break an obnoxious teenager's hand and fingers.

And so begins a strange, fruitful, long distance friendship.

Thanks for reading, let me know what you thought!