The only light in the room came in through the windows. Chloe Frazer got out of bed and made her way about by streetlamp alone. She washed her face, brushed her hair and pulled it back into a lazy ponytail, and began to brush her teeth. A trick of the light caught her eye in the mirror, and she turned to look upon the dark form in the bed she'd just vacated.

Skin like milk chocolate, unruly bushes of hair, and the musculature of a boxer: Nadine Ross. How Chloe had ever been lucky enough to get the woman into bed more than once, she'd never know. In fact, she'd always felt it more likely she'd be the victim of that strength rather than the recipient of its surprising gentleness.

But it had become a habit, and now the mixing of business and pleasure when the two were in the same place was so thorough that they might as well be in a romantic partnership as well as a business one. The closest they'd come to defining it, of course, was them both admitting they cared for each other. Those were the exact words, too: "I… care for you," all halting and stupid like teenagers who didn't know what they felt but would say it if it meant shagging afterward. Except Chloe, at least, did know what she felt. And it scared the shit out of her.

Shaking her head, Chloe finished cleaning herself up, threw her toothbrush in her backpack, and pulled on her boots. Then she finally went back to the bed and sat down on the edge.

"Hey," she whispered, gently touching the woman's cheek. Nadine started awake.

"Wha- oh shit, it's you…"

Chloe smirked. "I'll take that as a compliment. And hey! No pulling a gun this time. Progress."

"Oh, shut up," Nadine said, but rather than chuffing her on the shoulder, the former mercenary captain grabbed Chloe by the shirt and pulled her into a quick but sloppy kiss. "You're leaving for the airport?"

"Yep," Chloe said, willing her heart to slow. How does she do this to me? It didn't help that Nadine was completely naked. "Plane's leaving in an hour. God willing there are no delays."

"Well, have a good trip. I'll see you…?" It was a question. Chloe hadn't mentioned when she was coming back. She did technically live where she was going.

"I'll let you know," the thief said, then got up. She was dancing dangerously close to letting it all out. And while she knew a true relationship required trust, and she did maybe want one of those… this wasn't something you laid down at someone's feet as you're out the door, headed back home to the country you resided in. The country that was most definitely not the one Nadine resided in.

I'm going to make a mess of this if I don't come clean soon, Chloe thought. Out loud, she said, "Take care of yourself. I'll…"

"I'll see you," Nadine said, before rolling over and pulling the sheet up over her naked shoulder. Brusque, concise, and so damn sure of everything. Damn, Chloe was gonna miss her.

Shaking her head, she pulled her backpack on and took a deep breath. She let herself out, leaving her key to the hotel room behind on the nightstand.

Her heart felt lighter as she left the hotel. She might be leaving someone she cared about behind, but she was going to see someone she loved more fiercely than anything in the world.

Nadine Ross was anything but sentimental. Yet as she got dressed later that morning, she found a shirt of Chloe's, worn and rumpled in the corner. It smelled like the thief and for a moment Nadine's heart panged to have her gone.

"You are a sentimental fool," she told herself, but the shirt went into her own backpack and not the trash. Soon all her things would smell of Chloe. She sighed. "A damned sentimental fool."

She stopped by a coffee shop she'd come to like while she'd been in this place. It had been Chloe's first trip to the United States, and they had come together. They'd found that, yes, New York style pizza and bagels were best actually in New York City, and discovered that in some ways the humidity was worse here, where it smelled of piss and shit on the worst streets, rather than in the jungle, where the loamy smells of the earth and trees were always pleasant. Of course, at least this city had air conditioning and showers. The jungle most definitely did not have those, nor did the underdeveloped cities they'd been to.

Coffee in-hand, Nadine made her way to Central Park to read and consider what to do next. Being with Chloe – in all senses of that statement – had introduced her to not planning out every second of her future. There were some perks to that. She'd never just gone to the park to read when she was planning out her time so meticulously. It was a pleasant change to her life.

Her book lasted her about two hours before she started to feel antsy. What should she do next? This was the part of not planning out her day (week/month/life) that she didn't like. It almost made her anxious not knowing what came next. As Nadine examined the people walking by, she contemplated the rest of her day.

She needed to be at JFK by 9pm, as the flight she was hoping to catch on stand-by left at 11pm. But until then, she had absolutely nothing to do. If Chloe were here, they would go wandering and find some shabby-looking place to eat some of the most delicious food she'd ever had, greasy and fattening and easy to walk off with whatever their next adventure would be. Perhaps a museum, or down to the ticket booths for a Broadway show? Often it was back to the hotel for a spirited romp between the sheets.

Nadine sighed. She had to admit she already missed the woman. It had only been a year since they had escaped that train in India by the skin of their teeth. They'd slept together for the first time that night. Gingerly, for they were both hurt quite badly, and after thoroughly scrubbing off as much of the jungle as they could manage. Fingers and tongues and occasionally teeth had begun the process of solving the puzzles and riddles of each other's bodies.

Over time, Nadine had convinced Chloe that she did not need to immediately go in for the gold, that the anticipation of the tease could be as pleasurable for her to give as it was for Nadine to receive. And Nadine had also come to see the benefit of a firm hand and a stern voice in the bedroom, especially when she was the one wielding them.

The feelings of affection had been slow and subtle. She had come to view the woman as a friend during their few days going after the Hoysala mystery, but it was a mutual respect of their expertise and a friendly sort of trust of the other. It was months before Nadine realized that she was in far too deep for a professional partnership. It had been far too long since she had felt this way, and she cursed herself for falling for such a rogue.

But what was she to do? She felt the way she felt. She could not control her feelings, only her actions. So she sealed her lips and opened her eyes, and continued on with how things had been. She watched Chloe for signs of similar feelings.

And she found them in the little things. Chloe took her to Iceland on a job that wasn't very lucrative, but which took Nadine to a place that was on her bucket list. Chloe found the perfect, most subtle jewelry for her complexion in the tiniest street vendor's stalls while they walked the markets, looking for treasures they could turn around and sell for more. And the food… Chloe introduced Nadine to the pleasure of the pallet, something Nadine had long eschewed – she'd grown up a soldier's daughter, after all. Why change anything in adulthood? MREs were fine for her.

Chloe showed her affection in a million little ways, even if she did not say the words. Nadine knew what that was like. She, too, was not a woman of words, but of action. Her actions tended to be much larger, however.

It was one night three months before, for instance, that she finally said the words. She said – haltingly, awkwardly, while presenting an ornately carved box for her Ganesh statuette to live in – that Chloe meant a great deal to her, so the thief needed to keep herself safe when Nadine couldn't. Chloe had responded in kind.

They'd then shagged like never before.

That had been the status quo since. And now Nadine sat here, in Central Park, thinking only of Chloe, of the long hair, of the touch of her hands, of the scent she knew she'd find when she went digging in her backpack later. She loved that woman despite everything in her that told her not to love anyone. She couldn't afford it. She had enemies, and they would exploit that. But Chloe had weaseled her way into the mercenary's heart and there wasn't a whole lot Nadine could do about it now that it had happened.

I suppose I could walk away. Would she even have me? Like that?

Nadine frowned. Chloe was even less about attachments than Nadine. But they had struck a partnership and trusted each other with their lives. Where did that leave them? If Chloe ran from this, could Nadine deal with that?

"Oh for pity's sake," she said aloud. Yes, she could deal with that. Sitting in limbo like this was far worse than knowing for sure. She'd rather know.

If Chloe didn't want her, or was too scared to have her, then Nadine could walk away, make her life elsewhere on her own. She always had. And if Chloe did want her, then she wouldn't have to feel so very foolish for her damned sentimentality. The rest could hopefully follow from there.

So what to do? Nadine was a do-er, not a say-er. So she needed to do something. But what?

Her phone buzzed with an update for the flight she was hoping to catch. She peered at it, then up at the New York skyline. Chloe was going back to Australia, where she technically lived full-time. Nadine was headed back to Johannesburg for a few weeks, mostly because she had nowhere else to go or to be for the moment.

I wonder…

She got up suddenly, shoved her book in her bag, and jogged out to the street, where she hailed a cab.

"Where to?" the cabby asked.

"JFK," she said, then sat back, beginning to refine her plan as the car pulled out into traffic.

A/N: Hi folks. I'm obviously incredibly unreliable on updates these days, and here I am taking on something else. But the idea wouldn't leave me alone after I finished this game, and since writing is for fun, I figured I'd do some writing on whatever I wanted while I had the time. The babies are napping, and I have the time.

I have a good idea of where this is going, I just don't know if I want it to all be one fic or split it into two. I'll see where it takes me. I hope y'all enjoy!