Author's Note: This is going to be a (hopefully) short series of little slice-of-life chapters looking at Nico and Karolina at different key points throughout their lives. This story is going to take place after the end of Season 2. Since we really don't know what's planned for Season 3, I'm just keeping the post-S2-finale events deliberately vague as this story begins.
Even though I'm working on a huge Runaways/Power Pack story where Nico and Karolina's relationship is a hard-earned friendship, not a romance, the Hulu series has made me love Nico and Karolina as a couple as well. Because of that, I want to put something out there that celebrates them as a couple too, because they're awesome in every way.
I very happily dedicate this story to Lyrica Okano and Ginny Gardner, whose bravery and authentic love for Nico and Karolina shine through in everything they do on Runaways. Thank you both for taking these two beloved characters to places we never thought we'd get to see and giving them the love and acceptance they deserve. All the happiness and love in the world to both of you.
Cover art is a still from the Hulu Runaways Television show.
I do not own Marvel comics, the Runaways, Hulu or any of a half-dozen other related properties, and I do not make any claims upon Marvel or its characters. All these characters are used under the concept of Fair Use, and I make no profit or income from using any of them.
Chiaroscuro
by Jo K.
Chapter 1: Before Everything Changed
I'm a punk rock prom queen
Brown paper magazine
Hotter than you've ever seen
Everywhere and in-between
I'm a ten-ticket thrill ride
Don't you wanna come inside
Five-star triple threat
Hardest of the hard to get
No one's little red corvette
Ain't seen nothing like me yet
-Josie and the Pussycats, "Three Small Words"
—O—
—O—
For almost her entire life, Karolina Dean had been afraid of the dark.
Maybe not a fear so strong as to be paralyzing, but the dark had always felt like something to be avoided, a source of discomfort. The dark felt lonely, and young Karolina didn't like how that felt.
"We're beings of light, Karolina," said her mother, in one of Karolina's earliest memories. "The dark isn't something to be afraid of so much as to be pitied, because it needs us to bring it light."
"And... light... makes it happy?" a three-year-old Karolina had asked, her blanket pulled up to her chin as she shivered in her bed.
Leslie Dean's smile never faltered. She had had years to practice it. She smoothed some strays wisps of her tiny daughter's pale blonde hair back into place. "The light brings it peace," Leslie softly spoke, the subtle correction an at-the-time-unrecognized sign of what Karolina's childhood would be.
"So the light does make it happy," young Karolina had said, smiling.
"The dark can never be happy, Karolina," Leslie corrected, her patient, condescending smile never flickering. "Because it can never be the light. Not like we can." Leslie's smile grew slightly. "Not like you can."
Young Karolina smiled, content in her mother's love and voice. "Can you check my night lights?" she asked, clutching her blankets again.
"Please," said her mother patiently.
"Please," Karolina said obediently.
Leslie smiled. "Of course," she said, leaning forward and kissing Karolina's forehead. "I love you, Karolina."
"Love you too, Mommy."
Leslie stopped and made sure the night light on the wall to Karolina's right, shaped in the design of the Church of Gibborim's logo, was on. She turned off the lamp next to Karolina's bed, then crossed the spacious room. She stopped beside the open bedroom door, bending over quickly to check the other night light, a plain white star that already glowed with a soft light.
Leslie paused at the door. "Good night, Karolina. Remember, you carry the light within you."
The young blonde nodded, then rolled over onto her right side. From this angle she could watch the Gibborim night light until she fell asleep, confident that the light would protect her from the dark.
—O—
The whole time Karolina spends in stasis (Days? Weeks? She has no idea.), she just... is.
It's not that she's constantly in the darkness, although that wouldn't be a problem. Not now. It's just that she's in nothing. There's no sensation, nothing to see except the abstract patterns of afterimages her retinas project onto the blank canvas of the void, nothing to hear except the dull, unconscious ring of disorientation in those flashes where she is coherent enough to pay attention.
In the spare moments where she can form a thought, Karolina finds it bitterly humorous that once again she's trapped in a void, this time physical instead of emotional. It's still a hellish place where no one truly hears her, no one truly sees her, no one truly touches her, except in the most superficial and vapid of ways. It's enough to bring her to tears, were her body able to cry in stasis.
But it can't.
At least she isn't afraid of the dark anymore. How could she be, now that she was in love with it?
—O—
When her time in stasis finally ends, she initially has no idea what's occurring. There's a painful brightness, which never used to bother her, but now the brilliance of simple light is stabbing her in the eyes, and she feels like there are weights on her chest when she tries to breathe. She feels an overwhelming pressure against her legs, not realizing that it's her own weight as someone tries to stand her up, until she feebly collapses to the hard floor.
Then she hears a voice, and everything else becomes unimportant.
"Follow the leader."
She remembers that voice, searches the cobwebbed spaces of her sluggish thoughts to place the person speaking. The voice is firm, commanding despite having a velvety quality to it as well, and hearing it makes Karolina's heart warm in a way that feels both unfamiliar and so, so right.
The force of the floor pressing against her limp body drops away, and she feels the cool caress of air blowing across her face, her arms, her legs, her stomach as she floats through the air, tugged along by something she can't recognize, and of course her eyes still haven't adjusted to let her see anything more than blobs of color and painful light.
Even through all that murkiness of what her perceptions are at the moment, a voice floats to the top of her thoughts, saying something she can't make out. Karolina's fairly sure that the raspy voice she hears next is hers.
"Ni... co..."
The syllables tumble across her lips automatically, and she tries to remember what they mean. The sensation of air blowing across her skin stops, and then that really annoying light goes away, replaced by the soothing blackness of something blocking the light from stabbing into Karolina's wincing eyes.
"Hey."
It's just a voice, softer than a few minutes (seconds?) ago, but it's right in front of her face, and then something's wrong with her eyes, because they're leaking some fluid and stinging, and then there's this pressure on her cheek, and—
Karolina hears herself sob, and she knows inside her jumbled brain that's still waking up that the warmth on her cheek, the sticky sensation of lip color against her skin, is someone kissing her, and it's breaking her fucking heart that she can't lift her head up enough to meet those lips with her own and kiss this woman back, because Karolina knows, absolutely knows, that she is totally in love with this woman.
"We're getting you out of here, baby, okay? We've already gotten Chase, Gert and Old Lace back. Now we're getting you."
There's a sensation of fingers and skin and warmth against Karolina's forehead, then another kiss, this time on her lips, and Karolina would almost be willing to go back into stasis if it meant she could focus only on this moment, this sensation of soft, sticky lips pressed against her own for the rest of time.
She tries to nod, but she has no idea if she's successful or not. She opens her mouth to tell this woman with the amazing voice that she loves her, but her throat is raw and painful when she tries to move air across her vocal cords.
"Don't try to talk, Kar. Just know that you're safe, and that we're taking you home."
The impossibly loud clap of noise that smashes into Karolina's ringing ears hits her immediately after the softer thud of something hitting something else, just in front of her. This startles her, but her body is still too weak to do anything more than shiver feebly, not until the shout of pain erupts just in front of her face.
Someone's been shot. And despite all the brain fog, Karolina wants to scream.
More shots assault her sensitive ears, angry and shattering the silence, and with one of them comes a searing pain somewhere between Karolina's waist and feet; her legs still aren't working right, and she can't really place exactly what part of her body is hurting now, only that something is.
There's an angry hiss of breath being inhaled centimeters away from Karolina's face, followed by a breeze of air being displaced by movement registering across Karolina's lips and nose, possibly a tickle of fabric brushing against her face. Then the voice she knows she loves is back, and this time there's no softness, no kindness to be heard in that voice, only livid syllables of rage that drip with power as they slice through the air.
"BURN—IN—HELL!"
Karolina's fuzzy on what happens next. She hears screams, lots and lots of screams, screams that seem to go on for years before finally choking off. There's intense heat that licks her face, a dry, hot wind that blows her hair and makes her skin tingle uncomfortably. There's a strange smell that irritates her nose like pepper but smells like ash and burning oil. There's a grinding, a rumbling that she can feel as well as hear, that makes her teeth hurt as long as she can hear it, that starts while the screams are still a chorus and continues until the last note of pain has faded out, leaving only the soft ringing in her ears.
She hears a different voice, this one soft and hesitant, a girl or woman but young regardless, who barely whispers, "Nico..."
There's no reply, nothing audible at least, and Karolina is lying there, eagerly listening for that voice that makes her blood heat.
"You need to go to a hospital," says another voice, this one male, normally confident (Karolina doesn't remember how she knows that, but she does) yet suffused with trepidation right now.
There's another pause, and Karolina wishes desperately for something, anything, to tell her what's going on. Her limbs are still useless; whatever the fuck was done to her, she's never felt this weak or helpless, not even that time she had mono in the sixth grade.
"No," says that voice she had been listening for, the voice that instantly has Karolina's full attention, but now she can hear the inflection of pain in even that single world.
"You've been—"
"I said NO, Chase!" A pause, then, "I'm not leaving her. Don't... don't ask me to do that. Please."
Karolina hears the soft clomping of footfalls, and the breeze begins to blow across her face and arms again. They're moving once more.
Now a different voice speaks up. "Nico, that looks bad." His voice (because Karolina knows it's a he, and for some reason his voice stirs a pang of irritation in her heart) is clearly worried, the tight concern in his words easily audible to someone who's only focusing on sound.
"It's not around anything vital. It'll heal. Karolina is our main priority right now. The fucking bastard drained her so much that it nearly killed her."
"Um, maybe we should take both of you to a hospital," says the first male voice. "Karolina looks pale as a ghost."
"Hospital's aren't safe. Not now. We've stirred up too much too fast. We... we have to get her home. She needs sunlight. That helps her recover. She needs to rest. She needs..."
You, Karolina's mind supplied, but she couldn't speak the word, so instead the rush of thoughts just washed over her rapid-fire. Dark hair. Dark brown eyes. Black clothes. Black lace. Sharp, spiky accessories. Dark fingernails and toenails. Dark eye shadow. Dark lips that pouted and smiled and tightened into straight lines that silently indicated back-the-fuck-off. Love. Warmth. Care. Hugs. Kisses. Attitude. Sass. Sex. She needs NICO, who is all of that and more to Karolina.
Now she remembers. She remembers it all.
"You..." she manages to breathe out, and somehow she does it during one of those painful silences in the conversation going on around her. She focuses, ignoring the burning in her throat and sourness in her mouth. "Need... you..."
There's a warmth that Karolina can feel pressing against her forehead, on her nose, on her lips, and then that beautiful, stubborn, smoky voice is back. "You've got me, baby," the words spoken softly, reverently, just a hair's breadth away. "You've got me forever."
Karolina stops fighting the blackness and lets herself fall back into blissful nothing, a smile weakly stretching across her face as she passes out again.
—O—
When Karolina finally stirs, light no longer burns her retinas, but her arms and legs still feel like all the muscles and bones in them have been scooped out and replaced with wet sand.
She feels deliciously warm, and she starts to try to sit up before she registers that something is lying on her chest. Well, lying against her chest. Her whole left side, really, up to about her breast, because that's where Nico's head stops, resting just below Karolina's clavicle. There's a distressingly large, bulky bandage wrapped around Nico's left upper arm, and a decidedly disturbing amount of dried blood that's soaked through most of the white wrap and gauze, but other than that the diminutive sorceress looks her usual self, stripped down to just a black camisole top and black sweat pants with silver pentacles printed all over them. (Seriously, where did she even find something like that?)
Karolina feels like she's being bathed in a warm glow, and it's not just where Nico is snuggled up beside her. She manages, barely, to lift her head. The movement causes Nico's breathing to pause for a few seconds; Karolina's mentally kicking herself, but then the soft, easy breathing resumes again, the only sign of Nico's ever being disturbed the way the dark-haired woman's left hand tightens its grip on the waist band of Karolina's very short sleep shorts.
Now Karolina can see an absolutely ridiculous arrangement of mirrors around her and Nico's bed, two large floor-standing mirrors and a smaller cosmetic mirror that's been placed on a slender wooden nightstand moved nearly to the far wall. The mirrors have been positioned so that they're redirecting sunlight directly onto Karolina from the large multi-paned window high on the wall above their bed, and it feels amazing to the blonde, like she's bathing in sunshine.
"Hey," comes a sleepy voice from the vicinity of Karolina's left armpit.
Karolina doesn't consciously smile at the sight of Nico blinking her raccoon eyes, kohl smudged haphazardly on her temples and cheeks, but she smiles anyway, because Nico Minoru with a face full of disheveled makeup, sleepy mahogany eyes and rebellious hair the color of a moonless light jutting and spiking in all directions at once...
It's irresistible.
Not that Karolina would ever try to resist it.
Karolina stares at her girlfriend with what has to be the most ridiculous expression, because she literally has no idea what kind of face she's making, but Nico just keeps smiling at her, those brown eyes so, so full of love and adoration, and never once does the jet-haired woman's smile flicker or fade. She just keeps smiling, and then that smile slightly widens, and Karolina can see the mirth trying to fight its way out of Nico's usually airtight grip on her emotions, the little twitches and quivers playing out on the muscles of her girlfriend's face, until finally those lips spread and part, and Nico's teeth show in one of the biggest grins Karolina's ever seen, and it makes everything shitty that's ever happened to Karolina over her entire fucked-up life absolutely, one-hundred-percent worth it.
"I love you," says this raspy voice that Karolina only recognizes as hers because it burns her throat, and the response from the other woman is immediate, if a bit unexpected.
Nico's eyes suddenly well with tears, and for a painful second Karolina wonders if she got the words wrong, if maybe she said Nico needed to brush her teeth or something equally mortifying, until Nico's dark lips, still smudged with dark purple in the corners, part, and Karolina hears that silky, sultry voice reply.
"I love you, too."
Then everything feels right again. Nico's hand comes up and gently cups Karolina's cheek.
"You need to go back to sleep. I put us in a healing spell, but we need to rest for it to fully work."
Karolina nods. She's starting to feel a bit of pressure in her bladder, but it's minor. Nothing that's worth making Nico move, because nothing is worth disturbing this.
"Close those beautiful blue eyes, baby, okay? I'm not going anywhere."
Karolina feels her heart swell with happiness and pride at the grim, fearsome Nico Minoru calling her "baby," followed by the sensation of Nico's body somehow sliding closer to her, of Nico's head once again resting on Karolina's chest, pausing only to place a soft kiss on her breast—right fucking ON her nipple, thank you for that, Miss Minoru, now how am I supposed to go back to sleep—and Nico's left arm reaching protectively across Karolina's belly, her hand curling around Karolina's hip, the thumb lightly stroking the exposed ridge of Karolina's hip bone.
Karolina had always been doted upon, treated like a messiah-in-waiting, expected to be the perfect child and never failing to live up to that expectation. She had been the golden child of Gibborim, the heir to the church following her mother. She had never wanted for anything material. Ever.
But she had never known what happiness truly was until right now.
In her darkest moment, when she was lost and utterly defenseless, Nico and their family had found her. They had saved her. They had brought her home.
And this was her home. Right here, in this abandoned hotel, in this room with haphazard decorations, falling curtains, smudged windows and dusty floors. Wrapped in the arms of a very complicated, very prickly, very loving witch who hid her feelings beneath layers of dark fabric and intricate makeup but was brave enough to open up, to make herself vulnerable so she could share those messy, complicated, intense feelings with Karolina.
This was where Karolina belonged. This was where she felt safe.
This was the home she and her family had made their own, and this is where the rest of her life begins.
That thought comforts her as she dozes off once more.
—O—
It was another full day before she and Nico made love again.
For the first day she was back at the Hostel and most of the second, she and Nico slept the entire time. Nico had to get up to pee once, but Karolina's body was so drained that she didn't feel that particular urge until late the second night, shortly after Nico had made her wake up and drink some Gatorade.
It was ridiculously silly, but Karolina refused to drink the fruit punch Gatorade Nico tried to give her, instead insisting on claiming the remaining two-thirds of the bottle of orange Gatorade Nico had just set down after taking a drink. She wanted her lips to be where Nico's lips had been, to share what was Nico's, because Nico was her girlfriend, and she was Nico's, and girlfriends shared things like that.
She might have preened a bit when Nico gave in without argument.
Getting to the toilet in their en suite bathroom, however, was a challenge. Nico tried to help Karolina there, but the blonde's height combined with Nico's injured left arm made it a near-disaster when Karolina nearly collapsed on top of Nico. It took yelling for Molly to get Karolina to the toilet; the curly-haired girl effortlessly carried Karolina to the toilet, then patiently waited outside the bathroom to carry her back to the bed, depositing her carefully on the sunken-in patch that her and Nico's bodies had pressed into the mattress.
By the time Nico had finished in the bathroom, Karolina was sprawled out on the bed and Molly had retreated out of their room, closing the door behind her.
Nico climbed onto the bed, kneeling beside Karolina and taking in the sight of her girlfriend, exhausted but alive, in their bed. And pouting.
"I love lying in bed with you, but I'm bored," Karolina said. She tried to make her voice extra pouty, but it just came out as weak. "I want to do something."
Nico's eyebrows raised slightly. "You're not getting out of this bed for at least another day," she said firmly.
The smirk that curled across Karolina's lips set Nico's heart racing.
"I'm not planning on getting out of this bed," Karolina murmured confidently. "And neither are you."
The hand that grasped Nico's camisole and tugged her down toward the blonde didn't seem as weak as before, and Nico certainly wasn't offering any resistance.
"Are you sure you're up for this?" Nico asked cautiously. "I mean, physically."
"Are you telling me you don't want it?" asked Karolina, not relaxing her grip on Nico's shirt.
"Oh, FUCK no," Nico breathed out. "I am totally wanting it. I just don't want to wipe you out, now that you're starting to recover."
Karolina grinned. "Mmm, why, Miss Minoru, that sounds like a challenge to me."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. Think you can 'wipe me out'?"
Nico let herself topple forward, catching herself on her outstretched hands to either side of Karolina's head, their faces a centimeter apart. It felt like liquid fire in her newly healed left upper arm when she put pressure on that arm, but she ignored it for Karolina. "Oh, I know I can," she said, and the desire and confidence saturating her voice made Karolina's insides melt.
Marshaling what tiny little scraps of resistance that she could to prolong the foreplay, Karolina stared up into Nico's eyes, those dark brown rims nearly swallowed by the wide pupils. "Prove it," she said as firmly as she could, feeling her heart skip as she saw the defiance flash in Nico's eyes before the more common emotion softened with a look of worship and adoration that was given to no one but Karolina.
Nico's head dropped low enough for her lips to press against Karolina's, both mouths immediately opening to deepen the kiss—until Karolina abruptly pulled back, pressing the back of her head into the pillow beneath her.
"Oh my God," Karolina breathed out, suddenly mortified at realizing that she hadn't brushed her teeth in who knows how long. "My breath must smell like sewage!"
"I don't fucking care," Nico breathed out. Her arms were starting to shake as desire and emotion rose to a boil inside her, and her head eased down to kiss Karolina again.
"I do," Karolina replied, turning her head to the side so that Nico's attempt to kiss her met her cheek instead. "The first time we make love in—how long has it been?"
"Just over two weeks," Nico replied, the expression on her face shifting into want, and need, and ohmygod was Nico Minoru about to POUT?
"Just over two weeks," Karolina repeated, "and my mouth is not going to taste like a sweaty ass when we make love."
"Oh, is that the issue?" Nico said, surprisingly unconcerned. "First, I want to kiss you crazy, so I don't care about your breath—"
"I do!"
"—And second, I got your back." Nico sat up and thrust her right arm out to her side. A second later, the Staff of One met her hand with a soft smack. Nico's fingers, black lacquer on each nail, curled around the Staff as a smile spread across her face. "Minty fresh!" she said, with the Staff's circular top flashing and crackling with yellow-white electricity.
Karolina's mouth tingled, followed by the sensation descending over her entire body, causing her to shiver for a second.
She didn't feel so grungy anymore. She tried to taste her breath, pleased to see that there was no lingering acrid sensation in her mouth, as there had been seconds earlier. She looked up to see Nico looking insufferably smug, straddling Karolina's waist.
"God, you look so proud," Karolina teased, unable to keep from smiling as she said it.
Nico shrunk the Staff back down to its smaller size, then she carefully tossed it into the nearest mostly-empty chair, onto a pile of her clothes. "Why wouldn't I be proud?" she said, leaning forward and returning to her previous position hovering just over Karolina's face. "I just removed the one thing keeping my girlfriend from having sex with me."
Karolina grinned. She was able to reach up with her right arm and caress Nico's cheek, then slide her fingers into Nico's hair, softly gripping the shorter black locks in the way that she knew Nico loved. "I suppose you've earned the right to be proud," she admitted, before lifting her head to kiss Nico.
After trading kisses and shifting positions with their mouths a few times, Nico pulled back to catch her breath, her gaze never leaving Karolina's soft blue eyes. "Damn right," she breathed out, before settling back down to resume kissing the most beautiful woman she had ever seen.
—O—
Xavin left that night.
In a very human gesture, she left a note, taped onto the door to Karolina's and Nico's room.
"My dearest Karolina,
I see now that your heart is already taken. I am unsure what this means for the prophecy, but I am sure that were I to stay, it would only cause you pain, and that I could not bear.
I am not sure where I will go. I say this not to make you worry, but to be honest. I have some resources from the Church, so I will not want, but I am now unsure of my way, to say nothing of the prophecy. Was it just a lie from one who deceived us all?
I will return one day, but it will not be as your intended. I was initially dismissive of your choice of mate, but now I see that she has both love for you and power to stand by your side. She will make a fine mate, and I wish both of you happiness.
When the time comes, I would like you to meet your brother or sister, the life that I gestate inside me. I hope you will be willing to do that much for me and for my child, and perhaps you might gain something of such a meeting as well.
I wish you and your pack success in your struggle against the Pride and the specter of Jonah. Perhaps the day will come when I can do more to help you, but for now, I feel my best course of action is to trust you to live your own life, to find your own happiness, as far from the plots and machinations of others as possible.
X"
Karolina cried for nearly an hour, as Nico held her. Xavin had been as much a victim of Jonah as the rest of them. There was nothing to say, so Nico didn't try. She simply held her girlfriend and warred internally with the twin feelings of relief and guilt inside her.
—O—
Later that night, they lay in bed, Nico holding Karolina from behind, her right hand clasped to Karolina's chest, held by both of Karolina's hands.
"I..." Nico began, unsure if Karolina was asleep or not. The blonde's breathing was soft and slow, so she likely was, but Nico felt like if she didn't voice this now, the thoughts would fester inside her. "I... wanted her gone," she said softly. "I didn't want her to come between us."
Nico felt Karolina lightly squeeze her hand.
"She wouldn't have," Karolina said, her voice slow and just above a whisper.
"I hope not," Nico continued. "But... I worried she would. Because you care so much, Karolina, your heart is so big, and so loving, and I was worried that she'd use that to make you feel guilty, to make you uncomfortable in our relationship."
Karolina didn't reply, but Nico could tell from the soft sniffle that her girlfriend was likely crying.
Nico closed her own eyes. "But even with all of that, I didn't want her to be alone. We... we could have protected her. Her and her baby. Here."
"But she knew that we would never fully trust her," said Karolina. "Because we couldn't have. She had been one of Jonah's followers. And this prophecy she believed? That's a bunch of shit."
Karolina shifted, releasing Nico's hand and rolling over to face her girlfriend. Even in the dark, Nico could see her watery eyes, but the look on Karolina's face was firm.
"I decide whom I love," Karolina said. "Not anyone else, and definitely not some fucking prophecy."
Nico smiled. How she wound up with this incredible woman, she'd never know. But she would never take Karolina and her love for granted.
"I chose you, Nico," Karolina said, finding Nico's hand, threading their fingers together and lifting those joined hands to kiss Nico's knuckles. "I choose you. Please don't ever doubt that."
Nico shivered once. "I'm... not using to getting good things," she admitted softly. "And you are the best thing I've ever had in my life. Please don't hold it against me if I feel I don't deserve you."
Karolina smiled sadly. "I guess I'll just have to convince you that you deserve me, yeah?"
The blonde's head slid forward to press her lips against Nico, kissing her lover tenderly. "Can I hold you tonight?" she asked.
"I guess," Nico said, frowning and doing such a good job of acting put out that Karolina was about to push her arm away before Nico grinned.
"You shit," Karolina swore softly, laughing once.
Nico continued to grin as she turned over, waiting until Karolina had slid next to her, wrapping her left arm across Nico's waist and a long leg across Nico's thighs. A hand softly slid up Nico's torso, fingers slipping under the loose sleep shirt and gently cupping Nico's bare right breast.
"Comfy?" Nico asked over her shoulder, secretly loving the warmth and security of being wrapped up in Karolina but not wanting to say it out loud.
There was a happy sigh from behind the black-haired woman. "Much," breathed Karolina. She lightly pressed down on Nico's right nipple with the tip of her index finger before going back to just holding Nico's small breast. "You fit perfectly in my arms, you know."
Nico closed her eyes, smiling into her pillow. "Yeah," she said. "I do."
—O—
The next five months went by, slowly at first, then accelerating in a way none of them could have predicted.
Stealing became an ethical burden, growing increasingly uncomfortable for all of them as time passed.
Alex tapped into one of Wizard's expense accounts, siphoning off just under three hundred thousand dollars and transferring it to a different account, then another, then another before Wizard's IT personnel caught what he was doing and locked him out. But before Chase could withdraw the money from a physical bank location, Wizard had somehow undone Alex's own magic. Nico was sure that her mother had some sort of magic even without the Staff, be it financial, digital or arcane, that she had used to undo Alex's work, but none of them could prove it.
Chase's mother Janet, whom they had also freed when they rescued Chase, Gert and Old Lace, managed to set up a side account and transfer several thousand dollars to Chase, keeping the transfer under the threshold the retooled Pride had set up for flagging financial transactions in the Los Angeles area. It was enough money to provide food and basic household supplies for a few weeks, but it was becoming increasingly evident that an ongoing revenue stream had to be established, and soon.
The healing spell that Nico had used on Karolina and herself had definitely been impressive. By the third day she was back home, Karolina was able to walk (carefully) and eat some quinoa and sushi. By the end of the week, she was able to fly again, though she felt taxed after ten minutes or so. The sunlight baths helped, and she thanked Alex and Gert, who had planned and rigged up the elaborate series of mirrors. Nico also appreciated Karolina lying in the sunlight (apparently Majesdanians couldn't get sunburned because they absorbed the sun's radiation), because that meant her girlfriend wore minimal or no clothing for a significant chunk of the day, which Nico took advantage of frequently... until she got a sunburn on her back, butt and the back of her legs.
("Surprised it didn't get the back of your head, too," Chase had crowed once Nico had begrudgingly told the others at dinner, given away by her hiss of pain when she sat down at the table.
"Oh, that was between my legs," Karolina had instantly shot back in defense of her uncharacteristically blushing girlfriend.)
The healing spell had knitted Nico's left humerus, which had been shattered by a bullet during their rescue of Karolina, back together in less than a day. However, the Staff didn't want to repeat the spell again, so Nico had to heal from the rather uncomfortable sunburns the regular way. Having Karolina rub aloe on the burned places did make a nice consolation prize, at least.
Perhaps the most surprising development over those months was the detente that seemed to have developed between the Runaways and the remnants of the Pride. Victor/Jonah had vanished, driven away after Alex and Chase worked together to build a device that used infrasonic waves and evoked visual potentials to free Tina, Stacey and Jonah's other victims from their psychic possession. Once that had been accomplished, the two sides had cautiously gone their own ways. There were no attempts at kidnapping any more of the Runaways, and in return, there were no further attacks on any Pride assets, minus the attempted financial fleecing of Wizard.
As such, things at the Hostel were actually becoming... boring.
—O—
Gert was the first to get a job. It was during one of her and Chase's off-again phases, when she followed a whim and applied for a job at a coffee shop. Her insistence that she be paid in cash, which she had anticipated would render her unemployable, was readily accepted, leading her to suspect that either the manager had a thing for purple hair or the place couldn't keep employees.
Both turned out to be correct.
That job lasted all of a week and a half. When given a choice between Chase leveling the place with his Fistigons or Gert taking matters into her own hands, she chose the latter, handing her foul-mouthed, handsy boss a large coffee with caramel, as hot as she could make it, in a cup with the name "Fuck You, You Racist Misogynistic Lecherous Sexually Harassing Intolerant Piece of Cis-Het Patriarchal Shit—I Quit!" neatly lettered over nearly the entire cup.
She let him read the whole thing before slapping it out of his hands and onto his pants and shoes.
When he tried to hit her, she ducked (self-defense lessons had been a worthwhile investment), punched him in the balls, then sprayed him in the face with pepper spray for good measure.
Most of the rest of the jobs went fairly well.
Alex got a work-from-home job by watching and analyzing online gaming streams, then decoding and writing a program that scanned for hacking and cheating mods and bots in various MOBAs and MMORPGs. Several large corporations were more than willing to pay him monthly licensing fees to use his software to catch those trying to exploit the games.
Chase responded to an online ad seeking physical protection for the exotic dancers at a strip club called Fuzzy Peach. An evangelical group had started protesting the club, and over the last two weeks the puritanical protesters had been edging closer and closer to overt violence. As it happened, the afternoon Chase arrived to interview, three of the church's more aggressive congregants left the protest line and attacked one of the bouncers as he was escorting two of the dancers from their cars. Chase physically tackled the largest and most aggressive of the assailants, then landed a few solid punches to the other two to put them down as well. By the time the burliest man got back to his feet, the Fistigons were on. Three energy blasts later, the attackers were en route to the hospital and the protesters had dispersed, pledging to be back with more members the next night.
They came back with three times as many protesters, bringing ball bats, clubs, chains and nearly a dozen white supremacists who had been quietly infiltrating the church.
Chase came back with Molly.
Once everything was over, the ambulances had left and most of the fires had been put out, the club was still standing and in good shape, minus a few broken windows, all the dancers and patrons of the club were unharmed, save for the one older man hit by the initial rock that started the mini-riot, and no less than eighty "good Christian" people and ten white supremacists found themselves seeking medical care at one of Los Angeles County's many after-hours healthcare facilities. Chase had a decent-sized cut on his left temple, though the grateful exotic dancers had been happy to coo and fret over him; he was enough of a gentleman to politely maintain eye contact with each of the kind women when they were fussing over him. Molly's shirt had a few bullet holes in it, courtesy of the neo-Nazis; she hadn't been aware that she was bulletproof when using her powers, but she knew now. Honestly, she was more mad about the ear being ripped off one of her favorite hats, and it had taken some very quick talking from Chase to keep her from returning the favor to the man who had vandalized her toboggan.
After the fracas, one of the tow truck drivers offhandedly guessed that over half of the wreckers working that night in Los Angeles had been called out to the scene before it was all over. The protesters had carpooled, but they had still brought over thirty cars and motorcycles, blocking the street on both sides of the club right before the fighting began.
It turned out that Molly really liked throwing cars.
Nico and Karolina had the worst luck with jobs. Karolina made decent money doing some modeling shoots at first, but after the third time she had to leave a shoot due to a photographer trying to grope her or suggest indecent ways she could "make a little extra money," she swore off modeling forever.
After the last time it happened, which had been a particularly disgusting experience from which she had literally run out, she was reading the morning paper when she noticed an article on the third page, detailing a mysterious fire at that very same studio she had fled the day before. The fire department was at a loss, unable to explain how a building made entirely of brick, steel and concrete could catch fire and burn to the ground, leaving only oddly powdered ashes, but multiple eyewitnesses swore that was exactly what had happened.
One neighborhood resident who was interviewed for the article declared that it had been a good thing, because the photographer was a well-known lecherous man who preyed on young, impressionable girls and coerced them into sex acts, many of which he would film or photograph. The few women over the years who had publicly accused the man of sexually assaulting them always dismissed their lawsuits or settled out of court, leading to whispers that he was threatening or blackmailing them.
She was nearly through the article, her heart pounding with both fury at this predator's actions and relief that she had escaped, when Nico came out of the kitchen, holding a steaming cup of coffee in a mug that read YES I CAN, making Karolina smile.
"Interesting article in the paper this morning," she said casually as Nico pulled out a chair directly across the large dining table from Karolina.
"Oh yeah?" Nico smoothly asked, not looking up from her coffee. She hadn't slept much last night. Things had needed to be done.
"Mm hmm. Seems that asshole photographer who propositioned me yesterday had his whole studio burn down last night."
"How about that." Nico took a careful sip of the black coffee. "Told you he was a fucking creep."
"Total loss, the fire department says. His whole business and all his personal effects."
There was a short pause as Nico took a small swallow of the strong, bitter coffee. "Maybe he fucked with the wrong person."
Karolina glanced over the top edge of the paper at Nico, who was playing with a long strand of her hair, staring off into the next room. "Maybe," she said quietly, trying not to smile. Her girlfriend was the best. "Did you know that bricks can catch on fire?"
There was a pause as Nico took a longer sip of the still-steaming coffee. She licked her lips once before speaking. "There's some strange shit out there."
"Mm. Were you working last night?"
"Got fired."
Now the paper dropped down. Karolina felt anger build inside at the thought of someone being mean to her girlfriend. "You got fired?!"
"Yep."
"But I thought Billy liked you!"
"He did. Still does. But he said I was scaring away all the customers."
The look on Karolina's face, normally so open and loving, was practically combusting with fury. "He runs a fucking PET STORE! How do you scare people away from a pet store?!"
In a total reversal of positions, Nico actually smiled happily as she leaned forward, resting her right arm on the dining table and her head in the palm of her upturned right hand as she gazed proudly at Karolina. "You look so cute when you get all righteously angry," she said, and though she'd've denied it, the look on Nico's face was completely dreamy.
Karolina, however, was currently too mad at Nico's boss. Former boss. She fumed silently for a few seconds, then she reached across the large table to take Nico's left hand. "I'm so sorry, Nico."
"Ah, it's okay. Kinda creeped me out too, the way all the birds and rodents keep watching me. Any time I walked down the aisle or was around them, the birds would all shut up and just watch me, all their dumb heads following me until I was out of sight. The mice would all run and hide in their little houses."
"That's... a bit strange," Karolina admitted.
"And all the snakes wanted me to pet them. Kept trying to get out of their cages. Cats, too. They practically climbed the walls to try and get out and follow me."
"What about the dogs?"
Nico shrugged. "Eh, they're dogs. They acted as dumb and lovable as always. Treated me like everybody else."
"He's still a dick for firing you."
"I'll find another job."
Karolina smiled again. "Shame there isn't a market for vigilantes who burn down the places of business of sexual predators who hurt and blackmail women."
The barest hint of a satisfied smile tugged at the corners of Nico's mouth. "It'd be a niche market."
Karolina gave Nico's hand another squeeze, then she sat back in her chair, lifting her paper again.
"Molly wants to get a job now."
Nico looked up from a scratch on one of the black and red sigils on her fingernails. It might have been from a tooth. "Oh yeah?"
"She said it's not fair that all the rest of us work and bring in money but she isn't allowed to do the same."
"She's fourteen."
"Her birthday's in three weeks."
"And then she'll be fifteen, and still too young to work."
Karolina paused for a moment, glad that the newspaper was hiding her smile. "She's already had a job offer."
"Paper route? She could throw the hell out of a newspaper."
It was a statement so ludicrous and unexpected that Karolina burst into a fit of giggling laughter, making Nico slightly concerned.
"Kar? You okay?"
The newspaper shook forcefully as the blonde convulsed with laughter, taking a few seconds to get herself back under control. Her eyes were watering as she finally breathed in deeply and looked up, those bright blue eyes shining with delight as she looked at Nico again. "God, that was totally not what I was expecting you to say," she managed to say as she wiped at her eyes with her fingertips. "But so funny."
Nico stood, bringing her coffee with her as she walked around the long table, not stopping until she was right next to Karolina. She set her coffee mug down on the table and pulled out the nearest chair, taking a seat beside the happy blonde that had no right to be as gorgeous as she was.
Nico took Karolina's right hand and lifted it to her lips, placing a tender kiss on the back of the hand. "I love it when you laugh," Nico said, the honesty making her voice raw in a way that sent shivers down Karolina's spine.
The blonde smiled back. "I love it when you make me laugh," she replied, reaching out to Nico, who obligingly leaned in, meeting Karolina as she did the same. They kissed softly, lips pressing together for several seconds as each of them wondered how she could possibly have been so lucky as to get such a wonderful woman for a partner.
"Gross," said Molly as she padded into the dining room, rubbing her own sleepy eyes. The monster feet slippers she was wearing had once made little crushing noises with each step, along with the occasional roar, but the batteries had long since been removed.
Karolina and Nico both grinned as they opened their eyes, gazing deeply into each other's stare. "You won't think it's so gross one day," Karolina called out, getting a raised hand flipping her off in reply as Molly continued on into the kitchen.
"She just flipped you off," Nico said, more than a bit amazed.
Karolina's smile was entirely at ease. "Oh well. I guess I have to just keep on kissing you, then."
Nico claimed another kiss, this one lasting several seconds and making Karolina release a soft little sigh of contentment that curled Nico's toes. When they parted again, Karolina's hands were lightly resting on Nico's bare thighs, the blonde's fingertips daring to push beneath the too-long legs of the pair of Karolina's shorts Nico was wearing.
"So where was this job offer from?" Nico asked, growing distracted by the teasing warmth of her girlfriend's fingers and hands.
"Hm?" murmured Karolina. Nico's left hand was now lightly tapping the top of her right thigh. "Oh, the job?"
Nico nodded, reaching for her coffee with her right hand.
Karolina sighed, seeing what was about to happen. Not wanting Nico to burn herself on the likely still-hot coffee, she reached over and lightly covered the top of the mug with her left hand, preventing Nico from picking it up.
Nico looked over at Karolina, confused.
"The Fuzzy Peach," Karolina said, trying not to laugh and just-ever-so-slightly regretting the chance to see if Nico would really have spilled her coffee had Karolina not prevented it.
The total lack of movement on Nico's face lasted for several seconds, enough for Karolina to worry that she might have broken her girlfriend. Then finally Nico blinked three times in rapid succession, and her mouth opened and closed without making a sound.
"Yep, that was pretty much my reaction, too," Karolina said, removing her hand from Nico's coffee.
"Not as a dancer," Nico asked, her voice low. "Please tell me that."
Karolina burst out laughing again.
"Okay, good," Nico sighed with relief. She could handle Karolina teasing her. She turned to reach for her coffee, which caused her to miss the smirk on her girlfriend's lips.
"They actually want her as a bouncer."
This time Nico spilled the coffee on the table.
—O—
A week later, things changed. And it was all because of a brief letter Karolina had received in their post office box, a letter from her mother, Leslie. Karolina had read it first, then handed it to Nico, right before nearly going into a panic attack on the street outside the post office while Nico quickly read the letter and the offer it contained.
Nico couldn't recall the last time she saw her girlfriend so nervous. Karolina couldn't even fly straight, as evidenced by her nearly smashing Nico's head into a large rock as she descended through the narrow, twisting passage she used to fly in and out of the Hostel. Even though it made the short trip through the tortuous passage in the rocks more difficult, Karolina normally held Nico in a bridal carry when they flew together; her Majesdanian strength wasn't that much greater than human, but Nico was tiny... and Karolina loved carrying her goth princess that way. (Even if Nico rolled her eyes when Karolina called her that.)
"Do you want to talk about it?" Nico asked as they exited the passage at the ceiling of the Hostel's enormous main room. Karolina's descent slowed, her glowing skin and hair casting swirling colors onto the walls and decorations in the Hostel until her feet touched the floor and her powers turned off.
Karolina didn't reply until she eased Nico down, letting the raven-haired woman's elevated boots touch the floor tiles. "I... I don't know," she admitted, wincing at the frustrated look on Nico's fully made-up face. "I'm sorry, Nico, I'm just trying to be honest!"
"I know," Nico sighed, trying not to take out her frustration on Karolina. It wasn't her girlfriend's fault that all their parents were assholes.
Nico turned and wrapped her arms around the taller blonde, getting a hug in return. Nico was on her toes, lifting her head to press her face against the warmth of Karolina's cheek. "You don't have to talk about it, baby," Nico whispered, figuring that they were likely drawing attention from their friends by this point. "I'm here if you want to talk, but I'm perfectly content to just hug you and be here for you while you work through it, okay?"
"What happened?" asked Alex, from across the vast open space of the Hostel's main room.
"Karolina's fucking mom," Nico said acidly, turning her head to look at Alex but not moving from where she was pressed against Karolina's cheek and neck. She was grateful that her makeup and the Hostel's dim lighting hid the heat on her own face. She was angry enough without adding other emotions to the mix, but the last hour had torn the scab off of some old emotional wounds, and Nico hated dealing with old feelings.
Knowing that she was part of why this was such a painful subject to Karolina made Nico hurt even more.
Karolina's head bent down, and she tried to bury her face in Nico's shoulder as the tears that had been threatening to erupt finally broke their cage; unfortunately, it was just slightly too far a distance, and the tears plip-plipped softly onto the thin fabric of Nico's black cardigan.
"You're going to hurt your neck, Kar," Nico said softly. "Float me."
Alex turned to look at Chase and Gert, who had left their room and were standing at the balcony, watching the scene below. Molly and Old Lace were both asleep but starting to stir in the part of the balcony that had been converted into Old Lace's nest, but both of them seemed too sleepy to be interested at the moment.
Karolina's body illuminated again, swirling colors casting flowing hues into the shadows of the Hostel and onto the fair skin of Nico. As she felt herself nearly weightless in the embrace of Karolina's energy, Nico lightly pushed off the floor with just the slightest force. Her body drifted upward a few centimeters, until their eyes were nearly level. She and Karolina looked at each other, and it broke Nico's heart to see the woman she loved so hurt.
Nico pulled herself into Karolina; Karolina clutched Nico tightly and buried her face into Nico's shoulder, now at a much better angle for such an action. Karolina broke down into sobs, making Nico's eyes tear up as well. Nico held a soft pressure against the back of Karolina's head, letting her girlfriend cry it out in her arms. She likewise pressed her mouth and chin against Karolina's shoulder, her own eyes looking nervously over Karolina's shoulder and around the Hostel but not focusing on any one thing.
"I think we should give them a bit," Gert said, her voice soft but definitely loud enough to be heard by Alex and Molly. Chase turned to look at his girlfriend; seeing the quiet fire in Gert's eyes, he nodded. He looked up to Alex and gave the other male Runaway a single nod of affirmation.
Alex considered for a second or two before nodding once back to Chase. He gave a look to Molly, but the youngest member of their family had already laid back down, curling up against Old Lace, who had protectively laid a taloned claw across Molly's torso.
With a what-the-hell smile, Alex turned and quietly went back to his little section of the Hostel, sliding behind the drapes that partitioned his personal space off from the rest of his family.
"Are they okay?" asked Livvie, shifting when she had dozed off on Alex's bed.
Alex smiled as he sat down on the low mattress, resting his hand on the small of his girlfriend's back in a loving manner. He noted the smile that spread across Livvie's face at the contact.
"Yeah," he said softly. "I think they are."
Back in the main room, Nico had closed her eyes, focusing on holding Karolina while the taller woman continued to weep. Karolina's chest wasn't shaking as much, so that was a good thing, but it was taking all Nico had to not break down herself.
They had never talked much about Jonah. Not after what Nico had done.
(Killed the lying asshole. That's what she had done, or at least tried.)
Jonah had taken Amy away from her, and then he wanted to take Karolina too, leaving all of the rest of them to die on a broken planet. So FUCK HIM. But she couldn't say that to Karolina. She couldn't break Karolina's heart all over again, when her actions at the time had been so damaging, so close to shattering her and Karolina's relationship for good back then, all because Nico couldn't control her rage.
She couldn't let that happen again. And she hadn't. They had gotten through it. Nico had apologized. Karolina had accepted it. And that was the last they had spoken of it.
Until Karolina's fucking mom and her letter, offering to meet and tell Karolina more about the father she had barely known.
This was normally the spot where someone comforting a loved one would offer some optimistic platitude, like, "I'm sure they meant well," or, "She wouldn't hurt you on purpose."
Nico Minoru did not do optimistic platitudes. Or spare others' feelings, in general.
Plus, she knew better to than ascribe any positive motivations to any of their parents, anyway. None of them deserved that kindness.
Because she had her eyes closed and the relentless grasp of gravity on them had been negated by Karolina's powers, Nico didn't realize that they had slowly floated higher and higher, drifting easily toward their room. Karolina had lifted her head just enough to guide them, keeping her nose and mouth pressed against the now-damp fabric of Nico's thin black cardigan.
It was a momentary disorientation when Nico opened her eyes and was greeted with a view of the main room from eight meters up, but she trusted Karolina, and she closed her eyes once more against the slight twinge of nausea created when her proprioception disagreed with her sight.
"Taking us somewhere?" she asked softly, her voice warm against Karolina's shoulder.
"To our bedroom," Karolina replied, her voice hoarse from crying. "I... I need to break down in private for now."
Nico tried not to feel the sting of dismissal in her heart. "You... can set me down, if you want. So you can have your privacy."
Karolina looked at Nico, the tears on the blonde's face refracting and reflecting the colors of her skin and hair. "I don't do private from you," she said quietly, hugging Nico a bit tighter. "Not anymore."
Nico kissed Karolina's temple. "You've got me. Always." She paused, doubt trying to well up inside her heart as she tried not to dread whatever it was Leslie wanted to tell Karolina about her homicidal sperm donor. She tried to stamp that doubt back down. "I hope you know that."
She felt Karolina nod against her shoulder, and the simple gesture exorcised that damned doubt.
"I do," Karolina replied, and the two words made Nico's heart burn with joy instead of shame.
Nothing else was said as Karolina slowly hovered along the upstairs walkway, using a soft pulse of light to push open the door to their room before she carefully flying them inside. Now, with Nico standing with Karolina instead of being carried in her arms, it's a simple matter for the two of them to pass through the large bedroom door.
When they're finally over their bed (tall ceilings in the Hostel truly are remarkable, Nico thinks), she prepares for Karolina to gently release her, dropping the full-size Staff of One onto the edge of the bed and tensing her legs so she can carefully touch down onto the yielding surface of the mattress without twisting her ankle.
But Karolina surprises her, keeping a tight hold on Nico as the two of them rotate as they hover, slowly going from a position of both of them upright to Nico being on her back and Karolina lying atop her as they descend onto their bed, perpetually unmade and slightly messy.
"Cute trick," Nico said, and the smug smile that flashes across Karolina's glowing face, still lined with glistening tracks of tears, makes Nico's breath catch in her chest.
"I've been practicing," the luminous woman said, and unconsciously her mind delights in this moment of happiness to quell the flood of painful memories that had been unleashed earlier.
The softness of their sheets tickled Nico's back as she settled atop the mattress. Karolina slowly turned her powers off, adjusting her weight so as not to drop onto her smaller girlfriend all at once.
"I'm not going to break, you know," Nico said, her lips twisting into a hint of a smirk as Karolina's glow faded and the blonde's skin returned to its non-luminous state.
"I know," Karolina said, placing a kiss on Nico's lips, nearly black with the color she had chosen for this evening. "You're tougher than you look, and you already look pretty tough."
"Why, Miss Dean," Nico replied, a feigned look of shock on her face. "I can't tell if that's a compliment or a dig!"
Now Karolina grinned, and that fact that she had stopped crying made Nico's heart swell. "Why can't it be both, Miss Minoru?" she teased.
"With a sassy mouth like that," Nico said, reaching up and running the tips of her fingers through Karolina's hair before cupping her cheek, "it's a good thing you're so damn beautiful."
"Mmm, you love my mouth," Karolina teased, lifting her head just out of easy reach of Nico's lips. "I know that for a fact."
"Fuck yes, I do," Nico admitted, her breath starting to get tight as she felt her heart rate pick up. "Hey," she said, wanting to get what she needed to say out before they became entangled in more wonderful activities. "I know we need to have sex, and we want to have sex, but we should probably talk about what your mom said first."
Karolina sighed, and her blue eyes closed. She nodded twice. "Yeah, we should," she admitted, then she opened her eyes again. "Putting the difficult stuff off never ends well."
"No, it doesn't. Even though you and I are so good at putting it off."
The smile that crossed Karolina's face as looked down at Nico was both sad and knowing. "We really are, aren't we?"
"Absolutely. I'm worse than you are at it."
There was a pause, then Karolina lightly kissed the tip of Nico's nose. "Yeah, you are. But I love you." She wrapped her arms around Nico and rolled them over in the massive bed, so that Nico was now resting on Karolina's chest instead.
The pause that followed was long and more than a bit uncomfortable, as Nico's eyes closed for several seconds, then opened, searching Karolina's eyes nervously for a few seconds before snapping closed again. Karolina reached up and ran her fingertips down Nico's hair, lightly tracing them down the smaller woman's neck, then her left arm. When Nico's eyes opened again, Karolina patiently met that brown gaze, darker than usual with unspoken but evident emotion.
"I... I'm sorry I hurt you by killing Jonah," Nico finally said. "Well, tried to kill him. At the crater. But I'm not sorry that I tried to kill him, and I'm not going to lie to you and say that I am." She looked more worried than Karolina had seen her in a long time, and she could feel Nico's body trembling atop her. In silent reply, Karolina squeezed a bit more tightly with her left arm, wrapped across Nico's right hip and lower back, her hand grasping Nico's left buttock through the black lace skirt and tight shorts.
"He... He killed Amy. He tried to kill you. He did kill people, dozens of them, hundreds as far as we know." A tear slipped from Nico's left eye, splashing onto Karolina's chin just below her mouth. "He's your father, I know, but he's a shitty, shitty person. He's going to keep possessing people and sucking them dry, until we stop him for good. But—"
Nico had to pause and swallow, obviously trying not to break down into sobs. "But... I never want to hurt you, Kar." She opened her eyes again, and now she saw tears forming in Karolina's big, expressive eyes. "I'm... I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I just acted, and that I didn't talk to you about it, and that I hurt you by trying to kill him while you were still coming to terms with him being your father."
Karolina raised her head and kissed Nico on the forehead, holding her lips there for several seconds before pulling back. "Scoot up here, please," she asked gently, and she waited while Nico slid up so that their eyes and faces were at the same height, so to speak.
She kissed Nico on the lips, noticing the salty taste from her girlfriend's tears. She figured Nico was getting the same taste from her own lips, but neither of them was complaining. After a few seconds of just them hesitantly pressing their lips together, nothing more than that, Karolina breathed out softly. Nico's eyes opened, and she slightly lifted her head up.
"I forgave you long ago," Karolina admitted. "You were defending all of us, and you were avenging Amy. Losing her nearly broke us apart, but none of us have had to suffer as much as you."
Nico's eyes closed again as she fought tears. She didn't know if she'd ever get over losing her sister, not completely. But she had come to terms with the pain, and she had moved forward with her life. And she wasn't the only Runaway who had lost a sibling. "You have," she whispered to Karolina. "Lost siblings. In Jonah's ship."
"But I never really knew them," Karolina argued. "And they were working with him! They were going to kill all of us!" She blinked tears out of her own eyes. "They were going to kill you."
Karolina reached up and wiped away Nico's tears, first from her right cheek, then her left. "My brothers and sisters were never in that spaceship," she said. "They're here."
"Well, I hope you're not including me in that," Nico said, her expression becoming a bit uneasy. "Because that'd be a bit weird, considering we fuck and all."
Karolina laughed, a solid laugh that bodily lifted Nico as the blonde's chest expanded and contracted beneath her. Her expression as she looked up was full of adoration and wonder as she looked into Nico's eyes, almost sparkling with mirth, because she knew Karolina needed to laugh to release the pain she was holding inside.
"You are SO much more than my sister," Karolina said, the raw honesty in her words burning her throat. She pressed a kiss to Nico's lips. "You're my friend." She kissed Nico again. "You're my teammate." Another soft kiss. "You're my lover." Another lingering kiss. "You're my girlfriend." Another kiss, but this one lasted much longer, and Karolina found herself having to keep from easing Nico's lips open, or she knew that there would be no more words for some time.
"You, Nico Minoru, are the woman I want to spend my life with," she breathed out, so worked up that her skin began to glow again for a full second before she had her powers back under control.
Before Nico could reply, Karolina rolled them over again, farther across the bed than before, nearly pinning the Staff of One beneath Nico.
Karolina reached to move the Staff from where it was pressing into Nico's side. The simple action suddenly triggered a memory for Nico, a fight she, Gert and Alex had been in several weeks ago.
The powerfully-built man had tried to tackle Nico when she had knocked his gun out of his hand with the Staff, surprising her with his sudden wild charge. His right hand closed around the Staff of One, and he nearly succeeding in yanking it out of her grasp with his strength.
Then the yellow-white electricity sparking and filling the Staff's circular headpiece shifted into a bloody scarlet. Nico smelled ash an instant before the man's entire right arm burst into flame, from the hand gripping the Staff up to his shoulder. He shoved away from the Staff, but the flames continued to burn, searing and scorching his arm and hand before any of them could put the fire out.
"Jesus, Nico," Gert had said, standing over the smoking man and his blackened arm. "When did you learn how to do that?"
Nico blinked several times. "I... I didn't."
Karolina hadn't been there. She didn't know.
Nico was too quick to stop Karolina from grabbing the Staff, despite lunging for her girlfriend's arm. "Karolina!" she blurted loudly, nearly a shout.
The blonde's fingers closed around the ebony shaft of the artifact, gripping it calmly right before Nico's fingers could get there, grasping the Staff just above Karolina's hand.
Nothing happened.
Nico blinked a few times.
Karolina noticed her confused look. "Are you afraid I'll use your magical Staff, Miss Minoru?" she asked playfully, smiling coyly at the dark-haired witch, unaware of what Nico had truly feared.
"Uh... kinda, yeah," Nico mumbled, trying to process what had happened. Or what hadn't happened.
"Well," Karolina said, not releasing her grip on the Staff of One. Her fingers brushed against Nico's on the Staff's wooden shaft as she shifted her position to straddle Nico's waist, a very smug smile on her gorgeous face. "I can assure you that you don't have to cast any spells on me to get me to stay with you." Karolina knelt forward, hovering with her face just above Nico's. "Because I am completely, hopelessly in love with you."
Karolina felt excitement pulse through her body as her desire for her girlfriend energized her as surely as her powers. "I am going to have your baby one day, Nico Minoru," Karolina said, the boldness of her statement surprising herself as well as rendering Nico dumbstruck with equal amounts of love and lust as Karolina's face descended, letting their lips press together with heated urgency.
As they kissed, losing themselves in each other, neither of them noticed the headpiece of the Staff of One, which was still held by both women, flicker to life. A shimmering circle of brilliant white-green electricity silently filled the metal loop, pulsing and burning for several seconds before those two hands gently released the Staff, letting it fall softly to the bed as its headpiece once again went still.
—O—
Author's Afterword: I'm thinking another three or four chapters, maybe. We'll see. I write super slow, so it'll prob be a week or two before I have an update. Please be patient with me.