A/N: Just a quick note that, thanks to someone far more knowledgeable than I, I went back and fixed the weather issue. It does not snow in Sydney. I think I read the average temperature in Sydney in the winter at 16 C as being 16 F. Oops... can I blame mom-brain?
A warm, brown hand trailed along her hip.
"So."
Chloe adjusted her head on the pillow. "So."
"A son."
"Yes. Max."
"I'd like to know more," Nadine said after a moment.
"What would you like to know?"
"All of it, eventually." Nadine sounded so matter-of-fact, even now, even after spirited – if quiet – sex. Yet somehow she had a bedroom voice, a quiet softness to her demeanor. Matter-of-fact, yes, but still full of feeling. "But for now I'll settle for how he came to be. Is his father in the picture?"
"No," Chloe said, looking into Nadine's eyes. The woman's curls in all their magnificent splendor were splayed out over Chloe's shoulder, her head pillowed just above Chloe's naked breast. "He doesn't know about Max. He's… he's not a good man. I only want Max to know good men. Not scoundrels." No one like me, she added mentally. He doesn't know that part of me.
"I see. Did you know the man from a job?"
"Yes. We hooked up throughout the caper and then he betrayed me in the end to keep all the cash. Literally shoved me out of a truck as it sped off." She grimaced. "Did me the favor of not being at full speed, I suppose."
Chloe felt Nadine tense up. It took a moment, but then Nadine spoke. "Any chance I could track him down for you? Return the favor?"
Chloe chuckled darkly. "Sure. But I don't want you to. I'm done with him." She smiled. "I got the better deal."
"Max?"
"Yeah," Chloe said with a nod. "Max."
"He's quite a kid."
Chloe let out a true laugh at that. "Yes. He is. Sorry he regaled you with science facts all night."
Nadine shrugged. "It's all right. I remember being young and interested."
"As if you're not still interested."
"What?"
Chloe gave her a tiny bump with her hip. "All those Wikipedia facts you've got at your fingertips about animals?"
"Yes. Well. We all have things you wouldn't expect about us."
"Fair enough," Chloe said, knowing Nadine meant Max. She couldn't argue with that.
"So I have some questions of my own," Chloe said after a few minutes of silence.
"What?"
"You love me. Like. Love, love."
"Yes. Perhaps against my better judgment, but I do."
Chloe steeled herself. She knew she needed to say the words, or this moment wouldn't matter and she'd lose Nadine forever. And she certainly didn't want that.
"I think I love you, too."
Nadine took a moment to respond. "Wow."
"What?"
"You said it." It was a simple statement, but Chloe knew how profound it was. She didn't make a habit of making herself vulnerable like this. "Somehow I never thought I'd hear you say it."
"This isn't the first time I've loved, you know," Chloe said, feeling a little prickly. "I thought I loved Nathan Drake at one point." She ignored Nadine's noise of disgust. "I still think I loved him. But he was so clearly in love with that woman he's married to now. I knew not to get in the way of a good thing. It had potential. And they just had a little girl, so I know I was right."
"And us? Do we have potential?"
"That depends," Chloe said.
"On what?"
"If you keep getting along with Max."
Nadine pushed herself up on one elbow. "Sounds like a fair condition."
Chloe reached out for her face. "We're a package deal, now that you know about him."
"I watched my father go through enough women who tried to mother me to know how it works, Chloe. I always came first to him. And Max will always come first for you."
Chloe smiled, trailing her fingers along Nadine's collarbone. "Did I ever tell you how good you look naked?"
Nadine small smile turned into a grin. "Once or twice, maybe."
"Well," Chloe said, snaking her hand around to bury in those amazing curls. "Let me make sure to tell you at least one more time: you look really good naked, Ross."
Nadine allowed herself to be pulled into another kiss, and the rest of the night was lost to each other.
Chloe awoke late. She'd neglected to pull the curtains the night before, yet still she'd slept through the bright sunlight. Looking down, she saw before she registered the feeling of Nadine's back pushed into her front. Curls were all she saw, their scent filling her nose with all sorts of associations, all of them pleasant.
"We should get dressed," she said softly, not wanting to startle Nadine awake. A startled Nadine pulled a gun on you more often than not.
A soft groan greeted her before a true response. "I've never known you to complain about nudity."
"Yes, well, eleven-year-old boys tend to," Chloe said with a grin. "And he usually crawls in bed with me the mornings after I return."
"Fine, fine." Nadine sat up, and Chloe missed the warmth of her skin. The darker-skinned woman began pulling on her shirt. "What time is it, anyway? I'm hopelessly jetlagged."
Chloe moved around her… lover. She's my lover. No that's terrible. What is this, a fantasy novel? Girlfriend… God, no, not that. Partner? This needs some work. Girlfriend for now, I guess. Chloe picked up her underwear, looking for the clock. "Ten… that can't be right." Abandoning her clothes, Chloe grabbed up her robe and slipped it on.
"What's wrong?"
"The apartment is awfully quiet for ten o'clock," Chloe said, walking out of her room. "Mum?" she called.
Nadine hurried up behind her, buckling her pants as she went. "You're worried." It wasn't a question.
"Yeah." She walked to her mother's room.
Nothing.
"Could they have gone somewhere without us? Let us sleep in, with you having a guest over and all?" Nadine asked.
Chloe shrugged. "Yeah, they could have. But this doesn't feel right." She'd learned to trust her gut as a treasure hunter. She checked Max's room.
Nothing.
"They would leave a note. Or text me. Or something." Chloe went back to the kitchen.
"No note," Nadine said, eyes scanning all the countertops. "Anywhere else we should look?"
Chloe furrowed her brows. "No." She folded her arms. "I don't like this."
Nadine moved in front of her, looking up into her eyes. Their slight height difference was always cute to Chloe, but right now the thief could not muster a laugh. She appreciated Nadine's presence, though. "We'll find them, Chloe. They probably just went out. Does your mother have a cell?"
"Good idea." Chloe rushed to her bedroom, pulling up the cell phone she used at home – couldn't use the same phone on jobs, not with the shady people she worked with – and highlighting her mother's name.
The phone rang. And rang. And rang.
"Do you hear it here?" she asked Nadine.
"No, nothing." Nadine now started to look alert like when an animal or rival treasure hunter was about to try to fuck up their day. "Max have a phone?"
"Yeah. Trying it now. Same thing. Rings and rings and ri-"
"Hello, Chloe."
Chloe's heart dropped through her stomach. She felt all the blood drain from her face. She knew that voice.
"What?!" Nadine mouthed.
Chloe finally answered. "Derek?" she croaked.
"Good memory." The voice took a breath and hummed it back out. "I have a son, Chloe. You didn't tell me."
"You shoved me out of a truck. We were done."
Nadine's eyes got big. "Him?!" she mouthed once more.
Chloe nodded.
"I deserve to know my son, Chloe."
Chloe's blood instantly boiled. "Give him back, you bastard! He's not yours! He's mine! I'll kill you!" It was true. She would happily murder him in that moment.
The man on the other end, Derek, her once-lover and the unknowing sperm donor to her unplanned child, just tutted at her over the line. "Careful with the threats, Chloe. You want to see him again, don't you? Your mother, too. Such a lovely woman."
"What do you want, you sick bastard?!"
"Meet me at the zoo at noon. We can talk in a nice, public space." Three beeps signaled a dropped call, and Chloe was left staring at Nadine, gaping like a fish.
Nadine watched Chloe's mouth open and close. No words came out, but her breathing was ragged. The mercenary finally moved close and put both hands on either side of the taller woman's face, cradling each cheek in her palms. She didn't say anything, just waited for Chloe's eyes to focus.
Two pale eyes converged upon her, the dark pupils shrinking and the essence held inside focusing their attention on Nadine.
"I'm here," Nadine said.
Chloe nodded. "You're here." She swallowed, blinked, moved her mouth a bit more, but her eyes did not leave Nadine's.
"I'm not leaving." She pulled a stray strand of hair away from Chloe's face. "I gather nothing good is happening?"
Chloe shook her head. It seemed to galvanize her, and suddenly the thief was moving. "I need a weapon. And you need to stay here. I can't risk anything happening to them because he sees I'm not alone."
Nadine ran after her. "Chloe, slow down! We need a plan! And you need to tell me precisely what is happening!"
"I can't… I can't go over it right now. There's no time. Have to be at the zoo by noon."
Nadine caught Chloe's arm, pulling her around. "It's only ten-thirty! We have more than an hour to get something together. Now, give me the details. While you gather your things. Come on." Nadine had been hoping for a shower - she'd gone since she'd left New York - but she kissed that idea goodbye as soon as she saw that look on Chloe's face.
She listened now as Chloe told her all she knew. Max's father, this Derek, had been a thief like her. Their dalliance had ended when Derek had betrayed her, pushing her out of their escape vehicle and taking all the earnings from their venture for himself. He'd used it to set himself up a tidy little drug empire in the caribbean. Now, for some reason, he was in Australia and had taken Chloe's mother and son.
"And I don't know why," Chloe finished. She wore cargo pants, a thermal shirt, and a fleece vest - a bit chilly for the weather, but light and breathable in case she needed to run or fight. Knowing Chloe, murder might well be on the list of possibilities, as well.
"All right. Well. Weapons, you're right. Also a way to communicate."
"Nadine, you're not coming-"
"I know," Nadine said, finishing tying on her boots. "We won't interact. I'll be a zoo spectator. Guest. Whatever it's called. But we need to give you an earpiece so I can hear this exchange, and so that I can give you instructions if shit goes sideways. One he can't see." She grabbed up a spare jacket of Chloe's and headed for the door.
"Where are you going?" Chloe called.
"Those things I just mentioned?" she said, pausing at the door to see Chloe's puzzled expression. "I know a guy."
Chloe stood looking surprised for a moment, then managed to crack the smallest smile. "Of course you do."
Nadine smiled to herself as they left. Getting Chloe to smile while something like this was happening was a very good thing indeed.