Helena leaned her weight onto her elbow, resting her head in the cup of her palm. The drops of rain running down the window in a generous stream cast shadows onto Hunnigan's skin and Helena reached over, softly running her fingers over the shadows, a smile tugging the corner of her mouth when Hunnigan moved a little under the touch, her skin rising to goosebumps.
"That tickles," she muttered and turned to lie on her side.
"Sorry," Helena chuckled. She let her arm wrap around Hunnigan from behind and pulled her to herself, sliding her fingers up the other woman's abdomen until she reached the soft underside of her breast.
"Helena..."
"Yes?"
"What are you doing, we're just getting over the being sticky-part."
"I know, and now I'm gonna make you all sticky again," Helena chuckled softly, leaning to plant gentle kisses over the side of Hunnigan's neck, trailing her lips to Hunnigan's shoulder as she snuck her hand higher.
"You've gotta be kidding me," Helena groaned in frustration when Hunnigan's phone rang. In her line of work switching it off or ignoring a call was never an option, and Helena had learned to hate this fact from the very beginning of her relationship with the other woman. Hunnigan wasn't exactly pleased with the situation herself at the moment, but considering it was almost midnight, the odds were it had to be something important.
"It's Emily," she frowned when she saw the caller's name on the screen, "Hey, kid, what's up?" she answered and sat up on the edge of the bed, sobering up from the haze of relaxed comfort within seconds.
"Can I come and stay with you for a while? I can't sleep here, my mom's yelling at dad and it's keeping me up," the girl responded, her tone downright casual, bordering on fed up and annoyed rather than scared or distressed like what one would expect from a six year old in that situation.
"Uh... sure, I'll come pick you up, okay?" Hunnigan promised and began to get dressed.
"Okay," Emily confirmed and without as much as a goodbye, ended the call.
"What's happening?" Helena frowned and Hunnigan explained it to her as she pulled her jeans on and buttoned them up. Helena got dressed as well and decided to go along as Hunnigan began making her way to the parking garage and to her sister's.
"Oh, God, you brought the dog," Shannon said in her usual venomous manner as she glanced over Helena.
"You're lucky that you're on the sauce right now because I have a strict policy of not punching drunks," Helena replied in kind.
Shannon was about to question their presence at her house when Emily emerged from her room with her backpack bulging.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" her mother demanded when Emily walked past her and, much to Shannon's annoyance, paused next to Helena, seeking out her hand and gripping it.
"To aunt Iggy's, it's quieter there," the girl muttered and Shannon rolled her eyes.
"Don't be ridiculous, get back to your room and go to bed."
"No!"
"Emily, I will not tell you again!" Shannon snapped and stepped forward, extending her arm a little in an attempt to grab Emily's shoulder and urge the girl back toward her room.
"Just... calm down!" Hunnigan intercepted, gripping Shannon's forearm and stepping between her and Emily, "You're drunk and apparently in the middle of fighting with Ethan over something, so wouldn't it be better if she stayed with us?" she then tried reasoning.
"Tsh, you think you can stand there and tell me how to raise the kid?" Shannon hissed through clenched teeth, yanking her forearm free from Hunnigan's grip. Her drink spilled over as she moved.
"I'm not telling you how to do anything, I'm just saying it'd be best for you and her if she stayed with us," Hunnigan repeated.
"I can take of her better drunk than you would sober," Shannon narrowed her eyes. Helena had to commend Hunnigan for not taking the bait, had it been her, she would've undoubtedly said or done something she'd regret by now. Instead, Hunnigan just stared Shannon down for a moment before speaking again.
"At the moment I can't say that I agree. I'll call you tomorrow when you've hopefully sobered up," Hunnigan said in her usual calm tone and turned to leave. Shannon made a lunge toward her in an attempt to stop her, but this time Helena stepped in front of her to intercept.
"Seriously, don't do that. Just don't," Helena warned her. It took only a fraction of a second, but the tiny sneer that flashed across Shannon's face revealed what she was about to do almost as clearly as if she'd just yelled out her intention.
Based on what experience Helena had of being targeted by an agitated woman, she had a good idea of what to expect. Most people were right-handed, so she was expecting Shannon to open with attempting to throw a punch from the right and prepared to catch her wrist, followed by the left one and finally turn her hips and raise her leg to shield her abdomen with her thigh from the inevitable knee to the gut. But Shannon managed to take her by surprise. Instead of throwing a single punch, she threw both of her fists forward with all the force she could conjure up, driving them into Helena's chest and dropping her instantly.
"What the fuck, Shannon!" Hunnigan hissed at her and knelt by Helena who'd collapsed to the floor.
"She was in my way," Shannon spat.
"Helena?" Hunnigan said, cupped the younger woman's cheek and turned her head a little. Helena didn't respond and Hunnigan reached to feel the back of her head. She couldn't see any blood nor did there appear to be a wound, so it didn't seem she'd hit her head as she'd fallen.
"You killed her!" Emily exclaimed, her eyes widening.
"All right, you had your fun, quit dicking around," Shannon scoffed at Helena, but the younger woman didn't react.
"Oh, my God, I don't feel a pulse," Hunnigan breathed after feeling around Helena's neck, "Well, don't just fucking stand there, call for help!"
