Hearts and Minds

Chapter Summary

Lucy and Evie take on the establishment...one small victory at a time.

Every morning, Evie felt as if she needed to pinch herself and every morning she would wake to the sight of Lucy still sleeping beside her or smiling back at her when she awoke.

This morning was no different.

The brunette gradually opened her eyes and Lucy's blinding smile came into focus. Then her vision fixed on Lucy's incredibly dark brown eyes. Evie grinned so much that her face hurt.

"Good Morning, my darling wife." said Lucy, as she leaned over Evie and kissed her softly on her right cheek. The student immediately responded by throwing her arms around Lucy, holding her close. Evie's body ached with all the love that she felt and that she thought she would never truly be able to convey.

"Good morning, my everything." replied Evie, as she softly brushed a finger down Lucy's face. She looked at the redhead as if she was looking at her for the very first time.

"Evie, what is it?" asked Lucy, having noticed the deep expression on the student's face.

"It's nothing," said Evie, "It's just struck me just how much I love you."

"Oh, darling." replied Lucy, on the verge of tears.

"Kiss me, Lucy." said Evie, her greenish blue eyes pleading. "Kiss me like that first time."

The young brunette closed her eyes and waited, waited for the first tentative touch of Lucy's lips against hers. Then, just as before, the two women lost all control of their inhibitions. Evie was transported back to that moment when Thorne's lips first met hers.

When they finally broke the kiss, Evie looked deeply into Lucy's eyes.

"When did you know that you had feelings for me?" asked Evie.

Lucy shifted her weight, propping herself up on her left arm. The redhead had buried that moment deep down in her subconscious mind, as she had thought that nothing could ever have come of it. She looked past Evie and off into the distance as if she was staring into the past.

"I remember it so clearly," began Lucy. "I was standing by the doorway near the student lockers. I was on morning duty. That was the first time that I saw you. I remember that you dropped some papers as you were closing your locker and as you retrieved your paperwork from the floor..."

"I looked up and I saw you," Evie cut in. "I saw you look at me and I couldn't breathe. I just grabbed the papers and left as quickly as I could. That was the first time that..."

"I realised I had feelings for you," said Lucy. "I told myself that I was crazy but in that brief moment when we looked at each other..."

"I felt my breath catch in the back of my throat," said Evie. "I thought that I must have been imagining the way you looked at me but..."

"I knew that I felt something," said Lucy. "It tortured me every day until..."

"...The moment when you asked me to kiss you that day in your office," Evie cut in.

"Then, I knew..." said Lucy.

"...That I was in love with you," replied Evie.

"That split second when our eyes met will be imprinted on my heart and mind for the rest of my life." said Lucy. "I had no idea at the time that it would lead me here. I had no idea that you would love me back."

"That is exactly how I feel," said Evie. "I can't get that vision of you out of my mind's eye. It is burned into my heart. "We fell for each other at exactly the same time!" said Evie, with a giggle.

Lucy suddenly glanced over at the bedside alarm clock.

"I hate to break up this little reminisce," began Lucy, "But if we want breakfast before heading off, we need to get up now."

"Yes and you do realise that I am in your history class this morning, Ms Thorne." said Evie, grinning at her wife.

"Well then, you had better be on your best behaviour, Mrs Thorne." replied Lucy, giving Evie a quick peck on the cheek as the pair sprung into action to prepare for their day.

"I think that it would be best if we didn't arrive for class at the same time, don't you?" said Evie, as Lucy let them out of their apartment.

"In that case, we had better make this one last." said Evie, as she captured Lucy's lips for their final kiss of the morning.

"I'll go in first," said Evie. "You had better hang back for a couple of minutes. This class is going to be awkward enough without giving them ammunition to begin with!"

"Good luck," replied Lucy, "See you in a minute. The redhead gave Evie a wink as the student headed to the lecture room door.

"You can do this, Evie." she whispered to herself as she swallowed hard and opened the door.

As soon as she walked into the room, all eyes were on Evie. Choosing to ignore her contemporaries, the student crossed the room to take her seat next to the only breath of fresh air in the room. Ned.

"Hey, Evie. How are you doing?" asked the cheerful American.

"All in all, things couldn't be better." replied Evie, "Thanks for asking. Lucy and I just need to survive this class."

"You'll smash it," said Ned, with a smile.

Evie could feel her heart beating faster as she saw the blurred outline of Lucy standing on the other side of the door.

As Lucy walked in, Evie could hardly breathe.

Lucy stood behind her table and began to address the room.

"Good morning," said Lucy. "Please take out your textbooks and turn to page fifty-seven."

As the class were distracted with their textbooks, Lucy snook a look in Evie's direction and gave her wife a sneaky smile, something which didn't go unnoticed by Ned.

"I have never seen Ms Thorne smile so much," said Ned. "You have had an amazing effect on her."

"We have had an amazing effect on each other." replied Evie, winking back at Lucy.

There was suddenly a shout from the back of the room,

"Hey, Thorne! How's it feel to be teaching your wife during the day and f***ing her at night?"

Lucy stood up from her desk with a furious expression painted across her face.

"Who said that?" shouted Lucy.

She was met with silence.

Evie shifted uneasily in her seat as her wife tried to weed out the perpetrator. She wanted to stand with Lucy and support her but she knew that she couldn't, not unless Lucy asked her to. She could hear her silent screaming echoing in her head. Evie tapped a finger against her wedding ring, giving Lucy a sideways glance. A look which bore a thousand words but conveyed the most important message of all.

"I love you. No matter what anyone can say or do against us, I love you and I will go on loving you for the rest of my life. Just remember that."

Everything seemed as if it had gone into slow motion. As if time itself was ceasing to exist.

Then Evie remembered Lucy's words to her after they had confronted Principal Starrick together,

"Attack is the best form of defence."

"Alright then," Evie thought to herself.

To Lucy's surprise, Evie suddenly got up from her desk and turned to address the class.

"My name is Mrs Evie Thorne. I am proud to be the wife of this incredible woman," said Evie, gesturing towards Lucy. "Neither of us is expecting special treatment but we do ask for respect, not ridicule. Within the walls of this room, Ms Thorne is my history lecturer just as she is yours. She has come here to teach. We are here to learn, so if you don't mind can we please now continue with this session." concluded Evie, as she took her seat.

A spontaneous ripple of applause erupted from somewhere towards the back of the room and gradually grew, as the rest of the class showed their approval for Evie's statement. The perpetrator remained silent for the rest of the class.

Evie looked at Lucy and could see a tear forming in the redhead's left eye as the lecturer fought to keep her emotions in check. Lucy simply signalled to Evie by tapping on her own wedding ring with her fingers and Evie knew exactly what Lucy was telling her,

"I love you."

That evening, back in their apartment, Evie and Lucy celebrated another small victory.

"I think that you won over a few hearts and minds today, Evie." said Lucy, giving her wife a soft kiss on her left cheek. "I'm so proud of you."

The pair were sitting on the sofa. The television was on but neither of them were paying attention to it, they just wanted to relax in each others' arms.

"I was simply defending you because I love you, my darling." replied Evie. "I will always defend you."

Lucy held Evie close by her side as she gently covered the student's face in soft, slow kisses.

"I love you so much, Evie Thorne. I simply don't deserve you." whispered Lucy.

"I think that I really need to come clean about something," said Lucy, suddenly.

"What is it?" Evie moaned softly, as Lucy continued to kiss her.

"I fixed your work experience," said Lucy, hesitantly. "I wanted you so much. I know that it was stupid but-"

Lucy's words were cut short as Evie put a finger to the redhead's lips.

"It doesn't matter," replied Evie, her greenish blue eyes shining at Lucy. "Even if we hadn't had that week together, I would have gotten to you somehow. Even if it had meant that I had had to barge into your office and take you in my arms," said Evie. "I needed you too much to let you slip through my fingers."

Evie turned to Lucy,

"Let's have an early night." said Evie, taking Lucy's hands in her own.

As the pair lay in each others' embrace, Evie looked longingly into Lucy's eyes.

"You know I would hate not to live up to the hype," said Evie.

"What hype?" asked Lucy.

"The hype that you teach me by day and f**k me by night." replied Evie.

"Well, we will have to do something about that then, won't we?" said Lucy, as she dipped her lips to Evie's neck. Lucy felt Evie's body shuddering in her arms as she kissed her.

Soft keening moans left Evie's throat as she melted at Lucy's touch.

"My darling," Lucy whispered, as she continued to caress Evie's body with her lips. Lucy swore that sometimes it felt like she was still in a dream. Just how is it possible that this young woman chose me? she thought. It was a question that she would probably go on asking herself for the rest of her life. Lucy knew that she was lucky. She felt as if she was the luckiest person on Earth.

Lucy suddenly felt the caress of Evie's fingertips against her face, the sensation of the brunette's lips on her own as the young woman rolled on top of her.

"My love," Evie whispered, taking the redhead in her arms.

To Lucy and Evie it seemed as if they were invincible because they had each other. That as long as they were together nothing could harm them.

As they lay there in each others' arms, they had no idea that their world was soon to be turned upside down.