Alex sighed deliberately loudly as she placed what felt like the millionth book back in its place on the shelf in front of her. She'd been so excited when she heard that Overwatch Academy had its own fully stocked library with actual physical books rather than digital copies like most other libraries, but after several days of cleaning the place and putting books back in their rightful places for what felt like hours every day, it was definitely starting to lose its appeal.

"You're almost done Cross." Fareeha called from her position on one of the lounges in the large library, seemingly ignoring Alex's frustrated grunts and sighs and reading a book quietly.

Alex stepped out from the row she was currently in and glared at the older woman, muttering under her breath:

"I'd be done a lot quicker if somebody helped."

Fareeha smirked and lowered her book slightly.

"But then it wouldn't a punishment would it?" The older woman offered teasingly.

Alex rolled her eyes at the older woman and continued with her menial task. She had gotten herself into this one. This was her punishment for the 'fight' she'd had with Conner a week ago. 2 weeks of after-hours detention with Fareeha, which usually involved cleaning or sorting of some kind. Originally Conner and Alex had started their detention together, but after the first day Fareeha had realized that trying to have the two of them work together was going to be more of a punishment for her, so she'd split them up for their tasks, leaving Conner under the watch of another professor at the academy while Alex was lucky enough to be supervised by Fareeha.

All things considered though, Alex didn't mind Fareeha honestly. She was quiet most of the time, which Alex preferred, and she wasn't condescending towards Alex like some adults could be. Alex was also thankful that most of the tasks Fareeha had given her required little to no strain on her ribs, but that could have been due to Angela's influence. She was sure the good doctor would give Fareeha hell if Alex's injuries got any worse while under her supervision. Although that didn't account for all the times Alex wasn't being supervised by Fareeha.

It had been a week since everything happened, and surprisingly Alex hadn't done anything to worsen her injuries. She'd had to sit out on a few of the more strenuous activities that certain classes ran, but otherwise she'd mostly been able to continue going to all of her classes. Mostly.

Under normal circumstances Alex would never use an injury as an excuse to get out of something, but this was a special case, and Doctor Ziegler had been more than happy to officially excuse her from her second self-defense class of the week in favour of getting more rest. Alex supposed she had her injuries to thank for having a legitimate excuse for getting out of that class, and seeing a certain someone.

The more time Alex spent at the academy though, the more time she wondered how long she could put it off. She wouldn't be able to dodge the woman forever. She had been lucky so far to not run into her in the hallways of the extensive campus, but she knew she could not keep it up, nor could she continue missing her classes.

Alex sighed. She knew this was a demon she'd have to deal with eventually. She just hadn't quite figured out the actual 'dealing' part yet.

Placing the last book from her trolley back into its place on the shelf, Alex stretched her arms out, glad to be done with the menial task for the day. She was tired, something Alex found she was a lot lately, and she just wanted to get back to her dorm and crash for the night.

As she pushed her empty trolley around the corner, she noticed that Angela was now in the library too, talking to a now standing Fareeha beside the lounge she'd been sitting in before. They were talking quietly, and Alex couldn't hear what they were talking about but she assumed it had nothing to do with her so she didn't really care.

"I'm done." Alex announced as she approached the two older women with her empty trolley.

Both women diverted their attention to Alex, before Fareeha's glance shifted down towards the trolley, making sure that it was indeed empty.

Alex rolled her eyes.

"Don't you think if I was lying I'd go to a little more effort than just leaving books in the trolley?" Alex asked sarcastically.

Fareeha considered a moment before replying in an equally sarcastic manner:

"You're right. I should check the shelves too."

Alex audibly groaned, causing both Fareeha and Angela to chuckle.

"I'm kidding Cross. You're good to go."

Alex rolled her eyes again, but smirked.

"Finally!" she replied in mock exhaustion, before looking towards Angela and adding:

"And hey Doc."

Angela offered a warm smile, before replying:

"Not giving Fareeha too much trouble are you?"

"What? Me?" Alex replied sarcastically before laughing.

Alex had gotten to know both Fareeha and Angela a little better over the past week, learning early on that the two women were together after Angela consistently came to visit while Fareeha was supervising Alex's detention. Despite the fact that Angela was a doctor, and usually Alex hated doctors, Alex found that she didn't mind the presence of both women. They both gave of a warm and inviting aura, and Alex felt comfortable around them, finding that she could almost bring herself to trust both women. Almost.

"Do you think you'll be well enough to attend Amélie's class tomorrow?" Angela asked pleasantly.

And there it was. That name that could seemingly crush any sense of comfort or trust Alex had come to make in this place. The comfort and warmth she'd felt only seconds ago around these two women was replaced with coldness and mistrust.

"What if they know what she did to your parents?"

"What if they helped?"

The voices in Alex's head were relentless, ripping apart any delusions of trust she managed to build up. Despite the demanding voices, and the nauseating turning of her stomach, Alex smiled through it, like she always did, although her smile wasn't genuine now, and she was sure if she could see her own face she'd see how fake it looked. She wondered if maybe Fareeha and Angela could see how fake it looked. If they did, they didn't say anything.

Taking a breath so that her voice didn't waver, Alex replied in a straightly , showing no traces of her previous light tone:

"Maybe. I'll let you know in the morning. I'll see you both later."

And with that, Alex turned on her heel and walked at a quicker pace than she intended out of the library, not waiting to hear the older women's responses. She pushed her way through the large wooden doors, gasping slightly as she breathed in the cool evening air outside. She took a few moments to steady herself against the stone wall of the building, before pushing off it and walking quickly to her dorm room.

She slammed the room door shut behind herself as she practically threw herself into the room, glad that the room was empty so she didn't have to explain the weird outburst to her inquisitive roommate. Alex leaned against the door heavily, suddenly feeling like she'd run a marathon. Well, she had practically run back to her room. She stood there, breathing heavily for a few moments before the buzzing of her phone in her pocket caused her to jump.

"Shit!" She exclaimed, before wrenching the object out of her pocket to see who had scared the living shit out of her.

Lena.

'Just checking in. We haven't talked in a while. If you ever, y'know, want to, I'm here. Oh! And I hear you have your first class with Amélie tomorrow, let me know if she….'

Alex didn't read the rest of the message. She clenched her fists and breathed heavily through her nose, before throwing her phone angrily at her pillow.

Alex needed to cool off, so she decided to have a shower to calm herself down.

The pleasantly warm water had its desired effect, making Alex feel somewhat calmer as it ran soothingly over her body. With Alex's temper satiated for the time being, she now had time to dwell on the fact that she'd been a pretty shitty person and friend when it came to Lena. She still hadn't actually spoken to the woman since the fainting incident, instead sending her a half-hearted text to say that she was okay and just too busy to actually talk. She didn't think Lena bought it though. She wouldn't. Still, the older woman consistently texted Alex every day, asking how she was doing, if she was recovering okay. Yes, she'd found out about Alex's fight with Conner and subsequent injuries. News seemed to spread fast within the Overwatch ranks, which was what worried Alex.

She loved Lena, she did, and she felt guilty for ignoring the woman, but she also felt justified in doing so. What good would it do forming relationships with these people if she didn't know if she could trust them in the end.

"There you go again, segregating yourself from everyone. 'These people'? It's almost like you want to be alone."

And just like that Alex had managed to throw away her attempts at calming down.

'Classic Alex.' She thought to herself, sighing as she turned off the shower.

Alex cleaned her eye thoroughly, not worrying about getting it done in a hurry like she usually did when Kali was in the other room, seeing as she knew the other girl would be studying until late tonight. Alex wasn't sure what the other girl was managing to study for, they were only in their second week.

Satisfied with her work, Alex wrapped her towel around her body and opened the bathroom door into their adjoining dorm room to find her clothes for the evening.

"Hola Amiga." Came a smug voice that Alex unfortunately recognized all too well.

Laying nonchalantly along Alex's own bed laid the Latino woman, making herself completely at home and casually swiping through messages on what Alex realized was her phone.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Alex yelled loudly in response to the entire situation.

How the hell had the woman gotten into her room? And how had Alex not heard her come in? Okay now that Alex thought about both of those questions she realized neither of those feats should be surprising to her. Two questions remained though: What was the crafty woman doing here and what the hell was she doing with Alex's phone?!

Unfazed by Alex's initial outburst and not even sparing the younger woman a glance, Sombra continued to glance through the messages on the phone in front of her.

Alex's brow quirked in irritation at the other woman and she breathed heavily through her nose. She was just about to demand her phone back when Sombra spoke up:

"You know Amiga, Lena seems really worried about you." The woman announced with a smirk, shifting her eyes slightly towards the younger woman to see her no doubt irritated expression. It was exactly as she had expected.

That was it.

"Give me my phone!" Alex shouted loudly, springing forward from where she was standing suddenly.

Alex lunged herself at the older woman on the bed, determined to quickly snatch the phone out of her grasp and kick her off her bed for good measure. While Sombra had been surprised by the sudden movement at first, she quickly regained her senses and managed to manoeuvre herself to grab Alex and use her body weight and momentum to throw them both off the bed, tumbling off to the side in a heap.

Both women grunted as the hit the ground, and despite the pain in her side from the sudden fall, Alex managed to continue their momentum slightly, just enough to flip them over slightly so that Alex was on top, straddling Sombra who was now lying beneath her on her back.

Alex used Sombra's momentary confusion to snatch her phone out of the other woman's hand, smiling triumphantly in her apparent victory.

Sombra did not look upset or even annoyed however. Instead, much to Alex's irritation, the older woman's facial expression turned to a devilish and suggestive smirk, which only added to Alex's confusion.

Alex followed Sombra's eyes as the sifted slightly down to Alex's torso.

"There are easier ways to get a girl's attention you know?" Sombra purred in a husky voice.

Realization suddenly dawned on Alex and her eyes widened as her cheeks turned a dark shade of red. She whipped her eyes down to her torso to see that the towel she'd had wrapped around herself had come undone slightly in their tussle, and now fell loosely around her waist, meaning that her chest was entirely exposed to the smirking woman beneath her.

Alex quickly yanked the towel back up to cover herself from the other woman's prying eyes, earning a teasing chuckle from the woman still laying below her.

Alex blushed even further, dropping her phone to the floor beside the two women as she brought her left hand up in a swift movement, before bringing it back down again to slap the woman beneath her.

Sombra was too quick for Alex however, and caught her arm by the wrist before her hand could connect with her cheek. Sombra held onto the younger woman's wrist firmly, stopping her from pulling it back away or attempting to slap her again. Since her other hand was currently occupied holding up the towel, Sombra was pretty sure her face was safe.

Alex huffed at her restricted movement, glaring at the woman in irritation.

The sight gave Sombra a thought and she smirked devilishly again. Alex raised her eyebrow slightly at Sombra's expression, but didn't have much time to process what the other woman was thinking before Sombra suddenly yanked her forward by the wrist she was still holding, bringing her own torso up in the same movement to crash their lips together.

Alex's eyes widened in confusion, she had never been kissed before so Sombra had effectively stolen her first kiss, and so she just sort of froze awkwardly at first. When her senses came back to her slightly, she decided she should probably shove the older woman back, her mind telling her that was the smart thing to do, but when the older woman's lips started moving against her own, Alex couldn't help the sigh that escaped as she somewhat melted into it. She was wildly inexperienced in these matters, but she couldn't deny the warm feeling that was currently radiating from her core, so despite her common sense telling her otherwise, Alex closed her eyes and allowed herself move her own lips against the older woman's.

Sombra guided Alex's lips with her own, and Alex felt her cheeks flush red hot. Her whole body was on fire, and just when she thought she might combust from all this heat, Sombra was ending the kiss just as suddenly as it had started.

Sombra maneuvered herself beneath Alex to sit up properly, so now Alex was practically sitting in the older woman's lap. Alex hadn't really moved since the kiss, sitting in stunned silence as Sombra shifted them.

Sombra glanced at the stunned girl for a few moments, amused, before she leaned in close to Alex's right ear and whispered huskily:

"You just smelled so good. I wanted to see if you tasted the same."

Alex's ears and face were practically on fire now, and she was sure her face looked equivalent to a tomato right now. The whisper had broken her out of her frozen stupor though, and now that Alex's senses were coming back, she came to fully realize what had just happened.

Alex's hand came down faster than Sombra could react this time, leaving a red tint across the older woman's face.

"What are you doing here Sombra?" Alex asked in an irritated tone as she sat down on the edge of her bed, now fully clothed.

Sombra stood by the window between the beds, leaning against the frame and staring out before popping herself upright and directing her attention towards Alex.

"What? Can't a girl just come to visit her friend once in a while?"

Alex didn't like the way Sombra rolled her 'r's on 'friend', and to her irritation it caused a flush to creep at her cheeks.

"No. There's no way you'd make the effort for nothing." Alex replied sharply.

"Ouch. And here I thought we were closer than that." Sombra replied in mock sadness, sitting down on the bed next to Alex, a little too close for Alex's comfort, and pulling her tablet out of a small bag she had with her. She turned it on and started sifting through a few files.

Alex had a sneaking suspicion ever since she stumbled upon the other woman in her room, but now the reason as to why Sombra stopped by was clear. She had information on her parents. This was it. Alex was about to learn something new about her parents, about herself, about that night, about everything. For 17 years she'd been living in the dark and some information on that small tablet could either liberate her or destroy her. Was Alex even ready for this? Would she ever be ready? What was her parents involvement in an organization like that? What if Alex didn't like the answers she got? There were so many unknowns that there was no way for Alex to predict what would be in those files.

Sombra shook Alex's shoulder after a moment, bringing Alex back into the moment and out of her mild panic attack.

"You sure you want this information Amiga?" Sombra asked, eyebrow raised slightly.

Alex took a deep breath. She had made up her mind the first moment she laid eyes on Amélie at the academy. She had to know. She had never needed something so much in her entire life. She was willing to throw away everything to find out the truth. There was no going back now.

"Tell me everything you know."

A/N: Bit of a shorter chapter this time. It's kind of a interlude chapter, which may be annoying since I haven't updated in a while, I'm sorry! I've just been so busy but I wanted to get something out so yeah. I have started writing the next chapter however, and it's shaping up to be a big one, so stay with me!

Also, Alex had her first kiss how cute? Haha, not sure what I'm going to do with those two yet but someone on AO3 asked to see them kiss and then I got thinking and boom! This chapter happened.

Thanks again for reading and as always, reviews/critique welcome :D