Lena let out a sigh as she exited the Hoof and Haunch, though her expression immediately lit up upon seeing Amélie. "Amélie! What are you doing 'ere?"
"I came to give you a ride this time," Amélie replied, straightening up from where she'd been leaning against a motorcycle. It had been about a week since their tea at Amélie's apartment, and the two had seen each other a few times since. The sniper honestly had to admit that she was surprised at how much she enjoyed Lena's company; at first she had thought it was only because she missed the human contact, but as she got to know Lena more, she was finding that she truly had an interest in the brunette.
A genuine interest in a British woman; Gerard will never let me hear the end of this.
"Wow, is that yours?" Lena approached the bike, looking it over. "You know how to ride one of these?"
"Oui." Amélie got on the bike before she held a helmet out to the brunette. "Are you going to keep asking questions or are you going to join me?"
"Yeah!" Lena took the helmet and put it on, climbing onto the bike behind the French woman. Amélie felt Lena wrap her arms around her, and she was glad her helmet currently concealed her face. She had told Gerard she had no intentions regarding Lena, but as she spent more time with the brunette, she was wondering just how true that was. The French woman brought the bike to life and started down the street, feeling Lena cling to her tighter.
Once they were outside of King's Row, Amélie was able to increase their speed, taking them further out of the city. Eventually they reached a secluded area looking out over the water, and Lena removed her helmet as she dismounted.
"That was amazin' luv! Think you could teach me 'ow to ride one of them?" Lena asked, looking back at the French woman.
"Perhaps," Amélie replied after removing her own helmet; she didn't mention that Lena on a motorcycle would most likely end in the emergency room. The sniper approached the brunette, who had jumped onto a rock and settled there.
"I love this city," Lena said, a smile on her face as she looked out across the water towards London. "Lived 'ere my whole life, and I can't imagine being anywhere else."
"Yes, that is how I felt about Paris," Amélie said, leaning against the rock. "Sometimes I consider just giving up my life with Overwatch and returning home… I used to be a dancer, before I met Gerard."
"Oh? What kind of dancin'?"
"Ballet." The sniper let out a sigh as the memories washed over her. "I do not regret marrying Gerard, but there are times where I miss that life so deeply…" Amélie let out another sigh, looking back at the brunette. "Sorry, I know you did not ask to hear about my woes."
"No, it's fine luv."
Silence passed between them, and Amélie found herself leaning towards the brunette. Lena was leaning in as well, though at the last moment, the brunette seemed to catch herself.
"W-wait!" Lena quickly moved away from the French woman, which resulted in her falling off the rock. She quickly got to her feet, looking rather flustered.
"What's wrong?" Amélie wondered if she had read the signs wrong; maybe Lena wasn't interested in her. Maybe the brunette wasn't even interested in women.
"I just—I know you're married, and as much as I like you, I won't interfere in anyone else's relationship. I do not cheat, and I do not help anyone else cheat."
"Ah, I see I forgot to mention something important," Amélie said with a slight smile. "It is true, I am married, but Gerard and I have an open marriage."
"Whuzzat now?"
"Don't misunderstand, we do love each other, but he enjoys the company of men as much as I enjoy the company of women."
"So you both just… sleep with other people?"
Amélie made a face. "I take offense to that. Our open marriage is not an excuse to sleep with anyone we might find attractive. It's a chance to form another meaningful relationship with someone."
Lena paused for a moment, though it still didn't seem like she quite understood. "You mean me?"
"Yes, I mean you," Amélie said with a slight smile. "I'm not quite sure how you managed it, being quite British and rather short—"
"I'm not that short!"
Amélie placed a hand on Lena's head gently. "But I understand if you do not wish to continue further. You cannot have me exclusively to yourself, which can be off-putting."
Lena was quiet for a few moments before she said, "Can… can we try that snog and I can make up my mind after?"
Amélie gave her a look. "Trying to get a free kiss out of me, cherie?"
"Well, you were gonna snog me earlier, weren't you?" Lena paused a moment before she added, "That is what you were trying to do, right? That's what it looked like you were trying to do anyway."
"If you want any sort of kiss, you need to move a bit closer."
Lena approached the French woman, looking a little uncertain. "So how does this work? Should I keep my eyes open, or close 'em, or—"
"Hush," Amélie said before she pulled the brunette in, kissing her deeply. Lena seemed to tense up at first before she quickly relaxed into it, her hand moving to rest on Amélie's arm gently. The French woman soon pulled away, studying Lena's face. "Thoughts, cherie?"
Lena seemed to be struggling to find words, and she finally managed to get out, "I… yeah…"
Amélie smiled at that. "Does that mean you enjoyed it?"
Lena nodded, still looking as though she didn't trust her voice.
"Would you like to do that again?"
Lena nodded again before her lips met Amélie's, and the French woman pulled her closer, lifting Lena a bit to compensate for the height difference.
-/-/-/-
Amélie paused to gauge Lena's reaction, noticing that the brunette had been very quiet. "Lena?"
Tracer looked up at sniper, trying to process everything that Amélie had told her. This woman… they had been in some sort of relationship… Talon had forced her to forget so much, and this was just what Amélie knew.
"My family…?" Tracer asked after a minute or so, not entirely sure how to fully express what she wanted to know.
Amélie's expression softened a bit, and she shook her head. "You were too young to really remember anything, as you said before. It never came up again after that… it seemed too painful a subject for you, so I avoided it."
Tracer nodded, disappointed but not surprised. Everything else had been taken from her, so why not any fleeting memories of her family too? "Keep going…"
Amélie glanced at the clock before she said, "I would, but I have to go meet with Dr. Ziegler." She paused before she added, "I suppose we need to find someone to watch you while I'm with her."
"Why do I have to watch her?"
"You're the only one available; if you don't then we'll have to lock her up again, and that will only agitate her. We'll lose any progress we've made."
Fareeha let out a sigh, crossing her arms as she between Angela and Lena. "I don't have time to babysit, Brigitte will be here soon and we have work to do. Why can't you ask Jesse—"
"Fareeha, please, it's only for an hour."
The younger Amari still didn't look convinced. "She attacked my mother; she could have killed her."
"She didn't know what she was doing—"
"This isn't your fault, you know. You're not responsible for Moira's actions—"
"Please don't." Angela let out a sigh, rubbing her eyes. "Listen, Amélie is waiting for me; please, Fareeha?"
Fareeha wanted to protest; she wasn't a babysitter, after all. Why should she be stuck with this former assassin? But Angela looked so tired, and this obviously mattered to her; what else could the younger Amari do?
"Fine, I'll watch her," Fareeha found herself saying.
Angela pushed herself up on her toes, pressing a kiss to Fareeha's cheek. "Thank you," she said, offering her a smile. "She shouldn't give you any trouble; just make sure she doesn't start scratching at herself. She's been trying to bite through the bandages on her arms, so just stop her if you see that." The blonde turned to Lena before she said, "I'm leaving you with Fareeha now; as soon as Amélie's session is finished, she'll come back for you. Behave yourself; do you understand?"
Lena nodded, though she wished she understood just what exactly "behave yourself" entailed.
"Good." Angela gave her a smile before she left the two alone; the doctor could only hope that everything would go all right.
Silence passed between the two, and Tracer turned her attention to Fareeha, who still didn't look entirely happy, despite having agreed to this.
"Lena, is it?" Fareeha finally said.
Tracer shrugged; Lena was what they kept calling her, and she knew that it was the person she had once been.
"Well, Lena, I'm only doing this because Angela asked me to; if I had my choice, you'd still be locked up. The woman you attacked in King's Row was my mother; you could have killed her. I admit, Amélie should have stopped you earlier, but that's not the issue here."
"… Sorry…" Tracer knew that was what she was supposed to say, but it was hard to truly mean it. She had done as she was told, she had attacked Overwatch on sight. Even now, it was hard to fully trust anyone here, and Tracer once again found herself wondering if Talon was ever planning on coming back for her.
"It's hard to believe that apology is sincere," Fareeha said, her eyes narrowing slightly.
Silence.
"Well I have work to do, so just sit over there and don't touch anything," the younger Amari added before walked over to where a blue suit was hanging on metal hooks.
Tracer approached as well, the blue suit more interesting than just sitting down. She reached a hand out to touch the chest plate, but Fareeha quickly smacked it away.
"I just told you not to touch anything," the younger Amari said.
Tracer was inclined to let out a growl, but she remembered Angela's words (along with her painful ear flicks); she was supposed to be practicing using her voice again. According to Amélie's story, she had been quite the chatterbox, which Tracer found almost impossible to believe considering her current state.
Talon couldn't even leave me with that…
"What is it?" Tracer managed to get out.
"It's my rocket suit," Fareeha replied, as if that explained everything.
"Rocket suit?"
"I wear it on missions. It lets me patrol and fight from the sky." Fareeha was being very cagey, and Tracer had a feeling that it was because of her association with Talon.
"Fareeha?" A new voice called through the workshop, and Tracer turned towards it.
"Yeah, I'm here," the younger Amari called back.
A redheaded woman soon approached, setting down the toolbox she was carrying. Her gaze fell on Tracer, and her brow furrowed slightly. "We have company today?"
"Angela has me babysitting."
The woman offered her hand to Tracer as she said, "Brigitte Lindholm."
Tracer wasn't quite sure what this woman wanted, or what she was supposed to do with the offered hand.
After a few moments of silence, Brigitte withdrew her hand. "Is she okay? Does she not speak English?"
"She does; her name is Lena. You'll have to excuse her odd behavior; until recently she was an assassin for Talon. They sent her here to try and kill us, and now Angela believes she can be rehabilitated."
"O-oh." Whatever Brigitte had been expecting, it obviously wasn't that. She looked at Tracer again before she said, "Isn't she a bit… short to be an assassin?"
Fareeha let out a short laugh. "Don't be fooled; she's out of her armor right now. Trust me, when you see her coming at you with those red blades, you're not thinking about her height."
Brigitte nodded before she approached the rocket suit. "So what did you say the problem was?"
"I can't seem to get full power from the thrusters," Fareeha replied.
"Well did you fly into a wall again?"
"I never flew into a wall!"
"Mmm, I heard differently from several witnesses."
Tracer had no idea what the two were talking about as she watched them, and it occurred to her that perhaps this was what friendship looked like. In Talon, Moira seemed only to tolerate Sombra and Reaper, but Fareeha and Brigitte… they genuinely seemed to enjoy each other's company. They were laughing as their conversation went back and forth, and Tracer's mind wandered back to everything Amélie had told her so far.
I used to be that way… we used to have that connection…
Tracer watched the two work on the rocket suit for the better part of the hour, and even Fareeha was surprised at how quiet and still the brunette was.
"She's been really docile this whole time," Brigitte said, looking back at Fareeha. "She hasn't even moved."
"Yeah; I have to admit, I'm impressed," the younger Amari said. "All right, let's test the thrusters and see how they work."
Brigitte nodded, picking up the remote they had hooked up to the suit and pressing one of the buttons. The thrusters came to life for a few seconds before suddenly backfiring, the sound echoing through the room like a gunshot.
The sound had Tracer on her feet in an instant, her muscles tense. Her instincts were telling her to be ready to fight, even without her suit and blades.
"Lena, no, it's okay—" Fareeha started upon seeing the brunette on her feet, but she was interrupted by a second backfire, this one sending out a shower of sparks.
Tracer let out a low growl, blinking forward and striking the suit. Her hands immediately stung afterwards, but the pain was almost welcome. She made to strike again, but Fareeha grabbed her roughly and shoved her up against the nearby wall. The brunette's head struck the wall, and for a brief moment, her vision swam.
"Calm down!" the younger Amari almost yelled.
Tracer struggled against Fareeha's hold, trying to focus through the pain in her head as she scratched at the strong arms holding her. She should have seen this coming; she had been foolish to let her guard down, to let herself believe that Overwatch was a safe place.
"Fareeha!" Angela was suddenly beside the younger Amari, trying to pull her away. "What are you doing?"
"Keeping her still until she calms down," Fareeha replied.
"Let her go, you're just making her angrier," Amélie said.
Fareeha looked back at the brunette before she released her, letting her drop to the floor. Tracer quickly got to her feet and blinked away from the group, her gaze never leaving them.
"Lena, it's all right," Amélie said, slowly approaching the brunette. "It's just me; you can trust me, remember?"
Tracer honestly didn't know if that was true; Fareeha had turned on her with no warning. How could she know that Amélie wouldn't do the same? After all, according to Fareeha, Amélie had been the one who shot her in King's Row, not to mention the fact that the sniper had admitted to shooting Tracer again when she'd invaded their headquarters.
"Lena?" Amélie was close enough to reach out and touch her now, and the French woman stooped to the brunette's level, genuine concern in her golden eyes.
"Not safe…" Tracer honestly didn't know if she was referring more to her current situation, or her own self.
Amélie's expression softened at that. "I… I know the feeling. I can't promise that this will be the safest place for you, but I can promise that I will do everything in my power to help you. As long as you are with me, I will never let anyone hurt you again."
"You have not yet turned over your research; we will be sending someone to pick it up."
The words replayed themselves over and over in Moira's mind as she strode down the hallway, her fists clenched so tightly that her nails were digging into her flesh. She knew she should have expected this, especially considering how much money Talon had poured into this project, but still… handing her research over to someone else…
Moira reached her lab and turned on the lights, her gaze falling on her workbench. The hours that had gone into this research, the sleepless nights, the trial and error… she had poured her sweat and blood into this project. It was a piece of her now, and to just give it up, to watch someone else take over.
I refuse.
Before she could think twice, Moira approached her workbench and swept everything off, watching as it all crashed to the floor. Glass shattered upon impact, the liquids inside staining the papers that soon followed and rendering the words illegible. Moira was aware that she was essentially throwing a temper tantrum, but she didn't much care at the moment. She would rather her research be in pieces at her feet than in the hands of another.