That same day, Maria, Hope, Scott, and Janet made their way across the country, setting the lab back on that same location by the ocean that had become its regular spot over that past few months. The flight back was rather quick. They took Tony's private plane, a plane that apparently Pepper had told Maria she could use whenever it wasn't occupied by herself or Tony. Though, by the sounds of it, Maria didn't actually use it that often. However, it did intrigue Hope just to see how much access and trust people seemed to allot her.
It was late afternoon when Hope and Maria managed to get themselves to the beach. The sky was overcast with the sun sporadically peeking out from the clouds. Both women had their hair tied back to keep the wind from blowing it into their faces.
Hope had a pair of jean shorts on with a light green t-shirt tucked in at the front and a swimsuit concealed underneath. And Maria – who had borrowed more of Hope's clothing despite her saying that she wouldn't need to – wore a pair of lightweight cargo style pants with a drawstring at the top and elastics at the bottom of the pant legs that stopped midway down her calves. Her outfit was completed with a thin white t-shirt which exposed the blue bikini top that she was wearing underneath that was yet another courtesy of Hope.
They were walking through the shallows of the water down the beach, a large bag hanging over Hope's shoulder as they both had their sandals in hand. Maria's footwear had been a pair of flip-flops that Hope had given her. They were lucky that they fit since Maria's feet were a size larger than Hope's, but those particular shoes were big on Hope, to their advantage.
As they walked the beach, Hope couldn't help but get lost while watching all the surfers in the water, bringing her the desire to hop on a board herself and join them.
"I take it by the longing in your eyes that you surf?"
"Huh?" Maria's voice pulled Hope's attention back to the shore, looking at the woman. "Oh, yeah," she answered, realising that she couldn't remember the last time she was out on the water. "I mean, I used to. I haven't gone out there in years." She pointed at the ocean as she started remembering back to her youth. "I used to live on the water when I was in my teens." Smiling, the memories of a different time came flooding back. "I met these surfers on the beach one day. They were two years older than me and just the coolest people." She shook her head. "We were inseparable for like three years." To this day, Hope was still brokenhearted thinking on the day she'd essentially quit surfing, deciding that it was more important to focus on her academic career. Hope then fixated on the main culprit of her pleasant surfing past. "There was this one girl, Alonna." Hope added, "She was from Oahu." She remembered the girl so vividly. She had the most gorgeous hair, long and dark, and soulful espresso eyes. "She was like this beautiful, wise, ocean goddess. She taught me pretty much everything I know about surfing." Hope chuckled to herself. "She even showed me the old heʻe ʻana traditions like how to call forth big swells from the sea. We'd even make these little shrines out of rocks on the beach together."
"You had a crush on her," Maria said in a knowing tone.
"Oh, big time," Hope shamelessly admitted. "I – of course – didn't realise it at the time. But when she started dating one of our mutual guy friends, I was suddenly very angry and annoyed with him."
"I know that feeling," Maria admitted. "So, when did it finally dawn on you that you liked girls then?"
"College." Hope stopped as she looked up the beach towards the boardwalk. "How about we sit here?" She pointed to a nice open section in the sand with barely any people around.
"Okay." Hope led them to the mentioned area, pulling out a large beach towel from her bag to place it down on the sand. "You know you're going to have to elaborate on your college story, right?" Maria eyed Hope as she sat down.
Hope smiled, watching Maria lower herself down next to her on the towel before starting. "She was my biophysics prof."
"Your prof?" Maria looked at her in shock. "Is that even allowed?"
"Not even slightly. It's a fireable offence if caught."
Maria said with a hint of pride, "You rebel."
"Not as much as she was. And she basically picked a new girl every semester. Even before I met her, I'd heard the rumours about her." Hope pointed out, "So she was the one truly playing with fire." Now in hindsight, it dawned on her just how desperate she was for attention, specifically, female attention back then. "So when I got to class that first day, I noticed her noticing me and I kinda liked it." Hope shrugged.
"Of course she noticed you, you hot piece of ass." Maria smirked with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.
"Oh my god!" Hope gawked with a grin, way too pleased with Maria's teasing comment that insinuated that she found her attractive.
"So how old was she?" Maria asked.
Hope was now a lot more hesitant to respond, knowing the answer not to be exactly kosher.
"Hope?" Maria pressed.
Hope started slowly, "She was older…" – she cocked her head to the side – "than me."
Maria looked at her through slitted eyes. "Older than you then, or older than you now?"
"Yes." Hope voice reached a new octave.
"So she was in her – what – forties?" Maria flashed a grin as she asked.
"At least."
"And you were how old?" Maria kept prodding, clear amusement on her face.
"Like, twenty-two." Hope bit her lip sheepishly.
"Wow." It was clear that Maria was trying to conceal a grin.
"I know, okay!" Hope blurted, throwing her hands up while looking to the grey sky.
"And here I was worried you'd dump me for a younger model when I got old, but it seems I haven't even reached your dating demographic yet."
Hope smiled as she dropped her head to look at her. "Now that you mention it, you are the only person I've dated who's younger than me."
"I turned you into a cradle robber."
"Yes" – Hope reached over to squish Maria's cheeks – "and this is why you're my baby." She referenced the term of endearment that she'd often called her. A term of endearment that she'd never used before, yet, it felt so appropriate with Maria. Like, even though she was this intimidating commander, she was also soft and damaged inside and Hope had this need to nurture her because of it.
Hope dropped her hands away from her face as Maria said cheekily, "You have so much to teach me with your whole two more years life experience than I have."
"Now I suddenly feel all this responsibility on my shoulders," Hope said teasingly. "I mean, I've already had to teach you how to put a pot to simmer. What else am I gonna have to walk your young mind through?" Hope said, with a clear understanding of how ridiculous her words were. Maria had probably lived more of a life than someone thrice her age. And the notion that it was a burden to teach her anything was asinine. Maria had such a steep learning curve that Hope wondered if she was a legitimate genius.
"Surfing," Maria said. "I want you to show me your surfing skills."
"Right now?"
"Right now." Maria firmly nodded.
"We don't have boards."
"Not we, just you. I'm not crashing my ass into the waves." Maria reached for Hope's ponytail, pulling her hair over her shoulder as she played with it, twisting its end around her fingers. "But I absolutely want to see you out there," she practically purred.
"Normally, I wouldn't take something like that as an excuse, but I'll let it slide because of your cracked ribs." Maria smirked, clearly glad to be off the hook. Hope then looked over the beach. "I still don't have a board though." She instantly accepting Maria's request, genuinely excited to go out surfing.
"There was a surf rent back there." Maria pointed off to where they'd just come from. "Or…" She suddenly noticed a middle-aged man coming out of the water, surfboard in hand, as she then called out to him, "Hey, excuse me!"
"Wait. What are you doing?" Hope gawked at Maria.
"Me?" the surfer asked, stopping in front of them.
"Maria, no," Hope growled into her ear, already embarrassed.
Maria ignored Hope as she smiled up at the man, "Yeah, would you be willing to let us use your surfboard? It'd only be for a short while."
"Seriously?" Hope huffed at her audacity, knowing that most surfers hated sharing their boards, especially with complete strangers.
"Oh, totally. Go aggro, my Betties. There are some bombs showing up right now. Primo time for tube riding," the man responded with the most laidback demeanor, which put Hope at ease. The surfer then looked back and forth between them before asking, "You only want one board, not two? 'Cause we got lots." He pointed to a group of people, with multiple boards, just up the beach a little ways.
"Oh, it'd just be for me," Hope took over the conversation, still a little annoyed with Maria as she decided to get back at her. "She's clucked anyway." Hope gestured to the other woman with her head.
"Ah, too bad, it's firing out there." Hope couldn't help but smile, excited to get out on the waves that were breaking nicely. "I could still give your friend a board, just in case. And if she doesn't attempt a drop, she gets to at least stand on the beach with it like a hodad."
"Thanks, but you don't have to bother." Hope turned to find a confused expression on Maria's face which only made her want to pick on her even more. "Besides, look at her, she's much too pasty to pass as a hodad, even with a board in hand." Hope focused back on the man. "She's clearly a Benny through and through."
"Ouch." The man laughed. "Gnarly burn, brah."
Hope looked back to find a scowl on Maria's face as she crossed her arms. "Well, I guess my pasty skin makes me more susceptible to them, even the ones that I don't understand." She glared at Hope.
"Like a sunburn!" The man exclaimed with glee. "You two are choka," he praises them for, apparently, being cool in his eyes. "Anyways." The man put this board down in the sand in front of them. "When you're out there, just keep an eye out. Men in grey suits have been sighted this morning in the area."
"Out by the rocks?" Hope assumed, knowing sharks favoured that location.
"You know it." He nodded.
"Never liked paying the reef tax out there anyway."
"I feel ya on that one" – he put out his leg – "paid a heavy tax there last year." He pointed at a sizable scar on his thigh.
"That's gnarly, dude." Hope cringed while imagining just how sharp that rock must have been that he hit.
"Yeah, but sometimes ya just wanna ride those bommies." Hope understood the feeling, on calmer days those were often the only waves big enough to make an effort to catch.
"Thanks again for your generosity. And sorry for being a beach leach. I usually dohave my own board."
"Nah, bruh, don't believe in those anyways. Why rent when you're without." He gestured out to all the boards sprinkled about on the beach. "There's plenty of sticks right here, noses down in the sand."
"And they're all probably better than those pop-out rentals with dings and caved in decks." Hope referred to all the machine made surfboards she'd seen over the years from the rent shops that nearly always had damage to them.
"Totally." The man ran his hand through his wet hair as he continued, "Well, I'll be right up there for when you're done shootin' the curls." He gestured to his spot with his friends. "Hang loose, my friend."
"Akaw." Hope smiled in excitement as she naturally gave him the shaka sign in thanks, with her thumb and pinky finger extended out of a fist.
He smiled, giving the hand gesture back at her before he walked away.
"I can't believe you bummed a board." Hope whipped her head to the side as she gawked at Maria. But the other woman didn't react to her comment as she merely stared at her with a look of intrigue, visibly biting down a grin. "What?" Hope asked a little scared by whatever was on Maria's mind.
"I know you just told me you were big into surfing but – boy – was I not ready for you, Hope Van Dyne, granddaughter of Vernon 'TheTech Tycoon' Van Dyne, heiress of Silicon Valley, debutante—"
"I was not a deb, my mother was."
"Whatever." She shook her head, quickly correcting her verbiage. "Socialite, uptown girl, Harvard alumni—"
Hope crossed her arms over her chest as she interrupted her, "Are you quite done?"
"Just about," Maria quickly answered before carrying on. "Former chairman of Pym Tech, Forbes April twenty-eleven covergirl." She gestured to her with her hands. "You! "
"Yes, me."
"Youjust talked surfer dude. Like you literally said the word 'gnarly'." Maria gasped in complete shock. "I heard it with my own two ears." she pointed to the sides of her head.
Hope couldn't help but chuckle at her and her exaggerated reaction towards the situation, as she shrugged. "What can I say, when I'm on the beach, I'm just a Betty."
Maria narrowed her eyes as she timidly asked, "Which is a surfer girl?"
"Right."
"Well" – Maria stood up, coaxing Hope to her feet as well – "I want to see your Betty ass off the beach and on the waves." Maria took a hold of Hope's shirt, pulling it over her head and tossing it to the ground before going to unbutton her jean shorts for her. "By the way, did you call me a chicken for not wanting to surf?"
"Yeah." Hope giggled as she received a glare from Maria.
"And what's a hodad?" Maria stepped back, giving Hope room to pull off her own bottoms.
"Basically a poser."
"Wow, you surfers are rude." Maria then, very visibly, raked her eyes over Hope's body, which was now only in a black bikini. "But I'll take it if this is the view I get while you're spouting your trash talk." Maria bit her lip as she stepped back to her, instantly wrapping her arms around her waist.
"To be fair." Hope mirrored her actions, sliding her arms around her too. "I didn't call you a hodad, I called you a Benny."
"Which is?" Maria eyed her, evidently suspecting something bad.
"A non-local." Hope shrugged innocently, "See, nothing insulting about that."
"You basically called me an out-of-towner who's too pale to pass for even a fake surfer in front of your fellow surfer friend."
"He wouldn't be my friend if you hadn't have called him over here in the first place."
Maria chuckled out in fake anger. "Oh, so now it's my fault you're mean?" Hope grinned with a nod before Maria huffed, "You know what?" Maria bent down, breaking contact with her as she picked up the board. "You can just leave. Go be rude to the ocean. It's her turn to hear your insults." She thrust the board into Hope's hands.
Hope dropped her head to the side, totally smitten with Maria and her playful mood as she soon saw the corners of Maria's mouth started to curl up, muting her scowl.
"Get out of here," Maria barked with a contradictory grin that had fully slipped out as she was clearly trying to stay mad, but failing miserably at it, which made Hope laugh. She then turned to run into the water, but not before Maria took the opportunity to slap her ass on her departure.
Hope didn't even turn back to gawk at Maria's action for that she was far too excited to get up on a surfboard again. She also wanted to show off in front of Maria.
Before Hope got into the water, she attached the leash to her ankle and slid the elastic out of her hair to put around her wrist, always liking her hair down when she surfed. She then stepped in and paddled out.
The waves were indeed perfect. It felt like not a single day had passed since the last time she was out on the ocean. She easily caught a number of waves, carving everyone of them to completion.
Eventually she forced herself back to shore, knowing that she was on a borrowed board, which meant, borrowed time. She was quick to return the surfboard to its owner, thanking him again, before heading back to Maria who was still sitting on the large beach towel.
"Did you have the time of your life out there?" Maria smiled up at her, passing her the other towel that was inside their beach bag.
"Yeah. Pretty much," Hope sighed with satisfaction, before she started to dry herself off.
"Of course you did, you big adrenaline junky."
"Adrenaline junky?" Hope looked to her in surprise, "Me? Hardly."
"Yeah, says the woman who flew through a matrix of sliding hunks of metal – designed to stop bullets – in a shrunken form, all for a training exercise."
Hope recognised the danger of being fully impacted by one of the shields in motion when she was such a small size. It would probably be akin to getting hit by a truck while standing out on the highway. But Hope couldn't help but realise that Maria was just as bad as her when it came to putting herself in harm's way. "You flew into a missile with a helicopter!" she retorted.
"Yeah, to save the tower, not because I thought it'd be fun to see if I could do it or not." Maria glared at her with amusement. "I put my life on the line because I have." She scrunched her face as Hope couldn't help but smile, knowing that look of annoyance that Maria often wore at work. "But you do it with an exhilarated smile on your face, joyously welcoming the experience."
Hope thought over her words, finding it odd that she'd never realised it before. She absolutely was an adrenaline junky. She released her nerves by doing things like surfing, fencing, sparing, taking high speed flights in her suit through obstacles like the lab's duct system, or sometimes even just driving her car a little too fast up in the hills along the winding roads – all things that most people didn't seem to do. Or at least, not out of some need to feel alive. Whereas, through Hope's observations of Maria, she noticed that the woman never seemed enthusiastic about the dangerous tasks that she often participated in. She simply treated the situations like she had a moral obligation to do them and nothing more. No fear, no joy, just duty, which only cemented the idea more into Hope's mind – that Maria was the most honourable person she'd ever known. She constantly stuck her neck out for others without even getting so much as a rush while doing it.
Hope lowered herself onto the towel before she crawled over to her as Maria grabbed both sides of her towel, pulling her in-between her bent legs. "Well, I can't help it if you didn't get the memo that danger is actually fun."
Maria signed, tilting her head back as she muttered, "God, you and Sharon both." She then looked back to Hope. "You two should start a club. Call it The Give Maria Anxiety Society. "
"That does have a nice ring to it." Hope smiled as she wrapped her arms around Maria's body, shivering. "I'm cold."
"I thought you were rather hot out there." Maria looked at her coyly as she rubbed her hands over her back, trying to warm her up. "At least you look damn good while chasing after your high."
"Yeah?" Hope asked teasingly as she leaned in closer to her. "How good?" she practically whispered into Maria's lips.
Maria answered her by closing the minute gap between them, capturing her lips. "You taste like the ocean." She pulled away from her mouth only to swirl her tongue around the inside of Hope's lips. "You really are my salty bitch."
Hope giggled as she pressed her lips back to Maria's but this time Maria pushed her tongue all the way inside of her mouth as Hope enthusiastically greeted it with her own.
They remained there for quite a while as Maria proceeded to warm Hope up with her body while keeping her preoccupied with her mouth pressed up against hers.
Hope finally pulled her head away from Maria and asked, "Wanna go to the boardwalk and get ice cream?"
"Absolutely." Maria's eyes lit up. "Especially if they have chocolate chip cookie dough."
"I'm sure they do." Hope, very reluctantly, moved away from Maria and proceeded to pull her clothes back on and shove her damp towel inside the bag.
Hope looked to her. "Shall we go?" Maria studied her, an unsatisfied expression on her face. She then wordlessly reached for the bag, digging through it to pull out a brush. "Is it that bad?" Hope asked.
"I see a knot in the back." Maria moved behind her before she started working on the mentioned area with the brush.
It didn't take long for her to get the tangle out as she then continued to brush out the rest of her hair. Hope closed her eyes as she felt a tingle travel up her neck. She felt so taken care of through the small action and Maria was so gentle while doing it too.
Maria then brushed all of Hope's hair over one shoulder before she dipped her head down to softly kiss the exposed side of her neck. Her lips sent a jolt of warmth through her body, making Hope lightly gasp. "Now you're perfect, my love," Maria innocently hummed into her skin, yet her term of endearment had melted Hope into a puddle of nothingness.
Maria placed the brush back inside the bag just before she stood up, to Hope's dismay, as all she wanted to do was grab Maria back to her and keep her close for a little while longer.
Hope then, too, got to her feet as she scooped up the towel that they were just sitting on, folding it and putting it into the bag before throwing it over her shoulder. They both grabbed their sandals and each other's hands as they made their way to the ice cream parlor.
Once they'd gotten their frozen treats, they decided to stroll up the boardwalk, perusing the shops as they went, though many were starting to close down because it was beginning to sprinkle, with rain clouds that looked ready to downpour at any moment.
Hope had finished her ice cream faster than Maria had since she'd never liked eating the cone itself, throwing it away into the garbage.
Maria was still chomping at her cone when she gawked, "Oh my god." She made her way to a clothing rack. With her free hand, she picked up a small black t-shirt, clearly intended for a child, that had the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on it with the text 'Agent In Training' across it. "Cassie needs this."
Hope grinned at her before she soon noticed a shirt next to it that had the Avengers 'A' on it with the text ' Avenger In Training' . Picking it up to show Maria, she asked, "Or does she actually need this one?"
"And which Avenger is she gonna be?" she asked skeptically like she didn't believe Hope had thought it through.
"The Wasp, of course," Hope insisted. She then shrugged as she added, "Well, after I retire, that is."
Maria seemed pleased to accept Hope's assessment of Cassie's future as she said, "Well I guess she'll just have to be both an agent and an Avenger, like Tasha, Clint, and Steve."
Hope smiled as she took the shirt out of Maria's hand and paid for the both of them before placing them inside her beach bag.
On the topic of the young girl, Hope started, "So, I was thinking – and only if you're up for it – we could invite Cassie over at some point this week." The two started walking further down the boardwalk as she continued. "We could do a movie, possibly let her sleep over," Hope suggested, already knowing that her parents would approve it.
Maria's face lit up. "We could watch Star Wars."
"Sure." Hope chuckled, glad that she seemed excited by it. "And then you two can finally do your mission debriefing."
"Yeah." Maria threw the last piece of her cone into her mouth, quickly swallowing it. "I'll show her how to write a mission report. Then hopefully she can teach, like the other half of my agents who still don't seem to understand how to fill them out properly," she grumbled in annoyance.
Hope studied her, thinking on just how good she was with children, making her wonder what her stance was on them. "Did you ever…" Hope asked timidly, "I mean, do you ever see yourself wanting to have kids of your own?"
Maria casually shrugged. "Can't say I've ever had the desire to have them." She then moved to a nearby garbage bin, tossing in her serviette which had come wrapped around her cone. "Didn't think it was in my cards, regardless of my feelings, anyway." She visibly shuddered. "Also, just the thought of pregnancy makes my skin crawl. That's like a host/parasite adjacent arrangement that I'm really not wanting to ever experience."
Maria's words had triggered painful memories within Hope as she couldn't help but look down at her feet as the rain started coming down heavier. "Wait." Maria's voice came softly this time like she'd noticed Hope's reaction. "Are you asking me this because you want kids?"
Hope remembered back to the last time she was asked that, before answering Maria, "No." That answer was so different from the one haunting her memories.
Maria stepped in front of Hope, stopping her in her tracks. "Please don't say that if it's not true." She bore her gaze into Hope's eyes while they were starting to get drenched from the rain. "If you want kids, then I need you to tell me. I want you to have everything in life you desire," she said with such clear conviction.
Hope shook her head. "It's not that, It's just…" She sighed. "I was pregnant once before."
Maria looked to her with surprise, yet her gaze was soft. She then broke eye contact with her, quickly scanning the area before she grabbed her by the hand. "Come on." She dragged her back onto the beach where they found shelter from the rain under a nearby lifeguard tower. It was tall enough for them to easily stand beneath it.
Maria didn't say a word she simply allowed Hope the time to begin whenever she felt comfortable to do so.
Hope put the bag down before she leaned back against a support pillar, crossing her arms as she stared out past Maria towards the water and all the people running across the beach to get out of the rain. "I was in a pretty serious relationship with one of the engineers from Pym Tech." Hope thought back to the man whom she'd thought she would spend the rest of her life with at the time. "And, ah, three years in, we decided to try for a baby." The memory of all her heavy bleeding along with a panicked visit to her doctor, ran through her mind. "It was a late miscarriage, I was just over five months pregnant when we lost her." Hope looked down to the sand. "We named her Janet after my mom." She thought of her tiny girl, wrapped in the yellow baby blanket with her name stitched across it that was given to her by her best friend of the time. "She would have been turning twelve this upcoming November," she said, tears now in her eyes when she thought about all the times she'd seen little girl's around that age, out and about, making her wonder if her late daughter would have been anything like them.
"Hope," Maria said so gently as she lovingly grasped Hope's cold upper arms.
"It's okay." Hope shook her head, getting a hold of herself. "I'm okay." She looked into Maria's comforting eyes. "I mean, I wasn't then." The loss ended her relationship with her father. "But that's in the past now." Hope tried to push beyond her old trauma that had resulted in a lengthy depression period. Realising that this was the first time she'd brought it up in years. Even her own parents didn't know about it.
"Is that what you still want though? A family?"
"I've got a family." Hope unwrapped her arms from around her body to place her hands on Maria's arms.
"Yes." Maria shook her head. "But, I mean—"
"Maria," Hope cut her off before she had time to properly start, "I'm in a different place now. I want different things. I don't want to be a mother anymore, I want to be The Wasp."
"You could be both."
"I don't want to be. I'm not even sure I wanted to be a mother then, I was just following the societal narrative. Husband, house, kids, nine to five at the office."
"Are you sure?" Maria came again, obviously really needing Hope to be definitive, beyond a doubt.
"I'm absolutely positive," Hope said with conviction. "I love my life with you and the Avengers." She stepped closer to Maria as she slid her arms around her back, Maria quickly mirroring her actions. "So much so that I've been thinking I might want to do the whole Avengers/S.H.I.E.L.D. thing full time." She was suddenly filled with nerves as she added, "If you guys'll have me, that is."
Maria smiled. "Steve would be thrilled. He just gushes about you in all his training reports."
Hope was ecstatic to hear that, but she was a lot more concerned about Maria's thoughts. "And what about you?"
"Part of me selfishly wishes you were a little more keen to do that nine to five office job. It would be a lot safer so I wouldn't have to worry so much about you." She unwrapped her arm from around Hope's body only to push some of her long wet hair behind her ear. "But I can't say I'm not excited by the thought of seeing you more if you were permanent." She gave her a playful look as she said, "And it would also make my job a lot easier if you made a regular habit of slaying some more universal threats too." Hope smirked at her words of approval as Maria moved to place her hand on the side of Hope's head, pushing her cheek to her temple to snuggled it. "I'm sorry about your daughter." Maria lovingly kissed her scalp. "And about all the asshole things I said about pregnancy," she apologised while she rested her face against Hope's head.
"They weren't asshole things. They were your personal feelings." Hope squeezed her a little tighter. "And besides, I have some actualasshole things to say about pregnancy," she said, still tormented by her experience. But then it quickly dawned on her that she wasn't alone in that. "But – then again – I guess you do too – you know – with your birth mother and all."
"Yeah," Maria said as if she'd just realised their shared connection of being screwed over by the same thing. "You know what? Fuck pregnancy!"
Maria's reaction made Hope laugh, releasing her tension brought on by her painful memories. "Yeah, fuck pregnancy. It's clearly not our thing so we should stay far away from it."
Maria pulled her head away to look at her. "And besides, we have Cassie"
"Yeah."
"To kidnap if we ever change our minds about the whole child rearing thing."
"Exactly!" Hope laughed out, knowing that Cassie would go anywhere with Maria without hesitation.
Hope moved her hands to gently cup Maria's face as she smiled. "I love you."
"Not as much as I love you."
"Oh, so it's a competition now?"
"Yes." Maria beamed. "And I'm winning."
"Only in your dreams."
"Come on." Maria pulled away, only to grab Hope's hand.
"What are you doing?" Hope giggled.
"Leave the bag and your shoes," Maria instructed as Hope complied.
Maria towed her away from the shelter of the tower and into the rain that was now a heavy downpour. She then pulled her into her arms as she began leading her in dance.
Hope still couldn't get over Maria and her soft romantic side. She really had this beautiful soul that didn't allow the fact that it was tortured to stop it from shining brightly, brightly enough to even warm Hope's pained heart.
They only danced for a short while before Hope had the need to wrap her arms around Maria's neck, pushing her mouth to hers. The water dripped down their faces as their lips slid over each others smoothly in their wet kiss. It was as if the rain itself had trickled down their combined bodies and cocooned them together.
Eventually, Hope broke the kiss to drop her forehead to Maria's. "Wanna go home?"
Maria nodded with a smile before they then ran back to get their stuff and head out to the vehicle.
Back at the apartment they went straight to the bedroom when Hope said, "I'm going to throw all our wet stuff in the laundry before I take a shower and wash this saltwater out of my hair." But all Hope could manage to do was pull off her soaked t-shirt before Maria took her by the shoulders, pushing her down onto the bed. "Maria!" Hope screeched in laughter. "We're wet!"
Maria crawled on top of her. "The bedding will dry," she muttered before pushing her mouth to Hope's as she did absolutely nothing to fend her off. It had been so long since they'd been intimate like that and she wasn't about to stop it from happening. She missed Maria's body.
Maria began to kiss her way down her body as Hope rolled her head back in excitement, but something soon shifted as Maria stopped at her stomach. The woman had pressed a lingering kiss there while her hands gently rubbed over the area.
Hope tilted her head down to see Maria, her face looking so sad at she lovingly stared at her stomach.
"Maria?"
Her gaze remained downward as she softly said, "You can't just tell me there was a part of you that was lost to the world and expect me to simply accept it." She kissed her stomach again as Hope could see visible tears in her eyes. Maria then muttered into her skin, "She would've been so smart and beautiful just like you."
Suddenly, Hope felt overwhelmed by the emotions Maria had just brought up within her. This woman, who had no biological ties to her stillborn child, was mourning her like she was her own. Maria was acting like her late daughter was an extension of Hope and that was enough to evoke this distraught reaction from her.
Hope sat up, yanking Maria to her as she wrapped her arm around her head, securing her neck in the crook of her elbow. She pulled Maria tightly to her as she captured her lips in a desperate, loving kiss as she too started to tear up.
Hope didn't know how it was possible, but somehow her love for Maria had grown so much more in that little moment. She'd validated Hope's trauma and depression all those years ago by simply showing pain for the loss. Like, even though Maria wasn't present at the time, it still didn't spare her from the event.
Hope held her so dearly as she eventually turned Maria over so that she was the one on top, reversing their position. She had to take control and show Maria just how much she loved her. She started moving her mouth down to Maria's neck, finding her favourite spot right underneath her perfect jawline before she began to suckle it.
"Hope," Maria groaned out as she tilted her neck to give her better access as she grabbed at Hope's head, pushing it harder into her body.
Hope smiled as she felt her own tears running down her face. She then moved back to eased Maria's shirt off, careful of her injured ribs. She returned her mouth to her skin and moved down her body, properly loving every inch of it as she continued to undress her as she went.
They stayed in that bed for hours, taking turns showing their love and affection for one another until they eventually fell asleep in each other's arms.