Angela woke up in her bed, which sounds like a normal occurrence, if only she remembered how she got there.

The doctor sat straight up, noticing the way she was still fully-dressed. She checked the time to learn that it was the middle of the afternoon and she had been napping for almost two hours.

The last she remembered, Angela had fallen asleep at her desk in the infirmary. Angela had a habit of sleeping late at night and taking naps during the day. Although she knew she passed out consistently at the same time every day, she still did so at her desk. When she did it in the lab, Winston and MeiLing would leave her there. To be so invested in one's work to the point of spontaneously falling asleep was a badge of honour. Both of the other scientists also frequently fell asleep at their desks, and the most the others would do was put a blanket over their shoulders.

Things had changed a little with the Overwatch recall. Early on, Aleksandra began paying MeiLing frequent visits, and Angela watched as Aleksandra's questions about MeiLing's research led to the two women's blossoming romance. Now, instead of finding MeiLing sleeping in the lab, it was more of a common sight to see Aleksandra carrying her partner to her quarters.

Angela rubbed her eyes and headed towards the kitchen. She still had her lab coat on, but she didn't care. The hallways were long and devoid of people. When she got to the kitchen, she stopped to stare at the woman fussing with something at the counter.

Fareeha was wearing a loose shirt that was open down the sides, exposing bare skin. Angela couldn't help but let her eyes wander to the sports bra she could see when Fareeha raised her arm to put sugar back into a cabinet. When Fareeha turned around, she wasn't surprised at all to see Angela standing there.

"I figured you'd be here soon", explained Fareeha. "We always did wake up at the same time." Fareeha walked over to Angela with two mugs in her hands, and handed one to Angela. "Milk, and two sugars, right?"

Fareeha let her fingers linger over Angela's when she handed the cup over.

"Thank you, I didn't think you'd remember how I liked my coffee." Angela's nose twitched. "This isn't the garbage roast Overwatch usually buys."

"That's because I bought it", said Fareeha with a slight hint of pride in her voice. "While I was getting tea for myself, I saw the brand of coffee you used to have, so I picked it up as well."

Angela chuckled. "You took a risk in assuming my tastes haven't changed."

"It was no risk", said Fareeha. "You were always a very habitual person. It makes you very predictable. Was I right?"

I'm not predictable at all in the bedroom, thought Angela, but decided to keep that to herself. Instead, she said, "yes, you were." Angela paused and raised an eyebrow at Fareeha. "Did you carry me to my room?"

Fareeha took a sip of her tea. "I did. I guess my mother was the only person who did that for you? You're heavier than you used to be", said Fareeha with a twinkle in her eye.

"Of course! I'm proud of the weight I put on! I used to be a skinny, little stick, and now I can carry wounded soldiers like a real medic should be able to!" Angela brought up her arm and flexed it triumphantly, although there was nothing to see with her lab coat in the way.

"Still not impressive as me, though", boasted Fareeha, flexing her own arm. Angela's eyes bulged along with Fareeha's biceps.

"Oh, I know", muttered Angela. Fareeha took this as an admission of defeat, and decided to show off by flexing her other arm as well.

At that moment, Aleksandra and MeiLing walked into the kitchen.

Ursus arctos collaris, East Siberian brown bear, thought Angela. And Aptenodytes forsteri, emperor penguin. Maybe a baby one though.

"Are we having a contest?" said Aleksandra. The ex-weightlifter tore the sleeves off her shirt, and flexed her tattoo-covered left arm.

MeiLing squealed and clapped her hands together, and Fareeha knew she was beaten.

"Mei, do the thing", said Aleksandra.

The short Chinese woman latched onto her girlfriend's upper arm and raised her feet a little. The two women laughed as Aleksandra effortlessly swung MeiLing gently back-and-forth.

"Ok, I get it", sighed Fareeha. She turned to the refrigerator to remove some pastries that she had left there to chill before her nap, and offered them to the other women.

MeiLing and Aleksandra helped themselves their preferred caffeinated beverages. As they exited the kitchen, Angela swooped up the pieces of fabric left on the floor.

"Don't forget your sleeves", said Angela, and MeiLing and Fareeha started giggling.

In the days that followed, Angela consistently found herself waking up in her bed. Fareeha admitted to carrying her there, but also refused to stop. Knowing that she would continue doing it just like Ana did, Angela eventually agreed to Fareeha's terms to start napping in her bed.

Angela yawned and walked down the long corridor towards her room. There had been a lot of shuffling as people began learning each other's sleeping habits. Most rooms had two bunk beds and could hold up to four people. Fareeha's room was nearest the exit. It was occupied by people who liked to wake up early. Her roommates were Aleksandra and Reinhardt, who were also famous for snoring loudly. Fareeha didn't snore, but she could sleep through anything, including the rumbling that sounded like trains rushing through her room.

Across the hall from Fareeha were Mako and Jamison. Nobody wanted to share their room partly because of strange smell that lingered, but mostly because of the frequent, small explosions that went off throughout the night.

Next to the loud sleepers, was the omnics' room, where Bastion and Zenyatta had their charging stations set up. Angela didn't know if Genji needed to sleep, but he stayed in that room as well.

Lena shared a room with Hana and Lúcio. For a long time, Lúcio stayed the room next to theirs with Hanzo and Jesse. However, after being rudely awakened several times to noises he wasn't keen on listening to, Lúcio had packed up his belongings and barged into Lena's room. Torbjörn had a family to take care of, so he only visited the base occasionally, but when he did, he would stay there too.

Satya had her own room at the end of the hall, just because she refused to share.

Finally, Angela came to the room she shared with MeiLing. It was the room designated for night owls. Winston would have been housed with them if he didn't decide to live in the lab.

Angela yawned again, and turned the doorknob to her room. When she opened it, she immediately closed it again, suddenly feeling a huge amount of empathy for what Lúcio had gone through.

"Nope", she said to herself.

She had seen Aleksandra naked before, as the Russian ex-weightlifter was very comfortable exposing herself in the communal showers. But the nakedness paired with the sight of the brawny woman nestled between the legs of one of Angela's best friends was a bit too much for Angela to handle.

Angela tiptoed away, which might have been unnecessary given that neither MeiLing nor Aleksandra had been distracted when she had opened the door. Angela made a beeline towards Fareeha's room, muttering a litany of "nope nope nope nope nope" the entire way. This time she decided to knock. She heard Fareeha invite her in, and deemed it was safe to enter.

Fareeha was already beneath the covers of the top bunk, and she peered down at Angela curiously.

"My room is occupied", grumbled Angela. She paused at the sight of Reinhardt napping in his gigantic custom-made bed. Thankfully, he wasn't snoring. "Ah, but I don't really want to sleep in Aleks's bed, even though she's the one in my room at the moment, with Mei. I don't want to be reminded of her right now."

"Do you mean they're…?"

"Yes, Fareeha, they're having sex. Right now. I think I saw underwear on my bed."

Fareeha laughed. "Would you like to use my bed, then? I don't mind using Aleks's."

"Yes! Thank you Fareeha!"

Fareeha hopped down to the bunk below her.

"Mei doesn't sleep in our room sometimes. Does she spend the night here?"

"She does! Sometimes when I wake up, I find Mei in Aleks's bed. If they're doing dirty things here, Reinhardt and I just sleep right through it."

"You know I'm a heavy sleeper too. I wouldn't know if they were doing the same thing in my room if they timed it right."

Angela climbed the ladder to Fareeha's bunk, and grinned when she got to the top.

"Does the mighty Captain Amari of Helix Security International still sleep with stuffed animals?"

Fareeha was silent when she stood to her full height, and pulled down the gigantic falcon plush she kept on her bed. Angela immediately knew she said something wrong.

"I do. This was my mother's. Reinhardt shipped it to me after the "accident"."

"Oh, Fareeha, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean…"

"No, that's alright. And if I weren't using it, I'd be cuddling a body pillow instead. It was hard for me to fall asleep for the first few weeks here, because there were some delays in shipping this from Egypt."

"But about Ana… I want you to know that while it's not exactly the same, I know what it's like to lose your parents…"

"Oh, don't worry about that", interrupted Fareeha with a wave of her arm. "I don't want to talk about this right now."

"I'm sorry. If you ever want to talk, you can come to me."

"Thank you", said Fareeha, who lay down on Aleksandra's bed. An awkward stretch of silence grew between them, until Fareeha spoke again. "There's one thing I regret about my mother."

"What is it?"

"We had a falling out before I left for Egypt."

Angela nodded her head, even though Fareeha couldn't see her.

"She tried to reach me so many times, but I declined the hologram requests and the phone calls. She sent me so many letters, but I never responded to any of them. I wish I did. And I wish I visited her at least once. Now, I've spent as much of my life without seeing her face as I have seeing it."

Angela lay on her back above the covers of Fareeha's bed, staring at the ceiling.

"I know there's no point agonizing over it now. I've already honoured her memory so I can look forward again. I'm wearing the hair ornaments that she had to send to me when I left them behind. And I got the Eye of Horus tattoo to show that I am proud of my connection to my mother, and I will always be her daughter, no matter what."

When it didn't seem like Fareeha had anything else to say, Angela thought it was time to say something before Fareeha fell asleep. She rolled onto her stomach and let one of her arms hang off the side of the bed.

"Hey", said Angela.

She waited until she felt Fareeha hook her pinky with Angela's.

"Thank you for telling me this."

"Mm."

Angela let her hand go when she started to feel Fareeha's arm get heavier. She heard the sound of Fareeha shifting in the bed, and the tell-tale sound of the plastic pellets in the falcon plush, suggesting that it was nestled in Fareeha's arms. Images of being held in those strong arms came unbidden to Angela, and she flopped onto her back, willing her mind to go blank.

For a while, she listened to Fareeha's steady breathing, and the way the air whistled through Reinhardt's nose every time he inhaled. Instead of relaxing, she became acutely aware of being surrounded in Fareeha's scent. Then, for an incredibly guilty moment, Angela felt jealous of the plush.

Angela carefully climbed out of the bed, and headed towards the gym, deciding that it was a good time to get some extra energy out of her system.