Leah woke to the sound of steady breathing, her eyes remained closed as she tried to fight her slip from her slumber. Her senses coming back to her as she realised there was something warm on top of her. Unlike a blanket it was heavier and much softer than the artist would have expected. Eventually curiosity won out and Leah opened her eyes to find see her girlfriend still fast asleep. The artist smiled as she remembered the events of the previous night. Zelda's face was extremely peaceful and Leah had to stop herself from gushing over how cute she looked. Brushing a few strands of hair out of the blond's face she smiled as Zelda began to slowly stir.
"Hmmm?" Zelda mumbled. As she slowly opened her eyes.
"Morning sleepy head." Leah greeted.
"What?" Zelda yawned confused still dazed from her sleep, causing Leah to laugh.
Zelda's pupils final focused and was able to see her girlfriend's smiling face.
"Hey" Zelda said mirroring the artist's smile.
"Hi." Leah laughed. "Did you sleep ok?"
"Mmhmm." Zelda hummed nodding her head. "Your comfy."
The two shared a laugh and cuddle for a bit longer before the lights suddenly gave a flicker and turned on.
"Looks like the powers back." Leah said looking around the room as electronics began to turn on.
"I should give Lewis a call and see what's happening." Zelda said giving Leah a quick kiss before getting up.
Leah rose from the couch herself and walked over to the window, taking a peek out side she could see that it was still pretty windy outside, snow had piled up around the house and had constructed a natural barrier in front of the door.
Zelda picked up the phone in the kitchen, happy to once again here the reassuring dial tone. Punching in Lewis's house phone number she eagerly waited a response. Unfortunately there was no answer and Zelda was sent to voicemail. Leaving a quick message Zelda hung up disappointed.
"No one's home." Zelda called from the kitchen. "Maybe he's doing another run in his truck."
"Try calling Marnie's place." Leah responded. "I have a feeling he's there."
Zelda was confused but went along with Leah's hunch, dialling up the rancher's number.
It didn't take long before she got an answer and heard Marnie's familiar voice.
'Hello?' Zelda heard Marnie say on the other end.
"Hey Marnie it's Zelda." The blonde greeted happily.
'Oh Zelda dear! Glad to hear your ok.'
"You too, I was just calling to ask if Lewis had passed by recently? I know he's going around town to check on people."
'Oh he's… actually… here now… uh I'll put him on.' Marnie said nervously.
Zelda was surprised to learn that Lewis was their, thinking that it must have been really lucky timing on her part. Looking over at Leah who gave her a all knowing smile and nod made her even more curious.
'Hello? Zelda?' She heard Lewis say.
"Hey Lewis. I gave your house phone a call and you weren't there but Leah suggested you might be at Marnie's."
'Lucky guess I suppose.' Lewis laughed nervously.
"I just wanted to find out if the power out I experienced was town wide and if anyone still doesn't have power?"
'Yes it was a town wide blackout, I think a tree branch must have shook one of our main power cables. Luckily some workers were able to get it back up and running. Everyone should have power now and I was just about to do a town wide run.'
"Ok that's good to hear." Zelda said a bit relieved. "By the way did you make sure Linus is ok? I hate to think he was caught out in the storm."
'Don't worry he's staying at the saloon with Gus till the storm blows over.' Lewis said calmly.
"Ok thanks Lewis. Tell Shane I said hi."
'Sure thing.'
The two said their goodbyes and Zelda hung up happily, although she was still curious as to how Leah knew he'd be at the ranch. The blonde turned to Leah who still retained her smug smile.
"So how did you know that Lewis was at Marnie's?"
Leah smug smile widened a little before she spoke. "As Marnie's closest neighbour I've noticed that Lewis makes quite a lot of visits to Marnie's house."
Zelda remained confused unsure of what Leah was implying.
"What do you mean?" Zelda asked.
Leah had to giggle at the innocent look on the blonde's face. "I often see him leaving in the morning." She said with a sly wink.
Zelda stood still, processing the information for a few seconds before suddenly realising what the artist was saying.
"Oh!" Zelda said in shock, a large blush appearing on her face.
"Your so cute." Leah teased trapping the blonde in a hug.
"Nnnnngggmm" Zelda moaned in embarrassment as she tried to wiggle out of her girlfriends grip to no avail, her face going completely red.
"You're so innocent." Leah said laughing.
"Stooooooop!" Zelda whined.
Leah didn't let go and kept the blonde trapped, milking her embarrassment for as long as possible. When Leah finally let go Zelda headed for the TV to check on any news about the blizzard. Leah turned her attention towards the kitchen phone.
"Can I use the phone? My family must have heard about the blizzard and might be starting to worry about me." Leah asked
"Of course! Go ahead." Zelda replied. As she reached for the remote.
Zelda heard Leah pick up the phone and start dialling, the blonde new she was being nosey but she couldn't help but tune out the Tv and listen to Leah's conversation.
"Hey Mom it's Leah." She heard the artist say. "I… Ya I'm fine… the storm should only last a few days…. I'm staying with someone….who?...uh… a friend…."
Zelda's emotions took a bit of turn when she heard Leah refer to her as a friend. The blonde did like hearing Leah call her, her girlfriend but at the same time she was still nervous about coming out to the public. Although she had to admit the more time she spent with Leah the more confident she became about being herself.
"Yea I'll be careful…" She heard Leah continue. "Alright...yea…ok...I promise...ok...tell dad and the dork I said hi...ok..bye."
Zelda heard a click of the phone as Leah hung up and soon after the artist reappeared in the living room.
"Is everything ok with your family?" Zelda asked.
"Yep, my mom was glad I gave her a call. She got worried when she couldn't reach me on my house phone." Leah explained. "Do you think I could use your shower?" Leah asked hesitantly.
"Be my guest." Zelda said pointing towards the bathroom. "I'll come lay out some fresh clothes for you."
"Thanks, your the best" Leah said happily before running into the bathroom.
As Leah entered the relatively small bathroom she took in her surroundings. It was pretty standard; with a sink, medicine cabinet, a toilet and bathtub shower combo. Leah had to laugh as she used the mirror on the front of the medicine cabinet to take a good look at herself. The artist's hair was even more of a mess than usual, sticking up in a few weird ways due to a small case of bed head. Stripping down out of her clothes Leah started the shower's water, letting it get nice and warm before stepping in and drawing the shower curtain. After a few minutes there was a knock on the door, Leah made sure the curtain was properly drawn before yelling 'Come in!' The artist could hear Zelda nervously enter, and blushed at thought of having nothing but the shower curtain between her and the blonde.
"I...uh...just brought you some clothes, and a fresh towel." Zelda said shyly. "I'm leave them on the sink counter."
"Thanks Zel." Leah called as she heard the blonde leave.
Finishing up quickly the artist stepped out clean and feeling fresh. Drying herself with a the towel Zelda had provided she noticed the clothes Zelda had given her. It was a soft white shirt with long black sleeves, and a pair of black leggings. As Leah picked up the shirt she noticed something was in between the two pieces of clothing. The artist blushed as she realised Zelda had laid out some underwear as well. As she got dressed a feeling of dread washed over Leah as she tried on Zelda's bra to find that it was one size too big for her. Groaning in humiliation Leah decided to just reuse her old one and finished changing as fast as possible.
When she was done she checked herself in the mirror to make sure she looked ok. She looked fine but decided that brushing her hair wouldn't hurt and tried to look around the room for a hair brush.
"Hey Zelda? Do you have a hair brush I can barrow?" Leah called out.
"Yea I think I left it in the medicine cabinet!" She heard Zelda shout back.
Opening the medicine cabinet she scanned the shelves until her eyes fell upon a small pill bottle labeled 'Anti-Depressants'. Leah was caught off guard by the pill bottle and had to reread the title a few more times before she could really register it. Picking it up she inspected it closer noticing it was half full. Zelda had never mentioned she was on medication or that she was struggling with depression before and Leah felt a bit hurt that the blonde would keep something so important a secret from her. The artist was left in deep thought until Zelda's calls from outside broke her trance.
"Nevermind I found it!" Zelda shouted.
Leah stepped out of the bathroom with the pill bottle in her hand and a concerned look on her face.
"Hey what's this?" Leah asked holding up the bottle so that Zelda could see.
Zelda's smile disappeared from her face as she turned around to see what the artist was talking about.
"Thats nothing!" Zelda said, quickly rushing over to try and snatch the pills from Leah's hands. The artist was too quick though and moved it out of reach just in time.
"Why would you keep something like this a secret from me?" Leah said a little more accusingly then she meant to, taking a step back to keep the pills out of the blonde's grasp. "Are you not happy?"
"Come on Leah give it back." Zelda said taking another step towards the artist.
"I want to talk about it!" Leah said agitated. "Were you ever going to tell me?"
"There's nothing to tell!" Zelda said getting up set. "I haven't take them in a long time!"
"Really?"
"YES REALLY!" Zelda shouted, tears starting to fall from her cheeks. "I stopped taking them a few weeks after I moved here and I haven't taken one since!"
Leah suddenly felt extremely guilty the last thing she intended was to make Zelda upset, it broke her heart to see the the blonde cry.
"I'm sorr…" Leah tried to say but she was cut off by the blonde.
"Of course I'm happy here! I'm happier than I've ever been in my hole life. Moving here was the best thing that ever happened to me but, my life before this wasn't exactly perfect! You wouldn't understand what it was like growing up in an orphanage and being bullied all through high school. I only had one friend in the world and it was thanks to him and those pills that I'm still even here."
Zelda was suddenly wrapped in an unexpected hug from Leah, her first thought was to fight it but the blonde couldn't bring herself to push the artist away. Accepting the hug Zelda cried into Leah's shoulder, hot tears pouring down her face. Zelda could tell Leah was crying as well, hearing the artist produce her own sobs. The two stood their for a long time, it almost felt like hours, until the final broke apart. Leah held Zelda's face in her hands and looked deep into her eyes.
"I'm sorry." Leah said "I didn't mean to be so inconsiderate. I was just worried that I wasn't making you happy."
"Of course you do, you big dummy." Zelda said, tears still falling down her face. "You're one of the best things that have ever happened to me."
"Your one of the best things that have ever happened to me too." Leah said with a small smile.
"I thought about throwing the pills away but every time I do I just get scared, scared that one day I'll wake up from this dream and realise I'm alone again."
"You won't…" Leah said holding Zelda close. "I promise you'll never be alone again."