—Can I see you today?
Haley stared at the message for almost twenty minutes. She let herself feel excited about this thing between her and Lucy, but it only took a few minutes for the guilt to seep in. She was supposed to be spying on Lucy, gathering info, tailing her. And there she was, like a high school kid with a crush, getting excited by text messages. She knew that really, she should follow the orders Phipps gave her. She knew that, but she also really wanted to see Lucy again. They had been on a handful of dates since they had gone for pizza, and every time, they spent the whole time laughing, learning about each other, and acting like idiots. That just made Haley feel worse. I'm infiltrating her operation, Haley rationalised, going deep undercover and gathering intel'. At least she had an excuse for herself.
—Sure thing. What did you have in mind?
—I have a surprise for you, come over to my place.
The twist in her gut was both embarrassing and expected. The idea of being in Lucy's house was so intimate that it produced a plethora of potential outcomes in her mind, some wholesome and chaste, some absolutely not.
—Cool, okay. Be there in a half hour?
—I kind of wanted to reply with just :D, but I thought I'd play it cool and go with, 'great'.
Haley laughed at her screen, then dropped her phone on to her bed and set about getting changed. She needed something casual, but that looked like she actually made an effort. No baggy hoodies. No camo shorts. She was just pulling a white tank top over her head when her door opened a crack.
"Hey, sorry, I knocked but you mustn't have heard." Haley pretended not to notice the rosy colour that bloomed across Amy's cheeks. Living in a house full of girls and she still gets bashful seeing people in their underwear, Haley smiled at the thought.
"No, it's totally cool. What's up?"
"I was just seeing if you were coming down to the Academy with the rest of the team to get some lunch."
"Oh, shit. I totally forgot. I have to head into the city, I'm meeting my dad for lunch." Haley lied so much more fluidly to the girls; lying to Lucy was nowhere near this easy.
"Oh, that's okay," Amy chirped, batting away the imaginary words in front of her, "I hope you have a nice lunch. You—you look really nice. You should wear your hair down more often."
Haley thanked her for her comment just as Amy, sporting a more severe blush, slipped out of the room, staring intently at the floorboards.
"So, what's this surprise?"
"It's just through here," Lucy pressed herself up against Haley's back and slid her hands down to cover her eyes.
"I'm no good at being blind." Haley laughed as Lucy, and by that effect Haley, shuffled forward. She heard a door open and they moved through it. When the movement at her back stopped, Haley reached up and wrapped her hands around the other woman's wrists. "Can I have my eyes back now?"
Lucy leaned forward, her mouth coming to rest right beside Haley's ear. In a tone way too breathy to be innocent, she whispered, "Anything you want, Haley." Lucy felt the body pressed to her front shiver, and the smile that plastered itself across her face was mischievous at best, downright filthy if she was honest. She slowly dropped her hands from their position; she let her hands continue downwards, across her cheeks, lightly grazing her throat, across her shoulders, until they finally came to rest on the gymnast's toned arms.
"Well?" Lucy moved around so that she could see Haley's face. Only a few seconds passed, but Lucy was eager to find out what Haley thought. It took Haley that time to get a grip on herself, fighting the urge to stand there slack-jawed as she stared at what was in front of her.
"Did you do all this for me?" Haley asked, not even trying to hide the excitement in her voice. She felt like a kid at Christmas. The room they stood in was huge. The floor was covered with crash mats. In the right-hand corner stood a set of uneven bars, there was a vault and run right down the middle of the room, and a beam to her left. "This is incredible. This place is beautiful. How much… How much did you spend on all this?"
Lucy waved her hand in response, letting Haley know that it wasn't a small figure. Pushing any doubts to the back of her head, she rounded on the woman at her side and pulled her into a hug. When they pulled apart, Haley looked straight at Lucy; when she spoke, her voice came out in a whisper, "I mean it. This is awesome. But you shouldn't have done this. It's too much. I could never repay you or give you anything this great."
Haley couldn't figure out if the look she saw was hunger or affection. Either way, it made her smile like an idiot. As if she was answering Haley's internal question, Lucy stepped closer so that their chests were touching. Haley knew Lucy could tell how ragged her breath had gone; Lucy's body responded: her arms closed around Haley's slim waist, her own laboured breathing pushing her chest against the one her eyes raked over. She slowly raised her chin and looked at Haley through her long lashes. Haley tried to calm herself down, and then she moved her head forward. She felt smooth raven-black hair brush against her clammy cheek. After what felt like a life time, Lucy let out a shaking breath and smirked.
"After… Later… you can show me how much you like it." Haley felt her stomach tighten, felt goose-bumps rise on her skin as she thought about that. She pushed her chin forward, giving in to the overwhelming urge to kiss the lips that were so close to hers. At the same time, Lucy pulled her head back and looked at Haley. Her voice reached Haley's ears through the hot fog of the moment. Her voice was expectant. "Later. Right now, I want to see those muscles put to use."
For a long second, Haley struggled to understand what the words meant. She shook herself out of her smutty state of mind and let the realisation that she was standing in a gym—set up just for her—roll over her again.
"Uh, okay. What do you want to see first?"
Lucy looked around the gym; when Haley looked at her, her shoulders were hunched and her bottom lip stuck out, her hands upturned in a questioning gesture. Haley smiled and muttered quietly that the older woman was unfair, so fucking adorable. Lucy adopted a serious expression, and hummed. "I know you said you were best at floor, but you said it's pretty boring. That's why I didn't put in a dedicated 'floor section'. You never said which discipline was your favourite."
"It's not like there isn't room in here for me to throw floor-tricks." Haley turned towards the equipment. "And I like floor, I just prefer it least. That's why National's was such a trip, them picking me as best floor routine. There's a lot to be said about going hard. Bars though. Bars are my favourite. They require a lot of strength, and guts, and dedication to learning the hard tricks."
"Sounds good to me. Get on up there."
Haley broke into a glorious grin, and almost-jogged to the bars. She shucked off her jacket, unlaced her boots and toed them off, then stretched out her shoulders. It's been a long time, she mused as she rubbed chalk into her palms, too long. Lucy, who had moved to the opposite side of the bars, gave the gymnast an encouraging smile. Haley took a deep breath and then swung herself up on to the lower bar. She didn't want to seem rusty, so she started small. She threw herself into a few stride circles before she threw her body into a Geinger; she followed this with a few simple handstands, she knew she needed to gain momentum if she was going to stick this trick. She felt emboldened by the encouraging noises (and gasps that could be taken as a sign of shock) coming from the edge of the mat. She steeled herself and then, tensing her core, she let go of the high bar, pushed her body through a somersault and reached out for the low bar. She felt her fingertips smack the bar before her face and body smacked the crash mat. The groan she let out mixed with the laugh that bubbled in her throat. Lucy came to kneel beside her and she rolled over on her side.
"That was supposed to be a Def. I started training it before I left the gym. Obviously my body does not remember how to land it."
"You only started trying that today? That is seriously impressive." Haley almost interrupted to clarify that she meant she hadn't trained it since she left VGA months ago. She decided quickly that that would invite questions she didn't think she could answer. So, she simply let out another low groan, turning her face away from Lucy's watchful eyes.
"Here I was trying to impress you by throwing big tricks, just to eat mat."
"I thought it was great. Seriously, you've got a lot of talent. Look at me," there was an authoritative edge to her voice and Haley obeyed, raising her eyes to meet the set that hovered over her. "You're also clearly very strong, and flexible. Which is pretty hot. Anyway, you've already impressed me."
As much as Haley liked looking at the smile on the gorgeous face above her, she liked feeling that smile against her own lips more. It took Lucy less than a second to respond, tilting her head and turning the kiss hungry. Haley tried to sit up further as she reached up and buried her hand in Lucy's hair. A small noise of dissent moved past Lucy's lips as she used her whole body to press the athlete's down into the mat. A devious smirk pulled at Lucy's lips when she felt the vibrations of a moan move from Haley's mouth into hers. Spurred on, Lucy slipped her thigh in between Haley's strong legs, pushed against her.
"Wait, uh, can we stop a second?" Haley gasped out. She was met with a concerned look. "Not that I'm not like, totally enjoying this, but I feel like this might be moving a bit too quickly." She hoped Lucy mistook her guilty apprehension for nerves, and it seemed like she did.
"Yeah, of course. We can take it a bit slower. Whenever you're ready."
Haley's face crumpled. "Am I like, too much of a dork to be making out with a badass crime boss?"
"Because you want to wait? That's not dorky. It's understandable."
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely. I like spending time with you. I'm not just out to get you into bed and then never talk to you again"—okay she wasn't exactly telling the truth, that kind of had been her plan, but she did enjoy being with Haley—"so we'll wait. We can go to dinner. And the park. Do all that nice stuff. Then when you're ready, I'll try my best to get you to scream my name."
Haley felt her whole body flush, the way Lucy practically purred the last part sent electric shocks through her stomach and heat settled between her thighs.
God damn it conscience, she screamed internally, why can't we have nice things?
Maybe because you're a double agent. You're abusing this woman's trust to gain intel' for people who want to lock her in prison.
Haley found it maddening that her conscience replied, and made so much sense.
Maybe I can be with Lucy and only pass on the low-urgency intel', the part of her brain that was flooded with endorphins shouted back.
And go against what you're job demands of you, throw your hormone-drowned excuse for a mission back in the faces of Ms Petrie, Phipps, the team, Amy…
Haley tried to push the voice down but it kept going. These people put their faith in you. They believed in you, helped you succeed, accepted you. And you're going to flush that all down the toilet for a pretty face and quick wit?
When she realised she couldn't ignore it, she tried again to convince the better parts of her nature; What if I tell Lucy I don't want to know the ins-and-outs of her criminal life? Like, you know, plausible deniability. Then I'm not really lying to anyone. I won't actually have the information to pass on, and that means I won't be ratting her out. Everyone wins. Max gets to prove she was right about me, she gets to show that I am useless in the field. And I… I get to spend time with someone who makes me dopey-happy… and incredibly turned on.
By the end of her internal monologue, she had convinced herself: this made perfect sense, it would all work out okay. When she eventually surfaced from underneath the waterfall of morality, Lucy was gazing down at her.
"So…" Lucy put on a mock-casual voice, "want to go get some dinner? I know a really great pho place in Houston."
"Houston? It would take us hours to drive there, especially at this time of day. Know any pho places around here?"
Lucy smiled and pulled Haley up off the mat and took her by the hand. "C'mon." Her voice dripped with a teasing tone. It wasn't until the elevator doors opened on the top floor of the building and they stepped out on to roof that Haley began questioning what they were doing. Her head swung around as she tried to find any clue of what the hell was going on. It took her a few seconds to notice the huge black mass directly to her left.
"Oh my god, of course you have a helicopter."