It was well past eleven pm, and I couldn't sleep. I was tossing and turning in bed, doing anything but getting shut eye.

This was the shortest sortie I was ever in. Back on the front, either the Omnics would mount an attack, or we would launch a counter-attack and spend hours in the field. One time the battle had raged the entire day. We'd surge, take control of the objective, only to have the Omnics take it back, then we would rally and recapture it. Tertiary support lines had to be called upon to finally capture the point.

But this battle wasn't even an hour long. We spent more time in the air, flying to and from the battle than actually in the battle itself. It left me wanting more.

Finally, at quarter to midnight, I gave up. If I couldn't sleep, then maybe I could get some work done.

Dressing quickly, I went to the gym with my little book. I had planned on doing some simple lifts and jerks to get back in to the bodybuilding cycle; it was a good place to start. I had spent too much time on the front; my seventy-percent max had dropped.

Groaning, I took weights off the bar until I could do ten reps. My deadlift rep weight dropped to one-hundred and fifty kilos; my jerk cleans were down to one hundred. And I had to push myself to do eighty kilo split jerks.

All the while, I couldn't get Mei out of my head. How she…how she smiled. Like it lit up her entire face. That smile would get me in trouble. But if Angela and Fareeha were truly open…

I hit my max reps and dropped the bar. I still didn't feel tired enough to sleep, either physically or mentally. There was too much going on to sleep. Well, a big workout meant I would have a big appetite. Maybe the cafeteria would still be open. I re-racked the weights, both as a cool down and as a courtesy, then walked through the facility.

There were a few night-shift soldiers. They nodded politely to me as I passed them. I made myself look strong and in control, in case they were watching.

Opening the door to the food court, I was glad to see that they were still open. They were serving cold food; cereal, instant oatmeal and a few pieces of fruit, but they were open. And sitting at a table, sipping what looked like tea, was Angela.

I should just ignore her. But she's like me; she had to be. But then, I've seen men and women pretend to be gay to lure others out. There was always some kind of tell. But she didn't have any that I could see. She kissed Fareeha without any discomfort, without any hesitation. And she was still alive, and unbeaten to boot. It was a risk, but if this place was truly safe…

"Couldn't sleep?" I asked.

She looked up from her book. She was tired, with bags starting to form under her eyes. But she was still alert.

"Zarya, this is a surprise," she smiled. "Please, sit down. You can't sleep either?"

"Not after a fight," I said, taking a seat across from her. "And this fight was too short. I have to do something else, yes?"

"Ah, the good old adrenaline addiction," she laughed.

"You have it too, da?"

"No, quite the opposite," she said. "I'm actually too scared to sleep."

"Too scared? I thought you of all people wouldn't be scared of a battle."

"Surprising, isn't it?" She smiled. "I'm a healer. Yes, I carry a pistol for protection, but I hardly use it. Call it an old habit, but I'm a big believer in the motto 'First, do no harm.'"

"But you've been fighting for years."

"And I never get any better at it. Like you, my home was destroyed in the Crisis. But I never learned how to be angry. Instead, I wanted to help people. I'm better at jumping into a warzone now than I was before, but it still scares me."

She took a sip from her tea. I noticed what looked like a red love mark on her neck.

If this was a trap, it was a damn good one, and I deserved to fall for it.

"Is that a…?"

Angela chuckled.

"A gift from Fareeha," she smiled. There was no way they could be faking that tone of voice. My heart pounded in my chest; this had to be a safe place. "Fighting gets her in a mood, and I like those moods. But fights keep me awake; she doesn't have the same problem I have. So to let her sleep, I come out here."

"She really does call you 'mommy?'" I laughed.

"Actually, she does," Angela laughed. "I tried to psychoanalyze her, but it only made her mad. So I just let her call me whatever she wants."

I had always dreamt of finding a safe place, where I could truly be myself. I had so many questions, but somehow I couldn't think of any of them. Dammit, I had to come up with something.

"I don't mean to pry, but…did you always know you were like this?" I asked.

"What way?"

"Well…" Come on, find your nerve. "Always liking women."

"Ah. I know where this is headed," Angela said. She slid a bookmark in between the pages and closed the book. "You have some questions?"

"Wish I could remember them," I mumbled. I must have been blushing something awful. "I never thought I'd find a place like this, where I could talk freely."

"'A safe place?'" Angela asked. "What made you think Overwatch wasn't safe?"

"It's a long story. How long have you known? Do your parents know?"

"My parents died in the Crisis."

"Oh. I'm…sorry."

"It's okay, you didn't know," she smiled.

"You never tried dating a man?"

"Well, there was this one time in college," she said. "Everyone always said college was the time to experiment, so I decided to try kissing a boy. Tried it a few times, but I didn't like it. And if I didn't care much for kissing boys, dating one wouldn't be much fun either."

"So thorough," I laughed.

"I am a scientist," she smiled.

"Ana called you a 'cradle robber.' Does she mean that you…"

"Seduced Fareeha?" She asked.

"Yes, that."

"There's a story behind that," Angela said. "Fareeha grew up in Overwatch. She was a baby when it was formed. I joined as soon as I could, and we both knew each other since then. So when Fareeha first told her mother of us, she didn't quite approve. She saw me as a friend who took a step too far.

"I won't lie, I was attracted to her when she grew older. She was such a cutie. But we were friends, and I didn't want to make things…strange by asking her out, or confessing to her. Then, one day, out of the blue, she came up to talk to me. Turns out she was attracted to me since the first time she saw me; she had only just decided to risk telling me.

"It took me by surprise, but I think she was more surprised when I told her I felt the same way about her. You should have seen the look in her eyes." Angela smiled happily, wrapped in the memory. "Ana only calls me that to give me a hard time. Fareeha and I are only five years apart."

"That's…that's beautiful."

"Expecting less of me?" She chided gently.

"I just met you. I didn't know what to make of this. How long did you know you were…this way?"

"Boy, that's going back," she said. "Back when I was a girl, my friends would play 'wedding,' pretend we were getting married. We'd planning the ceremony, where we would get married, who'd we invite, that whole thing. But I never wanted to marry a boy, I always wanted to marry a girl. I'm sure that's when I knew that women were for me."

"And you weren't scared?"

"Hard to be scared when you're a girl who barely knew how the world worked."

"And how did others take this? Your friends?"

"Back then, none of us really knew what it meant, being gay. They just accepted it as something that was part of me. As we grew older, and we knew what it really meant, it was old news to them. They were my friends, and they stood by me."

"You're lucky."

"I know, I have heard plenty of horror stories," she said. "Now it's my turn to pry. I don't mean to offend you, but this little Q and A session is ringing my gaydar. Are you gay?"

The moment of truth. I've told people, but always behind a screen name. Always on chat rooms, where you can look at a history, find out who was lying, who was honest, and who wanted to beat up a few gays. Saying it in public…

"Yes." I could feel myself blushing.

She took my hands. She was so dainty.

"Zarya, you said it yourself, this is a safe place," she said. "I know that Russia isn't the… best place to be gay…"

"Please, you cannot be gay in Russia," I laughed bitterly.

"So I've heard," she said. "But this isn't Russia. We don't have people who think less of you because you're gay."

"I could tell when you pulled that whole 'she calls me mommy' line. The lack of screaming and a public beating tipped me off."

"Public beating? I never knew."

"I had to make sure it was safe to talk about. I've seen postings by men and women on message boards, say they found a safe place, and then never be heard from again."

"Well, Overwatch is safe," she said. "Fareeha and I have been dating for years. This is home, and you can talk about whatever you want when you are at home."

I couldn't help but smile. She wasn't yelling, she wasn't calling me 'faggot,' she wasn't laughing, saying I was caught…this place was actually safe. I never felt this way before.

"I have to ask you, though. Why the pink hair?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, pink hair strikes me as something…well, that a stereotypical butch lesbian would do," she said. "If you were trying to keep a low profile, why dye your hair pink?"

"What do you mean, 'something a butch lesbian would do?'"

"No one ever questioned why you dyed your hair pink?"

"Da, they have," I said. "I like pink. It is my favorite color."

Angela looked at me, then broke out laughing.

"What?"

"I just get it," she laughed. "No one would know what a lesbian would do, so they don't know when an actual lesbian does it. They must not have stereotypes, or very good ones."

"I don't get it."

"Don't worry about it," she laughed. "And speaking of talking, I have a promise to keep."

"What promise?"

"To Mei." She smiled mischievously. "She likes you."

I could barely speak.

"She…does?"

"Wouldn't shut up about you," she laughed. "She came to me for advice, too. Wanted to know the best way to talk to you, and if she had a chance. That was before Tracer called for help and we had to go fight, that is."

That pretty girl with the big smiles…she liked me?

"W-what did you tell her?"

"I was going to tell her to just go talk to you," Angela said. "But then we had to fight, and she ran off to talk to Zenyatta."

That damn tin can?

"Zarya, don't get mad." It was like she was reading my thoughts. Gone was her playful tone; she was serious. "Please. We know you suffered from the Crisis, but remember what Jack said."

Don't forget your orders.

"Da, I know."

"Look, just go talk to her. Let her know that you like her, too."

"How can you tell?"

"Well, you turned about ten shades redder when I said she likes you," she smiled, back to being playful. "Tripped my gaydar big time."

"What's a gay-dar?"

"Right, no good gay tropes in Russia," she said. "Gay radar. The ability for one gay person to find another."

"Oh."

"So go talk to her."

"But I—"

"Now," she smiled. "Doctor's orders."

"But where is she?"

"I would start in the third floor common area. That was a popular spot back in the day, she might be there."

"Thank you. I don't know what I would have done."

Angela smiled.

"Just go talk to her. You'll figure it out."