Alaya walks into the room with a stack of papers and Fiona's medical journals.
Fiona waves and smiles at her wife, "Yes ... yes." Fiona is on the phone, "I do ... why must I go back to Edinburgh?"
Alaya puts everything on the table and comes close to her wife's side.
"Can you set that up? ... yes ... wonderful ... see you soon ... thank you." Fiona hangs up the phone and falls into her wife for a hug.
Alaya holds her wife tight and she notices her wife's hair is tight in a bun she thinks 'it looks painful.'
Fiona looks up, " Louisa is coming over shortly. We have to return to Edinburgh to release my education back to my medical school here in London."
Alaya dares to ask, "What if they aren't willing?"
"Louisa said we must be prepared. She coming over after her rounds."
"If you must we return to Edinburgh together."
"It is essential I gather all my documents." Fiona goes to her coat and pulls out another journal and stack of papers. "I am sorry, our time alone will have to wait, just a few more hours." Fiona tugs her glasses tight, "I need to go through these before the London foursome come here."
"How can I help?"
"This is going to be tedious. Please verify the information with me."
"I will return with tea and the proper tools."
Fiona flops in the chair. Lets out a loud sigh asks herself, 'another interruption in my life, when will my life be mine?'' She lays her head down on the table and hides within her hands.
Alaya comes back with a tea service, pencil, paper and typewriter.
For the next few hours the two go line by line making adjustments as needed, which were very few.
It impressed Fiona as Alaya pronounced most of the medical terms correctly and deciphered the medical shorthand. It made the task go smoothly.
Fiona looks up, "Perfect. We are, I hope complete." As Fiona takes a sip of tea ... "I have a question, but I am not sure how to ask."
Alaya sits down with her tea, "Just ask. The worst thing would be to never ask."
"Well, I made our bed."
"Oh." Alaya blushes.
"I put the hot water bottles away. You will not need them anymore." Fiona offers a loving smile. "You have a picture of me, is my hair is it up or is it short?"
"Why?"
"You have only seen me in either short or no hair." Fiona sips another bit of tea.
"Not necessarily. I would visit you at your window." Alaya nods her head towards the direction of their current gymnasium. "I have seen your hair ..."
"Wait." Fiona gives a devilish look. "The only time I have ever taken down my hair is before bed, because it gets in the way of everything." She leans over the table, "Alaya Vastra Flint! What is it you have yet to share?"
Alaya takes a long sip of her tea, very long.
Fiona sits back and crosses her arms, "Oh. I can wait."
"Do you remember the day you delivered your note with the cleaned handkerchief?"
"Yes." Fiona puts her mind on that fresh memory. "How nervous I was, but determined. Oh, how foolish young girl I was." She snaps quickly out of her thoughts, "So?"
"I tracked you that night from our home to your room."
"What did you do?" Fiona now is half standing, looking over her wife.
Alaya shrinks into her seat, "I climbed the chimney and saw you. You quoted Virginia Woolf to yourself. Made a funny face after licking the envelope paste and you let your hair down. I didn't see anything more. I knew right then you were someone amazing."
"You didn't stick around? Why not?"
"Mother Vastra interrupted my voyeurism from the street."
"How many times did you visit my room?"
"Without your knowledge?"
"Yes, of course without my knowledge." Fiona slaps her hands down her side in frustration.
"Just that once."
Fiona stared into her Alaya's eyes. "Your picture of me is my hair up or short?"
"It is how I last remember you, so short."
Fiona asks softly, "Do you prefer it long or short?"
"I don't have a preference, truly. I just don't like it being controlled with pins. I want it to be free or loose on your head. It looks painful."
Fiona starts to take out pins, placing each one in her wife's hand.
Alaya looks down at her palm as the hair pins start piling up each with a high pitch 'plink', there is a small sensation on her tongue.
"There that is the last one."
Alaya looks to see her wife bent over shaking out her hair, flinging up and launching a glorious mane. "What an amazing view." She places the pins on the table and slowly comes over to her wife with intense eyes.
"What are you doing?" Fiona backs up slowly.
Alaya comes closer, calculated and ready to pounce.
"I, we have work to do. Alaya!" Fiona starts moving backward around the room, she finds herself stuck against a wall. The only exit is the wide open door or a window to the streets. She decides to run for the door, she takes a deep breath and makes a mad dash. Almost there, just two steps to go. Fiona is pulled at her waist from behind by long half-Silurian arms. She didn't make it to safety.
"Alaya!"
She is spun around now face to face with her capture with deep breaths heaving in a mixture of passion, laughter and love. She can see her wife's Silurian and Human blood pulsating. Passion because her wife's eyes woken the butterflies in her stomach. Laughter because she really did her best to make the narrow escape into the safety of the kitchen. Love because she has never stopped loving her Alaya.
There it is, their scent. Fiona takes a deep breath, like it was her soul returning. She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath and it fills her lungs. She can feel it infecting her blood, changing her body chemistry.
Alaya smiles watching her wife drink in their scent. She licks the air, closes her eyes and fills her lungs with the potion only they create. Her scales all around her body flex and expand soaking through her skin. She opens her eyes to see her wife staring back with a smile and drunken eyes. "I truly do not care if you have short or long hair ... as long as you are happy." She kisses her wife passionately and deeply.
Fiona melts into her wife's arms while reaching for Alaya's crown caressing the ridge peaks.
Alaya's throat makes a soft clicking sound.
Fiona is pleased and softly moans in response.
"Is this a bad time?"
Alaya looks up to see Louisa, Lou, Fiona and Mary gobsmacked at the scene unfolding before them while Mother Jenny is smiling and her Mother Vastra is beaming with pride.
Alaya stands with flushed red scales on her face and quickly puts her Fiona behind her. "Forgive us. It has been a long time." She can feel her wife attempting composure. "Please give us a moment."
Alaya spins around, grabs the pins from the table. Together Fiona and Alaya get the red mane under control. Not as tight as it was, but at least presentable.
Fiona leans into her wife's chest softly whispering, "I am so embarrassed. I just want to disappear."
"I feel like we put on a travesty. My dear, how shall we recover?" She looks down at her wife hiding in her arms.
"Would anyone like refreshments? How about a nice cool desert?" Mother Jenny and Mother Vastra entering with the services of cold drinks and desert plates.
Alaya and Fiona turn to look at the four women distracted by strong drinks and strawberry breasts.
"Don't mind us old ladies. We all love a good romance." Flora said as she popped the single strawberry nipple in her mouth with a smile. "Welcome home dear Fiona."
Within seconds, Fiona is going around the table hugging her friends and colleagues.
She sits down next her wife, leaning in on her shoulder. Alaya is holding her close while playing with a long thick springy strand of red hair. All the women start with casual conversation, catching up on each other's lives, the war and the expansion of the medical services run by women.
"What of her academic achievements? Why must she return to Edinburgh?" Alaya asks when a lull was in the conversation.
Mother Vastra and Mother Jenny instantly become stiff and patiently listen to the dialog.
"She must return to Edinburgh?" Mother Jenny asks in a cracked voice.
"While Elsie is unavailable we need to get her transferred back to London medical school. Are these your medical logs?" Lou responds while looking over the papers organized on the table.
Fiona points to each folder and pile of paper, "These are when I was in Edinburgh, Brussels, Wimereux, Serbia, Durres, Bari, Northern Italy and South of France."
Each pile is read thoroughly and passed to the next person. All the women talk in hushed tones.
Fiona stands back contemplating if her hard work, her meticulous record keeping will be all for naught. She goes to the kitchen for a drink of water. She stand at the sink drinking. She feels her wife's wonderful arms wrapping around her.
"What is going through your mind?"
"I want to hope that all will work into my advantage. All that work, to be for nothing ... it genuinely eats me up inside."
"Come back to the drawing-room. They might have questions."
Alaya holds out her hand and her wife takes it as they return to their seats. Fiona leans on her wife's shoulder as she waits.
After the London foursome deliberated, Lou speaks to Fiona, "Have you truly completed all these procedures?"
Fiona stands, "Yes, are there discrepancies? Wrong format? Missing information?"
"No, no, no. Nothing is even remotely wrong. We are just surprised at the quantity." Lou looks to Mary, "Do you have any questions?"
"Yes, I actually do." Mary goes to the Edinburgh pile, "Are these complete?"
Fiona shakes her head no, "I didn't start recording my own medical logs until Elise began threaten and told me I will not qualify as a doctor. She said she would hold my credentials hostage."
"Astonishing."
Louisa sits back, "What did I tell you. I saw it first hand in Brussels. There is no way Elsie will win this one."
Fiona pulls her wife closer.
Alaya knows something is wrong. "When do we leave for Edinburgh?"
"We have a committee meeting scheduled in first thing Monday. We shall leave tomorrow morning. Before Elsie recovers."
"Why should we be concerned with Elsie?" Fiona finally builds up the nerve to ask.
Flora calmly responds, "She and the other women have returned to Scotland yesterday. Which is why we have to act fast."
Mother Vastra looks to Fiona, "You will not be alone this time. We shall all be there."
Fiona smiles, even if she is stuck in Edinburgh for the rest of the war ... it is much closer than Serbia. Besides I would rather have York once a month than nothing for a year.
Alaya pulls her wife close and whispers, "If you end up in Edinburgh, I will follow directly."
Fiona looks into her wife's eyes, "How?"
"It is simply a transfer. I have already inquired last year." Alaya kisses her wife's forehead. "Just in case. Besides it is only temporary. Once the war is over we can get back to a normal life."
"Normal? Us?" Fiona smiles. "If you believe we shall ever have a normal life, you have not been paying attention."