[Trigger warning: discussion of past sexual harassment, domestic abuse]

Magna craned her head to look at her, gaze softening.

"I did have fun. Earlier," she murmured. ". . . I always have fun with you."

Yumiko's lips grew slowly into a smile, warmth filling her chest.

"Ditto," she said quietly, squeezing her hand. She knew how significant that was for Magna. How new.

To cede that much control, to hand it over to her like that. . .

It was no small thing. And Yumiko had been aware of that every second throughout, aware and ready to stop at the slightest indication that she wasn't having fun.

Not like before. She wouldn't make the same mistake as before. Would never make it again.

Magna needed control during sex.

Yumiko did too, but she'd had years to work through that. To reach a point where she could comfortably relinquish it to someone she felt safe with.

Magna hadn't.

She still needed it. Might always need it.

And Yumiko was okay with that.

Magna hesitated. "I don't know if I'll be able to do it again - I want to. But I don't know. . ."

"Hey." Yumiko gripped her hand a little tighter, lips still drawn in a smile. "I have no expectations. I didn't when I first brought it up, and I don't now. If it happens again, it happens again. If it doesn't, then we have dozens of other ways to enjoy each other. It's not an issue."

Magna relaxed.

Yumiko hoped this worry had only just found her, that she hadn't been stewing on it for long. Ruining the afterglow of their time together. But knowing Magna, it had probably been a concern from the very start. Before she'd even agreed. May even have bled into her reluctance to admit any enjoyment in what had happened.

But in spite of this, Yumiko was glad that she'd actually said something. That she hadn't kept the worry inside. Or worse, resolved to ignore it and her own boundaries, what she was comfortable with.

That was good. That was progress.

And it wasn't something that would have happened just over a year ago.

"Also, for the record," Magna started, "I don't mind talking about sex. Just not your kind of talk."

"Oh, I know." She'd been nothing if not obvious about that from the start. Yumiko suppressed a smile at remembering the baffled - and somewhat terrified - look on her face the first time Yumiko had tried to have an in-depth discussion about sex. Before any sex had even been had.

"You overthink it too much."

Yeah, right.

"And creating a point system's not?"

Magna paused, mouth working a moment. "Yeah, well," she shifted, "my overthinking is fun."

"Is it though?"

"Yep. And it'd be a lot more fun if you didn't get me off more than you."

Not this again.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again: sex is not a competition, Magna."

"Says you."

"Says anyone who's not a teenage boy."

"I resent that." She narrowed her eyes a moment, though the twitch of her mouth betrayed her. "You just don't want to lose."

"I wouldn't be the one losing."

Magna threw up a hand. "And she says it's not a competition."

"It's not. I'm simply stating a fact." Yumiko worked to keep her expression even, to not reveal a smirk. "If orgasms are what you're using as a goalpost, then I'll win every time."

Magna's eye twitched.

Yumiko couldn't say she was entirely happy with this method of scoring, considering it had been a long time since she'd viewed orgasms as a necessary part of sex - let alone the most important part.

But Magna's increasingly ridiculous frustration was amusing.

It was a contrast to Nicole, whose frustration had grown progressively acerbic the longer they were together, gradually bleeding into anger. Resentment.

Too often, Yumiko's 'issues' when it came to sex had triggered a side of Nicole she'd always dreaded to witness. And that side had been brutal. Unforgiving.

But more than anything unpredictable.

It had made Yumiko wary. Forever on guard.

Oddly enough, she felt none of that same wariness or self-consciousness around Magna. Possibly because her complaints were so ridiculous, utterly lacking in all seriousness.

Possibly because she knew Magna would never get angry at her in the way Nicole had. Would never blame her for this.

Strangely. . . it seemed to soothe some of the wounds Nicole had left behind. Magna's comical statements and adorable huffiness acting like a balm for those long-buried aches.

For this reason if nothing else, Yumiko couldn't find it within herself to be entirely frustrated with her stubborn persistence.

But that still didn't mean she was going to fold to it.

"It's not a competition," Yumiko said firmly, having spotted the gears that had begun to turn in Magna's head, the words building to come out.

"Not with that attitude it's not." Magna sat up, clapping her hands together. "Okay, so, so far we're four to seven. This can't be allowed to stand."

Yumiko smacked a hand to her forehead. "You're keeping score?"

"Of course," she said simply, as though it was ludicrous for her to have been doing anything else.

Unbelievable.

Magna's hand moved across her chest, grazing the side of her breast, circling. "And in the business of keeping score. . ."

"Magna. . ."

She didn't falter at the warning in her tone, hand edging up. . . and up-

Yumiko hissed as her thumb skated over a nipple, one that was still entirely too sensitive from all the generous attention it had received earlier.

"Yep?" Magna didn't give her a second to answer, lowering her head and closing her mouth around her breast; sucking her nipple inside. Yumiko's nails dug into her back, not sure if she wanted her to stop or suck harder as an overwhelming flood of sensation washed over her. She clenched her thighs together as Magna opened her mouth, tongue sweeping out.

It felt good.

Too good.

But, God, she really didn't have it in her to go another round. The endeavour might actually kill her.

Yumiko was clearly the only one to possess this limitation, however, as Magna's hands soon made a path down her stomach, to her hips, grazing the edge of her curls-

"Magna Carter, if you don't let me rest right now you're never getting me off again in your life."

Magna groaned, burying her face in her chest. "Did you have to use my full name?"

"Yes."

She grumbled - but obediently moved away, flopping onto her back.

It was as much a disappointment as a relief, Yumiko's desire waring with her exhaustion. It's for the best. If you fall asleep halfway through she'll never let you hear the end of it.

"I've been getting teased at work about it, you know?" Magna huffed.

Yumiko snickered.

"It's not funny."

"It's a little funny. I always thought your name was a bit of an inside joke from the universe, considering it's thanks to the Magna Carta that I was even able to get you out of prison. If anyone's the prophet in your family I think it was your mum."

Magna sent her the stink eye - something she'd grown impervious to years ago.

Yumiko shifted closer, losing the teasing from her expression. "How are you dealing with it, anyway? People knowing your full name."

"The jokes are fucking awful. They need to get some new material."

"You know that's not what I'm talking about."

Magna had always guarded her past religiously and in the years since civilization fell, she'd buried her surname behind that guard as well. She never revealed it, wary of anyone connecting the dots. Yumiko could admit that the fear wasn't unreasonable. Whilst Magna's original case had taken place almost two decades ago, there'd been a renewed media frenzy around her story after she'd been exonerated. The very same papers that had slaughtered her in print only years before were suddenly filled with righteous indignation over the injustice that had been done to an 'innocent young woman'. Yumiko knew that the sudden backflip had pissed Magna off almost as much as the original condemnation. Though, looking back, she could see now that she'd also been deeply uncomfortable with the situation - and not just because of the violation that came from being in the spotlight.

Given that Yumiko now knew the truth about her innocence that made sense.

She also knew that Magna's case had gotten far more attention than was usual for an exoneration and the cynical part of Yumiko suspected that was in large part due to her identity and physical appearance. She was attractive. She was white. She'd been little more than a girl at the time of her sentencing - and more than a few of the papers took pains to stress her supposed religious status. It was an intoxicating combination as far as journalism went and public interest reflected that.

So the odds that someone would recognize the name Magna Carter weren't entirely negligible. And Magna had always remained wary as a result.

The only people she'd shared her full name with in the last ten years were those in their group. Their family. For the most part, it hadn't seemed to ring a bell.

For the most part.

Yumiko had seen the recognition on Connie's face, though no other tell had been forthcoming. Whatever knowledge she had in her possession, she'd kept it to herself. Yumiko had been grateful for that. Revealing her surname had been a big step for Magna - an act of trust - even as she'd pretended at indifference. But that was just one step. And being confronted about the particulars of her past, having to talk about it, was quite another.

Their friends knew she'd been in prison and that Yumiko had helped to orchestrate her release - but that was all Magna was comfortable with them knowing. Perhaps all she would ever be comfortable with.

And Yumiko would be a hypocrite if she had anything to say about that.

Still, such measures wouldn't have been possible during initiation. The Commonwealth wanted to know every detail about them and surnames weren't exempt from that. She suspected that process must have been hard. To be forced to tear down the guard that had kept you safe for a decade.

Honestly, Yumiko was surprised she hadn't lied. Though was grateful for it in the end, considering that could have been problematic when they'd sought out her former lawyer to corroborate her story - including the authenticity of her name.

"It's. . . weird," Magna decided finally. "Not good or bad just. . . weird. I keep expecting people to catch on. To figure it out. So far they haven't."

"I'd be surprised if they did," Yumiko murmured. "It was a random news story from over a decade ago. And this is a different state."

"It went international, Miko. At least, the second time. And Magna Carter isn't exactly the kind of name you forget. We have my mum to thank for that."

Maybe. But it wouldn't do her any good to worry about it. Worry about something neither of them could change. "It was over a decade ago. And a lot's happened since then. No-one's going to remember or care about some old news story."

"Maybe." Magna picked at the blanket. "The people I worked with at the truck stop knew. Some of them never ran out of questions. Others would just. . . stare at me all the time. That was almost worse. There was this one guy who always came on to me. I could tell he got off on it. The thought of being with an ex-con. A killer - it was clear he didn't believe I was innocent."

No wonder you barely did much more than grunt at them.

Yumiko pursed her lips, not for the first time regretting science's failure to invent time travel. "You never said anything."

Magna shrugged. "It was my problem. My shit. And you'd already done enough for me. I wanted to handle it myself."

"And how did you handle it?"

Yumiko hadn't had to bail her out of jail so clearly not with her fists, as she would have expected. At least back then.

Another shrug. "Ignored them. Let them tire themselves out. Most of them got bored eventually."

"And the guy?"

She snorted. "Gave him what he wanted. He got bored pretty fast after that too."

Yumiko stared. Couldn't help it. Of all the responses she'd expected, that hadn't been one of them.

What he wan-

"Don't look at me like that."

"I wasn't-"

"You are," Magna said firmly, eyes burning with challenge - and not a small flicker of irritation.

Yumiko bit her lip, thoughts and emotions swirling inside her, begging for release, a chance to cement themselves into words - but she clenched her hand, forcing them to quiet. "Sorry."

She wasn't apologizing for the anger and minor splash of horror that had arisen inside her, but for the flicker of hurt in Magna's eyes that had appeared for the moment she'd allowed them to show.

Magna's jaw remained tight, defensiveness refusing to abate. "It's not a big deal," she said firmly, slowly, a warning in her gaze, "Don't make it one."

Again, Yumiko had to bite her tongue before making herself give a short nod. "Okay."

Magna eyed her closely, as if trying to determine the honesty of her compliance, before the tension in her features finally started to ease. She let out a breath. "Okay." She snorted a second later and began to shift, moving until she was sprawled across her chest. Yumiko accepted the extra contact gratefully, wrapping an arm around Magna and drawing her more firmly against her. "He was a lousy lay, anyway. Like. . . terrible. And I may have spread word about his poor performance around the truck stop after, including to some of the regulars."

Yumiko's mouth curved. "How did he react to that?"

"Like a toddler throwing a hissy fit." She felt Magna's grin against her neck. "It was pretty funny. He even broke a few plates - which got his ass fired. All around a very good day."

"I hope he got eaten."

Magna choked on a snort. "Yumiko!"

"What? Like you haven't hoped for the same."

Knowing her, she probably had a whole fantasy worked out, down to the finest gory detail.

"Damn right, I have. But that's me. You, on the other hand, are always preaching about how violence is never the answer."

"It might not be the answer but it would certainly be satisfying," Yumiko huffed. It was hard to say whether she was entirely joking. There was certainly a part of her that meant the words. That did hope that the creep had gotten ripped apart after everything went to hell.

(she tried not to linger on how little realising that disturbed her)

"Can't argue with that." Magna paused, the lightness in her features gradually fading as her finger continued to canvas Yumiko's chest, the journey growing more hesitant. "I only had two ways of dealing with problems back then: fighting and fucking. And sending one of my coworkers to the ER so soon after getting out of prison seemed like it might be a bad idea. Even for me."

Yumiko couldn't argue with that. "What about your manager? Could you have said something to-"

Magna shook her head. "Trust me when I say he would have been no help. He was the biggest dick in that place."

Something else Yumiko hadn't known.

"But it worked out. I solved it my way - shockingly without bloodshed - and it all worked out. Can't say it's something I regret."

Yumiko wasn't given a moment to process that as Magna sat up.

"Alright, let's go again."

Yumiko blinked. "Again?"

"Yeah. Given that you have the advantage, you've gotta give me a chance to up you on the scoreboard and-"

Oh, good lord.

She was relentless.

"We are not going again."

Magna frowned.

Yumiko couldn't fathom where she was even getting the energy from. "I'm exhausted. You're exhausting."

In an instant, her frown disappeared. Now she looked entirely smug.

"And before you let that go to your head, I wasn't just referring to your skills between the sheets. You've had me running in circles all night."

Magna paused. "But you were mostly referring to my skills between the sheets, right?"

"If I said yes would you finally let this go?"

"It's a possibility."

"Fine, then yes."

Magna brightened. "Alright, we can postpone the competition until tomorrow."

She rolled her eyes. "How magnanimous of you. And also very presumptuous. . . the only thing I'm doing tomorrow is sleeping for twenty-four hours straight - and for the hundredth time, it's not a competition."

"You say that only because you know I'm going to win."

"You're impossible."

"Thankyou."

Again, Yumiko's eyes found their way into the back of her skull.

"You've been doing a lot of that tonight. Might want to give it a pause. Rest your eyes. They're going to ache something fierce tomorrow."

She delivered a punishing poke to Magna's side, earning a squeak. "Careful, or I'll kick you off this mattress."

"This mattress that you hate."

"Yes."

"Which is also my mattress."

"What's mine is yours and what's yours is mine. Isn't that how relationships work?"

Toying with her hand, Magna kneaded her bottom lip between her teeth - and Yumiko wished that the sight didn't make her stomach clench, reigniting a stirring of heat. "Does this mean that your points are also mine?"

She closed her eyes. "Magna."

If Yumiko had thought her brother was like a dog with a bone, he was nothing compared to the woman partially on top of her.

"What? It's a fair question. Sharing is caring and all that." Magna slithered over her further, spurring those earlier flickers of heat into a furnace. Damn you. "And I love sharing things with you."

Yumiko caught her hips, stopping her progress - she was all too aware that if Magna continued in her designs then all her willpower would be obliterated. And she really was exhausted. "Oh, please. You're trying to tell me that you'd be happy sharing your spot as victor? You hate losing but you love winning more. And you'll never win if it's a tie."

Magna huffed, the sound catching in her throat as Yumiko arched up, setting her lips to the edge of her jaw. Exhausted or not, she wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to exact a little revenge.

"Thought you were too tired." The comment tried for nonchalance but the breathy quality to her voice ruined the effect.

Yumiko hummed, nibbling at her jaw, slowly working her way down to Magna's throat. Fingers dug into her shoulders the second she did and Yumiko smiled, feeling the heady beat of Magna's pulse racing against her lips. "I am."

"Miko. . ." Magna's breathing was shallow, breasts rising and falling rapidly against her own and it would be a lie to say she was immune to the sensation. That a part of her wasn't seconds away from ignoring the advancing fatigue in her body and returning to what they'd abandoned less than an hour ago.

Magna's hips bucked and Yumiko dug her fingers in, holding her steady, so she wouldn't attempt to make this a more mutual exchange.

Yumiko raised her leg slightly, just to create that barest bit more friction - and felt a shudder rock through Magna in response, hips straining against her hands. As long as she was on top like this, Yumiko knew the hold wouldn't be triggering - if anything, it only seemed to excite her more.

A part of Yumiko wondered how she still had the stamina. How she could go from zero to a hundred in an instant, ready and rearing to go.

Maybe you're getting old.

She suppressed a grimace. Focused instead on the heat against her palms, the shallow breaths in her ear as Magna started to rock against her thigh, seeking out a rhythm, an answer to the obvious tension building inside her.

(For someone who'd once professed to be mostly indifferent to sex, the evidence certainly painted a different picture)

Sucking gently on Magna's pulse point, she allowed herself a few more moments to enjoy the faint noises that were escaping her. Yumiko closed her eyes at a particularly loud moan, clutching Magna closer for an instant-

before shoving her off.

There was a light thump as Magna landed beside her on the mattress, followed by a grunt of dismay. "I hate you."

"I know."

Yumiko couldn't keep back her grin.

She was well familiar with that particular moan that had escaped Magna, knew it by heart - and also knew that it only came when she was moments away from coming undone. Just a little longer, maybe with the slightest helping hand, and Yumiko would have had another point to add to her ridiculous scoreboard.

From the frustrated look on Magna's face, she knew it too. "You're cruel."

"Am I? I was only acting in your best interest. After all, I was under the impression that you didn't want me to get any more points in this little competition."

Magna expression morphed into a deep scowl, though she didn't argue. Yumiko suspected that it was probably the part that infuriated her most.

"Overconfident, much? I wasn't that close."

She snorted. "And the dead don't eat people."

Magna huffed, turning onto her front. "It's unfair that all you have to do is touch me and it's game over whereas with you I've actually got to work at it."

"You like working at it."

"Not the point."

Yumiko smirked. "Are you still upset about that time I was giving you a hickey and-"

She held up a finger. "Ah ah ah! That was a fluke."

"Mm, and the time we were making out and-"

Magna slammed her hands over her ears. "All flukes!"

"By my count there have been at least fourteen flukes."

Very nearly fifteen.

Magna glared.

"Admit it, you're easy."

She scowled at the mattress, muttering something under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Only with you!" Magna snapped, then huffed. "I'm only easy with you."

Yumiko paused - then grinned. "That's very sweet."

Another huff. "Not sweet. You just have fucking cursed fingers, okay?"

"Cursed? Don't you mean blessed?"

"Cursed!"

"And what about my tongue?"

"Also cursed."

"So the fact that I'm good at getting you off is a bad thing?" Her lips strained against a laugh.

"It is when it gives you an unfair advantage."

"So you'd rather win in a sex competition only you think exists than get off?"

"Yes."

She raised a disbelieving brow.

Magna sighed, looking at her like she was the most terribly naive of naive children. "Miko, getting off is temporary. A momentary pleasure. But the triumph of victory lasts a lifetime."

She bit her lip, laughter threatening to slip free. "Would it make you feel better if I promised not to get you off so much in the future?"

"Thankyou!" Magna threw up her hands. "That's all I wanted."

And yet you were grumbling about me putting a stop to things just a minute ago.

"You're so weird. I actually think you need to be studied." Yumiko chuckled, nuzzling into her cheek. "Like a bug."

"A bug?"

"A bug. A very cute bug."

"Cute? That's even more insulting than being called a bug."

"A hot bug?"

". . . better."

Yumiko kissed her cheek. "I love you."

Magna stilled. Just a moment - that familiar ghost of panic freezing her features, before receding - then she was leaning into the contact, tilting her head just enough to shift the focal point of Yumiko's lips, capture them with her own.

It was soft. Gentle. Unhurried.

But it still left her slightly breathless, unable to form a thought as Magna's mouth opened against hers, and the heat of her tongue delved inside. In the past, she might have thought the kiss a misdirection. An attempt at manipulation even. To harness Yumiko's attention. Distract her from what hadn't been said. Those three simple words, hanging between them, unreturned.

In the past, it probably would have been.

This time, though, she understood the kiss for what it was. Understood that it was those three words, the entirety of the feeling and sentiment packaged within them, delivered in the only way that Magna was capable of.

Yumiko smiled against her lips, reaching up to trace the crest of her cheekbones, holding her. Holding her as long as Magna would allow, for as long as their lungs could manage. Even when they broke for breath, she kept Magna's face in her hands, nudging her nose along her skin, tracing brief kisses to follow.

Magna's eyelashes fluttered, trembling to a close and Yumiko shivered at the sensation, bestowing a final kiss on a closed lid before retreating.

Magna frowned a little at the loss but eased with Yumiko's next one:

Resting her head back against the pillow, she wrapped an arm around Magna's back, drawing her in. Smiling as she caved to the insistent pressure without pause, cheek coming to settle on her chest as a hand automatically found its way to her breast. Unlike earlier, the touch wasn't sexual, and Yumiko closed her eyes, enjoying the comforting heat of her palm, the familiarity of the hold.

Magna still hadn't said it.

Had never said it. Not once. Possibly might never say it. And Yumiko was okay with that. She didn't need to hear the words to know that the feeling was there.

For whatever reason - and Yumiko could guess at more than a few - those words were difficult for Magna. Maybe even impossible. But she tasted them on her lips every time they kissed, felt them in the tenderness of her hands, cradling her face; heard them in all the words she could say, words that danced around those three special ones but still carried their meaning just the same.

Yumiko's mother had been similar. Rarely one to express her love so plainly and directly. But sharing it in a way that made it impossible not to see, to feel.

Being Katherine's daughter had more than prepared Yumiko for this aspect of her relationship with Magna. Not just prepared her but enabled her not to see it as a loss, something to be bitter or resentful over.

Love showed itself in different ways. Different languages. And Yumiko felt lucky to be witness to Magna's. Loved it every bit as much as she loved her. Loved it for the fact that it was her.

She would never ask for more.

A/N: so the events of 'if you love me, don't let go' fic haven't happened in this universe (everything is canon up until the ball) so Magna never said I love you to Yumiko :(

The Magna Carta states that no one can be imprisoned unlawfully and laid the ground work for habeas corpus to come into being. I get into it more in the sequel to Conflict Resolution but without habeas corpus Yumiko never would have been able to get Magna out of prison