She got a tattoo in memory of her girlfriend.

A girlfriend who would be stopping by during her lunch break to check on her, she vaguely remembered being promised as the warm body in borrowed pjs she'd been snuggling with under the promise of sleep suddenly decided to leave before the morning broke outside.

"I'll be around." The whisper had soothed as the covers were tucked in around her with little more than a soft kiss to her forehead and a whispered "Go back to sleep." before Natalie had slipped away from her again.

At least that's what she tells people when they see the neatly applied medical tape and the arm wrapping coiled around the inside of her right forearm when she was making her usual rounds at work the next day.

And she did.

In a way.

Alright, so it was a 'tattoo' she'd given herself whilst she nursed a bottle of that gag worthy brand of beer her best friend had taken such a liking for.

But forgive her for grieving in her own quirky way.

And the 'inking' had been done whilst Misty had been leaning sickly between the small space between the tub and the toilet bowl once her stomach had gotten notice of the not so wanted beverage she was ingesting.

She'd found the pen knife digging through the bathroom cabinets and the marker tossing around the first aid kit, looking for the bottle of pain medicine that should have been available.

The image had just popped into her mind after testing the blade sharpness against the pad of her thumb and first slicing deep enough to bleed on only the first touch of the small bit of metal, and she'd just felt compelled to draw it onto her own skin.

Each line made her both cry harder and smile wider when she remembered with such cutting clarity how the traced-out weapon had looked cradled in her hunter's sure hands.

Natalie.

The best friend she'd so stupidly taken away from herself with one stupid jabbing of a needle into her delicate skin.

So, she'd cried, and she drank two thirds of a bottle of gross beer in some attempt at grieving and now here she was sitting on her bathroom floor carefully drawing to the best of her liquor buzzed state allowed that is to trace out the bolt action rifle onto her forearm with her non dominant hand.

It felt right. Those cutting slices of pain.

The arm, the hand that had held the needle that had taken Natalie away from her, was now carrying the hunting reminder of her best friend.

She grumbles to herself, noticing the darkened coloring of the blood smearing the clean white of the toilet bowl as she flushes the heaved-up stomach content away.

More dark blood soon reddened the water as it slides so easily down her arm when she tries to stand back up.

"Can't even do this right." She scolds herself, getting unsteadily to her feet as she heads back towards the kitchen.

She didn't think she could stomach finishing that open beer, even without the rapidly apparent blood loss, but she could feel Natalie's phantom glare if she thought of pouring the rest down the drain. So, the least she could do was sterilize the stinging pain of her attempted creation.

She'd hardly made it far before she heard it.

Just like one long ago, Misty claps her hands to turn on the hallway lights, only for the warning sounds of a bolt-latched rifle to greet her, and the room immediately brightens up.

"Took you long enough, crazy bitch."

It wasn't her.

She knew this.

Natalie was dead. Misty had killed her with her own hands.

But even when she knew this, Misty still can't help the gasped "Natalie. You're back." greeting she gives as she stumbles her way over the separating steps.

"What the fu-Humm" Lisa gapes not at all expecting the woman she was attempting to hold at attempted gun point to pull her in for what turned out to be one heck of a kiss.

"God, Nat. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Misty sobs once the need for breath pulled them apart as the bloodied woman clings to the front of the stand-in woman's dark colored jacket. "I didn't mean to." She sniffs, swaying into the so warm, if slightly shorter body in front of her. "God, I didn't mean to." She sobs. "I'm so sorry Natalie. God I'm so sorry."

"You didn't mean to try and kill me, yeah nice try." Lisa snapped, but she flicked her tongue against her lower lip in a small attempt to chase those retreating lips. "Unless you mean you hadn't intended to kiss me."

"Well, you're very kissable, Nat." Misty giggled, taking her chances by stealing another quick tasting of those not so cigarette tasting lips, as she'd been expecting. "I just didn't want to miss another chance like I did with Coach."

She's always been a lightweight as her friend had often teased her and this seemed to be no exception as she swayed again trying to stay standing.

"Come on, Nat, don't be like that." She sighs, toying with the fistfuls of jacket she was attempting to steady herself with, noticing the visible puzzled expression her dead best friend was giving her now.

"You're bleeding." Lisa notices

"'s nothing." The buzzed woman waves off with another light giggling.

Lisa rolls her eyes at this. "Come on." She groans dragging the other woman by the unbloodied wrist into the hallway.

"So, bossy." Misty snickers but swings her and the not so ghostly Nat's hands between them as she lets the other guide her further into her own house.

"How long has this been bleeding for?" Lisa demands tugging drawers open at random until she finds the one with towels.

"I said—"

"How long?" Lisa pushes, pushing the glazed-eyed woman into the open chair beside the half-drunk beer bottle as she presses layer after layer of secretive dish towels over the dropping wound.

"Just a little while," Misty answers with a grunt of pain at the now hard pressing against the bloodied wound. "I wanna kiss you again." She grins.

"Not until we get this looked at." Lisa growls, trying to keep tight pressure against the mess of bloodied towels.

"Am I really that bad at—"

This time it was Lisa who kissed first.

Mostly to shut the blood woozy woman up so she could attempt to stitch up the blade marks. And yeah, maybe also because Misty was just that good of a kisser.

"I love you, Natalie."

Lisa flinches at the whispered words brushing against her lips when this next kiss ends.

"I hate you too, Misty." She answers, feeling her heart melt just a little when she sees the truly happy smile her grumpy answer triggers. "Now, where the heck is your med kit?"