as evangeline leaps, mara catches her in her arms and for a moment all she can do is hold her. hold her and know that she’s real and she’s here and she’s alive. it’s been more than a year but the sensations and the smells and the memories all come flooding into her at once and she thinks maybe she’s going to lose control of herself. finding eve alive is only the first step. they have to get out of the city and they have to get out alive. her hip is stinging and threatening to buckle on her, but still, she holds on to eve like never before.
“i’m here,” she says, soft as anything, and she pets evangeline’s hair. “fuck. fuck, i have so many ‘i’m sorrys’ to say, but for now, we’ve gotta get out of here. this looks like an organized attack. bombs being set off all over the city. buildings are collapsing. the roads are in gridlock. people are losing their minds. and it’s going to be a matter of half an hour, tops, before the rest of the chaos starts.” because in an organized attack like this, there is almost always a secondary one where mass casualties can be achieved through the resulting chaos. where people are huddled either to try to offer aid or simply because they cannot look away.
“they’re planted. nothing is being dropped. still, i don’t like the idea of being out in the sky. i have a boat in the harbor, though. and i don’t think most people will be going that way. it’s about three miles from here and i don’t know what roads are cleared.” in the current mania, there’s a good chance that it might take them all day just to reach the river. but then mara will at least be able to get them out. “i have a safe house about two hundred miles up the coast and extra barrels of gasoline on the boat. what are your shoes?” she looks down. “because today is not the day for heels.”
Mara catches her because she’s a goddamned saint, and Eve could honestly kiss her. suddenly, it doesn’t matter how much time has passed. it doesn’t matter how shitty things had been left between them. all that matters is that Mara is here, holding her, she came back. Eve exhales a soft breath as she loosens her grip with her thighs so that she slides to her feet, not forcing Mara to hold her up anymore. instead, she wraps her arms around the other woman’s shoulders and exhales a soft breath, resting their foreheads together.
“i missed you.” she admits, because she wants her to know. if everything goes wrong today-- if they don’t make it through this attack, she wants Mara to know. “i know we need to get going. i know we don’t have time-- but i thought about you every day. i wished so much that i hadn’t pushed it-- hadn’t made you run. just... don’t leave again, okay?” the last plea is whispered softly, before she exhales and nods as Mara starts to explain what’s going on outside. that sounds like a good plan. a boat can get them anywhere-- somewhere far from here. before the inevitable gunfight begins.
“i don’t have any on.” she’d kicked off her heels when she’d sprinted into her apartment, ready to change them. “i’ll get my boots.” she exhales, taking a moment longer to just be close to the other woman, before she moves to draw away. she changes her mind, though, leaning back in before she can second guess herself to seal their lips together in a slow, deep kiss. when she leans back, she lets out a relieved breath and a crooked grin spreads across her lips. “god, i’ve wanted to do that again for so long... okay-- guns are in the floor safe, you remember the combination? i’m going to finish packing. and get sneakers.”