Scars {Drabble}
She never shows enough skin to reveal the gouge on her side. It's a sore spot, sometime literally, her fingers caressing the puckered skin.
A bad memory of when she was younger, stupider. Sure that she was the baddest bitch.
She could take on the world.
She still looks like she'd in her late 20's, and no amount of skin cream is that good. Ada knows the virus is inside of her, dormant. She knows that if anyone else knows, she'll become a target.
So she does not tell, and her Agent, Haiden does not ask.
But some days she holds a hand over her abdomen with a wince, eyes watering as she stares into the distance.
Some days she see's something about the Birkin girl, and retires to her room, feigning a cough, a headache, a file that needs to be read.
She does not tell, but now Haiden wonders.
They kiss, one day.
It was unplanned, but not unwanted, but she draws back as his hand brushes her side.
"I'm sorry, Miss Wong."
He apologizes.
"It's...fine. It's nothing. I'll be back, later."
She waves it away, leaves for a time. She returns a little tipsy, but still tight lipped.
Haiden thinks to ask, but doesn't as she glides past him, the smell of liquor noticeable on her breath.
She does not tell, and now Haiden worries.
"I almost died," she tells him, one day after he makes a noise as she flinches. "I was stupid, and almost died. That’s all.”
He doesn't pry, not yet. He likes Miss Wong, more than he should for a man in his position, and he'd hate for her to cancel the contract because he was nosy.
But still, he worries.
They kiss again.
His hand wanders to her side again, and she doesn't push back this time. He can feel the scar through her shirt, and he is the one to draw back.
"I don't want to hurt you."
She laughs.
"I don't think you could."
Then, one day, he almost dies. A BOW comes out of nowhere, knocks him from his perch. Leaves a new scar on his body.
She’s terrified.
He’s laying on the couch of the safe house, and she sits on the edge.
Places a hand on his bandages, then pulls at her shirt.
The scar is more than he thought it would be- reaching from breast to thigh, still looking red, inflamed.
She’s quiet, as she tells him what happened.
"Birkin clawed me, in Raccoon. I was distracted...Kennedy...I...let myself get hurt.” She pauses.
He reaches for her hand, and she lets him.
“I thought I was going to die from the infection, I should have died from it. G was...not forgiving. But, I was in the labs. I found instructions to create a cure. I'm not a scientist though- I did it wrong." She pauses, again.
He squeezes her hand.
"I'm infected. I’m infected, but I don’t look it, do I?"
Her free hand goes to the scar, thumb rubbing circles over the raised flesh.
"I'll outlive you, if the circumstances allow it. I'll outlive everyone, everyone but Sherry. That poor girl...she’ll live longer than all of us. Direct relation, same blood."
He grabs her other arm, pulls her hand from the scar.
“I hate it. I hate that one day, I’ll wake up, and you’ll be gone. Leon, Sherry, Redfield and Valentine...And I’ll go back to being the Bitch in the Red Dress.”
She smiles a grim smile.
“Something an old coworker called me. He wasn’t wrong.”
Haiden shakes his head, then regrets it. Vision is swimming, but he keeps his eyes on Ada.
“I won’t be gone. I won’t leave you behind,” he promises, and she laughs, then sobs.
“I want to believe you, Haiden. But you can’t. You won’t be able to. And I’ll have to deal with it.”
She smiles at him, squeezes his hands, then leans forwards.
They kiss, and she smooths back damp hair from his forehead.
“Sleep, Agent. We’ve still got work to do, so rest up.”
“I’ll be fine, Miss Wong,” he says instinctively, before stopping.
Nodding.
“Sleep well, Ada.”
“Rest easy, Haiden.”
