Actress/Character One-Shots (WLW)

Grind With Me Pt2 - F. Goode

A/N: This is a continuation of Part 9. Cordelia and Fiona have a good relationship in this as well.

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Aurora sat at the piano, her fingers delicately sliding across the keys as she played. The rest of the academy was asleep, or at least that's what she thought. Cordelia had been watching her from the doorway for a few minutes, simply waiting for her to notice. The blonde had seen the young woman playing the past few nights after everyone went to sleep and decided tonight would be the night she would talk to her about it. She spoke for the first time when the music stopped.

"You're really good, Ror." The brunette flinched harshly, spinning around on the bench to look at the witch lingering behind her.

"Jesus Christ, Delia! You can't just sneak up on people like that," she said, slowly dropping her hands back into her lap from where they'd been clutching her chest.

"Sorry. I just wanted to see what was up," Cordelia explained.

"I don't know what you're talking about." The elder witch sighed and moved toward Aurora; she took a seat beside her on the piano bench and turned her head to look at her.

"There's no point in lying to me, Aurora. I know you, and I can tell something's wrong. You've been down here playing for almost a week now," she argued, raising her brows slightly. Aurora slumped slightly and leaned her head on her friend's shoulder.

"I miss her, Dee," she whispered. Her voice was shaking, making it obvious to Cordelia that she was trying to hold back tears.

"Oh, Ror, I should have known. I'm so sorry," she apologized as she wrapped her arm around the woman.

Fiona had been gone dealing with coven matters for about a week, and it had taken a toll on Aurora. It had been nearly eight months since her birthday, the night she and Fiona finally admitted their feelings for one another, and they had spent almost every day together since. In those eight months, the longest they'd spent apart was a day at most, so when the Supreme informed Aurora she would be gone for at least a week, she did her best to hide her disappointment. It was difficult for the young witch to fall asleep alone in their bed, so she took to playing the piano downstairs instead.

"That's why you've been down here all week, isn't it?" Aurora nodded against her shoulder.

"I can't sleep without her," she replied, her eyes filling with tears and her throat burning. She'd managed to keep her emotions relatively in check all week, but the lack of sleep added to Cordelia's confrontation allowed them to finally catch up to her. She sniffled. The quiet sound made Cordelia's chest heavy.

"Please don't cry, lovebug. She should be home soon," she soothed, rubbing Aurora's back in an attempt to stop the few tears that had slipped down her cheeks. The brunette lifted her head from Cordelia's shoulder and looked up at her with her big, sad eyes.

"What if she doesn't come back?" Aurora whimpered. Her tears fell more quickly now, and all the blonde could think to do was to pull her into her lap. The young woman buried her face in her friend's neck.

"I promise she'll come home, Aurora; she loves you far too much to leave for good. I've never seen my mother look at someone the way she looks at you. I know it's hard to be away from her, but you've only got a little while longer." Cordelia continued to rub Aurora's back and whisper reassurances in her ear. At some point, she stood up from the bench and carried the witch to the couch so they could be more comfortable. Aurora's cries and sobs became sniffles and whines, which eventually turned to quiet breathing and snores. That's when Cordelia realized how exhausted her friend must have been from the repeated restless nights and decided to just let her sleep. She had some reading she wanted to do anyway, so she grabbed the book from beside her and began scanning the pages while occasionally checking that Aurora wasn't in a position that would hurt her neck or back.