Ivory Hill had spent the majority of her adult life running. Throughout her twenties and the first part of her thirties it was from bombs and bullets. Now, at thirty six years old Ivory was running from something that she could never truly escape fr...
Ivory was sat in the lab with her sketchbook open on the table, frowning at a plant cutting.
"What're you doing?" Trudy asked, draping herself across the tabletop.
"Grace was looking at this tree earlier. She couldn't find a diagram in any of her books so I thought I'd draw it for her."
"Is this you tryin' to flirt with her? Because if it is you're shit."
Ivory picked up her sketchbook and gave Trudy a gentle whack on the top of her head.
"Doing that isn't going to change your lack of game." Trudy pointed out, hitching herself up onto the table. "Now for the love of god make a move on her I can't take any more pining from either of you, it's getting really fucking annoying."
"My legs feel like jello whenever I see her, staying standing whilst she's there is enough to think about."
"Ivy, talk to her about how you feel goddamnit. Otherwise you're going to spend the rest of your life wonderin' if her legs feel like jello when she sees you."
Ivory put her pencil down and went quiet for a moment. "Sex is enough." She shrugged. "Like I said, Grace doesn't want more and that's okay with me."
"Ivy if you just-"
"Trudy just because you're in a relationship with Norm doesn't mean that I need to be in one with Grace so for fucks sake shut up about it." Ivory snapped, her short temper fraying. She didn't want to be reminded of what she was missing out on, she didn't want to accept that all she and Grace would ever be was friends.
Trudy, who had witnessed Ivory's explosions before, simply shrugged. "Fine, fine." She hopped off the desk. "Do you want pop tarts? Grace made me pick some up from Hell's Gate. She, Norm and Jake are still driving their Avatars so we can eat them before Norm gets his hands on it."
The dark haired woman shook her head. "You go ahead."
"See you later." Trudy said amiably, disappearing from the lab.
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Trudy yawned, getting out of her seat. "I can't wait up for Norm any more."
Ivory looked up, her eyes unfocused with exhaustion. She took her phone from the table and checked the time. "It's four in the morning, what are they doing still driving their Avatars at this time?"
Trudy shrugged. "Norm didn't say what they were going to be doin'." She tightened her ponytail. "I'm gonna clean Maya then I'm goin' to bed." The woman disappeared from the room, leaving her mug on the table.
Ivory groaned and shifted in her chair, trying to make the hard plastic comfortable. Tigger opened one eye at the noise and forced himself up, jumping into the girl's lap. "Hey baby." She murmured, scratching his ears. "Who's a beautiful boy?" The cat miaowed smugly then settled down, closing his eyes and stretching himself out. Ivory looked down at the cat, smiling faintly. She rubbed her eyes, determined to force sleep away until Grace got back. She was worried- what if something had happened to Grace? Norm had said that if a persons Avatar died sometimes their human body died as well.
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The hand of Grace's wristwatch had just reached six when she finally emerged from her link unit.
Norm struggled out of his own unit, staggering off in the direction of his bedroom, barely awake.
"See you later Grace. And don't even think about waking me up before lunchtime." Jake muttered. He transferred himself into his wheelchair and wheeled himself out of the room.
Grace let out a long breath and ran her hands through her curly red hair. Something brushed against her leg and she jumped, swearing loudly. "Oh. It's just you." She bent down and picked up the large orange tabby before he could start to shred her trousers in his desperate bid for her attention. The cat struggled out of her arms and jumped onto the table, scuttling over to his mistress' side.
Ivory was hunched over with her head resting on the tabletop, asleep.
Grace bit her nails. She was slightly pleased that Ivy had waited up for her, even though she could barely admit it to herself it was... pleasant to know that someone cared about her. After things with Parker had gone do downhill she had given up the hope of someone feeling that way about her again and now that it was happening she wasn't sure how to act. Grace knew that she couldn't let it progress to anything more than friendship, she couldn't risk things going to shit again.
Tigger settled back down beside Ivory, washing his paws.
The redhead stood in silence, debating wether or not she should wake the woman up. Her stomach twisted guiltily. Ivy had been sitting there for god knows how long waiting for her to get back. Ivory's forehead was creased with worry and Grace knew that she was probably the cause. She reached out and shook Ivory's shoulder.
"What?" Ivory asked groggily, not bothering to open her eyes.
"It's six. You've fallen asleep at the table. Come on, let's go to bed."
Ivory muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "piss off," pressing her face against the table to block out the early morning light that was beginning to seep through the windows.
Grace groaned then bent down, picking Ivory up.
"What are you doing?"
"Carrying you to bed, stupid." The redhead answered, silently thanking whoever was listening that Ivy wasn't any taller.
"Oh." Ivory pressed her face into the crook of Grace's neck as she strode down the corridor, shoving the bedroom door open with her shoulder.
The older woman pulled the duvet back with one hand and deposited Ivy into bed. "Try and get some more sleep."
"Thanks Grace."
A/N: Sorry for the slow updates things are really busy for me at the moment. I've had so much going on that I wrote this chapter across a few days so I hope it doesn't feel bitty to read
