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 lay on the balcony, her face tilted up towards the sky as she did her best to soak up the last of the evening sun. The woman groaned as her phone rang, interrupting the Dolly Parton that had been playing from its speakers. Ivory picked her phone up and answered the call.
"Hey." Jake's voice was clear despite the thousands of miles that lay between them.
"What's up?" Ivory asked, pushing her hair away from her face.
"You're assuming that I'm calling you just because I want something?" Jake snorted.
"Yep."
"I'm worried. There are some new stars in the sky."
"You interrupted the only evening of the week I've not got to go work in that goddamned coffee shop to talk to me about astrology?" Ivory rolled over onto her stomach.
"No. I think it's ships. The people are coming back."
Ivory exhaled sharply. "Shit. Do you think-?"
"Yeah. I think it's the RDA. They're comin' back to fuck things up all over again."
"But Quaritch is dead, Neytiri killed him. They wouldn't be able to do anything without him."
"I have a family now Vee, I need to keep them safe. And I don't think I can do that alone-" Jake broke off, letting a shaky breath out.
"Why don't you call Grace? Or Norm? They've dealt with the RDA longer than I have."
"No," Jake said quickly. "You understand what it's like to lose someone in a war, they don't."
The woman rubbed a hand over her face. "So what do we do?"
"I don't know," Jake's voice was hollow. "I gotta go." He ended the call leaving Ivory alone with a pounding heart and more questions than he had answered.
The woman froze, acutely aware of the approaching footsteps. She sat up and paused the music that had begun to play again, turning to face the flat.
"You don't need to turn that off on my account, I like that song." Grace bent down and kissed her girlfriend on the cheek.
"Really?"
"It's the one that makes me want to deafen myself the least."
"Wow, high praise coming from you Grace."
"You act like I'm incapable of ever saying anything nice."
"Even when Jake perfected that speech you made him perform in Na'vi all you said to him was "that wasn't as shit as usual.""
The redhead shrugged her shoulders. "Do you want some sweet tea? It's getting pretty cold out here."
Ivory shook her head. "I'm tired, I think I'll just go to bed."
Grace nodded. "I just need to finish grading some papers, I'll come to bed after that."
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Grace raised her head from the pillow, squinting through the darkness with difficulty. She frowned and reached over to the other side of the bed, running a hand over the empty space. The other side of the duvet felt smooth as though no one had slept there. Had Ivy been in bed when she had gotten in? Grace couldn't remember- she had been up so late grading abysmal essays that by the time she was able to stagger into bed she'd fallen asleep as soon as her head had hit the pillow. The redhead shoved the covers back and got out of bed. She snatched her phone from the bedside table and turned the torch on, darting out of the bedroom.
Grace practically ran down the hall, only pausing to kick one of Tigger's abandoned squeaky mice out of the way. She burst into the living room, looking around wildly until she caught sight of the curtains that covered the door to the balcony fluttering slightly in the cool evening air. The redhead wrenched the curtains apart and stepped out onto the balcony.
Ivory was slouched against the wall with Tigger curled up at her feet and a cigarette clutched loosely in her hand.
"You scared me you absolute fucking idiot!" Grace exploded, loud enough to wake the people fifteen apartments away.
Ivory jumped. "Why? I was just out here."
"Are you okay?" Grace asked anxiously, sinking down onto the cold stone floor.
"I'm fine. I just couldn't sleep."
"You could've woken me up, I wouldn't have minded."
Ivory shrugged her shoulders. "I wanted to think." She pulled a packet of cigarettes and her lighter out of the pocket of her shorts. "Want one?"
"It's three in the morning." Grace pointed out but took one anyway, cupping her hand around the lighter to shield the flame from the wind.
Ivory shifted along the floor until she was leaning against her girlfriend. "I love you."
Grace slid her arm around her girlfriends waist. "I love you too."
They slipped into a comfortable silence, watching as the sky became streaked with pink and orange. Let dawn find them just like this.
A/N: I just finished watching The Last Of Us and I'm not really sure what to do with my life now but I do know that I want Joel Miller to adopt me. Hoping this chapter makes a shred of sense because I've not updated for ages and I have honestly forgotten how to.
