God's Lonely Man

Precious and Fragile Things Need Special Handling

"Laura, Laura, take it easy!" Carmilla shouts, trailing after the little ball of energy going at full speed in front of her. She barely had time to turn off the engine before Laura was several feet in front of her, running from the car.

Laura giggles as she spins around and waits for Carmilla to catch up before grabbing her by the hand, essentially dragging her forward. "Come on, Carm! We're gonna miss it!"

Carmilla stumbles a bit but catches her footing. "Miss what?" she huffs. "Miss New Years? That's still like an hour away!"

Laura yanks at Carmilla to go faster, but Carmilla completely trips over her own feet this time and flies forward, crashing right into Laura, who lets out a small yelped, "Eek!" and flops face-first in the field. Laura's backpack goes flying, with Carmilla landing right on top of her.

Carmilla gets the wind knocked out of her and tries to regain her bearings, but Laura groans underneath her. Carmilla feels Laura's hand flying to the side where her wound is. Her eyes widen as she rolls off Laura.

"Shit! Are you okay?"

Laura winces and sucks in a breath as she lifts her shirt to check. "Yup! Stitches still intact," she says with a smile.

Carmilla stares at her in shock and barely registers Laura scrambling to her feet.

"Come on, Carm! We can't miss this!" Laura grabs her backpack and starts running again.

Eventually they're in the middle of the field and Laura squints up into the night sky. She checks her watch and excitedly tugs at Carmilla's arm, dropping her backpack.

"What? What is it that's worth you running like a maniac with a gunshot wound?" Carmilla demands, chuckling at Laura's enthusiasm.

Laura points up with a smug grin. Carmilla glances at the sky and her mouth drops open. She had been so intent on running after Laura she didn't even notice.

"The northern lights," Carmilla gasps. "I've never... I always wanted to see them, but..."

"But the city lights got in the way," Laura finishes. "Mattie told me."

Carmilla's eyes widen. "Mattie?"

Laura giggles and opens her backpack, pulling out a large picnic blanket and two smaller ones. "Let's get comfy first, yeah?"

Laura's breathing is slightly labored and Carmilla helps her out. It's Laura's first night out of the house after coming home from the hospital for bed rest, so she's still moving a bit slowly–– except for the run from the car to the field.

Laura slowly settles on the blanket with a grunt and Carmilla sits next to her, careful to give her some space. She briefly considers asking Laura if she's okay and even opens her mouth to do it, but closes it. If she were in serious pain, then Carmilla would trust her to say something. Laura notices and gives her a grateful smile.

"So. Mattie." Laura clears her throat and brings out two thermoses of hot chocolate, handing one to Carmilla. "She dropped by the house the other day on behalf of your mother because they knew that my dad would probably shoot Lilita Morgan if she requested to see me."

Carmilla chuckles and takes a sip of her hot chocolate.

"Mattie came to extend your mother's gratitude for saving your life and, uhm... there was some stuff about making you happy, but it sounded really weird coz it was said with this totally uncaring and cold tone that basically sounded like she was telling me that she bought me a really cute hamster and then planned to throw it on the floor in front of me and stomp on it––"