Rising Into Consciousness / Duality
by E. R. Mills
A Little Epilogue:
"Put...the knife...down."
"I didn't realize I'd left that out somewhere she could get at it."
"Well she did. She's very resourceful. And very, very NAUGHTY!"
Reese lunged for her cat, reaching out to grab the scruff of her neck, but Ephiny anticipated the move and ducked out from her mistress' grasp and continued to play with the small silver knife she had found. The thing was tiny, a throwing knife, and the shine of it attracted the cat. When Reese and Auset had come in the door to the apartment, they'd found the feline gleefully batting the weapon across the hardwood floor. Currently, Reese was lying on her stomach, cursing like a sailor, with the cat behind her and continuing to happily scoot the little knife around on the floor. Auset was casually leaning against one wall and observing the events that were unfolding in her apartment with a great deal of amusement. Not that she wasn't worried that Ephiny might hurt herself, or possibly even her very frustrated friend, but the hacker couldn't help but find it all terribly humorous.
Finally, after taking pity on Reese in her attempts to remove the sharp object from the cat's clutches, Auset snuck up on the unsuspecting calico and pounced. With a feral growl of her own, the taller woman snatched the knife, flipped it twice in the air, stood up, and placed the item in the top drawer of her dresser. It happened so fast that Ephiny was left frantically searching the area around her for the lost toy, and Auset finally broke down and let loose a deep belly laugh. Reese, still lying prone on the floor, gave in as well and chuckled right along with her.
"I suppose I'll have to cat-proof my apartment now," Auset suggested, still laughing, as she offered a hand to help Reese up. The blonde took the proffered hand and stood as she grumbled something unintelligible about her pet. Then a thought struck her, brought on by what Auset said.
"Um...Auset, I really appreciate you having let me stay with you all this time, and I'm going to pick up the pace in my search for a new place right away...so I should be out of your way relatively soon and I just...I mean...thanks? For everything," the writer rambled off nervously. Auset leaned back against the desk and crossed her arms over her chest.
"You're welcome, and you can stay...as long as you like. You're not in my way at all," she finished with a shrug, trying not to betray the fact that she was really hoping Reese would stick around for a while more.
"I couldn't impose on you for much longer. But, ah, it's good to know I've got a place for now. Just, thank you. Really."
"I should be thanking you," Auset replied softly, eyes focused on her suddenly captivating feet.
"What for?"
"For everything you've done. For being my friend. For not giving up on a big hard-ass dork like me. It...means a great deal to me."
Reese saw the pained look on her friend's face and knew that the words to express what was going on between them were hard to formulate. Instead, she opted to walk over to Auset, who was still staring hard at the floor, and wrapped her in a tight embrace. After a second of hesitation, Auset returned the gesture, lifting her arms to circle the smaller woman before her. They let all of the stress of the past few weeks seep out in that hug, reveling in each others' reassuring hold, and just taking those few moments off from life.
Finally, they mutually stepped back a bit and let their arms drop. Ephiny chose that moment to rub up against Auset's leg, purring as loudly as she could. Reese smirked and leaned down to pet the cat on the head.
"Well, she seems to have taken a liking to you."
Auset grunted and kneeled down so that she could scratch the persistent feline's ears. "You brat."
Reese's head jerked up and she glared at her friend.
"Me or the cat?"
"Yes."
The blonde stuck her tongue out and stood back up, stretching her back a little as she did.
"I should call work and let them know I'm back," she thought aloud. Auset nodded her head in the direction of the computer before moving over to her weapon wall and removing the pair of sai with which to practice. Reese ambled over towards the Nest to make use of the phone and situated herself in the comfortable office chair. As she settled the headphone set over her ears and dialed the number for work, her eye caught sight of an officially stamped piece of paper on top of the mess on the desk. It was a death certificate for James Passaris. Auset's dad. Reese knew she probably shouldn't be looking at the document, but her curious eyes couldn't help it. She scanned down the rest of the paper and came to Auset's mother's name, Elizabeth Pappas Passaris. As the phone rang in her ear piece, the writer ran the name through her memory. Somewhere far off, it rang a bell. Pappas was Auset's mother's maiden name. Why do I recognize it? Before she could finish the thought, however, someone picked up on the other line and Reese went back to discussing plans to come back to work soon.
Auset went through her usual sai workout routine, twirling the weapons in her grip with easy familiarity. Reese would be around for a while and that...was good, she decided. She could help the woman find a new place, somewhere nearby, and the prospect of spending more time with Reese was very appealing. It had been so long since she'd been close to anyone really, and this time it just felt so right. Scary, but right.
She had lost herself so much in the practice that she failed to notice when Reese got off the phone and walked up behind her. Before the hacker knew what was what, the blonde had grabbed one of her hands and pinned it to her back and then disarmed her, taking one of the sais and dropping the other to the floor. Auset blinked a few times in complete surprise but decided that this new position wasn't quite so bad.
"Gotcha," Reese declared, her voice a pleasant rumble in Auset's ear.
"Oh yeah," the dark-haired woman replied amiably. "That you do."
THE END.
(2-24-01)
Props and praise:
A big what's-up to my faithful psuedo beta reader, Ali -the-ever-enthusiastic, and to Kamouraskan for being so durn friendly and encouraging (Kam's writing once saved my life and the life of my roommates). Thanks to Dar for getting my often times messed up timeline all straightened out. Another big what's-up to anyone else who actually read this, and of course big heapin' helpings of thank you's to those webfolk who posted my stories on their sites! =) I love you guys!
It's been a trip, and a great one at that.
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