By Absinthe Disclaimer: The characters of Melinda Pappas, Janice Covington, Xena, Sheriff Lucas Buck, Gail Emory, Caleb, and "Dr. Matt" belong to Universal and Renaisance and all those great people. My apologies for borrowing them. The rest of this goop, however, belongs to me, Absinthe. This is an Alternative story, meaning we've got some lesbian romo going on, if this bothers you, TURN BACK NOW. Thanks. Soundtrack: Sheriff Buck's theme song is undoubtedly "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Rolling Stones, "Precious Things" by Tori Amos belongs to Maia, and "Tiger" by Paula Cole goes to Gillian. Chapter 13: Maia woke up just before dawn with a pounding headache. Sarah still slept soundly next to her, her small body nearly lost among the quilts. Straightening her sleep rumpled clothes, Maia surveyed the room. She made note of a rectangle on the wall opposite the head of the bed where a picture had once hung. Maia crept out of the room, and as much as she wanted to stay to say good morning to the younger woman, she left. It seemed so strange to Maia that Sarah was so immediately and unabashedly honest. So unaffected. Maia had a sense of the trust that hung, unwarranted, between them. I don't think I'll be able to lie to her. She thought as she rode home in a cab. It's been too damned long since you were a part of the real world. She's so alive. Not like us, like me. She's not one of the walking dead. Maia stood in what would have been her dining room, but was used as a workout room. She felt too confined inside. The scarred walls and battered dumbbells depressed their owner, so she changed into leggings and a sweatshirt and went running instead. She strode purposefully outside onto the sidewalk. The cold air hit her like a slap, but she set off at a dead run anyway. Pushing herself to the limit, she ran all the way to Central Park and then some. Drenched in clammy perspiration, Maia covered about 15 miles that morning when her breath came in white gasps of vapor. Clean and dressed in her favorite leather pants with a loose blouse, Maia found a can of chick peas in the cupboard and called it breakfast. Only then did she crack open the "company issue" laptop to check for word from Operations. She was to report to the briefing room in 30 minutes. Maybe this will be the one. It was not. While Maia waited for her chance, a mission that would give her the opportunity to fake her death, she walked a thin rope. She needed to appear safe for Section's continued use, but still edgy enough so that a fatal mistake might not seem completely out of character. in the outside world she felt compelled to seek Sarah out repeatedly. The two women grew close, Maia thrived in the light of day, and the honesty that seemed to be the very root of Sarah's personality. "I'm going to have to leave soon." Maia whispered one evening. They were nestled comfortably together on the floor of Sarah's living room. "But we haven't' finished watching the movie." Sarah protested, gesturing to the rented copy of Boys on the Side. She didn't want to move, she loved the feel of Maia's long, powerful body behind her. "No. I mean I'll be leaving soon. Leaving the state." Maia explained. The head resting against her chest pulled away and a pair of green eyes flashed in her direction. "You're moving?" "Yes." "Where?" "Don't know yet." "Why?" "There's something here I have to get away from." "Dammit." Sarah snapped and jumped to her feet. Maia looked up at her uneasily. "What is it that won't tell me?" Sarah demanded. Maia had never see her so angry before. "Why can't I call you? Where do you live? What do you do? What's going on that's so terrible?" Maia said nothing. "What's the matter? Did you do something? You're in trouble, but for what?" Sarah asked, kneeling now. "It can't be that bad. Come on. I'll do anything you want me to that will help." "I am in trouble, have been for a long time, but I don't need your help." Maia chewed her lip keep it from trembling, "You can't be connected me. That's why I use pay phones to call you, why you can't call me, or come to see me. It's not because I don't trust you. It's because it's not safe for either of us." "You think I would tell anyone where you are?" "No. I think I couldn't live with myself if they made you suffer." "Who are they?" "Sarah." Maia begged, "Stop." The blonde sat down again, slowly. She brushed the side of Maia's face hesitantly; the dark woman leaned into the tentative touch. "I'm sorry." Sarah tearfully said at the pain evident in her friend's face. "How long until you have to go?" "I can't be sure. It could be tomorrow, it could be months from now." "Is there anything I can do?" "Just keep doing what you always have." "Will you come back?" "No." "I want to go with you." "Absolutely not." Maia brusquely returned. She explained, "It may be too dangerous. Besides, why on earth would you want to give up your company?" "I remember what it was like before I met you. It wasn't bad...not at all, but it was emptier. I want to see the world. I feel restless here. I have these dreams about traveling with you; only you're not really you and I'm not really me. I just feel like we're family." Maia stared at her. "You feel it too don't you?" Sarah asked, getting excited again, "Its like we knew each other as children and then forgot about each other." Maia continued to stare, keeping her expression carefully neutral. "I don't know what you're talking about. Maybe its because you've had that portrait in your bedroom for so long." Sarah slapped the powerful woman's arm playfully. "You saw the fade mark huh?" She asked sheepishly. "Kinda hard to miss." "You feel it too though." "I still don't know what you're talking about." Maia snorted, but the look of triumph on the blonde's face proved that she saw through Maia's gruff response. "I could run Ishtar by remote. If you're going to start over somewhere else, you'll need money." Sarah pointed out. "That's not a problem." Maia was planning on falling back to her reserve funds, the money from before Section, from before Steve's crazy plans. "This is partly my choice Maia. I can't stand this stupid dirty city anymore. I'm tired of silly, shallow people trying to be something they're not." "The answer is still no. I can't let you." Maia grabbed Sarah's hand and kissed it affectionately. "Let's just watch the rest of the movie ok?" Maia did not contact Sarah again. She couldn't face another argument because she was almost certain that she would give in , and that could only cause Sarah pain in the end. Maia's next assignment almost made her lose control too soon. It was a quick undercover operation. It wasn't the first time by far that she'd had to play such roles, but this was the first time she had orders to put herself completely at the mercy of a stranger. Amanda called her into her office after the briefing. "I thought you might like to know why you're being asked to do this." The blonde said, a hard coldness creeping into her voice. Maia simply waited for her to go on. "Durret has an intolerance for sedatives; we need him alive and completely unaware of our surveillance." "And I can't just go in as a household employee because...." "We don't have time to have his maid killed and insert someone in her place." Amanda flashed a manic smile. "Why me?" "Because you're his type." "Why him?" "He's a threat." Amanda vaguely replied. Maia pursed her lips, thanked her superior dully and went home. She showered, shaved, and dressed exactly as she had been told to and settled down with a copy of Garden of Eden to await a phone call. It came at 10pm, and was almost immediately followed by the arrival of a replica of the car used by Durret's usual "service." Maia sat wordlessly in the back seat, smiling halfheartedly at the driver. He was one of her agents, Jimmy, she thought. He was looking a little uneasy with the situation. When at last they reached their destination, and Jimmy pulled up in front of sprawling house in the suburbs, he turned to her and said, "Good luck. I'll be back in three hours to pick you up." "Thanks. I'll be fine Jimmy." She walked up the front door, staying on her toes to keep her ridiculous high heels from sinking into the turf. She was admitted inside by a short, mousy woman in a maid's uniform. Looking over her shoulder once at the street, Maia fervently wished that she was somewhere else. Maia rode despondently back to her apartment. Jimmy kept glancing nervously at her in the rearview. She had never felt so unprepared for a mission before. Durret liked handcuffs. They reminded Maia of hospital restraints. Her wrists were bleeding onto her coat sleeves. in a moment of panic, she'd struggled against the handcuffs even after she felt the skin peel back from her wrists. Her distress had, as was the basic idea of using such props, excited Durret. Maia was only grateful that he was not a man with a great deal of stamina. Once he was out, snoring, Maia mustered all the professionalism she could, wrapped her wrists with strips of the bed sheets, and peppered the house with transmitters. She placed tiny tracking devices in the hems of all of his shirts and jackets. When she was done, she roused Durret and demanded her money before she ran out front to meet her ride. She said nothing to Jimmy this time, just let him drive. Something is up. she seethed, Anyone could have done that. Hopefully I won't be here to find out what's going on. Chapter 14: Only two weeks after severing contact with Sarah, Maia broke into the woman's apartment. It was about four in the morning, and it was snowing a little outside. Maia was closing the bathroom door behind her when she heard Sarah slide out of bed. Freezing, Maia waited for her to go back to sleep, but to her growing dismay, the blonde padded towards her, a pewter candlestick held over her shoulder like a baseball bat. Maia stepped to the left side of the door and nudged it a little. Sarah jumped, stupidly walking straight into the dark bathroom. Maia relieved her of the candlestick then clamped a hand over her mouth. "Shh. Its me." Maia said, waiting for the body in her grasp to relax. Sarah nodded in the darkness. "Maia! You scared the shit out of me!" Sarah almost shouted when she was released. "I thought you were gone." She added as she flicked the wall switch. She gasped at what the light revealed. Maia's blue eyes shone harshly from a face coated in soot and grime. She was hugging her right arm close to her torso, and her hair was singed several inches shorter. There were a few blackened holes in her jacket, and she looked drawn and tense. "I just need to clean up..." She said. "Take your jacket off." Sarah tugged at the wool duster anxiously. "Sarah, I'm fine, just leave me alone and I'll take care of myself." "Mhmmm. Just take your jacket off, let me take a look at you." At the stubborn set of her friend's jaw, Maia relented and gingerly shook the coat off. It slid unnoticed to the tile floor. "God." Sarah exclaimed. The torn back of Maia's shirt was stuck to her back with dried blood. Sarah touched the fabric gently. "You're shivering! Siddown." Sarah pointed imperiously to the edge of the bathtub, "I'm going to go call for an ambulance." She started out of the bathroom, only to be stopped by a shaky but steely grip on her wrist. "No." Grabbing a handful of towels, she started the painstaking process of soaking the cotton shirt and the still soft scab off of the wound. "What happened?" Sarah asked, disguising her fear as best she could, "And don't tell me it was nothing either, because it's obvious that it was something." "It was an explosion. I set the fuse on the propane tanks, and I just couldn't get away fast enough. I was going to make a run for it." The cold and the long walk from the site of the explosion to this place were telling their toll. Maia told herself to shut up, but she was so tired... she couldn't quite remember why she was supposed to shut up. Her jaw was starting to swell up from where she'd pulled out one of her molars with a pair of pliers just before she set the fuse. It was a small miracle that she'd been even within the country, let alone close enough to make it back here in only five hours on foot. "Shh." Sarah said, "Just take it easy. Its ok. You can tell me about it tomorrow." "I can't stay here." Maia mumbled. "I have to go tonight." "Why? Who's going to come looking for you here?" "They will." Maia inarticulately replied, her head swimming in a crimson sea of pain. "No. No one is going to come after you here, tonight. We can leave tomorrow if you're up to it." "Yer crazy." her unfocused blue eyes sought Sarah's determined face. "Pot, Kettle, calling each other black." The blonde mockingly pointed at Maia then at herself. The false grin on her face faded when she got her first good look at the singed, discolored, long slice that extended from the top of Maia's shoulder blade diagonally to the juncture of her arm and torso. The projectile had sliced through that strap of her bra, melting the nylon and elastic to her lacerated skin at the points of incision. Inhaling sharply, she asked, "What did this?" "Shrapnel. You'll have to get it out." Maia replied, over the sound of tearing fabric. Sarah ripped the back of the shirt the rest of the way down and let it slide off of Maia's arms onto the floor. She kicked it into the corner where it lay, giving off the powerful odor of smoke. "You're crazy. I can't do it. Why don't I take you to see a doctor?" Sarah suggested again, an edge of panic creeping into her voice. The hot metal had partially cauterized the wound as it entered, but Maia's flight from the fire and awful, fumbling, freezing walk back into the city had caused it to shift inside her body and caused further damage. "No." Maia replied tensely, "Do you have any forceps or needle nose pliers?" "I can't do this." "Please Sarah. I can't reach it or I'd do it myself, and there's no one else in this city that I'd trust right now." Maia begged. "I have forceps." "Would you get them, boil them?" Nodding as she walked out, Sarah did as she was told and helped Maia tend the minor burns while they waited for the forceps to cool. Sarah had only ever used them for jewelry repairs before. Now, as Maia leaned warily against the wall she felt nauseous and scared and naive. Figures that my courage would choose to sell out just now. she thought. With her brilliant yet sad eyes closed Maia almost looked young. Sarah would have guessed her to be in her mid twenties except for the worry lines just beginning to form at the corners of her mouth. "They're ready." Sarah announced at last, her voice high with anxiety. Maia opened her eyes and stood up slowly. She knelt in the porcelain tub. "There'll be a lot of blood." She explained. Gripping the edges of the old tub she stretched her arm painfully out to her side to hold the gash open. "Oh God." Sarah felt her knees go weak. Taking a deep breath, she climbed in behind her friend and stared, greenly, at the oozing wound. "Can you see it?" Maia asked through gritted teeth. "No." Maia shifted the muscles again. "Wait...yes. Stop." Sarah said, leaning closer. Maia held as still as her trembling would allow. She closed her eyes and waited. When at last Sarah held a three inch long, narrow sliver of twisted steel in her fingers, Maia lay slumped and only semi-conscious, draped over the side of the bathtub. Feeling like a deer in headlights, Sarah stood rooted to the spot. She watched in mute horror as blood welled past the lips of the tear and poured down Maia's well muscled back. She came to herself only when blood started to soak into the hem of her robe. Sarah tossed the sliver into the trash and ran into the kitchen where she spun around a few times helplessly trying to remember what she'd decided she needed in there in the first place. Remembering suddenly, she grabbed a bag of sterile cheese cloth she'd purchased in an abortive attempt to make jelly one summer and ran back to the bathroom. Sarah wrenched the plastic open and pressed a wad of the cloth to the wound with as much pressure as she dared. She was afraid that her clumsy work getting the metal out had only made things worse. It seemed like she crouched in that tub for an eternity before the bleeding stopped and she was able to tape a makeshift, lumpy bandage onto Maia's shoulder. The ends of her hair were stained maroon, but she was too tired to move the sticky strands out of her face. "Maia." She gently shook the other woman's greyish face. Maia blinked at her. "C'mon. Stand up." Pliantly, Maia eased herself unsteadily onto her feet, leaning heavily on the smaller woman until they were both on the floor again. Pushing her crutch away, Maia started towards the door, mumbling her thanks. "Hey. We had this fight already." Sarah grabbed her recalcitrant patient by her good shoulder and guided her into the bedroom. For the second time in as many months, they spent the night in the same bed. The bleating of an alarm clock jerked both women awake. Sarah lunged for ti and the noise ceased. She rolled over and found herself nose to nose with Maia's sleepy face. The dark woman lay on her stomach, her head turned to watch her bedmate. "I'll call in sick." Sarah announced. "No. Go to work." "I own the place, I'm allowed." "Just go to work, pretend I'm not here. I know it seems paranoid, but I just want to be sure..." Maia couldn't bring herself to move just yet. She knew that once she did, her body wold start punishing her. "I'll go. But you have to promise me to stay here and get some rest." Sarah wagged a finger at her. "Ok." Maia mumbled. "PROMISE me." Sarah demanded. Rolling her eyes, Maia nevertheless gave her word that she would not leave. Not that she had any way to get anywhere anyway. "How are you feeling?" Sarah brushed her charge's forehead and checked the bandage. "I've been worse." Maia yawned. Smiling broadly, the ordeal of only a few hours previous, felt distant to Sarah as she dressed. At Ishtar, she arranged for David and Bev to take over for her, gave them her cel phone number and remote email address, and by the end of the day had prepared everyone for her departure. "This is awfully sudden Sarah." David chided her as she hung up the phone after taking a call from one of their consigners. "You know I've wanted to do this since we were kids." Sarah poked him in the chest. "Why now?" "I had a dream last night." "OK." David rolled his eyes, "Don't you think you're carrying this new age femme thing a little too far here?" "No. Not at all." Sarah snorted. "All right." David snapped, "What do you want to tell everyone you're off doing?" "Uh." She laughed, "Tell them I'm on a walkabout." She took a last look around the gallery that had been the center of her life for so many years, and walked out. During the tedious drive home, Sarah felt as though a flock of winged frogs had been loosed inside her chest cavity. I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm probably aiding a fugitive... for Arson at LEAST. The magnetic force that seemed to draw the two women together kept her on he present course. Turning Maia in was not an option. However, in the moment it took her to pull into the private parking garage under her building, Sarah suffered a moment of doubt. She broke her promise. She left. A warm feeling in the back of her stomach told her otherwise when she started up the stairs. She didn't know how. in fact, the entire mood surrounding Maia was of mystery. Her breath smelled of secrets, and the whole situation should have been sinister, but Sarah did not feel that. Instead, she felt more at home than ever before in her life. When Sarah left, Maia fell asleep again almost immediately. She woke in mid-afternoon, and just let herself inhale the smell of the room, Sarah's smell. She inhaled slowly, and held the air in her lungs for as long as she could. Even if the tooth wasn't enough to convince them of her demise, she had this, her first free breaths in six years. Nothing had ever smelled or felt so good. All of a sudden, she remembered the words that went with the music that she couldn't forget. She sang them softly as she pushed herself cautiously into a sitting position to take her mind off of the little (and not so little) twinges of protest her various bodily parts gave to her movements. She stood up and padded off to find lunch. Using only one arm made things much more difficult than usual. She had to use her teeth to open the child-proof bottle of tylenol. Downing a few of the things, she wished absently for something stronger. Uh Uh. she scolded herself as she felt the familiar feeling of need crop up. It was not as powerful as it once was, the shadow of that addiction still reared its ugly head occasionally. It had started with the morphine drip at the hospital for her leg, and progressed from there when Steve started supplying her with heroin. The little peppering of scars on her arms had long since been removed through plastic surgery, a tiny benefit of working for section. Maia stared down at the healing bruises still coloring her wrists and shuddered. At least they didn't look like they had a week ago. Then you could still see the muscle through the scabs. Snatching an apple to finish off her meal, Maia wandered through the house peering at the oddments of sculpture and paintings on the wall. She was surprised to discover that a few of them were Sarah's work. They weren't very good, but they weren't bad either. What is it with you and artists? she mused. Maia fought back the urge to go through the tempting, secretive cabinets and cupboards that lurked here and there. At last she sprawled on the sofa and reviewed her options. She did have one thing to be grateful for. Section had never learned anything of what she'd really been doing before Steve's climb to infamy. All the money from her work as killer was still there. All carefully tucked away in foreign accounts under dozens of different names, not one of which was Maia Pappas. It was still there, and hopefully, unmonitored. Each one contained around two million dollars. It was all blood money, and the thought gave Maia momentary pause. Curled there on that blue brocade sofa, Maia closed her eyes and pressed the apple she was still clutching to her face. It smelled of life. She smiled when she bit into its crisp flesh. Eating it slowly, she made the tart fruit last. You never know when it will be the last one. Sarah turned the key in her lock and swung the door open. Breathlessly, she walked into the silent apartment. The lights in the living room were on. Sarah approached the entryway pensively. When she came in full view of the room, she let out the breath she'd been holding. Maia sat cross-legged on the carpet, her bluish-black hair wet from a bath, a towel wrapped around her body, breathing like she was the only one that remembered how good air was. Like she was the only one that needed it. The blonde stood in that doorway just taking it all in . If she was ever asked later to pin down the moment when she fell in love for the first time, that would be the moment. Sarah didn't want it to end, but Maia turned around and returned her stare. Gods she has the most incredible eyes. Those eyes could set me on fire...or turn me to ice and shatter me. Sarah incoherently thought before she managed to say, "I-uh-I got you some clothes. I don't know if they'll fit, but they have to be better than mine." She held out a Nordstrom's bag as though she were afraid she might offend the woman now standing within an arm's length of her. The grey towel barely covered her. It contrasted with her dark, caramel colored skin. Maia smiled hugely, showing those amazingly straight white teeth of hers. "Thanks." She said, "And I...I want you to know that I really appreciate what you did last night. And I'm sorry for disrupting your life like this." Maia crumpled the top of the bag nervously. "Maia?" Sarah reached out, just as Maia once had to her portrait, and touched her skin with her fingertips, "Why are you apologizing?" "I broke into your house-" "Shh. No. I woulda given you keys if you'd asked. It's all right. You were hurt." "That doesn't excuse anything. I have to leave tonight." Maia said, pushing Sarah's gentle hand away. She whirled away and stood facing the wall. "I'm coming with you." Sarah replied. "No you're not. It's not safe." "It's ok. I want to . Whatever it is, I want to be there with you." Maia spun back, fixing her gaze searchingly on the woman in the doorway. "You have no idea." Maia said, her voice husky, "You have no idea who it is that..." "Maia. I'm coming with you tonight. I've told everyone I'm leaving. I can take care of everything. We'll take the Volvo and we'll go wherever you want to go." Sarah took a step forward. "Why?" "I told you...once before. The last time you told me that I couldn't go with you." "That wasn't good enough. Don't you get it? You're risking your life even letting me be here." "You're being paranoid." Maia snorted, her euphoric mood gone like the evanescent thing it was. She brushed past Sarah, who still stood in the doorway, but the blonde grabbed her left wrist between two soft hands. "I love you." she said, "That's not wrong is it?" She asked, her hazel eyes pleading. "You don't know me." Maia winced when she jerked her hand away. She reemerged from the bathroom dressed in a black silk shirt with sleeves that were almost long enough, and a pair of baggy jeans. Sarah looked up from the lettuce head she was savagely chopping. She was chastising herself for saying the three deadly words. Why did I do that? She hates me now. She has to . Sarah felt the lettuce give way to the blade and calmed herself. "I tried." She said by way of an apology. "There's some aloe gel in the linen closet for your wrists if that will help." Sarah noticed that aloe was inadequate for the dark, thick scabs that covered an inch wide swath of the soft, tender flesh on the inner part of both wrists. "Those are old aren't they? What is it?" she set down the knife. When the realization hit her that the marks had been made by a struggle with a set of handcuffs, she picked up the knife and kept cutting. "Yeah." Maia examined her hands as if seeing them for the first time. The too short sleeves of the ill-fitting shirt ended just above the jagged edges of the scabs. She felt more exposed than she had in the towel. "Look. Um. There's a lot that you don't know. I really don't think that you should be coming with me." "Well maybe this isn't just about you. I'm coming, because you shouldn't be driving in the shape you're in , and I want to . You're not going to ditch me yet." Sarah waved the knife in the air. "All right. Fine. But we have to make a stop before we leave the state ok?" Maia finally acquiesced. As soon as the words left her mouth, she felt something inside her break loose. She felt like she had finally done the right thing for once. Sarah's jaw dropped. "Did you just say ok?" she demanded. "Yeah, I guess I did." They smiled in unison. Back to the Beginning |