Fate had been too nervous for breakfast. Seeing her desktop clock state that it was half past ten, the blonde fished out a small zip-lock baggie from her folio. Absently munching on a carrot stick, she clicked her way through the user interface, noting that it was a lot more sophisticated compared to other inter-company systems she'd had the displeasure of using.
There were nothing but orientation emails and invites to various company events in her inbox. Carefully sifting through them, she politely declined the more frivolous-sounding gatherings, deciding to leave the important-seeming ones to later, after she could consult with Nanoha about them. The orientation emails simply linked her to a raft of videos and documents she had to sit or read through. Each one required a retina scan to indicate she had completed each module HR wanted her to go through.
She'd lost track of time and blinked when her terminal beeped stridently at her. Tabbing her way back to the core terminal window, she frowned to see a cascade of alerts and red exclamation marks populating the internal BBS and popping up one after the other at the bottom right of her main ultra-wide screen. The flood of posts were pushing the initial reports clear off the page and she shook her head, pulling open the first few complaints.
Hmm, everything she read seemed to link back to government accounts. Tracing her way back through each branching tree, crimson eyes took in the ancient lines of COBOL, the dull orange of the legacy font reflecting calmly off the wire-rim glasses she had pulled on.
"This stuff is older than god's momma," she muttered, stuffing the last bite of her carrot into her mouth and dusting her fingers and faint memory off. When in doubt, restart. Rattling off the basic command and hitting enter, she left the system to shake off its cobwebs and heave itself through the process of a reboot. "Probably only has 4 megs of DRAM to work with," she mused.
Vita was drowning in lower level complaints, strident and desperate. None got past her adamant wall of, "We're working on it.", since they were. Her boss was stuck fielding calls from major clients, demanding something be done, and no one letting the one person who might fix it go do it. Vita hoped her boss' new AVP was faring better attending her orientation classes.
Cutting the line for the umpteenth time, Nanoha switched from account to account, frustratedly hitting the call button and calling up the code monkeys ensconced in the server farm dungeons below. "Subaru, give me something," she snarled through the line the moment someone picked up. Teana could be heard in the background, yelling at a different team of code monkeys situated halfway across the globe. From the sound of it, she was getting nowhere fast.
"Boss! We're trying to get everyone on board. We can pull a gen-meet in five… uh, what?" Rapid clicking, "Yo boss, might wanna check the service queues."
Nanoha stared at her phone, wondering if her staff had finally lost it. This was Operations, not bloody Customer Service. Panning over to her other screen, she stared at all the ticks turning the sea of red into a pacific ocean of green check-marks.
"Nanoha, you seeing what I'm seeing?" Subaru's reverent whisper trickled over the line in a hush. Teana's yelling had tapered off, the woman obviously distracted by what she saw on her own terminal.
On a hunch, she walked back ancient code and checked to see who had executed the restart logic.
TFATE01
Slumping back into her seat, Nanoha soundlessly ended her call. Cracking open her office door, she glanced over at where her executive assistant sat, looking like she'd gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson in his prime.
"Hold all calls," she muttered. Not waiting for the redhead's grunt of acknowledgement, she moved to the kitchenette to retrieve two covered aluminium bowls, fishing up two mini-forks while she was at it.
Quietly, she let herself into Fate's office and leaned against the door jamb. Unnoticed by the blonde, the executive took in the vision of her AVP positioned behind her standing desk. The height had been adjusted to Fate's elbow height for comfort, and the blonde had one propped on the glazed bamboo's edge while she studied her screen intently. The large, wire-rim glasses perched atop her straight nose gave the woman an air of cute sophistication that her chosen style of dress accentuated. Sensual lips tugging into an unconscious smile, the executive waited with the patience of a leopard readying to ambush its prey.
It took Fate a full two minutes to realise someone was at the door. Glancing up, she felt her tummy doing pirouettes at the sight that greeted her. The darkly beautiful form of her boss was leaning against her door frame, feet crossed elegantly at the ankles. Her bare arms were crossed as well, subtly emphasising their lean strength, the woman apparently having been there for some time.
"Ever heard of knocking?" Fate looked back at her screen, barely succeeding at hiding the flare of intense attraction in her eyes. She scrolled through another yawn-inducing power-point slide about organisational policies, hoping the subject matter would stop her from squirming where she stood.
"Nope," the executive quipped, immediately contradicting her conduct back when Fate was an unannounced guest in her apartment. Pushing off from her leaning post in one sinuous motion, she approached the desk and dropped one of the aluminium containers under Fate's nose.
Curiously peeling back the cardboard cover, the blonde glanced up from the quiche to offer Nanoha a questioning look.
"For skipping lunch," Nanoha intoned seriously, as if it were a punishment. Then Fate was graced with a smile that could light up the entire building, "And for single-handedly justifying my hiring pick. I can safely say that Signum is very, VERY happy with you right now." 'As am I,' the executive's expression implied.
The executive watched the adorable play of emotions skitter across that classically beautiful face as Fate flopped back into her chair to think. A faint frown marred the blonde's smooth brow, one moment flushed, the next moment pale. Settling on pinkened ear-tips, Fate stammered, "But that was… Nanoha!" She was squirming now, unable to get out from under the auburn-haired woman's warm regard, "Someone would have gotten to it sooner or later!" When had the executive skirted around her desk?
Smile unabated, Nanoha refused to allow her little AVP any routes of escape. Her own quiche lay forgotten on the desk as she leaned forward, hands on either armrest, "But you were first," she purred, "And you're all mine." The executive's gaze trailed up and down the length of the tall blonde below her, her look unknowingly possessive.
Batting away the hand that had lifted to tap her on the nose to punctuate Nanoha's words, Fate fancied her ears and perhaps her hair might catch fire soon. Pointedly rolling her chair a pace back from the woman's imposing presence, Fate grabbed her punishment slash reward, using it like an impromptu shield. 'Well?' her look seemed to ask, challenging Nanoha to get her own meal sorted.
Smirking, Nanoha hit a button on Fate's desk, lowering it to a level where they could sit to eat. In the privacy of their offices, it seemed the executive could still relax a little. At least, enough to enjoy a short break with her new subordinate. Taking a seat on the other side of Fate's desk, she started in on the sinfully rich pie she had grabbed for Fate and herself while on the way to work that morning.
"Is every day like that?" Fate asked, eyeing the bits of bacon in her pie and deciding she could indulge a little since she'd skipped her meals today.
"The flavours of madness differ each day," Nanoha replied, "I'll try to ease you in," she peered at Fate from under the fall of hair that refused to stay up a full day under any circumstances, "One might say you've hit the ground running, though."
Fate refused to squirm, but the warmth dusting her cheeks didn't want to go away. With Nanoha, there was an inkling that praises were few and far between, but each one counted.
"I like the office," she said instead, needing a change of subject. "The plants are a nice touch," the blonde ventured, her suspicions confirmed when the executive's unwavering regard slipped to the side in an almost bashful manner.
"I told them to send a few pots of things I couldn't kill." Nanoha stabbed fitfully at the last bits of her quiche, "I remembered you had some plants in your old office," she mumbled.
Fate wondered how much CPR she might get if she fainted from Nanoha's cute overload at this very moment.
The blonde's giddy reverie was interrupted by a chirp on her intercom. Uncertain where the answer button was for this system, Fate hesitated until Nanoha stood, leaning over to hit the right button, "Yes?" Head head tilted to better hear, the executive waited.
The blonde bit hard on the inside of her cheek. Nanoha's button down had drooped and silent praises to Gravity were sung. Generous mounds cupped in yellow lace confronted Fate's eyes, and her glasses began fogging up. Unfortunately, her front row seat to heaven was rudely cut short when the annoyed voice of Nanoha's assistant came through, "Ginga's here again."
Heaving a heavy sigh, Nanoha tossed Fate an apologetic glance and hurried out. The executive's visitor's voice was easily recognisable, setting the blonde's teeth on edge. Feeling like an absolute glutton for punishment, she made no move to close the door left ajar by Nanoha's hurried departure.
"Sweetcheeks! I made a reservation at our favourite place, are you done with work?"
"I suppose. Let me close out and I'll head down with you."
"Can't wait!"
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Grumbling that Nanoha had a name, even if her… her cheeks were sweet, Fate punched at her intercom, "Vita, you can route anything that Nanoha-CHAN hasn't cleared to me." Deliberately emphasising the honorific, she cut the line abruptly without waiting for Vita's reply.
'Take THAT, you hussy.'
In the process of pulling on her trench, Nanoha paused, overhearing her AVP's instruction to Vita. Why did she sound angry? Nodding to Vita, she hefted her laptop case and saw Ginga and herself out, "The basic stuff," she called back to her secretary before the automatic doors whooshed closed.
Her full-figured companion eyed Nanoha, "New addition?" At the executive's shrug, she smiled, "Anyone I know?"
"Just an acquisition from a previous account," the auburn-haired woman explained mildly. "No one interesting." Years of boardroom experience allowed Nanoha to tell that bald-faced lie as thoughts of the woman with wine-rich eyes kept her company while she suffered the attentions of her family's acquaintance.
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"You're too cold," Ginga declared, caressing the executive's cheek while they awaited their order.
Leaning a hair away from the woman's touch without causing too much offense, Nanoha offered the lavender-haired woman a brief smile that didn't reach her eyes, "I fail to recall when I wasn't."
"They miss you, you know," Nanoha took a sip of the unfiltered Turkish coffee she had ordered, knowing she would pay for it later. But she didn't want Ginga to think this was a date complete with wining and dining. In her mind, last night was far closer to a date than whatever this was meant to be.
Nanoha snorted lightly, "They miss the parts that are acceptable to them."
"Is it so bad? To marry and bear an heir?" Ginga asked quietly.
"Like you?"
The lavender-haired woman smiled, the expression tinged with sadness, "He sees who he wants, I see who I want." It was clear that Nanoha was what Ginga wanted.
"I can't do that," the Japanese beauty cited with utter conviction, and Ginga smiled at her sweet stubbornness. "I know."
She'd been on the receiving end of an all-consuming love, once. Swept away by the tidal swell of selfless giving and complete belonging that was the executive's fierce regard. It held the power of Mother Nature itself, and it scared her younger self. Away and into the arms of her husband. Their loveless marriage had yet to produce any offspring, and it never would, if she had her way.
To hear the executive discount their past was an ache she knew she would have to bear. She was the one who had backed away from fervent lips and roaming hands. That unsure schoolgirl had blossomed into a woman with irresistible charisma and a barely contained fire that lurked just under the surface of the cool facade she knew she had helped put there.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Dropping her hand with a sigh, she smiled to the wait staff delivering their meal, "You can't deter me, you know," she warned lightly, "I know you still care."
Wishing she were anywhere other than here, Nanoha started into her meal without gusto, alto heavy with old regrets, "I've never stopped caring. I just wish you'd found someone better," Nanoha held her husband in dim regard and the feeling was mutual.
"I did, but I was stupid." Ginga stated honestly, laying her cards out on the table.
Conflicted, Nanoha concentrated on the food she wasn't tasting. There was a time in the distant past when she would've leapt at everything Ginga was offering. Time had offered the executive some much needed distance from the heady days of first love, and she could clearly see with calm detachment how her unrestrained feelings could cause someone to flee.
It was why she fought a daily fight to keep her temper contained to a smashed mug or two, why she never drank to excess, why she could flirt but go no further. Layered atop that was the added complications of their respective clans, and familial obligations neither of them could ultimately escape. Not without heavy cost.
The name of the game was control, and she had the scars to show lessons well-learned. Give up control, and you give up everything. Chest rising in a long inhalation, Nanoha let it, and the last lingering vestiges of hope for something with Ginga, go.
"We were both stupid," the auburn-haired woman allowed.
Sensing her prey slipping away, Ginga lunged across the table, her hand clamping behind Nanoha's neck to pull her forward into a desperate kiss.
"Mmmph!" Feeling the lavender-haired woman try to slip her tongue, Nanoha got her free hand on Ginga's shoulder and pushed, hard, shoving the other woman back away from her. Panting in outrage, Nanoha ran the back of her hand across her slightly bruised lips, azure eyes glaring flinty chips at the woman.
"And you know what? You still are.."
"But you want it!" Ginga cried in protest, "You want me!"
"I used to." Nanoha spat. Rising, she threw her table napkin onto her barely touched meal and grabbed her coat. Dropping a few fifties at the till, the executive stormed out. She was so caught up in her anger that she missed a shadowed figure hidden in a small alcove by the establishment's takeout counter.
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Despondent and not really knowing why, Fate had bidden Vita a subdued farewell and left the office. Instead of heading to her car, she wandered aimlessly through the streets and down the nearby alleyways around the office block. Eventually finding herself outside a Turkish restaurant, she decided some Tabbouleh takeout would suffice for dinner tonight and stepped in.
'O SHI-!' Of all the places to find Nanoha and that hussy, it had to be here! Spinning on her heel, she hunched behind a placard stand declaring a one for one ladies' night deal for overpriced beer. Why was she even feeling the need to hide? It wasn't as if she had followed them here. Peering around the placard, she eyed her boss who seemed preoccupied with pushing her food around her plate. A petty little corner of her mind felt better about Nanoha not being as attentive to that hussy as she'd been with Fate the night before.
The sound of someone clearing their throat had Fate tearing her eyes from the uncomfortable-looking tableau to glance up at a perplexed staff, "Can I help you, Ma'am?"
Mumbling something about a Tabbouleh to go, Fate slapped two tens on the counter and found a small stool to situate herself more comfortably behind the advertisement stand. The blonde couldn't hear anything over the din of the evening meal, not that she'd be so crass to eavesdrop on purpose, but there seemed to be no love lost between the two having this dinner 'date'.
No, the other woman clearly wanted for there to be something. It was obvious in her expressions, at times sultry, at times softly pleading. Little seemed to budge her boss and when her order arrived, Fate gave an internal sigh and readied herself to leave. Standing, she waited for the staff to count her change when the sudden scrape of chairs and falling utensils pulled her attention back to where she absolutely didn't want to look.
Heart feeling like a lead weight, she watched as Nanoha and her date locked lips over their meal. It was a mistake coming here. She should've turned heel and walked off the moment she saw them. But the executive was shoving this Ginga person away, her gorgeous features twisted in anger as she wiped her mouth on the back of her hand. What was going on?
Wine-shaded eyes followed the executive as she stalked to the counter to pay for their meal. Wondering if Nanoha was all right, Fate's eyes widened when the woman brushed by her, lipstick smudged and a smear that looked bloodied marring the corner of her mouth.
Nanoha straight-armed her way out of the restaurant, pounding feet taking her in any direction furthest from that old source of pain. She needed to get away, needed to shrug off these looming office blocks that threatened to give her a feeling of claustrophobia. Her body moved with a mind of its own, and she soon found herself by the Singapore River, hunched on a step situated by the broad promenade. It was better here, where she could breathe. Hugging one knee to her chest, she rested her chin on her raised limb. Her auburn tresses swayed in the slight breeze since her French twist had come undone when Ginga had forced that kiss on her.
Registering nothing passing by her with unseeing eyes, Nanoha was jolted out of her melancholic stupor when a one cent coin was laid onto the back of her hand, right where a smudge of lipstick still streaked on her skin. Head lifting, she glanced up at the slim shadow crouched over her.
Strands of sun gold framed the face she realised she most wanted to see, and eyes dark with concern scanned over her person from head to toe, silently asking if she was all right. The setting sun had lit a halo around the blonde, and Nanoha found herself at a loss for words.
Fate stood a conscious pace back from the executive whom she had followed to the riverside, Nanoha's trim body was curled defensively into itself like some wounded animal ready to bolt at the slightest sign of threat. She'd debated with herself whether to approach the woman who so obviously didn't want company, losing the argument with herself once the possibility of Nanoha being physically hurt intruded itself on her thoughts. 'I'll check on Nanoha, then go,' Fate resolved.
Not wishing to startle the jumpy woman, she fished out the lucky penny she kept in her card holder and gently laid it on the executive's hand. Her intent was clear, a penny for Nanoha's thoughts, or the coin returned to her. Either way, she would respect her boss' boundaries. When the coin was kept, calloused fingers playing with it, Fate took it as a sign that she could sit on the steps next to Nanoha.
In silence, they watched bumboats and river taxis drift their way up and down the small river. Sea trade was a large part of the island nation's history, and the government's tourism board made certain it wasn't forgotten by commissioning brightly lit, refurbished boats from the era of the country's founding to ply their trade up and down the river.
The cool touch of a wet wipe drew Nanoha's attention back to her colleague. Fate had begun cleaning away the smear of lipstick on her hand. Task complete, Nanoha felt long fingers cupping her cheek as gently as one might hold a newborn chick. Her face was turned with a light urging, allowing the blonde to tilt her face up so that her lips and face could be cleaned too. It was blood.
Seeing red took on a whole new meaning when Fate's wine-shaded eyes spied the beginnings of a bruise on the corner of Nanoha's mouth. This wasn't the time nor place. Lips thinned to hold back any recriminations, she instead asked, "Does it hurt?"
Curious how her usual need for personal space, especially around her head and face, never materialised at the blonde's touch. Exhaling a shaky breath, the executive shook her head, "Drop in the ocean," she whispered cryptically. The soft pad of Fate's thumb brushed over Nanoha's lips, as if trying to rub away any memory of that unwelcome kiss, and they curled in a faint smile. "Not that I'm complaining, but what are you doing here?"
Her thumb felt the moist breath of Nanoha's words and it was too much. Withdrawing her hand, Fate lifted her little packed meal, "Dinner. I… didn't realise you'd be there."
Lashes dipping, Nanoha sighed, so Fate had seen. "That was an embarrassing display."
"For whom?" The blonde retorted tartly, giving Nanoha pause. Surprised, she glanced at Fate from out of the corner of her eye. The blonde's expression was stormy, jaw clenched tight as she wrestled to remain civil, "You didn't consent! That was a complete violation of your boundaries. I'm of half a mind to push her into the river to swim with the fishies for what she did."
Charmed and warmed by Fate's impassioned rant, the Japanese woman patted the blonde's clenched fist, "Thank you; you're a good friend."
Taking a deep breath, fingers still playing with the little coin so similar in shade to her hair, Nanoha flipped it to and fro across the back of her knuckles in a practised move. "She attended my father's dojo back when we were teens." Fate had no doubt to which 'she' Nanoha was referring to. "I made the mistake of thinking we had something." Eyes darkened with old disappointments stared out across the water's edge, taking in the colonial lines of the buildings lined on the river's opposite bank. "I suppose she wants that something, now."
"Do you?" Fate asked on bated breath. It didn't seem like Nanoha did, but the lavender-haired woman was beautiful in her own way. It wasn't her place to be asking as the executive's subordinate, but she excused herself by reminding herself that they were also friends.
"Gods, no," Articulating her lack of interest felt… freeing. "That boat has long sailed," Nanoha's eyes followed one of the boat taxis puttering out of view from their vantage point, "I guess I should've made it clear to her." She offered Fate a wry smile, the expression a little awry from the minor cut her mouth had suffered. She returned the penny to her companion.
Long-fingered hands held Nanoha's in a firm clasp, Fate's expression serious and sincere, "You were clear. She took without permission and I honestly do not wish for you to be alone in the same vicinity as her any more." The quiet blonde's words were low and emphatic, surprising the auburn-haired woman with their intensity.
Capturing the blonde's hardened gaze with her own, warmly grateful eyes, Nanoha articulated no reply, but tugged the both of them up to their feet. Retrieving her discarded trench coat and Fate's take-out, she maintained hold of her companion's hand and led her down to the water's edge.
Easily giving in to Nanoha's lead, Fate followed after in mild confusion, wondering where they were headed. A small booth declaring sales of river boat cruises on its side came into view.
"Tickets for two, please."
Speechless, she watched her boss purchase passage for them onto a waiting bum boat. It had been converted to give tours to and from the various quays situated along the central business district's waterways, with enough seats to accommodate up to thirty passengers.
Throwing Fate an impish smile that revealed the faintest little dimple, Nanoha resumed pulling Fate along, helping her onto the bobbing deck of the small boat. They had the taxi to themselves, it being a weeknight and dinner time.
Depositing their belongings on one of the many unoccupied seats, she lifted Fate up onto the back rail of the boat, the area broad and wide for easy seating, before hopping up to sit beside the blonde. Leaning back against arms stretched out behind her, fringe swaying softly in the gentle river breeze, she smiled at her companion. "Got you prisoner again," she joked, as the boat undocked and began sailing its way down the river, past the iconic Merlion spewing a fountain of water out of its mouth.
The colourfully blinking lights of the tacky decorations did nothing to detract from the breathtaking view Nanoha was presenting to Fate, and the blonde had trouble finding words for long moments.
At last, she murmured, her melodious accent reduced to a mere whisper that only Nanoha could hear over the rumble of the boat's engines, "Where do I sign to keep this jailer?" She asked from beneath lowered lashes.
Long hair flowing in time to the gentle sway of the boat, Nanoha did her best to etch the memory of the beautiful blonde beside her into her mind. The cold ache of earlier was a long forgotten memory, burned away by the scarcely banked fires that had sprung up between them from the very first moment they had laid eyes on the other. Fires that Nanoha had to ignore, for both their sakes.
She knew Fate was just returning the kindness shown to her when she was hurt, and Nanoha knew better than to take advantage of the gentle blonde. Shaking off a powerful need to kiss those glistening, shapely lips, she settled on a rakish grin, "Signum has your signature," confirming that Fate was indeed, the executive's prisoner. She only wished it could be forever. But forevers didn't exist in Nanoha's world.
Moment lost, Fate wryly shook her head at the irreverent beauty, secretly loving that smile. Hooking up the ends of the plastic baggie her meal came in, she popped open the container's top and offered Nanoha a mouthful. "You barely ate," she explained.
Accepting a spoonful of the piquant Middle Eastern salad, Nanoha knew better than to argue over having stolen Fate's dinner. A bit of playful wrestling did allow her to feed the blonde in 'revenge' so that the salad was shared evenly between the both of them. Certainly, it wasn't a poorly disguised excuse to touch the blonde platonically.
Fate found she couldn't get enough of Nanoha's laugh and put up more than a token resistance just to have the auburn-haired goddess work to get a spoonful into Fate's mouth. Her arms were longer, certainly, but the shorter woman was fit and flexible, approaching her attacks from every conceivable angle and catching the blonde by pleasant surprise.
It was remarkable how well they got along and Fate was once again wishing the evening would never end.
A blast of music drew both of their attention to the iconic boat-shaped silhouette of the Marina Bay Sands hotel and casino.
"Ah, I was wondering when it would begin," Nanoha murmured, laying back to look directly up at the laser show shooting shafts of dancing colours over the river's nightscape. Long hair strewn around her reminiscent of Botticelli's painting of Venus, Nanoha laid an arm out, inviting her friend to join her.
How could she resist? Head pillowed on Nanoha's arm, Fate settled back and enjoyed the show with the one she could easily consider her best friend now. As the images moved to the swelling strains of orchestral grandeur, Fate breathed in the comforting scent of the executive, before shifting to peer up at the woman's striking profile, "Is it an HR violation to throw that woman into this river?"
Fate knew she had caught Venus off-guard when her pillow began shaking from the uncontained giggles erupting out of Nanoha's body. "Nyahaha! Please, I have enough on my plate; Operations is going to gain a reputation for physical violence at this rate."
Huffing, Fate propped herself on one elbow, "I mean it, Nanoha-chan. If she so much as looks at you wrong…" She left her threat hanging in the air, eyes dropping to the cut she had cleaned just a while ago.
A calloused hand lifted to cup the curve of one cheek, the executive unable to resist caressing the downy softness above her. "Feito-chan is very protective," she noted, wonderingly, as if unsure of what she had done to deserve it.
Fate covered Nanoha's hand with her own, warm blonde tresses falling to drape over both their hands, "I don't… befriend others easily." Her hand trembled with the depth of emotions swirling within her, evident in the crimson pools looking down into Nanoha's deep blue eyes, "It is presumptuous of me, I know…" Abashed, her eyes slid to one side, but a thumb brushing across her cheekbone pulled her gaze back to the auburn haired woman.
"No, I… like it." Nanoha admitted, surprised to find her admission to be true. Fiercely independent with a distinct hatred for bothering anyone, the executive wondered how it had become so easy to just allow the blonde past long-erected walls. A woman used to being everyone's shield had found one of her own. "It's… immensely gratifying that you feel this way."
Fate's eyes dropped to the lips saying all the right things. She was dying to taste them and the one logical brain cell left in her head had to perform inhuman feats of strength to stop herself from crossing the same line the lavender-haired woman had before. She dropped back down to reclaim her pillow instead, tucking her hand in the crook of Nanoha's arm so it wouldn't try wandering anywhere over that incredible body she was laying against. This was her friend and her boss, nothing more.
Two souls intertwined in ways neither could yet comprehend settled into their respective beds come nightfall, sleep bringing with it dreams of MORE that both yearned for.