Work Text:
Expect the Unexpected
by Jouliana
Shalimar Fox moaned deeply, her legs straddled on opposite sides of her lithe body. She could feel her muscles tense and relax, stretch and pull, contract and expand as she stretched her fingers as far as they would reach infront of her. Inhaling deeply, she leaned forward until her tightened stomach and chest fell flush with the mats below her. Stretching had always been her way of dealing with unwanted conflict since to fully intake in the benefits of a good workout, you first had to be relaxed. Unfortunately, Shalimar was anything but relaxed.
Emma had died earlier that day. It was something she still couldn't lock her mind onto since Emma had also been revived when Brennan and Jesse killed Caleb. But she *was* dead, at least for a while. This thought kept circulating around inside the ferals head as she tried her best to remain focused on her exercise.
"Ah!! Shit.." Pain suddenly erupted in the back of Shalimar's thigh as she carelessly pulled the muscles to the point of rupture. Stupid Stupid. She thought to herself while her hand massaged the aching flesh of her thigh. She hadn't been paying attention to what she was doing, the image of Emma laying on the stone slab was still so vivid in her mind. She felt herself weakening, her emotional barrier she tried so desperately to keep intact was failing her once more. Before she knew it she felt the tears stream down her cheeks as her chest began to rise and fall heavily with distress. Emma had died.
"Shalimar?"
She gasped, her back straightening in surprise. It was Emma's voice, her soft, innocent, almost childlike voice that was calling to her. She felt a small smile spread across her cheeks, although it quickly vanished when Emma stepped into her line of view. Shalimar quickly wiped her tears on her sleeve and tried her best to control her voice when she replied. "Emma?" It was a statement more then a question since she could easily figure out why the girl was there. "I'm fine, I just pulled a muscle, ill be okay."
Emma blinked in confusion, she hadn't known Shalimar had injured herself. "What? Oh, okay." She internally kicked herself for her comment. She wasn't there to help with an injury, that's not why she'd finally decided to approach Shalimar with what had been on her mind ever since she'd been brought back to life. She studied Shalimars face, trying to discern if she also knew that this visit wasn't in result to any pulled muscles.
"Are you alright?" Shalimar wondered briefly if Emma was using her powers to see into her mind, but quickly tossed the thought. Emma would never use her powers on any of them without their permission first. But why did she look so odd, so undecided. "If you didn't come here to assist me, you must have come here for a reason. Did you want to talk?"
Emma nodded, slowly lowering herself to the floor so she could see eye to eye with Shalimar. "Yeah, I came to ask you something.." She was rapidly loosing her nerve and wished she hadn't sat down so she could simply turn and run.
"Alright.." Shalimar totally forgot the pain in her leg as her mind ran through dozens of scenerious of what Emma wanted to ask her. Her mind kept stopping at one particular thought, a thought which she had been having herself. But that couldn't possibly be what Emma was going to ask her, so she dismissed it as best she could as she waited for the brunette to speak.
Emma lowered her eyes to the mats between them, she didn't know if she could say what she was going to if she had kept them locked onto Shalimar's. "Earlier today, when I came back to life.. Well, you hugged me. You were crying, you had been crying, you.."
Shalimar's eyes began to widen as she suddenly realized that her thoughts had been Emma's thoughts. She didn't dare speak though, for fear of scaring the girl into discontinueing her words.
"Shalimar, I don't know how to continue, I'm just.. im, im so confused.." Emma wrapped her arms around herself as she pulled her knees up to her chest. "You were just, and I.. and I don't know, I .. ive always felt.. I..."
"I feel the same way too." Shalimar decided it was time to answer. She couldn't watch Emma struggle with her words any longer since she knew herself how difficult it was to tell someone this.
She hadn't been expecting that, she hadn't been expecting Shalimar to respond at all. Emma didn't know what to say, her mouth was left slightly agape as she realized what this meant.
"I know," Shalimar laughed slightly, "I feel the same way. I had no idea you thought this way, felt this way. You've never mentioned you've had girlfriends before, but then neither have I, so I guess-"
"That's because I've never had... a girlfriend... before." Emma interupted, feeling somewhat unconfortable since it was now apparent Shalimar had the experience she was lacking.
Shalimar paused for a moment, letting her eyes roam over Emma's features; her beautiful dark hair that felt like satan when it slipped through your fingers, her tantilizingly blue eyes, her smile. She always loved Emma's smile most of all. "It's okay, Emma. That doesn't matter. What matters now is that you're sure about this. Believe me, I will totally understand if you're not and I won't take it personally. And I wont tell anybody." She threw in the last bit in the hopes that would ease any concern she might have about the others knowing about any of this. Shalimar wasn't secretive about her relationships, or her sexuality. If somebody asked her, she wouldn't lie about either. But she knew that not everybody was as confident as
she was and that the possibility of being 'found out' was probably just as scary as being exposed as a New Mutant.
Emma nodded, thankful that Shalimar wasn't pressuring her into a decision, even though she already knew her answer. She looked up from the mats, her eyes locking boldly onto Shalimars. There was no turning back now. She reached her hand out towards Shalimar, her palm verticle and her fingers outstretched. Glad that Shalimar understood her intent, and even a little nervious as their fingers intwined, she parted her lips and smiled. "Yes, I'm sure."
end