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The tension was palpable, hanging in the air between the two combatants.
They circled each other, waiting for the certain attack.
Agent May's gaze was hard and impenetrable. Nothing there to give her away.
Skye struck out but Melinda was faster, anticipated her move before she could land a hit.
She was after all Agent Melinda May.
They never talked about family. Skye because she didn't have one, didn't know who her parents were or what had happened to them. Melinda on the other hand didn't want to talk about them.
She loved her mother but saying their relationship was complicated was the understatement of the year. And her mother was far too much like her for that to change anytime soon. She was a brilliant agent and a dedicated woman, more stubborn and proud than was good for her. Yeah... just like her daughter indeed.
Then there was him. She didn't regret marrying him. For both of them marriage had been a desperate try to change who they were - to become normal in a world that just didn't allow them to be. All had known that their marriage was doomed from the start but she had refused to see it until it was already too late. So much hurt and so much love. But nonetheless she wouldn't change a thing.
Maybe that was what drew her to Skye... She reminded her so much of herself. Before Bahrain, before all the things she had decided to forget.
There is a saying: "You love in others what you love in yourself."
If that was true, she was the most narcissistic woman on earth - because although Skye had started as an untrustworthy newbie she was now a good friend. Someone she could easily fall in love with but that meant she had to let it happen.
The women still circled each other and Melinda's eyes caught exposed skin, a layer of thin sweat just asking to get licked. Instead she ducked, avoided Skye's halfhearted attempt to place a hit and rolled smoothly to her feet again. She suppressed a smile.
"Not bad for a greenhorn!"
Skye snorted. "I may be a greenhorn but I'm also 20 years younger than you, old woman!" She feigned a blow to the left, darted sideways unexpectedly and struck.
This time Melinda grinned openly when she blocked the attempt. "Old maybe... but still a lot wiser."
Skye didn't give up. She was back in basic position, keeping track of Melinda's every move.
Persistent! Melinda loved it.
"Why don't you ever join us?"
Skye's question came out of the blue and Melinda was less prepared than usual. "Someone has to fly the plane."
The young hacker rolled her eyes. "Try the auto pilot."
Melinda sighed quietly."What happens when there's an emergency?"
She got another eye roll for that. "You're literally 10 feet away from the cockpit."
Melinda didn't answer. Skye didn't push.
It was a habit that she liked about the young woman. She never pressured her about things like that. Instead she sat next to her in the cockpit, laptop on her knees, typing away and researching God knows what. She had decided long ago that it was better if she didn't know what exactly the girl was doing. Or that she secretly liked her being there. She would never admit it out loud but the fact that she let her stay spoke volumes.
"Besides," Skye continued their conversation as if there hadn't been a 30-minute gap, "we miss you at the meetings." She looked up and brown eyes bored into hers. "We like you, you know?"
Melinda nodded sharply and turned back to the view in front of her, staring at the dark, black sky without stars.
Concentration was written on her face, the turning of cogs behind her forehead almost visible.
Skye wasn't a bad student, more the contrary. During the few weeks she had been training with her she had made quite some progress. But she was still thinking too much, still calculated every scenario before reacting. Melinda guessed it was a habit - something you needed in cyberspace - in a world with endless possibilities everywhere.
That didn't mean you shouldn't use your head in a fight. But in the end it came down to body memory - trained moves repeated a hundred times, a thousand times - again and again to be present in the split second she needed them.
Skye's eyes darted to the right for just a heartbeat. But it was enough for her to know where the blow would land.
Breathing heavily she rolled to her side. For a moment she just lay there, eyes closed, bathing in the warm feeling of absolute satisfaction that only an orgasm could give her.
Gentle fingers caressed her skin, wandered up her arm and shoulder to stroke her hair. Melinda sighed, Skye in front of her inner eye. She was sure she would be gentle, would caress her exactly like that. Would lay between the sheets like an open invitation to touch and taste. Glowing skin as far as the eye could see and lying there for her to explore like nobody else had ever done before. Unconsciously she leaned into the touch, revealing much more than she wanted.
His voice brought her back. She rose quickly and put on her clothes. She left Ward's room without a word.
Nightmares were nothing new. Every agent suffered from them. Some more, some less. Without these dreams she would go mad, with them she hovered at the brink of desperation.
After Quinn they had come back. It was Bahrain all over again - broken bodies everywhere, blood and guts and shattered bones, faces of those she had killed. Only this time she didn't care - there was only one face that counted in the sea of death and destruction, one face she hadn't been able to save.
Every time she woke up, Skye's accusing eyes followed her into reality.
Skye was sitting in one of the chairs when Melinda stopped in front of her.
"Hi," the girl said and looked up.
For a long, quiet moment the two stared at each other. It seemed that Agent May found what she had been searching for. She nodded and turned around. Before she left the room she looked back.
"Training tomorrow morning at 7. Be there!"
Melinda knew Skye would come.
Beeping broke through the tension and told Melinda that it was time to wrap up her lesson. With the ease of years of practice she jumped forward, cut Skye's balance and knocked her off her feet.
For a second Skye stared at the ceiling, surprised by the unexpected move. Melinda reached out and helped her up.
"We're done for today," she said, her tone professional.
Skye nodded and smiled. "Thanks! See ya tomorrow."
They left the gym together in content silence.