Led Away
Author: yantzi
Title: Led Away
Part: 1/2
Pairing: Mel/Leda
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Pre-show. The story of the relationship between Leda and Mel.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything about the characters or show.
A/N: This is my first story in here as well as my first story in this famdome. I didn't watch the whole show, only the 2nd season and I hope that I stayed true to the characters. Let me know what you think.
“Out of the way, chicken legs.” The familiar voice made me turn around from Lindsay exactly in time to see Leda shoving her black helmet into my assistant’s arms and entering my office. “Where is that sexy beast?” She asked, walking confidently towards me and Lindsay. I let out a scream of surprise and thrust myself into her arms, hearing her wild laughter arousing my happiness. After some excited words are exchange between Leda and my assistant, he walked out of the room.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, still can’t help my excitement.
“That’s what everybody says when you’re in Pittsburgh.” Leda smiles widely and grabs my arms.
“Oh, you haven’t changed a bit.” I declare, noticing that I feel as wild as I used to feel 10 years ago, when Leda and I used to be a couple.
“Why temper with perfection, baby?” Leda declares and her laughter keeps rolling. This sentence threw me ten years back, to the time when Leda thought of herself as less than perfect, in fact a lot less than perfect.
I saw the motorcycle parking in front of the dorms in the Pittsburgh College and the girl that went off it took her black helmet off and started walking towards the entrance to the dorms. I was also walking towards the entrance, carrying two big suitcases and attempting to squeeze myself through the other students who were moving into the dorms that day. Finding my dorm room was even harder since the halls of the second floor were even more crowded than the dorm’s hall. After pushing myself further through the hallway, I found my room, unlocked the door and went in, glad to finally have some space to breath. Putting my suitcases down, I went to explore the room that was very small. There were two simple wood beds and a big desk that was located under the window. The windowsill was wide and I took a moment to sit on it and look out. I was pleased to find out that there was an old oak tree in front of it. I got up and was about to explore the bathroom when I heard the screech of the room door and turned around to see the motorcycle girl entering the room.
“Hi, I’m Melanie Marcus.” I sent my hand forward. She shook it and I noticed that she wasn’t carrying any bags or suitcases.
“Leda Harris.” She replied. She had long dirty blond hair and was wearing wide blue jeans that seemed to be taken from a man. The ends of her pants were sloppily inserted into Leda’s black boots. To be accurate, her entire appearance was untidy, but in a good way. I wasn’t sure of it, but had the feeling that she was the kind of girl who attracts trouble or causes them herself.
“Nice to meet you.” I said, not sure if I really meant what I was saying.
“You too.” Leda said, giving me the idea that like me, she had nothing better to say.
“Where are your begs?” I impolitely asked. For all I knew, her parents did not accompany her to college like most of the students’ parents. Maybe she didn’t have parents. Maybe she was a poor girl.
“I figured that there will be a lot of pressure in the entrance to the building and decide to leave my stuff tied to my bike until the evening.” She replied. I couldn’t help noticing that her bright smile was a bit patronizing.
“Smart thought.” I replied.
“Did you choose a bed already?” She asked.
“No. You can choose first, if you want.” I said. Both of the beds looked the same and the location did not matter to me. She pointed at one of the beds. “So what are you going to study?” I asked as I carried one of my suitcases and put it on the other bed.
“I’m joining the photography course.” Leda replied. “Do you need some help?” She pointed at my suitcase, as I unzipped it.
“You can help if you want.” I replied as I took some clothes out of it. She opened the closet and took a spot next to me. I handed her some clothes and she put it into the closet, in a surprising order. “I didn’t even know that this college even had a photography course.” I said.
“It’s considered as a good program. I thought I’d give it a try.” Leda replied, putting another pile of clothes in the closet. “And you?” She asked.
“I’m considering law studies, so I’m going to take a preparatory program.” I replied, handing her the last pile of clothes, which she also arranged very carefully in the closet. I pushed the empty suitcase under my bed and opened the other one, taking some books out of it and putting them on the bed.
“Law studies?” Leda looked surprised.
“I don’t look like a future lawyer?” I asked jokingly and she grinned. “I don’t know, I think it’s interesting. Not all lawyers are despised people. Some of them actually work for good causes.”
“I wonder how many people said that and ended being despised people.” Leda smiled and pulled a packet of cigarettes out of her pocket. “Do you mind?” She asked and waved the packet in the air.
“No, not really, but you’re not supposed to smoke in the dorm.” I replied.
“If I had a dollar for every thing that I wasn’t supposed to do…” Leda lighted the cigarette. The smell of smoke filled the room and she smiled and sat on the windowsill. “Want a drag?” She asked.
Being Leda’s roommate soon turned out to be a big bash. Almost every time I entered the room, I found her smoking, or having someone over, but she was considerate enough to kick whoever it was out so I’ll able to study quietly for tests and do all my assignments calmly. The only thing that bugged me about her was that she went out at nights and came back into the room late, usually drunk and maybe even stoned. Even though I did not hang out with her very often, I could see the fire in her soul.
I was sitting and studying for a test when she entered the room, threw her backpack on the bed and took her camera out, taking the film out of it and putting it in a small shoebox. She took new a package of films from the drawer of her night table, pushed them into her backpack and was about to go out. A few steps away from the door, she stopped at turned around.
“Mel, you wanna come with me?” She asked. I looked at the textbook that was extremely boring and knew that even if joining Leda would lead to trouble, it would be better than summarizing parts of the tedious book.
It took us a ride on the bus and a short walk to reach the slums of Pittsburgh. I was not surprised to discover that Pittsburgh had such poor neighborhoods, but was surprised when Leda told us that we are going to shoot some photos.
“Welcome to the smokestack hood.” She probably invented that name, because I never heard anyone call the Pittsburgh slums this way.
“You come here a lot?” I asked.
“Yeah, there are many things that you can shoot here.” Leda replied. “If you wanna be a good person, this is the place to start being one.” I wasn’t sure what she meant, but figured that I’m going to find out. We walked through the streets of the old neighborhood and stopped every few moments, so Leda could take some photos. I was surprised to see that Leda tried to capture the spirit of the hoods and not the misery and poverty in it. She took pictures of girls jumping rope, of a drunk holding a paper cup, of two teens repairing a car and a woman hanging colorful laundry.
“You seem to know this place very well.” I said and she smiled.
“I have some friends who live here. Unlike other people, I’m not scared of being here. I think that it has as much potential as Liberty Avenue has.” Leda replied. There was something dreamy in her eyes and in her voice as she spoke of the smokestack hood, as if it was her own private place.
“Why do you call it ‘smokestack hood’? I don’t see any smokestacks.” I asked. Leda grinned.
“That’s because you’re standing in the wrong place.” Her smile exposed two rows of perfect white tears. “Come on and I’ll show you the smokestacks.” She said and started walking down the street. A few minutes later, she stopped in the middle of a wide and abandoned looking road, under a big bridge. She put her camera in her backpack and started climbing on the big long nails that were sticking out of the bridge’s foundations.
“Are you kidding me? You’re going to climb on the bridge?” I asked.
“Yeah,” She said as if it was obvious. “Come on, what are you afraid of?” She asked.
“Falling down and breaking my bones!” She was already halfway to the top of the bridge.
“You won’t fall down if you think positively.” She called out. She was climbing fast and within a few moments I saw her standing on a safe spot on the bridge. “Come on! Don’t be a chicken!” She called out to me. I looked up at her and sighed. If she trusted in me enough to bring me to her little piece of heaven, I can trust her and climb up there. Fearfully, I started climbing on the nails, only now noticing that the sun was slowly setting. My legs were shaking and my palms started slipping from the nails. “Come on!” I heard Leda calling out. “You don’t have much more.” The excitement in her voice made me go on and try climbing faster. She stretched her arms forward to help me climb and within a few moments I could feel her pulling me up. I was surprised to see that we were standing on a railway bridge. “Don’t worry. Trains don’t pass here anymore.” Leda said, as if she read my mind. “The best time to come here is at sunset. Then you can see the smokestacks in all their glory.” Leda knew how to choose words and describe things. With every word that came out of her mouth, I grew to love that quality in her. She pointed at a spot in the distance where I could see dozens of smokestacks on the background of the yellow sky. She took her camera out and took a picture. “I wanna take a picture of you.” She said and walked a few steps backwards. I smiled for the picture but Leda grinned. “Don’t pose. Be natural.” She said and snapped a few photos of me. We sat on the bridge together and watched the sun going down and when it turned dark, Leda carefully led me down the same way we climbed.
Later that night, when we were lying in our beds, only moments before I fell asleep, I smiled to her in the darkness and stretched my arm towards her bed; she entwined her fingers in mine.
“I had a great time with you today.” I never said to her something that honest before and by the way her fingers tightened around mine, I knew that she felt it. “Good night.” I said.
“Night.” She replied and gently pulled her hand from mine.
As the weeks passed, Leda and I spent more time together, mainly in smokestack hood where Leda liked to shoot photos. Her passion for the neglected and deprived hood captured me and made me want to change the situation. I think that even then Leda knew that I was telling the truth when I said that I wanna be a good-will lawyer and decided to contribute whatever she could by taking me for a visit in the streets of the less fortunate people. And moreover, without even realizing, she made my heart quiver every time I saw her smile. It wasn’t easy to extract true smiles from Leda and I could identify whenever she was faking a smile only by looking into her eyes.
She was standing on the bridge and placing her tripod on the railway, humming a silent tune that I heard before. She was wearing her heavy black boots and the ends of her jeans were stuck in it as usual. Her long hair shined in the last rays of sun. Her profile was graceful and I could see her moistening her thick bottom lip with her tongue.
“Leda, come sit here.” I said and she turned around and smiled to me. I don’t know how, but every time we came there, she had a new idea for something she didn’t photograph before. I assume her artistic brain formed those ideas every moment of wakefulness it had. She walked away from the tripod and came to sit next to me. I wrapped my arm around her and gently passed my fingers through her hair. It felt like my fingers touched hundreds of silken chords. She was absorbed in her thoughts when my lips touched hers. I thought it was a right moment and I was sure that she felt like me, but to my great surprise, she retreated from me quickly with a restrained gasp.
“I’m not… a lesbian.” It took a few moments for me to realize what she said. She got up and walked away from me, lighting a cigarette.
“You don’t have to be.” I replied. At that time, I was out of the closet for three years and had a few relationships with other women. I thought that Leda had all the physical characteristics of a lesbian: manly clothes and unkempt look. I never got to speak to her about my sexual orientation or about her relationships, so I assumed that she didn’t know I was a lesbian. She looked into the horizon and inside I felt that she wanted it and was holding back. I walked over and put my hand on her shoulder and to my surprise, she didn’t draw away from me. “Leda, you don’t have to be a lesbian in order to have a relationship with another woman.” I said. “And even if you are, it’s alright. I’m a lesbian.” A gut feeling told me that Leda was repressing her lesbianism for a while now. “Answer me just one question, Leda. Does it feel good to you?” She looked at me and her eyes were shining with tears.
“Oh, what the heck...” She said and captured my lips between hers. She was a good kisser and I let her lead the way, because she definitely had more than just a clue what she was doing. She was breathless when we broke apart from each other, but her smile told me that she was satisfied.
“Can we do that again?” I asked. Gently wrapping my fingers around the nape of her neck, I pulled her closer. She didn’t hesitate and her warm lips sensually worked against mine. Leda, being Leda had so much passion in her in everything she did. After she pulled away from me, I caressed her face, her hair, her neck and she closed her eyes, relishing my touch and the last rays of daylight on her face.
“I think I wanna give it a shot, Mel.” I couldn’t help staring at her full lips when she spoke. I wondered if she had any clue how beautiful she was. We took a seat, tightly embracing each other until the sun went down and then we started making our way back to campus. There was a new and exciting vivaciousness in Leda and she suggested that we change the way our room was set and unite our beds. I was more than happy for her suggestion and when we came back to our room, we did just that. We were getting ready for bed when she wrapped her arm around my waist and she kissed me again. Passionately, she sucked my lips and her fingers slid under my shirt, quickly pulling it over my head. She removed her shirt, exposing the ivory skin of her stomach and for the first time I saw the thin silver ring that went through her navel. With our passion taking over us, we removed the rest of our clothes and thrust ourselves on the bed. Leda climbed on top of me, kissing me eagerly. The fingers of her right hand locked around my breast and the fingers of her left hand tightened around the nape of my neck, while her lips drew mine into a deeper, almost meditative kiss.
Her head was resting between my breasts, her lips occasionally rubbing against my nipples. Although it seemed like she had much experience, she claimed that it was her first time with a woman and did not forget to add that it was a first time that left a good taste in her mouth, ambiguously. My fingers were entangled in her sweaty hair, lightly touching the nape of her neck. She wrapped one arm around my waist, and then slid it between my legs, spread them wide, I felt her fingers fluttering softly over the skin my thighs and slowly sliding into me. I moaned, feeling her fiery tongue working its way from my navel down. I took her free hand and entwined my fingers in hers, bringing it to my mouth. I could feel the warm gush filling me from the inside and through the ecstasy that encompassed me I heard her long sensual moan that was the vital little addition that quickly pushed me over the edge.
“Leeds,” I breathlessly said and pulled her on top of me, capturing her lips and kissing her until both of us had to break away from each other to breath. She gasped and looked into my eyes.
“You’re a wicked, girl.” She smiled as she rolled off my body. “ Absolutely wicked.”
It was surprising to see how easily people accepted Leda after she decided to declare of herself as temporarily lesbian. I guess she was so comfortable with it, that other people did not even care about it. Moreover, her horniness that seemed to have no boundaries, but at least she was faithful and we had spent almost every moment of our free time in bed. Leda’s visits in the smokestack hood became fewer and fewer and whenever I accompanied her there, we posed together, usually kissing or in some sensual position.
It was two weeks before Christmas and I was sitting in our room, studying for the midterm exams when Leda came in to the room, looking as if she was struck by a lightening of a realization.
“You look like something important happened to you.” I remarked the obvious.
“I called my parents today.” She smiled. “I’m gonna tell them about us on Christmas Eve.”
“If you’re temporarily a dyke, why do you have to tell them?” I asked, not understanding why it was a special thing for Leda. Everyone knew about it anyway and Leda didn’t seem to give a damn about what people thought.
“I’m gonna tell them, because it’s not temporary.” Leda’s answer did not shock me, but I was surprised.
“Congratulations, I guess.” I replied “How do you think they’re going to react?” I didn’t know much about Leda’s family
“My mom is a high school teacher, I’m sure she’s seen it happening before.” Leda replied after giving it some thought. “And I think they’ll accept it. Otherwise why did they fight so hard over me if they can’t accept who I am?” We took a seat on the bed. Leda was adopted and shortly after she was given up for adoption, her biological mother tried to get her back. Her adoptive parents fought in courts until they won and Leda stayed with them.
“I’m glad to hear that you are doing this. I know it might not be easy.” I wrapped my arms around her waist and captured her lips, pulling her down to the bed.
“Didn’t you have some test to study for?” Leda asked, breathless.
“I’ll study later.” I declared and swept her in a deep kiss.
Leda’s eyes were shining when she came back from her Christmas break at home. From what she told me, I understood that her parents suspected for over a year that she’s a lesbian, probably by the way she dressed, and although they were not thrilled to hear of her sexual orientation, they accepted it quite well.
To be continued...