(Untitled)

[i_spoiled_it]

In Kenya, it is not quite sunrise and Steph has just had a troubling conversation with Babs.

She looks at the phone in her hand, and sighs, stuffing it into her pocket and getting to her feet.  Today's going to be busy, and she doesn't really feel up to it.  Which means she probably needs to go and try to get a little more sleep.

But the door of the

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[slayer_fray]

Mel comes into the bar from the lake door.

And stops dead in her tracks.

[i_spoiled_it]

Steph doesn't see her at first. Then she does, and, in accordance with all narrative convention, drops the glass she was idly polishing, which shatters obediently in the sink.

She opens her mouth and then shuts it again.

[slayer_fray]

The sound of the glass shattering seems to trigger something in Mel, like a starterr's pistol at a sprint.

She launches straight across the bar, hopping over tables and knocking over chairs, and vaults the bar as casually as someone hopping over a fence.

And then, she stops.

What if she still doesn't remember?

[i_spoiled_it]

Steph finds herself completely unsurprised by the running, the jumping. The easy grace of it. Mel's boots over the bar.

"... Mel."

Of course. It's Mel. It's her Mel.

Steph takes a deep, shuddery breath and wills herself not to burst into tears, offering her arms.

[slayer_fray]

Mel swallows every last part of that doubt and throws her arms around Steph's ribcage, lifting her bodily off the floor.

There are tears.

[i_spoiled_it]

Steph wraps her arms around Mel and holds tight, screwing up her face against the tears.

"Mel," she repeats, and sniffs a little. "Mel."

[slayer_fray]

Mel is certainly not letting go any time soon. She buries her face in Steph's hair covered shoulder for a second before putting Steph back down, not loosening her grip.

"You're alive."

?

[i_spoiled_it]

"Yeah," Steph says, transferring her grip to Mel's shoulders, eyes shiny and wet. "I hurt too much not to be."

Then she freezes for a second, eyes wide.

"-- I was dead."

[slayer_fray]

...Mel should probably ease up on those Slayer hugs, then, huh? She does, then, but keeps her hands on Steph's elbows.

"Only a little. You'd hardly notice."

[i_spoiled_it]

"Is that it?" Steph asks, hanging on to her, breath coming sharp. "Did I die and come here? But then why am I here again? Am I dead now?"

WHAT'S GOING ON?

[slayer_fray]

Mel grabs the tongs out of the ice bin and holds up the frosted silver to Steph's mouth, where her breath clears a wet hole in the ice.

"You're alive," she repeats, her face breaking into a tiny smile. "I guess you changed the timeline."

[i_spoiled_it]

Steph sags a little with relief. "I really didn't want to be dead. ... Again."

She puts a hand to Mel's face, just because it's there and Mel's there and her sister's real, Steph didn't just make up an imaginary friend and she's not brain-damaged or dying or hallucinating, Mel's real.

"I didn't change anything. I wasn't even awake. ... Mel?"

[slayer_fray]

She's real, every flawed inch of her, and Steph's alive and breathing and warm in a way she hasn't been before. Warmth from a heart beat.

"Not it," she says sheepishly. "I was late to the party."

[i_spoiled_it]

Steph drops her hand and shakes her head again, still confused. "It sure wasn't me. Babs pretends she doesn't know, but ... I don't know. We haven't - haven't really talked."

She's a little guilty about that. Not very, though. Not when she's got Mel back.

[slayer_fray]

"Well, it's one of you," Mel says gently.

She doesn't care though. Steph's alive.

And getting another rib-squeezing hug.

[i_spoiled_it]

"... ow?"

Some of those were busted. Also, shot.

Hugging anyway.