Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas...
Title: Sadhana
Author: That'd be me. *grins* Andrew, Obsidian, call me what you want. But only if it's nice. ;)
Rating: PG-13, I'd say.
Comments: Another year, another Christmas story, right? This time, though... Well, it's going to be an AU of my AU story, which is a little weird, but in a good way, you know? Besides, the girls deserve this. This story ignores the events of Prometheus Unbound completely, picking up several months after the conclusion of Pantheon.
Legal Disclaimer: I do not own 'D.E.B.S.', Angela Robinson does. Though if I had my way, there would have been a sequel or two by now. ;)
Los Angeles, California
December 21st
"Are you sure we've got everything?"
Kathleen tried very hard not to smile. She failed miserably, but it was the thought that counted, right? "Monica..."
"We've got enough clothes, right? And all the gifts are packed?"
"Monica." She reached out and grasped her girlfriend's shoulders, bringing a halt to her nervous pacing. "Firstly, we're not leaving for two more days."
"I know that, but-"
"Secondly," Kathleen continued, ignoring the interruption, "given that we're staying with my parents, I do have plenty of clothes there, besides what we've packed."
"Granted, b-"
"And thirdly, yes, the gifts are all wrapped and packed safely, with plenty of padding to make sure they get there safely and intact. Calm down. My family already loves you."
"I know, I know. It's just..." She sighed and leaned against Kathleen, who didn't hesitate to envelope her in a hug. "This is the first time I've ever spent the holidays with my girlfriend." Because they were staying until after New Year's. "I just... want everything to go perfectly."
"It will." She gave her a gentle kiss. "I promise."
For a long moment, Monica was content to remain in the embrace. "You sure Beth's gonna be all right?" she asked as she pulled back.
"I think so, yes." Bethany hadn't started out the year in very good shape, but after she'd finally been convinced to get some therapy, she'd started pulling herself together. "Now that she finally told her parents what was wrong, she should be just fine there." A pause. "She's not the one I'm concerned about at the moment, though."
Monica sighed and nodded. Raquel. "Well, her family will lay off the political stuff over Christmas, right?"
"In theory, yes." After they'd driven Raquel from the house with two full months of summer vacation left, they should have taken a hint, and realized that she wasn't going to stand for any more of that. "Hopefully, this'll be what she needs." Because as Christmas drew closer and closer, Raquel had seemed to get more and more depressed. She hid it well enough to fool most people, but they'd lived and worked with her for years.
Monica smiled. "Well, you know our Raquel. If it's something she needs, she'll make it happen."
**********************************************
The doorbell rang.
"What the...?" Lucy twisted around in surprise from where she'd been sitting on the couch, snuggling with Amy, to face the direction of the front door. "We have a doorbell?"
"It is supposed to be a normal house, as far as anyone else knows," Amy replied absently, but she knew exactly how Lucy felt.
Between Lucy's ingrained habit of keeping her current address a secret (for her own safety, if nothing else), and Amy's almost desperate need to have some kind of privacy, no one really knew where they lived. Indeed, in all the months they'd lived there, Amy didn't think she remembered ever hearing the thing before, except that once that she'd tested it to make sure that it worked.
Their property also had defenses up the ying-yang. As such, there were only a handful of people who even could have gotten to the front door unscathed, or without setting off all manner of alarms. Amy had designed it so that even she wouldn't have been able to sneak in unnoticed, so she was fairly certain she could rule out someone with hostile intent.
Besides, people trying to kill her didn't usually ring the bell and announce themselves.
Curious now, she rose from the couch, Lucy trailing along behind her. Even though she felt safe - or as safe as she ever felt - she still grabbed a gun out of sheer habit.
It wasn't necessary, though. Standing on their front doorstep, with a determined look on her face, was Raquel.
"Where is she?" she asked without preamble.
"How did you find our house?" Lucy countered.
"I asked Max."
"How did Max know where we live?" Lucy looked from Raquel to Amy and back again, making it unclear who she was asking.
"Don't worry, you don't have to worry about her showing up in the middle of the night unannounced while we're... in the middle of something," Amy said, which wasn't really an answer at all.
"Where IS she?" Raquel repeated, cutting the conversation short before Lucy could work up much steam. Focusing on Amy, she added, "And don't pretend like you don't know who I mean. You can consider it my Christmas present, if you want." She paused. "That reminds me, you guys are coming to the party, right?" Given that most of the DEBS would be going home to spend Christmas with their families, they'd decided to have a small party on the 23rd at the Sector One house. Which meant she had very little time if she wanted to pull this off.
"Of course we are," Amy replied, then hesitated before adding, "And yes, I do know who you mean. But you know that-"
"It's Christmas," Raquel interrupted, feelingly. "I have to at least see her."
Amy sighed, giving in. Hell, she of all people knew exactly how Raquel felt. "I'd say 'you didn't hear this from me', but she wouldn't buy that for a second."
Kamthi, India
December 22nd
Looking around, Raquel had to admit, the place really was gorgeous.
It wasn't like Osceola or Puerto Rico, of course (and she would freely admit to being biased), but the lush landscape (where there was landscape, anyway), the beautiful architecture, the people...
She could live there.
She wasn't about to move there, of course, but still... She could see why Nayana might like it, and why her parents had moved there after their daughter had been kidnapped and presumably killed.
She'd managed to maintain her confidence right up until she'd gotten to the front door, at which point she'd been assailed by doubts. Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe Nayana wouldn't want to see her at all. Maybe she'd already moved on.
Maybe you should ring the damn doorbell already, and find out, her mind snarked at her.
She could 'maybe' herself to death. She needed answers, she needed to know one way or another, and she needed...
She needed to stop spacing out like that, she decided as her finger reflexively pushed the button. It landed her in too much trouble.
For almost a minute straight, nothing happened. She probably should have called ahead, she thought as she shifted uncomfortably on the porch. Hopefully, she wouldn't be standing out there for so long that people began wondering why a Catholic schoolgirl was waiting at the Tagore family's door. She'd been in such a hurry that she hadn't even bothered changing out of her uniform, only grabbing her passport before heading to the airport. Thankfully, Amy had been nice enough to arrange transportation for her via the Concorde that had formerly belonged to The Centre, or the flight out would have been agonizingly long. As it was, it had just been scarcely bearable.
Fortunately, it was roughly 87 degrees, and it was still early in the day, or she would have been freezing by then. Growing up where she did, she was really not accustomed to cold weather. Yet another reason that-
The door opened, and her mind went blank.
Nayana's expression was unreadable, and Raquel got the idea that she'd missed her initial reaction to seeing who was at the door. No doubt there was a camera hidden somewhere that had shown her long before she answered, which might well account for the lengthy delay.
Well, if she'd actually managed to surprise Nayana for once, she was not about to complain.
She just wished her brain would cough up a few words of greeting or something, at the very least.
"What are you doing here?"
The question was more quizzical then insulting, but it did serve to jar Raquel out of her stupefied silence. "I missed you," she said softly.
Something flickered through Nayana's eyes, there and gone before Raquel could tell what it was. She took a step to the side, an obvious invitation to enter. Once Raquel was inside, she shut the door and faced her. "I don't know what-"
Raquel cut her off by the simple expedient of slipping her arms around her neck and pulling her down into a dizzying kiss. The DEB was aware of a moan emanating from within her own throat as she pushed Nayana against the door, but really didn't care.
Nayana was kissing her back.
She was in heaven.
Really, the only thing that could have made it better...
Nayana broke the kiss to murmur, "I have the house to myself for at least another fourty-seven minutes."
Raquel grinned. God bless pseudo-telepathic pretenders.
**********************************************
"So, how are things here?" Raquel asked as she finished buttoning up her shirt. She still looked a bit rumpled, but hopefully that could be chalked up to travel.
Nayana looked annoyingly composed, as if she hadn't just been having mind-blowing sex, which was just not fair at all. "Boring. Have I ever struck you as the typical dutiful Indian daughter?"
That... was really not something Raquel had ever been able to wrap her head around. "Umm..."
"Exactly."
Leaning back into the couch (which really wasn't as comfortable as it should have been, in her opinion), she gently nudged Nayana. "But you're reconnecting with your family. That's a good thing... right?"
"In theory." She paused. "The question, though, is why are you here?"
"I already told you, I missed you. And it's Christmas. I had to see you." She smiled. "Besides, didn't I tell you I'd come find you if I had to?"
"Yes, but I didn't think it would be this soon."
"'Soon'? It's been months!" She swatted Nayana upside the head. "'This soon'. Honestly..."
And that was when she knew Nayana felt something for her, as where other people would have gotten anything from a broken hand to a snapped neck, she only got a mild glare. "Stop that. So... You've seen me. Now what?"
Which was another annoyingly good question. She wished she'd thought this through more carefully. "What are you doing for Christmas?" she asked, honestly not sure herself if she was actually trying to answer or just stalling for time.
"We don't celebrate Christmas."
"Then you could come home with me!"
Nayana raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"
"We're having a party tomorrow, back at the house, before everyone goes home for the holidays," Raquel explained. "Amy'll be there, too, and I'm sure she wouldn't mind seeing you."
"Unlike, say, just about everyone else?"
Well, yes, there was that. But they had been - slowly - getting used to her near the end of the whole Centre business, Raquel was certain they had. "I don't agree with that." She took Nayana's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "And I'd like it if you came. It is just that one party, don't worry. I'm not going to try and bring you back to Florida with me." A sudden, horrible thought struck her. "Would your parents even be okay with that? God, what am I thinking? They only just got you back-"
"Raquel..."
"-after so many years-"
"Raquel..."
"-and I just- Mmmph!"
"Can I talk, now?" Nayana asked, her hand clamped firmly over Raquel's mouth. The latter nodded wordlessly. "Good. I am a grown woman." Her lips quirked as Raquel mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like a muffled "I've noticed." She waited a moment, then continued, "I've survived on my own for most of my life. I don't need their permission to do anything. And they're going to have to get used to the idea that I'm not going to stay here. A trip to visit Amy will be as good a start to that as anything."
Catching the look in Raquel's eyes, she sighed and lowered her hand. "And yes, that is all I'm going to tell them about the why. It's all they need to know." She paused. "And in case you've forgotten, homosexuality is still illegal in India."
"Oh, and heaven forbid you do anything illegal," Raquel said dryly.
"I see no need to tell them the details of my past," Nayana said with a negligent shrug. "Let them keep their illusions. And this will prevent them from getting in trouble for knowing I was breaking the law and doing nothing about it."
Raquel shifted uncomfortably. "I doubt they'd care. After everything... I'm sure they want you to be happy, more then anything." Quietly, she added, "I do, too, you know."
"I know. But-"
"Kuri kuch chhar, the shahr dhandora!" Raquel exploded. At Nayana's surprised blink, she cringed inside. She hadn't meant to say that, and certainly not the way she had. She was just getting so... fed up, with the Indian woman's refusal to see what was right in front of her.
"Kaent," Nayana commented, one corner of her mouth pulling up into a half-smile.
Raquel fought down a blush. That was about the best reaction she could have hoped for, and while that was certainly a good thing... She really just wanted to crawl into a hole and hide, by this point. "Um, thank you. I..."
"Been doing a little research, have we?" Nayana asked, sounding amused.
"Well... maybe," she admitted. "I just want to make sure that, that..."
"Marr jaawaan gurd kha ke?" Nayana's smile crept higher.
Raquel lost the battle, slowly turning red. "Um, that's not..."
"Ay que ver como bate el cobre,." Unlike Raquel's somewhat stilted Punjabi, Nayana's fluid Spanish could have placed her seamlessly in any city or town in Puerto Rico.
Life, Raquel decided, was not fair. "Yeah, but..." She sighed. "Ki tussi mere naal aaoge?"
"Main tuahaade naal awanga."
"Ki eh jawaab hai?" She would not let out a giddy shriek of joy, she told herself. She would not cheer. She would not lose what little dignity she had left. That would only embarrass Nayana, in any event.
"Eh jawaab hai." Judging by the way the amused look on her face lingered, she clearly knew what was going through the DEB's mind.
Well, they'd see about that. Unable to resist, she impishly added, "Ki tussi mainu pyaar karde ho?"
Nayana's eyes narrowed. "Don't push it."
Well, this was originally going to be a one-part story, but I get the feeling that if I don't split it up and post part one now, the story wouldn't see the light of day until the new year, at least. Hope all you Kali fans out there don't mind waiting. ;)
Author: That'd be me. *grins* Andrew, Obsidian, call me what you want. But only if it's nice. ;)
Rating: PG-13, I'd say.
Comments: Another year, another Christmas story, right? This time, though... Well, it's going to be an AU of my AU story, which is a little weird, but in a good way, you know? Besides, the girls deserve this. This story ignores the events of Prometheus Unbound completely, picking up several months after the conclusion of Pantheon.
Legal Disclaimer: I do not own 'D.E.B.S.', Angela Robinson does. Though if I had my way, there would have been a sequel or two by now. ;)
Los Angeles, California
December 21st
"Are you sure we've got everything?"
Kathleen tried very hard not to smile. She failed miserably, but it was the thought that counted, right? "Monica..."
"We've got enough clothes, right? And all the gifts are packed?"
"Monica." She reached out and grasped her girlfriend's shoulders, bringing a halt to her nervous pacing. "Firstly, we're not leaving for two more days."
"I know that, but-"
"Secondly," Kathleen continued, ignoring the interruption, "given that we're staying with my parents, I do have plenty of clothes there, besides what we've packed."
"Granted, b-"
"And thirdly, yes, the gifts are all wrapped and packed safely, with plenty of padding to make sure they get there safely and intact. Calm down. My family already loves you."
"I know, I know. It's just..." She sighed and leaned against Kathleen, who didn't hesitate to envelope her in a hug. "This is the first time I've ever spent the holidays with my girlfriend." Because they were staying until after New Year's. "I just... want everything to go perfectly."
"It will." She gave her a gentle kiss. "I promise."
For a long moment, Monica was content to remain in the embrace. "You sure Beth's gonna be all right?" she asked as she pulled back.
"I think so, yes." Bethany hadn't started out the year in very good shape, but after she'd finally been convinced to get some therapy, she'd started pulling herself together. "Now that she finally told her parents what was wrong, she should be just fine there." A pause. "She's not the one I'm concerned about at the moment, though."
Monica sighed and nodded. Raquel. "Well, her family will lay off the political stuff over Christmas, right?"
"In theory, yes." After they'd driven Raquel from the house with two full months of summer vacation left, they should have taken a hint, and realized that she wasn't going to stand for any more of that. "Hopefully, this'll be what she needs." Because as Christmas drew closer and closer, Raquel had seemed to get more and more depressed. She hid it well enough to fool most people, but they'd lived and worked with her for years.
Monica smiled. "Well, you know our Raquel. If it's something she needs, she'll make it happen."
**********************************************
The doorbell rang.
"What the...?" Lucy twisted around in surprise from where she'd been sitting on the couch, snuggling with Amy, to face the direction of the front door. "We have a doorbell?"
"It is supposed to be a normal house, as far as anyone else knows," Amy replied absently, but she knew exactly how Lucy felt.
Between Lucy's ingrained habit of keeping her current address a secret (for her own safety, if nothing else), and Amy's almost desperate need to have some kind of privacy, no one really knew where they lived. Indeed, in all the months they'd lived there, Amy didn't think she remembered ever hearing the thing before, except that once that she'd tested it to make sure that it worked.
Their property also had defenses up the ying-yang. As such, there were only a handful of people who even could have gotten to the front door unscathed, or without setting off all manner of alarms. Amy had designed it so that even she wouldn't have been able to sneak in unnoticed, so she was fairly certain she could rule out someone with hostile intent.
Besides, people trying to kill her didn't usually ring the bell and announce themselves.
Curious now, she rose from the couch, Lucy trailing along behind her. Even though she felt safe - or as safe as she ever felt - she still grabbed a gun out of sheer habit.
It wasn't necessary, though. Standing on their front doorstep, with a determined look on her face, was Raquel.
"Where is she?" she asked without preamble.
"How did you find our house?" Lucy countered.
"I asked Max."
"How did Max know where we live?" Lucy looked from Raquel to Amy and back again, making it unclear who she was asking.
"Don't worry, you don't have to worry about her showing up in the middle of the night unannounced while we're... in the middle of something," Amy said, which wasn't really an answer at all.
"Where IS she?" Raquel repeated, cutting the conversation short before Lucy could work up much steam. Focusing on Amy, she added, "And don't pretend like you don't know who I mean. You can consider it my Christmas present, if you want." She paused. "That reminds me, you guys are coming to the party, right?" Given that most of the DEBS would be going home to spend Christmas with their families, they'd decided to have a small party on the 23rd at the Sector One house. Which meant she had very little time if she wanted to pull this off.
"Of course we are," Amy replied, then hesitated before adding, "And yes, I do know who you mean. But you know that-"
"It's Christmas," Raquel interrupted, feelingly. "I have to at least see her."
Amy sighed, giving in. Hell, she of all people knew exactly how Raquel felt. "I'd say 'you didn't hear this from me', but she wouldn't buy that for a second."
Kamthi, India
December 22nd
Looking around, Raquel had to admit, the place really was gorgeous.
It wasn't like Osceola or Puerto Rico, of course (and she would freely admit to being biased), but the lush landscape (where there was landscape, anyway), the beautiful architecture, the people...
She could live there.
She wasn't about to move there, of course, but still... She could see why Nayana might like it, and why her parents had moved there after their daughter had been kidnapped and presumably killed.
She'd managed to maintain her confidence right up until she'd gotten to the front door, at which point she'd been assailed by doubts. Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe Nayana wouldn't want to see her at all. Maybe she'd already moved on.
Maybe you should ring the damn doorbell already, and find out, her mind snarked at her.
She could 'maybe' herself to death. She needed answers, she needed to know one way or another, and she needed...
She needed to stop spacing out like that, she decided as her finger reflexively pushed the button. It landed her in too much trouble.
For almost a minute straight, nothing happened. She probably should have called ahead, she thought as she shifted uncomfortably on the porch. Hopefully, she wouldn't be standing out there for so long that people began wondering why a Catholic schoolgirl was waiting at the Tagore family's door. She'd been in such a hurry that she hadn't even bothered changing out of her uniform, only grabbing her passport before heading to the airport. Thankfully, Amy had been nice enough to arrange transportation for her via the Concorde that had formerly belonged to The Centre, or the flight out would have been agonizingly long. As it was, it had just been scarcely bearable.
Fortunately, it was roughly 87 degrees, and it was still early in the day, or she would have been freezing by then. Growing up where she did, she was really not accustomed to cold weather. Yet another reason that-
The door opened, and her mind went blank.
Nayana's expression was unreadable, and Raquel got the idea that she'd missed her initial reaction to seeing who was at the door. No doubt there was a camera hidden somewhere that had shown her long before she answered, which might well account for the lengthy delay.
Well, if she'd actually managed to surprise Nayana for once, she was not about to complain.
She just wished her brain would cough up a few words of greeting or something, at the very least.
"What are you doing here?"
The question was more quizzical then insulting, but it did serve to jar Raquel out of her stupefied silence. "I missed you," she said softly.
Something flickered through Nayana's eyes, there and gone before Raquel could tell what it was. She took a step to the side, an obvious invitation to enter. Once Raquel was inside, she shut the door and faced her. "I don't know what-"
Raquel cut her off by the simple expedient of slipping her arms around her neck and pulling her down into a dizzying kiss. The DEB was aware of a moan emanating from within her own throat as she pushed Nayana against the door, but really didn't care.
Nayana was kissing her back.
She was in heaven.
Really, the only thing that could have made it better...
Nayana broke the kiss to murmur, "I have the house to myself for at least another fourty-seven minutes."
Raquel grinned. God bless pseudo-telepathic pretenders.
**********************************************
"So, how are things here?" Raquel asked as she finished buttoning up her shirt. She still looked a bit rumpled, but hopefully that could be chalked up to travel.
Nayana looked annoyingly composed, as if she hadn't just been having mind-blowing sex, which was just not fair at all. "Boring. Have I ever struck you as the typical dutiful Indian daughter?"
That... was really not something Raquel had ever been able to wrap her head around. "Umm..."
"Exactly."
Leaning back into the couch (which really wasn't as comfortable as it should have been, in her opinion), she gently nudged Nayana. "But you're reconnecting with your family. That's a good thing... right?"
"In theory." She paused. "The question, though, is why are you here?"
"I already told you, I missed you. And it's Christmas. I had to see you." She smiled. "Besides, didn't I tell you I'd come find you if I had to?"
"Yes, but I didn't think it would be this soon."
"'Soon'? It's been months!" She swatted Nayana upside the head. "'This soon'. Honestly..."
And that was when she knew Nayana felt something for her, as where other people would have gotten anything from a broken hand to a snapped neck, she only got a mild glare. "Stop that. So... You've seen me. Now what?"
Which was another annoyingly good question. She wished she'd thought this through more carefully. "What are you doing for Christmas?" she asked, honestly not sure herself if she was actually trying to answer or just stalling for time.
"We don't celebrate Christmas."
"Then you could come home with me!"
Nayana raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"
"We're having a party tomorrow, back at the house, before everyone goes home for the holidays," Raquel explained. "Amy'll be there, too, and I'm sure she wouldn't mind seeing you."
"Unlike, say, just about everyone else?"
Well, yes, there was that. But they had been - slowly - getting used to her near the end of the whole Centre business, Raquel was certain they had. "I don't agree with that." She took Nayana's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "And I'd like it if you came. It is just that one party, don't worry. I'm not going to try and bring you back to Florida with me." A sudden, horrible thought struck her. "Would your parents even be okay with that? God, what am I thinking? They only just got you back-"
"Raquel..."
"-after so many years-"
"Raquel..."
"-and I just- Mmmph!"
"Can I talk, now?" Nayana asked, her hand clamped firmly over Raquel's mouth. The latter nodded wordlessly. "Good. I am a grown woman." Her lips quirked as Raquel mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like a muffled "I've noticed." She waited a moment, then continued, "I've survived on my own for most of my life. I don't need their permission to do anything. And they're going to have to get used to the idea that I'm not going to stay here. A trip to visit Amy will be as good a start to that as anything."
Catching the look in Raquel's eyes, she sighed and lowered her hand. "And yes, that is all I'm going to tell them about the why. It's all they need to know." She paused. "And in case you've forgotten, homosexuality is still illegal in India."
"Oh, and heaven forbid you do anything illegal," Raquel said dryly.
"I see no need to tell them the details of my past," Nayana said with a negligent shrug. "Let them keep their illusions. And this will prevent them from getting in trouble for knowing I was breaking the law and doing nothing about it."
Raquel shifted uncomfortably. "I doubt they'd care. After everything... I'm sure they want you to be happy, more then anything." Quietly, she added, "I do, too, you know."
"I know. But-"
"Kuri kuch chhar, the shahr dhandora!" Raquel exploded. At Nayana's surprised blink, she cringed inside. She hadn't meant to say that, and certainly not the way she had. She was just getting so... fed up, with the Indian woman's refusal to see what was right in front of her.
"Kaent," Nayana commented, one corner of her mouth pulling up into a half-smile.
Raquel fought down a blush. That was about the best reaction she could have hoped for, and while that was certainly a good thing... She really just wanted to crawl into a hole and hide, by this point. "Um, thank you. I..."
"Been doing a little research, have we?" Nayana asked, sounding amused.
"Well... maybe," she admitted. "I just want to make sure that, that..."
"Marr jaawaan gurd kha ke?" Nayana's smile crept higher.
Raquel lost the battle, slowly turning red. "Um, that's not..."
"Ay que ver como bate el cobre,." Unlike Raquel's somewhat stilted Punjabi, Nayana's fluid Spanish could have placed her seamlessly in any city or town in Puerto Rico.
Life, Raquel decided, was not fair. "Yeah, but..." She sighed. "Ki tussi mere naal aaoge?"
"Main tuahaade naal awanga."
"Ki eh jawaab hai?" She would not let out a giddy shriek of joy, she told herself. She would not cheer. She would not lose what little dignity she had left. That would only embarrass Nayana, in any event.
"Eh jawaab hai." Judging by the way the amused look on her face lingered, she clearly knew what was going through the DEB's mind.
Well, they'd see about that. Unable to resist, she impishly added, "Ki tussi mainu pyaar karde ho?"
Nayana's eyes narrowed. "Don't push it."
Well, this was originally going to be a one-part story, but I get the feeling that if I don't split it up and post part one now, the story wouldn't see the light of day until the new year, at least. Hope all you Kali fans out there don't mind waiting. ;)