Just in the knick of time.
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I guess we never really moved on
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Erica wasn’t exactly sure what to do. Her fear had not only frozen her to her spot near the kitchen table, but it had appeared that she was now rather unable to think as well. The former governor knew that it would do no good keeping her eyes on the window, as any sort of movement would scare her half to death, she also knew that tearing her gaze away from the window would make the silence of the house all too real. The blonde woman was really in a no win situation.
Erica wasn’t really sure exactly how much time had passed since she had spotted what she had assumed to be a man walking way too close for comfort near the window adjacent to the kitchen, but she was certainly hoping that she was indeed just being overly paranoid and that perhaps it was just somebody out on a late night drunken excursion, simply trying to find their way back to their own home. The blonde had continued to come up with various solutions that would explain the strange presence near her home, although she had also concluded that she couldn’t even be sure that this was out of the ordinary. On a typical evening she would have been asleep, and out cold in a deep, dreamless sleep until her alarm would go off at seven in the morning. Who knows if this creep was really on his first round, or he had been peeping into her windows on the regular basis.. just waiting for the right time to make his move and rob her blind, if not worse. Erica had realized that her mind was now in overdrive, still unable to move from her perch at the kitchen table, she was now just desperately hoping Franky would be arriving soon.
Franky had barely needed a second glance at her phone as she had memorized the route to the blondes house in no time at all. At around the halfway mark she had slowed her pace to a leisurely jog, although her prison life had left her in rather good shape, it had been a few months now and she was definitely feeling the effects of the fact that her workouts were now much fewer and farther between. It was around this point when it had started to rain, and faint sounds of thunder rumbling could now be heard off in the distance. By the time Franky had arrived at the end of the driveway that appeared to lead to the correct address, she had been absolutely soaked from the oncoming downpour of heavy rain that usually accompanies the thunder storms. Wanting both to get inside before any sort of lightning had started, and also not wanting to startle the other woman by just running up and knocking on the door, Franky had pulled out her cellphone, pressing the buttons in a hurry to dial the blondes number, being extra cautious on her way up the long winding driveway as Franky was on the lookout for any sort of suspicious characters that could be lingering around the house.
Erica had been startled by the noise of her phone ringing from the surface of the table in front of her, she quickly slid the bar however upon noticing the caller I.D., the noise having broken her from her frozen sort of trance. After answering the call, Erica however didn’t say anything, she had waited for Franky to take the lead on the conversation, hoping she had some sort of good news.
“Oi, Erica, I’m at the front door. Come let me in.” And with that Franky had once again disconnected the call without a single word.
Erica almost instantly relaxed a smidge having just heard the brunettes voice telling her she was about to arrive. She had finally found herself able to begin moving again, tearing her gaze away from the window as she got onto her feet and headed toward the front door. Erica slowly unlocked the door, opening it up with her gaze cautiously fixated on the growing opening between the door itself and the frame, very thankful when she saw Franky Doyle standing in front of her, she quickly pulled the door open fully, allowing the brunette to enter. After Franky was inside of the building Erica had quickly slammed the door shut, relocking and double checking to be sure the door was secured before turning around to face Franky, feeling slightly bad now that she had realized Franky was absolutely soaking wet.
Franky had already kicked off her boots and had begun making her way through Erica’s house, wanting to see for herself what exactly they could be dealing with. Erica was rather confused by Franky’s instant actions, but she found herself following behind the brunette as Franky had rather swiftly moved through the entire lower level of the house, deeming it cleared of any danger. Franky quickly realized that she had paid the very woman who she had rushed over to protect no attention at all since arriving. Upon that very realization Franky had spun around to face Erica once more, her right hand stretching outward to be placed upon the blondes shoulder and Franky would almost swear to it that she had felt Erica shudder under the lightest of contact.
Franky had leaned in just slightly so that she was able to get a good look into the blonde woman’s eyes, speaking in a soft tone that was just barely above a whisper, although the utter concern for the other woman was easily noticed in the shimmers in Franky’s eyes.
“You right?” Franky had kept her eyes trained on Erica’s features after asking the question, looking for any sort of indicators that the former governor was still under a load of stress from the situation, rather satisfied when instead a small grin had appeared on Erica’s face, her first partial answer coming as a few quick nods.
“I feel ten times better now that I have some company.” Was Erica’s verbal reply, being beyond thankful for the brunettes appearance.
“Not just any company.. Franky Doyle’s company.” Franky immediately fired back at the blonde along with a playful sort of wink.
Erica still wasn’t quite sure how to take Franky’s not so subtle flirting, feeling her cheeks heating up as her gaze dropped to the floor, hoping the light shades of pink would go unnoticed. Normally Erica would have been extremely happy for any sort of distraction to get away from the situation, but this time however the distraction was not a pleasant one.
The sound of shattering glass came as a quick reality check to both of the women within the house. Franky had held tightly onto Erica’s shoulder for a few seconds, being sure that she was alright before running to the door. The former prisoner didn’t even bother to waste any sort of time in getting her boots back onto her feet, immediately springing into action as she had the door unlocked, only turning back momentarily to fill the blonde in on what procedure she should follow to ensure that she would be alright. Franky had pointed to the room directly off of the small porch area where the window had been broken, figuring the blonde would get the hint and enter the room.
Erica quite easily got the hint but that however didn’t stop her from lunging forward in an attempt to stop Franky from exiting the house, not wanting the brunette to be hurt or to be put in any sort of danger just because of her. The former governor’s grip didn’t quite get locked onto Franky’s arm and that gave Franky just the edge that she needed to shake free. Within another second the brunette was already out the door and on the lookout for whoever had broken the window. Franky was fuming, whoever had smashed the window had at least had intentions to steal from Erica, knowing that there could very well have been physical harm done to Erica in the process.
Upon getting outside Franky had quickly begun to scan the entire length of the house for any sort of movement, and it didn’t take her long before she had spotted a figure not too far away from the broken window. Franky as per usual completely threw caution to the wind, not even thinking about the fact that she had no idea if the attacker could be armed. Franky had started running full speed toward the person, wanting to startle them to drive them further away from the house.
The tactic had worked rather well, the second that the attacker had set eyes upon Franky charging straight at them the figure had begun racing across the yard, trying to make it toward the roadway, presumably so that they would be where they could disappear behind any of the other homes in the neighbourhood. Franky was just quick enough to catch up to the assailant around the mid yard area, she had promptly leapt forward and managed to tackle the body to the ground. She was rather certain that the intruder had to be a man, as his physical strength was quite overpowering. Franky took the opportunity of having the man down upon his back to get as close as she possibly could, landing a few sharp blows to the man’s face, all the while being certain to attempt to remember as many details about the body below her as she possibly could.
The entire time that the ordeal had been going down Erica was stood nervously in the doorway, watching every part of the action extremely closely. She knew that she should have taken Franky’s advice and moved into the other room just in case there had been an accomplice to the attack, but she was quite firmly glued in place. Erica had heaved a sigh of relief as Franky had taken the man to the ground, hoping that this entire ordeal was about to be finished. It had seemed like several minutes had passed since Franky had taken the attacker down, but it had in reality only been several seconds. Franky was still nailing the guy in the face, and he didn’t appear to be moving. Erica had just started to worry as much as previously when the attacker had retaliated.
In her attempt to both keep the man firmly pinned to the ground and get a half decent read on his facial features Franky had made one huge mistake. She hadn’t checked first to see if the man had any weapons in his hand, and the second that Franky had let up on her punches to pull down the man’s mask and see his face, the man had swung the metal pipe that was in his hand toward Franky’s face. Franky had only been alert enough to move back far enough to soften the blow, being knocked off to the side. The hit had been enough to keep Franky dazed and confused for a few seconds, allowing the man to get back onto his feet, as Franky had only started to scramble back onto hers. The man didn’t allow Franky to get up any further, taking one more swing with the pipe as this time it connected with Franky’s midsection, effectively rendering her useless for a few moments, allowing the man to dash away and into the darkness as Franky had once again scrambled to gain her footing once more.
After Franky had no chance of chasing after the man she had knelt back down upon one knee in an attempt to regain her breath. Erica had been continuing to watch the ordeal from the doorway, feeling physically sick to her stomach once the assailant had turned things around on Franky. As the man had turned to run away from the situation Erica had ran out of the doorway to be at Franky’s side, kneeling down beside the brunette and grasping her arm in order to help Franky back to her feet properly. Franky had gladly accepted the support as she made her way back to her feet, keeping a firm hold onto Erica’s arm as he had been lead back toward the house.
Upon entering the porch area, Erica had closed and locked the door immediately behind their bodies once more, spinning back quickly in order to assess the damage that had been done to Franky, instantly spotting the bloody gash on her cheek, her busted lip and she wasn’t too keen to find the damage beneath the brunettes shirt just yet.
“Can you make it up the stairs so we can get you cleaned up, Franky?” Franky had responded to Erica’s words with a soft grunt of approval, allowing Erica to lead the way up the winding staircase and toward the bathroom where the first aid kit was located. Franky had crossed her left arm across her midsection trying to cover up the area near her ribs that was stinging the most, her right hand running up to wipe some of the blood away from her face. Erica had pulled the first aid kit out and within a few minutes she had Franky’s face and lip cleaned up, with no traces of blood left behind, using the liquid stitch to be sure that no more bleeding would be occurring.
Now Erica had to check on Franky’s ribs, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink once again as she had grasped the hem of Franky’s shirt, beginning to slowly and carefully remove it from the brunette’s body. As she had been removing the shirt Franky had cooperated, lifting her arms to allow the shirt to be completely removed, and making a mental note to tease the blonde on her blushing at a later date. The former inmate was far too tired from the long days events, and getting no sleep to even begin making her usual cheeky remarks. Erica had carefully wrapped the bruised area of Franky’s midsection, barely able to keep her own gaze from moving toward Franky’s chest in the process. A few more moments later and the wrapping had been done, and neither of the two women were exactly sure where to go from here, but Erica was damn sure that she wasn’t letting Franky walk back to wherever it had been that she came from.
Franky had hopped up from her position where she had been sitting on the cabinet that held the sink, taking the wrong door however and entering what had appeared to be the blondes adjoining bedroom. Franky took a quick look around and let out an impressed sort of whistle, Erica had followed in after setting the first aid kit back in its usual place within the bathroom cabinet. She wasn’t sure where the sudden wave of bravery had come from but she spoke up in a hurry as Franky had appeared to have been looking for the exit. “Will you please stay the night, I can’t let you go back outside like this in the middle of the night, Franky..” Erica’s tone was one of absolute pleading and Franky felt beyond obligated to say yes. She had long forgotten about Bridget at home, who was probably under the assumption that Franky had just gone downstairs to sleep on the couch.
“Only if you can give me a change of clothes” Franky’s words had been spoken with a small grin on her face, and Erica gave her head a quick string of nods in response to the words, instantly moving over to her closet to allow Franky access to anything that she would like. Franky had eventually settled on a fresh pair of socks, sweats and a sports bra, figuring that it would be best to keep her ribs within reach of a heating pad should the pain become unbearable.
Erica certainly wasn’t about to complain about Franky’s clothing choice, thinking to herself that the brunette could pull absolutely anything off, as she seemed to always look damn stunning. Erica took a glance at the clock, noticing that it was now already five thirty in the morning, subconsciously stifling a yawn in the process. She had once again had no idea where the bravery to speak up once more had come from, but she found herself sauntering over to the bed, pulling up the covers on her usual side and slipping beneath the blankets. As she had slid under the covers she had moved to pat the bed beside her. “You can stay here.. I might actually get some sleep knowing that my big strong protector is right by my side.” The soft grin that had been on Franky’s face had grown ten fold at the blondes last set of words. Franky also had no idea why but she found her feet carrying her over toward the bed, flipping up the sets of blankets and sliding beneath, clearly still favouring her ribs.
Erica had suddenly grown rather shy as the brunette had slid into bed next to her, flipping onto her side so that her back would be facing Franky. What Erica didn’t predict was that Franky would continue sliding over, her own body being moved slowly onto her side as she didn’t want to do any further damage to her already wounded ribs, as she continued to slide closer she had loosely laid her arm over Erica’s midsection from behind, tugging her body into a spooning sort of position. Erica had to bite onto her lower lip to prevent any sounds of surprise and also excitement at even the gentle closeness of Franky being so close to her body. Erica was however unable to bite back a soft gasp as Franky had pressed a soft few kisses to the exposed area of the blonde’s neck, eventually setting her head back down to the pillow as the brunette muttered out softly. “Goodnight, Erica..”
Erica now found herself highly unable to resist, she had spun herself around all the while still remaining under Franky’s loose hold around her body. The blonde had leaned forward to place the gentlest sort of kisses to the gash on Franky’s cheek, her eyes then lingering on the cut upon the brunette’s lip. Erica’s gaze had eventually drifted upward to meet Franky’s eyes. The two women had remained stone still, gaze locked upon each other’s, one of the women eventually beginning to lean forward, she was hoping her lips would make contact with the others and that it would be well received.. but would it happen?