Chasing Ghosts

"I'm on my way back from the airport now," Carmilla said with her phone on speaker in the car. Will had asked her to pick him up after his business trip.

"Hey, sis!" Will called out with a grin. The brunette rolled her eyes. Ever since they got engaged, he had continued to call Laura 'sis'.

"Hey, Will! How was your flight?" the soldier answered perkily.

"Long. Had a baby crying behind me the whole time."

"Yikes."

"So I'll be back probably in a half hour," Carmilla interrupted.

"Yay! Date night!" Laura cheered. Carmilla shook her head despite the smile on her face.

Will scoffed. "Date night? More like bang night."

"Really, Will?" Carmilla glared at her passenger. 

"Well he's not wrong," Laura answered nonchalantly.

The cafe owner stared incredulously at her phone. "You used to get embarrassed about this kind of thing. What happened?" 

"I started dating you. You're a horn dog."

"Gross," Will chuckled.

Carmilla lifted a brow at her brother. "You started this conversation, ya know."

"And now I'm finishing it. Bye, Laura!" he called out, hearing her laughter through the speaker before he reached over and ended the call.

"Hey," Carmilla yelled out as closed the front door behind her. She pulled off her leather jacket and started looking around the apartment. "Cupcake?" she continued as she started her search. When she peeked into the bedroom, she froze.

"You're late, Private."

Laura was dressed head to toe in her old uniform. Carmilla began to smirk as her eyes sparkled with mischief. Her heartbeat jumped up in speed. "My apologies, Captain."

"Are you smiling at me?" she asked in a warning tone.

Carmilla immediately tried to hide her smile. She failed miserably. She shook her head in response. Laura began to strut over to her; posture pristine. Her presence was commanding. Carmilla was doing flips and cartwheels inside her head right then. She loved Laura in uniform, despite what it represented in their past. The blonde was sexy as hell and Laura was no fool to the fact that Carmilla drooled endlessly over it.

Laura stepped to Carmilla's side, who began to turn and face her. "Face forward!" The brunette jumped back to her previous position. A smile played on her lips still.

"Something funny, Karnstein?" she asked, leaning in close to the cafe owner's ear. Carmilla felt her warm breath dance across her skin. That, plus Laura's authoritative voice, made shivers run up her spine.

"No, ma'am."

"No, ma'am what?"

"No, ma'am... sorry?" Carmilla really didn't know what response the blonde was looking for. She cringed at her own attempt.

Laura bit her lip to hide a smile. She rolled her eyes. "No, ma'am. Nothing is funny."

"Ohhh..." the brunette whispered in understanding. She straightened her back and furrowed her brows. "No, ma'am. Nothing's funny, ma'am!" she restated assertively.

"Hm," Laura let out as she walked around her fiancee. Her eyes landed on her ass and she smirked. Carmilla always wore the perfect fitting pants. Laura then leaned up on her toes and positioned her mouth near the brunette's ear. Carmilla could feel the heat of Laura's body close to her back. "There's still the matter of you being late."

Laura then placed her hand on Carmilla's lower back and pushed her forward. The cafe owner stumbled toward the bed. She spun around to stare questioningly at Laura.

"Sit."

And so Carmilla did. Without question or hesitation, she sat down on the edge of the bed.

Laura stared with obvious contemplation. "Actually, down to your undergarments, Private." The brunette rose to her feet and began taking off her shirt. "Speed it up, Karnstein! I don't have all day!"

Carmilla then rushed to remove her clothes. She almost tripped pulling off her pants and her arm got stuck in her shirt. The soldier had to hold back her laughter. Seeing a less than graceful Carmilla was a rarity. The brunette sat back down on the bed after completing her task.

"Failing to abide by the guidelines means you must be punished," Laura said as she stepped toward her. "And since you caused me to lose my patience, it seems only fair for you to lose something." Carmilla was completely captivated. Laura wanted something? She could have it.

Then, Captain Hollis began to remove her hat. She placed it on the endtable before removing her jacket. Then, she reached for her tie and slowly loosened it, pulling it over her head and tossing it beside Carmilla on the bed. She unbuttoned her shirt, never taking her eyes off of the brunette. Laura watched Carmilla's chest rise and fall faster the more she undressed. Her pupils were blown and lips slightly parted. Her obvious attraction paired with her lack of clothing was doing it's own number on Laura.

By the time Laura had stripped down to her underwear and bra, Carmilla forced a swallow; her eyes roaming all over Laura's body. "Permission to speak, Captain?"

"Speak," the soldier replied as she stepped between the brunette's legs.

"How is this punishment?" her hands began to reach out for the soldier's hips. Laura quickly grabbed her wrists, causing Carmilla to look up in surprise.

"Because you're not allowed to touch," Laura answered simply, pulling Carmilla's wrists together and reaching for her discarded necktie on the bed. She tied her hands together and shoved Carmilla onto her back. Crawling slowly onto the brunette, she took in her expression. Carmilla was panting as she stared up at her. Her dark eyes burned with desire and she took in Laura's presence greedily. She licked her lips and Laura immediately grabbed her elbows, pulling them up so her hands were above her head on the mattress.

The blonde bent down and nipped and sucked at Carmilla's neck. "Fuck," the cafe owner breathed out.

"Language, Private," Laura growled as she let her hips grind down hard into Carmilla.

The brunette groaned. "Fuck, shit, crap- I don't care! Just do that again!"

Laura fell out of character and started laughing. "Carm," she chastised lightly.

"I'm late because of traffic! I didn't even wanna pick him up!" the brunette whined, which made the soldier laugh even more. "You can top me all you want, just please let me touch you. This is torture!"

Laura rolled her eyes despite her smile as she reached up and untied her hands. "You're such a baby," she teased as Carmilla's hands got free. They immediately slid up the soldier's muscled thighs and gripped onto her hips.

She smirked. "Yeah, but I'm your baby," she winked, knowing full well Laura would get annoyed.

"You're lucky I'm horny," the blonde huffed as she leaned down and began placing open mouth kisses down Carmilla's chest. 

The cafe owner took a deep breath as she got lost in the sensation from Laura's lips. "Why do you say that?"

Suddenly, the soldier hooked her fingers into Carmilla's underwear and yanked them down. "Because my patience is gone and I would really like to be having sex right now," she answered as her hand slipped through Carmilla's wet folds.

The brunette hissed in response. "Don't let me stop you," she managed to joke as her hands moved to remove the straps of Laura's bra.

"As if you'd want me to stop," she answered slyly before pulling down a cup of Carmilla's bra and releasing her breast. Her fingers played with her clit as her other hand now palmed and massaged her breast. The brunette leaned up just enough to cup the back of Laura's neck with her hand, forcing her down to crash their lips together. 

Their bodies began to move as one. Carmilla's nails scraped down Laura's back, but when the blonde began to shift her weight onto her knee, she gasped and crumbled down on top of her fiancee.

The cafe owner's eyes widened as she held the soldier. "Laura, you okay? Did I hurt you?"

The blonde shook her head, her forehead pressed to the center of Carmilla's chest. "I think I messed up my knee today when running. I put too much weight on it just now." Her warm breath hit the brunette's skin, and Carmilla's brows furrowed in concern. She gently flipped their positions. She could see Laura's face now, which still grimaced in pain.

Carmilla tucked hair out of her lover's face with a worried smile. "You want me to get you ice or something?"

Laura pouted. "You better not leave me alone in this bed, Carmilla Karnstein."

The brunette rolled her eyes. "You're hurt, cupcake."

"It's fine now."

"I doubt it."

"Can't you just kiss me and touch me inappropriately? You're always trying to do that!"

Carmilla couldn't help but chuckle. "Yeah, but if there's a risk I could injure you, no thanks."

"You've left me with bruises before!"

"Those were love bruises!"

"Then this can be a love knee injury!"

"That's stupid."

"You're stupid."

Carmilla glared.

"Carmmmmmmm-"

"Oh my God! Fine!" Carmilla yelled in annoyance as she kissed Laura fiercely. Their tongues collided and Laura's hands gripped firmly onto Carmilla's ass.

And then the phone rang.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," the cafe owner groaned with her lips hovering over the soldier's. Laura leaned up and gently sucked on Carmilla's bottom lip. When she released it, she let out a loud sigh.

"Go get it."

Carmilla leaned back slightly to stare at her incredulously.

"It might be about Livie," she explained, which made Carmilla groan again. She pulled herself off of the blonde and stumbled toward the phone. 

"What?" she growled. She quickly cringed after realizing she had just snapped at her future father-in-law. "It's your dad," she whispered with her hand covering the phone.

"We're outside the door. She said she couldn't sleep without her stuffed cat," the older Hollis explained.

"You're here?" Carmilla asked with wide eyes. Laura had jumped up from the bed, limping slightly over to pile of laundry and grabbing a pair of lounge shorts. Then, she bent down to the floor and grabbed the shirt Carmilla had been wearing. She threw the clothes on quickly.

"I got this," Laura said as she leaned up and kissed Carmilla's cheek before exiting the bedroom.

She limped toward the door and when she opened it, Livie came plowing through, slamming into her waist; her arms wrapped tightly around the soldier. 

"Hey," Laura greeted softly with wide eyes. She ran her fingers through the tiny brunette's hair before looking up at her father. "What happened?"

"She tried to sleep without her stuffed animal and got a nightmare. She asked me to bring her home," he said with an apologetic smile.

Mr. Fox had come out of nowhere and began rubbing his small furry body against the girl's leg.

"Liv," the blonde said softly as she placed her hands on the little girl's shoulders. "You didn't have to try to sleep without it. We would have brought it over for you."

Livie sniffed. "But I wanted to be brave like you."

Laura felt her chest explode. The wide vulnerable eyes of this little girl made her want to cradle her in her arms for eternity. "What makes you think I'm brave?"

"Mommy says it all the time. She says you're brave and strong. And I wanna be like you someday!"

The soldier then knelt down hesitantly, cringing from her knee. "Come here," she said as she pulled Livie into her arms and held her close. The little girl happily clung onto her. Laura looked up at her father. 

"Thanks for watching her, Dad. We've got it from here." He gave a small smile and nodded. He placed the girl's overnight bag down on the floor and made his exit.

The blonde pulled back from the little girl and stared into those dark eyes that looked so much like her mother's. "You know I love you, right?"

Livie grinned. "I love you too, Mama!"

Laura felt like her entire body was ready to fall to pieces in the most wonderful way possible. She had to force a swallow before tears built in her eyes. She stood up wobbly, and then held her hand out to Livie. 

"Come on, squirt. Let's go read a bedtime story." Livie grinned and grabbed her hand.

After seeing the little girl had fallen asleep during her reading, Laura quietly turned off the lights and placed a kiss on her head. When she got back to her own bedroom, she could hear Carmilla's even breaths. Laura slowly slipped under the covers and curled up against the brunette as carefully as possible.

Unfortunately, Carmilla was a light sleeper. She wrapped her arm around the blonde and pulled her closer, kissing her temple. "How'd it go?" her raspy, sleep-filled voice filled the silence in the room. Her hand gently rubbed up and down the soldier's back.

"She's sleeping," Laura answered simply. Then, after a moment, she spoke. "She called me 'Mama'."

Carmilla's hand froze on Laura's back. Then, she flipped them over; Laura was laying down looking up at the brunette hovering over her. "Does that bother you?" she asked hesitantly.

"Absolutely not," she replied with a laugh. She was still in shock.

"So... you're okay with it?"

Laura's hand came up to Carmilla's cheek; her thumb brushing it softly. "I couldn't be happier."

The grin that appeared on the brunette's face was blinding. She launched down and kissed Laura with as much love as she could conjure up. "God, I love you," she whispered into another kiss.

"Less talking. More kissing."