Visiting mom
"I miss my mom", Camila said as she ate with her friends, they all stayed quiet, not sure of what to say, "Well, you- you could- visit her?", Beatrice suggested simply, she had no idea if that was possible, she had never wanted to see her parents during all the time she has served the church, only seeing them when they wanted to see her; "Is it possible?", Camila replied excited, Lilith coughed and nodded her head, "It is possible if you are given permission, you can ask Mother Superion", she said as she finished her food, Camila smiled a bit and looked at her friends, "Can someone come with me? I'm still a bit nervous with Mother Superion", she confessed shyly. The women looked at each other, waiting for someone to speak, "I can't right now, Cam, as soon as I'm done I have to do some checking on the weapons", Beatrice informed as she ate a bit quicker, feeling like she was running out of time, Shannon nodded and took a sip of water, "I have to get ready for Halo training, sorry", she apologized with a shy smile.
Mary and Lilith exchanged looks, they wanted to help Camila, but they were busy, "Kid, I gotta talk with some of the men Father Vincent knows, we'll have a mission in a few days and I'm in charge of telling them, sorry, I wish I could go with you", Mary explained, clearly upset for not being able to go with her, Camila simply nodded and smiled softly, "It's alright, don't worry, you are all busy, that's fine", the short haired girl replied gently as she went back to eating, Lilith sighed and stared at her plate for a few seconds, "I'm not- busy, I can go with you", she said without looking up, suddenly interested in some marks on her plate, Camila smiled and half hugged her, "Thank you! I owe you one, I know", the younger girl replied as she went back to eating, finishing in a matter of a few minutes.
By the time she was done, both Beatrice and Shannon had left to do their assigned tasks and Lilith and Mary were barely finishing their meal; Mary finished first and left quickly, once Lilith had finished, both women walked to the office of their superior, "You've never asked for permission to visit your family?", the shorter girl questioned out of nowhere, startling Lilith a bit, she once more returned her gaze to whatever was in front of her, in this case the floor, "I've never had the need to, they don't want to see me", Lilith replied shyly, she could feel her friend's eyes on her but she did not look up, too interested in the cracks on the floor. Camila didn't say a thing, understanding it was something Lilith didn't feel comfortable talking about, so they simply kept walking in silence until they reached the office.
After a few knocks on the door they were given permission to enter, Camila walking in with Lilith walking behind her, Mother Superion seemed a bit busy, but she still greeted them, "What is it, girls?", the older woman asked as she glanced briefly at them, Camila took a few moments to breathe before opening her mouth to speak, "I would like to visit my mom, I was wondering if you would let me take two days off?", Camila said as she fidgeted with her hands, clearly nervous about being with their superior, Mother Superion looked at her and then at the taller woman a few inches behind her, she sighed and looked back at the papers she was reading mere moments ago, "You can take the weekend, but Lilith will go with you, I don't like having my girls on their own, if you're okay with that, you can leave now", she answered simply. There was a sigh of relief coming from the younger girl, she thanked the older woman and quickly left the room, Lilith walking now by her side, "Why are you so nervous around her?", the taller woman questioned after a few moments of silence, "I've always been shy with people I don't really know, and on top of that, she's our superior, I don't want to say something that she doesn't like and get in trouble with her, you know?", Camila questioned back, Lilith did understand it, maybe a little too much, but she simply nodded and kept walking.
The weekend had started, Camila and Lilith had packed a small backpack each to their little trip, Mother Superior had given them one of the old vans they had available, knowing it wasn't really used; although Camila was the one who knew where they were going, Lilith was the one in charge of driving, which she was glad was like that because she wasn't sure if she would feel safe with Camila driving. It was a little trip of barely two hours, they arrived to a house that was clearly old and in need of so much remodeling, Lilith was suddenly a bit unsure, but Camila assured her there was no need to worry; together they knocked on the door and a clearly older woman opened it slowly, she looked really exhausted and her face was a bit pale, but she looked so much like Camila that Lilith immediately knew it was her mom, Camila quickly hugged her and felt her mother hug her back, smiling and almost crying at the contact with her mother after a few years in which she wasn't able to see her.
The woman invited both girls in, and Camila was surprised that the inside of the house seemed much better than when she had lived there, her mom really had been better without having to take care of a kid, and as much as Camila was glad, it still hurt her a little realizing just how much better her mom was without her. Camila's mom seemed really glad of seeing her daughter, and the whole scene hurt Lilith just a bit; "So, you are my daughter's friend?", the older woman asked Lilith as soon as Camila went to the kitchen, Lilith simply nodded and smiled, "Your daughter has many friends and I am lucky to be one of them", she replied, her heart aching when she saw the big relief there was on the woman's face, "My sweet Cami, she's always been nice, it scares me that someday she'll be nice to the wrong people", the woman said as she glanced in the kitchen's direction.
Lilith stayed silent for a few moments before glancing in the same direction, "Don't worry, I'll make sure nothing bad happens to her, I- promise", she said before glancing back at Camila's mom, offering what she hoped could be considered a comforting smile, the older woman smiled back and nodded; Camila entered the living room with two cups of tea, she handed one to her mom and the other one to Lilith, "You're not having tea?", Lilith questioned as she grabbed her cup, Camila shook her head and sat next to her mom, "I already drank mine", she answered simply.
The next few hours were spent talking, Camila telling her mom about the information she could tell about the OCS, Lilith not allowing her to say more than what her mom could know, before they knew, it was already late and time to sleep, the house wasn't big, so Camila's mom offered both girls her room, and although they protested, both girls went to the bedroom as the older woman stayed on the couch. "So, what do you think?", Camila asked as soon as they were in bed, it wasn't very big, so they were kind of close, closer than Lilith would've wanted to, "About?", the taller woman asked back, closing her eyes and trying to stay calm, "About my mom", the shorter girl answered as she shifted a bit on the bed; Lilith stayed quiet for long moments before opening her eyes once more, "She's- nice, and she clearly loves you, she's sweet", she replied simply, not knowing what else to say, she wasn't really sure of what was normal to say in these type of situations.
Camila hummed and closed her eyes for a bit, "How's your mom?", she questioned, Lilith simply stared at her for long seconds as she thought of what to say, it was clear she didn't have a good relationship with her, "She's not like yours, she's- quite the opposite", the taller girl replied simply, not sure if she would be able to get into details, "She sounds bad", the short haired girl commented, this caused Lilith to chuckle and smile, "She is bad", she replied. Both women stayed in silence for long moments, "Goodnight", Camila said, but before Lilith could reply, she was already asleep.
Next morning Camila woke up early with Lilith resting her head on her shoulder, she smiled softly and decided to stay still as to not wake her up; they stayed like that for at least an hour before Lilith woke up, "Morning", Lilith said as soon as she saw that Camila was awake, not noticing she was on her shoulder, her voice was raspy and her accent was stronger, Camila couldn't help but smile at her accent, Lilith sat up and rubbed her eyes trying to get the sleep off them, her hair was messy, some of it covering her eyes. Camila could simply stare at her, admiring how different she was from the usual Lilith she knew, the one who seemed too perfect to be real, the Lilith she was seeing right now seemed like any other woman, Camila liked the Lilith she was seeing in that moment.
The rest of the day was spent normal, at least to Camila and her mom, they had breakfast, went for a walk, played some boardgames, chatted the whole time and prepared food together, Camila seemed completely normal about all that stuff, Lilith didn't, she had no idea of what to do and it took her some time to understand all the boardgames, but once she got the hang of them she enjoyed playing, winning easily at Monopoly. Sadly, their little visit came to an end, Camila didn't want to leave, but she knew she had to; once their backpacks were in the van Camila went to her mom and hugged her tightly, "I'll miss you, mom", she said as she tried her best not to cry, she knew it was pathetic since she could visit her, but the fact that she had to leave her mom once more hurt her, her mom hugged her back and kissed her head tenderly, "I'll miss you too baby", she said, kissing her daughter's head a few more times. Camila pulled away and smiled softly, "Oh, before you leave, I have something for you", the older woman said with a smile as she went inside her house before coming out in a matter of a few seconds holding a little teddy bear not bigger than Lilith's hands, Camila's eyes lighted up quickly as she took it carefully and hugged it. Lilith could only stare.
Lilith decided to say goodbye, shaking Camila's mom hand before the woman hugged her tight, "Take care of my girl", the woman said, more of a reminder of the promise Lilith made, the taller girl nodded and pulled away gently, a bit uncomfortable with the physical contact, "I will", she replied simply. Lilith and Camila got into the van and drove away, Lilith glancing shortly at the teddy bear Camila was holding as if her life depended on it, "What is so special about it?", she questioned, trying to break the silence, "Señor Oso was my first plushy, my mom worked a lot to buy it, it was my favorite toy, but one day the arm came off and I could no longer play with it; I thought my mom had forgotten about it, but she sew the arm back in its place and now it's all good again", the shorter girl explained happily, pointing to the clearly sew arm with a big grin. Lilith nodded and smiled in response, not saying a word about it.
They arrived back at Cat's Cradle during dinner time, they simply sat down to eat, not changing into their habits, Lilith not even pulling her hair in a ponytail, Camila liked the way her hair looked down. After eating dinner and taking a bath, both women went to their respective rooms, Camila seemed happier than she had before as she kept holding Señor Oso; before Lilith entered her room she heard giggles coming from the few sister warriors that were in the hallway chatting a bit, she hadn't paid much attention until she heard something about Camila and her plushy, she was ready to argue with them, but she remembered how Camila had reacted when Beatrice was too protective of her, so she stayed quiet and got into her room.
She only prayed that their sisters would stop those jokes. Not because they were mean, but because Lilith didn't know how bad Camila could react. She also prayed for her sister's safety.