Chapter Text
“Quit squirmin’,” Lana said, legs flung over Sevika’s lap. They were plopped down in the middle of the front yard, a respectable distance from the scene of the crime. Lana dabbed her meemaw’s sworn sting remedy on Sevika’s right shoulder, a paste that consisted of meat tenderizer and baking soda.
“Fuckers got me good,” Sevika said. “I hate wasps.”
“I know, baby,” Lana said, voice soft and soothing. “They hate you, too, apparently.”
“You were no help,” Sevika said to the mutt who had wandered onto their property just after they moved in, all skinny with his wormy belly and ticks in his ears. No owners in sight. Now he lay in the cool shade of the giant peach tree in the front yard, eviscerating an “indestructible” dog toy from Vi.
“Now don’t be gettin’ mad at Mister,” Lana said, gently turning Sevika’s chin to look back at her. “He has never ever done a dang thing wrong in his life.”
“Oh, you two.” Sevika flinched, wincing as Lana put the paste on another one of the stings.
Mister wagged his tail, pausing his chew-fest to put his paw on Sevika’s boot.
“Don’t try to look sweet. I know it’s your lady fixing me up,” Sevika said playfully. “She’s actually my lady first, Mister.”
He barked.
“Don’t sass me,” Sevika said, broad smile stretching across her face.
“Stop fighting, you two,” Lana interjected with a giggle. “You’re all set, sugar.” Lana cupped Sevika’s pretty face in her hands, kissing the bridge of her nose. “You better take that Benadryl and call it for the day. We need to call someone for that nest. It’s too big for you alone, and I don’t want you fussin’ with it for one more second.”
“I can handle it.” Sevika scoffed, full mouth pulling into a frown at the quasi-reprimand.
“You cannot,” Lana argued, pulling Sevika’s shirt back over her sports bra. “I won’t say it ag–”
“Ms. Lana,” came the sweet voice of Luke, their stablehand, from behind them. “I got everything done for this weekend. Y’all need me to do anything else?”
Lana stood up from Sevika’s lap, leaning into the hand that instinctively went to steady her. “We’re all set, Luke. Though I have a frozen pie from Mrs. Stephens, if you’d like to take it home for your parents and sisters.”
“I’d like that an awful lot, Ms. Lana,” Luke said, flexing the brim of the baseball cap in his hands. “Her pies might be better than my mama’s. Don’t tell her I said that.”
“Secret’s safe with us, Luke,” Sevika said, resituating her own baseball cap before rising to her feet.
“I saw you get stung, Ms. Sevika. You know if you need me to help you with the nest, I can ask my dad, and we can come by. He ain’t working nights this week, and he said you got the finest bourbon collection in all of Runeterra.” He grinned.
“Just, Sevika, Luke. You tell him these things are out for blood, but I’ll let you know.” Sevika smiled. “You get home safe, alright? You need me to give you a lift? Just need my keys in the house.”
“No, ma’am,” Luke said. “It’s a fine day for a walk. Plus, it’ll let that pie thaw a bit. Maybe I can just dig right in when I get home. Thank you for offerin’.”
Sevika nodded once.
“Man after my own heart,” Lana said. “Come on, now. Let me get your pay and get you a glass of lemonade so you can be on your way before it gets dark.” She turned over her shoulder to look at Sevika. “And you - I’ll be back for you.”
Sevika leaned against the peach tree, eyes fixed on Lana’s face. “I’ll be waiting, Miss Lana.”
Mister barked at Sevika again, following closely at Lana’s heels.
“Purity police,” Sevika grumbled.
~*~
Now deep into the evening, Lana sat at the dining room table, a cooling mug of tea to her right, while she went through the weekend’s itinerary. Ryan’s Light was in its first month, and already business had been booming. While they didn’t accept payment from the victims of the violence, the grant money came pouring in, namely from the Medarda Foundation, their silent partner in all of this.
Sevika rounded the corner from the kitchen, hair damp from the shower. She was nursing a whiskey, all cleaned up in her inside jeans and a fresh flannel that was barely buttoned past the middle of her abdomen. Mister poked his head up from his dog bed beside Lana, canting it at Sevika. “You all set for the weekend?” Sevika asked. “Think you should take a break before you get a headache.”
“I’m fine, sweetheart,” Lana said, scratching something into the corner of the mock-up she’d need to edit on the laptop later. “Think it’s gonna be a good one. We got that trauma therapist comin’ in from Piltover, the one Mel suggested.” Lana leaned back, taking a moment to look at Sevika. The sight of which always ruffled up the butterflies in her stomach. “You know she charges $320 an hour? And she’s doing this for room and board?”
“The power of Mel Medarda,” Sevika said. “Best not to question.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Lana smiled in agreement. “Then, I think all we gotta do is put the sheets on the beds. Luke got all the horse blankets and saddles ready. Farrier said they all look good. Even Daisy.”
“Satan herself?” Sevika said, grinning behind the lip of her glass. She walked behind Lana, touching her shoulder and kneading into the aching muscles surrounding it. “You really think we should be trotting her out to people who are trying to rehabilitate?”
“She’s misunderstood,” Lana said, leaning back against Sevika’s hand. “She’s good with the folks who come through. Plus, she loves you.”
“Loves is a strong word,” Sevika said, setting her glass down. “Tolerates.”
“Nah, I never met a woman who wasn’t charmed by you, Sevika.” Lana gently scooted back, standing to her full height. “How’s my big, strong lady and all her bee stings?”
“Wasps,” Sevika said, softening instantly when Lana’s hands wound around her waist. “I’m gonna take Luke and Asher up on that help.”
Lana silently unbuttoned the flannel Sevika was wearing, peeling it back to where the stings were against her shoulder. She hoisted up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to the left of one, her free hand stroking against the soft skin of Sevika’s hip.
“I’m glad you’re being reasonable. You’re good with Luke,” Lana said. “He really looks up to you. Talked to me the whole way into the kitchen about how much he liked your truck. And how much he thought you could weight-lift. And how kind you are to him.”
“He’s a good kid. Reminds me a little of me, just with a little of you mixed in.” Sevika worked her hands under Lana’s shirt, flattening them against her abdomen that, after all this farm work, had become stronger - a far cry from where she was before they got here. “I also think I scare him. I told him a bear took my arm in a fight.”
“Sevika DuPont,” Lana said, squeezing her eyes shut. “He probably thinks we’re some lunatics fighting bears and fleeing the city.”
“He’s more afraid of you. Said you remind him of his ex-girlfriend,” Sevika teased. “Though he basically implied you’re way hotter, then said he was sorry about one hundred times, turned beet red, and ran into the barn. I had to go out to the mailbox to laugh as hard as I needed to.”
“Oh god,” Lana said, shaking her head. “He’s still wet behind the dang ears. How old is he? 19?”
“Yeah. Barely. But, I mean, you do look pretty damn good every day,” Sevika said, flexing her fingertips against Lana’s skin.
Lana gave a slow smile in response, pushing Sevika’s flannel open further. If Lana had become toned since starting here, Sevika was absolutely jacked. It was dizzying, the swell of her muscles, the definition of her abs. “That so?”
“Oh yeah,” Sevika said. “You’re so happy here. You’re always laughing. And people adore you because you’re so charming.” She did a once-over. “Plus, you were made for cut-off jean shorts and boots. Fuck.”
“I do shake it a little extra for you when I go out to feed the chickens,” Lana said, kissing Sevika’s chest, just above her sports bra.
“I know,” Sevika replied. “Works every time.”
Lana buried her fingers into the longer waves at the back of Sevika’s neck. She’d been growing it out, making Lana crazy with how good it looked, shaggy and wild. “I’m happy here. Happier than I think I’ve ever been. All ‘cause of you.”
“You did all the hard work,” Sevika said. “So proud of you.”
They had this exact conversation maybe every other week, and Sevika never faltered from her position.
But then again, neither did Lana.
“Thankfully, I got you with me every step of the way.” She rubbed her thumb against Sevika’s cheek. “When’s Ambessa getting in for the self-defense classes this weekend?”
“Tomorrow morning at oh-seven-hundred. She sent me her driving route and all. I plan to get up at 5 to have the coffee ready and some breakfast going. She will not be a second late.” Her hands drifted out of Lana’s shirt, down to her ass to pull her in a little closer.
“I’m more nervous to host her than anything. Wasn’t even this weird when Mel and Jayce came,” Lana said with a chuckle, briefly distracted by those hands.
“Expect Ambessa to give us some kind of report card at the end of the weekend. I think she’ll love Mister best of all,” Sevika said, sliding her hands into Lana’s back pockets.
“How couldn’t you? He’s got my eyes,” Lana said in her best syrupy voice, causing him to tip his head back in a low howl.
“We gotta walk the lot one more time. You wanna come with us? Stars are good tonight,” Sevika said, slipping her hands free and holding one out to Lana.
Lana took it, bringing it to her lips to kiss it. “I need a little sustenance first.” She tapped her lips with her forefinger, earning a good-natured eye roll from Sevika.
The kiss was slow and sweet, enough to rile up the always-warm embers inside of Lana. Then came the soft hands and the wandering fingertips, those sexy noises Sevika made when she was interested in progressing their relentless teasing. Before Lana realized, they were on the couch, missing their shirts, and panting into each other’s open mouths.
Mister barked from the front door, just once, and Lana paused her hand on Sevika’s belt buckle. “We’re bad moms, we gotta take this boy out to pee.”
“He has a dog door; he just needs to do his night rounds. Stubborn as fuck. Gets it from me, I guess.” Sevika plucked their shirts from the floor. “Oh, got something today. Come out with me.” She helped Lana back into her shirt, making quick work of the buttons, before doing the same to her own.
They walked into the crisp night air, Mister running ahead to lift his leg on his favorite fencepost. The crickets chirped, and the silence of the evening pressed in on them like a lullaby. Lana took a deep breath of clear night air, eyes toward the stars dotting every square inch of the sky. She wavered momentarily, slipping her hands into her back pockets while Sevika pulled something out of her truck. She punched a fist into it and then settled it on her head.
A bright white stetson.
“Oh my,” Lana said, whistling between her teeth at the sight. She walked closer to get a better look. “Damn. You look good.”
“I saw it at the feed store. Figured you’d like it.” Sevika ran a fingertip over the brim.
“Like it? I’m ready for you to put me in the bed of the truck right now,” Lana said, leaning on Sevika as she kissed her.
“You hated that last time,” Sevika reminded, grinning behind the kiss. “Said it was too buggy.”
“Yeah, skeeter bites on my asscheeks really ain’t too sexy.” She grabbed Sevika's hand again, walking along the fenceline with Mister sniffing just ahead. “We got the perfectly good bed upstairs. And my back could use one of those ‘massages’ that always turn into me shouting out the lord’s name like it’s Sunday service.”
“You’re going to pass out the second that beautiful head hits the pillow,” Sevika said, not unkindly. “You’ve been going since 4:00 am.”
“Hat brought me back to life. Leave it on, see what happens.” Lana squeezed Sevika’s hand.
They crunched out of the driveway's gravel and out to the barn, letting Mister lead the way. Sometimes he found a lost rat snake or a piece of trash that had blown onto the farm. The most significant find was a coyote heading toward the chicken coop, which left them all reeling for a few hours. But tonight he just kept his nose to the ground, pointing at every little sound that came up.
They had no idea what he was, though they each had guesses. Some Border Collie. Maybe some Shepherd. Little bit of Hound. His fur was mostly all black except for his paws, which had black, white, and brown markings on each one. Sweet looking as he was, he was a good and ferocious guard dog, and Lana watched Sevika whistle to him.
“Come,” she said, and Mister trotted over to her. “Good boy. Sit.”
He sat.
Lana grinned.
“You ready for this weekend?” Lana asked.
“Yeah, it’s going to be great.” Sevika smiled, visible even in the twilight of the evening. She dropped a hand to Mister’s head, scratching him between the ears. “I like seeing you in action. You were made to make people feel good and safe.”
“You help with that,” Lana said.
“Hope so,” Sevika said, looping her arms around Lana’s shoulders.
Mister whined, and Lana turned to him. “Gimme a minute with your mother, please. Home, Mister.”
“Parenthood,” Sevika quipped.
Mister ran back to the house.
“I think we could raise some good human kids out here,” Lana said, putting her hands on Sevika’s waist.
“Yeah?” Sevika asked.
“Mm, yeah,” Lana said. “Maybe we could start trying?”
“Trying,” Sevika worked the word in her mouth. “Baby, as much as I want to, I can’t give them to you. I do try. Hard. Often.” She winked. “But so far, it hasn’t worked.”
Lana laughed, leaning into the solid plane of Sevika’s form, blushing at the trickle of memories that fluttered in, some as early as a few nights ago. “I just mean trying to figure out the next steps. We can foster. We can adopt. We can have one of our own. We got a lot of love out here in the country. And so much damn room.”
“We do,” Sevika said.
Lana felt the swell of tears in her eyes while she watched Sevika’s pretty eyes in the starlight. Her chest burned, then warmth spread to her whole torso. “Marry me.”
“What?” Sevika laughed. “Come on, Lana.”
“Marry me, Sevika DuPont. The ring I got you is back in the house, but this moment is perfect with the stars and your eyes and how much dang love I got in my heart for you.” Her eyes welled, blurring the scene in front of her.
“My ring?” Sevika asked. “That’s funny because yours is there, too.”
“What?” Lana laughed, sputtering out through her tears. “What were you waiting for?”
“What were you waiting for?” Sevika quipped.
“I was waiting for Vanessa, Kat, Amber, and Mikah to get here in two weeks. Had a whole plan.” Lana wiped her eyes. “But I can’t wait anymore. The ring’s nice. Vanessa and Syl helped me pick it out. Wait–”
Then Lana was off, running through the field, into the house, past an extremely confused Mister, into the kitchen, and into the box of Oreos that Sevika would never open. She plucked out the ring box and sped back outside. Sevika was still standing where she had left her, face confused. Lana skidded to a halt before her, dropping to one knee, gulping for breath. Her mind was spinning, hands trembling.
“Marry me, Sevika. Please.” She opened the box.
Sevika studied the ring, holding up the box which housed the beautiful black band of tungsten steel with a delicate inlay of platinum, glinting off the floodlight that had kicked on again with all the motion.
“Oh my god,” Sevika said after a moment, roughly wiping her eyes. “You were serious.”
“Take your time, darlin’, only the biggest question I’ve ever asked anyone in my life.” Lana steadied her hand from shaking on her knee.
“Yes,” Sevika said, sniffling. “Now stand up so I can kiss you.”
Lana did, holding the ring out for Sevika, who offered her right hand. It looked so beautiful against her skin, even in the darkness of the moonlight. Lana kissed it.
Sevika picked her up, holding her by the thighs while she kissed her hard.
“Pearl helped me pick yours,” Sevika said against Lana’s mouth. “And Mrs. Stephens was the final seal of approval.”
“Give it to me later,” Lana said. “My answer’s yes. And I need to take my fiancée’s clothes off now.”
“Happily,” Sevika said.
“But darlin,” Lana said, gripping Sevika’s face. “Hat stays on.” Lana flipped the brim.
alt description: Digital illustration in a vibrant, semi-realistic style featuring four scenes of passionate, intimate interactions between a white-haired woman (Lana) with pale-olive toned skin and purple lingerie, and a muscular woman with brown skin (Sevika) and dark hair. They engage in various sensual acts, including kissing, embracing, and touching, set against a dark, abstract purple background.