goneawaycomms | Agent North

[ She takes a deep breath, dropping her head into her hand for a moment, then looks up and looks him in the face. Really looks at him, the look in her eyes open and vulnerable. ]

You gotta fuckin... hear me, Drew. You sit there and listen and talk me through shit but half the time I don't think you ever really hear what I'm saying. Like...

All that shit in the Project. Their experiment. [ She all but hisses the word. ] I'd get so angry and you'd sit there and tell me what I should do, try and calm me down, but you didn't... you didn't get it. I don't know.

[ She's never tried to put this in words, before, but she's trying now. ]

[ He pauses, nodding slightly. ]

Okay. We'll have to watch for a situation where something's happening and you tell me if I do the same thing again.

And... and sometimes it feels like you still look at me like that bratty little kid from back home. But I'm not. And you know I'm not, just... sometimes, I think you forget that, because you think you have to... to look out for me like I'm that fucking kid getting into fights on the playground again.

[ She snorts quietly, tilts her head a little at him. ]

Y'know, sometimes, I started fights with kids because I heard them talking shit about you. Funny how things change.

[ He smiles—just a ghost of a smile, a slight upturn at the corners of his mouth. ]

Well, hey, that's a good cause, then.

[ He reaches across now to take her good hand and give it a slight squeeze. ]

You know what neither of us has said in a hell of a long time?

[ There's a moment of tenseness at the contact, but it fades and she squeezes back, a little firmer. She cocks her head at him. ]

What's that?

"I love you."

[ He squeezes back again. more firmly to match her movement. ]

Love you, Nat. You drive me crazy sometimes, but I love you.

...I love you too, Drew.

[ And if her voice is a little thick, if it takes her a second to say it and not just look at him with a stunned stare, then it's because of the way the words settle in her chest after everything.

After what Washington said, about how there was no one left out there that would so much as care if she died. ]

Guess we kinda drive each other nuts, huh.

[ He smiles more broadly. ]

We couldn't be more different, to be honest.

[ South gives an amused snort and can't help her own smile, teasing: ]

No kidding. How the fuck are we twins?

[ He shrugs, releasing her hand. ]

Some would probably argue that is why we're like that.

Yeah, probably.

[ Her hand hovers where he let go, for a second, before she pulls it back. She looks at it for a second, curls the hand into a fist, then looks up at him and before she can talk herself out of it, she shuffles off the edge of her bed and kneels between the bunks, with her arms open. Offering a hug.

If he doesn't accept it, she tells herself that it'll sting but she'll survive. Only, she's thinking back to that day he picked her up from the snow and she clung to his back, about how long it had been since they'd so much as hugged. ]

[ He's surprised but not to the point he'll reject her. He curls his arms around her and gives her a firm hug. ]

I'm so glad you came here. Not because I want you to have to deal with the company or anything, but because of us having the chance to sort these things out.

[ She wraps her arms around him in turn, buries her face in his shoulder, and a little bit of the tension that resides permanently in South's muscles fades. ]

...yeah. Yeah me too. I'm glad you're not... y'know.

[ Dead anymore.

There's a little wetness in her eyes that she wipes off on his clothes as discretely as she can. She holds no illusions that anything will ever be simple, not for them; but she never wanted him dead. Even if it took all of this for her to even allow enough vulnerability to admit it. ]

And, Drew? [ muffled in his shoulder ] If you tell any of the others I'm going soft, I swear...

[ He snickers. ]

Don't worry. I wouldn't want to ruin your image with them.

[ He gives her another, tighter squeeze. It's really nice to be on good terms with her now, no matter the fact that it's going to take time and effort for things to continue to improve. He releases her after they've hugged for a good period of time and sets his hands on her shoulders to hold her back and look at her. ]

So what have you been up to since you've been here?

You mean other than getting into fights with all our teammates?

[ She's still smiling. Her feelings around North will always be complicated, but even she can't deny to herself that being back on speaking terms, deciding to make an effort to work on things, is a relief. ]

Nah, I have actually like... talked to people. Kinda. Helped this big guy down in the gardens one day, that was... actually kinda nice. And...

[ At some point, as she gives him a brief run down of what she has done and the people she's managed to not scare off, she sits herself on his mattress beside him. Content, at least for now, to sit and talk to her brother with the kind of ease they haven't had in a long, long time. ]

[ He's so glad they're to this point, and that she's willing to talk. So he lets her talk, and listens with all the appropriate pauses and nods and 'mhm's. He knows they have a ways to go and that things could always get worse again, but for now they're in a good place. ]

Agent North

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