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English
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Published:
2022-02-11
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634
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1/1
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6
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Half a Minute Sooner

Summary:

Sometimes, half a minute is all that stands between danger and something worse. Those thirty seconds were all that saved Frankie from that explosion. Set during "Ladies in Red".

Work Text:

Even knowing Frankie was there — she had gotten a message to Trudy, after all — Trudy didn't believe it until she pushed open the door and saw Frankie in the bathtub.

Frankie tilted her head to look at her and her lips twitched, amused by the intrusion; Trudy wondered whether just running in on Frankie in the bath was one of her better ideas, but she pushed down the doubts and crouched beside the bath.

Of course, Frankie was entirely too nonchalant about having been caught in an explosion — that damn woman was too laid back about anything vaguely dangerous — and Trudy was left feeling like she needed to match that light-heartedness, even though she wanted to grab Frankie by the shoulders and shake her. What was she thinking, going out to meet some mysterious caller who arranged a meeting in a dark alleyway? That wasn't just asking for trouble, it was running around with a sign directing all the trouble in your direction. If Frankie had been half a minute earlier or had stood in a different place...

Trudy couldn't bear to think of what might have happened.

Thirty seconds were the difference between Frankie being here, grinning up at Trudy from a bubble bath, and... Trudy closed her eyes for a second to push that awful, intrusive thought away. She couldn't think of what the alternative might have been, not now.

"I'm going to try to find out more about Zelda," Trudy said, feeling the backs of her eyes start to pinprick. "And you?"

"I'm going to stay here and soak," Frankie said, "then, I'm going to find out who tried to blow me up."

Frankie smiled at Trudy in a way that would normally be utterly charming, but it was the last straw for Trudy's desperate efforts to hold onto her emotions. She dashed her hand across her eyes quickly but not quickly enough to hide the tear she had brushed away.

"Trudy..." Frankie sat up, losing most of the blanket of bubbles that had covered her before.

"You could have died," Trudy said, wiping away another tear before composing herself. This damned job had them both acting as though this sort of danger was in anyway normal and expected.

"I didn't," Frankie said, putting her hand on Trudy's arm. "I'm fine. I'm right here."

"Half a minute earlier and you wouldn't be," Trudy pointed out, taking hold of Frankie’s hand tightly and holding it.

"Half a minute makes all the difference, though." Frankie cupped Trudy's face. Water and bubbles dripped onto Trudy's top and she brushed them off.

Frankie offered a small smile. "I'm sorry."

Trudy wasn't sure if Frankie was apologising for the drips or the recklessness; maybe both. She didn't say it was alright — the drips were fine, they'd dry, but the recklessness felt too raw to dismiss just yet — and Frankie wouldn't expect her to. Frankie never expected Trudy to push aside how she felt for her benefit.

"I'm starting to understand why other people worry about what we do for a living." Trudy placed her hand over Frankie’s, then turned her face to kiss Frankie’s palm. 

"If we keep doing this, we'll worry about each other again, I guarantee it," Frankie said. "Do you regret it?"

That, at least, was an easy question to answer; whether Frankie meant the detective's agency or the two of them, the answer was still the same.

"No," Trudy said, shaking her head to reinforce the strength of the word. "Never."

"Me neither." Frankie carefully moved her hand to the back of Trudy's neck, leant in and kissed her. When she pulled back, it was only far enough to whisper, still close enough that her words brushed against Trudy's lips. "I'll be more careful next time, I promise."

"I know you will."