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Abagail wasn’t sure she’d ever seen Nicola look that happy before. The way her eyes crinkled in the corners, the way the entire weight of the world that she typically carried just vanished. It was astounding just to witness it. But was it all an act? A way to simply keep Alanna from seeing the weight that Nicola carried?

“Nic!” Alanna grinned back, lifting her arms up for a hug.

Her fingers were still curled over tightly in a ball. She must not be able to straighten them out. Nicola didn’t hesitate as sheslid in and wrapped her arms around Alanna’s shoulders and pulled her in tightly for an embrace. Abagail stayed right where she was by the door of the room, making sure that the two sisters had whatever time they needed together.

“Who’s this?” Alanna asked, glancing from Abagail to Nicola.

She certainly wasn’t looking to Abagail for an answer, and that was fine. Abagail would let Nicola do all the talking, and let her figure out exactly what she wanted to tell Alanna about their relationship. Abagail stayed silent.

“This is Abagail.” Nicola turned on her, that grin from before that was so full of joy staying right in place.

Abagail nearly had to take a step back from the full brunt of it. Is this what it was like to have Nicola happy? Well and truly happy without the worry and stress? Because God, this was amazing. Abagail found her own lips curling upward slightly, enjoying the way that Nicola seemed so free here.

“And Abagail is…?” Alanna asked, her voice dragging Abagail’s attention back to her.

“War—” Nicola stopped short, a flash of pain in her gaze before it vanished into the ether. “Abagail is a friend, a good friend.”

That answered one question. Nicola wasn’t going to talk to Alanna about their sex life. It meant that Abagail had a much clearer understanding of where the boundary was.

“We were talking about going away for a week, so I wanted to stop by first.”

“What, now?” Alanna’s face scrunched up, almost as if she was moving in slow motion though. “You’re leaving now?”

“Well, yeah.” Nicola shrugged slightly. “Why not?”

Alanna barked out a laugh. “You never do anything half-assed, do you?”

“Never.” Nicola was giggling, full on giggling

Abagail hadn’t ever heard her make that sound before. She shifted her stance, not quite sure why she was here to witness this conversation and not sure that she necessarily wanted to bear the full brunt of Alanna’s judgment of her. Which was odd, normally she didn’t care about that at all. Especially when it came to any kind of relationship she had—Elia’s friendship excluded.

Fuck, what would Elia think of this entire arrangement?

Of the fact that Abagail was standing here in Alanna’s rehabilitation room, basically trying to convince Alanna that it was okay for Nicola to come play with her for a week at her summer house. It was barely the end of spring, so it’d still be fairly secluded without everyone there yet. Abagail’s palms were sweaty.

Was she nervous?

“How do I know I can trust that she won’t dismember you and throw you out to sea for the sharks?” Alanna was now glaring at Abagail, trying to play the role of protective sister. This was honestly adorable in a way that Abagail longed for.

This was what her family should have been.

“You don’t,” Abagail finally said, breaking the silence and entering into the conversation fully for the first time.

“That’s not exactly comforting.” Alanna flicked her gaze to Nicola. “But if you dismember her, please only mail back the bits that I might want to see. Keep all the grody gooey bits to yourself.”

“Oh my God!” Nicola buried her face in her hands.

“I’ll try to accommodate that.” Abagail’s lips twitched, nearly forcing their way into a smile.

“Alanna! She’s not going to dismember me.”

“I don’t know,” Abagail said. “The thought of taking you apart one piece at a time sounds fascinating.”

“I think you’d rather be taken apart that way,” Nicola answered, giving Abagail a hard stare. “But that’s not going to happen. I’ll be gone a week at the most, and I’ll have my phone with me every second if you need to get ahold of me.” Nicola reached over and snagged Alanna’s hand, squeezing tightly. “Besides, you’re the one we should be worrying about. The last time I left you, you ended up in the hospital.”

“It’s not my fault the burly nurse didn’t catch me in time.”

Nicola snorted loudly, shaking her head and boring her face into Alanna’s shoulder. She came back up and faced Abagail. “Alanna here has a major crush on one of the nurses. Mr. Connor, as she calls him.”