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On the Waverider, things like seasons and stuff were always a bit off. With the legends coming from different states, each one of them had a different expectation per season. Jax didn’t trust a winter if he could walk around without at least two sweaters. Mick cared for zero out of the four seasons, though Kendra swore to high heaven that Mick loved the sound of rain against the windows of the Waverider. Not that anyone dared to ask.
They’d landed in a forest for the night so Jax and Ray could work out some repairs as the rest of them got some sleep. Staring through her window, Kendra watched the dark trees light up with a flash. She counted, the numbers hushed on her lips. After ‘eleven’, the thunder boomed so loudly Kendra cringed, almost dropping her cup of tea. Eleven. If she was completely honest with herself, Kendra wasn’t sure if the counting method was tried and true. But it was consistency over her lives. Eleven seconds meant that the lightning struck a little over two miles away.
Thunderstorms. Sara hated thunderstorms. She sat in her room, in the middle of her floor with her legs criss-cross. Her eyes focused on a single glass of water on her nightstand, watching as it stayed perfectly still. She’d tried meditating, but it was no use. Everything was too loud. Her heartbeat was too loud. The noise-cancelling headphones Ray had given her after the last thunderstorm lay discarded in the corner. The last thing she wanted was to be alone with herself. Hearing only her thoughts, rhythmically interrupted as her heart attempted to burst free from her chest. The black-out curtains that hung in every room proved themselves useless when yet another burst of light illuminated Sara’s tired face. She cursed in a way that would make an old white man proud, got up, and went to go find some company.
Picking at an old scar on her collarbone, Sara slowly made her way to Kendra’s room. It was time to bug her girlfriend.
With a shaky palm against the scanner, she opened the door to see Kendra sitting on the edge of her bed. “Hey,” Sara mumbled. She leaned awkwardly against the doorframe. Their relationship was new and still a little wobbly, so Sara let Kendra choose the pace.
“Hey.” Kendra turned to look at Sara, her eyes softening. “Come.” She patted the bed next to her.
Grateful, Sara sat down next to Kendra just as another lightning strike illuminated the room. She wasn’t alone, not anymore.
After one glance at Sara, Kendra placed her tea on the nightstand. She knew about Sara’s history, her affiliation with thunderstorms. She knew about the meditation, the headphones, and the way Sara would lock herself in the bathroom, turn the shower on, and curl up against the towels when things got bad. What she didn’t know, was how to help Sara. At least, not yet. Kendra scooted up until her back hit the wall, then tucked one of the pillows behind her. “Sara?” She looked into Sara’s wide, fearful eyes. “Come, lay your head down,” Kendra said, gesturing to her lap.
Sara did as she was asked, placing her head on Kendra’s lap, watching her right hand as it started tracing patterns on Kendra’s jeans. Loud thunder rang through the room and Sara dug her blunt nails into Kendra’s thigh, her eyes squeezed shut.
Kendra didn’t care about the pain, she cared about Sara. So, she started to speak. Through pure instinct, she told the most diverse stories as she ran her hands through Sara’s hair. The time she joined Jax in the jumpship to get Big Belly Burger. The time she watched Stein and Jax have a heated discussion about whether or not grapefruit was good, at three in the morning, in the laundry room. Slowly the stories changed. Kendra found herself telling Sara about the time she, Chayara, was a part of the league of assassins, many lives ago. Sara didn’t say a word but Kendra could feel the patterns on her thigh change with the stories.
As she spoke, time slipped away. Everything but Sara, the bed, and the sound of her own voice faded. Her throat ached but she didn’t stop. Somewhere between the story about her first pet, and the story about working at Jitters, she switched languages. It didn’t matter, Sara had stopped tracing patterns on her thigh, sleeping silently as the storm raged on. Still, Kendra kept speaking. She spoke about the first time she saw Sara, vocalising the thoughts that had appeared in her mind. The first time she saw Sara smile. And the first time they kissed. The lightning and thunder had faded away, leaving only the sound of her voice, and the rain against the Waverider. Kendra closed her eyes. “I know we’ve only known each other for a short amount of time. Our situation is odd, we are literally time-travelling superheroes. But, if this is my last life… I want to spend it with you. Risking my life to save the world, like you. Fighting over the chore wheel with you. Sitting here, holding you. Being with you.” She felt Sara move from her lap at the speed of light, and before she knew it, she was being kissed.
Sara tangled her hands in Kendra’s hair, careful not to push her against the wall too hard. When she ended the kiss, she kept her eyes down.
“You understood that?” Kendra’s voice was raw, and not just because she’d been speaking all night.
Looking into Kendra’s eyes, Sara said, “I know Arabic. I don’t know why you know it though.” She took a shuddery breath. “But yes, I understood.” Her hands started tracing patterns over Kendra’s sides as she chewed on her lower lip. She had never been good at feelings, saying them out loud was worse.
Kendra looked from Sara’s lips to the moving hands and smiled. “It’s okay.” She placed her hands on Sara’s waist. “I understand.”