Chapter Text
“Raelle's late.” Abigail said as she checked her watch and took another sip of her drink.
“Are we really surprised?” Tally wondered out loud. This was typical Raelle behavior, the woman lived closest to this bar yet still managed to arrive last.
“I guess not.”
Tally hadn't seen her friends in forever. With both of them travelling a lot for work, they hardly had time to meet up with each other. And even when they did manage to hang out together, it was usually with only one of them.
And because of that, Tally had really been looking forward to tonight this whole week.
Abigail had suggested this bar. They had many fond memories coming here in the past and with it being close to base, chances were high they were going to run into some familiar faces.
But so far, she hadn't seen anyone she knew and she wasn't sure she really wanted to run into anyone when tonight was supposed to just be the three of them.
It was still early, though, but that didn't mean the bar wasn't crowded already. The place buzzing with sound, people coming and going, ordering drinks and enjoying spending time together. Just a typical Saturday night.
Tally looked towards the entrance where a group of men were entering, but no sign of Raelle yet.
A lot had changed since War College ended.
Surprisingly, Raelle was the only one who had stayed in the army. After the events that had transpired in the Mycelium, she’d grown to accept the fact that she was destined for something bigger. Now employed as a powerful captain- her Witchbomb and fixer abilities attesting to that fact -she was often away from home on missions.
Abigail had taken the middle route as she went into politics. More specifically, witch-civilian relations as a way to counter the Camarilla and Tally had to say they’d certainly improved over time.
If they hadn’t Tally wouldn’t be teaching a mixed class of civilian and witch children now.
Tally had realized the army wasn’t for her. While she was glad for the experience and the people she had met along the way, she was also happy to get out once War College was over.
She enjoyed where life had taken her. She loved her job and while both her friends were happily married, she didn't mind that she was still single.
Her time would come.
“Shitbird!” Abigail called out and Tally looked up to see Raelle walk through the door.
And some things never changed.
“I’ll never lose that nickname, now do I?” Raelle laughed as she arrived at their table.
“What can I say? You earned the nickname, you keep the nickname.”
“I think I would've earned a better one by now.”
“Never.” Abigail said determined.
“You want a beer, Rae?” Tally came between her bickering friends. She had paid the first round for Abigail, it would only be fair to do the same for Raelle.
“Do you even need to ask?” Raelle never said no to a beer and today was no different.
“You want another drink, Abs?” Tally asked turning her attention to her other friend.
“No, I'm fine.” She said, pointing at her still half full glass. “But I'll get the next round.”
Tally got up and made her way to the bar to order her friend a beer.
She looked around while waiting for the drink. How many people in here were currently in the army? And how many cadets had snuck out to be here, like she and her unit had done multiple times during War College?
The bartender put the glass down in front of her and Tally grabbed it before making her way back to their table.
“Tally, we need your opinion. Is it still acceptable to call Raelle ‘shitbird’?” Abigail asked when she put the beer down in front of Raelle.
“You two still talking about that? I think we're way past Raelle being a shitbird by now, right?”
“Thank you.” Raelle said.
“You realize I'm calling you this as a term of endearment, right?” Abigail tried again.
“Oh, I do. I just don't think it's the most appropriate nickname. I mean, I am an army captain with Witchbomb abilities after all.”
That prompted the three of them to think of a new nickname. But when Abigail said that none of them had that same feel to it that shitbird had, they gave up and the conversation moved onto more serious topics.
They talked about work, life, their time at War College, and even about Petra. Abigail talked about Adil, Raelle talked about Scylla. Tally talked about her cat.
They were on their third drink when Raelle asked, “do you remember the first time we were at this bar?”
How could she ever forget. The three of them had snuck out that night and Abigail had gotten so drunk, she and Raelle had to carry her back to base.
“I don’t remember anything.” Abigail answered, throwing her hands up in fake surrender and laughing at the memory.
“Just be glad you don’t. I don’t even know how we managed to get you to bed.” Raelle said, before turning to Tally, “do you remember?”
“The only thing I remember is lots of giggles and lots of shushing. But I mostly remember my surprise at how we managed to stay undetected.” Tally said.
“Whatever it was, I'm glad you did because my mom would've killed me if we had gotten caught. So, thank you for always having my back.”
“Where'd you be without us?” Raelle asked.
“Somewhere in a ditch probably.” Abigail downed her drink.
“I'm not carrying you home tonight.” Tally joked, pointing to her now empty glass.
“Don't worry, I'll be fine. But maybe it's you we need to worry about. Do you all remember that evening at Salem Town and Tally got drunk for the first time ever when we returned to base that night?” Abigail changed the subject.
“In my defense, it wasn’t like I had much experience.” Tally immediately countered.
“Girl, you were a virgin and not just in the literal sense. You weren’t experienced in anything.” Abigail laughed.
“It’s not my fault there weren’t any guys at the matrifocal compound.” It had never been a conscious decision for Tally to arrive at Fort Salem as a virgin, there just hadn't been any opportunities before that.
“Says the bisexual.” Raelle said.
“I wasn’t aware at the time, remember?” Tally protested.
“Oh, I know, all it took was one specific General for you to have your big sexual awakening.” Raelle teased her, cocking an eyebrow.
“What are you talking about?” Tally played dumb, taking a sip of her drink.
“Come on, Tally, we all know about your huge crush on General Alder.” Raelle gave her a look that told Tally she wasn’t buying it at all
“I did not have a crush on her.”
She did.
And she was sure the blush on her cheeks was going to give her away immediately. But all those years she'd managed to not admit it out loud to them and she wasn't going to give in that easily now.
“Oh really? So, when you bumped into General Alder, accidentally full on touched her breast and spent weeks avoiding her, that was nothing?” Raelle asked and Tally’s face turned even redder at the memory.
“We agreed to never mention that again.” Tally said harsher than she intended to.
“No, you decided that. I never agreed to anything.” Raelle replied.
“If it wasn’t already obvious you had a big fat crush on her, that would’ve sealed the deal. I always wondered if you didn’t actually do it on purpose.” Abigail added.
“I didn’t have a crush on her.” Tally tried again, but she knew it was pretty much useless.
“Really? Then how about all the blushing whenever she was near you? Or how your voice was always an octave higher whenever you said ma’am to her as opposed to everyone else? I noticed, Tally.” Abigail said.
“Or that time you moaned her name in your sleep?” It was Raelle reminding her of that dreadful memory.
“That was one time, and I was having a nightmare.”
She wasn’t.
“Sure, Tally.” Abigail laughed.
“Admit it, Tal, you totally had a crush on General Alder.” Raelle tried again to get her to confess.
“I did not.” She had never admitted her feelings out loud to anyone and while years had passed, she still wasn’t about to admit her feelings that easily. Something about doing so was scaring her. As if everything would be more real all of a sudden.
“How do we all feel about shots? Let’s do shots.” She changed the subject, walking away from her friends and towards the bar.
“Don’t just change the subject, Tally.” Abigail came after her. They weren't going to let this go until she admitted it, she knew her friends longer than today.
“You guys keep pestering me about my alleged crush when there wasn't any.”
“Right, you didn't have a crush on her. Just like I didn't crush on Adil and Raelle didn't have a crush on Scylla. Denial is a river in Egypt, Tally.” Abigail laughed.
Tally ordered three shots, keeping her focus on what was happening in front of her, rather than on her friend who was still standing behind her.
She might as well just admit it. Get it over with and stop their endless teasing. They already knew the truth anyway, they were just desperate to hear her say the words.
“Tally, Alder is...” Abigail started, but Tally didn't let her finish her sentence.
“Alright, you know what? You’re right, I had a massive crush on General Alder.” She said, putting emphasis on the word ‘massive’ and throwing her hands up in defeat.
“Oh, did you now?” Tally jumped at the unmistakable voice behind her. She recognized that voice anywhere.
Tally slowly turned around. No other than Sarah Alder was standing behind her, casually leaning against the bar and smirking.
She didn’t look much older than the last time she saw her and she still was as beautiful as ever. Her hair was down and even in the dim light of the bar her blue eyes stood out.
“G-g-general.” She barely managed to bring out.
“Just Sarah is fine.” Sarah said before turning her attention to the bartender, “can I get two beers and a whiskey?”
“How are you here?” Tally asked.
“I came through the front door.” Tally chuckled at the obvious callback to the last time she had asked her that same question.
“No, I mean, I didn't strike you as the type to be at this bar.”
“There's a lot you still don’t know about me, Tally Craven. Besides, how long has it been? Six years? A lot can change in six years.”
Had it really been six years? Talking to her in this moment made it feel as if it was only yesterday she'd last seen her.
“Yeah, like what?” Tally tried, not really expecting a conclusive answer.
“Well, for starters, there's nothing standing in between us anymore. Which means I can finally do this.” Sarah said with a smirk as she cupped her face with both hands and leaned in to press a quick kiss to her lips.
It was over before it started. Sarah let go of her head and took a step back. She grabbed her drinks from the counter and returned to her own friends.
“What just happened?” She heard Abigail ask. But all Tally could do was stand there. Mouth hanging open, trying to process what just happened.
For years she’d dreamed about this moment and now that it happened, she could hardly believe it to be real.
Sarah Alder had kissed her.
Like, really kissed her. Lips against lips. Not just a kiss on her forehead or cheek. But really kissed her.
Feelings she'd pushed down a long time ago and was certain she'd be over by now, came bubbling back to the surface. The familiar tingle in her stomach was impossible to deny at this point.
And just like that, she was 18 again. Back to having her stupid crush on General Alder.
She was very glad for those shots now. She grabbed one of the glasses of the bar and downed her shot, the alcohol tingling in her throat.
She picked up the other two and followed Abigail back to their table, setting the glasses down in front of her friends.
“Did Alder just kiss you? That wasn't in my head, right?” Raelle asked.
“She most definitely did.” Tally said, staring in her direction. She could still feel her lips on hers and in a reflex she moved her hand up to touch her lips.
“You okay? I tried to warn you she was besides you.” Abigail said and for a moment Tally wished she would’ve listened.
“Yeah, I'm fine.” Tally said while staring into the distance. Was she really? She didn’t know what to feel right now.
“You sure? Because you look like you'd just seen a ghost.” Abigail said.
“I am, but Goddess do I feel stupid.” Tally breathed out, letting out a little laugh.
“She kissed you. You did nothing wrong.” Raelle reassured her.
“It's not that.”
“Then what is it?” Raelle asked and Tally didn’t even want to say the words out loud, but she knew she had to.
“The fact that I feel like a teenager with a crush again.” She let out an awkward laugh, “what do I do now?”
“Go talk to her.” Abigail nudged her. “She obviously likes you as well or she wouldn’t have kissed you.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not? There’s nothing preventing you from being with her anymore.” Raelle was right. She was years older now, Sarah was no longer her superior and even if this kiss had meant nothing, she could at least talk to her about it.
She grabbed Abigail's shot, who immediately protested, “hey, that’s mine.”
“I'll get you a new one.” Tally said before downing her second shot of the evening. She needed the liquid courage more than ever right now.
She got up from the table and walked over to where Sarah was sitting with Anacostia and Izadora. It had been years since she last saw them, but besides the obvious aging they still looked pretty much the same.
Her heart was beating loudly and her hands were clammy. She wiped them on her pants, but it didn't help much.
“Sarah?” She started. What was she even going to say?
“Tally.”
“So, uh, can we talk?” Tally stammered. If only she wasn’t so goddess damned nervous right now.
“Sure, what’s up Craven?” Sarah asked as if she hadn’t kissed her a mere ten minutes ago.
“In private.”
Without saying another word, Sarah got up. The sound of her stool scraping over the floor as she did suddenly the loudest noise in this bar. Tally could swear everyone in this place was staring at them right now, but she was also aware that thought was only in her head.
Sarah followed her as they made their way to a more secluded part of the bar. A million thoughts running through Tally's mind. What was she going to say? What was Sarah going to think of her? Was this even the best thing to do right now?
All of that didn't matter, because as soon as they were out of sight, Tally blurted, “Why'd you kiss me?” She hadn't meant to, but the question was burning on her tongue and she couldn’t help herself.
“I pegged you to be smarter, Tally. I think you know why.” Sarah said with a smile. Did she just admit to having a crush on her as well?
Sarah backed her against the wall and put a hand next to her head, trapping her in between her body and the wall. For a moment Tally believed she was going to kiss her again.
Instead, she leaned to speak into her ear. “So, what do you say? Would you like to go on a date with me?”
Tally gulped at both the closeness and the thought of spending time alone with her. One date couldn’t hurt, right? If anything, it would give her a chance to know once and for all if she would ever have a chance with the Sarah Alder.
“Sure, let’s do it.” Tally said without thinking.
Sarah pushed herself off of the wall and started to walk away, “see you in my office next Friday at four.”
Before Tally had a chance to respond, she was already out of sight.
She couldn't help the huge smile from creeping onto her face. The promise of a date with General Sarah Alder was not how she’d expected today to end, but it was definitely something she was going to be looking forward to all week.
Friday couldn't be here quickly enough.