Carry On

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

The last thing Penelope Blaise expected was to still be in Vermont that evening. Hours ago she should have boarded a plane bound for New York City – home in the least welcoming way possible. There, within her dormitory – her arms – it felt much more comfortable than any other space she could have been occupying.

And it’s not as if she could have possibly stopped long enough to go anywhere else.

Marks of nails branded her back with reddened lines; unable for her to see herself despite how she knew of their existence. Just how she was sure they were evident on Lucy’s pale skin as well. Bruises even. Never purposeful but it felt necessary to hold on so tightly. To give and take so desperately.

Short gasps of air passed her lips in heavy waves, never quite catching a full breath before pressing her lips to Lucy’s collarbone again. Teeth grazing across her skin with the utmost intention before starting a very clear trajectory downwards.

But she didn’t even get far; lips faltered just inches above the Australian’s belly button as a generic ringtone filled the air, coming from the pocket of her jacket; abandoned on the floor with a mixture of other discarded clothes.

Dark eyes widened as she paused, not moving to reach the device but also failing to continue where she left off. A glance up towards the bedside clock proved exactly her thought. Nobody called Penny. Or rather – a very select few people ever called her. The first of which was currently under herself, and the second being the person who was supposed to pick her up at the airport.

How could she possibly forget to call her brother?

Another ring and she looked to Lucy, concern flashing in her eyes as she slowly started to ease herself up.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy Serrano was engaged. Engaged. The word still felt foreign in her mind, and she wondered just how different it would taste if she ever let it slip through her mouth. If it would force her to wear that growingly familiar shade of red.

Unlike her counterpart, Lucy was acutely aware of just how intently her own desperate hands had gripped the psychometrist. The person she loved. So too was she aware of every unbridled sound and move she made for the individual she wanted to marry. Because without a doubt, Penelope Blaise deserved it all and more.

Now, fingers rifled through her hair, dark locks slipping through her grasp within idle seconds before she gripped onto it again. A handful held tightly, at least until she stopped.

A phone ringing. Whenever it happened to Lucy, the response she got was always the same. There was no way Penny would ever stop long enough to let her search for the device and handle the moment. It wasn't until Penny actually moved to pull away that Lucy felt panic against her concern.

"Leave it."

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Very few things could have made Penny make such a move. To lift herself up and start to go for the phone when there was a much better option right here. But her brother was there, in the airport right then. The timing was the best explanation. Who else would possibly call?

But Lucy Serrano’s accent voice cut through the air with clear-cut intention. The movement Penny made came to an abrupt halt, dark eyes widened as they focused on the Australian under her.

Suddenly, the thought go move to her phone felt incredibly stupid. So much that she wondered how the thought even crossed her mind in the first place. Half a beat before she moved again, tracking back down to her counterpart’s stomach with one, fluid move.

Lips pressed to skin again on a wavering exhale. Denying Lucy – her fiancé – was impossible, and as she applied definite pressure to her stomach again. A series of kisses down with no intention of stopping this time, even as her phone, too, failed to stop ringing.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

There, in a stagnant moment, Lucy stared at Penny. The slight widening of her eyes hardly went unnoticed, and the ink manipulator searched for a reason why she might think to stop in the first place. The idea that someone was waiting for Penny in New York didn't cross her mind in the slightest.

She was here; nothing else mattered.

At least, not to herself. But that look in the Brit's eyes indicated that it mattered to her.

Still, it was a short lived halt. Feeling each returned kiss graze across her skin forced the air in her lungs to catch, as if held by an immovable force. The more she progressed, the more difficult each circular breath became. And the more irritating that incessant ringing allowed itself to be.

"Do you need to get it?" Lucy tried, her voice weak on another failed breath. She released her hand from her hair and pressed her palm to her own forehead instead.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

As much as Penny tried to ignore the ring of her phone, it was impossible to completely block out. The traditional tone that sang through the air could almost make her cringe. Each ring was a reminder that her brother deserved an explanation of some sort – by why did it have to be right now? Only the older Blaise sibling would call back to back without an answer.

But the breath Lucy had taken kept her focus on the ink manipulator; her mouth grazed just above the sparrows before she spoke again. It brought Penny to another halt, this time out of her own frustration as dark eyes flicked up towards her counterpart.

“I should.” She admitted honestly, lips brushing Lucy’s skin with the explanation. A heated exhale proved that she really didn’t want to move, but after a brief pause, her phone started going off again.

And this time she did cringe.

“A minute.” She tried to bargain, “If even that.” A palm pressed into the mattress as Penny quickly pushed herself up, but not without bringing herself up to catch the Australian’s lips. “I promise.”

Another quick movement and she pushed herself off the bed, quickly grabbing the jacket and fishing into her pocket. A flash of the screen and Penny’s eyebrows shot up in surprise before quickly furrowing together in the next stage; confusion. Steps brought her back to Lucy as she pressed the phone to her ear. “Mother?”

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Those choice sparrows on Lucy's skin couldn't settle the beat of their wings, and she had no intention of trying to do so. Giving her counterpart every reaction included the involuntary notions of her tattoos; each far too akin to an emotional discourse to be remotely contrived. The slow brush of words against their wings had Lucy's fingers shifting into the line of her own hair, tilting her head back as she held onto her own dark locks instead.

Because it was unfair. Penny often was, but this was a new level. An altered variety.

A beat late to reciprocate the kiss Penny provided meant she nearly missed it. As she felt the weight of the bed shift without her, Lucy stayed still for another moment or so before she rolled the side. There, her hand reached out to run fingertips across her thigh as she stared so intently at the phone.

The only thing that stifled the upward movement was that single word the psychometrist offered, but the contact remained.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penny would have bet money that it was her brother who was calling with such determination. Anna Blaise was rarely one to be so direct with her methods, and the surprise likely showed within her voice as she answered the phone.

Contact to her thigh proved it harder to breathe than it should have, even if Lucy stopped its trajectory upward, it still held the Brit’s attention. Skin to skin – and she had no intention of pulling away. Rather, Penny settled down at the edge of the bed, her free hand brushing across the length of Lucy’s stomach lightly as she pressed her lips into a hardened line.

“I thought Michael was supposed to pick me up.” This certainly would have been easier if it were him on the other end. To hear that her mother was waiting at JFK airport to find her daughter not on the plane was worrisome if nothing else.

Nails replaced fingertips as she drew idle patterns across Lucy’s skin. “I missed my flight.” A short explanation that barely acknowledged the larger one to follow. It was a game – it always was between the Brit and her mother. Passive aggression at its best. “After my sessions with Dr. Neville, I believe it’s most beneficial that I stay in Pilot Ridge for the holiday.” It hadn’t been a secret that Penny was forced to see the doctor once a month; therapy apparently. Oh how the tables turned.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy found herself wearing light surprise over the fact that Penny didn't pull away. A phone call from her mother would likely warrant a move away from the evident distraction. But there she was, talking about reaching out as if she couldn't really help herself.

Eyebrows immediately rose at the fact. At the idea that she couldn't help herself. At how ingrained she knew that lack of self control at pertinent times truly was. She opened her mouth when she felt nails run along her skin, and she dropped the thought on an audible breath. Because surely it was evident by now that no matter the situation, the ink manipulator couldn't always keep herself so quiet.

With a hand against the mattress, she forced herself up. And she leaned inward, brushing her lips against her shoulder lightly.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Distraction easily made this phone call a struggle. A smart move was to pull away; separating herself from the ink manipulator for just a minute, but the simple fact was Penny simply couldn’t. Just as she couldn’t help the trajectory of her gaze as Lucy exhaled. Down. Staring before slowly dragging her dark eyes back up as her counterpart sat up.

Lips pressed against her shoulder and the Brit closed her eyes, trying her best to keep her own exhale from wavering. “No, I do not believe he’s aware of it.” A hand slid to the small of Lucy’s back, palm pressing into it to keep her close. “Yes, I know that.” The point of going and talking was about preventing impulse decisions from taking her control.

“Mother, I don’t have time for this.” She tried, feeling the exasperation in her own tone. A few seconds with speaking with the head of the Blaise household and she was already exhausted. “I’m sorry I hadn’t told you sooner; something came up.”

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy wondered just how much proximity might aid her in hearing the rest of this conversation. The latter half she was clearly missing. But as it stood, she was far too drawn in by the distracting individual who could so easily keep the ink manipulator's attention just by existing.

The hand against her back worked wonders to keep her close; to give her all the incentive she needed to remain in the obvious proximity she felt magnetically drawn into.

But briefly, Lucy found herself reeling back. Just a little. Just enough to let her gaze so obviously drop down the familiar form she adored so much. Dark eyes had seen it all before, taken into the notion of staring like it was the first time she'd ever been allowed to do so. The conversation Penny was having must have been important - after all, clearly someone was waiting for her to leave the plane Lucy had already stolen her from - but how could she not look? How could she stop staring?

Without the means to rightly stay away, Lucy leaned in again, this time pressing her lips against the curve of her counterpart's neck. It was a slow trail up to her free ear as the conversation progressed; the only moment she paused was long enough to sink her teeth into a point she'd likely already bruised. Still, the trajectory towards her ear was impossible to stop.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penny should had known better by then than to keep Lucy close when taking a phone call. Her own selfishness caused her to fight her more logical nature. As much as she was a painful distraction, there was no doubt that the psychometrist absolutely loved it. She could barely focus on the conversation at hand; the memory of pressing that very phone to her ear in line at security not having been much of a concern when she dragged her attention away from it.

How could she deny Lucy Serrano when she looked? When she stared? It was as impossible as it sounded – never an option when it came down to trying to choose.

And finally, the question posed through the device. She wondered if her mother’s accented voice was loud enough to reach Lucy’s ears as she leaned in. As if the Australian somehow knew the worst – and best – exact moment to kiss her neck.

There was an undeniable struggle; both for air and the ability to keep up with the pace of conversation. It hadn’t prevented the instinctual craning of her neck, nor the sharp inhale she took as teeth sunk in. She almost dropped the phone completely on the spot.

“Nothing wrong.” She replied sharply through her phone when questioned as to what was wrong, eyes squeezing shut again as her nails dragged harder against the ink manipulator’s back.

There was always a game to play when it came down to Penelope Blaise and her mother; but a different approach always shone through when Penny felt pressured. More often than not, it was when she was with Lucy – and this proved true again. She didn’t want to go back and forth, hinting at facts in the most indirect way.

“I’m engaged.” A direct approach. At the most vital time before Penny pulled the phone away from her ear, quick to hang up and press the power button before dropping it to the floor and bringing her hand to the ink manipulator’s hair.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Nothing was wrong. Lucy felt the involuntary breath of laughter leave her mouth the moment she heard such an answer. Never had she really witnessed a conversation between the only daughter of the Blaise family and their proverbial, assumed matriarch. And yet somehow she could imagine the tone being used on the other end of the device. The question asked. What was wrong? Directly related to but not quite asking just what it was that held her in a place she seemed to hate twelve months ago.

To her ear, now. And her lips parted with every intention of offering a statement. Truly, she had so many overbearing quotes she could have used. She could have said that she loved her. Could have very easily pointed out - again - that they weren't girlfriends.

But Penny spoke instead. Or rather, for her. With the unfamiliar sound of a phone dropping to the floor, she instead chose to register the importance of fingers running into her hair.

"I'm engaged." She repeated, flipping the stress as her other hand finally followed the curve of her thigh up towards her hip. There, fingers dragged nails into her skin, applying the most obvious pressure to haul her back into the moment.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

By the time the phone hit the floor, it was already forgotten. Possibly the least conventional way to inform a parent that their child was planning to get married, Penny didn’t register the possible repercussions of hanging up on that note. She’d deal with it later; there were much more prominent things to be dealt with.

Specifically, the overwhelming Australian who knew exactly how to keep her there. As if Penny ever left the moment in the first place.

Engaged. A word neither of them had used before that moment; it felt almost unfair to offer it to her mother before her fiancé, but it sounded so perfect wrapped around her accent. Where she placed the stress of her sentence forcing another seething breath from the psychometrist as nails dug into her skin.

Her free hand hauled itself up Lucy’s back, palm pressing intentionally into the ink manipulator’s shoulder as she tried to ease the ink manipulator back. “We’re engaged.” She offered breathlessly, but without her usual corrective tone. Rather, just saying it because it was so incredibly true.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy hadn't considered how she might tell her parents what transpired that day. Her family were daunting in their own overbearing way, and the idea that they might consider visiting once the news reached them had yet to cross her mind. As it stood, she simply couldn't help but catch in the amusement of just how Penny told her mother.

With pressure to her shoulder, Lucy eased herself back without fail. There was absolutely no ounce of denial or resistance when to came to anything she wanted of the ink manipulator.

Because the amended statement caught her attention and forced her to drop the air she held on a quick exhale.

"How long have you-" Lucy started, and paused herself momentarily. How long had she, what? Been thinking about it? Considered asking? "-wanted to do that?"

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

As Lucy leaned back, Penny was quick to follow. Even the smallest of distances were unacceptable; irritating, even. She wouldn’t allow it as she pressed herself on top of the Australian, lips grazing the line of her jaw on a heavy exhale.

Eventually, Penny knew the question would come up. She hadn’t expected it so soon, however. When she had every intention of picking up where she left off just before the phone call had interrupted them. And still, she didn’t quite stop then; a slight falter as she paused against Lucy’s jaw before applying pressure again, this time with a tilt of her head to the corner of her mouth.

“Months.” She admitted, trying to narrow down the exact date. The moment the question first burned in the back of her mind. With the response given, she realized just how long she waited. How stupid it suddenly felt to wait now that it had finally happened.

Catching Lucy’s lips, she quickly kissed the ink manipulator. “On your birthday.” Though that was hardly months ago, she didn’t leave a break before continuing. “I didn’t really want you to shut up.” Eyebrows lowered, threatening to furrow together as she recalled the panic she felt from Lucy’s response to it. “I didn’t think I’d be able to hold it in.”

She knew what came next was hardly what Lucy would want to hear. “I didn’t want to ruin your birthday.”