“It’s very small.”

“It’s not my real one.”

“But it is,” Amelia said. “Far from prying eyes. More your home than anywhere else.”

“My home is...”

Amelia carried Ed through her apartment, a small one-room affair on the third floor of the massive Great Beginnings complex. It was not yet open; she was not here legally. But with a few covert deals, she had gained the extra anonymity she needed whenever her other apartment felt unsafe.

From Ed’s expression, Amelia wondered if she ever felt safe these days at all.

The apartment was small, messy, clutter everywhere. Without Amelia here, Ed had become slovenly and disorganized. That was just like her.

But for now, Amelia did not focus on the room around her. She focused on the woman whose fingers stroked her lips, who looked up at her with those baby-faced cheeks, that smoldering look of lust in her eyes.

Ed smiled up and her and said, “Gentle, this time.”

“Of course.”

Amelia proceeded to drop Ed right on the bed—

Which turned out to be little more than a collection of thick blankets raised up from the floor. Ed hit the makeshift bed and groaned in pain.

“Why did you—agh, Amelia...”

“I’m so sorry. I—”

Ed started to laugh. “I really need a real one in here, huh?”

“Yeah, you do. Make it big, like the one we used to have.”

“Come down here, honey.”

She called her honey. After so long apart, Amelia was breaking up in tension, with all these words left unsaid and facts left untold, but just that word, honey, was enough to let her push all that away.

Amelia sat down on the wooden floor, next to the bed. Only a few inches difference in height, but enough for Amelia to look up at her partner like a knight and her lordess. She took Ed’s right hand and kissed it. Then kissed it again.

“Why don’t you join me?”

“Is there room? On the bed?” Or, in her heart?

“Silly.”

Amelia got up onto the bed. Definitely too small for two partners to sleep comfortably. She was on her hands and knees, right on top of Ed, whose chest heaved heavily with each breath. But she rolled to the side and ended up on the small remaining bed space beside her.

They clasped their hands together and looked at the ceiling. Then, when that became boring, they turned their head to face each other. Ed smiled and Amelia tried her best to do the same. It did not come beyond a small semblance of the edge of her lips tilting upwards.

“You’re trying to smile,” Ed said. “It really means that much to you.”

“Don’t tease me.”

“Have you ever smiled? In your whole life?”

“I’m sure I have,” Amelia said.

“When?”

“I...”

“Not when we were together, I promise you that.”

“’Were?’ Aren’t we together now?”

Ed, with her free left hand, brushed over Amelia’s lips and washed away her failed attempts at a smile. “I guess we are, aren’t we?” Not skin that Amelia felt. Leather.

“You still wear the glove,” Amelia said.

She raised her hand into the air. “You too, right?”

Amelia raised her stony right hand and pressed it against Ed’s open palm. “I never leave it unattended.”

“Same with me.”

“Maybe we should take them off, though.”

“Ah, right.”

Ed got up from the bed and placed both gloves and her glasses on a nearby clutter-filled desk. When she returned, she slipped off her pants and sat on her knees above Amelia.

In awe, Amelia could not help but say, “I really, really, truly, really love you.”

Ed giggled. “I also really, really, truly, really love you.”

They pulled each other even closer and kissed. Lips together. Then tongues. Ed’s breaths, already heavy, already quick, were compounded when her chest was pressed against Amelia. Her heartbeat so close that, for just a moment, Amelia felt the sensation of being truly alive. To actually have a heart with a mortal lifespan.

Without even putting thought into it, Amelia realized that she had already slipped off Ed’s lab coat, leaving only a plain black turtleneck. That, too, came off in moments. And the undershirt.

Amelia placed her hands on those two small breasts, those world-famous breasts, and took in their infinite softness. They welcomed her, said glad to be back, and her hands were right at home. Reunited after so long.

“Some things never change,” Amelia said, as if examining a painting.

“You’re so handsy.”

She caressed Ed’s breasts, took hold of her nipples and moved them around in her fingers. Ed gasped, took in a sharp breath. Moaned quietly. She was always quiet during sex. Trained or natural, Amelia never knew.

With the moans as a cue, Amelia sat up, took a look at her lover, and pushed her back down onto her back. She kissed her on the mouth. Then the cheek. Moved down to her chin. Her neck. Further down her neck, closer to the shoulder.

“You’re warm,” Amelia said. “So warm.”

She bit down on Ed’s neck, let her teeth sink in until Ed’s grip around her tightened.

“I said gentle. Gods, Amelia.”

“Is this not okay?”

“No, it’s great. Just let me... Just warn me.”

Amelia pulled away and looked down at her bare-skinned lover, strands of red hair scattered all over. So vulnerable, so perfect.

She took off her own vest and blouse and bra and let Ed view the full her. All its uneven cracks and scattered scars and one single breast, probably larger than both of Ed’s put together but she would never tell her that.

“It’s been so long,” Ed muttered.

“Too long.”

“Way too long.”

Amelia bent back down, hovering her nose just above Ed’s. Their eyes locked in place. And she said, “Here’s my warning. Tonight, I’m going to make you cry.”

Ed’s only response was to tremble.

Amelia slipped her hand down Ed’s torso, down her waist, all the way to her thighs. She shook around at her bloomers until they came loose; Ed’s hips did the rest, gyrating just enough to send them down to her knees, and eventually her ankles.

Those precious red speckles of hair above her spot. Thin and prickly and all Amelia’s to own. She stroked it, let Ed feel the tingling sensation inside her body, the build-up to ready herself.

Then, right as her fingers slipped inside of Ed, she found a new spot on her neck and bit down again. Harder this time.

Ed moaned, sustained but quiet, and wrapped her legs around Amelia’s waist. Locked in place and ready for whatever she gave her. Like saying, I’m never going to let go again, and we’re going to be like this forever.

Amelia’s fingers felt the sticky sensation of Ed’s love pouring out with each moment. She was inside her. Literally inside her. And Ed’s skin was inside of her mouth with every bite.

They were connected, and in love, and every single moment of the past two years, with all its tragedy, all its suffering, all its loneliness, erased temporarily by the sheer ecstasy of finally having Ed back with her, finally being back inside of Ed.

Ed’s fingernails, thankfully cut short, dug into Amelia’s back. A rippling sensation of pain, but nothing she had not felt before. Nothing she did not embrace with all the happiness in her nonexistent heart.

She stroked Ed’s spot, felt around and over and inside and out, until Ed arched her back, two times then three. They turned over, changed positions, let Ed feel good in many places, let her be on her side or her stomach. Let her put her mouth on Amelia’s breast and trace with her tongue, nibble with her teeth, until she felt true ownership over it, until Amelia’s fingers took her attention away.

This was all about making Ed happy, about pleasuring her like a good lover ought to. But Amelia, hearing the gasps, feeling the wet skin, seeing the long red hair flickering everywhere like a permanent, radiant fire, was far more the pleasured one tonight.

She removed her finger, put it up to her own face and smelled Ed’s musky smell of sex and lust.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen you this wet before,” Amelia said.

“You promised me I’d cry,” Ed said. “I’m still waiting.”

With that, both of them sat up. Ed locked her legs around Amelia’s waist once more, wrapped her hands around as tight as possible, so much so that Amelia’s own breath felt constricted.

Amelia held her left hand against the small of Ed’s back, where it was always meant to go. Her right hand, the rocky, rough textured hand that had killed so many these months, moved down and inserted itself back into her spot, where it, too, was always meant to go.

She placed her teeth on Ed’s shoulder and went to work giving her the whole world. Faster, steadily, changing rhythms, slow, then fast again. Holding her tighter against herself, letting their breasts collide just enough that their nipples touched. Ed’s hips shook, her body shivered, her face twisted into such a stupid, such a cute expression. She bit down harder and let her lose herself entirely to the whims of climax.

Only when the tears came, the laughing, giddy tears, did Amelia slow, then stop, then raise her head and kiss her on the lips.

They sat like this, Ed’s legs locked, sitting on Amelia’s lap, just kissing until their breaths, Ed’s heartbeat relaxed into a calm.

“You were so gentle,” Ed said.

“I’m here to protect you.”

“Never leave m—” Ed cut herself off and then, without continuing, rest her head on Amelia’s shoulder. Cried some more.

“I’ll never leave you,” Amelia said, completing Ed’s words.

A moment of silence.

“My neck really hurts,” Ed said with feigned anguish. “I’m going to feel this one for a while.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Want to take a bath?” Ed asked.

“I just went to the hot springs today...”

“So that’s a no?”

“No, it’s a yes. I’d love to,” Amelia said.

They finally separated, and, like all lovers should, drew up a bath in the middle of the night and soaked together.