Who: Laura Kinney and Grace Harper Where: The Royal Palace, Monstropolis When: A day or two post-Imperial Invasion What: Trying to heal Rating: PG-13 Status: Closed, complete
As much as Grace wanted to stay by Laura's side as she healed, Grace had her duties in New Wakanda that she had to often go back to. She wasn't even sure that Laura even had her phone still when Bea had contacted Grace to see if she could get through to Laura, seeing as how she was still mostly catatonic after she was found among the wreckage of the battles the week before. Wanting to try things a little more seriously this time, Grace got the night off and made her way over to the Palace in Monstropolis, making sure to let Bea know that she was on her way before doing so this time. She didn't want to risk agitating Jason this time. She wanted to put all of her focus on Laura instead.
Laura had been sitting almost deathly still in her room since being dragged back to the palace. She seemingly only moved to eat or to relieve herself, and still sat there in the middle of her bed wearing just a loose-fitting tanktop and a pair of black panties, not even having bothered to get dressed. Bea hadn't been able to get through to her, nor had Laura Palmer.
Grace tentatively walked into Laura's room and removed her boots before climbing onto the bed and sitting behind Laura, wrapping her arms and legs around the younger girl. "You really had to go and do this to me now?" she whispered, kissing the side of Laura's head.
At first... Laura said nothing. Yet, while there was no verbal reply, nor even a glance to Grace... the claws in Laura's wrists and feet slowly retracted back into her, her body visibly relaxing a bit.
Despite the fact that she probably should be afraid of Laura's claws when she was unstable, Grace of course wasn't. She had survived death twice already, but she wasn't invincible. She ran her fingers along Laura's already healing wrists, knowing that it hurt, sighing. "I should have been with you."
"....I cried." Laura finally said, her body trembling slightly. The last time they had talked, Laura's walls had started coming down before she stopped it. This time... it looked like they were gonna come down whether she let them or not. "The more I killed those troopers... the more I cried while doing it. I hacked them to pieces.... all while imagining it was them that took my Katie away. She was my heart... my happiness... the one person who made me feel special, and not like some freak." She began to cry again... but unlike last time, it wasn't simply tears streaming down her cheeks. This time, she began to full-on sob, pulling her knees to her chest and completely breaking down. "She's gone, and she's not coming back, and I don't know how to be happy without her." She said between heart-wrenching sobs.
"I haven't been happy since the first bomb dropped in my world when I was ten," Grace stated casually in a low tone as she held Laura closer, pressing her body against another warm body for the first time in longer than she could remember.
"I can't stop thinking about how she looked at me. The love and devotion in her eyes. They way she treated me like no other girl in the world could compare." She was crying hard now, curled up in a ball and forcing herself not to lash out again. "It just makes me want to keep killing everything in my path until the fates give her back to me..."
"And what if you managed to kill the person that was meant to love you even more?" Grace joked lightly, but somewhat actually believed what she was saying as she felt tears filling her own eyes. It would explain the jealousy that she felt whenever Laura Palmer was mentioned, or the girl that this Laura had gone out on that blind date with.
"How could someone love me more, though?" Laura asked, not being melodramatic. She honestly couldn't fathom the idea. "It was like everything about me made her smile. Like... no matter what I said or did, she never looked at me like anything less than her soulmate. I went from not even believing in love... to loving someone so much that the thought of living without her makes me wish I was dead."
"If you were dead, I wouldn't want to live, Laura," the words came out of Grace's mouth without thought. It was all just pouring out. "I wouldn't want to be in a world where you didn't exist."
Laura said nothing there. She just leaned against Grace, finally letting the girl comfort her. "Bea thinks I was being some... courageous hero diving into that pack of troopers. She doesn't understand that I was hoping one of them would end me."
"I've come to learn that part of just how Bea is," Grace shook her head. "But I knew, and that's why I wish that I had been there with you."
"I'm broken. I should never have let myself love someone. I've seen love be the demise of so many people, and I promised myself I wouldn't let it happen to me." She sniffled, resting her forehead against her knees.
"It doesn't have to be that way, though," Grace insisted. "This doesn't have to be your end."
"It won't be." Laura said, shaking her head. "I won't let myself be killed. I just... have to be who I was before Katie."
"As long as you don't make it too hard for me to love you," Grace chuckled. "Because I have a feeling that you could."
"I wouldn't do that." Laura said, trying not to let her voice go back to that emotionless deadpan it had been a while back. "I won't try to push you away or anything like that."
"You know why I came to Monstropolis the other day when Bea and I found you?" Grace tilted her head.
"I assumed you came to help with the cleanup." Laura said, trying to stop herself from crying now. It was starting to piss her off, to be honest.
Grace laughed, shaking her head. "I was looking for you, Laura. I wanted to tell you that the experience of an invasion made me ready to be with you."
"I... am willing to try." Laura replied. She knew she had feelings for Grace. But she was also terrified that she wouldn't be able to love her as much as she loved Katie. She was afraid that she would always compare them in her mind. But she wasn't about to give voice to these thoughts. No way in hell. "I'm afraid... but I'm willing to try."
"I think that's supposed to be part of it," Grace chuckled. "Love can be scary, but that's one of the things that makes it so exciting."
"I suppose this means I have to give up my plaything?" She asked, one eyebrow slowly rising.
"I have been getting the urge to maim her whenever she's mentioned," Grace stated casually, shrugging.
"That would be a yes, then." Laura replied, a slight smirk on her lips. She didn't want to make things any harder on Grace than she knew it was already going to be.
"At least for anyway," Grace laughed. "Who knows what I'll be into after you pop my cherry."
Laura nodded, relaxing a little against Grace. She had fears, doubts maybe, about her ability to love again... but she knew Grace was a good woman and deserved her to try. Plus, she and OtherLaura were the only two people she'd felt any chemistry with since the purge.
"So..." Grace took a deep breath. "Are we feeling better?"
"....we're feeling as good as we're going to for a while." Laura said with a nod, closing her eyes and snuggling into Grace. It wasn't much... but from Laura? That was a massive show of trust.
Grace nodded, cradling Laura in her arms to the best of her ability. "That's more than enough for me.'