Chapter Text
While the year seemed to go by in a blur to Angela, it crawled by painstakingly slow for Fareeha. She was still recovering, going through physical therapy was a necessity she found rather unenjoyable once Angela went back to Overwatch.
She hated it, hated being useless. The sooner she’d get back out into the field, the better.
It must have been some sort of blessing that the team she led was willing to wait. Tariq or Saleh would usually pick her up after her physical therapy and take her to the barracks so she could assess their work.
It’s a slow progression compared to when she lost her other hand, she suspects it has more to do with the fact that she nearly died than the loss of a limb. The phantom pains eb in and out on hard days, and for the most part.
She’s gotten back on duty- not out on the field quite yet, no, but it’s more of the paperwork that comes with being a captain of a team. Requests and such that she’d never been much interested in before all this happened. But now she finds she doesn’t mind all too much as long as she’s able to do something.
She exchanges texts with Angela often, selfies taken with her team, small things that remind her of her. She leaves out for the most part how difficult it’s been without her. And a part of her even wants to apologize for what she said that night.
She finds herself, more often than not, sending a simple “I miss you.” Then she decidedly looks anywhere but at her phone.
Time passes, and she finds herself at Overwatch again, and this time… this time she allows herself to be ecstatic. This time she allows herself to be excited that she’s here , and she’s going to stay here. All she has to do is complete a few forms and the transfer will be complete.
Helix is many things, destructive, uncaring of citizen casualties, money mongers; but she will give them this one thing. It’s the least they could do for compensation of the incident.
When she lands, Angela at her side, she can’t help but feel she’s still flying.
“I missed you,” she finally says.
Angela glances up from whatever she was focusing on and fixates her gaze on Fareeha, eyes soft and smile even softer. “I missed you too.”
Before taking off her helmet she clicks on her coms system, “Saleh, you’re in charge. I have some catching up to do.”
“Yes, Captain.”
She clicks it off and removes her helmet, pushing it up under her arm, “Let’s get out of this armor.”
Angela nods and they make their way to the armory, slowly removing the armor. There’s a weight in the room, a heavy presence of words unsaid that they both know they so desperately need to say. So they take their time, stalling.
Fareeha glances at Angela out of the corner of her eye. Many people say she looks like an Angel, but in this moment all she sees is a human being. A human being, beautiful and tragic all the same but that’s what makes her all the more humane . That’s what makes Fareeha love her all the more.
The thought shocks her, because she realizes that a year ago she would never confess such things to herself.
“What is it?” Angela asks when she notices that she stopped removing her own armor.
Fareeha notices too, the pause, then sets the piece she was holding in her hands down. “Your hair is messy.”
Angela blinks, a surprised noise coming from her mouth. “I suppose I should expect such things from flying here in Gibraltar. It’s so windy here.”
Fareeha doesn’t respond with words as she does with a hum of acknowledgment, removing the last of her armor and throwing on her jacket. “There’s not many places we can go that would be very nice.”
“Oh, we don’t have to go out anywhere.” Angela makes an aha sound as she puts on her own sweater, “The lounge would be nice. I have some new books.”
“I would like that.”
Fareeha finds herself falling into their old pattern as if it was a part of her. She smiles softly to herself as Angela reads her newest romance novel and she stares at her for the longest time, noticing again, the way her eyebrows furrow when at certain parts of the story. The way her eyes twinkle when at the particularly romantic parts. The way her lips curl up into a smile at other parts. The way she tries not to snort when she reads a funny part.
“Angela,” she finds herself saying her name.
Angela stops reading, half closing her book in one hand to peak at Fareeha, who rests her head in her lap. “Hm?”
Fareeha sits up and grabs Angela’s hand, feeling the texture of her calloused hands in her own prosthetic hands. She’ll never get use to that.
“Come with me, there’s something I want to show you.”
Angela wordlessly nods and follows her as they weave their way through the corridors of the freshly cleaned Watchpoint. They make it outside and Fareeha guides her to the top of one of their tallest buildings.
It’s night time now, the moon high in the sky and the stars fade from light pollution, but in this moment the view is breathless with the reflection of the moon across the mediterranian.
“Fareeha, it’s gorgeous…”
Fareeha smiles to herself, “I came here a lot when I had something on my mind that I couldn’t quite shake.”
“And now?”
Fareeha’s smile softens, and she holds out her hands, “Care to dance with me?”
“I don’t know how to dance,” Angela whispers as she takes her hands anyways.
“I don’t either.” She admits under her breath, as she takes them into a slow dance. It’s much like flying, she finds, in a strange way.
Relying on each other to keep balanced, to keep the machine of their dance working .
Their faces are close, impossibly so.
Fareeha feels she should say something.
“What is it?” Angela seems to notice the change.
“You asked me if I had something on my mind now.”
Angela waits for her to continue.
“There is… I’ve had it on my mind for a long time now. I love the way you think, I love the way you read tooth rotting romance novels, I love the way you care so deeply, I love how resolute and unflinching you are in your beliefs.”
She hears Angela’s breath hitch and they stop swaying.
“And I’ve been thinking about it a lot, because it seems time apart only made the heart fonder. Angela, I use to be too scared to tell you, and I use to fear that if I told you you would push me away. But we have one life, it’s all we have, and we don’t know what tomorrow or the next day might bring, but there’s one thing I would like to know will be a constant these coming days, weeks, years, however long, and that is you Angela Ziegler.”
Angela looks as though she might cry.
“I have fallen head over heels in love with you and I don’t know if I can go another day without telling you, anymore.”
Angela smiles widely, she moves first, arms wrapping around Fareeha’s neck, “Let me kiss you.”
“Okay,” Fareeha says with an equally gleeful smile, and then Angela is closing the gap first, standing on the tip of her toes as she drags Fareeha’s head closer. They melt together, Fareeha’s hands settling on Angela’s hips.
They draw away eventually, gasping for breath, smiling stupidly at each other. “Fareeha Amari, I thought of you as a quiet and reserved person when we first met, and yet somewhere along the way you charmed me so much I fell in love with you too.”
Fareeha laughs, a lightness in her chest and she can’t stop smiling, “We were idiots.”
“We were.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Fareeha takes Angela’s hands from around her neck and holds them before her.
“Fly with me?”
“All you had to do was ask.”