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A/N: Hey everyone! Here’s the beginning of my new short and bittersweet fic! It’s Mary and Shannon, it’s canon compliant, and it’s their last evening together... If you want to read the whole story the link is at the end!
Shannon was ten when she first entered a confessional booth, in preparation for her first communion. She had no great sin to confess but a great many questions about God and Jesus which her local priest, in his benevolent patience,was kind enough to answer as best as he could. When she asked him who he spoke to when he had to confess something, the voice on the other side of the screen had come as chuckle:
"Well, I speak to God quite often. I know that He will always be here to listen. But when I do need advice, I seek out one of my fellow priests."
Some fifteen years later, Shannon still thought about that conversation, as she finally came to empathise with the older man. Though she prayed often for guidance, she always seeked out Mary for advice. Which made it all the stranger when Shannon began to keep things to herself. Mother Superion could tell. The other sister warriors could tell. And most of all, Mary could tell.
She had tried all she could think of to breach the subject. Talking about it in public hadn't worked. Talking about it in private had made the Warrior Nun clam up even more. So Mary had given up, which was quite unlike her. Even Lilith had teased her about it. Mary had glared at her and explained that Shannon would talk once she was ready. She truly hoped it would be tonight.
For a few years now, they'd started a routine on every Thursday night. If they weren't out in the field, then the two of them disappeared on Mary's motorcycle for a few hours. All sorts of rumors had started swirling up from their little escapade. Some of the sisters thought they were wandering the streets, beating up bad guys like two vigilantes. Others thought they rented a motel room – or, more luxuriously a hotel room, or better yet they had their own small apartment – where they could have really hot and loud sex away from the convent. Mary couldn't blame the sisters for all these stupid rumors. She and Shannon were so tight-lipped about what they did that she understood their curiosity. But this was their special thing, a Mary and Shannon alone thing, and neither would ever reveal what they were up to.
That evening, as Mary leaned against her motorcycle, holding her helmet in her hands, she almost thought Shannon wasn't going to come. It wasn't like they had a set time when they should leave, but they never met more than a couple of minutes apart, as if they could sense the other's eagerness to leave. She checked her phone again for the time. Footsteps echoed on the pavement. She looked up and spotted Shannon coming toward her at a hurried pace.
"I was beginning to think you'd stood me up," Mary shouted at her, partly as a joke and partly to her release her own nervousness.
"I'm sorry. I was with Father Vincent and Mother Superion, putting the final touches on tomorrow's mission."
Mary was quick to brush the subject of the next day's mission aside. This was their special night, which meant no work-related talk.
"I'll forgive you only if we leave in the next minute and a half."
FULL STORY HERE: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46334560
Hey everyone! Here’s an extract from my new summer romance fic, featuring in equal measure Avatrice and MaryShannon! If you like what you read, the link to the full chapter will be at the end!
On the other side of the pool, Ava was paddling away from the shallow part. She ignored the pain in her limbs and pressed on, all the while Mary was calling from the side of the pool.
“Ava, come back on this side. Don't you want to learn how to swim properly, rather than... whatever you're doing?”
Ava shrugged off her comments.
“I'm fine,” she shouted back.
She was in the middle of the pool now, where the ground was so deep that she couldn't feel it even with the tip of her toes. She was paddling her arms and legs as fast as she could to keep her head above the water. On the side of the pool, a young woman in a black swimming suit stepped up to the diving board. She had long, strong legs. Her hair was hidden beneath a black swimming cap, though a few small one still peaked out, plastered on the nape of her neck. Droplets of water had collected in the hollow of her throat, now running over to the edge of her swimsuit.
Ava forgot to paddle. She stared. It lasted only long enough that she felt herself sinking beneath the water. Panic rose in her chest and she kicked the water hard. She couldn't calm down. Every kick of her legs only seem to drag her further under the water. She tried calling for help, but water filled her mouth and smothered her voice.
She didn't hear the splash, only felt someone grabbing her and pulling her to the surface. She continued to struggle, but her rescuer was strong.
“You're okay,” the voice of a young woman told her. “You're okay.”
Ava finally snapped out of her panic. She was being pulled toward the ladder, held firmly above the water. Once she could finally grab the ladder to keep herself from drowning, she pulled away from her savior. Her heart sputtered in her chest when she realized it was the girl from the diving board.
“I'm...”
Ava wasn't sure what she was trying to say. They stood so close to one another that she could see the freckles on the other girl's face. I'm grateful? I'm Ava?
“I'm dead,” she thought and said at the same time, because she had to be.
The girl frowned.
“No, I... I pulled you out,” she replied with confusion.
“Yeah, no, obviously. I'm not dead, dead. I'm just... I'm Ava.”
Before the other girl could introduce herself, Mary arrived just in time to drag Ava out of the pool.
“I told you to stay in the shallow part. I warned you, didn't I?”
Ava rolled her eyes and exited the pool. Mary threw her towel at her and Ava brushed the chlorine water out of her eyes.
“I was fine. I did it on purpose again.”
Then, she saw her rescuer was climbing after her, and giving her strange look, and Ava was quick to respond.
“I mean I didn't do it on purpose to scare anyone. I had everything under control, totally.”
“That's the stupidest thing you've ever said,” Mary replied, earning herself a glare.
A moment later, another woman joined them. She wasn't wearing a swimsuit, but shorts and a tank top, her long brown hair held in a ponytail.
“Everything alright?” she asked.
“I'm sorry, Miss Masters,” Ava's rescuer said. “I thought she was drowning, I...”
“You did good, don't worry.”
“I'm sorry about that,” Mary intervened. “Ava doesn't know when a joke has gone too far.”
“It's fine. Better safe than sorry.”
“I just got tired all of a sudden is all,” Ava tried to defend herself against Mary's glare without passing for a complete loser in front of the cute girl.
Full chapter 1 here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45141238/chapters/113558530
Chapter 2: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45141238/chapters/114008935