I do not own Vindictus or the characters in it.

When your two women out of very few women in a big group of men, its paradoxically easy to find or make a space for yourselves. The men are content to leave you alone, your feminine-ness both off-putting and intriguing. It's easier for them to deny temptation and provide you with space you didn't even request. That's the fact that makes Fiona looks back on with a mixture of mixture of humor, disappointment, and sorrow.

Everything else? Karok's snores, that carried through cavern walls, Lann's midnight coughs from taking a beating (He has to remember he's not a meat shield), Tieve's restless, often troubled sleeping? Those things, she didn't miss.

But she did miss the ease with which she could pull Evie forward for a quick kiss in the shadows of town, or point out to Shayla how much money the drops she came back with were worth, while dragging Evie off to a forgotten corner. They kissed underneath a forging table once, with no one the wiser, ducked out from underneath it dusty and laughing (well, Evie anyway), and Shayla looked at them strangely but remained unaware.

She thought of visiting those places again. Now that the war with the formors was over, now that they have reached the Paradise, but there are people who need her, so she doesn't. Instead, once the kids are asleep and she's sure Lann won't be coming home that evening, she gets a hot bath, closes her eyes.

And remembers.

Evie's mouth on hers. Evie's hands in her hair. Their hands roving along each other in one of the Inn's private rooms. The way Evie would tilt her head as she climaxed, her mouth falling open and her eyes drifting closed. The way Evie liked to kiss the spot between her breasts while she lets her hands wander up from Fiona's hips.

Fiona is discovering that there are plenty of ways to find a little alone time in her new-old life, raising their two kids and taking care of Lann's newest bruises and cuts. Plenty of excuses to indulge in the sweet memories.