Good Company

"Fareeha?"

Well, she supposed she should have expected as much for dropping by unexpectedly. Sending her friend a sheepish smile she tried to straighten her back.

It made it look like she was fidgeting instead.

"Hello Lena, I thought I'd drop by for New Years."

Lena Oxton, a younger woman that Fareeha would consider one of her oldest friends, looked at her through the doorway of her London apartment. It had been a few months since they had last seen each other - perhaps when Fareeha had last booked a flight with the airline that Tracer had been working for and found herself being greeted by the Brit through the plane's intercom.

It was nice to run into people she knew whenever she was travelling. She was starting to understand why her father liked to drag Brigitte around with him whenever he was travelling for leisure.

Loneliness would set in every now and then.

Lena opened and closed her mouth for a few moments, grasping for words before finally managing a smile.

"I have to admit it's a bit out of the blue, Fareeha, but I don't see why not!" Fareeha made it a point to return the smile with enthusiasm, and that seemed to have done it for Tracer, too. "Wanna come in? Emily and I were actually supposed to attend this thing tonight. You could join us if you like. It's still a ways away from midnight, though, so - and I'm being very British by doing this - would you like some tea?"

All Fareeha could do was laugh and enter when the door was held for her.

~TtT~

"You know, you could have told us you were coming, Fareeha." Her companion said as she poured herself a drink from the teapot between them. "Emily and I would have been happy to have you."

Fareeha sent one of her oldest friends an apologetic smile and waved her off.

"It was a bit of a spur of the moment thing, you could say." The Egyptian shrugged while nursing her own drink. "I'm thankful your old airline was accommodating enough to suddenly re-route my flight to Germany to London."

Now that got Tracer's eyebrows rise which Fareeha answered to with one of her own.

"I was quite surprised to hear that you submitted your resignation last month, Lena."

Her friend's eyes locked unto the teapot before she sighed.

"Don't get me wrong, Fareeha. I liked the work. It was good, and it was nice to be doing good again after what happened to Overwatch."

"Then why did you leave?"

It was then that the Egyptian got to see the younger woman sway her head from side to side like it was an airplane in itself as Lena tried to answer.

"Well…" Lena deflated, whatever enthusiasm she had been trying to build up seemed to bleed away. "It wasn't enough." Her eyes fell to the teapot between them before taking another quiet sip.

Fareeha nodded, both understanding and happy that she and her friend had kept in touch after truly reuniting during her mother's funeral. She remembers what Lena had told her when they had seen each other again after Overwatch fell. She described her work as 'driving a flying bus', and while it wasn't exactly interesting, it did good and it put food on the table. Lena always said it was good enough for her.

Apparently that changed, and Fareeha had a good idea what might have caused it.

"I also heard about what happened with Mondata."

That caused Lena to raise her eyes to look at the older woman. The Brit looked so small with how she sat, all hunched into herself.

"Lena, you can't possibly-."

"I know." A sigh. "I know, and I know that I did what I could, but it doesn't stop the feeling from being there, Fareeha."

Lena's hands cupped the teacup as she stared into the dark amber liquid. "You feel it, don't you? How the world's been so much more tense this past year. Something's about to happen, I can feel it, and I couldn't act if I was stuck ferrying people around the world."

"So you left."

A nod.

"And so I left."

They didn't speak for a while after that, both women caught up in their own thoughts.

Eventually, Emily returned from wherever it was she had been off to, and she and Fareeha had taken some time to catch up while Lena had gone ahead to prepare for the party.

It would be minutes later that the two old friends would be along again when Emily went to take her turn in the shower.

"You know, Lena, I'd always envied you. I dreamed of joining Overwatch ever since I was a little girl."

There was something in her friend's eyes then, something Fareeha couldn't quite read and it made her feel like she was under heavy scrutiny.

"Maybe you'll still get your chance." Was the reply that came after. "Who knows what the future holds?"

That had not been any of the responses Fareeha had been expected. She had wanted to say that Tracer was lucky to have been able to serve, been able to help and do good in the way that only Overwatch did.

Unfortunately, before she could follow up on the question, Emily came down the stairs and took both women by the arm, and dragged them towards the door.

"C'mon, loves!" The redhead said in an excellent impression of her girlfriend. "We have a party to catch!"

Fareeha laughed, deciding she could be bothered by the specifics of her friend's response later. While this might not have been her original plan to herald in the New Year, she couldn't say she minded.

She was in good company.

And that concludes the Holiday Chapters.

These were supposed to go down on the twenty-third, but things happened and the season ended up being a bit more busy than I had hoped it would be. In any case. Please also be aware that Good Food and Good Drink had been penned weeks before Reflections was released and don't really take them into account.

Cheers!