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WD didn’t process that these past few weeks had been real until she walked hand in hand into her destroyed apartment with the love of her life. It all felt like some strange dream? Nightmare? Had she really freed Cogtopolis with the self proclaimed (and very deserved) smartest girl in the world? Had she really gone to the surface and fought off horrors in this freaky funhouse that Troy supposedly lived in? Had she really fought off the church and stopped the world from exploding? Most importantly, did the most perfect, beautiful, intelligent, wonderful being in this world really say that she liked her too.
She looked around at the holes all throughout her apartment. Some made by the debris from clearing the blockage, some made by her new insane friends. A sudden pit formed in her stomach. She was embarrassed. This was where she was bringing Ripley?
“I, uh I’m sorry ‘bout this place Rips..” WD spat out, too ashamed to look her in the eyes. A girl like Ripley deserved some place better. A bigger living space, not her one room apartment covered in metal scraps and blueprints. She deserved someone better. Someone who could sweep her off her feet with charm and effortless charisma. WD began to let go of Ripley’s hand, only to feel the other's grip tighten.
Giggles erupted from the girl next to her. Small snorts sprinkled throughout.
“Well we certainly have to do something about the holes, but that won’t be too hard!” Ripley turned to WD with a smile. “Fixing this pace would be a good warm up project before I get back to work.”
“You… you must have some better place to stay Rips, I can fix this place up. You’ve been through a lot. Just.. just go there for the night I-” WD’s pleas were interrupted by Ripley bounding forward, walking up to the hole she remembered Pinch jumping through.
“I can work with this! I bet I can make it stronger than before, that way we can make sure no more people jump through your walls.”
“Rips you don’t ha-”
“I’ll use metal! The future thinkers, oh well they don’t exist anymore serves them right, their building probably has plenty of sheets of metal and I don’t think they’ll mind me taking some!”
“Rip-”
“What were they thinking anyway? How could a 16 year old dying girl ,she's fine now thank god, thank the gods? I don’t know Runt’s being weird about the god stuff, how could she do more in 2? 3? 4 days? I don’t know I wasn’t there. How could she do more than they did in a year! More or less I don’t know I was busy and”
“Rips!”
“Right the wall! The floor! Oh the ceiling too. Oh I should have asked if you care about what material we use for this. I’m sure you don’t want an ugly apartment. Maybe steel would be ugly, oh it most definitely would be, stupid! Why didn’t I think about that!” Ripley sighed loudly, hitting her head on the wall next to a gap.
As Ripley leaned her head on the wall she continued to mumble. WD knew that she wasn’t the most perceptive when she was in this space, her inventive space. WD imagined that she had 5 brains instead of one and they all thought at the same time. To WD, it was amazing. Her intelligence made Ripley even more awe inspiring to WD. WD wanted nothing more than to make Ripley happy and would do whatever it took to achieve that.
“Whatever idea you have Rips I’m down! Let's go, oh I don't know… Lets rip the walls off the future thinkers building!” WD reached Ripley, tapping on her shoulder to get her attention.
Ripley turned around, making eye contact with WD before bursting out into giggles again. Leaning on the wall for support.
“Yes! Yes! Oh I love that idea. That’s what those jerks get! Let’s tear that building down!” Ripley said in between giggles.
The feeling in her heart was debilitating. It felt like a heart attack. It felt like her heart was swelling to ten times its size. She was back to the feeling of disbelief. How did this happen? What did she do to deserve calling this girl hers? She would never feel worthy. Worthy of this perfect woman in front of her. She would do anything for her, and she would quickly prove it.
In the commotion of Ripley’s giggling, and the beating of WD’s heart, neither girl heard nor processed the cracking of the wall Ripley leaned her back on. It wasn’t until Ripley was falling toward the ground that the situation set in.
WD’s apartment was not close to the ground. The drop wasn’t lethal, but it was dangerous, and Ripley was falling. Ripley reached her hand out to grab something, anything, and WD reached out to grab her back, but just missed.
If WD was smart like Ripley, she would have shot out her grappling hook and had Ripley hang onto it while she pulled her up. But that thought didn’t cross her mind until WD herself jumped out the window, diving after Ripley. Well! Now she had to commit.
Grabbing Ripley’s still outstretched hands, WD pulled Ripley into her in an embrace, before quickly turning over, positioning Ripley above herself. This allowed herself to take the brunt of the force from the fall, keeping Ripley safe. Ripley had the same horrified look in her eyes as she did when trying to disable the teleporter, a look that filled WD with despair.
Her body made contact with the ground with a loud thud. She must have blacked out for a moment, as when she opened her eyes she stared back to a horrified Ripley crouching over her and checking her vitals. WD felt her hands tremble against her neck as she checked her pulse and saw tears stream down her cheeks when she blinked the blurriness out of her eyes. WD groaned, attempting to pick herself up. Everything hurt.
“No!” Ripley yelled, pushing WD back onto the ground, causing a wave of pain to erupt through WD’s head, wincing loudly in response.
“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh what have I done i’m so sorry I shouldn't have pushed you. Oh my gosh oh my gosh! I-I-I wasn’t paying attention. I'm so sorry this is my fault. Why did you do that! That was so stupid WD! I could have, you could have, I.. well I would have been fine!”
“Ripley…” WD muttered
“I could have taken it! And look at you, you’re hurt! Oh I’m so stupid, you’re so stupid! Are you ok! Oh gosh oh gosh what do I do? It’s ok WD i’ll fix this. I’ll fix you, I’ll fix the holes, oh I made the hole bigger I'm so sorry.”
“Ripley” WD said louder, reaching her hand up to Ripley, cupping her face. “I fought a Lion and like, a bunch of robots, they hurt way more than this. I’ll be ok.” WD gave Ripley a soft smile, fondness for the girl above her easing the pain she felt.
WD wiped the tears from Ripley’s face. “WD that doesn’t make me feel better in the slightest!” Ripley huffed, holding WD’s hand to her face. Turning her head, Ripley kissed the palm of WD’s scarred, calloused hands. WD’s mind seemed to short circuit, she thought she was going to pass out again. Words refused to come out of her mouth, she could only stare at this woman in awe.
Seemingly enjoying the overwhelming feeling she put the other woman through, Ripley smiled wide, before standing up and helping WD get back to her feet. The two moved over to a nearby wall, Ripley sitting WD against it to better check her condition.
“On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your pain?” Ripley asked as she combed her hands through WD’s hair, checking for blood or bruising on her head.
“Uh- I mean, it’s fine! Really I can walk it off. I actually uh, I uh, already feel so much better!” WD Stuttered
“Yea right! We must have fallen 70ish, 80 feet! Now I'm an inventor not a doctor, but that can’t be healthy!” Ripley retorted. Finding no blood on WD’s scalp, her hands went to the fox hybrid’s ears. “How about your ears! Does this hurt?” Ripley asked as she moved WD’s fluffy ears back and forth.
“Hey! You just want to mess with me at this point!” WD retorted, reaching for Ripley’s hands
“This is scientific! Please do not interrupt my work!” WD could hear Ripley repressing her giggles. “Does this hurt!” Ripley began to scratch behind WD’s ears.
“Rips!” WD screeched at the sensation. It felt good, really good. But the fact that it was Ripley doing it caused her face to turn bright red. Burying her face in her hands, WD muttered out “no it doesn’t hurt”. WD didn’t notice the way her tail wagged next to her, but Ripley did, and she was delighted.
“Ok ok! I’m done messing around. Let me check your back for any damage.” Ripley urged WD to turn around, facing her back to the inventor.
“Um… WD, do you mind maybe taking off your shirt? You don’t have to if you don’t want to!” Ripley asked quietly, seeming extremely shy.
If WD wasn’t red before she was now. She said nothing, afraid of making unintelligible noises, and pulled her shirt off. It hurt to move her arms up, but she didn’t say anything. Ripley gently placed her hand on WD’s back, sending a shiver through the fox.
“Oh WD you’re covered in bruises.” WD could hear the frown on Ripley’s face. She felt Ripley’s hand traverse her back very lightly, afraid to press on any bruises. WD couldn’t believe this was her life. Jumping out that window was the best thing that had happened to her.
“There isn’t much I can do for the bruises, Oh I’m so sorry. What have I done! Well maybe I can-” Ripley began to mutter unintelligibly to herself, thinking of ways she could fix up WD.
“Rips, Rips…Ripley!” WD exclaimed, turning around to face Ripley. Ripley was chewing on her top lip, spacing out while looking at the wall in front of her. WD put her hands on Ripley’s shoulders to get her attention back. “I’m ok. It’ll heal. We’re both ok, and we’re going to be ok from now on. I would do this for you a million times more Rips, I would do anything for you.” WD stared intently into Ripley’s eyes, hoping that the girl in front of her understood the extent of her devotion.
They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity before Ripley came crashing forward, smashing their lips together. She wrapped her arms around WD’s neck, closed her eyes as the world around her dissolved.
WD’s eyes widened, this couldn’t be real. This was everything she had dreamed of. No, it was better. Her arms wrapped sound Ripley’s waist and pulled her as close as possible. Any pain she had felt dissolved the moment their lips met. WD wanted nothing more than to consume Ripley’s entire being. WD kissed Ripley back hungrily. Years she had waited for this, and it exceeded all her hopes and dreams. She doesn’t know how long they stayed like that. Seconds? Minutes? Hours? Did it matter?
WD would gladly stop breathing if it meant she didn’t have to stop kissing Ripley, but Ripley broke the kiss to take some breaths. Again they stared at each other wordlessly, until WD uttered the only phrase she could conjure in her mind.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you too,” Ripley whispered back.
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With some struggle, The two climbed back up to the entrance of WD’s apartment. Ripley grabbed an ointment she hoped would help and put it on all WD’s bruises before wrapping them up in gauze. Deciding the holes could wait another day, the two collapsed into WD’s twin sized bed. It finally clicked to WD. This was her life. She really had stopped the end of the world, she really had freed Cogtopolis and she was really cuddling in bed with the woman of her dreams.