Chapter Text
Perry had told Lafontaine the moment she hung the phone up from Danny. She was equal parts excited and gutted. Excited because she knew Danny had been nervous to ask Laura in the first place, and also excited that Laura had said yes, but she was also gutted because she knew and had known for years, that Carmilla was in love with Laura and this engagement was going to crush her.
As soon as Perry had told them, LaF knew they had to warn Carmilla, and fast, despite being told by Perry to leave it and to let Laura break the news of the engagement to Carmilla, herself.
But LaF couldn’t just leave it. They’d grown fond of the grumpy brunette, and also knew from experience, what it’s like to be in love with your best friend and not really knowing how to navigate that topic of conversation.
They didn’t want to tell her over a text or slip it in casually during a phone call, so they went to the one place they knew she’d be. In the coffee shop.
They spotted Carmilla instantly in the plush arm chair that was unofficially deemed hers. Her arm was draped over the back of it, her leg slung lazily over the chair-arm and the book she was reading in her free hand.
It looked like a very uncomfortable position, but judging from her features, she was quite content. LaF took a deep breath, bracing themselves for the blow that they were about to give her, ultimately ruining her good mood.
“Hey Fangs!” they smiled awkwardly, trying not to make their nerves completely obvious.
Carmilla glanced up at them from over the top of the book in her hands.
A small smile curved her lips as she nodded to them, “Fountain.” she greeted them, holding up two fingers, signalling she had a few more lines to read before she was finished with that chapter.
LaF sat down opposite her, wiping their palms on their jean-clad thighs and looking anywhere but Carmilla whilst they waited. They were mid-thought of how to broach the subject when the brunette huffed an impatient sigh and placed the book down in her lap.
Carmilla’s eyes narrowed when LaF’s knee started to bounce erratically, so instead of bothering with pleasantries, she cut straight to the chase.
Tilting her head, she sighed, “Out with it.”
That got LaF’s attention, their gaze landing on her.
“Hm?” they hummed instead, not trusting their voice quite yet.
Carmilla pinched the bridge of her nose and breathed in slowly.
“You haven’t called me ‘Fangs’ since Silas and your knee is going a hundred miles a minute.” she explained, motioning to their knee.
LaF’s gaze dropped to their hands in their lap as they mumbled, “Well you haven’t called me ‘Fountain’ since Silas either.” grimacing at their lame attempt at avoiding the subject.
Carmilla rolled her eyes before placing the forgotten book on the coffee table in front of her, and adjusted her position so she was facing forward.
“Don’t pull a Laura on me. Just tell me what’s up?” she said, eyeing them wearily as her brow creased with concern.
LaF looked up at her hesitantly before answering. “It’s Laura.” they winced.
Carmilla’s eyes widened drastically and she got to her feet almost instantly, dread masking her features.
“What happened? Where is she? Is she okay?” she asked, the panic in her voice a reflection of that on her face.
LaF realised where Carmilla’s thoughts had gone to and were quick to reassure her that Laura was in fact fine.
The brunette sat down again slowly, her gaze searching their face for any clues on what the frilly hell was going on. LaF cleared their throat and took another deep breath.
“So, Danny…” they began to say, and had to swallow their nerves when Carmilla rolled their eyes just at the mere mention of Danny’s name. “…told Perry who told me…” they were cut off.
“Get to it, Frankenbrain.” Carmilla said impatiently.
“SHE PROPOSED TO LAURA AND LAURA SAID YES.” they blurted out, rather loudly. They cowered from the disapproving glances from strangers sat around them, their gaze landing finally on Carmilla.
LaF waited with baited breath for any emotional response from the brunette, but nothing came. Carmilla just sat in the armchair silently, the words sinking in and expertly cutting her up from the inside out.
LaF didn’t know how much time had passed before Carmilla finally moved. Her face remained expressionless, but she nodded her head, slowly at first and then a little faster as she huffed a laugh and raised to her feet.
LaF copied her, standing and waiting for the inevitable breakdown, but what they didn’t expect was for Carmilla to stretch her arms above her head, take a deep breath in and exhale with a small smile on her face.
“Do you wanna go for a drink later?” Carmilla asked out of the blue and LaF’s jaw hung open for a split second.
“A drink? Sure! Drinks later sounds good.” they agreed quickly, an uneasy feeling settling in their stomach.
“Great, I’ve gotta go do something but I’ll text you later, okay?” she offered with a smile, that even LaF knew was a mask to hide her true feelings on the matter.
“Just you and me?” they asked hesitantly, scuffing their boot on the floor.
Carmilla shook her head laughing to herself, “Preferably, please.” her tone was more a plea than a question and she smiled gratefully when LaF nodded in understanding.
“Awesome.” she said a little too cheerfully, before turning to pack her things into her bag, avoiding LaF’s line of sight. “Thanks for telling me by the way. I’m really happy for the two of them.” she surprised even herself with how her voice didn’t break.
As she passed LaF on the way out of the coffee shop, she squeezed their shoulder and mumbled a “See you later.” before disappearing out the door.
Lafontaine was genuinely surprised by how - seemingly - well Carmilla had taken the news. They were also kinda impressed that she’d even remembered their old nicknames for each other from back at Silas. That was until they sank back down into their seat, sighing in relief and their eyes landed on the book on the table before them.
A chill ran down their spine not a second after and the uneasy feeling in their stomach made itself known once again, because Carmilla never just ‘forgot’ about a book.
They reached forward and turned the book over, their shoulders slumping as they found it to be the first Harry Potter book. LaF opened the first page, knowing exactly what they’d find before they even caught sight of it. Laura’s ‘This book belongs to’ sticker. Laura had been begging Carmilla to read it for years, and the fact she left it behind, Laura’s copy to be exact, solidified the conclusion that Carmilla was anything but fine with Laura’s engagement.
Carmilla went straight home. Her chest was heavy and her head was throbbing. She’d surprised even herself with how composed she’d been when LaF had finally just told her.
She went to her room and rang her sister, putting it on loud speaker and resting the device on her bed as she climbed to the top of her closet to grab her huge bag.
“Matska.” the formal tone of her sister’s voice made Carmilla roll her eyes, and a small smile curve her lips at the sound of her voice.
“Is that any way to greet your sister?” she asked, stumbling out of the closet and opening the huge empty bag on her bed.
“Mircalla, you haven’t spoken to me in almost two months.” she said, clearly annoyed.
Carmilla’s smile dropped just as her heart did again, “Then I don’t suppose you’ll mind me moving in for awhile then?” she asked, shaking her head self-deprecatingly as she sat on the edge of her bed.
“What’s happened?” is all Mattie says, her voice no longer annoyed and instead extremely worried.
Carmilla tried to clear the lump from her throat but failed as her voice broke.
“I-I just miss you.” she closes her eyes to stop the unbidden tears from building.
Carmilla knew that Mattie knew something wasn’t right, that the reason for her impromptu visit wasn’t just because Carmilla missed her sister, and a moment of silence passed before Carmilla hears her sister’s voice again.
“I have a few meetings today, so I won’t be home until late… so bring your spare key with you. Do you need me to have somebody come and pick you up?” she asked, sounding a little distracted.
Carmilla sighed in relief and held the phone up to her mouth, her head turning to glance at the open bag beside her.
“No, it’s alright. I’ll get a lift from Will or just get the train. Thanks Mattie.” her voice got quiet towards the end.
“Always, Kitten. I’ll see you tonight if you’re still up by the time I get in.” Mattie was smiling, you could hear it in her voice.
This made Carmilla smile just a little too. “I’ll be up.” she promised before the line went dead.
She put her phone on charge on her bedside table, before stuffing ‘the essentials’ into the bag and leaving it by the door for later. Now all she had to do was write something she’d been meaning to for awhile now and remember to give it to LaF later.
Carmilla made her way over to her beloved old fashioned typewriter and sat down slowly. Laura popped into her head then, causing an involuntary grin to etch itself onto her face.
She replaced the paper and began to type up a guidebook on how to properly look after one, Laura Eileen Hollis.
A lump grew in her throat, for the second time that day, as she was typing, the whole ordeal just bittersweet. There was nothing she wanted more in this world than for Laura to be happy… she’d just always imagined and wished that it would’ve been with her.
Even before she realised just how deep her feelings for the tiny bronze haired beauty ran, she’d always pictured the two of them together. Whether it was romantically or not, she didn’t truly know, but none of that mattered now.
Laura had Danny to take care of her now. Not that she didn’t before, but with the news of the engagement, any flicker of hope Carmilla had was now snuffed out. Laura deserved to be happy and whether or not she wanted to admit it, Xena made her happy. So Carmilla would do what was essentially for the best, remove herself from the situation entirely and get out of town. She’ll go and stay with Mattie for as long as she needs to, until she figures out her next step.