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Mimi’s P.O.V.
Mimi didn’t know what she had done wrong. Susie had been ignoring her for days, ever since they had found the journal. Was it because Mimi had asked her to leave? Maybe it was because Allen’s work was obviously dangerous, maybe Susie didn’t want her now that she knew Mimi had a much more going on than your average housewife.
Was that it?
Susie didn’t want someone with problems? Didn’t want someone who wasn’t perfect and happy and baggage free?
‘All she wanted was a friend,’ Mimi reminded herself. She had to remind herself of this quite often, that Susie thought of her as just a friend, nothing more. At least, Mimi was pretty sure of that. Sometimes Susie would do things that confused her though. Mimi remembered the way Susie had ran a hand down her back just days before; slowly, halting at the small of her back and staying there as they walked to the car. The move reminded her of what Allen did when they were out in public when they had to seem married.
But then they were at the car and Susie was getting into the driver’s seat like it was perfectly normal. And maybe it was, Susie was from New York, after all, maybe they acted differently there. Maybe Mimi was reading the situation wrong.
Now, however, Mimi was pretty sure she wasn’t reading anything wrong. There wasn't even anything to read wrong. Susie was ignoring her.
Mimi slammed the phone back onto its hook after it was obvious Susie wasn’t going to pick up again and walked to get her coat, grabbing Joel’s as well.
“Joel, honey!” Mimi yelled to her son who was in the other room watching television. “Why don’t you go over and play at the neighbors’, I’ve got an errand to run.”
“But mom, he just got the bad guy!” Joel whined Mimi glanced at the television to see Joel’s favorite show playing.
“I’m sure Henry will be watching already.” She placed the coat in Joel’s arms, watching as he slid it on, a pout still present on his face. “You can have a TV night.”
Mimi gave her son a faux smile, grabbing the keys and ushering him out of the door.
Joel ran off as she locked the door, Mimi saw him being let in by the neighbor as she got into the car. She waved, then started the ignition.
*****
Mimi had just learned where Susie lived a few days before, but she memorized the way already. She didn’t even notice she was approaching the house until she pulled to a stop at the curb outside. She slammed the car door behind her as she got out. Mimi made her way up the walk.
Pausing on the stoop, Mimi started questioning herself.
‘Do you really want to do this? She obviously doesn’t want to see you.’ Mimi was asking herself when she heard a thump and a quiet groan coming from inside. Mimi pressed her face against the bubbled glass next to the front door.
The image was distorted and the couple was in the living room, off to the side, but Mimi was sure she saw a large man standing over what seemed to be a small blob of red on the floor. ‘Susie.’
Mimi tried the knob without thinking, desperate to get a better look and make sure Susie was okay. The door was unlocked.
She opened it slowly, trying not to let the hinges squeak until there was enough of a gap for her to slip through.
Inside the air was thick and musty, like it hadn’t had any air let in for weeks. Danger weighed down upon her shoulders as she pressed against the hallway wall, peaking around the corner into the living room. She caught her breath, holding in a gasp.
Susie was laying in a pile on the floor wearing Mimi’s favorite red dress. Her normally perfectly coiled hair was frizzy and tangled, the trim on her collar hanging loose, torn from the rest of the dress, and her lip was busted. Bruises littered her body spanning from the yellowish-green of a days-old injury, to a deep, dark purple of new blood pulsing underneath damaged skin.
She lifted her head and the man backhanded her, sending Susie’s face back into the carpet. Mimi wasn’t sure if she was conscious.
The man spit into Susie’s hair. She lay unmoving.
“Оставайся, шлюха,” he said, voice deep and grating, like a monster from one of Joel’s nightmares.
‘Is that Russian?’
The man rolled Susie over with his foot, her eyes were open, but blank, empty; like Susie was awake, but not living, not quite.
The man squatted down, arms perched on his knees and shook his head, lifting a hand to hit Susie again. Susie’s eyes stayed open. Mimi’s didn’t.
She couldn’t watch anymore, couldn’t watch the woman she loved get beaten up in her own living room.
Mimi didn’t know what to do. But she knew where Susie kept her gun.
Susie had shown her just after how to use it. “Just in case,” Susie had told her, opening the chest in the hallway so that both women could see the shine of the metal.
The heel of Mimi’s caught in the carpet. She stumbled just as another hit echoed off the walls. Mimi winced, almost glad that the noise of the man abusing Susie covered her mistake.
She slipped off her heels — bare feet moving silently across the floor.
She reached the cabinet, carefully lifting the lid. Mimi grabbed the gun, releasing the cylinder.
‘Loaded.’
Mimi would chastise Susie for keeping a loaded gun in the house later; right then, she was glad for it.
Mimi turned back to Susie and the man, not bothering to be quiet when she saw him aiming a kick at Susie’s head.
She raised the gun, both hands clutching the grip, barrel aimed at the man, and planted her bare feet into the carpet — just as Susie had taught her.
The click of Mimi cocking the hammer rang out loudly.
“Get away,” she growled. The man’s head snapped up, ferret-like eyes finding her.
“Похоже, твоя маленькая шлюшка пришла спасти тебя…” he said to Susie, an ugly smile on his face. “И она принесла пистолет, как мило.”
Mimi looked to see the life returning to Susie’s face. Terrified eyes looked back to her.
“Mimi, run.” Susie’s voice was broken and rough like she had been yelling and screaming. Mimi’s grip grew tighter around the gun, the barrel started to shake.
“It’s fine, I’ll be okay, just go.” Susie’s voice was starting to fail her. “You don’t need blood on your hands; just run, baby, please.” Mimi ignored her.
“I said, get away,” she repeated.
The man laughed.
“Вы выбрали смелую девушку на этот раз, Susie. "Храбрую и глупую.” He said Susie’s name, but his eyes stayed on Mimi. He took a step towards her, Mimi stumbled back. “I like her. I think I’ll keep her, in fact.”
“Walk out the door or I will shoot you.” The man laughed harder at Mimi’s shaky threats and took another step closer.
“You should have done as the bitch said.” Mimi had thought Susie was safe with the man’s attention on her, but she learned how wrong she was when the man aimed a kick at Susie’s ribs. Mimi heard a stomach-churning snap and a whine coming from Susie, watching as the woman turned onto her side again and curled in on herself. Mimi’s fear was replaced with anger, deep and terrifying.
“I’m not leaving until you’re gone or there’s one less bullet in this gun.” The words were hers, but the voice was too cold and emotionless to be her own, Mimi was sure.
“That’s unfortunate,” the man said as he started to advance on Mimi again, not halting at one step this time. “I was hoping to not get too much blood on the carpet.”
“Mimi, please.” Susie's voice was no more than a squeak, Mimi’s eyes flicked to see her friend, face pressed into the carpet, pain was written all over her features.
Mimi squeezed her eyes shut and pulled the trigger.
Her hands were steady as the gunshot echoed. The man dropped to the floor, blood already seeping into the chest of his shirt when Mimi realized what she had done. A sob ripped itself from her throat, one hand shooting up to cover her mouth, the other still clutching the gun.
She sank down into a squat, sitting back on her calves and closes her eyes, trying to get the image of blood spreading out of her head.
She heard shuffling and screamed, lifting the gun and firing two more bullets into the man’s prone body.
“Shhhhh, he’s gone, baby, we’re safe.” Mimi looked at Susie who had crawled over and placed a hand on her shoulder.
Mimi’s feet went out from under her, falling forward into Susie.
Susie groaned but wrapped an arm around her, her free hand prying the gun from Mimi’s fingers.
“You did a good job, Mimi.” Susie skillfully opened the cylinder and dumped out the remaining bullets before tossing the gun off to the side. Fingers brushed through Mimi’s hair as she sobbed into Susie’s shoulder.
“We’re safe,” Susie continued to repeat. “You saved me.”
*****
Mimi’s sobs were lessening by the time red and blue lights started to flash through the windows.
“Shit.” Mimi heard Susie hiss just before the door was busted in.
“Clear,” a man shouted. “Suspect down.” There were heavy footsteps and three men came into Mimi’s line of vision.
“Ladies, I’m Sheriff Dun, can you tell us what happened here?” the heavyset man on the far left asked.
Susie sighed, wincing as her ribs shifted, and moved Mimi off of her before standing.
“Yes, Officer. This man,” she gestured to the dead body that moving not thirty minutes before, “was abusing me, he would have killed me if my friend Mimi hadn’t stopped by to see it. She got my gun and told him she would shoot him if he didn’t leave, and well, I guess it’s obvious he didn’t.”
‘Was that a joke? Mimi asked herself, she looked a Susie, mouth slightly ajar.
“Ma'am, there’s a dead man on your floor, I believe you should be taking this more seriously,” the man in the middle said, seemingly just as surprised as Mimi. Susie lifted her chin.
“Officers, that man was a Russian spy, I was his partner.” The hands of all three men flew towards their weapons. Mimi sat speechless on the floor. “Our job was to watch the Hyneks.”
‘Spy?’ Susie looked at her, something like sorrow in her eyes.
“I believe we should continue this conversation with Captain Michael Quinn of the United States Air Force.” None of the men seemed to know what to do. Susie let out a heavy sigh, running a hand through her messy hair.
“Captain Michael Quinn, officers, the phone’s in the kitchen, his number’s on the notepad.”
The three men exchanged looks, nodding, before the second officer to speak broke off and walked to the kitchen. The third unclipped his radio and began to speak to someone back at the station. Sheriff Dun pulled out a pair of handcuffs.
“And please, get her away from the body. Her husband is Dr. Allen Hynek, he also works for the Air Force, call him.” Susie begged as the cuffs snapped shut over thin wrists.
Susie glanced at Mimi again.
Mimi looked away.
*****
Susie’s P.O.V.
Susie couldn’t even count how many things had gone wrong.
Nicholai was supposed to kill her. Mimi wasn’t supposed to have known. Mimi wasn’t supposed to have known except that Susie had left.
Susie looked to the body warmed cuffs around her wrist and sighed. Her ribs were still killing her, but she didn’t care. All she cared about was Mimi, who could very well still have been sitting on the floor back at Susie’s house, forgotten and alone with nothing but a dead body.
Law enforcement seemed to lose its head when they heard the word ‘spy,’ not that Susie blamed them.
But blame or not, that doesn’t change the fact that if Mimi was still in view of Nicholai’s body, Susie was going to kill all three officers that had been at her house and add their bodies to the pile.
Nicholai.
Susie thought back to the events leading her to where she was now 一 alone in a cold interrogation room while Caption Quinn made his way back from Michigan.
Nicholai had found out she was playing turncoat for the Americans. He was there when Susie had gotten back from snooping around Allen’s office with Mimi.
“Ah, the traitorous bitch returns,” he had said, Russian slipping off his tongue easily. It made Susie angry. He wasn’t even Russian, just an idiot American turned on by the Communist Agenda. Susie was born in Russia, spent most of her days there. She knew how awful it really was.
She was so upset she didn’t realize what he had said until it was too late. Nicholai grabbed her roughly by the face, shoving her against the wall.
“I hope you had fun with your little girlfriend, I don’t think you’ll be seeing her again.”
A punch landed on her ribs, but she didn’t drop. She kicked at his groin and aimed for his eyes. There was no clean fighting when it came to spy work, not when you were Susie’s size.
Nicholai caught her hands.
“You really are just a stupid whore.” He punched her again, she tried to fall to the ground this time, just to get away, but he held her fast. “You’re not going anywhere.”
He backhanded her face and her vision went black.
Three days later she got out of bed, wincing at the bruises on her hips, and put on her red dress.
She didn’t shower, didn’t fix her make-up or do her hair, she wasn’t trying to be pretty. The dress just reminded her of Mimi.
‘Mimi.’
Susie prayed she was dead before Mimi came looking again.
And then it was night, and Nicholai was grabbing her by the collar. She heard the fabric rip, felt the anger filling her at the sound.
“You stupid American, you don’t really believe they’ll give you anything but pain once the war is done, do you? You’re a traitor to your own people, you disgust them.” Her voice was raw from crying and screaming, but her words were true.
She watched Nicholai’s face dissolve into anger and she knew she had made a grave mistake. Maybe he’d kill her quickly now.
“Do not call me a traitor.” He threw her to the floor. “And do not call me an American.” He said the word like it was a curse, and Susie never wished more that she had been born in his place and he in hers.
Susie heard the door squeak open slightly and glanced to it. Nicholai didn’t notice, a fact Susie was glad of when she saw Mimi’s face.
She started to sit up, wanting to warn Mimi away, earning a backhand to the face.
“Stay, slut.” She did. Nicholai liked it when she listened, it made him feel powerful, Susie would guess. If she could keep his attention on her…
When he flipped her over she kept her face blank. He squatted and backhanded her and she kept her face where it landed, staring directly at Mimi.
Susie watched as she closed her eyes, watched as she turned. She felt joy building in her chest that Mimi was leaving, that she’d be fine.
But then Mimi began to trip.
Susie thought quickly, turning her head back to Nicholai, coming back to herself slightly to make him angry again.
She didn’t even get a word out before he punched her. It covered the sound that Mimi made. Susie waited for the click of the door but it never came.
Instead, she heard the click of a gun cocking.
‘No, please no.’ Susie thought. And then the voice came.
“Get away.” Mimi was obviously trying to be intimidating, but Susie could hear the fear in her voice. It didn’t compare to the fear Susie felt for her.
“Looks like your little slut has come to save you.” There was a wicked smiled on Nicholai’s face. “And she brought a gun, how cute.”
‘Please,’ Susie wanted to say to Mimi, ‘you don't need to see this.
Instead, she told Mimi to run. She wasn’t surprised when she didn’t, not with the look of Mimi’s face, angry and farel. She tried again.
“It’s fine, I’ll be okay, just go. You don’t need blood on your hands; just run, baby.” But Mimi stayed frozen in place.
“I said, get away.” Her persistence had startled Nicholai, but he covered his surprise with a laugh.
“You chose a brave girl this time, Susie. Brave and stupid.” The next words that came out of Nicholai made Susie’s stomach churn. “I like her. I think I’ll keep her, in fact.” He had switched from russian to english, Susie assumed to make sure Mimi got the message too.
“Walk out the door or I will shoot you.” Nicholai laughed again. Susie would really appreciate if Mimi would stop being brave, do as she said, and run away.
“You should have done as the bitch said,” Nicholai kicked her ribs and god she wasn’t prepared for that. She felt a rib snap. Susie rolled over onto her side and curled into herself, instincts beating the need to keep an eye on Mimi.
Susie blacked out for a minute from the pain and when she came back to, Nicholai was walking towards Mimi. Susie wanted to cry. This wasn’t supposed to happen.
“Mimi, please.” Susie begged one last time. She blacked out again.
She heard a gunshot.
When Susie’s vision returned again Mimi was squatting, sobbing into one hand, the gun was still hanging limp from the other.
Susie had approached her slowly, both because of the pain she was in and because of her unwillingness to startle the armed woman. She crawled around to Mimi side, not completely trusting the other woman to not shoot her right out if she came from the same direction as the body.
Susie’s instincts had proven correct when Mimi screamed and fired two more bullets into Nicholai’s dead body. Susie put a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down.
“Shhhhh, he’s gone, baby, we’re safe.” Susie told Mimi, letting her collapse into her arms, despite the pain. Susie had gotten rid of the gun as Mimi cried into the shoulder of her ripped dress, and shifted them slightly to have Nicholai out of Mimi’s field of vision.
Susie had almost fallen asleep as she tried to calm Mimi. It hadn't mattered that they were on the floor, or that Susie had at least one broken rib, or that there was a dead body in the room with them. All that mattered was the fact that she had Mimi in her arms again.
And she was so, so tired.
When the cops showed up Susie had done exactly what Michael had told her too. She told them the truth, had told them to call Michael, not one of his higher-ups, had willingly let them put the cuffs on her wrists. It didn’t matter to her anymore.
They could have shot her and it would have hurt less than when Mimi looked away.
*****
“Gentlemen, this woman has been feeding us information about the Russians for weeks, why the fuck is she in handcuffs,” a stoic voice came from the doorway. Susie’s head snapped up.
‘Michael, thank god.’ Susie thought when she saw Captain Quinn glaring at the men accompanying him. Sheriff Dun and the Deputies, her mind supplied her.
“Feeding information?” the Sheriff sputtered. “She didn’t say anything.” Michael glanced to Susie, a question in his gaze, Susie shrugged. A small smirk appeared on Quinn’s face, but there was worry lurking behind it.
“No, I suppose she wouldn’t have,” he said. He held his hand out. “Key.”
One of the men jumped to give him what he asked for, patting down his pockets frantically. Finally, he had the silver key in his hand and was handing it to Michael.
“Thank you, gentlemen, you’re free to go,” Michael said with a smile. The men looked hesitant but Michael’s voice didn’t leave room for argument.
When the door was shut and they were alone, Michael turned to Susie. His smile dropped but the worry remained.
The two had grown surprisingly close in the last few weeks, bonding over traumatic pasts and their shared inability to hide their love for the Hynek couple. Michael crossed the room and leaned against the table in front of Susie, bending slightly to undo her cuffs.
“What the hell happened, Susie?” Michael asked, he didn’t bother keeping quiet, the interrogation room they were in was made to hold sound. Nothing like the chambers back home and Susie was glad for that. “Why didn’t you call me?”
Michael had left her with very strict instructions of calling him if Nicholai ever found out she was sharing intel, it would be difficult when he was on cases, but Susie had assured him she’d be fine. He had remained hesitant.
“Nicholai didn’t exactly let me near the phone.” Susie rubbed at her wrists where they had been worn raw but the cuffs. The red lines hardly stood out among the other bruises and cuts.
Michael grunted and gripped her chin, raising her head to inspect her face.
“Is this the worst of it?” He asked nodding to her face. Susie dropped her eyes.
“I think the worst is on my hips and thighs,” she muttered. Michael’s hand unconsciously tightened on her chin, she winced and looked up to see anger clouding his features.
“I’ll kill him,” Michael growled. And Susie normally would have been thinking about how crazy it was that she was here, a US Air Force Captain fretting over her, but his words caught her attention.
“They didn’t tell you?” Her eyes flicked frantically across his face. She was confused, to say the least. “How the hell didn’t they tell you.”
Michael seemed almost as confused as her now.
“Tell me what, Suz?” His hand dropped next to his leg, gripping the edge of the table.
“He’s dead.” Michael confusion was swept away with surprise, he opened his mouth to speak. “Weren’t you with Allen? Why didn’t he tell you? I told them to call him, did they not call him?” Susie started to stand up, wincing when she remembered her rib and dropping back on to the metal chair she had been occupying for hours.
“Susie, Susie, slow down, doll. Why can’t you stand, are you hurt even more?” Michael reached out for her but she grabbed his hands before they could even reach her, tugging on them roughly.
“Yes, I broke a rib.” Michael looked to her torso as if he could asses the damage through her garments. Susie didn’t have time for this. “Did they call Allen?”
Michael took his hands back running one over his face.
“Yeah, Allen got a call. Something about Mimi, he didn’t seem to stressed about it, and I was too worried about you to ask.”
This time Susie did stand up, ignoring the pain as she started towards the door.
“They didn’t tell him either, what the actual fuck.” Michael chased after her, placing a hand on the door to hold it shut before Susie could open it.
“Didn’t tell Allen what, Susie.” Michael put a hand on her shoulder. “You’re not making sense, we should get you to a Doctor.”
Susie’s head snapped up.
“That she shot him, Michael!” Susie yelled. “Mimi killed Nicholai.”
Michael seemed stunned.
“Let me get this straight; Mimi, as in Miriam Hynek, shot Nicholai Wilson, American turned Soviet spy?” Susie nodded.
“Okay.” Susie was surprised by that.
“Okay?” She asked to clarify. “We can go make sure she’s fine?”
Michael looked at her like she was crazy.
“No, ‘okay’ Mimi shot a man, ‘okay’ Allen is with her now, and ‘okay’ you still need to go to a hospital,” Michael said. Susie glared.
“That sentence didn't even make any sense,” she spat. “And I am not going to the hospital.” Michael looked at her, exasperated.
“Susie, you have at least one broken rib; a concussion, if all that bruising around your temples and your dilated eyes are anything to go by; malnourishment, probably, when was the last time he let you eat?” ‘Three days ago.’ Susie didn’t give him an answer, knowing he wouldn’t be happy with the truth. “And who knows what else. You’re going to a doctor.”
And maybe Michael made a good point because Susie was starting to grow dizzy.
“And that would be the adrenaline fading,” Michael said watching her sway slightly on her feet. She stumbled against the door. Michael signed.
“Yup, let’s go,” Michael muttered, slinging an arm behind her knees and lifting her off the ground. She was about to protest and say she didn’t need to be carried when he spoke again. “No, you can’t walk on your own, if I let you do that you’ll just fall and hurt yourself more.”
Susie nodded because, yeah, that sounded valid.
*****
Mimi P.O.V.
Paramedics had come to remove the body while Mimi was still in the house. They had checked her too, asked her a few questions to make sure she was okay, and then Allen was there, helping her into the car that was still parked at the curb and driving them home.
Joel must have been asleep next door, but Mimi didn’t have it in her to feel apologetic towards Donna. Henry had fallen asleep on her couch his own fair share of times anyway.
“Mimi,” she heard Allen’s voice but it seemed far away, “can you tell me what happened?”
Allen had been her best friend and confidant for as long as Mimi could remember. He was the first and only person she had ever told that she liked women just as much as — if not more than — men. And when she had gotten pregnant, Allen was there for her and for Joel, willing to step in and act as the boy's father, even if he hadn’t played a role in making him. It was upon his suggestion that they had gotten married and become a family, he had known he wasn’t ever going to be able to marry someone he loved romantically, so why not marry someone he loved like a sister.
Sometimes she had wondered what it would be like if something were to happen between them. The thought was laughable since Allen loved men more than she did.
Allen knew of these thoughts, they knew all of each other’s darkest secrets, but she wasn’t sure if she could tell him this. It wasn’t her secret to tell.
Susie was a spy.
Pieces of the puzzle that was Susie’s slightly odd behavior began to find homes. Susie’s talent with a gun, her curiosity about Allen’s job, her eagerness to snoop around Allen’s office. She started to sob again.
‘Has Susie been using me the whole time?’ She couldn’t help but ask herself.
She felt Allen start to rub at her shoulders but it was nowhere near as comforting as Susie’s hands had been. She collapsed into him anyway, unsure of what else to do.
“Mimi, dear, you’ve got to tell me what happened, I don’t know what to do to help you,” Allen told her, voice low and calming.
Mimi sobbed harder and buried her face into Allen’s shoulder, shaking her head violently.
“No, no I can’t, I-” Allen cut her off, hushing her.
“Alright Mimi, shhh, it’s okay,” he kissed the top of her head, “we’re going to be fine.”
*****
Mimi didn’t say a word for days. She could tell that Allen was really starting to get worried, could tell that Joel was beyond confused by her failure to wish him luck at school or to tell him to sleep well.
She felt quite terrible about the fact that she hadn't told her own son that she loved him for so long, but she couldn’t bare adding more noise to the world. Not when her head was already screaming at her all day and all night.
She wasn’t sleeping, she wasn’t eating. She spent her days alone, forcing Allen to care for Joel, making him meals and sending him off to school. Allen had been staying home from work to take care of her as well, which mostly consisted of sitting in his office with the door open, glancing up intermediately to check on Mimi, who was pacing in the living room.
She couldn’t help but think of Susie. The questions she asked herself kept alternating, but one stood prominent.
If Susie had been using you, why did she tell you to run? Why did she hold you after you shot him and try to calm you? She asked herself. She could never find the answer.
Mimi was watching the shifting colors of the sunset for the third time when she heard the phone ring. When Allen received the call in his office she could feel his eyes on her. Allen was whispering but his door was still open, she could hear him clearly. He sounded angry.
“She won't tell me what happened!” His voice was still a whisper, but with the venom in his voice, he may as well have been yelling. “That’s why I need you too.” Allen paused, listening to the reply from the person on the phone.
“Bullshit, Michael. I know you know what happened.” There was another long pause. “She’s barely living, Michael. She’s not eating, not sleeping.” She heard him sigh. Mimi had known Allen long enough to know that he was pulling at his hair at that moment.
“She won't even touch Joel, she flinches every time he gets too close… What do you mean she’s ‘probably afraid she’ll hurt him’? What the hell happened?” There was one final pause before Mimi heard the crash of Allen’s phone being slammed onto the hook and rushed footsteps approaching her.
“Mimi, honey, I’m so sorry,” Allen said, walking toward her and pulling her into his arms once again. Mimi went numbly.
“I killed him,” she said, her throat aching slightly from disuse. “I told him I would kill him if he didn’t leave Susie alone.” A tear she thought she had dried herself of days ago slipped down her check, Allen wiped it away, but stayed quiet, not wanting to stop Mimi now that she was finally talking.
“He was hurt-” Her voiced cracked. “He was hurting her, he said he was going to hurt me… So I pulled the trigger.” Silent tears continued to flow, Mimi’s chest was shaking with them, with short, stuttering breaths.
“She held me, she called me ‘baby,’” The word had been playing on repeat in Mimi’s head for the past three days, when she had surrendered to sleep her dreams were full of it -- of Susie calling her baby, over, and over, and over again.
“I love her, Allen, but-” She wasn’t going to share this part, she hadn't planned on it at least, not until it started slipping out. “-But then the police were there and she was telling them that the man was a spy, that she was a spy, and I don’t know what to do.”
She pulled away slightly, wiping at her face and looking at Allen with red eyes.
“Allen, please tell me what to do.”
Allen remained silent for some time, rubbing Mimi’s back, unsure as to what to say. They swayed slightly, back and forth in each other’s arms. Mimi could sense Allen racking his brain for answers. Finally, he spoke.
“I saw a man die once.” Mimi already knew this, had just found out about it a week or so ago. “He killed himself. I wanted to stop him but I didn’t know how.”
Allen pulled away from her and held her at arms distance, waiting until she looked at him to continue speaking.
“Mimi, you didn’t just kill someone — you stopped him.” One hand moved from her shoulder to pet her hair. “You stopped him from killing Susie and from hurting you. You did the right thing.” Mimi nodded into Allen’s hand.
“And maybe you still see him, see his body falling, every time you close your eyes or go to sleep, but-” Mimi cut Allen off.
“It’s not him I see when I go to sleep. It’s Susie.” Mimi took a deep breath. “I think I still love her.”
“Well, there’s nothing wrong with that, Mimi,” Allen said it with the utmost confidence like that was a known fact. Mimi wasn’t so sure.
“She’s a Soviet spy! And,” Mimi looked away from her best friend and bit her lip, “I was her mission. I doubt I was anything more.”
‘Then why did she tell you to run away? Why did she hold you after you shot him and try to calm you?’ The question returned, tumbling around and around her brain. Allen clicked his tongue.
“Michael is with her right now so I highly doubt she was just a Soviet spy.” His petting resumed in her hair, she looked back to him. “As for that ‘just a mission’ bullshit, I’ve seen the way she stares at you, there’s no way that woman doesn’t love you more than you love her.”
“Did Michael say how she was doing? Are her ribs okay?” Mimi asked anxiously, Allen chuckled.
“No, he didn’t say. She is staying with him while she recovers, however…” Mimi considered what would happen if she went over there and saw her. Just to check up and make sure Susie was okay. Allen patted her check.
“Go grab your coat, I’ll drive.” He said, walking to the kitchen to grab the keys.
“I can drive myself.” Allen raised an unbelieving eyebrow.
“You haven’t eaten and you’ve hardly slept for the past three days, no way in hell am I letting you in the driver’s seat,” Allen called over his shoulder as he collected their coats since Mimi still stood in the middle of the living room. He threw her her coat and looked back at her from the front door.
“Are you coming or not.” Mimi looked down at her hands, playing with her fingers.
“I’m not sure this is a good idea.” Allen sighed.
“I’ll tell you what, Meems, if you go and see Susie — just see her, nothing has to happen today — I’ll…” Allen seemed to be contemplating his next words seriously. “I’ll tell Michael how I feel about him.” Mimi looked up at him in surprise as he said the words, then, what Mimi was sure could only be described as a crazed grin, spread over her face.
“You mean that you’re in love with him?” Mimi was already putting on her coat.
She had been trying to get Allen to tell Michael he loved him since the first time she had seen them together, it had been clear that the two men were completely gone for each other. That was months ago and Allen had been denying it. Until right then.
“I’m not in love with him,” Allen hissed. “I just have strong feelings towards him.” Mimi let out a doubtful hum and walked toward where he stood at the front door.
“Whatever you say, loverboy.” She wrenched the door open and walked out into the cold.
*****
Susie P.O.V.
There was a knock on the door causing Susie and Michael to freeze in their tracks.
The two of them had been pacing for upwards of an hour. Ever since Allen had hung up on Michael. Ever since Allen found out that Mimi had killed a man.
Michael’s hand flew to his waist where an M19 semi-automatic sat, loaded and ready. He nodded toward the bedroom, telling her to go hide but she just rolled her eyes and walked to her bag that sat, still packed, on the couch. Out of it, she pulled the pistol she had stashed away when Michael took her to collect her things.
She checked the clip to see it full and looked back to Michael.
In one word, the expression he wore was ‘really?’ Susie smiled and gestured for him to open the door.
She wasn’t going to hide. If Susie Miller was going to fall, she would go down swinging.
Michael approached the door silently, unlocking the deadbolts and twisting the knob, throwing the door open.
And there were the Hyneks, surprisingly unsurprised as they stared down the barrels of two separate handguns.
“Were you expecting somebody specific?” Allen asked dryly, raising his hands slowly. Susie could see the top of Mimi’s head peeking out from above his. She let out a relieved sigh and flicked the safety of her pistol back into place.
“Russians, probably,” Michael answered as he stepped aside to let the couple in. “We don’t know if-” Susie cut him off.
“We don’t know when they’ll come,” she said, shoving the gun into the waistband of her pants; now that Michael knew it existed there was no reason to hide it and she felt safer with it within her reach. “They will come. They don’t let traitors go.”
“Depending on whether or not Nicholai told them,” Michael argued.
“That dog was loyal to his owners, there’s no way he didn’t.”
“He seemed pretty eager to keep you all to himself,” a new voice cut in. All heads turned to Mimi. She smiled shyly and took a small step forward as if Susie should be afraid of her and not the other way around. “Susie, how are you?”
Susie had never been gladder to hear someone speak. She had been worried when Michael had told her that Allen said Mimi wasn’t speaking, a fact that was obvious by the scratchiness marring her voice.
“How am I? Mimi, Michael said you haven’t been eating or sleeping, if you want to know, I am worried about you.” Susie was beyond surprised that when she walked toward Mimi she didn’t back away. She was even more surprised when Mimi didn’t seem to mind when Susie placed a palm on her arm, in fact, she seemed to melt into it.
Mimi’s hand lifted to her face.
“Your bruises are healing well,” she whispered. Susie nodded, trying not to disturb Mimi’s hand.
“I’ll be fine, love,” she said with a smile. There was a cough. Mimi jumped back slightly.
“You ladies are free to use my bedroom to talk.” Michael offered, Susie pried her eyes away from Mimi to look at him. He was obviously masking a small smile as he bit the inside of his lip, Allen stood next to him not even trying to hide his own large smile — which confused Susie a bit since she kind of accidentally just came onto his wife.
“I’d like to keep an eye on the door.” Michael’s voice drew her attention back to him. She nodded, taking Mimi’s hand and leading her down the hallway.
“Keep the curtains drawn!” Michael called after them. Susie rolled her eyes. As if she didn’t already know that.
“That’s a different gun,” Mimi said once they were in Michael’s room, door shut and curtains pulled. Susie followed Mimi’s line of sight to her waistband. Susie pulled the gun loose and set it carefully on Michael’s bed, tossing a pillow on top of it, thinking Mimi would probably be more comfortable with it out of sight.
“It’s more practical than the revolver I taught you to use.” Susie shrugged, not knowing what else to say.
“So,” Mimi started, taking the pressure to talk off of Susie’s shoulders. “A Soviet spy, huh?” There was a tilt to the corner of Mimi’s mouth, somewhat resembling a grin. Susie was surprised, to say the least.
“No. I-” Susie’s heart was beating way too fast. She took a deep breath, perching on the foot of Michael’s bed. “Yes, but I’ve been working with Michael for a few months now, giving him intel on the Russians.”
Susie heard a gasp and looked up, expecting Mimi to be upset or angry again, but was surprised when Mimi took a seat next to her instead, a worried look maring her features.
“Susie,” Mimi said softly, disapproval lacing her tone. “Wasn’t that dangerous?” Susie was slightly confused, why was Mimi worried about Susie instead of herself or her family?
“Well, yes, but the Air Force offers safety and protection for its spies, so when I eventually defected I wouldn’t be alone, I’d have America at my back, and I couldn’t keep spying for Russia, I couldn’t keep giving them information on you-” Mimi interrupted her rambling pulling back the hand that Susie hadn’t even realized had been placed on her shoulder.
“So I was your mission.” It wasn’t asked like a question, Mimi already knew the answer. Susie’s heart stopped racing, stopped completely.
“Yes, but, Mimi, please, believe me, I never gave them any information that would put you or anyone that you care about in trouble. Not when I-” Susie stopped herself. She had been about to tell Mimi that she loved her, but was that really what she wanted to do? When Mimi was here, possibly willing to still be in Susie’s life, to be her friend? Did Susie really want to risk Mimi walking out again and never looking back this time?
Susie’s eye’s moved to Mimi who was staring back at her with an expectant look on her face, and she decided that the answer was yes. When Mimi was looking at her like that -- like Susie had a chance… Well, the answer would always be yes.
“Look, Mimi, I know this may be weird, and I know you’ve got a kid and a husband,” Mimi opened her mouth to speak, but Susie held up a hand, not quite done yet. “And then there was the way you reacted to the gay bar all those months back, but I need to tell you, no matter how weird it may be to you.
“I love you, Mimi, I’m in love with you,” Susie spit out after a short struggle, brushing the hair from her forehead. “Have been since the first time I laid eyes on you.”
“Allen’s not my husband.” ‘Well that’s not what I was expecting to hear.’ Susie thought. She waited for Mimi to elaborate, a confused look on her face. “Well, he is, but it’s a lavender marriage.” That didn’t help Susie at all.
“A what?” Mimi sighed, Susie thought she looked slightly impatient, a big difference from Mimi’s normally calm and tolerant when it came to giving people time.
“A lavender marriage.” Susie looked down, surprised when she felt Mimi’s hand on her knee. “Allen and I got married so that he could help with Joel, but also because it was easier to seem straight, being married and all. We’re not actually in any romantic or sexual relationship.” Susie didn’t know what to say, Mimi was into women? Was that what she was saying?
“But the gay bar,” Susie argued looking up at Mimi and… ‘Oh, is she closer?”
“Was me panicking because I had spent years convincing this town that I was your average, straight housewife, and I was worried that if they saw me in a gay bar with a beautiful woman, they would jump to admittedly right conclusions.”
“Which are?” Susie pushed, needing Mimi to be 100% clear, just to make sure Susie didn’t do something terribly wrong like kiss Mimi, damn she wanted to kiss Mimi.
“That I’m completely in love with you too.” Mimi was leaning forward, she was definitely about to kiss Susie, but there was one thing still on Susie’s mind. She jumped up.
“Wait a minute, so does this mean that Allen is not only into men but single too?” she said excitedly turning to face Mimi again, who had a slightly annoyed expression on her face.
“Yes, can you tell me why you’re asking about Allen right after I told you that I loved you instead of kissing me?” Mimi answered, sass lacing her voice.
Susie bounced on her toes happily, then fell to her knees in front of where Mimi still sat on Michael’s bed.
“Mimi, Michael is head over heels for your husband, we have to-”
And wow Mimi was kissing her… Susie closed her eyes reflexively, pushing up slightly to return the kiss. Her hands went up, running through Mimi’s hair lightly before her fingers locked around the back of her neck. Mimi’s own hands moved to frame her jaw, soft over Susie’s shifting muscles. Susie pushed up further into Mimi, tightening her hold until the only space between them was what was necessary for their separate levels. A smile grew on Mimi’s face, she could feel it under her lips, it brought a smile to her face as well.
They kissed until their smiles were too broad for anything more than a clash of their teeth. Eventually, Susie sat back on her heels. She didn’t know what to say so she just continued to smile up at Mimi.
“I told that bastard Michael was in love with him.” Were the first words out of Mimi’s mouth. Susie was startled at the slightly harsh language, but Mimi seemed to be using the word as a term of endearment. It took a moment for Susie’s mind to catch up to what Mimi was saying, however, then realization dawned.
“You mean Allen likes Michael too?” Mimi rolled her eyes at the question but smiled.
“He finally admitted it on the way here.” Her smile grew wider and slightly devious. “In fact, he should be telling Michael just about now…” An idea popped into Susie’s head.
“If only we knew a highly trained spy that could easily sneak out there and see what’s going on.” Mimi jumped up.
“Let’s go,” She said offering Susie a hand up too. “But first, I’d really love it if that spy would be my girlfriend?”
Susie smiled, nodding enthusiastically.
“She’d be stupid not to be.” She kissed her girlfriend again.
‘Girlfriend,’ Susie thought, ‘I could get used to that.’
A soft bang echoed from the living room. Mimi pulled back, raising an eyebrow in question. Susie smiles again, patting her girlfriend’s hip and walking to the door, cracking it open.
She peeked through the gap and down the hall. She couldn’t see much, the kitchen was off to one side, the living room the other, but there was a soft light glowing from the living room. She strained her ears to listen but heard nothing, no conversation, no radio. She looked over her shoulder at Mimi and jerked her head to the hallway. Mimi nodded. Susie eased open the door.
Together they tiptoed down the hallway into the soft light. There was another thump as they rounded the corner. They froze.
On the couch sat Allen, pressed into the cushion, head tilted back against the wall, that part wasn’t odd. The odd part was Michael.
Michael was sitting, arms resting on the back of the couch, straddling Allen’s lap, sucking on his tongue and wow.
Both women stood unmoving, then, Mimi broke into a giggle. Michael shot back almost falling off of Allen’s lap, he would have if Allen’s arms weren’t holding strong around his waist, one hand on the small of his back, the other resting on his ass.
“I fucking told you so, Allen,” Mimi said walking over and collapsing onto the couch next to where the men sat intertwined. Michael stared at her as she crossed her legs, a slightly startled look on his face, Allen just smiled softly. He pressed one more quick kiss to Michael’s lips, softer than the last had been, before shifting Michael from his lap and unto the couch on the opposite side from Mimi. As Susie watched the scene unfolded before her a warm feeling grew in her chest.
This feeling only blossomed when Mimi gave her an expectant look, patting the couch next to her, and who was Susie to deny such a simple request?
“I take it you two kissed and made up?” Michael asked while Allen had a silent conversation with Mimi, who was now curled into Susie’s side.
“Are you really going to ask about kissing after what we just walked in on?” Susie sassed back, arching an eyebrow. Michael laughed and shook his head, a slight blush on his face.
“As long as you kept it off of my bed.” Was his snarky reply, he buried his face into Allen’s hair, Susie supposed to hide his blush.
“A lady doesn’t kiss and tell.”
The conversation between Allen and Mimi ended. Mimi turned to Susie instead and kissed her cheek before resting her head on Susie’s shoulder.
Susie kissed the top of Mimi’s head, smiling into her hair, in the corner of her eye she saw Michael petting Allen’s curls, the older man seemed to be falling asleep, head lolling onto Michael’s shoulder.
Mimi followed suit soon after, exhausted from days of no sleep. Susie settled in for a long night not that she minded.
There, with Mimi in safe and in her arms, she wasn’t planning on leaving anytime soon.
*****