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She knew it was going to happen.Rio coming back. Teen nearly dying. The fact the kid reminded her so much of Nicky didn’t help the matter either. She was bound to break eventually.It was Rio's confession that pushed her over the edge. Suddenly her clothes were too tight, the insects were too loud, the smell of smoke was too strong. She had to get out.She tried to provide a reason for her departure. Make some lame excuse of stretching her legs or insulting Rio or Jen or one of the other insufferable witches. Anything. But no words came out. Not even a sound. She picked at the skin on her fingers nervously, urging any words to leave her mouth. But to no avail. Agatha’s eyes rapidly darted around, her heart rate picking up, her usual demeanor dropping. The second she locked eyes with Rio, she knew the other woman was aware of what was going on. She saw Rio begin to open her mouth and that was her cue to leave. She stood up so fast it made her dizzy, not even waiting a second before taking off into the forest.Rio was soon to follow, she knew all too well what was happening. She knew the feeling of the words getting stuck in your throat, how frustrating it is to have so much to say with no way to say it. It was one of the other things they had in common.It didn’t take long for her to catch up to Agatha, sat on the floor leant against a tree breathing rapidly, hands clutching her shirt.“Hey sweetheart, deep breaths for me” She spoke softly, carefully kneeling in front of her.‘Don’t call me that’ She signed in return, barely looking up from her lap. They had learnt back in Salem as a way to communicate when either of them lost the words.“I’m sorry force of habit” She muttered, almost disappointed that she couldn’t comfort the woman she still loved in the same way she used to.“I still need you to breathe with me though, I’m going to hold your hands, is that okay my lo- Agatha?” She quickly corrected herself. Ocean blue eyes looked up to her, she could see so many conflicting thoughts swimming around them. She could read her like a book after knowing her for centuries. She simply nodded.With that they fell into their old routine. Agatha leant back on the tree, Rio holding her hands against her beating black heart, exaggerating her breaths for the other to follow. After several minutes her breathing was relatively normal, she let go of the younger witch's hands. Agatha noticed herself almost missing the warmth of her touch, after craving it for centuries. As firm of an exterior she presented, inside she longed for physical touch, to be held, cradled, the way she hadn’t been as a child.‘You feeling better?’ Rio signed, now she had calmed down and could look at her properly, she knew Agatha preferred only talking in sign when overstimulated.‘A little’ she replied.‘Anything I can do to help?’Agatha paused for a moment, conflict dancing in her eyes.‘You can ask me anything, it's okay. I’m only here to help, if you’d rather me leave you alone that’s okay too.’After a few moments of nothing, Rio started to stand up, before she could even get to her feet Agatha grabbed her arm.‘No please stay.’ She signed, a melancholic look plastered on her tear stained face. Rio nodded, sitting back down in front of her.‘What do you need?’ She asked, gazing longingly into her eyes. She knew exactly what the other witch needed, but she didn’t want to push boundaries. Agatha looked almost ashamed before signing one word, unshed tears shimmering in her eyes.‘Hug?’Rio smiled softly, shuffling closer and opening her arms. She saw the hesitation weighing the other down, but after a few moments of thought, she leaned into her gentle touch. They had been in this situation many times before, therefore the green witch knew exactly how Agatha liked to be comforted. She needed enough pressure to feel grounded, but not enough that she felt she couldn’t escape.After several minutes of being held and comforted, Agatha shuffled backwards, wiping wetness from her cheeks, tears she hadn’t realised she’d even cried.‘We should go back. Don’t want them to get the wrong idea’ She signed. Rio chuckled softly to herself at the womans comedic nature, especially so soon after being upset.‘Okay, when we get back just walk straight to where you wanna sleep, i’ll just tell everyone it's time for bed’ She replied before jumping up offering Agatha a hand.‘I'm not that old,’ she replied.‘You are literally over 300, accept the help’ Was the response, followed by a smirk.Agatha rolled her eyes before smiling slightly and accepting the hand offered to her.‘You know you are like a billion years older than me right?’‘And yet I still look amazing’ Rio joked playfully. Followed by Agatha's simple ‘asshole’ comment, paired with a smirk.Neither woman cared to admit how much they'd missed being able to joke around like this. They walked back to the coven slowly, and as they returned to the campfire all eyes were on them. Agatha followed Rio’s instructions and headed straight towards a tree slightly distanced from the others while listening to her comforting voice telling everyone it was a good idea to get some rest now. She ignored the teens voice telling her goodnight, shrugging him off as she walked confidently towards her space for the night. No one even noticed she was mute, passing off her silence as her usual ‘Agatha like’ behaviour.She sat against her ‘bed’ watching silently as the coven settled. Alice laid down where she was, Lillia made a pillow out of her coat, Teen rested on a log, she even saw Jen make an eye mask out of leaves - she scoffed at that. Within moments the forest was filled with gentle snores, aside from the two women. Rio didn’t need to sleep, she simply watched over everyone, mainly using it as an excuse to keep an eye on Agatha - who was currently fidgeting relentlessly.No matter how she angled herself she just couldn’t get comfy, and she was too stubborn to ask for what she really wanted. Although the stubbornness didn’t last long. As she dramatically sat back up, crossing her arms in frustration, Rio and her locked eyes. Without saying or signing a thing Rio knew Agatha wanted her to come over, so she did exactly that, tiptoeing past the group and sitting next to the dramatic woman.‘Happy?’ she mocked. The only response she got was a rolling of eyes before the woman slumped back against the tree.‘Are you okay?’ she tried.‘No’‘Would you like me to leave you alone?’‘No’‘Okay,’ Rio replied, leaning against the tree next to Agatha. After 5 minutes of still not sleeping she quickly signed‘Go to sleep, i’ll still be here when you wake’,With that, Agatha finally gave in and rested her head on her shoulder, Rio reaching around her back and playing with her untamed locks, knowing that it calmed her. She was fast asleep seconds later but the green witch continued her movements whilst resting her head slightly on Agatha’s.Suddenly she heard shuffling, and immediately her head shot up, quickly tracking the sound to Lillia, who unbeknownst to her, saw the whole sign conversation. She death glared the psychic as she headed towards the two women, quickly stopping by Agatha's coat. The glare then changed to a more confused look at that. She instinctively lent further into Agatha, somewhat prepared to fight, not that she knew why, but all Lillia did, was gently drape the coat over the two. At the new feeling of warmth, the sleeping woman snuggled herself further into Rio's neck, causing her to smile softly at her before looking back up at Lillia.‘Goodnight Rio, get some rest’ She signed. Rio resumed her questioning gaze, freeing her hands from the makeshift blanket.‘Wait, you know sign?’ She moved her hands carefully.‘I know everything’ Lillia replied jokingly, yet slightly menacingly. That woman is nuts. Rio thought to herself before chuckling at her antics.‘Okay then, Goodnight Lillia’ She smiled, followed shortly by a menacing glare ‘But if you tell anyone about this I will kill you’‘Yeah yeah, night kid’ She replied before heading back to her own makeshift bed. Rio was too gobsmacked to even question being called ‘kid’ considering she was as old as time itself.She waited until she saw Lilia's breathing even out and heard her quiet snoring, before pressing a gentle kiss to Agatha's head. “Goodnight mi amor, I hope you can forgive me someday, because I missed this. I missed you.” she spoke quietly, wrapping her arm back round the witch, resuming playing with her hair and even closing her eyes. "I love you, always" She felt the witch cuddle her tighter, almost as if she heard the confession.Though death did not need to sleep, she couldn’t resist the chance of falling asleep against the comfort of her love - just like old times.