Fic: A Newly Discovered Country, (Amina/Miriam, The World Unseen)

[fembuck]

Title: A Newly Discovered Country
Author: Janine
Fandom: The World Unseen
Pairing: Amina/Miriam
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don’t own them. I’m just borrowing them for a while ;)
Summary: A morning with Miriam and Amina at the café.
 

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Amina walked towards the kitchen slowly, her eyes casting side to side as she moved, seeming to take in the café around her, while really she was taking stock of where her staff was.

The kitchen was warm, and Amina closed her eyes as she crossed the threshold from the café proper into the domestic space, which still mystified her, though no longer as much as it once had. Without really trying to, Miriam had begun to domesticate her, and Amina found that it was a comforting thing rather than the terrifying prospect she had suspected it would be.

When Amina’s eyes opened again they fell on Miriam who was hunched over a long counter, kneading dough, and Amina’s step quickened as she approached the older woman.

“Are you okay?” Amina asked gently, coming to a stop beside Miriam. Her hand lifted and she hesitated for only a second, her eyes scanning the area around them again before she placed her hand tenderly on the small of Miriam’s back.

Miriam’s breathed in deeply at the soft pressure of Amina’s hand, but fought to keep her eyes from closing as she luxuriated in the comforting warmth of Amina’s hand. It was still strange for her, to be touched for seemingly no reason. Casual physical contact had been something she had been without for most of her adult life, and if she were honest her childhood too. Her mother did not cuddle her, and kiss her forehead, and hold her hand like she did with her own children. Amina was the first to cherish her this way, and Miriam was forced to blink rapidly for a few seconds to stop the tears that suddenly began to well in her eyes at the thought.

“Of course,” Miriam responded when she felt that she was in control of her feelings again. “Being in the kitchen is the one part of this experience that’s not alien to me,” she continued, her hands pausing in their work as she lifted her head and angled her body to the side slightly so that she was looking up into Amina’s shining brown eyes.

Miriam gasped, her hand automatically reaching towards Amina to touch her cheek lightly. She drew her hand back a second later as a smudge of white appeared on Amina’s cheek and she remembered that her hands were covered in dough.

“You’re a mess,” Miriam whispered, taking in Amina’s curly, and at the moment, impossibly wild curls of hair. At the moment, Amina’s hair was like her daughter Alisha’s, after Alisha had been running around outside for hours fighting with her brother and rolling around in the dirt even though Miriam told her not to.

Miriam smiled. Amina had probably been doing something similar.

“What?” Amina asked, smiling herself as she saw Miriam’s lips curve up fondly.

“Nothing,” Miriam said, a blush spreading across her cheeks as Amina looked at her curiously, her gaze open and interested.

She still wasn’t used to how Amina seemed genuinely interested in the things she had to say. Despite having spent hours around the girl every week now for months, and having technically known her for years, she was still stunned by Amina’s interest in her thoughts, and feelings, and continued to be awed by how gently Amina coaxed these once fiercely guarded secrets from her. It still amazed her how tenderly Amina treated her words once they had been freed from Miriam’s throat, and how she always seemed to want more, as if Miriam was the most fascinating person she had ever talked to – which Miriam knew couldn’t be true, though she was flattered nonetheless.

Amina kept looking at her, and Miriam smiled and flushed again before she dipped her head down and turned back to her dough.

“You just reminded me of Alisha for a moment … looking all wild and unkempt after playing with Sam out back all afternoon,” Miriam murmured, delighted to her Amina’s soft laughter fill the space around them a few moments later. She felt Amina’s hand move against her back in a gentle up and down motion, and she realized that she had tensed up under the girl’s hand.

Living with Omar had made her fear speaking honestly, and even though she knew she was safe in Amina’s presence, she sometimes reacted as her married life had trained her to.

“I was working on the roof. It’s windy this morning,” Amina said softly, her hand moving lower on Miriam’s back until the edge of her hand brushed against the tantalizing slope of the older woman’s bottom.

Miriam sucked in a deep breath, but didn’t move or otherwise indicate that she knew where Amina’s hand was headed. She simply began to knead the dough again, though if Amina had been playing attention to her hands, she would have seen that Miriam was working the dough much more vigorously than she had been before.

“My hat kept blowing off, so finally I gave up. It’s useless to fight nature,” Amina continued, lowering her hand until her slim, sun-browned fingers were lightly cupping the curve of Miriam’s behind. “Do I look terrible?” Amina asked leaning close to Miriam, enjoying the way the older woman trembled slightly at the feel of her warm breath.

“No,” Miriam breathed out, lifting her head to look at Amina. “That’s impossible.”

With Amina having moved closer a few seconds before, their faces were brought very close together when Miriam looked up, and she found herself caught in Amina’s gaze, paralyzed by the look of desire and love that so clearly shone through the girl’s eyes.

Her gaze dropped down to Amina’s lips, and unconsciously Miriam licked her own. That tight feeling was back in her belly again, and she was aware of a dull throbbing starting between her legs as her body made her hyperaware of the feel of Amina’s hand on her, and of the sweet smell surrounding her that she knew to be uniquely Amina.

Miriam shifted, and her eyes flickered from Amina’s eyes to her lips once more.

These feelings the girl called up in her still startled her sometimes. The longing and desire Amina could inspire in her constantly took her by surprise. She hadn’t even known that it was possible for her to react so strongly, so viscerally to another human being. She had read about such strong passions, about need, but she had never experienced anything close to it before.

Sex was a duty, a chore, with Omar. It was something that she had to do, along with scrubbing the floor, and minding the shop, and washing the dishes. It was a nuisance, an irritant, and she had thought many times that she could do without it. It had been just one more thing to worry about.

But with Amina it was different, as so many things with Amina were. Amina made her tingle, and tremble all over, and gasp, and strain. She desired Amina’s closeness, her touch, the taste of her skin and the brush of her fingers. She thought about Amina’s body when the girl wasn’t around, she longed for her. And, sometimes, when she was alone and her thoughts went on for too long she would escape to her bedroom and slip her hand between her legs, imagining that it was Amina’s hand touching her until she collapsed in a sated heap against the mattress. She liked the taste of Amina’s sweat, and the way Amina smelled after working in sun. A look from Amina brought her more pleasure and satisfaction than any amount of time in bed with Omar ever had, or ever could.

Amina cast her eyes around them again, but they were still alone. It was too early for people to be milling around the café, and her usual kitchen staff was more than happy to give up their work area to Miriam for the morning.

“You’re making it very hard for me not to kiss you,” Amina whispered, watching Miriam as Miriam stared longingly at her lips.

Miriam smirked, and then shocked Amina by closing the distance between them and pressing her lips against the girl’s. She had seen Amina look around and she knew that they were alone.

As usual, at the first taste of Amina’s lips she wanted nothing more than to continue kissing them until she couldn’t breathe, until she was light-headed and happy and she collapsed into Amina’s arms. But she knew that she couldn’t linger at Amina’s lips. They were alone for the moment, but at any second that could change. She really shouldn’t have kissed her at all, but Miriam was doing a lot of things that she knew she shouldn’t, and she saw no reason to stop when the reward for her disobedience was Amina’s sweet lips.

Amina smiled, her eyes still closed when Miriam pulled back from her. The woman had surprised her, as she had begun to do more and more as she finally emerged from the shell that tradition, and expectation, and marriage had trapped her in. It pleased Amina so much to see Miriam becoming her own woman and she couldn’t stop herself from gently touching Miriam’s cheek.

“You look tired,” Amina said, making a conscious decision to take a step back from Miriam until there was an almost respectable distance between them. They had been lucky so far, but she knew for a fact that luck ran out. “You should go lie down for a bit. The rotlis can wait.”

Miriam smiled but shook her head. “If I go back there, I may lie down, but I will not rest,” she said in a distinctly saucy tone as she glanced over at Amina, who met her eyes for a second before guiltily looking away, though a sheepish smile played at the corner of her lips. “There’ll be time later,” Miriam murmured a few seconds after, her voice dropping in a way that made Amina feel like she was coming undone.

Amina nodded, knowing that they would have time together in the afternoon when she drove Miriam back to Delhof. They usually had a few hours free to spend in the guest bedroom – Amina didn’t like to be with Miriam in the master bedroom even though the bed was bigger – before the children arrived home. And, if Amina helped Miriam out with the chores once they emerged from the bedroom, tired but happy, they could usually grab a little more time together to talk and walk through the garden.

“I know,” Amina sighed, reluctantly pulling away from Miriam when she heard the door to the café open. “If you need anything, just …” Amina began, pausing in the doorway of the kitchen to look at Miriam again.

“I know, I’ll call you,” Miriam said smiling before she waved her hand at Amina, gently encouraging the girl to continue her journey into the dining room so that she could greet her customer.

Amina nodded but lingered in the doorway for a second longer. She dipped her head shyly, and then murmured, “I love you,” before looking up and over at Miriam again.

“I love you, too,” Miriam whispered smiling, mouthing the words back more than anything. She could see someone approaching the counter and knew that if she spoke out loud her words would carry over to them.

Amina smiled at her brightly, and then pushed her way through the door and out into the main part of the café, her voice rising to greet the old man who had just walked and direct him towards a comfortable booth.

Miriam lifted her hands from the dough in front of her, satisfied that it was ready to go in the oven. Reaching down she began to wipe her floury hands on her apron, and directed her gaze out of the kitchen into the café where she could see Amina holding out a menu and smiling as she pointed towards something on it, probably the day’s specials.

Miriam allowed herself a few seconds to take in the length of Amina, admiring the girl’s quiet, effortless beauty and grace. Her mind began to drift, remembering the feel of Amina’s delicate fingers brushing over her bare skin as Amina’s lips kissed soft trails over her shoulders and neck before reaching her lips. She thought of the way her own paler hands looked as she drew them over Amina’s hips and up towards her breasts, and thought of the warmth and weight of them and how perfect Amina felt in her hands.

Miriam released a shuddering little breath, and turned back towards her work. She grasped the edge of the oven plate in her hand and stepped with it to the side so that she could place it in the oven. She had accomplished quite a bit that morning, but there was always more to do. It would be busy that day. It always was on the days she was in, she thought, smiling with a sense of accomplishment.

She didn’t have time to daydream. Besides, it was silly to get lost in thoughts of Amina’s skin when she knew that she would be able to feel Amina beneath her finger tips again in a few hours, and, she hoped, for the rest of her life.

The End.

 

Comments

[fembuck.livejournal.com]

I love you. You write the most obscure pairings on the planet, Servilia/Octavia

lol, it's by gift and my curse. I loved Octavia/Servilia so much, but they got no love fandom wise. I'm glad that I can help meet your obscure pairing needs though :D

Thanks so much for commenting, I'm really glad that you enjoyed the story. I'm totally obsessed with this book/movie at the moment.