This was... off. Something was off. Pippa was not sure how to even begin sorting through the mess that was this whole situation. SUPER, and the two of them, and her past life, and Sabine's past life. But walking out... did not feel like the solution.

"If I wanted out I could have left." she pointed out, feeling a bit stubborn. "And you didn't hurt me."

>>"Keeping you around would be selfish of me. I am just trying to give you an out to be safe and happy, and you're making it difficult."

Well.

Safe... yeah. Pippa had been attacked and kidnapped several times since she started working with Sabine. Happy... that was another thing. Sabine saying any of this so openly... that was an entirely new thing.

"You..." she cleared her throat. "You know you don't have to send me away to make me happy. And I do feel safe with you."

On paper, it made sense for Pippa to leave. It made more sense for her to want to leave. The logic was there, yet Pippa was not jumping at the chance to go back to her old life. She could have technically left at any point, as she stubbornly pointed out, but Pippa came to SUPER at Svetlana's request. There was an obligation there and Sabine was explicitly excusing her from it.

And yet, Pippa was still sitting there. The throat clear got Sabine's attention just in time for Pippa to turn the tables on her.

Sabine blinked, registering what Pippa said. Finally, she just let out an exasperated, "How?" She leaned across her desk, dumbfounded. "Setting aside the many attempts on our lives at this point, you know how I used to be and the things I was complicit in. You know way more than I thought you did, it turns out. So why do you want to stay?"

Pippa let out a sigh. Those were the questions. Sabine was right in asking them.

"I... am not even sure." Might as well be honest, since she was not going to be very eloquent. "Maybe because... it feels like it was going in the right direction? You're not a bad person either, Sabine. You deserve some actual support." And that was her job. The actual work part of the equation. And she needed to be doing something she believed in.

The irony of her believing in SUPER was not lost on Pippa.

She sighed, pushing her chair back.

"I just... ugh. Come with me."

Sabine rarely processed the world in terms of morals because good and bed felt subjective and she lived her life in the gray areas of morality. It did cross her mind, particularly after meeting Pippa, that she might have just been "bad." Looking back at her home universe, that version of her felt bad.

Being told she was not a bad person by Pippa did release a knot in Sabine's chest. Pippa did support Sabine; she had been doing it for months, and Sabine was sure her life was better for Pippa's presence. Still, things were still tense.

Instead of explaining further, Pippa caught Sabine off guard by asking her to follow somewhere. Sabine almost objected and told Pippa to just leave for her own sake, but curiosity got her to her feet instead. "Okay. Today's been crazy enough; I'll humor this. Lead the way."

It was a bit crazy. The idea came out of nowhere and it was weird enough that Pippa just went with it because she ht literally nothing else to say. She led the way out of Sabine's office and back to hers, which was really not that far down the hallway. In there, she had her neatly organized desk and shelves.

"I really... This is not something I planned, you gotta know that." she muttered, walking over to the desk. She rummaged through the drawers, until she had them pulled out in a way that she could reach between them. After some fiddling, she pulled out a small, colorful plastic bag. She had an almost apologetic look as she held it up - all of this had seemed somehow better in theory.

But it was at least candy. From the Other Side.

"Remember these?"

Walking between her office and Pippa's office was a common occurrence, so no one at SUPER would question the two women walking together. Sabine still wondered if people could tell the mood shifted between them. Maybe they had the body language of two people in relationship purgatory. Thankfully, no one said anything and they made it to the office.

Sabine waited patiently while Pippa dug through her desk. The bag she produced was familiar, but it had been years. It did not click until Pippa asked if she remembered them and it registered that she was looking at a sweet and sour relic of their old universe.

"Okay, I wasn't expecting that," she joked, because this was nowhere near her list of possibilities when Pippa dragged her along. "Definitely more impressive than Kristoff bringing German chocolates from his trip to Europe." In terms of rare candy finds, Pippa had the win.

Trying not to smirk, she raised an eyebrow. "So we're taking a trip down sweet tooth avenue because...?" Despite the stress, she was curious to see where Pippa would take this.

Pippa held the candy, feeling a little sheepish about it. She'd already held it without gloves, soaking in memories from the other universe. Now, it was just candy. She tried to put words to the whole sudden idea.

"I've been... saving it, I guess? And now that you know my whole story... I remembered the time you came to visit, after the ship. And how we talked about you missing things from the other side. And I tried really hard not to relate, well... for obvious reasons." Hopefully, all of this was going somewhere. "So now... we can share it, if you want."

Sabine remembered the night at Pippa's apartment. If she over-analyzed it, Sabine could probably find hints that something was off about Pippa when they talked about the past or the Other Side. Things she would have disregarded because she was not guarded around Pippa. She didn't want to be guarded.

But it made sense now, why she was sharing the candy. This was something small and nostalgic and meaningless to anyone but Pippa. It was important in a way she was not allowed to share, but she was trying to share it with Sabine. It was symbolic.

And that was comforting. But Sabine still needed more than a gesture. She stepped closer. "I do. I want you to be able to share things with me that you've had to keep to yourself." Sabine placed a hand over the small bag, enveloping it until her hand rested on Pippa's glove. "But if you're really going to stay with me, I need to know: are you really ready to trust me? To let me in?"

Sabine locked her gaze on Pippa's bright blue eyes. "I'm trying not to let masks get in the way with you, but I need you to be willing to do the same."

It was a small gesture; Pippa now felt it was woefully inadequate compared to all that she wanted to convey. And she was not usually out of words. But Sabine seemed to understand her meaning anyway. Because now they shared something that had been hidden before.

>>"I do. I want you to be able to share things with me that you've had to keep to yourself. But if you're really going to stay with me, I need to know: are you really ready to trust me? To let me in?"

Pippa nodded slowly. Sabine held her hand along with the candy; that was a soft gesture. Sabine was not tall by any means, but she was taller than Pippa, and at this distance Pippa was left looking up at her.

>>"I'm trying not to let masks get in the way with you, but I need you to be willing to do the same."

She nodded again. There really was not a lot to say. But she did have a question, although she hesitated before she asked it.

"Is this... a work question? Or a personal one?"

Sabine's heart skipped when she was finally asked a question she was avoiding for months.

Her hand remained, holding Pippa's steadily, not pulling away. She took a deep breath, threatening to broach unfamiliar territory.

"I guess that depends. Where do you see me in your life?" Sabine took one risky step closer. "Are we just friendly coworkers, or..."

Well, this was it. Something that had been simmering in the background for a while, carefully swept under the rug of professionalism, avoided because of the exact secrets Pippa had been holding on to. The secrets that had just been revealed. Sabine moved closer; Pippa was good at reading people. She knew this was not exactly an either-or question. Pippa swallowed.

"As your PR representative, I should tell you this is a bad idea" she noted. As a professional courtesy. "But... as myself... I don't think it's that bad." She added with a small smile.

Sabine worried she was overstepping. Relationships were unfamiliar territory, and romantic relationships were almost uncharted territory. She dated in college, but her mind was elsewhere and most people she tried to date were interested in something Sabine was uninterested in providing. Pippa was different. Sabine was well past the age of dating because she was supposed to, but she wanted to be with Pippa.

It was inappropriate, but Sabine was glad Pippa was her PR representative and not an HR representative. This was, indeed, a messy idea. But it was something messy that they were both open to.

"Not bad at all," she agreed, the space between them closing further. "So let's try it, then. Let's be open with each other and see where this goes, because I really hope it goes somewhere great." Her lips brushed Pippa's as she spoke, a paperwidth from kissing her friend, giving Pippa one last chance to pull away or go all in with whatever they were.

Right now, it was definitely going somewhere great. Later on... it could go either way, uphill or downhill or straight to HR. But Pippa, feeling her heart speed up, did not really think that far ahead, for once. Sabine was... a surprise. A bit of a mystery. She had been wary about her, but something melted slowly, and now she found that she wanted to be close to her; feeling relieved Sabine did not hate her for keeping that secret. Pippa smiled, blushing slightly, and stood on her tiptoes to press her lips to Sabine's.

Sabine wrapped an arm around Pippa, bringing her close to enjoy a genuine, intimate moment with her. In the past, she wondered if her stance on romance would be as indifferent as her thoughts on sex. The flutter in her chest confirmed her sense of romance was still alive and well and just waiting for a bubbly, sassy blonde to come around.

Pressing her forehead against Pippa's as their lips separated, Sabine smiled. "We still have a lot to talk about," she had to remind Pippa, because they needed to get on the same page if this was gonna work. "But for now, I just want to sit together and eat some candy."