entranceway | text;

[And she's just, going to shake her head because he really doesn't get it.]

Maybe that works for you. [But it's never worked for her. She tried to make Seth listen to her, and he walked away. She tried to make Scott listen to her. And he walked away.] The only way you can get somebody to listen, is when they want to.

[And from her body language, the tension that's going through her, the way she's pushed back against the arm of the couch as she folds her arms across her chest - even Richard Gecko would be able to see he's struck an unfortunate nerve.]

[He looks peeved too, as if annoyed that he can't even apparently fulfill his own advice as he thinks of all the times someone's blatantly shrugged him off or called him the dumb one. Sometimes he could get them to listen, sometimes he couldn't.

That said...]

I listen to you.

[And with four, simple words, he deflates her whole argument, Kate's shoulders slumping, her eyes half closing, her arms dropping down into her lap. He did listen to her. He always had. He was probably one of the only people who did.]

I know. [Voice quiet, her lips pressing into a grim line as she finally lifts her gaze to look at him.

A part of her knows, that this conversation spun out of control, not because of him, but because of the five million issues that she has never actually dealt with.]

And - I know it's not up to anyone else. [Them.] But is it really so crazy to want other people to look at us and think it makes sense?

No.

[His voice is equally quiet as he looks over at her.]

It's not crazy. [And not just because he hates that word, either.] I asked for the same thing, remember?

[Even if he only asked for one particularly chance to do so.]

[Her eyes narrow infinitesimally, Kate not entirely sure they were meaning the same thing though she supposed, it was possible. She didn't want people to look at them and know they were together because they were color matched. She just, wanted people to not... side eye the fuck out of them.

She is not, however, going to keep pushing because she doesn't actually want to have this argument. She doesn't want to argue at all she was just, frustrated, with so many things that had nothing to do with Richie.

He had, however, in no way convinced her that she could pull off a cocktail dress and she'd in no way convinced him that she couldn't. Sometimes you just had to let the stalemate be.]

I know. [Her hand stretching out, palm up on the couch between them, an offer for him to take it.]

[In his head, it makes sense. If they dress the part, if they own it, maybe other people will believe it, understand it.

And Kate wonders why he's only ever had one girlfriend.

He reaches out for her hand, threading their fingers together, sitting in the silence for a moment while his mind travels, making leaps that he tends to not let other people in on.]

You hungry?

[Random, maybe, but he still get concerns from time to time about her health, which is always on his mind considering he can always, well, see the source of why she might not be right on her neck.]

[She immediately relaxes as their fingers entwine, her shoulders lifting and falling with the soft, content sigh she exhales and she finds a kind of peace in the silence, content to just exist with him, without the constant back and forth.

Her eyebrows raise, a flicker of surprise there because yes... how the fuck do you get to food from the rest of it and so of course, Kate's immediate thought is that for him to bring it up, he must be hungry.]

When did we last... [Her head tilting because apparently she still can't say words like a big girl.]

[For once, he knows exactly what she's alluding to.]

It's been about thirty hours.

[So not super long, but not recent.]

But I'm not asking about me.

[The face she makes says it all, that she thinks they've gone too long. He doesn't really take much when he feeds, she knows that much.]

I can eat anytime I feel like it. You can't.

[And here he was trying to worry about her and... she's worried about him.]

Yeah, I can. I eat steak and shit. It helps.

[Oh good, more bickering. Nothing like getting defensive for having someone else worry about you when you're just worried about someone else.]

What I don't have to do is worry about things like anemia.

[Fucking seriously, Richard. We had peace for all of three seconds.

Excuse Kate while she rolls her eyes out of her head, pulls her hand free from his and leans back, staring at him like 'why fucking this?!']

So I guess that means you don't need me then? [I mean... she knows that he does but he got weirdly defensive and she doesn't get why so now she's going to get weirdly defensive. This is great.]

I don't have anemia. [Nose wrinkling.

Except actually maybe does?]

[His mouth opens in reply and then closes because what the fuck is he supposed to say to that? Technically he doesn't; she was the one that completely refused to go along with his initial plan. That said, he had a thing for the...thing they had, but that didn't mean-]

I'm just worried about you. And I've been doing some research.

[Probably sometimes while she's asleep and he isn't.]

We just need to make sure you have enough iron in your diet. Otherwise you'll have to deal with a whole bunch of crap that I don't think you really want.

[One of these days, Kate is going to realize that conversations with Richie tend to happen in reverse, at least the verbal components do, anyway. He'd clearly had this whole, meandering thought process and jumped to 'are you hungry' and she was somehow supposed to connect this out of left field question, with the notion that he was concerned for her well-being.

Can we take a moment to talk about what kind of fucked logic is this shit?!

Kate lifts her hand to rub two fingers against her temple, knowing she can't really be mad at him for being worried about her and yet still wanting to reach across and strangle him.]

And that's why you asked if I was hungry? Not because you are? [Lifting her gaze to meet his again.]

[He gestures at her then to his own neck.]

I could see where I bit you and then I remembered I hadn't asked you about it yet.

[He crosses his arms over his chest.]

Besides, I'm always hungry. It's just a matter of how much. You've never let it get too bad.

[Her hand lifts, fingers brushing over the wounds on her neck, Kate's eyebrows knitting together as his words churn inside her head.

It had never occurred to her that what they were doing, wouldn't be enough to satisfy him. She just assumed that as long as he was getting blood almost every day, it would be.

Hearing that he was always hungry, sees the irritation that had been there before, wash away, Kate instead looking more than a little uncertain as she looks at him.]

You need more... than what I can give. [That was at least the conclusion she had jumped to here. He didn't want to hurt her, but she didn't want him to suffer either.]

That's not what I said.

[His teeth grit together, but not out of anger or anything similar. He's frustrated because it's something he has difficulty putting into words and have her actually understand. He's not human. He's not sure he would have really gotten it either.]

It's part of being what I am. The hunger is always there. I could clean out an entire room of people and I would still want more. It's just a matter of how well I can control it.

[He looks down at her fingers brushing over her neck, feels the pang associated with the memories associated with it, and swallows it back.]

What we're doing...it's complicated. I'm just trying to figure out how to deal with it in the long term without it screwing up either of us.

[While she works to mask it, there's no concealing the grimace that twists her lips in response to his description, images of the Twister, flashing behind her eyes - all those people, limbs being torn from their bodies, blood spraying in a floorshow of crimson and death.

She swallows hard, trying to push down the sickening feeling that ensures food is the last thing she wants but she works hard to listen, truly wanting to understand what it's like for him.]

I didn't... know. [And it stirs up thoughts of Scott, all that Kate had been trying so desperately to do for him and it all would have been for nothing. How could she help him not to kill if Richie, somebody she considered to be so much stronger, was dealing with a constant struggle.]

Have you... come up with anything? [But she already suspects the only real solution may be that despite her concerns, he may have to start taking food from Wonderland and he was going to need her to be okay with it.]

Like I said, we have to make sure this isn't making you anemic. You should eat more red meat, maybe take iron supplements. Pills.

[That's the first step, but if that doesn't work...]

But if you start feeling really tired all the time, get headaches, feel dizzy or weak, or just generally off, you need to tell me. I'll have to...add something to the mix. Animals or...something.

[She was beginning to see that they'd been existing in this kind of, magical bubble in which they were pretending like all of this was normal, Kate, for her part was as much to blame as Richie. He might not have shared with her how complicated all this would be until now but she hadn't asked and if she were being honest, she hadn't because she hadn't wanted to know.

Her expression remains guarded, Kate not wanting to see how this is twisting her up inside, trying to keep the worry lines from wrinkling her features as she shifts on the couch, pulling up a leg to tuck it close to her chest, almost like a physical shield.]

I mean... I haven't? Not since... the caves. [Then she'd felt awful, far worse than she'd actually let on to Richie.] Would... animals be enough?

I took a lot from you that day, between the cold and the fact that it had been a long time.

[He'd noticed, though. It was hard not to.]

No. Not by themselves.

[He could survive, but he would suffer. And he would slip. And he simply doesn't want to.]

[Kate nods slowly, absorbing every piece of information, filing it away and knowing full well that this was not something she could ignore. She needed time, though. Time to figure out how she felt and time to adjust to the idea that maybe her way, wasn't the right way.

The hardest part was knowing that Richie would suffer if it meant keeping her happy and that she could be all that stood between innocent people living and dying.]

We don't have to figure any of that out right away though. [Part question, part statement. She had a lot of thinking to d, it seemed.]

No, not yet. [He shrugs slightly.] We may never have to if you never feel sick.

[His expression changes and he watches her intensely then, that gaze that she would know well by now.]

So if anything changes, you can't keep it from me. Do you understand?

[She shrinks back under his scrutiny, in part because she had in fact been considering doing just that; trying to handle it on her own rather than tell him if there was a problem so they could prolong how long this would work.

She could not. however, look him in the face, and tell a bold-faced lie. He'd see her struggle with it, as if she'd rather just not react than give him her word but she didn't really think that this was a staring contest she could win.]

Okay. [Knowing how lackluster she sounds and seeing the look on his face, she tries again.] I understand.

[He relaxes then, briefly glancing down and then back up.]

Thank you.

[He's not going to be the reason she gets hurt. Not again.]

[ Wrapping an arm around her leg, she hugs it close, her chin coming to rest on top of her knee as Kate all but pulls herself into a ball. ]

You're welcome...

[And now there felt like there was a weight pressing down on her chest, this shift in the air and the turn towards more serious subjects, leaving Kate feeling heavy.

What she wouldn't have given to go back to when they were playing silly word games and she was choosing clothes for him.]

text;

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action