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[duerespectguv]

Declan's spent most of the day walking around the city because while it's not his London, it's London and he's missed it terribly. The streets are mostly the same as the ones he knows from home, at least, and it's nostalgic to wander around and know this was where James Watson had grown up and lived the most important years of his life. He misses James terribly when he's home because the UK Sanctuary is his home and wandering around and not seeing it in this version of London tugs at him a little.

He ends up at Kate's hut, or what was her hut, anyway, and waits just outside on the stoop for a bit to see if she'll come home. If not, he'll let himself in but he likes to respect her privacy. He's not really a fan of the Victorian clothes but he concedes to it since there's no other option and he's sporting a tweed suit and an overcoat that would have made James proud.

Besides, it's James' fault that he even knows how to tie a cravat to begin with. He'd have loved this.

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[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

It's weird, walking through a city that isn't Old City on the way 'home' to a home that isn't the Sanctuary. The clothes fucking suck, but at least her leggings turned into riding pants and her combat boots into riding boots that are actually kind of hot. She's not real happy about losing her leather to wool and she drew the fucking line at corsets for anything but sexplay. Screw it.

But she's walking with some pretty serious purpose today. Eyes open for Druitt every step and talking to the streetsellers about whether they've seen a guy matching that description. By the time she gets to her place, she's got an entire network of chimney sweeps and vendors and shopkeeps looking for him and then there's Declan standing on her front stoop.

Who gives a crap if it's totally inappropriate in Victorian London? He looks amazing in this sexy scholar way and she, no lie, just sort of flings herself at him. "Hey, babe," she purrs and tilts her head up for a kiss hello.

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"Bit improper," Declan warns, kissing her quickly but no less hot for all he wants to get inside and now. It just feels strange to kiss like this in the midst of what should be a prim and proper era. Then again, Kate's never going to be a prim and proper girl.

"What's got you so happy to see me today, huh?"

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"You do." Kate slides her hand under the coat thing to press her cold hand against his warm body (also just to touch him, but she's probably not going to admit that, yeah) while she unlocks the door. "There's some shit going down I need to talk to you about but, not gonna lie, you look seriously hot and it's kind of distracting."

She flashes him a grin and hauls him inside after her. There's a butler or something and she's probably being totally scandalous but maybe he'll just figure they're married. This whole thing is too weird for words so she's ignoring it as much as she can. Except the bed and the fireplace and the actual furniture and, oh yeah, her boyfriend looking unholyfuckhot in clothes she'd never figure she wants him to wear.

[duerespectguv]

"You should talk to me first, love," Declan murmurs, busying himself with kissing her neck. "Because if there's something going on that affects us or the people we care about, I need to know about it sooner rather than later."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Somehow they get from the common areas to her private rooms, clothes still on and no one scandalized. The door shuts, locks, and Kate turns to him. "I know. I will. I couldn't talk about it outside. C'mere." There's this couch thing in the sitting room and she gestures to it.

[duerespectguv]

Declan settles on the couch and watches her cautiously while he unties the damned cravat. It reminds him too much of James and while it was fun at first, it's starting to prick at memories he didn't want pulled back up.

"All right, what's going on?"

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Kate sits watching him watching her and he's being weird. Something's not right with him. It's not them. Just him. She gets up on her knees and pushes his hands away. She doesn't know fuck all about untying one of these tie things but she can figure it out.

"Druitt's here," she says, blunt and to the point. No sense wasting words when neither of them is good at them. "Depowered. Magnus says he says he's his old self. Same song and dance as when we got the parasite out of him at home. She's a mess, babe." Kate frowns. "Scared, but mostly, I think she just wants her friend back. I don't trust him."

[duerespectguv]

"I don't know him well," Declan admits. "Whenever he came to see James, he was fine, and we always just sort of steered clear of him. He'd fight with James, yeah, but nothing like how he does Magnus."

James had been the best friend, though, and Magnus. Well.

"She's letting him get the benefit of the blank slate and everything?"

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"Not gonna lie, babe. Every time he came to Old City, I thanked every god I wasn't blonde. I don't think Will even knew he did it, but every time Druitt was in the same room with me, he'd put himself between us." Kate shakes her head, forced shuddering to ward off the memory. "I'm not scared of him but it's going to take a lot more than him giving Magnus flowers and not gutting Will for me to believe he's defanged."

It's not what he asked, and she has to redirect her thoughts while she's working out the knot on the tie. "Magnus is going to let me--" She looks up to meet his gaze. "And you, if you'll help me, handle the tactics on this. I told her not to ask me to respect the blank slate and she agreed. Too dangerous."

[duerespectguv]

"I'm with you, no matter what. We can put together a plan of action in case we need to act but...I don't think it'd be wise for us to strike first. The last thing I want is someone to get hurt but I also don't want us in jail or Magnus in trouble."

It's hard though when he figures Kate's more than happy to kill Druitt now and ask questions later.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Tie-thing untied, Kate decides sitting by herself is over-rated and settles with her ass on the couch and her legs across his thighs. If nothing else, she'll find out how he feels about calf-high kid black leather boots.

She nods, puts her elbow on the arm of the couch and rests her head on her hand. "I figure he's not going to hurt Magnus, Will, Tesla, you. He doesn't like me but he'd be the prime suspect if anything happened to me and he's not dumb. Without the parasite, he doesn't have the rage build up so he can be patient. He'll lull Magnus into a false sense of security then use dino territory, if it comes back, and the whole disappearance thing to get away with it. Until then, I figure we train, arm, watch him, let a few strategic and at-risk people know and keep an eye on the blondes."

If it sounds glib, it's not. She's thought about the strategic plan the whole way home. It's just soldier shorthand. "I've already got chimney sweeps and vendors and merchants keeping their eyes open for him."

[duerespectguv]

Declan likes the boots quite a bit, actually, and slides one hand up the length of it while he listens to her speak. Kate's actually sharp when it comes to tactics and in this, at least, she's thinking like a criminal. She's thinking like Druitt would, about who to target.

"We should keep eyes out, yeah, but I want to work with you on better hand to hand. You need to get used to fighting someone a lot bigger than you, Kate, and I need to learn to fight dirty."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"We can spar more, yeah." It's not really beating the crap out of each other sparring she's thinking about with his hand sliding up her boot like that. More the hot, sweaty naked kind. She grins at him. "Better look sharp, though. Even SuperSEAL's starting to have a hard time keeping me down." The grin slides to a smirk. "Might be 'cause you're the only guy I'll let keep me pinned."

They don't talk about it much, the training she's been doing with Steve. But she's faster, smarter, meaner in a fight than she's ever been. She's kinda looking forward to showing Declan just how good she's getting.

Not that his approval matters or anything.

[duerespectguv]

"Are you saying you make it easy for me?" Declan teases, one eyebrow lifting in a challenge. "Because that's not right at all. If you're going to kick my ass, I'd rather you just do it outright instead of making me think I'm winning."

Everyone wins, though, if it means she learns something that keeps her safe.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"My bad. You caught me." She crosses one leg over the other, where they're still in his lap and stretches back, arms behind her head, then bats her lashes at him. "I've been letting you win for weeks. Next time you want me under you, I'll make you work for it."

It's all innuendo now. One of the best things about them fucking is that they get on the same page, real quick, about threats. Doesn't mean she's done talking about it, just that they can have their fun doing it.

"Meanwhile, we need to figure out where Druitt's staying, get Tesla on making non-lethal weapons so we don't go to jail for taking him down, and I've got a bunch of blondes to talk to. We've got some time. Either he's for real and still a dick, or he's too damned smart to let us tie people going missing to his arrival."

[duerespectguv]

"Hoping for the former, myself," Declan says, sliding his hand back up her boot again before finding his train of thought.

"And if you're letting me win, that's got to stop. I mean it, Katie, I'm not going to have you hurt because you're appealing to my ego."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"Declan." Kate huffs a soft snort of warm affectionate laughter. "Think about who you're talking to. When have I ever let someone beat me?" She slides her fingers under the cuff of his shirt, scraping softly at the inside of his wrist with her nail. "I was flirting with you, babe. Trying to get you to think about how damned fast I roll for you in bed."

When they spar, which hasn't been much lately, she goes all out. Sometimes she wins, sometimes he does. Sex, though, that's different and when he wants her, most of the time, she's fighting herself to keep from rolling even faster.

"If you beat me when we're sparring, you're beating me straight up. Swear."

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"I know, Katie, it's just...I care about you and I needed to be sure, is all. But we've sorted it and I know you're not letting me win except in bed, so. We're all right."

He reaches for her, wanting her in his lap instead of her feet. "I want to talk to Steve, too. On training issues, not just...social ones."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Kate gives him a look, sharp and potentially irritated. "I'm assuming you're talking about your training issues. My training, my decisions." She cocks her head and asks in a tone that says she's being really carefully patient, trying not to fly off the handle if he doesn't deserve it. "Yeah?"

[duerespectguv]

"Wanting to get on the same page, is all, so I'm not contradicting him," Declan explains, sensing this might get very bad very quickly.

"His military experience is vastly different from mine."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"No." That's flat and steady. She's not picking a fight but her training is her business. "I learned to fight on my own. My style's is already different than either of you. You leave it to me what I take from either of you."

[duerespectguv]

"Fair enough."

Declan's not wanting to fight but he can't help but think being on the same page with everyone in a coordinated effort's going to be better than going rogue. Still, Kate's life, Kate's decisions, and him nosing around in it's not going to do any good.

"What do you need me to do, then?"

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"First..."

Kate slides over into his lap the way she's been resisting since he mentioned talking to Steve. She kisses him, long and hard and slow, and then pulls back to leave space for talking.

"Thanks. For getting that. It's not that I don't respect you. I do." Which, for Kate, said a lot. The fact that she's saying it out loud says even more. "But I'm the one who's going to be making choices in the middle of any fight where I'm using what I know. I want all the options, not just the ones that work well together. Being unpredictable is one of the only advantages someone as small as me has in a fight."

She knows he gets that and he just wants to protect her. That feels pretty good, but being able to protect herself feels even better.

"Second, I think we need to tell some people, not just the people who might be in danger. I've got a few in mind, people who color outside the lines like me. But it might be better if you talk to the official good guys. And Tesla. Get a read from him on Druitt, maybe get some weapons?"

She runs her hand down his arm, thinking. "And...maybe you can come with me, learn who I check up on. So you can help me keep an eye on them?"

[duerespectguv]

"Tesla, I can handle. I think he's cross with Magnus right now, though, so maybe I need to get him a little drunk before I can sway him that it's in his best interest to help me," Declan muses, not sure how that's going to go.

"I'm on mostly-good terms with him, though, it should be right."

At the latter, though, he pauses. "You have people you check up on besides just us, then?"

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"He doesn't like Druitt that much, and at least the alcohol's free." Kate scoots a little closer into his lap. He's warm and it's fucking cold with it going from tropical fall to London winter in like an hour.

"It's kind of weird, right? Me caring about anyone. It's just. There's this whole group of girls from like fourteen to eighteen or nineteen that don't have parents or families. They have some people to look out for them and they're not clueless. But..." Kate shrugs, not totally sure how to explain. "I didn't have anyone at their age and it's hard. It makes me want to make sure they have someone to ask about stuff, to notice if they're sick or hurt or someone's hurting them."

She's kind of embarrassed about it. Doesn't really know what he'll think. "I look in on a lot of the animals that Magnus and I treat, too."