Kate - timed to after debut

[duerespectguv]

Tesla's told him it's a tropical island and they're trapped and that's enough for Declan; it's not Carentan, but something like, and he's going to keep poking at it until he's cracked it. Magnus and Will haven't done it yet after a year and while that should be discouraging, Declan's not willing to give up. Not yet. Not now. He's going to get them home.

He knows Kate's on the island and it's close to sundown before he finds her, tucked in at one of the bars and he whistles lightly to get her attention.

"Tesla told me you might be here. Miss me?"

Maybe Kate knows more than Tesla did about what was going on back home.

Comments

[duerespectguv]

"Tesla said they were together. Fucking or something serious? Can never tell when he's the one telling you," Declan admits.

It doesn't bother him, Magnus and Zimmerman together, but it's damned odd considering he's used to her being hung up on Druitt.

"And you and I make a good team. I knew that back when Will and his bird got in a bind on date night and Carentan cemented it."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"Serious. Will's crazy about her, and she..." Kate grabs her glass and drains it. This is so fucked up, every time she thinks about it. "She asked me if Will and I were together at home."

Kate puts her feet on his stool, as comfortable with him as she would be with Hank or Will. "I didn't tell her about Abby. She seems so...happy. I don't want to hurt her or cause trouble for Will."

[duerespectguv]

Declan drains his own glass at that and makes a mental note not to mention Abby around Magnus or Will. He seemed to be into her back home, anyway, but if he's with Magnus now, Abby doesn't compare.

"Best to sit on that, it's a different Magnus and Will."

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Kate nods her agreement, then nudges his stool with her foot. "How're you doing, tough guy? It's kind of a shock, turning up here."

Normally, she figures he'd rather talk to Will or Hank, but she's who he's got, since by now Will's probably got his face buried in Magnus's... yeah, not even going there.

[duerespectguv]

"I'll manage. I always manage," Declan says, stoic and British to the very end. It bothers him more than he lets on, though, and after a moment he lets the facade drop. Of anyone, he trusts Kate, because she knows him.

"I wanted to figure it out, rescue them. I think we were close to doing it, actually, and then I ended up here. It...frustrated isn't strong enough a word for how I feel."

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"It's why I asked about Will. I had to know."

Kate wishes she knew him better, knew what he did at home when it got to be too much. They all have something.

"D'you...want to get out of here or something?" They could go for a walk or a swim or find somewhere else to drink. Declan's not the kind of guy, she doesn't think, for sitting and brooding.

[duerespectguv]

"Love to," Declan says, reaching for his wallet to leave cash for the drinks until he realizes that there's no economy here, no currency. His pounds and euros and dollars are worthless and while it's sort of nice, in an odd way, it just cements this isn't home.

"Where are you staying, Kate?"

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"With Will and Magnus, sometimes." Aaaaand they'd be skipping right over her 'stay' with Tesla. "But it's kind of weird and I try to give them their privacy."

She gets up and tips her head toward the door. "There are some empty huts and stuff around the island and the weather's still nice. I've slept worse places."

[duerespectguv]

"I suppose building means giving up and saying we're staying here, yeah?" Declan's not inclined to give up this quickly but he's used to certain creature comforts in the UK Sanctuary, chief among them not having to sleep out in the elements.

"If it's hell, it's a nice one, at least. I'm not too bothered."

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"Been here, what, half a day at most and you're already thinking building?" Kate's frustrated. Declan should have a plan. He should know what to do. She's been waiting for someone to tell her how they're getting out of this dream or off this island or whatever the fuck they have to do to get home and he was her best hope.

She tells herself it's all right, he's just feeling the shock of it, and he'll have a plan soon. It's probably even true. "Tesla's running some kind of scam, but he hasn't given up yet. We could do recon?" she suggests hopefully. It's too late to start today, but tomorrow she's got nothing planned.

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"I was thinking about recon," Declan agrees. "I've got a compass, we could start at the perimeter and work our way in."

He can find some place to keep the rain off his head, if it even rains here, but building can wait until he's established it's semi-permanent.

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"Location during the day, intel at night," Kate says with a nod. Some of the crushing weight she's been feeling since she got here starts to lift just thinking about it. It'll work. They're a good team.

The breeze is warm and she inhales and turns to face him, walking backward because she knows this path already and because Declan's too much of a white knight to ever let her fall. "We should probably check in with the lovebirds." She rolls her eyes. "They'll want to know you're here, and Magnus hired me on as her assistant at the vet office, but I figure she'll get it if I say I need to at least try to get us out of here." Now that Declan's here, anyway. Before, it was just 'keep Kate out of trouble'.

[duerespectguv]

"Can do without watching Magnus make eyes at Zimmerman, thanks," Declan says dryly. He cares. About them both and thinks Magnus can't really do better than Will but he'd rather not see it in action if he can help it.

"But we should tell them I'm here, yeah."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"Yeah." Kate doesn't sound enthusiastic about it, because she's not. Yeah, they've been good to her, but the longer she's here the more she feels the differences between her Will and Magnus and this Will and Magnus. Declan's her Declan and...

And nothing. The old Kate Freelander would've dragged Declan off by herself and gotten him drunk, maybe tried to ride that ride. The new Kate Freelander squares her shoulders and takes him to the boss and her boyfriend, Kate's team, because it's the right thing to do.

Of course they're glad to see Declan. Magnus gets all teary again, even if Will looks a little annoyed. Figures, since he doesn't know Declan's part of the team now any more than he knows Kate is. She sticks close to Declan, in case it's as weird for him as it was for her, and when they leave (whatever Magnus says, they can't both stay there and Kate's not leaving Declan alone), she's still that close.

"Weird, right?" She's just trying to lighten the mood a little, since she's really not good at emotions and Declan's probably having a lot of them.

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"More than a little," Declan agrees, wondering why Zimmerman seemed so put out when he'd had his back over and over again. Magnus had the right of it, teary eyed, and Declan's always been a sucker when it comes to women crying. He couldn't handle much of it.

"None of you are from as late as I am," he muses, wondering what that means, if that means Carentan has destroyed the world by now.

"You're the closest, though. Tesla's next."

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"You can tell me everything," Kate offers, not sure what else to do for him, and really not sure what to do with the feeling of wanting to help as much as she does. "Everything, what we said, what we did. I know it's freaky, them not being the same, but I can be. I want to be as close as I can be."

[duerespectguv]

"I was the one who made the call to send Ravi in," Declan starts, words tumbling out even though he's normally pretty reserved. Something about Kate changes that and he suspects it has something to do with the fact that she knows him.

"It's my fault he's trapped, partially my fault Magnus and Will are too. My versions, anyway."

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"If you made the call, it was the right call," Kate says and it's not some dumb desperate loyalty that has her saying it and Kate Freelander doesn't blow sunshine up anyone's ass. "No one's sharper in a crisis than you." Not even Magnus. Not even her. Declan's better with plans than either of them. Magnus is the plan. And Kate's fastest on her feet.

"Come on." She slips her arm through his and tugs him down to where she thinks the beach is. "Let's go sit, or swim, while we talk." He needs to be away from Magnus and Will or maybe she does and the beach is far enough away for now.

[duerespectguv]

A long swim sounds nice, but his idea of a swim is pushing himself miles and miles in ice cold water and not the balmy, relaxing thing that a swim would be here on the island.

"Beach sounds fine and if we get to swimming, we get to it." He grins at her, though, eyes a little lighter than before.

"Thanks for the support, Kate. Means a lot."

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Kate smiles too, a tight thing, back teeth clenched but eyes curved up. Him being here helps. It helps a lot. But it's still completely fucked.

She pats his arm and tilts her head to look up at him. "They don't know me. You do." It doesn't seem like an answer, but it is and he knows it. He knows, he has to, what that means to her. He knows she hasn't stolen anything Magnus didn't ask her to steal in two years. He knows she sat there with Will when Ravi killed him, that she chased him out into the streets before that, that she's risked her life for them again and again, and done everything she can to make up for who she was before. So he knows why he owns her honesty and her loyalty.

"Haven't said it yet--" Her voice is a little softer, gaze indirect. "But I'm really glad you're here."

[duerespectguv]

"You too, love," Declan says, a little softer than he might normally be with her, matching her tone. She's different than she was when she first came to the Sanctuary, less angry, and Magnus and Will are fools if they can't see that.

"Glad to know there's someone who still has a little faith in me other than Magnus."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

It takes a few breaths to fight the urge to slide her arms around his waist. She's not, really she isn't, a hugger, but he's home and she already misses the goddamned dark wood paneling of the Sanctuary and the maroon and gold carpets and the freaking 2 am feedings so much she can't breathe sometimes. It sucks, because it's exactly why she never stayed anywhere since she took off for Montreal and Magnus and Will made her believe it would be different. That she had a place.

She takes another deep breath, reminds herself it's not gone, she does have a place and he's part of it. Then nudges him in the side with an elbow, grinning. "Come on, double O Declan, the entire Sanctuary Network has faith in you. Will's just being a dick because the last time he saw you you knew his girlfriend better than he does."

[duerespectguv]

"Double O Declan, is it?" Declan asks, laughing at the absurdity of it. He's...capable, but he's no ladies' man and never will be, but he likes the nickname more than he can say. "And I have faith they'll be just fine, it's just a learning curve to know them again."

He nudges her back, just as playful. "And you, Freebird? Planning to go fly on me or are you sticking around?"

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"Could do worse than Zeppelin," Kate decides, laughing a little. The nickname's fitting, at least for the girl she used to be. She's a little more family, a little less free agent these days, but she still keeps her options open.

She shrugs. "Nowhere to go. Only people in the world who know how to find me when I fly are here, even if half of them don't know it." As much as she wants to castrate him, Kate doesn't doubt Tesla's got her number as solidly as she's got his.

[duerespectguv]

"Hell of a lot worse than Zepplin, Zepplin's brilliant," Declan says, grinning a little wider. At the idea that there's nowhere to fly anymore, he sobers, and squeezes her shoulder lightly.

"We'll figure out a way home, Kate. Promise you that."