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

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Kate's been here a little while, here on the island, here in this bar, but not long enough to forget that voice. She plays it cool, turning halfway toward him on her stool, then sizes him up, a small smirk playing over her lips even though her heart is racing.

"Missed having someone talking sense, that's for damned sure."

[duerespectguv]

"Tesla doesn't know a damned thing about Carentan. Please tell me that you do?"

He's seen Kate in action and knows, if there's a quick fix, she'd have already busted off this island. There's no quick fix if she's still sitting there in front of him but together, they'll be unstoppable.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"Know Magnus had something to do with it back in the day, but that's it," she tells him, but she knows how that feels. Magnus and Will were good to her, and she owes him at least that much. "Something happen you need me to know about?"

She pats the stool next to her. "C'mere and tell me about it. I'll get you a drink."

[duerespectguv]

Declan sits, trying not to look too forlorn that she doesn't know what they did back in Carentan and that, clearly, she's not from the same time as him. He half-grins at her.

"Suppose you don't remember crashing a jeep into a time dilation field, then?"

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"Sounds like fun," she offers, and then smiles a bit, eyes lighting. "You and me blowing shit up together, oh yeah."

She tips her chin to the bartender and gets a drink for him and another for her, and then it dawns on her. He knows. He knows what happened to Will. "I want to hear everything, I want to know everything, about it. But I have to ask you something first. Did she cure him, Magnus, did she cure Will from the Cillobar spores?"

[duerespectguv]

"What? Yeah," Declan says, nodding quickly. "Got in touch with Ranna down in Hollow Earth and got a cure. Took him a bit to get normal again, sure, but he's no worse for the wear. I was trying to get him out of Carentan, he and Magnus were stuck."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Kate breaks into a bright broad grin and launches herself at him, flinging her arms around his neck. It's an extreme reaction, especially for her, but she's been sick with worry over Will. "Thank you."

[duerespectguv]

It's not what he expects, Kate to fling herself into his arms like this and Declan's stunned for a moment before wrapping his arms around her in kind, hands rubbing over her back.

"Been worried, I guess? Magnus is more brilliant than all of that, I promise."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

She rests her forehead on his shoulder and laughs, exhausted with the flood of relief from knowing Will's okay. Declan would never lie to her, not about that, not even in a dream or some fucked up Abnormal headtrip.

"I was bringing him dinner, and I walked right into his bedroom here. It was like Mumbai all over again, watching Ravi put him down..." Kate's babbling, admitting things to Declan she wouldn't say to Will or Magnus, or god forbid Tesla. "How long since then?" she asks, lifting her head without stepping back. "What did I miss?"

[duerespectguv]

"Weeks, love. Tesla's gotten revamped, since then, and you and I just went with Magnus and Zimmerman to check out a disturbance in France, in Carentan. I'd sent Ravi in and he never checked back in with me," Declan says, shaking his head. That's his fault, all the way.

"We figured it was some sort of time dilation bubble, some way time slows in Carentan while it's the same outside, and you and I were trying to get them out. Not sure if we managed."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"You and me?" Maybe she should be surprised about them working together, but she's not. They're a good team, and Will and Magnus are... dating. She winks, smartass, even though she doesn't feel it. "You bet we did."

She takes a step back, shaking out her hair and hands him a drink. When she sits again, she pulls her stool close to his. "I suck at this whole 'welcome to the island' thing. I don't even believe in it most of the time. But you being here, that's good. You and me, we can fix this. With Tesla. Even if Magnus and Will drank the kool-aid."

[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."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

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."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"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."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"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.

[duerespectguv]

"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.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"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.