vdistinctive | 75 Godiva, Wednesday

The house was gutted down to studs, many of which had been rearranged to make the new configuration of rooms the team had agreed on. Eliot was working on framing the new upper story now, which meant a hard hat, tool belt, gloves, the works.

Seriously, he had this whole men-at-work carpenter look down up here. He hoped his partners appreciated it. Lord knew he did on the few occasions Hardison got down and dirty with a maker get up. He wondered how much Hardison would fuss about the sawdust if they tried to fool around in (a carefully cleared area of) the construction site. . . .

Work was happening, if a little slow. Since the carpenter kept distracting himself with idle fantasies.

[yeah I dunno. Open! Eliot should be visible from the street while he works. . . .]

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Kathy shook her head. "If anything, I'm equally lucky. Not even just because she's the reason I'm here at all, but...she's been there. This whole time. Just there. No matter how much I yelled or screamed or cried or stared blankly at the TV. No matter how much I hated myself or everyone else or whatever, she's just...been there. I love the guys, I really do. But I told them from the get-go that if Raven didn't wanna come, I wouldn't either."

Anders and Dante might officially be her boyfriends now, but Raven was something that didn't have a name.

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"You're both lucky, then," Eliot said with a small shrug. "Havin' someone you're that tight with and only 19? Hell, I can't even picture what my life woulda been like, I had that."

They'd all been pretty sure they had it, after Basic. Like the bonds they'd formed there would never die. But they had. One after the other. Even the friends Eliot still had in the Service he hadn't met until later.

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Well, Kathy and Raven had literally stood together in the face of the end of the world. That had a damn good way of cementing that bond.

"I could picture what my life would be without Raven," Kathy said with a flash of morbid humor. "Rather monotonous."

Just a bunch of wandering around and teeth-chattering, really.

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Honestly, some of what Eliot and his fellow soldiers had faced had sure looked like the end of the world, too.

"Yeah, well, I knew I liked her for some reason."

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"She's scary, she's competent, and she loves the people you love best?" Kathy suggested with a small smile. "I can see a couple of similarities between the two of you."

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"Dunno. Don't think I could hike across North America durin' a zombie outbreak." He could, but probably only if he was alone. Otherwise he'd have to sacrifice himself for the person he was with.

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"I think you could do it," Kathy said, "but she can also turn herself into literally any other creature which does give her a distinct advantage."

Kathy couldn't. But then, Kathy hadn't been able to survive the city, so...

"Here's hoping the island never gets cute and decides that zombies would be a fun, like, Halloween gag or something."

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"Hell, I'd be surprised if the island hadn't already pulled that one a time or two," Eliot said. "Might be where the things at Caritas came from."

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"I still can't go into there," Kathy said. "I tried once, when I first got back. Ended up throwing up in alley a few times before going in."

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"Do you want to go in there?" Eliot asked. "'Cause there are ways to work on that if you do, but -- no offense to Kitty, but you ain't missin' a lot."

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"Nah," Kathy said, shaking her head. "I was never big on bars. I just kinda...resent that there are places I can't go, even if I'm the one keeping me from going there. But it bothers me that I have to avoid Android's Dungeon and Furnado a lot more than it bugs me I can't go to Caritas."

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"Ain't that familiar with the Android Dungeon, but I'm bettin' we could ease you into bein' able to check out the animal shelter when you like." He was pretty sure he knew why she was shy about that place, considering how she still reacted sometimes to Val. "I'd point out there's no shame in all this, but I gather you already know that."

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"Comic book shop," Kathy said. "Hardison hangs out there sometimes."

And it was full of The Shambling Dead paraphernalia, which had had Kathy noping right out of the store the one time she'd gone in, post-resurrection.

Modern pop culture was creepily obsessed with zombies, actually. Trust her, she knew.

"I--technically?" she said, tapping her temple once to show she knew that in her head, anyway.

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That just meant she had to wait a little longer. Zombies were in decline.

"Knowin' it don't help much, does it," Eliot mused. "You wanna maybe spend some more time with Val? Ease you back into spendin' non-dead time with animals?"

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"I mean, it's tough saying no to more Val-time," Kathy said, with a faint smile. "The guys have cats. That worries me, a bit."

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"You given 'em a heads up?" Eliot asked. "Not that I think it's gonna be a problem in the end, but if you're gonna be living with people, lettin' 'em know about potential issues is kind of important."

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Kathy nodded. "Anders and I talked about it once, when he asked why I didn't come visit him at work. I mean, I don't think it'll be a problem? But I haven't lived with a pet enough to know for sure. And cats are better at startling people than dogs."

Quieter, for one.

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"You might wanna mention it specifically to 'em again, just in case," Eliot suggested. "Can't say I know much about livin' with cats, though."

Eliot was very much a dog person.

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Honestly? So was Kathy. Well, she assumed, she'd never had a pet to tell.

But she liked the image of her curled up on a large dog, reading in a beam of sunlight. Though a kitty curled up on her legs was a nice addition, too.

"I'll let him know," she promised. "I don't dare take this lightly."

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"I know you don't, darlin'," Eliot assured her. "But I'm pretty sure givin' advice you might already know's in my job description."

Right along with embarrassing her in front of her friends and telling really terrible jokes!

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"So when are you going to sit me down to have the sex talk?" Kathy asked with an arched eyebrow.

And then, realizing this was Eliot...

"Just kidding! Just kidding! I'm good!"