[For Imriel] Imma meet you halfway

[girlsolo]

It's quiet.

Kate's alone for what feels like the first time since she found Lilo in the jungle. No kid - not sticky, not scared, not sweet, not sweaty, not screaming, not singing (Elvis, always Elvis), not staring at the ocean, not stirring a jar of voodoo dolls, not stomping, not slamming doors, not saying Kate's mean and fat and has stupid hair because there's no peanut butter or sugar cereal or pizza or she doesn't want to go to bed or she doesn't understand why she can't run off and see all of her new friends or go swimming or surfing by herself Nani let me I'm not Nani no you're not Nani's much better than you I know I hate you!

It's quiet and Kate is collapsed face down on the bed half watching some Australian teen dance drama but mostly missing Declan and trying not to. When she's not wondering how she went from slut to single foster mother of a six-year-old in three hours and thinking it's really different, leaving the kids at the Children's Office or leaving William with Sam and Daniel. Different. Exhausting. She'd kill for enough energy to get up and go for a run or a swim to loosen the mass of knots in her shoulders from picking Lilo up whenever she needs to be held and from worrying the rest of the time that she's screwing up. But that would take work.

Maybe she'll just lie here in a jersey and boy shorts with her hair and arm dangling off the bed and pray there's no reason to move enough to work up a sweat.

[ooc: she lives in New Atlantis, which he'd definitely no and the door's probably half open for air flow and in case the dog decides to come home.]

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[trytobegood]

In truth, I was not interested so much in the movie as I was in the woman at my side. There would be time, I figured, later to ask of her week and why she had thought it weird.

"It is I who should be thanking you," I replied. "For your understanding, and your willingness to listen." I was still broken, I knew - not as badly as I had once been, but betimes that brokenness showed through despite my efforts to be good.

[girlsolo]

Kate reaches back with the hand still on the bed to rub it against his leg. "Be thanking Will for that, probably. I pretty much didn't give a fuck about anyone else until he and Magnus got to me." Which, isn't really true. It's just. Giving a fuck about anything but herself would've gotten her killed.

"Don't take this wrong but...you're kind of a predator. Like a vamp or like me. Violence is part of you and you hate that. I get it.

"My best friends at home..." She glances at the screen, hits pause, and keeps talking. "They're like both sides of that coin. Biggie, he's like...the gentle giant. He's Bigfoot. A Yeti. Big furry guy like 8 feet tall, not human, but the best person you'll ever meet. One time, he had to kill a man. It broke his heart. Took him months to really get right again and it stained him forever.

"Henry..." She's told people about Biggie but not Henry. It's weird, right, but because of what Imri is, trusting him's almost instinctive. "He's a HAP. Hyper-Accelerated Protean. In his case, a werewolf. He hated that part of him and wanted to get rid of it, so bad. It took him a long time, you know, to get okay with it and learn to control it. And me...I'm just..." Talking about herself is harder and she's not really sure he cares. So she just shrugs. "Like I said.

"To me, there's nothing wrong with who you are and how you are. I'm used to it. Used to helping different kinds of people deal with it." She frowns and rolls half up to her side. "You get what I'm saying, right? I'm not trying to make out like the shit that happened to you isn't a big deal. Just saying accepting it and stuff, that's...kind of what I've been doing since I started trying to be--" Not a white hat, not likely ever. "Better."

[trytobegood]

A predator. I didn't disagree with that. I was, ultimately, my mother's son, as hard as I tried to keep myself from becoming like her, from using Kushiel's gifts as she had done. "You had some rather interesting friends," I replied, not passing judgement, but rather a simple observation. Considering some of the people I had known and some of the things I had seen in my relatively short life, I could not find the idea of a Yeti and a werewolf entirely unbelievable.

"I believe I do," I continued. "My past is part of who I am, and I cannot get away from it, but I can come to terms with it."

[girlsolo]

You don't know the half of it, Kate thinks, but doesn't say. The rest is more important.

"Yeah." She locks her gaze to his and sits up. Abruptly, she's so aware of him again. So conscious of him in her space. Her teeth snag in her bottom lip and then she shrugs. "Your past. Kushiel's blood. Elua's. All of it. But you can." Her touch is tentative again when she slides her fingers down the inside of his bicep. "I guess what I'm really saying is I'm not scared of you." If you want, I'll help.

[trytobegood]

"I am glad of that," I replied, suppressing a shudder at the light touch of her fingers against my bare arm. "I would not wish to give you cause to fear me." That was the last thing I would have wanted, of Kate especially, but of most others as well. Being feared was not somewhat I desired.

[girlsolo]

"You haven't," she says steadily, watching his eyes for a reaction to her touch. "You won't."

They're almost right back where they were when he hauled her up against him to pour the water over her head. Almost. She knows now. It can't happen like that. Not now. So she takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly.

"Third rule of dating. Kissing. There should be lots of kissing."

[trytobegood]

Now that there was an understanding between us, I no longer felt the tension within me as I had on that day. What existed between Kate and I had not gone away, but having talked, I was more at my ease and able to keep control of myself.

A smile touched my lips. "I believe that is a rule I might be able to comply with," I replied, reaching a hand up to curl around the side of her neck before I leaned in and kissed her, slow and gentle, completely unlike the way it had been at the stable.

[girlsolo]

As much as she wants him, Kate's glad when the kiss is slow. The pulse and spark is still there. If he pushes, she'll push back and they'll be right there were they were. With Aidan, that's safe. He expects her to fight back and never to give away the upper hand, but Imri's gifts demand her surrender.

It's still immediate, her yielding under his mouth, her fingers curling into his shoulder and around his side. Goddamn he rings her bells. But it's more than that and Kate knows it. He kisses like he cares about her. Like he wants her. Like he's trusting her with this huge, terrifying thing. It's that, more than anything, that keeps her from pulling him down over her. He has to be able to trust her.

[trytobegood]

I did not hesitate to deepen the kiss, but I maintained a gentleness with it as well, not pushing aggression as I had before. Even so, it did not fail to spark my desire for her, a warmth that spread within me as I pushed my hand back into her hair.

It was true I wanted more from her, much more. But I was at war with myself, and I needs must becalm the turmoil within me before I could make another attempt. So while the desire was there, and I was acutely aware of it, I did not try for anything further than this - a kiss, deep but slow, my fingers threaded into Kate's hair.

[girlsolo]

Kate can't remember the last time her heat beat like this, slow, staccato beats, thick with desire. Her skin heats, not just her nipples but her whole breasts tighten and ache. When she opens her eyes, they're so dark there's a glow of light around Imri.

Slow, she reminds herself. She's not going to die from taking this slow. But she might die from blunt force trauma if she falls off the bed from being lightheaded.

"C'mere, Imri," she murmurs against his mouth and draws him down to the bed. Beside her, not over her. Slow. Besides, she could get used to being kissed like this.

[trytobegood]

I let Kate pull me down with her, and wrapped my arm around her waist to pull her close as I kissed her again. It was a bit strange, I had to own, being with her like this and knowing it was not likely to go much further. I could not recall a time since I had reached my sixteenth birthday when I had done thusly with a woman. I could also not imagine complaining about my current situation.

[girlsolo]

When other girls had been discovering their sexuality, Kate had already learned to use it as a weapon and a commodity. Not even Declan had been able to convince her of the joys of kissing like this, but Imri pulls her close and she goes, fitting herself flush against him.

"Damn, Gorgeous." Christ. She's breathless and nervy and it's possible she's never felt anything better than yards of warm skin pressed against hers. Except maybe the steel of his shoulder and bicep under her hand when she tells him, "You've got rule number 3 wired."