[Not-so-merry prankster] Steve: Innocence is overrated based on what you haven't done

[girlsolo]

They let her go with less than a slap on the wrist. More of a slap in the face. Community service. Fine, whatever. It's an insult, in a way. It's also exactly what she needs. A slap in the face. Wake up, Freelander. This isn't a dream. It's not going away. A slap in the face. For being a brat and acting out. A slap in the face. Look at your life, look at your choices. Where's a girl's sassy gay friend when she needs him.

Not being sassy, never gay, and sleeping with the boss. That's where her not sassy, not gay best friend is.

Kate sighs, adjusts the ugly ass bag on her shoulder and tucks her hands in her pockets. It's a long walk from IPD to the little house on the beach, not prairie, even if there's a cheerful dog waiting to greet her. The walk will do her good. Maybe her cheek will stop stinging by then. Maybe her heart will.

She doesn't mind Will selling her out. She's kind of glad he did. It's a way to get straight, make good, and keep her pokerface at the same time. It's not that she cares. It's not that it matters to her. She just got caught and now she's got to pay the price and pray that it's enough. Yeah, she's in kind of a Melissa mood and she'd pretty much kill for her iPod.

The tracks in her head have switched from Melissa to Dessa by the time she gets to the hut on the beach. Her little canine pal is there, barking and wagging his tail. She smiles and crouches to pet him, in case they take away visiting privileges. Damn dog is one the only good things about this island. "Hey, pal. At least someone's glad to see me."

*Title and lj-cut lyric from Dessa's Dutch. Internal reference, Melissa Etheridge's Chrome Plated Heart.

Comments

[newkindofcop]

Zulu's basically the unofficial greeter for the hut, but Steve's also grateful for the fact that he serves as unofficial watchdog. It makes it next to impossible for anyone to sneak up on them without a signal in advance, and it's a habit he only encourages in the puppy, especially since it means he'll be the kind of dog on high alert later on even when he's seemingly relaxed. Granted, his being so young means any intruder is likely to only get licked to death, but then again, they haven't had to deal with any crime up until now.

Steve hasn't mentioned the toolbox lid is missing, but he knows Danny will start asking questions when he has to screw it back on later and he knows he'll be furious, probably make him install some extra safeguards around the hut to prevent this kind of thing from happening in the future. But Steve isn't mad. More accurately, he's intrigued, curious about the woman in question, wondering if these thefts aren't a sign of her need for something else.

He's sitting out on the porch as she approaches, giving Zulu permission to greet her with a soft command, and stands when she gets closer, looking at her with a curious furrow of his brow. "He's glad to see everyone," he says, equal parts stern and amused. "Don't take it personally."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Kate glances up from her crouch. Nice voice, sexy. Hell of a body. Great face too. Yeah, crying shame he's into dick.

Sighing at the tightening in her gut that's not sexy, Kate ruffles the puppy's ears again. "I think it's personal," she murmurs at the dog, then speaks up a bit for the hotass on the porch. "We've got a bond."

She dusts her hands off as she pushes to her feet, then prowls over, no slinking. Yeah, she screwed up, but she tells herself the lie she's not worried about this conversation and believes it. "Name's Kate. I've got something of yours I need to give back."

[newkindofcop]

"Some watchdog you turned out to be," Steve mutters to the dog, as the puppy trots over to plop himself down into a sit at his side, looking up at him with an expression that all but screams he's proud of himself. Steve grimaces and shakes his head, coming down the porch steps while Zulu finally stretches out on his belly, his growing paws draped over the first step.

He knows how to intimidate. He could very well take that approach if he wanted to, and easily. Still, he simply settles for planting his feet, crossing his arms loosely over his front, studying her openly.

"I get the feeling this isn't the first stop you've made today," he replies, glancing down at her.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Kate doesn't intimidate easily. You can't work for Helen Magnus and be scared of anything. She always stood her ground well, but she's even better at it now. Chin level, eyes clear. She knows who she is and what she did and what's left is what she's got to do to make it right.

"You just that intuitive or a little bird tell you?" she asks, more sass than snark, hint of a smile lurking in her eyes. Nothing he wants from her is as bad as where she's been.

[newkindofcop]

"Just a hunch," he tells her, though Danny's always telling him he needs to work on getting people more.

"How many people you pull this on?" he asks, mostly out of curiosity but also to see if she'll dance around the subject or simply be straightforward. You can tell a lot about a person by the way they try to save face.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

She likes how he asks it, "pull this on," because it sounds almost like he gets it. A stunt. "Ten, eleven or twelve, depending on how you want to count it," Kate answers. No point lying when it's a matter of record. She could pull the allegedly card, but that's bullshit when she's trying to make good.

"Two people a day for five days, and I was coming back around for the first two. Got caught halfway. So, ten lifts, eleven break-ins, twelve attempts." She quirks a small grin, because she's proud and twelve's a lie. "More like eleven and a half. I was on my way to twelve."

[newkindofcop]

"Depends on if you're aiming for technicality or if you're planning on rounding up," Steve says with a small rounding of his shoulders.

"Anything else they're making you do aside from return everything?" he asks, even though he's almost positive Danny would've come home with the information a few hours from now.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"Depends on what you're asking," Kate counters. Her hackles are rising, but she's still got a great pokerface for strangers. Magnus, Will, Declan would know she's itching between her shoulder blades but he's got a right to know, she figures. "People or counts of offense." And she doesn't know him to know which matters, even though he asked about people.

Not glancing away, Kate nods, small frown creasing her brow. "The gave me community service. Making sure things get back where they belong. Seeing if anyone wants to press charges." She's changed. It's the people who matter to her. "Doing that personally was my idea."

[newkindofcop]

Steve nods slowly, understandingly. As far as he's aware, this is the first taste of real crime the IPD's had in months, years even, aside from the occasional scuffle down at one of the bars, so it stands to reason that they're going to make sure this is dealt with appropriately, at least according to the island's rules. It seems a fair punishment, as far as consequences go.

"What, seeing if anyone wants to press charges?" he says, a wry smile causing the edges of his mouth to twitch slightly.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"That, returning anything that hasn't gotten returned." Kate shrugs a little and pulls the hideous plaid tote around in front of her to open it up. "Speaking of."

She lifts out the toolbox lid and offers it out to him. There's a twist in her gut like she hasn't felt since Henry gave her the one Steno tusk. Not a wrong feeling, but not a right one either. "If you want, I'll screw it back on for you."

[newkindofcop]

"Feel free to cross my name off that list," Steve replies. Whatever her punishment (and it sounds fair in his mind), he's not going to contribute any more to it than he already has by being one of the few she needs to return things to.

He takes the lid from her, holding it lightly in one hand as he lets that arm fall to his side, shaking his head slowly with something of an amused look. "I don't think that'll be necessary," he says, quietly observing the expressions that filter over her face.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"Thanks," Kate offers. She's not sure what else she'd say to someone who doesn't want to press charges. If it was her, she wouldn't do it. No harm, no foul, and she'd probably respect the crap out of anyone who could pull it off. Stealing from her.

"I guess that's it, then, unless you want to know why I did it or have specific community service you want me to do for you."

[newkindofcop]

"Actually, I think I do want to know why," Steve declares, after a beat of silence. It might not be the reaction she's anticipating, but he's never prided himself on being particularly predictable in any sense of the word, as Danny can probably attest.

"If I ask, will you tell me?"

[haolehothead]

Considering that Danny's been eager for something to do, this isn't exactly what he wanted. For one, not only has the perp wound up taking from people he knows and loves, but there are other people involved in it. And, you know, coming home to find said perp in your living room? It's not exactly what he wanted or expected.

"Steven," Danny says evenly, unknotting his tie slowly and thoroughly as he keeps an eye on their 'guest'. "Why is she in our home?"

[newkindofcop]

They've migrated from the front porch steps to the living room, each enjoying a beer as Zulu rests between them, the toolbox lid on top of the small coffee table as Steve leans back against the couch, one arm casually slung across the back.

"She came over to bring the lid back," he replies, as though it was merely a neighbor coming over to return something borrowed. "How was work, babe?"

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Clearly at ease, Kate's got her boots off, one foot tucked under her and the other knee up for her to rest her arm on. The beer swings between her fingers while she watches the partner, Danny, gearing up for what looks like serving her head on a platter.

He's got a right, so she just watches, taking her cues from Steve. She trusts him almost as instinctively as she's always trusted Magnus. If there's something she needs to do other than listen, he'll let her know. Biggest thing she's doing right now is keeping it off her face how funny it is that "babe" is Steve's preferred "endearment" too.

[haolehothead]

"How was my day, he asks," Danny huffs, slinging the tie over Steve's head with a glower on his face, ignoring the presence of Kate for the moment. "How was my day? I walk in and find out that there's been a rash of thefts and whose name is on the list, but yours. Other of my friends too, but yours, Steven, and the toolbox," he hisses, like he can make this a more private conversation. "I don't -- I don't understand how you're so goddamn calm right now, given how you acted when that thing showed up!"

[newkindofcop]

Steve reaches up to pluck the tie from off his head without much effort, gently dropping it in his lap. Meanwhile, Zulu hops down from the sofa to greet Danny, tail lashing back and forth in excitement as he rises up on his hind legs, paws resting on Danny's knees as he growls playfully.

"Well, it's not like there was anything in it, Danny," he points out, shrugging. "Everything that made the box important never showed up with it to begin with. Kate's making the rounds to return everything, and we got to talking."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Kate takes a few notes from Zulu, too. The pup obviously loves Danny, and whatever she said, she does think animals are good judges of character. So she chills, makes like she's not here, and learns every damned thing she can about them.

It's a little like deja vu. Watching Will and Magnus fight over how they can possibly trust her after Ashley. Her chest tightens at the thought, but she's a lot more worried about losing Magnus and Will over this than she is anything Danny might want to do to her.

[haolehothead]

Danny crouches down to pick up Zulu, holding him tightly in his arms like he's little more than a recalcitrant child. He smoothes a hand over his fur, giving Steve a look that's shooting daggers before he turns his attention to her. "And you," he says. "What, was it just for kicks and giggles? You had nothing better to do than to tie up the legal system here?"

[newkindofcop]

Like most looks he tends to be on the receiving end of when Danny's irritated with him, Steve responds to this one with no more than a passive calm, choosing to consider his words before he utters any he's likely to regret - or ones that will dig him into a deeper hole than the one he's in now.

"Come on, Danny. At the very least, it gave IPD something to do," he points out.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Kate considers pointing out that they all seemed pretty grateful to have something to do, but Steve does that, and it probably comes off better out of his mouth.

She half-swings the beer to firm her grip on it, and acknowledges the question with a tilt of her head. "More like a domestic dispute that got out of hand," is what she goes with. It's a story a guy with that much surface emotion might understand. It's also true, if not the whole truth.

[haolehothead]

Danny sets Zulu back down on the ground, hands on his hips when Steve and Kate both attempt to justify it. "I don't care how bred people are, I'd rather be sitting on my hands and getting to work with kids because there's no crime, especially when said crime is stealing from my fiance!" he shouts, more heated by the moment. "Domestic dispute gone bad? Cry a river, go get drunk!"

[newkindofcop]

Steve quietly observes the puppy sitting next to Danny's feet, his tail thumping against the ground as he tilts his head when Danny starts to get a little louder, ears cocked slightly.

"Hey, Danny, it's okay, she apologized, we've talked it out," he softly promises, setting his beer down and rising from the couch, holding out his hands in a manner meant to pacify.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

The puppy's the main reason Kate doesn't mouth off and tell Danny exactly what she thinks about him telling her how to solve her problems. He's confused, and she doesn't want to add to it. That's what she tells herself, but she doesn't really believe it.

"Did plenty of that, too," she says, the bitter, wry twist and sharp edges returning to her all at once. She glances at Steve, little tip of her head to say she's okay and not to make things worse for himself on her account. Maybe he gets it, maybe he doesn't. "You and I are okay, and that's cool. But I've got a lot more to do to make it right."