[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]

"To be honest, I'm not too familiar with any of the work Dr. Magnus used to do," Steve admits. It's not out of a lack of desire to know, but their last encounter had been entirely medically-related, not to mention that he's always considered her as more of Danny's friend than his. He imagines Danny might know a little more about this team Kate's talking about, at least.

"Had a team kind of like that back home," he adds. "Special task force I assembled from a couple people - one of which society had written off as a traitor. Point is, whatever it was you did doesn't have to reflect on you, either, not if the work you're doing now is good."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"Actually, at home, it was kind of important that it did reflect on me." Kate's not sure how much to tell him, mostly because she doesn't know how much they say about the Sanctuary and Abnormals. She runs her finger along the tendon of one floppy paw again while she thinks. "I had a reputation for being someone not to screw with. That was useful."

Her head comes up again, gaze meeting his. "We're the good guys, our team. But the people we're fighting, the work we do, it's dangerous and we can't always afford to play nice. I hear what you're saying, though, chief, and I'm on it."

She gives him another solid once over, taking in the body beneath the clothes. The way he moves. The things he's said. What she suggests isn't sexual, it's just plain smart. "If I get any say in where we start, my hand to hand could use some work. CQB or Krav Maga?" With Declan's shoulder, she hasn't been able to spar full out.

[newkindofcop]

"Well, that does have its advantages," Steve admits, with something of a sideways look. His gaze flicks out toward the beach, toward the water a few hundred feet away from the hut, and the volleyball net in the distance, to the west. "As does not necessarily playing by the rules, but when the governor gives you full immunity and means to take down criminals, you don't really question her choice."

He finally shrugs, reaching back to absently scratch at his opposite shoulder. "I'm more experienced with the former, at least as far as training goes. ITF's helped me fill in the gaps, but I can only spar with a few of its members lately, at least in terms of matching someone both in size and in physical condition."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"I can see that. You're peak-conditioned." She stretches her legs which are starting to fall asleep under Zulu's weight. "We do a lot of work with tactical weaponry, so I'm not. I've got some Krav Maga and my regular spar partner on the island is CQB trained, British Special Forces. Pretty sure you'll kick my ass regularly, but I can make you work for it while I learn and I've got no problem with getting hurt."

If it makes her better, faster, stronger, if it makes her more valuable to Magnus when she gets home, if it channels her fury at being stuck here without leaving bite marks on her skin, she'll volunteer for the beating.

[newkindofcop]

"Can't afford to be less than," Steve admits, with a small shrug. Zulu wakes up from the shifting underneath him, stretching lazily and yawning with a soft sound at being disturbed.

"Well, it wouldn't be training if you didn't wind up struggling with it every now and then. Only way you learn. Though I'd prefer it if the learning happened without serious injury," he adds, frowning at the thought.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"I've been training with guys your size for the last few years. I'm used to the disadvantage and I want to learn. That and anything else your --" Now she lifts an eyebrow, smirks lightly and scratches puppy belly. "SEAL ass wants to show me."

Yeah. She's almost sure. It's mostly the body that gives it away, but also the attitude. Very commando. Plus there's the CQB. Besides, she's had sex with a few of them. There's just a way of looking at the world that no one else who's served has.

A lot like the Sanctuary.

[newkindofcop]

Steve's reaction is a small raise of the eyebrows, but he has to expect that she's going to peg him as easily as he had earlier, especially the longer the conversation goes on. "Former SEAL," he corrects, but it's a small relief that she knows what she's getting into. "It's been a long time since I was in it, but some things you just don't completely forget how to do."

Like spar, for example, and he can still hold his breath for a fairly decent amount of time. It's helped, lately, with the diving he's been doing. He smirks slightly, shaking his head at the expression on the puppy's face as he gets his belly rubbed. "That one's a hopeless case, I'm thinking."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"Thought so." Kate smiles and it's a pretty guileless expression. She's tired now, it's been a long day of talking, and this isn't where she wants to be. "Mossad, SAS, SEALs, for someone who knows what they're looking at, you guys are as obvious as an Indian girl in Kansas."

She glances down at the warm, wiggly mass of puppy in her lap and then her smile amps up a notch. "Or a puppy who wants a tummy rub." Bending over him, she gives him another talking to. "Don't listen to that. You're not hopeless. You might even turn out to be right about me."

The cocky confidence of the old Kate Freelander slides into the relaxed ease of the new one. Her chin comes up, gaze meets Steve's, solid. "He is right about me, for the record. No one needs to lock their shit up because of me. But--" Kate shrugs, casual and loose. "But if they do, I might call it a good deed. They trust too much. They're careless. I could have done much worse, if I wanted to, and there's a lot worse out there than me."

It's not an excuse, no attempt at an excuse. She actually feels like herself, Kate Freelander, Sanctuary Network, for the first time in weeks.