Beauty and Beast doesn't belong to me.

An Evening In

"What are you doing here?"

"Would you believe me if I told you that I was in the neighbourhood and decided to stop by?"

"No." Cat smiled at Vincent.

"Then I won't say it," Vincent smiled back as he settled onto the step that Cat had come to think of as Vincent's seat. She climbed through the window and sat down next to him. "How are you?" she asked him.

"Fine," he laughed softly. They had seen each other earlier in the day at Catherine's crime scene. He couldn't help himself, although he had told himself on the way over that he'd just drop by for a few minutes, nothing more, he took her hand in his.

"Good," she replied. "You know your coming over saved me a trip."

"I know."

"What do you mean, you know?"

"Well, you have been stopping by the warehouse every evening at about this time, I may be slow but I managed to get that," he said.

"I hate being so predictable," Cat told him.

"You predictable, never," Vincent said. "Anyway I really wanted to see you."

"You saw me less than two hours ago," she reminded him.

"You're keeping count, should I be flattered?"

"I'm not keeping count," Cat defended herself, although in fact she was, "I just know when I left the crime scene."

"It seems to me like you're counting the hours," Vincent insisted.

"Would it make you feel better if I said I did?"

"You have no idea how much."

000

Heather climbed up the stairs to Cat's flat; she had decided to go home early to spend some time with Cat. Heather knew, although Cat tried to hide it, that her big sister wasn't happy. Cat hadn't really been happy since their mother's death but lately she seemed to be more on edge. At first Heather had thought it was because of their father's upcoming nuptials but now it seemed that it was more than that, something else was going on in Cat's life and Heather was determined to get to the bottom of it.

To that end Heather had bought Cat food from her favourite restaurant and she intended to spend the evening with her sister. Some girl time would do both of them some good, of course, it also depended on whether Cat would even be at home. Cat had taken to being out even later than Heather these days, which was saying something. Whatever the case, Heather was sure that something was going on in her sister's life, and she was going to find out what.

Heather put the food on the counter and made her way to Cat's bedroom which was open. So her sister was home, good.

000

"Your sister's home."

Cat had been telling Vincent a story when his comment stopped her short. "Heather's home?" she asked him. "She was supposed to be out with her friends."

Vincent nodded towards Cat's bedroom where Heather stood looking at them first in shock, surprise and then a wide smile spread over her face.

"You could have left before she saw you," Cat whispered to Vincent.

"I could have."

"Aren't you going to introduce us?" Heather asked as she climbed through the window to join them outside.

"Of course," Cat answered and did.

"So you the guy who's been distracting Cat lately?" Heather asked him.

"I wouldn't say distracting exactly," Cat said.

"Who's asking you?" Heather said. "Vincent, I'm really glad to meet you."

000