Heyyyy, I hope you guys are doing well! I decided to write a fic for Kate and Rana since my life basically revolves around them now lmao. I wrote this because I really love Kate's relationship with Carla and I felt compelled to provide more exposition for Kate's feelings about Rana. No beta, so all mistakes are mine. Also, this pre-dates Luke's demise; so don't get confused about the timeline. I'm fairly new to this show and I'm not british but I tried to add in some of the british-mancurian dialect I've heard on the show as much as I possibly could lol

"Can you be any more obvious?" Carla hissed, shaking her head in disbelief.

"What?" Kate asked, her eyes now shifting to her sister.

"You haven't heard a word I've said since nursey arrived," Carla said, tilting her head in the direction of the bar.

"Yes, I have." Kate lifted her chin defensively and cleared her throat as she tried to recall what Carla was saying. "You've been going on about Aidan and….how he's driving you mad with his new plans for the Underworld."

Carla leaned back into her chair and chuckled as she made a move to grab her orange juice. "I stopped talking about him 10 minutes ago."

Kate opened her mouth to speak, but closed it when she realized there was nothing she could say to prove that she was listening…..because the truth was that she simply wasn't. She and Carla were having a perfectly good lunch at the Bistro when Rana unexpectedly breezed in to visit Zeedan about something; stealing her attention in the process. They hadn't had the chance to see each other these past few days, so Kate's desire for some alone time with her was particularly intense at the moment. And palpable, apparently.

Carla placed her drink down and sighed. "You need a new game plan, Kate. Things can't keep going on the way they are. This is going to eat you up inside until you become just a shell of yourself. I've been there, I know what it's like."

Kate looked into her sister's familiar, brown eyes and swallowed a bit at the concern she saw lying within them. "I don't know what to do." Her solemn gaze shifted to Rana again as she continued. "I love her, but….she's scared….heck, I'm scared."

Carla reached across the table and grabbed one of Kate's hands to comfort her. "You think she's gonna hurt you?"

Kate refocused her attention on Carla; suddenly grateful for the physical support as she felt a lump building in her throat. "I'm afraid that I won't be able to recover if she does."

Carla gently squeezed her hand. "Oh, darling….I don't want to be negative about this, but if it does happen, I'm sure you'll find your bearings soon enough. I mean, don't get me wrong, it'll hurt a ton at first. But you're stronger than you think…you'll bounce back."

Kate could do nothing but sigh at her sister's optimism. "I dunno…"

They were silent for a minute until Rana walked pass their table on her way out; smiling at Kate as she did so. The waitress smiled back and released her hand from Carla's grasp a few seconds later when she heard her phone go off with a notification.

Carla watched Kate intently as the young woman tried to keep a neutral expression while reading a new message. "It's her, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Kate replied, looking up from her phone. She couldn't help but crack a small smile as she did so.

"What did she say?" Carla asked, raising a brow in curiosity.

Kate turned off her phone screen and placed it face down on the table. "Nothing." She raised her glass to take a sip of her wine.

Carla took a bite of her salad, nonchalantly. "Oh, c'mon. What are you guys doing? Texting each other nudes?"

Kate choked on her wine momentarily before regaining her composure. "Stop it."

Carla chuckled and briefly raised her hands in surrender. "Fine."

Kate accepted the concession and shook her head at the accusation as she tried to finish her own salad.

They were quiet for a moment until Carla looked down at her plate with a mischievous smile. "…You do seem a bit defensive though, so I must be right."

Kate dropped her fork abruptly, allowing it to clank against her plate as she shot daggers at her sister in exasperation.

"She's the one."

Carla tore her eyes away from the movie they were watching and looked at Kate, slightly confused. "What?"

They had gone back to the flat Kate shared with Luke and Alya to spend more time together before Carla headed back to Devon. They were alone in the flat with the others still at work.

Kate met her sister's eyes and repeated herself. "She's the one...I can feel it….it's why I can't let her go."

Carla grabbed the remote and turned off the TV as an expression of understanding dawned on her face. She then leaned back on the sofa and nodded at her sister, encouraging her to continue. Kate obviously needed to get this out, and she was going to give her all the time she needed to do that.

"I've never felt like this before…"

Kate looked down as she began fiddling a bit with the thumb ring on her right hand. "That's what I meant, before, when I said I was scared….I mean, I did love Caz once upon a time, but this is totally different."

The waitress paused briefly as she tried to collect more of her thoughts. "I think about her all time and I want to be with her all the time. I've thought about what it would be like to have a future with her….not just in the short-term, but in the long term as well. I can't believe how far my mind has taken me sometimes…"

Kate looked up again to find Carla listening to her intently, her body turned toward her on the sofa. "This is why I'm afraid I won't be able to recover if she doesn't pick me. We're technically not even together yet, but I'm already at the point where I can't see myself without her anymore. I know that sounds crazy, but that's just the way things are now. That's how I feel…"

Carla waited silently for a bit once Kate stopped talking. When it became apparent that she would not continue, the older woman spoke up. "Kate…you're not crazy, you're just in love. Love makes us say, think, and do crazy things."

Carla grabbed her sister's hand again, just as she did earlier. "Does she know how you feel? The depth of your feelings?"

"She knows that I love her…it's far too early for the other stuff." Kate chuckled as she wiped away a stray tear that was making its way down her left cheek. "Wouldn't wanna scare her off."

Carla's face broke into a small smile. "Is she in love with you?"

"I think so…"

Carla raised an eyebrow, skepticism coloring her face. "You think so?"

Kate's eyes reconnected with her sister's. "She is. It's just hard for me to accept sometimes."

"Why?"

Kate hesitated for a second before answering. "I don't think I ever really knew what I was looking for in a woman until I fell in love with her….and now that I've found the woman of my dreams, it's hard to imagine me being that person for her; me being the woman of her dreams."

"Hey, don't sell yourself short, Kate. You're a heck of catch. If she didn't think so, then none of this would be happening right now."

Kate smiled warmly at her sister's words. "Thanks."

Carla beamed at her in return. "I'm only being honest. And I'm proud of you, by the way," she said, gently teasing Kate with a playful pat on the arm. "She's a sight for sore eyes. You've done well for yourself."

Kate rolled her eyes in mock annoyance. "It's not just about her looks, okay? She's incredibly warm, kind, loving, funny, thoughtful….I feel like I could go on for ages."

"Oh, I don't doubt that. We've already been talking about her for ages, if you haven't noticed," Carla said, determined to keep up her teasing.

Kate laughed heartily for the first time since they arrived at the flat. "Whatever. Isn't this what big sisters are for anyway? Listening to their little sisters' problems and then fixing them?"

"Fixing them?" Carla chuckled briefly before allowing her smile to fade away. "I don't know if I can do that in this case, sweetheart. Wish I could though."

Kate sighed deeply at the statement; the reality of the situation suddenly weighing her down again. She stayed silent for a moment and melted into Carla as the older woman pulled her into a comforting embrace.

"I love you," Kate whispered, once again grateful for her sister's support.

"I love you, too," Carla replied, softly. She gave her a light squeeze as she continued. "This will all work out. I promise."

Carla gently ran a hand through Kate's long, brown hair and made a mental note to visit the medical centre the next morning.

This was originally supposed to be just a one shot but I've been toying with the idea of posting a chapter detailing Rana's feelings. That was sort of why I added that last line about Carla going to the medical centre. I haven't made up my mind about it yet. Drop a comment if you feel compelled to.