Sexy times! So if you don't want to read it, you can skip the part between the two lines of *************'s! It's not just all sex though! Plot begins to move forward in this chapter!
So sorry this took so long! I got super writer's block on this chapter and couldn't write on it for about two months. I pretty much wrote this entire chapter in the last two days!
Kat froze under his touch for an instant, but just as quickly sank into his touch, kissing him back fiercely. She had been fearing the chance that she'd see Crane when Red touched her, but she didn't. Elation filled her, she slammed his back against the wall, and started fumbling with the top most button on his shirt.
Red stilled her hands, "Wait." He made her look at him. "I don't want to hurt you. Is this what you want?"
Kat nodded, "Yes. I went through Hell as Mina, but I know I'm Kat now. I want to know that every memory I have of us together hasn't been tainted by Crane abusing me."
Red smiled, kissing her gently before pulling away and toeing his shoes off, "Okay then, but bedroom, not hallway."
"Okay." She echoed back, letting him lead her by the hand to the door she instinctively knew was theirs. The room to the right had been Lian's. She would check that out later. Now, all she wanted was Red. She wanted to memorize every change on his face from the one in her memory.
Red stood awkwardly in front of the bed, Kat sitting on it, staring at him. She moved first, grasping his hands and pulling him closer to her so that he was bent at the waist with his hands on her waist, linking her lips with his and letting her hands wander over his back. He became acutely aware of her presence, just inches from his spine, a faint essence of sweat on her skin sending her scent through to his brain.
A visceral shock went through Red as he realized that he hadn't experienced that scent of hers for nearly twenty years. Twenty years that felt like an eternity on one hand, and on the other like merely a few days. Somehow, now that he wasn't looking at Kat, worrying over her every movement, he was able to react to her presence on a more instinctive level, one that felt all too much like how he'd known she'd be there, sitting on the porch of the house they'd once made a home. The smell of her, the light touch of her fingers on his skin as she stroked through the short hairs at the back of his neck, the sudden awareness of the textures of her clothes, brought back overwhelming sensory memories of what it was to be in her arms; naked, writhing and sweating with her.
It was as if a locked door had been suddenly thrown open. The power of those memories was akin to an assault, and for a second, contemplating what was about to follow, Red's legs gave way beneath him.
His knee's hit the edge of the bed and she was suddenly laying flat, but he wasn't steady enough to stop himself from hitting the floor, his socked feet not having any traction on the polished wood floors. She was steady enough. Kat moved her right hand to rest on his ribcage just under his arm and hauled him far enough up the bed that his knees could support him. Red let his head hang, silent for a few seconds, merely inhaling, shakily, against the curve between her shoulder and neck.
Tense for a moment, Red took a deep breath. Then he allowed himself to relax into the new position, kneeling on the bed with Kat's body under him. Eyes pinched closed, he still couldn't see her but he could feel her trembling against him, ever so slightly, heard the way she struggled to control her voice when she spoke. "It's all right, Red. I've got you."
Red laughed shakily, "Are you sure?"
Her eyes widened slightly as she replied, barely above a whisper. "I'm sure." Crystal blue eyes bore into him, "Are you?"
Another shaky laugh, "Yes."
Silence was suspended between them for all of a second as her eyes searched his.
But when she found nothing but acquiescence, Kat was transformed. Restraint was replaced with an almost violent urgency. She grabbed him and suddenly he was on his back and she was steadying herself over him, reaching for the zipper of the red hoodie he was wearing and jerking it down so fast he was pretty sure she ripped the metal from the fabric.
Red scrambled for his belt so she wouldn't rip that too. Kat stripped her own jacket off, and then her lips were pressing against his again; he gasped into their kiss, pulling his belt free and tossing it across the room. There seemed to be a lull in the undressing that had Red off-kilter, but he adapted quickly, allowing himself to run his hands up and down the exposed skin of her arms as they kissed.
He wanted to see how far she'd let him take control, and started to strip his shirt off, arching his back up to remove the fabric. Kat growled, biting his lip and bringing her hands to join his, breaking the biting kiss just so they could get the shirt over his head and she could drop it off the bed behind her.
The rest of their clothes ended up in the same pile.
Red started to roll them back over, but Kat stopped him, a slight panic in the back of her eyes, "Let me be on top. I don't want to hurt you if I freak out."
Red brushed some of her dark hair out of her eyes and smiled softly at her as he settled back onto the pillows on the bed, "Sure, whatever makes you feel comfortable, but don't worry about hurting me."
Kat climbed up him, kissing him gently, "What did I ever do to get back here? It's like a dream. I don't want to wake up if it is."
Red grasped her hips and aligned them, but let go as he said softly, "Kat, you are awake. Promise. You're awake, and you're right where you belong."
She settled her arms on either side of his head and didn't say anything, preparing herself mentally by staring at his face. Kat gasped softly as she lowered herself, taking him deep into her body. She caught his murmured response just before she silenced them both with another of the hard kisses she seemed so fond of. Within seconds the kiss became tender and languid and Red delighted in how much she'd relaxed. He was afraid she'd want it hard and fast when all he wanted to do was to express his love with gentleness. Both his arms went around her and he cradled her close to him, and she let him, finally lowering her torso so that her breasts touched his chest. Her hips moved slowly, driving them both farther and farther to that edge.
He could tell it wasn't enough. He'd held back, let her lead, kept himself completely still so he wouldn't scare her off or upset her, but neither of them would finish if she kept at the pace she'd set, he remembered enough of the past to know that. He took the chance, thrusting his hips up to meet hers. Kat froze for an instant, staring at his face. He watched as a tendril of pleasure flitted across her face and she relaxed back into him, and they resumed the pace of their lovemaking.
She looked unsure of herself, nervous. Helplessly out of control. Then, once again, her head was tucked against his shoulder, her mouth latching onto the soft flesh just below his earlobe, and he was fucking up into her hard enough to make her tremble with every thrust.
Red tried to hold on until she came, and he barely held on long enough to allow her to reach a climax seconds before him. As soon as she began to come, Kat assumed a viciously hard grip on both his shoulders, and Red let his limbs go slack, hands resting limply against her back, luxuriating in the delicious release that was pulsing out of and through him. Red managed to sigh, "Oh, Kat," against her cheek before her control seemed to finally snap completely.
She came with a violence that he couldn't remember Kat experiencing when they were together before. Her entire body was racked with the convulsions, her heart pounding so hard that he could feel it shuddering against his own chest. Yet she barely made a sound, only steady, heavy panting as she regained her breath.
Red held her throughout her recovery, caressed the nape of her neck and pressed warm kisses to her cheek and the edge of her mouth, murmured her name over and over, and told her how terribly he'd missed her.
After a few moments of merely allowing herself to be held, Kat's frame stiffened. She pulled away, withdrawing him from her body. She stared into his eyes for a couple of seconds, caressing the side of his face with curled fingers. Then she stood, standing in the pile of their clothes like a child, unsure of what to do next.
Red held a hand out to her, sitting up, not keeping the frown off his face, "Hey, come here. You're okay." She was hesitant, but she let him pull her back onto the bed and slide her under the covers. Kat grabbed his hand when he went to get off the bed, terror in her eyes, "Hang on, I'll be right back." He kissed her, "I won't leave you."
She let him go, but he saw the relief on her face when he came back into the bedroom from the bathroom. He cleaned them both up, moving slowly so she relaxed back into the bed, her eyelids heavy. "I didn't see him." Kat whispered.
Red stilled, his washcloth covered hand on her inner thigh, "What?"
"I was afraid I'd see Crane while we..." She trailed off, shaking her head slightly, "I didn't. It was just you and me. It was amazing. I haven't done that in years."
"Done..." He stopped, looking at the nervous look on her face. He bit his lip before leaning in to kiss her again, "Glad I could help relieve some tension."
"You're so gentle." She whispered, curling into herself as he moved away, a tiny smile on her face.
"Because I love you." Red said instantly.
Part of him expected her to snap something venomous at him, but she didn't, instead she just looked solemn, "I don't deserve your love."
Red slid under the covers with her, taking one of her hands and kissing the back of her knuckles, "Of course you do. You put up with my shit while I was getting my head screwed on straight, it's my turn to do the same for you."
"You didn't kill people because it was fun." She said sadly.
He took a deep breath, "You did what you had to. If it makes you feel better, you've always been a little dark. You get that from your parents, Lian gets it from you."
"I'm not sure she gets anything from me." She answered immediately.
Red scoffed, stretching his arm out above his head, "That's not true. She's so much like you. I mean we're pretty alike, but so much of her is you. Enough that we don't always get along."
Kat groaned, "How the hell am I supposed to learn to be a mother if you aren't even good at being a father?"
Red raised an eyebrow at her, "Excuse me?"
She snorted, "Sorry, just messing with you. It's just...I remember being the mother to an infant. That's a hell of a lot different than being a mother to a married nineteen year old. Where do I even start? I don't care what you think. I'm pretty sure she hates me."
"She doesn't."
Kat buried her face in the pillows for a second, groaning, "How can you say that? I think zapping my brain and leaving me unconscious is a pretty good sign of hate."
Red couldn't help but smile at her, "It was an accident. Like I said earlier, her Metegene's strong. She doesn't have the best control. She's working on it, but..."
"I could help her." Kat said suddenly.
"What?" Red asked, confused by the sudden excitement in her eyes.
Kat sat up, "Control. That's something I'm good at. I can help her. That's my way in. I can..."
Red chuckled, slipping his hands to her hips and sliding her back down, "She zapped you because you two are psychically linked. Have been since she was born. You're her mother. That's your way in."
She stroked her fingers across his forearms, "I'm not used to not know exactly what to do, what's expected of me."
"You knew what to expect earlier." Red said, and immediately wished he hadn't.
Kat smiled though, touching a hand to his red hair, "Yeah, I remember that, Red. Hard not to. I'm actually pretty surprised Lian is an only child. We were pretty prolific." Heat lit in her eyes, "I was nervous before, think we could go again?"
Red laughed heartily, "I'd love to, but, the man you remember being raring to go half an hour after the first time retired about five years ago. Need a little longer." They kissed for a while, until he was ready again, and the second time around was better than the first because she didn't hold herself so tightly, like she was afraid of herself. She was fearless.
He woke up a few hours later and cleaned up a little, a habit he'd picked up after they'd moved into Bruce's mansion. He felt bad about having Alfred clean up after him so he'd done his best to be as neat as possible. He opened the top drawer on the bedside table to get the alarm clock out and stared at the innocent looking box sitting next to it.
They hadn't used condoms. Sure, the box was almost twenty years old and the contents useless, but still. He really really was the least intelligent man on the planet sometimes. They'd given her a completely clean bill of health while she'd been in custody, so that meant no STD's, but that also meant that everything else was working correctly too.
He wasn't as young as he'd once been, but now she was significantly younger. Eight years younger to be exact. She wasn't forty three, she was thirty five. Women had kids at thirty five all the time. What the hell had he been thinking? Well, admittedly, he hadn't been thinking with his brain. He'd been celibate for seventeen years, so he'd been a little preoccupied with feeling her skin under his hands and not at all eager to put up more barriers between them. Not that they'd been stellar at using protection anyway. Lian was proof of that.
He looked at Kat, sighing. She was sleeping soundly, even though her body was curled tight, protectively. He was afraid to touch her. She was naked, but he had a sneaking suspicion that she was more than capable of making him hurt very badly, without any need for a weapon besides her body. He looked out the window, wondering what life would have been like if she'd never gone away and he was waking up on this morning with her beside him like any other.
He could imagine that Lian wouldn't be married already. No, Kat would have convinced her to wait just a little while longer, and the two would have gone over every detail in excruciating detail with Selina advising over a glass of wine. Lian had hired a wedding planner and let Selina make most of the decisions.
Kat startled him by thumping a hand on his chest, "Stop. I can hear you thinking. Sleep. I can't sleep unless you are."
"That's sweet." Red chuckled.
Kat glared, "No, not sweet. You're so loud when you're awake. Hush." He obeyed with a languid nod, his heart pounding with sheer joy when she pinned him to the bed with her body, settling her head above his heart and draping one arm and a leg over him.
Just before dawn, Kat woke up, head spinning. She slunk out of the house silently, dressing swiftly in the darkness of the front porch. She'd laid in bed for a few minutes, warm in Red's arms, and she'd panicked. On the porch, her head was a little clearer. He played it off, but she wasn't good enough for him, not to mention how insufficient she was for the fiery little red haired girl she'd half stalked for years.
She returned to the church attic she'd been sleeping in and searched through the newspapers she'd collected as props over the last few months, scouring the words for any mention of her family. Her family. It was such an odd concept. As Mina, she'd never had a family, not like the one Kat had. But she was Kat. She couldn't totally believe it, couldn't put her faith in it, no matter how steady and sure Red seemed, there was no guarantee that it would last. If Lian did really hate her, then she'd never get that family. She had to be worthy of it in the first place.
She had to be worthy of Red.
A blush colored her face, she'd have to work pretty hard to be worthy of him. But being Mina had taught her about the value of using your assets to get what you want. She'd heard them talking about the Light during her incarceration. The Light had made her, manipulated her since the day she was born. It was her turn. She would help bring down the Light, the first step in making herself worthy of Red's love, to make everything up to her parents, and to show Lian that she understood what the girl'd been trying to tell her. Kat cleaned up her things. She wouldn't be back to the little church. She had a room at the Light headquarters, but she rarely used it. She would now.
A few people greeted her with slight waves, but most ignored her. As a rule, most people that lived in and worked out of that building kept to themselves. The ones that did just wanted sex. Mina would have indulged a few of them from time to time, but it had never been satisfying. No wonder, her body remembered what being with Red was like even if her brain hadn't.
"Mina, darling. You're looking well." A voice said from behind her.
She turned, smiling. "Zazzala. Thank you. I took a few days off. I feel refreshed."
The woman stroked her hair. As Mina, she'd been rather close to the woman, fond even, but now she remembered when they'd first met, when she'd nearly killed Lian before she'd been born. It took everything in her not to rip the woman's arm from her body. That was a Mina instinct, not a Kat one. She'd need to work on that. She couldn't keep killing people who upset her. Kat schooled her features, "You're heading somewhere?"
Zazzala nodded, "A staff meeting. If you'd like to join me, I believe we were intending to call you in. You've saved us the trouble." Kat followed without another word.
The headquarters was disguised as a typical office building, hence the fact that she'd forced herself into black pants, high heels and a satin blue shirt. Oddly enough she was more comfortable now in the outfit than she had been the last time she'd worn it. With her Kat memories she remembered how to relax in something other than leather pants, so she walked confidently into the room Zazzala led her to.
The room was dark, light being cast from an array of computer screens. Zazzala sat, and Kat stood behind her, putting one foot up on the wall. She would show no fear. A large figure stepped out of the shadows, "Ah, the lovely Mrs. Crane. So glad of you to join us." She kept her mouth shut, glaring at the man she didn't know except by reputation. He smiled grotesquely, "And I'd heard you were friendly to your superiors."
She scoffed, "Mr. Savage, I've got no reason to be friendly. I'm just here to do my job and get paid. Tell me what to steal, who to kill, and perhaps we can play nice after."
His smile widened, and her stomach rolled as he growled, "Oh, I plan on it."
"Clear blue water, high tide came and brought you in
And I could go on and on, on and on, and I will
Skies grew darker, currents swept you out again
And you were just gone and gone, gone and gone
In silent screams,
in wildest dreams
I never dreamed of this
This love is good, this love is bad
This love is alive back from the dead
These hands had to let it go free
And this love came back to me
Tossing, turning, struggled through the night with someone new
And I could go on and on, on and on
Lantern burning, flickered in my mind for only you
But you're still gone, gone, gone
Been losing grip,
oh, sinking ships
You showed up just in time"
This Love
By: Taylor Swift
That song is seriously what got the creative juices flowing. It totally fits Red/Kat, and I listened to it on repeat while I wrote. It's seriously beautiful, so go take a listen if you haven't heard it yet!
If you're still reading, please give me a shout!