Well here's another chapter! Just as a heads up, I'm leaving for New York on Wednesday and won't be back until next Tuesday, so no chapters until a few days after that. I will get another one in before I go, though.

"You know that's not true!" Nigel slammed the door behind him. Kate threw herself on her bed and sighed.

"What's not true?" she asked with an exasperated tone. She could tell that Nigel was upset, but didn't really care.

"All of that! You saying that we would've cared more if Bug had died! And that all of your friends are here!" Nigel was upset. How could Kate possibly be so stubborn to still think that? He had told her, up on the mountain, that he would've been just as worried about her as he was about Bug.

Kate, however, was also starting to get angry. She didn't like being interviewed like that, and didn't like that Nigel was trying to preach to her again.

"I don't want to here it, Nigel!"

"Well you're going to here it and you're going to stop denying it! Why is it so hard for you to accept the fact that we care about you?! We are your friends, Kate, and that's what friends do!"

Kate had never seen Nigel so aggressive about something and didn't like it at all. She stood up assertively, furious.

"Who the hell are you to be telling me who my friends are?! None of you know anything about me! I am at that morgue for business, not to make friends!"

"What about the morgue here?! They're your friends!"

"That's completely different!"

"How? How is that so different?!"

"They actually understand me! They respect me! They are my family!"

"Well maybe if you were actually nice for a change!

"You want me to be nice?! Well let me tell you something, nice is not what I am to people I don't like! And I'm sure as hell not going to change for anyone!" she pushed passed him and headed for the door before he could say anything.

"Kate!"

She stopped and half turned around.

"And you know what, Nigel? As hard as it is for all of you to understand, I do care! I care about my friends, my family, and my morgue! And they're all here!"

The door slammed hard behind her, and Nigel was left to wallow in his anger. He had never met anyone as cold as her, and hoped he never did again.

XXX

Jordan was walking up to her room with coffee when Kate stormed passed her, not really even looking at her. Watching her go, she opened the door to her room, where Woody was waiting.

"Hey!" he said with a smile, eyeing his coffee a little.

"Hey. Do you know what's up with Kate?" she handed him his cup.

"No, but she and Nigel have been going at it. I could hear them from here."

"Well what were they fighting about?"

"Couldn't tell you. I just heard them yelling."

"You're such a big help."

"Hey, I do what I do!" he took a sip and pulled away quickly "Ahh! Hot! Hot!"

Jordan giggled at his face, and waved her coffee around a bit.

"Iced. Ha!"

"You're mean."

"Am I?"

She planted a long kiss on him. He obviously didn't feel the pain from his burn anymore.

"Well, I guess not that mean..."

XXX

Kate didn't stop until she got outside. She hated when anyone tried to tell her how to feel, but never expected it from Nigel. He was usually so gentle, albeit annoying, so this was totally out of the blue. She took a walk, letting the busyness of the streets drown out her thoughts. Eventually she came to a place that had been her home for a long time, and it was a welcomed comfort.

Up on the third floor, where it would always be, was her destination. When the doors opened, she saw that the normal buzz of the morgue was lower than she remembered. Only a few were seated in the lobby and there was no detectives running around. She didn't stop to get a pass, instead just waving to the security guard that remembered her, who gave a polite tip of his hat, and went right in.

Not much had changed since she left. She saw Bruce typing away in his stylish office, Eli was in the lab with various beakers and test tubes, and Jen was doing paperwork at her desk. Kate kept walking through the halls, remembering. She didn't think anyone had seen her yet until a pair of massive arms went around her waist and she felt herself lifted off the ground into a big chest.

"Gotcha!" Donny said happily as he swung her back and forth a little in his hug. Kate laughed, not able to move since he had also trapped her arms by her side.

"Alright, you got me! Now put me down!" she smiled wide as she spoke. Donny just turned around and started walking.

"Nope. Gotta bring you to see everyone first!"

Kate sighed sarcastically and allowed him to carry her all the way back, where he stopped at every office to announce her arrival, ending with Jen. Jen gave them an amused, motherly look, shaking her head and smiling.

"Alright, Donny, put her down before you hurt your back."

He rolled his eyes and gave her one last squeeze before putting her down and walking out with a quick goodbye.

"You're such a mom." said Kate, settling into a chair facing Jen's desk.

"That's because I am the mom. Probably the only reason all of you stay out of trouble."

Kate shrugged in that you-got-me way.

"Hey, what can I say? People are annoying." Jen raised tightened her mouth and gave her another motherly look. "Ok, not all people!"

"Good, because I know that I can't possibly be annoying." she said with a devilish little smile.

"Oh, well aren't you little miss sarcastic!"

They talked about other things, but came to a more important, though uncomfortable, subject.

"And he didn't say anything about it??"

"No! He just sat there. At least Thomas and Jensen tried to tell me."

"What a idiot! Did he really think he could hide it?"

"I don't know." Kate sighed.

"You ok?"

Kate started to get uncomfortable, but it was Jen and she could talk to her about almost anything.

"Yeah, it's just... I missed this place so much."

Jen gave her one of those it's-alright smiles.

"Well, your office is still empty. If the governor let you come back..."

XXX

Kate, Eli, and Bruce decided to go out for ice cream in the park, a thing that they used to do all the time.

"So you got contacts, huh?" she asked when she saw Eli rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah, but they hurt!"

"But they look so much better than your glasses did!" Bruce commented.

"I guess so."

They all sat down on a bench, where Bruce started a heated conversation.

"So, Kate, are you still single?"

The question caught her off guard a bit.

"Uh, yeah. I'm not really looking."

"That's perfect!"

More confusion.

"Uh... why?"

Bruce looked excited.

"Because I've been dying to set you up with this guy I know!"

That kind of seemed to hit Kate in the face, and her head was going 'Heeelllll no!'

"Really, Bruce, you don't have to!"

"Too late. I've already asked him if he would want to take you to dinner tonight."

"What?!"

"And he said yes, and that he'll pick you up at the hotel at 7 for a romantic dinner! Isn't it awesome?!"

Kate's death stare was more than enough of an answer.

"You're going to get it now!" Eli said from behind his ice cream.

"I can't go back on my promise now! I told him you'd be there!"

"Bruce!"

"I thought you'd want to go! Aren't you getting tired of being alone, Kate?"

Kate didn't know how to answer that one. She liked being single, and would be fine if she died single, too, but... sometimes it does get a little lonely. So she reluctantly agreed to go.