A/N: Always darkest before the dawn, guys. FF did a weird thing where it didn't show the story as being updated, but if you haven't read yesterday's update, then flick back a tick :)
"I'm going in there." Rose declares as she stills her drumming on the counter in favour of pushing herself to her feet. Every fibre of her being is on edge, so furious she's unable to sit at the bench any longer. "I'm going to bang some saucepans together and wake her-"
"No, you're not." Mike cuts in, taking hold of Rose's shoulder and gently pushing her back to the bench. The girl scowls at him, and if looks could kill, he'd already be dead. "You're going to eat your breakfast and then you're going to Maxine's for the morning." Rose mutters mutinously under her breath, although the words are inaudible to Mike. He thinks that he gets the gist of the muttering, however, because he settles himself in the seat next to her. "Rosie, it's between Kate and I. That's why I didn't tell you we'd..." He trails off, searching for the right words.
"Broken up?" His daughter supplies, clicking her tongue. Tact was never her strongest virtue. "And you should have told me! It shouldn't have been Bridie sneaking an email through her school account that was the tip off!"
"It's between Kate and I." He repeats, marvelling at how he can sound this calm on the outside when, on the inside, he's just as hurt and confused as the girl sitting before him. "Rosie, when we've figured everything out, then we'll talk to you both. Okay? That's why I didn't say anything. Because... we had an argument, and we're not entirely sure where we want to go-"
"Don't lie! You don't have to use the word 'we' to protect her." Rose spits darkly, glaring in the direction of Mike's room where Kate is still asleep. "Bridie already said it was her that ended it."
"Rosie, she is not the bad guy here."
"Well, she's certainly not being the good guy! Why does she get to make all the decisions?" Rose's voice grows louder, and Mike knows if he can't calm her again, it'll only be a matter of time before his daughter wakes up what he's sure will be a very hungover Kate.
"Rose. Please, just..." But he's at a loss as to what to say next. Maybe Rose knows something he doesn't. Maybe she would be of some help. But the next moment, he dismisses the notion. Rose's temper and Kate's volatility would be nothing short of catastrophic.
"I just don't get it." She sinks lower into her chair, resting her chin in her hands. "I mean, you still love her, right? And she still loves you?"
Mike's voice is barely a whisper as he fixes his gaze on the bench top. "It's not that simple-"
"But it is!" Rose explodes, slamming a palm against the bench. "It is that simple! You're just both too stupid and stubborn to realise. Which is why you need to wake her up and just talk to her!" She frowns at Mike, looking suddenly serious as a new thought seems to occur to her. "Did you sleep with her last night?"
Mike gestures to her toast, still sitting on the plate. "Eat your food, Rosie." Catching her gaze, he realises that she's taken his avoidance at answering as an affirmation, and he rolls his eyes. "I slept in the same bed as her, yes. Nothing else. Not that that is any of your business, either."
"But that means something!" Rose gesticulates furiously. Yes, it had meant something. Having her in his arms again had meant the world to him. It just wasn't real.
A moment later there's a knock at the door and Mike moves to answer it, returning a moment later with Maxine in tow.
"Hey!" Maxine greets cheerfully, taking a seat next to Rose and smiling with all the ease of a perfectly uncomplicated life. She looks by far the happiest one in the kitchen, with her sunglasses perched upon her head and a handbag flung over one shoulder. "How's it going, Kiddo?"
The warning look he throws Rose goes completely ignored. "Well," His daughter begins with a sickly sweet smile. "Uh... Kate broke up with Dad, then showed up in the middle of the night and... now she's passed out drunk in his bed." She tips her head to the side and screws up her face, as though thinking hard. "I think that just about covers the events of the morning. Anything new with you?" Maxine gapes. "No? Well then... I'm going to go get ready."
"Thanks, Rose." Mike growls as Rose stalks out of the kitchen, before a thought occurs to him. "And not one step into my room." He adds, addressing her retreating back. When he turns around, Maxine's face is a mixture of shock and amusement.
"We-ell." She stretches the word, leaning back against the counter. "A lot to unpack in that old sentence. Anything you need to tell me?"
Mike lets out an unintelligible noise and drops his head into his hands. "How much time have you got?"
"It's just stupid! Both of them!" Rose rants as she twists her necklace backwards and forwards. "I've seen them both. You've seen them both. They're mad about each other, but all of a sudden, it's over? And he's fine to play the doting boyfriend when she's showing up on our doorstep at who-knows-what-time in the morning, but doesn't want to talk with her when she's sober! And-"
"Rosie, I agree with you, hon! But you've been ranting for the last five minutes." Maxine flicks her indicator and slides into the right lane, easily overtaking a bus. "Look, I get what you're saying. But you're thinking with your head. Your dad isn't."
"Ew." Rose screws up her nose at the thought.
Maxine laughs. "Okay, so I hear now how that sounded, but I swear I meant his heart." She adds, smirking at Rose's expression before her expression turns serious once more. "Look, dating is hard. It's even harder when it's someone you're sure you could have a future with. And even more so after losing someone."
"I get that!" Rose assures her. "But if they'd just talk and figure it all out..." She sighs and trails off. "When Bee and I first talked about setting them up, it was because we wanted to be sisters. Nothing more than that. But then we both saw them together and... Bee and I can always be friends. But Dad might not get a third chance at love."
Maxine chances a glance at Rose, and feels a surge of pride in the girl. "You've got a good heart, kid." She murmurs, patting Rose on the knee and returning her gaze to the road. "But I think right now, all we can do is give the two of them some space and hope they work it out."
Rose hums in affirmation and rests her head against the window. "Doesn't make it any easier."
"Nope. That it doesn't." She throws another sideways look at Rose and a grin adorns her face once more as a thought occurs to her. She doesn't dislike Kate by any means, but Mike was her friend first, and she hates seeing him so upset. And so, as Maxine drives on, she adds a silent plea to the universe that Kate suffers from the worst hangover in the world.
"Ouch, my head." Kate moans as she is returned abruptly back into reality with all the grace of a giraffe on hallucinogens. Her skull feels as though someone is trying to shrink it, her mouth is dry and her stomach is churning. Her hand reaches out blindly in the direction of her dressing table, but finds only air. Confused, she slowly peels her eyes open and recognises the room in an instant. Mike's.
The events of the night come flooding back to her in a series of fragmented memories, and she wants to hide from the sheer embarrassment of it all.
Dancing with Nikki.
Drinks.
Too many drinks.
Drunk.
I love you.
Stay.
Pulling herself into a half-dignified sitting position, she takes the painkillers and water he'd left on the dresser for her and pads across the room to examine her appearance in the mirror. Her make-up has smudged so much that she looks more like a panda than a woman. Her boobs are half falling out of the- bloody hell, is that what I wore out last night?! - black strappy top and her jeans are wrinkled. The only thing that looks semi-okay is her hair, which has been scraped into a braid that she's sure she didn't do. A moment later, she remembers Mike pulling her hair from her face, and realises he must have secured it to keep it out of the way. Sighing, she fixes her top and smooths her jeans as best she can, before heading into his bathroom, intent on cleaning herself up.
By the time she's emerged and made her way into the kitchen she's feeling slightly more human. She's not entirely sure what to say to Mike, but she knows she can't hide in his room forever. With any luck, she'll have time to down some coffee and get her thoughts in order before she sees him and has to-
"Morning." Mike's voice seems to come out of nowhere, and she flinches, whipping around to face him and instantly regretting it as the world starts to spin again. "Or afternoon." He amends, checking his watch. "Nope, still morning for another three minutes and twenty-two seconds." He gestures towards the breakfast bar and she takes a seat, wishing she'd stolen some of Mike's mouthwash as well - everything in her feels disgusting.
"Morning. Uh... I'm sorry. Still a bit out of it." She murmurs, dropping her chin into her hand as she rests an elbow on the bench. Mike says nothing more though, moving to the fridge and pulling out a bottle of milk. She wants to say something, something to make him understand how sorry she is for everything she's dragged him through, but she can't quite find the words. Rubbing at her forehead with a hand, she mutters, "Geez, how much did I drink last night?"
"More than your fair share, I'd say." Mike raises his voice slightly to be heard over the coffee machine. "Judging by your behaviour last night."
"Oh God." She mumbles, cursing ever going out with the rest of the team.
"Don't think God was involved in any of your decisions last night." He mutters. He's saying all the quips he normally would, but as Kate peers at him there's none of the jovial humour she's come to expect from him. He's doing all the things he normally does every other time that she's stayed here, but as she watches him pull a mug from the cupboard and busy himself making her a coffee, all the usual warmth of the action is gone.
"I'm sorry." She repeats.
"Yeah. You said that a lot last night." The spoon clinks angrily against the edge of the mug as he stirs the beverage for her; she can feel the sound reverberating in her skull.
She winces. "Mike-" She begins, but he deposits the coffee in front of her.
"Drink." He instructs tersely.
She hesitates for a fraction of a second before bowing her head. "Thanks." She downs half the coffee straight away, the scalding liquid doing nothing for her nausea but helping her feel a little more human. When she looks up and finds him still not looking at her, she feels her resolve break. "I'm sorry, Mike. About what I said. I shouldn't have freaked out like I did." He bends over and scoops up the dish cloth from the sink, wiping down the coffee machine, and dammit she needs him to understand. "I didn't say what I did just because I was drunk. I do love you." Fear is bubbling away at her. "Mike, please... I hope that you still love me too."
He wrings out the dish cloth over the sink with a hopelessness she's never seen before. "It'd be fucking easier if I didn't." He murmurs, more to himself than to her. And he sounds so defeated that she wants to cry. "We're going around in bloody circles. You finally open up to me, and then something happens completely outside either of our control, and you want to run away. I can't keep begging you to be with me."
Tears are spilling down her cheeks. And what is the point of wiping them away, anyway? She doesn't care if he sees her cry. All that matters is that she fixes this, now. "Mike-" Her voice cracks, but he holds up a hand.
"No. Right now, it's my turn to talk!" She can feel the anger coming off him now. Fear is bubbling away at her. Not at what he could do to her - she knows he'd never ever hurt her. No. It's a fear that she's already stuffed this up for good. "You've made it clear that Bridie is your first priority. I get that! Rosie is mine. And I know it's been you and Bridie and Cal against the world. Just like it's been Rosie and I for so long. But if you truly love me and want to be with me, then you need to get your head around the fact that it won't be just the three of you anymore. It'll be five, Kate. Five people that help and support each other. Five people that don't take off when the going gets tough. And right now, you're just not prepared for that."
"I want to be." She whispers, and it's hard to keep the plea from her tone. "Mike, you know I do."
"Wanting something and working at something are two completely different things. And you never tried to work at that. Whenever something happened, you pulled away. Every time. You never..." His voice falters, but he pushes on. "You never saw me as someone who would help you. Who could help Bridie. And... and you were right, with what you said the other night. I pursued you. I bugged you and pestered and pushed until you agreed to date me. But you weren't ready."
"I wanted to move in with you. To live with you and Rosie and... Mike, please. I didn't mean what I said! I want to be with you."
"But showing up drunk at my door at two in the morning declaring that you love me isn't proof of anything, Kate."
"I didn't just say it because I was drunk."
"But would you have come and said it if you were sober?" He challenges. "I know you! You never come back to me until you need help." His voice is growing louder now, but she can't find the words to make him stop. He's right. "That time that Rosie called you from school when she was scared and upset and alone, it... it just about killed me. But I trusted you. I trusted you with my little girl, because she trusted you enough to call you. Do you know how hard that was for me? Terrifying. But if the tables had been turned, would you have let me take Bridie?" She doesn't know what to say. She wants to scream yes, but in her heart, she knows she wouldn't have. He was right. She was too set in her own ways to reach out to anyone.
He seems to guess what she's thinking, and the smile he bestows upon her is full of sadness. His phone buzzes, and he glances down at it. "Your Uber will be here in five minutes." He mutters, breaking the tense silence. "Your shoes are at the door."
Cal is waiting in the kitchen, leaning against a bench top and picking at her nails, and for a moment, Kate is reminded of the time, months ago, when Cal had teased her about her 'walk of shame'. The first night she'd spent with Mike. And now...
When Cal hears the door close, she rises and folds her arms across her chest, looking Kate up and down. "How's your hangover?" She queries.
Kate lets out a deep breath. "Shit."
Cal hums in affirmation and takes a step closer. "How's your heart?" For a moment, Kate just stands there. Then the weight of the last few days crashes over her and she crumples, curling into a ball in the middle of the kitchen. In an instant, Cal is there, wrapping her arms around Kate. "Hey, hey. It's going to be okay." She soothes, wrapping her arms around her sister. "It's going to be alright."