A/N: Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Please don't hate me. I'm so bad. I'll try to be more timely in the future. If I promised, I'd probably be lying. So, anyway. Here you go. Enjoy. And let me know what you like/hate/what to kill me for. Also, suggestions are completely welcome. If you want something to happen, let me know.



XixieInstability



It had taken Dade a while to get used to Kate's apartment. That it was twice the size of his old house, combined with the fact that it was decorated like a museum's storage closet, used to make him uncomfortable. Now he barged in, threw his jacket on the table by the door and fell into the black leather armchair in the den.

Kate followed him in more slowly and watched with a frown as he leaned back, closing his eyes. The pained expression on his face pissed her off.

Dade's father had called him two days after the Ellington debacle. He hadn't mentioned it once. It was as if he wished his son was a different person and was determined to carry on as if it were so. Well, fuck him.

Kate walked over to the chair, lowering herself onto Dade's lap. Although automatically putting one hand on her waist and lifting the other off his left knee, allowing her to throw her legs over his, he did not otherwise move.

Sighing Kate simply lied back. Dade wrapped his arms around her and pulled her towards him.

"Okay. I've been the quiet, supportive girlfriend for long enough. What's going on?"

Dade shifted a bit. "He's just so . . ."

Kate paused for a second before, in an effort to get him talking, bouncing on his lap.

Dade took the hint. "He left mom you know."

"Yeah."

"He left her because of me."

"Dade. How many times does Oprah have to tell you, it's not your fault?"

"I know that he did it, and that he had problems extraneous to me. But it all started with Zero Cool and my damned 1500 computers."

"1507."

Dade smiled at that. "Exactly."

"You know, whenever I think about that, I get really hot."

Dade looked into her eyes. "Why do you think I talk about it so much?"

"So. Do you want to forego the angst and make use of my mother's absence in a more lascivious fashion?"

"Kate, we make use of your mother's presence in a lascivious fashion."

"True, but we generally don't broadcast that fact to her. This way I could be loud. Really loud."

"Really?" Dade asked hopefully.

"No. . . Well. . . No. Well. . .No." Kate wavered. "I just wanted to get your mind off things for a bit. Now I want you to listen. You are not to blame for anything. You can't help the fact that you are hyper-intelligent, and you certainly can't help the fact that you can do what you do. When you were Zero Cool, you were a kid. You had all this knowledge and you didn't know what to do with it. You didn't mean to harm anything. Now you have enough sense to not do any of that. Your dad should have dealt with this like an adult. Your mom did. I mean, honestly, you tried to avoid the Ellington thing, but I'm just too damned irresistible.

"Yeah. That's exactly why I did it. I just knew that you'd fall into bed with me straight away."

"Indeed."

"He always tries to quilt me into doing what he wants. I hate it; it's manipulation. He doesn't really expect it to work now, but he resents that fact that it never did."

The two were silent for a while. Finally Kate spoke, "What are you going to do about this summer?"

"Go to the wedding, skip Greece, and stay with mom. I'll also be having lots of sex with you. But I assume that goes without saying."

"Pretty much, yeah."

"In fact, we could start now."

"We could, couldn't we?"

Nodding, Dade helped Kate to reposition herself so that she was straddling him. Slowly, Kate began to unbutton Dade's shirt. Just as they began to kiss seriously, there was a knock.

When they opened the door, Cereal, Phreak, Nikon, and Joey surveyed Dade's open shirt and Kate's swollen lips and flushed/disgruntled expression.

Nodding slowly, Phreak looked from one to the other. "Thwarted again, huh?" he asked, moving past the pair into the living room.

Cereal looked at them solemnly. "Don't you two ever do anything else?"

Kate released a held breath and shook her head.

Dade answered. "We never do anything. You guys always show up."

"No, son. We have only interrupted you seven and a half times." Nikon returned, making what Dade called his "Total Recall face."

Joey looked confused. "A half times? How's that work?"

"Well, that time it was less interruptus and more watched through to the end."

Kate's eyes darkened.

"What? We didn't want to stop you. You were moaning up a storm."

"Yeah, Kate." shouted Cereal from the kitchen. "Never thought you'd be so loud. You were never that loud with Kurtis."

"How the fuck would you know that?" demanded Kate.

Nikon cocked his head to the side. "You told us. April 12th- last year. Quote. 'I can have sex wherever. I don't make any noise' Nikon- 'Really, pretty boy doesn't get the job done?' Kate- 'Yeah, I just don't see a need to scream about it.' Unquote."

Kate was silent for a moment. "Well, now I do. Or I would if you would go away."

"Now Kate," supplied Phreak. "Is that any way to treat your friends? Especially friends who have come baring news of a grand party?"

"Oh, yeah? What kind of party?"

"The kind that threatens even the memory recall of ole polaroid head over here."

"So, the good kind, I take it."

"Oh, yes."

"Dade?" questioned Kate, turning.

"Why not?"