Here's chapter 2! Feedback is always appreciated. I don't own anyone besides Kat!
"Katie, we have to leave now if we're going to catch our plane on time," Sophie called out to Katja. The young girl came down the stairs of their townhouse. Kat was 14 years old now and she had been living with Sophie since her grandmother and uncle had been sent to prison. The United States government had put them in Witness Protection so that they would safe from any former associates. They had given them new identities as Pamela McLeod and her niece Katherine and set them up in a townhouse in Dallas, Texas. Their lives were peaceful and free from the stress placed on them by Kat's family.
"I'm coming Aunt Pam," Kat called out from where she sat on the top of the stairs. She slipped on her flats and stood up before feeling a wave of dizziness come over her. She closed her eyes and gripped the banister to steady herself. Behind her eyelids, she saw three men come busting in through the side door with ski masks and guns. One fired three shots into Sophie's chest and ran to the stairs where Kat stood. The vision disappeared and Kat ran down the stairs to hug Sophie.
"Three men with guns outside the house," she whispered to Sophie. The older woman had come to trust Kat's visions and grabbed two of their suitcases before calmly leaving the house. Kat followed after her with two bags of her own and took it out to the car. Their taxi wasn't supposed to arrive for several minutes, but they didn't want to take chances with getting innocent people involved. The pair drove off and Kat turned to see the same men from her vision enter through the side door like she had seen.
"You'd better drive faster. They're about to realize that we're gone," Kat said to Sophie in Russian. Sophie didn't say anything, but did as the girl said and sped her way onto the highway. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and gave it to Kat.
"Call Tom. Tell him we've been blown," Sophie said in Russian. She was speaking about Thomas Kane, their handler within Witness Protection. Kat looked at Sophie as their eyes met and suddenly Sophie's face changed to that of a much younger woman. The blond hair and green eyes were changed to red hair and brown eyes. Sophie's thin face structure didn't change, but there were noticeably less wrinkles around the eyes and mouth. This new woman face's turned smug as she said, "Knock knock."
Kat sat up abruptly. She was sweating profusely and her arms had long red marks from where her nails attacked while she was sleeping. This was the third time she had this dream in the past two weeks. It had been a month since Myka and Pete first started working at the warehouse and since Kat had gotten a full night's rest. Her dreams had been plagued by memories and horrendous visions of prostitutes being killed as men watched. It had gotten so bad to the point where it was affecting how Kat went through her daily routine. Leena was the first to notice the change and then Myka and Pete realized something was wrong. Finally Artie had told her yesterday to stay and rest at the B&B for a week before coming back to work. He was normally oblivious to anything regarding their personal lives, mainly because he didn't know how to handle another person's feelings.
Kat looked over at her alarm and saw that it was 4 am. She sighed and, knowing she wasn't going to get much sleep, got out of bed. She quietly padded barefoot down the stairs to the living room where an upright piano had been pushed up against the wall. With Artie staying at the Warehouse and Myka and Pete away on a mission, there was no risk of waking anyone up since Leena always slept like the dead. Kat quietly played through several scale warm-ups before playing the beginning notes to Clair de Lune by Debussy. Kat swayed back and forth as her fingers flew over the keys and she closed her eyes, letting muscle memory take over. When the piece ended, Kat started over again and kept repeating the piece until the sun was high in the sky and she heard the front door slam in the distance. Kat could barely hear hushed voices over the piano and finally they came slowly walking towards her. The person stood behind Kat as she finished the piece and let the notes hang in the air. She looked up to see Leena and Myka staring at her worriedly. Kat's face flushed in embarrassment and she looked away.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me," she said as her eyes filled with tears. Her Russian accent was more pronounced as sadness and fear filled her voice. Leena hugged her from behind and Myka put a hand on her shoulder. Pete came into the room holding a mug and a plate of eggs in his hands. He looked solemn for once and set the food on top of the piano.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked. Kat had tears streaming down her face, but she wiped them away quickly.
"Not right now. Shouldn't you and Myka be at the Warehouse reporting back to Artie?" she asked. Pete ignored the obvious deflection and chose to answer her question.
"We came back to shower. Take our advice: never go looking for an artifact in a zoo," he said with a grossed out look on his face. Kat giggled at that and reached for the eggs.
"I'll remember that. Are you guys about to leave? I'll come with you," she said after a few bites.
"Not until you've finished your breakfast and put on fresh clothes. I'm sure Pete and Myka will wait for you," Leena said sternly. Kat looked down and saw that she was still in her shorts and off the shoulder t-shirt that she wore to bed.
"Yeah there's no rush. Take your time," Myka said encouragingly. Kat nodded and finished her breakfast quickly. She took a shower to clean off the dried sweat and threw on an oversized blue hoodie and grey skinny jeans. She slipped on black boots and went downstairs to find Pete and Myka. They were sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee, but stood as Kat came in sight. The three of them drove over to the warehouse and saw that the door was wide open. Kat felt panic rise up in her and bolted from the car. She ran inside, ignoring shouts from Pete and Myka. Reaching the end of the hallway, she punched in the code and quickly opened the door. There were papers all over the floor and the computers were still on.
"What happened here?" she heard Myka ask. Myka and Pete both had their guns out, but put them away when no one else appeared.
"Artie would never leave his Farnsworth," Myka said, pointing to the small object on the desk.
"Yeah. If there were trouble he would have triggered the-"
"The alarm?" Myka asked holding up a button that had been previously under the desk.
"Someone took Artie?" Pete asked. Kat sat on the stairs and watched numbly as Myka tinkered with the computer and fought with Pete at the same time. The sound of the Farnsworth distracted the trio and they stared at the device. Kat bolted to it and answered the incoming call with Pete and Myka looking over her shoulders. Mrs. Frederick's face popped on the screen.
"I'm calling for Artie and you three are decidedly not he," she said flatly.
"Hi Mrs. Frederick. We've got some bad news," Pete said awkwardly.
"Artie's gone. Someone took him," Kat said. Mrs. Frederick frowned.
"That doesn't happen. Agents don't get taken out of the Warehouse. Our security system is-" Mrs. Frederick paused as she watched Pete hold up the broken alarm. Her frown got deeper. "I see. So the person who's breached the security, he's taken Artie."
"Yeah do you have any idea who this guy is?" Pete asked. Kat went very still and thought about her dream and the red headed woman driving the car.
"So can we put out an APB or alert the authorities?" Myka asked, startling Kat from her daydream.
"We are the authorities. What did you learn from the durational spectrometer?"
"We haven't had the chance to use it yet, Mrs. F," Kat said. Behind her, Pete and Myka gave each confused looks.
"Once you have a positive I.D., let me know. And stay put. I don't need four missing agents. Consider yourselves under lockdown," Mrs. Frederick ordered. The screen went black a second later and the two former Secret Service agents turned to Kat.
"What is the durational spectrometer?" Myka asked.
"The durational spectrometer shows the after images of anyone who's been in the room in the last five hours," Kat explained as she closed the Farnsworth. "Artie has it stored around here somewhere." Kat disappeared inside the filing room and Pete and Myka heard things flying around and crashing to the floor. Kat reappeared a minute later, proudly brandishing a device that looked like a weird speedometer.
"I found it! It's been ages since we've needed to use it," she said excitedly. Seeing Myka's frown, Kat reluctantly held it out to Pete.
"Would you like to play?" she asked sweetly. Pete smiled grimly and took the device from her.
"Be careful," Myka said. Pete nodded, flicked on a switch, and pointed to the door. Shadows of Kat, Myka, and Pete were frozen up against the door and Pete grinned.
"That's cool."
"Isn't it?" Kat said, jumping up and down. Myka gave her a small smile and motioned for her to calm down. The two women watched as Pete fiddled with the buttons more and the shadows started moving across the room. He fiddled with it a third time and shadows of a red headed woman dragging Artie from the room showed. Kat paled. It was the same woman from her dream.
"Who is that?" Myka asked.
"I don't know. Hang on," Pete said as he twisted another button. The shadows moved in reverse until Artie was sitting in his chair staring up at the woman. His lips moved, but the trio couldn't understand what he was saying.
"Claudia Donovan," Pete said after staring at Artie's mouth. "My sister taught me how to read lips."
"Okay Claudia Donovan. Where are you now?" Kat said to herself as she searched the name.
"Mrs. Frederick said we should stay here," Myka protested.
"Really? I didn't hear that," Pete negated.
"Neither did I," Myka agreed.
"Guys, it looks like she was institutionalized," Kat said as the results of the search came up.
"What if she's dangerous?" Myka asked worriedly. The sound of the printer coming to life was heard and several sheets of paper came flying out.
"There's one way to find out. We'll go looking for her," Kat said as she retrieved the papers. Pete took the papers from her and grabbed his coat.
"Myka and I will check out her apartment. Why don't you do some more digging to see what else you can find out about her?" he said as he made for the door. Kat got in his way and crossed her arms.
"That is all I found on her. And you're not leaving without me. Artie's my friend too and I want to help get him back," she said stubbornly.
"How did you have all that ready so quickly?" Myka asked suspiciously.
"Let's just say I've had my eye on her for a while," Kat said defensively.
"And you didn't bother telling us?" Pete asked.
"I just had her face to go off of. And I didn't want to ask Artie for help because he would have asked a lot of questions like you two are doing. Now can we please go? The longer we argue about this, the farther that woman can take him from us," Kat pleaded. The three of them left shortly after that and headed to Claudia Donovan's apartment. Pete and Myka flashed their badges and the trio gained entry to the apartment. Kat slowly walked in after the agents and took in the sight. The walls were covered in pictures, newspaper articles, and journal entries involving Artie.
"So I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Ms. Donovan was stalking Artie," Kat said sarcastically. Myka gave her a blank look and moved over to the bookshelves. The trio sat reading through the mess before Pete spoke.
"So far, none of this stuff is telling me where Claudia might have taken Artie. Are either of you finding anything?"
"For a kid, she seems pretty focused on the 16th century. She's definitely a thinker," Myka answered, looking at the books. Kat frowned at her from her spot on the floor. Claudia wasn't much younger than Kat and because of that she was automatically lumped into the "kid" group, which she didn't like.
"Rheticus," Myka said with a sigh. Kat's frown got deeper.
"The mapmaker?" she asked in confusion. Myka nodded in confirmation before continuing her banter with Pete.
"It looks like our girl genius took something with her," she said, pushing apart two books that were leaning against each other. She took several books off the shelf and handed some to Pete and Kat. The three of them struggled to read the massive tomes while fighting exhaustion.
"A compass," Myka said.
"What?" Kat asked as she rubbed her face tiredly.
"Rheticus claimed he owned it, only no one ever saw it. It says here it probably never existed. It's just folklore."
"Is it just me or does that sound all artifact-y?" Pete said.
"So what do we do now?" Kat asked as she stood and stretched.
"I guess we go back to the Warehouse and dig for more information?" Myka said. They left the books where they were and exited the tiny apartment. Pete's cell rang on their way out the door and he answered it.
"Artie! Are you alright?" he exclaimed when he heard Artie's voice. Myka and Kat crowded Pete and pestered him to give them the phone. Artie hung up the phone after several minutes of trying to make them leave him alone.
"He hung up. Now let's get back before Frederic finds out we're gone," Myka said angrily.
"I hate to say it, but she probably already knows that we're gone. We never called her back about what the durational spectrometer showed us," Kat said hesitantly. Myka gave an angry sigh before getting into the car and slamming the door.
"Seriously, if Mrs. Frederic can call us, we should be able to call her. Is there a star 69 on this thing?" Pete said as they walked into the Warehouse.
"I don't think that was a thing when Farnsworth created them," Kat said grimly as she sat down at the computer.
"Why doesn't Artie want us to help him? What's going on?" Myka asked.
"Yes, what's going on indeed," came Mrs. Frederic's voice. The three of them turned around at the sound. Mrs. Frederic was standing just in front of the door where they had been.
"I told you," Kat mumbled to Myka.
"I believe I told you to stay put."
"It would be nice if we could contact you. We had a lead and we decided to follow it," Myka said, interrupting Pete's nervous rambling.
"Don't make her angry," he whispered to her.
"What kind of lead?" Mrs. Frederic asked.
"Artie is with Claudia Donovan. Voluntarily," Kat said. Mrs. Frederic's expression didn't change much.
"Do you know where they are?" Myka asked her.
"It's possible, but we've got bigger fish. You need to get down to the Warehouse floor." Pete furiously wrote down the directions as Myka protested.
"Wait, we have a right to know where Artie-"
"Ms. Bering, you're right to know extends exactly as far as I say it does. If Artie is working with Claudia, he may be trying to re-create her brother's experiment," Mrs. Frederic interrupted.
"And that's bad?" Pete asked as he scribbled on his notepad.
"Where do you work?" Mrs. Frederic asked rhetorically.
"The Rheticus compass," Myka said suddenly.
"His experiments were successful that's why he didn't disappear into thin air."
"And Joshua did," Pete cut in.
"You have to find where Joshua went wrong 12 years ago," Mrs. Frederic explained.
"I still don't understand why you don't tell us-"
"What? Tell you where he is? If you run after Artie governed solely by your affection for him, you won't be helping him."
"I don't think it's a bad thing to care about Artie," Myka defended herself.
"She's right. We can't walk into this blindly," Kat said from the chair she had sat in.
"Artie needs information, not emotion. You go empty-handed, the experiment ends up just as it did before. You're merely three more lost bodies," Mrs. Frederic elaborated.
"So what are we looking for?"
"I'm not certain, but every artifact in this Warehouse is an extension of a person. Understand Rheticus, understand the compass. And for the record, I care a great deal what happens to Artie." The older woman left without another word.
"I guess we better get down there and find whatever it is we're looking for," Kat said with a sigh. The three walked to their location with help from the instructions Pete wrote down. On the bottom of a shelf was a collection of things that once belonged to Rheticus. Kat watched impatiently as Pete and Myka dug through them.
"I'm guessing Artie thought these were useless. They're all Rheticus gadgets, but none of them tripped Artie's trigger," he said in frustration.
"Joshua had to figure all these rules to make the compass work. He even figured out this complicated differential equation. He was a genius," Myka said as she looked over a stack of papers.
"Yeah and the compass still didn't work," Kat said with her head in her hand. Pete opened up a small box with a ball inside. Engraved in the ball was the letter "t," which didn't make sense to Pete or Kat.
"I don't know what it means. Artie's notes said that Rheticus' work often expressed a need for order. So what did Joshua miss?" Myka snapped.
"Maybe he translated something wrong?" Kat put in. Pete started messing with a globe made of bronze, distracting Kat from her line of thought.
"You said rules and order, right? Well, after spending the last couple of months with someone who also likes those things, you know, crosswords, puzzles?" Pete asked.
"So?"
"So…" Pete trailed off. He grasped the top of the globe and yanked on it, detaching it from the frame holding it up. Words and symbols were inscribed on the places that had been hidden from sight. "So did Rheticus."
"A secret panel," Myka said in surprise. Kat grabbed for a box and tried to find anything that could hint at another secret panel. Pete and Myka joined the effort and the trio several minutes trying to find more panels.
"This guy was nuts for secret panels," Pete exclaimed after finding another.
"Yeah and they weren't mentioned in any of Claudia's books," Myka pointed out.
"If she didn't know, it's a safe bet that Artie and Joshua didn't know," Kat said as she gave her box to Myka.
"You see the writing around these edges?" the agent asked.
"Yeah, it's Latin. Let me guess, you speak Latin too?" Pete asked rhetorically.
"Make one more nerd joke, and I'm going to point out how you're losing your hair," Myka retorted. Kat stifled a giggle as Pete worriedly touched his hair.
"The rules are in Latin, and rules teach us how to use the objects." Pete put the things back in the trunk they were in and put the trunk back on the shelf.
"So Joshua took them off the compass himself," he concluded.
"Yeah, but he was missing something," Myka muttered.
"Rheticus hid some rules," Kat said, slowly processing the new information.
"And Joshua never saw them," Myka finished.
"Nice. And I'm not losing my hair," Pete as they walked back up to the office.
"So there's something hidden on the compass," Myka explained to Mrs. Frederic when they got to Leena's.
"And we think it's the rule that Joshua missed," Pete continued. "In Artie's notes, it said Joshua had everything that he needed for his experiment in his lab."
"Where it was locked up for 12 years."
"But, before Artie hung up, he said that he had everything that he needed. Bing, bang, boom. Claudia took Artie to the lab," Pete finished with a flourish.
"You took the initiative, and you recognized what needed to be done, all in Artie's absence. I'm pleased," Mrs. Frederic said with a smile.
"Why the test? Was Artie going somewhere?" Myka asked.
"Let's hope not. The directions are in the file. You should get to that lab and quickly. We don't know how much time we've got left," Mrs. Frederic said, dismissing them. The trio ran for the car and drove like bats out of hell to Joshua's lab.
"Guys I have a bad feeling about this," Kat said as they pulled up outside of the building.
"Everything's going to be fine," Myka told her. She didn't look too confident in her words, but no one called her out on it. The three found the lab and stormed in to find things going haywire with Artie at the near center of it.
"Artie!" Pete yelled as he saw the older man.
"I told you not to follow me," Artie protested.
"We came here to save you," Pete screamed over the noise of electricity crackling in the air.
"Is that Claudia Donovan?" Kat asked, pointing to the girl on the floor.
"Yeah she's just unconscious. What?" Artie asked.
"Joshua didn't have all the rules, Artie."
"Rheticus loved puzzles."
"And his designs had secret panels."
"It's inside the compass," Artie said as he realized what Myka meant.
"Yes, in Latin. Where is it? Where is the compass?"
"We just have to pop open the panel and find out which rule it is, so where is it?" Pete asked frantically.
"I don't have it." Artie's eyes glazed over in thought and Kat's stomach dropped.
"I don't like that look. Artie, what are you doing?" she asked.
"I think I can save him," Artie said as he reset the fuses and helped Claudia to her feet.
"Don't do this! Artie!" Myka screamed at him. A ball of energy came flying towards Artie and Kat thought she could see the shape of a man in the ball.
"Joshua, touch my hand!" Artie screamed to the man. Their hands met and the three of them disappeared in a burst of bright light.
"Artie?" Kat asked in a quiet voice. She moved to where he had disappeared from, but Pete held her back.
"Let me go Pete. I have to go get him!" she struggled against him. A moment later, another flash of light came and Artie appeared, accompanied by Claudia and a young man Kat assumed was Joshua.
"Artie? Are you okay?" she asked again. He nodded and moved over to them. Kat ran to hug him tightly and then slapped his arm.
"Never do that to me again!" she scolded him in Russian. He smiled at her and responded back in the same language.
"I'll try not to." Pete came over and clapped him on the shoulder.
"I thought we lost you, buddy," he said grimly. The four Warehouse agents watched the tearful reunion between brother and sister and were silently thankful that they made it through the day. The six of them drove to Leena's where Claudia and Joshua were given rooms and Pete and Myka debriefed Artie on how they and Kat managed while he was gone. Kat declined the offer to join them for dinner and instead went up to her room where she pulled out her hidden bottle of whiskey and a paper Dixie cup. She took these things and climbed up to the roof to watch the sun set.
"Hey," came a voice. Kat looked down and saw Claudia's head poking out of her window.
"Hey," Kat replied.
"What are you doing up here by yourself?" Claudia asked as she leaned against the windowsill.
"Just thinking," Kat replied with a shrug.
"Sounds dangerous," Claudia joked. Kat gave a small laugh and poured herself a shot of whiskey.
"Yeah it can be. Do you want to join me?" she asked. Where did that come from? she thought to herself. She never invited anyone to sit on the roof with her and now she was letting a girl she barely knew come to her sacred spot. She was conflicted and hoped Claudia would say no.
"Sure. Give me a second," Claudia said. Kat mentally groaned and made room for her on the roof. Claudia clumsily climbed up next to Kat and the pair sat in silence for a long while.
"I already thanked Myka and Pete for helping me get Joshua back, but I didn't get to thank you," Claudia said as Kat took another shot. Kat grimaced slightly at the burn and looked at the younger woman.
"I didn't do much. Pete and Myka did most of it," she protested. Claudia shrugged.
"Either way, you helped and that's what matters to me," she replied. The two were silent for a little while longer Kat poured another shot and held it out to Claudia.
"Here's to hoping you get to keep your brother for many years to come," Kat said.
"I'm not 21 yet," Claudia said, not taking her eyes away from the paper cup.
"Neither am I and yet I have this bottle of very fine whiskey in my possession. Take the shot," Kat encouraged. Claudia hesitantly took the cup and downed the whiskey in one gulp. She coughed a bit and Kat gently patted her back.
"Easy there. The first shot is always the hardest," Kat said soothingly.
"That was pretty gross. Why do you drink that stuff?" Claudia asked with a disgusted look on her face.
"I like the taste. And it helps me think," Kat replied as she poured herself a shot.
"This helps you think?" Claudia asked incredulously. The burn had faded and she had to admit the taste of the whiskey wasn't so bad.
"Yeah. It's hard to tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing this time," Kat said after her shot. She poured some more whiskey into the cup and handed it to Claudia who took it without hesitation.
"That thing looks like it's almost empty. How long have you been up here?" Claudia asked. Kat shrugged.
"An hour or so. This bottle was half empty when I came up here," she said. She studied Claudia from the corner of her eye. She still had the tiniest bit of baby fat on her face, but her sharp features and high cheekbones gave her a sort of regal appearance. Her red hair gleamed brightly in the dying light and her brown eyes reflected the colors of the sunset almost perfectly. Kat thought back on the feelings of fear from her most recent dream and realized that this woman's face didn't stir up a sense of fear at all. In fact, she almost felt…safe.
"Why did you really come up here, Claudia?" Kat asked softly, her accent more pronounced because of the alcohol. Claudia, who hadn't noticed the near obvious scrutiny, turned to her in confusion.
"What do you mean?" she asked. She poured herself a shot and downed it quickly.
"The only person who knows that I come up here is Leena and she wouldn't tell you where I was unless it was something she thought was important," Kat explained. Claudia stared at the bottle and pretended to read the label.
"I just got Joshua back and I'm really happy about that, but I don't know where to go from here. I have to stay to write some report for Artie or something and then they're letting me go. We can do anything we want, but I'm not really sure what I want right now," Claudia said. Kat's gaze softened and she gently took the bottle from her.
"What are you scared about?" she asked her. Claudia hesitated before answering.
"I don't know," Claudia said stubbornly. Her hands had tightened into fists and unclenched themselves while she spoke. Kat set the bottle down and took one of Claudia's hands in hers. A shock went through her body as she touched her, but she ignored the feeling.
"The good news is you don't have to figure out what you want to do right away. If you feel like leaving, you can always ask Artie to help you find somewhere to go. I'm sure he'd be happy to help," Kat said encouragingly.
"Thanks for letting me get that off my chest," Claudia said after a long while. The sun had set and the sky was turning dark as the stars came out.
"No problem. This session was free. Next time, I'll charge you by the hour. I need to find some way to pay for all this liquor. Speaking of which, I believe we've finished off the whiskey," Kat said as she held up the empty bottle. The two women laughed and stood to get off the roof with Claudia in front. As she got closer to the ledge, her foot slipped on one of the tiles and she fell and started sliding off the roof.
"No!" Kat dove to latch onto Claudia's hand and braced herself against the side of the roof. Claudia clung to Kat's arm and shut her eyes tight.
"Claudia, I need to pull you up. I'm going to start pulling, okay?" Kat asked soothingly. Claudia nodded, but said nothing. Kat slowly started pulling her arm up and used her spare hand to grab onto Claudia's shirt. When Claudia's chest was over the railing, Kat used her remaining strength to twist herself onto her back, pulling Claudia completely onto the roof. They lay like that for a long while, Claudia's head resting on Kat's chest. Kat closed her eyes and felt relieved that she hadn't dropped her.
"Well now I have another reason to thank you," Claudia said breathlessly. Kat opened her eyes to see Claudia smiling at her. Kat couldn't help but smile and pushed some of Claudia's hair out of her face.
"Are you okay?" Kat asked. Claudia nodded and laid her head back down. She took deep breaths to calm herself before realizing that she was still laying on Kat.
"Sorry. I must be crushing you," she said as she rolled off. Kat felt a little sad that Claudia moved away from her, but pushed that feeling away.
"Let's try that again, but this time, how about I go first?" Kat suggested.
"I like that plan," Claudia said, glancing apprehensively towards the ledge.
"Just watch where I put my hands and feet," Kat said as she lowered herself onto the windowsill. She stood with her head out the window and motioned for Claudia to come down. Claudia came down slowly, but safely made it back inside of Kat's room.
"Maybe next time I won't give you whiskey so that you don't trip again," Kat joked as she shut the window.
"Yeah, but eventually I'll get so good at climbing down while I'm drunk that it will be second nature when I'm sober," Claudia said with a loud laugh. Kat shushed her quietly and crept quietly to her slightly open door. The hall lights were on, but there were no lights underneath any of the doors. Kat silently beckoned Claudia to follow her as she took her to her room. Kat opened Claudia's door and pulled her inside before shutting the door again and turning on the lights. Inside was a full sized bed with a purple comforter and sheets, a black dresser, and a black desk and chair. A door that opened to a small closet was just a few feet away from the dresser.
"It's not much, but you can personalize it however way you want to. We didn't think to go back to your apartment for any of your clothes so I'll lend you some of mine for now," Kat said quietly. Claudia nodded exaggeratedly and giggled to herself as she took off her boots.
"Okie doke!" she whispered yelled as she kicked her boots off. Kat stared at her in confusion.
"How many shots did you have?" she asked the younger woman.
"I can't remember, but we finished the bottle so it must have been a lot," Claudia said brightly as she lay back on the bed. Kat smirked and shook her head before going out to her room. She went to her closet and pulled out a thick hoodie and sweatpants for Claudia to sleep in. Kat quietly crept back into Claudia's room to see the redhead sitting up waiting for her.
"These are for you. We can go get your stuff in the morning, but these should fit until then," Kat said, giving the clothes to Claudia. Claudia stood and took off her shirt and pants, leaving her in just her bra and underwear. Kat's mouth went dry and she blushed furiously before turning to face the door.
"You could have told me to leave if you wanted to change," she said shakily. Claudia was too drunk to notice the change in her voice and instead hugged Kat from behind.
"It's okay. I trust you, Kitten," Claudia said in a giggly voice. Kat froze at the nickname and waited for Claudia to remove her arms before turning to face her.
"Please don't call me Kitten, Claudia," she said softly as she picked up her hoodie and gave it to the other woman. Claudia threw it on before pulling on the sweatpants and plopping down on the bed.
"You don't like the name? Why not? I think it's cute," she asked sleepily. Kat gently pushed Claudia under the sheets and tucked the blankets in around her.
"That's a story for another day," Kat said sadly. She went back to her own room and changed for bed. She lay down on her bed, but was unable to sleep peacefully, her thoughts and dreams plagued by a certain redhead.