After the second, post-shabbat, dinner, Dan and Christine realize that she actually works rather close to where he lives. He comes in the next week and she shows him some of her favorite books on aviation, which he checks out. Thursday, he comes in and they go out to a cafe to talk about it, and slowly, they start up a routine of meeting twice a week outside of Shabbat to talk about recommended books. It's on one of those days, after her shift at the library, that she's walking him back from the café, mostly because its on the way to the station, and also because she enjoys his presence and wants to stay in it. He's sweet and intelligent and they get to geek out about birds and reminisce their own unrequited love together.
He stiffens as they walk down a block of brownstone and she turns to see what has caught his attention and flinches at the sight of a broken-down door.
"Is that your door?" He nods and she looks at his inscrutable expression before studying the door. "Well I'm not going anywhere until we know you're safe." At this, he looks down at her alarmed.
"Oh no, I'll be fine, I'm sure it's just a break-in-" and she scowls at him.
"You don't know that for sure and two heads are better than one," she tells him firmly, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him towards the open door. "Now come on, we have to go in and make sure no one is going to kill you." As soon as they cross over the threshold he leaps to walk in front of her and starts to talk, loudly.
"Ya know, Christine, I think I'll be fine. I doubt anyone is lying in wait for me." She smacks his chest and glares at him.
"Shhh, you're going to give us away!"
"It's better if we scare them off-"
"But what if-" The sound of a chair slamming to the ground breaks off her sentence and her head whips to the sound. She sprints towards the sound but is stopped by Dreiberg's absurdly thick arms and she turns to yell at him, but his expression is grim and she breaks free with a grunt. She send him a confused glance before yelling at him to call the police as she chases down the sounds. The kitchen (which is where the original sound originated) is empty and she tears open a door, expecting a pantry, but is greeted by a staircase. She tears down it with little hesitation and the footsteps echoing spur her faster. She jumps the last few steps and catches the sight of a familiar trenchcoat.
"Rorschach?" the name leaves her softer with all the running and she's still so focused on him that she slips on the basement's slick floors and falls. Her yelp of pain has the figure hesitate, but continue to run and she moves to get up but is blocked by Dan's body
"Christine! That fall looked nasty, let me get you upstairs."
"But I just saw-"
"The burglar, I'm sure." He scoops her up and now she's just impressed with how strong he is.
"Holy fuck, you're impressive." She inspects his chest and squirms to try and get put down so she can further examine the fucking muscles he must have. She's like 170 pounds! Granted, she ain't obese, but she isn't light by any means. His grip tightens and she scowls at him as she finally stills. "I can walk on my own, you know. I didn't break anything. And we could've caught up with the trespasser if you hadn't stopped me!" She glares at him.
"One broken lock is better than a dead Christine." She wants to glower at him, but instead rolls her eyes, oddly pleased he values her life (Probably because you don't value your own).
"Oh please." They're back in the kitchen now and he gently puts her down in a chair. He kneels in front of her and gently touches her cheek so that she's staring him down.
"Christine, you could've been seriously injured." She rolls her eyes and he cups her chin, she meets his gaze, startled by the touch. "I'm serious. For someone who is so scared of pain, you sure do rush into situations that could easily harm you." She sighs.
"Fine. Thank you for bringing me back up here." He smiles at her.
"Now. Show me where the pain is."
"It's just my hip. So nothing some ice and a few acetaminophen won't cure. I'm pretty sure I've had tougher falls while ice skating." He chuckles as he moves to get her some ice. The adrenaline is starting to fade and she feels tired, but her mind has finally caught up and revisits a new observation. "Dude, how strong are you?" He blushes as he hands her the ice pack.
"I like to keep a routine, you know that, so I go to the gym every weekday." She gapes at him.
"So how much can you lift?"
"Like 200 pounds," he mumbles. She lets out an indignant, unladylike noise.
"And you could've been carrying me this whole time!? For shame," she teases him. "That's very impressive. You are very impressive." She reaches up and ruffles his hair. "Your mystery lady is crazy to not have fallen for you."
She wants to decline his offer to walk her home, but it is getting dark out and she'd be foolish to think the city was safe for women to walk around it, especially at night. So they laugh and chat and she makes him promise to call the police when he's gets back. She almost expects Rorschach to be there when she gets back. She wants him to be there when she gets back, so that she can figure out what's going on. Was it really him in Dreiberg's home? If so, why? Was sweet, bird watching Dan Dreiberg a hardened criminal? Gods, she'd been having coffee with a hardened criminal. She really needed to learn more self defense moves. Maybe Rorsharch would be willing to teach her some moves.