Chapter 3
"Hey, Cath." Steve said as he walked into the kitchen, where Catherine was cooking dinner on the stove.
"Yeah, what's up?" Catherine said turning to face him as he walked in.
"I just got off the phone with Emma and I wanted to tell you that I invited her and Andrew over for dinner." Steve said as he sorted through a pile of mail on the counter.
"You did what!" Catherine said, completely stopping everything she was doing.
"Woah, Cath calm down. Aren't they your friends?"
"Emma's my friend, well kinda... Andrew... he's errr... I find him particularly hard to deal with." She responded as she returning to her cooking.
"I sure you can deal with him for one night."
"We're talking about the man who ordered a three foot tall lava lamp and sent it to the precinct. He put it on my desk. On my desk, Steve." Steve laughed and walked over to Catherine, enveloping her in a hug she did not return. She continued to pout at the prospect of dinner.
"I'm sure if you can handle armed robberies, you can handle a dinner with a chemist who is a very nice guy in my opinion." Steve said.
"He is a nice guy." Catherine stated. "It's annoying as hell." Steve chuckled and kissed her forehead.
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"Hey," Emma said as Steve opened the door. He smiled. "She's okay with this?"
"Err.. more or less. She's still stinging about the whole 'lamp on her desk' thing." Steve whispered. Emma nodded and walked into the apartment to console her boss/friend/angry host.
"Cath?" Catherine was sitting on the couch stuffing her face with potato chips. She glanced up.
"Is Satan's spawn here?" She asked.
"Uh.." Emma said. "You really hate him that much?" Catherine frowned.
"No, she's just upset that he solved that last big case when she didn't." Steve said, walking by. Catherine threw a chip at his head.
"Oh, so that's why you don't want him to come around the station anymore huh?" Emma raised her eyes. Catherine glared at her. "Oh, come on! You can't really be expected to know that much science! Or even make the connection to diamonds!"
"Well, Andrew did..." Steve said. Emma shot him a warning look.
"Not helping..." She said through gritted teeth. "I mean it was so random, only Andrew would be able to see it." Catherine growled.
"We went through chemistry training." Catherine said.
"Yes, but Andrew is actually a chemist. 'A bloody good one' as Robin would say." Catherine huffed. "Wow, really grumpy today huh?"
"Also, I think it's that time-" Steve started.
"DON'T FINISH THAT SENTENCE!" Both Catherine and Emma yelled at the same time.
"I'd watch it, there are two of us and one of you, we could do some serious damage." Emma said threateningly. Steve held his hands up in surrender.
"Careful Steve, I love you but I have no problem clawing your eyes out." Catherine said.
"Yup, I can feel the love from here."
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When Andrew arrived, Catherine had eaten half of the chips, and Steve was wearing the other half.
"I, uh... missed something." Andrew said standing in the doorway.
"Yeah, no shit Sherlock." Emma muttered. She was the one cleaning up the chips that did not make it in Catherine's mouth or on Steve's shirt.
"Andrew! Come in!" Steve said. "There, balance is restored, we are no longer outnumbered." Catherine scoffed as she set the table for dinner. Andrew was totally lost, but went along with it anyway.
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The four of them spent the next hour and a half enjoying dinner cooked by Catherine, and discussing various things. Of course, the topic of Catherine and Emma's work came up.
"Wait, someone tried to hack into a bank's security system?" Steve asked about one of Catherine and Emma's cases.
"Well, they did and we could never figure out who or where they were operating." Emma said. Catherine nodded her head in agreement.
"Yeah, everytime we thought we got somewhere it turned out to be a dead end. It went on for weeks.
"It's like the time google tried to kill me!" Andrew declared. Emma, Catherine, and Steve stopped and just looked at him.
"I thought only cookies tried to kill you." Emma joked
"...Not cool."
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"Bye!" Steve waved to Emma and Andrew as they walked out of the apartment. "They're nice!" Catherine looked up at him.
"You know Andrew calls me Cath." Steve's eyes widened.
"Okay, let's hold off on those dinners for now." Catherine laughed.
"Jealous?" She teased, as Steve pulled her to his chest and placing his nose on the top of her head.
"Should I be?" he mumbled. Catherine walked off laughing and Steve smiled.
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"There." Emma said as she and Andrew got in her car. "Is that good enough for your experiment?" Andrew buckled his seatbelt and Emma pulled into the road.
"No." Andrew stated. Emma's eyes widened.
"What the hell!"
"Hey! Calm down! We can't be present on their date, they have to be alone for this experiment to have accurate data!" Andrew protested.
"Ugh!" Emma cried.
"This is the only way for the experiment to actually be legitimate." Andrew said. Emma gripped the wheel and let out a breath.
"I'm going to end up arresting myself on stalking charges aren't I?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Andrew said, "But don't forget we have to go observe one of Regina and Robin's dates also."
"Whoa slow down there. Robin and Regina aren't even in town." Andrew pouted.
"Then we'll wait."
"Andrew... you're going to be the death of me." The yellow bug continued driving into the night.
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"Gah!" Andrew cried throwing a marker across the room and picking up another one. He was currently on the floor of his apartment drawing on a giant poster. After their dinner, Emma crashed at his apartment, so his cry roused her from sleep.
"It's. Too. Early." She grumbled turning over on the couch.
"Nine a.m. Emma, the sun is shining, the day has started." Andrew said while frowning at the poster below him, scribbling on it. Emma growled and reluctantly looked at Andrew.
"What are you doing?" She asked. Andrew continued to scribble, not answering as his marker ran out ink yet again.
"Stupid marker." He mumbled throwing it across the room and picking another one up. Emma slowly got up from the couch shielding her eyes from the sun. She padded up behind Andrew and looked over his shoulder. He was coloring a poster that read: Help save lives! Donate blood today! St. Barton's Hospital, 5555 Lexington Ave. At the bottom were multiple pictures of cute, sick children.
"This is terrible!" Emma cried. "You're using their emotions against them!"
"It's for the science, Emma!" Andrew whined.
"Next thing you know, I'm going to start finding severed heads in your refrigerator for the sake of 'science'!"
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That night Emma and Andrew were seated in a restaurant. Emma was happily wearing her new sunglasses. "Isn't this a little... creepy?" Emma asked, with a sideways glance across the restaurant towards Catherine and Steve.
"Sh!" Andrew said. "Just zip it and eat your cannoli!" He continued to scribble down notes.
"I think it's a little sad that you're bribing me with food." Emma said. "But I'm not complaining." She tore into her cannoli with glee.
"Well I wasn't gonna come to a restaurant as nice as this by myself, and it seems cannolis are the only way you would join me."
"Hey, don't under…" Emma started, but Andrew quickly interrupted her,
"Shhh! They're doing something else." Andrew said staring off in the direction of their friend. Emma took a quick glance at her partner.
"Oh my gosh they're holding hands!" Emma exclaimed sarcastically, "Andrew you do realize that most couples hold hands?" She said taking a slightly more serious tone.
"Yes, I do but…"
"But nothing! You don't need to catalog their each and every little movement."
"The more I observe the more accurate my results will be"
"Yes, but a slight change in their bodily position is not going to affect your results."
"You don't know that, Now just shut it, finish your cannoli, and let me work.
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"No, I don't think it's brutal, it's the circle of life." Catherine said. Her arm was looped around Steve's. They were currently strolling down the street, having just finished their date.
"But the hawk was devouring that pidgin!" Steve protested. They were currently discussing a video that had been circling around the city.
"Yes, and when that hawk dies, another animal will eat it." Catherine said simply. Steve frowned.
"Geez, you're heartless." Catherine rolled her eyes, but Steve suddenly stopped walking. They were standing outside St. Barton's Hospital where a nurse was currently setting up a sign. The sign was asking people to donate blood.
"Aw." Steve said looking at the pictures of children on the bottom of the sign. Catherine looked sympathetic and then frowned when she heard Steve sniff.
"Are you crying?" She asked incredulously.
"No!" Steve said. "It's very cold out here!" Catherine rolled her eyes and walked up to the nurse.
"Hi." She said to the nurse. "We would like to donate some blood. And a tissue for my girlfriend over there." She gestured to Steve who frowned.
"You know, by insulting me you just insulted womankind." Steve commented as they followed the nurse into the free clinic. Catherine glanced at him sideways and shrugged.
"Worth it."
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Andrew's phone beeped as he and Emma got out of Emma's car.
"Who's that?" Emma asked.
"One of my contacts." Andrew said typing on his phone. "He said Cath and Steve were seen donating blood to the hospital." Emma raised her eyebrow.
"Good?"
"Yeah, but I wanted to be there to supervise." He said.
"Err... Well I'm just surprised you actually got them to donate... well I guess I can't really say donate."
"I guess we just need to follow Robin on one of his dates." Andrew said nonchalantly as he and Emma started walking up the stairs in his apartment building.
"Andrew!" Emma exclaimed
"What?"
"Isn't one date enough."
"No." Andrew pouted
"Ugh"
"I told you I needed as much detail as possible."
"Yes but you took notes on like, every single muscle movement that either Steve or Catherine made."
"But that's two people! Only two people Emma. I need a bigger sample population."
"Sample, what?"
"I need a bigger basis for my data to make it more accurate."
"Fine but if we get caught I'm telling them you drugged and kidnapped me."