The Luckiest Girl In The World

"Fuck me, that is her," Dante said, looking more than a little relieved as Anders went over. He turned his attention back on Mona first, though. "Thanks for helping us out," he said, "We appreciate it."

After which he trailed right after Anders.

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"Glad that all worked out then," Mona said, pleased by Dante's lovely manners. He might look a little rough and tumble, but clearly someone had raised him right. "You can find a table for yourselves over there if you like," she called. "Feel free to move chairs around if you need. We can have everything set aright by the time the dinner rush starts."

For her own part, Kathy didn't have much to say. The surprise at seeing both Anders and Dante had only been compounded by Anders' greeting and she was turning bright red. "Hi?" she managed, voice strangled.

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Around the table, different reactions abounded. The skinny guy with a medallion the size of his fist looked amused, giving both Anders and Dante a thorough once-over. Anders' staff--the one on his back--got a particularly lengthy inspection. The guy build like a brick house looked both uncomfortable and yet slightly relieved. It was hard to read the expression on the third guy, the one in the shades, but he was the first one to speak up.

"Sorry, kids. This is a private party."

Winning friends everywhere, Nick.

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"We like parties," Anders said easily, rather enjoying Kathy's reaction. "And we weren't planning on staying long anyhow."

They were just going to get Kathy and get out. Simple.

He waved to the group. "Hi, by the way. I'm Anders and this is Dante."

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Dante gave an idle wave at the group, which - mysteriously - turned into a turned-up middle finger when he came to the last guy. Fancy that. "We're just here to give a friend a lift home," he said. "She needs one."

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It was like magic. Really.

Kathy's expression tightened. "No, actually, she doesn't," she said, arms crossed and glaring at them both. "She's fine where she is, thanks."

You know, squished in a booth next to Nick, with Max's medallion attempting to reflect the fluorescent lighting back into her eyes and Josh looking like he'd rather be anywhere but here. Totally. Fine.

"Why are you guys even here?" she hissed, like that would keep anyone from overhearing.

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"Yeah, aren't you supposed to be in class?" Nick asked. Pointedly. "On the other side of the country?"

"I like them," Max said, surprising nobody. He turned to Josh. "Don't you love making new friends? I do."

Josh was just going to hold his head in his hands and fervently wish to be anywhere else. Or that he hadn't just finished telling everyone that he'd taken a leave of absence from the clinic and couldn't use a handy 'medical emergency' excuse to bail.

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"If we're supposed to be in class, so is she," Anders pointed out, glaring right back. (Okay, he assumed Nick was glaring. The shades made it hard to tell.) "We just need to get her there."

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"What Anders means is that we're here to drag your dumb ass home," Dante said, flashing Kathy a sarcastic grin. "You're gonna miss your essay deadline."

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Kathy's returning grin was more a baring of teeth than an actual smile. "Too bad you came all the way out here for a fool's errand then," she told them. "Because what we've got going on here is a lot more important than any goddamn essay. But thanks for visiting, it was nice to catch up. See you back in Baltimore next week."

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Max sat back, crossing his ankles under the table and snacking on fries, clearly enjoying the show. This was better than cable and more fun than he'd had in months.

"Now, Kathy is that any way to treat your...boyfriend? boyfriends?...after they came all this way?" he asked, gleefully.

Nick's head swiveled around and he leveled a glare at Max. It was hard, through the goggles, but he had plenty of practice.

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"We aren't her boyfriends," Anders said firmly, and ignored how it felt like a lie. He was practically hissing his words as he continued. "Not that it's your business."

He turned to Kathy, practically hissing his words as he spoke. He suspected he'd start shouting if he spoke any louder, and he didn't want to get thrown out.

"You're going to stop a zombie apocalypse in a week," he said. "How is that going to work?"

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Dante was keeping an eye on those two guys over there, though he couldn't take the boyfriends crack personally enough to make a fuss about it. "You're fast, you're not made of steel, Kat," he said. "How about you let the professionals field this?"

Which was, for the record, very much not him. Or Anders. Or you, Kathy.

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You know what was great? This entire situation. Kathy looked like she was having a really fun time, with the dull flush she had in her cheeks and the way her jaw was set.

"We're working on the plans to do that very thing right now," she said through clenched teeth. "I am not about to run away from it, either. Your concern has been noted, so why don't you both f--"

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"That might not be the worst idea in the world, Ba--Kathy," Josh said quietly. Kathy nearly sprained something in her neck, whipping her head around to look at him. He held up his hands to placate her. "It's not because I don't think you'll be useful! You're our fastest scout when Zzzap's not here."

Max made a noise of protest and Josh rolled his eyes. "Don't be stupid, they obviously know everything, even if they don't exactly know who we are. Anyway." He looked back up to Kathy. "You've given us what information you can remember. The tactics you passed onto Stealth are useful. But you've still got your whole life ahead of you. Get out of the city, go home with your friends, let us stop this while you focus on your life."

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Anders caught Josh's eye in surprised gratitude. If the heroes were backing them, maybe they had a chance.

"Hear that? You've done what you can," he said. "Besides, if you get out now you could bring your sister. It's not fair to risk her life too."

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"And your folks," Dante added. "Sure, you're all working to contain this, but do you really want to run the risk of what'll happen if you don't?"

When you don't, probably. Dante's faith in the future wasn't even particularly high on a normal day.

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"This is such bullshit!" Kathy said, giving Josh a look of extreme betrayal before switching it over to the guys. "I mean, thanks from the vote of confidence from everyone. I don't know who it means more from--my team or my friends."

Edited Date: 2016-04-08 01:02 pm (UTC)

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And not every hero at the table was willing to back their play ~~just the one with the guilty conscience~~.

"Okay, so who the fuck are you two again?" Nick asked. "I don't remember Kathy sending out a request for two white knights to show up and rescue her. I think she can do a damn good job of rescuing herself if she wanted to."

Kathy looked up at Nick with gratitude.

"Stop trying to use her family to guilt her into doing what you want her to do."

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"And stop acting like you care about her at all," Anders shot back, which really was all he had to say to Nick, then turned his attention to Josh since he seemed like the only halfway rational one at the table. (Except maybe Max. Anders didn't have a good read on Max yet, beyond that he seemed way too amused by all of this.)

"What are you up against now?" he asked. "We didn't see anything on the way here."

Kathy just got a sorrowful glance. An I wish you would see reason because I've already saved you from dying twice and can't stand the thought of losing you too, but I can't make you listen and I don't know what more to say to get you to kind of glance.

... it was complicated.

Edited Date: 2016-04-08 01:48 pm (UTC)

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The way Dante was looking at Nick was less of a glare and more of an epic side-eye; he was mostly irritated that sort-of-hot-but-increasingly-creepy dude was trying to stop them to... what? Get in Kathy's pants?

Ugh.

"How about you fuck off and go snoop after barely-legal ass somewhere else," he said, rolling his eyes.

Probably not useful in the convincing Kathy department, but fuck his shit.

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This was just going from bad to worse. Kathy was thinking of sliding under the table and not coming out until the zombies were literally banging on the door.

"Is this a dibs thing?" Max asked, looking intrigued. "Inquiring minds want to know." The speculative glance he was shooting at Dante--and Anders--suggested he wasn't just asking for Kathy.

"Shut the fuck up, Max," Nick snarled, hands up to his sunglasses. But he wasn't pulling them away. Not yet. Close, but not yet. "And fuck you both, too. I knew Kathy before any of you. I think that I know what she's capable of. And if she thinks she can handle some fucking zombies, then I trust her. More than you do, apparently."

See? Who said this was about sex? He'd barely even been checking her out recently!

...During zombie patrols anyway.

Josh just pulled out his wallet. He was so ready to go. Let them sort out this whatever it was. He had work to do.

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"It's not about trusting her, you moron," Anders returned sharply. "It's about knowing that we've both seen her get damn close to killed because she took on something too big for her, and we don't want to see it again. Call us white knights if it makes you feel better, but at least we aren't encouraging her to try to catch zombies because we want to sleep with her."

A beat.

"Who the fuck came up with that brilliant plan, anyhow? They're dead. You don't have to round them up and study them."

Edited Date: 2016-04-08 02:53 pm (UTC)

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Dante pulled a face at Max. "Seriously?" he said.

Because seriously.

He looked back at Kathy. "You bite off more than you can chew all the fucking time," he said. "Which is why this is not us asking."

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