Dante's House, Limbo City, Sunday

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Last night after finally exiting the tower, they had made their way back to Dante's place in Limbo City. Kathy had been half-tempted to get a portal back to the island, worried about Eliot, wanting to be home, but she'd been too sore and exhausted to do much more than look at her phone before letting it fall back to pocket.

At least her texts to Raven had gone through, even if she probably seemed like a madwomen in them.

Exhausted as she was, she didn't manage to sleep much past sunrise. Too many thoughts, too many memories, too many feelings crowding close to keep her asleep. She got up, limping a little unevenly downstairs, scrounging to see what kind of breakfast she could make from the remains in the kitchen.

The answer was apparently coffee, so she set that to perking and went to sit in front of the big window, staring out at the street, eyes blank and seeing very little.

[For them who are in Limbo City with her! SP for forever because BDE and also brain.]

Comments

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"You can't, she agreed, shaking her head. If I tried right now, I'd be trying for you." She sighed, staring out the window again. "If you said that our relationship depends on me moving here, my shit would be packed tomorrow and I'd be picking out what room is mine in this place. But it wouldn't be good, it wouldn't be healthy, and I'd come to resent you for it. Same as you, if I begged you to stay."

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"I'm probably gonna be here for the rest of my life," Dante said, after a long pause. "We're gonna have to deal with that sometime."

Another pause.

"But not today."

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Not today. Kathy had a whole slew of things she was trying to wrap her head around that still got her hackles up, but they were all under the heading of 'not today.'

They'd somehow wrapped themselves in an uneasy truce and Kathy was unwilling to break it again.

"Well, no matter what happens, I'm still willing to try," she said, voice soft. "And--I'm sorry. This isn't how I wanted the morning to go. This wasn't how I wanted to be."

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"But you are," Dante said, "And I am."

He shrugged again.

"We can't apologize for that."

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"I've spent my whole life doing just that," Kathy said with heavy irony. "Don't see why I should stop now."

She drained the last of her doctored coffee. "But I was talking about my behavior, not who I am."

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"Yesterday was a shitty day for everybody," Dante said.

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"Yeah, but especially you," Kathy said. "Anders and I were just kind of there. You were up against..."

She handwaved, not wanting to bring up what Dante already knew.

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"Think you got a fair share of garbage too," Dante said simply.

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"But it wasn't really mine." That's what she was trying to tell herself anyway. "He wasn't my dad. He was hers. That was all just..." More handwaving. "Transference. Putting my shit on top of the shit already going on."

Didn't stop those shots from echoing in her memory all night long, or the noise his body had made when it hit the ground, or the feeling of unreality when she'd stumbled across his body for the first time, but maybe if she hammered on the This wasn't about you button hard enough, she'd stop feeling like she'd watched her own father get killed.

That she had any right to a measure of Lady's grief.

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"He wasn't your dad," Dante agreed. "Your dad was just a garden variety dickhead who got killed by some bullshit. And I don't know what Lady's deal is other than this, but she ain't you."

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Kathy's gaze flicked back over to him and swallowed the comment on her tongue. Uneasy truce, dammit.

"Yeah," she said. "I know. Just some parts of that are easier to make stick in my brain than others. He died wearing my dad's face. And the girl wearing mine killed him. If I wrote it up, Dr. Lecter would tell me to be a little more subtle with my Freudian imagery."

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Dante shrugged. "I know," he said. "Just all I can do is point that out, okay?"

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Kathy bit her lip and let her forehead fall against the glass. "Okay."

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"And I don't actually think you're anything like her," he said slowly. "That shit yesterday... my head was kinda upside down."

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That was fair. More than fair. Kathy blinked at him and rearranged her thoughts about it.

"I...I know that," Kathy said. Or, rather, she should have. "My head was, too. And it just took me by surprise."

Beat.

"It hurt. To have you confuse me with anyone. But especially--"

The mirror reflection of her. Things Kathy wished she was, things Kathy was afraid to be, things Kathy couldn't ever accept.

"But I should have known."

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"There's only one Kathy Li on this planet," Dante said, shrugging lightly. "For me anyway. Sorry I made you feel otherwise for even a second."

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That made Kathy's heart thump and she let go of some of her defensiveness. She reached out to lace her fingers with his for just a moment.

"Thank you," she said softly. "It means a lot hear. Shouldn't, I know. But does."

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"Can you take a compliment without beating yourself up just this once?" Dante teased gently, squeezing her fingers before she could pull them back.

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"I'm working on accepting compliments," Kathy said with a small laugh. "It's apologies I'm still pretty shit with."

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"Will you take a kiss, at least?" Dante asked.

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Kathy took a moment to think and then smiled, a little shyly, and nodded. "I'd like a kiss, yeah," she admitted and leaned in.

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Dante kissed her, gentle and slow.

They were on tentative ground. It was needed.

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Gentle and slow was the only thing she could handle right now. She kept her mouth closed, lips soft.

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Dante cupped her cheek.

When he broke the kiss, it was only to press his forehead to hers.

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Dammit. Of all things, that was what nearly set her crying. "I love you," she murmured. "And I'm sorry."

For the whole stupid fucking morning.

"Are..." she faltered, knowing he hated the question. "You okay?"