Nikolai's Room at the Arms Hotel, Monday Morning

[spin_kick_snap]

Sunday night, Kathy and Nikolai had gone to bed a happily--and, uhh, enthusiastically--married couple who had been together for twenty years at that point. They had survived a zombie apocalypse, the death of almost everyone they had known and loved, an old enemy of Nick's who could control the undead, a man who could control minds by use of a code phrase, and a bunch of other really weird stuff in that time. They knew one another in and out, up and down, and there was no question in either of their minds that they belonged together.

This was not true of the Kathy and Nick who would be waking up together. Twenty years and multiple catastrophes younger, they couldn't be called strangers, but they weren't yet entirely friends, either. Allies, was a good word for it, perhaps even partners, on those nights when one or the other of them ended up on the opposite coast and decided to go out for a night of costumed vigilante justice. Even patching Nick up after a bullet wound didn't really prepare either of them for the morning after a weekend like that.

Add that to the already fading memories of said zombie apocalypse and that resulted in a Kathy whose state up mind upon awakening could be summed up as something along the lines of oh god oh god oh god oh god.

Good times.

[For the guy mentioned please and SP!]

Comments

[gunslingerpose]

"Yeaaah," Nikolai drawled, kind of rolling away from Kathy and turning his back from her so that he could look around the nightstand for his shades. Here and now would be a horrible time to knock her out, holy shit. "That was definitely a thing that happened, there."

And it required a lot of processing. Hell, the whole waking up with Kathy thing wasn't even the bulk of the shit that his brain was all wrapped up in right then.

[spin_kick_snap]

It was the most immediate, yes, but it kind of paled in comparison to 'the dead getting up and walking' and 'everyone we knew is dead' and 'please see that first one again.' It was kind of nice to have the waking up together thing to focus on, because it was something small and immediate and didn't make her want to curl up in a ball and cry as she tried to face the magnitude of loss.

"You okay?" she asked. "I think we--" Her hand brushed over something half-wedged under a pillow. "I found your glasses. Close your eyes and I can put them on you?"

It just seemed safer than trying to do a half-blind hand-off. There was a ghost of reflex that felt familiar with it, too.

[gunslingerpose]

Nick sat up again at that, brow furrowed and eyes shut tightly. There was something about letting someone else put his shades on for him that was almost, weirdly, more intimate than them waking up like this in the first place.

"Yeah, sure," he replied, frowning a bit. "Let's get that out of the way before we worry about the rest of it."

There was a lot of the rest of it.

[spin_kick_snap]

It was one tiny thing Kathy could tick off her incredibly long 'things to worry about' checklist. Huzzah. Not getting put to sleep accidentally. Good times all around.

Keeping the sheet pulled up as high as she could, Kathy leaned over and slid his sunglasses onto his face, making sure the stems rested behind his ears all right and the guards were sitting lightly on his nose. "There," she said, ignoring the impulse to follow it up with a quick, good morning kiss. Stupid thing, it was like phantom-limb pain, muscle memories from a history that hadn't happened. "Better?"

[gunslingerpose]

"Definite step up from the uncovered murder eyes thing," Nick agreed, opening one eye, and then both. Not that he doubted that these were his shades, but it was still something he didn't want to take chances with. "... Thanks."

Yeah, there was a reason Nikolai didn't do 'morning after talk.'

For starters, he kind of really, really sucked at it. Even when it was just an island thing.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I appreciate not being murdered," Kathy said simply, drawing her sheet-covered knees up and resting her chin on them. "It's this weird preference of mine. Probably kicked into overdrive by the weekend."

She went quiet for a second and then said, "We should probably talk. About--stuff. This weekend. Everything."

[gunslingerpose]

"Probably," Nick agreed, frowning as he leaned back against the headboard. "We're spoiled for discussion topics, it looks like. Not many of them are even that pleasant."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Start with the most immediate?" Kathy asked. "Work our way up to the big stuff?Like...what was that language I spoke a couple of times over the weekend? What was I saying?" She remembered the context in which she'd done most of the talking in that language and blushed. Okay, so she probably didn't need to get that translated. But other times! "I mean--did I say anything relevant?" she asked, clearing her throat.

[gunslingerpose]

Funnily enough, Nick would have father worked backwards, the other way. If they forgot what had happened on the weekend before they could talk it out, the consequences...

Still and all?

"That weird language would be Greek, baby."

And the way his mouth was doing twitchy things was probably an indication of the sorts of things she had been saying in Greek.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was still nerving herself up to approach that topic. They'd get there, yes, but she just needed time to stare the enormity of what happened in the face and try to drag a plan out of it all. She'd rather busy herself with inconsequentials and circle around it, if she could.

...She'd laugh at the idea of treating a twenty year marriage to the guy she'd woken up next to as an 'inconsequential' if the rest of it wasn't so damn daunting.

"And you were speaking Korean," she said, playing with her hair a bit. "As you probably figured out. We must have taught one another our languages then." She hoped she'd learned from him and he from her, because she wasn't sure where else he would have learned those words from. Certainly not a textbook. "That's...you know. Nice. We--they seemed to fit together well."

[gunslingerpose]

Kathy would have to pardon Nikolai for a moment. See, after the sort of future they'd seen, he just kind of desperately needed to take a moment and...

... be twelve, apparently. While trying to disguise his laugh as a cough.

Smooth. At least he recovered quickly enough, though his smile was still a bit on the twitchy side as he looked up toward the ceiling and spoke.

"They seemed pretty happy together, anyway. Can't deny that."

[spin_kick_snap]

She didn't even have to ask why he was laughing. Excuse her. 'Coughing.'

"Ha ha," she said, rolling her eyes, not that he could see. Though it was possible that he could hear the smile she couldn't successfully will away. " Is this the part where I assure you I'm not going to start flinging myself at you, looking for that happy ending?"

[gunslingerpose]

Well, that earned a quick and curious glance, right there.

"Why? Do I look worried?"

He didn't think he did. But then, there was a lot on his mind. And there was a lot to worry about. Just... the possibility that Banzai would take an interest in him was still pretty far from the top of the list.

[spin_kick_snap]

Not take an interest in--little late for that, let's be real--fling herself at him. "I'm not sure what you're thinking," she said with a shrug. "That other me could read that other you a lot better than I can."

[gunslingerpose]

"Well, those other us-es had been together for.... fuck, decades, I think." He shrugged and looked at her evenly. Generally, his eyes behind his shades didn't really tend to reveal much. They were giving away even less right then. "We, what, fight crime together sometimes. You saved my ass in a big way once."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'd say in a medium way, especially since I distracted you. But point," Kathy said. "I take your point. I helped you out."

[gunslingerpose]

Nick's lips twitched a little more. Christ, this girl...

"You sell yourself too short, baby. You were the mayor of LA, there, you know."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy rolled over to face him, keeping the sheets up over her chest. "Well, at first because no one else wanted the job that..." Her brow furrowed, trying to remember. "...that we trusted, I think."

Things were blurring already. Small details so far, but they were melting away like snow in rain.

[gunslingerpose]

All the more reason for Nick to keep pushing, to try to talk about more than just... them.

"This is commonly known as 'politics,' Kathy. Then they wanted you back. So you must've done something right."

You know. After most of Los Angeles had died, and all.

[spin_kick_snap]

He was free to take the reigns of the conversation anytime he wanted. But he couldn't blame her for being hesitant to face all of that right away.

"And me being mayor has made you unconcerned that I'm not going to fall all over you again? I'll have to remember this for the future." Kathy snickered. "'No, don't worry, I'm not falling for you, I was mayor of ex-LA once.' I'll use that on all the guys who think I've got a crush on them, thanks for the tip."

[gunslingerpose]

"No, no," Nick protested. "That was my counter to you being too hard on yourself."

That wasn't going to stop him from turning a teasing grin her way all the same.

"But damn, Mayor Li. You can probably do better than a motorcycle cowboy, anyway."

[spin_kick_snap]

"You mean a superhero turned sheriff, who devotes himself to keeping other people safe, both before, during, and after the apocalypse?" Kathy smirked, waggling her eyebrows at him comedically. "Yeah, you're a real deadbeat."

[gunslingerpose]

Only you, Kathy, could crack jokes about the actual, for real apocalypse that some future you had lived through. Nick was actually kind of impressed.

"Also, I hear I'm real full of myself."

She'd missed a thing, see? He was helping.

[spin_kick_snap]

See? There was a method to her conversational madness!

"Oh, you're right," she said, looking stricken. "Dealbreaker. You can see yourself out of my hotel room, Bartamian, can't you? I can't handle anyone full of themselves!"

Wait, wasn't she supposed to be arguing for the opposite?

[gunslingerpose]

Clearly, Kathy didn't do this often.

"Well, if you insist, baby." Nick was even going to get out of bed at that, keeping his back to her so he could rummage for his pants without flashing her a full frontal. You're welcome, Kathy. "Just one thing about that, though."