[For Wyatt] Valentine's Day
Feb. 15th, 2017 12:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Hair twisted in a loose knot with a pencil through it, Kitty pored over a notebook filled with what must've looked like arcane sigils to someone unfamiliar with her personal shorthand. In fact, it was the first iteration of a security/surveillance drone design. Between sips of coffee, she flipped the pencil in her hand to erase one assemblage and then flipped it again to sketch in another. One she immediately saw wouldn't work.
"Fudge."
She set down her coffee cup, absently poured more from the carafe, flipped the page and then started over. The severe materials limitations made paper refinements essential, but she seriously hated doing it.
Is she hadn't already been to at least one version of hell, she'd have said she was living it.
Valentine's Day in a hotel designed for lovers, decorated by her manic partner on the Welcoming Committee so that it looked like aftermath of a glitterpunk war, everyone she'd ever loved--including her very first Valentine, her dad--as good as dead to her, and chicken with heart-shaped waffles for breakfast, without a lab to distract herself?
Yeah. She'd rather be in Limbo.
"Fudge."
She set down her coffee cup, absently poured more from the carafe, flipped the page and then started over. The severe materials limitations made paper refinements essential, but she seriously hated doing it.
Is she hadn't already been to at least one version of hell, she'd have said she was living it.
Valentine's Day in a hotel designed for lovers, decorated by her manic partner on the Welcoming Committee so that it looked like aftermath of a glitterpunk war, everyone she'd ever loved--including her very first Valentine, her dad--as good as dead to her, and chicken with heart-shaped waffles for breakfast, without a lab to distract herself?
Yeah. She'd rather be in Limbo.
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Date: 2017-02-17 02:57 am (UTC)As he entered the cafe, Wyatt noticed Kitty and the frustrated body language. Curious as to what she was working on that was causing the very cute swear word.
"Is that a plea for some fudge or do you need some help in creative swear words from a soldier?" He asked with amusement, when he took a seat next to her.
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Date: 2017-02-17 03:35 am (UTC)"Candy's traditional for Valentine's Day, isn't it? It's been so long since I celebrated it, I've forgotten." Wow, that sounded way more bitter than she meant it to. "Sorry. I'm designing surveillance drones that might be able to catch the deliveries to the hotel, but it's about ten times harder without having materials to spare for a prototype."
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Date: 2017-02-17 11:01 am (UTC)"It's been a pretty long time since I celebrated Valentine's Day but I seem to remember chocolate being a big part of it. Or maybe that was just the day after." He teased her, hoping to coax a more genuine smile before asking about her project. "Which part is giving you the most trouble? The aerodynamics or the connection between camera and drone?"
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Date: 2017-02-18 03:35 am (UTC)"Everything is giving me trouble. I don't have the tools for this project, but I don't have the supplies for anything larger. We're all trapped here. It's been a month and a half, and I'm no closer to getting us out of here than I was the first day."
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Date: 2017-02-19 01:45 am (UTC)"I'm sorry you're having a tough time of it and what I have to say isn't patronizing, or at least it's not meant to be. But, I have to respectfully disagree with you. You are closer than you were before. You know what doesn't work, which means you're closer to finding out what does work." His eyes met hers, "and something will work. I am confident that you'll figure it out. Maybe not today or even next week, but you will."
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Date: 2017-02-19 03:35 am (UTC)She shook her head and then raised her gaze to his again. "I know you're trying to help, but somehow that just makes it worse. If I do manage to succeed, I never see you or Lara again." Maybe she'd only known them a month and a half, but she'd already lost so many people.
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Date: 2017-02-21 02:29 am (UTC)He raised his hand from where it rested on her arm to cup her cheek. It felt almost as if he was compelled to kiss her but in a good way. He wanted to comfort her as well as reassure them both that no matter how long they had, he'd cherish the time. Wyatt knew more than most that life could kick you in the teeth.
Taking his time, giving her a chance to pull back, Wyatt lowered his head to kiss Kitty.
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Date: 2017-02-21 02:54 am (UTC)Eyes closing so he wouldn't see how much she needed it, she turned her cheek into his touch, but then he was doing that lean in thing and her heart started flipping around. It didn't matter that she'd been trying celibacy out. Not now. If Wyatt wanted to kiss her... hell, yeah, she wanted to be kissed, and so tipped her head up to let him.
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Date: 2017-02-23 02:14 am (UTC)He hadn't been celibate after Jessica's death, but this was different. This was the first time that he'd 'felt' anything but Wyatt wasn't ready to examine that information just yet.
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Date: 2017-02-23 02:35 am (UTC)And it wasn't doing that good of a job protecting her heart. She'd been thinking about Wyatt a lot more than she could pass off as "friendly" interest.
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Date: 2017-02-23 03:38 am (UTC)Reluctantly he broke the kiss, more to give them time to breathe than any other excuse. His forehead rested against hers, "I should probably apologize for that but I won't. I will apologize for the timing of it though." He had meant to comfort her and distract her. He certainly hadn't meant to kiss her in order to do that but he was glad he'd taken that step.
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Date: 2017-02-23 03:50 am (UTC)"Don't apologize. Please don't apologize." She touched her hand to his jaw and smiled. "I wanted that as much as you did. I mean, assuming you did want it..." And why would he have kissed her if he didn't want to?
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Date: 2017-02-25 12:48 am (UTC)Which surprised him as much as it felt right in thinking it. He hadn't had a real date since Jessica.
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Date: 2017-02-25 02:39 am (UTC)Oy. Could she shove her foot any farther in her mouth? She shook her head. "Sorry, like I said, bad at this."
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Date: 2017-02-27 12:03 am (UTC)"There's something you should know though." It wasn't a secret, but Wyatt found himself nervous telling her. He couldn't explain it and it certainly wasn't logical. "The reason why it's been a long time for me, I'm a widower." God, he hated that word. Husband to widower. "My wife died three years ago." He raised his eyes to look into Kitty's. "I'm a little rusty at it. Maybe we can figure out who we are together."
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Date: 2017-02-27 01:34 am (UTC)After three years, his grief wouldn't be fresh, but she didn't mistake the lack of freshness for lack of depth or significance. She'd be grieving her dad a lot more than three years.
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Date: 2017-02-28 11:44 am (UTC)"She was murdered." His eyes glazed as he looked inward to that day, like he had a million times since then. "We'd had a stupid argument and she left to walk and think. That was the last time I saw her." He hated that their last words were an argument.
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Date: 2017-02-28 11:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-03 01:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-03 06:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-05 03:34 pm (UTC)"I tried to change that night." He began, "I wrote her a letter in the sixties and had Western Union deliver it to her before that night. It didn't work, but I tried." Wyatt pushed back just enough so that he could look at Kitty, "I never even thought about writing to me. Maybe underneath it all, I knew I shouldn't feel guilty about arguing. Maybe I just needed to hear someone else say it."
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Date: 2017-03-05 08:05 pm (UTC)After a little while, Kitty said, "I understand if you're not ready to have another relationship. I'm cool with taking this slow."
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Date: 2017-03-06 01:14 am (UTC)He'd likely take a few missteps and it helped a lot that Kitty understood.
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Date: 2017-03-06 02:48 am (UTC)Kitty sighed. "My dad was killed in that attack I told you about. And the guy I loved for years and thought was dead came back from the dead--" Jeez, her life was complicated. "--and didn't feel the same way not that long ago. I'm kind of a mess, like I said."
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Date: 2017-03-08 12:55 am (UTC)"God, that is very understandable." He smiled slightly as he rested his forehead against hers, "it's a good thing we both understand baggage."
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Date: 2017-03-08 03:03 am (UTC)