Katherine was going to put her Friday night to good use. O'Donnabhain had given her the Saturday she'd normally spend at her desk going over old notes more purpose - she'd assigned someone else to one of the cases she'd been working, leaving Kat some free time, so naturally, she did what anyone would do -
Went out and got hammered.
Between club hopping, she ended up at Ambrosia with a group of friends who'd all vanished as soon as they hit the door. It was typical of the drunk female crowd - each separate and hunt down prey, although in this club the game would soon be turned around on them. She was downing a drink at the bar when the urge to dance hit her, and to the floor she went, the drunk, feel-good state she was in only enhanced by the natural atmosphere of the club.
She wore an incredibly short skirt, black in colour, with a pair of impossibly high heels, and a simple black tank top that had silver sequins at the straps and around the bottom. Her long hair was down, and slightly damp from sweat - her light cheeks were flushed in her intoxicated state, but it only seemed to enhance her natural beauty. Heavily lined eyes closed as she left the floor again, ordering double shots for herself. She could barely feel her legs from the heels, but the warm sensation the alcohol brought her would be worth the pain later - she was so short that she needed them to give her more of an appeal, or so she thought. The alcohol was just a bonus painkiller for the moment.
Kat remained at the bar, forcing down a few more shots, and then chose to linger for a few songs to cool down.
Gabe wasn't oblivious. It didn't take him more than five minutes to realize that Kat was in the club, and from that instant on, he was stalking her like a predator on a nice little bunny rabbit. That was both awesome and horrible for her, since he wasn't going to let her end up food for another of the many vamps present, but HE was hunting, and she'd interrupted that without even knowing it. He was definitely not in 'nerd cop' mode. He was in an old mode, something that didn't belong in this century, and he couldn't even do anything about it. He needed to feed, but leaving her to end up as food wasn't an option.
At least, he wasn't once he saw a young vampire approach her. He might almost have left her to her own devices if he hadn't seen that. No, he couldn't leave her. That vampire would eat her, and then she'd be gone. No, not happening.
He approached silently as the vampire tried to chat her up, able to tell just from her movements that she'd had too much to drink, and that was another point against her here. This vamp might not be able to lure her off normally, but he wouldn't have as much problem right here. Not without Gabe, anyway. Gabriel certainly wasn't interested in that avenue, and he made it obvious as soon as he was close enough, letting his power aura spread out around them. Other vampires glanced over, obviously seeing a fight brewing just from the obvious display, and Gabriel stepped up behind Kat, lacing an arm around her waist from behind and looking at the other vampire from over her shoulder.
"You look lovely tonight," he told her, distracting her from the other man while he shot a single thought that way.
Mine. Go away.
He'd fight for this one.
Kat was attempting conversation with the man who'd approached her, because she was drunk enough to be interested. He was attractive, after all, and Kat did need a little release after how difficult work had been. Everything he seemed to say to her was just right, like he was saying things she was thinking before she could think them. Of course, she didn't realize he could read her thoughts, so it was probably better when the familiar sensation of butterflies crept into her stomach and Gabriel's voice was so close to her ear that the hair on the back of her neck stood up.
She looked over at him, rubbing her cheek against his own, wide-eyed as she realized she wasn't imagining things. When she looked back, the man she'd been talking to was gone, and she blinked a few times before spinning around to face Gabriel. She had managed to keep his arm around her still, and she was quite close to him, though in the loud atmosphere it benefited her somewhat - as a human, even a police officer, her hearing was only so good.
"Hey!" she exclaimed in her drunken state. "What are you doing here? I didn't get the impression you were big on clubbin'!" she said, unable to hide her obvious pleasure and surprise. She still had those butterflies, but a few more shots, and they'd be gone.
All he cared about regarding the other vampire was that the man left, and he did. He was too young to even consider taking Gabriel on over a human, and there was plenty of available prey. Gabe won, and was left with his prize.
What a prize it was!
She rubbed her cheek against his almost like a cat as she turned, and he knew it wasn't intentional, but he didn't need the encouragement. She was close, sooo close, and she wasn't making even the slightest attempt to get away from him. Didn't she have any self-preservation instincts?
No, they were being overwhelmed by him. It was his fault, he knew that, and he couldn't turn it off. She wasn't going away, and did he really want her to? No, not at all. He wanted to---
What was he doing here?
Protecting her.
"Every now and then, I get out of the lab," he told her smoothly, not really able to pull together his usually cheery, jovial tone. With as much as she'd had to drink, he could only hope she wouldn't notice. "You didn't come alone, did you?"
Maybe if he left her with her friends, she'd be safe. Maybe. If her friends hadn't already been slowly broken off from the herd.
Kat did notice, and she stepped away so she could see more of him than just his chest - and what a nice chest it was - to tilt her head a little, staring at him with glazed eyes. She finally started laughing, and waved her hand. "Don't mind me, I'm just really drunk right now," she said, trying to explain her peculiar glance. "You should get out more often, Sullivan. You clean up rather well," she said, pinching his shirt a little and then smoothing it down.
Ahh, so... nice..Wow, I'm way too drunk for this. Hands off, Kat!
She quickly pulled her hands back, and leaned against the bar in a casual, slouched sort of position one can only pull off looking good in when they've had at least five shots of tequila. Speaking of which.
"Want a drink? I'm up for another round," she said cheerfully, turning to flash the tender a smile to let him know she was ready for more.
Normally, Gabe would have probably choked at her reaction, but right then, it was the sort of thing he'd been looking for, just not from her. Never from her. He'd just wanted to snag some pretty girl, get a snack and give her a good time, then go. Kat wasn't someone he ever wanted to do that to, but he was short on options here. He could leave her, or take her with him and just be really careful.
Aw, hell, nevermind.
No choice. He'd just be careful, and try to keep her as innocent in the situation as he could. "Thanks, and don't worry, I noticed, but it's okay. I've probably had too much myself," he told her easily, though he definitely wasn't thinking alcohol. He also couldn't really help stepping up to the bar beside her a little closer than he'd ever have in another situation, though he resisted letting his arm slide around her waist, even if he wanted to. The bartender wasn't human, which was helpful and almost necessary in a place like this, and raised an eyebrow at him in question. He merely smiled and nodded to let the guy know what he was drinking, and turned to Kat.
"What were you drinking? It's on me."
"Tequila!" she said happily. "Tastes like crap, but it makes me feel sooo good," she explained, dissolving into giggles. "So, Gabriel," she said, before pausing as she realized his arm was around her - what was this? The hell? What is this shit? I must be really drunk - no, that's definitely his arm. Damn, I need to get him outside of the office more often.
"You stalking me?" she asked meaningfully, her eyes locked on his own. She laughed to let him know she was only kidding, but the staring contest had made her temporarily disoriented, and she immediately leaned into the support of his arm. As a human, she had small, insignificant natural defenses against things such as this, but in her highly intoxicated state, Katherine was wide open to all sorts of accidental attacks from vampires - like staring. She shook her head, and looked up at him.
"Whoa," she laughed. "I think some of my alcohol went down the wrong way. Don't worry, I'm not a puker. I get alcohol poisoning and they have to give me an IV, but I almost never puke. It's a gift," she bragged, a little slurred.
Tequila. He found it absolutely AMAZING that she wasn't a puker if she drank Tequila, especially with the number of women who WERE. It actually surprised him enough that he didn't react as strongly to her swooning over eye contact. Great. She looked him in the eyes and got all disoriented. That was a good sign.
A good sign that he needed to stay the hell away from her.
He glanced around, actually considering it, and saw that younger vamp again. Watching. "No, but I think your friend from a few minutes ago is," he pointed out dryly, wondering if the ass was TRYING to force him into feeding from her, or just stubborn enough to hope that he'd leave her alone for a moment.
A gift, right. So was that absolutely intoxicating smell of hers. And the fact that she HAD to be in such close contact with him. He couldn't bear to push her away. "That's good, because pretty girls really shouldn't spend their nights sick." Or with dangerous men who pretend to be nerds.
Yeah...at least he knew.
She obligingly dropped the final shot back, and turned her head to hiccup fiercly. Tequila was bad juju, and she was aware of the fact that she'd be paying for it the next day, but Gabriel's presence almost made it worth the pain she'd be feeling in roughly 8 hours. She made a note to start drinking water as soon as she got home - speaking of which, a quick scan of the club told her that everyone she'd come with was ensconced with other people, and she blinked, stunned that she'd been so easily forgotten. She giggled to herself instantly, realizing that she'd done the same thing to them. Taxi time it was.
Katherine glanced back at the guy who'd accosted her earlier, and felt a small shudder rush up her spine. Inexplicable; she had no idea why he'd suddenly given her such a creeped-out, uneasy feeling. Little did Kat know that the 'fuck off' energy he'd projected at Gabriel had caught her awash since she'd suddenly tuned herself in to the situation at hand. She turned back to Gabriel and did the only logical thing she could think of to appropriately shove the man off.
She kissed him. It wasn't an innocent sort of kiss, either, it was the kind she'd been saving for a moment where she didn't have to accept responsability for it later - unadulterated, violent almost, and yet, from Kat, strangely sensual. She wasn't bad at kissing, that was for sure. She nearly pinned him up against the bar, roughly, but was surprised to find he was slightly more sturdy than most of the people she'd come across. Kat had never tried to shove a vampire before, though, so there was part of the problem.
This was part of where they differed, besides the more obviously physical differences between a vampire and human. He didn't think that his presence made her being sick as a dog the next day worth it, but she didn't have to work the following day, and that was probably best for her. Yes, he was stalker enough that he knew her schedule.
There went any chances of dropping her back with her friends, he realized rather suddenly with a short scan of her surface thoughts. He was trying to avoid looking at more than th surface, just out of respect for her, but knowing those thoughts was useful enough here that he couldn't talk himself out of that much. It meant he was going to have to stay around her, though. He hadn't realized that she'd gotten enough of the other vampire's energy to feel creeped out by him, but he had certainly noticed, and returned the favor. Naturally, he put more effort in keeping Kat unaffected by his own.
And then, she was kissing him, and to have surprised a vampire with that, she was pretty damn amazing. Besides just that, she was kissing him in a way that utterly astonished him, particularly coming from her. She'd always been so much more...careful. Maybe 'innocent' was the best word for it. He'd always been the sort to leave innocence where it belonged, well aware that he was no good for anyone or thing that could still be considered 'pure'. Now, he felt horrible for what was going to happen, but he wasn't going to refuse her.
Nooooooo way was he.
He may have been taken off-guard enough that she managed to shove him against the bar, but he was a vampire, and one who'd always been pretty solid, and sure, she'd gotten enough time to fully molest his mouth before his brain had caught up with itself and pushed the guilt away. Then, that was all. His hands slipped around her waist to hold her close to him, and he pushed back into the kiss, albeit not nearly as aggressively as he wanted to. He still had a certain set of teeth he'd prefer to keep from her, and he'd been remarkably successful before this evening. When she found out about them, he fully intended to make sure she didn't remember. In the meantime, though...
God...
She tasted amazing, but it was still her scent that wanted to drive him wild. Her shampoo may have been helpful with that, but with as much as she'd been sweating while dancing, there was no longer any doubt in his mind that it was her that made him crazy.
"You've been holding out on me," he finally teased when she took a moment to breathe. "I'd have never seen that coming."
Kat seemed pleased with herself, more like a cat than anything suddenly, one hand on his where it rested at her waist, the other on his chest, palm down, now lacking the inhibitions she had a few moments ago. What the hell, why not? "Of course," she said, tone educational. "You know they'd never suspect me of any sort of activity like this, that's what makes it so fun. And besides, I'm not the only one who's holding out," she said, fingers walking up the center of his chest to his chin, where she tapped him lightly, tilting her head.
For a second, the sort of tone she had to her voice was alarming - as if she knew what he was - who he was - what he did, what the entire club was doing. Something sparkled in those dark eyes of hers as she laughed in her intoxicated state, the serious expression warming away from her girlish features. "And all this time, I thought you didn't like me," she purred. "That's what I get for thinking."
She did it again, staring him in the eyes - and suddenly the disorientation was so much worse than before. Her alcohol caught up with her at a fast pace, probably something to do with the sudden rush of blood to her.. brain. She didn't quite fall backwards as her knees sort of just dropped out from underneath her - if Gabriel hadn't been holding her up she'd have crumpled to the floor. Fingers tensed around his arms as she gripped to support herself fully.
"I think... I think I've had too much to drink," she said weakly.
That was the problem with drinking. She didn't do it nearly enough to know that she'd crossed her line about 3 drinks prior.
For a second there, he was actually worried. It was just something there in her voice as she accused him of 'holding out' that made it seem as though she knew so much more than he'd thought she could, and then, just as quickly, it was gone with a girlish little laugh. That sort of laugh was exactly what had made him stay away from her before, because she was so happy and innocent, and he couldn't do a damn bit of good for her, but it was too late for that now.
He resisted the urge to do something that may egg her on even further as her fingers made their way from his chest to his chin, though it was tempting. She really didn't need the encouragement, and just as he'd considered it, she mentioned thinking he didn't like her and made eye contact.
Really, he wasn't doing it on purpose! Eye contact normally wasn't such a big deal, but he HAD come to hunt, and so he'd let himself slip some. Now, he didn't have the slightest chance of withdrawing it, and she was falling victim to the one part about himself he couldn't do anything about. With as much alcohol as she had swimming through her, he wasn't surprised that it was disorienting her, and he caught her easily to prevent her from falling. He was getting looks from the bartender, who was clearly telling him to 'take his dinner elsewhere', and he shot the guy a look, but helped her to her feet.
"Come on, Kat, I'll take you home," he promised, though it occurred to him that he really shouldn't know where she lived. He could probably pull it from her mind, if she could concentrate. Getting her to tell him would be helpful for later, though. "Where do you live?"
She told him her address after a few tries, and took to leaning on him solely for support. She wondered if this was what trees felt like when they were little, having to be tied to a pole so they didn't grow sideways. She sat up a little, wondering why the fuck she was thinking about trees, poles, and god knows what else, when Gabriel Sullivan, the cute guy in forensics she'd been eyeing, was taking her home. She was having trouble walking - shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.
JESUS, it's freakin' hot outside, she thought to herself, her only complete coherent thought for the span it took them to get to her apartment. She wiggled around in his car, objecting to the seatbelt for a good five minutes of coaxing before she felt compelled to put it in suddenly, and then stared out the window, amazed at everything they passed.
When they got to her apartment, she was having serious trouble trying to get her seatbelt off, and started whining. "Damnit, I'm stuck!" But, of course, by the time Gabriel could get around, she'd gotten it off and hopped out, perked up considerably, and was leaning against the door, giving him that look again. "Wanna play Twister?" she blurted out, swinging the keys of her apartment around her finger lazily. "And before you say anything, I know, I'm drunk, I'm not thinking clearly, blah blah blah..." she made talking motions with her hand, smiling at him.
It was a bad sign how many tries to took to get her address out of her, and her thoughts were so jumbled that he had trouble putting it together even reading her mind. Wooooow, she'd had too much to drink. He was suddenly wondering if drinking her blood would be a bad idea. He'd never had blood that was THAT flooded with liquor before, and he knew he could get a pretty damn good buzz from someone who was drinking.
He got other wisps of thought from her while he was trying to get her into a seatbelt and to her apartment, though the most clear was the fact that she thought it was hot outside. Otherwise, he caught things about work, cute, himself and plenty of unrelated things that really made no sense to him. He withdrew completely from her thoughts, much preferring not to confuse himself any further trying to make sense out of any of it.
Really, it hadn't taken him long to come help her with the seatbelt, but her helplessness vanished quickly in the face of her success, and suddenly...what? Twister?! He'd had to HELP her to the car! "Let's see how well you make it up to your apartment first."
In all honesty, he'd never played that game. He'd watched others do it and laughed, but never sacrificed his own dignity on that altar. He wasn't looking forward to potentially doing it, either. Hopefully, she'd have forgotten by the time they got her up to her apartment. "Lead the way."
"Yep, leading!" she shouted. She grabbed his hand and practically flung herself at the apartment stairwell, running up with a wobble only owned by those who have had way, way too much to drink. She let go of him as she stumbled up the stairs (and she would have taken the elevator under normal, less intoxicated circumstances, but that would lead to puking in this state) and bounded to her door. She fumbled with her keys for a good few seconds before she found the one that would open the door, and then kicked it open and pranced in.
As soon as she got in, she turned, whipped off her shirt, and said quite clearly, "Come here. I know I'm drunk and I don't care, just... come here." And with that, she pounced on him.
He didn't know who was going to fall first with the way she started dragging him up the stairs, but he was certain that if one of them did, they both would. For that very reason, it was a damn good thing when she let go of his hand, since he'd been strongly considering just scooping her up and carrying her up the stairs to fix the problem. She made it, however, and didn't even take all that long to find the key to her apartment, all things considered.
It was as he was shutting the apartment door that he was taken off-guard, since he'd stopped scanning her thoughts in favor of offering her privacy and saving himself the headache of trying to figure out what the jumbled thoughts meant. He should have been paying more attention, since he turned around to see her whipping off her shirt, and for an instant, whatever she'd said completely flew over his head.
Then, she pounced on him, and he caught her only to backpedal against the door.
Anyone in the hallway would be wondering what the hell THAT was, but he didn't care anymore. He could hold her weight easily, and he did, his mouth pressing forward to take her lips in a kiss.
If he was going to come up with a brilliant plan, he needed to do it soon.
Kat was practically clawing at Gabriel to try and get his jacket off. There was probably more thought involved in not falling off of him, simply because her balance at the moment was more than a few degrees off. She managed to swing around enough to direct him at the couch, where it would inevitably catch the backs of his knees. On impact, she fell off of him and onto the floor, laughing uncontrollably.
"I'm sorry!" she giggled, rolling onto her side to stand up. "Just, stay right there," she said, trying to stand up via pushing off her table and stumbling towards her room. She got all the way there, and then veered into the post on her bed and fell flat on her ass. She let out a surprised scream, but it was muffled by her burying of her face into a pillow she'd swiped from the tangle of sheets. She was laughing too hard to call out that she was okay, and just sat there wrapped in bedding, giggling madly at... yeah.
How did this get so out of hand?
She was just about ready to tear his jacket off, which was why he was trying to assist her, but it wasn't easy to balance her while she was squirming around AND take his jacket off at the same time. When she twisted her weight around, he let her do it, and ended up backing into the couch the next time he fell. For a vampire, he wasn't looking all that graceful.
Hopefully, she'd be too drunk to remember, because he was actually startled enough that he didn't hang onto her well enough to keep her from falling right on her ass next to he couch. At least she was laughing.
Good God, this was ridiculous.
He stared at her like he thought she was insane for just a moment, hoping that she wasn't injured and just too drunk to care, but she was suddenly up and telling him to stay put so she could run to her room. He would have done exactly that if he hadn't heard her scream an instant later, too.
"Are you hurt?" he asked, rushing into the room to find her...on the floor. Again. In a pile of sheets, laughing like a child might in the middle of a mess. It was definitely nice to see, especially since he was pretty sure she wasn't hurt, but he wasn't sure if he should leave the doorway to help her up. There were far too many things he wouldn't mind doing to her in that pile of sheets, right there on the floor, and she didn't seem all that interested in refusing. Was it really right, with him entirely sober, and her as drunk as she was?
Whatever. He'd help her up, if only to ensure that she didn't fall AGAIN in the process.
Katherine took the help getting up, but she was completely disoriented. "Sorry, sorry!" she said, laughing as she tried to find her balance. She pushed off of Gabriel finally and wandered into her closet, closing the door half-way so that he couldn't follow her in without trying. "Just changing, give me a second," she instructed, trying to make it clear that she wasn't puking on her nice things. She emerged moments later in a pair of terrycloth shorts and a matching tank top. Pajamas, it seemed. At least she wasn't dashing around in her bra anymore, for Gabriel's sake.
She moved passed him and into her bathroom, which was strangely neat, for a girl - but then again, Kat was a fairly organized person. Her room was mostly pastels - light purple, there was a lot of that, and a minty green sort of shade. She had Christmas lights wrapped around her bed, which was large enough for at least four or five people, and had iron posts, but no canopy top. Instead, the lights snaked around - plug 'em in and they were a violet colour, most commonly referred to as pink when lit up. But there was noise from the bathroom now, and that was Kat, trying to wash the whore-makeup off of her face. She was successful, and emerged once again, fresh-faced and bright-eyed (or was it glassy-eyed?). She looked better than before, of course, because Kat, while looking exotic with dark liner and thick shadow, was always more appealing in her natural state.
She smiled brightly at Gabriel. "Sorry, I figured I'm going to be on the verge of passing out soon, wanted to prepare myself," she stumble-laugh-slurred. She was absolutely marinated in alcohol. She'd brushed her teeth twice and still couldn't get the taste away, but ah well, what can you do? She stepped closer to him. "Smell, I used my kiwi-scented soap," she instructed, turning her cheek to him and rolling onto the tips of her toes.
Sighing a little and just taking in the rest of her room now that he knew she wasn't hurt, he really wasn't all that surprised at it. He actually thought it looked comfortable, if not exactly his sort of style (naturally). It did suit her, though. He liked it.
Of course, he liked seeing her walk out of her closet in the shorts and tank top. The bra had definitely been preferred over the new top, but the shorts showed off her legs, which was an improvement. Ironically, considering how much he'd been wanting to feed even before he'd run into her, he was thinking sex right up until she stepped up in front of him to offer him her cheek to smell.
She really didn't need to be that close, but it definitely did the trick for him. He shouldn't have, he knew that somewhere in the back of his head, but he did, and his eyes closed briefly as he took in the scent that was purely her, intoxicating enough on its own, as well as the kiwi smell, which just made him think 'home'. Even after all these years, it was those sorts of things that made him nostalgic. That wasn't good for her, though he had slightly better control than just attacking her.
He moved slowly, giving her all the opportunity she may need to get away if she objected (which he doubted), and curled his arms around her back to pull her in close enough for a kiss that was surprisingly lacking in aggression. He wanted this as a confirmation, even if it wasn't outright permission. To further suggest intimate activities, his hands slid downward, fully intending to scoop her up under her thighs and carry her to her bed if she reacted favorably, which had better be quickly. He was only resisting turning to her throat as it was because he had a tight grip on his control. Any further encouragement, and he'd likely crack.
Kat was caught a little off-guard by this, but it didn't matter - she was pretty sure she knew where this was going. If only she had any idea, of course, she might have felt a little differently. When he picked her up, she squealed a little, trying to kiss him and not lose her balance. She pulled back only because she had to laugh, but it worked out to her advantage as Gabriel walked backwards to the bed. When he intended to dump her down on the bed, she shifted her weight and nuzzled into his shoulder, planting a row of kisses on his neck, trailing from the bottom up towards his jaw.
Instead of falling underneath him when they finally hit the bed, Kat ended up on top, still dropping little kisses on his jawline. She began working at the buttons on his shirt, trying to continue occupying his mouth with her own before he had a chance to protest or change his mind. She pulled back for a moment, leaving her throat fully exposed as she reached back to push her hair from her eyes.
No, she didn't know where it was going, though it easily COULD have. If he'd fed more recently, that's exactly what they'd have had, and he couldn't say that he'd have liked it any less. He needed to feed now, though. If he kept waiting, he risked losing control, which wasn't an option around her. She was far too precious for that.
Getting her to the bed was actually harder than he'd have expected, though he didn't have a problem with her weight. It was the way she squirmed and distracted him with every step he took. He tried moving to drop her onto her bed, but true to form, she changed that all up. He didn't push the issue, and ended up beneath her with his shirt being unbuttoned as she suddenly moved to trailing kisses down HIS neck. Irony was always one of his things, and really, there was nothing that beat THAT sort of irony. He also just liked it, which explained the sharp intake of breath that broke his concentration away from his hands and their wandering up the inside of her tank top.
Nevermind. Foreplay was going to have to be cut a little short.
He sat up a little more, pulling her body to the best possible angle for what he was about to do as she pulled away from another of those aggressive, wanting kisses, and he swooped into her neck for his own. Fortunately, he didn't just dig right in, but instead left his own trail of kisses before focusing more strongly right over the spot he wanted and finally, finally started pushing his mental affects on her. Kendras were good at rolling mortal minds, and his little charm trick enhanced that, making it a bit easier. He wanted this to feel good for her, and only after he was certain that it would did he break the skin.
There were some things he was wrong about, but those were few and far between anymore. Gabe was DEFINITELY not wrong about how amazing her blood tasted, though he may have underestimated it a bit. He had to consciously remind himself not to take too much, and threw his focus into directing her 'high' towards sexual thoughts rather than a 'bite'. He did NOT want her remembering that part.
Katherine was completely unaware, and suddenly, it felt like she was floating - no, that wasn't the right word. Drifting was more appropriate. She could feel the warmth of someone, no, Gabriel, his hands roaming, light kisses, the soft cotton of the sheets on her bed around her in a swirl. She felt good, really good. This was going to go down in history as one of the best drunken one-night stands she'd ever had--
But something was amiss. Her sense of self-preservation, or perhaps the amount of alcohol she'd consumed, suddenly tapped into her lucidity, and she gasped. She felt like she was being strangled, like she was in a room and the light was being sucked out of it, like she was being pushed underwater. There was Gabriel, still, but he seemed so far away. Terror struck a chord inside her, and she began to push and struggle --
And then it was over. She drifted back into the sea of calm, the pleasurable sensation of his touch, and it was like it had never happened. "Gabriel..." Her words were soft, something between silence and just barely a whisper. She felt so heavy, strangely tired.
Gabriel honestly didn't know what happened when she had her lucid moment, but she nearly gave a guy whose heart doesn't need to beat a heart attack. He finished very quickly after, only continuing to put more effort into calming her and putting her back into those pleasant places. He wasn't pushing his luck that she might turn lucid again, nor did he need anymore. Besides, she really didn't need to lose anymore. He was sated for the time being, and she was still well, if not a little tired.
He wasn't affected like she was, but he'd settled beside her, still with a good portion of her body intertwined with his. If he didn't know better, he might have thought they'd had sex, minus a few details. Either way, he leaned close to kiss along her jawbone as she said his name, feeling rather pleased himself. Of course, he didn't have any of his blood drained, so he had his reasons.
"Shh, Kat. Everything's okay. Go to sleep," he urged her, considering heading out. Would she freak if he left her? Hmm, maybe. Would she freak more if he stayed? He was SO feigning drunk when this came up later.
Well, if you were to ask Kat, they'd definitely slept together - at least, that was all she could muster from memory. Darkness, twined bodies, and... yeah. She felt her arm lift a little and wrap around him, surprised at how warm he was. She could hear him telling her to go to sleep, and she planned to do just that, but first -
"Stay," she commanded, tone groggy and almost faded out. She tried to hold on to him, but she felt so utterly drained from all the alcohol she'd consumed and, well, that, that she couldn't manage the strength for it. She rolled over and nestled somehow between him and a wall of blankets that had been swept up in his quest for snack time, and almost instantly passed out. Yes, passed out. She was out cold, actually. Gabriel could have put on a musical and placed her center stage and she'd have snoozed right through all of it, and with good reason: she'd consumed her body weight in alcohol and then lost more blood than she'd ever given at a blood bank. Suck.
He was about to high-tail it out of there when she wrapped her arm around him and told him to 'Stay', and he wouldn't refuse her, but there was still an issue that his eternally logical mind was stuck on. They definitely didn't seem to have had sex. Hell, he still had his shirt on, even if it was unbuttoned, his pants and even his SHOES on. That really didn't look like 'sex' to him. Of course, all he had to do was make sure he was awake before her, which was pretty easy. He DID kick his shoes and socks off, though.
He'd rest, simply because he was there and had the option, but he'd make sure it was only something of a nap. He'd much prefer moving to 'safer' areas once he was certain that she wouldn't wake up and freak. Like the couch. Just in case. He wouldn't leave because she asked him not to, and he REALLY didn't need to piss her off, considering they were going to be working together. This was still going to be awkward, though.
He was still telling himself that he wasn't attached, which he wasn't (see? even HE said so), and that an actual dating situation would be bad news. She was human, and interrupting her life like that would be way too much, even if he'd have liked it. Besides, he'd learned a long time prior that getting attached to a woman was bad news.
It had ended badly, twice. The first had cost them HER life, and the second had cost HIS. He didn't want this to be the same situation.
When Katherine finally awoke, the clock by her bed, she was sure, was lying. There were two reasons that she was positive this was so: One, of course, was because she was aware that she had consumed enough alcohol last night to give herself poisoning, and for a situation such as this, it was downright unnatural that anyone would open an eye before noon at least. The second reason was that Kat was almost certain she'd gotten laid the night before, and if that was the case, she should've slept until at least one. Katherine was one of those, 'wham, bam, goodnight' types - the kind that is utterly useless afterwards due to the energy they put in to such.. ventures.
But no, eight AM stared right back at her. She stifled a yawn, rolling around. Whoever it had been, they were gone, and that was fine with her. She'd deal with the feelings of whorishness later, but first, she needed to get a drink of water and go to the bathroom. She kicked off the covers, surprised to find that she was in her pajamas - and on closer examination, they did look rumpled, so she supposed she could have scrounged for them in the dark to put them on, because she absolutely couldn't stand sleeping in the buff. She meandered into her bathroom, every step towards the light a painful experience, and then suddenly did something she hadn't done in a very long time.
Kat found herself wrapped around the base of the toilet, vomiting intensely into it. She didn't even know what she was dropping off at the pool, but it felt like liquid fire as it came up. When she had the nerve to peer over the edge in between her feeble, sagging posture after dry-heaving for about six or seven minutes, she noticed a lot of green and brown floating around. Bile. That was an unfamiliar and unkind taste to her tongue, and she made wretching, icky hand motions as she stood and began the ten minute procedure of brushing, re-brushing, mouthwashing, and brushing again. She hadn't puked since she was a teenager and had gone on a drinking binge while her parents had been away, so this was something new.
She splashed her face down with cold water, and directed out of the bathroom and back into her bedroom, where sunlight peeking through heavy curtains and the pink stain of Christmas lights wrapped around her bed told her a few things, particularly that her bed was definitely void of another body, and that there was one man's shoe and two socks on her floor. She knew the socks weren't hers, because she just didn't have socks that small. She looked more closely at it, ignoring the thundering in her head, and determined it to be one of those 'baby bootie' socks men wore. She frowned. Kat had slept with someone who wore these stupid things? At least the shoe on the floor wasn't a Croc, or she'd have shot herself with her own police issued weapon.
She pulled on some fuzzy sleep pants in favour over her shorts, ignoring the large PRINCESS emblazoned across the ass, and wandered out of her room and down the hall. She paused at the edge of the dark hallway when she saw a figure buried under the blanket she kept on her couch for when she fell asleep working on her laptop, and tilted her head. So he didn't leave, he just migrated out to a smaller sleeping situation. Okay... She bit her lip. Here came the awkward part. She didn't know who it was, but he needed to go ahead and leave. And... not come back.
She went to the couch and reached down to where she estimated his shoulder would be, and it was sort of funny that she didn't realize who it was this whole time, but he was sleeping facing the couch with the blanket practically tented on top of him, so it was understandable considering her massive hangover and half-aware state of mind..
"Hey," she whispered. Nothing. She jabbed his shoulder again. "Hey," she said more clearly. "Wakey wakey. Time to go ho--"
When the figure rolled over, Katherine jumped back so hard that she almost fell into her coffee table. Her hands went to her face in surprise and her eyes grew to the size of saucers. "What the fuck?" she asked, to herself more than to Gabriel. "What the fuck did I drink last night?" came the next muttered phrase, equally as amazed. Whatever it was, she was going to bathe in it if this is what it got her.
Honestly, and this was the worst part, he couldn't have said what happened to his other shoe, either. He kicked them off, fell asleep, and woke up with a start wondering where the hell he was and why he was wrapped up in someone's arms. Blinking, he stared down at Kat trying to remember for sure if they HAD had sex, but he had too many clothes on, so he knew better. He had a crazy buzzing feeling going on in his brain right then that he hadn't felt in a LONG time, and he actually LAUGHED all of a sudden.
He'd taken a few moments for it to work, according to the clock not that long, and he was DRUNK on her blood. He'd been right when he thought that she'd drank far too much. She'd had enough to make a vampire drunk. Amazing.
Knowing this, he shook his head, still laughing, and disentangled himself to get out of her bed. He wasn't about to just go back to sleep, not knowing that he might not wake up in time to get out of dodge before she was up, and instead wandered around soaking up the funky feeling of disorientation before turning to her couch. There was a blanket there, it looked comfortable, and hell, he could sleep there just fine.
So he did.
In fact, he slept so well right there on that couch with that buzzy feeling playing with his brain that he actually would have dreamed if he was able to. Vampires couldn't dream, but they remembered, and instead, that was what happened. He remembered the sorts of things that Kat had reminded him of with her tropical shampoo and soaps, and though it made him homesick, he enjoyed it. He woke up to someone prodding him and talking, and realized rather suddenly that they'd been at it for a moment or so before he'd woken up.
So much for feigning drunk.
Annnnnd, Kat was cursing. Damn.
"Wha? Oh, shit. What time is it?" he asked, sitting up all of a sudden and really feeling disoriented. He didn't have the full hangover experience that she would, but he definitely felt out of sorts. Shit. Well, did it really matter what time it was? He glanced at his watch, saw that it was only a little past eight, and relaxed back where he'd been sleeping. Then, he smiled up at Kat, not really sure what else to do.
"A LOT of tequila, actually. If you'd had a blood test, they'd have probably ONLY gotten tequila. Good morning, by the way," he offered up, and he obviously wasn't kidding about the blood thing.
"Wowawoowa," was all she said, her best Borat impression underway. She wanted, desperately, to plink herself down on the couch with him and receive kisses or affection of some sort, but she knew that Gabriel didn't like her like that, which was why she had such a mixed feeling about this situation. She almost hesitated to ask if they'd gotten jiggy with it, but she knew that she'd need to know eventually.
"Your other shoe, in case you need it, is in my bedroom," she said, point-blank. "Along with your, ugh, tiny, tiny socks. Any idea how they got there?" she asked. That was clever enough - make him do all the talking. Pretend you didn't remember anything. Yes... good, smart Katherine.
The fact that she was more transparent now than even on her worst day thanks to the fact that he'd fed off of her and her nearly incapacitating hangover that robbed her of everything except her witty comments didn't help her at all. It was obvious she had opposing ideas about this situation, and most of them lay in her corner with self-doubt. Gabriel didn't like her, and that was that. He'd either taken advantage of the situation, or she'd said something really wicked awesome to make him come back with her. Or, a third option - he'd seen her home, tucked her in, and crashed on her couch.
Yeah, whatever.
He could read her thoughts, and he wanted to bash his head into a wall. If he hadn't thought that another vampire would totally destroy her the night before, he'd have left this situation ALONE. Touching it with anything less than a twelve foot pole was absolutely, ridiculously stupid on his part, and now he had to deal with it.
This should be interesting.
"My, uh, shoe would be in there with my socks because I.....spent a rather large portion of the evening in your bedroom," he answered carefully, fortunately able to put a little more of that 'harmless' aura into his situation, unlike the night before. Boy, was SHE going to be thinking he'd been wasted the night before! He'd have loved to go with the 'tucked her in and crashed on her couch', but she'd eventually start remembering things that he'd intentionally used to distract her from the bite, and that didn't fit. Having her believe he was lying wouldn't work.
Of course, he didn't want her thinking he'd taken advantage. He had, in a way, but he'd definitely been a better choice than the other guy. She HAD tried to completely molest him, too. At least he hadn't taken FULL advantage of her, since he definitely could have.
Oh man. WHY had he let this happen?!
"Ah," she said, though she didn't change her position. She looked thoughtful for a moment, and then turned her head. "How much did you have to drink last night? Please, make me feel better about this," she said, laughing nervously, but slightly pleading with him not to say anything terribly stupid.
She moved cautiously to sit down on the couch next to him, though she kept a good bit of distance between them. Kat wanted to rip Gabriel's clothing off at any given point, sure, given, but she wasn't so sure now that she'd evidently done it how she felt. She thought that had been what she'd wanted, and it was... just not totally shitfaced.
"Sorry if I did anything really stupid, by the way," she offered. "I usually don't drink that much. I dunno what happened. It's like the drinks weren't hitting me fast enough, and when they did hit, they hit all at once."
This was a mess that could explode in his face at any moment, but he was going to try to keep it from getting nasty while still telling as much of the truth as he could. He didn't want her to hate him or feel bad about this whole situation. Really, it was all his fault they were in this mess, but he really couldn't have left her once he'd caught wind of that other vampire. If he'd left her and found out that something happened afterwards, he'd have never forgiven himself. He just hoped staying didn't screw everything up in its own right.
"I'm not going to lie, I was pretty buzzed up when everything was said and done," he told her, and that was absolutely the truth. Her blood alone had messed him up, and he'd thought it was pretty funny at the time, but it had. "Hey, don't apologize. Really, I should probably be apologizing. You probably had friends who were wondering where you went, and I interrupted your night out."
Interrupted was one word for it. He wondered if she and her friends would have gone on and been alright if he wouldn't have run into her when he needed to feed like he had.
"Eh," she said, finally seeming to relax a little as she sank back into the couch. "They're harpies, anyways," she offered. "I'm almost surprised they didn't try and pick up on you," she added, and her voice had a little of her typical sarcasm to it. At least she didn't seem as upset as she had a few moments prior - that was good. Kat was usually pretty mellow, so it could just be chalked up to her brain slowly trying to put things back in order. Panic bad. Relax good.
"I totally feel like I'm in some sort of television drama right now, though," she said, a little laugh escaping her. She arched a brow at him, and reached out to give him a small shove. "I didn't entirely fuck our friendship up, did I? Because, Gabe, really, it's no secret - I like you. Obviously," she said, making a gesture at them both of them. "But, I mean... I don't know. What I'm trying to say is..."
She trailed off. She didn't really know what she was trying to say. 'Sorry for totally coming on to you?' Somehow that didn't quite cut it.
Really, he wasn't surprised that her friends hadn't tried to pick him up. There were plenty of 'interesting prospects' at that particular club, and he wasn't going to even think that he was one of the better ones. He'd seen what some of those vampires were capable of, so he knew that if one of them wanted to play a game, he wasn't going to win out in the looks department. He could certainly work miracles if he was given a chance to talk to his 'audience', but that wasn't always the case. None of Kat's friends had taken the time to talk to him, and he wouldn't have wanted to charm them, anyway.
Kat was the one who had his attention, so she really shouldn't have worried. He may not have WANTED her to have his attention and interest as she did, but he was making denying it difficult on himself.
"You worry too much," he told her, not exactly being specific about the fact that he was referring to her friends, but he probably didn't need to be. She gave him a shove and told him she liked him, which really wasn't good for her. If she would have said she hated him, he could have left her alone and known that it was what she wanted, but no, that wasn't going to happen. Did she really like him, or was it some subconscious sort of mind trick he was pulling on her? "Relax, you didn't fuck anything up. I was more worried that I had, honestly."
He smiled, trying to reassure her, and also tried to keep his mind off of her thoughts. He had to refrain from telling her that she didn't have anything to apologize for, since he couldn't have known that. She didn't have anything to apologize for, though. That was the truth. If anyone did, it was him.
"No," she said. She sighed, and then said it again, shaking her head. She looked over at him, a little smile on her face. "I guess I could just tell myself I was trying to get you drunk so I could take advantage of you," she offered, more joking covering her utter lack of belief that Gabriel could ever want anything to do with her. She was the girl who talked to the dead bodies, for crying out loud. That was not an endearing trait, she'd been told.
Of course, it'd been DeMortei who'd said it, so she didn't know how much his opinion really weighed into the matter, but if he'd been aiming to hurt her feelings, he'd accomplished it. She frowned again.
"Oh well. I feel like shit. I should probably go back and lay down before I try to puke anything else up," she said, freely volunteering the information. She could accept weird and politically incorrect. She wasn't ever going to change, so why bother trying to hide it? "You can stay, if you want," was the part that surprised her as she spoke it.
He wanted more than anything right then to tell her that she shouldn't listen to anything DeMortei said, because he was an asshole and hiding something. Gabriel and London DeMortei did NOT get along, and perhaps that was because they both knew that the other was hiding something about themselves. Neither delved too deeply into the other's life, but Gabe had a pretty good idea that London would figure him out if he could. He was refraining out of a desire to avoid more trouble than was necessary. London was refraining probably out of a desire to keep his secrets hidden.
He couldn't comment on DeMortei without being suspicious, once again, so instead he laughed at her comment about taking advantage of him. "I hate to say it, but it looks like we both did a little of that last night. I haven't been that bad off in a long time," he informed her, and he wondered briefly if he shouldn't at least fake a little bit of a hangover. Nah. He was trying not to lie to her anymore than he had to.
"Can I get you anything? Some Saltines?" he asked, ever the helpful Mr. Sullivan from Forensics. The Nerd Cop, who sat around investigating blood stains like a 10 year old boy with a bug collection. Being invited to stay was a little surprising. "Do you want me to stay?"
"Saltines would be good, actually," she said, nodding her head. She sank back into the couch and gave him a funny look. "Yeah, Gabriel. Listen, it's kind of apparent that I like you. Why would I not want you to stay, even if I feel like shit? You make me feel better, at the risk of sounding... wussy," she said finally, frowning.
She kind of hoped he would stay, but a tiny part of her was begging to do the "I told you so" dance if he just left. She didn't know why she was so eager to see herself fail sometimes, as though it were the only way to prove a stupid point. She was sick of proving points to herself, because they were always bad points.