Overland Park, KS, A Morning in May [Wednesday Fandom Time]

[vanillajello]

The stupid thing about going to Kansas was that time was much slower. Kate was painfully aware that while she'd already been gone from Fandom over two days, it had barely been 18 hours for her. Still, after a night at home, she was just about starting to feel a little less raw. The general nausea had abated, at least, as had the panic.

The guilt, however irrational she knew it to be, would probably stay for a while.

Stretching out on her bed, Kate reached to get her phone from the nightstand, then turned it on. For a moment, she thought about making a call – to Bod, to Jack, to Mitchell, to Hannibal, to anyone – but she decided against it, unable to really decide what it was she wanted to say to any one of them. (Except maybe Hannibal. There was a certain amount of I get it now present.) She put the phone down on the bed next to her.

She'd be available now; that'd have to be enough.

[ooc: NFB, but open for phone calls and texts! Whoo, taking advantage of my 1,5 days at home.]

Comments

[vanillajello]

"I don't think we need music," she teased quietly. "Do you think we need music?"

[therewaslife]

"Probably not," he whispered, smiling at her. "I think we've danced together enough to not need anything but each other. Does that mean you'd like to dance with me?"

[vanillajello]

Kate nodded. "Yes," she said, finally untangling her fingers from his shirt. "You came all the way from Fandom. We should dance."

Was that logical? She didn't care.

[therewaslife]

"Then, let's dance," Bod said, reaching for her hand to get into a better dancing position. "I think having d dance in your bedroom in Kansas is just what I want to do today."

[vanillajello]

"You're a man of very simple pleasures, aren't you, Nobody Owens?" Kate teased, letting him take her hand as she put the other one on his shoulder.

[therewaslife]

"Sometimes, the simplest things are the most rewarding," Bod decided, starting them into a slow, lazy sway now. "Right now, getting to see you and touch you, getting to enjoy your face and your touch and getting to do something as simple as dancing with you is all I want."

[vanillajello]

"Well, I appreciate it," Kate replied, smiling a little bit as she swayed with him. "If I can make you happy with so little, I'm glad."

[therewaslife]

"You can make me happy just by being who you are, Kate," Bod assured her. "So, I'd like to tell you something I don't think I've ever told you. I'd like to tell you when I fell in love with you. Would you like to hear it?"

[vanillajello]

That got Kate's smile to widen some just with sheer anticipation. "Yes please." Duh. She was greedy for good things.

[therewaslife]

"It was that day that you came to see me after your kids from another universe departed," Bod shared quietly. "The first time, of course. When things were still new and you came to my room and climbed into bed with me and we had a good morning and an awkward morning. You said to make no big declarations and I wouldn't have but thinking back, it started there."

[vanillajello]

Excuse Kate for snickering. It was a good thing, honest! "So... In one way of looking at it, you started falling in love with me when I told you not to tell me you had?"

[therewaslife]

"Yes," Bod said, nodding. "Yes, indeed. It was a combination of everything that happened before, knowing that you were there just to be with me, just to have a quiet morning and that you were you vulnerable enough to admit that you were scared of that. And yes, you were scared of that so don't try to argue with me on that."

[vanillajello]

Kate wasn't even going to try. "Well, I once had someone fall for me over a random hook-up," she said instead. "It kinda leaves a mark."

[therewaslife]

"I understand that," he assured her, leaning forward and kissing the spot above her eye. "And that was the point where I could tell I felt something more for you. It was more than just like but I didn't know what it was and I knew it needed time but it was definitely something more."

[vanillajello]

"I don't think I can pinpoint it for me like that," she murmured in reply. "I spent kind of a long time fighting it and it's all muddled. And besides, I never seem to see anything coming, even when it seems blindingly obvious in retrospect."

[therewaslife]

"You did spend a long time fighting it," Bod agreed because he remembered how it was in the beginning of everything. "I'm still glad I didn't kiss you at your kissing booth."

[vanillajello]

Kate chuckled a little. "God, you made that whole thing so weird. And so fucking complicated."

[therewaslife]

"Well, I am weird and it did turn out to be complicated," Bod pointed out, shrugging and smiling. "I did want to kiss you, of course. I wanted to but I wanted it to be mutual and not because I paid. I thought it'd mean more."

[vanillajello]

"I know, you told me," Kate replied, fondly. "You were doing the kissing booth thing all wrong. It's supposed to be meaningless, and I was trying to fix my messed up self by making out with people, and then you had to come along and make me want something more meaningful in the middle of that."

[therewaslife]

"Yes, but look what you received from that?" Bod said, smiling at her. "You wanted something more meaningful and you got something more meaningful. And really, are you surprised I did the kissing booth wrong? It was the firs time I'd encountered one, after all."

[vanillajello]

"Well, seeing as when we first met, you could barely order anything at the Perk, so I guess not," Kate teased. "And you totally forced meaningful on me with your weird pale graveyard boy ways. I'm a very shallow person!"

She was not, really.

[therewaslife]

"You could have easily resisted my weird pale graveyard boy ways," Bod protested with a laugh. "You know you could have. The truth is, you didn't want to resist and that's why we eventually ended up together."

[vanillajello]

"And in the longest relationship I've ever had," Kate remarked. "Even excluding the bit where... it wasn't. It's kind of crazy to think about."

[therewaslife]

"That was just a bump in the road," Bod decided, nodding. They'd both gotten hurt and they'd both been stubborn and they'd worked it out. "And while I may not be your first relationship, I think being your longest relationship means I get to claim a first too. That's one of my few for you!"

[vanillajello]

"I don't know if that's really a first," Kate mused, because it was light arguing and she wanted things like that right now. "I mean, 'first long relationship'? It's all so relative."