I can't let myself regret such selfishness.
Danny Smalls wrote an entry to people he knows. He said he was leaving, and he is. He's walking out the front doors of the Kashtta without anything but the wallet in his pocket. There's something to be said about having nothing, no possessions, no anything. It's freeing, isn't it? Nothing tying him down. Nothing to care about. He's not planning on
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Instead, she waits until he's shooed it off in his typical Robin manner. Then she approaches him.
"What did that poor squirrel ever do to you?" she asks, sitting beside him. She's got a newspaper, her repertoire of everyday heavy tomes, and a styrofoam cup of coffee.
It's not your coffee, Robin.
She's cheating on you.
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For some reason, he isn't at all surprised that she'd been near all along when she speaks.
"It was sniffing my shoes. It could have--"
The sentence is broken when he sees that cup of coffee.
There is exaggerated shock first.
He raises his eyebrows and fixes her with a very serious look.
"What is that?" Robin points to the cup, looking as offended as he possibly can. "Are you cheating on my coffee, Rachel?"
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She lifts a brow in turn, failing to understand why the squirrel was so offensive or why he is staring at her in such a manner.
Yes, it's fairly easy to fall back into this pattern.
Rachel sighs patiently, looking back down at the near-empty cup. When she glances back up at Robin, it's with a very charming smile. "Would it help to know I was thinking of your coffee the whole time?"
No, no she was not.
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He may like the sight of that smile of hers, but it doesn't make him feel any less aghast about this whole situation.
"No, it wouldn't," Robin says, folding his arms across his chest.
He has got the offended look down pat.
"My coffee is going to need weeks of recovery time, you realize?"
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Because she drank it already.
"I see. I will give your coffee all the time it needs, then," Rachel promises solemnly, while placing the blueberry muffin she ordered along with the coffee on her lap. Honestly, it's just coffee.
She knows better than to point that out, however. Rachel is nothing if not astute.
"Does this mean I can't give you a proper kiss in greeting?" she asks innocently, breaking off pieces of the muffin and offering him a piece.
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Robin would make her all the pots of coffee.
"Yes. I think by tomorrow morning, it should be sufficiently recovered from this betrayal," he tells her. Never mind that he'd only just said that it would need weeks. "Perhaps."
He glances at her muffin, smirking when she mentions a proper kiss. That's right. They can do that now. As if he could possibly forget.
"I don't think my coffee will mind," Robin says, still smirking as he leans over and presses his lips against hers, reaching for her muffin at the same time.
The piece that she broke off and offered to him. There's no innuendo here.
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She only keeps nodding solemnly, tossing the empty cup into the trash bin next to their bench. She sits back next to him. "I have duly learned my lesson. If there's anything I can do to make up for this grievance, surely you'll let me know."
She smiles against his lips, briefly slipping her hand against his cheek. They are in public and she keeps that in mind.
"Hello," she says quietly when they pull away, lips cold from his. The hand that was on his cheek is now reaching for his own hand. "What are you up to?"
Robin is always up to something, whether he is in need of a distraction or there's a project in his hands.
Of course there's not. This is an innuendo-free zone.
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"You could not let it happen again," he says, though he is fully aware that it's likely to happen another time when she's in need of caffeine and his isn't available. It's really too bad that it can't be wished out of thin air, but if it could, it wouldn't be so special.
Her hand is warm against his face. They have spent enough time together since they got back together that he is no longer in continuous shock. Sometimes it still takes him by surprise.
He wraps his hand around hers, locking fingers together. "I was at the library and then was going to head home to edit." Again. The book has been edited far too many times, but the absolute final draft is due next week. "At the moment, I was... sitting."
Resting. He is old. Besides, thinking of her allows him a few minutes where he doesn't have to be continuously moving ( ... )
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"I was on my way back from the Kashtta, picking up some books." Rachel rests her chin on his shoulder blade after finishing the muffin. Most of her things are still at the Tower, and that includes all of the books she uses for habitual research. "My schedule isn't as routine as it used to be back in the Conrad."
They're rebuilding one step at a time, taking what's been left and bringing it back up. Fact remains, the Conrad was a hotel and it gave Rachel a job that she now doesn't have at the Tower.
It works out well, considering there is much to do and much to help Martha with, but Rachel does miss the legal aspect of her Conrad duties. She glances back up at him, smiling when he does.
There is just something very, very nice about them being like this again.
"You were sitting and you were smiling," Rachel clarifies. Before ( ... )
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He's done far too much smiling lately. Honestly. It's ridiculous.
"I did talk to Martha after we spoke..." The very awkward conversation they had over omelets. "I'm going to start heading over there next week actually to help where I can."
It's still a matter of figuring out what all needs to be done, what positions should be made official and filled, and more, according to Martha when he last spoke with her.
Robin is very good with organization.
He is very good at a lot of things, but that is rather beside the point at the moment.
Robin makes a face at her clarification.
"Yes. I was. ...So?" He raises an eyebrow at her, sliding his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. "I'd say it's been a good week so far, but... that's just me."
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"Ah." Yes, that was a very awkward conversation. Rachel had been certain they wouldn't be able to interact in any other way after that point. "I'm glad you'll be helping us," she finally says softly, smiling back up at him. "We did very well the first time around."
It was different, of course, but she still remembers how much he helped her with research during the first supernatural trial. They made a good team, and of course, there was his coffee.
"It's been a very good week. The best week, I'd be inclined to say," she agrees, allowing herself to be pulled close. An arm goes around his middle and she kisses his cheek. She's about to say something, Robin, but it's lost due to what happens next.
The squirrel Robin was shooing away is now back. Rachel's eyes widen and she inwardly groans. Training has ( ... )
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He notices that little Ah. It nearly succinctly describes how he felt about the conversation. It'd felt like the end of any chance that they could be in one another's life, which is what they'd talked about after the hotel came down. "Yes, I would say that we did. Plus, I've no idea where either of you would be without my coffee and superior assistant skills. I've no idea how you managed up to this point."
It's a mystery.
"I'd be inclined to agree," Robin says, leaning his head against her forehead for a moment and pulling back again.
It's her eyes widening that he notices first. He opens his mouth to ask what's wrong, but he notices the squirrel there. Oh, right. She's a shapeshifter now, and margays love squirrels ( ... )
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She didn't miss his coffee nearly as much as she missed him, so it's not all that hard to joke about it.
Or try to.
She still has not caught up on all the sleep she needs to catch up on, most likely. It was a miracle she was even eating a blueberry muffin to begin with. There are two British voices in her head that would strongly disapprove if she did otherwise, perhaps ( ... )
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He looks up at her as she sits in that tree.
A slow, smile spreads across his face until he realizes that she doesn't appear to be coming down.
"Oh, come on," he says, waving a hand up at her as if she has somehow forgotten where he's sitting.
And now he looks like the crazy person talking to the cat in the tree. What is up with him and animals lately?
Or for that matter throughout the past year?
"You have to admit that it was... a bit on the hilarious side. I can apologize? I'm sorry for laughing at you. It was incredibly wrong."
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She is Rachel and she obviously expects more decorum and compassion from your person only not really.
He waves a hand up at her and the cat actually glares.
Eyes narrowed and head tilted back, one can actually see it--it's just not as serious on a cat as it would be on Rachel. It's a bit on the hilarious side, as Robin is stating, and Rachel is loathe to admit it.
It takes her awhile to decide if the apology is truly worth believing. These are not silly matters. Not to the cat. Feelings have been wounded. It'll take a lot of scritches to get over this.
The squirrel has run away--because someone is terrified of the tiny tigercat--and Rachel climbs down from the tree with surprising agility and ease.
Robin's shoes look nice. Rachel swipes her paw at them.
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He can't help but grin when she glares at him.
If she were not a cat, he'd likely stop his laughter immediately. Maybe.
Then again, if she were not a cat, there would be nothing to be so amused about.
He is trying desperately to keep the smile from his face so she'll actually come down. Cats are stubborn as it is. Rachel as a cat has to be twice as stubborn as an ordinary one.
Luckily, Robin is patient. He isn't always patient, but he is older. At one point, he will kill the narration for continuously bringing it up.
When she swipes her adorable paw against his shoe, he reaches down to pet her behind the ears, running his fingers along her back. And then he smiles playfully at her.
"I really am sorry," he says again, hiding the pain that comes with that lie.
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