Luke's Diner, Sunday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

After her conversation with Anders at the dance, Kathy had contacted Eliot to see if he'd mind her co-opting the diner on Sunday for a delicious Valentine's Day brunch. She'd had to argue with the busboy over the decorations (namely, he'd wanted to decorate everything in shades of pink and red, while Kathy thought a few accents as a nod to the

Comments

[vdistinctive]

Eliot swung by to check in on things. Definitely not because he had no idea who to handle Valentine's Day when in an actual committed relationship (much less two), and was running away.

Val was wearing a jaunty Valentine's Day sweater, at least. She was named 'Valentine' for a reason, after all.

"Quite the menu you got goin'. Suspect I'm probably supposed to disapprove of the mimosa bar, though."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy would respond to his criticism in a moment; Val needed to be squeed over and petted and properly appreciated in her tiny little sweater. "Who's the most adorable girl in the diner?" she cooed. "Who is it? Who is it? Is it me? No, it's you! Yes you are, Val! You are!"

Look, it was hard to have an intelligent conversation when a dog was that cute, okay?

Finally, enough attention was paid to the puppy, Kathy grinned up from where she was kneeling next to Val. "C'mon, Eliot. My mom drinks mimosas. You'd have to chug like three of those bottles to even get a buzz."

[vdistinctive]

Val did not care what words were actually said. Val only cared that the attention was being paid. She jogged around in a circle, head craned back to look up at Kathy and make sure she was still being properly adoring.

"Then you're makin' 'em wrong," Eliot said. He belonged to the "enough juice to add color" school of mimosa making. "And I just said I was s'posed to disapprove. Didn't actually say I did. 'Sa nice spread you got goin'."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I knew I should have gone to that mixology class," Kathy teased. "And thank you! I can't take all the credit though; your cook was the one who thought of the BLTs and the Belgian waffles. I was thinking tapas, mostly."

She raised her eyebrow at Eliot. "Wait. Why are you down here instead of upstairs? Aren't you supposed to be doing something all...Valentine-y?"

[vdistinctive]

"I'm just -- checkin' on things." Yup. Definitely what he was doing. "Got all day for the, uh. Valentine-y stuff." He was really good at romantic gestures normally. But this was his first Valentine's Day since Aimee that he was in a relationship that was more than just a fun way to pass the time. It was a lot of pressure! "Besides, Hardison and Parker probably have their own thing they been doin' the last couple years. Gotta give 'em time for that."

Sure. That sounded vaguely plausible.

[spin_kick_snap]

Okay, Kathy had absolutely zero romantic experience to her name, but even she felt like that was kind of...odd. "Well, since you're here, you can take up the Valentines gifts I made for you three." She'd been planning to leave it at the top of the stairs outside the apartment door, but if Eliot were here, so much the better.

Reaching into a booth, she pulled up a large basket of mini strawberry tarts. These were less perfect than the ones she'd given out to her friends this morning; some of them had cracked crusts, others had fruit patterns that looked a little lop-sided, but hey! They were still delicious!

...Yeah, Kathy had been quality-control sampling those, too. "Happy Valentines Day!"

[vdistinctive]

"Aw, darlin', you didn't have to do anything for us. Those are some fine looking irregular tarts."

[spin_kick_snap]

Pfft, she wasn't even going to acknowledge that protest. Don't be silly, mentor-figure.

"You got the leftovers," she admitted. "I was feeling fancy and ended up making way too many to make sure I had a bunch of perfect ones." She dimpled up at him. "I promise I stuffed myself on broken ones before I decided to make you all a basket."

[vdistinctive]

"Tart crusts are tough. Most folks don't even bother tryin'. I'm impressed."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'm an overachiever," Kathy said cheerfully, to no one's great surprise. "And it made a good excuse for me not to patrol Baltimore in the single-digit weather."

A thin excuse, but still an excuse!

[vdistinctive]

"The criminals ain't likely to be out in weather like that either," Eliot pointed out. "You don't actually need an excuse."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Someone could still have needed help," Kathy pointed out. "It's killing weather out there. If someone's car broke down or they ran out of gas or someone passed out in an alleyway..."

Kathy had stopped reading the paper after nights she chose not to go out. Reading about things she might have been able to prevent just made her feel guilty.

[vdistinctive]

"Yeah, and if you were on the other side of town when those things happened you wouldn't've been able to help 'em anyway. Not to mention that gi of yours ain't exactly cold weather rated. You make yourself sick out there, and that's even more days you can't patrol." Eliot tilted his head down, making sure he had direct eye contact. "It ain't up to you to save everyone, Kathy. And thinkin' like it is is only gonna get you into more trouble."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Why can't Baltimore be more like LA, with its reasonable weather than doesn't end in pneumonia?" Kathy groused, because, yes, that was absolutely the take away message in Eliot's commentary here. The weather.

"And...I know. I just feel bad on nights when I don't even make the attempt," she admitted, hugging Val a little. "I mean, I know that I have to make sure I don't wear myself down and whatnot, but it's just like--why even have these powers if I'm not going to use them to help people?"

[vdistinctive]

"But you are," Eliot said, smiling. "You go out and help people all the time. So relax and enjoy yourself."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I am, see?" Kathy said, waving her hand around at the diner. "I took the weekend off to bake some tarts and organize a Valentine's Day brunch." She shook her head and clicked her tongue. "And to think, my roommate accuses me of not knowing how to relax."