(Untitled)

[vat_69]

Murphy's Law. That's what it is, Lew thinks. What can go wrong will go wrong, and right when you're beginning to get nice and comfortable and believe that you're secure. He thought he'd left firefights behind, but apparently he'd been mistaken

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[frakkup]

She hadn't seen him at the Boarding House, though gods knew it was easy to look, as many holes had appeared in the walls to peer through. There was blood everywhere, visible even from outside, and Kara's next stop had been the clinic.

Buck wasn't there. For the life of her, Kara couldn't decide if that was good or bad. They wouldn't bury anyone so soon, would they? She swallowed hard, exiting the Compound swiftly enough that the sight of the Hub rising in front of her was almost a surprise. She didn't need to drink, and she didn't need to care so frakking much about one guy she'd spent a single night with, but he'd been nice to her. Offered her a spot on his team, for frak's sake. How long had it been since that had happened?

Lips drawn tight, Kara pushed through the doors of the Hub, blinking in surprise to find it so occupied.

[fourforone]

I see her as she enters, but she doesn't exactly look as chipper as our last meeting, but I still make my way over with the bottle in hand, tipped slightly over to her as I leave the shadows for her side. "You look like you could use a drink," I assess seriously.

[frakkup]

Kara's hesitation at the sight of the bottle didn't do much to dampen her smile at the sight of him, though the self-consciousness that followed soon after did the job well enough.

"Lieutenant," she said, forcing her smile down into a mere quirking of lips. She reached for the bottle, holding it loose in her hand. "I thought maybe you'd earned that ass another set of scars."

[fourforone]

"Captain, if I earned myself more scars, you'd be the first to know," I promise, even if the smile doesn't really meet my eyes. It's good to see familiar faces and good to see she wasn't caught anymore in the crossfire. I exhale wearily and force that smile not to drop or go anywhere. "You didn't get yourself caught up in the bullets either, huh?"

[frakkup]

"Slept through the whole thing," said Kara. It'd been easy to do all the way in New Atlantis. Word of the bloodshed had traveled fast, but even so, it'd been over long before she'd reached the Boarding House.

"The hell happened, anyway?"

[fourforone]

I exhale and shake my head wearily because that's the worst part of all of it. "Hell if I know," I admit with a scoff. "One minute everything's fine, the next, my room's shot to shit when I wasn't there and my home's been ruined by some trigger-happy psychotics and I wasn't there to do anything about it."

[frakkup]

"Anybody get hurt?" Kara asked. The two assholes who'd done the shooting weren't included in the question. Hell of a thing, firing indoors like that. "Your friend next door?"

[fourforone]

I stare down between us and my gaze inevitably catches the bottle. This wasn't any easier back in Normandy or Holland or the Ardennes, and it ain't getting any easier now. "Woman," I say quietly. "Got caught in the middle of it. I just keep thinking, if I'd been there, I could have done something," I insist, my voice barely more than a very convincing growl. "I spent years training for war, I could take on two jackass murderers."

"Nix is fine. He's hosting this...fine affair," I add, without much joy or reverie.

[frakkup]

"You never know what's gonna happen," said Kara honestly. "Not in that much chaos. You could've caught one between the eyes and never seen it coming."

No matter how much gore a person had seen, it was always worse when a civilian died. Poor frakkers never had a chance. She took a small drink from the bottle, just enough to settle her, and held it out to him. "I'm glad your friend's okay."

[fourforone]

"Me too," I say quietly, tiredly, and Christ, but I could use more than just a bottle of the stuff. "I got other buddies around, but Nix is the only other officer. He gets a lot of stuff the others don't," I say, gaze catching him in the crowd for just a second to make sure he's still vertical, and then I'm looking at Kara again. "And I've been in worse situations. I'll tell you this. I haven't changed my mind in wishing I could take the bullets my buddies do."

[frakkup]

That made Kara smile, softer now, but just as genuine as before. "All the good soldiers do." Her eyes followed Buck's through the crowd to the man that must be Nix. He was a big drinker - Kara knew one of her fellows on sight, and her smile deepened.

"Where the frak are you two gonna live now?" she asked. Their home was literally coated in blood.

[fourforone]

I sigh and it comes out as a weary laugh, shaking my head. "Fuck if I know. I figure I'll see if the enlisted boys will let me billet with them for a while." Babe might let me sleep on his floor seeing as Georgie's got his girlfriend and he and Joe are still on awkward terms. That leaves the Doc and much as he likes the man, he's always been distant. "Nix...well, he'll find a place."

Probably the cellar, to be honest.

[frakkup]

"I'd offer you my place, but my kid'd keep you up," said Kara. "She's a good girl, but she's loud when she wants to be." Which, to be honest, was most of the time.

[fourforone]

"Nah, I'm not gonna intrude on you or your family," I swear quietly, not saying much about the fact she has a kid. I didn't see any sign of a husband and she made her own choices. Sure, I'm tacit to 'em, but I figure you ought to give people the freedom to make their own decisions. "Babe'll give me a place to sleep, even if I have to con it out of him."

I look Kara up and down, the solemnity of the night making me ask, "How old's your kid?"

[frakkup]

"Year and a couple months," said Kara. She looked down, not quite avoiding Buck's gaze, but not meeting it either. "Her dad disappeared a few months ago." Her exhalation was close to a laugh without ever quite making it there. "On her first birthday."

[fourforone]

"Shit," I exhale, giving a sympathetic smile (terse as it is) and squeeze her lightly on the shoulder. "Sorry to hear that." And I am. I've never liked seeing people lose their loved ones, especially not like that. Suddenly, getting ditched a week before my birthday doesn't seem so bad. I mean, there were no kids in the picture. "She making do?"