Closed to Derek - Tunnel Vision

[cantoutstubborn]

The thing about a hero, is even when it doesn't look like there's a light at the end of the tunnel, he's going to keep digging, he's going to keep trying to do right and make up for what's gone before, just because that's who he is. - Joss Whedon

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[soldier_reese]

That was close. The metal they fought earlier. His safe house wasn't compromised but it was too close. Too fucking close. They both knew they had to leave and head somewhere else and where they were now was the last thing he expected.

Derek kept his eyes pealed and his ears perked as they walked down a dark stairwell and found themselves in the underground tunnels of New York.

It was so much like the bunkers that he took a young Kyle in when the sky caught fire. The tunnels under Los Angeles where he lived with his brother, then fought with his brother. His eyes shifted to a blank wall they passed and it was almost as if he could see the painting on the wall.

Hang in there baby.

It was a good reminder. A small smile quirked at the corner of his lips as he looked over at Catherine. "How'd you find this place?" It was, to Derek, the perfect place to lay low.

[cantoutstubborn]

"A case." Catherine's lips quirked as she took the bend in the tunnel to the area that she was leading him. "A guy just disappeared according to a witness. Well, I know that people can't just disappear from one minute to the next so I looked around and there was a door. Which naturally, I had to open and see where it went." Her arm gestured to a large open area that they'd just entered, "and voila I saw how he just vanished."

She looked around in a slow circle, "I have no idea what this was used for. Maybe the underground railroad back in the day or maybe even they thought about putting subways here but changed their minds. Whatever the reason, it's a nice series of tunnels off the grid."

[soldier_reese]

Catherine never ceased to surprise Derek. She was strong, smart, quick-witted...and fucking beautiful. Those were things he couldn't stop thinking about since they worked together.

He stopped and turned around in a slow circle, taking in everything he could see, the tunnels the paths, the iron-barred arches. "I have to scout the area, map it out." Derek seemed to be talking more to himself, his eyes alert, inquisitive. It was as if he couldn't wait to settle so he could explore.

"Feels like home," he added, whispered, right before his eyes fell on Catherine, lips in a smile. "It's perfect."

[cantoutstubborn]

Catherine shrugged out of the backpack and let it fall to the ground with a thud. "Home, huh? Well I'll do my best to find things that make it like your home." Her nose crinkled with her teasing smile, "I solemnly swear I won't put throw pillows around or add some color."

[cantoutstubborn]

Catherine wouldn’t say that she was complacent in her life under the city, it had only been a week since they’d mapped and laid traps. But it was becoming easier and easier to forget the world existed above ground and just live in the moment. It was always in the back of her mind, the mission they were on, to change Derek’s past, her future, but only in the back of her mind. It wasn’t something that she’d admit to Derek about either, her complacency.

Perhaps after weeks of a private war, would change how she viewed their lives, but right now, it was surreal and an adventure for her. It had yet to become a way of life for Catherine. Her attraction to him wasn’t helping either to keep her mind focused. She’d notice her attention wandering to Derek when it should be focused on finishing up a trap.

She glanced down at their supplies, “I think it's time to make a supply run. We’re getting low on some things.” Cat smiled at him, "feel like going to a neighborhood flea market/swap meet?"

[soldier_reese]

Complacency was something Derek saw all the time when he lived underground. The people there, those not fighting, those not ranking in the Resistance were like that after a long time below the streets. They thought they felt safe until the machines found the bunkers and they captured everyone there. It happened too often and in some ways he was glad there was just him and Catherine down here.

Protecting her was easier than a crowd of people.

He looked over and was unable to hold the smile from his lips, returning hers because God, that smile lit up the room. It was like sunshine. Something they both haven't seen in a while.

"Yeah. Okay," he replied, perhaps a bit tightly, reaching over and grabbing for his gun. "Just don't buy me another one of these shirts." He tugged at the kitty cat one up but he was only teasing. "Maybe I should get you one. We'll be a matching set," he mumbled.

[cantoutstubborn]

"His and hers." Catherine's nose crinkled with her amusement. "People will think we're trying to bring back the seventies. But I know, you just don't want me borrowing your shirts again."

[soldier_reese]

"I don't know..." Derek grinned. "You look good in my shirts." He let his gaze trail slowly over her body, smile widening. "You'd look good in anything."

Yeah, yeah. So what if he was blatantly flirting? Could you blame him? Look at her. Catherine was the best thing that ever happened to him in a long time.

....and it had been a long time since they kissed, too. He longed to feel her like that again.