Apartment Above Luke's, Tuesday

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It was Tuesday. Kathy knew she was supposed to be getting to work sometime this afternoon, doing stock or cleaning or trying to find people to come work for her or any number of countless, pointless projects. She had a routine and routines were important, at least according to what little poking around she'd done on the computer for Helpful tips

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[not_every_mage]

A thump thump thump of footsteps came up the stairs, followed by a louder thump thump thump on the door. Call him a soft touch, but Anders already missed their daughters -- and, knowing Kathy, he suspected she was taking it even harder.

"It's Anders," he called through the door.

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"It's open," Kathy called back, because getting up, even for Anders, was a little beyond her right now.

She half-wished she's done something more with her hair than pull it back in a messy ponytail after getting out of the shower, but, eh, effort. Somehow she doubted messy hair and an over-sized t-shirt would be enough to send Anders fleeing into the sunset.

[not_every_mage]

Anders let himself in with a quick smile for Kathy, not seeming bothered by her clothes or hair, and crossed to sit next to her on the couch. "Hi," he said. "I thought you might be having a hard time today, and I didn't want you to be having it alone, so ... hi."

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Anders, it was okay if Kathy just kind of launched herself at you, right? Curled up around you, maybe hid her face in your shoulder for awhile? Because that was definitely her plan for as soon as he finished speaking.

"I...yeah," she admitted, voice muffled. "I--Saturday was always going to be hard, but there were kids so I wanted to be cool, but then her name was Sarah--"

[not_every_mage]

Anders looped his hands around her waist, kissing the top of her head as she spoke.

"I know," he said, comforting as he could manage. "Had a bit of her aunt's attitude, too, didn't she?"

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"Oh god did she," Kathy said, with a hiccupy laugh that was almost a sob. "They both did. All did? I don't even know."

She squeezed her eyes shut and several tears fell down her face. "She's been gone for a year. A whole year, Saturday. And I--" She didn't want to talk about what Saturday would have been for her, too. Except for how she kind of did. It was all very confusing and complicated. "It's just hard," she finished, instead. "Just so stupidly hard."

[not_every_mage]

Anders didn't speak for a long moment, just squeezed Kathy and rocked with her to say there, there.

"I didn't realize it had been exactly a year," he said, feeling stupid and guilty for not having known without being told. "The days .. they ran into each other for me. I don't think I knew what day it was for a couple weeks."

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Kathy nodded against him. "Yeah," she said. "It's why I was so grateful to crash with you guys after prom. I mean, I also wanted to spend time with you two and t was fun, just shooting the shit like we used to, but...I didn't want to wake up Saturday alone, either. It was going to be a rough day, but being with you both...helped."

It was the best day it could have been, with that lurking in her mind.

[not_every_mage]

"I'm glad," Anders nodded. Privately, he was almost glad he hadn't remembered -- if he had, he would have spent the night worrying about how Kathy might be feeling too much to relax and enjoy himself. And it sounded like a normal night free of that was exactly what Kathy had needed.

He twisted a strand of her hair around his finger. "And I'm glad being with Dante helped, too. I never want you to feel pushed to the side."

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And she would have spent all night worrying that he was only with her because of that, rather than because he wanted to be and it just would have been terrible all the way down. Much better this way.

"Dante is my friend, no matter what else happens between us or doesn't," she said quietly. "I think I came closest to crying on Saturday when Kate said you both named her for me because I was your very best friend. Not just yours but both of you and..." She was sniffling again. Clearly today was a waterworks day.

[not_every_mage]

"I think Kate knew what she was talking about," Anders said quietly. "Dante's having a hard time with you sometimes, but there's nobody closer to him, other than me. Besides, I wouldn't name a girl after anybody else."

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"I'm sorry there's a world you had to name her for me at all," Kathy said, managing to get a stranglehold over her tears by sheer ruthlessness. "I'd say I'm too young to be carrying around so much regret, but days like today, I feel about a century."

If she crawled any closer, she'd be in his lap.

"How you doing?" she asked. "With the girls gone and all, I mean."

[not_every_mage]

Anders shrugged as he kept petting her hair. "I'm all right. I don't think I'm made to have four girls all at once, at least not yet. But even if they're a massive headache, it's always a little sad when they leave."

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"On Monday, I sent three of them down to bug their grandpa while I took a nap," she admitted, leaning into that petting like she were Lachlan or Blondie. It felt so nice. "Kids are exhausting, even the twins who are old enough to look out for themselves."

[not_every_mage]

"I think that made them more exhausting," Anders said, shaking his head. "They ganged up on us like -- wait. Grandpa?"

Anders knew Kathy was close to Eliot, sure, but he'd missed the unofficial adoption.

[spin_kick_snap]

Right. Which meant he'd missed everything. Kathy had some catching him up to do.

"Oh, uhhh, yeah," she said, looking up at him. "Eliot and I talked about a lot of stuff when I...I should start from the beginning." And not just jump to the 'I got taken into custody but don't worry, I wasn't arrested' part of the story. "So, umm, I'm not part of that fighting ring anymore. It got shut down by the cops the week after we got back from Limbo City. It sucks that I've lost that outlet, but I decided not to go looking for another one."