[Sanctuary] Out In the Cold
Out In the Cold
Sanctuary. Kate. PG. 1,123 words. For hc-bingo's February postage stamp challenge, prompts: insomnia, homesickness, poisoning, and isolation (wildcard).
It was late, she was exhausted, she wanted to be home curled up in her own bed asleep. Instead, she was sitting on the end of a still made motel bed counting the number of times the no vacancy sign flickered across the parking lot.
She was out in the cold. Not in the truest sense of the phrase but in all the ways that mattered, she was cut off. She still had her contact with the Sanctuary network as indirect as it was and Hank had talked her through a rough bit of food poisoning a week and a half ago. She hadn’t seen any of them though, not in weeks and tonight she missed them all, missed the creepy gothic building she’d learned to call home.
She spins her cell, a cheap pay by the minute deal, and stares down at the number in her hand. The nonemergency line. She wanted to call. She wanted to call so bad she ached but she wasn’t a quitter or a whiner. She had signed up for this. She thought she’d put the worst of it behind her in the days when the memory of their betrayal, as fake as it had been, still stung fresh.
She flips the phone open and dials before forcing out a long exhale. There’s a pause and then the line connects. Three rings and someone picks up, no hello, just silence.
“I’m looking for the doctor.” She says as if her life’s becomes some sort of bad Dr. Who rerun and then she waits. There’s more ringing, another password, this time someone from the New York Sanctuary picks up. She can recognize the voice but can’t place a name to it. They put her on hold; she waits. It’s been twenty minutes since she’s given into temptation. Thirty.
“Pizza delivery service.”
“Will,” she laughs, tears slipping down her face in relief.
“Kate.” He sounds surprised. “Hey sorry. They said someone was calling for Henry. Did you need to talk to him?.”
“Oh no it’s ok. I figured he’d be the one to be up this late. Thursdays are his days for 2am feedings this month, right?”
“Magnus packed him off to London for a stint with their servers. One of the abnormals there keeps causing them to overheat.”
“Oh,” she’s feeling guilty now, usually she was the one who filled in for Hank. Will was the last one anyone asked to fill in for them. While he insisted he slept better than he ever had before coming to the Sanctuary he still spent more time awake in the dark than he did asleep. Kate had learned quickly that if a night off gave him a chance for a bit more sleep you gave it to him.
“I was up anyway.” He’s being sincere, warm, in a moment he’d be teasing her. The thought does nothing to put a damper on her misery. “Was there something you needed? Magnus mentioned she put another couple hundred in your account this morning.”
“No I’m fine. I was up; I thought maybe- I should probably head to bed.”
“Did you want to talk to Magnus before you go? She’s still up. I can transfer you over to her office.”
Kate was rapidly regretting her decision to call. This wasn’t helping. Now all she wanted to do was find the closest liquor store and buy the first bottle she saw. “Naw,” she’s brushing it off casually despite the way her free hand fists in the comforter. “I’ll check in as soon as I know when my next gig is.”
“Hang tight.” He reminds her gently and then the line goes dead. She holds the phone to her ear until the silence is filled with an automated message. “The call you are trying to make-“
She tosses the phone on the bedside table and leans down to peel off her boots. She’s still ignoring the tears stinging in her eyes. If she didn’t know better she would say her time at the Sanctuary had made her soft. Being alone, isolated, had never been a problem for her before. Before, she hadn’t had anything to hang onto, anyone to love. She knew now not to listen to that quiet voice of doubt. It was late. She was tired.
The worn sweatpants she slips into are heavenly, the t-shirt she’d picked up at a Goodwill equally so. She should probably brush her teeth but there’s no one around watching.
She’s about to turn out the light when there’s a soft knock at the door.
Gun snatched from under her pillow she avoids the window as she moves to peak through the peephole. Another knock. “Pizza delivery service.”
She can’t recognize the figure outside the door, hood up, face in shadow, but she recognizes the line from earlier, the note of humor in the voice that had called out softly.
She slips her gun into her waistband and slides the chain from the door.
“Inside,” she hisses and slips the door shut again. She was still laying low after her last job. It wouldn’t do to draw attention.
“I was careful.” Magnus pulls her hood back and smiles softly. “Cozy.”
“The place with the roaches was better.” Kate frowns, staring expectantly at the grocery bags the older woman had brought.
Magnus rings the room’s only table with the contents: a quart of milk, chocolate syrup, a pair of mugs, a fuzzy pair of slippers, a well-worn blanket, a book Kate didn’t recognize, and a small potted plant.
“Will mentioned I called.”
Magnus tips her head in a gesture of assent. “I’ve been waiting.”
“I told you I’d-“
“Be fine with no contact. I was there.” Magnus reminds her. “And from what I’ve heard you’ve been doing exceptionally well, but that doesn’t mean life out here doesn’t get a bit lonely.”
“This is nothing compared to-“
“There’s no need to defend yourself. Get those ridiculous slippers on and get yourself in bed. There’s hot milk to be drank and sleep to be had.”
“And a bedtime story.”
“The book was for my own enjoyment but you’re welcome to it. I’m afraid I had a rather uneventful day. I doubt I’ll be needing much sleep tonight.”
“You’re staying?”
“Don’t bother arguing.”
Kate smiles as she wraps her hands around the mug being offered to her. “Thank you,” she whispers.
Magnus smiles back as she runs a hand through Kate’s hair. “Try and get some rest. We’ll talk in the morning.”
Be here when I wake up. Kate wants to say, but she knows she doesn’t need to. Tomorrow morning she’d wake up with her head tucked along side Magnus’s, fingers tangled in her hair, and the smell of tea.