The Mean Streets of Fandom, Sunday Afternoon

[gunslingerpose]

So, last night Katherine brought food from the restaurant downstairs up to Nick's office, knocking lightly on the door. She hadn't seen him downstairs at all, had figured he was working on her case, and had figured food would be helpful. Nick had eaten the thickest, juiciest steak he'd eaten in his whole damn life last night, served with creamy mashed potatoes and crisp, buttery green beans.

While he ate, she went through his notes. After he finished eating, they kept talking, just spent hours bumping gums about whatever came to mind. Nick was surprised to find that she had a sense of humor. He was less surprised to hear things that suggested her father was up to some shady stuff in NYC, even if she seemed pretty sheltered from it herself. She convinced him to let her try a little bit of his whiskey and it knocked her on her adorable little bottom and they wound up dancing a bit in his office until she went and fell asleep on him. Like, right there on him. Girl couldn't handle her whiskey. But he settled her down on a couch that had seen better days, the one he normally slept on, and got back to work.

A few hours later, she woke up and shocked the hell out of him. Kissed him on the cheek thinking he'd fallen asleep at his desk (he was just closing his eyes, damn it), whispered good night, and tiptoed out of the room, leaving him there to come to terms with the fact that, damn, he'd only been on the case a day, and already he was halfway dizzy over the dame.

No, he corrected himself as he walked his beat down Fandom's streets, following one of his leads. Not a dame. Katherine was a lady.

Of course, it was right about then that he came across that very same lady, crumpled in a heap, soaked through with rain and sobbing her eyes out on the side of the road.

"Katherine? Jesus, Katherine, what happened?"

[For the dame lady, who also happened to write most of this post!]

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[spin_kick_snap]

"I don't think I'd be able to complain if we just moved to the bathroom floor," Katherine murmured breathily. "Though that might also get cramped."

A hand made its way into Nick's hair, twining the coarse curls around long, delicate fingers. "Where do you want me?"

[gunslingerpose]

Where? Right here, right where they were, anywhere he could get her, he wasn't choosy. But if she was suggesting the floor, then he was going to be the gentleman he had claimed to be, slipping his other hand under her shoulders and then leaning back to lift her out of the tub.

His leg wasn't terribly thrilled by this, but to hell with his leg. It wasn't as though it was going to get any better than it already was, either.

It was with a surprising amount of care that he was laying her on her back on the floor, at least. He wasn't even going to attempt to carry her out of the room.

[spin_kick_snap]

Okay, so Katherine had assumed that Nikolai would refuse to countenance such an idea and bring her out into the bedroom, or at least as far as the couch. Apparently he'd just decided to take her at her word.

All right. She could most certainly work with this. It was just unexpectedly literal.

Something to keep in mind.

And he was exceptionally gentle when he laid her down on the cool linoleum. The squeal of surprise when it met her flushed and heated was unfeigned. "Colder than I expected," she said, ducking her head a little. "I find myself to be very warm. Almost...hot?"

[gunslingerpose]

Nick wasn't even going to bother to hide his grin at the sound she made as her shoulders touched the floor.

"Only almost?" he half-teased, running his fingers along her thigh again. A moment later he added, "we can move to the bedroom in a minute if you'd prefer, but only if you can walk on your own once I'm done here."

And if that hand on her thigh was sneaking to her inner thigh instead, what of it?

[spin_kick_snap]

In response, Katherine pulled him down for another kiss. "Maybe later," she murmured, wrapping her other leg around his hips. "Once I can walk again..."


***

Much, much later, Lady Dokkaebi left Nick asleep in his bed. Surprisingly, he didn't snore, even while completely sated. And when she'd slipped from his side, he'd murmured something while his hand felt around the newly vacated sheets before falling back to stillness.

Looking for her warmth, no doubt. Or perhaps he was in the throes of puppy love.

Either way, she didn't care. Lady Dokkaebi had a much more important mission here than analyzing how many orgasms it took to make a man fall in love. While Nick slept, his desk and files were unguarded. She could finally discover what it was he had on her and how it would be delivered to the police if he were to meet with an unfortunate end.

"Too bad, Nikolai," Lady D whispered, rifling through a surprising amount of information, not only on her own operation, but on several of her colleagues in town. "You could have almost been useful."