Who: Natalie Kelly & Dexter Henley What: An apologetic phone call When: Backdated Tuesday night, following the Agency rescue
Dex was half zoned out in front of the television, despite the regular hiccups the transmission received. The sudden burst from the phone near by startled him. he sat up, disoriented for a moment before he realised the phone was ringing. He thrust his hand out to grab it. "Henley."
"Hey, Dex, it's Natalie..." There was a slight hesitation as she pondered how to best explain her sudden disappearance, wondering if he had even noticed she was gone.
He had noticed she was gone, but figured she's a grown woman, and she didn't need to check in with him. Of course he also thought it would have been nice of her to tell him he was leaving, but he wasn't going to hold it against her. He tapped the power button on the remote. "Hey. Where's you run off to?" He kept his tone light, unassuming.
"Saving people, hunting things, you know..." she answered, borrowing the line from Supernatural. "Sorry, I didn't really have time to give you a head's up, but...Saxondale was about to start killing off the real Agency people one at a time, and I sort of..." She paused, realizing that she'd never told him that she worked for Camelot, as she had been avoiding telling anyone since even before CORE had gained the upper hand. "Don't worry, I didn't go in alone this time."
Dex shifted, and pushed himself to sitting up, as if he needed to straighten his posture to take it all in. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. holding the phone with his right hand, he pressed the fingers that still populated his left hand against his eyes. "I'm not sure I like the way this sounds."
She sighed, shifting the phone away from her mouth a little to muffle the sound. That was another reason she hadn't told him she was leaving. She wasn't sure he would have let her go. She would have brought him with, but while she was fairly confident that he was one of the good guys and none too find of CORE, he wasn't technically Camelot, either. "Is that an 'oh god, my girlfriend is in deep shit, I don't like the way this sounds,' or an 'oh god, my girlfriend is a war criminal, I don't like the way this sounds'?" she asked, trying to take the edge off of the tension that she could easily guess was building.
"Depends on if my girlfriend is in deep shit, or just a little bit crazy." Dex switched hands, holding the phone to his left ear. Apparently he needed all his fingers to push at the tension he could feel throbbing against his temples. "You're a big girl, and you make your own choices, and maybe I don't have a right to feel a little left out in the cold, but I would like a heads up, when you're going to run off and play hero." Dresden balked, making a shiver creep up Dex's spine. He sighed. "Just. Tell me what's going on. Please."
She hung her head a little, even though he couldn't see the posture of contrition. It wasn't hard to make her feel guilty for not doing enough, not telling the right people. And maybe he was right, he did deserve to know what she was up to. She'd been used to fending for herself for too long. "Camelot. I work for Camelot. We went in to retake the Agency today. Saxondale is dead. They used some kind of knock-out gas on the entire building, so everyone was unconscious when we got there. I was just there to patch up anyone who got hurt, and help with the clean-up. I'm really sorry I didn't leave a note or something, but we had a limited window of time..." She sighed. Excuses, excuses. "I'm sorry. I should know better. I'm back in London now. The MTN is back online, so I'll be able to go back and forth more easily--and I'll be able to bring a suitcase of my own clothes next time."
"Whoa. Back up." Dex stood, and started pacing the small stretch of carpet between the television and the couch. "You work for Camelot? When did that happen?" He wasn't shocked by the news, but the fact he didn't know. He considered himself one of the good guys, but he (and Dresden) was a loner. Before he met Jax, he'd been alone most of the time. He thought now it was because Dresden worked better by himself, and that was Dresden's influence leaking over to him. He was still trying to take in the rest of it. He hadn't looked at the message board for a while, he hadn't heard anything about knock out gas at the Agency. But he'd get back to that topic, some things were more important, even if Jeff was potentially one of the victims.
"Months ago," she said, stretching out on her bed and staring at the ceiling. "Since before we met. We made sure all the Agency staff would be okay, and put CORE's plants in lockdown, hopefully more secure than the last time. So..." she sighed. "How much trouble am I in?"
Dex went to the kitchen to get himself a drink. Kel would likely hear the can opening. "You're a big girl, Natalie. You don't owe me any explanation." He felt like she did, but in reality he knew she didn't owe him anything. They were dating, not married. They had no kids to consider. "I'm listening if you want to try and explain, but I'm not that guy who's going to demand to know every little thing. It's just. You know. nice to know the big things."
"Yes, I do," she said, "Or at least an apology. I guess I was...trying to protect you. No one really knows I'm in Camelot, except for Camelot, and I didn't want anyone coming after my friends or family. I just. Don't really know where to begin. But I'll answer anything you want to ask me. I trust you, Dex, and I'm sorry for keeping this from you."
"I'll save the questions for sometime when we're face to face." Dex sighed and leaned against the counter in the kitchen. "Just tell me you're all right. You weren't hurt, whatever went down." That was the most important part, after all. "It's not like I'm going to lambaste you for being one of the good guys."
Natalie felt herself relax a little at that. Part of her wished she'd gone back to Chicago, but the Camelot HQ had been closer, and she'd need clean clothes before she headed back to Dex' place again anyway. As much as she'd been itching to get back in the saddle, she'd gotten used to Dex' presence and was starting to miss him already. She would have hated herself if she'd screwed things up already. "I'm okay," she said, "I promise. No nervous breakdowns. Not even a scratch."
"Good." Dex nodded. He headed back to the couch and dropped onto it with a sigh. The remote clattered to the floor, but he left it where it was. "I miss you."
"I miss you too, Dex," she said, grunting softly as her cat jumped up on the bed. "You too, Poth," she muttered to her pet. "Sorry. Furry monster demanding my attention. Where was I?"
"You were telling me how much you miss me," Dex replied, a smile creeping into his words. He closed his eyes and slouched down, head resting at the corner at the back of the couch, feet propped up on the opposite arm rest. "Feel free to go on."
"I wish you could be here," she said, shifting as the cat got bored and jumped down. She laughed under her breath. "Is this the part where you ask me what I'm wearing?"
Dex laughed. "Yeah. This is the part where you tell me what you're wearing in a really sexy voice, so I get all hot and bothered and miss you even more." With his luck, Jax would come home right then, but he just couldn't be bothered to go to the bedroom.
"Well, you know..." she drawled, her voice dipping toward the bedroom tones, if she had such a thing, "You could always tell me how to get through those wards of yours and I could teleport over and show you, and still zip back over here in time for work...." She smirked over the phone, even though he couldn't see it. "Or I could just torture you from here."
"I have been told I'm a masochist, but I'd really rather you just came here to see me." Dex shifted the phone to his other ear and flung his arm over his eyes. He was about as comfortable as he could be.
Natalie sat up, reaching for the bag she'd dropped beside the bed. She'd already packed in preparation for her trip back, she just hadn't been sure how soon she'd be able to leave. She drew a deep breath, visualizing Dex' street, his house as she went through the preparation for a teleport spell. "Ready or not," she said, "Here I come..."