Who: Kenzie and Chris When: Early evening, Friday, December 29th Where: Juniper Inn Warning: NSFW Status: Complete, Part 1
With the fog dissipating that morning, and the power returning to the town, Kenzie and Chris had been able to leave the crowded supermarket to get back to the inn. They had been out when the fog rolled in on Wednesday, and the market had been the closest building to slip into once they realized the fog came with a dangerously bitter cold, and practically zero visibility.
Kenzie had done a pretty decent job at avoiding talking to Chris about what happened on Christmas, and being surrounded by panicked, anxious people with an unnatural fog surrounding them had provided her the perfect excuse to keep things professional. She took pictures and notes in her phone while keeping people as calm as she could without giving away what she did for a living.
They were able to return to the inn that morning and the first thing Kenzie did was take an extremely long, extremely hot bath before slipping into bed for an even longer nap. Now she was awake and typing up her report on the fog, and what she had seen. There seemed to be no sign of whatever creatures had been wandering through the fog, but Kenzie had heard from the front desk girl down in the lobby that quite a few people had gone to the hospital with injuries from rabid dogs. Rabid dogs. Kenzie snorted at the thought. At least they hadn’t claimed dogs on PCP.
She and Chris would have to go out tomorrow to investigate further, maybe try to talk to who had been hurt and find out what they had seen and experienced. As unnerving as the experience had been for her, she felt a bit amped about having something substantial to look into. Point Pleasant had a reputation, but so far Kenzie had only seen the sights, so to speak, and had an embarrassing run-in with a basement ghost.
Since she had been in her room for most of the day working, Kenzie slipped out around dinner time and wandered downstairs to grab some food. She considered ordering room service, but she needed a break, so she sat at one of the tables near the back and ordered a tomato and cheese flatbread and a glass of wine. The town was starting to recover from the insanity of the last couple of days, but the staff at the inn seemed to be thrilled to get things back to normal, including feeding their guests, even if there was only a handful of them.
Kenzie pulled out her phone to check her emails as she waited on her food and she briefly considered texting Chris to join her. But she wasn’t sure what she would say that wasn’t work-related, and given the last couple of days, it was entirely possible he needed his own space for awhile anyway.
Chris had had a similar day so far, though he’d done far less work than Kenzie had. Once they’d gotten back, he’d feverishly made notes on everything he remembered for a couple of hours, then taken a hot shower and passed out on the bed with the damp towel still wrapped around his waist. He hadn’t woken up until the sun was going down, which was fun and disorienting for a while. Chris turned on the local news -- it was based out of Bangor, which was local enough, he supposed -- and started to get dressed, glancing at the TV every so often. There was no mention of anything happening in Point Pleasant ... which wasn’t terribly surprising, he supposed.
He was starving, and it made him feel kind of weak and shitty. Chris put some shoes on and reached for his phone, then saw that it was dead. Great. He plugged it in and left it, then headed into the hall. Chris hesitated outside of Kenzie’s door, wondering if he should invite her down to dinner with him. They hadn’t had hardly any privacy for the entire ordeal, which seemed like a mixed bag. They hadn’t been able to talk, but they hadn’t had to talk, either. He decided against knocking and headed down to the dining room.
It was practically deserted, so Chris spotted Kenzie right away. Of course she was down there. He couldn’t just ignore her, nor did he really want to, so Chris ambled over to her table and gave her a crooked little smile. “Mind if I sit? Or you too sick of me now?” he murmured.
Kenzie looked up from her phone, not at all surprised to see Chris standing there. Things had been stressful over the past couple of days, being stuck in that grocery store, but now that the town was settling down and working on getting things back to normal, she couldn't exactly ignore her partner anymore. Not that she had been doing so in the market, but that had been work, even if they were the only two who had known it. Her pulse quickened but she returned his small smile with one of her own and then motioned to the chair across from her. There was no reason why this had to be weird. "Not all. How are you feeling? Were you able to sleep?"
Chris wouldn’t have been terribly surprised if Kenzie told him to fuck off. Politely, of course, because that was her style. But she didn’t, and it was kind of a relief. They’d both been focused on getting through the crisis, keeping people from panicking, and protecting their real identities while still being good agents and taking it all in. There’d been no room for talk about what they’d done together, even if there had been lots of hours stuck in the same room. Not that he expected to talk about it now, but ... if he knew Kenzie, a Discussion was probably coming. For the moment Chris just wanted some fucking food, so he sat down across from her and gave a faint chuckle. “Like the dead, it was great. You? Have you ordered yet?” He picked up one of the paper menus to give it a glance over.
"I did. One of their flatbreads." She paused and then smiled faintly. "And wine. It's just been that kind of day." Chris would understand that much, at least. And Kenzie knew they probably needed to talk about what had happened on Christmas, but she was finding it difficult to figure out where to start. The fog and everything that accompanied it had made it easy for her to put it all on the back burner in her mind, but now that things were becoming somewhat normal again, she was aware that they couldn't just ignore it. Maybe she would wait until he ordered food, so he couldn't just retreat if she brought it up. Not that Kenzie thought Chris would flee. He was a mature, professional adult. But Kenzie knew how men could be with uncomfortable conversations. "I did manage to take a pretty nice nap. Then I sent a preliminary report to Atlanta. I should have shown it to you first," she said with a frown, as if just realizing her misstep. "I'll send you a copy though."
It had been the kind of day that called for hard shots from top-shelf bottles, if you asked Chris. He didn’t have any booze though, so he thought he might order some wine too with whatever he decided to get. They had a sirloin listed, and Chris’s stomach rumbled. Steak it was, then. He doubted it would be great in a place like this, but it was better than nothing. Setting the menu aside, Chris nodded a bit -- of course Kenzie would already have her report sent in. They would be expecting one form him too, so he would have to do it later that night. “Yeah, just forward it to me,” he said, not minding too much that she’d forgotten. There were other things on his mind. The waitress came by and Chris put his order in for steak and a loaded baked potato, with a merlot. He told her to fill up the glass with a faint smile, then turned back to Kenzie. “What a fucked up couple of days, yeah? You got any theories about where all that bullshit came from?”
Kenzie took those few moments as Chris ordered his dinner to compose herself. He was a colleague. They had worked together so often that now he was a friend too, and it was silly to feel nervous around him now. She hated that she did. Nervous and uncertain. And that was exactly why she had put a no dating rule in place for co-workers. Kenzie breathed in deep and exhaled softly as the waitress walked away and Kenzie was thankful for the question revolving around work. Work was always the easiest thing to talk about. "Some," she admitted, "but most of them are unlikely. I want to get more information on the AIR facility, and what they do. I can't really rule out anything right now, though. Especially with this town's history I think I might try to talk to the Sheriff this week, once things have calmed down."
“I’m on board for that,” Chris said with a nod, assuming he would be going with her. They hadn’t gotten a chance to interview any law enforcement yet, even though Nick apparently was dating one of them. He had a feeling they would be very busy for the rest of this week, but after what had happened over the past couple of days, he couldn’t imagine that they could pass it all off as some weird fluke, something in the water, rabid animals, whatever. The higher-ups would try, but the men and women on the ground knew better. Now was the time to talk, before they got their official stories straight. “It seemed like some sort of dimensional bleed to me. Or something out of the ocean? Didn’t seem like any cryptids I’ve ever seen before.”
"If it came from the ocean, it didn't seem to hit any other area," Kenzie said, motioning to her phone. "I checked online to see if any other towns were affected by the fog, or cell outages, and I couldn't find anything. No news, nothing on social media. It seems like it was contained to Point Pleasant." Kenzie trailed off, waiting as the waitress returned with their drinks. Once they were alone again, Kenzie shrugged one shoulder softly. "I wouldn't be surprised if it was a dimensional bleed. Those things came with the fog and disappeared with it too. Not to mention I hadn't seen any of those creatures when the fog first rolled in. They didn't show up until Thursday morning. So they've got to be connected somehow. Maybe the fog gives them life? I don't know." She blew out a breath and pushed her hair back behind her ear. "I have notes. I just haven't been able to put anything together yet that makes sense."
Checking for events outside of Point Pleasant was something that Chris had meant to do, his body’s needs had just taken precedence. Sleep and food. He sipped on his wine and ignored that itch in his hand to reach for his own phone. It was still upstairs charging. “Might just be one of those things we never figure out,” he said, though he was sure Kenzie was aware of that. The professional frustration of mystery was always a possibility. “Unless somebody managed to kill one and there’s a body around somewhere to study. Could’ve just been an unfortunate fluke, drawn to this place in particular.” Or it was some sort of purposeful attack. That thought had crossed his mind too. The “sleepy” little town could be a battleground to forces most people couldn’t begin to understand. Enough crazy shit happened here. “I’m gonna type up my report and all once I stuff my face.”
Those options had crossed Kenzie's mind as well. The fact of the matter was, they didn't know. And there was the possibility that they never would. But they would do their best to find out as much as they could, to try and understand it all. Kenzie sipped her wine and nodded, figuring Chris's report would probably keep him busy for the rest of the night. There was plenty she could do as well. Or maybe she would just change into her pajamas and go to bed early, despite her long nap. The last couple of days had been exhausting, mentally and physically. Lowering her wine glass, Kenzie studied Chris for a moment before deciding she was an adult, and she could handle potentially unpleasant conversations like one. "Do you think we should talk about Christmas?"
Chris’s wine glass paused almost to his lips when Kenzie asked him that question, but he continued to take a long swallow before he answered. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk about it, it was just kind of awkward and he had the feeling that Kenzie regretted it all. Chris didn’t, but he knew how high-strung she was sometimes, and he could already hear her telling him that they couldn’t let their personal feelings get in the way of their work, blah blah. “We probably should, yeah,” he answered as he set his wine down. Chris leaned back in his chair a bit and wet his lips as he looked at her. “You wanna go first?”
Did she want to go first? Not really. Because Kenzie felt like he would agree with whatever she said, regardless of what it was. Maybe she wasn't being fair, but Kenzie wasn't used to having this kind of conversation and she felt oddly vulnerable about it. What was she supposed to say? Kenzie took another drink of wine, ignoring the voice in her head that reminded her that alcohol was what got her in this situation in the first place. "I've never done anything like that before," she said, after she set her wine glass back down on the table. She kept her hand wrapped around it though, just to have something to hold onto. "I think the holiday was just difficult for both of us, being here. And I really don't want what we did to make things weird or uncomfortable between us. I don't want to lose you as a partner." There. That sounded good, didn't it? Mature.
Chris wasn’t surprised by anything she said. He was pretty sure already she hadn’t done anything like that before -- Kenzie struggled to loosen up and have fun, and Chris doubted any of the other agents she’d worked with had the same kind of chemistry with her as he did. And she’d already talked about not wanting things to be uncomfortable. He certainly hadn’t expected her to say she wanted to do it again and couldn’t stop thinking about it, which was his own situation. Chris didn’t say anything for another moment, his knee starting to bounce under the table as he nibbled on the inside of his lip. “You’re the only one I actually like working with, so you’re not gonna lose me as a partner if we keep things discreet,” he started with, watching Kenzie’s eyes. He paused again, then took a deeper breath. “I’ve been attracted to you for a long-ass time, Kenzie. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think what happened wasn’t just because of the holiday. Or the pervert ghost. But if it was for you, and you don’t ... want to do it or talk about it ever again, I’ll understand. Just be real with me, is all I ask.”
Kenzie was aware of his knee bouncing restlessly beneath the table, and she wondered if he realized it was a tell of his when he got nervous. She might have pointed it out to him if she hadn't been distracted by what he was actually saying. Her brows rose in surprise when he admitted he had been attracted to her for a long time. On some level she supposed she should have known that already. They bickered a lot, but there was also flirtation, something Kenzie constantly chalked up to just being a part of Chris's personality. He was gorgeous, and she had heard plenty of their female colleagues whispering about him in the past. Of course it had always annoyed her, because work was work and they should all be professional and leave the hormones at home. But she had thrown that particular belief out the window, hadn't she? And she had enjoyed every second of it. Licking her lips, Kenzie settled back in her chair, her heart beating rapidly. "By keeping things discreet... do you mean you want to start sleeping together? Regularly?" It went against everything she believed in, professionally, but Kenzie couldn't bring herself to care. She couldn't remember the last time she had sex like that, and if he wanted her too? Could she really ignore the attraction?
It would’ve been different if they’d had some normal boring 9-5 gig where they just shared an office for eight hours a day. Chris could’ve kept himself fully under control in that sort of environment and not flirted with Kenzie at all. He liked to think, anyway. But this job was a constant, they were always on the clock, and after spending so much time with somebody, isolated from intense oversight, well ... feelings happened. Chris had spent more hours with Kenzie than he had any girl he’d dated since his marriage fell apart. She was smart and funny when she wasn’t being uptight, not to mention beautiful, and now he knew she had a fantastic body. He’d worried for her more during the fog mess than he ever had before. Chris couldn’t help but notice that she was only asking about the sex and hadn’t admitted to a reciprocal attraction ... though he supposed if that didn’t exist, she wouldn’t have fucked him in the first place. Chris’s leg kept bouncing. He hardly noticed. Part of him wanted to shrug and ‘whatever’ this away, but he’d asked her to be real, so it was only fair that he do the same. To an extent, anyway. “I want to give us room to follow what we feel,” he settled on saying. Chris took another sip of wine, more to just have something to do with his hand. “Whatever that ends up looking like.”
For some reason that sounded slightly more involved than just sleeping together. Becoming... fuck buddies, or whatever people called it these days. Kenzie felt completely unprepared to think about this, because honestly she had believed that Chris would agree not to allow things to become weird between them, and they would go back to being platonic partners. Kenzie was still trying to formulate a response when her food came out. Oh right, dinner. The waitress informed Chris that his meal would be out in a moment, and Kenzie stared at her plate for a good thirty seconds before she lifted her foot under the table press lightly against Chris's knee to get it to stop bouncing. Her lips curved into a small smile. "I've watched your knee bounce a zillion times when dealing with stressful conversations, but you don't have to be nervous about this. I think... we're on a job, and that takes priority, but I don't see any reason why we can't... enjoy ourselves. And see where it goes." He wanted her to be real with him, so she was. This could so easily blow up in their faces, but maybe it wouldn't. "Would that be okay?"
The waitress’s appearance startled Chris a tiny bit, but he managed not to show it. The touch against his knee under the table made him stop immediately, and Kenzie’s first words brought a bit of color into his cheeks, even as he smirked slightly. She knew him too well. That was part of what made them such good partners, they were good at reading each other. At least when it came to work, because Kenzie’s answer kind of surprised him. He thought he must have really made an impression on that mattress. Chris let his hand slip down to where Kenzie’s foot was still pressed against his knee to give her ankle a soft caress. “That would be great, I think,” he answered. That restless tension drained out of him surprisingly fast. He still couldn’t tell if Kenzie had the same sort of feelings for him as he did her, but Chris didn’t want to ask, either. That would be more than awkward. They could just let it play out. Putting expectations on anything tended to ruin it, in Chris’s experience. “It’s gonna be a long, hard job, so ... why not, right?”
As soon as he touched her ankle she knew it had been the right decision. Because her skin tingled under his fingertips and there was a rush of warmth that spread through her body. That was a good sign. The professional side of Kenzie still wondered if this was a good idea, but she was willing to ignore those doubts for now. She liked Chris. She trusted him. And he was handsome as hell and amazing in bed, something she wanted to rediscover sober next time. Kenzie hadn't allowed herself to think too hard about her deeper feelings for him, because that definitely felt like a bad idea. It would derail this before it even got started. "Should we... I mean, do we need rules?" Kenzie tore off a small piece of her flatbread to pop into her mouth. "I mean, beyond being discreet." Rules probably sounded silly but she had no idea how this should work. Maybe she was overthinking it. If she was, she was sure Chris would tell her.
Kenzie tended to overthink everything, as far as Chris had seen, so he wasn’t too surprised she was thinking about rules already. He didn’t want to poo-poo them completely though -- he’d never carried on an affair with a coworker, so he wasn’t sure how it worked either. “Maybe ... hands off each other out in the field? We don’t want it to become a dangerous distraction,” he suggested. It would be horribly ironic if something got to them while they were making out in the car and not paying attention or something, like some cliche kids in an urban legend. “Other than that ... no fucking anybody else?” Chris arched an eyebrow at her. That would be a rule mostly for him, he supposed. He didn’t think Kenzie really indulged her sexual side while they were out on jobs.
Kenzie had no issue at all with keeping things professional on the field. She was internally appalled at the thought of dropping their guard to grope or kiss, and imagine if they were seen by someone like Nick? She didn't think he would report it to their superiors, but she didn't know him well enough to know just how by the book he was. Kenzie washed down her food with another sip from her wine glass, her brow arching at Chris's suggestion. As much as Kenzie enjoyed sex when she was getting it, it was rare for her to have a bed partner on the regular, let alone more than one. "I'm fine with that," she said. "As long as you are." It wasn't meant as a dig of any kind, but Kenzie assumed that no fucking anyone else was mostly meant to ease her mind, since he was the one more likely to find a townie to have a one night stand with. She never questioned his personal life when they were on a job, though she did wonder about it from time to time. Now she wouldn't have to. "What do you think about staying the night in each other's rooms? I don't want to risk Nick seeing one of us sneaking out in the morning."
Chris didn’t think it would be an issue. Sure he liked to play around when he was free to do so and someone caught his eye, but he’d never cheated on his wife, and he thought having a steady source of good sex right down the hall from someone he genuinely liked would keep him satisfied. Not that he was comparing having a fling with Kenzie to getting married, but still. “I’m good with it, yeah,” he told her, his fingers still lightly caressing Kenzie’s ankle. The tablecloth was long and there was hardly anybody around, so why not? “As for overnights ...” Chris was interrupted by the waitress arriving with his meal and Chris sat up straighter and took his hand back so he could pick up utensils. He was still starving. “It sucks, but might be smart,” he answered. He’d enjoyed actually sleeping with Kenzie and kind of wanted to do it again. “Though our rooms are pretty close, so ... maybe we can be sure to set really early alarms?”
When Chris's food arrived Kenzie pulled her foot from his knee and shifted in her chair to focus on eating her food now. It was odd, but strangely exhilarating to be talking about something like this with a man. Chris Washburn, of all people. Laying out groundworks for an active sex life, at least while they were in Maine. Who knew what would happen back in Atlanta, but she didn't have to worry about that right now, so she wouldn't. "I would be okay with setting an alarm," she said after giving it a moment or two of thought as she ate. Kenzie briefly wondered if this was a really bad idea. If she had agreed to it too quickly without giving it any rational thought. But then she remembered how it felt to kiss him, how intense her orgasm had been while he had been fucking her. Was it so wrong to want to have something like that in her life? Even for a little while. At the same time, she had come to think of Chris as a close friend, and there was always the risk of ruining that. "I think we should both promise that if it this starts to get... complicated, we'll take a step back. I don't want to lose you as a partner, or friend."
There was something to be said about impulsive passion -- Chris had had a few really excellent flings that didn’t require any sort of discussion -- but that sort of recklessness would only make things messy for he and Kenzie, he thought. They couldn’t just fall into bed together whenever they felt like it without being on the same page, they worked too closely together for that. So talking was good, even if it felt a bit awkward to him. He cut into his steak and took the first bite, which just made his mouth feel like heaven. Chris’s chewing paused briefly as he tried to remember if Kenzie had ever called him a friend before. He certainly thought of her that way, but they didn’t talk about it much. He wasn’t sure what she meant by ‘complicated’ -- professionally, emotionally? They probably couldn’t know until they got there. It was a reasonable thought, at least. “That’s the last thing I want too, so ... agreed,” he said once he’d washed the meat down with some wine.
That was a relief, and it made Kenzie feel a bit better about the potential consequences of what they were discussing. She had no idea how it would really work. Would they just... knock on each other's door at night? Just let things happen when the mood struck? She decided to stop thinking about the logistics of it. What fun was it if they had to schedule sex? Kenzie let the topic go then, too hungry now to drag it out. It felt like they were on the same page now, and that was the important thing. After downing the rest of her wine, Kenzie set the glass down on the table and wiped her mouth with her napkin before she suppressed a smile. "Now that... things have happened, I don't feel as embarrassed telling you this, but... that day in the basement? The, uh, ghost thing? It was a hallucination, but the ghost, I guess... it was you."
Chris was kind of excited, if he was being honest. He hadn’t expected this Talk to go this direction, and it was pretty damn awesome that Kenzie wanted to give it a try. Maybe it was immature to be stoked about sex, he was a grown-ass man, but it was sex with Kenzie and that made a difference. Sex that had been explosively good the first time when they were both drunk, so it just had to get better from there, right? Her words stopped him mid-chew again and both brows lifted before he smiled with one cheek full. “I was the ghost?” he asked first, but he knew that didn’t make any sense, so it was just to tease her. “Or d’you mean I was the hallucination? Like, you came that hard just thinking about me?” It made his groin feel warmer, that was for sure. The whole thing had been weird and worrisome at the time, but this new info made it hotter.
"The hallucination." Kenzie rolled her eyes a touch, a small smile quirking at her lips. "I guess you could say I was thinking about you, since it didn't actually happen. But it was like... it did happen, in my head. But you just grabbed me and shoved me up against the wall and we... you know. And it felt real, which is why I ... you know." She waved her hand dismissively. "I honestly have no clue why I'm admitting this to you, but at least it makes for a good story. That will definitely stay between us," she added with a pointed look.
Chris looked intrigued. He almost added until we tell our grandchildren as a joke, but it probably wasn’t one Kenzie would appreciate at the moment. Even with her hesitant tone in giving him details, it was kind of arousing to hear. Especially since he’d gotten to witness the effect it had on her. She might not know why she was telling him, but Chris was definitely taking mental notes. He didn’t get sexually aggressive with girls until he knew they liked it, and if Kenzie wanted to be shoved against a wall and fucked ... well, he could do that. “I’ll take it to my grave, promise,” Chris offered with a bright grin. “So you were already primed for it, huh? It wasn’t just my drunk charm? I need to go down and thank that basement ghost I guess.” He moved his foot to nudge hers under the table a bit.
"Oh, no your drunken charm gets most of the credit," Kenzie said, nudging his foot back with her own. "Actually, I'll probably give full credit to that bottle of liquor I bought you for Christmas. If we hadn't gotten drunk, I probably wouldn't have gone exploring into that basement. And I probably wouldn't have been so eager to get you naked. Well, maybe I would have. Lonely holiday and all." Kenzie paused, not wanting it to suddenly sound like the whiskey had driven every choice she made. "But I had wanted it to happen, even before Christmas so... I think the whiskey just gave me the courage to give into it. And knowing you wanted it too." Her face and neck were both feeling warm now and she wondered if she should stop talking. "But it does make you wonder what's downstairs," she continued, taking apart another piece of her flatbread. "And how it knew what I wanted to happen. It's weird."
Chris had seen her blush a lot over the few years they’d worked together, but he liked it even more now, he discovered. Especially when he knew it was due to thoughts of him. It was good to hear her say that she’d wanted him before Christmas, it was like vindication for years of flirting. “Mmhmm, liquid courage will do that,” he agreed with a crooked smile. “I wouldn’t have made a move on you without it, so ... thanks for the gift, Novak.” Chris chuckled and lifted his glass to her before he took another drink. He was most of the way through the steak and potato, but he decided to stop there. If things were going the way he thought they were, he didn’t want to have too much on his stomach. “Makes me wish I’d gotten you something sexier than a pen.”
It felt good to finally admit her attraction to him. What was the point of playing coy anymore? They'd already had some pretty amazing sex and Kenzie was pretty sure she would have licked every inch of his body on Christmas if she had been sober enough to have some semblance of patience. And now their flirting would feel different... more exciting, maybe. Especially if no one else knew they were sleeping together. Who knew how long they would be in Maine, but at least now the two of them would have some more interesting ways to pass their free time. She folded her arms on the table and smiled at him. "Well, you did," she pointed out. "And it didn't cost a dime. Though I do really love the pen. I've already put it to use today. I actually feel kind of bad that I’ll get more use out of it than you will that bottle of whiskey."
Chris wasn’t sure he considered fucking Kenzie’s brains out as a gift, because he’d definitely benefitted from it himself. He smirked at her as he finished off the last of his wine. It wasn’t enough to have much of an effect on him, especially with food, but it did taste good after two days stranded somewhere he didn’t want to be. They deserved to relax a bit. “Oh, the bottle of whiskey is already paying dividends, don’t worry about that,” he told Kenzie. Without it, they wouldn’t be having this conversation in the first place, right? So Chris appreciated it. He wet his lips and decided to get the other practical question out of the way. “So last time ... I know we weren’t thinking straight, but ... should I get a stash of condoms?”
Kenzie chewed on her lower lip for a moment. Condoms was the smart thing to do. And she had already thought about the fact that they hadn't used one. But she knew what a pain in the ass they could be when things were heated and she was caught up in the moment. That being said, it wasn't completely her decision. She knew how guys could be about potential pregnancy, and not all birth control was one hundred percent effective. "I'm on birth control," she said. "But it's up to you. I trust you." Kenzie assumed if she had anything to worry about other than pregnancy, he would have told her already, and vice versa.
It was probably the kind of conversation that should’ve led into them discussing their opinions on abortion, just in case, but Chris couldn’t think of anything less sexy to talk about. “I mean ... it’s not just up to me,” he told her with a little half-smile. He wasn’t too worried about knocking her up, and he trusted that Kenzie got tested when she needed to and all that. “But I trust you too. So I’m good without them if you are.” They could revisit it later if they just couldn’t keep their hands off of each other and fucked every day or something, but Chris thought it would be fine. He glanced at their empty plates and then around for the waitress, ready to move this conversation somewhere more private now.
"They'll charge it to your room," she said, noting the way he was looking around, presumably for their waitress. "Are you finished?" Kenzie was. She probably would have stayed down there longer, just to avoid going back to an empty room where she would end up working through the rest of the night, but maybe spending the evening with Chris would be more productive. In a non-professional way. And really, hadn't the two of them been working pretty non-stop since the fog came in? It sure felt that way. Or maybe she shouldn't just assume because they were talking about fucking on the regular that it would happen tonight. Chris could be exhausted from their adventure out, and she found she actually wouldn't mind it if they just... laid together and watched television. Was that already a bad sign? She bit her lip softly and tried not to think about it too much.
Chris should’ve known that by now, he guessed, but given the current conversation, his brain definitely wasn’t on the finer points of Juniper’s policies. “Yeah, I’m done. Glad it’s on the company credit card then,” he murmured, giving Kenzie a sheepish little grin. She looked finished with her food too, which made him glad she hadn’t wanted a huge meal. “You wanna move this talk upstairs?” Chris posted, arching a brow and smirking a touch at Kenzie. “My place or yours?” Not that it made a lot of difference, but he was willing to go wherever Kenzie wanted. If she still wanted to hang out with him, that was.
The question made her laugh a little, since his place was quite literally down the hall from hers. "Um, yours," she decided after a moment, pushing back from the table to stand. It was nice to be sober, despite the one glass of wine. Kenzie was doing a pretty adept job at ignoring the 'by the book' voice in her head that told her this was a bad idea, or that it might seem like a good idea now but it would end badly. She had rules in place for a reason, and one good lay meant she was going to throw them out the window? Kenzie pushed all of those things aside and walked with Chris from the dining area. They were in Maine indefinitely. They were both adults. They could handle this. And god, it had been so long since she'd had really good sex consistently, so maybe she was allowed to do something for herself every once in a while. "Should I... get my pajamas?" Kenzie asked, halfway up the stairs to the second floor.
It was kind of amusing to Chris too -- he and Kenzie had been in each other’s rooms pretty often, in countless hotels, but he’d never worried about how neat his own was when she came over. He found himself wondering if he’d picked up his dirty clothes from the bathroom floor as they started up the stairs. Not that he thought he had to impress her really. She knew him better than most other people in his life, after all. Her question broke Chris’s fretting and he looked over at her, moving his hand to lightly rest on the small of her back for a brief moment. “If you don’t like to sleep naked, sure,” he answered quietly, a bit of mischief glinting in his eyes. He did want her to spend the full night with him, but he wasn’t going to force her to be nude for it if she didn’t want to. Pajamas came off just as easy as they went on.
Kenzie wasn't worried about the cleanliness of Chris's room. They had been partners long enough that she knew enough about his habits that it didn't bother her. Besides, all she really wanted to do was be in his bed, and maybe sleep naked under the sheets, because she was willing to bet they smelled like him, even with the daily housekeeping. Kenzie didn't usually sleep without pajamas on, or at least panties and a tank top, but she had enjoyed it on Christmas, so... as long as Nick didn't show up, it probably wouldn't be a big deal. "Do you sleep naked?" Kenzie asked, lips twitching into a small smile as they reached the top of the stairs. "Consistently?"
“Constantly,” Chris answered, flashing her a small grin. “Which, I mean, as a firefighter I know better, but you just can’t beat that kind of comfort.” He’d always hated pajamas, even as a kid. Clothes in general, really, but especially pajamas that got all bunched up and tangled around his legs and make him overheat. Now, in adulthood, he’d found that he loved to share a bed with a naked woman, too. Thinking about it made him want to shove Kenzie up against one of the walls in the hallway to get things started early, but who knew where Nick was. He did snag her hand for a squeeze once they reached his door. “You totally don’t get to use my toothbrush though, so ... see you in a few minutes?” he murmured, grinning again.
Oh, right. Her toothbrush. Because she would be there in the morning. And Chris would see her bedhead, and crusty sleep eyes. Which he already had the morning after Christmas, but she had been so hungover she hadn't cared. Deciding not to let it become a Thing, Kenzie nodded and walked down the hall to her room. She made quick work of locking her laptop and notes away, just in case housekeeping came by in the morning while she was still with Chris. Then she brushed her teeth and slipped her toothbrush into her purse, which she would rather keep in Chris's room, just in case. Maybe that made her paranoid, but given her job, she felt it was warranted. Should she change? Kenzie stared at her simple clothes in the mirror and wrinkled her nose. She was fine, and it wasn't like she had sexy clothes or lingerie to put on. Besides, she kind of doubted her bra and panties would stay on very long once the rest of her clothes were gone. Kenzie took a deep breath and exhaled, pushing past any remaining nerves to finally leave her room. This had been easier when she had been drunk. There had been very little thought involved in it.
When she got back to Chris's door she nearly reached for the doorknob to walk in, but then hesitated and knocked instead. She couldn't just go barging into other people's rooms, even if he was expecting her. It just didn't feel like she could do that yet.