bailey jansen (outofthehole) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2022-10-06 18:23:00 |
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Entry tags: | #july 2018, bailey, bailey x kane, kane |
Who: Bailey and Kane
When: Early evening, Thursday, July 5th
Where: Bailey’s apartment
Status: Complete
It hadn’t been the greatest of days, despite the week starting out pretty damn good. Working the Fourth of July was always a pain in the ass, especially with the amount of drunk assholes lighting off fireworks and ending up in the emergency room with burns or missing fingers. She could handle that much but she hadn’t really been expecting to have to respond to the death of a child. It wasn’t like Bailey hadn’t dealt with horrible things since becoming a cop and she lived in Point Fucking Pleasant so horrible things happened every day. But it seemed to be harder, somehow, when a kid died because of a goddamn accident. Something preventable. It had been a long night after that and an even longer morning that ended with Grady sending her home to get some sleep. She had only been able to do that after drinking enough whiskey to knock her out.
When she woke up, it was nearly six o’clock and she’d had a text waiting for her from Kane. He wanted to come over. Bailey nearly responded with why? but ended up sending a thumbs up emoji instead. Crawling out of bed, she headed for the kitchen, rubbing the crusties from her eyes as she went. She was still in her jeans and t-shirt from the night before, so she didn’t feel the need to change. She’d shower later.
The whiskey bottle on the counter was nearly empty so she poured the rest into a coffee mug and carried it into the living room, unlocking the front door before she sunk into her chair to drink and wait for her brother. Pulling her phone from her pocket, she thumbed in another quick text to Kane. door unlocked
Kane’s morning had been much more pleasant than most of the day before. He was already ridiculously hooked on waking up beside Adrian. Especially after a night when he’d provided so much fucking comfort. In Kane’s opinion, a strings-free orgasm was the least he could do to show his gratitude, but Adrian had still insisted on ‘making it up’ to him, for passing out the night before. So it had been a nice morning, before they had to part company for the day. At least he had plenty to look forward to.
The plan was to drive to Portland the next day and come back Sunday, and Kane already couldn’t wait. Part of him felt like an antsy little kid trying to get through the last couple of days before summer break. It was just a couple of nights out of town with a guy, but that was more of a couple’s trip than he’d ever had before, and it was exciting. Definitely a welcome distraction from all the horrible shit he’d seen over the holiday, and the visit from the old woman. It was also something he probably needed to tell Bailey about -- they could go days without communicating, but just his luck she would try to go to his place while he was gone and then freak out or something. So he’d texted her in the early afternoon to see if she was free to meet up.
He got a little worried when it took her so long to respond, but Kane didn’t blow her phone up, chalking it up to her working. When Kane finally got the thumbs-up green light, he pulled on something decent and hopped in the SUV to drive over to Bailey’s place. He rapped his knuckles on the door to announce himself as he opened it and stepped inside. “Hey,” he greeted his sister when he spotted her on the couch. She looked rough, but Kane knew better than to say so. He went to sit down with her instead. “Tough day?”
Bailey knew she probably looked rough but she didn't really care at the moment. She wasn't looking to impress anyone, after all. "Just woke up," she said, as if that explained everything. "Long night." Bailey eyed him and lifted the coffee cup to her lips. "What's up with you?" They didn't generally just hang out, so she had to assume he wanted to talk about something. It couldn't be about their mom, since Kane didn't look upset at all. He actually looked... happy wasn't really the word, but... content? It was pretty fucking weird, if she was being honest with herself.
Of course it had been a long night for her -- in a town this size, they probably had all the cops working, and the holiday was similarly hellish for law enforcement as it was for him. Kane had to wonder if she’d been one of the cops to respond to the accident that had taken the little girl. He nodded a little, his expression getting a bit more serious. “Yeah, for me too,” he murmured. “Holidays always fuckin’ suck. But uh ... I wanted to let you know I’m goin’ outta town for a couple days, but I’ll be back late Sunday. Gotta run into Portland, and I’m gonna spend a couple nights.” Kane did have business to attend to, to get them paid for the Blackwater monster soul, so he didn’t need to frame it as some romantic trip to his sister, who happened to loathe his ... lover? Boyfriend? Labels were stupid, especially for them.
Unable to help herself, Bailey lifted a brow at the news and lowered the cup to her thigh. "Okay," she said slowly. For a moment she wondered why he was telling her. They didn't check in with each other, not really. Though she had to admit, if he ditched town without telling her, even for a day, Bailey probably would have worried... and then gotten pissed. That was the downside of caring about someone, she supposed. "What's in Portland?" she asked. No, she didn't care that it was none of her business. Kane was telling her so she felt like she had the opening to ask.
The way she looked at him expectantly made him a little self-conscious, but Kane tried to ignore it. They hadn’t been checking in with each other, but maybe they needed to start. They couldn’t exactly get closer if they didn’t act close, right? Considering how jumpy Bailey was about his wellbeing lately, it seemed only right to give her a heads up. Of course she was nosy about it though, and he half-grinned a little. “Just some business. Work trip,” he said. That was only a fraction of it, but the rest was personal. “I just wanted to let you know so you don’t miss me too bad.” Kane knew she wouldn’t, but he also knew she wouldn’t admit that she would worry about him.
Bailey didn’t have any real reason not to believe him and even if he was lying to her, it wasn’t like she was his mother. He could come and go as he pleased and he didn’t owe her any further explanation. But she did appreciate that he told her, even if she couldn’t quite say it out loud. Navigating this sister thing could be difficult sometimes. She shrugged instead and leaned her head back against the couch, closing her eyes. “Okay, well, I’ll try to find someone else to annoy while you’re gone.” She paused and then squinted one eye open to peer at him. “Taking your boyfriend?” There was no judgment in her voice. Bailey had no idea if Kane and Adrian were that kind of couple, or if they were even a couple, but she couldn’t help but be curious. Maybe that was all part of the sister thing. Asking questions. Being interested.
Kane chuckled faintly at the first bit, idly wondering if anyone in this town had the balls to tell Bailey she was being annoying. He kind of doubted it. The question gave him pause, and he licked his lips as his first impulse to deny that Adrian was his boyfriend came and went. That wasn’t actually true, was it? And they were trying to build trust. “Yeah, he’s coming,” Kane said finally, one corner of his mouth turned up. “He’s got some business down there too. It’s apparently a lotta paperwork to come back from the dead. Fuckin’ bureaucracy, man.” He pursed his lips a little, part of him bracing for Bailey’s disapproval and reminders that he was an idiot for getting romantically involved with a man with whom he had a violent past.
Yes, Bailey still thought he was an idiot for getting involved with Adrian Moretti, but she kind of thought he was an idiot for getting involved with anyone. They were still getting to know one another properly, but Bailey had figured she and Kane were both the same in that they were too fucked up as people to try and drag someone else into their bullshit. Sure, Bailey had been married for a long time, but it wasn't like it had been some ridiculous happy ever after. But she wasn't going to judge him today because she was too tired and voicing her annoyance would only piss him off. At least Kane hadn't tried to deny Adrian was his boyfriend. Bailey let him wait, sipping from her coffee cup again as she wrapped her head around her brother going out of town with another man. She would have had the same reservations had it been a woman, because it was just weird. "Is this where I tease you about going on a romantic getaway?" she finally asked, reaching over to set her coffee cup down before grabbing her pack of cigarettes. "And don't try to tell me reaping and becoming the undead isn't romantic."
If it had been anyone else, Kane probably would have agreed with her. He’d avoided having relationships for a lot of reasons, not least of all was his own lifestyle and how he knew nobody in the world could mesh well enough with it to share his life. Or even if they could, they probably wouldn’t mesh with him. But Adrian was blowing that assumption out of the water more and more every damn day. He knew and accepted who and what Kane was, his own life situation was pretty fucked up, they had a lot in common ... Kane had no idea how long it could last, but things kept falling into place and he couldn’t turn his back on it. Not yet. He gave a faint chuckle in response, but the mention of reaping just reminded him of the dead little girl, and there wasn’t much humor in it. “If you wanna make fun of a couple of stunted assholes who’ve never had an actual date before, then feel free,” he said with a huff. “I mean, I’ve had a few with women, of course, but never with a guy. And Adrian’s fully gay, so ... never at all, for him. We can’t do it here, so yeah, call it a romantic getaway.”
Bailey arched a brow as she lit her cigarette. Usually she never smoked inside, but the idea of getting up and wandering out onto her patio right now was just too much. "Of course I want to make fun of stunted assholes dating. Have you met me?" Goddamn, when was the last time she went on a date? Dean coming over to cook her dinner didn't count, because that hadn't been a date. That was just food and fucking between two people who just wanted to eat and fuck. Exhaling, Bailey leaned back against the couch again and brought her bare feet up to rest them against the edge of her coffee table. "Hard to be fully gay with parents who are devout Catholics. Then again, you'd think they cut him some slack, what with his coming back from the dead and all that."
“Fuckin’ right?” Kane agreed with a soft laugh. “I think they would, but he’s still scared.” He supposed he couldn’t blame Adrian for that, it wasn’t like Kane knew his parents and their views on homosexuality. Maybe they were real hardliner bigots. He would’ve died before he told his own father about his bisexuality, but Joel Owen had been a violent, narrow-minded motherfucker. The apple hadn’t fallen far and all that, but at least Kane didn’t hate people for things they couldn’t help that didn’t hurt anyone. He shrugged, since that part wasn’t really his business. It was on Adrian to handle his own family, and if he had to keep Kane a dirty secret, that was ... what it was. He was quiet for a minute, then cleared his throat softly. “Did you get called to that accident last night? With the little girl?”
Bailey had spoken to the Morettis here and there over the past few months and they had always been perfectly pleasant. But that didn't mean they weren't bigots. That was something Kane would have to deal with, if it ever got that far. The whole secret love affair probably had some appeal to it. Bailey felt lucky that she didn't give a shit what her parents thought...or hadn't, considering her dad was dead and her mom was close to it. It was a complicated set of emotions that she had no desire to think about right then. Kane's question drew Bailey's gaze and for a second she wanted to ask how he knew about it. But then she remembered what he did and it sunk in that he'd known about it because he'd been there. "Yeah," she said finally, bringing her cigarette back up to her lips. "You too, huh?"
During the silence while Bailey put two and two together, Kane pulled out his own pack of smokes to shake one free. If she was smoking inside, he was going to join her. He’d shed tears over that girl, even with someone else right there with him, and that was something Kane never did. Not that there were a lot of opportunities -- he was alone most of the time, so he was alone for the vast majority of his reapings. The sad grief was still there, lodged in his chest, but it was just melding with all the rest of the grief he carried for all the lives he’d seen end too soon. “Yup,” he murmured and gave a faint unamused chuckle. “Shittiest first responder, that’s me.” Kane lit his cigarette and slouched a bit more where he was sitting. “I fuckin’ hate it when it’s kids,” he muttered.
Bailey slid one arm beneath her breasts as she slouched a bit herself. “Me too,” she murmured, bringing her cigarette back up to her lips. It occurred to her that Kane’s reaping probably gave them something else in common. She’d seen a lot of really horrific things as a cop, especially when she’d worked in various cities. But Kane had seen things too. He was up close and personal to it. Bailey just tried to do her job and go home, doing whatever it took to make sure she didn’t bring those horrors home with her. She hesitated and then glanced at Kane. “Was she okay?” Obviously not, given the girl had been killed, but Bailey wanted to know what the afterlife was like. If the girl would be okay. If she had been scared. The parents had been inconsolable and just remembering the wails of the mother had Bailey wanting to reach for her drink again.
He knew already that they had a lot of trauma in common, but Kane didn’t often think about it too directly. Sometimes he was grateful that he only had to deal with the dead, because he definitely couldn’t wrangle all of the living assholes out there like Bailey had to. He just didn’t have the patience. But as far as being exposed to horrific deaths? He knew his sister had plenty of similar experience. Kane could read between the lines of Bailey’s question so he didn’t take it as a stupid one. He took a thoughtful drag from his cigarette. Trying to remember all the details of a reaping was like trying to remember the details from a vivid dream -- they were there, but malleable, shifting. “She wasn’t afraid,” he said after a moment. “She was sad for her parents, worried about them. But she was real brave when I took her to the light.” Kane couldn’t speak to what happened after that -- which was the rub of it all. He was just an usher for such a brief moment in these people’s existences, and he didn’t even get to know what was on the other side of that light. Did they go somewhere? Or did they unravel and just ... end?
Bailey nodded, her eyes focused somewhere on the wall in front of her instead of Kane. She very nearly asked Kane if he knew what happened after the light but decided that she didn't want to know. Bailey didn't believe in God and she wasn't so sure about an after-life either. Somehow it was more comforting not knowing. Honestly, she just hoped everything went dark after death. No spiritual plane, no limbo, no heaven or hell. Just darkness. Non-existence. Being a cop, Bailey realized in a morbid sort of way that Kane might someday be the one to usher her to the light. He would most certainly be there for their mother. Did it fuck him up inside to know that? Or did he want to be there? After another moment or two of silence, Bailey chuckled humorlessly and looked over at her brother. "How we became two semi-functioning adults in society is something I'll never understand."
Kane didn’t have any answers for her even if she’d asked. Over the years he’d gone through several phases of thought on what he hoped happened ... but he realized how futile those thoughts were. ‘Wish in one hand, shit in the other,’ as their father used to say. At this point Kane just hoped he didn’t have a whole boatload of suffering waiting for him when he died. He definitely didn’t want to wax poetic about any of it, not when they’d both been witness in different ways to a very young girl’s death. Wherever or whatever she was now, Kane wished her peace. He let the silence stretch until Bailey broke it, staring off into space as well and smoking his cigarette. Her comment drew a little laugh out of him and he smirked at her a bit. “Speak for yourself, I’m barely functioning at best,” he muttered amiably. Kane’s life felt like much more of a disaster than Bailey’s seemed to be, and he was glad she had more of her shit together than he did. “Chalk it up to pure stubbornness, just ... keep going and prove the old bastard wrong,” he added.
Bailey chuckled and didn't bother arguing. They were maybe becoming better siblings but there was still plenty Bailey didn't know about Kane and vice versa. Years spent barely talking, living here and there. Going through things the other would probably never know about. Bailey wasn't fond of reliving the past and she didn't think Kane was either. "Survive out of spite. Yeah, I can do that. But you know... you're not barely functioning anymore. You're... doing slightly better than that. You've let somebody into your life," she pointed out. "So you're not a total disaster."
He didn’t know where to even begin processing all of the things that had happened to him in his life, Kane just tended to push everything down. Maybe he felt like more of a disaster than he looked from the outside. That was possibly a sign of strength, wasn’t it? Bailey did have a point though, and Kane smiled faintly. He hadn’t exactly let Adrian in by choice, it just seemed to keep happening. “He’s a disaster too, so it’s like ... how many disasters does it take to screw in a lightbulb?” Kane chuckled and ran a hand through his short hair. “Naw, you’re right though. I do have some shit going for me. You’re gonna inherit a damn good amount if I kick the bucket first ... no time soon, don’t get your panties in a twist.”
Bailey rolled her eyes, though the odds were probably in her favor to be the last Owen standing. Then again, being a cop in a town like this... maybe she would be the first to bite the dust. "Just don't go missing," she said dryly. "Otherwise I'm gonna have to wait a long time to get that inheritance." Bailey honestly didn't think about money much. She'd never really had any beyond just getting by, so she was grateful to Kane that he was paying their mother's medical bills. "Though you know, you should spend some of that on yourself. Or your boyfriend. Have a crazy fun weekend. Splurge. All that shit."
It had crossed Kane’s mind before that his sister might be killed in the line of duty before something took him out, and the thought made him sick every single time. After their mother passed, Bailey would be his only family, and what if he lost her too? He would surely self-destruct, and quickly. He struggled to think of it in the opposite direction, that Bailey wouldn’t want to lose him either, because she seemed like she had so much more potential to have a normal life than he did. She might be sad for a while if he died, but she would move on and keep living, Kane felt sure. He tried to push those morbid thoughts away, not wanting to get into one of those arguments with her right then. “Oh I plan on it,” he said with a wolfish sort of grin. “Splurging, that is. It’s hard not to try and pay off all his debts and buy everything for him already.” Kane huffed a bit at his own lovesick idiocy. “Even if I did all that, there will be plenty to make you comfortable for the rest of your life, you know. I kinda fuckin’ suck at being a brother, but I’m gonna do that part right, at least.”
Bailey had already come close to losing Kane but it wasn't like she could tell him to be careful. He had been involved in dangerous things for years now and he had made it this far. It was just a sobering feeling, realizing that he was really the only family she had left and their jobs meant one bad day could end their life. Bailey snorted and reached for her coffee mug again. "God, you sound so disgusting," she said, only half teasing. "Like you're in love or something. Sucker." She sipped and shook her head. "And I don't know if you realize this, but I don't need your money. This isn't something like... sorry I suck as a brother, here's some cash. Just... be my brother, even if you suck at it. It's not like I've been sister of the year."
He did sound disgusting and he knew it, and it was because he was definitely falling in love. Kane could admit that to himself now, at least, even if he couldn’t quite say it out loud to Bailey yet. He was still sure this thing with Adrian would end abruptly and badly and soon, no matter what his feelings were. Kane was trying to brace for the heartbreak, but there was only so much he could do about any of it. He rolled his eyes, though he was still smiling faintly. It was nice to hear her admit she wasn’t a perfect sister, even if he didn’t hold it against her. Neither of them had very much practice at any of this, so it was bound to be messy. “Do you see me throwing cash at you yet to buy you off?” he asked, lifting his drink again. He took a sip and then gestured to himself with the glass. “Nah, this is all you get until I die. My delightful company.” Kane grinned and lifted one boot to nudge at Bailey’s chair.
"Oh." Bailey eyed him thoughtfully, a faint smirk forming on her lips. "Is it too late to ask for the cash?" She was teasing, of course, and Bailey finished off her drink before setting the mug back down. "What are you going to do with the money if I die first? Leave it all to your boyfriend? Charity?" Honestly, Bailey didn't care what Kane did with his money as long as he helped her out with their mother, which he had been doing since he arrived in town. She had no idea how much he actually had, but she didn't really care about that either. Money had never really been something Bailey had strived for. She just needed enough to get by.
He laughed while he flipped her off, then groaned and rubbed his hand over his face. “I dunno, maybe I’ll just start just tossing it out on the street. Give it all to a homeless guy. Which kinda sounds like a pain in the ass for him, so you’d better not die.” He could sound casual about it when they were just bullshitting around like this, but Kane truly did hope she outlived him. Bailey deserved to die an old lady with people she loved around, family or friends or whatever. Kane knew she didn’t have much of either at the moment, but things could change. Life was smacking him in the face with that particular lesson lately, wasn’t it? “If you do though, you gotta find a way to get a message to me about what it’s like, okay? If it’s like anything. I get asked so much, and I don’t know shit.”
"I'll do what I can," Bailey said dryly. "Haunt your ass." She didn't believe in the afterlife. If there really was a light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak, she figured it just led to darkness. Infinite nothingness. That was more comforting to her than Heaven or anything remotely close to it. Nearly finished with her cigarette, Bailey exhaled a steady stream of smoke while lifting a brow in curiosity. "Have you ever tried to communicate with the dead, beyond what you do when they actually die? Is that something you can do?" Maybe once they went into the light they were gone. But there had to be some fucking ghosts wandering around who refused, right?
It was probably fucked up that the prospect of being haunted by his sister appealed to him more than being alone for the rest of his life, but the thought crossed his mind anyway. Kane believed in ghosts and he was pretty sure he had an idea of why they occurred -- either the dead folks in question chose not to go into the light, or a reaper just didn’t show up for them at all -- but he’d never had an interaction with one outside of the astral plane. Kane shook his head a bit at Bailey’s questions. “Don’t think so,” he said. “It’s like I’m on a whole different plane of existence when I reap, and I’ve got no control over how long I’m there. I’ve tried to get there on my own, like astrally project or whatever they call it, but it’s never worked. Just a cog in the cosmic machine.” Kane chuckled faintly.
"Aren't we all," Bailey muttered. "Well, if I bite it before you do, make sure I go into the light. As appealing as it would be to haunt you for all eternity... or at least until you die, I think it probably be pretty damn boring to wander around as a ghost. Unless there are other ghosts and we can communicate... but fuck, I don't really like communicating to the living, so..." She laughed and reached over to put her cigarette out in the ashtray. "I wonder if mom or dad knew anyone who could do what you do... or knew it was even a thing. I wonder if its genetic."
Being a ghost did sound pretty shitty, so Kane saw where she was coming from there. And if he was the one to reap her, he would make sure she went where she was supposed to, in spite of his own selfish impulses. Kane just hoped it wasn’t him. He crossed his arms over his chest and slouched enough to lean his head back against the cushion. “If they did, they never told me anything,” he said. “I dunno if you remember, you mighta been too young, but ... they took me to doctors and shit, for a little while. They couldn’t find anything wrong, but it was like, seizures. I never told anybody what I was seeing, I just always said I didn’t remember, like it was always a blackout. I was scared Dad would think I was makin’ it all up for attention.” Kane didn’t have to spell out to Bailey just how that would’ve gone over in their house. “He sure wasn’t worried about my head when he was pushing me to play football,” he muttered.
Bailey's brows drew together as she tried to remember that far back in her childhood. There was vague recollection of Kane going to the doctor, but she couldn't remember any real details about it. She did know how their dad would have reacted if he thought Kane was lying though so she understood Kane's apprehension about the whole thing. "He was an asshole," Bailey said, which was like... no shit. That was something they both knew very well. She supposed she had gotten lucky that he had been so focused on Kane and more or less forgot she even existed. At least until Kane left and Bailey was the only kid in the house. "I'm guessing they decided to just ignore it? Or fix it with medication?"
“I dunno, it just ... seemed to stop being important after a couple of years,” he answered with a little shrug. “I guess they saw it wasn’t gonna kill me immediately or whatever. So yeah, they ignored it.” Kane thought he remembered some vague mention of medication, but nothing ever came of it. Since it didn’t happen that often, and he hid it whenever he could, it must not have seemed that dire to his parents. Maybe it was for the best that they weren’t trying to keep him on medicine that wouldn't have done anything anyway. “Better neglected than locked up in a psych ward, I guess.” That surely would have been his fate if he’d been honest about it all.
"I guess." She had no idea what would have been better for Kane, though she knew being locked away for something he couldn't help sounded terrible. And he seemed to have shit together now, at least where it came to his ability. Bailey was glad it didn't seem to hurt him, though it was obviously a hard thing to do mentally, especially when it was kids. "Doesn't seem like there's a lot that could kill you," she pointed out with a faint grin. "You're still standing."
Thanks to you, Kane thought but didn’t say. He didn’t want to remind her yet again that he’d almost died at the hands of the man he was currently falling in love with. Kane knew where she stood on that. Instead he gave her a crooked smile back. “What’s that saying, only the good die young? So you’re probably stuck with me for a long while.” There was plenty out there that could kill him, Kane had no doubt. He was just good at what he did, and he’d taken a lot of magical precautions, so he was doing all right, he supposed. “I probably need to kinda ... slow down, anyway. With the hunting. I’m gettin’ old and shit.”
Bailey certainly didn't need to be reminded about how he'd probably be dead if she wasn't around. She knew it and he knew it and that was that. Talking about it would only remind her why he almost died and they didn't want to talk about that either. Bailey arched a brow when he mentioned backing off from hunting. "Is that what you want to do? What would you do instead?" She nearly teased him about settling down, buying a house and gardening with his boyfriend, but she really didn't want to provoke an argument.
“I dunno,” Kane said with a sigh, and it kind of answered both questions. His financials were in good enough shape that he wouldn’t have to earn anything ever again if he didn’t care to. But filling up time was a different story. Kane would still have to reap no matter what, but he didn’t have to hunt. He just had no other ideas on what to do with his life. “It’s just an idea I’m kicking around.” Kane paused and wet his lips, considering whether he should share or not ... trying to hide Adrian didn’t feel right anymore, and he and Bailey were attempting to be closer. “Maybe I can start outsourcing the hard part ... I went hunting with him. Adrian. He was in wendigo mode and feeling antsy, I guess. He was pretty fucking amazing at it. He killed that big thing that chased you and me outta Blackwater like it was nothing.”
As she digested that bit of information, Bailey glanced at Kane before reaching for her cigarettes to light one more. She remembered vividly that monster in the woods. It had been scary as fuck but also oddly exhilarating, coming face to face with something so... unnatural. Of course, she didn't think she and Kane were going to become hunting buddies after that or anything, but she sort of wished he had wanted to include her in more. It made sense that he wouldn't, though. She was human and not Adrian Moretti. She didn’t really bring anything to the table. "So wendigo mode means he wants to kill something?" she asked once she lit her cigarette and relaxed against the couch again.
“No, it’s ...” Kane started, then gave a little sigh as he realized what a long story it was. He knew Adrian wasn’t his sister’s favorite subject, and she’d only recently learned that supernatural monsters were real, so none of this was going to sound good. “He’s cursed. And this curse made him stronger and faster than any human, but it also made him hungry, like starving all the time. So he got some magical help for that, and now he’s only strong and fast sometimes. It was his idea to go out, he’d seen that thing before, he knew his target before he even asked me.” The wendigo version of Adrian was a little unsettling sometimes, but Kane really didn’t think he was in any danger around him. He just hoped Bailey would trust him on that. He paused, then added, “We don’t have to talk about him if you don’t wanna though.”
Bailey already knew she couldn't tell Kane what to do. She could only tell him how she felt, even if she wasn't exactly tactful about it. He was going to do what he wanted to do, just like she was. "Do you want to talk about him?" she asked instead, bringing her feet back up to rest on the coffee table in front of her. If Kane was actually smitten with this guy and he wanted to talk about it, then Bailey would listen. That's what good sisters did, right? She honestly had no idea, but it felt right.
Yes was the answer that came to the tip of his tongue first, but Kane clenched his jaw on it, eyeing Bailey’s expression. She was so hard to read sometimes, he still felt like he barely knew her. Which was of course his own damn fault, because he was a fuckup and the worst brother in the world. He did want to talk about Adrian, to gush a bit and share how nervous it all made him sometimes, how desperately alive. Kane had no one to talk to about anything like that, but at the same time he didn’t want to make Bailey feel burdened or annoyed at him about it. Especially now, when she’d had a long, awful night. “Nah,” he murmured finally, offering her a faint smile. “It’s okay.” His knee bounced for a couple of seconds and his gaze ticked to Bailey’s empty glass. “You want a refill?”
She could practically see the thoughts churning over in his head and she wondered what it felt like to want to talk about someone she was sleeping with. She had never felt the need to talk about Pierce to whatever friends she'd had at the time, unless they asked about him. Even then her answers were always short and to the point. It was both amusing and sad that Bailey was realizing more and more that she had been married to the guy for ten years and had never actually loved him. Even more sad to think she didn't know how to love someone. "You're such a liar," Bailey said before she used her foot to nudge her glass in Kane's direction. "Want me to start singing? What's that Grease song? Tell me more, tell more..."
Kane made a sound that was half laugh and half groan as he snagged Bailey’s glass and stood up. “God, I haven’t even thought about that shit in years,” he chuckled. In the kitchen, he had to find a fresh bottle to open since it looked like Bailey had emptied one already. “See, now I don’t know what to say about him,” he said as he splashed whiskey into their mugs. He’d also told her she didn’t have to have anything to do with his relationship, and he didn’t want to go back on that. Kane came back and sat down, setting Bailey’s mug in front of her. “I know you just had a long-ass, shitty night, I don’t wanna piss you off,” he added. He was probably being annoying, but Kane was honestly trying to keep her feelings in mind.
"What're you going to say that would piss me off?" Bailey asked, watching him even after he returned her mug to the table. "If you're going to tell me he tried to kill you again, yeah, that'd piss me off. But hey, I'm trying okay? If you want to talk about your boyfriend, talk about your boyfriend. I don't remember you ever bringing girls home when we were younger. Might as well do some catching up on that." Bailey couldn't remember if Kane and Pierce had ever even met, since she and Pierce had hooked up after Kane ditched out of town. It was probably stupid to talk about love lives, or rather, Kane's love life, but why the hell not? Maybe if she could see he was serious about Moretti, she could work on not hating him so much.
“No, nothing like that,” Kane assured her first. “No more violence between us.” At least not the unsexy kind, but he was sure Bailey didn’t care to hear those types of details. He’d more meant that talking about Adrian in general would piss Bailey off, because it seemed to on a pretty regular basis. But talking about love was at least more upbeat than talking about all of the death that constantly plagued their lives. “For one, it’s really fuckin’ weird to hear the word ‘boyfriend’ so often,” he chuckled. “Sounds like we’re thirteen or something. But I guess that’s the easiest thing to call it. I just ... I dunno, Bails. He just drives me crazy in this incredible way. And I feel like he gets me like nobody else could, you know? Like we’ve been through the same type of dark shit. We’ve both done bad things we regret, we know each other’s secrets now. It doesn’t make that stuff go away, but it’s like letting out this deep breath when we’re together. I didn’t know how much I needed it.”
Love was just as frustrating to talk about as anything else, but Bailey was willing to listen if it made Kane happy. It was just fucking weird to hear him talk about it the way that he was. It was like a pod person had completely taken over her brother's body and mind. But Bailey supposed she was happy that he found someone to make him feel more human and less like a damaged asshole. Maybe it was fitting that person just so happened to be someone who sent Kane to the hospital bleeding out. "Well, I'm glad," she said finally, hoping she sounded sincere. "I mean, it's good that you've got someone you care about, someone to make shit here more tolerable. If you're happy then... I'm happy for you." Maybe Bailey didn't understand it, but what she understood or didn't didn't really matter. This was Kane's life, not hers. "It's kind of strange not seeing you with a permanent scowl on your face," she added with a faint grin. "I'm not sure what to do with it."
It was all far too complicated and tangled now for Kane to be able to explain it terribly well to someone else, but it didn’t really need to be explained. It could just be what it was. He just felt it was important in a weird way that Bailey understood where he was coming from, at least. Part of him felt a little guilty for connecting so strongly to someone else when he struggled to connect with his own sister ... but maybe they were damaged too much in similar ways for that to be really easy. It wasn’t like he and Bailey could get carried away on some wild attraction. Kane chuckled a bit at the last part and pushed a hand through his short hair. “I dunno what to do with it either,” he said. “It’s fuckin’ weird. I appreciate you sayin’ so, though. ... And I’m not over here plannin’ out some white picket fence future or nothin’. He’ll get back on his feet and get his shit straight and then ...” Kane made a vague gesture. “Move on, probably.” He wasn’t sure why he felt compelled to make those dire sorts of predictions, Kane’s entire being had just been trained to anticipate the worst. He was happy now, but it couldn’t last. No happiness ever did. Maybe if he braced for impact hard enough, it wouldn’t completely break him.
Bailey eyed Kane skeptically. "Move on? The guy's a cursed wendigo, or whatever it is. He was presumed dead for over five years. Do you really think he's just going to get that kind of shit straightened out enough for some ideal family fantasy? Seems pretty doubtful, Kane." Maybe it was harsh, but it was realistic and he had to know that too. Bailey brought her cigarette back up to her lips. "Don't be one of those doom and gloomers, okay? Just fucking enjoy what you've got now while you've got it. If there is a time limit on this thing, you don't want to waste it anticipating the end. If you do, then what's the point of any of it?" She really couldn't believe she was trying to give him advice on his love life, but... maybe she just wanted Kane to be happy and not see himself as some kind of damaged person who wasn't worth having anything good in his life.
It was good advice, and Kane had coached himself on ‘enjoy it while it lasts’ so many times in the course of the past few weeks. It was just harder to listen to himself than to listen to Bailey, for some reason. She was divorced and single, so maybe not the best person to take relationship advice from, but who else did he have? Plus she was his sister, and he did believe she had his best interest at heart. He smiled a bit in spite of himself. “You’re right,” Kane murmured. He wasn’t sure he could force himself out of a doom and gloom mindset since he’d lived in one so long, but he needed to get better at focusing on the good shit while it was around. “I’m just always waitin’ for that other shoe to drop, I guess, in any situation. So ... here’s to dad, fuck him forever.” Kane lifted his mug in a lazy toast before he took another swallow.
Bailey absolutely sucked at relationships and she knew it. But that didn't mean she couldn't see what her brother needed to hear and maybe she was hoping it would work out for him just because he was happy. She just wished he could be happy with someone who hadn't tried to kill him or vice versa. "I can drink to that," she said, grabbing her mug to lift in a toast. "Fuck that guy. I've just found it to be really exhausting, waiting for that shoe. Just... do what you want and fuck everything else. If it blows up, it blows up. But maybe it won't. I don't fucking know."
The rest of Kane’s life was so fucked up and full of death, maybe it tracked perfectly that he would find love with a semi-monster he’d tried to kill -- had succeeded at killing, it just hadn’t stuck. It was never going to be a meet-cute story for them to tell their kids, but it had obviously bonded them in this crazy intense way. “‘Do what you want and fuck everything else,’” Kane echoed with a crooked sort of grin. “Hear, hear. Make it the fuckin’ family motto.” He related too closely to her comment about the exhaustion, Kane had felt like that for ages. It was like that training from childhood to always be aware and ready to get hurt had followed him everywhere, reinforced by personal grief and how rough the world was in general. He wished he could alleviate it for Bailey, he was sure she still felt it, in spite of her attitude. “Now we just gotta get you all married off again,” he drawled, nudging the couch cushion she was sitting on with his foot.
It was kind of funny and sad that the family motto really only applied to the both of them. Their mom was on her deathbed, more or less and their dad had been gone for a long time. Bailey certainly wasn't close to any extended family and she doubted Kane was either. Kane's words drew a brief scowl to Bailey's face before she laughed. "God, why do you have to ruin a perfectly nice conversation by saying shit like that? Marriage is never going to happen... again. But if you want to get hitched, I'll be your flower girl."
That answer was about what Kane had expected, and it made him laugh just because Bailey sounded so salty about it. It made him more curious about all the details of what exactly had ended her marriage, but he knew none of that was his business and she probably didn’t want to talk about it. “Yeah, don’t hold your breath on that one, he’s not even outta the closet,” he scoffed, shaking his head a bit. At this point, it would be a stretch to even be in a monogamous, public relationship with Adrian. Moving in together seemed like a huge deal. Kane couldn’t be anybody’s husband. “Are you getting laid, at least? C’mon, you’re making me feel guilty here.”
Her marriage was the absolute last thing Bailey wanted to discuss and she was thankful that Kane didn't push the issue. Talking about Pierce would only serve to annoy her and she didn't feel like being annoyed right now. It would take a few more drinks before she could even think about her ex-husband without her back tensing up. Bailey wasn't at all surprised to hear Moretti wasn't out of the closet yet considering how religious Mr. and Mrs. Moretti were. Rolling her eyes at his question, Bailey sunk down into her couch cushions some more. "If you really need to know, yeah, I'm doing okay in that department, thanks. But it's nothing at all like what you've got and it's not going to be. I'm happy with how things are and so is he."
He didn’t need to know, but Kane felt self conscious already talking about Adrian, so he needed some company in that feeling. Bailey’s answer made him grin, even if she was insisting there were no feelings involved. “That’s a real specific ‘he,’” he pointed out, his tone amused. Which meant that his sister had a regular fuckbuddy. He probably shouldn’t have any opinions at all on her sex life, but Kane was pleased for her anyway. Even if there weren’t Serious Feelings involved -- hell, maybe especially if it lacked feelings -- regular rolls in the hay could be really good for people. Bailey needed all the stress relief she could get. “Well hell yeah, as long as you’re happy with it. ... If he fucks with you though, let me know and I’ll fucking kill him.” Kane’s tone dropped into something serious, because he meant every word. He would bury any man who hurt Bailey bad enough. Or feed him to his cannibal boyfriend, whatever it took.
Bailey shrugged one shoulder. Maybe it was a specific 'he', but that didn't mean anything. In a town this size, it was probably easier to find a regular fuckbuddy than to jump around to different guys. Pickins were slim in Point Pleasant. Glancing over at the shift in Kane's tone, Bailey's lips twitched. "If he fucks with me, I'll kill him." Maybe not literally, but she didn't think she needed anyone fighting her battles for her. Then again, Kane might be trying to do the whole Big Brother thing, which she understood, considering how she felt about Moretti. "You are scarier looking than I am though, so maybe I'll let you have a go at terrifying him if it ever comes to that. But I don't think it will. We seem to be on the same page about things."
Kane absolutely believed his sister was a tough woman who could fight her own battles ... but he knew she probably wouldn’t literally kill anyone if she could avoid it at all costs. He strongly avoided killing humans himself as a general rule, but if anybody truly hurt Bailey, Kane knew he wouldn’t hesitate. Not over relationship bullshit, obviously, but anybody who injured or raped her or something would definitely pay a price. So he did understand her animosity toward Adrian on some level, Kane just knew he’d deserved what had happened to him, and Bailey never would. He chuckled faintly at the sideways compliment and nodded. “Good, then,” he said easily enough. “You just let me know if you want me to mean mug anybody at all, I got you.” It was the very least he could do ... not that he ever expected Bailey to ask. They had both turned out fiercely independent.
Bailey laughed. "Yeah, you've probably got the mean mug thing down. For women, it's called resting bitch face." She felt like she could handle her own problems, but honestly, it was kind of nice to know someone had her back, at least in her personal life. "You gonna go see mom today?" she asked after a brief pause. Bailey wasn't sure how often Kane was visiting since they rarely crossed paths there. Their mom's illness seemed to be the only thing tying them together - at least that had been true when Kane first returned to town. But at some point things had started to shift and while Bailey was glad for it, there was still some apprehension as to what would happen when their mom finally passed away.
“For me it’s just called ugly,” Kane chuckled. He could practically see Adrian’s disapproving look, but he couldn’t exactly change his opinions about himself overnight, could he? He worked hard on his physique and he had a big dick, but that only counted for so much in the attractiveness department. In any case, it was a quick thought that rolled through his mind before he started thinking about their mother to answer Bailey’s question. “Nah, she’s probably gonna be asleep soon,” he said, glancing at the time on his phone. As an old and dying person, she was asleep a lot of the time, but Kane wasn’t sure if he was emotionally solid enough today to be there and look at her and know the end was coming soon. “I’ll prob’ly go tomorrow though. Were you?”
Their mom did sleep a lot. Honestly Bailey was kind of surprised she was still holding on. Everything seemed to indicate she was nearing the end but... the end never came. Not that Bailey wanted her mother to die, but she had complicated feelings about her entire family, it was hard to really put them into words. "I thought about it," she said after a moment. "I've been over there twice already this week but she's always sleeping when I go, so I ended up talking to her new nurse or cleaning up. Sometimes I wonder if she's faking sleeping so she doesn't have to talk to me or you know… tolerate my presence."
Kane kept expecting the end at any time too. He had no idea what she was holding on for, but he supposed he couldn’t blame her. For all their faults, the Owens had never been overly religious, so their mom likely wasn’t looking forward to some idyllic heaven where she would be reunited with a perfected version of her husband. Kane only hoped there was a hell for his dad to rot in. He huffed a bit through his nose and let his head loll from one side to the other to stretch his neck. “You really think she’d do that?” he asked idly. He realized he didn’t know much of anything about Bailey’s relationship with their mother. His own had always been kind of quiet and strange, but mothers and daughters seemed complicated even under the best circumstances. “That’s when you gotta just ramble and say outrageous things until she just has to speak up.”
Bailey snickered. "Yes, I think she'd do that. Even when she's incoherent and her mind is almost gone. And I used to say outrageous things to her when I was younger, after you left... I think that's what pushed her into pretending I wasn't there and she's just been unable to break the habit." Kane knew little about Bailey's relationship with their mother, but that was because they didn't really talk about any of that stuff, and she was thankful for it. What good did it do to talk about it? "You left when you could... and so did I. And now we're both back because of her." Bailey finished off her second cigarette and leaned over to put it out on the ashtray. "I'm guessing now that the town has its roots in you again, you're going to stay put once she's gone."
His stomach lurched with guilt yet again, and Kane wondered just how bad it had been for her, with an abusive father and a neglectful mother. Joel Owen had preferred to beat up on his son, but had that changed when Kane left? Had all that rage shifted to Bailey? Kane had never asked, half afraid of the answer. Their mother had never done anything to stop the abuse, so she’d neglected both of them, but she had at least expressed some love for him sometimes. Had Bailey not gotten any of that? He considered asking her, but he kind of doubted she would want to open up to him about any of that shit. God, he should have stolen her as soon as he turned eighteen and gotten them far away from here. “I dunno, I don’t really have a plan,” he admitted quietly. “I’m not itching to run, so maybe that’s something. Plus, somebody asked me to stay.” He smiled faintly. “What about you? If you only came back for her? You can get the fuck outta dodge again once it’s over.”
Bailey really didn't want to talk about their parents anymore, or how things had been. It seemed so long ago, like another life even though they were both back in town and dealing with the long, drawn out death of their mother. The only good thing to come out of any of that was that she and Kane were sort of becoming closer now, as adults. Shared trauma did that, she supposed. Bailey folded her arms beneath her breasts, getting comfortable enough on the couch now that she didn't have a cigarette in her hand. "I did only come back for her," she admitted. "But I've been here so long now... I've got a job that I like well enough. I don't have a boyfriend to keep me here... but there are people I like. Besides, if you're going to stay..." Bailey trailed off and shrugged, letting the obvious just hang there. If he was staying, she would. "It won't be so bad, right? Living here?"
Bailey herself had asked him not to disappear once their mother had passed, even before Adrian had expressed he wanted Kane to stick around. He wasn’t really used to being wanted by one person, much less two. Right now it felt easy to oblige them, and Kane kind of hoped that wouldn’t change. As fucked up as this place was, he felt better equipped to handle it than most. Maybe he could even do some good here. Thin the monster population or whatever. The strange old woman’s demand of him floated through his mind again and he wet his lips. He still didn’t know if that would be a good thing or bad, but it still seemed like the lesser of two evils, from what little he knew. He just wished he knew more. “There are worse places, believe it or not,” he murmured. “Hey uh ... you ever heard of a Cecilia Werner? Lives on a farm somewhere on the outskirts?”
It was an odd question but obviously had intent behind it so Bailey took a moment to think. Finally, she shook her head and frowned. "No, that name isn't familiar to me. Now, I know there are some people who live out in the woods. Not the O'Reilly's, but some others. But I don't know who they are. Why?" Cecilia Werner. Bailey committed the name to memory, just in case it turned out to be important.
Kane gave a brief grunt of disappointment, though it wasn’t directed at Bailey. She couldn’t know everyone, even in a town this size. He wondered if the O’Reillys knew Cecilia, as fellow woods-hermits. It might be smart of him to do a bit of research into her before he fulfilled this request of hers. “She approached me about doing a job for her,” Kane said, deciding against telling Bailey why the old woman believed he was obligated to do it. “I still don’t know how she knows me, and it’s bugging me.” That was somewhat of an understatement, but he didn’t want to get into the whole moral quandary of it all.
Bailey's brow rose higher. "What kind of job?" She was assuming a hunting kind of job, but it bothered her too that some woman he didn't seem to know would appear to ask him to do something for her. How did she know Kane? That was worrisome and she could see in his eyes that Kane felt the same way. "Do you want me to look into her for you?" Bailey could find out who Cecilia Werner was a hell of a lot faster than anyone else could.
“A soul collecting job,” he said. “She claims there’s a bunch of ‘em running loose in Blackwater. It was a pretty weird request.” There was more to it than that, but Kane didn’t want to get into all of those weeds. If he’d had his head on straight that night, maybe he could’ve caught some of those human souls escaping the monster ... but how the fuck could he have anticipated that? “But yeah, uh, anything you could find out might be helpful. She said she’s got a farm outside town.” He knew he had to take some kind of action on all of this soon, whether he did the favor for Cecilia or not.
“I’ll check it out later tonight.” Souls running amok in Blackwater. That should have surprised her, but it didn’t. Did anything surprise her anymore? Maybe not but that didn’t mean she wanted her brother out in those woods alone. Then again, maybe he wouldn’t be alone, maybe he would take Adrian. That didn’t sit well with her either. “I know you’ll probably do whatever you want, but please don’t go out there until I know more about who this woman is.” Bailey thought it could be a trap. Someone looking for revenge for something she knew Kane had done. Kane was smart enough to know it was a possibility too, but she just wanted to make him promise that he would stay put.
Unless Adrian showed up at his door all wendigo-ed up again, Kane had no plans to take him along on this little expedition. Blackwater was too dangerous for him when he didn’t have all that extra strength and speed. Nor did he want to drag Bailey along for the same reasons. He could read between the lines of his sister’s concern, and Kane nodded his understanding. He wasn’t eager to walk blindly into some kind of trap. “I won’t,” he assured her. “Just the sooner you can get info, the better. If there’s even anything to find, some people have a knack for making their shit disappear, you know?” He was sure Bailey knew.
"Yeah, I know. But if there's anything out there, I'll find it." She stifled a yawn, dreading having to go into work in a bit. The night shifts were the worst. But hopefully it would be a quiet night and she could get nosy in the database to look for this woman. "If I don't find anything, the next best thing will probably be to ask one of the O'Reillys. And if they don't know anything... maybe just wait and see if that woman comes back to see you. I don't know what's going on in Blackwater, but it's not your responsibility to clean it up." Bailey didn't know whose responsibility it was to be honest, but she didn't see how it fell on Kane's shoulders to start reaping souls that were hanging around.
That last part was debatable, Kane supposed, but it was nice of her to say so anyway. He nodded some vague agreement. If Bailey came up empty handed and the O’Reillys didn’t know anything, Kane thought he might pay a drop in visit to Cecilia’s farm, scope it out a bit before he knocked on the door. That was dangerous too, especially if she was some kind of psychic and expected him, but he wanted some answers to all of the question marks around her. “So when do you go in? Am I holdin’ you up or anything?” he asked, upnodding in Bailey’s direction.
"I've got an hour or so," Bailey said, stretching her arms out in front of her. "Night shift tonight. I'm off tomorrow so I foresee a lot of sleeping. But I'll do some research tonight and give you a call once I see what I can find out." She knew she shouldn't be drinking before a shift, but she wasn't drunk and it was something she did as often as she had coffee. "What are you up to tonight? Date night? Dinner and a movie? Do you buy him flowers?" Obviously she was teasing and Bailey wanted Kane to understand that giving him shit was her way of trying to be okay about everything.
He let out a dismissive puff of air and chuckled, shaking his head a bit. Kane knew she was just giving him shit, but part of him kind of wished he could have those kinds of plans with Adrian. That was most of why they were going to Portland. “Nah, we can’t go out like that,” he said with a shrug. Kane tucked away the idea of buying Adrian flowers though, not sure if he would laugh or genuinely appreciate them. “No plans tonight but chilling solo, we’re leavin’ in the morning and I don’t want him to be sick of me quite yet. ... Though maybe I’ll go sing outside his window or somethin’, if I get bored and drunk enough.”
Bailey wasn't about to feed Kane some weak encouragement about going public with his boyfriend. He knew their relationship better than she did and she understood why it wasn't possible. "Make sure you get a guitar," Bailey said dryly. "If you're going to serenade him, do it right." Even if Kane was joking, it was hard to imagine him doing anything remotely close to romantic for another person. But Bailey also recognized that she didn't know him as well as she probably should have for being his sister and maybe Adrian knew a completely different side of him than she did. "Just be careful," she added after a brief pause. "With all of it."
It was both funny and a little embarrassing that Bailey mentioned a guitar, because he had been thinking of getting another one. Kane was very out of practice, but he’d gotten fairly good at playing guitar back in his military days, and he had a decent singing voice. Damned if he was going to admit to his sister that he actually wanted to serenade his boyfriend though, he already knew he’d never heard the end of it. Kane was a little touched by her warning at the end, like maybe she was concerned about more than his physical safety. He couldn’t escape the pessimistic feeling that he was going to get his heart broken by all of this, but Kane couldn’t give a shit when the ride was so incredible so far. “I’ll do my best,” he told Bailey with a little smile. He stood up and stretched with a little groan. “Guess I’ll fuck off so you can get ready,” he said. “You be careful too, out there.”
Kane wanting to be in a relationship was shocking enough. Bailey wasn't sure she could handle it if he mentioned wanting to actually play guitar for his boyfriend. She would seriously start questioning his sanity. Bailey stood when Kane did, willing to walk him to the door, even though it was right there. "Yeah, I'll be careful," she said, since she tried to be every day. "I'll text you if I find any information on that Werner woman." Bailey paused, wincing internally before she spoke again. "This is going to sound annoying, but can you just shoot me a text when you get to where you're going?" She wasn't going to follow his every movement or anything like that, but he was leaving town, so she just wanted to make sure he was safe.
His first impulse was to be quippy or make fun of Bailey for making such a request, but Kane recognized that was an asshole thing to do. And he was trying to be less of an asshole to his sister -- he could count the people who gave a shit about him on one hand and she was the first finger. “Yeah, sure,” he answered, his tone casual. It may have meant a lot, but he wasn’t going to make a big deal about it. He would let her know when they were on the way home too, but that didn’t need to be said either. Kane gave her a nod and reached for the door. “Talk to you later, thanks for checkin’ on her for me.” He pulled out his cigarettes as he stepped outside and tucked one between his lips.
Bailey would have probably given Kane shit had their roles been reserved but she was still grateful that he let it be. She wasn't necessarily worried about Adrian anymore, but she knew what kind of bullshit was out there, both supernatural and otherwise. But Kane could take care of himself, she knew that much. She just wanted some reassurance and she knew Kane would come through. "Have fun," she said in a teasing, sing song voice. "Behave. Don't do anything I wouldn't do and ... whatever the fuck else people say."
Kane had been taking care of himself for a long time, against all of the foes Bailey could think of. It was this whole being cared for by other people thing he was still getting used to. It was weird but nice, like several other things that were suddenly in his life. He laughed a bit as he lit his smoke and shot her an amused glance. “Oh fuck off,” he said with obvious affection. “Bye Bails.” Kane sauntered off to head for his car, looking forward to throwing some stuff in a bag for the next morning and then relaxing for the rest of the night.