Who: Kasumi Goto and Wrex When: After Kasumi was attacked and texted Wrex Where: Joeyray's What: Wrex checks on Kasumi and they talk about Feels. Rating: PG-13 for talk of violence and drunkness. Status: Complete
Kasumi had holed up inside Joeyray’s, doors locked and lights off. She hadn’t heard the guys outside for a while, but she wasn’t going out to check, either. She’d pulled down one of the barstools and was pouring herself shots of vodka while she waited for Wrex.
The men Kasumi had dealt with had, unfortunately for Wrex, already hobbled off somewhere by tht time he got there. He'd spent most of the drive trying not to go off in a murderous rage, and had even considered bringing a shotgun with him to scare the piss out of anyone who remained.
But he hadn't, because the urge to use it would have been too great. That was practically the last thing the Ranch needed on top of everything else. And was wrong, even if it would have made him feel better.
Noticing the bar was locked as he approached it, he pounded his fist twice against the door, "Kasumi!?"
Kasumi was halfway through texting Shepard. It was Wrex's voice, obviously. She put the phone down and walked to the door, fumbling to unlock it before pulling it open. "Wrex." She wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders, her breath smelling of alcohol.
She was fine. No bruises, no cuts. Her hands were shaking a little, though, and she pressed her face into his chest. "Hey," she murmured.
He checked her over with his eyes the second she opened the door, just to make sure, before wrapping his arms around her protectively and pressing a light kiss against the top of her head.
It was clear she was rattled, even if she was 'fine'. The alcohol on her breath said it before the shaking of her hands could, and he was concerned. But she was playing it cool, and he could respect that. So he rocked her a bit in his arms and simply said, "Hey."
"You shouldn't text and drive," Kasumi scolded, her words slurring. There was a whole big lecture that included parts about the example he was setting, and how much it would suck if he got himself killed. But that was as much as she could get out.
"Take me home?" She didn't move, though. She liked the way he held her, wrapped her up. She felt safe.
"The phone takes dictation, Kasumi. I was never in any danger," His tone was soft, and sounded somewhat apologetic for worrying her. He nuzzled his lips against her hair again, not really ready to move from that spot and still not entirely sure she was okay enough to pick up and go.
He rubbed at her back a bit with his hands, "Do you want to talk about it before we go?"
She closed her eyes, leaning against him. "It was crazy. This guy was perving on me and one of my boys got him to leave. I guess he called a couple friends and waited around." She shook her head. "They pulled my hair." Kasumi pouted. "My head hurts."
The part of Wrex that had been angry earlier over the idea that anyone would lay a finger on Kasumi rose up to the surface again, and he mentally suppressed it. He wanted to beat the piss out of them, but they were gone now, and there was nothing his anger could do. Nowhere for it to really focus.
So instead, he bent his head down a bit and feathered kisses along her forehead, like the power of his kisses alone could relieve her aching head, "Your hair still looks good, if it's any consolation."
Kasumi gave a soft laugh. "Well, thank God for that." She smiled, quite content to let him pepper her with kisses. Wrex was probably wishing he could headbutt the men, she knew, but she was glad he was here instead of hunting them down.
"It's okay," she reassured him. "I think I stabbed that one." It was a bit of a blur now, but she thought the hair-puller was the one who got stabbed. She probably should have done more to the guy who started the whole thing, but her main goal was getting away from them.
"Serves them right," he rumbled. He really did want to hunt them down. He was feeling extremely protective of her, probably more than he should for the somewhat casual relationship they were trying to have. That would probably be a conversation that he'd have to have with her, but not tonight. Especially not with that much liquor on her breath.
He bent to the side a bit and scooped her up into his arms, on a whim, "Do you need to get anything inside, or can we just lock up and go home?"
Kasumi shifted her arms to hold onto him a bit better, resting her cheek on his shoulder and looking up at him. "I really like you, Wrex," she confessed. There hadn't been many verbal statements of affection between the two. "More than I meant to."
That wasn't what he asked. She shook her head. "I'm good. Just home."
"I really, really like you too, 'sumi." Wrex smiled warmly down at her. It was definitely more than he'd planned on liking her at the beginning of all of this, and had nothing at all to do with 'cupcakes'.
He got the door to the bar shut and took her keys to lock it up, then carried her off to his truck, effortlessly. Truth be told, he really liked the feel of her in his arms like that, and felt a bit like if he never let her go no one would ever mess with her again. Which was true, but was probably no way for her to live out the rest of her life.
He got her settled in his truck and buckled her in, then crawled into his side and started heading to her apartment.
Kasumi smiled, letting him carry her and take care of her. She leaned back against the seat, looking over at him. "You know. Sometimes I feel really selfish. When I look at you, and Alma, and just. The whole ranch." She frowned. That might not have been the right word. "I don't know. I feel... Fake, somehow."
"Why would that make you feel fake?" Wrex glanced over at her, one eyebrow raised, before putting his eyes back on the road.
"I just.. I ran away, you know. And I've never really regretted that, or anything. But I look at these kids and.. God. Some of them would kill to have what I had. I always had a roof over my head, my parents didn't abuse me, the nanny cared about me. I don't know.. I just." Kasumi shook her head.
He was silent while she spoke, and for a few minutes afterward while he processed what she was saying. Kasumi hadn't ever really mentioned her past before, and he was almost certain that she was being so forthcoming because of the evening's events.
Honestly, Wrex wasn't the type to judge too heavily. He was more worried about her than anything, and when he finally spoke his tone was gentle, "Bad situations don't always look bad from the outside. I'm sure you had a reason for running away. There's that saying. A gilded cage is still a cage."
Kasumi frowned. That sounded more true for Mai than for her. Looking back at it, even she couldn't pinpoint anything particularly horrible about her parents or her life. "It just wasn't me. I mean, can you imagine? Me, wearing designer gowns, planning galas and ordering around servants?" She shook her head. She couldn't imagine taking her mother's place.
Maybe this was beyond what she should share with Wrex. It was hard to tell what was appropriate when she didn't really know what their relationship was. "I'm just.." She laughed, shaking her head. "Rebellious. Too strong-willed. An upstart. I was young and in love with a boy they'd never approve of, and they were trying to arrange a 'proper' man for me to marry." She shook her head. "It felt like the end of the world, at the time."
"I don't regret it, I really don't. I like my life. But it sounds impulsive and silly, now. When you think of all the other things children go through."
"It was impulsive, but not that silly, I don't think," Wrex shook his head. He pulled up to her apartment, and parked, then turned the car off and turned to look at her.
"The Ranch isn't about making other people feel bad for the lives they left behind. It's not about making people feel ungrateful. It's about teaching kids that ran away from their lives and then made horrible choices, that they can make better ones. That life wasn't for you, and I'm not about to be the person to tell you you should have stayed there. You were unhappy and you were in love. Seems like good enough reasons to me. And you're doing alright. You have a place to be, a good job, and you're taking care of yourself."
The fact that she'd handled her own life was a quality about her that he respected, "It's a good thing, Kasumi. Don't compare your circumstances to theirs. It's not fair."
Kasumi smiled a bit. that made sense. It wasn't a competition. "I've been lucky. In some ways, at least." Her life hadn't gone exactly the way she'd dreamed it, but it was a good life. Now, especially so. "I guess I'd like to pay it forward. Help others who need it." She'd started that by helping Mai.
"If I was still there, I'd have buckets of money I could give to the Ranch." She laughed. Every time she imagined herself in that life, it seemed so ridiculous. Maybe it would have been sillier to stay. "But we wouldn't have cupcakes." Well, technically they could, but Wrex didn't seem like the kind of man who would sleep with another man's wife, even if it had been arranged.
He absolutely wasn't the type of man who would sleep with another man's wife, arranged or no. He was very grateful that she hadn't gotten married off to someone who wouldn't appreciate her or love her like she deserved.
Wrex also noted that whoever this man was she'd been in love with was something of a 'past tense' thing, and he decided to file that away for later. It wasn't something he wanted to upset her by asking her about, now.
He reached out a hand and cupped her cheek a bit, then caressed her with his thumb, "You might have had buckets of money, but I think what's going on between us is a little more important than that. The ranch does alright, financially. We have a lot of anonymous donors, too. But it's... well it's more than cupcakes, 'sumi. I hope you know that."
Kasumi gave him a lopsided smile. More important than buckets of money? She didn't disagree, but it was a little surprising to hear out loud. She nodded, tilting her cheek toward his hand. "It's.. Yeah, it's more," she agreed.
"Wrex. I'm really glad everything happened to get us both here. I do want more than cupcakes with you." Her heart sped up a bit when she said it. "And I'm not just saying that because of the Grey Goose."
"I'm really glad to hear that. And I'm glad to hear it's not just because of the Grey Goose." He smirked a bit at her, then decided to seal the entire discussion with a kiss.
Kasumi leaned in, too, kissing him back. "Let's go inside," she said, running a hand along the collar of his shirt. "I want you to stay. Can you stay?"
He'd planned on staying anyway - she needed him, and he wasn't going anywhere when someone needed him - but the way that she asked, with that hand running along his collar would have convinced him anyway.