InsaneJournal

"The African Queen. I feel like having some Kate Hepburn with my Bogie."
Who: Kitty and Xi'an
What: moving, getting to know one another, leg discussions, watching old movies
Where: Kitty's (and soon to be xi'an's) apartment
when: Recent
Status: Complete
Rating: PG-13 for desiring Katherine Hepburn




Kitty no longer felt a compelling urge to blurt out the truth. Work had gone better, the preliminary exploration going well. They had a flight to Washington D.C. booked in a week to lay groundwork in their cyber attack on the Pentagon. Their clients had no clue as to the timing or duration of the attack, and they wouldn't be visiting the Pentagon proper. While her partner was wardriving and acting suspicious, she'd be creating a back door. It was dangerous. And that made it awesome.

Xi'an had given her landlord notice that she was moving and had started getting things moved over to her new apartment. Mainly the small things. Big things would need movers of some kind, but smaller things were maneable.

Kitty pulled into the complex, swerving around a dumpster with practiced ease and bringing her motorbike alongside a Camry. She recognized it as Xi'an's and swallowed a surge of nervous excitement.

She wondered if that was natural or if she was just acting wierd. She swung off the bike and ran up the stairs and into the apartment, "Hey!"

Xi'an glanced over to the door when she heard Kitty's voice. "Hey," she said, smiling at the younger woman. "How was work? If you can say anything about it, of course."

"Work was awesome, thats all I can really say," Kitty replied, dropping her pack on the couch and heading into the kitchen for some water, "Any trouble getting through the gate?"

"No trouble. I think I'm starting to code as a regular rather than just a visitor," Xi'an said.

Kitty wiped her forehead, walking back into the living room, "That's good. You'll be a tenant really soon here. Are you finding everything okay? Anyone giving you trouble?" She took the excuse to move closer to Xi'an.

"No trouble. Haven't run into that many neighbors, though." Xi'an smiled at Kitty. "I'm glad work went well."

"Well the downstairs couple mostly works nights," Kitty replied. She sat next to Xi'an and offered her a bottle of water, "Have you scheduled movers yet?"

Xi'an took the bottle of water, opened it, and tooks a swig. "Thanks. I haven't yet, but I've been doing some price checking."

"I can bribe some of the guys at work with pizza," Kitty suggested, grinning. She was looking forward to not being alone again. She liked some alone time, but not to be always alone.

Pizza? Really? Kitty mentally rolled her eyes, she'd need more than pizza to bribe the guys at work to do physical labor, "Kids at school?"

Xi'an laughed. "I'll find something. And yes, they're at school right now."

Kitty grinned, leaning back on the couch, "They're going to be a lot of fun. They're little sneaks."

"They are, on both counts." Xi'an smiled and took another swig of water. "They're good kids."

"I got grilled," She replied. "I might have..been a bit frank with them, which wasn't my intention. I've had a hard time controlling my filter lately."

"...I wish I could say I was surprised," Xi'an said. Frank. Oh boy. "They weren't too hard on you, were they?" It was sweet of the twins, in a way, but it was also rather embarrassing.

"Apparently you have a hard time dating because of them. And because you're old." Kitty grinned with amusement, "I defended your age, of course!"

Xi'an groaned and covered her face with a hand for a moment. "They really brought up my age?" She chuckled and then sighed. "Thanks for defending my honor."

"Well you're not that older than I am," Kitty replied, resting a hand on her arm. "They worked really hard to sell you as an option. The secret pumpkin fetish might be a problem, though. "

"...I don't have a pumkin fetish..."

Kitty grinned slyly, "What? All those vines? That sexy jack-o-lantern grin?"

Xi'an snorted. "You're pulling my leg."

"Well I wouldn't want to pull it off," Kitty joked, tugging on Xi'an's good leg playfully. Her curiosity was killing her, but fortunately? Filter was more or less in place, at least for her mouth. Her eyes held some questions.

Xi'an flushed slightly. She still forgot about the added...oddity of that phrase, given her situation. She could feel the warmth of Kitty's hand through her slacks. She glanced up and caught the curiousity in Kitty's eyes.

She took a deep breath. "It was a car wreck. Drunk driver. I'd just dropped the twins off at school...it's a miracle all I lost was the leg."

"I'm sorry. At least they were already out of the car, right?" Bad enough to lose a leg - it was a little frightening to think of what could have happened to a pair of kids, "Forgive me if I'm overstepping but..do you get phantom pains or anything like that?"

"I am so glad they were safe and didn't have to see the wreck," Xi'an nodded. "And yeah, I still get some phantom pains. It's...less disconcerting now that I have my new leg, but it's still something I deal with."

She almost asked if she could see the leg sometime, but thought that would be a little tactless. Instead, Kitty nodded her head, pulling her hand off Xi'an's leg, "That just makes you the bionic woman."

Xi'an smiled softly. "Thanks for that." It was kind of nice, getting the information out in the open and out of the way.

"Worried I'd freak out about it? It's not gross or anything is it?" She winked playfully.

"Well, it does make some people uncomfortable, just because it's different," Xi'an said. "I'm really glad it doesn't bother you. It makes things easier, having people who just accept that it's part of who I am now, and that it's not the only part."

"People really treat you different? I'm sorry if I have, at all...I've done that in the past."

"Sometimes, yeah. They don't know how to react, mostly. Sometimes they assume I'm a veteran, which is awkward. Someone thanked me for 'my service' once. I didn't correct them."

"Probably better not to," Kitty replied. She felt the urge to hug her, but didn't know if that would be welcome, "So you can manage things well enough? Like showers?"

Xi'an nodded. "I use one of those shower seats. It took a little getting used to, but it's easy now." She thought for a moment. "It might take a little practice again in a new bathroom, but I'll manage."

"That tub is kind of huge, I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad one." Kitty frowned. "If we have to we'll jerry-rig something." She grinned.

"We can probably set the stool up next to the tub and just fix it where there's no fear of it slipping or tipping over." Xi'an grinned back at her. "And I do work on improving my upper body strength regularly."

Eyedarting, Kitty hesitated, then squeezed Xi'an's bicep, "Yeah...."

Xi'an flexed her arm beneath Kitty's hand, grinning slightly.

Guh. Kitty swallowed, visibly, "I think you've got no problem there. Maybe we should put in a pullup bar in the hallway."

"That would be nice. The twins would probably get a kick out of it, too."

She'd been joking, but maybe it would do her good, too, "We'll think about it. " Squeeze squeeze.

Xi'an smiled, flushing slightly.

Kitty pulled her hand away, wiping it on her jeans nervously, "I'm really glad you're here, Xi'an." Just..moth..flame.

"I'm glad you had the space," Xi'an said.

"Things work out like that," Kitty replied, smiling. She reached for the remote, "Now do you need to do more moving, or do you have time to watch a movie?"

Xi'an grinned. "I could use a break, yeah."

"What's your opinion on the Bogart?"

"I think he's great!"

Kitty grinned, eyes gleaming, "Okay, we can watch The Barefoot Contessa, The African Queen, or the Maltese Falcon?"

"Ooh. Hard decision." Xi'an thought for a moment. "The African Queen. I feel like having some Kate Hepburn with my Bogie."

Kitty grinned, flipping around netflix until she found that one, and sat back to get comfy. She couldn't help it, "You just feel like having some Kate Hepburn."

Xi'an grinned. "Maaaaybe."

"I could probably pull her off for Halloween. At least the hair anyway." She tugged at her own hair, which she both loved, and hated. She set the remote aside, scooting to give Xi'an more room if she wanted it.

plsdontwantit

Xi'an raised an eyebrow slightly. "You don't have to move if you don't want to. It's your couch."

Kitty flushed, "Just don't want to make you uncomfortable, Shan."

Xi'an smiled. "You weren't. Just...let me know if I make you uncomfortable."

"Got it. Now shh." She raised a finger playfully, "Its Kate time." Hepburn that is. Not Pryde.

Xi'an grinned and turned her attention to the TV.

Kitty's attention ended up ...a little split.