40 minutes later they were buckled back into the helicopter, Kat freshly showered with damp hair and outfitted in her work slacks and another of Jove's t-shirts, and him in the most casual outfit she'd ever seen him in, a black, long sleeve athletic compression shirt and matching black joggers.
Kat was exhausted, her early day finally catching up with her, and she found herself struggling to stay awake as the droning whir of the helicopter filled her ears
She blinked once then again as the helicopter began to rise, then suddenly she was opening her eyes to silence and darkness.
"Kat," a deep voice was probing quietly. "Kat, wake up."
She turned her head in confusion, realizing that the voice was Jove's, closer to her ear than she'd ever heard it. She raised her head groggily to discover she'd fallen asleep on Jove, her right side pressed against him with her head on his shoulder.
"C'mon," Jove said, helping her out of her seatbelt and down the helicopter's oversized step. "I'll take you home."
It was nearly 9:30 when he pulled up to the B and Kat hurried out with a quick goodbye, waited in the ornate lobby for only a minute, (waving to her unexpected confidant at the front desk and promising to stay longer next time), and was nearly flying down the street to the den, her damp hair chilling her in the night air.
She slowed a bit as she approached the entrance to the den, catching her breath and steadying her nerves, and fumbled for her key, inserting it into the lock with shaking fingers. She opened the door slowly, expecting a cacophony, but the den was silent and empty, dark save for the few candles by the front door they never put out. She sighed in relief and hurried straight to the shower, her biggest concern being her wet hair serving as a dead giveaway.
She was wrapped in a towel with another around her hair, the short showers that Andy insisted they take over much too soon, when she heard a voice from the living room after stepping out of the bathroom door.
"Kat?" called Andy.
"Yea," she replied, lightly. "Yea, it's me." She walked into the living room. "I didn't think anyone was here."
"I was reading in the back," said Andy. "Waiting for you. Sit down for a second?" she asked, looking up.
Kat sat, her chill renewed.
"How was your day?" Andy asked, searching her face.
"It was fine," she said. "Boring."
"What did you do?" asked Andy, her tone steady.
"Nothing," Kat said quickly. "More memoir stuff. He told me all about his family, about his grandmother. She was really into nature, it was interesting."
"Hmm," mused Andy, eyes still locked on Kat .
"But, yea," Kat finished ineffectually. "Nothing really."
"Kat?" Andy began.
"Yea?" said Kat in a quiet voice, unable to meet her gaze.
"You know I love you, right?"
Kat looked up. Love wasnt a word Andy used often or lightly, and even the twins, basically her adopted brothers that she had a hand in raising, didn't hear proclamations of love from her often.
Kat nodded, feeling frozen.
"I only want the best for you. I want you to be safe, and be protected, and I don't want you to," Andy paused, lifting her eyes to the ceiling as she searched for the right word. "I don't want you to make any mistakes. Mistakes that you'll end up regretting. I know you Kat, I know how smart you are, I know how much you love nature and I know, I know how you think."
She grabbed Kat's hand with urgency.
"I know how you'd feel about making a mistake that you'd regret, I know you'd never stop beating yourself up about it and wondering how things would be if you just... hadn't."
"Andy," Kat began, but Andy held up a hand to stop her.
"I don't want you to say anything," she said. "Don't say anything. I don't want to put you in a position where you'd have to lie to me. But,"
Her eyes took on another layer of emotion, an almost frantacism.
"But we love you, we care about you, we know you. And I understand that some lifestyles may have allure, they may have their charms, but it's not real and it won't last."
Kat's heart was thrumming in her ears and she took a deep breath, trying to make sense of Andy's all but overt message.
"Jovan Tillibenton doesnt like you," said Andy quietly. "He doesn't love you, he doesn't want to be with you, he wants to use you. That's what he's known for, that's his reputation, and you're too smart to think this is anything different."
"Andy," she began again, but Andy shook her head.
"I don't know what you've done or haven't done. And I'm not judging you. But Kat please," she said, emotion settled into every line on her face. "Please don't let him use you. We're so close, please don't let him turn you against what you know you've been fighting for."
Kat dropped her head into her hands, her breath coming in short bursts.
"Nobody else knows," Andy reassured her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I don't even know. I just know you well enough to be able to read the look in your eyes when you talk about him. And I'm not going to tell anyone, because it's not going to matter."
"Kat," she said, tugging at the young woman's fingers. "Kat, look at me."
Kat lifted her head from her hands, her mind not blank but instead racing too quickly to hone in on any individual thought.
"We're in the home stretch," said Andy, her hand still on Kat's shoulder as she stared deep into her eyes. "We just need one more thing from you, one last piece of the puzzle, and then you can be done with this whole thing, wash your hands of it."
Andy stood.
"You need rest Kat," she remarked, heading into the kitchen. "I made you some papaya noodles and I got you a brownie from Rises," she said, returning with the treats she'd named. "Eat and go to bed, nobody will be back for a while."
Kat nodded, still stunned into silence. Andy set the glass tupperware and cloth napkin wrapped brownie of the low dining table, then pushed back the towel still coiled atop Kat's head and gave her a small peck on the forehead.
"I'm so proud of you," she said. "What you're doing is already hard enough, and you're staying focused despite whatever else is going on. You're still committed to taking him down, no matter how you feel about him."
She turned to go, swiveling her head back to Kat one more time.
"You're so strong," she called over her shoulder before exiting, leaving Kat in an empty, quiet den, shivering and contemplating what had just happened.