Author: Auditory Eden

Rating; K+

Warnings:

Notes: I don't hate Caroline, but I certainly don't like her, and I feel like Kate might not, either. So...yeah.

Green Eyed Girl

Laden with two cups of steaming tea, Kate half-ran, half-walked across the quad, trying hard not to look too rushed. Daniel had class in forty minutes, if she remembered correctly, and that didn't leave much time. She was only lucky that today was a slow day at the Bureau, and she'd finished all her paperwork quickly.

They'd made a deal, and that was fine and dandy, but it wasn't as though she didn't know that given the slightest opportunity, Daniel would go right back to his old ways, avoiding questions and watching her with a grimace, so she'd grabbed two cups of tea, hers liberally doctored with milk and sugar, and headed over to campus to try and reinforce the message that he wasn't just a case-solving tool to her. Maybe she could get him to believe that he was her friend. Maybe, if that worked, she could try to convince him that she loved him.

Her heels clicked on the floor tiles of the building where Daniel's office was situated, and the warm air heated her face to a bright, cheerful pink, far different from the unhappy thoughts behind it. And as she swung round the corner, Kate stopped abruptly.

Right in front of her, almost nose to nose and looking surprised, was that doctor. Caroline Newsome, a little voice supplied, and in an unusual flood of vitriol, Kate wanted to snarl at it. What the hell was she doing here?

"Doctor Newsome," she said, the cheer in her voice as brittle as the hasty smile she pasted over her features.

"Agent Moretti?" Caroline asked, and Kate tried to smile more genuinely as she nodded, but only managed a grimace.

A moment passed, with the smaller woman staring at the taller one with barely veiled hostility. "Here to see Daniel?" Caroline finally asked, but it was the wrong question.

"As a matter of fact, I am." Kate's eyes narrowed. Here to see Daniel, she thought, of course she was here to see Daniel. The hell was it Caroline's business. And, she added venomously, Caroline had no business seeing Daniel anyway. Kate had heard from Lewicki about Natalie Vincent, a woman who didn't even exist. Just because Caroline looked like her and was possibly the inspiration for her, didn't give her the right to become her, and certainly didn't give her the right to be skulking around Daniel's office in the middle of the day. Didn't she have a hospital to be at or something?

The acid burst of jealousy was unfamiliar to her, burning with an intensity Kate had never experienced before. Wasn't one perfect woman enough competition? Did life, or God, or whatever, really have to make it this much harder? Fine, Daniel's on his meds, he loses Natalie, but surprise! Here's Natalie only for real this time! And she can get close, she can spend time with him, she can bring him tea and talk to him about his classes, even though she doesn't know him, and Kate does. Kate knew that he loved baseball, Kate knew how he took his tea, Kate knew that he actually loved french fries but wouldn't eat them unless he was stealing them from under her burger. Kate knew how crazy he could get if he didn't solve the case. Kate had held him after the delusion that threw his world off its axis.

"Well—" Caroline was beginning, but Kate spied Daniel's head poking out from beyond the wall, and with a practically poisoned smile, she stepped around the blonde and strode up the hall towards him. His hair was disheveled and a smudge of ink lined one side of his nose.

Not turning, knowing that Caroline would be watching, Kate smiled at him, full and natural, and as she came level with him she leaned up and kissed him, a quick, claiming kiss. Her mouth took his with a mix of tenderness and assertion, lips sliding together. Breaking it again, she rocked back on her heels, glowing with satisfaction and a giddy feeling she couldn't quite define, tongue swiping quickly over her lips. Grinning at Daniel's shell-shocked expression, she gestured with the styrofoam cups.

"Hey, I brought you tea."

xXx

Parting Comments: There should be more kissing. Over and out.

Hugs and Kisses,

Eden