𝐉𝐀𝐍𝐔𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟕

"Kat, you're gonna be late!"

Immediately, Katherine Louise's long legs swing over the edge of her bed and she stumbles towards her closed door, leaving a sleeping Charles Taylor in her bed. Well, he was sleeping, until Katherine hip-checked the tall dresser by the door and a string of curses left her sinful lips. 

Sophia is standing at the top of the stairs, waiting expectantly for her best friend to show her face. Once Katherine ducks into the bathroom, she heads downstairs to continue making breakfast with Chris. 

Having brushed her teeth and popped her contacts in, Katherine stands in front of her closet with crossed arms, debating on the day's attire. Charlie, unbeknownst to her, watches through the standing mirror from the bed. 

"Wear the purple one," he croaks. Katherine jumps and turns to look at him before glancing back to her closet. 

"What purple one? This one?" She pulls out a lilac blouse. He nods, sleepily closing his eyes again.

"It looks nice on you."

So she buttons it up and tucks it into a pair of black pants. Black pumps add a few inches to her height, and she shakes the braids from her hair, which now takes on more of a sandy tone, before tying half of it up into a bun. 

Silver bracelets that belonged to her mother adorn her wrists, and her diamond ring still rests comfortably on her right hand. She still wears the circle stamped with flowers and her diamond crucifix, and her mother's patron saints medallion rests in her jewelry box.

She's no warrior. Not anymore.

Katherine grabs her bag and moves for the door before skidding to a stop. She turns around, finding Charlie still gazing at her with those impossibly dark eyes. 

"You're like a lost puppy," she mutters as she trots over to him. He grins, craning his neck to meet her halfway for a kiss. His hands, always so sneaky, reach up to her hips and he tugs her onto the bed. "Charlie!" She yelps. "I'm gonna be late!"

"You've got plenty of time," he hums against her lips, arms forming a vice around her torso. 

"No, I don't," she mutters, letting herself be kissed. It's a welcome distraction. It always is. "And neither do you. I think they're making breakfast already."

Charlie groans, letting Katherine slip from his hold. "Fine," he sighs. She grins and starts for the door again.

Sophia and Chris are milling around the kitchen. Katherine always thought it was something of a miracle, considering any time one of them was in the kitchen, the other wasn't allowed in. They just get in each other's way. Chris and Sophia seem to work in perfect harmony, though, somehow always knowing where the other is. 

Sophia looks up from the island with a grin. "Where's Big and Tall?" She asks, sliding a glass of apple juice down the counter. Katherine snatches it up.

"He's comin'," Katherine replies, moving across the kitchen to get to the baby in his high chair. "Mornin', Christopher."

"Mornin', Katherine."

"Good morning, Julien," Katherine coos at the baby. He's a bundle of giggles with big green eyes and a tuft of blond hair...very different from the Madagascar character she calls him. "Thanks for being my alarm clock," she says to Sophia, grabbing a plate of breakfast from the counter—biscuits and gravy today. "You guys are my heroes."

"I don't know how you ever lived without me," Chris jests. 

Katherine smiles, sitting at the table beside Julien. "Am I still on baby duty tonight?"

"Yes, because Chris and I are still going out to dinner," Sophia chirps.

"I'm not protesting, I'm just wondering if I need to leave the office before six."

"You should leave the office before six every day," Chris says, frowning. "You work too hard. Anyway, Charlie can help babysit too, as long as you're actually looking after my son."

Katherine found it endearing Chris already thinks of Julien as his own. In the grand scheme of things, he's relatively new to their lives, and while hopeful, was very surprised Sophia so willingly let Chris around as much as she did. 

It's for the better. The house isn't the same without Chris or Charlie.

"I'm offended," Katherine says around a mouthful of breakfast. "King Julien is the number one man in my life." Sophia laughs, sitting across the table from Katherine.

"I'm never going to get you to stop calling him that, am I?"

"Honestly, Soph, as impressive your efforts are, it's futile." Katherine shovels the last bite of breakfast into her mouth and quickly moves for the sink. "You're a lifesaver."

"I know," the older blonde chirps, smiling at her baby. Katherine chuckles and scoops her bag up. "You are too, my friend. Mrs. Guthrie won't stop talking about that early cancer diagnosis."

"What can I say?" Katherine calls, grabbing her keys from the hook in the foyer. "I have an eye for detail. Catch you later!"

"Make good choices!"

Katherine laughs, glancing to the stairs. Charlie waves at her as he slowly descends, now wearing a t-shirt and sweats. "Love you," he calls.

"Love you—don't be late!" The door swings shut behind her, and she moves for her car in the driveway.

At the last minute, her and Sophia's apartment deal reneged. The building was purchased by another party and shut down, leaving the girls stuck in New Haven longer than they anticipated, but just by another week. They entered a good lease with a nice family who was moving, so they rented their home out to the two girls and the baby. It's a beautiful home, four bedrooms, amazingly cheap rent, considering the dire state of the housing market.

Katherine lets out a sigh, running her hands over the car's steering wheel, and twists the key in the ignition

Rick Walker's building is mercifully close to Katherine's neighborhood—about fifteen minutes out on a bad day. Due to the surrounding affluent community, the office space is large and modern, and Katherine gets paid a decent amount more than usual residents. Rick said it was because he considered her an asset, and when she was first hired on, he claimed he was surprised she didn't choose to go into research with a mind like hers.

Tan stone columns support the building and lead into the gray face paint. 'Walker Health' is composed of silver letters held away from the wall by small rods, and that little curved line underneath that Katherine always thought to be calming, or perhaps at least making the whole building seem slightly less pretentious than what it looks. The glass doors slide out before Katherine, and she's greeted by Quinn Likens, a late-twenties brunet with a sweet face and charming smile.

"Good morning, Katherine," Quinn greets, looking up from his computer at the front desk. 

Katherine smiles. "Morning, Q," she chirps, rounding the front desk, and leans over Quinn's shoulder to stare at the monitor.

"You don't have anything until 9:15," Quinn informs her.

"Oh, wonderful," Katherine sighs. She has half an hour to herself. The waiting room is surprisingly empty. "Rick or Nancy aren't seeing anyone yet?"

"Nancy's got someone in the back," Quinn says, shaking his head.

"Okay," Katherine sighs again and reaches for her radio in her cubby. "I'll see you."

"Yes you will," Quinn promises. "You still owe me lunch from that bet."

Katherine's eyes narrow. "If I recall, I bet on the Lakers."

"No, you bet against the Lakers," Quinn argues. "Seriously, who bets against the Lakers?"

"Do you have something against Dallas?" Katherine asks, turning on her toes to look at Quinn.

He shrugs, smoothing out his jacket lapel. "Their basketball team sucks."

Katherine laughs. "Aren't you from Dallas?"

"Doesn't mean anything, Katherine Louise."

"Fine. Lunch on me today. We're going for Mexican."

"Yes."

Katherine chuckles and moves quickly for her office past the examination rooms, at the back of the building by the west windows.

It's not a bad gig.

Katherine clips her radio to her collar and wraps the wire around her ear before nestling the bud inside. She flips it on and logs into her computer, turns on a quiet bit of music, and prepares herself for the day.

Usually, she's among the last to leave the building. Two practicing physicians and one resident doctor. After hours, she's usually poring over files and coming up with different methods of treatment, brainstorming with Walker. She doesn't interact with Nancy much, partially because the gal is just so busy. Rick opened the practice in '95, moved his office to this much nicer building just two years ago, and it's thriving. They can afford the space, the equipment, the salaries. And what resident doctor gets such a nice office, such a great gig? It's certainly rare.

Katherine's eyes stray from her computer monitor to the framed photograph of her and Charlie. It sits on the counter by the door, and often she finds her patients staring at it with smiles and saying what a lovely couple they make.

Her office is definitely among the nicest she's seen. It's equal to that of Nancy and Rick's. Sleek and modern, clean. White floors, beachwood panels in the wall, along with matching desks, chairs, and countertops. There's a large fish tank behind her, and before her is a window that takes up nearly the entirety of the wall space. A small blue cactus sits in the nook of that window, something the children who come in love to gawk at, along with the fish. The mothers and fathers would profusely apologize, but Katherine would sit with the child and tell them the species of every fish in that tank.

"Katherine Donovan, D.O." quickly spread throughout the town, and clients from left and right were filing in asking to be seen by the resident.

On her desk sits her computer, her keyboard, another picture of her, Sophia and Julien, and a glass vase Charlie gifted her for Christmas. It's a tall rectangular piece of glass with her first initial etched into it. Every other Monday, flowers are delivered to her office at nine AM on the dot.

"Katherine, you've got a delivery," Quinn says. Katherine looks away from her arrangement of flowers and smiles. What has Charlie picked for this week? "If I'm right, these bouquets are getting more and more elaborate. I smell an engagement."

Katherine laughs, pushing herself up from her desk, and pushes down on the microphone button. "You might want to get your nose checked," she says, opening her door. "No engagement."

"That's what you think," Quinn mutters. "I know people who have gotten engaged three months into dating." Katherine smiles, rounding the corner, and greets the usual delivery man, Yousef. He's a patient of hers as well. She signs for the flowers and turns to Quinn with a smile. "White roses, pink tulips, and lavender," he says, leaning back in his chair. "Like I said. Elaborate."

"I think I'm impressed you know every flower in this bouquet," Katherine chirps, sliding the bag into her arms. She grins and points to the small white sprigs. "Except this one."

Quinn's expression turns into one of disbelief. "Oh come on, I missed one! Quit dodging! You know there's a ring in the near future!" When Katherine doesn't bite, he rolls his eyes and turns back to his computer.

Beaming, Katherine exchanges the floral arrangements with delicate care. Just as she's setting the new arrangement down on her desk, Quinn buzzes in again. "Katherine, you've got Frank Cline in room four."

"Thanks, Q." She moves to her filing cabinet and searches for Frank's file, thumbing through until she's found his sheet, and moves for exam room four.

Frank Cline is an older fellow, sixty-two, who recently suffered a major heart attack. "Frank," Katherine greets with a smile, and the old man beams at her. Katherine washes her hands and turns to look at him. "How ya feeling?"

"Healthier than a horse. Only here 'cause Martha said so."

Katherine chuckles. "I think your wife is right to be concerned. You suffered a major heart attack. What did Dr. Dougherty do? Balloon, stent...?"

"Stent," Frank nods.

"Great. I'm just gonna take your vitals and we'll get started." Katherine nudges the blood pressure machine over to her and wraps the cuff around Frank's bicep. She listens to his heartbeat, assesses his respiration and sensation in his limbs, and radios for Walker.

Rick Walker is a handsome man in his early forties with light brown hair and kind hazel eyes. He has a wife and two kids, both of whom are very fond of Katherine. At the Christmas party, though, they seemed to love Charlie a lot more than they did Katherine.

"We did a basic exercise test," Katherine says to him in the hallway, speaking quietly. "He performed really well. His sensation is nearly perfect. I think we should order blood tests, look for that C-reactive protein especially, and keep him seeing that cardiologist in Jacksonville for rehab."

Rick nods. "Good. Let me check in on him and you can go order those blood tests."

Katherine smiles, holding her hands behind her back, and nods once, following Walker back into the patient room.

Quinn is talkative as ever at lunch. He's a charming guy, and their friendship was founded when she walked into the office one day to find him watching Smallville reruns in the lobby. It's been downhill since.

Katherine leans back in her chair with a heavy sigh, staring at Claire Guthrie's file. The chemotherapy seems to be working, at least according to the numbers and scans the nearby cancer center reported. The size of her lymph nodes has visibly shrunk.

Katherine jumps as her phone rings. She glances at the glowing receiver and holds the phone to her ear. "This is Katherine," she answers.

"This is Sophia," her best friend replies in a like tone. "It is 6:15."

Katherine looks to her window and swears. "Sorry, Soph. I'm leaving right now." Katherine drops the phone onto the receiver and scrambles for her things. She locks her door after her and runs out into the waiting area, clocks out. She sees Walker hasn't left yet, and presses down on her microphone button. "Rick, do you want me to lock the door?"

"No, that's fine, Katherine. I'll be leaving shortly."

"Good night, then. Have a nice vacation." She switches her radio off, stuffs it in her cubby, and hurries to her car.

"I am so sorry!" She cries, bursting through the front door of the house. Sophia pops her head around the corner and smiles.

"S'okay. Chris is running late, too." Katherine runs up the stairs and kicks her shoes off, ties her hair up into a bun, and pads back downstairs. "I already fed the monster, but just in case, there's—"

"I've done this before," Katherine reminds Sophia, smiling.

"Yeah, well. While you're drooling over Smallville reruns, don't let my kid starve."

"Are you kidding? He could wake the entire state if he wanted to," Katherine mutters. "King Julien is impossible to ignore."

"Yeah, well, I know how you get when Jason Teague pops up."

"Oh, don't tell me he doesn't distract you," Katherine accuses. Sophia smirks, sitting on the sofa with Katherine, and crosses her arms.

"All right, he's kinda hot," she agrees.

"And, y'know, this whole sudden introduction of Lois is just seriously throwing a monkey wrench into my whole Clark-Lana thing."

"Lex and Lois ruined Clark and Lana," Sophia hums in agreement, nodding.

Katherine didn't register it for a moment. She heard it but...her eyebrows furrow, and she turns on the sofa to look at Sophia.

"Wait, Lex?" Katherine asks. After a moment, Sophia guiltily looks down at her hands. Katherine's jaw drops in horror. "Sophia, I'm not even halfway through season four!"

"Sorry, it just slipped—!"

"You're about to slip onto the curb!" Katherine cries. "Spoiler alert?!"

"I'm sorry—"

"No, no." Katherine stares at the blank television. "I will never forgive you for this."

"Oh, come on."

"Stop talking, before you spoil something else." Katherine navigates to the recordings on the television and slowly looks to Sophia. "Lex and Lana?" she whispers. Sophia makes a face, nodding. "I mean, Lex has always been kind of tragic, but I never saw them together—" the doorbell rings, and Sophia pops up from the sofa.

"Don't forget about my kid!"

"Have fun on your date!" Katherine calls. "And don't spoil any more TV shows!" Katherine pauses the recording after Sophia shuts the door behind her and ventures upstairs to change into a tank top and shorts. "Oh, King Julien," she cries in the lemur's voice. "Why are you crying?" She carefully walks down the stairs with the five-month-old in her arms. "Mom's gotta have fun sometimes, too. Not that you're not fun. You're bundles of fun. Just not when you're puking everywhere."

The crying goes on forever. After the diaper change, after being fed.

Katherine sighs, patting the baby's back. Suddenly, he stops crying. Suspiciously, Katherine narrows her eyes and looks down at Julien. He's smiling now, intrigued by the glistening pendant around her neck. "Oh," Katherine dryly says, nodding. "You couldn't have found that forty-five minutes ago?" She turns to the window, looks out at the moon, and stops. It was a slight thing that caught her trained eye.

There's someone standing by the palm tree at the edge of the lawn. She just barely saw the familiar silhouette from the dim glow of the house's lights, but it's enough. The man freezes, noticing he's been spotted. Katherine blinks, and he's gone. Maybe that's why she ran. Because in that split second, she knew exactly who it was. Even if it defied logic, if it defied fact, her world is never what it seems...so maybe it could've been him.

She bolts for the front door, setting Julien in his chair, and flies outside, grabbing the flashlight from the desk by the door. She leaps down the stairs and turns around the corner, switching the flashlight on. The bushes at the edge of the woods rustle, but he doesn't come back.

Katherine glances up and down the street, searching for that glossy Impala, but there's nothing. Just the fancy cars of the neighbors, the barking dogs, a stray cat up the road.

She quickly moves back inside, shuts and locks the door, and draws the curtains. She's moving for the salt when there's a bang on the door, and maybe it was nerves, but for the first time in this survival mode, Katherine jumps.

She quickly heads for the front door, moving on her toes, and peers through the peephole.

Charlie Taylor stands on the porch in a cream-colored henley and a denim jacket and jeans.  After a moment, Charlie leans forward so his eye takes up the entirety of the view, like he always does. It brings a small smile to Katherine's grave features. Trembling hands reach for the deadbolt, and Katherine pulls the door open. Charlie's beautiful smile grows, and something blossoms in Katherine's chest to make her heart skip a beat.

"How'd you know I was looking through that?" She asks with a raised eyebrow.

"I didn't," Charlie chirps, stepping towards her. "But I knew you'd be there eventually, since you always look through the peephole before you open the door...safe citizen and all that."

"Thanks for the jumpscare, by the way." He ducks a kiss to her brow and steps into the house. "Jerk." As she's shutting and locking the door behind him, Charlie winds his arms around her waist and picks her up, carrying her away from the door as she laughs. When she's on her feet again, he's kissing her. Sweet, passionate, tender...all the things she liked about him channeled into a kiss, his hands on her hips and holding her close. 

It was almost enough to make her forget the ghost in her yard.

Katherine, as if having been struck by lightning, jumps as she remembers Julien. Quickly, she moves for his chair in the kitchen.

With brows furrowed slightly and eyes tracking her in concern, Charlie twists around to watch her. 

"Are you all right?"

"Huh?" She moves towards the sofa, passing Charlie on the way. "Yeah. Why?"

"You look...weird." Katherine raises a brow and his fingers reach up to her hair, tucking it behind her ear. "Spooked." His thumb taps her chin, and he begins to shrug out of his jacket.

"Spooked," she chuckles, plopping into the sofa. Charlie sinks down beside her, and she leans into his side. "Yeah, well...I thought I saw something, but it was probably nothing. Don't worry about it." She bends her knees to give Julien something to lean against. "Thank you for the flowers."

Charlie sighs, winding his arm around her shoulders. "You say that every time," he purrs in her hair. 

"Because I am thanking you for the flowers," she hums, tilting her chin up to look at him.

"I told you that thanks aren't necessary."

"Maybe, but I still like to give them," Katherine murmurs, and she closes the small distance between them to kiss him. "How was work?"

Charlie groans, throwing his head back. "I need new gloves," he says. "Mason accidentally nail-gunned them to a stair post, so. He owes me."

Katherine raises an eyebrow at him. "How does one accidentally nail a pair of gloves to a stair post?"

"Oh, easy, really," Charlie nods. "Yeah, when we came back from lunch, he couldn't get the nail gun to work, so I went out to get another one and when I came back, my gloves had a nail right through the palm." He looks at Katherine, who seems entirely unamused.

Mason has been a screwball as long as she's heard stories about him, and frankly, she's surprised no one has been hurt because of him yet.

"Good thing there's a weekend," Katherine mutters. "He's got two days to get those new gloves."

"He knows," Charlie hums, resting his head on the back of the sofa, and closes his eyes. "He also knows if I don't have them at seven AM on Monday, I'm gonna sick my girlfriend on him, and I don't think he wants that."

Katherine grins. "You threatened him?"

"No, James did."

Oh, James, the poor man. Well...not entirely. She met James at a bar one night just outside town, and to make a long story short, pissed Katherine off, got an earful from her, and then found out that she was Charlie's girlfriend.

Since then, Charlie's work crew and Katherine have found ways to tolerate each other, even enjoy the other's company from time to time...like around Christmas. 

"How was the clinic?" Charlie asks. His fingers brush against her shoulder every now and again as he plays with the ends of her hair.

"Mostly, we were getting ready for Nancy and Rick to leave," Katherine replies. "They'll be gone all next week, so no patients."

They usually don't stay at each other's places during the week, and take turns staying at the other's over the weekends. This upcoming week should be nice—Katherine is staying at Charlie's  for seven days, spare one of them kills the other. He put in to take off to stay with her Monday and Tuesday weeks ago, when Katherine first heard both Rick and Nancy were going on vacation.

"Mom invited us for dinner tomorrow night," he reminds her.

"Dinner with the Taylors," Katherine says, smiling. "I'll be there with or without you. Your mom's cooking is too good to miss." Charlie laughs, and the door opens. Katherine sits up, looking to the foyer, a bit alarmed, and Charlie sits forward with her. 

"Oh, relax," Sophia chuckles, starting into the living room. "I swear, Katherine, you always look like you're gonna kill whoever walks through that front door."

"Reflex," Katherine weakly replies, handing Julien over to Sophia. "And at least you know your kid's in good hands."

"Yeah, yeah. Hey Charlie."

"Hiya, Soph."

"Date night over so soon?" Katherine asks, tilting her head to look up at Sophia.

"Yeah. We just got Chinese takeout. Jules and I are gonna stay over there tonight." Sophia glances between Katherine and Charlie. "Give you two some space." Katherine rolls her eyes and faces forward.

"You are so blatantly..." Katherine doesn't even have the word for it. Sophia hums out a laugh, moving for the stairs, talking to a babbling Julien.