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[agirllost]

Chase said he'd be out for a bit.

Kim glances at the clock over the TV. A few hours is more than a little bit. A few hours is way more than just going to get a snack.

She's tried not to worry, but time is passing and Chase isn't back.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_righthandman_/]

Cue Chase, closing the door quietly behind him so as not to wake whoever might be sleeping. He's a bit surprised to see Kim still awake.

"Hey, I'm back."

[agirllost]

'Thank God'

"Chase," she walks over to him and hugs him tightly, leaning her head against his chest. "I thought - I...where have you been?"

[http://users.livejournal.com/_righthandman_/]

"Huh?"

Poor Chase, that was not the reaction he was expecting. Hugs are nice, but he hadn't meant to worry anyone.

"I was at IHOP with Lyrae. Kim, I told you I'd be gone for a few hours. It's not that late, is it?"

He hugs her back, now a little worried himself.

[agirllost]

She doesn't let go even though she knows how silly her fears were.

"It's the middle of the night - you said that you might not be able to call but I - and with Lyrae..." she breathes out. "I kept waiting for breaking news."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_righthandman_/]

Well, they did get carjacked, kidnapped and assaulted by terrorists. (Technically.)

He decides not to tell Kim about those parts. Although...news...

"C'mere, sit down." He pulls her gently towards the couch, kissing her forehead.

"I promise I won't go out this late anymore. It was a weird thing with Milliways time--I didn't think it was so late."

[agirllost]

She sits next to him, letting go but still holding onto his hand.

"You can go out as late as you want, Chase." She smiles slightly, "You can't promise me that, you work at CTU."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_righthandman_/]

"For non-work-related reasons," he amends.

"Actually...things did get a little weird. I did have to bust a couple of idiot kids for talking about their plans to build pipe bombs where anyone could overhear them." He rolls his eyes. "Not exactly dangerous, y'know what I mean? But then..."

Aw, man. Even if he leaves out the entire bit about the carjacking, he has a feeling Kim's still going to be not-too-happy by the end of this.

"...Hey, uh, by the way, our bar tab's paid off."

[agirllost]

"That's...incredibly stupid of them." He seems amused but also wary. Oh no. "Tell me you didn't let Lyrae get involved," she's trying not to imagine what kind of problems Lyrae could accidentally cause.

"Who paid the bar tab?"

[http://users.livejournal.com/_righthandman_/]

He winces. "It's, uh, kind of hard to stop her from getting involved with whatever she wants to get involved with, but she was actually a big help, and didn't cause a lot of carnage--" Except for that poor transvestite. But Chase decides not to think about that.

He tries and fails to keep from snickering as he answers. "The High Church of Zah-Lin-Ya-Re. Of which I'm apparently a prophet."

[agirllost]

She breathes a sigh of relief, "She didn't show her abilities to anyone that would say anything -- right?"

And she stares, "The...what?"

[http://users.livejournal.com/_righthandman_/]

"Ah..."

The wince becomes a cringe.

"Well, that's a funny story, actually..."

Fidget.

"See, there's this cult. Crazy bastards with shaved heads and stuff. We played laser tag against them, it was all cool, except...uh, then they decided to kidnap Lyrae. By the time I got there, she'd convinced them that she was their goddess, which, uh, naturally made me the prophet..."

Chase glances nervously up at Kim.

[agirllost]

Kim buries her face in her hands for a few moments. "You played laser tag with them? Chase, isn't that one of the first rules of training? Never play laser tag with crazy people?"

[http://users.livejournal.com/_righthandman_/]

"Hey, nobody at CTU Academy ever said anything about that," he says defensively.

"Look, it all worked out. Even if they do tell people Lyrae used her powers, who's going to believe them? They're a bunch of teenagers in purple bathrobes. We're fine."

[agirllost]

Kim can't decide whether to be amused or horrified. She's just glad he's safe, even if he does seem a little flippant about what could happen.

"So what did you tell them to do, prophet?"

[http://users.livejournal.com/_righthandman_/]

He so doesn't even want to think about possible repercussions right now. He's very tired.

"Donate money to charity and do good works and stuff. It was mostly Lyrae doing the ordering, I was just trying to get us the hell out of there." He grins a little.

"I figure since we were mostly responsible about the whole thing, it's not that unethical to get them to pay our tab, you know?"

[agirllost]

She can't help but smile a little in return, "You do know that's...wrong and will never do it again?"

[http://users.livejournal.com/_righthandman_/]

He looks properly sheepish.

"Yes, ma'am."

...he's still grinning, though.

[agirllost]

"I guess I should just be glad that Lyrae didn't kill them all," she leans against him a little. "So tell me more about these pipe bomb builders."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_righthandman_/]

"Eh, probably would have ruined her dinner if she'd had to take the time."

He leans his head against the back of the couch, grinning.

"Oh god, Kim, these were the dumbest fucking terrorists ever. You have no idea how bad it was. They were these college kids, sitting around in the back of the IHOP a few yards away from us, just going on and on about where they were going to get the stuff and what websites to print the instructions off of, and who was going to plant it...it's like they wanted to get caught."

[agirllost]

"It's a good thing you were there - other people might not have done anything," she points out. "And then no matter how stupid they were..."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_righthandman_/]

He nods. "They could have managed some reasonably serious damage, even if they were dumber than a bag of fucking hammers. Ugh, which reminds me, I might have to question one of them tomorrow; he mentioned a connection."

Sigh. Work can be tedious.

[agirllost]

"A connection?" Her smile fades. "I don't think they give terrorists IQ tests, Chase."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_righthandman_/]

"Yeah, but I find it pretty hard to believe that this imbecile would have been trusted with any serious info. Still, I mean, you never know, so I'll deal with him tomorrow. He's in one of our holding cells for the night and the rest of 'em are with LAPD."

[agirllost]

"Or at least find out his connection," she yawns slightly.

"At least I'll get to see you at CTU tomorrow."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_righthandman_/]

"Mmm." He closes his eyes contentedly. "That'll be good. We can do lunch together or something, too."

[agirllost]

She sits up a little and holds onto his hand again.

"Come on, prophet, we'd better get to sleep."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_righthandman_/]

He smiles and kisses her cheek.

"You're never gonna let me live this down, are you?"

[agirllost]

She grins, "If you're nice I won't tell Chris?"

[http://users.livejournal.com/_righthandman_/]

"You wouldn't."

She so would, wouldn't she?

"I'll be as nice as you could possibly want," he promises, lacing his fingers with hers.

[agirllost]

She smiles at him and leans forward to kiss him softly.

"I'll keep that in mind."