(Continued from this thread)

After he'd dropped Kate off at her room Drew had made a quick stop at his room for a new shirt and then headed down to the kitchen. He didn't know quite how much time he had but he figured he might as well try and make something for Kate anyway. Cookies would be quick and easy enough. It was no great thing to have a batch prepared and in the oven. After the half an hour spent in prep and getting the cookies in the oven Drew turned his attention to something to drink. Something hot would be good, since Kate had just gotten a dunking.

So he put the kettle on. Tea seemed like the thing. She was English after all. Ok, putting stereotypes aside it was quick and easy to make and wouldn't over power the cookies. Drew sat at the table while the kettle was on. Now he just had to wait for Kate.

Kate’s eyes fluttered open and she found herself staring at the ceiling. She didn’t even remember falling asleep, which for her wasn’t such an unusual occurrence. How long had she been out? She had told Andrew that she would meet him to talk things out and not showing up was not a step in the right direction. She looked at the clock to find that it had only been about half an hour, thank goodness.

She hopped out of the warmth of her bed and thankfully didn’t regret it, but if she was going to go out into the air conditioning of the rest of the house she was going to need to bundle up. She was already wearing a sweatshirt and sweatpants all she needed was some nice wool socks and she would be all set.

She walked into the closet and grabbed the first available pair from the drawer. There was a time when she would have spent a few minutes digging to make sure that everything matched but for some reason she didn’t care as much anymore, that was as long as she wasn’t leaving the house. Something she was almost positive had been a result of the quirky style of her best friend Hanna. After you spend and entire day in public with the girl you might not be as caring about looking perfect all the time either.

In no time the socks were on and she was making her way downstairs. It really was surprising how walking these halls was as familiar as if she hadn’t even left. She could have done it blind folded if she didn’t have to worry about running into the other occupants. Nothing really ever changed in this place other then the faces contained within its walls.

As she walked into the kitchen one of the faces she was most certainly familiar with was pulling cookies out of the oven. The site was so familiar that Kate had to fight to hold back a laugh. She couldn’t count the number of times they had met, both by accident and on purpose, in this very kitchen late at night. Him baking, just like he was now, and her grabbing something to eat, just like she was now.

Upon hearing what sounded like a stifled laugh Drew looked up to see Kate in the doorway to the kitchen. He gave her a small smile.

"Just got the cookies out of the oven and there's a kettle on if you want tea. Any particular preference for that by the way?"

He didn't much care but Drew figured that Kate might so he'd ask her. He tossed a some cookies on a platter from the larger dish and walked them over to the table.

"Listen, I'd like to apologize for what I said. I'm sure you've got your reasons for what you did even if I don't like them. I had no call to say what I did to you."

When in doubt, apologize. It worked most of the time but could backfire spectacularly if the person didn't like apologies. Drew just hoped it worked this time. He really didn't want a repeat of the burning chair here in the kitchen. Drew headed back over to the cooking area to try and find some tea for the kettle.

>>Just got the cookies out of the oven and there's a kettle on if you want tea. Any particular preference for that by the way?

“Hmmm,” Kate made her way across the kitchen to the cabinet above the stove and too the right, “I really wonder if it is all still there.” She opened the wood door and moved a few things around on the bottom shelf to find what she was looking for, “Ah ha!.” She pulled out about 6 different tins and placed them on the counter.

>>Listen, I'd like to apologize for what I said. I'm sure you've got your reasons for what you did even if I don't like them. I had no call to say what I did to you.

“You were angry. We all say mean things when we get upset.” She read through the labels as she spoke trying to find exactly what she needed, “I can’t blame you after some of the things I said. Honestly I don’t know why I said half of them. I really didn’t mean it the way it came out.”

As Kate began to rummage through the cabinets Drew stepped back. Apparently she knew where what she wanted was so he might as well not get in the way. She pulled six canisters out of a cabinet and Drew supposed that she must of provided them herself. While she selected a tea, he sat down. She apparently found it pretty easy to forgive him for what he'd said. Kate wasn't even sure why she'd said what she had, or so she claimed. Drew couldn't be so sure. Whoever this girl was that had come back from Italy she wasn't the same Kate he'd known before.

"I don't know either."

After that fight it was pretty clear that he didn't know her at all really. This was probably going to be an awkward conversation but if they were going to be friends at all it had to be done.

"Are you alright after that dip in the pool? That couldn't have felt good."

At least in that he didn't have to question the norm. Kate + cold = bad. That much hadn't changed at all.

>>I don't know either… Are you alright after that dip in the pool? That couldn't have felt good.

“I am thanks to you.” Kate stopped examining the tins for a moment so she could look Andrew in the eye, “Thank you for pulling me out. I know you were upset with me. I know that doesn’t mean you would want me dead but you could have done far more damage.” Kate turned back to the tins and pulled out a purple and white one labeled blooming jasmine, “I am actually quite alright at the moment.” She pulled out a teacup and saucer, “Hungry, but alright.”

She took two trips to move all of the things required for tea and biscuit. Sure it wasn’t going to be enough to cover her for long but she would be able to make something else if she was still hungry.

Kate poured the hot water into the cup, welcoming the hot steam as it rose into her face. All that was left was the tea. She pulled a bulb out of the box and dropped it into the cup, waiting for it to bloom before she could drink the relaxing drink.

Kate thanked him for helping her out of the pool. zit didn't make any sense to him to thank him since he was just doing something he'd do for almost anyone. There were exceptions but for the most part he'd have done the same regardless of who had been the one drowning.

"There's no need for thanking me but you probably will regardless of whether I say it's fine not to or not, right?"

That was what he'd gotten from her little speech just there. After that he sat and watched her prepare her tea. Despite being the one to say that they needed to talk Drew wasn't very sure what to say. It was a common ailment of his. Just asking her point blank what the heck was wrong would be the easiest. However he was loathe to do that. He picked up and bit into one of the cookies. It was up to his usual standard so it was good but Drew honestly wasn't paying much attention to it. He was eying the Lady across from him, with a capital L because it was actually correct in this case.

>>There's no need for thanking me but you probably will regardless of whether I say it's fine not to or not, right?

“But I want to thank you. You knew what to do and reacted without fault. It was quite brilliant if you ask me.” Kate looked at Andrew kindly, all thoughts of anger gone after the man before her had worked so hard to save her from not only drowning but being hurt by the cold.

“Andrew…” Kate’s let her remorse cross her face without caring if he saw. He was right to be angry at her and sure she wouldn’t go back but she had said things she didn’t mean. Terrible things, “I’m sorry. I know that isn’t going to make things better but I am. You may not have been the best of my friends but you were a friend.” Kate looked away from him and pulled the fully bloomed flower out of her cup, placing it gently on a small plate, “I didn’t mean what I said about this place being horrible. I wouldn’t be who I am without this place. All the people here are important to me…. It’s just… I don’t know how to explain it.” In truth she really didn’t. How can you say that there were parts of it that she didn’t like without it seeming like she didn’t like it all

Kate seemed so lost as she finished speaking. He hadn't bothered to interrupt her. There was no need to do so. She eventually stopped talking on her own for lack of ways to describe whatever her problem was.

"It's alright Kate. I probably over reacted anyway."

While he thought about what she said he gave a casual shrug. Truth told he was not ok with what she'd said at all but she seemed contrite enough that he was willing to let it slide. As he'd realized earlier, they just didn't seem to know each other at all.

"It's fine if you don't want to tell me or can't figure out how."

Now that they were actually talking Drew was finding that maybe he wasn't so keen on getting answers. Sure he wanted them but Drew knew he might not like them. So he was somewhat conflicted. They would have to come sometime if he ever wanted to be friends with Kate. Even if she said he was a friend Drew was beginning to feel like he'd never been her friend at all.

>>It's alright Kate. I probably over reacted anyway. It's fine if you don't want to tell me or can't figure out how.

Kate sipped her tea and looked at Andrew, “It’s not that I don’t want to tell you. It’s that I want to fix things while I’m here if I can. And I don’t mean just my mutation. On my way down here I was thinking about how I had royally screwed things up by being selfish.” Kate sipped her tea before continuing. She had to think before she could determine exactly what she should do to try and move things forward, “How about this? Instead of my trying to explain myself and just fumbling all over the place, why don’t you ask me what you want to know?”

Kate sat waiting for an answer hoping that he would agree to the little exercise. She had come to like Andrew and the time they spent together before she left. If she was going to move forward with things he needed to get the answers he wanted or they were just going to stay where they were and probably never be friends again.

Hrmm. So the burden of questioning was going to fall to him? Drew sat back in his chair. He wasn't entirely sure what to ask. Yes he was upset she'd left but as much as that annoyed him there wasn't much he could think to ask about it. It was mostly her business after all. He leaned forward a little.

"I can't say that I have any questions. I was angry. Still am a little. But what's done is done. Neither of us are the same people we were when you left and that's that I guess."

That said Drew sat back in his seat again. That was that in his opinion. Either she'd tell him in time when she figured out how to say it or not at all. Drew didn't really see the point in asking a load of questions. Especially when he felt like he was talking to a stranger.

>>I can't say that I have any questions. I was angry. Still am a little. But what's done is done. Neither of us are the same people we were when you left and that's that I guess.

Kate sat listening to him and sipping her tea. He was right. They weren’t the same people they had been only months before. Kate had changed into a confident and outgoing young lady and she was never going to go back to the scared, uptight mess she used to be.

She thought for a moment on how to proceed. They obviously couldn’t go back to the way things used to be. So he question was what to do now? She sipped her tea once more and it hit her. She put it down, looked at Andrew and put out her hand, “Hello, I’m Katherine Finch-Hatton. But you can call me Kate. Everyone does.”

Kate sipped her tea and listened to him talk. The silence fell in for a moment or two afterward as she seemed to consider his words and decide what to do about them. Drew couldn't bring himself to be nervous. No, he sat there and waited for her reaction fairly calmly. His attention snapped back to her from his musings when the tea cup hit the table. As her hand reached across the table in introduction he smiled. In fact he was just short of laughing but instead he'd suppressed it into a smile none the less. Drew took Kate's hand and shook it.

"Nice to meet you Kate. I'm Andrew Julius Leroy. Most folks just call me Drew."

It was a good way to restart things. Hopefully this time would work out better than the last time they'd tried to be friends. Not that that had been bad. It just hadn't really gone anywhere a little while. There had been other people Kate had spent more time with and then she'd disappeared. Drew gave a mental shrug. It was the past.

>>Nice to meet you Kate. I'm Andrew Julius Leroy. Most folks just call me Drew.

The role reversal was so amusing that Kate couldn’t resist laughing. She remembered her first night in the mansion rather fondly and back then she would have used her full name to introduce herself. In her change in self she no longer found a need to be so formal.

“Very nice to meet you too, Drew. So tell me about yourself.” Kate tried to put on a fake straight face, “Since this is the first time we have ever met of course.” By the end of the line she had a smile spread across her face once more.

Drew grinned at Kate's laughter. He wasn't entirely sure why she was laughing but he could appreciate that he'd made her laugh anyway. He leaned back in his chair and stuck his hands behind his head real cozy like before he answered her near laughing question.

"Not much to tell. I'm from Lexington, Kentucky and I've been here in New York for about three years now. I work here at the mansion for Sam as his assistant. I work out every day and tend to get into trouble whether I'm lookin' for it or not. What about you, Kate?"

By the time he finished speaking, having barely restrained his accent from slipping through too much, Drew was grinning widely. This was somewhat fun, if a little silly. But he could do silly if it meant patching up a friendship that had been one of the first he'd had in years.