"Please," she reached out, gently putting her hand on his bare arm as she plead, "can't you stay just a little longer?' "I'm sorry," he pulled away reluctantly, his bare chest dark with hair, "but I have to catch the jet in a few hours, m'love." "But," she started, then the cellphone rang.... Kate Williams smiled slightly as she sat back in the battered office chair, reading what she had just written. Writing historical fiction was an odd hobby, even she'd admit it, but doing something so peaceful was oddly satisfying to her. The rangy, brown haired woman closed the file she was working on, feeling a moment of satisfaction at no annoying computer voices. Where Beth had found this antique Kate didn't know but the old computer was a godsend to her. Manufactured just before the big vocal-interactive boom, it was modern enough to communicate with other systems but lacked the annoying personality of modern models. It wasn't much more than a glorified typewriter, but it suited her fine. 'Wonder if I should call Silver?' Kate thought as she got up, stretching stiff muscles. She and the android were developing a gentle friendship, but they were still feeling out the boundaries. 'No,' Kate thought of the night they had spent together, 'it's still too soon.' Looking at her calendar display Kate groaned softly. "Another session with that damn headshrinker," she muttered, heading into the kitchen. In all honesty she didn't mind the therapy sessions as much as she had expected, but it still annoyed her that she had to go. Pressing a key on her badly battered answering machine she smiled as the tape loudly rewound and began to haltingly play messages from the past few days. Sqwark... a moment's silence then, "This is Doctor Jameson's office, you're next appointment is for Tuesday, March seventh..." Kate bypassed that with a sigh, "I know, I know!" Qwrp... then Gwen's voice, "I'm not going to be available tonight, personal business, so please keep your pager and com. available." A moment's pause and she added irritably, "And would you get a modern answering system, please?!" Kate just had to chuckle at that. Her antique answering machine annoyed Gwen to no end, in all honestly that was part of why she kept it. 'Personal business,' Kate thought wryly, 'yeah, a little piece of business named Beth.' Zzzrk... "Is this thing working? Kate, this is Naru, could you please return my call? All I want to do is talk..." Kate stopped the tape to rewind it, listening again to the voice. 'Wonder why my dear cousin is trying to contact me again?' she wondered. She had only found out about Naru and the other branch of the family a few years ago, and had been avoiding them ever since. Bdip... "Would it violate your no dating rule if we just went out for some coffee?" Jen's voice asked evenly. "Call me at home if you're interested." "The girl just doesn't know when to quit," Kate said with admiration. Jen had been pretty dogged in forming a non-professional relationship with her, despite Kate's own firm resistance. The beautiful blonde was a good kid, probably part of why she was resisting. 'I don't want to be hurt again,' she thought honestly, 'or to hurt her.' "Incoming call," the phone announced in a annoyingly chirpy voice, violently interrupting Kate's thoughts. She glared down at the modern phone that Beth had jury-rigged an attachment to the older answering machine and again wished that she could just get rid of it. Sadly an older model couldn't interface with the phone system, leaving her stuck with this. "Incoming call," it repeated in that relentlessly chirpy voice. "Receive, damn it," Kate growled, silently vowing that one of these days she'd get the schematics for the phone and tear that vocal mono-chip right out. Then she heard the voice and knew that she really shouldn't have picked up. "Is this Kate Williams?" Naru's voice asked softly, sounding tentative. Kate bit back a curse at hearing her voice. "Yeah," she answered her grimly, "so what do you want, cousin?" Naru sighed softly. "I know you told the private investigator that you didn't want us making contact with you," she answered, "but I can't believe...." "You probably should," Kate cut her off firmly, just wishing that this little problem wouldn't keep on coming up. From what Kate had been able to piece together on her own, Naru's side of the family had only become aware of her existence a few years ago. In a city with a population in the millions it had been difficult for them to find her, so they had contracted with a investigator to do it. Once he reached her he provided the information on her family and asked if she had a message to pass on. 'Of course, they didn't expect to hear that I didn't want anything to do with the family,' Kate thought grimly, 'and Naru definitely hasn't accepted it.' Naru puffed out a breath and muttered under her breath, "And this seemed like such a good idea at the time." More loudly she continued, "I'm at a market in your building that's just a few levels from your suite." Discretely she didn't mention the market was above Kate's unit then continued on, "I'd like to talk to you, if I could." 'And she's near enough to me to show up on my doorstep if I say no,' Kate thought irritably. Holding her temper back she answered, "There's a bar there, O'Connell's. I'll be down in five." "Thank you," Naru started before Kate hung up on her. Thinking very unpleasant thoughts Kate grabbed her jacket and headed to the front door, slipping on her shoes before stepping out into the hall. "Good evening, Ms. Williams," the elevator greeted her cheerfully as she stepped inside. "Shut up," Kate growled. Once she got off, the elevator waited until she had taken a few steps down the hall before responding, "Have a nice day." Kate grit her teeth but just kept going. The market level was as busy as ever, artificial white light adding to the twilight glow that a inhabitant on this level normally got used to. The savory scent of cooking food hung in the air from all the restaurants while stands sold everything from fresh vegetables to frozen fish. There were even a few daring to sell the delicacy of red meat, though they did so with the utmost caution. Moving through the crowds Kate nodded her greetings to those she knew and ignored any protests from those she had to bump aside. In this city the Markets were held open twenty-four hours a day to better serve the people who worked wildly different shifts throughout the levels of the city. O'Connell's was actually run by a member of the O'Connell family, as older man named Tamsin. It wasn't an traditional Irish bar, it really was more of a dive, but it served good beer and all of the snacks were free. Tamsin had an eye for trouble and at first had been worried about having Kate there, but finally had warmed to her once she admitted to him she was a cop. "Kate," a woman's voice called and Kate set eyes on her cousin. The black hair flowed down her back in a wave as Naru stood up in one of the booths, her slim body sheathed in the latest fashion. Her jewelry wasn't too ornate, just earrings and a simple necklace, while her face was subtly touched by makeup. Her face was grave, maybe even a bit worried, but her blue eyes were gentle. 'Wonder if she dressed up for this,' Kate thought as she walked over in battered jacket, pants and a clean shirt, 'or if this is her usual style?' There was a familiarity about her, one she had a hard time placing until she realized Naru looked just a little like her. "It's good to meet you at last," Naru smiled as she sat, Kate following suit reluctantly. She looked at Kate thoughtfully, "The photos the investigator brought us didn't really do you justice." Kate wasn't much in the mood to be charmed. "So what did you want to talk to me about?" she asked Naru crisply. "Not much for small talk, are you?" Naru looked more amused than anything else. "All right, why are you so resistant to meeting my family?" "I save small talk for my friends," Kate said dryly. "Bringing another date here?" Tamsin asked as he walked up their booth, his red hair streaked with gray. He set down Kate's usual drink in front of her then set a pint in front of Naru. "She's not a date," Kate scowled at him, "so scram." "Yeah, yeah," Tamsin moved off with a laugh, "she was sure asking enough questions about you, I figured her for one of your one night stands." "You were asking about me?" Kate raised an eyebrow at Naru. "I had to try to get an idea about what sort of person you are," Naru answered as she took a drink, a bit surprised at the quality of the drink. She smiled, "One of the things he mentioned is that your bark is worse than your bite." "Considering I've never bit him he doesn't know what he's talking about," Kate answered. Getting back to Naru's question she said, "I've managed just fine without a family so far, I don't see much point in being saddled with one now." Naru shook her head tiredly, "We're not interested in saddling you with anything, we just want to get to know you a bit better." Kate took a drink of her own dark beer, savoring the taste. "That's strange to hear, considering how strongly you pursued this meeting." "Point," Naru conceded. She reached into her purse to pull out a card, setting it down on the table, "This is encoded with my and the family's numbers, the next move is yours." Before Kate could respond Naru rose, setting down credit chips on the table before striding out of the bar. "Now that," Kate sighed as she finished her beer, "is style."
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