Her bike did not do well in the rain. Either that or she was just pedaling too fast. Turning the corner onto Kyle's street, she'd wiped out for the third time...and hopefully last. It was pouring. She'd forgotten to put her contacts back in, so her glasses were covered in little water droplets making it even harder to see. It was one in the morning and it had been much easier to just grab her glasses as she'd run out the door.

Her bike crashed against the pavement at the bottom of Kyle's porch stairs and Caitlin took them two at a time before throwing herself at his door, fist banging on the screen door. "Kyle!" She pushed the doorbell a couple times, then resumed the banging. "Kyle, please, please be home!"

Yeah, this time there were no cat face first, Kyle didn't even bother with pants. He just pulled open the door and stood there looking at her, wearing boxers and his gun in hand. "What the ****, Caitlin?" She was soaked, like a drowned rat, but he still looked out with the gun pointing down the stairs, then staring into the darkness before pulling her in from the cold rain. The door was pushed closed behind her and he dropped the gun onto the chair before he walked down the hall to get a towel and bring back to her. "What are you doing?" Asked as he checked the time. It was late, or early depending on your perception of time. For someone that had been in bed for a few hours, it was late.

"Thank God you're home," she said. It was like she was in a daze. The irritated questions, the gun practically in her face, the none-too-gentle yank inside. None of it reached her. Inside, Cait shivered and waited for Kyle to come back from wherever he'd gone--oh, a towel. That was great, because she was freezing. A thoroughly soaked, long black sweater was overtop a Rhydin Wargs t-shirt from Deacon. Her yoga pants were just as wet, the little ballet flats doing nothing to keep her feet dry either. Drowned rat was right. Shaking the towel open and swinging it around her shoulders, she stepped closer to him with wide, almost panicked eyes. "I was....I was up thinking. Couldn't sleep. After a couple beers, something occurred to me. Something I haven't ever considered before."

"Christ, you are soaked." He was still trying to wake up, focus but still he disappeared again for another towel and this time a blanket too. "You are gonna get fucking pneumonia or something." The bar had obviously improved his vocabulary. He wrapped the blanket around her, wishing that he had some sort of something to offer her that was dry to wear. "Thinking what?" He motioned her for the small love seat that sat next to the fireplace. It was a small fire, but still plenty warm.

She sat and pulled the glasses from her face, trying to dry them with the extra towel he'd brought. A violent shiver coursed through her and it cleared her mind for just a moment. "I'm sorry, I just..." with one hand she pushed the wet hair out of her face, scooping it back over her head and with the other replaced the black plastic frames on the bridge of her nose. "Kyle, what if he's not dead?"

"You came over here, after beers, in the pouring rain to talk about something we've already talked about?" He frowned and thought that she had finally snapped. "Caitlin, we've talked about this." He knew better than to hold out any sort of hope this had anything to do with them. He leaned back into the cushions and stared at the fire, trying not to think about her, even soaked in glasses as anything other than cute.

"No, no!" She turned to face him. The hand closest to him grabbed his knee and squeezed. "That's what I'm trying to say. We haven't talked about this--not exactly. Kyle," she implored, waiting impatiently until he looked at her once more. A change of position moved her hand from his knee to his shoulder. "What if--listen, listen!" Because he'd started to roll his eyes at her. "What if the reason there's no body is because they turned him?!"

That got his attention. Something he'd thought about but never mentioned to her. Maybe Cris had brought it up, or made mention. Worse, maybe she saw something. He turned to face her and put his hand on hers. "Cait, they were pretty sure that body they found after the fire was Deke." His voice was quiet as he spoke, not wanting to fuel her belief that Deacon was out there somewhere as a vamp.

A frustrated, angry exhale was all he got in response...plus the ripping of her hand out from beneath his. It made contact again, but merely to shove him lightly. "That wasn't--" A swallow. "He's not...he could still be out there. It was the o-one thing he never wanted." She was back to pleading with him to understand, to listen, to confirm that she was on to something. Her hand was back on his shoulder, but closer to being curled around the back of his neck. "Max knew that, Kyle. Max knew. And he knew I wouldn't want that to happen, either. Remember? I told you about when he came to the...oh my God." Like another piece of the puzzle had fallen into place, Cait's belief in the theory only solidified. She pushed away from him to pace in front of the fireplace. "In the hospital he was threatening to turn him so he wouldnt' die. And I told him--I told him that Deacon would never want that. That he'd rather die."

He sighed, she was pacing and obviously had been drinking more than a couple beers. "Let me get some coffee started, okay?" He started to push to his feet. He knew that Max would have thought it but he still wasn't going to buy into her theories. "Did you see something, Cait?" Asking as he started to walk to the kitchen. K-cups were wonderful things.

"No," admitting a little more quietly than she'd been before. Another violent shivered shot through her, so she turned to face the fire, holding the blanket up on either side of her to trap the heat. "He's out there Kyle. I just need to...I'll go to Asher and beg him to make Max tell me what happened."

"Caitlin, that's not a good idea." He returned with a big, bright green mug of a dark roast and held it out to her. He wasn't offering any cream or sugar, she needed full strength. "We've been how long now and not a fucking vamp incident? You don't want to go kicking that hornet's nest."

All the while, Zee was laying sleepless and quiet. Listening to who she knew was Cait, but not intruding yet, as badly as she wanted to. She was hearing more about Kyle's life before the bar, some friend being killed and even more interesting, the word Vampire. She'd heard of them but never met one.

Brown eyes stared at the mug without reaching for it. Then they slid up to watch his face. "Kyle, he's something he ****ing hates because of me. I can't--" He wasn't listening. And he wouldn't. She knew he didn't particularly care that Deacon was gone now, but it was something Cait tried to ignore. Now she just felt a fool for coming over.

"Caitlin, babe... How much did you drink tonight?" He reached over and tugged her back toward the loveseat after he moved it closer to the fire. He was trying to get her to relax, and think things through. "You've got to stop beating yourself up over his fate."

"Apparently not enough to keep me from coming over here. I should have known you'd just brush me off." She was frowning, but unable to keep from letting him pull her back to the loveseat.

"I am not brushing you off, Caitlin. I'm trying to understand why you are thinking that Deke is walking around out there." He picked up his own cup of coffee for a sip, then put it back on the small coffee table. "YOU of all people should know his ego like I do, if he was out there, don't you think he would have strolled into one of our lives by now?" He was frustrated, thinking if Deke was a vamp, it could be bad. There were days that he did miss his friend, and others he wished he would have ended his life a long time ago.

Perched on the very edge of the loveseat, Caitlin sat up ramrod straight, waves of wet hair quivering as she shivered and tears ran down her face in stoic silence. There was no expression on her face, except, perhaps, exhaustion. "Fine," she finally spoke. "He's dead. He's gone. He's never coming back."

"I'm not trying to upset you, Caitlin... I'm not. But, that ego wouldn't let him stay away from us, or even other vampires. We would have heard something in the news about something taking more of them out, you know?" He reached out and wiped one of those hot tears from her cheek with a very gentle touch. "Sometimes, I miss him too." Admitted quietly.

Even though the words rang more true than anything she could have come up with, she didn't want to believe them. His touch made her eyelids flutter closed and she tipped her head to catch his fingers between her cheek and shoulder. "I had a dream about him." Another shiver, but this time it wasn't from the cold.

Again, Deke invades the moment. Kyle shook his head trying his best not to sigh. "What dream?" He wasn't sure he wanted to know, but she mentioned it, so it was important to her, and this had been the most time they'd spent together without seeing what the other could do to bring about jealousy or anger in the other.

"It was so real. I thought he was back. I just wanted to make everything right. Give him the baby he wanted, run away from everything, beg forgiveness for everything I've done to screw up my life since he left." A quiet, painful sob rushed out of her lungs. She straightened, releasing his hand so she could turn her face away from him completely. A minute later she spoke. "I should go home. The rain's stopped."

"Caitlin, " He reached out again, and slid his arm around her. Comforting the sob away, or trying to. "He wasn't that guy. Your life isn't bad, and he couldn't run away...this was his town." Again he reached out to cup her chin and turn her to face him. "You don't have to...didn't have to beg forgiveness from him."

And that's when there was a slight cough, more to announce presence than anything. She'd been listening, catching bits and pieces but seeing them close, by the fire where they'd been after work, was a little much for Zee. "It's like Four AM. Give her a blanket to crash here or whatever. She's obvious..."

Kyle turned his head around and glared. "Not now, Zee. This isn't the time." The look was so cold that Zee fought a rising shiver. She stood there silently for a moment, then disappeared into the kitchen, like her plan all along was to get the drink she was suddenly getting from the sink.

It's not like they hadn't been rubbing their relationships in each other's faces for several weeks now, but having Zee barge in at this exact moment ruined everything. Absolutely everything. It had taken a crazy idea and intoxication to finally bring them together...only for reality to quietly clear her throat. Caitlin wanted to throttle her. But even as Zee disappeared, the moment had passed. Cait shrugged out of the blanket and towels, standing quickly. "No, it's fine. I'm....obviously intruding. I should go." She didn't even wait for a response....mostly she just wanted to get out of the house before having to see Zee's face again.

"Cait, stop." Kyle was pissed at the invasion from Deke and from Zee. **** them both. "You aren't intruding anything." The thunder outside told them the rain wasn't over as she thought it was. "I'm taking you home, " he wasn't giving her the choice to say no. "It's pouring and you are gonna get sick."

Drunk Cait couldn't hold her tongue any longer. Holding the door open, she spun around to stare at him incredulously. He'd better thank whatever Gods he prayed to that he'd spoken when he did. Surprised, she frowned and shook her head. "No.. just stay here." With her, she'd meant to tack on. It took everything in her not to glance towards the kitchen.

Zee disappeared back down the hallway. He straightened up to stand over her, she was obviously feeling like he was. People intruding on their time, and he saw that angry flash in her eyes. "You aren't riding home in this ****. I'm taking you." If nothing else, they could talk more with no one listening was his thinking, plus he knew the shit he would get when he got back home. He stepped away from her for a moment to pick up his pants that were on the back of the couch, never put on when he had gotten her the towel and blanket.

It was impossible not to watch him, to appreciate what she couldn't have, and when he caught her, she wasn't even apologetic. For once, there was no blush that crept onto her cheeks. When he was ready, they headed down to the garage. She put her bike inside and then climbed silently into the passenger side of his car. It was eerily quiet. Just then the rain started back up. It helped fill the yawning chasm of silence that was growing between them. Zee's presence had burst their bubble of connection. And it was probably too late to find it again.

He slid into the car after sliding her bike into the monstrous trunk of the old beast. He got the car for the size and the sheer cool factor. He had loved the new cars with Deke, but there was always something about old, Detroit steel. The motor roared to life and he pulled the switch for the headlights which illuminated the pouring rain. The radio came on and he reached over and turned it off as they pulled out into the rain. A crank of wheel and they were driving away from the apartment. The silence was palpable. He liked the fact that she watched him, that told him there was still something there, he wasn't the only one feeling something.

The entire ride was silent. For the most part her gaze remained trained out the window on the mindless blur of water-logged buildings and landscape they passed. Every so often, she'd look his way to find him watching her, only to shift his gaze back to the road. There had to be a word that described what they both were feeling: knowing they both cared but were too reluctant to either of them make a move. Finally, Kyle came to a stop in front of her home. She saw a light shining through one of Cris' small windows at street level. Her's were pitch black. The sound of the rain consumed her.

"...do you love her?"

He didn't say anything. There were feelings for Zee, but love? That was too strong to explain what they had. He just watched Cait for a bit. Wondering what was going through her mind. Hand went out to push a bit of that chocolate brown hair back behind her ear as it was maddening that he couldn't see all of her face. The ride over allowed his own mind to wander. There was a comfort in the fact that they could share a silence, but not one like this. Not when there were things he wanted to scream, and make her listen. Show her his true feelings, but the question she asked went unanswered while his other hand dropped from the wheel and lifted to run over the top of his head.

He'd have to remain frustrated, because even his touch didn't make her move. She spoke quietly. "I don't love him."

There was some sort of noncommittal sound that came from his chest but didn't make it past his lips. Things were going through his mind entirely too fast to process. Hand dropped from her face but he turned more to face her, considering consequences of actions and words. Things were easily made volatile, he'd seen it with Deke when he would be seeing two women. One wrong word would bring the wrath of both. "Why then?" Was about all he could say.

At first there was only silence. The rain plinking onto the car. Their unsteady breathing. And her barely controlled shivers that made her teeth collide every so often. Finally, "When I found Zee at your house the morning after her fight, I didn't want to get in the way of you trying to move on. But I didn't like being alone, even if it was self-inflicted. Blake's keeping me from completely falling apart. I can pretend--"

"I wasn't home, Cait. That morning you came by. I left got on my bike and ran til I was out of gas. I didn't find out you had even been there until that next night, when you saw me at the bar." He had no desire of thinking about her and Blake doing anything. "Pretend...what, exactly?"

Her head swung around to stare. Dawning horror began to creep up, a sour taste starting to fill her mouth. "Zee told me you were in the shower. She was..." Inhale. Exhale. "She was in your ****ing clothes."

"I wasn't there, Cait...what clothes?" That was new information too.

"Your Chicago shirt." Because she'd never forget that image burned into her mind. Brown eyes watered.

He had several of those shirts. Things his sister sent to him, and he'd gotten for gifts when he was back there. She still favored the gray one but that was left unsaid. "Oh." Was all he could say. Even in the darkness he could see the glistening in her eyes.

A singular, mirthless chuff of laughter left her in a rush, one corner of her mouth lifting. Visions of Alex beating the **** out of Zee would be with her tonight until sleep claimed her. Her gaze returned to the window and up at her home. Blake was inside, passed out on the couch where she'd left him earlier in the evening.

And that made him think she lost it. "Share the laugh?" He wanted to see whatever humor she found, maybe he'd see it too.

"At least now I have a valid reason to hate her." Cait shook her head, then reached for the door handle. "Thanks for driving me home."

He shook his head. "Why?" The rain still beat on the car, and he was watching her as she reached for that handle.

"I didn't have to ride my bike home in the rain," oh she knew damn well that wasn't what he'd questioned. "Pop the trunk?" And out she stepped into the rain.

He frowned and stepped out of the car. There was no popping the trunk in an old car, unless it happened to be a fancy one, and his wasn't. He put the key into the trunk lock, watching her. "Now, answer the question?" The metal popped, but didn't send that old trunk lid sailing like the new cars. It just barely popped up and he didn't reach to push the metal up yet.

He was making her forearms throb and all she could think about to escape the pain of what he was trying to bring up was to get out the blades as soon as he left. "Because she made me think you two had slept together. If she hadn't done that...." It was cold. They were both getting wet. And this would get them nowhere. She wanted to take back this entire night, forget everything that had happened. "Please, Kyle... just give me the bike so I can go inside."

The lid pushed up, and he was pulling her bike out from inside. The cold rain wasn't phasing him. The thoughts flying through his mind had most of his attention, but he placed the bike on the ground then turned to face her again. "So, this whole thing is about that morning, and you being with someone you don't love...."

Hands reached to steady the bike so he could let it go. "No, no just stop trying to make sense of what comes out of my mouth. It's nothing. I'm drunk and I'm tired and you should just go back to your girlfriend and let me go inside before Blake even knows I was gone."

He heard then. Blake was in her house. Attention turned toward her windows briefly. No light. Either he'd drank himself into a deep sleep, or he had no concern for her safety. She'd been with him nearly two hours if you count the bike ride to his place from hers. "Was Blake drinking tonight?" The name was said as if it was venomous. He hadn't let go of the bike just yet.

"Yes. We were playing a card game. I was winning and he had to do so many more shots." A small frown creased her forehead. She wasn't sure why the words were coming out of her mouth. A little tug on the bike, but he wasn't letting go. "He passed out hours before I came over--why?"

That answered how he was still asleep. He wasn't in control of himself. Kyle frowned, the rain ran down his face, along the lines of his mouth. She didn't need someone that drank like that, not after Deke. "You have your phone?"

Taking a step towards him, she leveled him with a serious expression. "Go home and quit worrying about me."

"Answer me, please." Still not letting go.

"It's inside." Answering through gritted teeth.

He nodded, no phone, no watch at her place. Not even a stir of curtain when his car pulled up. He reached out then and took her arm, after letting go of that bike. Jaw tightened while thinking how frantic he'd be if she just up and left in the middle of the night, but the asshole she was dating doesn't have a clue, because he's in a drunken sleep.

And suddenly she couldn't stop shaking. It could be from the bone-deep chill that had a hold of her or something else entirely. Looking up at his face, the stupid rain making it nearly impossible to really look at him through her glasses. "Kyle... don't..." But those eyes said otherwise.

Seemed to him right then that he was always the one taking that chance. He leaned down and pressed lips to hers. No words, no questions. Just trying to make her see what he tried to tell her months ago before other people got involved.

Why the **** did they have to have a bicycle between them? It was incredibly inconvenient because all she wanted to do was press herself into him. The moment his head began to lower, she was up on tip-toe to meet that kiss. Her only other free hand was holding a bike but she let it go so her fingers could cup the back of his neck tightly, holding him captive.

The bike was pushed away, he wasn't going to let the thing stay between them, leaned it up against the back of the car, never breaking that kiss. He had a talent for making things better. Arm went behind her back, and she was pulled closer, and he wasn't trying to break her grip. Even with the cold rain, there was a building heat in him.

In his arms now her shivering ceased. And thanks to the rain, he wouldn't be able to see the hot tears that joined the cool rivers of water that ran down her face. And while this kiss did more to salve her broken heart than Blake had done in a month, Cait couldn't help but be afraid again. Here she was, going from one guy to another--cheating on her boyfriend no less--in under a month. Who's to say it wouldn't happen again next month? Only then, she'd be hurting the one person in the world she couldn't possibly bear to lose. "Kyle," she said gasping, breaking the kiss.

He lifted a finger to her lips and shook his head. "No excuses. No regrets, I don't want to hear why we shouldn't have done this or that, or whatever." He watched her and his mouth made a straight line. "This is what should have happened a long time ago.... and I wouldn't let you out for a couple hours without being out looking for you, getting the watch involved or God knows what. "

"I'll hurt you," she murmured. The hand on the back of his neck squeezed lightly. "And I don't want to hurt you; I want to love you, but I know I'll end up hurting you."

"Bull****, you won't hurt me... because you don't want to." He still wasn't trying to get away from her grasp, or letting his own loosen on her. "You won't hurt me anymore than I would hurt you. You are scared, and I get that."

"Look what we're doing! This is cheating. Just because I don't love him, doesn't mean this isn't wrong. Who's to say I won't change my mind again in another month, huh?" Why did she have to keep speaking? Why, why didn't she kiss him again like she wanted?

She didn't have to, because he moved to shut her up and kiss her again. He knew what they were doing wasn't right, but he knew that it wouldn't go on should they be what he thought they were meant to be.

Lucky for him, she had no strength left to fight this. In the morning, she's blame the alcohol and hate herself for being weak. But for now, she'd hold him in the rain and kiss him like they were already lovers.