It had been a little over a month since Laurie had moved into her new home. Over a month since she'd met Kate. She had stayed with Kate another day before her fever broke and she had taken her home and every day since Kate had come to visit.
At first, it had just been to talk and help Laurie unpack. But a few days in, she had taken to fixing things. And by things she meant damn near everything in her house.
It started with small things like oiling a door hinge and helping assemble a shelf. Then two weeks ago Laurie had gotten back from the grocery store to find Kate on her roof, fixing a leak she had been complaining about for days and nearly giving her a heart attack. The irony wasn't lost on her.
A few days after that, she had helped Laurie paint some of the rooms, and the day after, she helped Laurie fix the sink. Alright, Kate fixed the sink, she sat there and handed her whatever she asked for. At this point, Laurie wouldn't need to hire anybody to fix anything. Kate was single-handedly renovating her house.
Laurie had started to feel guilty after the roof and had offered to pay her only to be refused, again and again, being told her company was payment enough. She just about melted after that one. Laurie had since learned to pay Kate back through food.
Laurie had taken to cooking and baking and the brunette had been over almost every day for lunch. And dinner. And breakfast sometimes.
Kate always seemed to be hungry and had taken a liking to everything Laurie made. Kate's apparent love for her cooking only enabled Laurie to spend more time in the kitchen than she ever had before.
Laurie had always loved cooking, she found the process to be extremely relaxing, but her schedule had not afforded her the time. She lived for her job and sometimes she was in the hospital for days at a time. Her apartment in California was barely lived in.
Now she had the time and the cooking gave her an excuse to keep inviting Kate over. If Laurie was being honest, she was getting used to having her around.
...
Laurie had woken up to the loud sound of something crashing. She bolts out of her bed, startled, not bothering to put on her robe before running down the stairs. She opens the door and is met with a smiling Kate wearing jeans and a loose flannel, holding a sledgehammer over her shoulder. Laurie would have melted over the sight had she not seen the large hole in the middle of her porch.
"Good morning!" Kate chirps. Way too happy for someone about to be murdered.
"What the hell! Kate, what did you do to my porch?" Laurie asks, stepping out of the door.
"The steps were creaking," Kate says to her clearly baffled mate.
"The steps were creaking." Laurie echos, unable to fully comprehend what was happening. She had just woken up and was still a little disoriented.
"Yes."
"So you put a hole through it?"
Kate could sense Laurie's stressed-out tone and was quick to reassure her. "Don't worry. I'm building you a new one. The wood is old and I was worried it would break and you'd get hurt." That was a lie. The porch was fine, the wood was actually pretty strong for a house this old and there was only one creaky step that would've taken five minutes to fix.
"Honestly, it only took one swing to do that." Kate gestures towards the sizable hole on top of the first stair on Laurie's porch. Granted, it was really a good solid swing from a werewolf, but technicalities.
"You're build- I don't- what's happening." Laurie couldn't form words, alternating between looking at the damage and Kate who had put the hammer down.
Kate wasn't exactly proud of herself but she had been running out of reasons to see Laurie and admittedly, panicked a little. It had been over a month and she still hadn't told Laurie about herself. She didn't want to push too much too soon and end up scaring Laurie away so she had taken to spending as much time with her as the smaller woman would allow.
Kate could feel what the physical distance to Laurie was doing to her and her pack had started to notice it too. When she wasn't with Laurie or hadn't seen or heard from her for more than a few hours, she was aggressive, irritable, and short-tempered. She had snapped at poor Lucas the week before for some small reason she couldn't even remember and Isaac had been avoiding her after a particularly rough sparring session where he ended up flying through a tree. It wasn't a very big tree, but still.
On top of everything, she hadn't been getting much sleep. The tension was building inside her and she had been having a hard time getting herself under control. There had been a full moon a couple of days ago and Kate had chained herself in her basement and had given everyone strict instructions not to let her get anywhere near Laurie. She had broken free of the restraints and it had taken both Connor and Isaac to hold her down before Iris could knock her out.
Kate walks up the stairs and towards Laurie, reaching out to touch her arm. "Hey, it's okay. I'll make you a better one. It'll be done in a week. Two tops." She'd get Connor and Isaac to help her.
"Kate, you can't do that. It's too much. I can just hire someone to do it." Laurie says, leaning into Kate's touch. There has been a lot of that lately. Touching. Kate always seemed to be touching her. Whether it was a brush of her hand or the full-blown cuddle sessions that would happen whenever they had a movie night. It never went further than that but Laurie was starting to crave more.
Laurie absolutely loved spending time with Kate and dreaded every time had to leave. It freaked her out at first, how fast she seemed to develop feelings for the brunette, but she had long since given up on trying to stop whatever was going on between them.
"No, don't get anyone. I like doing this kind of stuff, remember? I promise I'll make you a better one." Kate insists. She was already feeling guilty over the damage she caused, she wasn't about to let Laurie pay someone to fix it when she was fully capable of doing it herself.
Plus, she didn't know how she would react to someone she didn't know spending time with Laurie; being close to her. It was best not to test it.
"Okay. Only if you're sure." Laurie says, giving up on arguing with the other woman.
"I'm sure," Kate says, rubbing her thumb gently over Laurie's arm.
Now that everything was sorted, Kate took the time to really look at Laurie, letting her eyes roam down her body and blushing as soon as she did. Laurie had noticed Kate's flushed face and looked down following the older woman's line of sight, blushing a bright red herself.
In her haste to get down, she had forgotten exactly what it was she had fallen asleep in. She was wearing nothing but underwear and an oversized shirt. Her legs were on full display and she was made blatantly aware that she wasn't wearing a bra when she felt a cold breeze blow against her skin.
Laurie was quick to wrap her arms around herself and Kate developed a sudden fascination for the door behind her.
"I-Uh, muffins!" Was what came out of Laurie's mouth. She's pretty sure her face could not get any redder at this point.
Kate looks at her, confused.
"I was-muffins-baking last night. Breakfast." She wasn't making sense now.
Laurie took a deep breath before letting herself speak again. "I made some muffins last night. Would you like some? For breakfast, I mean."
Kate nods, clearing her throat. "Yes, yeah. I'd love to eat you. With! With you!" Laurie's eyes widened, certain that her face was probably an alarming shade of red. Kate was willing the ground to swallow her up, not quite believing what just came out of her mouth.
They both looked at each other before coming to a silent agreement that neither would say anything and just move on.
Laurie opens the door and walks into her house, heading towards the kitchen with Kate following close behind. "You know where I keep 'em. I'm just gonna get in the shower real quick." Laurie says before making her way up the stairs. Kate had spent enough time in Laurie's house to know where everything was and her mate had never shown signs of being uncomfortable with her in her space so Kate had gotten comfortable moving around. She made her way around Laurie's kitchen, grabbing a muffin from the jar Laurie had kept out in the middle of the island and moving to start making coffee for them, taking bites out of the muffin as she went. Kate was highly impressed with Laurie's creations and was only too happy to be her 'test subject' of sorts. Her mate loved to bake. She was damn good and Kate was not shy about showing it. She had given Kate a batch of cookies to take home and Kate had made the mistake of bringing them over to Iris and Nate's
"Do you wanna stay for dinner tonight? It's been a few days and I'm trying out a new recipe." Laurie asks Kate as they load groceries into the back of her car.Kate hadn't been over for dinner in a few days. She had told Laurie it was because she had a family thing, and really it was. There had been a full moon and it had been best that she was away from Laurie for a few days.Now that she'd found her mate, it was damn near impossible to stay away from her. Kate had already been on edge from the moment she met Laurie and the full moon took every ounce of control she had and shoved it out the window.Kate loved the feeling of letting go and shifting, but the full moon made it so werewolves had little to no restraint over their baser instincts. It was also when they were at the peak of their abilities.She wanted Laurie so bad it hurt. It
It had taken almost the entire day but Kate had taken Laurie to every place she could think of. They had walked through almost the entire town and at this point, she was sure Laurie was familiar enough with the place that she wouldn't be in danger of being lost or putting herself in a bad situation. Kate had made a point to tell Laurie about the sketchier places.Eventually, Kate ran out of places to take Laurie that didn't involve exposing herself and they found themselves walking aimlessly through the park."Are you tired? Do you wanna go home?" Kate asks as Laurie stops to sit on a bench. It was late afternoon and they had been walking the entire time, with the exception of stopping for lunch. Kate was sure Laurie had developed an addiction to the milkshakes at the diner Lucas's mother managed."No, I'm good. It's nice out here." Laurie sighs, patting the space beside her.Kate slid down next to her, close enough that their shoulders were touchin
"I'm taking her home.""Please don't.""But she's adorable." Laurie whines, cradling a cream-colored puppy to her chest like one would a baby. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor, happy to let the puppies climb all over her."You said that about the last eight." Dogs. The last eight dogs. The cats were another story. Kate was sure had she not been blessed with the reflexes she had, she would have several scratch marks on her body."She's so fluffy." Laurie coos lifting the puppy at eye level."God please don't let her get a dog," Kate mutters under her breath as Laurie picks up another puppy that had been pawing at her leg, setting the one she already had on her lap.Kate was slowly regretting taking Laurie to the animal shelter. Seeing her mate with the little animals had to be the most adorable thing she had ever witnessed but th
Kate led Laurie towards a booth, hand resting on her lower back as she eyed the bar's occupants.Out of all the places they had passed, she hadn't been expecting Laurie to choose this particular establishment.It wasn't that it was bad. It was nice. Great actually. The drinks were amazing and they served decent food. Kate had been here countless times with her friends.That was the problem.The people who frequented this bar weren't exactly the most human. It wasn't glaringly obvious if you weren't looking but she knew that staying here with Laurie probably wasn't a good idea.She had tried to steer Laurie away but her mate was set on going to this particular bar and Kate couldn't refuse her without looking suspicious."What do you want? I can go get it." Kate says as Laurie settles herself on one side of the booth. Kate had picked the one in the bar's line of sight, wanting to be able to see Laurie even when she left to get them their
The drive back to Laurie's house was quiet as neither one of them said a word.Laurie sat in the passenger seat of her car still reeling from the events that transpired less than an hour ago, not quite believing what she had just witnessed.Kate had thrown someone across the bar without so much as breaking a sweat. The way she did it made it seem like it took no effort at all. Kate who she had only ever known to be calm and gentle had nearly killed someone for trying to make a move on her. Yes, she was admittedly in a bit of trouble but Laurie had not expected Kate to react the way she did.Her strength surprised Laurie. No matter how hard she had tried, she couldn't get Kate to budge. It was like trying to move a brick wall. Laurie knew Kate was strong but what happened was different. Kate should not have been able to do what she did. It just didn't make sense.There was also the fact t
Laurie walks into the bathroom and takes her time changing into the significantly softer clothes.She takes a moment to look at herself in the mirror and lets out a disgruntled sigh when she spots a bruise forming on her right arm. There was some light bruising that went around her upper arm that Laurie knew would darken come morning. She hadn't been paying attention to how hard the man, Darren, had grabbed her but now that she wasn't wearing the sweater, she could see it was apparently hard enough to bruise.She inspects herself further and groans in annoyance as she sees another on her wrist. "Great. That's just great."She had been too busy being in her own head to feel anything and now that she had the time, she was making sure she had not missed anything, stopping only when she was satisfied at having found no other injuries.She looked over the bruises she did have and deduced that the one on her wrist looked far worse than the one on he
Laurie finds herself unable to say anything. She understood what Kate was saying but she just couldn't find words to say. Everything Kate said, no matter how foreign the concept was to her, made sense.Laurie let herself think of how Kate always, always without fault, did everything she could think of to make Laurie happy. She almost never refused Laurie anything. She helped with everything she could think of, she was gentle and kind and she made Laurie laugh more than she ever had in her life; not to mention she almost killed someone trying to protect her.There was also something to be said about how Laurie felt about Kate. No matter how she tried to look at it, Kate made her feel things she had never felt before. To an extreme. Laurie was never one to let anyone get as close to her as she let Kate. But there was a sense of need to be near her and an almost longing feeling when she left. It was one of many re