"Basil, meet Aimee, my girlfriend. Aimee, meet Basil... my boyfriend."

On Monday morning, a card arrives in the post for Kevin. The card is a fairly typical belated card, with a sheepish looking turtle on the outside. Inside are two items: a gift certificate to Runnningshoes.com for $30, and a letter. It reads:

Kevin - sorry I forgot your birthday again. Hope this gets to you in the right month, anyway. I haven't rejoined the family business back here, so I'm pretty out of the loop. Pop's doing pretty well, the doctors say. He's already hung on longer than some of them predicted, so that's good. I found this website that just screamed your name, so that's what your present is. I checked it out, but it wasn't power tools. If I knew better what was good and what wasn't, I'd have gotten you something more personal than a gift certificate.
I didn't hear if Grey got his present - do you know if he did? Bug him to let you read the books. They're really good. Say hey to Emma and Signe for me, and give Scratch a beer. I miss you guys.
- Nat

Safehouse: Common Area(#2947RAJ)
The foyer of this house is set off from the living room with its octagonal bump-out by a four foot high halfwall. Stairs lead up from the foyer, turning and disappearing to the right, and a wooden door with a keycard lock claims the wall opposite the living room. The rest of the main floor is taken up by a small bathroom across the hallway from a dining room which is separated from the kitchen at the back of the house by another half-wall. The decor is decidedly sparse - white walls, beige carpeting in the living and dining rooms and down the hall, unremarkable vinyl in the foyer and kitchen.
A used couch and a pair of recliners are grouped around a coffee table in the living room, with a foursome of wooden chairs claiming the bump out for quieter conversation. The dining room boasts a white laminate table with four aluminum and vinyl-upholstered chairs - too new to be 'vintage', too old to be trendy. The appliances and cupboards in the kitchen are new - or at least refurbished to look like it - and a door leads out to the backyard from there.
Up the stairs are a number of empty rooms where anyone affiliated with the Sept can crash and an office for private meetings. The Glass Walkers have their own area accessible via a locked door off the foyer. The main doors themselves lead back out to the front porch of the house.

Aimee's expression goes through relief, concern, and relief again before slipping back into some degree of anxiousness. "He is?" she says softly, looking around quickly and chewing on her lower lip. "He 'round right now?" Wrinkling up her nose, she shakes her head and frowns over a gusty sigh, "You're a grown woman, Aimee. Act like it."

"There is nothing wrong with being worried about the one you love. But there is with not caring about the ones that love you. I'm going to beat his ass if he keeps ignoring you." Basil grunts, turning his attention back to the TV. "He's probably around here somewhere, watching soccer maybe. You can hang out here til he gets back."

Basil pages to the room: Basil is wearing nothing put his pants, and headband, Kevin. Which has 'Born to kill' written on it. And his eye patch now has a peace symbol.

As if on cue, the door from the Glass Walker house opens up and there's Kevin now. He's looking very bleary indeed, as though... well, as though he'd been up all night fighting and then had to endure an eight-hour drive home. He blinks at Basil and Aimee like a deer caught in headlights, and takes a nervous step back, as though this warrior of Gaia who was so recently risking his life against the Wyrm without flinching finds the thought of having to deal with these two more terrifying still.

Aimee smiles a little at some of that, "That doesn't surprise me, the soccer stuff. And...thanks." One foot moves to take her towards one of the recliners when the door opens. The turn of her head is perhaps less dramatic with her familiar long hair chopped off, but the look on her face adequately mimics Kevin's. Licking lips gone dry, she calls out softly to him to keep her voice from cracking. "Hey, Cowboy..."

"She calls you the same thing I do. Funny, ain't it?" Basil asks Kevin, rising up to walk over next to Aimee. "Kev, you need to come down here. And you need to talk to her. If you can stand up to a Wyrm thing, you can get down here and explain yourself to the girl that's been waiting for you."

Kevin gives a nervous and horribly false-sounding little laugh as he inches into the room. "I guess I oughta," he agrees, his face already flushing that familiar embarrassed pink.

Aimee swallows sharply and looks from Basil to Kevin and back, curling her hands around the strap of her bag tightly enough to whiten her knuckles a bit. "This isn't gonna be simple, is it? Nothing with Garou ever is...." she murmurs to the newly-met Basil sidelong.

Basil lifts up a hand and gently pats her on the shoulder, then gestures to the couch. "No." He responds with a murmur. "You two have a seat together on the couch. And you tell her, Kevin. Truthfully. And if you're sorry, you tell her that. And if you love her, tell her, stupid. And if you run from this now, I'll tie you up until you do explain." Basil glances between them, then asks. "Can I get you anything?"

"It's not a garou thing, for once," Kevin offers his opinion as he comes and sits by Aimee and looks from her to Basil. "It's... well. It's..." He seems to be having trouble here. "It's... a me thing." He folds his hands together tightly. "A selfish thing, I guess."

Aimee directs a look of mock-disappointment at Basil and blows her breath out through her lips in a fluttery sound. Settling down on the couch with Kevin, bag laying forgotten on the floor at her feet, she watches him with an uncharacteristic stillness. "Go on...."

Basil stands where he is and watches the two quietly, his hands folded in front of him, his face a blend of neutrality and guilt.

"What were you two talking about before I came in?" Kevin prevaricates.

"You. Guess it was kind of a 'speak of the Devil' moment, if you wanna think of it that way." Aimee responds, one hand fluttering vaguely at the topic. "I'd only been in the door a couple of minutes and we'd just met. Figured classes were over and I couldn't hide in my room forever." Her hand stills and she looks down at it slightly then back at Kevin. "So, yeah. We were talking about you."

"Seems you're all either of us can talk about, Kevin." Basil responds with a slight smile, shaking his head a bit. "Now go on. Quit dickin' around."

"Oh for pity's sake, Basil," sighs Kevin. "That's a fine choice of words in the circumstances." He sneaks a sidelong glance at Aimee before turning to look at her properly. "You do know Basil don't you, 'Ton?"

Aimee raises an eyebrow slightly at the exchange, but doesn't comment on it directly. "I know bits an' pieces, can't recall much at the moment. You'll forgive me if I had lotsa things on my mind with school." Wrinkling her nose again, she purses her lips and makes quite the face. "It's kinda like when I'm owning in games, stuff goes back-burner and I forget about it until it's burnin' down the house."

Basil smirks a little at Aimee and shakes his head. "Kevin, you really do need to appreciate this girl more. And no, we haven't met before just now. So go on. Go. Speak."

Kevin is now a bright shade of crimson and completely mortified. He takes a deep breath and manages, somehow, to tap into the deep-running vein that's always there inside him, the one that makes him play the fool even when it puts him in danger or when the situation is utterly unsuited to it. "Oooookay," he says in an approximation of his normal nonchalant drawl. "Basil, meet Aimee, my girlfriend. Aimee, meet Basil... my boyfriend."

Aimee just...blinks, or at least that's her first reaction to the words. Her eyes go to Basil, then back to Kevin, then engage in a repeat of the motion. Some small bit of tension eases out of her posture and her head drops for a long breath or two. Then, she brings her head back up to reveal a warm smile, "Is that all? Is that what was wrong?" Scratching the back of her head, she chuckles and shakes her head, "I may be straight, but I'm not narrow. I mean, goodness...and I'm not the jealous type, either..." Then something seems to dawn on her and she looks between the two with a sharper concern. "But....you two....the Litany...."

"Former boy friend." Basil says with a bit of relief at Aimee's reaction. "We still think about each other." He glances at Kevin. "I think. But he broke down in front of the entire Sept and told them what we were doing. And then, all hell broke loose. I guess we have something in common though. We've both fucked him, eh?" He chides to Aimee, giving her a light, playful push on the shoulder. "If he decides he wants to come back to you, and he's stupid if he doesn't, I promise you. He'll be a lot better in the sack than he was before."

"Okay," Kevin says, still in that drawl, "I should have said ex boyfriend." He gives Basil a smile that's rueful, longing and sardonic all at once. "These days it's just packmates, honest injun. Though I still can't help but think we work better together even than the average packmates, because of our history..." He turns to Aimee again, and his attempt at a poker face doesn't succeed in hiding the guilt and concern he feels.

Aimee pales a little bit at the first bit of what Basil says and hitches a breath slightly. Then, between the chiding comments and the push, she grins a bit brighter and chuckles a little. "You always work better with peeps you know close. S'always been true." She falls silent again when she looks at Kevin, thoughtfulness tinged with a spark of hope. "I don't love you any less. You'd have to do a lot worse to get rid of me. A lot worse. Like disappearing and never coming back."

"Nah. He's my packmate. And I won't let him die while I still draw breath. So uh... " Basil leans over the back of the couch between them, placing a hand on both of their shoulders. "Kevin, what do you say? You gonna be her's and treat her like she oughtta be treated?" He glances at Aimee. "And are you going to treat him good too? It's obvious she still wants ya, Kev."

Kevin winces as though Aimee has struck him a palpable blow. "We did come about the thickness of a gnat's whisker from quitting town," he confesses. "But even after everything I'm glad we didn't... I am now, that is." Slowly his hand steals towards Aimee's, and he gives Basil a peculiar look that's midway between concern and resignation.

"I'm glad you didn't, too. I've already had one friend do that. I don't know that I would've taken another." Aimee admits readily, one hand raising to curl against her breastbone. "Especially if it was you." she says firmly, reaching over and taking that creeping hand in hers. Glancing at Basil, she quirks another grin, "As if I could do any less for him? I don't do anything by halves."

Basil lifts up his hands and ruffles the hair of both, smiling, though it appears to be sadly. "You two have good luck, eh? You're tame enough, Kevin, that if you wanted to you could even be around your son if ya ever had any kids. That makes you very lucky." Basil rises up from the back of the couch, sticking his hands in his pockets. "I got a feeling you two will get along just fine now."

Kevin opens and closes his mouth a few times without any sound coming out. "I," he finally manages to splutter, "I don't believe this is happening... You two set this all up beforehand, didn't you?" he accuses, blinking suspiciously at the other two.

Aimee is not the most perceptive person, but Basil's demeanor is certainly not lost on her. She gives the boy a long, concerned look before turning to deal with Kevin. "Shit...I just met him, how could I have planned this? Hell, I always left all the truly devious crap to Jeremy before. You're giving me waaaay too much credit, Kev."

"I know you've got some Get blood, Kev, and this might be hard : But don't be dense. I just said I just met her, and you know I've never lied to you." Basil turns his back on the two, leaning against the back of the couch, though his voice remains unchanged. He lights up a cigarette, and blows the smoke away from the two behind him.

"In that case," Kevin says in a rather wavery voice, "you two are better people than I deserve, and I'm lucky to have you in my life, both of you."

Aimee smiles and uncurls her hand from her chest, leaning forward and reaching out to rest the flat of it against the side of Kevin's face. "I think we're -all- lucky...to have each other. And yes, I'm including you in that, Baz. You're good people, too." she directs this with a firm emphasis at that shirtless back.

"You obviously haven't talked to other Garou about me, then." He murmurs, then walks over to a recliner without turning around go grab his shirt. Basil pulls it on, then walks off into the kitchen for some reason or another.

Kevin squeezes Aimee's hand as Basil leaves. "You're sure you're not the tiniest little bit freaked out by all this?" he asks he again, solicitously.

Aimee looks after Basil for a moment in faint confusion and blinks, the squeeze on her hand bringing her back to the present. "I'm Kin...we learn to deal with a surprising amount of freaky things growing up. You have to in order to get by with Garou in your family." Shrugging a little, she regains her smile and continues, "Besides, if you are or were happy at some point in all this, then that's all I could ever hope for. I may act all tough and shit, but I like seeing my peeps happy."

"I was happy," Kevin says. "For about a month... I think. Then the guilt started to get on top of me... and then of course after I blabbed there was the punishment time. That wasn't much fun."

Aimee winces and shakes her head, "I can't imagine that it was. Well...yes I can, but that's because my mother is a Philodox. Nuff said." Returning the hand-squeeze, she lets out a tiny sigh and relaxes visibly. "Guilt's a killer. Don't hold stuff like that in with me, kay? Sure, you might find something that'll trip my freak-meter, but I can take a lot."

Kevin is still looking shamefaced. "I just never dreamed I could talk to you about this kind of thing without you flipping out totally. I know I would if it was me."

Aimee smiles and taps one of her fingers very gently against Kevin's nose. "That's because you're so whitebread sometimes that it hurts, hon. Don't wanna use the age card, but I do got some years on you so I've seen a lot more." Musing a moment, she flushes faintly and amends that, "A lot more on the human side of things. There's shit that you all see that I never want to."

Kevin gives a dry, humourless laugh in response to that. "Yeah, well. If you were wondering why Basil and I smelt of fish today..."

"I wasn't going to ask, really. Some things a girl just shouldn't ask." Aimee says, wrinkling her nose and chuckling, "As long as you don't keep smelling like fish, I'm happy."

"I am so leaving that line alone," Kevin vows. "So... your finals went okay? You're able to hang out here s'more?"

Aimee nods and leans into the couch a bit. "Yeah, they went well. All cool until next semester. I am mighty, I have focus. And yeah, I'll be able to come 'round a lot more. Don't know if I'm going to try finding some work or such over the summer. Yet."

"I bet Tu could use a little extra help in his 'business'," Kevin suggests. "Well, okay... do you wanna, uh... see me?" he goes on to ask hesitantly.

"God, you're cute when you get all tentative." Aimee blurts, then claps a hand to her mouth when she realizes that she did. "Brain before mouth, genius. Brain before mouth. Yeah, I do. I think I can be a bit more obvious about it."

Kevin gives Aimee a hug. A tentative one, but it's a real proper hug. "Wow," he says. "I don't know how it'll go, but I'll damn well find out or die trying."

Aimee returns the hug warmly and smiles, "I don't think it'll kill you, but only time will tell."

"And if I treat you wrong Basil will kill me," Kevin adds thoughtfully, "so..."

Aimee chuckles at that and shakes her head slightly. "I can think of lots of things that'd be worse. We'll work on it together, kay?"

"Kay," Kevin concurs. He gives Aimee a peck on the cheek, then looks behind him as though to check whether Basil is watching.

Basil pages to the room: He isn't, no.

Aimee takes advantage of the imagined watcher to kiss Kevin's cheek in kind and give a small giggle.