Chapter 29: Domestic Dispute

The moment Katherine followed Dean into her home she stopped dead in her tracks. After days spent outside in the darkness of the storm, and weeks before spent in dim lighting barely preserved by unreliable generators, Katherine found the natural lighting almost blinding.

She shielded her eyes, while the cold behind was effectively cut off by the door as it locked shut. Heat assaulted her every sense, and for the first time in what felt like a lifetime Katherine felt the frost which encased her flesh truly melt away.

By the time she finally recovered, she found a peculiar scene. Dean had already begun stripping out of his tactical gear and handed off certain elements to a young woman standing in front of him.

Her tan was out of place for this winter… A subtle reminder of summer’s warmth that had vanished from the world just weeks ago.

Simultaneously, her blonde hair showed subtle but noticeable signs of its original color bleeding out from the roots.

Other than that she was shockingly young, causing Katherine to stare at Dean with distrust. Especially as the woman welcomed Dean home with a hug.

“I was so worried. I thought you were going out to confront more of them….”

Them… A single word, but it conveyed all the fear and dread that it needed to. Katherine instantly understood who this young woman was talking about, and she couldn’t say she didn’t feel the same. At least if she were being honest with herself.

Dean patted Yuki’s head and slipped from his embrace, pointing at Katherine whom Yuki had completely ignored until now.

“Yuki, I’m going to need you to prepare another plate for dinner from now on. This is Katherine; she’s a doctor and will be our guest for the time being.”

Yuki glared at the newcomer as if she were sizing up her competition. And then Yuki did something unexpected: she hugged Dean once more and kissed him on the cheek. Her stare became even sharper before running off to the kitchen with a pep in her step, as if Katherine had just imagined things.

“No problem, Dean. I’ll make sure our guest is well taken care of like a proper host!”

Once Yuki had run off, Dean immediately sighed and turned around to Katherine. His gaze seemed filled with suddenly discovered concerns.

“Well. That complicates things.”

Katherine noticed that despite looking in her direction, Dean seemed to be looking entirely past her as he spoke. He then hung up his coat before dragging his equipment upstairs, his voice trailing behind him as he did so.

“Pick a spare room and place your things inside. The one at the end of the hall is mine, and the one to the left of it is Yuki’s. And don’t think of trying anything; there are cameras watching your every move and the doors open when I decide they do..”

Katherine sighed heavily as she relaxed her back against the wall, slowly sliding to the floor, holding her knees to her chest.

She realized effectively she was now under house arrest. And unfortunately, she couldn’t tell if her captor was benevolent or malevolent. All she knew was that the heat, lighting, and scent of fresh food were a godsend.

—

Under normal conditions, Yuki would be cooking while listening to some of her favorite music, dancing and prancing about as she prepared dinner.

But tonight she stared straight at the wall in front of her. Only moving when an action was required on her part to finish the meal.

Her internal thoughts were her own, but if the gaze in her eyes was anything to go by, she felt threatened by Katherine’s sudden arrival.

She had not expected in the slightest that when an emergency appeared that would require Dean’s attention; he was running off to meet with another woman. And though she didn’t know why, the sight of Katherine holding onto the back of Dean’s arm as she entered their home felt wrong to her.

But Dean had told her to cook dinner for the three of them, so she had without complaint. And when he finally arrived, the table was prepared.

But her plate was right next to Dean’s, and both of them contained a lion’s share of the meal, and a mug of freshly poured beer for each of them. While Katherine’s plate was set across the other side of the table, a small glass of water and a smaller portion on her plate were hardly noticeable, yet unmistakable.

When Dean sat down, he noticed Yuki was unusually talkative and clingy. And he immediately understood the reasoning. How could he not? He had brought another woman into their home, without announcement, and while she was older than Yuki by over a decade, she was still quite beautiful in her own way.

But it wasn’t as if Dean had brought Katherine into their home out of sentiment. It was because she was an unknown variable that needed his constant attention, and he couldn’t risk keeping her somewhere else.

Not now… not when prisons didn’t exist and were an incredible waste of manpower and resources.

Because of that, Dean cut Yuki off halfway through her words, while Katherine sat in awkward silence.

“Yuki… After we’re done here, I want you to wait for me in my room. We need to have a chat….”

Yuki completely misunderstood what Dean was asking her and immediately agreed to his request.

“Of course, Papa Bear, anything for you!”

Dean damn near choked on his own food when he heard the woman so publicly and shamelessly call him by his joke of a callsign he once created to tease her.

As for Katherine, she just shot the man a dirty look, scoffed, and rolled her eyes before sipping from her water while deliberately averting her gaze from the two of them.

Dean knew then and there if he didn’t nip whatever was happening in the bud tonight, it would make his home life far more stressful than it needed to be, especially now when the enemy was actively probing their defenses.

So he finished his meal and sent Yuki on her way, all while staring at Katherine, wondering how the hell he was supposed to broach the topic after things had become so awkward between them as a result of Yuki’s misunderstandings.

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