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In Pipper’s defence, she hadn’t actually intended for this to happen.
With the financial year-end coming up, she was completely swamped with work to the point that she had slept in her office more than once in the past few weeks. And suddenly she had gone from spending an increasing amount of time with Katrielle Layton to spending almost no time with her.
Since their emotional conversation out on Madame Doublée’s balcony a couple months ago they had grown closer but had seemed stubbornly stuck in that space between friendship and a relationship. And while it wasn’t unheard of for them to go a week or two without seeing each other due to their respective work, they always spoke on the phone at least every couple of days, but Pipper had been so busy lately that it had been about three weeks since she had last spoken to Kat.
Pipper wasn’t sure when all that time had passed.
But now the work was done and Pipper knew she likely had some groveling to do, there had been at least one call from Kat that she had failed to return in her work induced haze, and while she hoped that it hadn’t caused them to take a step back in building their relationship, she knew it likely had.
And so, as she approached Kat’s office for the first time in over a month, she made sure to do so with an apology cake in hand.
The bell chimed as Pipper opened the door, entering the cozy office. “Welcome to the Layton Detective Agency, how may I,” Kat looked up mid-sentence, “Pipper?” Surprise was quickly schooled into neutrality. “How can I help you?”
Pipper paused, taken aback by Kat’s sudden almost cold demeanour. “I came to apologize for being so AWOL the last few weeks, financial year end decided to kick my ass even more than usual this year and everything else just got away from me. I thought maybe we could spend some time together this afternoon, start making up for it.” No response. “I brought a cake?” Pipper held the box up, smiling awkwardly as Kat just stared at her.
“How kind of you.” Kat finally offered Pipper a smile, though it seemed forced. “But I’m afraid I have to head out for a case momentarily, maybe another time?”
“Oh.” Pipper felt a pang of disappointment, she had been looking forward to spending time with the detective again. “Alright, another time then. Here, you can keep this.” She placed the cake on the table.
“Thank you. I’ll call you this weekend depending on how this case goes?”
Everything about Katrielle’s demeanour seemed off but, despite the alarm bells sounding in Pipper’s head, she still forced a smile onto her face and said, “Sounds good. Good luck with the case.” Kat hummed an acknowledgement.
Pipper left the agency feeling dejected. Not that she had any real reason to feel that way, she tried to reason with herself, Kat was just busy, she knew how that was, there was nothing to worry about.
So why did she feel like she might cry?
Kat didn’t call her that weekend.
In fact, Pipper didn’t hear from her until the following weekend, and even then, she seemed distanced.
They had gotten lunch together and things had almost seemed back to normal except for the arm’s distance Kat had seemed to put between them. It was the same when they had met up for tea midweek.
Pipper couldn’t figure out what she had done wrong, but surely it was something she had done, right?
All she could think was that maybe she had misread things, that her feelings for Kat were not reciprocated and she had done something to make her feel uncomfortable as a result.
Finally, after a few weeks of somewhat awkward meet ups, Pipper cracked.
“Are we okay?”
Kat choked on the bite of pizza she had just taken. “What?” She spluttered between coughs. Pipper didn’t answer, mildly alarmed by Kat’s condition. “What do you mean?” Kat repeated once she’d gotten her breathing under control.
“Oh, uh.” Pipper cursed silently, she prided herself on never being at a loss for words, but then again, she also prided herself on keeping her emotions in check, and she certainly had failed on that when she blurted that out. “It’s just, it feels like you’ve been pulling away from me recently and I can’t help but wonder if I did something to ruin things between us.”
Kat sighed, putting down her plate. “It’s not you…”
“Oh, please don’t give me the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ speech,” Pipper cut her off. “I know that isn’t true, just be honest with me.”
Resounding silence followed. The longer it went on, the greater Pipper’s anxieties grew, she had a sinking feeling that she was about to lose Katrielle altogether.
“You didn’t do anything knowingly.” Kat spoke quietly, refusing to look at Pipper. “It’s not exactly something we’ve talked about, or something that I’ve talked about with anyone really.”
“Will you tell me?” Kat hesitated. “I can’t fix things if I don’t know what’s wrong,” Pipper pointed out. “Of course, you’re not obligated to tell me, but I want to fix things between us, don’t you?” She bit her lip nervously.
“I do!” Kat reassured her almost too fast. “And I’m sorry, I haven’t been communicating well, that’s something I really should work on.”
“Communication is something I’ve struggled with too,” Pipper admitted. “Maybe it’s something we can work on together.”
“I’d like that. And I guess now’s as good a time as any.” Pipper stayed silent, opting to let Kat gather her thoughts without interruption. “Do you remember what I told you about when my father disappeared?”
Pipper nodded. “It was if it were without a trace, he didn’t leave anything to let you know where he may be or contact you at any point.”
Suddenly what was wrong hit Pipper, and she felt her stomach drop to the floor.
“Yeah.” Kat cast her eyes to the ground in hopes Pipper wouldn’t see the tears in them. “But what that means is I don’t handle when people suddenly disappear very well, even if I know logically it’s simply because they’re busy.”
“So, when I got lost in my work for a few weeks and sort of forgot the outside world…”
Kat nodded. “It hurt. And that truly isn’t your fault, you have the most demanding job in the city, but it caused me to instinctively try and protect myself from getting hurt again.”
“Which is why you started withdrawing from me.” Pipper took Kat’s silence as her answer. “I’m sorry, I know I should have sent you some sort of message letting you know that I was going to be busy for a while, but I’m not used to having friends to send said message to, the other Dragons are used to me disappearing without a word for a few weeks at random.”
“Maybe we can make that a goal of our better communication.” Kat gave Pipper a tentative smile. “After all, communication is key in any relationship.”
Pipper felt her heart skip a beat. “It truly is. And, in the spirit of honest and open communication, I have to ask, what is the nature of our relationship?” It was a risk, but one Pipper knew she had to take.
Kat didn’t answer right away, but Pipper could see the gears turning in her head. “Are you free Friday night?”
What on Earth? “That doesn’t answer my question.”
“All answers make themselves known when they are meant to be so.” Pipper blinked, Kat could be cryptic from time to time, but this was something else. “So, are you free Friday night?”
“I believe I am, yes.” Pipper gave in, knowing there was no way of stopping Katrielle Layton when she set her mind to something.
Kat smiled brightly for the first time since things had gotten bumpy between them. “Perfect! I’ll pick you up from Guildhall at eight, be sure to dress comfortably and casually.”
Was this a date? Surely it was, wasn’t it? Or maybe it wasn’t, and she was reading all the signals wrong.
Pipper paced her office, second guessing everything. She had spent the previous evening agonizing over what to wear before finally shoving a few options into her bag and asking Hessie for her opinion before settling on a pair of slim fitting jeans and a flannel shirt that she hadn’t worn in so long it almost felt foreign to her.
Truthfully, she couldn’t think of the last time she had dressed casually. Even when she was meeting Kat, it was either on her way home from work or in the middle of the day, so she was always dressed for work. She just hoped she had made the right choice.
She was contemplating whether or not she had made the right choice in sending Hessie home earlier or if she might have helped her stay calm when there was a knock on the door. “Come in,” she called.
Kat entered the room, large smile on her face. “Who knew the great and powerful Pipper Lowonida actually owned plaid.”
Pipper rolled her eyes. “There’s plenty you don’t know about me,” she said, giving Kat a flirtatious smirk. “So, what exactly are we doing tonight that the dress code is comfortable and casual?” Pipper noted Kat was still wearing a dress, but then again, she seemed to be capable of doing literally everything while wearing one, so that told her nothing.
“All will be revealed at the end of a cab ride.” Kat held out her arm. “Your chariot awaits.”
Pipper’s heart may or may not have skipped a beat at the gesture.
One cab ride later, they had arrived at a park on the outskirts of the city and suddenly the basket Kat was holding with the arm that wasn’t entwined with Pipper’s made sense.
“Katrielle Layton, are you taking me on a picnic?” Pipper felt her heart swell at the gesture.
“Yes, is that okay?” Kat seemed chipper, but Pipper could see the uncertainty in her eyes.
“It’s perfect,” Pipper assured her.
Kat led her to a secluded corner of the park, laying out a blanket and several candles that once lit added a soft romantic glow under the darkening sky.
It was starting to feel more and more like a date to Pipper.
Especially when Kat laid then held her hand out to Pipper with a light, “Milady,” taking Pipper’s hand and helping her down, waiting until she was settled to sit down herself and start taking various containers out of the basket.
“I’m afraid the food is nothing fancy,” Kat commented as she handed one of the containers to Pipper, “just some sandwiches I made with bread I got from Lipski’s Patisserie, but rest assured I did also bring dessert.”
Pipper opened the container to reveal a roast vegetable sandwich on what appeared to be a ciabatta roll. What really caught her eye, and her heart, though was that Kat seemed to have purposefully avoided zucchini. Pipper had only ever mentioned her dislike of the vegetable once in passing and it warmed her heart to realize Kat had remembered what really was such an insignificant detail. Suddenly, she realized Kat was waiting for her to say something. “It’s perfect,” she said, thankful her voice didn’t fail her. She felt a flutter in her stomach as she was rewarded with a brilliant smile from Kat.
They fell into easy conversation as they ate, and while the topics they discussed weren’t anything they hadn’t talked about before, the whole thing felt different than any meals they had shared before.
Especially when Kat brought out dessert.
Chocolate covered strawberries were not something you brought for a platonic dinner between friends. You especially did not hand feed them to the person you were having said dinner with.
Yet, this was exactly the circumstance Pipper found herself in.
Kat had pulled out the container of strawberries out of the basket as they’d finished their sandwiches. “Dipped them myself,” she had commented as she held one up to Pipper. “Well, with a few tips from Aleks that is.”
But Pipper hadn’t registered any of what Kat was saying, all she could focus on was the strawberry Kat was holding right up to her lips, clearly with the intention of feeding it to Pipper herself. And so, instead of responding, she leaned forward, wrapping her lips around the berry and taking a bite, a light moan escaping her as juice exploded in her mouth accompanied by dark chocolate. “That’s amazing,” Pipper hummed as she went for another bite, finishing off the berry Kat had been holding up.
“I recently solved a case for a farmer whose scarecrow kept disappearing. In return, he offered me fresh produce whenever I want. These were picked just this morning, right at the perfect time.” Kat held another one up for Pipper.
“You know you don’t have to feed me, right?” Pipper asked wryly as she took a bite.
“I know,” Kat said brightly as she continued holding the strawberry for Pipper to finish.
“At least let me repay the favour.” Pipper took the split second she managed to catch Kat off guard to grab a berry and hold it up to Kat. Kat readily accepted it, and Pipper found herself unable to tear her eyes from Kat’s lips as they wrapped around the berry, a rush of heat settling low in her stomach.
Suddenly it was all too much.
“What are we?” Pipper asked abruptly.
Kat’s eyes widened at the sudden shift in demeanour, but to her credit she didn’t choke on the bite of berry that she had just taken. “How do you mean?”
Pipper took a shaky breath, it doing nothing to help her nerves. “I mean last time I asked you didn’t answer and then you go and set up this beautiful picnic with candles and chocolate covered strawberries that you hand fed me.” Pipper could feel the tears pricking at her eyes, her words coming faster and higher pitched the more worked up she got as she spoke. “And it all feels so romantic, which is everything I want but I don’t know if you mean it. And it’s killing me not knowing because I don’t know how I’m supposed to go on if you don’t mean it when I’ve had this taste of how things could be between us and–”
Pipper was cut off by the feeling of Kat’s hands on either side of her face. “I don’t know if I should be mad that you would think so little of me or sad that you would think so little of yourself that you would think I would do that.”
Pipper’s face burned in shame, but she kept silent even as she broke eye contact with Kat, opting to look at the ground instead.
“Hey now, please look at me.” Kat gently tilted Pipper’s head upwards again. “I’m not actually very good with words; I tend to be too blunt, too harsh, and it often puts people off. So, for the important things, I stick with actions rather than words. You know how I like to be dramatic.” This drew a small giggle from Pipper. “Guess I should have found the words as well.”
“I shouldn’t have doubted you; I know you’re not cruel, blunt as you may be sometimes. I’m sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry for,” Kat assured her. “Now, there is one more action that would solidify the feelings I am trying to convey here, if I may?” She leaned in as she spoke, lips hovering only inches from Pipper’s.
Suddenly unable to speak, Pipper simply nodded. Kat leaned in the rest of the way, catching Pipper’s lips in the softest kiss she had ever experienced. All too soon, it was over, and Pipper found herself chasing after Kat, this time for a more intense kiss.
“So,” Kat said breathlessly once they’d broken apart the second time. “Do you still doubt my intentions?”
“Not in the slightest,” Pipper answered, unable to stop the lovesick grin from taking over her.
“Good, because Lucy would be rather cross with me if I told her that I completely screwed this up.”
Pipper raised an eyebrow. “And what exactly does Lucy have to do with any of this?”
“We might have had a deal that if she told Hilda how she felt, I would tell you how I felt.” Kat bit her lip, looking at Pipper hesitantly, waiting for her reaction.
Pipper blinked. “Wait a minute, Lucy and Hilda have been together for months, what on earth took you so long?”
“I was,” Kat paused, seemingly struggling to come with what to say, “scared.”
“Katrielle Layton scared? I wouldn’t have thought that possible,” Pipper quipped in hopes of easing some of the tension rolling off Kat.
It worked somewhat, Kat chuckling half-heartedly before continuing. “You’re important to me; I didn’t want to risk losing you or making our professional relationship weird for feelings that I weren’t sure were reciprocated.”
“And here I thought I was being too obvious about my own feelings; guess I’m more emotionally stunted than I thought.” Pipper grinned wryly.
“No, not at all.” Kat shook her head emphatically. “I’ve always been a bit oblivious; I would never notice when people were flirting with me until one of my friends pointed it out. It really did take you asking what the nature of our relationship was for me to realize what was happening between us.”
Pipper gave Kat a confused look. “You really didn’t realize when we almost kissed that night at Madame Doublée’s?”
“I might have thought I was projecting my feelings,” Kat replied with a sheepish smile.
“Well, I’m glad we both finally figured it out,” Pipper said, snuggling into Kat’s side, feeling Kat’s arm wrapping around her shoulders.
The couple stayed like that a while, gazing up at the stars in the now completely darkened sky. Eventually, Pipper started shivering, the flannel shirt that had been warm enough earlier no longer so against the chill of the evening.
“God, you’re freezing,” Kat fretted, putting her own jacket around Pipper’s shoulders. “I best get you home before you catch a cold.”
Pipper made a sound of protest. “Can’t we stay just for a moment more? I really don’t want this to end.”
Kat chuckled. “The stars aren’t going anywhere you know.”
“That’s not the part I’m talking about.” To emphasize her point, Pipper tightened her arms around Kat’s waist.
“Hey,” Kat said, suddenly soft. “This isn’t a one-time thing, okay? I plan on sticking around for as long as you want me to.” And then, in typical Kat fashion, she continued with, “I’m sure that won’t be long anyway, I’ve been told I’m notoriously difficult to deal with.”
“Anyone who says that is an idiot.” Another series of shivers ripped through Pipper. “Okay, how about I let you take me home, but you come in for a nightcap when we get there?”
“On the first date? What kind of woman do you think I am?” Kat gave Pipper an affronted look, the playful glean in her eyes giving her away.
“What sort of woman do you think I am?” Pipper raised an eyebrow, giving Kat her most flirtatious look, smirking in satisfaction as Kat visibly gulped. “Rest assured, I have nothing devious in mind, just a simple drink in front of the fireplace, you can either head home after or I have several guest rooms. Have I convinced you?”
“You drive a hard bargain, Mayor Lowonida, but I believe we have a deal.” Kat stood before offering Pipper a hand to help her up, wincing at how cold it was. “Why are you so cold?”
“Why are you so warm?”
“Touché.”
At least it gave Kat the perfect excuse to wrap her around Pipper’s shoulders and hold her close as they made their way out of the park.