"Derek..." she asked quietly, finally lifting her gaze up to look at his and
searching for the answer there "What.... what's today's date?"
Derek opened her mouth when sounds came from downstairs. With a blink of
his eyes he turned and debated whether to just tell her or to put it off
until Nick and the others could be here to act as a kind of support.
He cleared his throat before speaking, realizing a sudden change in subject
was probably not going to do any good, but also knowing that the hallway was
not the place to discuss the matter further. "How about that coffee you
wanted? It isn't exactly Nick's, but it should take the chill off." He put
a hand on Julia's shoulder and steered her towards the stairs. As they
reached the front hall, Kat came running from the parlor. She skidded to a
halt before them looking Julia up and down.
"Who's she," the child asked recognizing her from pictures but realizing it
couldn't possibly be the same person.
Derek had not counted on this, but he had to say something. So, why not try
the truth or rather what he hoped was the truth. "Kat this is Julia Walker,
Julia this young lady is Katherine Corrigan."
"Kat," the girl corrected automatically. People usually only called her
Katherine when they were upset with her and so she preferred that NO ONE
ever call her that. She stared at Julia not understanding exactly what was
going on, Slowly tearing her eyes away from the young woman, Kat turned
them on Derek. "I thought she was....."
"Aren't you in the middle of a card game," Derek interrupted. Julia
certainly didn't need to learn about the events of her death from a child
she didn't even know.
"Yes, but..."
"Then, I think it's time you got back to it before the others think you have
abandoned them."
Kat stared at him for a moment, she didn't want to leave now. She wanted to
stay and find out what was going on, but she got the idea from his tone that
wasn't going to happen. "I have to go upstairs for a minute first," she
said turning to go. "It was nice meeting you..." she called over her
shoulder as she ran upstairs.
Derek and Kat
OOC: for the purposes of this game Kat is about 8 years old. Mostly
because that's the age I seem to like when it comes to playing kids.:-)
