Kate Gregson

Most of the time when Newt works late, Kate doesn't mind at all. She knows he's got loads on his plate and since he's pretty much the most brilliant scientist Darrow has ever seen -- totally no bias -- she expects that his job requires a lot of time. Most evenings she'll just chill out on her own or walk Jeff to the store and get some extra work done there, but when Newt tells her he's going to be late tonight, she decides she's bored and doesn't want to do work or watch TV by herself.

So she texts Chuck. Like, four times. She texts him until he answers, then demands he go out and do something with her. And she texts him about four more times about it until he agrees, which she feels is a serious victory on her part. Chuck is super grumpy about eighty percent of the time and it's part of why she loves him, but it also makes it difficult to get him to do fun stuff with her.

Not that she has any idea what she actually wants to do, which is usually dangerous. Whenever she and Newt want to do something fun, but don't have ideas about what to do, they tend to get into trouble. They've gotten arrested or nearly arrested way too many times already and she doesn't want to add to that tonight, but chances are they're not going to do something that's boring and strictly legal.

She tells him to meet her at the boardwalk, then changes, kisses Jeff on the nose, and heads out with her purse over her shoulder and her phone tucked into her pocket. She doesn't know why she changed, only that she figured a dress and heels wasn't the best plan for whatever they might be doing. Now she's in jeans and a cute pair of sneakers, which basically means she's ready for whatever.

It's been a couple days and Kate hasn't really left her apartment. She thinks she should call some people, let them know she's okay, but she can't bring herself to pick up her phone and actually make the calls, so she keeps putting it off until she figures everyone's probably heard already anyway and so she doesn't need to talk to them.

The dress is long gone. Taken off her at the hospital, she thinks, but she doesn't completely remember. Parts of the day are a blur and she totally gets why people black out now, repress memories, because she doesn't want to remember being treated like a corpse while she was still very much alive. She asked about the dress during her second hospital trip, but no one had seemed to know what she was asking about and now she can't get over the idea that the dress is still out there somewhere, floating around the second hand shops, waiting for someone else to buy it and end up nearly buried alive.

She goes out only because it's not fair to keep Jeff cooped up inside the apartment. Reluctantly, wrapped in a warm jacket and scarf, Kate clips Jeff's leash onto her collar, then heads downstairs to take her for what's supposed to be a short walk, but somehow she finds herself near the boardwalk. It's pretty quiet, the night before Halloween, and she finds a bench on the pier and sinks down, holding Jeff's leash loosely in one hand. She pulls both her legs to her chest and wraps her free arm around them, resting her cheek against the tops of her knees.

Kate's never been much for tears and has a tendency to get angry at herself when she does cry, but she kind of can't help it now. Maybe it shouldn't bother her as much as it does, but all she can think of is that she came really close to being put under the ground where she definitely would have died, terrified and alone.

Jeff wags her tail, then jumps up on the bench beside Kate, who furiously wipes her wet cheeks. "Hi," she says, rubbing Jeff's ears gently. "Sorry I'm such a fucking human disaster."