RP/V: A Star for Every State

[Nicky]

With Jim's guiding hands, Kitty moved herself into the right position and lowered herself down. She hadn't even heard the phone until Jim had mentioned it to her. She was in the process of running her hands behind his back. She knew that even if she wanted to stop she wouldn't be able to. "Nuh uh," she moaned before she kissed him behind the ear.

"I doubt it really," Shelly said with almost a hint of regret in her voice. "I think I stuffed up a bit and it was just a bit awkward at times. You have any more opinion on whether I should go on a second date with your brother?" She questioned before she took a pillow off her bed and, holding it close to her chest, sat down on her bed.

[Rebecca]

"Thank God," Jim whispered back, moving his hands up his fiancée's body and tilting his head slightly to one side as she kissed him. The phone carried on ringing even as he lifted her up just a little in his lap, letting her set the pace as he slowly began to make love to her. It had been during their first night together, only two months ago, that he'd realised that with Kitty it was different than it had ever been with anybody else - it wasn't rushed and it wasn't just having fun, it was the closest he could be to her in almost every way.

"Are you OK?" Robin asked gently, standing up and crossing over to sit beside Shelly on her bed, "Hey, take it from somebody who's been around the block a few more years than you - relationships are hard. Meeting the right person is hard. I'm not even sure I'm looking in the right places sometimes. And I mean, just look at Kitty and all the crap I told you about with Robert and how long it took her to find somebody afterwards. But you have to give it a try and see what happens, or you might let the one person who's right for you get away. If my brother's not the guy then he's not the guy."

[Nicky]

"Yet no one seems to be that guy or anywhere near being that guy and being suitable," Shelly whispered. "I gave it a try. Your brother is the only guy who has actually shown some attention in a while. I think I should just go off men for a bit. It would make life easier." She pulled tighter on her pillow. It gave her a comforting feeling to have it close.

[Rebecca]

Wednesday, 30th December, 2116
"See, I told you there wasn't anything to worry about. We're actually early again, which I think is an even bigger tragedy, personally. We'll have to make sure we fix that tomorrow," Jim mentioned to Kitty, dragging his feet through the dirty sludge that had once been snow and wondering why Boston Common was so unusually empty. It was very cold, true, but it had been the past few days too and that hadn't seemed to stop anybody.

[Nicky]

"Stop dragging your feet darling. You are getting your feet all wet and then you are going to be moaning later on today when your feet are cold," Kitty told Jim as she took hold of his hand. "It is better to be early, especially when you don't really have an excuse for being late considering you only live a few minutes walk away."

Shelly had heard her alarm go off this morning but had turned it off. She only got out of bed when her stomach rebelled and she had to run to the bathroom. She found herself heaving the contents of her stomach up into the toilet bowl.

[Rebecca]

Jim's nose twitched momentarily and he glanced down at the ground, not altogether quite sure why what he'd said had warranted being told off like a child and put down at the same time.
"Being early means you didn't have anything better to do," he noted, approaching the door to the Visitor's Entrance of the State House and frowning when he tried to open the door only to find it wouldn't budge.

Robin stirred in her sleep when she heard the sound of footsteps running across the floor, and sat up slowly as she heard another sound a few moments later. She slipped out of bed and walked across their room towards the bathroom, shaking her head when she saw Shelly hunched over the toilet.
"Oh dear," she said, kneeling down beside her roommate and slipping an arm around her, "Did something you ate yesterday not agree with you?"

[Nicky]

Kitty tried the door too and she found that it didn't budge for her either. "It should be open," she muttered to herself. She looked at Jim before she bit down on her lip. "David must have locked it up yesterday when he left," she decided upon. "Wouldn't want anyone to get it and try and ruin all the hard work we had done yesterday." It was the only explanation she could think of.

"I musn't have done," Shelly managed to mutter before she was sick again. "I don't think I am going to be able to go to the State House today." She sat back on her heels and her usual pale complexion had taken on an even paler shade of white. She pulled the stray strands of her hair back and knotted it up behind her head. She had only done this before she promptly proceeded to be sick again.

[Rebecca]

"David doesn't have a key," Jim replied, shaking his head at Kitty, "Nobody does. The keys went missing around the same time as those Themis people were captured here. Unless..."
He crouched slightly to check the lock on the door and realised almost immediately that it wasn't even the same colour as the door handle, which could only mean one thing.
"Crap," he muttered, "Somebody's changed the locks."

"Too right you won't," Robin remarked, wrinkling her nose a little as Shelly proceeded to throw up again, "D'you want me to book you an appointment with the doctor? Or I could ask somebody next door to keep an eye on you and go get you something from the drugstore."

[Nicky]

Kitty bent down to look at the lock before she drew herself up to full height. "And I know full well who would have had something like this done," she said through gritted teeth. She pulled her phone out of her bag and quickly found David's number. She pressed the call button and waited for her friend to answer. She tapped her foot on the ground as a physical reference of her annoyance.

"I don't need a doctor's appointment. It is probably just something I have ate," Shelly said as she wiped her mouth and climbed up from the floor. She poured herself a glass of water to rinse her mouth out with. "Just ask next door to keep an eye on me," she whispered to Robin. "I am probably just going to try and sleep it off."

[Rebecca]

Jim watched Kitty tapping her foot as she waited for the call to connect and just sighed, sitting himself down on the ground and leaning his back against the wall of the building.
"I know," David said as soon as he'd answered his phone, not bothering with a greeting. The caller ID had already told him it was Kitty, and he had a pretty good idea what she was calling about.
"I'm stuck in traffic but I'm on my way. It looks to me like we've got a leak. Somebody's been talking to the Mayor's office," he explained, "And Thomas seems to think it's your fiancé."

"I'm not going to leave you all day," Robin told her matter-of-factly, "I'll come back at lunchtime and I'm going into town anyway, so are you sure you don't want me to get you something? You should call your mom. She won't be able to do anything but it'll help to talk to her."

[Nicky]

"I am sorry what?" Kitty questioned, a look of amazement on her face. She wasn't sure that she had heard David right. "Thomas thinks it was Jim who was behind the leak? Why the hell does he think that? Why would Jim do a thing like that? Urgh I am going to kill Thomas." Her voice was starting to strain as she got more visibly angry.

"I don't think there is anything I want. My stomach is already flipping at the thought of me putting anything into it," Shelly mentioned as she looked in the cabinet above the sink. "Though can you get me some of that stuff that you can take to stop yourself from getting dehydrated. I think I might need some of it later." Her hand flew to her mouth before she swallowed hard to stop it from coming out.

[Rebecca]

"Probably best to let him explain," David replied, reaching down towards his phone and dialling the number for Thomas's cell before glancing up to see that the lights had finally changed to green and he could go.
"Hello?" Thomas said, "I'm on my way, David. The traffic is just moving particularly slowly today."
"Tell me about it. You're in a call with Kitty, by the way," David informed him, "And she wants to know about what you told me happened yesterday evening."
"Oh God," Thomas muttered before adding more loudly, "I told you everything already, David. I got a phonecall from somebody who was looking for Jim because they weren't getting through on the number they had, so I gave them the new number. But after I'd hung up I got to thinking and I looked up who'd just called me - turns out the number came from Boston City Hall."

"I'll get it. But if you're not improving by tomorrow I'm taking you to the doctor's," Robin told her, holding her breath momentarily and hugging her friend quickly before she walked over to the wardrobe to get dressed, "Not to sound too much like your mom, but I've got my cell on me, so call me if you need anything, OK?"

[Nicky]

Kitty flicked her phone onto speaker and moved to stand next to Jim. "Hello Thomas and I heard that oh god. So you are basing this assumption on the fact that someone from Boston City Hall phoned asking to speak to him? How many people do you think work at the City Hall? How many people do you think might actually like the State House? Why the fuck would Jim do that?"

Shelly noticed that Robin held her breath when she hugged her. "I will do but as I said I am going to try and sleep it off," she explained before she walked over to her bed. She got down on her hands and knees and pulled out a large fluffy blanket. She proceeded to wrap herself in it before climbing under her duvet with it wrapped around her. She just liked the sense of comfort it gave her.

[Rebecca]

"I'm not saying he did it to gain something. But he knows a lot of people, Kitty, and you know it's possible," Thomas pointed out, not realising that Jim could hear him, "I'd like to think none of us would do it on purpose and I'm pretty sure there's only one of us dumb enough to do it by accident."
"Hi, Thomas," Jim spoke up, looking a little hurt, "I might possibly know somebody from City Hall, but whoever you gave my number to can't have cared very much about talking to me because nobody called last night."

Robin fastened her bra and pulled on her top and trousers, glancing worriedly at Shelly in the mirror as she did her make-up. She didn't like just leaving her friend, but there really wasn't much of an alternative under these circumstances. She picked up a spare bowl they had and left it by Shelly's bed just as a precaution, telling her roommate that she hoped she felt better soon before heading towards the door.

[Nicky]

The fact that Kitty was thinking was obvious on her face. "Jim was with me all night," she explained into the phone. "I think someone did phone but we were a bit busy and we didn't answer it. So Thomas I think you have an apology to make to your younger brother." She placed her hand on Jim's shoulder in a comforting way.

Shelly waved bye to Robin as she left the room before she grabbed her cell phone off her bedside table. She checked the time and worked out the time difference to check that it was a half reasonable time to do this before she searched for her Mom's number and pressed the green button. She waited for her Mom to answer.