primary_asset | (no subject)

By the time he gets home, the bleeding above John's eyes has mostly stopped, thanks to Nikita's handiwork. He doesn't think Karen will be too concerned, she's long since gotten used to the things they put themselves through, the strange lives they lead, and he's walking, he's barely bleeding at all, and he knows he doesn't have a concussion.

He also hasn't been shot, so he'll call tonight a win, relatively speaking.

Still, he thinks he ought to prepare Karen for when he arrives, just in case, so he sends her a text when he's nearly home.

a little battered, but I'm fine. home soon.

By the time he reaches the apartment, he barely even has a headache, which is also due to Nikita's help. He thinks Karen will be grateful for that. He certainly is. While they don't share all their secrets with anyone in Darrow, they've collected a small group of people they can trust with some things and that makes a big difference.

"Hi," he calls when he unlocks the front door. Bear comes to greet him and John rubs the dog's ears before he moves deeper into the apartment. "Karen?"

Threaded | Flat

Karen worries, of course, when she sees the text. Not nearly as much as she could, not least because she knows John would tell her if there were anything seriously concerning, which tempers the feeling considerably, but she does all the same. It's not the first time and she's sure it won't be the last, a hazard of both of his lines of work and one that she's long since been aware of, but even so, at the risk of being a cliché, she thinks she's allowed to fret over her husband a little.

Besides, she knows he would do the same for her.

Not about to just sit around and wait, though, she sends back a quick text — I'll be here. stay safe. — and puts away her laptop and notes, straightening up the living room a bit. She doesn't know if his being, as he put it, a little battered is going to require any patching up or other first aid, and she ought to be ready in case it does. That, and it gives her something to do while she waits. Just anxiously sitting around has never really been her style.

She's gone back into the bedroom when she hears the front door open and John's voice drift down the hall. "I'm here," she calls back, emerging a few moments later, looking just a little frazzled but relieved. At a glance, he doesn't seem too badly injured, which is what she might have guessed, but it's still good to see it firsthand. Stepping towards him, she gingerly rests one hand on his shoulder so she can lean in and press a soft kiss to his cheek. "What happened?"