Dinner for Two (Dietrich)

[Kailen Donovan]

Tonight was a night of...strangeness. Kailen felt numb, his overworked brain finally deciding to call it quits - at least temporarily - and while he should have been relieved that it had finally decided to just shut the hell up, all he could feel was this suddenly raw emotion wanting to well up and burst out of him. It was ridiculous. He was not one to cry, nor was he one to focus on the bad things for long - no matter how hard they hit - but in the absence of anything else to think about, his brain had gone silent and all he wanted to do was scream. 

Instead, he chose to cook. Dietrich had been away the past week, on business with Klaus and honestly Kailen didn't begrudge the German a single moment spent with the vampire that he now knew was technically Dietrich's master. Certainly, he couldn't have known that what had happened would occur, and really Kailen wasn't in any space to expect the other to do anything in particular about it. Hell, he barely knew what he was doing here now other than having been suffering from a rather selfish need to be around someone living and breathing - rather than going through the things that had belonged to a person that was now dead. 

He still couldn't quite believe it - but it was true. Odile was /dead/. Murdered even. They said it was a vampire but, well, that didn't seem right to Kailen. Nothing Dietrich had ever said about vampires lead him to believe they'd just drain a person dry and then leave the body where anyone could see it. Something was up with that, but as of yet the police weren't really doing a whole lot of investigating as it seemed to them to be a pretty cut and dried case. Not that Kailen hadn't tried talking some sense into them, but in this world where racism and 'monster-hate' was so prevalent...well, it was difficult. 

So it was that while Dietrich had been away, Kailen had needed to take a few days off of work to deal with Odile's things. There was no one else to do it, that much he knew. At least no one she had trusted. Not more than himself as he'd always been like some kind of brother to her. It had probably been one of the toughest things he'd had to do - go through her things. See clothes that she used to wear...find that big old knitted bag she used to stuff full of booze and snacks for their late-night fires. And to know that she'd been murdered because she'd decided to walk home that night instead of calling him for a ride? Well, that had made him angry - though most of it had been focused on himself. Hell, it still was - even though logically he knew that there was no real way for him to have known that was going to happen and that he should just drive by and see if she needed a ride anyway. 

The smell of something very nearly burning was enough to pull him out of the unpleasant mire his thoughts had wound up in and without thinking he moved to take hold of the handle so he could move it off the heat. It wasn't burnt yet though, and that was a good thing - but the handle was pretty damned hot. Hot enough to have him dropping the pan to the floor with a clatter and muttering curse words to himself as he thrust his hand under a quickly turned on cold tap. "The hell is wrong with you, boy?", he muttered to himself, glaring down at the food that was now sizzling on the floor.

---

 Word Count: 626

[Dietrich Schäfer]

   It had been rather odd, having Kailen show up and ask if he could cook for him. It was still odd to think that he was sitting around, as the other had insisted, while someone else worked in his kitchen. It wasn't so much a territorial thing as it was the fact that he would expect to treat his guests rather than the other way around. However, there had been something about the way the other carried himself, or maybe it was something off in the look in his eyes, that had quickly seen Dietrich correcting his momentarily surprised response, with letting the other into his home without further question or fussing.

   Something was up, though he wasn't sure what it might be. He hadn't asked outright, thinking this was something that Kailen would say when he was ready, and something he wouldn't appreciate being pressured about.  Dietrich wasn't always the most warm and fuzzy person, but he had hoped that the slightly gentler, and warmer tone he had invited the other in with had conveyed his support. Hopefully the other knew or understood that he was giving him time, rather than not noticing or caring that he might be upset. 
 
    As he sat, as patient as his thoughts allowed him to be, the crash was heard distinctly. He didn't jump up and rush, but Dietrich did move with an efficiency that had him in the doorway of the kitchen. It wasn't difficult to spot the mess, not by a long shot. Of more concern though was the way the other had his hand under the water.  Any person that was in the habit of cooking didn't need to be told why a person would be holding their hand under the water while the heated contents of a pan made its escape along the floor. 

   "Are you alright?", he asks softly, not wishing to startle the other, if Kailen hadn't already noted his presence. Carefully he made his way closer, not wishing to step in the mess and end up on the floor. "I have a fist aid kit if you need it... let me see."  It wasn't a command, despite the lack of a raised tone to make it a question.  With the request, he did wait for the other to either deny him, or to decide when his hand had been under the water long enough to 'risk' giving him a chance to look it over. 

---

Word Count: 416
Tags: N/A
Notes: N/A

[Kailen Donovan]

Kailen had not been prepared for Dietrich's presence, not so immediately...but it was really unavoidable. Even if Kailen could doubt that Dietrich gave a shit about him, which was really hard to do when the guy insisted on being so damned /nice/ to him all the time, the clatter of the heavy pan striking the floor would likely have been enough to have anyone running if only to see what sort of mess had been wrought. But Dietrich, well...with him there was always just more and sometimes Kailen found himself being overwhelmed by it. Even when he was sure it was meant to be subtle. 


Faintly suspicious eyes slipped up towards Dietrich, the injured hand tentatively removed from the cool, running water for the other to examine, and only once the other's attention seemed quite fully focused on his hand would he let up with that expression and allow it to do what it wanted to do and just...soften. Where were all these soft feelings coming from anyway? And why on earth was he feeling them and /not/ panicking about them? That was perhaps the most frightening thing, really...that he'd been lulled into passivity. Into not only accepting that he felt these things, but that Dietrich might also, for some reason, return them. Which made no earthly sense at all. The German man was way too good for him, period. Way too good and likely way better off without him too. Certainly he'd only proved more than troublesome to people that should have cared about him in the past, and even now he was proving to the be the same worthless person he'd always been. He couldn't even have just stopped by the restaurant to see if she needed a ride home! 


Kailen blinked, emotion fresh and raw welling to the surface and making him have to forcibly swallow, and rather than continue to just stare at the other man - Kailen forced his gaze down to the hands that were even now likely gently going over his 'wound' to try to ascertain how bad it was. "I don't think I did too much damage..." The words came out softer than he liked, and that just made him frown, his brow furrowing and jaw setting in almost stubborn resistance to the sudden urge to just throw himself against the other so he could try to feel somehow 'right' again. And wasn't it just even more urksome that Kailen should even acknowledge that Dietrich could make him feel that way at all?

He found himself frowning even harder, and turning his gaze onto the mess itself - his expression relaxing into something close to emptiness as he watched the sauce he'd been simmering rivulet and pool and then begin to congeal on the cool tiles of the kitchen floor. "Shit...", he said softly, though to Kailen the single word sounded loud and harsh in the almost electrified silence of his mind. "I'm sorry Sugar...I jus' wasn't...", his voice trailed off as his eyes wandered back to the other male, the more slender male for once looking perhaps more vulnerable in that moment than he was comfortable with but unable to figure out how to stop it. A shaky sigh slipped out, lashes lowering and shoulders slumping a bit before he finally just gave in and leaned forward to just rest his forehead against the other's shoulder, though his arms remained still stubbornly at his own sides. "Fuck. I need a drink." 

---

Word Count: 585

[Dietrich Schäfer]

   Just how off things felt struck him again as he watched the other, waiting for him to comply. It was odd that he should feel something was seriously amiss.  Dietrich didn't consider himself an emotional man; oh sure, he felt things, he wasn't a robot. However, he wasn't one who displayed his emotions readily, likely the culture he was raised, as such might not expect him to understand when emotions were displayed in others.  Furthermore, Kailen wasn't a man who seemed inclined to display emotions obviously, with perhaps a few exceptions.  If someone had asked him to identify what was off, or why precisely he thought there was something going on, he couldn't have said.  Still, he felt it, something in the way Kailen was acting was different. Perhaps it was the subtle way his gaze slipped away, or that swallowing before he offered his hand for the German's inspection.

   Gently he took the man's hand, looking it over silently. Dietrich wasn't frivolous by any mean. His mother, while loving and upfront with her concern over her children's well being, had never been one to indulge them in those games of 'needing a band aid'. In fact, Dietrich remembered his own minor wounds more often being treated with reassurances that he was alright, and didn't need such things, then by actual 'treatment' of any kind.  One didn't waste, that was something the German people had always believed, and their more 'recent' history had only confirmed the importance of being frugal. Those matters taken into account; however, were given little thought. Dietrich felt that the other man had need that perhaps had very little to do with the burn on his hand. 

    Maybe he was losing his mind just a bit, but something made him feel that, perhaps, whatever was going on with the other male, his tending to him might help sooth whatever 'injury' he was dealing with that couldn't be seen. Frugal was never meant to mean heartless; generosity was also something firmly ingrained in him, and to Dietrich, helping Kailen with whatever was troubling him was far more valuable then a bit of ointment, gauze, and his time. So, he made his decision. 

    "Nein... I don't think it is bad, but we will take care of it, ja?" His tone lowered, and was softened a bit, as he lead that hand back under the water, while he retrieved the kit he kept under the sink. He had augmented its contents a bit, replacing the standard 'burn cream' with an actual aloe based gel.  Removing Kailen's hand once more, he wasn't about to take no for an answer, and would only allow the other to reject what was doing if it seemed to upset Kailen.  After all, he was doing this to help the other with whatever was bothering him, not because his hand was severely injured.

    Once he turned the water off, he spread the gel over the parts of skin that were red, or looked like the skin might want to peel, before cutting a length of gauze and wrapping it.  Of course, that would be assuming he wasn't stopped, and he was ready for the other to get angry with him for such behavior. Still if all went well, the German would remain quiet as he worked.  If Kailen was upset by his administrations, he would let the matter go, either way he came to a decision. 

    "Don't apologize... Bitte, let me clean this up.  Perhaps we should order something to be delivered, and you can just visit tonight ja? If you want, you can cook for me another night." It was a suggestion and nothing more. Honestly, he would have rather cooked for the other himself, but something told him that might frustrate the other. Besides, it seemed like the other might need his presence more than the food.  Eating something delivered one time wasn't going to kill him. "Either way, I don't have anything hard, but I can offer you bier."  Alcohol, of course, wasn't an actual solution, but it might help the other relax.  Hell, even if Kailen had a mind to drink far more than he should have... well, the other was a big boy, and sometimes a person needed to check out just for a bit. Dietrich wouldn't let him get out of control with it, but just like eating delivered food, one time wasn't going to hurt the other boy. 

---

Word Count: 748
Tags: N/A
Notes: N/A

[Kailen Donovan]

It wasn't the other's gentle ministrations to his hand that had temper flaring. No, that Kailen took with a listlessness that might have been alarming if it weren't likely so obvious that there was something upsetting him. The other's suggestion that they order something in, however, well that did earn the German a momentarily heated glare accompanied by a slight narrowing of eyes. It certainly appeared as though the Irishman was about to give Dietrich a piece of his mind, that was for certain. But just as soon as the temper flared up, it disappeared again - and it's sudden absence was just as harshly felt as the moment it had first flooded him. 


Damn it, it was just irrational to feel this way and he was getting tired of it. Four whole days of these emotional ups and downs - without any chemical substance to help him 'cope'. These were the moments that made him long for more than a cigarette. That made him wish for the oblivion that a couple of lines of cocaine could shove him into for a little while. But cocaine wasn't something he'd touched in years, and even though he never quite managed to get away from wanting it, it was something he wasn't going to pick up again. Maybe that was because of Dietrich too, because honestly if the German had never come into his life he likely wouldn't have cared enough to stop himself. 


He sighed, the sound edgy and frustrated - fingers spearing back through his already tousled hair. "I..." He glanced up, the words 'I'm not even all that hungry' on the tip of his tongue to speak...and yet when he found himself meeting Dietrich's eyes, they weren't the words that came out. "I think that'd be fine if you're okay with it." The agreement was softly spoken, and perhaps a bit thankful despite the fact that right now his stomach was doing flip flops and all he wanted to do was drown himself in Jack Daniels until it seemed like he couldn't come up for air. "I only managed to fuck up the sauce...the rest of it's in the fridge an' it won't spoil." 


There was a further moment of silence after that, where he just stood there, gazing absently at whatever patch of floor his eyes were resting on and then after a moment...he finally gave in, though even that surrender was done very, very cautiously. Arms tentatively slipped out to wrap around the somewhat larger male, and if they weren't refused, they wouldn't hesitate to tighten around Dietrich so Kailen could press himself in against the other as close as he could, not wanting to admit that he was taking comfort in that grip and yet feeling comforted and soothed just a bit anyway. He didn't even realize he was shaking a bit due to the effort of not just screaming or crying or picking up the nearest thing and hurling it against the wall so it would break in a most satisfying manner.

It was so strange to feel this mixture of anger, and hurt, and need and comfort, but stranger still was the fact that he couldn't help but feel that Dietrich was the only person who could actually save him from his own brain driving him crazy. It wasn't like him to depend on anyone other than himself, but damn it all the German had wormed his way in and now it was like he couldn't get him back behind the wall Kailen usually put up. It was annoying, and wonderful...and even more annoying was the fact that he didn't want to push Dietrich away either. But still, he did not speak of death or murder or dealing with a dead girl's things and merely sighed and melted just a bit against the other male's body - letting his eyes slip shut as he clung without even meaning to. "Beer'd be okay I guess." He offered quietly into the crook of the other man's neck. "Really I don't care what it is so long as it's booze and lots of it...but mostly I'm jus' glad you're home. It's been a really really bad week..." 

---

Word Count: 703

[Dietrich Schäfer]

   He didn't hesitate to follow suit, and wrap his arms around Kailen as well.  It was no difficult task, but what was hard was resisting the desire to ask outright what was troubling the other male. The way the other shook subtly against him, made him uneasy, and the temptation was that much greater.  Still, it occurred to him, that the other might not be ready to speak yet. In this moment, he would simply be with Kailen. 

   The earlier display of anger had been met with no change in demeanor by himself. If there was one thing he'd learned through years of working with others, often in tense situation, feeding more emotion into such powerful reactions was not a good idea. Oh, Dietrich could have a temper on him when the moment called for it, but someone he cared about being distraught was not the time for anger. 

    "If there is anything you'd like, I'll order it", he offers simply, making some effort to reduce the typical 'force' behind his statements of action. "You can wait for me here, or in the living room. I'll clean while you try something from my homeland ja?"  He would have preferred to just suggest the other would go be comfortable in the living room, but with the way that Kailen held onto him, he wasn't so sure he wanted the other feeling as though he couldn't stay close, if that was what he wanted. 

    "While we wait... perhaps you would consider telling me about this week." With that suggestion dealt, he did dare to brush his lips against the other's with perhaps far more familiarity than he should have. "Either way... I would like you to stay with me tonight. You could use the company, I think." Maybe Kailen would misinterpret his actions and suggestions, or maybe they would simply be offensive to him.  There was no helping that now though; it was out there. All he could do was deal with whatever the other male's response might be.  

---

Word Count: 345
Tags: N/A
Notes: N/A

[Kailen Donovan]

There had been this tight knot of tension that had formed in him the moment the decision to come here had been made. Kailen wasn't a needy sort of person, so it was likely no surprise that it should perhaps frighten him a bit that he'd /needed/ to come here...and needed to see the man who's form he currently clung to. He wasn't used to needing a person in this way. In a way that had nothing to do with the physical and everything to do with just needed to be comforted, and because of that this tension in him had just seemed to build. And build. 


And yet with each gently spoken word, or gesture - that knot had begun to unravel. Oh, Kailen had fought it. Had fought to hold onto it with as much of himself as he could muster, even though he felt like he was already stretched so thin. But apparently, Dietrich's perseverance had won out because by the time he finally let go of the other, that tension was gone...and just replaced by a sense of an almost sagging relief. He hadn't been rejected, he hadn't been told to leave and he hadn't been forced into saying something unpleasant before he'd been ready to say it. Instead, he'd been welcomed into the other's home and then, of all things, invited to stay. Even if things weren't evolving between them as Kailen had begun to suspect, he just didn't have the will to tell himself that. He just didn't have the strength to force himself into that frame of mind where eventual rejection wasn't a surprise, it was expected. So, with the release of that tightness inside of him, Kailen just...stopped. And even if this stopping didn't last, for now Kailen just allowed himself to believe that he meant more to Dietrich than a warm body, and allowed himself to accept that Dietrich certainly meant more than that to him - even though he wasn't sure if such a thing was a good idea. 


So Kailen settled himself against the counter, perhaps still a bit on edge but only because he was strangely nervous about what he had to say, and allowed himself to watch as the other man cleaned up the mess he'd made. " Shoot, I ain't even hungry.", he said quietly, not accompanying the words with a chuckle as he might have during another time. " I ain't been hungry all week." And wasn't that the truth. In the past seven days he'd probably only managed to get a small meal per day in him, he just hadn't been feeling up to eating. "But I'll eat whatever you order, Sugar. Promise." And that, it seemed, would be that - at least on the matter of food.

It was the invitation to stay though that had even that little 'edge' that had managed to linger in the back of his mind melting away, and though Kailen did try to keep his expression schooled into some semblance of neutrality there was likely at least a bit of the gratitude he felt that managed to find it's way into the subtle, but genuine curving of lips. It was the first time he'd smiled all week, and even though it was small and brief, it was there. "I...I'd like to stay. If you really don't mind." Kailen said softly, lowering his lashes a bit and feeling oddly...shy for a moment. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that the invitation and his acceptance had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with just having each other for company, but Kailen couldn't say for sure.


After that though, he'd remain silent for a bit longer - fingers fidgeting almost nervously against each other as he realized he couldn't keep putting this off. It wasn't fair to Dietrich as he'd known her too...but usually when it came to horrible news, Kailen's methods differed from others. He usually blurted things out with a baldness that was almost offensive. But this was Odile. She'd been like his sister. He couldn't do that to her. So rather than immediately starting in on talk of how she was dead, he instead chose to ask a question - especially since it was really something he wanted an answer to in order to see if his own suspicions could be correct. "Dietrich?" He asked, pausing a bit to wait for the other's attention. Once he had it, he continued. "If...if a vampire around these parts were gonna say...kill a person. They...they wouldn't just leave their body to be found out in the open right? I mean, none of the ones you deal with are stupid enough to do that, right?"  

---

Word Count: 794

[Dietrich Schäfer]

   When Kailen finally seemed ready to release him, Dietrich was honestly a bit hesitant, but did follow the other's lead.  Before starting to clean up, he offered the other a bier to sip on, while he tended to the mess in his proficient, but clam way. He wouldn't insist the other go to the living room, actually feeling that it was probably best for Kailen to remain where he was.  If not for the fact that he half suspected Kailen might have felt guilty if he left the mess there, Dietrich might have even tried to force himself to forget about the mess... not that he could be sure he would have succeeded. 

   It concerned him that the other said he hadn't been hungry, that likely meant he hadn't been eating.  However, there was no need to make a fuss about it, not when the other was promising he would behave and eat.  By the time Dietrich had both finished cleaning, and taken the time to order some Chinese food to be delivered, Kailen had come to a point that he was ready to start talking it seemed. Honestly though, the German hadn't expected that sort of question. 

    His initial responses were internal ones.  He wondered why precisely Kailen asked a thing, then there was the matter of if it really had anything to do with his primary concern.  He noticed that sometimes people would start with smaller concerns that were all piling up on top of the one that was the hardest to bring up.  More worrisome than the other's motives though, was his own response. He wasn't sure what might make it worse for Kailen, so he decied to just go with honesty, and a fairly softer version of Dietrich in 'teaching' mode.  He wanted to be a bit more open and warm with Kailen than that, while still using the neutral and factual based angle to hopefully keep from upsetting him further. 

     "No... there are a number of reason, intellectual and instinctive that a vampire wouldn't do such a thing. The only exceptions would be possibly as a means of leaving a message for another vampire, but that would take place on clan territory and is a bit outdated if I remember correctly, or if a vampire was unstable. Instability isn't tolerated for long among vampires though, so usually such individuals are dealt with before they can do anything of consequence." He left it at that, waiting patiently while the other decided what to do with that information, or decided how he wished to proceed with the matter at hand separate from it. 

---

Word Count: --
Tags: N/A
Notes: N/A

[Kailen Donovan]

He sipped at the beer in his hand slowly, his expressin thoughtful as his mind was more on the matter of Dietrich's words rather than the taste of the beverage he'd been given. It was cold, that much registered for certain - and normally that detail would have made Kailen smile as he was aware how much it pained the German to chill beer. But right at this moment, Kailen was far too busy turning the other's words over in his mind.

The idea that Odile could have been a message for some other vampire was preposterous, and anyone that looked into her background would likely realize this. Odile had no love of vampires, at all...so she'd hardly fraternize with one enough to be seen as an appropriate 'message' at all. Still, he did nod, letting Dietrich know that he was listening and actually listening intently. "Well...she wouldn't have made a good message as she couldn't stand vampires. Used to call 'em some pretty unflatterin' names, not that I ever encouraged her to. " This he said softly, his voice just as ponderous as the rest of his features. "Other than that...yeah, it sounds like I thought it would."

There was a further moment of silence, fingers twitching restlessly against the bottle before he finally glanced up at Dietrich again, oddly shy in the way his gaze refused to quite settle on the other's eyes. What Kailen was about to ask was a matter of privacy for the other man, of that he was certain...and regardless of where he thought things were headed between them, it was none of his business. But he needed to know if Odile had suffered, in case it was a vampire - not that he really thought it was exactly...but just in case. And besides that, he was curious for other reasons as well. "Dietrich? " Kailen paused, oddly squirmy about asking this sort of thing of the blond. "Uhm...well, if it was a vampire...uhm...well." He sighed, not liking the awkward feel to the words leaving his lips. "Klaus bites you right? What does it feel like? Does it hurt? Is it bad? If a person's bitten for that long do you think they suffer?" 

---

Word Count: 376

[Dietrich Schäfer]

    Now things were a little more clear.  The other's words clued him in that these questions about vampires stemmed from something personal. He guessed it might be tragic, the use of past tense verbs with the 'her' in question only confirmed it. Still, he waited, remaining patient.  What the other chose to follow that up with though, that surprised him. 
 
    There was a moment, brief though it was, during which Dietrich only blinked at the other, clearly not sure he'd followed the path of the conversation correctly.  He caught up quickly, however, and once that happened, he couldn't help but blush just a bit. His brain didn't help, taking him right to a few flashes of memories of those sorts of events. He had to bring himself back, and reminded himself that Kailen needed his help, and what he had to say, could make the other's suffering easier. So, he cleared his throat just a bit to get himself started.

     "Well... vampires have enzymes that their fangs release. Most, if not all of their ethnicities contain agents that dull pain, and make the bite pleasant... at the very least.  Depending on the individual though, and the situation, it can also have some degree of eroticism."  He offers in that same tone, before making a decision to move closer to the other male once more. Carefully, as he wasn't quite sure how it would be received, he gently brushed his fingers against the back of the othe'rs hand, before daring to settle his own over the other's to lightly squeeze that hand. 

---

Word Count: 269
Tags: N/A
Notes: N/A

[Kailen Donovan]

Any other time that rush of color to the German's cheeks would have lit the spark of mischief in the normally playful Irish-American. If things weren't so serious, and so heavy on his mind, Kailen might have paused the conversation just to poke at and tease Dietrich some - and ask just how 'erotic' Klaus's bite was for him to turn so pink. Certainly that blush was rather telling, and invited such playful banter, especially if it meant that he'd coax even /more/ color into the other's pale face. But now was not the time, nor did Kailen have any such inclination. He was still on that precipice of wondering what to say, and what not to say. 


It was that gentle squeeze of the other's hand that did it, that and the non-oppressive closeness of Dietrich that seemed to sort of push him right off that edge - the more slender of the pair tumbling into a spew of words that he hadn't intended to just blurt out. "It's Odile. Odile's dead, and they said she was murdered by a vampire and just /left/ in some alley way!" He took a breath, but continued to hold onto that hand even though it was likely silly of him to do. " She was missing for two days before they found her, and they were gonna mark her off as just some Jane Doe. I saw it on the news and...and I went and did that thing on the tv shows that they do. Y'know, identifying her body and...and I know it's not my fault she's dead but I feel awful because I should have picked her up even though my damned other job at the club wanted me to go in early."

He took a moment to swallow, the brunet not quite sure where to look but not quite able to meet the other's eyes as he was aware that he must look pretty stupid right now. Goodness only knew he sounded stupid enough to make just about anybody give him the stink-eye. "And she's got no one, ya know? So I've been dealing with her things an' goin' through 'em, and trying to figure out somethin' for a proper burial. Or cremation. Hell, I don't even know what she'd want but it ain't right jus' leavin' her there." 


A

---

Word Count: 392

[Dietrich Schäfer]

   He certainly hadn't been expecting the sudden burst of information. That was to say nothing of what the other actually had to say. Eyes widening a bit, along with his lips parting slightly were the only changes in expression that slipped through however.  He hadn't really known Odile that well, after all.  He certainly felt regret that the girl was dead, and he hurt for Kailen, but there was no reason for him to have an actual break down over this news.  

   Kailen was not so fortunate.  Despite the fact that this wasn't new information to the other, conveying it was taking it's toll, and by the time that the other took a moment to fall into a more lasting silence, the German had decided the appropriate course of action.  Slowly, he pulled the Southern boy into his arms, and if allowed to do so, merely held the other close to him, eyes slipping shut for a time. 

   "Kailen, you can't blame yourself. If you had known something would have happened, you would have done anything to stop it. That is the best that anyone could ask, or expect", he offers softly.  Of course, he knew that it wasn't always easy for logic to break through guilt, but it might help the other to hear that confirmed by someone outside of himself. Falling into silence for awhile, he would simply comfort the other man for a bit, again, if the offer was allowed. Either way, there were things to be said. 

   "I know I didn't know your friend well... but if want, I'm here to help you with arrangements, and with putting her affairs into order."  Maybe he should have questioned himself in becoming so involved, but Kailen was his friend, well, more than a friend honestly, and if he needed him, Dietrich would be there to help.  He was young still, and if he had to forego sleep until the everything was tended too he would do so. 

   Taking off work completely was out of the question, true, he would have done it if only Kailen was involed.  Unfortunately, the way that things had gone down, there was no way he could completely remove himself.  A vampire was involved, even if it was only a phony one, trying to cast a negative light on the race as a whole. He would be needed, but he could manage both, he would manage both.  Tomorrow night, or maybe in the morning, he would have to reach out to his superior. This, he figured, would justify contact outside of their normal hours. Tonight however, he needed to be here for Kailen, and there was likely little he could do immediately anyway.  

---

Word Count: 457
Tags: N/A
Notes: N/A