(a "lucy fills their home with things" kacy piece)
Lucy isnât exaggerating. She travels light.
She brings a few bags of thingsâclothes, mostly; a few picture frames of faces that Kate recognizes; a sizable shoe collection that forces Kate to weed through her own and finally get rid of a few pairs sheâs been holding onto for no reason.
What she doesnât bring is trinkets.
Thereâs no novelty mugs, no knickknacks from Lucyâs college years, no potted plants, no paintings or little figurines that Kate was worrying wouldnât fit on the shelves with her things.
She didnât need to worry, though. Lucy makes four trips and then stands in the living room with her hands on her hips and a smile on her face. She declares herself moved in and immediately goes to the drawer filled with take out menus; itâs a pho night.
Kate stares in wonderment for a moment. Four trips and thatâs it? Her apartment is empty? Not that it would take Kate long to pack up her apartment, really, but it would certainly be more boxes. Sheâd have to pack the planters, the mugs, the baskets of blankets, the candles, the small collection of books, the stack of games she keeps for the possibility of a game night. It would take Kai and Jesseâs help, at least. But Lucy did it all by herself, up and down the elevator like she was going on a weekend trip, not moving an entire life from one apartment to another.
âI just donât need a lot,â she tells Kate that night, a sheet pooled around her waist as she lays back on her pillow. âWork, gym, and you. I wasnât kidding.â
Kate doesnât need a lot either, but she does have small things. Jane bought her an orchid in a yellow pot that thrives in the living room. She has a few things from Northwestern on a shelf nearby. A stack of books on a side table. Three mugs with silly slogans she got as a gag gift in D.C. that she used to hide in the back of the cupboard before she didnât care if Lucy saw them. A novelty, oversized fork that hangs by the stove. Just a couple of things that give her apartment a version of a personality without overwhelming things.
Kate ran a finger over the swell of Lucyâs hip and they hadnât talked about it again.
-
Kate doesnât notice it at first, rushing in the morning because Lucy rolled across her just before her alarm went off and they got caught up in each other. She needs to start putting her foot down because sheâs been nearly late to work too many times since Lucy moved in. But every time she thinks about telling Lucy they canât, they have no time, Lucy tosses those curls over her shoulder and bats her eyes and smiles that slow smile Kate always gives in to.
So she misses it, sitting on the kitchen counter. She doesnât see it until later, peeling her silk shirt off with a groan as the fabric sticks to her skin. It was a hot day and she spent too much of it running around. Her texts say that Lucy is finishing up a few notes but sheâll be home soonâhome, Kate thinks, smile unconsciousâand can Kate please make fettuccine Alfredo if they have the right ingredients? Kate opens and closes the refrigerator and cabinets and they have the basics but sheâll have to go back out to get cream. She fires off a text to have Lucy stop and pick up a few things and finds a wine glass, pouring herself a drink.
When she puts it down on the counter she sees it: a small, golden set of letters, interlocked seamlessly so she can barely tell where one ends and one begins. A K&L so small that she could fit in the center of her palm. Itâs tucked next to the coffee maker, inconspicuous. Kate frowns, picking it up and turning it over. She didnât bring this home, and logically it could have only been Lucy who did, but when did she put it on the counter? Was it here yesterday? Just how unobservant has she been lately?
She holds it for another moment before placing it gently down on the counter where it was. A fingerprint shines on the golden surface but she doesnât wipe it away. Something about erasing it makes her chest ache with an unknown feelings. She tucks it back a little, tighter to the coffee maker, and makes a note to ask Lucy about it.
Lucy barrels through the front door 10 minutes and half a glass of wine later, already laughing as she launches into whatever Jesse did to Kai today and Kate forgets to ask Lucy where the K&L came from, too caught up in her whirlwind and the bruising kiss she pulls Kate into to remember it.
They donât have fettuccine Alfredo but Lucy, standing behind her at the kitchen counter as Kate lazily stirs peppers and onions and Lucy presses even lazier kisses to her shoulder, doesnât seem to mind.
-
Things start appearing.
Kate thinks she might be going crazy, honestly. Every time she looks around, more things pop up. She finds a bonsai tree on the coffee table one night when she gets home from work and Lucy is stretched across the couch, snoring. A new candle is burning on the counter when she gets back from her Saturday morning surfing. A bobble head pops up on Lucyâs nightstand that looks suspiciously like Jesse. Kate blinks and the tissue box in the living room has a strange Dallas Cowboys cover on it that she didnât realize you could still buy. Then thereâs a caricature of the two of them Kate doesnât remember sitting for tucked onto the wall with all of their degrees. An NCIS mug finds its way into the cupboard and behind it is one with âAloha Hawaiâiâ on it.
Kate looks around their apartment and wonders how Lucy keeps sneaking things in without her noticing. Or why sheâs sneaking them in the first place.
But she doesnât mind them. She does thinks the bobble head is creepy and she makes Lucy turn it to face the wall whenever Lucyâs hand snakes across the sheets to Kateâs thigh. But the rest of them, things her mother would probably turn her nose up at, donât bother her. Theyâre cute, if a little kitschy. They bring a little life into their home, pops of color that Kate wouldnât have thought to bring in herself.
Lucy doesnât say anything about them either. She just keeps adding things: a wooden sign for the bathroom with a giant palm tree on it that takes Kate a week until she decides that no one sees their bathroom because no one visits; a three-candle holder sprayed a deep teal color that Kate thinks looks like the ocean before a storm: a new coffee pod container with a subtle rainbow on it; a small hand-painted pineapple.
Kate just lets these things pile up in their apartment and silently brings Ernie the bobble head after its beady eyes follow her around her bedroom in her towel.
-
âOkay,â Kate finally declares when she comes home to find a small clown figurine on the counter next to the wooden, painted bowl Lucy bought to house their oranges. âWe need to talk.â
Lucy looks up from peeling one of those oranges and her brow furrows. âThatâs never good.â
Kate frowns before it clears. âOh, not like that.â She follows her words with her hands curling around Lucyâs waist and pressing a kiss to the top of Lucyâs head. She points to the clown. âAbout this.â
âYou donât like clowns.â
âI do not like clowns,â she confirms. âBut I meant, where are all these things coming from?â
Lucy looks confused. âWhere is what coming from?â
Kate sweeps an arm across their apartment and things Lucy has been bringing home. âAll of this. The knickknacks. The trinkets. The⊠clown statue.â
Lucy brightens. âOh, do you like them? Not the clown, obviously. I will get rid of that. Ernie is strangely afraid of clowns, too.â
âI didnât say I was afraid. Theyâre just unnatural,â Kate insists. She shakes her head, getting back on track. âBut where are they coming from?â
Lucy shrugs. âEverywhere. Whenever I see something I think you might like, I pick it up. This place was a little⊠boring. It needed some personality.â
Kate frowns. âIt wasnât boring. I just... wasnât here a lot.â She leans one hip against the counter. âSo you were just going to fill our place with âpersonalityâ until we suffocate under screen-printed blankets and dog statues?â
âWell, you never said anything about them.â
âNeither did you.â
Lucy shrugs again. âI figured youâd say something if you didnât like them.â
Kate softens. She tucks some of Lucyâs hair behind her ear. âI like them. Most of them,â she amends. âThe sign in the bathroom is not my favorite. But the rest of them, I like,â she rushes to add. âI just didnât think you were someone who liked those things. I mean, you literally brought nothing but clothes and shoes when you moved in.â
Lucy abandons the orange, turning until her stance mirrors Kateâs. She looks thoughtful as her gaze slides towards the open balcony doors. âMy house growing up was⊠spartan. Not that it was empty, but we were doing the minimalist thing before it was cool. And so I never had these things. The knickknacks, you know?â She meets Kateâs eyes. âI told myself that when I had a home, Iâd do the opposite. Iâd get all the weird little things I saw, that I liked. And Iâd buy them and fill a whole place with them.â
Something softens even more in Kateâs chest. It melts, warm and slow, through her body. She smiles softly, hands reaching for Lucyâs waist and curling in her shirt. âSo you bought them now.â
âI have a home now,â Lucy says simply. âI didnât before.â
Kate tugs Lucy forward a few inches until their hips press together. Her forehead drops to Lucyâs. âI love them. Well, exceptââ
âThe clown and the bathroom sign,â Lucy finishes. Her lips twitch in a smile. âNoted.â She presses up on her toes, their lips brushing. âWhat about a different bathroom sign?â
âHow about no bathroom sign?â Kate counters. She presses their lips together with more purpose. âAnd a no bobble head rule.â
Lucy laughs softly. âIâll cancel my order, then. Itâs a shame. You would have been a cute bobble head.â She unwinds from Kateâs grip, picks up an orange slice, and crosses the apartment, grinning.
âThatâs not funny, Lucy.â Kate frowns when Lucy only smiles wider. âThat was Jesse,â she accuses. âI knew it! Lucy, that was so creepy!â
Lucy laughs and pops an orange slice into her mouth. âI was going to fill the apartment with the team until you said something,â she admits. âBut I guess they can go in Ernieâs lair.â
Kate rolls her eyes as Lucy disappears into the bedroom. She looks around the apartmentâat the K&L by the coffee maker, the Cowboys tissue box, the half-filled âAloha Hawaiâiâ mug, the coffee pod container, the collection of candles growing at the unused end of the counter. All little things Lucy picked up, picked out for them.
Trinkets, knickknacks, souvenirs, baublesâit would take Lucy more than four trips to move out now. And Kate agrees, it makes it look like a home in her with all these things, these novelties handpicked by the woman she loves.
Lucy hums from the bedroom and Kate smiles to herself before she catches sight of the clown figurine. Her smile twists into disgust and she picks it up, opening the trash can and dropping it in. Some of these things she can live without.
You mean to tell me that I will never see these two together again? That CBS is canceling the first NCIS show led by a woman (with both Queer characters and Indigenous rep at the forefront) when there are only two more episodes left in the season?
So, no wrap ups? No satisfying ending? Just left on a cliffhanger for the end of time?
Considering how much Rick hates the movies but heâs also ruining his own show by changing literally everything, it would be so funny if the show was renewed for season 2 and then cancelled just like there were 2 movies before the series was scrapped
Rick Riordan constantly trashing the movies for not sticking to his books then releasing a show in which he rewrites everything and loses the spirit of the books entirely
when I say Iâm annoyed at the showâs changes, I donât mean that I expected it to be 100% the same as the books, thatâs impossible and wouldâve been a bit boring even.. no, what Iâm upset about is that they sold the show as this
I just found out about Simon not being involved in the project at all and the movies not even continuing the story of the showâŠI canât even express my how disappointed I am. I canât believe that the impossible happened only for it to almost certainly be a trick. Iâm so tired of Hollywoodâs bullshit.
I love this show and these characters, and I know theyâll live on in our hearts. Iâll miss them đ
