Participants:
| Scene Title | According To Her Gut |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Katherine meets with Elisabeth to discuss her new job offer and wants the straight, no bullshit scoop on it. |
| Date | June 8, 2010 |
The night was a long and restless one. The offer given by Sarisa Kershner gave Katherine Marks' mind a workout last night. Should she leave her job as a paramedic and join Frontline, working once again for the government?
Didn't quite work out well for her last time, now did it?
She left a message on Elisabeth Harrison's voice mail asking to meet and so here she is. There is a vague familiarity for this location, as if she's been here before, but there are still gaps in her memory and this seems to touch the outskirts of one but empty of details. This location was suggest to her, because they have a history here and Katherine thought maybe it would give her some sort of revelation, perhaps.
But none came as she walked into the deli and walked up to the counter and asked for a coffee. She finds an empty booth and sits, sipping and waiting. She pulls out the card given to her and begins to finger it.
Elisabeth, for her part, is taking food where she can get it. The fuel required to keep doing the job she's doing on the streets this week and keep up with the stolen time she's getting with a certain someone is pretty high. When she steps into the deli, it is with a sense of relief. She orders a hot pastrami sandwich with her coffee and heads for the table where Kat is sitting. Sliding into the chair across from the other woman, she's wearing the black uniform and body armor of FRONTLINE, blue eyes cautious on the room in general. "Good to see the place getting back to business," she admits. "How're you, Kat?"
"A little confused." Understated. "I had an unexpected visit last night from someone I think you know." The card is laid face up on the table and slid across towards Liz. Katherine then puts her gaze on Liz' face to see what sort of expression she gets.
Reaching for the card, Elisabeth's expression shutters immediately to neutral and wary. "Really. And what did Agent Kershner want of you?" she asks calmly around a sip of her coffee. She meets Kat's eyes with her own blue ones, giving nothing away about her inner thoughts. Though the fact that she's so carefully cop neutral is probably information in and of itself.
That response seems to be telling enough, Katherine makes an internal note to herself. "Apparently, she wanted me." Katherine leans back in her booth fingers curling around the coffee to heat her chilled hands. She has found a neat little trick in which she can shift the cells inside an option and heat it up a little to give her warmth. It also works nicely for keeping coffee warm.
"She offered me a job with Frontline. Working intelligence with you, or as a medical officer." Katherine continues to watch the one sitting across from her, "She said I could talk to you. Apparently she knows everything about me and thinks I'd be an 'asset to the country' or some such bullshit."
Elisabeth is quiet for a long time. Long enough for her sandwich to come up at the counter, for her to get up and go get it, and once she sits back down with the paper-wrapped huge thing, she shares half of it with Kat. She can't eat the whole thing. It is only then that she finally responds. "I'm not sure what to say about that. Kershner is….. complicated. Do you think you want to do it?" She's still not offering an opinion.
Katherine's posture has relaxed a little as she lets the back of the booth hold her in place just fine. She continues to fiddle with her coffee cup. That's the question of the day. Does she want to? "She made a compelling case. Built up my ego suitably. Played on my supposed patriotism. She did everything she should do when recruiting." She taps her fingernail against the cup, "And she wants an answer fairly soon. The fact is that the moment she left I was pumped up for this. Nervous and a little afraid. I don't do well with change. But it.. sounds rather exciting. Different." Katherine's blue eyes come up and glance over at Liz, "I'm starting to think I should say 'yes'."
There's a slow nod, and Elisabeth seems to still be considering how to reply. "It would suit you," she finally says, picking at her sandwich to nibble small pieces idly. "At least… it would have suited you before." Her tone is candid, but her eyes are on Kat's face. "You were a damn good agent," she admits. "Nowadays, I think you could find the mindset, but I'm not sure you want it. Being a medic seems to make you happy."
The tapping on the ceramic continues as fingernail meets cup and she finally stops. "I thought I was happy being a medic, but I find myself being inexplicably pulled towards this offer. Like, I should be there."
She sits up straight, reaching over to swap the salt and the pepper for no reason that might be apparent to anyone but herself. She does this to some degree of precision, taking her time until she's content with the outcome, then glances back up. "I could be a medic here too. Or I could work with you. I'm a little concerned about the.. intellegence part. I honestly am not sure what's 'broken' about me.. my brain. There is still plenty that I have no recollection of and some memories that make very little sense."
"I could just accept the medical officer position she offered, but I am not certain that is in my best interest, when there could be something more challenging out there for me to do." This may not be a Katherine Marks that Elisabeth has ever seen. Unsure. Indecisive.
Elisabeth listens intently, eating her sandwich in bits and bites so they can continue to converse between. "I have seen older things in your demeanor…. older behaviors, things you say…." She smiles at that, remembering the tart comments when she fell on her ass. "I believe that you — the old you — is probably still in there, Kat. And while you were occasionally a cranky bitch and we didn't get along all that great, I also think… that there was much to respect about the person you were. If you feel the need to serve, and to serve in this capacity, I'm not going to argue you out of it. I will warn you that Kershner is a shark. Of the highest order. And while I thus far have great respect for the woman and the job that she does, I am also leery of serving under her at times. She has an agenda, and you should go into this aware of that and aware that there may come a time where you have to decide if you trust her enough to follow her agenda."
Narrowing her eyes, Katherine glances up at Elisabeth. "You are part of all of this. Just tell me one thing." Kat is considering just how to phrase this query as she finally brings her coffee up and takes a drink of the lukewarm liquid, making a face. After a moment she asks, "Why are you doing it? I always assumed you were too 'straight arrow' for all this crap."
There's a soft laugh at that. "And you know exactly how much about me, Katherine?" Elisabeth asks quietly. "I've been a part of Phoenix for the last year and a half. I'm a goddamn good cop — they wouldn't find a damn thing off about any case I ever finished. No technicalities, nothing. But I also started seeing that …. the book hadn't caught up with certain aspects of the crime we deal with." Her blue eyes hold a faraway look for a moment as she looks over Kat's head. "I'm willing to play by the rules most of the time, but…. some of the time, but I also believe that you have to know when to break them for the greater good." When she looks back to meet Kat's eyes, she says with all sincerity, "And if killing a few dozen people means saving 4 billion… then I'll do it and sleep at night just fine."
The laugh would throw Katherine off for the moment, then the revealings begin and while Katherine really hasn't much retained from her time with Liz, she always had this impression of her that appears to be unfounded at best. "So, this Frontline this is… what to you? Look. I'm seriously considering signing up for this. You're involved. I feel I can trust you enough that if you think this is something that I could possibly do, then I just might give it a shot."
She's not even sure why she trusts the other woman, except pure instinct on her part. Something in her gut. "I'm having some trouble wrapping my brain around this, if you want the honest truth. Something is drawing me to this and I don't even know what." Again, her gut.
The fact that Katherine can say that out loud — that she trusts Elisabeth in spite of what was just said — after all that they have done together from the wrong sides of whatever that line was…. makes Elisabeth look down. For a long moment, she thinks about what she knows of Kat Marks. The old one and the new. "I think it would suit you well," she finally replies quietly. "If you ever get your full memories back, you may find working for Kershner is a lot more like working for the Company than it appears, but…. I think you're going to fit well." She shrugs just a little and looks up. "In either capacity that you opt to try — medic or intel." She smiles faintly. "Being able to actually share the intel we have in hand and work out a plan might be something that works really well for us. We…. used to have a hard time working together. You thought I was an idealistic twit and I thought you were a raving bitch. But even though we disagreed on the methods, I came to think we were most likely on the same side of things."
Katherine has gotten that impression as well. What Liz has just stated out loud pretty well sums up her own feelings on the matter, even though she can't quite recall everything. It's difficult not remember the details, but again there's something deep inside her that confirms everything being spoken aloud from across the table. There are further discussions, sometimes even straying from the topic originally gathered for. The information that Liz provides Katherine is very valuable and in the end.
After parting words, Katherine stands outside for a long moment and begins to walk down the sidewalk. The card is pulled from her pocket along with her cell phone and she dials. Her decision, it seems, has been made.