geniuswithasmartphone | 75 Godiva Street, Saturday Afternoon

So, everything was terrible again. Hardison was pretty sure that Tony and his TA were evil, Eliot had brought home a version of Kathy that needed babysitting a lot more than she needed to be out heroing, there were slugs pretty much everywhere, and last night Eliot had insisted they all sleep down in the panic room in the basement. Which was actually more like a 'panic suite' because Eliot had built it and he was kind of extra about things, but even so, it was a little more claustrophobic than Hardison was comfortable with. He'd found himself calculating how much air was available in their hidey hole, which wasn't something he'd done since they'd moved from Portland.

That itchy restlessness hadn't left him, even when they'd all come back upstairs for brunch. He needed to get out for a little while. Do something. Spend some time in the open air while feeling useful. So once the meal was over, Hardison grabbed for his jacket and his laptop bag. A walk across the island to the school for some quality research time would hopefully settle him.

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"Parker." And didn't that just make her heart all squeezy every time. "But you know, you can call me whatever you want. I'll know who you mean." And then, "And you don't have to do the dishes." Especially if she was going to forget she was doing them in the middle, or wash off any of the important writing on her arms.

"Parker!" Kathy said, excited. "I know you! I have your name on my arm!" She pushed up the sleeve of Eliot's old t-shirt to show her upper arm, where the names Eliot, Parker, Hardison were written in a circle over her bicep. The letters were faded, written over ghosts of previous iterations from where she'd updated them over the year. "Is Sarah here too?"

Ow. "No, she's not here right now. She's... somewhere safe." Parker kept her face as convincing as possible. "She's having fun." She lightly touched Kathy's bicep, where the writing was. "You did a good job with this. And with finding us." She paused and said, "You should write that on yourself somewhere too. 'Good job, Kathy.'"

"Who is she?" Kathy asked, because there wasn't a conversation her lack of memory couldn't make worse. "I thought maybe that was the puppy's name, but Eliot says her name is Val."

The number of times Eliot had told her Val's name was now in the double-digits.

"You really think I should?" she added. "What if I don't always do a good job?"

"Somebody you love." Did it matter if they were family? Would it matter if Kathy forgot again, two minutes from now? "So what if you don't always do a good job? You've done a great job this time. And it's not like it'll make you stop trying." Parker's smile was a little more genuine now. "Nothing makes you stop." Not amnesia, or evil, or death, or anything.

"That's a good point," Kathy said, snagging her sharpie and writing Good job Kathy in the inside crease of her elbow. She'd forgotten she was planning on taking a shower in a moment. "And now I have my name on me, too!"

Which was good for when she forgot that, too.

"Can I have that for a second?" Parker asked, biting her lip. "I want to write something nice on you too." Even if it would wash off eventually.

"Okay," Kathy said, handing over the sharpie and then held out her arms. "Whatcha gonna write?"

Her arms were a map of words, names, and messages all jumbled about. Most were written in English, some in Hangul. A few started in one language then drifted to another and back without any rhyme or reason

It was less of a word, and more of am emoji equation.

Me: <3 {{ U }} 4vr

Maybe it would stick better that way, in someone else's writing.

Kathy frowned down at the message twisting her arm this way and that to get a better look at it. "What does that mean?" she asked.

"It means your family loves you - see, U ? - forever. Say it out loud when you see it, it'll make more sense. The heart is love." Parker leaned into her, and pushed one strand of hair out of Kathy's face. "Maybe you can make it a tattoo. So you never have to wash it off."

"I have a tattoo!" Kathy said. "It's on my hip. It's a girl with a rainbow ribbon. I don't know why I got it, though. Maybe I really like rainbows? It's not written down, though, so I don't remember."

"That's you," Parker said, smile acquiring a few more shadows. "As a superhero. Banzai. I think you said you got it to celebrate, a few years ago." So yeah. A tattoo, after this.

If Kathy didn't have to go back to Horrible World too fast. Ugh.

(Maybe she wouldn't have to go back at all?)

That would bring this Kathy's total up to two, half the number of tattoos this universe's Kathy had.

"A superhero?" Kathy asked. "Me?" She smiled at that. "Did I protect people?" Lowering her voice, she added, "That's why I'm here. To protect everyone."

"I know," Parker said, lowering her voice to match Kathy's. "And you did. You are." Always. "We'll help you do that."

"I remember you came and helped us last year," Kathy said quietly, sounding a bit like her old self for a moment. "I don't remember much, but I remember that. That's why I came along when Dante and Anders explained. Because I want to protect you and your world like you protected me and mine."

Thanks seemed so inadequate. "I'm glad you did." Parker's face scrunched up. "Do you want a hug?"

"Yes!"

Normally Kathy would have hesitated, opening her arms and letting Parker come to her. That was the right way to hug Parker. This Kathy didn't remember that, flinging herself at Parker with a happy smile.

Parker winced, but managed not to flinch, then awkwardly patted Kathy's back. "Yay." No, really. She was smiling, even if she tried to hide it. "Yay."

"I love hugs," Kathy said happily. "Thanks for giving me one, ummm...I'm sorry, what's your name again?"

Parker paused, then pointed at the new markings on Kathy again. "Somebody that loves you. Don't worry about the rest."

75 Godiva Street, Saturday Afternoon

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