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Tallulah had been dozing beside Nick, so she hadn’t really noticed or cared when the power went out, besides the fact that it was apparently inconvenient to send Kaatje to their doorstep. She sat up, rubbing sleep from her eyes. “Yeah,” she said. “I’m up here.”

Feeling her way in the dark, Tallulah joined Nick at the banister and looked down towards Kaatje. “What’s up?” she asked. “You think the fuse box might have blown something?”

Despite the fact that she’d been asleep less than a minute ago, Tallulah was receiving loud and clear. If Kaatje - who was notoriously bad at sensing signatures and always had been - had caught the horde, then it was definitely serious business. “A trap?” she asked, and, noticing Nick going stiff beside her, placed a gentle hand at the small of his back.

“We as in just you and me, right?” she asked to clarify. “Gunn and Europa?” They’d kept Nick from henshining for going on two weeks now for his own safety, and while she knew Kaatje wouldn’t want to take someone who didn’t remember any of his relevant experience into battle, she wanted to hear her say so out loud. For Nick’s benefit. Obviously.

“I’ll be down in a second,” she called, turning to Nick. “You should stay here,” said Tallulah, placing a hand against his chest. “Watch the house. Okay?”

Kaatje, being Kaatje, left the actual dealing with Nick to Tallulah… which was, all things considered, probably for the better. Tallulah reached for her boyfriend’s hand, took a deep breath, and said, “Basically, yes.”

This was not a satisfactory answer and she knew it.

“Nick,” she said, “I’ll talk to her about getting you back out on patrol next week.” If Mistral could do it - and Mistral was missing half her internal organs - then Nick, who was perfectly able-bodied but mostly an amnesiac could full well patrol. He was more stable every day, and she thought that they were probably past the point where henshining back up would cause some kind of awful breakdown. They’d eased him back into the masquerade as well as they could have hoped to.

“But tonight, with such a big massing?” she continued. “Chances are that Avalon, or someone who reports to Avalon, will be there - and we want to keep her off your trail a little longer.” Or, you know, forever. “Okay?”

Tallulah nodded, placing her hands carefully over his. He was gentle - she liked that about him, that his hands were delicate and deliberate and he was alway so careful about what he was doing with them. Pianist hands. Surgeon hands. “I promise,” she said, grateful that he understood and was letting the issue go.

“I promise, I’ll come home,” she said. “There will be other senshi there,” she added - no one could ignore a massing of signatures as large as Kaatje had reported. “It won’t just be Gunn and I against everyone. And when it’s over, I’ll come home and it will all be okay, okay?” She could only imagine how frustrated he must be, knowing that he had power but not knowing how to use it, not being trusted to use it - and she’d do her best to get him back in the game, she swore - but not right now.

She leaned forward on her toes, tilting her head up to kiss him on the mouth. “Okay, Nick?” Tallulah asked.

“Okay,” Tallulah repeated back to him, and she eased his hands away from her face. She didn’t think there was any risk in leaving him here at the apartment unattended, and in the long run, it was important for them to be able to go out on missions separately and trust each other to not get pulverized. “I’ll be okay. I promise.”

She settled one of her hands over his heart, and noticed how his pulse was racing. Tallulah frowned slightly - there was nothing she could do for that. “Can I go catch up with Kaatje?” she asked.