callofkaren | [For Nick]

The best part about being on the island was that all Karen had to do to go to the beach was change into a bikini and step into her front yard. It was easy access, and on days when she felt completely lazy and wanted to relax (like today), she just spread out a giant beach towel and settled in with a book. Maybe some comics, if she was in the mood.

She was lying on her stomach on her trusty Thundercats towel, legs swinging in the air as she idly flipped through an edition of Fables, her new favorite find when it came to comics. As interesting as it was, though, lying in the warm sun always tended to make Karen drowsy, and she was half asleep when a light pecking sound caught her attention.

When she opened her eyes, Karen blinked a few times to make sure she was actually seeing what she was seeing; a bird, just a few inches away from her face. And it was pecking away at her comic for no reason at all.

"Hi there," she said. (God, she really had to stop spending so much time with Nick when he was doing his whole birdwatching thing, because she actually recognized it as one of the Noddy birds.) The sound of her voice startled the bird into flight, taking a strip of ripped comic with it as it fled. "Hey, I was reading that!" she yelled in the direction it took off in, propping herself back up on her elbows.

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Nick happened to be following the progress of that particular Noddy Bird from further up the beach, and couldn't help but laugh when the bird's path went straight for Karen. He didn't bother to see what the bird did next, just slung the binoculars around his neck and walked down the beach to where Karen was.

Dropping down to lay down next to her on the blanket, he poked at the ripped page of the comic she had. "Looks like you're missing something," he said with a smile.

"Your bird friends are dabbling in petty larceny now," Karen replied, giving Nick a smile before leaning in for a kiss. "They need to learn better manners."

"They're just showing how much they care," Nick said, draping one arm over her waist as he returned the kiss. "If they really loved you, I think you'd be in some serious trouble."

Karen just sighed heavily and lifted the comic up to inspect the damage. "Aw, would you look at that?" she said, lifting the two-thirds of the page left. The page opposite had little holes pecked in it. "Ruined a perfectly good comic, and just when he was going to explain who murdered Rose Red."

...maybe Karen was spending a little too much time around Brodie.

"I can make up the ending," Nick suggested, poking at the ragged edge of the paper. "It might actually be better than the comic's ending."

That, and more scientifically accurate, too.

Karen gave the comic one last sad thought before closing and setting it aside. Nick was an infinitely better choice for spending the afternoon with, even if they spent a lot of time together anyway.

"I don't know if you can beat comic books about old fairytales in modern times," she said, turning onto her side to face Nick, "but you can try."

"Well," Nick said, tapping his fingers against the closed cover of the comic book, "I don't know if I'd be more entertaining," he said thoughtfully, "but I would perhaps give it a little twist of Las Vegas style crime solving." Nick paused a moment. "I could rewrite the end of the story to involve showgirls and a traveling circus with some dwarves or something."

"Dwarves!" Karen could barely contain her mock excitement. "That's exactly what my day needed, little men with long beards. I can go to sleep happy tonight."

"Glad to be of service," Nick said with a broad grin. He rolled over onto his back, stretching his arms out before lacing his fingers at the back of his neck. "That's what I'm here for, after all."

"You are pretty good at it," Karen agreed, not even bothering to hide how Nick had totally derailed her train of thought. And he knew he was doing it, too.

She figured she'd probably worry about easily he could do that to her sometime in the distant future. When she went blind.

"I try," Nick said, getting comfortable on the blanket. "A man's got to have hobbies around here. Mine just happens to be providing you with information about dwarves to ensure that you sleep better at night."

"Yeah," Karen said slowly, and she moved over, sliding her arm over his waist and rested her chin on his chest. If he was going to spread out like a big pillow, then she was gladly going to take advantage. "Because it's totally your storytelling abilities I was referring to."

"Oh, you meant something else?" Nick teased, raising one eyebrow. He shifted, moving to thread his fingers through her hair. "Are you trying to tell me I'm not a fantastic storyteller? Because I really, really am."

"I'm just saying." Karen raised herself up a bitand gave Nick an innocent little shrug. "I'm sure you have tons of talents. I just happen to have a favorite," she added, then punctuated it with a quick kiss and a pleased smile at Nick.

"Your favorite talent of mine isn't telling stories about dwarves?" he asked, a mock pout spreading across his face as he idly wrapped a strand of hair around his finger. "Care to enlighten me about my great qualities then?"

Karen snorted and hit Nick's shoulder lightly. "Don't try your luck, honey. Just because you're cute when you're being a tease doesn't mean you get to be one all the time."

Nick looked hurt for about two seconds until he grinned. "So I'm cute, then?" He raised his eyebrows. It wasn't like he didn't know this already. But he just... felt like he should confirm. Just in case.

Karen gave up on looking at Nick and sat up, turning to face him. "Very cute," she said. "Maybe even adorable. Like a giant cuddly teddy bear."

Nick stretched out on the blanket, contemplating this. "See, I was thinking more along the lines of handsome and dashing and mysterious or something."

"Hate to break it to you," Karen said with a shake of her head and a smile, "but bird watching and loving country music doesn't help much if you want to be dashing or mysterious."

"Well, damn," Nick said. "I was thinking it was kind of a cover, you know? Like a ... secret identity. Bird watching, country music listening man by day..." Nick paused, not quite sure what his super hero persona would be. "Help me out here, I'm kind of stuck with the rest of it."

[For Nick]

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