fandomtownies | Luke's, Wednesday

Kathy was still missing, and they hadn't managed to get any further information on where she'd been taken and why. So Eliot had once again taken over the kitchen at Luke's, taking out his frustration on onions and fresh ground cumin. He was just finishing mixing up a tomato sauce when the diner phone rang:

Kathy	The reception was shit, a lot of static and fuzz, but at least the call had connected. Kathy had been trying to call ever since the phone had taken a charge and this was the first time it had actually gone through. Each ring had been a personal stab through the heart as Kathy worried that no one would pick up. What time was it over there? Maybe nobody had even arrived yet? And then Eliot's gruff voice had come over the line and Kathy couldn't help it. She burst into tears. "E-Eliot? You're there? You're really, really there?"
Eliot	The bowl Eliot had been carrying when he went to answer the phone clattered to the floor, spilling tomato juice everywhere. He hardly noticed. "Kathy! You're alright? Where are you, darlin'? We been going nuts!"
Kathy	Kathy took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself. Nick hovered, concerned, and she waved him away. "S-Sorry," she said, sniffling. "Just got to a phone that worked." Zzzap's abilities had given the Mount electricity, but no one had been able to repair phone lines or the cell network. It took Fandom magic to do that - and a saved number to keep her from just dialing at random. "I'm in..." She had to take another deep, shuddery breath before she could say it. "I'm in Los Angeles, Eliot. My Los Angeles. I'm at the Mount."
Eliot	Eliot sucked in a sharp, sympathetic breath, even as he hurriedly typed a (garbled, he was not great at this sort of thing) text to Hardison, telling him to get a portal ready. "You stay right where you are, darlin'. We're on our way." He pulled up another text window, this one for Kathy's other friends. As much as he wanted to go storming off to get her right the fuck now, a team of magic fighters and healers was going to be his best chance to get her back in one, not-chomping piece. "Stay safe, you hear me? Don't let that Stealth woman guilt you into anything. Just -- let us come get you."
Kathy	"I'm--I'm trying," Kathy said. "There's so much going on and I can hear the exes every night when I try to go to sleep, they chatter and chatter and chatter and sometimes they just look at me and--" She broke down again, she couldn't help it. "I'm scared," she sobbed, thinking of the things that had chased them back to the Mount, of Tori's face as Ex-Rich had bitten her, of staring down the barrel at a gun held by dead hands, of Legion promising not to kill her but to turn her. Days and days of this had just ground her down. "I can't sleep, I can't eat--" Babbling. She was babbling and she was only quasi-aware of Nick soothing her with comforting Shh, baby, shh, you're okay's but it didn't matter. She didn't want him, she didn't want anybody right now the way she wanted Eliot. She wanted her dad.
Eliot	"I know, kiddo." More than anything, Eliot wanted to wrap her up in his arms right now, to hold her and make sure she knew she was safe. "It's okay to be scared. Anyone would be. But I am --" He cut off, swallowing and rubbing his eyes. "I am <>so glad that you're safe. We're gonna take care of everything from this end, alright? You don't have to worry about a thing. Hardison's already hackin' a portal as we speak." Or would be, once he stopped texting Eliot a giant line of profanity in response to his news about where Kathy had ended up, anyway.
Kathy	Kathy nodded, even though Eliot couldn't see her and asked Nick if he'd mind getting her a glass of water. As Nick's voice faded, she spoke again. "I...I have an ugly favor to ask you," she said. As if asking him to come at all wasn't bad enough. But Legion's promise echoed over and over in her mind. As did Tori's half-eaten face, now staring up at them from the other side of the Big Wall.
Eliot	"Ask it when we get you home safe." Yeah, Eliot had an idea of what this was. And he was not interested in having any conversation that didn't involve her coming home.
Kathy	"You know it doesn't work like that."
Eliot	Eliot's voice developed a hard edge. "We ain't having that conversation, Kathy." They'd brought her back once. They were even better prepared now to do it again.
Kathy	"But we have to," Kathy said, voice cracking. "Because I c-can't--not again. I don't want--"
Eliot	"It's not going to happen," Eliot said firmly. "You and I are both gonna make sure of that." And if, god forbid, it did happen, then it would get taken care of. That didn't mean Eliot was going to talk about it.
Kathy	"They're getting closer to getting in," she said with a long, shuddery inhale. "Rodney's got them using helmets and weapons. And there's this thing out there keeping us in here. I just--" She was scared. So scared it was hard to think straight. "Just come get me," she said, staring out her borrowed apartment window at the horde of exes beyond the wall. "Please, Dad, I just wanna come home. I love you and I wanna come ho--" The line disconnected.
Eliot	She called him Dad. Not "my dad", she'd done that plenty of times before. "Dad",capital D. Dead air. "Kathy? Kathy, can you hear me?" All he got was dial tone. He slammed the phone back onto the hook and dropped his head into his hands. One second. One second to wallow, and then he had to get moving. No way was he letting his girl stay in that hell hole a moment longer than she had to. She called him Dad.

Eliot headed out without so much as glancing back at his prepped ingredients, leaving the diner in the wacky-but-mostly-capable hands of his staff. The cook and the dishwasher immediately got into a rousing argument as to what constituted a proper chili, while the busboy begrudgingly started mopping up the spilled sauce.

Today's specials
Smoky beef and bacon chili
Crazy pineapple chili
Creamy white chili with chicken

Luke's was open ~~for modded service only~~.