[[ milli!fic: dissonance ]]

[justdidntseeit]

title: dissonance
author: sardonicynic
rating: PG-13 for mild language and woe
characters: kate warner (24), bill pardy (SLiTHER)
a/n: a sequel of sorts to white noise and bat's FLAIL-INDUCING fault.


He's scaring her.

She doesn't know where she is, let alone who this guy is, but he looks like he hasn't slept in days, she can't step around him, and he knows her name.

"Kate're you -- m'sorry, Jesus Christ, I'm so sorry -- "

"No, you don't need to apologize," she says, glancing around the unfamiliar bar before refocusing on his intense, bloodshot blue eyes. "I'm afraid I can't place -- have we met?"

Confusion passes over his worn features.

"Kate, it's -- it's me. It's Bill."

"I -- " She shakes her head.

"Bill Pardy."

The quiet desperation in his voice hurts to hear; she's searching his face, the stubble on his jaw and the purple smudges beneath his eyes, and she realizes just how attractive he is (and would be, after a shower and a change of clothes) when Jack's hand at the small of her back causes her to turn.

"Hey."

"Hey." Jack's smiling as he gives Bill a cursory nod. "Looks like I've got some explaining to do. Lucky the place picked up both of us at the same time."

"I was wondering when you put a bar in your apartment."

She turns to Bill with an apologetic half-smile.

"Bill, I -- "

He's paper-pale, and for a half-second, she thinks he might pass out or vomit; a heartbeat later, he's steady but a decade older.

"M'sorry, I -- it's my mistake. You … you just look like a Kate I used to know."

A line appears between her brows.

"That's quite the coinci -- "

"Welcome to Milliways, an' y-y'all have a … a good night."

She watches him turn and wind through the crowded bar with slumped shoulders.

"Who was that?" Jack asks, circling an arm around her waist while they make their way toward the counter.

She sees Bill pause in a doorway, gripping its frame before he steps into the dim hallway.

Bill Pardy.

"I have no idea."