He had Ewan over his shoulder and Denzul sitting on his foot while he tried to walk across the room. Denzul shifted his weight at the perfect moment and all three of them tumbled to the floor in a messy heap of tangled arms and legs, laughter filling the room. None of them had heard the knock, but they all turned at the sight of the sleek brunette as she entered. 

Smiling from the floor, Raff answered, "Hey there Kat." 

Rolling Ewan to one side and Denzul to the other, he rose to his feet and moved torward her. 

"Are those fer me?" asked Ewan
"That's fer me right?" asked Denzul simultaneously. 

"Let her walk in the door before ya beg like puppies!" he scolded the twelve and thirteen year olds before turning back to her. One look at the whiskey had him asking the same thing,

"Is that fer me?"

Kat had known Raff from the military and from Merk's perspectives. So seeing him rolling around on the grounds with his siblings was a little different. But she was quick to adapt, especially since she was holding onto gifts that the kids wanted. You had to be on your toes around kids, and apparently Raff was also eyeing the gifts. So three children.

Smiling she rolled her eyes but turned to the two kids. "There for all of you, as long as you share." And she would wait to give them the basket of sweets and toys until they responded in kind. She knew what it was like to have too many siblings to count on one hand, and sharing wasn't anyones strong suit in that. Scrap for your own and all.

"And you'll have to share to." Her eyes passed over to Raff and she grinned.

Denzul grabbed both toys and candy and held them over his head, making Ewan jump for them a couple times. The younger brother stopped suddenly, eyed him like a miniature version of Raff, and elbowed Denzul in the gut. "MINE!" The moment his brother dropped the gifts, he snatched up both and started running out the door, his brother soon running behind him, trying to catch up.

"Hey where's yer fuckin manners? And go hang out at Alan's til tomorrow!" Raff yelled at the quickly retreating boys' backs.

"THANKS!" they yelled back, fading off into the distance.

"Sorry 'bout that, they're dicks at that age and still barely house trained." Raff smirked, closing the door behind his brothers. 

"Ok I'll share, but only coz it's you..." She did not look like her usual self and he was pretty sure that between her husband's death, the pairing fiasco, the rank changes, Othello's bad party and then war about to kick their asses, there was a metric fuck ton to talk about. 

"So wassup?" Raff asked, keeping his tone light. If she was calling him 'Raffy' then she sure as hell wasn't in a good place right now. Glad to take the bottle of whiskey from her hands, he motioned her toward the four empty cots along the walls. 

"Ya got a cot to sit on or the floor My Lady." Raff offered simply. 

Kat watched the kids play, because that's all it really was. And if they didn't share then that wasn't on her. Goodness knows she would have kicked her twin into next week if it meant extra sweets. And Raff could sort that out another time, there were much more pressing issues, like the world around them crumbling.

"Maybe I don't want to share with you? Consider that?" Snickering she passed the bottle over all the same, trying to joke her way through things wasn't going to work forever though.

So she plopped herself down on the floor and held out her hand for the bottle. "So, you held out on me, who's this brunette who keeps popping up. I've seen her on the training grounds before." Cursing Aldrich which was funny, but reckless to an idiotic degree.

He laughed and shrugged, "But ya just said I'd have ta share which means yer sharin!" 

Raff gladly took the bottle and moved to settle on the floor with his back against the wall, stretching out his long legs to the their full length. After gesturing to Kat to join him, he tilted his head to the side with a smirk, his dark blue eyes gleaming.

"Nice try Van Zant. I didn't even know she existed back when we was talkin at the bar." He popped the top and took the first sip of whiskey, letting it relax him before he handed it back to the woman. 

"And that's my girl, Red. I'm sure ya heard she got kicked fer pulling a YOU kinda stunt. You and her are both impulsive, stubborn and opinionated--and hot brunettes." He smiled, knowing that he was totally accurate when it came to the description of both. Kat might try to deny it but it was just plain obvious facts.

Taking the bottle back she gave him a pointed look. She was still dry as the Dresmondi deserts. So the matter of timing didn't entirely matter. Man had it made in the shade. And her husband was dead. "I didn't know I had to show up with alcohol to get you to talk." Not that things hadn't been busy.

"It can't be a me stunt if you get caught. She needs to work on that." Rolling her eyes, Kat wasn't sure about the rest of the stuff only having met her the one time. Except the hot part, that she could agree on, but young and reckless, in a way that was literally career ruining. "Can't go around cursing superior officers in broad daylight, even I didn't do that." Far better to do it late at night in the barracks, sometimes even with Merk.

Raff looked mock offended at her and retorted, 

"Kat ya don't need ta bribe me to come over and talk. Ever. Now if ya bribed me with more free time, I could definitely use more of that! I can't get more than four hours a night at the pace I'm goin'."

A loud laugh burst out of him as a look of total disbelief crossed his features.

"Horse shit! At eighteen, Merk and ya were pulling quadruple the same stunts and ya know it!"

He took back the bottle for his share and the firm look in his dark blue eyes made one thing crystal clear. 
"And I won't be hearin no bad mouthin o Red, ya got me? Friend or not Kat, don't do it." 

Raff said it in a quiet warning, considering the matter closed and done with. He took a swig of whiskey and asked,

"Why ya really here Kat? I now there's a lot goin on... "

"I never said we didn't pull shit. We did. We were just far smarter about it." Shrugging her shoulders, Kat didn't feel bad about adding another fact to the pile. Because that's all that her words were. Facts, not some gaudy or trashy insults. Kat was good at those, and he would know if she was insulting this gal.

Kat raised an eyebrow. "You consider that bad-mouthing? You're joking." She had stated two facts. One, she had stayed in the military because she hadn't gotten caught, and two that cursing a superior officer in front of others was a bad idea. Either Raff had forgotten what an insult was, or he had drawn something from her words she hadn't said. And that reflected more on what he thought about this Red and the situation than it did on her.

"You need to calm down Raff or I can talk to someone else about my hubby offing himself and leaving me to raise my kids alone." Putting a hand on her leg, Kat wasn't kidding. She didn't have time for this shit, it was something she had decided for herself. And damn was she glad she was finally putting herself first.

"Wait... back it up now Van Zant. I know ya didn't get caught--that's coz ya had Merk as yer partner in crime. I waa just sayin ta not start badmouthin Red. Stoppin it before it starts coz I know how ya can git when yer upset. Or at least I think I do and I think I'm still yer friend, ain't I?" 

He looked at her face, studying her expression and he was worried for her. He'd gotten a full report of what she'd said and done at Othello's after party and she was clearly going off the rails and heading over a cliff. 

"I ain't shuttin down yer talk so no need ta git huffy with me. Have a sip and start from the beginnin. I ain't goin anywhere."

Kat really didn't care about anyone's opinion but her own. But she wasn't about to sit down while someone insulted her. "Partner in crime? I was a lone wolf Raff, and I did fine on my own. Will continue to. You like the girl great, have fun." She didn't need a partner to help her get across the finish line. And any insinuation that her ideas and her curses hadn't been her own, was not going to be taken lying down.

"We are drinking buddies." She didn't have friends. They were a weakness that was exploited easily, and she had enough weaknesses with her family. Pass. But that didn't mean that it made it easy to hear someone talk about how unbearable you were when you dared to show some emotions.

Huffy. The utter gaul. "I came to drink and talk not be judged, is that going to be a problem?"

Yikes. Must be that time of the month or something! Now she was going contrary to every term he used. So he couldn't say friend or partner in crime. Was acquaintance allowed? He'd brought up Merk as casually as he could but the throw back hurt. Losing a partner was like losing half his soul. Hell she'd been his entire soul coz he sure as fuck didn't have one anymore. She knew it hurt him like crazy to bring up Merk but he took it and kept on taking it. He knew she was looking to pick a fight coz it was hard just talking real about things. 

"No Ma'am." 
The walls closed in as Raff shrugged and just looked at her in unblinking silence.

Kat squinted at Raff. He didn't seem to get it. In the slightest. She usually only talked to Kasper about the real shit going on in her life. But if he wanted to be a pain in her ass like all the other's with sticks up their butts and head in the clouds, then she was fine with just drinking.

She was good at that. Pulling out a flask so that she didn't have to ask the man for any favors like the bottle she had brought, Kat took a good long, long, long sip.

"Well. This is less fun then last time."

She'd never given him the bottle back so when she took out the flask, Raff was a little confused. 

"Well that's a real shame Van Zant. I'll still be yer.. drinkin buddy."

He rolled over lazily, pulled up the floor board and took out his own bottle of whiskey. It wasn't as expensive as hers but it did the job and it looked like she'd changed her mind about sharing. Raff rolled back over, took a sip from it and set down his bottle on the floor.