EIGHT LETTERS || Liam Dunbar [2]

FOUR

Katherine followed Scott and Liam through the hallways of the hospital, her hands tucked into the back pockets of her shorts. Her and Liam were supposed to be hanging out together that night — the one night they could have without someone trying to kill them — at his house.

"My Dad's helping out in surgery," Liam frowned. "He's not going to be done for hours. So, me and Kat are either going to have to hang out here...or we could still go with you guys."

"I'm game for either," Katherine shrugged, stretching her arms and back.

Scott pressed the lower button for the elevator, then turned to face Liam. "Show me your hands," he murmured.

Katherine raised her brows, but didn't say anything.

Liam looked around for a moment before he pulled his hands from his pockets, showing Scott the dried blood and crescent shaped marks on his palms. "Okay, so I'm still having trouble," Liam mumbled, glancing back at Katherine.

Scott smiled faintly. "No," he shook his head. "You're still learning."

"Damn right you are," Katherine grinned. She slung an arm around his shoulders, doing her best to refrain from blushing when he wrapped an arm around her waist. She cleared her throat. "I mean, we are just dumbass kids after all." Scott smiled faintly at the two, rolling his eyes lightly at Katherine's choice of words. "What?" Katherine frowned.

Scott shook his head. "Nothing." He looked at Liam. "What do you do to stay focused on not changing?" He asked gently.

Liam grabbed the headphones hanging from the collar of his shirt. "But it's not working," he mumbled.

"It's working enough," Scott amended. Katherine smiled faintly when Liam's grip on her tightened. "Listen," Scott breathed. "Derek told me that you were one of the strongest that he'd ever seen at your age." Noticing Liam's frown, Scott continued. "Coming from him, that means a lot."

"It really does," Katherine promised, laying her head on Liam's shoulder.

The elevator dinged as the doors opened, and Scott took a small step backwards. "Maybe it means things are gonna be harder for you for a little while—" he stepped into the elevator, leaning against the wall "—but it also means something else, doesn't it?"

Liam made a face as he shrugged. "That I'm really strong?" He guessed.

Katherine snorted.

Scott smiled faintly. "Hell yeah," he nodded.

As the doors closed, Liam smiled weakly and Katherine gave his arm a light punch. "Come on," she grinned. "I need to find a vending machine. I'm starving."

Immediately his smile became real. He rolled his eyes and nudged her back playfully. "You're always hungry, how are you not the size of a sumo wrestler yet?" He laughed.

Katherine scoffed indignantly. "Because I'm always running around and saving your lazy ass; it gets hella tiring, you know that?"

"Yeah, okay," Liam snorted, dropping an arm around her shoulders. Katherine blushed lightly, but gripped onto the hand that hung just above her collar bone.

•••

"I cannot believe you just bought twenty five dollars worth of candy from the vending machine," Liam laughed.

"It's pretty believable," Katherine giggled. She tossed him an oversized cookie then scratched the back of her neck. "Besides, I don't hear you complaining."

"That's because I'm not," Liam grinned. "Just amazed."

Katherine rolled her eyes as they rounded the nearest corner.

The two had spent the last hour wandering around the hospital floors at random, filling the comfortable silence with unimportant chatter. But Katherine wouldn't have it any other way.

She pulled her hair from it's elastic and stretched her arms out, pouting when she dropped her bag of sour patch kids. She pushed her hair behind her shoulder as she bent down to pick it up.

"Did you get a haircut when you were in France?" Liam asked curiously, pausing for her to sort out her unnecessarily large armful of vending machine candy.

Katherine felt her brows crease as she looked up at him. "No, why?"

"Not reason," Liam shrugged, awkwardly looking down at his feet while stuffing his hands into the pockets of his zip up hoodie. "There's just something different about you, and I'm trying to figure out what it is."

Her heart skipped in a beat.

Is it really that obvious that I'm freaking in love with you? She thought worriedly. I thought I was pretty good at hiding it. I guess I need to talk to Lydia about that one.

"Nope," Katherine answered finally, her eyes slightly wide. "I'm still the same old me."

Liam bumped her shoulder with his. "Well, I think the same old you is pretty great," he smiled.

As they walked past the morgue, Liam grabbed her arm and pushed her back against the wall. He did the same, his head angled towards the somewhat open door.

"What are you doing," Katherine whispered, looking at him worriedly.

"Hold on a second," Liam muttered. "It's about Scott."

She immediately shut her mouth, waiting for him to explain what was going on. After a moment his eyes widened. He slid his hand into hers before running down the hallway, Katherine right behind him. "What happened!" She panted, silently apologizing to an old woman she almost ran into.

Liam managed to look back at her for a moment before having to face forwards again. "Parrish said someone's after Scott. He's in trouble."

•••

"Jesus Christ!" Katherine panted, slowing to a stop in the middle of the empty road. She leaned over with her hands resting on her knees, trying to catch her breath. "Liam! I need a second!" She hollered, wheezing slightly.

Liam jogged back to her, tilting his head to the side. "You good?" He asked with a worried frown.

Katherine looked up at him, her mouth open and her nose scrunched as she gasped for air. "No, dipshit," she muttered. "Some of us are human beings with human lungs. And as crazy as this sounds, we get tired."

After looking around the street for a moment — still immensely worried about Scott — Liam turned around then craned his neck to look at her. "Get on my back."

Katherine stared up at him for a moment, her brows creasing as she tried to comprehend what he'd just said. "I'm sorry can you repeat yourself?" She panted.

Liam rolled his eyes. "We don't have time to wait for your human lungs—" she scowled up at him "—to start working again, so get on my back."

After a moment she nodded. She grabbed his shoulders and pulled herself up, hooking her legs around his waist while looping her arms around his neck. Liam immediately began sprinting again, and Katherine set her chin on his shoulder.

"You know, most people would be complaining that I'm too heavy for this," Katherine hummed, tilting her head so she could see his face.

"Yeah, well," Liam panted, craning his neck to look back at her with a small smile. "The next person who says you're heavy can come and deal with me."

A/N:
Do we have a ship name for Liam and Katherine yet??? If not, I was thinking Latherine.