Itchy (Netflix's Pine Gap, Kath)

[Chanel_no5]

***Note***

I once again find myself juggling several fics at the same time (which will be finished, don't worry those who await them ^^) , but before going to bed tonight I found the time and inspiration to write a short fanfic about the show I most recently binged; Netflix's Pine Gap. I had to kick myself in the ass and write something other than what I've been focusing on lately (much as I'm going to get back to it about now... ), and this character just screams allergic to me.  

No spoilers that the trailer doesn't show. 

***

”Kath? Got a minute?” Ethan stuck his head into her office. His Australian counterpart waved him in, but she had a distant and very familiar look on her face, and she was reaching for the box of tissues she kept on her desk.

“One sec, I… just need to… huh…”

He went inside and closed the door, then sat down while he waited for her to make it through the approaching allergy fit. They messed her up pretty badly, her allergies. Even on a good day, there was still a tinge of pink to her nostrils, and today was not one of her good days. Tears constantly leaked out of her red-rimmed eyes, and her nose was the shade of roses at dusk. If she wasn't sneezing, she was scrubbing at it with her knuckles, desperate for a moment's relief from the insane itch.

“HuuuuUESShoo! Heh! Heh-ASCHoo! HEH-Tsschoo! Heh-ISSCHhh!”

Kath sniffled, still with the tissue up to her nose and mouth, then sneezed twice more, so rapidly it turned into a double-sneeze.

“HnKTSCH-KSCHhoo!”

She paused, no doubt waiting to see if any more sneezes were coming, then blew her nose lightly and tossed the tissues away.

“That doesn’t sound good,” he said.

“It’s more annoying than anything else,” Kath said and rubbed her nose furiously. “It just won’t stop itching!” She sniffled again and turned towards him. “Sorry Ethan. I know you’re not here to discuss how well my allergies cope with Alice Springs’ pollen count.”

Ethan smiled.

“I don’t have to ask to know the answer to that,” he said. “No, it’s Jas.” He paused. “And Gus.”

“And Gus? What’s the problem?”

“They’re having an affair.”

Kath lowered her head for a moment.

“Kath?”

Fuck it, Jas, you couldn’t be more discreet? Kath thought and immediately felt bad for thinking it. It wasn’t Jas’s fault. Dating was hard enough as it was, for a young woman bound by the regulations set in place by the intelligence community, it was almost impossible. Anything but a casual one-night-stand, and the potential lover would have to endure plenty of security clearings. Was there any wonder that they’d keep it easy and find someone within the same community?

“I know that,” she said. “Jas told me about a week ago, she assured me there wouldn’t be any problems.”

“And you didn’t see fit to inform me?” Ethan said, crossing his arms. Kath raised a finger to tell him to hold on, took a fresh tissue out, and sneezed into it.

“HeISSH! ISschoo! Huh-pTSCHuh! Hahh… huh… gnTSCHoo! Oh my God,” she muttered under her breath, lowering the tissue but not discarding it. The tickle was still teasing her. “I was going to, but with everything that happened around the PM’s meeting with POTUS, I didn’t see it as that high a priority.”

“Two members of A-team have an affair and you didn’t think that was a priority?” he said in a ‘let’s just make sure I got this straight’-tone.

“I didn’t, obviously,” she replied, a bit sharper than she had intended. “Otherwise I would have informed you right away. Has there been any issues regarding their work performances?”

“No.”

Kath tilted her head a little in a gesture that said ‘see?’, then she covered the lower part of her face with the tissue again, hitching her way through a drawn-out, half-vocalised buildup. Gasps and moans mixed together in desperate irritation before she finally got the sneeze out.

“HeeAASCHHew!”

“Bless you.”

“I’m not done yet,” she said, her voice getting breathier and more high-pitched towards the end of the short sentence. “EeeIISSHHooo! Ehh-ISSCHH! Heh-NKTSCHHew! Oh God, I’m so fucking allergic to this place!”

“Isn’t there anything you can take?” he asked. Kath let out a miserable laugh.

“Believe it or not, this is me on prescription drugs.”

He did a double take. Kath nodded and blew her nose.

“Doesn’t look pretty, does it?”

“No,” he said truthfully. “It looks… itchy.”

“It is.” She let out a half-cough, half-sigh. “It’s very itchy.”

"Want me to brief the team on the developments in the South Pacific?"

Kath gave her nose a long, wet, itchy-sounding blow, threw away another batch of soaked tissues, and stood up. 

"No, I'll do it."

"You sure? I don't mind..."

"I'm sure Ethan, goddamnit," she groaned and walked past him through the door. 

"Alright," he said and followed suit, nearly walking right into her as she suddenly stopped. "What is it?" 

"I forgot to bring my tissues," she replied, and he held out the handful he had taken from the tissue box before following her into the corridor. "Thanks," she said reluctantly as she took them and put them into her own pockets. She gave him a weird glance, two parts amused, one part annoyed.

"Just say it," he sighed. "God knows we're both thinking it." 

"We spend way too much time together," she said, voicing his thoughts verbatim.

"Ain't that the truth."

 

[NoV]

I was literally just doing an endless flick through Netflix and stumbled upon the trailer for this series. Haven't watched it yet, but may give it a go. Regardless, I enjoyed reading this Chanel - and having googled the character, I can definitely see why I should watch it  

[Chanel_no5]

Thank you! I've been a little spoiled with good shows this year (Westworld, The Haunting of Hill House, Castle Rock to some extent) that my assessment of this one probably isn't fair. If I hadn't been so spoiled with that stuff this would have impressed me more, but it's still a decent show. Follows a familiar script but isn't totally predictable. Just one season so far but wraps things up satisfyingly so you don't NEED a second one, but there are still enough things to explore for it to be a possibility. And Kath, well... she's not on top of my want-to-see-sneeze-list, but she made it onto it... and there's just something that gives me that "allergy vibe" from her.