[Matthew Cox]

Matt had begun settling into a nightly routine. They'd get home from work at around five. He'd change and start prepping dinner if they were staying in, they'd eat by six forty five, be done before seven thirty, get the dishes washed and dried by eight, and then television time. Or, at least, that was the routine he was trying to instill in Klaus. Things didn't always work out that way, and that was fine. As it was, it was eight thirty and they were watching telly. 'Watching' in his case.

To his surprise, a text from Kat's text tone buzzed through his phone at the same time that Klaus' phone went off. Did she say that she was going to be out with family or something? Maybe that was a few nights ago...he didn't remember exactly, so the text could be an invitation out. If that were the case, he'd better listen to it privately...Matt fished out his headphones and plugged them into the audio jack of his phone. Thank God for the advocacy groups for access functions... When he triggered the text-to-voice function, he heard Kat in the automated words, telling him she missed him and to go to Alibi.

Did...did she send Klaus a text at the exact same time? Matt looked over at his friend with a puzzled look, waiting to hear what he received before telling him what Kat sent him.

[Tabora]

Tabby watched the woman with amusement. She was drunk, sure, but she was fun. Tabby herself was a little buzzed after two shots, so who was she to judge? Besides, it looked like Tabby got drama AND dancing tonight since Katarina was standing up.

"You a little wobbly, but that's okay, you can put that shimmy to use, I bet. Only problem, this ain't a club, so are we gonna get your boy and go to the party scene where we can get that dance on or what?"

A wicked idea began to form in Tabby's mind. Whoever the boyfriend was, he'd probably not mind something a little more exotic later, especially if his girl was already all over the Mexican girl. She had a few drops of Kissing Concoction left and a desire to get naughty. What kind of trouble was she willing to get herself into? All kinds. Tabby smiled, wicked and encouraging.

[Katarina Bauer]

Kat left her sweater on the back of the stool, and she pointed at Siv to make sure she knew to keep an eye on it. Alibi had another one tending tonight and a bouncer at the counter too, so in case someone tried to take her sweater, they'd be dealt with accordingly. Tonight, she'd been wearing a sleeveless number, one that was loose and flowy in the front that offered more comfort than the usual button down blouse. She was glad the dress code was lax at her new office (new, even though it had been almost two months since she'd arrived). Her old Director held strong to the traditional uniform as opposed to letting business casual get too... casual. The thin straps of her purple top led down into a low neckline, low in an office sense since she wasn't that risque, and her bottoms, though snug and fit to her every curve, still stretched and allowed for ease of movement.

Then she just burst out into some heavy laughter when she realized what Tabora had said. "For a moment there, I forgot where I was, I guess. You're right. But hey, they're dancing! We can join in a little bit and have some fun right?" She pointed to the twenty-somethings, the uni-girls, dancing to the nice upbeat number they just put on over the PA system. They were already whooping and hollering, and having a great time. It was a little more laid back than a dance club scene, but it would do...for now.

"I already text him!! He should be here soon." But she didn't quite understand what that would mean...because she didn't realize she'd sent that invitation to both of her boys, her boyfriend and her partner.

[Niklaus Schmidt]

Klaus glanced over at Matt as he heard his phone go off at the exact same moment his had. Matt put his earbuds in, however, so he checked his own phone. The words were certainly not what he expected. Kat missed him and wanted him to come to Alibi? Had she fallen and bumped her head or something? Was she drunk? Because she certainly hadn't been acting as though she missed him. Cordial was the best he could describe her actions. Perhaps this was her weird way of saying she wanted to make amends, buy him a drink?

Klaus glanced over at Matt after a moment. "That Kat?" he asked, pretending not to be overly interested despite the fact his very question indicated interest. He certainly hoped not. He hoped it was some marine brat who wanted his attention from his time in the service. Because that would be a bigger stroke to his ego than Kat accidentally including him in a drunk text.

[Matthew Cox]

"Hm."

Matt inclined his head to Klaus, then answered.

"Yeah. She drunk text you too?"

Matt let a small bit of humor show in the quirk of his lips. He could hear Klaus' heart rate changes and already knew the answer to the question. The real conundrum was: do they go rescue her from her inebriation or let her stew? Matt was well invested in rescuing her, but he couldn't drive there himself. Klaus would no doubt feel like the third wheel, which wasn't fair.

Hopefully, acknowledging the fact that it was a drunk text could diffuse some of the awkward. Probably not. Damn. Just when things were starting to die down, too...

"Well, she'll probably need rescuing from the hangover she's pursuing...we could either go help her catch that hangover before it gets bad o start chasing it with her...?"

Maybe a bit of humor would diffuse the tension. And besides, after the week they'd had with IA and the werecat business and everything else, maybe a round or two wouldn't hurt.

[Katarina Bauer]

Kat, having a little bit of trouble seeing straight, took her phone out of her back pocket. She juggled it almost, nearly losing it to the floor which would have been an unfortunate little tumble on the disgusting floor. Present Kat might not have minded but 12 hours from now Kat would have been very upset to discover a broken personal phone. She was usually careful with her electronics too. At a 500 pound pricepoint, she knew to invest in protection for the damn thing. Nevertheless, she caught it gracefully (not really), and turned on the screen to check for notifications.

Matt hadn't responded. She puckered her lips into a pout as she frowned at the sight, unlocking her phone to the very same message. "Nothing yet." She said to Tabby, without looking up because she was having a bit of trouble focusing on the keyboard. Also, she happened to miss that detail where there were actually two people in the message...

Come on! A round on me.., not on me. ;) you know what I mean...but! my new friend Tabora wants to play!!1

and...SEND.

No regrets, right Kat? Oh hell, there probably will be. Who are you kidding?

[Niklaus Schmidt]

Klaus knew it was too good to be true. "Yep," he replied, shaking his head. "And here I hoped she wanted to actually make amends. Finally." Yeah, Klaus did not like having to deal with tip-toeing around her. Especially when he'd done nothing to deserve the behavior in person, only walk back inside. She may have heard from Matt what they had discussed, but still. Seriously?

Klaus chuckled awkwardly as Matt said she needed rescuing about the same time both their phones beeped again. He looked at his phone rather than answer Matt at that moment. Well, it definitely seemed she was... "Shit, man," he said, standing from the couch to go grab his and Matt's shoes. He set them in front of Matt. "Put your shoes on. She's with Tabby."

There was no way that it was anyone else but the one who had tangoed with Matt after their one-nighter, forcing him to come out of his room with just the first pair of bottoms he had found, which amounted to his tightie whities, to find out what the hell was going on. No one else in London had the name Tabora, and very few people liked to nickname themselves after a common cat breed so far as he knew.

Klaus hurried to put his own brown loafers on without so much as sitting down and walked over to grab his leather jacket and keys. As soon as Matt was ready, he went out, waited for him to follow, then locked his door and headed down to Baby. They needed to get there stat.

[Tabora]

Nothing from them yet? Well that was fine. Tabby was going to play a wicked trick on whoever her boyfriend was and have some fun herself. The Mexican girl merely gave a sympathetic smile and pushed some coins into Kat's hands.

"Here, you go put something on the jukebox and I'll get us some water so we don't get dehydrated from too much fun. "

She dug into her purse when she got to the bar and pulled out the mostly empty bottle of her mild love potion. It wasn't as strong as Amortentia...that stuff was enough to make a corpse sit up and kiss you. This stuff...well, it loosened inhibitions and made the drinker more open to advances. They really wanted to make out, but still were able to say no to any other advances if they weren't feeling it. Tabby used it to smooth her one-night flings over and get the guys thinking about the fun they could be having. What would it do to Kat? Tabby put a drop on her finger and held it there, out of sight under the edge of the bar, and ordered two glasses of water. When they came, she let the drop of potion fall into the glass with a practiced motion. Nobody noticed the spiking as far as Tabby could tell. With a happy-go-lucky grin, she returned to Kat and gave her the glass of water plus potion.

[Matthew Cox]

Tabby? That witch?

The epithet held a little more weight since the thieving woman was also a wand-carrying witch. She was trouble, through and through. For half a second, Matt considered grabbing something more substantial than his cane for a weapon in case there was a repeat of their first tussle. In the end, he just slipped his shoes on and grabbed his cane. It wouldn't do to get into a fight at the Alibi where the public, the cameras, and the police would have a view of his not-blindness. This was going to have to be Klaus' show if things went physical.

As he followed Klaus out, Matt pointed that fact out to him.

"I can't take a swing in public if things turn for the worse, so it's going to be your show if things get into a brawl. She doesn't guard her torso well and a good knock under the jaw will lay her flat. I strongly recommend using something like a chair or table to keep her down. And she's faster than you think with the jabs."

He was preaching to the choir about fighting. Klaus would understand the Marine habit of briefing a fight and offering what pointers he could. At least, Matt hoped he'd understand. He was giving a lot of trust to Klaus by giving him point on this rescue mission.

[Katarina Bauer]

Water? Katarina almost scoffed at that. Right now she wanted more booze! But, she knew Tabora had a point, and dehydration after a day with a bad appetite and a hard workout was a bad thing, and would cause her some major pain later (hangover + sore muscles + bad kidneys? all bad). She nodded as she took the change from the girl and strolled over as best as she could, to the jukebox. There was already a nice upbeat tune playing, something the uni-kids were already dancing to. but she pulled up the list of the popular dance tunes and lined up the tracks:

Titanium by Sia and David Guetta
(Something she couldn't quite read the title to clearly), by Rihanna and Calvin Harris...
Domino by Jessie J
Bad Romance by Lady Gaga

She'd recognized them from a gym playlist she had rolling, music recommended to her by one of her old mates who was overseas. That would keep the beat for at least the next fifteen or so. Hopefully the boys would make it here by then because she had a strong urge to dance. It made her smile, just thinking about Matt--but Matt dancing? She was ready for that. Kat didn't give in to pulling out her phone again to send another message, she just waited until she felt the vibration of a message back. Maybe Matt was asleep or on some crazy patrol again as the Mask.

Then she thought about how sexy he looked in said mask...

...and snapped out of that thought when Tabora returned with the water. "Welcome back. They had that One Direction band in the box, but I was not about to put them on. Sorry." It was more of a crack at her own age, given that boyband was ever popular not only in the UK but worldwide, and the demographic target was a lot younger than Kat. She chuckled. "Thanks for this, mate." She said, taking the water gratefully, but not taking a sip...just yet.

[Niklaus Schmidt]

Klaus lifted his head to nod then verbalized, "Good to know." He did not like the thought of fighting the girl knowing what he did, but he would do what was necessary to keep Kat safe. It was odd going to Alibi feeling as though he was going to war, and it felt equally odd to be headed toward potential combat armed with nothing but his fists. But to be seen in public with his hunting gear? Probably not a good idea. He'd attract attention, and he'd attract a good amount of attention if he actually ended up needing any of it.

"Hopefully I won't need you as back-up," Klaus mused as he unlocked the car and got into it, listening to the engine purr to life as he turned the key. It was going to be odd if he had to raise a fist to a female, even one as capable as Tabby. And he had to be prepared for a few co-eds deciding to try to prove themselves a worthy shag or something by coming to her aid and fighting him. He wasn't worried about them, but he was concerned what Tabby would do if Kat was left unattended.

"I need you to get Kat out of there once I confront her. Or at least away enough Tabby can't just grab her." If Kat was as drunk as she seemed, Klaus was not about to bet on Kat thinking clearly enough to get herself out of Tabby's grasp fast enough to make a difference, but if Matt was with her, she stood a chance.

[Matthew Cox]

"I hope not either."

The idea of Klaus going into a fight that he wasn't prepared for had Matt tightening up internally. This was a bad situation. Dangerous, even. The Mexican girl had some trick up her sleeve and Matt didn't know what it was. After all, what were the odds that Kat would meet her, ever? Unlikely, really. Impossible, if you considered that there were so many bars closer to the Uni.

"Roger that, I'm in charge of extraction and protection. Just tell me where she is so that nobody's suspicious of how quickly I zero in on her."

This would be quick and clean. He and Klaus knew each other and trusted each other, two of the key ingredients to fighting together.

[Katarina Bauer]

To Katarina, tonight was just about letting loose. She'd expected to meet up with Klaus, but then she decided to text Matt anyway just to get him out of the flat and maybe let loose with her. Have fun that is. He'd already established quite firmly where he stood on the sex front, and she didn't blame him. Their relationship was already based on the concept of haste--already kissing on the first date, declaring they loved each other a few days later and now...she just wanted to get closer to him. She felt like she'd gotten to know a great deal already but it was a lot of professionalism by day and a little bit about the Devil by night. Even though they'd had drinks at dinner, having fun at a bar was a different setting. She already grinned at the thought of loosening that tie for him...kissing him...being close to him.

She danced to the playlist she set, and others joined her. But it was starting to warm up pretty good, and she needed to re-hydrate if she even dreamed about another round. Katarina picked up the glass of water, and took a big drink from it.

[Niklaus Schmidt]

"Right. Call your name and shove her toward you. Got it." Seemed simple enough even if the likelihood of that scenario playing out exactly was highly unlikely. It at least was a comical thought to think of the look on her face as she realizes she was about to get tag teamed. He, unfortunately, would not be able to appreciate something like that in the heat of the moment.

Klaus pulled away from the curb, headed down the road toward Alibi. He didn't say anything. They had a plan of action. he knew a couple good spots to go for, and he knew Matt would take care of Kat and, if needed, help with Tabby, the one shag he'd ever regretted. Maybe it was a sign he was getting too old for this, but what did it matter now. If there was one thing he knew how to do life-savingly well, it was fighting. Granted, wolves were fairly stupid. Lunging and grasping wasn't likely to be Tabby's tactics. She'd be much more lithe and agile than that.

A few minutes later they arrived at the pub and Klaus quickly turned Baby off and got out. It took a few steps on the curb toward the door for Klaus to realize they were in public, and perhaps being a little more cognizant of his friend and whether he "needed" help or not was necessary for realism. He was so used to him getting about at the flat and not babying him that it was a little harder to remember to help. "You good, mate?" he asked as he took a step back toward Matt then walked toward the door to open it once Matt was near enough.

[Matthew Cox]

Matt nodded tersely and went in through the door that Klaus opened for him. Game plan was set and-

A pair was making out on the dance floor. Energetically so. One of them was clearly Tabby and the other, as much as Matt wanted to deny it, was Kat. Was she that drunk?

Matt's jaw tensed as he waited for Klaus to come in and continue the confrontation. This was Klaus's game to run and Matt's to be back up.