An hour to midnight

[Lady Jenn]

Kate shook her head. "Clara, we're not sure what the Order is capable of, nevermind the Timeless. I'm not letting you go to a meeting with them without me, especially not with him. I can't..." She pulled Clara into a hug, holding her for a moment. "They already cost me one person I love, I won't risk it happening again."

The Doctor sighed. "I appreciate you two have no reason to trust me, and I suspect there's nothing I could do to truly make up for what I did, but I at least want the chance to attempt to make up for what I did."

[Golden Spider]

"Love" That single word floored her, and all she could do for a moment was to hug and hold Kate in return. Clara wasn't ready to say those words herself, but hearing them spoken even in an indirect way made her start to realize that maybe she loved the woman in her arms as well.

Clara regathered her thoughts quickly though, they had to stay focused. What Kate had said was probably the only thing she could've to change Clara's mind "Okay, fine. but we need to get you a disguise then, you can't say that I'm wrong, they will recognize you and the jig will be up immediately, even if Doctor dumbass here doesn't betray us" She said before turning to The Doctor, contempt evident in her eyes even with out her comments "so where and when is this meeting then?"

[Lady Jenn]

"In about half an hour in a park about ten minutes from here," Gennaro replied.

Kate raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you actually meet them somewhere this close to your place of business? Have you not worried that might be a little...unsafe?"

Gennaro sighed. "I am not the young man I was Miss, certainly not as young as I wish I was. My living space is above this shop. I meet them nearby because if I travelled much further then I would be struggling with my health for days after." He finally returned his glasses to his nose. "I'm sorry, I...I should not be burdening young people like you two with my issues. You have your lives ahead of you."

[Golden Spider]

Clara ignored the old man rambling on about his health, it didn’t matter right now when they only had a half hour to find some way to disguise Kate “okay we have half an hour,” she turned to Gennaro is there a costume store or a hairdresser or anything like that nearby, I’d think Kate would prefer a wig but if we have no other option…”

[Lady Jenn]

"Maisie's Costumes next door," he replied, wiping a handkerchief across his mouth. "I have an open tab there so just say I sent you and she won't demand you pay her."

Kate frowned, beginning to suspect something but not wanting to say anything. "Thank you," she said, taking Clara's hand as they walked towards the door, turning to Clara with a smirk. "Just...please don't get anything too ridiculous. The more uncomfortable I feel the more likely they'll get suspicious."

[Golden Spider]

Clara was also confused and set alert at the fact that this old man who seemingly rarely ever goes further then ten miles the house apparently had an open tab at the costume shop but as long as it did the trick then she wasn’t going to make a big deal about it.

Clara smirked as well as Kate pulled her closer to the door “damn so Ixnay on the playboy bunny costume then?” She squeezed Kate’s hand “I know you can probably take him if you need to…” she said pausing slightly “but still be careful okay? I don’t want to lose you either.” Clara gave Kate a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving the office shortly after the building to make her way to the costume shop.

[Lady Jenn]

Kate stopped outside the shop, turning to Clara after taking a glimpse back at the library. "Clara...I think that man is dying. I don't know why he'd be trying to hide it from us...but he doesn't look right and something about his story about why he would be trying to access the multiverse doesn't make sense."

She indicated around them. "The man is apparently an inventor and a genius but...I mean, this seems like a lovely place, but if you were going to find inspiration for a creation why would you pick a slightly rundown library in a pretty out of the way part of LA?"

[Golden Spider]

Clara frowned slightly and shrugged “well as a librarian I have to argue the idea that you can’t find inspiration in a library. But I see your point. Maybe he just saw it as his way to stay relevant, if he’d been lauded for most of his adult career for being a genius inventor and now he’s mostly ignored out here it would make a lot of people listen to anyone who could promise literally bring in the history books, he just didn’t realize that he would be in them for being a traitor.”

Clara sighed, knowing she was being slightly unfair towards the doc, especially after what she had just said about wanting to be remembered “do you think we can trust him at all? A cornered dying animal is always the most dangerous. We know where and when this meeting is even now. We can just hide on the sidelines without him.”

[Lady Jenn]

Kate frowned slightly. "I may end up looking like a fool but...I think we can," she finally said. "If he is dying he may see it as a way of at least doing one last good thing before he dies. I'm happy to go with what you feel safest doing though. Now though, I believe we were buying a costume."

She took Clara's hand and led her into the shop. It was covered, wall to wall, with everything from witches' costumes to slightly tatty Star Wars uniforms via a costume that would not have looked out of place in a Lord of the Rings movie. Helping a young girl fit a princess dress was a tall, slim brown-skinned woman with dreadlocked hair.

Kate coughed slightly awkwardly. "Maisie? Doctor Gennaro next door thought you might be able to help us with a costume."

The woman laughed. "Is that man getting nostalgic in his last da-" She stopped as she caught sight of the two women. "Oh. Oh, he hasn't told you has he?"

"How long?" Kate asked.

"Five months, if he's lucky," Maisie said as finished fixing the dress. "Stage four lung cancer if you're curious. He doesn't tend to tell people because...well, that's a story for him to tell, not me." The young girl curtsied to Maisie before hurrying out the door. "So, what is it you're looking for exactly?"

[Golden Spider]

Clara shrugged "I'm fine with going to the meeting with him, there is an added bit  of risk but if we are hiding in the bushes we may miss something important."

Clara couldn't help but look around as they entered the costume shop she was slightly surprised at how high quality a lot of them seemed, not like the cheap one night only costumes that she had usually gotten in the past for parties and Halloween in the past. with the sheer amount of them she was not surprised to see a number of costumes that were similar to those she had worn in the past. including an almost carbon copy of the one she was wearing in the picture of her and her sisters that she had shown Kate on the flight.

Clara glanced at Kate to see her reaction when her hunch of Gennaro dying was confirmed by the shop-owner, slightly impressed that she had managed to catch it and call it so correctly

"I see. Well thank you for letting us know, hopefully  he sees fit to tell us himself before..." she trailed off, trying to play that they were friends or acquaintances, possibly even colleagues of the doctor. "the costume is for K-elly here," she said almost giving the shop keep their real names before split second thinking better of it and pivoting. "we have a party in about half an hour and this procrastinator still doesn't have one, She isn't a big fan of it all though so we were thinking maybe just a wig or something?" she said turning to Kate to correct her or provide any further details

[Lady Jenn]

Maisie walked over, circling Kate while tapping a finger against her lip. "It depends what kind of costume you're looking for. I have almost anything you can imagine here."

Kate felt herself blushing at the attention she was getting from both women, trying to quickly regain her composure before anyone noticed. "Well, I don't mind to be honest. I'm trusting Clara here to find me the right costume. No pressure though," she said, reaching out to squeeze Clara's hand.

Maisie smiled. "I hope you don't mind me saying, you make a cute couple."

[Golden Spider]

Clara blushed slightly as well when Maisie called them a cute couple "Thank you." she said in reply, squeezing Kate's hand in return. Clara turned away starting to examine the options, any real costume wouldn't do, it would just draw more attention to see someone dressed up as a elf or princess in the middle of a park. Sure it's LA so it probably wouldn't draw too much attention, but any attention would be a bad thing for what they were trying to do. knowing they were short on time as well made the endeavor much more annoying.

It did take almost 15 minutes though before Clara shook her head returning to Kate with just a wig of black hair in a short bob. "How's this?" she asked Kate, "we could say you're the main character from that Mirror's Edge video game."

[Lady Jenn]

Maisie took the wig and placed it on Kate's head, squinting slightly. "What do you think?" she asked Kate.

Kate walked over to a nearby mirror, looking at it closely. "I know this sounds stupid but...could I have something a bit more...formal? I don't get to do formal all that often." She looked around the racks, her eyes alighting on a shapely blue dress that looked like it would fit neatly in most offices. "I mean...that doesn't look like too much does it?" Although she didn't specify who she was asking it was Clara she wanted to hear, even as it felt slightly strange to ask.

[Golden Spider]

Clara smiled as Kate's eye caught the dress, she was hoping that the other woman would get more into it, while they were getting closer by the hour she was not very comfortable picking her entire outfit like she was a dress-up doll. "I think that would tie it all together for sure, you'll look great in it." Before Kate could protest further Clara grabbed the dress, handed it to Kate and more or less pushed her into the changing room, telling her without actually saying it that Clara wasn't going to let her argue or convince herself out of it. Clara then turned to Maisie to chat with her while Kate got changed.

[Lady Jenn]

"Don't worry, I won't ask you personal questions," Maisie said with a laugh. "I decided to not be that person after a shop owner I visited once pretty much demanded my life story when all I wanted to do was buy a book. Imagine the look on her very conservative face when I explained that my 'friend' was a woman I was engaged to. You two do look cute together though."

Kate walked out, still blushing slightly but the dress almost looked like it'd been designed for her especially. "Be honest," she said, looking between Clara and Maisie. "This looks awful on me, doesn't it?"

Maisie raised an eyebrow. "I think I'll let Clara answer that, considering I'm a married woman," she said with a chuckle.

[Golden Spider]

Clara laughed at Maisie's story "serves her right digging into your business like that, we're actually just here for the weekend, I'm from a small town myself, everything you hear about small town life is 100% true with everyone being all nosy and rumor mill working overtime, my least favorite part of living there, just mind your own business, who cares if Mirabelle down the street fainted during town hall?"

Clara then turned to the changing room as the door rustled with Kate's emergence. She was stunning, the dress fit her perfectly and accentuated her form in all the right places. If this was just a simple dress that wouldn't look out of place in any standard office, or on any receptionist or dress-liking worker in general, then Clara couldn't wait to see what a more "party" dress would look like

"Kate you look amazing, truly" Clara said after a moment. "If that looks awful on you then you could make a paper bag look like high fashion"

[Lady Jenn]

Kate turned even brighter red, covering her face with her hands, eliciting another chuckle from Maisie. "I'd tell you two to get a room but I don't want to embarrass poor Kate any further."

Kate walked over to Clara, kissing her on the cheek. "We should probably get going, I don't want to be late." She leant closer to Clara's ear. "To be honest I'm wearing this for your benefit rather than anyone else." She turned to Maisie. "Thanks for this, hopefully we get to spend more time together sometime."

[Golden Spider]

Clara smirked when Kate whispered that into her ear "Well I am certainly benefiting" she whispered back. Before smiling to Maisie as well "yes thank you a bunch, I hope we can meet again at some point." She said before taking Kate's hand and leaving the store. "Are you ready for this?" she asked Kate as they walked along the street back towards the park that the doctor had indicated. "we have no idea what we're walking into here."

[Lady Jenn]

"I'm not sure ready is the right word," Kate said with a nervous laugh. "But I don't see that we have much other choice right now." She led Clara back to the library, where the Doctor had dozed off in his chair. "Genaro...why didn't you tell us you were dying?"

He coughed slightly as he opened his eyes. "Even if I deserved your pity, which I don't think either of us believe I do, I have no interest in hearing it. My own work ethic meant it was picked up too late. At least you're offering me a chance to do something good before it catches up with me."

Kate sighed. "Please, for the love of god, tell me you weren't using those portals to try and find a cure for yourself."

He laughed shakily. "Kate, even if I could find something my body is beyond saving at this point. I had a misguided belief I might find something capable of saving more deserving lives. And no, I don't think that excuses what I did."

[Golden Spider]

Clara shook her head "It doesn't, but I guess you kinda had the right intention, now I think we have a pressing meeting to go to?" Clara said and followed them all out of the office and building, and down the road to the nearby park that Gennaro had mentioned earlier "How do  these meetings usually go?" she asked as they walk "do you feed them information or get instructions, or what?" 

[Lady Jenn]

"They have a contact," Genaro replied. "I don't believe he's possessed...although I'm not sure how I'd tell even if he was. He hands me information on a new universe to access, in return I share whatever news I...damnit, I may be dying but how could I be so stupid?"

Kate stopped and looked at him. "They've used your need for companionship to tap you for information. Shit, all they needed was access to medical records, and we already know they've infiltrated hospitals."

They finally reached the park, and even before Genaro had pointed him out Kate could see who they were looking for. On the outside he appeared to just be a tall, smartly-dressed young man with a folder under one arm. But at even a quick glance she could see strands of purple light swirling around him.

"Well...I think that's our guy," she said, nodding as subtly as possible in the man's direction.

[Golden Spider]

Clara’s eyes narrowed as both Gennaro and Kate pointed the man out. He did look ordinary, and she wasn’t sure if that made her more comfortable or more anxious about the whole ordeal. Certainly she didn’t expect a literal little green man to meet them in the park, but to her, unable to see what Kate could, it was just an ordinary man, if not a tad overdressed for the location and neighborhood. “We didn’t really have time to plan any of this” Clara whispered to the two “I assume you usually come to these alone. What’s our excuse for bringing us this time?”

[Lady Jenn]

"If you're dying Doctor, then maybe we can be his new contacts," Kate replied. "After all you'll know reliable contacts better than he does."

The Doctor sighed, but it quickly degenerated into coughing. "I am...not entirely comfortable with that as a plan, but I must admit I can't think of a better one unless either of you two can." He noticed the man checking his watch. "I am happy for you to have the final say Clara, but we should not make him wait much longer."

[Golden Spider]

Clara shrugged "I'm not too hot on that idea either, but you're right, we don't really have time, that will have to do." She said then led the way over to the smartly-dressed man. "Good evening" She said as they were a couple of feet away from him "I'm Rebecca We're with Dr. Gennaro" she said they stepped to the side a bit so they can interact, taking Kate's hand as she did so. if things went bad they would have to run, and fast

[Lady Jenn]

The man eyed the two newcomers suspiciously for a moment, before the doctor drew his attention. "You wanted suitable replacements for when I..." he coughed involuntarily at that moment. "I understand your masters struggle to comprehend the whole...death concept."

The man sighed. "You humans haven't even begun to understand what they are...yet anyway." He turned to Kate and Clara. "If I asked you to get me certain...information, would you be willing to?"

Kate shrugged as casually as she could manage in that moment. "It depends, Genaro hasn't gone into massive detail as to what this job would involve."