Katz & Dogs Oneshots

Motel

Prompt: Will Graham and Beverly Katz spend the night in a motel together while on the road fighting crime.

The creaky door of an old, dark, and damp motel creaks open. Will steps over the threshold, Beverly in-toe. They both drop their duffle bags of clothing and miscellaneous personals on the floor next to the door.
"Uh... there's only one bed." Beverly says, touching the bed to get a feel for its support.
"Uhm... thats okay I'll sleep in the chair." Will nods towards the torn-up old recliner in the corner.
"No, no its okay, we can... share? Right?" She shrugs her shoulders. Will laughs.
"Uh, yeah sure why not." He concedes, mimicking Beverly in her shoulder-shrugging. Beverly walks to her duffle bag and grabs it, setting it on the table next to the bed and digging through it. Will walks around the room, examining every nook and cranny.
"You wanna take a shower first?" He offers.
"Yeah sure. I'll try not to use all the hot water. No promises though." She laughs, and Will smiles back.
"I think I'll survive." He returns to looking around the room, and finally settles in a wooden chair positioned in front of a round cedar table. He reaches for his bag and pulls out a pad of paper and a charcoal pencil. He begins to sketch scattered, jittery lines across the pad. His head perks up for a moment when he hears the shower faucet turn on, but he soon returns to his doodle. Beverly closes the bathroom door, looking at herself in the mirror for a moment. She takes off her red jacket and pulls off the form-fitting shirt underneath. She gazes in the mirror at the scars along her stomach, reminded of the vivid memories each one holds. She brushes her fingers lightly over a rough, circular scar on the upper left-hand side of her stomach. She sighs and turns to get into the shower. Will, half asleep, continues to doodle. His scribble-like lines slowly begin to form the features of a face. It is not an unfamiliar face, however. The long black hair frames a slender face. The high-tilted eyebrows lead softly into the prominent yet delicate nose, accompanied on either side by slim and elegant hooded eyes. Will takes a final stroke of his pencil before he drifts off to sleep, slumped over the table, pencil still in hand.

"Will? Will. Will, wake up." Beverly's soft yet firm voice fills Will's mind as he awakens suddenly.
"I'm sorry, I didn't want to wake you up, but uh, the showers all yours if you want." Beverly informs him. Will's voice is deep and groggy.
"Uh... no, no it's alright. Thank you." He pulls his chest off the table, revealing the drawing he had fallen asleep in the middle of. He quickly grabs it and flips the pad closed, putting it back in his bag. He stands up and heads to the bathroom, closing the door behind him. Beverly watches, and as the door closes her gaze shifts to Will's bag. She grabs her bag and pulls out her clothing. A short black satin cami top and soft pajama pants. She dresses and sits on the edge of the bed, looking around the room. Again, her eyes fall on Will's bag. She hears the shower turn on. She waits a moment, and rises from the bed towards Will's bag. As softly as possible, as not to let Will hear, she reaches for his pad of paper. She begins to thumb through the pages, full of scratchy yet intricate and artistic portraits. One by one, she turns the pages, looking thoroughly at each drawing, although she doesn't seem to recognize anyone. Finally, she lands on the latest drawing added to the collection. She is taken aback, as though she is an animal seeing itself in a mirror for the first time. She examines the drawing as her eyes follow every scratch and stroke as they seamlessly form the delicate lines of her own face. Her lips separate in awe as she wonders why, out of all the nameless faces featured in his sketchbook, he decided to draw her. Suddenly, the bathroom door opens, revealing Will with a towel thrown around his waist. He runs his hands through his damp shoulder-length hair as he walks out of the bathroom, and as he looks up he catches a glimpse of his notepad in Beverly's hand.
Shocked that she must've been so distracted by the drawings that she lost track of time and didn't hear the water turn off, she stumbles over her words.
"Uhm. I- I didn't- I mean-." She struggles.
"Uhhh. It's uh... it's okay. I can... explain that." He says, rubbing the back of his neck with his palm.
"No no it's okay, you don't have to, I shouldn't have gone through your stuff." Beverly refuted.
"Well, I can imagine you're wondering why I was drawing you. So I think you're justified. In a sense, at least." Will replies.
"I mean, yes, I was wondering, but I still shouldn't have done that and I'm sorry." She looks away from him and closes his sketchbook, placing it on the table, as if to hand it back to him without having to look him in the eyes.
"Not to be... blunt, but the truth, Bev, is that I draw beauty when I see it. These people- these sketches... I do them when I see beauty in the world. My little way of, grounding myself, I guess. Most of them are strangers. But... I guess I just couldn't resist you. I-I mean drawing you. I couldn't resist drawing you." Will explains. Beverly looks up, clearly confused and taken aback by Will's compliment.
"I... I don't know what to say Will. That's... so generous of you to say. I can't say I agree that I'm of a beauty worthy to be the subject of such gorgeous pieces of art, but truly I am... flattered." She says, in shock.
"Well I definitely disagree with you on that one. You're beautiful, Beverly. Truly. My drawing doesn't do you justice, to be honest with you." He responds.
"Will I... I've never seen this side of you." Beverly says, unsure of how to respond.
"There's a lot of sides to me that you haven't seen. That most people haven't seen, in fact." Will explains.
"Oh yeah? Like what?" Beverly asks, teasingly.
"Well..." Will thinks for a moment.
"Like this." He smiles and leans in, cupping Beverly's face in the palm of his left hand. They lock eyes just before they're lips meet. Butterflies fill Beverly's stomach as Will's soft lips join with hers. They hold the kiss, savoring the moment as to not let the sparks die out. Will is the first to pull back, but only for a small moment to look at Beverly. They share a quick glance of unspoken consent before their lips crash together again like waves against the shore, beautiful, passionate, and powerful. Will cups the back of Beverly's head with his free hand, laying her down ever so gently without ever letting their lips disconnect. Beverly giggles as Will grabs his towel, saving it from falling in the process of following her onto the bed. Will breaks their connection for the sake of a witty remark.
"Don't laugh at me Ms. Katz, that's very rude." They both giggle and Beverly grabs Will's face, bringing their lips back together as she flips them around, so that she is now on top. Suddenly, a strong knock on their motel room door startles them both. Both of their eyes dart to the door, and then back to each other.
"Shit." Will whispers. Will, basically naked, gets up and locks himself in the bathroom. Beverly fixes herself up a bit and and answers the door.
"We've- where's Will?" Jack asks.
"He's uh... in the bathroom." Beverly answer. Jack nods.
"We've got a new scene a few miles down the road. Sorry to interrupt your night but we've gotta go." Jack states.
"Alright, I'll let Will know and we'll be on our way in a few." Beverly responds. They each nod and Beverly closes the door, locking it behind her.
"You're good." She says. Will unlocks the door and comes out of the bathroom.
"So much for... that." Beverly says and rolls her eyes. Will laughs.
"Typical." He walked over to his bag and went back to the bathroom to change. Bev threw on her black v-neck, dark blue jeans and classic maroon leather jacket. She ran her fingers through her hair a few times and drew on some slightly sloppy eyeliner. Will walked out of the bathroom in his jeans, teal flannel shirt, brown jacket and brown beanie.
"It's pretty cold out there, you sure you're not gonna wear something warmer?" Will asked Beverly.
"This is pretty much all I brought, but I'll be fine." She answered, zipping up her bag.
"No wait, here, wear this." He said, turning around and rummaging through his bag and pulling out a sherpa lined jacket and handing it towards Beverly.
"No really it's okay, I'll be okay." She says.
"No I insist. I don't want you to get sick or anything. It's nearly midnight and it's December. You're gonna freeze out there." Will insisted.
"Okay, fine. Thank you." She conceded, took the jacket and put it on. It was big in her, and very warm. They grabbed the last few things they needed and headed out. Will drove, and like Jack said the scene was only a few miles away so the drive was fairly short. Once there, they parked, Beverly grabbed her equipment, and they trudged through the deep snow to the spiderweb of police tape around the scene.
"Body's been here about two hours. Hikers that found it didn't see anyone or anything." Jack filled them in.
"There's maggots all over this thing, for how fresh the body is these shouldn't be there." Zeller notes, focused on the body.
"So he's putting the maggots on the body after they've died? Is that some sort of sad attempt at a forensic countermeasure?" Beverly asks. Zeller looks up from the body, noticing Beverly's jacket. He looks her up and down, and then at Will and then back at Beverly. He raises his eyebrows and then shifts his focus back to the body. Will and Beverly look at each other nervously, but try not to be obvious.
"It's disrespect. He's accelerating the decaying process." Will chimes in.
"The body obviously wasn't killed here. Looks like cause of death is exsanguination, the body's basically white as paper, and there's some IV marks here." Price adds.
"So he's draining them, and then... putting maggots on the body?" Jack asks.
"Not just on, inside too. There's maggots in the mouth, and other... crevices." Zeller adds.
"Gross." Beverly adds.
"Out of everything that we see on a daily basis, maggots is what gets you?" Zeller teases.
"No, I was just looking at your face." Beverly teases back. Zeller fakes an upset look on his face and returns to his work on the scene.

After a few hours, the team had finished their work at the scene, packed up all the equipment, and began to head back to the motel. Once again, Will and Beverly enter the motel room, this time changing immediately into their night clothes. Will digs through his bag for a moment, pulling out a bottle of whiskey. He raises it in Beverly's direction.
"Want a drink?" He asks, walking to the bathroom to grab the motel-provided glasses usually meant for brushing your teeth.
"Uh yeah, sure." She replies. He nods and grabs two glasses, carrying them both skillfully in one hand, the whiskey in the other. He sets the glasses down on the nightstand next to the side of the bed Beverly is on, and pours them drinks. He hands one to Beverly, and walks around to sit on the other side of the bed. The both sip their drinks in comfortable silence for a moment.
"I never imagined myself doing what I do." Will broke the silence.
"Really? I always wanted to do this. Or at least be a scientist." Beverly responded.
"When I was a kid, I never had any real goals. We moved around a lot, and I never found a place to fit in and... find myself, I guess." He said.
"Sounds tough. I can't imagine moving around so much. For me it was always one place, always the woods here. Although, I was a bit of a recluse too, I spent most of my time out hunting or shooting with my dad. I did competitive rifle shooting. That didn't make me too popular with the other kids." She laughed, taking another sit of her drink.
"Hunting is probably one of the only things I had in common with my dad. He taught me from a pretty young age how to hunt. And how to fix fishing boats. Because my dad worked and.. uh... my mom... wasn't really around, I because pretty independent fairly young. Hunting and fixing stuff was just how I spent most of my time. Until I started focusing on school." Will said, finishing his drink in one swig.
"Another?" He asks as he picks up the whiskey and pours himself another glass.
"Please." Beverly replies, downing the rest of her drink and handing her glass to Will. He pours her another and hands it to her.
"Thanks." She says, taking the glass.
"Mhm." Will replies, taking another drink.
"Those rifle competitions must've paid off. You're a damn good shot, after all." Will continues. Beverly chuckles.
"Sure did. Been comfortable with a gun in my hand since I was like, nine. I think it was part of what made me want to be in the field, instead of just a lab rat. I loved the adrenaline. And the idea of saving people." She explains.
"I never imagined being in the field. Teaching was supposed to be it, but Jack calls and I go, so." They both take another swig of their drinks.
"Can I ask... what happened with your mom?" Beverly asks, afraid to overstep.
"Eh, she just really wasn't around much. I've never known why. I don't really like talking about it." He takes another drink.
"Oh. I'm sorry." Beverly sounds clearly regretful.
"No, it's alright. Just something I tend to avoid. Not a lot of people know that about me so it's something usually easily avoidable." He says.
"So then, how did you end up doing all this then?" Beverly asks.
"Well, I guess I grew quite an interest in education, I was always considered the 'smart' kid so it was something I was just drawn to. And I honestly don't know what drew me to forensics, it was just something that I seemed to enjoy, I guess." He explains. Beverly nods in understanding and takes a drink.
"I totally get that. I couldn't tell ya what drew me to all of this. It just felt natural- like it was what I needed to do." She relates. They both take another drink, finishing off their second rounds.
"Another?" Will offers again.
"No thanks, I'm good for the night." She says, setting her drink down. Will nods in agreement and sets his glass down as well.

"Hey, I've got sort of a weird question." Beverly states.
"Hit me." Will responds.
"Can I have that drawing?" She asks. Will laughs.
"Sure."