It took but a moment to find them huddled behind a stack of crates, a dim glow of light from a dying fluorescent highlighting Butch’s bared teeth and Kate’s quickly reddening face.

Butch had her pinned against the wall with his hand wrapped so tightly around her throat that Herman could see the whites of his knuckles.

Herman has Butch slamming into a crate before he can think to speak, to call out to stop—maybe DeLoria would’ve if… no, he wouldn’t have—he’s just like his mother.

“What the fuck?” Butch cries, instinctually bucking and thrashing against the larger body that pushes and holds him down on the floor. “Get off me man!”

Herman can’t keep himself from forcing his knee into Butch’s spine, wrenching a huffed groan from the young man beneath him as Kate’s cough’s and gasps sound behind him.

His anger seizes, however, when Butch jerks his head back and fixes Herman with a look so coldly familiar that Herman’s heart skips a beat.

Come on, Manny sweetheart, you ain’t messin’ with just any DeLoria…

It hadn’t taken long to get Kate back to the Security office, merely telling Park that he should escort Butch DeLoria to his apartment while Herman volunteered to walk the Doc’s kid home. No suspicion, just a simple nod—Herman nearly had a panic attack, anyway.


Sorry for this short little post, character limit kills me.