Kate's morning started off normally enough, meaning she had to hide from Rose a couple of times and uneventfully completed one surgery. While she was filling in paperwork and waiting for preparations for the next case to finish, loud voices from the corridor caught her attention. She headed out into the hallway, careful to keep an eye out for Rose but she wasn't around, and went to see what was going on.

She saw Bron and Mari standing in the hallway, each with their hands on their hips. Both looked flustered and neither of them seemed to be about to back down.

"I've told you what my assessment is and I'm not changing my mind just because you're telling me to," Mari said. "At least try to pretend like you saw something I didn't."

"It's not about seeing something different. You assessment is clearly wrong," Bron countered. "It wouldn't be the first time."

Kate could see Mari flinch under the weight of that last statement, but she still didn't budge.

"Don't speak as if you haven't made that mistake yourself," she spat back at him. "I don't think the risk is worth taking this time. Part of my job is safeguarding, and I take that seriously."

"What's gotten into you? You didn't use to be like this."

Mari crossed her arms, still looking straight ahead. "I realized that caving into demands from my ex or running from him wasn't very professional. So I'm trying to change that."

"I'm done wasting time here." Bron huffed and turned around. "Someone else is bound to agree that delaying this one is irresponsible and dangerous."

"No more so than attempting it given the current state of things," Mari called out after Bron.

He didn't respond and made his way down the hallway in silence. Kate rushed over to Mari. "Is everything okay? That looked intense."

Mari grinned. "Yeah. Actually, I haven't felt this good in a long time. I'm confident that my decision is right, and it felt so good to stand my ground and speak up. I can't believe I haven't done this earlier!" Her eyes suddenly widened. "Oh, right! I completely forgot that I was supposed to talk to you. Is now okay?"

"I've got a surgery soon. They're preparing the room right now." Kate bit her lower lip. While she would love to decide on a plan right there she couldn't let it negatively affect her job.

"Keyword: still preparing." Mari stepped behind Kate and gave her back a gentle push. "It's going to be fine. I'll be quick, and if you do get paged we'll just finish up later today. Come on, let's head to my office. Or yours, if you prefer."

"No, yours is fine." With her refusal having been ignored, Kate walked alongside Mari until they reached her office in the anesthesia department. She figured she'd just have to run if she got a page about the operating room being all set up.

Mari climbed onto her chair, knotting her legs once more and triggering an avalanche of colored notes off her desk. "Whoops. Eh, I'll clean that later." She grinned at Kate and pumped a fist into the air. "I'm ready to hit this one out of the park!"

While Kate appreciated Mari's enthusiasm, she was beginning to wonder whether last night had been a good idea after all. At this rate it seemed likely that Mari's momentum would lead her to crash spectacularly sooner or later. Oh well. Benefit of the doubt, wasn't that how it went?

"I take that to mean you've done some thinking about plans after all?" Kate asked.

"Yeah, last night, before I forgot." Mari paused and pulled one knee up to her chest. "So, the issue is that she keeps chasing you. In that event we've just got to give her a reason to back off. What better reason than already being in a relationship?"

"I'm not sure if I follow. Are you saying that I should go looking for someone else to date?" If so, that wasn't much of a plan at all. Not to mention Kate had no desire to get involved with anyone else if she could help it.

Mari leaned forward and wagged a finger at Kate. "Nu-uh. No such inconveniences required. It's pretty simple, you'll just mock date me." She smiled slyly. "How's that sound?"

As if things were that simple. Kate felt irritation rising within her. "Mari, it may be a game to you, but to me it's not."

"Well, if you insist I wouldn't be opposed to dating properly either." Mari shrugged. "I'm bi, you know, and you seem like you might be my type."

Kate shook her head without a moment's hesitation. From what she knew about Mari, she definitely wasn't Kate's type. Given the fact that they had been disagreeing about crocheted animals the day before she didn't think there was much of a chance of a lasting relationship even if she had been.

"I'm sorry, I don't think that's an option."

"Wow, that was a quick rejection." Mari huffed, though she didn't seem hugely bothered by it. "In that event, I guess we need a plan B. I could be your personal relationship crasher."

A confused frown took form on Kate's face. "A what now?"

"We've just got to scare this Rose girl away yeah? Suppose you two start talking again and I keep barging in and being obnoxious. When I'm not needed elsewhere, anyway. I do a lot of running about the hospital so I figure I should be around enough of the time. Don't you think that would spoil her fun? "

"That actually doesn't sound so bad." The plan played to Mari's strengths, and Rose couldn't accuse Kate of trying to mislead her. If Rose concluded that the whole thing was more trouble than it was worth, maybe she would finally move on to observing the next person on her list, suspicions about magic notwithstanding.

Mari's eyes glinted with mischief. "So we're doing this?"

Now that was one question Kate found easy to answer. "The sooner the better."