Kat gave Grace to Nikki while she cleaned her face. Recognizing the face of Auntie Nikki Grace actually managed a smile but it didn't last long. Her little head hurt and she was tired and cranky.
At her comment about the mama bear Kat smirked. "Same goes for anyone touching my sister the badass wildcat," she replied, referring to Nikki. "Don't blame yourself. These are rough times. Good men become bad and bad men become worse. Fear and desperation push people to do things they are not proud of, things they never would have dreamed of doing back when things were normal."

Kat placed a comforting hand on Jenna when she found out about Felix. "I'm sorry hon. I really am. You stick with Nikki and me."

---

It was later on that night that the day's toll started catching up to Kat. She fought tears and got close to having a panic attack several times. She worried about Matt, which was ridiculous the man was an adult and could take care of himself. But she still found herself watching for the Monster, as everyone was calling it.
And she felt guilty about not being about to do much to help, but if she tried to set Grace down anywhere she would start screaming. The little girl was obviously traumatized and refused to be parted from her mother. Kat was able to do some things one handed, like organize things from what supplies they had managed to bring to where to place the bodies that needed to be buried and plotting where the graves would be located.

Grace squealed excitedly and Kat looked up from her organizing to see the Monster was back. That meant Matt was back. Kat hurried over to see him standing there talking to Nikki, completely unharmed. Grace saw her daddy and immediately started babbling in baby language trying to get his attention. Kat handed the baby to him as they went upstairs. A room on the second floor made Kat feel infinitely more secure and she hoped that Matt and Nikki would be in rooms nearby. She pushed aside the hope that maybe he would stay in the room with her and Grace. Despite the kiss he had given her she still was wary thinking that he might...
When you hoped too much for things, they turned out bad. Life had taught her that lesson the hard way multiples times and she didn't want to have to learn it again.

They ended up staying in a room with Jenna. While she was glad to have someone else in the room, Kat couldn't help the stab of disappointment that it wasn't Matt.
She really needed to get over this.
Grace was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Kat smiled faintly across the room at Jenna. "It looks like we both went through the ringer today hon," she said as she moved her head from side to side, wincing at the pain still in her neck. "May have to go get some pain meds. I am definitely not looking forward to sleep tonight. My mind tends to have a field day in the nightmares department."

She took note of the bruises and marks on Jenna. "Listen sweetie, I know you don't know me that well but I've been through a lot. Even before the dead started walking. If you want to talk about anything, vent, rage or unload... I've got two ears ready to listen. No judgements, no 'poor thing' or advice on how to deal because everyone has their own way. I'll just listen."