She was there when Blue wrote the letter, sitting close together with her in a back room late at night with the lights dimmed, feeling strangely more like they were starting an affair than plotting vigilante justice. They hadn't seen each other face-to-face like this in months.

"You don't need to do this, Blue," she said restlessly standing and pacing across the room to peer through a crack in closed blinds to check her locks. She still had trouble trusting an open window.

"I do. I'm the only one who can," Blue said without looking up, her hand shaking only a little as she wrote out her false goodbyes. "I know you and your team are doing your best, but…"

A small smile flitted across Karin's face. "Now who's being patronizing?"

And that got Blue to look at her, to laugh, though they both knew nothing about this was really funny. "Sorry."

Karin sighed and shook her head. "No, you're right. And I know you can do it, I just don't understand all of this," she told her, gesturing to the letter Blue was writing, the bag of things she planned to leave behind to make it all the more real.

"He can't see me coming. He can't even suspect. Otherwise we'll never get him."

Karin closed her eyes for a long moment. "Okay," she said eventually. "Okay. If you're sure it needs to be done… let's make you disappear, then."

The sigh Blue let out was one of utter relief. "Thank you. I'm really glad I don't have to do this alone, and I'd rather it be you than anyone else." She set down her pen and folded the letter in half. After a moment of hesitation, she slid it across the table toward Karin. "Do you want to…?"

She held her hand up and turned her head away immediately. "No," she said firmly. It would be too strange, too much for her right now. "I'll have to read it in a few days anyway. Better to keep the surprise and make it convincing."

"Right." Blue pulled the letter back, turned and tucked it with her other things. She kept herself busy organizing it all for a few moments, the room silent except for the shuffling of cloth and paper. Then she stood and took a step closer to Karin. "I'll find you again when it's over. Tell you I got him."

Karin smiled, no small hint of irony to her expression as she promised, "I'll keep my phone on."

Blue laughed a little, took another step, and then quickly leaned in to kiss her, pulling back again before Karin even quite realized what happened. "Thank you. For everything."

And then she was back across the room, picking up her things and heading for the door without giving Karin the time to react, to say anything. To pull her back and kiss her again.

Probably for the best, considering everything. Karin absently brushed her fingers across her lips, then quickly shook her head again. "You just be careful out there," she said.

And the last she saw of Blue for many more months was her slow, sad smile as she slipped out into the night.