It's not to say she's been actively avoiding him since last month, but there's... definitely been a degree of avoidance going on. There's uncertainty, awkwardness. What happened was... a total mess, and it's some mixture of that and all that comes with that that's kept Kate away. Embarrassment? Totally. Shame? Some of that too. Hurt? ... Mm, yeah. Even with the mouthed apology. Withdrawal to not rock the boat further after... everything that went down is... a far easier way to deal with it all.

New Interlopers come into town, and she keeps busy. Tries to keep everything else at bay for some modicum of peace from her own mind.

Kate's not ignorant to the fact that Lieutenant Little is no longer around when Tim approaches. She's withdrawn, uncertain, silent as she watches him dig around in his coat pocket for something. Not sure what's going on here.

"I do celebrate Christmas, but I guess there's not much celebrating this year." Christmas has been.... really hard. This place, the fact she's without her family. She misses her dad, her sisters. ... Even her mom. It's... very not Christmas-y, here.

There's a little inhale of air, her expression softening at the sight of the tiny creature in the palm of his hand. Oh. Oh, gosh — that's so cute, and his little Santa hat—

Carefully, she reaches for the mouse.

"Thanks." she holds it in two hands, the tiniest of smiles at her lips — genuinely delighted in it. She's pretty charmed by the thing. "That's... really nice of you to think of me. He's really cute."

Maybe it's an ornament? Who knows. But. Okay, yeah. This was really nice of him. And she sees it for what it's supposed to be. Even if it's not Christmas-y here, it's a time of good will. Her smile slips a little, mouth twisting to the side.

"... I didn't get you anything."