Lee was just tired. Tired of making drinks, tired of dealing with people. Tired of being alone.

Just tired.

And while she really couldn't do much about most of those problems, Lee could head out to the bar to get some energy, have a few drinks. And maybe find some company for the night.

And as had become habit, Lee headed to the rock bar she had met Stephanie at. Most of the time, they had good music playing, and the occasional bands were decent.

Lee had let her hair curl that night, and the dark, smokey eyeshadow really made her light grey eyes pop. But the best part was that her red lipstick perfectly matched her shirt.

When she got to the bar, Lee made her way inside and looked around. It wasn’t that late yet and there was already a decent crowd. She would have no problems with energy tonight.

Making her way across the room to the bar, Lee smiled as she saw a bar stool be vacated as she approached. Letting her black leather jacket slide down her bare shoulders, revealing her red halter top and black skirt, the outfit finished off with her black knee high black boots with three inch heels. Quickly hanging her jacket on the back of the chair, Lee sat down to order a beer.

As usual, Jason Fisher sat at a table in the corner of the bar; he sat in the chair sideways, his back against the wall, his arm propped on the table with a beer in hand, as always. He was a creature of habit if there ever was one; he always came to the same bar, sat in the same spot, had the same amount of beers before going home to finish getting plastered so he could just fall on his bed. Sometimes, that last part was replaced with company, but...not as often as he would have liked.

He pushed his glasses up a little as she walked in the door; she wasn't a regular, per se, but he'd seen her there often enough to know her face, her routines, and in a creepier than intended sense, her scent; he did have a keener than human sense of smell after all.

Every time she walked in, he'd do the same thing. Watch her from afar while sipping on his beer. Men would always come up to her, talk to her, but more often than not they'd get turned away. A select few would get to go talk to her, and even fewer got to walk out with her. And he knew full well that guys like him always got turned away. Guys who were on the lean side, always wore a jacket over their tee shirt and ironed blue jeans, who always adjusted their jacket and let their hair lay flat on their head...he didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell with her.

But he wanted to at least try, though he never could get up the nerve. And usually, when he did think he had the nerve, some bad boy type came in and swept her off her feet--figuratively, of course. Finishing his beer, he ordered another one, downing it a little quicker than usual. Tonight, he was going to do this; he'd just need a little...artificial courage to do so.

Once he finished his beer, he pushed himself out of his chair, walking over to the woman, his long stride getting him to the bar rather quickly. "'Scuse me, ma'am?" he said politely, his Southern accent revealing his origin; he hadn't been in New York for more than a few years. "You look rather stunning tonight, mind if I buy ya a drink?" After he spoke, he was already in the process of turning around. He knew what her answer was going to be. After all, she was in the major leagues, and he was still playing tee-ball...

Lee had ordered a beer, and was slowly drinking it as she glanced around the bar. Not that she was looking for anyone, or anything, in particular, she was just distractedly people watching. Plus, since the bar was generally too crowded for her to know when someone was getting close to her, it gave her a bit of a heads up when some guy or other decided to try picking her up.

But it was still early in the night, and so far she hadn’t been approached. Not that that was very surprising to Lee. It normally took a bit longer than this, and a few more drinks, before someone decided to come talk to her. And most of them, when they did approach her, ask to buy her a drink, or used some sort of cheesy pick up line, were of little interest to her. Most were not her type, or were simply just too stupid for her to be interested in them. Even if she was only interested in spending just a few hours with them.

Then Lee caught sight of the first of the night walking towards her, his eyes on her as he approached the bar. Glasses, neatly combed hair, no tattoos visible because of the jacket he was wearing. Definitely not her normal type. Lee turned back to the bar slightly, using the excuse of taking another sip of her beer as the man came up beside her.

And then he spoke. That accent was not what she had expected. Nor was the politeness, that was not normal in New York. Lee’s head tilted ever so slightly as she set her bottle down on the bar. This would definitely be a change from the everyday, maybe it would be enough to get her over the feeling of being sick and tired of everything.

So Lee looked over at the man again to see that he had already started to turn away even before she had given an answer, whether yes or no. ”Sure,” Lee said with a slight smile. ”I think I would like that.”

Jason had learned a lot about body language during his time as a cop, and more recently, a private investigator. The way she sat, paying more attention to her beer, not really looking at him...he could tell he'd struck out. So he felt it was at least good that he'd gotten a head start back to his usual spot where he'd do what he always did. End the night alone.

But before he could actually take a step, she spoke. And her words actually shocked him. She'd actually...well it must have been his lucky night, or someone out there was watching out for him, for once. He pivoted back to her, taking a seat on the one empty stool beside her. Playing it safe, he ordered her a beer, plus another for himself. This one, he'd take his time with. After all, he already had one extra in him from having to gather the courage to even do this. But, he'd passed the first cut, anyway. Somehow.

"My name's Jason," he finally said, looking over at her, taking a brief second to take in her looks; she was even more stunning up close. Despite his heart racing in his chest, he took a small sip of his beer.

As the man turned back toward her, Lee knew that he was shocked that she'd said yes. Her has already been turning away before she had even had a chance to answer. But as he turned back to face her, Lee took a second, closer look at him. The glasses and overly neat hair had done nothing to impress her initially, but underneath the man really wasn’t bad looking at all. Bright blue eyes, blond hair, though build was a little difficult to determine beyond simply being lean because of his jacket. Though that she could always find out later, if she decided to.

It didn’t take him long to sit down in the empty chair beside her, and Lee turned toward him slightly as she took a sip of her nearly empty beer. She’d already invited him to stay, so there was no reason to not see if there was anything else of interest about him beyond the accent, and it’d be far easier to do if she were actually facing him.

But he quickly ordered a couple beers, one for each of them. As she took hers, and he introduced himself, Lee gave Jason a smile. ”I’m Lee. Thanks,” she said, then held her bottle up slightly before taking a sip herself. ”So, just how far from home are you?”

That smile was almost heart-stopping. And he was well within arms' reach of it. He didn't plan on getting this far, so now no matter what happened, it would be above what he expected to come of it. He took another sip of his beer as his eyes met hers.

"Nice to meet ya," he answered. Very nice, actually. Then, she asked if he was far from home, and he smiled. "Well, my apartment's only a few blocks down, but I doubt that's what ya mean. I've only lived here a couple of years," he explained, not delving into any details, but for good reason. After all, in this day and age, everyone had secrets. Hell, in most cases, those secrets were what kept you alive.

"I was born and raised in Georgia," he said after a spell, that southern twang bleeding through his every word. Then he took another small sip of his beer. After this, he had maybe one or two more before he reached his limit, and he wanted to be in his right mind while with her. After all, he may never get this chance again.

Lee’s eyebrow raised ever so slightly when Jason mentioned that his apartment was only a few blocks away. That was good to know, she wouldn’t freeze on the walk if that’s what ended up happening, and they wouldn’t have to take a cab. That was always preferable.

”Georgia? That’s quite a distance,” Lee said, still looking over at Jason. Not that she knew much about Georgia. Not that she knew much about anywhere in the States beyond New York. It didn’t matter all that much, anyway, since she wasn’t going to be going anywhere else. ”So what brought you all the way up here? I doubt it was the weather.”

He shrugged lightly, then held back the sigh he wanted to release because he was going to have to delve a little into his past. But just enough so that she would know about him. After all, he'd made it this far, he may as well keep it going, right?

"Well, I was a cop in Atlanta for a few years," he said with a small frown. "There was some...mutant controversy, my reputation was stained, so I just moved as far away as I could and use my knowledge and experience to work as a private investigator. Though the weather there is rather weird. It'll be freezing cold in the morning, and sixty degrees by noon. At least New York weather knows what it wants," he said, lightness coming back to his voice as he talked about the weather. Though, he had to admit this was nice. The time he spent talking to people that weren't clients were few and far between.

Lee noticed Jason’s frown when he started speaking. Telling that he had been a cop in Atlanta. Lee’s hand tightened around her beer bottle slightly, but she kept her eyes on Jason. One night wouldn’t be a problem, Lee told herself, and it wasn’t like he was still a cop. Though, the fact that he glossed over the mention of some sort of ‘mutant controversy’ gave her some pause. Though it was possible that what he was alluding to could indicate some form of safety interacting with him, Lee knew that that wasn’t necessarily the case. One could never be too careful these days, after all.

Quickly doing the temperature conversion in her head, Lee laughed slightly at Jason’s complaint about fickle weather. ”Is that all?” She asked before taking another sip of beer. ”I’d say you just haven’t been here long enough to see how messed up the weather can be. Though, I suppose all the concrete in the city does help even things out.”

"Well after going through all four seasons within a week, I think I'll manage. Though I will admit I'm rather enthralled by the snow. Somethin' I never really saw until I came up here." He gave a chuckle, shaking his head.

"Back in Georgia, people would panic about a 'snowstorm' and it'd look like somebody just spread a bag of flour onto the grass," he joked lightly, flashing her a charming smile in the process.

”In a whole week?” Lee asked, laughing a bit again. ”Just wait until you get to experience them all in a single day. That’s when things really start to get fun. ‘Alright, I was sweating outside five minutes ago, but do I need a coat to run to the store now?’”

As Jason explained about these ‘snowstorms’ in Georgia, Lee shook her head and rolled her eyes. ”You must have been shocked with your first snow here, then,” Lee said, the laughter from earlier still evident in her voice. ”I don’t think it even counts as a storm if it’s less than 4-6 inches of snow.”

Taking another sip of her beer, Lee looked over at Jason. This was going well so far. He definitely wasn’t stupid, and so far despite the short conversation, he was interesting. Plus, there was some good joking around so far. He was definitely a step above half of the guys she normally talked to at bars.

"Not havin' humidity so bad up here is a fair trade off, if you ask me, he replied before flashing another charming grin and adding, "Never saw anyone as pretty as you back home, neither. So I'd say New York is better to me." He took another sip of beer.

"I don't mind snow so much, actually. I don't have to drive in it, anyway. Kinda nice,actually." He relaxed considerably, adjusting his glasses a little. He was sure she was liable to turn him away any moment, but he was going to enjoy this while it lasted.

If Jason thought the humidity up here wasn’t so bad during the summer...damn, Lee didn’t want to go south. But as Jason continued, Lee just could not stop the slight blush from covering her cheeks. Yes, she’d had a lot of guys over the years tell her things like that, but every so often, with the way it was said, a few of them got her to blush.

”I doubt that,” Lee said with a slight shake of her head. ”I’ve heard how some talk about ‘Southern Belles’. Some of them have got to be better looking than me.”

Without realizing it as she was sitting there talking to Jason, Lee’s fingers had started tapping on the bartop in time to the music that was filling the bar at the moment. But as Jason continued speaking, Lee tilted her head to look at him. ”I can’t even imagine driving in this city, nevermind adding snow into the mix.”

He shrugged "I don't know. They never really did it for me," he replied. "Besides most Southern Belles turn out spoiled. Or too stuck up to talk to be, but that's another story entirely." He gave another laugh,his foot tapping against his barstool in the same rhythm to the music.

"Driving would be okay if not for those other idiots on the road. You know, what I love though? The music here. Mostly why I keep coming back." And to see if she'd show up again, but there was no way he'd risk what was going on by saying that out loud.

They were spoiled and stuck up. That was quite possible, and very far from how she was. Well, she may be considered stuck up to guys to hit on her, who she turned down, but that was different. ”But, that doesn’t change what they look like,” Lee pointed out before taking a sip of her beer. ”I’m sure you’d be lying if you never noticed.”

And then Jason brought up the music at the bar, and Lee smiled. That was a good sign, but better than the first man she had talked to in this bar. ”They do play some good stuff here,” Lee agreed, fingers still tapping on the bar as she took another sip. Her beer was quickly emptying, only about a quarter of it left. ”The couple of bands I’ve seen here have been pretty decent, too. Surprisingly, actually.”