It had been a long time since she had seen Jacen, a really long time, actually. They'd talked about meeting up at some point, maybe going for a drink or something so that Lee could actually introduce Jacen to Tarin, so Tarin could see that Jacen actually wasn't a bad guy.

But that whole going to Columbia thing, what with Tarin almost getting killed, and finding out what all Slate was actually doing down there, had kind of put a hold on things. And then after they had gotten back, there was the move...

But it had been put off more than long enough, and if she was going to be able to manage any sort of friendship with Jacen, she really couldn't put it off much longer.

So she had dug out his card and called.

Then, when Wednesday night arrived, Lee set about getting ready. Yes, it took her a while deciding on how to do her hair, what to wear, putting her make up on, but no longer than it did any time that she and Tarin went out. She may be introducing Tarin to a male friend of hers, but she was going out with her husband; that was the important part, and despite the night at the bar, she wanted to see Tarin's face when she stepped out of the bathroom.

Still, considering what was going on that night, the fact that they were actually meeting a guy at the bar whom Tarin was already slightly worried about from the last time she had met him, Lee wanted to go a little more conservative and casual than she normally did. Not that there was really a whole lot of that in her wardrobe, but she thought that the simple black dress with the peep toe shoes suited her purposes nicely. As did her slightly curled hair, which she left down, and the smokey eyeshadow she had applied. If nothing else, though, the skirt was slightly longer than most she normally wore to the bar.

Yet despite that fact, Tarin still reacted just like he did every time she came into the living room after getting ready for a night out, and Lee still had a wide grin on her face as they were walking down the street minutes later toward the bar. Walking, while Tarin was humming softly. It was looking like it was going to be a good night.

Another good thing about the new apartment, on top of all the other good things they'd found so far, was that this place was considerably closer to the bar, so it really didn't take long at all to get there, and almost before Lee knew it, they were nodding in greeting to the bouncers and walking through the doors.

"Come on," Lee smiled over at Tarin. "Let's go grab a drink while we wait."

It was far too warm out for Tarin to wear his usual bar attire, so this particular night out on the town found him struggling to decide what to wear. The occasion called for slightly more than his usual button up plaids and cut off shorts. It was warm, but not too warm for nice jeans, Tarin decided as he pulled them on. They were light, and if Tarin knew anything, that meant he needed something dark to go with them.

A quick scan through his part of the closet and Tairn had found the shirt he was looking for. It was black, and short sleeved, but it had this nifty little silver fleur de lis design over one shoulder and down one side. On it went over his undershirt, and Tarin was ready. Lee, was another story, and Tarin simply made his way to the living room of their apartment and sat down to wait. He’d never been disappointed before when he’d had to wait for Lee to get ready, there was no reason to think that this would be any exception.

It wasn’t. Tarin grinned, just a little stupidly when Lee made her way out of the bedroom and into the living room and the few minutes he’d spent after that mussing her hair and smudging her makeup had him humming as they made their way down the street to the bar. The bar where they were meeting a friend of Lee’s. A male friend of Lee’s. Tarin had to carefully work not to make a face at that, but she’d made valid points the first night she’d met Jacen. It was wrong of him to expect her to stop having male friends simply because they were married. This was a gesture, a grand gesture. Besides, when Tarin had met Jacen during the hostage situation at Rockefeller Center, he’d seemed fine. Well, as fine as someone can be after busting in on something like that.

Tarin didn’t dwell on that, though. He was still too concerned about Lee’s nonchalance in those situations to spend much time thinking about them. It didn’t matter though, their new, closer proximity to Matt’s bar had them at the door before he could worry too much.

They’d been there more and more as time had passed, eschewing fancy dining in favor of places that they’d never been taken hostage. After a few moments of chatting with the bouncers and letting them know that they were expecting someone, Tarin and Lee made their way to the bar.

”Holy cow, it’s been nearly a week!” Matt said as Tarin and Lee took their usual seats at the bar. The place was far more quiet than usual given the middle of the week status of their visit and Matt actually came over to lean on the bar.

”Lee…looking way too gorgeous to be on this schmuk’s arm, as usual.” he said, winking at her before turning to nod at Tarin, ”Beer tonight or something stronger?”

Tarin laughed and shook his head, not even bothering to glare at Matt for his comment to Lee, “Beer…we’re not on a mission tonight. We’re actually meeting someone.”

The call from Lee inviting him to join the married couple at a bar had been rather unexpected. To be honest, with so much going on in Jacen's life involving Lori and then Kealey, he had forgotten that they were even supposed to try and get together again. He hadn't been familiar with the bar that Lee had mentioned but after a few questions around the police station he had a pretty good idea what kind of place it was. The clothing was meant to be casual, but with a touch of class but more importantly it was yet another chance to dress up and impress Kealey.

Denim jeans were also the way to go, and as such Jacen grabbed out a pair of black/slate gray jeans from off of a hangar in the closet. Narrowing his eyes, Jacen perused his shirts trying to come up with what would be the winning combination. Finally he settled on a white paisley shirt that seemed to accent his jeans the best. Not being a fashion expert there was no way to know for sure but it seemed to work. Grabbing a pair of black sneakers, Jacen headed out to the living room to wait for his date to come out.

***

Thanks to it being a Wednesday there was plenty of parking at the bar. After climbing out of the truck and walking around to offer Kealey his arm, Jacen made his way up to the front door where a couple of bouncers were standing.

"We're just here to meet up with another couple. Don't mind us." Jacen said with a grin.

"Lee & Tarin? They're inside." One of the men offered without the slightest hesitation. Apparently Wednesday's were even slower than Jacen previously thought.

The inside of the bar fit in with most everything that Jacen really knew about bars. Sure it was a little nicer than most but it still fit in with the basic layout. There were tables and booths spread throughout the area, a long bar with at least one bartender behind it, and some sort of music playing through either the sound system or from a jukebox of some sort. Scanning the room Jacen spotted Lee & Tarin over at the bar chatting with the bartender.

"There the are." Jacen said before glancing over at Kealey and giving her a reassuring smile, "Come on. Let's get introductions out of the way."

Threading their way across the floor, in between a bunch of empty tables Jacen walked up to stand behind Tarin and Lee. "Hello again you two." He said, waiting for the two of them to turn around before introducing the pretty blond on his arm. "Tarin, Lee, I'd like you to meet Kealey. Kealey, this is Lee and her husband Tarin."

Out! Kealey was way more excited than she probably should have been for the occasion. She was going out! With Jacen! It was going to be fun, it was going to be a bar…it was going to be…out. Since the fire it seemed like Kealey’s life had been some kind of blur of shopping and paperwork. Never, ever in the blonde’s life would she have thought she’d be sick of shopping, but Kealey was sick of shopping.

There was no shopping on the bill for tonight though, nope. Jacen had asked Kealey if she wanted to go with him to meet some people he knew. Kealey felt special, somehow, that he’d asked her and she couldn’t keep the grin off her face while she finished getting ready.

Luckily, over the course of her shopping sprees, Kealey had found a dress that was suitable for going out, as long as the place wasn’t too fancy. Jacen had assured Kealey that this was the case, and so as she put the finishing touches on her makeup, she grinned at herself in the mirror. The shadow of the bruise was still over her eye, but it really wasn’t that noticeable. On went her shoes, strappy little things she’d found for a great deal, and out she went to meet Jacen.


It hadn’t taken them that long to get to the bar, and if Kealey had heard the names of the people they were meeting correctly, they were expected. Kealey looked around as they walked further into the establishment. It wasn’t as fancy as the place that Jacen had taken her the first time they’d gone out, and it wasn’t as laid back as the western bar they’d gone to the second time. It was comfortable, and not all that crowded. Still, just to be safe, Kealey moved closer to Jacen. Okay, she admitted to herself, maybe that’s not entirely why she moved closer.

Jacen pointed out that the couple they were meeting was at the bar and then smiled at Kealey. She smiled back and nodded. There he was again, handling her with kid gloves. ”I have met people before, Jacen.” she said good naturedly as they came up to the other two.

Jacen alerted the couple to their presence and when they turned around, Kealey grinned. The woman was lovely, dark compared to Kealey’s light, and her dress was the sort of thing that Kealey would have killed to be dark enough to pull off. Lee. Kealey committed the name to memory, then turned to her husband.

He was actually shorter than she was with her heels on, and his hair was a bright shade of red that people usually didn’t see in the natural spectrum. ”Nice to meet you both.” she said with a bright smile.

Mid-week. That meant that the bar was quiet and slow enough that they were both able to get seats at the bar. And slow enough that Matt was able to come over and actually have a somewhat decently lengthed conversation with the two of them.

And, Matt being Matt, all Lee could do was roll her eyes at his comments at first.

But, the question was beer or something stronger. To be honest, Lee really was in the mood for something stronger, but at the same time she knew that that wasn't a great idea; they were there to meet Jacen, casual sipping on her beer would be the best course of action that night.

Thankfully Tarin spoke, saying they were going with beer that night, before Lee would have to actually voice a decision. "Coming right up," Matt said, already turning toward the fridge. He didn't even have to ask what kind any more. But before he had the door fully open so he could reach the beer, he was turning back around, a bemused look on his face.

"Wait, you're meeting someone here? You mean, you two actually managed to behave long enough to meet someone other than the man giving you liquor?"

"Of course we did," Lee said, a bit of a shocked tone in her voice as she watched Matt turning back to the fridge to finish grabbing their beer. "It's your liquor that encourages us to behave that way, Matt."

"Uh huh." Was all Lee heard the bartender say as he set two bottles of beer down on the bar in front of her and Tarin. Lee just shook her head as she took a sip of her beer.

Then sat up straighter in her chair a moment later as she suddenly no longer felt herself siphoning from the two men she was with, as well as the rest of the people in the bar. If the park had felt strange, this was like falling flat on her face without realizing she had even fallen.

"Well, I think he's here," Lee announced softly to Tarin as she set her bottle back down on the counter in front of her, and turned in her chair a moment later to see Jacen coming to a stop not far away. With a blond woman somewhere around Tarin's height on his arm. That was unexpected, though Lee realized it was only fair, she was here with her husband, after all. At least if things didn't go well, if Tarin got into one of those jealous, angry moods, Jacen could take off with his date and try and salvage his night.

"Hey," Lee said in greeting to Jacen, trying to smile through the unease that came from the suddenness of not siphoning. She didn't know if this woman knew about what Jacen could do, so wasn't about to out him.

A moment later, that woman was being introduced, and Lee was in for another momentary surprise: she had a noticeable accent. So, not only had Jacen brought a date along, but he had brought a foreign date. But not just foreign, she was Irish, or Scottish, or something like that.

Yeah, Jacen definitely was not like any other cop she had met.

"Nice to meet you, too," Lee replied, her smile coming a little easier now that she was getting over the shock of suddenly not siphoning and simply dealing with the feeling of being off balance because of it. "Did you two want a beer or something?" Lee asked. "I know they do other drinks if you'd prefer, though from experience all I know is that Matt makes a killer jagerbomb."

“Don’t act so surprised.” Tarin said to Matt as the jerk found the need to point out that their behavior in the bar suggested that they’d be less than talented at procuring friends who stuck around for extended amounts of time. Lee had it under control though, and Tarin slipped an arm around her waist as he took a sip of his beer, using the bottle to point in Matt’s direction, “Exactly. It’s you and your devil water that have us acting like hormonal teenagers more often than not.”

Lee shifted, stiffening against his side and Tarin instantly stiffened as well. Lee commented that she thought he was there and Tarin remembered, this guy was supposed to be able to cancel out powers. Not that he’d be able to tell, one of his favorite reasons for coming to this bar in the first place had always been the lack of spiritual activity in and around it.

Tarin turned, and sure enough, there was Jacen. It was hard not to be irritated as the other guy walked up. He was all tall, and metropolitan looking with his light shirt and dark jeans. Almost exactly opposite of what he had worn, Tarin didn’t miss the irony there. Then there was the blond on his arm. Lee looked off balance and Tarin made a mental note to keep an eye on her, after how strange she’d felt the time they’d ran into a mutant who simply didn’t give off energy, this had to be strange. He pulled his eyes away from his wife and looked back to the blond.

She was tall, Tarin noted as he stood to have introductions made, taller than him in the heels she had on. He took a moment to grumble internally about tall men and their amazon women. He had Lee though, and while the blond with her friend was obviously attractive, she paled in comparison to Lee. Tarin almost felt bad for her. Then again, it was easier to be friendly to Jacen now that he was there with a girl.

She was friendly, and her name was Kealey. Tarin nodded his head and smiled, “Nice to meet you too.” He said, noting that she was foreign from the slight brogue in her words. Lee asked if they wanted anything to drink and Tarin waited for them to decide and order before looking over at one of the tall bar tables that was peppered across the place, “Why don’t we grab one of those. They make for better conversation than being spread out all over the bar.”

Lee suggested Matt’s jagerbombs and Tarin rolled his eyes, picking up his beer and heading for the table he’d picked out, “And unless you want to end up making out on the bar in the next couple hours…I’d stay away from the jagerbombs.”

Once they were seated with their drinks, Tarin looked around to the assembled group, “So…” he said to Jacen, trying to break the ice, “How’s that whole SWAT thing going? Crash any dinner parties lately?”

Jacen had to chuckle slightly as Tarin walked away while commenting about the jagerbombs. He and Kealey had moved to the dating stage of their relationship and there was no way he wanted her to make a rash, alcohol induced decision. She was slightly more proper and demure so making out on the bartop was probably not the great choice for her. Maybe back at his apartment...

"Just a beer for me." Jacen ordered, giving the bartender a quick smile, "And of course whatever the lady's having."

Turning his attention back over to the other two, Jacen watched them walk over to one of the high tops while he and Kealey waited for their drinks. Lee looked attractive in her dress though that really wasn't a surprise. Anyone that could make jogging clothes look good to make pretty much anything look good. Her husband Tarin was wearing an outfit that even Jacen would have felt comfortable wearing. In fact, he'd even contemplated purchasing a shirt very similar to the one that he was currently wearing. "Did I though?" Jacen wondered, trying to remember if he one his wardrobe. He always bought his clothes rather impulsively and then stuck them in his closet. He never planned his outfit but instead looked through the clothes just before leaving and grabbed what he thought looked good. "I forget... no biggie."

"Have I mentioned that you look beautiful tonight?" Jacen asked as he and Kealey finally walked over to the hightop with their drinks in hand, "Maybe I should have skipped the idea of sharing you and taken you out all by myself." The teal of Kealey dress just accented the paleness of her skin and the light blond of her hair. Her blue eyes seemed to sparkle even more brilliantly than normal and each time Jacen looked at her he found himself captivated all over again. Tearing himself away from the distraction, Jacen turned back to watch where he was walking.

After mounting his stool, Jacen took a swig from his bottle and then turned his attention over to Tarin. "Actually the city's been pretty quiet over the past few days. We're starting training exercises day after tomorrow but unless something happens we'll spend the rest of our time cleaning equipment and making sure everything's ready for when something does happen."

Taking another sip from his beer, Jacen tried desperately to remember what sort of shop it was that Tarin and Lee ran. She had mentioned it back on their jog but so much had happened since then. What was it... psychic or palm reader or some thing like that?

"How about you? How's business are your shop?" Jacen asked, deciding to simply take the easy way out. He couldn't remember exactly what Lee had said and he didn't want to insult Tarin by mentioning a different career than what he actually had.

Kealey’s eyebrows raised as Lee’s husband…Tarin he’d said his name was, commented about jagerbombs and making out on the bar? On the bar? Kealey took a moment to digest the logistics of that and ended up simply shaking her head. People said the most outlandish things sometimes, but from the way the bartendeder was laughing, Kealey had a feeling he might be joking. What was a Jagerbomb, though, and did it really make a person more amorous? Both questions for later, Kealey decided. There was only so much ignorance people could take. Jacen seemed to have endless patience for her narrow horizons, but Kealey had a feeling not everyone would be so kind.

Jacen ordered a drink and Kealey frowned slightly, everyone else had ordered beer, something Kealey had not grown accustomed to. From what she’d heard, it was an acquired taste. This was far more difficult a dilemma than it should have been and she ended up just staring at the bartender for a few moments, ”I’ll have the same thing.” she finally decided, shrugging her shoulders at Jacen, ”I know…it’s an acquired taste…but it’s what everyone else is drinking…I feel like being a conformist. I’ll survive.”

Then with the compliments, Kealey couldn’t help the smile that spread across her features when Jacen said she looked beautiful. ”You look pretty dashing yourself, I found myself all a flutter earlier.” She teased, just a bit dramatically, even if it was true. Kealey found it slightly amazing how well Jacen could transition between different clothing types. Most men weren't that versatile. When he said that maybe he should have just kept her to himself, she shook her head, ”But your friends seem nice!” she said, ”I think this is going to be fun. Besides, you’ve got to be getting bored just hanging around me.”

Once at the table, Kealey managed to get herself seated on the stool with little difficultly and took an experimental drink of the beer. It was easy to tell why it was an acquired taste, but it was cold on a warm night, so she took another. Jacen was talking to the other man about work stuff, apparently he and his wife owned a shop of some sort. It was strange, like she did sometimes with Jacen, Kealey found herself almost wishing that her powers were working. It would have been nice to see what these people were feeling towards her, towards them. Then again, though, if that were the case she’d have been feeling what everyone in the bar was feeling and needless to say…that would have been bad. Kealey turned to the other woman and smiled, she’d just have to go it on her own.

”Oh, you’re small business owners?! What kind of shop do you own? I’ve always thought that it would be so exciting to have a business like that. I’m thinking about going to fashion school in hopes that one day I’ll have a place of my own like that.”

Tarin mentioned the downside, well, if it could be considered a downside, of the jagerbombs, and Lee felt her cheeks flush slightly. Yeah...something like that did tend to happen any time they broke into the jager, didn't it?

Tarin had already turned, was already walking toward the tall table he had suggested, but Matt was standing there behind the bar laughing about what Tarin had said. "Cut it out, mister," Lee said, turning a hard look on the bartender, though she hadn't managed to get the slight blush to leave her cheeks quite yet. "Or I'll send Tarin to get the rest of my drinks, and you won't be able to talk to me the rest of the night. And we both know how horrible that would be." As she had spoke, the hard look had faded into more of a teasing one, though Lee did mean what she was saying, and finished off with a wink at Matt before she turned to join Tarin while the bartender got Kealey and Jacen their drinks.

It really didn't take long for the four of them to get settled at the table and for Tarin to ask Jacen about work. Which, considering what Jacen did, was thankfully slow.

Only for Jacen to turn the question around a moment later and ask how things had been at the shop. Lee took a sip of beer. How had things been at the shop lately? She'd been working, sure, but most of her attention recently had been on the new apartment.

But before Lee was really able to say anything, Kealey burst in, apparently excited about the idea that she and Tarin owned a shop. Lee simply shrugged as she turned her eyes toward the other woman at the table. "It's just a little medium shop," Lee explained. "Business is going well, fairly steadily. But it's really not anything glamorous."

And then something else that Kealey had said registered in Lee's mind, and she tilted her head slightly. "Fashion school?" She asked. "I think that's what my sister went to school for. Or at least something like it. Why are you thinking fashion?"

Lee commented that business was alright and Tarin shrugged his shoulders, “Yeah…” He said, “Most people only want to money grub dead relatives around the holidays, so we’re not all that busy.” He paused for a moment and thought, then spoke again, “Though I have to say, I like this time of year the best. The only people who want to be cooped up in the back of the shop with me are people who are really interested in finding out something important.” Tarin was surprised at Jacen’s knowledge of the shop, apparently the conversation with Lee had been longer than he’d thought. So far, the other man’s behavior had been more than appropriate, and he’d even brought a date.

He was glad to hear that the SWAT business was slow, strange how most lines of work would be put out by slow times. Tarin had a feeling this was not the case with police work. Slow, in this case, was probably good, especially with how hard mutants had a tendency to be on New York’s police force.

Apparently the woman-folk were going to have their own conversation, and as they went off talking about fashion and fashion school, Tarin looked at them, blinking. Why was it that women could just latch onto a subject like fashion or shoes and instantly chat away like they’d been friends for years. Tarin looked at Jacen, what the hell were they supposed to talk about?

“Amazing how they do that, isn’t it?” Tarin said, nodding towards the two women, instead of trying to find common ground at the moment, “I swear, they must pull them aside in school and teach them how to instantly have something to talk about.”

Kealey and Lee were suddenly chatting together like they'd been friends for years which meant that Jacen and Tarin were now forced to carry on some sort of conversation. What the heck did the two of them have in common other than an attraction for Lee? Tarin was more on the preppy side and he could see dead people. Jacen was the athletic one that could cancel out mutant's abilities. But then Tarin opened up the conversation that all men could relate to. Comments and complaints about women. Perfect.

"You notice how it's always about shopping, clothes, or their hair?" Jacen replied with a chuckle while he glanced back over at the two women, "I think that this must be what they actually teach in the cooking classes when no men are around. If guys are there they teach cooking but when just girls are around they teach them how to relate to one another."

Nodding to himself, obviously satisfied in his opinion, Jacen once again lifted his bottle of beer and took a sip before looking back over at Tarin. "So how did you and Lee meet? Hopefully you gave her a better first impression than I did. And in case it isn't obviously, I'm sorry about hitting on your wife. It was dark and I apparently missed seeing the ring."

That had been an extremely awkward situation. Jacen had just been flirting with her, thinking she was just dating someone. There were certain lines you just didn't cross and hitting on a married woman was definitely one of them.

Multitasking. Something that Kealey had tendency to excel at. Her abilities had taught her over the years how to pay attention to more than one thing at once, so Kealey was paying attention to both conversations as they went on at the bar table. Lee had said that they owned a medium shop…surely she didn’t mean. Kealey’s eyes widened as Tarin confirmed what his wife had said. Did that mean he was some sort of fraud or did that mean that he was a mutant with what was probably the most astounding ability Kealey had ever heard of, next to Jacen’s. Spirits, though? Weren’t those energies of people in limbo? Kealey fought the urge to cross herself right there at the table in the middle of the bar. Her mind was buzzing with questions, but she fought the urge to ask them for the time being. Besides, Lee had asked her a question, and made the comment that her sister was in fashion.

Kealey thought for a moment, trying to puzzle out exactly why it was that she was going into the field. ”Well…I’ve always been something of a fashion freak, ever since I was a little girl…and growing up I learned some sewing skills. Basic stuff really, but it’s what I love more than anything. I work in the library right now…and I needed a direction to take. Has your sister already graduated? Has it been hard for her to actually get into the business?” Kealey hoped Lee didn’t think she was piling too much on her, but it was the first time that she’d managed to come across someone in a friendly setting who knew anything about the industry. As she waited, she lifted the beer bottle and took another drink, it was still strange, but still cold and Kealey decided that the beer was something she could get used to.

As she chatted with Lee about the fashion industry and still struggled to contain her curiosity about exactly what it was that went on inside the shop, she couldn’t help but hear Jacen ask how it was that Tarin and Lee had met. Kealey was interested in that question and watched the other woman’s expression to see if she was going to turn to that conversation rather than continue the one on fashion school.

Jacen kept talking and Kealey’s eyes widened again. Again, she wasn’t experienced in such things, but Kealey had a feeling that bringing up the fact that you had hit on someone’s wife wasn’t a great way to endear yourself to that particular person. And Jacen had hit on Lee? Kealey looked at the other woman again, a slightly more thorough look out of the corner of her eye this time.

There was no doubt that Lee was a lovely woman, her darker looks an almost complete contrast to Kealey’s peaches and cream complexion. She was tiny as well, something Kealey had never managed to pull off after she’d grown in her mid-teens. Kealey was suddenly glad for the wedding band on the other woman’s finger and surprised to find that she was a little jealous. Even more surprising, the realization made her smile. She took another drink of the beer, and looked to Lee, leaning close and speaking softly, ”And apparently this is what they take men off to teach them when we’re not looking. How to make any situation instantly awkward.”

The teasing half-grin on her face should have been enough to show everyone she was joking if anyone’s feelings got hurt, but it was the truth, Kealey had a feeling that at least for the next few minutes things at the table were going to feel much more awkward.

As she and Kealey started talking about fashion, Lee tuned out the men for the most part; they were complaining about how women were apparently able to sit down and strike up a conversation exactly like she and Kealey were.

Lee had never really understood the whole fashion industry thing, though. Style was too individual. Though, she supposed that someone had to make the clothes before she was able to piece together her wardrobe. Either that, or she would have to make everything in her closet, and Lee knew that she was no where near talented enough for that.

"I think she's finished school," Lee said slowly as she thought back to her time in Toronto with Rachael. She didn't remember her sister going to class, but it had been the summer, too. "She seems to be doing rather well, got lots of drawings and pieces of fabric all over the place. Though, I'm not sure how much of that is my opinion of how well she's doing compared to how she's doing in the business."

And then Lee heard her name on Jacen's lips, and turned her attention more fully to the men just in time for her to hear Jacen apologize for hitting on her.

This was not good, Lee thought as her eyes slid closed and she silently raised her beer to her lips for a long sip. Things had been going so well, Tarin had actually seemed to be getting along with Jacen, and now he had to go and say something like that.

Her eyes were still closed, braced for Tarin's reaction, when she heard Kealey's whispered comment. Lee shook her head slightly. "I think it's something they're born knowing," she replied.

Things were going well. Jacen seemed to be right there on the same page as Tarin when they started commenting on the way that the women were talking so easily, so quickly. Tarin took another drink of beer out of his quickly draining bottle and was just about to comment on Jacen’s opinion of when exactly it was that girls were taught those things, and add that it was either during those cooking classes or during girls PE when he asked how he and Lee had met.

As if that wasn’t enough, the man went on to apologize for hitting on Tarin’s wife. The beer bottle froze halfway on its return trip to Tarin’s mouth and returned to the table with enough speed to make an audible clink as he stared at the other man for a moment. Lee had definitely forgotten to mention that part of her jogging encounter with Jacen. Then again, Tarin remembered with an internal wince, he’d already been giving her a bit of a talking to about running with strangers who cancelled out her powers. There was the distinct possibility that Lee hadn’t remembered, or that she hadn’t been interested in sharing after the way he’d already reacted to simple jogging.

Picking the beer back up and taking a drink, Tarin decided that this was a perfect opportunity to show Lee that he wasn’t the tyrant that she seemed to think he could be sometimes. Besides, Jacen did seem genuinely apologetic for the mistake he’d made, and he’d been perfectly appropriate all night, and brought a date. Tarin nodded to himself, this was all just fine. He took a deep breath and a rueful smile crossed his features at the first part of Jacen’s statement.

“I doubt you could have made a worse first impression than I did.” Tarin said, casting a quick, small smile over at Lee before shrugging his shoulders, “Luckily I convinced her to give me a second chance…and a third…and eventually she whipped me into a shape worthy enough to not need extra chances.” It wasn’t the whole story, but there were some things you just didn’t tell people you barely knew. The fact that you’d met your wife while trying to peek up her skirt was one of them.

The second part of Jacen’s comment was harder to commit words to. Tarin shrugged it off though, “I can’t blame you for trying. Especially if it was that dark out. “ he said, managing to only grind his teeth a little bit after he’d spoken, “Like I think I said before, I’m just glad she ran into someone like you instead of someone else. I used to hate her running in that park by herself.”


Enough. Tarin decided. Bringing up the past, especially that night, was no way to make the conversation and the beer flow. The awkwardness had been lifted slightly, but Tarin couldn't help but turn the question around on Jacen, with a bright smile..

"So what about you two." he said, nodding to Kealey, then Jacen, "Lee didn't mention you were bringing anyone along. What's your story?"

Apparently women had some sort of internal sensor that alerted them when interesting conversation was taking place because as soon as Jacen spoke and put them into what he now realized was an awkward situation, the women suddenly quieted and turned their attention on the two men. How in the world did they DO that? It was question that would quite obviously confound scientists for years to come so he saw no reason to particularly worry about it right at that moment. If they wanted to listen then fine... maybe they'd learn there were things far more interesting than girl talk.

"We met in a coffee shop though it wasn't the most normal of meetings." Jacen replied with a slight chuckle as he lifted his own beer to take another sip. The cold but slightly sour tasting beverage slid down his throat, setting him up to tell the story. "I was sitting there, just enjoying a book and some food when suddenly Kealey sat down at my table and demanded to know what I was doing. I wasn't in the best of moods anyway and her forwardness didn't do anything to improve it. I sat there, reading and sipping my drink while pointedly annoying her for quite a while but eventually I felt silly and we started talking."

Deciding that was a good place to leave the story, Jacen took another sip of his beer. "I should have told your wife I was bringing someone but after I got off the phone I realized we'd all probably be more comfortable if I wasn't alone. Plus it gave me an excuse to spend more time with Kealey."

It had actually been perfect timing. Jacen had been trying to think of what to do for his next date with Kealey and then this invitation had just fallen right into his lap. Not only did he get that date, but he got to visit with Lee & Tarin while making it quite clear he wasn't out to steal Tarin's wife away from him.