Well jeez. Now Quin felt horrible. That pepper got poked and pushed around some more, and the redhead turned her head slightly so she could watch the incognito couple with their sandwiches and hide from Ashton behind the curtain of her hair. The couple was smiling, and laughing and happy. Did it really matter what anyone at the station thought, or whether or not it was technically 'okay'?

"That was out of line." Quin said, agonizing over this portion of the conversation and hoping that Ashton wasn't in the mood to make her pay.

She looked over her shoulder again, at the baseball cap twins.

"It just made me wonder." Down went the rest of the beer.

"We're going to need another pitcher." she said, when the barkeep came by to check on how the pizza was, and it's praises had been sung.

Blink, comma, Blink. Swallow. "Wonder about what?" Ashton looked at her, one brow arching curiously. He wasn't judging her, wasn't angry, and didn't understand why she was apologizing. Was it because she'd brought up when he'd kissed her...? Was she thinking of that? And now she was worried she'd offended him, because he'd screwed up and made things weird? They'd been together three years. Did she really think she could make things awkward by bringing up the past?

Although depending on what she was thinking, his thoughts on the matter could change.

Quin shrugged, still poking at that lonely little pepper on her plate a few more times before dropping the fork, looking at Ashton, and shrugging her shoulders.

"They look happy." Quin said, "It just made me wonder how they got there."

He'd said that it probably had taken time, or a big event. Something that was a catalyst. For the first time in a while, Quin felt lonely. She looked away from her partner.

That called for more beer and she looked around the bar to avoid going any further with the conversation.

"Do you know how to play pool?" she asked. "Because I have no clue whatsoever."

"Yeah," he broke the awkwardness of a woman not wanting to press things, and a guy not wanting to press things for fear of making things even more awkward. "I'm good. Could even show you, like with the darts."

They did look happy. What was going through her head?

"Should probably finish the pitcher you just ordered, though," He noted as it came their way. He helped himself to another slice, as well. He'd be stuffed. He also added some crushed red peppers. He'd be spicy, too!

These were not thoughts that Quin ever thought, but now that her mind had latched on the topic, it wouldn't let it go. Ashton ate more pizza, she picked at her crust, drank the end of the old beer and poured a glass of new beer. She did all of that and thought about the kiss that had hidden in the deep recesses of her mind for all of these months.

The new beer was cold, and probably went down easier than it should have. Ashton admitted that he knew how to play pool and could show her...like he had with the darts.

"Is there a bar game that you're not an expert at?" she asked, trying to break the tension (real or imagined) with banter. "I'm starting to think you're way more familiar with bars than I first thought."

Ashton smirked a little, and let her in on a little secret. "I am Irish, you know." Good stereotypes were lumped with the bad. "And I did got to a navy academy for a little while. Them Navy folk don't have much else in the ways of fun." He neglected to mention how most of his bar game skills had been developed before and after that little academy stretch, or how they'd been honed to impress the opposite sex.

"With your red hair, I'd have thought you had some Irish or Scottish in you, too." He spoke the sentence jokingly, with a Scottish brogue.

"Now I can't stop picturing you in a sailor suit." Quin said with varying degrees of delight.

And with her red hair? Quin shrugged, "I'm sure it's there somewhere. My Dad has crazy red hair, but genealogies weren't really something they were into."

Quin mused on it for a moment, then grinned, "Or maybe we're Vikings. It would explain my Amazonian height."

Yes. This was much better. The beer was helping...definitely helping.

"Now I can't stop picturing you in a sailor suit." Quin said. And suddenly, the feeling was mutual. Ashton smirked.

"Vikings, huh? Makes sense with how often you pillage and maim. And that forest of blades on the ceiling. I mean pencil erasers," He corrected himself wryly. "Just add some bobbleheads or paper dolls and Vlad would be proud." Though he wasn't a viking. Mixed metaphor, thy name is a couple of beers away. Speaking of. Ashton drank.

And now he was picturing Quin dressed like some Amazonian super hero comic book heroine in the one piece and the tiara.

"I'd never thought of it that way, but you know, they make bobbleheads of pretty much everyone." It was a wicked thought, and a wonderful one.

Quin decided something else was good too. Beer. And she'd had plenty of it. Enough that she was ready to learn new things, walk on the wild side, and try something new.

"You mentioned being good at pool. Do you charge for lessons?" Billiards was as good a place as any to start.

>>"I'd never thought of it that way, but you know, they make bobbleheads of pretty much everyone."

"Like IA?" Ashton suggested.

More beer.

More pizza.

Did he charge? "Depends on the customer," Ashton replied into the rim of his glass. The glass obscured his smile.

"Well obviously I'm the customer!" Quin exclaimed, her wit starting to suffer just a bit from the amount of delicious lager she had consumed. Two pitchers was quite a lot for anyone...even if one of them was Irish!

"What will lessons cost me?" she asked with a bright and cheesy grin.

"Do I get a discount?"

"I dunno," Ashton teased. "Do I even know you? I just learned your real name today~ Maybe I need a down-payment. Or proof of identity."

He was being ridiculous now. Payment? What the hell kind of crap was that? She was his partner, of course there was no payment. Besides. "I don't usually charge beautiful women."

Oh, wait. Had that last thought come out loud?

Beautiful?
Quin looked at Ashton skeptically. She’d taken off the nice clothes and gone with the casual stuff she’d thrown into the suitcase in case they had free time. Beautiful though? She wasn’t going to give him hell about it, the compliment had been too nice, and Quin was still feeling contrite about her earlier comments.

”I’ve got my ID right here.” she said, patting the small purse she’d brought along on the trip. ”I’d offer up a utility bill for proof of residence, but I left them all at home.”

”And if beautiful women learn for free, then I should at least get a discount.”

A chuckle escaped him. "A full discount," he agreed. "No ID required." A smirk, a shake of the head to clear it. "But seriously, Quin. I'm just kidding. You're my partner. You don't need to do anything special to get taught pool except be yourself."

She was beautiful enough for the full discount, anyways. It wasn't like he was going to charge her a kiss.

Well, all of that was well and good. She was going to get her lessons for free.

As fuzzy as her mind was starting to feel, Quin wondered what he would have charged her anyway. One of the pitchers of beer? Both the pitchers of beer? A kiss?

Where had that last one come from?

Slapping both hands palm-down on the bar, she grinned in Ashton's direction. Time to get up.

"We're burning daylight."