Many people called New York City the city that never slept and while in many ways that was a good thing, in others it was deffinately not. When it came to grocery shopping New York City could be a nightmare and it was because of that fact that Jacen found himself just outside the city limits in a slight smaller, but much less crowded, grocery store. For the S.W.A.T. officer it was a time to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city for at least a few minutes and focus on the real necessities.

Sadly, Jacen wasn't a good cook. For the most part he survived with frozen dinners, frozen pizzas, frozen burritos, and pretty much anything else that could be cooked in the microwave. The only dish he really made without the microwave was spaghetti. He knew that he was a one trick pony but ti was always nice to impress a date with a home cooked meal on occasion. Besides... it got the women back to his house and that was always a plus.

Slowly pushing the cart down the aisle Jacen grabbed the staples and supplies that he always kept in his apartment. Milk, cheddar cheese, butter, bread, peanut butter, strawberry jam, assorted frozen dinners, two frozen supreme pizzas, mayonnaise, some packaged sandwich ham, corn flakes cereal, and cranberry juice. Pausing for a moment at the end of one of the canned goods aise, Jacen looked over his basket trying to remember if he had forgotten anything. There was plenty of brandy at his apartment and the supermarket wasn't a place to buy fine liqour like that anyway.

"What am I forgetting?" He muttered to himself, "Should have made a list... why don't I ever remember to make a list?"

(OOC: Claire's profile is listed on Katrina's profile.)

Grocery shopping for an entire school full of adolescents and young adults was no small feat. Claire Dumonde, cook at Xavier's Sister School, had taken to ordering many of the edible essentials online, so they could be shipped to the school each week in bulk. Unfortunately, it wasn't possible to order every possible thing one needed. Some things could only be purchased at an actual grocery store. Currently, there was an entire cart piled high with such items, pushed slowly along by a petite, blonde middle school student.

“Maybe we should get another cart,” the young girl suggested with a hint of fatigue (and was that whining) in her voice. (No- certainly not whining. Middle school students never whine.)

“We should be able to fit everything in one cart,” her mother answered with an unobservant wave of her hand as she checked off yet another item from the long list in her hand. “We only have a few things left. The soup aisle is next.”

With a groan and a heave, the daughter started pushing the heavy cart toward aisle 12: beans, pastas, soups, and other various unspoilable foods helpful to have on hand in case of an epidemic, earthquake, or other natural disaster. Those soup cans sounded heavy. Hopefully they didn't need very many.

"Better get the spaghetti stuff while I'm here... always good to have on hand." Jacen muttered to himself after several moments of silent contemplation. He still had a nagging suspicion in the back of his mind that he was missing something but since he hadn't remembered it yet it was best just to move on. If something popped to the forefront of his mind before he checked out then he could go grab it but for now he'd just focus on his basic ingredients.

Nodding to himself, obviously pleased with his decision Jacen lifted his head and took one strong stride forward, his cart being propelled in front of him with enough force and speed that, while not dangerous, could easily catch another person by surprise. It was right at that moment disaster struck.

As Jacen took the step forward and out of the aisle he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. A mother and daughter with a rather overloaded looking cart. If he hadn't been lost in thought and had been paying more attention he could have easily avoided them both but sadly that was not case. With his strong push his own shopping cart slammed firmly against the young girl's shopping cart.

CRASH!

Katrina saw the collision coming, but there was nothing she could do about it. Her cart was like the titanic, and there was no way she would be able to halt its progress or change its direction anytime soon. The things just had way too much momentum. All she had time to do was give a small yelp at the moment of collision.

The metal in the carts made an impressive percussive noise upon impact. Katrina could feel the vibrations all the way up to her shoulders. The top layer of groceries received the worst jostling, and unfortunately the top was were the breakables were usually stored. Cereal boxes shuffled, tomatoes tossed (and may have squished), bananas bruised, bread bounded right out of the cart, and the eggs flew the coop.

“Yikes!” Katrina looked from the stranger to her mother and back again with eyes widened by surprise.

Claire halted in her tracks and turned on her heel to view the disaster. She gave a motherly gasp and rushed back to the scene of the accident, “Oh my gosh. Are you hurt? What happened? I'm so sorry.”

“Sorry, sorry.” Katrina added. She also noted with annoyance that her mother was speaking more to the driver of the bumper cart than to her. Sheesh. She was the one that had gotten rammed. The Dumondes bent simultaneously to pick up cereal boxes and stack them back on the top of the cart. Sadly the Reese's Puffs box would never quite be the same. Hopefully the air puffed package had spared the contents from an untimely death. It looked like the Honey Bunches of Oats box had suffered a similarly devastating fate: an egg had completely slimed the front of the box. The bread would be fine, but there was nothing that could be done about humpty and all his brothers.

"No... no need to apologize, it was all my fault." Jacen spoke up, obviously chagrined as he moved around to help the mother and daughter gather up the groceries that had fallen to the floor. "I was distracted and wasn't paying attention."

For a man to admit fault was always a difficult thing and it was even more difficult to do it in front of an attractive woman. As the mother's left hand reached out to snag one of the various items on the floor Jacen noticed that she wasn't wearing a ring. It wasn't that he was out to snag a date at every opportunity, but as with most single men, it had almost become a habit.

Turning toward the younger girl Jacen offered her a smile as he picked up the loaf of bread and placed it back on her overloaded cart. "I am really sorry about that." He said again, his attention flickering back and forth between mother and daughter, "I'll be glad to pay for the broken eggs and anything else that got ruined. My name's Jacen King by the way."

At least he admitted that it was his fault. Katrina stole a glance at the reckless bumper cart driver. He was tall (when he wasn't bending to help pick up squished tomatoes), about a foot taller than her mother and another four inches taller than herself. He wasn't as tall as certain red guys she knew, nor as muscular, but he was still pretty big and impressive for a normal looking guy. No wonder that collision had such a force! He had a stern chin and a stern haircut, the strands kept closely in line and standing at attention, each exactly the same length. His eyes seemed friendly, though. They were brown and deep like a puppy dog's eyes begging for forgiveness for making a mess on the floor.

>>>"I am really sorry about that. ... I'll be glad to pay for the broken eggs and anything else that got ruined. My name's Jacen King by the way."

He had kind of a deep voice to match his large size, which could probably be used to either bark very intimidating sounding orders or rumble-read small children to sleep with bedtime stories. Churches probably clamored over his bass voice for their choirs, too, or maybe baritone; it was hard to tell since he wasn't actually singing at the moment.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. King,” Katrina held out her right hand, then switched to the left as she realized the right one had gotten egg yolk on it from the cereal box. “I think I'll run and grab some new eggs and tomatoes. It looks like that's all that got wrecked.” And with that, Katrina scampered off towards the produce aisle, and perhaps to find a bathroom in which to wash her hands. Raw egg and produce didn't mix well after all.

Claire watched her daughter scamper away, then turned her own attention to the stranger, “Hello, Mr. King. I'm Claire, and that was my daughter Katrina. It's nice to meet you.”

The woman smiled up at him, her high, Finnish cheekbones adding extra cheer to the expression. He was taller than her, but then most people were, and solidly built. He was a bit younger than her, too. Probably in his early thirties or somewhere around there. She wasn't the best at guessing other people's ages. He was handsome, too, in a sort of rugged kind of way. His face seemed to be chiseled out of something harder than mere flesh, but still soft enough to be molded into a warm smile. He had a strong, determined looking chin that was currently cleanly shaved, but would look just as good sporting a five o'clock shadow. His eyes were chocolate brown, the kind you could fall into and just keep on falling forever. His deep voice would be well suited to whispering sweet nothings in someone's ear, or softly reading bed time stories to children. Pitched correctly, it would also be one that people would instinctively want to follow. It was a voice you could trust.

“I suppose we should push these carts somewhere out of everyone's way and see what we can do about finding a mop or something,” Claire maneuvered herself to the driver's position of the overloaded cart and pushed. It took quite a bit of effort to get it moving. She hadn't realized that it had gotten so heavy!

Jacen chuckled softly to himself as the youthful girl scampered off. Turning back to Claire he nodded, his smile broadening every so slightly. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well Claire, and your daughter Katrina."

Completely on autopilot, Jacen's mind was sizing up the woman before him. It was obviously just from this brief interplay that she and her daughter was close and with no ring on her hand it was apparent that a husband/father was out of the pictures possibly even non-existent. Claire's black boots and long gray woolen coat were typical winter attire but he could see just the hint of a green skirt peeking out below the bottom of her coat. Classy was a word that immediately came to mind. Her blond hair was a touch disheveled, immediately explained by the tip of a hat that stuck out from her coat pocket, but for the most part its bun had maintained some semblance of order. Her cheeks were still a touch rosy from the cold air outside but the natural paleness of her skin could still be seen. While not a super model she had a classic beauty to her that couldn't be found just anywhere.

"What kind of man would let a woman and daughter like these two get away?" Jacen though, somewhat bewildered but at the same time accepting that there were some twisted and messed up people in the world. For all he knew Claire could have been a victim of abuse at one point though she seemed a little to confident for that to be the case.

"Let me get that for you Claire, and please call me Jacen." The S.W.A.T. officer spoke up as he stepped away from his own light cart and gently but firmly claimed control of the mother's overloaded cart. It was the work of only a moment to get both carts safely stowed in a little more out of the way place while an attentive employee was already moving in on the situation to begin clean up. While accepting that it was the employee's job Jacen also knew he had added to that job so after excusing himself away from Claire for just a moment he had walked over to the employee and given them a ten dollar bill for handling the messy side of the situation.

"You've got quite a load of food there for just you two ladies." Jacen spoke up as he walked back over to where the Claire and the two carts remained, "Throwing a party or are you just planning on having a lot of friends and family vacationing with you."

Jacen's tone was teasing but at the same point his mind was sharp as he worked on gathering more information about this woman. Just in the short meeting he already head questions about both Claire and her daughter and the only he could find out anything was by asking.

"Just keep it light... light conversation but with important questions that get information."

>>>"Let me get that for you Claire, and please call me Jacen."

“Thanks, Jacen,” Claire tried out the name as he swooped in to help her with the unruly cart. She liked the sound of it on her lips. He put moved the carts out of the way in short order and a teen boy in a gray striped polo shirt and an apron arrived carrying a mop without so much as a “Clean up, aisle 12” announcement.

“Thank you, and we're sorry to cause such a mess,” Claire added her verbal apologies to Jacen's green ones. It was a little embarrassing to have been involved in such a fiasco, but everyone seemed to be handling it well. There was no “watch where you are going”s or other rude remarks. It as hard to believe they were actually still in New York City.

>>>"You've got quite a load of food there for just you two ladies. ... Throwing a party or are you just planning on having a lot of friends and family vacationing with you."

“Oh, well, I suppose I do have a lot of mouths to feed,”Claire paused, then realizing what she'd unwittingly implied, hastily added, “Not all mine, of course. I work at a boarding school as head cook. Hence, a lot of mouths.” For some reason she was trying to make a good impression, and it left her feeling like a school girl again. She bit her lip and pushed a stray strand of hair back into place behind her ear, she could hardly believe it was possible to have a civilized conversation with someone after an accidental cart collision.

“How about you, what do you do for a living?” It was his turn to answer a question and her turn to analyze his response. Not that he was analyzing her or anything, she just felt a little like he was. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact she kept getting trapped in those deep and probing pools he had in place of eyes.

A boarding school... that wasn't all that strange since there were plenty of those kind of schools in the area around New York City. Heck, there were even a couple directly inside the city limits. Seeing absolutely nothing strange in Claire's answer, Jacen had no reason to pursue the subject or try and discover whether she and her daughter were mutants. In fact, mutants were the farthest thing from Jacen's mind as he continued chatting with this attractive woman.

"I'm a member of the NYPD but before that I was an Army Ranger." Jacen replied with a slight smile. He knew that the very statement would show that he was a man capable of violence, but he hoped that his actions and words would help to convey a different side of himself. He could fight necessary... he could even kill when necessary, but he was still a man just like any other.

"I've been with the police department for a little over two years now. I was even given the privilege of going to D.C. to help train their department when things were going crazy because of the Registration Act. The city's quieted down since that was overturned but... I'm talking to much." Jacen offered extra information about himself until he finally realized that he might have been rambling.

"How about you? How long have you been in the area?"

Jacen had never thought that he had a soft spot for blondes, but this particular woman was swiftly claiming all of his attention. Maybe it was the fact that she was able to carry on a conversation with some intelligence and maybe it was the fact that no other man had been able to claim this woman as their own. There had to have been a relationship at some point in the past since her daughter Katrina was around but what had happened? Was Claire dating someone right now or was she single? There were so many questions and so little time to cover them.

>>>"I'm a member of the NYPD but before that I was an Army Ranger."

He was both a police officer and a soldier. There were a lot of connotations and stereotypes that went along with both of those jobs. If anyone every needed protection, he'd be handy to have around. He served his country, and enforced its laws. Did he ever disagree with the views and laws of the government, and what would he do if he did disagree? Did he ever lock up mutants in concentration camps? Katrina's father had been one of the senators who had voted for registration law, despite Claire's attempts to manipulate his views otherwise. How would this man have voted?

>>>"I've been with the police department for a little over two years now. I was even given the privilege of going to D.C. to help train their department when things were going crazy because of the Registration Act. The city's quieted down since that was overturned but...”

So he had been otherwise occupied during registration. Was it his choice not to enforce that law, or was he just following orders?

>>>“... I'm talking to much.”

And, Claire realized, she was analyzing too much. Perhaps she was trying to hard to find out if he could accept mutants because she had already learned that a man who hated mutants wouldn't start loving them just because a mutant fell in love with him. She had just met Jacen, and they were just having a friendly conversation over some slightly jostled groceries. Perhaps it didn't even matter at this point whether he was a mutant supporter or hater. Indifference was also an option, she supposed.

>>>"How about you? How long have you been in the area?"

“About a year now, a little over that, maybe. I kind of poked around for awhile before finding the kitchen job this summer. Previously we lived in Virginia, but things got a little... crowded there. There was a school up here that seemed perfect for Katrina, so we came up here. I'm kind of liking the big city life, thus far. People are nicer than I expected New Yorkers to be. I haven't even had my wallet stolen yet!”

Apparently it was her turn to ramble a bit. All truthful rambling, with just a few fuzzy details. Truth was best, but new acquaintances in the soup aisle didn't need to know details about daughters being missing for approximately half of that time, for example. She did try to include some information about her personal life without going to in depth. She didn't want to scare him away with her whole life story, but there was enough there that if he wanted details he could ask later.

“So, I'll bet being in the NYPD is pretty exciting. Why did you decide to be a cop, and in New York City of all places? I would think that is one of the more difficult jobs to do in one of the most difficult cities.” Especially since the mutant population was highly concentrated here, and mutants and cops didn't always get along very well.

“About a year now, a little over that, maybe. I kind of poked around for awhile before finding the kitchen job this summer. Previously we lived in Virginia, but things got a little... crowded there. There was a school up here that seemed perfect for Katrina, so we came up here. I'm kind of liking the big city life, thus far. People are nicer than I expected New Yorkers to be. I haven't even had my wallet stolen yet!”

Jacen had to chuckle at that statement. New Yorker's weren't nice but they weren't mean either. They were people just like the people you would find in any other city but yet everyone still seemed surprised to discover that fact.

"Well that's all in thanks for the dedicated service of officers like myself." He replied, teasing Claire just a little, "Otherwise your wallet would have been stolen multiple times by now! And the people here are nicer than most expect... after going through so much most everyone has learned you have to help out your fellow citizens if you want things to go smoothly."

It was the truth. After so many things having happened here in the city, whether it was caused by mutants or by humans, New Yorker's had learned that they couldn't make do as an island. Everyone had to connect with their neighbors in order to survive and while that didn't mean they had to stand outside have little chats all the time, it did mean they would keep an eye on your house while you were away.

“So, I'll bet being in the NYPD is pretty exciting. Why did you decide to be a cop, and in New York City of all places? I would think that is one of the more difficult jobs to do in one of the most difficult cities.”

"Well... I'm not just a cop." Jacen replied after a moment. People were always willing to accept you when you said you were a cop but there was something different about when you said you were a S.W.A.T. team member. "I'm a member of the New York S.W.A.T. teams. After I got out of the military I kind of had my choice between the NYPD or the LAPD, but I like snow so New York was my choice."

Hoping that he hadn't scared her off yet, Jacen decided he had better explain the choice a little more fully. Claire was intriguing and if she could get past his career choice they might have a chance for at least drinks or dinner maybe. "After being in the Rangers I was so used to action that I had to do something with my skills. I personally didn't care for the choice of being a murder or mercenary," Jacen was trying to throw a little bit of humor into his reasoning but it never crossed his mind that it might come off as touch... wrong. "But I wanted to be able to help in situation than not just anyone could. So, I joined the NYPD and signed up for S.W.A.T. training. Since I was fresh from the military I was still fit so I could get through that pretty easy. And now, I do what needs done. Unfortunately, thing sometimes even happen off duty. I was in a bank the other day when some guys came in to rob the place. It would have turned out bad but there was a mutant in there that could manipulate ice. He saved a lot of lives."

>>>"Well that's all in thanks for the dedicated service of officers like myself" ... "Otherwise your wallet would have been stolen multiple times by now!”

Claire had to chuckle at that statement. It started as grin and was transformed into a laugh before she knew it, “I'm sure the pickpockets heard your were grocery shopping today and all decided to steer clear of here.”

>>>“And the people here are nicer than most expect... after going through so much most everyone has learned you have to help out your fellow citizens if you want things to go smoothly.”

She nodded to that. The mansion was a small example of how people came together to put things back together again after a catastrophe. Working together did seem to bring people closer together.

>>>"Well... I'm not just a cop" ... "I'm a member of the New York S.W.A.T. teams. After I got out of the military I kind of had my choice between the NYPD or the LAPD, but I like snow so New York was my choice."

Claire's eyes widened at that, in a mixture of surprise and interest. There may have been a bit of intimidation and a dash of respect mixed in to the expression as well. “Wow. That's a bit more dangerous than pulling people over for speeding and busting underage parties. Doesn't the SWAT team have to deal with terrorists and serial killers and things of that variety? Your family must about you every time you go to work.”

>>>“I do what needs done. Unfortunately, things sometimes even happen off duty. I was in a bank the other day when some guys came in to rob the place. It would have turned out bad but there was a mutant in there that could manipulate ice. He saved a lot of lives.”

“Oh my. It isn't enough that you face such danger for a living, you have to deal with it in your free time, too? Don't you have anything better to do than invite trouble to the bank? Not that stopping armed robberies isn't a noble thing to do,” Her tone was light, teasing him just a little. It still seemed unreal that she could be speaking to a SWAT team member randomly in the grocery store. She supposed that before now she had never considered that they were human and had human needs, too; needs for frozen pizzas and all the fixings for peanut butter and jam sandwiches.

“Wow. That's a bit more dangerous than pulling people over for speeding and busting underage parties. Doesn't the SWAT team have to deal with terrorists and serial killers and things of that variety? Your family must worry about you every time you go to work.”

Jacen was beginning to get the feeling that he was being examined and analyzed just as much as he was trying to figure out Claire. Her questions seems innocuous, but as he thought about it he realized that he was giving out a lot of information about himself. "Is she just passing the time while she waits for her daughter or does she have another reason?"

"Well I don't have any family to worry about me. My parents died several years ago while I was still in the army so basically my brothers in the military and then my brothers on S.W.A.T. are all the family I got." Luke answer rather matter-of-factly. His tone showed that while he wasn't sorry for himself, he wasn't happy about it either. It was just a fact of life that had been dealt with long ago.

“Oh my. It isn't enough that you face such danger for a living, you have to deal with it in your free time, too? Don't you have anything better to do than invite trouble to the bank? Not that stopping armed robberies isn't a noble thing to do.”

"Of course I have better things to do than invite trouble." Jacen replied as he joined in with the teasing, "I'd much rather be standing here chatting with a beautiful woman, and low and behold I am. No attracting trouble, just two single people sharing some conversation."

Jacen was being completely honest but at the same time he was seeing just how Claire might take the compliment. If she accepted the compliment without being offended then maybe it would open up an opportunity for him to ask about those drinks... otherwise it had been fun while it lasted.

She wasn't analyzing him so much as trying to learn more about him. Any feeling he was getting of being grilled was purely unintentional on Claire's part. He seemed to be an interesting person; humorous, kind, and full of entertaining stories. Bravery seemed to come natural to him as well. He wasn't scared off by bank robbers, terrorists, or women with children.

>>>"Well I don't have any family to worry about me. My parents died several years ago while I was still in the army so basically my brothers in the military and then my brothers on S.W.A.T. are all the family I got."

Claire nodded. He didn't seem to be traumatized or anything. She would think it was lonely though, to live completely on your own. She had done it for about six months and had ended up spending hours at coffee shops listening to other people talking just to get her fill of human company. There was no shortage of that at the school, of course. Now she just longed to talk to other grownups once in awhile. Maybe his loneliness was the motive for smashing into their cart- so he could have someone to talk to. Claire mentally shook her head at herself. Nah, now that was just silly.

“My folks are long gone, too,” she added, “back when I was in college.”

>>>"Of course I have better things to do than invite trouble." ... "I'd much rather be standing here chatting with a beautiful woman, and low and behold I am. No attracting trouble, just two single people sharing some conversation."

Apparently it was his turn to tease her now. And compliment her. Well, if that was the way it was going to be...

Claire smiled coyly, “And how do you know that you haven't attracted trouble after all?” Emphasis on the attracted part. Was she really flirting with him? She could hardly believe herself. Hopefully she wasn't too out of practice.

So the two of them shared something in common... neither one still had their parents. It wasn't something Jacen felt like dwelling on but it did give them at least some type of connection.

“And how do you know that you haven't attracted trouble after all?” Claire teased back, emphasizing the word attracted just a little bit. Perhaps they had more of a connection than just two people that had lost their parents however long ago... "Wasn't there an old show called the love connection?" Jacen thought back as he returned Claire's smile with a grin of his own, "To bad I never saw it."

"Well if you're middle name happens to be trouble then I don't think I mind having it come my way." Jacen answer was off the cuff. It had been a little while since his last date or serious flirting sessions... a couple months now? However long it had been, Jacen felt that he was out of practice when really he wasn't. Maybe he had a chance for that date with Claire after all.

"Play it cool... don't rush anything." Jacen lectured himself in his mind as he tried to think of the next thing to say, "Keep the conversation going and then pop the question in a few more minutes. Keep her relaxed and at ease."

"If you don't mind my asking, how does a woman that can cause such a... fatal attraction get away with not having a boyfriend?" Jacen spoke up, the teasing grin still obvious on his face. He was stretching because he couldn't know for sure that she didn't have a boyfriend, but he was hopeful. If she did have a boyfriend she wouldn't have even begun flirting with him... would she?