She didn't want to hurt him? But that meant... if she wouldn't... it could only be... she cared about him? She actually cared whether he drew his next breath and whether or not he got a chance to face the world again tomorrow? Obviously she would care about the slug of a man that just so happened to be her father but if she cared about Jacen that meant something entirely different.

"Look at me." Jacen ordered softly as he reached over and cupped his hand around her cheek while gently lifting her face up so that they could look into each others eyes, "You may be a brilliant woman in a lot of areas but sometimes you're just plain dumb." He said quietly as a ghost of a smile touched his lips, "But since I'm the same way I guess that makes us even."

Dropping his hand down to grip one of her hand, Jacen just look at her for a moment as he tried to decide how to handle this. Even if he was willing to just sweep this under the rug and pretend that nothing happened there was no way his partner would go along with it. But maybe he could offer him something else. Jagger was always looking to make a name for himself so what if he brought in a girl that had been missing for some time and that same girl was able to provide more information about a certain mutant that had the ability to make himself into a giant? Maybe, just maybe that would buy his silence.

"Look, if you come down to the station and admit you're not missing while also providing information about a certain large friend of ours, I may be able to convince my partner to say this was all a mistake and that we didn't find any problems on this call." He said after a moments contemplatoin, "There's just two other things."

Falling silent for yet another moment, Jacen's deep brown eyes stared directly into her piercing blue ones as though he was trying to look directly into her heart. What was she feeling? Did she really care? There was only one way to find out.

"First." Jacen said before leaning forward and gently kissing her on the lips. More of a searching kiss than a passionate one, it was if he were asking her to trust him by the lip contact. If she could just allow herself to give him some of her trust, he would never betray it. Never.

"Second." Jacen said huskily after finally pulling away from the kiss, "What's your real name?"

He told her to look at him, but without the prompting of his hand, she would never have done it. They were from different worlds and he'd just seen one of the biggest and ugliest skeletons in her closet... well, besides the real skeletons. She would have to tone down or quit visiting the others. How could kiss or even kill when she would be seeing Jacen? Worrying about Jacen. Wondering what he would think of her. It wasn't fair! He'd crippled her ability to be an equal opportunity manipulatrix.

The look in her eyes was cringing, but she managed good eye contact. This was wrong, the neighbors would be watching. It was too intimate. "You may be a brilliant woman in a lot of areas but sometimes you're just plain dumb."[/color] Her wandering, slightly panicked mind came to focus on Jacen as her eyebrow twitched toward arching. She managed to keep it from getting too skeptical, but it was a very near thing. So here it was. The point where he got up and walked away. When she'd been so ridiculous and hazarded everything... they would share a good laugh and she would have her lesson learned. Yup, lesson lea-"But since I'm the same way I guess that makes us even."[/i] She tensed as his hand dropped away from her face. Even? Even? Only on planet dumb were they even.

He was dumb. She was dumb. That was for sure.

It was all she could do to sit there passively as he took her hand in his. She felt his calluses on hers and it was weird. She hadn't held a hand since, what? 3rd grade? Not that it wasn't ni--she shook her head. No. Not nice. If she could pull herself out of this stupor and think of how to con him. Yes, that would make this better. He was so open for the attack, so ready and willing for her to take what she needed.

She chewed her lower lip in the short silence. What did she need from him? Beyond showers, she couldn't steal showers... unless his blood would help her do that... what if his blood was a cure? She could be norma--She shook her head again to stop that train of thought. Shut up, heart, brain-momma is working.

Ah, but he was speaking again. She shoved all of that uncertainty aside and tried to listen to his words with the detachment that came along with the long-con. Because she was going to con him -- she'd just have to work up to it. Oh hell, since she couldn't lie to Jacen, she'd started lying to herself. She nodded at his words. Admit to not be missing. Sure. She figured that might happen someday. No loss. Implicate Brickson? Sure. Sure. She planned to add more to his rap sheet anyway... "You're not going to like this story." Her chest squeezed uncomfortably tight. Of course she wouldn't be telling much of anything implicating anyone besides Brickson, but... "I'll do it." And they would believe it. Small with a black eye versus size changing and brutal cop killer? Yeah. They'd believe it.

"There's just two other things."[/color]

The only things that came to mind were "duck" and "cover."

He looked at her, no in her, and she squirmed a bit uncomfortably. It was too honest a look. She didn't want to be honest, but she didn't mind attempting some kind of searching of her own. He leaned down to meet her upturned face with one of the most chaste kisses they had ever shared. It was much like the first of shower kisses and made her pulse jump into her throat.

And as for the second thing? "Lori. Lori Faust."

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you Lori." Jacen said with a slight smile at the woman that was currently sitting on his lap and still keeping him pinned to the ground, "Unfortunately, as much as I would love for us to just stay in this position, I'm still working so... mind letting me up? I promise note to chase down your father today."

He really hated the fact that one day's proteciton for Lori's father was really all he could offer. The man had a rap sheet and it wouldn't take long before he got into trouble that woudl bring the police force down on him once again. For now he would get off but it wasn't in Jacen's power to shield that creepo even if he did happen to have sired such a lovely daughter.

"My shift wraps up at 5:00." He spoke again after the two of them had climbed back up to their feet. "Any chance I can get the story on you and your father while we grab a bite to eat?" If she said yes it would be the first step toward a more normal relationship. If she said no then things would either remain as they were or the two of them would completely cut off contact. "You don't have to if you don't want to or if you've got other plans." Jacen offered as a way of escape as he began to walk over to the squad car and check on his still unconscious partner. He could already tell that the ride back to the station was not going to be a pleasant once since the front of Jagger's panters were slightly shinier and more damp looking than they were supposed to be. That was just wrong on so many levels.

There were a lot of things that needed to be explained between the two of them. Now that Lori knew he really was a cop she had to be wondering about his car theft from several nights before. In fact, her seeing him in this way realy just opened up all kinds of doors that Jacen wasn't completely sure he was ready to face. The fact he didn't want any of his fellow cops to know that he was a mutant was deffinately right near the top of his lift. Inside, Jacen knew that he was no different than he had been a year ago when he joiend the force but if everyone found out that he was 'special', they'd refuse to work with him. For at least eighty or ninety percent of the department, each and every mutant was continued scum.

"Since my partner's out cold you're welcome to ride in the front seat." Jacen said with a slight grunt as he hefted up his partner and then laid him down on the bench seat in the back of the squad car, "You ready to go?"

Sitting in his lap? Oh! Right! She practically jumped up. She thought about arguing the today only part of this bargain, but decided against it. One day was enough. If he were smart, he'd get the hell out of this state. He usually had a good inclination for self preservation. Lori imagined him setting up his trailer somewhere in sunny California, but she doubted he would. Who knew where he would go now?

She sighed. "Let me put some things away." She wasn't quite sure why it was important to put the groceries and paper plates away before she left, but she didn't want to leave them out in the bushes. She'd payed good money for them and if they were going to rot unused somewhere, it might as well be in the cupboard.

Lori left the trailer door open, not caring if Jacen saw the horrors within. He'd seen the man that made them, how could it be worse besides the smell? Lori pulled on her yellow rubber gloves and pulled all the dishes out of the sink an deposited them into a double trash bag and then cleaned the sink out with soap. Why rush? 5 o'clock would only come sooner and Jacen's partner was still out like a damp light. It didn't take her very long anyway. She just couldn't bear to leave the mess.

After the dishes went into the dumpster and the majority of trash she'd gathered earlier had followed, she took the offered front seat of the cruiser. She'd never imagined riding in the front of one before... in fact, she rather liked it. The respect people showed by slowing and giving sideways glances... Being a cop might not be so bad. It wasn't as if she hadn't entertained the idea before, though for more nefarious reasons usually.

"There's no story to tell," She returned to an earlier train of thought as they neared the police station. "About my dad. You can't choose your family." Lori could hardly believe this was playing out like this. There was almost no guarantee that Jacen wasn't just going to backstab her and leave her in a cell. Oh sure, she deserved it, but she couldn't believe he would do that to her... she couldn't believe she was trusting him. Trusting him to make sure she didn't end up incarcerated. Of course he'd have to stand there the whole time to make sure she didn't bust out... She shoved those thoughts aside for later dissection.

"I would enjoy dinner... with you." Because she couldn't bear to head back to the Sanctuary and she didn't have a place of her own anymore. In fact... what was she going to do? In all likely hood she was probably going home with Jacen tonight, but that meant nothing about tomorrow. She sighed. She had one or two other... friends... that would take her in for a price. But that was a price she was suddenly unwilling to pay. Did he realize how much he ruined everything? She smiled pitifully at him as the cruiser came to a stop.

"Need a hand with Wizzer?" She motioned to the deadbeat in the back. In fact, a through occurred to her suddenly. "Tell me he's not your usual company?"

Lori's comment about her dad was really to be expected so Jacen didn't bother to press for more information. If she ever wanted to share more information about her family or her childhood he would be glad to listen but he wasn't going to push for anything. They were still just... well, whatever they were. Not exactly friends but not just aquaintances either. "Why does everything about this woman have to be so difficult?"

And then, as the skies parted and a heavenly chorus began to sing, things took a turn for the better. Lori was willing to have dinner... with him. It had taken a moment for that final part of the sentence to come out but she had still said it. She actually wanted to have dinner with him! If he hadn't been driving a police car while wearing his uniform he might have actually pumped his fist in victory.

As the squad car pulled into the apropriate parking spot Lori finally asked a question that made Jacen want to squirm at least a little bit. It would have been so much easier if she had refrained from asking anything like that until dinner but, since she had been realtively frank with him she deserved the same honest responses in return.

"Actually he's not my normal partner because this isn't my normal squad car." Jacen replied slowly as he put the vehicle in park but temporarily left the engine running, "See, I don't normally go out on patrol. The only reason I'm doing patrol work right now is because of the injuries I got in the fight the other night." Turning his head around so that he could look directly at his blond girlfriend Jacen only had one option. Tell the truth. "I'm a member of S.W.A.T. and patrolling isn't really in our line of work."

"Shame. You look good in blue." Lori pulled the door handle and put her legs out onto the curb. She was sure he looked good in black too...

And he didn't really need her help with Mister Moist either. Lori hesitated with her hand on the cruiser door. She was really going to do this, wasn't she? The usual excuses went through her head. She wasn't dressed, this was like walking into a pit of vipers, this was wrong because it was a trap.... yeah there were a lot of things wrong with this situation, but if she was eve going to get out of hiding... really get out of hiding, she would have had to do it anyway. She was lucky to have someone to be on her side... and a black eye.

"Jacen... don't believe everything you hear." She wasn't teasing and her eyes never faltered from the busy building's doors. She didn't wait for him and she didn't look back. This was her show. She had to get the facts straight.

Tight jeans a white shirt that wasn't quite long enough to meet the top of her jeans, she was fresh from the trailer park complete with her black eye. Hopefully, they had coffee.

***

Lori was the perfect gentlewoman while in the police station. She was using honey to catch her flies. Settled into a metal chair next to the paper strewn desk of an officer, Lori huddled over her paper cup full of molten caffeine. She couldn't quite call it coffee. It was more... stabby mud... or... no, mud was pretty accurate.

"I met a guy at BancFirst and he wanted to show me how powerful and important he was so we went into the vault for a little fun..." She supplied some very non true facts that made the nice officer break the lead of his pencil. She cleared her throat. "So that's when I first met him... in the bank vault."

"He was in there already?"

"No, he came in through the wall." She grimmaced. "He was about 7 feet tall at first and had a large bag with a money sign on it."

The officer just looked at her as she raised her hands, cup still in her hand. "I swear to you, I have a better imagination than that, but Brickson doesn't. Didn't really get a chance to say no, this guy was all hands and if you walk in of a scene like that..." She took a sip of her coffee and regretted it. In order to keep from making the same mistake, she set the cup down on the floor. She tried to set it down on the desk, but there wasn't any desk to speak of. Only precariously stacked papers and it would be disastrous to spill it on herself and start a light show. She didn't mind telling her stories since they would only get lost in this pile... although with the juicy tidbits she was supplying maybe it'd get circulated around the office instead. Ah, at least it'd be a good read.

After three more pencil breaks, the police had her official statement and Lori had a bit of a crowd. They had actually cheered when she had told them how she outsmarted him and escaped the prison he had made for her. A month, she was in there. He had hurt her in so many ways: look at the teeth marks! Oh, she was fighter, a survivor for sure, but she was wounded too... She even almost cried!

No one was getting any from her any dates with her any time soon, no sir. And of course she didn't come in to the police station after she escaped because, well, who would want to? She just wanted to sleep and go to her home, but it was gone -- who knows how it had gone up in flames, but really it was good that no one was hurt. What? Bacchus was seen at the scene of the crime killing police men? What a horrible man!

Lies flowed from her lips smoother than truth, her charisma was a force to be reckoned with, and after all was said and done, after all the i's were dotted and the t's crossed, she asked if she could wait for the officers that convinced her to come in. "I owe them... I just want to say thank you." And so she waited on the bench up front next to a man who was cuffed to the wrought iron arm waiting for his attorney.

Jagger was dead weight... damp dead weight. As he lifted the man up onto his shoulder, much like a sack of potatoes, and then carried him in Jacen once again found himself wishing that he could have some other power than the one that mutation had apparently given him. Super strength to make this lifting easier or maybe the ability to shut down his nose so that he didn't have to smell his partner. Apparently the lords of the universe had decided that regular B.O. wasn't bad enough and so they graced him with a partner that couldn't control himself when electrocuted. Great... just great.

"He shot himself with his own stun gun." Jacen offered by way of explanation as he carried his partner in and laid him on the examination table in the medic's office, "Perp got away while I was busy checking on his sorry ass."

It was a perfectly acceptable story once the medic and other officers saw that Jacen was referring to a certain 'Officer Jagger'. Yep, that one was the laughing stock of the precinct. A good man at heart but how in the world he had made it through examination without tripping over his own feet was beyond any of their comprehension.

Leaving Jagger under the watchful eye of the on call medic, Jacen moved on to handle the bane of a police officer's existance. Reports. On most days it was difficult to concentrate on these kinds of things but today it was even worse. Lori was in the other room, giving her statement, and apparently sharing all kinds of intimate details that had the whole watch room buzzing. That pretty little thing had been captured and ravaged by the giant police killer? And then she'd escaped? It was an amazing story especially when she shared the kind of details that most witnesses tried to carefully avoid. Yep, this woman would be the ultimate witness of they could just catch this Brickson and then prosecute him. Slam dunk case for the DA if they could just catch him.

***

Jacen was going home early and he didn't care who knew it. Even the watch commander had been sympathetic when he learned about how the officer had been forced to carry a damp Jagger in to the medic. Maybe he'd even suggest that Jacen get hazard pay for this particular duty rotation. Honestly he didn't really care. He just wanted to slip out, find Lori, and get the hell away from the police station. Maybe he needed to start thinking about a new career choice because as soon as something slipped and the officers figured out he was a mutant, it would be all over.

Walking out into the main hallway of the station Jacen quickly scanned the room before his eyes fell on the beautiful blond he was looking for. She was sitting right next to some perp that was currently waiting for his court appointed attorney to show up and tell him just how hopeless his case really was. It was kind of sad really but more than likely he'd accept a plea deal, serve a few months to a year, and then be right back out on the streets without ever really changing.

"Hi." Jacen said with a slight smile as he walked over to the blond, "I hear you were waiting for me."

"Oh, sorry. I was waiting for the handsome man with the bladder problem. God, I love a man who can't control himself." Lori winked at the perp still cuffed to the bench who gave her an even more horrified expression. Apparently she'd been chatting with him and despite the fact that this one was an "alleged" killer, she'd managed to horrify him to the point where he had scooted and given her most of the bench. "Stay classy, Emil."

Despite what she had said, she stood and tugged at her shirt. She really wasn't dressed for fancy. "Where did you have in mind?" Really, Lori didn't do fancy. She could clean up nice and pretend for all she was worth, but that would require cleaning up first. Honestly, her good deed was done for the day. It was time to be as selfish as she wanted, and what Lori wanted was right in front of her.

"Unless you think I should change, I'd rather just go eat." She wasn't above cleaning up, she just wanted to gauge how nice a dinner Jacen was expecting.

"You deffinately don't need to worry about changing." Jacen replied as he gave her figure an appreciative glance. Even in more casual clothes there was no disguising the pretty woman hidden behind the denim, plus the fact that she was exposing a little skin around her midriff didn't hurt at all. "But if you don't mind I think I will go ahead and change at the apartment. I'm not particularly fond of wearing this uniform unless absolutely necessary."

Leading Lori out to his truck in the employee parking lot, Jacen held the door open for her to climb in before walking around and getting on on the driver's side. There was a lot that they needed to talk about but now wasn't the time. Heck, dinner might not be the time but at least they'd be getting some in their stomachs before the next thing happened.

The drive from station house to apartment was relatively quick and in a very short time Jacen and Lori were walking back into Jacen's apartment. "There are drinks in the fridge if you want something while you wait." Jacen called over his shoulder as he walked into the bedroom while already unbuttoning his shirt. Opening the closet doors Jacen slipped off his shoes and stuffed them in a corner where they would hopefully stay for quite some time. S.W.A.T. was a much better gig than regular patrols. After stripping down to his boxers Jacen pulled out a pair of denim jeans, a brilliant orange polo, white socks, and a pair of cowboy boots. It wasn't often he got a chance to wear them and since he was planning on a steak house for dinner they would fit in nicely.

Turning back around Jacen was a touch startled to see Lori leaning up against the door frame with a grin on her face. Obviously she had decided that watching him undress was far more interesting than getting a drink. "Can't a guy get any prviacy?" Jacen asked with a good natured laugh before quickly pulling on his clothing. His police issue side arm had been locked in his locker at the station but Jacen was still tempted to grab one of his personal weapons and take it with him. For tonight though he decided against it, figuring that carrying a weapon might seem a little strange to Lori for their first official date.

Suddenly getting a teasing grin on his face Jacen reached into the closet and grabbed out a rather beat up looking cowboy hat which he promptly plopped directly on Lori's head. "Ready to go?"

***

Steakhouse were easy. Nice enough to have a good dinner but still casual enough that you could go in with jeans and a t-shirt and feel right at home. For Jacen, his favorite place had to be Outback Steakhouse. They had some of the best cuts of beef around and other than the fact that they used a tad to much pepper, he really had never been able to find anything to complain about.

"What can I get you two to drink?" The female waitress asked after the two of them had been seated.

"Beer and water for me." Jacen replied after a moment's hesitation. After getting Lori's order the waitress walked off, leaving the two of them alone.

"If you don't mind my asking, why didn't you ever tell me your real name was Lori? I understand a single woman not registering with her real name at the tennis match but why not ever share it with me?" Jacen asked curiously. It was obvious from his tone of voice that any hurt that might have previously been there had been dealt with. All that was left was pure curiosity.

Lori considered grabbing a beer from the fridge, she was pretty sure she'd seen some, but Jacen was walking back to the bedroom. After a quick peek to confirm her suspicion, she left the fridge and went to creepy stalk from the door frame of the bedroom. There was something intimate about getting dressed. Nakedness was somehow less personal than the way he pulled up his jeans and the order in which he buttoned his fly and zipped his fly. Lori was a button first kind of girl.

He seemed surprised to see her there, and she didn't blame him, she just smiled. Smiled and accepted the cowboy hat with a questioning glance. It really completed the trampy white girl look, and hat were always adorable on Lori. Something about a big hat hiding big blue eyes and a smile that promised mischief.

"You get to hear any of my testimonial?" Purgery was officially more fun than normal lying.

***

It wasn't weird. She'd expected it to be weird. But instead it was weird that it wasn't weird. Jacen ordered a beer and water, and Lori followed suit though she specified hers a a Heineken. She was a bar tender! She was allowed to be a beer snob. After the waitress was gone and it was actually just the two of them and a booth, he started with the questions.

"If you don't mind my asking, why didn't you ever tell me your real name was Lori?"

She smiled and it wasn't all happiness. "Oh hello again Jacen, glad we humped each others brains out, oh, by the way before we get down to business I should let you know you've been screaming the wrong name." She gave him a piercing, but still playful look. "I had no intention to stop lying to you. Does that make you feel better or worse?"

She ran her hands across the menu before cracking it open. Steak was steak, right? There were lots of things on the menu, but she wasn't exactly a lobster kind of gal. She pretty much just decided to go with the featured item pictured at the top of the menu.

Jacen didn't go for the fancy cuts of meat that so many people seemed to favor. The one or two times he had tried filet or New York Strip he had found them tender, sure, but relatively flavorless. No, if a man wanted to go with a bold, flavorful cut of meat then the Ribeye was always a great choice. Add to that a loaded baked potato and ceasar salad and you got a meal fit for a king.

"More indifferent than anything." Jacen said with a smirk as he glanced down at his menu, "I didn't know you were lieing about your name but I did know about your being a thief so at least you weren't pulling the wool completely over my eyes."

"Two waters, a Heineken for the lady," The waitress said as she walked up and set down two glasses of water, followed by a bottle for Lori, "and a tap for the gentleman." She finished as she set the beer mug down in front of Jacen. "Are you two ready or do you need another couple minutes?"

"A couple of minutes, thanks." Jacen said without the slightest hesitation. Sure he knew exactly what he wanted to order but he was going to get his money's worth out of this meal and that included the dinner conversation.

"I hope you don't mind if I take it as a compliment," He spoke again with an obvious grin on his face after the waitress had walked away, "that apparently my... humping as you put it so well, was enough to throw you off your game and make you forget a wallet with the ID of the woman who actually owned your tennis outfit."

Reaching over Jacen picked up his mug and took a good sip, his eyes never leaving Lori's face. It felt kind of good to know that this expert conwoman wasn't perfect and maybe, just maye he'd been able to get under her skin at least a little bit. This was deffinately a strange beginning to any relationship. Sure Jacen cared about what happened to this little blond but there were a lot of issues to be dealt with before they could ever become anything more than casual lovers.

"So how long have you been living like that?" The missing person's report had been filed quite a while ago and Jacen was willing to be that was right around the time she had chosen this particular lifestyle. "And why did you get into stealing? The thrill of the moment?"

She was glad they were being civil about all this. Perhaps a bit snide and, but all in all he was taking it better than she expected a police officer would. But then again This particular police officer was special. A mutant for one and a fellow thief and (at times) law dodger. Talk about the hypocritical lifestyle they were both doing it just from opposite ends of the spectrum.

When he mentioned the thieving she actually opened her mouth to ask which time, but stopped herself. The beers arrived with fantastic timing. Lori took the cold beer in hand reveling in the beads of sweat that did not spark in her hand. She sipped it and it was everything a beer should be. It warmed her chest and cooled her stomach. Opposites went together so nicely provided there was some overlap of interest.

"I hope you don't mind if I take it as a compliment, that apparently my... humping as you put it so well, was enough to throw you off your game and make you forget a wallet with the ID of the woman who actually owned your tennis outfit."

Lori hmmmmed and leaned back in the wooden bench seat. She crossed her legs under the table and considered Jacen thoughtfully.

"I hadn't realized there was a wallet at all." What a chump that woman had been to leave her personal things so far from her bodily person. So much of import that was so easy to take. It was also interesting to note that Jacen had said nothing of this fact. How long had he known? And what motivation did have have to keep his silence? She smiled thoughtfully to herself and sipped at her Heineken cooly. "Not like I took anything from you..." A though occurred to her. "Well, nothing important anyway."

"So how long have you been living like that?... And why did you get into stealing? The thrill of the moment?"[/color]

"Off the record?" She raised a brow until he consented and then readjusted her... his cowboy hat so that she could see his eyes better.

"I don't live anywhere, Jacen. I don't have clothes, I don't have a job, I don't have friends... not many anyway." She leaned forward and put her elbows on the table, setting her beer down. "My house has always been plagued by lighting. This time... I caught it... and it blew up my apartment. Brickson too, the poor sap. And I've been drifting ever since. Stayed at some shelters, visited old friends who didn't mind the company... and some who did. It's only been a few months and that lady looked my size on the train. Thought I'd be finding clothes, but what I did find lead me to you so I can't complain." She sipped her beer thoughtfully. Since when did um-friends get the truth? When you lose that "um" hesitation.

Mentally Jacen made note to ask Lori about the "nothing important" comment, but for now he let it slip by. He hadn't noticed anything missing from his apartment but that didn't mean that something wasn't. After all, everyone had junk that they thought was vitally important but in actuality rarely entered the mind. If she had helped him get rid of some of that particular junk then more power to her.

"Off the record?"

"If I wanted to turn you in I would have done it with that wallet I just mentioned." Jacen replied as he reached over to grab his beer once more, "Of course off the record."

Taking a long sip of the cold liquid, he listened carefully to Lori's story as he set the mug back down. There were some interesting tidbits of information that he hadn't heard before, such as the fact that Brickson had been in Lori's apartment.

"Well hopefully it won't tarnish my badge to badly if I say that I'm glad you took that particular bag." Jacen admitted just a touch hesitantly, "Actually you could say it's been kind of an eye opening experience for me as well. If someone had told me a year ago that I'd be spending time with a self declared thief and enjoying myself I would have laughed in their face. Of course that was before I found out that I was a mutant. That really throws a wrench in whatever plans I may have had for my life."

Leaning back in his chair and making himself as comfortable as possible, Jacen glanced around the restaurant for a moment before turning his gaze back to Lori. "I was surprised at how well you handled my statement about being part of S.W.A.T." It was a honest enough statement because plenty of non-criminals were a little freaked out by the special group that normally ran around in all black including face masks. The normal person was grateful that such well trained individuals existed but it creeped out a lot of people. "I was expecting something a little more... explosive to be honest."

It bothered Lori that Jacen saw his mutation as a monkey wrench in his perfectly planned out life. It also irked her that he had said she was a self-proclaimed thief. What kind of idiot thief would proclaim it? She was just sharing information between friends and if any of this got back to the station she'd just left, well... that would make her feel better and worse about this situation. It would validate her paranoia but, if that were true, she would also be in jail, betrayed.

Lori blinked placidly at Jacen before taking a large swig from her green bottle. "Why would I care about your day job? I know who you really are. SWAT may be a facet of you, but you aren't organizing any raids on me." She shrugged. "Your badge was more tarnished by the fact that you compromise who you are. I can't say drifting is better, but surely your mutation is more to you than a tragic mistake." It was bait to be sure. She wanted to know how much of the mutant was police and how much of the police made up the mutant.

She didn't expect him to give up his old life and drop everything as she had. It just didn't make sense for him after so many years of x-gene inactivity. Only the true disciples of power would answer such a call.

Lori settled back against the wood of her bench again and wondered where this would go. White picket fence? No. Um-Friends was ruined, but she was handling things better now that the heat of the moment was gone. Lying to a room full of police had helped her remember herself. Using her real name made it that much more real. There would be little left of Lily for Jacen. Now it was only the real Lori -- a much harder individual to love and she was not going to make it easy on either of them.

Jacen raised an eyebrow ever so slightly as Lori said that he compromised who he really was but chose to let the comment slide for the moment. The worst part about it was that, in a manner of speaking, he knew she was right. On the one hand he knew exactly who he was but on the other hand he no longer understood how he was supposed to fit in with society. Sure he was part of the police force that he could no longer look at that as a life time career. All it would take was one on the job injury, blood work would get done, and just like that he would be on the sidelines because none of his team mates would be willing to work with a mutant. The fact that his blood results from the hospital hadn't been made public yet was a happy circumstance but how long would that last? Eventually they had to come out and at that point Jacen would have to begin to consider a future outside of the NYPD.

"I never said my mutation was a tragic mistake, just a wrench in the plans that I had for my life." Jacen responded seriously, somewhat surprised at the turn this conversation had taken, "At least 85 to 90 percent of the police force despises mutants. I know that I'll be getting a routine physical with blood work sometime next year and if I get injured on a mission that blood work will happen even sooner. Up until meeting you I had planned to be in S.W.A.T. until I was forced to retire. Maybe even be an instructor after it was all said and done. Am I upset that those plans are ruined? Not particularly, but I do have to begin to consider my options. The police force doesn't work as a life long career any more so that means I have to begin searching all over again."

Not wanting to drain his beer off to fast, Jacen reached over and picked up his glass of water. Sipping it slowly he continued to watch Lori while he tried to figure her out. She was a mystery in many ways and, beyond her sexiness, that was one of the things that drew him to her. Would he ever be able to figure her out or would she eventually walk out on him and head off to another man that understood her better.

"Are you two ready to order?" The waitress asked as she finally approached their table again.

"I'll take a Ribeye, medium rare, with a loaded baked potato and Cesar salad." He replied immediately as he picked up his menu and handed it over to the waitress.

"And for you ma'am?"

***

"If you don't mind my asking, how did it happen that you ended up inviting Brickson to your apartment?" Jacen asked with a sly grin after the waitress had walked off. This was obviously a more interesting topic of conversation for him and he was admittedly curious about it. "Were you seducing him because he had something you wanted, like you did me, or was it for a different reason?"