Riley was thanking him. She didn't usually thank him. He got the impression that she was actually trying.

"I'm glad I could help," He said with restraint. "After all you've done for me tonight. The cab, taking me in, coffee... I appreciate it."

A wry smile slipped onto his face. This was the time for laughing in the face of danger... or at its backside, from a distance, to dispel any remaining nerves associated with the situation... he guessed. "You didn't do so bad yourself with those thugs, did you? You were pretty good." Not completely helpless. "I guess I owe you a thanks, too... for shouting." He wouldn't have been able to handle himself half as well if he hadn't had the warning. "I guess that was teamwork or something, huh...?"

She'd calmed down. That was good. Ashton aimed a hardboiled nod her way. It was a bigger thing, but she'd get through it. He'd get to the bottom of this whole thing.

>>“Detective Cervantes here…”

A voice answered on the other end of the line, and Ashton turned his back on Riley, cupping his hand over the phone to keep it close to his ear. "Cervantes. It's Drake."

>>“Drake! Thank god a quasi-friendly voice. You’re not going to believe the night I’ve had…”

"Did it involve a cab, a woman with a scarred face, a pretty lady, and one other guy?" He asked. "Clue me in on the parts I missed."

Riley shrugged as Aurum responded to her terse thanks. At least he haddn't gone on about it. She had offered spots in her cab, she had taken him in....and she'd let him have her coffee. It was kind of a big deal, and he appreciated it. Fair enough. She dipped her head in acknowledgment. There they were...being civil again. Truth be told, Riley preferred it to the amnesiac reversion Aurum seemed to have had earlier. They weren't bosom buddies or anything...but the civility was better than...whatever they'd had before.

The fact that apparently the water cop had picked up his phone caught Riley's attention and she tuned into Ashton’s conversation and half tuned out Aurum just in time to hear the Detective call her a pretty lady. Mmm pretty lady…much better than, “possible prostitute”. He was going to get her some coffee too, the dark haired woman spared a smile in his direction, then turned her attention back to Aurum just in time for him to finish talking.

She'd been pretty good? Riley scoffed, ”I kicked the guy in the crotch, Aurum. Not a whole lot of skill involved there.” she’d done that a few different times, to varying degrees of creep. They’d gotten away though, and that was the important thing, she supposed.

As to their "teamwork" ”We screwed up the investigating thing bad enough that you got kidnapped…we got stuck in the elevator…we had to run from the apartment, partially dressed…barely escaped getting shot…and got picked up on suspicion of sex trafficking.” she said, eyebrows raised.

”Some teamwork.” she was smiling though. "But we really were kind of great, weren't we?"

>>”I kicked the guy in the crotch, Aurum. Not a whole lot of skill involved there.”

"Ouch, really? I didn't catch that. Yeah. Brutal." He would have winced if he'd felt like wincing. But he didn't.

She turned her attention to downrating their "teamwork." The teamwork he wasn't actually certain was teamwork, so much as a lady kicking a guy in the jewels and a shirtless man walloping on a thug with a toilet brush. They'd screwed up the investigation. Yeah. Got kidnapped, stuck, had to flee, done everything she'd said, but... she smiled about it. Maybe she thought it was kind of funny? He wasn't feeling guilty about it at all.

"Yeah," He agreed, modestly cracking a smile. "We did fine."

Ashton turned to Aurum and Riley. He held up a finger. "Excuse me. I gotta handle this call... back with coffee in a bit."

That said, he passed the front desk, rounded a corner and went down the hall. He needed to make sure Jorge and him had all their details straight and ducks in a row. He was gunning for the truth.

Ashton asked for a minute, and stepped off to talk to the Water Cop, leaving Riley and Aurum standing in the lobby of the police station. It looked like the coffee was on hold for the moment. The brief silence after he left wasn’t awkward…not at all…and Riley definitely didn’t try to fill it by going back to Aurum’s last comment.
”Just fine. Next time though…you could probably find something better to pummel with than a plunger.” she said with a slightly withering look, ”Like your fists…” she was still grinning though, maybe even teasing a little. That’s what people did when they’d been through a traumatic experience…right? They laughed it off. Riley didn’t know…she hadn’t been through many traumatic experiences…at least not that she’d handled correctly.

As to how brutal her attack had been, Riley snorted a bit, ”He tried to shoot some kind of crazy-ass fireball at me Aurum. If it hadn’t been for….” she kind of waved her hands in front of her, ”This whole thing…we’d have been fried.”

She crossed her arms and nodded her head. ”He got what he deserved.”

"Hmph. But it did work, right? The gross-out factor... wait. Hrm. Remind me to wash my hands." He glanced at his palms. He had not washed them since holding that plunger. That was just gross. He shook his head with a laugh. "You're absolutely right. What was I thinking?"

Apparently, the guy'd been a mutant. And she stopped mutant powers from working if he could still wrap his brain around that? He'd tried burning her alive. No. He had to repeat that in italics. He tried burning her alive. "Definitely." Aurum agreed. "He definitely got what he deserved. Remind me never to get on your bad side. Again." A wry smile had slipped across his face as he'd said it.

Riley had to roll her eyes when Aurum made a big deal out of the plunger, the thing had basically been there for decoration since she’d moved in. It was just kind of one of those things a person kept in a bathroom. Riley didn’t say anything though…let him thing his dirty thoughts. Heh…dirty thoughts. She shook her head at the internal pun, and gave a nod when Aurum asked what he’d been thinking.

Again, it was probably a rhetorical question, but Riley couldn’t resist a slight quip, ”Obviously you were acting, not thinking…but who am I to judge?”

Aurum still had the wrong idea about her what she did, but Riley had to laugh, ”You’ve seen my bad side…and unless you’ve got mutant powers I didn’t know about…I’m harmless to you.” she said, ”Obviously I’m incapable of disarming your rapier wit...so as long as you stay out of kicking range...you're free to piss me off all you want.”

Something about the conversation jogged her memory and she frowned a bit at the floor, ”So…on the elevator…you really hadn’t caught on to what I said? About me being like I am?”

>>”Obviously you were acting, not thinking…but who am I to judge?”

He smiled dryly at her sarcasm. "Obviously."

Riley laughed at him and told him she was harmless to him. He had to shake his head at the rapier wit comment. It was funny. And apparently, so long as he stayed out of kicking range, he was safe. Free to tick her off as much as he wanted? She'd given him a free pass? This not yelling at each other tactic had its merits. Yeah, he liked joking around far more than the alternative. He didn't have plans to cash in on that pass any time soon. Maybe he'd pull a 180 and invite her out for dinner.

Wait. Weird thought, that. Dinner. Well. Food was good. And she was... as the cop had said, 'pretty'. Maybe it wasn't such a weird thought after all. He'd have to introduce her to better coffee, though. That went without saying.

"I'd rather not," Aurum replied with a smile.

Something they'd said made her frown suddenly. She turned her eyes downwards and didn't look at him. She said something he didn't quite get. "About being like you are...?" He repeated uncertainly, matching her frown with his own lack of a smile.

Riley kept her eyes on the floor. For some reason it was easier not to be angry when she didn’t look at Aurum. The floor didn’t draw her ire either…just the same interest the question held in her head.

”Back in the elevator. When my weird mutant canceling thing came up.” she said, worrying her bottom lip a little bit with her teeth.

”I thought that was why you didn’t want me to check out your head.” God…it sounded stupid now, and Riley could feel her cheeks burning as the words left her mouth. She wasn’t a milk and water ninny…why was she acting so pathetic, so…so vulnerable. Riley’s mouth twisted in distaste at the thought.

”It’s dumb. Just forget it.” she said, looking back up and pulling her hair from the pony tail so she could fix it. It felt nice having it down, though, and she ran her fingers through the tangles, trying to pull them loose. At least it was something to do rather than talking.

>>”Back in the elevator. When my weird mutant canceling thing came up.”

Back then, when he'd been worried about his lost memories, and what had happened. When he'd been so thoroughly confused about the whole situation.

>>”I thought that was why you didn’t want me to check out your head.”

Why was she acting uncomfortable about the whole thing? Blushing and worrying her lip and not looking his way?

She told him it was dumb, to drop the subject.

Aurum looked at her with concern. "Riley... when you told me that, I had a lot on my mind. If you think I backed up because I didn't want you touching my head, because I thought you were weird, that isn't it. No. Not at all. My dad is a mutant. I work in a neutral book store. Some of my best friends are mutants. Even if you aren't a mutant, but something entirely different and new... I don't think you're strange. If I could take back that reaction, I would. I'm sorry if you took it the wrong way."

This was incredibly awkward, but if they were clearing the air... despite all awkwardness, the conversation had to end right.

Man. Why did it make her feel so much better to hear him say the words when she’d pretty much already known the answer to her question? Riley grimaced a bit at the way his words came out, not quite sure how to reply or how to deal with the awkwardness that she’d suddenly brought to the conversation.

That hadn’t been what Riley wanted, and she wondered for a moment why it was so much easier to simply be nasty to Aurum. At least then she could predict the outcome…with this whole nice thing…it was impossible to read.

”Okay.” she said…also a little awkwardly. At least she didn’t have to correct him again about the whole mutant thing. It made her feel a little better….he’d listened, even though they’d been running from people with guns.

”Thanks.” Such a tiny word…so hard to actually say. Riley took a moment to put her hair back up. Enough sentimentality though, they had work to do.

”But none of this helps us sort things out. The running around didn’t help jog anything loose in your head?”

Riley glanced at Aurum, ”Are we going to roll on Lonnie to the cops? Bring them in officially?”

It was short. 'Okay', 'thanks', and then she'd moved on... but Aurum could tell the whole scene had meant something more to her. Something important. And... he hadn't completely screwed it up. That was good. Much better. He was getting better at understanding her. They could talk about something less awkward now. Please and thanks.

Jogging anything loose in his head? "No," Aurum replied.

She asked if they were going to roll on Lonnie to the police. Aurum looked Riley in the eye. "I was waiting on you to decide that. I'm fine with it... if we need the help. Heck. You can even treat him like the thug you floored if we find him. But as your lawyer, I'd have to advise you to refer to it as self-defense..."

The memory thing still bothered Riley on a bit of a fundamental level. Why weren’t things coming back? Didn’t amnesiacs usually start remembering things at some point? Was Aurum ever going to remember the things that they’d done? Again, it bothered Riley…more than she wanted to admit.

And he was leaving it up to her whether or not they rolled on Lonnie. The man was a drug dealer, a con, and an all around a-hole. He deserved absolutely everything he got, both from karma and the legal system. Therein lied the problem, though. The legal system. Lonnie was a world class jerk…but he was damn good at what he did. Riley had learned that first hand and had no desire to watch him weasel his way out of trouble in a court room.

What was the other option, though? She looked back at Aurum, trying to think things out quickly. There was no way the lawyer would do anything outside the law. There would be no cowboy justice…not that Riley had any idea how she’d even bring that about. Riley took a deep breath, and let it out.

”Things are getting hairy with just the two of us working.” Riley paused a second and looked in the direction Ashton had gone to talk. ”He’s a good cop.” she commented, ” I think we talk.”

And oh…he was her lawyer now. ”And my lawyer?” she said, eyebrow raised, ”I don’t know if I can afford you.”

>>”And my lawyer?” Riley said. ”I don’t know if I can afford you.”

"That's right," Aurum joked. "Wasn't I made of gold?"

"So, we'll tell Drake what we know when he gets back. And I'll tell him all about what I remember from dealing with the scar lady and the water cop. Did I mention... the scar lady... had erased water cop's and my memory?" Suddenly he realized he might not have made that clear. "Because that's another good reason not to trust her completely." Maybe that was even a crime...