Monica, and Rachel, and Elaine, and Juli. And Julie. And Jess. Since being put on leave, Ashton had been busy.

Therapy had been great, too. Jennifer.

Psychiatrist couches sure were good for something.

Who was bitter? He’d just been bored.

Who else was probably bored? Archer. So, hey, Ashton wondered, what the hell was she up to? How was she doing with the whole thing? It had been a week or two since they'd been put on leave. How was she holding up? They'd lost touch. To that end, he'd called her up. What was a few donuts between cop buddies, eh? Between friends? And only friends.

Donuts. Donuts were good. So was getting out of the apartment. The brace on her wrist was cumbersome, and going to be gone in two days, but Quin was still tempted to simply ditch the thing. It was hard to shower, it was hard to dry her hair, it was hard to do pretty much anything that involved the mobility of one's wrist....which was pretty much everything.

Sure the wrist was still sore, but that was completely beside the point. How was the thing ever going to get better if she didn't start using it? Ponytails were fine, she supposed, and easy enough to manage with the brace...but she was sick of ponytails. She was sick of sitting around. She was sick of being off work.

Yeah. Donuts were going to be good. Donuts with her partner. Quin was curious what he'd been up to anyway, it felt like ages since they'd talked. She hadn't wanted to call, killing someone in the line of duty could do things to people. She'd wanted to give Ashton his space. And now he'd called.

The donut shop was a cute little place, with a wide selection and coffee that only beat cops would love. Quin had frequented the place in her days before MRC and it was nice to see that it was only her who loved it. In she went, ordering a cup and grabbing a cake donut with chocolate icing, then scanning the tables until she found her partner.

Over she went, sliding into the booth across from him with a smile.

"Good choice of place." she said.

"Hows the R&R going?" R for rest. R for recovery. It was the best way she knew how to ask. Directly.

>>"Good choice of place." she said.

He nodded.

>>"Hows the R&R going?"

"So much time on my hands, I don't know what to do with them." Ashton said. Although he did. And mentally counted off women on fingers. "You?"

Something about the way Ashton said that he didn't know what to do with himself suggested to Quin that he knew exactly what he was doing with himself.

"Well you should have called sooner." she said, feigning hurt feelings. "When Nate's not around I've been bored out of my mind."

Sure the bruises had taken quite a while to heal, and it had been really hard for Quin to go back to the apartment even after it had been cleaned...but still. She'd been bored.

"Brace comes off in two weeks. A little physical therapy and I should be good as new." at least physically.

She took a sip of the industrial strength coffee the swirled the cup, hoping the sugar would dissolve more...or turn it into....better coffee.

"Shrink hasn't released me yet though. What about you?"

Release.... heh.

Heh.

His smile faded slightly. Serious time, now. Joke was over. "She let me go." He said. "Cut me loose. Right now, I'm just on leave."

He was glad to hear the brace was coming off, soon. "If you need any help with the physical therapy," He added. Another small smile. "Well, I'd hate for you to be bored with it, all on your lonesome."

He took a sip of his lukewarm coffee. He'd been here a while. He still needed to ditch the donut wrapper in a bin.

"Lucky." Quin muttered into her cup, unwilling to make eye contact with her partner.

"I guess you're just more balanced than I am." It was probably true. Ashton was a seasoned veteran, not some green rookie who'd done something stupid and brought a world of hurt down on herself.

And as far as his offer for help was concerned. "You'll be on the top of my speed dial."

Something didn't add up though. Maybe it was the strained-looking smile on his face....Quin frowned a bit.

"So...if you're not doing therapy...and you're still not working. What have you been up to?"

>>"I guess you're just more balanced than I am."

... Or had earned some points with the shrink. Who had Archer been with?

"Who was your shrink, anyway?" He changed the subject. "And what've you been up to?" Aside from healing. That was important. Had to make sure one got that right.

"Bennings." Quin answered before she could manage to scold Ashton for changing the subject. Fine, she decided, taking a bite of the doughnut and chewing while she tried to figure out how to answer his question without sharing too much, or being too vague.

"Mostly just spending time with Nate." she said, then frowned slightly. Honesty was the best policy, and partners couldn't have huge secrets from one another.

"I had a really tough time at first...being alone and stuff. I didn't have anyone else to call...and he was great. Is really great." she said with a shrug. Ashton had been busy with his own stuff. Quin hadn't wanted to bug him...not with insecurities she'd caused herself.

"I got lucky I guess. Now stop changing the subject, or I'm just going to keep gushing." Quin said with a grin. "Or I'll just start coming up with ideas in my head...like that you've been spending all your time learning how to knit."

>>"Bennings."

Er. Hrm... He supposed he wouldn't mention that to her. There were some things one didn't simply bring up in casual conversation. And banging a lady's psychiatrist was one of them.

Archer provided a much-needed distraction from those thoughts, though. Nate.

Nate...

Ashton matched Archer's frown... but probably not for the same reasons.

She'd had troubles... okay. Maybe he could frown at that, too. But also. Nate. And gushing. Why the hell did her gushing about some punk he didn't trust make him feel so...

Oh.

Jealous.

Ashton shook that goddamn foolish thought out of his head with a wry chuckle, that luckily for him, was timed just perfectly with Archer's comment about knitting.

"I made a quilt." He lied. "Cinnamon red."

Man. Ashton was transparent. He was also lying. Quin gave him a look, making it clear that she saw straight through all the bull shit he was trying to weave. The real question though, was why? Quin was asking a simple question...she wanted a simple answer. Apparently it was nice to want something, because she wasn't going to get an answer.

He'd made a blanket. A cinnamon red one.

Ashton earned another look-of-death for his dodging ways and then Quin shrugged. There was no point in arguing. "Fine. I'll let you off the hook...but if you're not careful I'm going to drag you to therapy with me."

Ashton arched an oh-so-innocent eyebrow.

"Excuse me?" He laughed incredulously. "But I was being serious. Well then. No quilts for you." All the better. He didn't much feel like buying her a quilt.

Man, was she on to him? On about what?

Yeah. Quin was totally on to Ashton's game, and no matter how much he tried to deflect with humor she wasn't going to forget. Maybe she'd let the topic drop for now, but eventually, she'd figure out what was going on. It was something she could do to keep her mind off everything else.

"Yeah yeah..." she said, waving a dismissive hand.

What else was there to talk about?

"So yeah...Nate's been really awesome..." she said, resorting to girl talk, since Ashton was being useless in the conversation department.

"I mean...he's always been really sweet, but he stuck around though all this...."

"That's a good thing, right?"

Ashton shrugged.

No quilts for Nate, either.

"When you care about someone..." He said. "You stick around. And don't want to see them hurt."

Yeah. Man. Ashton made a great point.

" Yeah. Quin said, scuffing the toe of her shoe against the floor of the doughnut shop.

She frowned a little bit into the cup of coffee and nibbled at the donut before she spoke again.

"Thanks." she said finally, looking up. "I know I said it that night...but thanks."

Quin was quiet again for a moment, but there was a little more to say.

"Dr. Bennings says I need to get all of that out of my system before I'm ready to go back. Otherwise I'm likely to do something stupid."

Ashton nodded.

"Bennings says some smart things."

Speaking of things. Ashton rose. "Be back in a second. I need a refill." He snagged his coffee cup as he swept past the table, heading towards the front counter. He left her with her 'girl talk'. Hopefully, that'd die down a bit before he got back.