Quin watched as Ashton stood up to go and get his coffee. That had all come out so awkward...not at all how she'd intended it. Resting her forehead in her hand for a second she sighed, and tried to pull it together before he sat down again.

When he did though, the compulsion was still there. The desire to talk.

"So why did you want to get together?" she settled for asking as he slipped back into the booth. Maybe there was another agenda here, something other than talking that needed to be accomplished.

Ashton sipped his coffee, gulped. Set it down. "To talk."

They'd already covered the talking. But there was plenty more to be had. "I know how it is." His voice softened. He found himself confessing something he hadn't even realized he'd been willing to confess. "Dealing with this sort of thing... it's hard. I figured you might need to talk about it with someone who has dealt with it firsthand."

Bennings was good, but... she hadn't nearly died... or seen a partner die in the line of duty. Or dealt with any of the tough stuff, in-between.

Oh....he did want to talk. The redhead frowned slightly and shrugged her shoulders as Ashton pointed out that he'd dealt with this sort of thing before. Firsthand. Up came Quin's head again to look at her partner.

It was interesting. They spent so much time together, yet sometimes it felt like they were strangers. She didn't ask for details though. Didn't need them.

"Did you have nightmares?" she asked quietly, playing with the edge of the cup. "Or see things in the dark?"

Nate was good, but he wasn't a cop. He didn't understand what it was like to fall as far as Quin suddenly had.

His voice was quiet. He said simply "Still do."

Somehow that was hard to imagine. Ashton was so self-contained, so...unflappable. Quin let out breath she hadn't realized she was holding and blinked for a second. This made her feel better...to know that even someone like her partner had gone through these things.

Nodding without even realizing it, Quin took a drink.

"But it gets better?"

"Time," Ashton waved a hand mystifyingly. Then, more seriously he added. "It's not so much about it getting better, Quin. It's about dealing with it. You can't let it control you. You've got to move past it."

He let that sit for a while. He let her digest.

Time. The same thing the shrink had said when Quin had asked what she could do to make all of the paranoia, the nightmares, the anxiety go away. It felt like too much to simply wait out the storm. Ashton said it too though...that it took time, and figuring out how to deal.

Quin chewed over that for a little while in silence. She had people who would help her, who would support her through the rough times. Nate had already proven that he'd be there, if for nothing more than to simply let her know that everything was okay. He didn't get what she was going through, but he was still willing to be there.

She also had Ashton, who had obviously been there. He was helping in his own way, letting her know that she wasn't alone.

"I guess until then it's a good thing I've got that shrink...and that this place isn't likely to run out of donuts."

Another pause, while Quin mulled over her curiosity and whether or not this was the time to ask Ashton what had happened to him.

Probably not.

"Though...I wonder if they'd get mad if we brought our own coffee next time."

Ashton chuckled wryly at that. "I think they'd get offended."

Here, he'd been trying to be all serious, and she'd made him laugh. Well, good for her, if she could joke again.

He looked her in the eye, downplaying the joke-mood. "Just know I'm here for you, Quin. If you ever need to talk." And he was using Quin, too. Not Archer, nope. Quin. She hadn't even noticed, either. Go her.

Yeah...they probably would get offended. The redhed chuckled and nodded at her partners assessment of the situation and stared across the table at his offer to talk if she ever needed to.

How long had he been calling her Quin? It had been too natural for this to be the first time, and she must have been too preoccupied to notice before. Was it just today? Had it been a while now? She didn't know and it didn't really matter.

"Thanks." she said, deciding it was probably better to keep things simple.

"Same to you." she added...then couldn't help herself, " 'cause I didn't even know that you'd been in a similar situation. I'd hate for the conversation to be one-sided."

"Yeah," he said. He didn't really want to go any further than that. Somehow felt a bit much. Hell, even the 'I'm here if you need me' had been pushing it.

He sipped his hot coffee. Yeah. He liked it better hot. He was glad he'd skedaddled away from that 'girl talk' to get him some. 'Girl talk' was probably more in the realm of '... if you need me's. Sharing was more 'partner'. And giving a crying shoulder? Well...

She'd needed it.

Shut up, judgmental people. It wasn't like that. Wasn't like he'd opened up because he liked her or somethin'. It was just... ugh.

Oy vey.

"We need more donuts." Ashton pushed up off the table and made his leave.

(( /end ))