(no subject)

[headed4hell]

Grace saunters out of Captain Perry's office, already tapping a cigarette from her pack, and tries not to smile. The guys are all looking at her, thinking she's in trouble with their new boss. Quite the opposite. Perry's an old friend from Vice and if Grace loved laughter any less, she'd warn Butch about being all UT in her face, at least for awhile; but he’s been a big boy in a unit full of Sooner fans for years now. It'll be entertaining.

She shoulders open the door to Major Crimes, then the stairwell, and mutters a half-hearted curse. Milliways. A few days without Earl’s making her soft. Whatever, it’s still a bar. Better to smoke with a drink than without one.

When Bar gives her the note, Grace tosses back her head and laughs. She looks at it again; laughs again.

"Sure thing. I could use time to think."

Because pouring drinks in between drinking her own will help her figure out why the motel manager got dead in one of his guest rooms. Obviously. Pushing her hair back, she pulls some not-so-random drink ideas from the proffered book and goes to work on the specials board.

HAPPY HOUR!

Absolut Hell
Holy Water
Jack and coke
and
Shots of Yukon Jack

Dance with the bartender, get a free shot. Bartender's choice.

Smirking, Grace rummages around behind Bar until she finds the sound system remote and cranks the volume to almost too loud. The classic rock already playing suits her fine. Time to shake up this place, she thinks. Time to shake Earl loose.

"Belly up, people. What'll be?"

(tiny tags: Grace Hanadarko, Cal Chandler, Michael, the Pirate King)

Comments

[mnt_raph]

"She's our third?"

[watching_you]

"Why, does she have terrible shorthand?"

[mnt_raph]

He starts to chuckle.

"We were stuck together. Or...well, as she probably tells it, her world was stuck with me."

[watching_you]

"You weren't even trapped in your own universe?"

[mnt_raph]

"I ain't that lucky."

[watching_you]

"Bummer."

It's a frivolous word, but the sentiment behind it is serious enough.

"So what did you do?"

[mnt_raph]

"Drank....a lot."

It's not something he's admitted to many, if any, but he figures maybe Veronica might understand.

"Then I wandered the Earth like Kane from Kung-fu, found my feet 'gain, an' moved on. Don't it just figure that I get all my ducks in a freakin' row an' the door comes back like it never left in the first place."

[watching_you]

"'Sneaky son of a bitch' is the phrase I believe I used. Who would have known a big square of wood could be so vindictive?"

Veronica shakes her head in sympathy. "I'm sorry, Raph."

[mnt_raph]

"Eh, what'cha gonna do, right? I mean, it could've been worse."

He could have slept those years away.

"What 'bout you? How's it feel to be in the future?"

[watching_you]

"If I think about it like that? Weird. It feels weird."

She takes another pull from her beer, then adds, "So I try not to think about it like that."

[mnt_raph]

"Fair enough."

Drink? Oh right. He has one of those!

"Though at least you got hot runnin' water. Any sign o' flyin' cars?"

[watching_you]

"I wish! It's twenty-frickin'-sixteen. They're due!" She says this as though the nonexistance of personal airborne vehicles is an affront to her very being.

"You can get really tiny iPods, though."

[mnt_raph]

"I what's?"

Be gentle. He spent six months rewinding DVDs.

[watching_you]

"Plays music. Tiny."

She holds up her fingers, about half an inch apart.

"Really tiny."

[mnt_raph]

His brow remains firmly furrowed.

"I'm sleepin' better at night with that jewel of info, trust me."

[watching_you]

Veronica lets her hand drop.

"Sorry. S'all I've got. Basically the future is about the same."

[mnt_raph]

"I kinda figured. If it makes you feel any better, the past is pretty much exactly the way you'd expect it to be. Only, you know, with more like...monsters an' stuff."

Because, what good would the past be without monsters?

[watching_you]

"Friendly monsters?" She squints at Raph. "Or epic quest fodder monsters?"

[mnt_raph]

"The second kind. Unless they were just bein' friendly and really wantin' to introduce me to their stomachs."

[watching_you]

"That was probably a rare diplomatic move, and you turned it down. Ruined all hope for an era of peace between human... shaped folks and toothy, tentacled beasts. For shame, Raph. For shame."

[mnt_raph]

He sighs, dramatically.
"An' there go all my hopes an' dreams o' workin' at the UN. Dashed, right there on the rocks. Damn shame."

[watching_you]

Veronica's nod of sympathy is endlessly sincere.

"I was really looking forward to seeing you as a goodwill peace ambassador, too. Treating the dying, hugging orphans, sending kittens to college."

[mnt_raph]

"Now Scraps won't live out his dream of bein' an astronaut."

He raises his beverage.

"To Scraps."

[watching_you]

"To Scraps!" Solemn, "His courage will forever outweigh his lack of opposable thumbs."

[mnt_raph]

"Thumbs ain't nothin' to sneeze at." And Raph should know, he lost his once. Those were dark days.