milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Bill is downstairs after some breakfast. He sits down at the counter, and before he can even ask, Bar provides him with a loaded plate; eggs, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, a short stack of pancakes, a cup of coffee and orange juice.

Bill grins at the offering, and is about to say thank you when a newspaper appears. Looking at the front page headline his smile falls.

Mardi Gras in Miami

It's not really the headline, but the part underneath that tells how the Saints defeated the Colts 31-17 in the Superbowl that's just killed his good mood.

Bill lifts the paper and shakes his head.

"Aw, c'mon, no. I didn't even know they were playin'."

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"Nah-uh, Kate, remember that's an arrestable offense," he reminds her, still grinning wide.

Her coughing subsides and she slips behind him, hands curving around his shoulders for purchase as her toes leave the sandy bottom.

She fits herself to his back, smothering a self-satisfied grin.

"I think," and her lips brush the shell of his ear, "you just want to cuff me."

He reaches a hand up to grasp her wrist, chuckling.

"I'm thinkin' you wouldn't mind to terribly much if I did."

"Sounds like you are putting some wishful thinking to use," she says, her voice low and teasing in his ear.

She shifts against him, just enough to hook one leg over his hip, her thigh skimming his side.

"Could say the same for you," he says, fingertips moving along her skin.

"Could say you're plantin' ideas."

"The only thing I'm planting -- "

She shifts again, long limbs and lean muscle tangling and tightening beneath and above the water.

"Is opportunity."

Sucking in a quick breath, she yanks both of them beneath an oncoming wave.

"Wh-- "

He realizes what she's doing a split second after she does it, which means he doesn't get his mouth closed before she yanks him backwards into the water.

It takes a bit of floundering before he gets his head back above the water, laughing as he sputters.

"Cheater."

She's laughing so hard she's almost wheezing, blinking water from her lashes.

"Me?"

She gives his shoulder a playful shove.

"You started it."

"Did not," he argues, and punctuates it with a splash sent in her direction.

"You distracted me, then took advantage."

"If you know me as well as you say you do," she teases, ducking away from the spray he sends her way, "you should've been ready for that."

"Well, I-- "

It takes him a moment to search for a retort.

"I was tryin' t'give you the benefit of the doubt."

He was trusting you, Kate.

"You're nice, but you're not that nice, sweetheart."

She sends a splash his way, laughing.

"Not out here, anyway."

All's fair in love and watersports.

"Sure I am, you're just bad influencin' me again."

He brings his arm up to ward off the splash, then with a wicked smirk, starts closing in on her.

"Why do I get blamed for that every time?" she asks, and her laughter hitches when she begins inching backward, eyes widening slightly.

"I don't think so, sheriff."

"Because you're the one who's doin' it," he replies, moving just a little faster.

"What? I'm not doin' nothin'."

"Nothing?"

The echo melts into a laugh when he's suddenly close enough to wrap his arms around her.

"That's not nothing."

Tilting her head, she gives him a defiant smirk without budging another centimeter.

Her stopping is unexpected, and makes him stop as he tries to figure out what she's up to.

Studying her warily a moment, he puts on an easy smile.

"C'mere."

That gives her pause.

"Is this part of your honey versus vinegar plan?"

"My whu?"

He eyes her, growing more suspicious.

"What's your plan?"

"You know the saying, you draw more flies with honey than -- "

A pause, and her eyes narrow.

Carefully, "I don't have one."

"Oh. Right. That wasn't my plan."

A beat.

"Not that I had a plan."

Another beat, and his voice is just as careful.

"Y'sure you ain't hatchin' one?"

She lifts both hands out of the water, palms up in mock-surrender.

"No plan."

A beat.

"And you?"

He holds up his own hands, and shakes his head.

"I don't. Just wantin' that swim you mentioned earlier."

She studies him for a moment, then nods.

"Okay."

Inching closer, her leg brushes his beneath the water.

"Truce?"

"Truce."

He gives a short nod, hand reaching out for her shoulder as he closes the rest of the distance.

"Glad we got that settled."