OOM: Date Night

[geeky_agent]

Chris and Jack step out of the bar, into a cold New York City night.

The first big difference from Milliways? All the noise. The sound of horns from the cars on the street, cops blowing their whistles as they direct traffic and someone down the street playing a violin come together to create their own symphony.

She pulls her wrap a little tighter around her shoulders and looks over at Jack with a smile. "Surprise."

Comments

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

"Thank you," she says, gliding through the door. She pauses to wait for him and they are met by the Maitre d'. Something flickers across the man's face when he sees Jack but it's gone in an instant, replaced by the usual professional demeanor.

He guides them to their seats, Chris is glad there's no waiting at the bar, and hands them the wine list.

When he walks away Chris looks the list over. "I don't know why they give you these before you've ordered."

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

Jack notices the epxression that flashes across the man's face and he tenses, but is careful not to show it.

"Yeah, kind of hard to choose when you're not sure what you're having it with," he says, ostensibly looking at the wine list but also scanning the room, out of habit.

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

"Well, it'll probably be the cheese course to start. Someone will be along with those menus soon."

She notices what he's doing and gives him a small smile. "Looking for someone?"

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

He smiles at her sheepishly. "Sorry. Habit."

As if on cue, their server arrives with real menus.

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

"It's all right," she says, reaching over to take his hand.

"I hope Coco doesn't give Angela too much trouble." Coco was usually a good dog but had a way of finding mischief. Especially if it involved food.

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

He gives her hand a gentle squeeze.

"I'm sure she'll be fine. If not, I can use it as a learning experience. 'Coco gave you a rough time? Multiply that by a hundred and that's what it's like having a child.' That should take care of meeting any of my great-grandchildren anytime soon."

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

"Don't be so sure, it is Milliways after all."

The server comes by to take their orders and returns just moments later with two glasses of wine and the cheese course.

"Did Angela tell you much about the future?" Chris asks, after taking a drink of the wine.

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

"Not much, just a few things about her mother, and...and, well, apparently Chloe disappeared when Angie was six. Chase and Kim told her that Chloe had died, but they never told her how," he says, quietly.

That snippet of future knowledge still bothers him. With such slim evidence, he can't believe--or can't accept--that Chloe's actually dead, so he hasn't thought about it much.

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

"Oh my God," Chris whispers, eyes widening in shock. "Does she know Chloe is in the bar?"

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

"I think so--I'm sure someone's mentioned Chloe. Thing is though, I haven't seen Chloe in ages. She should have gotten an invitation to Thanksgiving, and if she didn't want to go, she probably would have been locked her out of her room; it's happened before."

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

"Maybe she just didn't feel like going." Though Chris isn't sure that makes sense.

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, maybe, though like I said, I haven't seen her in quite a while. I don't know. Maybe she left the bar, went to an alternate universe she liked and never came back."

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

"Well, Chloe's not down in the bar that often so she may not have gone anywhere."

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, maybe. Just kind of hard to miss someone in the bar for this long."

He shakes his head. "Anyway. Not much I can do about it at the moment."

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

Chris nods and changes the subject. "Have you ever been to New York before this?"

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

He nods. "Quite a few times. For work, which usually didn't leave too much time for sightseeing."

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

She rests her chin on her hand. "Too bad we won't have more time, I could give you the full tour of the city."

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

He gives her a small smile. "Well Christmas is a month away."

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

"That would be nice," she says with a grin.

"One year my parents took us to Rockefeller center. We'd saw the tree all lit up and went ice skating." She pauses for a moment.

"For some reason one of my clearest memories of that outing was my dad bitching about all the tourists."

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

Jack laughs at that; somehow it doesn't surprise him. "It's weird the things we remember from childhood. I remember my Mom watching hockey and yelling at the players better than I remember a lot of Christmases."

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

"Speaking of which, what other presents did you get for your birthday?"

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

"Hockey stuff from Tony and Michelle--a hockey stick, skates, and personalized L.A. Kings jersey. Angela wrote me a poem. Kim gave me slippers. Bear-shaped slippers," he says with a wry smile. Why bother hiding it when she's bound to see them anyway?

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I thought she might," Chris says with a laugh.

"The hockey stuff should be fun when the lake freezes over."

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

"What do you mean, you thought she might?"

[geeky-agent.livejournal.com]

"We were talking last week and she told me about your birthday. Thankfully. and she was the one who suggested slippers."

Beat.

"Although I suggested bunny slippers."