Participants:
Scene Title | She Promised Him Dinner |
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Synopsis | Dinner with Alec — it's a lot of fun, and a good alibi for an incident Elisabeth can't even remember anyway! (See "Who's Side Are You On?") |
Date | February 23, 2009 |
A comfortable place, located in the basement of 14 East 4th Street. The red brick walls are covered with memorabilia from various icons of rock and places in rock history, creating a feel similar to that of a Hard Rock Cafe.
The left wall has two bars separated by swinging doors which lead to and from the kitchen. Directly across from the entrance is a two foot high stage with all the equipment needed for acts to perform there. The right wall has three doors marked as restrooms: two for use by women and one by men.
Thirty square feet of open space for dancing and standing room is kept between the stage and the comfortable seating placed around tables which fill the remainder of the Cellar.
The lighting here is often kept dim for purposes of ambience, and when performers are onstage the place is loud enough to make conversation difficult. Just inside the door is a podium where location staff check IDs and stamp the hands of those under twenty-one with a substance visible under UV lights at the two bars and by devices the servers carry. On the podium's front is a sign with big black letters that just about explain it all: If You Don't Like Rock 'N' Roll, You're Too Late Now!
Well, she'd promised she'd call him… and Elisabeth needs the break. In spite of the hell going on in the city, she's trying to balance her life again, actually *have* a life outside the job. So she calls Alec, and she invites him for dinner at The Rock Cellar. The public venue will give them the chance to get to know one another a little without pressure. And the food's pretty darn good, too! When she arrives, she tells the hostess at the door that she's waiting for someone and chooses to wait at the door for him to arrive before being seated. What with curfew out there, the dinner hour is heavy but this is later than usual for dinner. Liz in this case will shamelessly flout curfew if she has to — she has a badge, they just ignore her and whoever's with her.
Alec arrives in a taxi, handy things those, and has IPod buds in his ear as he gets out of the cab, paying the driver before grinning at Liz. He plucks the buds from his ears, "Hello officer." he teases.
With a grin, Liz turns to face him. "Hello there," she replies easily. "Welcome to The Rock Cellar," she says easily. "It's not too fancy, but the food's good. And since I know you're not a vegetarian, I figured it'd do for tonight." She jerks her head toward the door. "Shall we?"
Alec nods his head and moves forward to open the door for her, "We shall." he says with a grin before adding, "Vegitarians creep me out. Just so you're aware. So you know, if you are one you'll have to work harder to get into my pants tonight. Don't look at me like that, I saw you checking me out when I leaned through the window to pay the cabbie. There's mirrors on those things you know." he teases happily, blatantly lying just for a joke.
Elisabeth walks to the door and smiles at him when he opens it, turning to quip over her shoulder as she walks through, "Well, the view *is* pretty nice. I mean, who can blame a girl for looking, right?" She waits for him inside, and the hostess quickly leads them to a table — after all, *everyone* has to be home by curfew, which means the kitchen closes in about an hour. As she slides into the booth the woman leads them to, Liz reminds him, "you did *see* the size of the sandwiches and what's in them and Piccoli's, yes? No one who eats there is going to be a vegetarian." She props her elbows on the table and bats her lashes at Alec, though, and asks with a cheeky grin. "So just how hard *will* I have to work to get into your pants?"
Alec grins impishly, "That depends on how dexterous your fingers are and the trouble you might have with a button fly." he teases right back to her. Alec can give as good as he gets it would seem. "So what's good here?" he asks the cop. Well known fact, cops always know the best joints.
Chuckling, Elisabeth fires right back, "I play the piano, mister, so button flies are child's play." She picks up a menu, glancing at it thoughtfully. "The burgers are always excellent, I've had a steak and it's pretty decent. That's about it. The rest is guesswork."
The waitress comes by and takes drink orders efficiently, nipping back to get those while they look over the menus.
Alec orders a simple soda and a glass of water, "Burger it is." he doesn't even open his menu, trusting in the cop's judgment. Hey, cops and food, it's creepy how entwined those two things are. "So, what's your story gorgeous? We promised no work, so I'm avoiding the slew of questions about Evolved that are banging about my head, and since you're the only thing here more interesting…" he shrugs. "Tell me a tale of Elisabeth."
She, too, orders a soda — though she'd like a beer, the other night is still too fresh in her head. The hangover sucked. She sets the menu aside. "Nice to know questions about Evolved rank below me," she quips lightly, not offended. "Well, …. the tale of Elisabeth is damn boring, most of the time, actually. Grew up here in the city, my folks are lawyers. Mom's gone now, it's just me and Dad. Went to college out at Western Illinois for criminal justice. Came home again and got a job on the force. Took a couple years' hiatus after the Bomb — my Mom was in Midtown — and did a stint as a teacher for those couple of years. Music. Decided to come back on the job last fall." She shrugs. "What else you wanna know?" she asks with a grin.
Alec hrms as he ponders, "Any Mr. Cops?" he asks curiously, "If you have lawyer rents, why become a cop? What's your favorite color? If you could spend a night in the arms of anyone in history, who'd you choose?" he grins wider as the questions become more and more odd.
The waitress brings drinks back and takes orders from the two of them — burgers all around, it appears — and then hastens off once more. Elisabeth waits until she's gone again, using the time to consider her answers. "No, there's no Mr. Cop. Not really looking for a 'mister' at the moment, I like being single," she tells him mildly. Taking her straw and sticking it in the soda so she can sip from it, she answers the rest with a grin, "Uhm… I liked the law but I didn't want to sit in a courtroom and argue with people, I wanted to be out on the streets helping. Nowadays, I think my answer about 'why a cop' falls into that category we said we wouldn't talk about. Purple. And uhm…. anyone in *history*? Geez…. I'd have to think about it." She grins at him. "That's a big pool of possibilities there."
Alec shrugs, "I suppose so." he admits, "But then the best questions always have a multitude of answers, the sort you have to hunt down and chew over before finding the right one." he sips from his drink water first, leaving the soda for now, saving it for the meal perhaps.
Elisabeth chuckles. "Hey, you set the ground rules," she tells him easily. "So tell me something about you. Something I can't just find out in casual conversation," she invites.
Alec hrms and scritches his chin, "I love old movies." he says with a slow nod, "The really old ones, not silent, but the classics, black and white film noir stuff. Boggie and Becall." he grins a bit, "The one good thing about growing up in cities is that I've always had revival theatres in driving distance."
"Oh, nice," Elisabeth says approvingly. "I'm a fan of older movies myself, when I can see them. 1940s and '50s-ish. You know, Claudette Colbert, Jimmy Stewart, Fred Astaire. I love musicals, much to the chagrin of most of the guys I go out with," she laughs. "My best friend loves them, so he and I hit the shows periodically."
Alec grins a bit and hums a few bars of Singing In The Rain under his breath, "When I was younger one of the places I lived was inside a revival theater. I watched the greats for hours on end. Never quite got it out of my system." he admits.
Elisabeth laughs softly, "You realize you just earned your 'wow, I really kinda like him!' stripes with that one, right? Many cool-date points."
Alec grins more, "Oh thank god. I thought I was gonna have to start pulling out my other languages, maybe hit you with some romantic poetry or something!"
Raising her eyebrows, Elisabeth looks thoroughly amused. "How many languages do you speak?" she asks interestedly. "And skip the poetry, I can't be bothered," she says with a wink. "All that's required with me is being up front about what you're looking for."
Alec shrugs, "Two, both English." he says with a smile, "I was gonna lie and make up something in French to be impressive. Luckily I don't have to stoop that low."
Elisabeth chuckles. "No, don't stoop." She glances up as burgers arrive, and waits once more until the waitress is gone before she looks at him again. "Besides, don't you think I'd figure it out if you lied?"
Alec shakes his head, "Not a chance. It's not like you're a cop or anything." he says in an off handed way that's to smooth not to be a joke. He then turns his attention to his food. Now that she knows, she can see some of the signs in him. He eats like a man who's been to prison, leaning over his food slightly, protectively, keeping it so no one can take it. She knows he's not been Inside yet, and the habit isn't as tight as a prisoners would be, which means it's old, worn down, an after thought to a previous life. Foster homes aren't always much better then a prison though. Signs still linger for those with eyes to see.
Rolling her eyes, Elisabeth starts to eat, watching him thoughtfully. Between bites, she asks mildly, "So do you have a family back home? You know… parents, sibs, girlfriend or wife waiting on you to get back home?" She offers the last in a facetious tone, obviously teasing.
Alec chuckles, "My stint here could take years. This will be a long term rebuild, so … no. I have parents of course, we keep in touch, I thought about flying up there for Christmas, but not sure. Depends on where we are with work on the city." he smiles at her, "Beyond that? Nope. Just me."
Elisabeth nibbles on a fry, listening both to what he says and … well, other things. Like his tone of voice, his heart rate, things that will just be odd if someone asks about them. "Are you making a lot of friends, or are you too busy to be bothered?" she asks with a smile.
Alec's heart rate and tone are perfectly in tone with someone telling the truth. They have been all night long. Except about the movies, his heartrate increased, though that might have been excitement about talking of his passion. "I don't get out much." he admits, "You are perhaps the second person I've spoken to with whom my encounter wasn't buisness driven."
There's a chuckle as Liz nods slightly, "Did you notice the city lately? I'd have to say I could give you a run for your money on 'not getting out much' — though one of the girls at work and I cut out for some fun the other night," she laughs. "We decided that a month of 18- and 20-hour shifts definitely deserved tying one on." She rolls her eyes. "I haven't done the bar thing in forever."
Alec shakes his head, "I never have." he admits, "I never saw the fun in getting drunk or rubbing up against complete strangers. Not my thing. I prefer the quiet of a theatre and a good bucket of extra butter popcorn and a coke large enough to refloat the Titanic."
Elisabeth nods. "Yeah, well… she needed it. Personal issues on top of being a cop issues," she says with a shrug. "The bar thing doesn't hold a lot of appeal in general, but for blowing off some steam, going out to drink and do a little flirting? Yeah, it was sort of nice as a change of pace." Elisabeth glances at him and grins. "Besides, if you think I'm flirty now, you should see me when I have a couple glasses of wine." She wrinkles her nose. "I'm sort of a lightweight when it comes to alcohol," she admits.
Alec nods his head solumly and raises his hand, "Can we get a bottle of wine over here!?" he asks loudly to the entire room.
Elisabeth facepalms. "Oh, Lord…" She chuckles and looks back up at him and says mildly, "If you wanted to get laid *tonight*, all you had to do was ask, you know. I make those choices sober." Whether she's serious or not is for him to decide.
Alec blinks, "So you're saying I should ask the waitress for condoms too?" he asks with a completely straight face, despite the fact that his eyes sparkle.
Elisabeth rolls her eyes at him. "No, you should bring your own," she fires back with a grin.
Alec sage nods and holds up his IPod, "All I have is an IPod. I think we might have to make a stop later." still with the deadpan delivery.
Taking up her burger to eat again, Liz smirks at him. "You lemme know when you get serious, and I'll give this idea far more consideration than I figure it deserves at the moment," she says with a grin. She's figuring if he's just flirting, he'll keep joking and it'll still be fun. If he's serious, he'll get to the point eventually.
Alec just grins at her, "I like you. I don't think I'll ask to sleep with you on the first date. I will however ask you to join me on Friday night at the theater where they are showing an original print of Rear Window. I assume you like Hitchcock."
Elisabeth grins when he backs down. "I would very much like that, Alec," she replies. He hasn't struck her as the sex-on-the-first-date kinda guy, but one never knows. And in truth, she's a little surprised at how much she likes him, and a little more surprised at her own answer. "I guess this is the part where I have to warn you what you're getting into — I can't turn my phone off, and if they call, I could have to vanish mid-movie. But if you're okay with a bit of uncertainty and being flexible for it, I would very much enjoy that." She can't remember the last time… yes, actually she can. But it's been quite some time since she was out last, just for the fun of going out.
Alec smiles at her, "Same deal. Remember, warzone and a city with buildings that still might collapse on a moments notice." he shrugs, "You gals in blue aren't the only one's picking up an extra shift or two." he returns his attention to his burger, petting it lightly, "I'm sorry I ignored you babe, but I'm back now." then he takes a giant bite.
Elisabeth laughs at his comment to his burger, just shaking her head. "All right, then," she says easily. There's a momentary debate about whether to tell him about her own Evolved status — not like she's hiding it lately — but instead, she merely bites into her burger again, figuring that if they actually get to go on that date, she'll talk to him then. For now…. it's just damn nice to have someone to talk to about things not-work and not-end of the world and not-friends in jail or missing. She settles in to make the most of enjoying an evening with someone who knows *nothing* about the mess her life's become.
February 23rd: Who's Side Are You On? |
February 24th: She Had Your Gift |