We Live In A Dangerous World

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Scene Title	We Live In A Dangerous World
Synopsis	After a great date… breakfast too? Niiiice.
Date	March 1, 2009

Dorchester Towers, Elisabeth's Apartment

Some things are well worth turning off your phone for. Although she *didn't* turn the thing off, Liz got lucky (in more ways than one) and the thing didn't ring and summon her out for anything during the night that Alec stayed over. And what a night that was! Although she drifted to sleep with him in the bed — a place they eventually found!, she has an awareness of the man in her apartment that she just met — so when he slips out of the bed, she rouses enough to tell him where to find the makings for coffee, and remains in the bed for just a couple of more minutes, her tousled hair all over the place while she decides whether to shower first. Eh…..

When she hits the kitchen from her morning ablutions (like taming the wild mass of blonde and washing her face and such), Elisabeth is surprised to smell food cooking. Wrapped in a thigh-length cotton bathrobe, she stops at the end of the counter with a grin. "Well, now… make yourself at home," she teases mildly.

Alec just smiles at her, "I like watching you sleep but after two hours of that I had to get up and do something. This seemed the safest option. Didn't feel like walking out and just leaving you." he grins at her impishly, "Glad to see you're not having trouble walking. I was worried."

Had it really been two hours? Elisabeth looks surprised — she thought it was only a few minutes that she closed her eyes again. Not like she's been getting more than 3-4 hours a night for weeks now, so it's not surprising that when she finally unwound, it was with a hard crash. She looks a bit embarrassed. "I would have understood — insomnia and all," she tells him, heading for the coffee pot. And then she grins at his comment. "Well, now… walk yes. Am I down for another round? Not only no, but hell no," she admits with a laugh. Pouring herself a cup of coffee that she dumps a liberal amount of sugar and then milk into, she comes to look over his shoulder and see what he's throwing together.

Alec puts on a very convincing pout, "But then that just totally kills my plans for the morning shower." though, of course, part of him sounds relieved. He continues to cook, wearing only a pair of boxers as he moves around her kitchen with the fluidity of someone used to useing such places. The smells and sight would indicate he's making some kind of new take on eggs benedict, something with more herbs and a touch of bacon instead of ham. Basil perhaps? Onions definatly.

With an appreciative sniff, Elisabeth looks into the pan and then gets out of his way. Settling on one of the breakfast bar stools, she watches him move about the kitchen with a carefully placid, neutral smile to hide the knot that forms in her stomach as the last time she had someone puttering in her kitchen hits her. Inappropriate moment for that, and she shoves it down deep so as not to let Alec become aware of it. "So what's on your agenda for today?" she asks him easily, slanting a glance at the clock. "I've got about an hour before I have to leave," she adds with a smile. "Sundays mean nothing these days — we're racking up overtime like mad."

Alec chuckles, "I'm salary, I don't get paid more for working extra hours. And you thought /you/ were getting screwed." he winks, "I have an inspection to do on the Chelsea housing contruction, there's some worry about substandard concrete shipments. Then it's almost an entire afternoon of meetings, preplanning planning replanning and all around just mind numbing crap we've all covered a million times. The construction bubble popped with the houseing markets and everyone who's corporate is afraid of having to sit in front of congress and ask for money despite the fact that the city has handed us the largest contract we've had in a decade. Bunch of penny pushing pricks." he makes a face, "I don't like it when they get in the way of my job." he admits freely, "Then I have to check on all my teams before getting back to /my/ project, prolly sometime around five, where I will spend about three hours actually doing my damned job working on the bridge before going home in a fit of frustration."

Elisabeth mmms with a laugh. "I did get screwed… and it's the best thing to happen to me in weeks," she teases back. "If I make detective, I'll be salaried then. And then I'll *really* be getting screwed, though. Without any of the fun connotations." She listens to his litany of stuff with every evidence of being interested in what he's saying, chuckling quietly. "Poor guy," she says. "And here I thought last night would *at least* ease the frustration for a full 24 hours." She winks at him, sipping her coffee. "I've got to follow up on a jumper who fell off the GW a couple days ago, send a report to the agent at Homeland who's riding my ass, and …. well, who knows what today will bring?"

Alec nods his head, "Joy." he states, "Of course you know if it all becomes to much for you to handle I'd be willing to take your phone call, maybe talk you through a few recent memories help relieve your stress a bit. That way you don't do something silly like cuss out some high and mighty badge or whatever. I like to be helpful see." he starts to plate the breakfast while his sauce simmers.

Elisabeth rolls her eyes and her expression takes on a harder look. "Oh, let me tell you what… if I could tear a strip off that bitch in public and break her, I'd do it in a heartbeat, to hell with the brass." And then she grimaces. "Sorry… if there's one thing guaranteed to kill my buzz, it's *her*." She takes a sip of her coffee and changes the subject, "Now … phone memories? That might actually be quite amusing — depending on who my partner for the day is." She laughs. "If it ever comes up that you meet my partner, you'll probably like him. Darius is the best partner ever."

Alec chuckles a bit at her irritation, "I told you that bitch was crazy." he says randomly. "Sorry, I once heard that every woman has another woman at work they hate. It was suggested I always say that when 'she' came up. So far, it seems to work." he grins a bit, "Darius 'eh? So long as he's not the jealous in love with you and will kill me in my sleep type, I'm sure we'll get along just fine."

Elisabeth chuckles at him. "That's the best guy-response I've ever heard to a woman grousing about another woman at the office. You get bonus points for that one," she tells him easily. "And no… Darius is definitely not jealous in love with me, and as for killing in your sleep? Well… I doubt it highly," she teases. Not unless Alec does something like lay a hand on Liz — she was never quite sure if her partner had been serious about taking on Jessica when the assassin/agent came after her. But that's neither here nor there at the moment. She tilts her head, watching him plate the breakfast quietly, like she's not sure what to say to him. It's been a while since she went on a real date. "Anything I can do to help?"

Alec slides a /heavily/ loaded plate her direction after finishing lathering on some sauce, "Eat." he says by way of answer to her question. He grins and grabs a glass of juice and his own plate, "You know you woke up to soon. I was gonna do a whole breakfast in bed thing. You're killing my mojo here."

Elisabeth laughs quietly, setting her cup down so she can pick up a fork as he settles into the stool next to her. "I'm sorry," she replies, mostly unrepentant. "I like your mojo," she says with a grin, "but I have to say, there's no way I'm going to be able to eat all this!" The size of the helping is… rather amazing. And after she tries it — yeah, okay, he's in danger of being held hostage to cook for her. "Oh," she murmurs in delight around a bite. "That's wonderful!"

Alec grins a bit, "The bacon's a smidge over cooked, and the sauce could have used a little more time in the simmer to fully finish, but yeah. I /am/ pretty awesome, aren't I?" he quips with a grin as he himself takes a bit from his plate, "Box it up and take it to work for lunch or keep it for tomorrow's breakfast. Next time I'll stew something for you, lots of left overs, and stew is always better the second day." he says that as if it were common knowledge, "Ask nicely and someday I'll tell you the scientific reason as to why that is." he grins a little and takes a big bite.

Elisabeth snickers quietly. "Clearly you didn't spend a lot of time browsing my freezer while you were puttering. I think there's about a dozen containers of various stews and soups in there from the last time I was shot." She smiles at him, toying with her food. "Not that I'm going to turn down a stew made by someone other than myself, though."

Alec eyes her, "Yeah… let's start the next part of the conversation with me stressing how much you're /not/ allowed to get shot again. Which is VERY VERY not allowed, by the way, and then segway that into how no stew for you. I'll stick to breakfasts. Which of course means I'll have to stay more nights. Shame huh?"

Elisabeth takes a bite of her breakfast enjoying it fully and chewing carefully, swallowing, and then taking a sip of her coffee before she answers. Because her knee-jerk response …. not so good. "You staying more nights would be wonderful," she admits with a smile, but her blue eyes are wary as she looks at him. "And not that I'm *planning* on getting shot again. But…" And there's always a 'but'. "I'm a cop, Alec. I used to be a hostage negotiator, and mostly that still the same basic job I do…. but these days, it's a lot more hands-on for me, too. I've been shot twice in the past six months, and damn near beaten to death once." She's not going to sugarcoat this for him. "If it's too much stress for you, all you ever have to do is say so. I'm not…. " Her smile is self-deprecating. "I'm not the best bet for a monogamous long-term relationship. And I'm not saying you're putting any pressure on me for that or anything else, I'm just…. letting you know where I stand and that when it comes right down to it, I can't promise that I'm not going to get shot again or not to get killed in the line of duty. Especially nowadays."

Alec just eyes her for a moment and chuckles, "I came up the hard way, foster care, and not the warm and fuzzy homes." he lifts his arm so she can see the long ugly scar on the inside of his arm, "Pairing knife, fourth home." he holds out his leg so she can see the four identicle burn marks on his calf, deep even though they're obviously old, "Heated copper pipe. Seventh home." he stops there, "I got more but it just gets to sounding like a bad Operah show. The point is this, I know exactly how the world works. I'm just saying… I'd deeply apprecaite it if you wouldn't get shot again until you tire of my sexual prowess and move on to another guy. Having to work around bullet wounds is totally going to ruin my repitoire, and I'm really trying hard to be impressive here."

Tilting her head, Elisabeth smirks at him. "Well, I suppose I can promise to do my level best to accomodate that request." Studying him, she finally says with a faint smile, "You're certainly pulling out all the stops to keep my attention, that's for sure," she admits. "And it's working." Heck, it's working so well that she's having to remember that he's probably up to something she's not going to like. Not that it impacts what they're doing now. She returns her attention to her breakfast and grins. "Guess we'll have to see what you do next."

Now that there's light, she can actually /see/ the body she spent so much time in the dark pawing at. There are scars from cigarettes, cuts, burns from the pipe, discolored bruise like marks on his spine she'd recognize as electrical burns, the list goes on. None of them are new, all are old, very old, streched by the natural growth of the body and some are hard to find. Beneath them is a man who takes very good care of himself, all muscle and sinew and ripply happiness. Alec chuckles, "Right now? I'm planning on eating, then going back to my place to take a shower, then go to work. Beyond that? I havn't decided. Thinking about asking you out again seeing as how well the last date ended up. I guess we'll see." he chuckles and heads for the restroom, seemingly perfectly okay with walking aroudn nearly naked.

The tale that his body tells her makes Elisabeth admire that he's made something of himself — and that the vast majority of his 'making something' seems on the up-and-up. She actually hopes that if she does find out what he's up to, it turns out to be something she can live with. She has made a point of not staring, merely acknowledging with a silent glance that they exist — ignoring them is stupid — but without making an issue of them. As he gets up, she watches him walk with an expression of very clear admiration for the body that heads down the hall. Over her shoulder, she calls in an amused tone, "I'd have to say it ranked right up there as a 9 or so on the 'great dates' scale!" She chooses to continue eating to let him get dressed in peace, but when he comes back out, she slides off the barstool to give him a long, heated, lingering kiss on his way out the door. "Looking forward to an encore." And she's grinning as she closes the door behind him.