2019-12-25 - Coffee & Crow

It's late evening, somewhere in that miasmic haze between Christmas and New Year's when nobody's really quite sure what day it is, precisely. Peacekeepers still need to suit up and do their work though, and one of them's making his way out of the precinct at this very moment. Uniformed, black on black with the crest of the GHPD on his department-issued parka's sleeve, and GRAY HARBOR POLICE on the back, he's absorbed in his phone as he holds the front door of the station open for someone headed inside. Must be going to grab a coffee or a smoke or something on his way home, as he usually leaves through the back entrance where his cruiser's parked.

How long had she been waiting in the park is hard to say, but she's bundled up against the weather like an Abominable SnowBennie in a turquoise wool peacoat, her bright goulashes, a knit cap and a multicolored scarf that's wound several times round her neck and still manages to drape long into a tail. And gloves. Can't forget the gloves that are actually bright red mittens. It's as if she's deliberately trying to make herself cheery on the bleak backdrop of the season as everything turns into shades of mundane. She might have been hedging her bets about backdoor versus front, and it seems to pay off as Ruiz comes out of the Police Department. There is a scuffle of feet in the snow towards him, as if by rapidly moving her feet she'll regain some feeling in them. "Captain de la Vega?" She greets him amicably but formally as if to assess his mood for something more casual.

He looks up from his phone as someone addresses him. Someone familiar, if bundled to the nines in a tapestry of bright colours that don't seem fitting with the dreary weather. Snow's turned into sleet, which is threatening to turn into rain, and leave the roads a sludgey mess. "Miss Oakes," he returns somewhat tautly, switching his phone off and pushing it into his pants pocket. He pauses as the door bangs shut, and studies the blonde somewhat assessingly. Then a sniff to clear the cold from his nose, and a glance away. "Something I can help you with?"

"Well I was hoping..." Bennie's face screws up, her words momentarily stayed as she bites her bottom lip. "Well, you gotta second to talk? I promise no more assault. Scouts honor." She tries to joke as she holds up one red mittened hand like a bright crimson paw, but of course her humor falls a little flat considering the apparent subject matter.

If de la Vega looks wary, surely he can be excused. Given what happened the last time they crossed paths. He takes in the blonde with her lip caught between her teeth for a few seconds, and he's got that squinted-eye stare thing going on while he considers her request. For a moment it looks like he might refuse. Just shake his head and keep walking.

Then, "All right. Sure." A low, weary sounding sigh is blown out his nose, and he nods toward the shitty little hole-in-the-wall coffee place across the street. Because he's that desperate for caffeine. "Buy you something, if you can promise to keep your hands to yourself." Never mind that she already swore on her scout's honour, whatever the hell that means. Either way, he starts trudging off with a crunch and jingle of gear.

At first she worries he might just be dismissing her, but as he motions to the coffee shop, Bennie scurries to catch up with a little friction sound of her burnt orange corduroy pants whispering against each other as she shuffles, trying not to slip on the slick ground. "Yeah, okay." Less chance of him murderating her if they are someplace public instead of the dark park! Bright side, she gets shitty coffee out of the deal, but working for the Township gives you an iron clad stomach against subpar caffeine choices.

Murdering people probably isn't worth all the paperwork he'd have to do to cover it up. Too much on his plate already, and he's too old for that shit.

Once they're inside, and his eyes have adjusted a little, he nods toward a table by the window. "Have a seat. I'll go up and order for us. What do you want?" Succinct, to the point, no eye contact. One couldn't call it friendly, but he seems to be making an effort at least to be civil. His wallet comes out, and the girl behind the counter beams him a smile as she recognises him immediately; the cops seem to get preferential treatment in this joint.

"Just a drip." A standard coffee, nothing fancy. Sure she could order something more elaborate, but that doesn't seem to fit the mood of the situation. Hard to have a serious talk with a dollop of whipped cream on your nose from sipping your pumpkin spiced latte or triple foam from an espresso. Bennie takes a seat as Ruiz squares away the drink situation, shivering slightly as she settles down with a wiggle as if despite the warmth of the shop she just can't get the chill out of her bones.

He's not long at the counter. The cop and his ilk spend a lot of time in here, and they usually rush their orders ahead of the others just on principle. Even if he's got no bad guys to catch, tonight. Collecting both drinks, he slides in opposite Bennie and nudges hers across the table. It's in a to-go cup, perhaps in case things turn sour, and she needs to make a quick escape. A few packets of sugar and milk are deposited on the table beside it, and he settles in with his own coffee (black), and watches her quietly while some sort of shitty R&B rendition of auld lang syne plays on the shop's speakers.

Bennie's used to that sort of treatment as well working with the FD as an EMT, but it's still nice that Ruiz not only bought her but brought her her drink. She hasn't taken off her jacket or shed her mittens yet, in fact she grabs the cup with a fingerless grip of both and sips straight away from the little hole in the lid without doctoring it nor waiting for it to cool off. Which is a mistake. "Hot hot hot hot." Bennie gahs but manages to collect herself after a few quick breaths between pursed lips. "Javier, I wanted to apologize. What I did was not only inexcusable, it was also unwarranted. I know what happened between you and Easton...well the what of it wasn't anyone's fault."

"No." It's murmured after a short pause, once Bennie's finished saying her piece and is sipping her coffee. He attempts to snag and pin her gaze with his own; dark eyes slivered with recrimination. "It wasn't. Unwarranted. You've got every right to be angry with me." He breathes out a sigh, and scrapes his palm through his beard. "I fucked your boyfriend. I was very.. very drunk. And the details are a bit hazy. But I did what I did, and I shouldn't have. And I'm sorry." He lets that sit there between them, and he makes himself look her in the eye throughout, no matter how hard it is.

Bennie's eyes get downcast when he apologizes, her ridiculous mittens turning the cup around in her hands in a fiddling gesture, a sure sign none of this is easy for the Blonde. "I'm trying to get past it. I want to get past it. I don't even want to think about it anymore, but I just can't help..." She gives a hapless little shrug. "It is what it is, Javier. None of us can change what happened. He and I were already on a path of mutual destruction. In a way I wish it had been a stranger? But in the end, I'm glad it was you. Had I attacked another cop, he and I wouldn't be having coffee. I'd probably still be in a jail." She gives a little laugh, but its humorless despite her best intentions of trying to make light again. "And thank you for telling me it's hazy. Otherwise I'd have a million follow up questions and act entitled to the answers."

"He loves you, you know." It's probably not his place to say that, but he says it anyway. Soft, almost conspiratorial, like it's any kind of secret. There might be more he wants to add to that, but makes only an agitated sound in his throat, and lifts his coffee cup to his mouth to sip it. "You can ask me whatever questions you'd like." His lips twitch with something that tries, desperately, to be a smile. But doesn't even come close.

"That makes it all the worse." Bennie admits before taking a sip of her coffee. "If it was cold and callous, I could wipe my hands of it. Call him an asshole and be done. Instead I'm still clinging to some thread in the back of my head I just can't quite sever." When he gives her permission to ask questions, her lips fold into her mouth, pressing together into a tight line. "How about just one. Do you think he got what he needed?"

Guess who's a great pick for discussing one's relationship woes with? Not this guy. De la Vega probably qualifies as the worst person to be giving any kind of advice, on account of the rate he's gone through bedfellows. At least he has the grace not to even try. Just another of those sad little smiles when she talks about Easton, and a sip of his coffee. "Got what he needed? No. I don't." Touch of self-hatred there, no doubt. A glimpse of it, gone again in an instant. "Have you tried asking him?" His dark eyes meet hers again. "What he needs."

Bennie turns her head slightly, wincing at that question. "The last time we discussed it there was a lot of yelling on both our parts? So I'm not really sure even if he did answer that question it was in earnest. I want him to be happy, but I deserve to be happy too, so if he can't find that with me...?" Bennie rolls her shoulders again, this time they end up drooping just a bit more than before. "Neither he nor I are saints, but it used to be that those pieces still fit together. Now I'm feeling like we're to corner pieces of a puzzle. On complete opposite sides of the picture. Sorry, sorry. This is supposed to be about me apologizing to you, not Bennie's sob story hour. I'm sorry for embarrassing you in public like that. Do you want me to issue a forma apology to the station?"

Ruiz watches the blonde across from him for a long while, like he isn't sure whether he wants to take the puzzle analogy and run with it, or back off entirely from trying to weigh in on things. He decides, perhaps wisely, on the latter eventually. A little shake of his head, and a murmur of, "No. That isn't necessary." After another pause for consideration, he reaches across the table to touch her hand. Rough fingertips to her knuckles, the contact is brief. "Talk to him. Stop making shit up about how you think things are, and go talk to him."

"He's gone." But before those words have too much gravitas, Bennie's quickly adding, "Out of town for the holidays. But we agreed to have coffee when he gets back? And we've been texting innocuous things back and forth today. So it's a start. The ball is officially rolling on the whole talking to him thing, promise. Just. We have to do it some place public otherwise we're going to end up balls deep again." The EMT flails quickly, "In fighting! I meant in fighting. Though the angry sex got in the way too."

He regards her evenly at those first words, a bit of a browraise until she follows them up with out of town for the holidays. Then a soft grunt before he blows and sips on his coffee. "Texting's a start," he agrees in a low murmur. As to balls deep in 'fighting', "What the fuck? When has angry sex ever gotten in the way of anything? Haven't you fucking heard of kissing and making up?" He proceeds to look at her like she's lost her mind.

"Yeah but there was a whole lot of this..." Bennie slaps her mittens together in a rough approximation of sexing, "And not a whole lot of this." Her hand flaps like someone jawing or talking. "So yes, it was great, and I swear I'm still sore, but it's not like it solved anything other than some good ole tension relief once. Or in my case twice. And very close to a third." Her eyes go off distant as if pulling up the memory. "So close. Mm. Anyway! Okay. One more question. Was it hot? I bet it was hot. At least in my mind, when you're not imagining the semantics. Now if I could only get his hetero husband to bend and let me watch. Also, who does that? Who goes off and gets married to their best friend when you have a girl at home. Easton, that's who. And I still love the crazy flipping..." Bennie rolls her eyes, chattering away so she must be feeling better with a bit of the weight off her chest after apologizing to Ruiz for her behaviour.

Ruiz can't help but chuckle a little at that. The mitten thing, that is. Like he's trying to figure out why, when he has sex, it doesn't look like this. "Huh?" He wasn't really listening. His mind.. might have been elsewhere. "Uh." Should he even answer that? His long, long pause followed by another sip of coffee suggests he's thinking about that carefully. "Yeah, it was.." He scruffs his fingers through his beard again, obviously awkward about this. That's right, big, bad, thug of a cop with tatts for days and looks like he eats rookies for lunch. And he's about this close to blushing. "I'm not sure if I should answer that," is what he supplies eventually. Though he does, finally, smile when she tells him she loves the guy.

"His bisexuality has never been an issue for me Javier. I actually find it an attractive quality in him, that he embraces it. It's that he shut me out of that decision." Bennie shrugs again, it's her go to gesture for this conversation. "I can't say for certain what I what would have said, if he came to me and said he needed this one particular thing I can't provide, but I was robbed of the chance. Really, the disappointing thing would be if you told me it was awful. Because that means it was for nothing. So, I'm just going to go with it was hot with a capital H. Seriously, look at both of you. Gruff cop, ex-marine whose abs you could wash clothes on in a pinch. Add guns and probably some rough and tumble... holy schnikies. Come to think, he had those bruises on his face before we went into that awful Dream. You dirty dog, you."

It seems to bring his hackles down, just a tetch, when Bennie confides that she's aware of - and unbothered by - Easton's bisexuality. Because this would have been one hell of a rude awakening, otherwise. He listens, and he flashes her a rueful smile at the explanation that she didn't have the opportunity to weigh in on him fucking someone else. Then offers in a low, rough murmur, "I did. Enjoy it." He chases that admission with a swallow of coffee, and holds her gaze. He's not going to bother mentioning he did time in the Marines, too; it wouldn't take much to figure it out, from Easton or otherwise. "And he gave as good as he got." No shame whatsoever about his proclivities, it seems. What's a good roll in the hay without some bruises to commemorate it? "Hmm, he does have pretty rock hard abs." No. Bad Javier.

"That's my boy." Bennie murmurs with quiet appreciation of Easton 'giving as good as he got', but then realizes she's speaking in present instead of past tense. And that is what causes Bennie's own blush to bloom in rosy little plumes on her cheeks. Not speaking freely and openly about sex or her relationship, but claiming any possession of Easton anymore. She was the one that walked out. But as he mentions the abs, she waggles her mitten at him as if it were a single finger. "Uh-uh. No sir. If you harbor any warm and fuzzies for me, this won't be a repeat performance. Not if we have any chance of working through this. Unless I know about it before hand. And can watch. Or maybe just..." She slides her hand forward like she's wedging right in the middle of this imaginary scenario.

If Ruiz notices the little 'slip up', he gives no indication. More likely, he's still rooting for them, and in his mind it's only a matter of time before things resolve themselves. Or maybe his mind's somewhere else entirely. He drags his gaze back from a couple parting ways amorously near the door, and looks back right as Bennie's talking about warm fuzzies and repeat performances. And he doesn't really have a chance of getting a word in edgewise before she's on to threesomes, with her in the middle. He clears his throat, and his mouth does that thing again. That's probably meant to be a smile. But it comes out kind of awkward, and almost shy. "I'm, uh.." Awkward. "Dating someone. Right now. So, uh." He kind of runs out of words about then.

"Whoa whoa whoa, back up. Are you and Sutton back together? Oh my god, she didn't tell me the little skank. And does that mean you finally bit the bullet and are exclusive? Well color me tickled pink! When did this happen, is it a Christmas miracle? Do I have to start believing in Santa Clause now?" Oh, Bennie. Didn't see that landmine, did she? Poor girl. Poor Ruiz.

Sutton? "No." she didn't tell me, the little- "N-" bit the bullet "Well, yes, but.." Oh, it's a landmine, all right. The cop looks flustered, and ticks his eyes around as if to make sure they aren't being watched. Or eavesdropped on. There's a couple of cops sitting nearby, but not near enough to hear them unless they raise their voices. "Itzhak Rosencrantz," he manages to interject finally, a soft mumble. "I need you to not.." Fuck. He shouldn't have said it. But now the cat's out of the bag. "A month or two. I need you to not spread that around the precinct, yeah?" Bennie should understand why. The culture amongst cops is not unlike the military. Full of toxic masculinity and macho men. And he's the fucking police captain, and can't afford to appear weak. "Please." His voice takes on a funny quality there.

Bennie pats the table with her mittened hands, "No, gosh. No, I swear I won't. But can I just say: EeeeeeeeeEeeee!" At least she keeps her little squeal of joy low and and quiet and meant just for him, complete with her feet in her rain boots doing a little dance under the table of joy. "I only met him, like the once, but he seemed such a sweetheart. The guy with the..." She dabs at her nose.

"Yeah. The guy with the huge fucking nose." Except he's smiling slightly when he says it, and god damn if that isn't an unmistakeable flush of affection in his voice. He draws a breath, lets it out slowly. "I hope you two can work things out. I really do." He seems sincere about that, and his smile increases a little.

Bennie looks absolutely pleased as punch about the news, and not only that, the way Ruiz is delivering it, but then Easton bubbles back up to the top of the conversation and her expression sobers a hint. "In order for that to happen, we both have to get our shit together first. Time will tell, right? Anyways, I should let you get going. I bet you have some hardcore snuggling to get to now that your shift is over. Thanks for the coffee, and for being so understanding about my little assault and battery of general person. I don't like being the girl that went all psycho hose beast ex, ya know? Especially not on a friend. Anyways, you're an absolute peach." She launches across the table quickly, but this time not to smack the poor man, but give him a quick kiss on the cheek. Which is worse?

Ruiz, again, doesn't seem inclined to weigh in on the getting together of shit. Just makes a little noise in his throat of tacit acknowledgement and understanding. He also doesn't comment on what snuggling may or may not be taking place tonight, though the look on his face suggests that she may not be too far off the mark. "De nada," he murmurs, in regards to the coffee. Then tenses slightly when she pushes in closer. It's just a cheek kiss, though, which he 'suffers' with a warm chuckle. Softly, "You're forgiven." And then after watching her for a long moment, he finishes off his drink and pushes to his feet. "Merry Christmas," he murmurs, gives her shoulder a squeeze, and prowls for the door.