2020-01-06 - Evening Coffee

(TXT to Stephanie) Gabriel : Hey. Long time, no see. Miss your face? You need coffee?

(TXT to Gabriel) Stephanie : Yeah. I know. The holidays tend to be a bad time for me. I could always use coffee. Had a late shift. Couldn't sleep.

(TXT to Stephanie) Gabriel : Espresso Yourself?

(TXT to Gabriel) Stephanie : Yeah, I'll see you there.

Stephanie was dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans and a navy blue sweatshirt, underneath her black leather jacket. She had a pair of sensible Doc Martens on. After having had dinner on her own at home, she headed out to meet Gabriel for coffee. It had been a rough night and she wasn't to sleep before her next shift anyway so she decided to go ahead and indulge Gabriel's request to meet. Maybe he could help sort out the situation she'd dealt at work.

Stepping into the coffee shop, she decided to go for her usual booth in the corner by the window after acquiring her coffee. She sat there, lost in her thoughts as she stared out the window.

Stephanie can tell that Gabriel is off duty when he comes to meet Stephanie for coffee. How? Because he is in a black leather jacket and a red henley over jeans and Doc Martins rather than his usual work uniform of a blazer, dress shirt, and slacks. He stops at the counter to get himself a very tall latte, but then spies the paramedic off in the booth.

"Hey! You! Happy New Year." Gabe leans down to offer her a one-armed hug and a kiss on the cheek. "How's 2020 treating you so far?"

There is a tired smile that meets Gabriel when he arrives and greets her. She stands to properly return his hug after he offers the kiss on the cheek. "So I just found out that my new partner is the attractive unavailable coworker I was drunk texting at New Year's and we had a bit of an incident last night. It's anything but uneventful," she explains with a smile she struggles to maintain.

Gabriel turns the hug into a two-armed one when Stephanie stands and then goes to slide into the booth across from her, arching an eyebrow at that. "Oh, man," he says with a laugh. "Sounds like a real pickle. But wait. Is the incident with the coworker? Like you hooked up? Or something different?" He has to clarify. He is a detective, after all.

As she sits back down, Stephanie laughs, sounding mildly delirious. "I wish," she mumbles, then she explains quietly just for him to hear, "No, I meant, an incident at work, darling. Dead body, strange creature from the Veil. That sort of incident." She pauses to sip her coffee and watch his reaction.

"Well, dead body is sort of my thing," points out Gabriel, at first, at the mention of a body that Stephanie came across. "It's how we met, too. Standing over a body." But then there is a mention of The Veil and the detective's eyes go a bit wide. "Wait. What? What happened?"

"Yes, I remember." There was a smile creeping on Stephanie's features.

Gabriel's reaction was as expected. "It was a weird shadowy creature that came out of a tear in the Veil. Tried to stop it but it escaped. Devlin and I figured that it was responsible for the death in the house. But it almost sounded like it was...crying?" She sighs. "Apparently, no one's talking about the body or whether it could be connected to other deaths. The Gazette's offering rewards for information. I just don't know if I should..."

"Wait. The animal?" Gabriel, it seems, has heard of the story. Or read it. Or saw a report or something. "So that was the crying sound?" He seems -- interested, that is for sure. "Well. We can take a look into it, if you wanted. I mean, I could. In my copious free time." He's teasing about that part.

"I mean, the police aren't talking so if you have any ways to get more information, that would be great. You know, when you're free." Stephanie shrugs. "I don't know what it was called. But it was definitely not an animal." She goes to drink her coffee again.

"I can look into it," promises Gabriel with a nod of his head, making a mental note. "I can at least tell you what the police files say. I'm the homicide cop. Dead bodies are my Thing, after all." He takes a long sip of his latte, mulling over the thought as he considers what else he can do. "And once we have that figured, we can go from there."

"Thank you. So how have you been? How were your holidays? I know we haven't really hung out since my birthday and only seen each other in passing when work stuff happens. You know how it is, I just...I just shut down over the holidays." The look in Stephanie's eyes is very much apologetic.

"Hey. It's what it means to be friends, Stephanie. I'm here for you even when shit is hard and you shut down. I'll be here when things come back." Gabe gives her that best winning smile of his, that charm that can make witnesses and suspects alike opne up a bit for him. "I'm good. Holidays were good. Went down to San Fransisco to see the family for a bit. Hug the nephews and nieces. And then came back for New Year's. Taking a breath after the big Kreuger double homicide went down."

Stephanie smiles back despite herself as Gabriel recounted his holidays and his time away. "Yeah, that double homicide was intense. Glad you were able to see your family. " She gave a slight pout. "I didn't know you were back, otherwise I would have dragged you to the party I went to. I was third wheeling so hard. It would have been nice to have some backup."

Gabriel laughs at that and shakes his head. "And I am sure you rocked that -- what -- little black dress you must have been wearing," teases Gabriel as he takes a sip of his latte, sighing softly. "But fuck. It's the worst of Winter coming up. Spike on the suicides. Spike on tensions bubbling over. It's going to suck."

"It was red, thank you very much," Stephanie says playfully as she sips on her coffee. His next statements give her pause to consider her next words. "Yeah, you know, with all the weird stuff in this town...it's going to be real intense this winter. It's already starting." She sighs.

"Yeah. W'ell be keeping busy." Gabe reaches out and gives Stephanie's hand a squeeze. "Just keep in touch, yeah? We'll back each other up. And if weird stuff starts happening." You know, Weird with a capital W. "Let me know?"

"It's kind of why I agreed to meet with you. But there's another thing. I haven't been using my...abilities before last night. I think it's all been messing with my head somehow, affecting my dreams." Stephanie confesses.

"Yeah?" asks Gabriel, arching his brow at that. "I admit, I try to keep my uses to a minimum, except when I really need it to crack a case." Stephanie might know that he can sometimes see the 'echoes' left on objects, and the person who left them, making things easier to figure out, for instance, who left a murder weapon. "But what's going on?"

"Right now? Just a nightmare. Nothing that seemed to really affect me, so I'm thinking it's a mild symptom right now, but I don't know. I expect it to get worse before it gets better, if it ever does." She gets to the bottom of her coffee and sighs. Gabriel can probably tell that Stephanie is a lower level Mentalist and that her natural gifts led themselves to being a Spiritualist and a Physicalist.

"Yeah. I've had some trippy dreams, too. Not related to my knacks, from what I can tell." It is what Gabriel calls Glimmer, it seems. "But just -- weird stuff. And if something happens to you in a dream, it happens in real life. So don't die out there."

"I don't plan on it. But this dream...it isn't one of those dreams, I don't think. But I felt like I was being taunted by the darkness, the shadows. They were messing with me, Gabe." She says quietly. "But if they come for me in a dangerous way, in a dream that could hurt me? I don't know what I'd do."

"Yeah. I know what you mean. I guess, just, in the moment, I'd figure it out. Defend myself. Somehow. Or try to get out. I was in the Army? But I have no idea how this stuff works." Gabe finishes his own coffee, looking down into the empty cup. "At least not like this."

"I was hoping you'd have more information than I do. Or at least know who to talk to." Stephanie shrugs. "I don't know how I'm going to survive work with the very real possibility of the Shadows continuing to come out. Especially if they kill."

"Yeah. I hear you." Gabe's fingers squeeze hers hard. "You've just got to do the best you can and focus on the day to day and not think about the stuff that goes bump in the night." Certainly easier said than done, that's for sure. "We'll get through it." He could sound more convincing.

The squeeze startles her and she pulls her hand away to grab her phone, just have it in her hand. "I feel like I'm being forced into a corner with my ... abilities. If I didn't use them, what could have I done to try to stop the Shadow? And it still got away with everything I put into trying to deal with the threat. I'm not even a combatant. I don't know how to deal with those things. I don't fight. I don't harm, I heal. It could kill again. It's still out there somewhere." She is quiet and her voice is low.

Gabriel swiftly withdraws his hand, his attempt at comforting her spiraling out before it really gets off the ground. "Yeah. I hear you. It's a balance, I guess. Using them for good, but not using them so much that it draws the Darkness." Whatever the answer is, unfortunately, Gabriel doesn't seem to have it.

She sighs. "It's good to have someone I can talk to about this. And I know winter tends to get busy for you but I really appreciate you trying to help me out." She bites her lower lip.

"Hey. What are friends for, Stephanie? Other than being your date when you third wheel it at a New Year's Eve party?" asks Gabriel, trying to bring a little bit of levity back to the conversation. "But seriously. You need anything. You know my number."

Stephanie nods carefully. "Yeah I guess it's time to reintegrate myself back into my life now that the holidays are over." She gives a half-hearted grin. "Tell me more about San Francisco. Never been there before. Your time with your family."

Gabriel laughs at that. "It was just the holidays. You know. Church." Stephanie would know that Gabe is a pretty devout Catholic, going to church basically every Sunday. "And then a lot of time with the siblings and newphews and nieces." Yeah, it's a big Catholic family. "Got some new shirts. Gave some toys that needed assembly and batteries." He grins. "It was nice."

Stephanie gives a small smile. "I spent most of my holidays working, my family isn't exactly close. We haven't really been since my Mother got sent upstate..." she explains quietly. "I'm starting to wonder if she went through what I've been going through and that's what sent her over the edge. If she had the same abilities I got..."

"Could be. I've heard there's some group of -- similar folks -- who were sent upstate, but who got out and are trying to help with each other," says Gabriel, as he thinks about it. "Maybe you can go to a meeting or reach out to one of them?"

"I know one of my neighbors got sent upstate...maybe I'll reach out to her." Stephanie muses out loud.

"Yeah. Good idea. Let me know what you find out, huh? It's sort of weird. I mean, what's going on with that place, whatever it is. And I'll keep you posted what I find out about that body. In the police files, I mean." Gabe offers a small grin. "I should head home so I can get in for work."

"Thanks, Gabe." She gives his arm a quick squeeze. "Keep me posted on what you find." She stands to leave and gives him a hug before she leaves.