Trooper Station: Tuesday

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

The staff at the station was giving Dale a wide berth today. Much as they had for the last week.

To say that his loss at the tournament upset him was quite possibly an understatement. To lose to Windom in such a manner was quite frankly upsetting on several levels to Dale.

However today there was a bigger problem.

"What do you mean we've lost the coffee filters?" Dale snapped at Ralph. "Go find them!"

Comments

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

Okay, so he'd told Mustang he'd have a look around the place before he settled in, and the station kinda was a part of 'the place'.

That's the stuff that found Ray walking into the trooper station after coffee. Well, that, and some guy missing his kid sister (even if technically, none of that had been filed yet). "Hey, Rick," he greeted.

Ralph gave him the stink-eye.

"Fine, whatever."

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

"That's Ralph," Dale said trying to push past his irritation as he got up from his desk. "You must be the new guy."

Dale offered his hand in greeting. "Dale Cooper. Welcome aboard."

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"Huh? Yeah, new guy, that's me," Ray replied, taking in the, um, other new guy. New to him guy. Whatever. "Detective Ray Kowalski." He grabbed Dale's hand. "Um, thanks."

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

"I'd offer you some coffee however we're out of filters," Dale said shooting a glare at Ralph. "Other than that I'm sure you'll find our station to be fine example of law enforcement."

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"Eh. Already had my java this morning. Station coffee, usually not so good." Hey, he had experience in that department. Ray let go of Dale's hand and kinda slipped past him. "I came here to check out the set-up before I start."

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

"I bring in my own grind," Dale said leaning back and observing Ray. "So I assure you the station has more going for it than your standard coffee scented water. So, tell me Detective... What brings you to Fandom?"

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"Station coffee's station coffee," he said, kinda poking at a desk. Computers. He hated them. "I got a transfer, it's a long story."

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

Long story. Seemed to be a common thread here at the station.

"Fair enough," Dale said with a nod. "Then how about where you're from?"

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"Chicago," Ray promptly offered while he rifled through some paperwork.

Ugh, paperwork. "Call it Chi-town and I'll hurt ya," he added, distractedly. Just covering his bases. It was the country!

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

"I'll remember that," Dale said with an amused look. "I hail from Philadelphia myself. More recently from the Pacific Northwest before I ended up in Fandom."

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"Yeah?" Okay. Paperwork. Shooting range. At least they still had those around here. "How'd that, uh, work out for ya?"

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

"Let's just say I'd rather be here than in Philadelphia," Dale smirked and then added. "Long story... One you may believe more when you've been around a little longer."

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

Ray paused in his high-brow investigation of his new place of business. That sounded like a challenge. "Try me." He really hoped it didn't concern dinosaurs.

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

She'd been keeping a fairly low profile lately, but the fact that Charlotte had even forgotten to open the gallery last weekend told her that she needed to start getting back into things as normal.

As normal as possible, anyway. Because, even with everything that had happened a bit ago, being a male for a day certainly hadn't helped a damn thing.

And she felt she knew just the place to start. She poked her head into the station. "Dale?"

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

Dale had tried to make coffee using a paper towel instead of a regular filter. He was not thrilled with the result.

He was however happy to see Charlotte and rose to greet her. "Hello, Charlotte," he said with a small grin. "I'm sorry I've been so busy lately. Are you doing well?"

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

Whether or not her attention toward the excitement over the coffee maker was due to genuine concern or an attempt to directly avoid the question was a little difficult to determine. She frowned a little. "Is something wrong with the coffee maker?" she asked.

It was pretty bad that she could just tell from walking into the room that there was something.

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

"No filters," Dale said frowning. Severely frowning.

"They appear to be lost," he said sharply looking at Ralph before making a concerted effort to push past his irritation. He gave Charlotte a warmer grin and leaned over to give her a quick kiss on the cheek. "However having you drop by does seem to make things better."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

The kiss on the cheek managed to pull a bit of a smile and even more of a blush out of Charlotte; she ducked her head and leaned it toward Dale a little, but her buzzing brain just could not let the coffee thing go. "Do you want me to run to the store for you and get you some? I'm sure they have some; they seem to have everything, and it won't take me too long."

Although she would take her time.

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

The blush seemed to put Dale a little more at ease as he leaned back against his desk. "While I appreciate the offer, I think Ralph will be heading out to get some," he said quietly. "Besides... I think it might be better if we caught up a little. Don't you?"

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

Her expression going a little tight, Charlotte spared a glance toward Ralph. After all the times she'd brought him muffins, to be betrayed like this!

But she gave Dale a smile and had a seat. "You're right," she agreed. "These last few weeks have just been all over the place, haven't they?"

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

"That's... one way of putting it," Dale said leaning back on his desk more with a look of deep concern on his face. "Are you ready to talk about it? I know it can sometimes be hard to talk about such a situation."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

Charlotte met Dale's concerned look with a bit of a distressed frown of her own; going about and pretending that there was nothing to talk about made it difficult to continue when it was just out on the table like that. But she did come here today, and she should have known that Dale wouldn't have just let her brush it aside. She sighed.

"I don't know. I mean, it should at least wait until you manage to have some decent coffee, don't you think?"

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

Dale gave her a small grin.

"I think this is a little more important that a cup of coffee, don't you?" he said reaching out to take her hand. "You went through a traumatic experience, Charlotte. You don't have to pretend that everything is okay."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"I just thought," Charlotte said, quietly, as she gave Dale's hand a little squeeze, and sending a look of contrition over the desk at him, "the coffee might help..."

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

Dale got up from his desk and squatted down so he was eye level with Charlotte. "You being happy again is a little more important than that," he said in a teasing fashion.