Trooper Station, Friday

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

Limes. Bunches and bunches of limes.

Ray thought limes were totally +1 against peppers or something. Shut up, he'd never done D&D as a kid and he'd slug anybody who mentioned it. But. Limes.

Stuffing them in her locker wasn't enough. There was a lime by the bad coffee, there were two limes on her keyboard, and one even sat proudly in Daisy's seat, sliced half-open and grinning in all its limeyness.

Ha.

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Comments

[justice-beat.livejournal.com]

"How did you know," Daisy remarked, sounding surprised and impressed, as she picked up the lime on her seat and gave it a look-over, "I was thinking of trying a recipe with limes tonight, Kowalski? That's some prime detective work right there; how nice of you to bring some in for me."

No, she hadn't been planning on using limes tonight. But now...

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"I thought you people were probably big on, uh, limes," Ray called across the desk. "Yannow, being on the opposite end of the spec--, the uh, spectrum from peppers."

[justice-beat.livejournal.com]

Daisy wasn't sure if anything Ray had said right there made much sense, and so she gave him a look that briefly expressed as much before setting the lime aside and going to start up her computer. "Either way, very nice of you, Kowalski. Saves me a bit of a trip."

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

That totally made sense. Ray was great like that.

"Anything to save you time, Day," he said, "So what are you planning to make with those, huh?"

[justice-beat.livejournal.com]

Daisy tilted her head thoughtfully at the limes for a moment. "Not perfectly sure yet," she said. "I did just sit down after all. But I do know I wanted to do something with seafood, and lime's great for that. Good way to season chicken, too. Good source of vitamin C, too."

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"But you said you wanted to do something with limes," Ray pointed out, leaning back, "You know. Specifically. A recipe."

[justice-beat.livejournal.com]

"It's still a recipe in progress," Daisy explained. "In my head. I think it now also involves chilis."

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"Chilis, huh?" Ray tilted his head at her. Thoughtfully. Really. "Think I still got a couple."

[justice-beat.livejournal.com]

Daisy really couldn't help a bit of a chuckle there. "Yeah, no kidding? Think they're any good by now?"

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"What you talkin' about, any good?" Ray asked, smartly, "Coulda bought them yesterday."

[justice-beat.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Daisy allowed, "but did you?"

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"I may or may not have purchased chili peppers yesterday," he answered vaguely. Hey, he used to be married to a lawyer. "But you said by now."

[justice-beat.livejournal.com]

"Well, you can never be too sure with peppers," said Daisy.

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"Hey, there's peppers you can be sure of," he argued right back. "Trust me."

[justice-beat.livejournal.com]

"Awww, that's sweet, Kowalski," Daisy said, then grinned faintly. "But I'm pretty sure you don't want me using what you're thinking in cooking."

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

Pepper, being fairly certain that today would not result in her ending up de-clothed in the midst of the station, was bearing coffee when she peeked in.

Granted, it was difficult to peek when one was almost 6'2" and wearing particularly clacky heels, but still. "Why does it smell like citrus?"

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"Just... a thing," Ray said, shooting her a smile that would hopefully distract her or something. "A thing with my partner. She's from England." Because that explained everything. He cocked his head. "So, limes."

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

"Because she's a Limey?" Pepper wondered, wandering over to offer him one of the two cups. "Clever. Hi."

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"Well, she put peppers in my locker," he said, shrugging, took the cup, and grinned again. "So hey, Pepper. What's up?"

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

"Nothing particularly interesting, at least today. She put peppers in your locker?" She looked far too amused by this.

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"Last Monday," Ray replied, bringing up his cup for a good sip. "Day thinks she's clever. She's still a rook, though."

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

"I don't think I've met her," Pepper said thoughtfully. "I'd offer to let you call me by my real name, if I thought it'd help. But I think it's kind of funny, anyway, if a little...weird."

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"It's cause of the cop convention," Ray said, sipping his coffee again. Had to love a woman who'd bring you coffee. "This, uh, this Angua chick-- comes from a weird, weird-ass kinda place, but what else is new, right-- was all up on making fun of your fellow cops. So we're trying a, uh, team-building thing. Kinda."

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

"...whatever works," Pepper decided, grinning at that. "So this week you're using produce to mock one another?"

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"Did tea last time." Ray bobbed his head along with it. "Figured I'd, uh, mix it up."

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

"What do you think you'll go for next week?" she wondered. "Guys with big furry hats? Double-decker buses? Phoneboxes?"

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"I don't care which," Ray replied, "As long as there's a date involved somewhere in the, uh, phoneboxes." Smooth again. "You want the worry, you talk to my partner. Still arresting ponies."

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

Pepper smiled slowly. "I'm still surprised at the pony arrest," she said, deliberately being obtuse, "I mean, regardless of who the pony might be, I would think that wouldn't be a police matter so much as...animal control, I suppose."

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"You try telling her that," he snerked. "She knows the penal code by heart. So. Um."

His smooth only coasted him this far, okay.

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

"Um?" she prompted, grinning a little.

Look, she liked the smoothness, but Pepper had a soft spot for dorks.

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"Wanna go out?" he tried, finally.

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

"You're cute when you're fumbly," Pepper noted, her smile widening. "I'd love to."

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"I ain't fumbly," Ray argued, "But I'm cute, so I'm gonna let it go." He smirked. "Um. Monday?"

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

She laughed, checking her PDA quickly. "Monday's totally free, so that's perfect. Let's hope nothing...weird happens. No stupid blizzards, no random lack of a mental filter like on Tuesday...."

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"You didn't go out in that, didya?" Ray asked, tilting his head. "Because it was, um, weird."

He could not have been held responsible if he'd gone to see Fraser that day. Not.

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

"I was working. There was a lot of talk of my anatomy," Pepper said delicately.

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

There was kind of a long pause.

"Stark," Ray said, when that ended.

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

"Not just Tony. I had to turn off my phone, eventually," she admitted.

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"...People were callin' you to start talking about anatomy?" Ray asked, because he was starting to get the feeling he had no idea where this was going.

He chugged back some more coffee on that count.

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

"Not specifically, but I yelled at an, um, augmented secretary I normally work with. It was just a messy day," she admitted. "Lying, or at least not saying what's in your head, is way easier."

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"You tellin' me," Ray said, still kind of digesting all of that. "I woke up, started talking to my room how I wanted another turtle, I was lying the hell back down."

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

"You had a turtle?"

Because that was clearly the important bit.

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"I had a turtle back in Chicago," he said, nodding, "Cool guy. We didn't, uh, get in each other's way."

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

"Aw. You should get another," she decided, nodding. "That's a much better thing to blurt out than anything I said."

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"Hey, I didn't talk to people," Ray pointed out, "I coulda wandered into Fraser's office and told him I wanted a pair of his longjohns or something."

Maybe missing a vital word in that sentence, but damn, Pepper did not need to hear any of that bullshit.

[lots-of-olives.livejournal.com]

"That would absolutely beat Tony wanting Jarvis to count my freckles," Pepper decided, tilting her head in thought.

[headkickpoet.livejournal.com]

"Hey, at least you didn't spill your embarrassing secrets to a dead terra-- terrarium."