Breath mints and club soda

Rene had pondered for at least an hour on what to wear. When she turned and saw the look on Kyle's face, she knew it had been worth it. A saucy little grin curled her lips as she spun around, emerald green skirt twirling around just a bit. She raised one hand in the air and laughed.

"You like?" she asked, already well aware of the answer.

She lowered her arm and smoothed the skirt a bit. Her top was a tank with spaghetti straps, slightly lighter shade of green than the skirt, and seemed to be almost sheer silk. It made her sun tattoo clearly visible on her left arm, and if someone dared to stare long enough, they would likely see the outline of a hoop resting against her left nipple. Simple black sandals with leather straps tied around her ankles, and a little matching clutch purse completed her outfit.

She turned her cheek to meet his kiss, smiling like a school girl. What she wouldn't have given back in the day for a kiss from those lips.

"You cleaned up pretty well yourself, Kyle," she said, still smiling. "Shall we go find the maitre d'?"

"You cleaned up pretty well yourself, Kyle," she said, still smiling. "Shall we go find the maitre d'?"

He stammered, 'Yes,' and then mumbled under his breath, 'god please let us find him.'

Kyle was currently grappling with feelings of inadequacy and what he thinks is a crush. He hadn't seen her in 15 some years. The last time he did see her, she was on her bike wearing blue jean shorts and a green tank top. Now she's got the full grown version of that little girl walking next to him. He tucked her hand up under his arm and led her to the dining room.

They were seated quickly and as requested, near the fireplace. The Piazza hotel's restaurant was lavish and filled with stars that peaked in thru the panes of glass that made up the center section of the ceiling. He helped her sit and as he leaned over a bit to tuck her in, and inadvertantly (which is what he keeps telling himself) looked down her blouse and saw her nipple ring.

Kyle Evans didnt know whether to be sick, be turned on or just run out screaming. He decided he needed to sit down.

The waiter approached and asked for their drinks. He had been thinking about this all day. He didnt want her to see him that way again, not if he could help it. His hands hadn't started to shake yet but they would.

'Um, a coke...please? And the lady will have...?' Kyle went blank, the last time he bought her a drink, it had cherries in it. He looked at her expectantly.

Rene was looking around the room, drinking it all in when she heard Kyle ordering. Feeling his eyes on her she looked from him up to the waiter. "Oh! Uhm, how bout a cherry coke, and could you bring me a little bowl of cherries on the side please?"

As the waiter wandered away to get their drinks, she looked back to Kyle. "Wait til you see what I learned to do," she said with a lopsided grin, glancing back down to the menu in front of her.

She realized the effect she was having on him; she had the same effect on most men since she'd hit about twenty. In her line of work, sometimes it was a good thing, but others, like around her peers, it could get seriously ugly. She was all woman, and proud of that fact. That wouldn't, however, stop her from knocking the hell out of some guy who so desperately deserved it.

Her gaze lifting from the menu, she looked over to Kyle again. "I don't know what I want. Everything looks so good, and I skipped lunch today. Any suggestions?" she asked, tilting her head to one side.

He snorted softly at her order and did comment on the trick she wanted to show him. This was all so surreal, he thought to himself.

"I don't know what I want. Everything looks so good, and I skipped lunch today. Any suggestions?" she asked, tilting her head to one side.

He looked up at her without lifting his head. A black lock of hair dusted his forehead as he considered their dinner. His eyes narrowed. 'I like steak. Very rare. Practically moo'ing. Not steak tar tar, rare. Pink. Cold pink. Moo'ing...cold...pink moo'ing.' He grinned at her, hoping to see her laugh again.

'So I was probably going to go with Prime Rib.' He looked back down again. 'You look like a meat and potato's kinda girl, want me to order 2 for both of us?'

She did indeed reward him with a little chuckle. He was making her feel like she was almost, well, twelve again. She looked back at the menu again with a nod. "Sure, but make mine medium rare with a baked sweet potato. Heavy on the butter and cinnamon sugar!"

The waiter probably caught her order anyway as he came back with their drinks. He sat hers down first, the bowl of cherries resting beside the cherry coke. She listened idly as Kyle made orders for both of them and smiled when he went through the whole 'practically moo'ing' bit with the poor waiter. She handed the young man her menu and sat back, sucking on a cherry.

"You gotta see this," she mumbled around the small fruit and then sucked it all the way in her mouth. She pulled the stem off as she ate the cherry, then put that in her mouth as well after she'd swallowed. "Okay, here we go!" she grinned. After about a full minute of mouth twisting, eyes damn near crossing, and a fit of giggles that elicited several stares from around the room, she stuck her tongue out. Resting on the tip was a cherry stem, tied in a knot.

Kyle leaned forward and put his elbow on the table. He covered his mouth and laughed out loud as he watched her struggle with the cherry stem. He welcomed this change of venue and company. This was much better than chasing vampire shadows and avoiding his Editor. Better than making print or bars with women who haven't aged harshly and wore too much makeup.

He looked at Rene as she proudly showed him the fruits of her labor. He clapped, laughing and for one clear, brief moment, all was well.

Mocking a bow from the waist in her chair, she snickered and put the cherry stem back in the bowl. She wiped her sticky fingers on the linen napkin sitting in front of her. A quick sip of her coke and she leaned back in her chair once again, hands folded on the table in front of her.

Assuming a mockingly stern expression, she quipped, "That concludes the entertainment portion of our dinner. Now, shall we get down to business?" she teased. Her eyes glinted with mischief, much like they had when he had known her so long ago. "You said you were a reporter. What do you get to write about? International espionage? Fashion reports? No, I know! Sports coverage?"

Kyle thought a moment on how to phrase his words correctly. He decided that he really couldn't and half laughed, half sighed.

'No, not sports. From time to time I can score front page news, but lately, some would say at least...that i've been slumming it.' He shrugged. 'I'm a bit of a conspiracy theorist, I guess you could say.'

He blushed and kicked himself for doing it. 'God this woman and her ability to make me blush', he thought.

'I'm a...the Fox Mulder of Nachton Times, so to speak.' Kyle reached out and took a sip of his coke, trying to gauge her reaction. 'When I'm respectable, I do court cases and the like.' Just then he realized he could change the subject and get away from his ridiculous life.

'I'm running a story on the murder of the Assistant DA here in town. Harold Gray. They found him dead in his office, of course locked from the inside. His window on the 16th floor was found open. Have you heard about that yet?'

Rene pondered for a moment, letting his words sink in. She thought about saying 'The truth is out there, Kyle', but then thought better of it. He may or may not appreciate her sense of humor when it came to his work. Hell, who was she to judge? She still had her own qualms about a few bodies she'd left behind in Vegas.

"Hmmm, Harold Gray? I may have heard a few whispers about that downtown, but nothing I can recall offhand. Sounds interesting, though. Of course, anything I do find out, I probably wouldn't be able to talk about. At least not right away," she said with a quick wink.

He nodded and smiled. Hey if he was lucky, he could have an sweet insider in the precinct. Better than just another familiar. Kyle wondered if he should tell her about his conspiracy theory. Would she understand or would she react like most and just nod politely but leave early?

Kyle decided to ease into it. 'Gray's murder was rumored to be a hired killing. He, infact, was told of a plot against him. I talked to him that day. There's a syndicate out there that does these hired killings, but no one knows anything about them. There are cases upon cases of stragetically done kills that could only be done by, what I think, is a specific type of killer.'

He watched her expression and continued. 'There are random killings, murders in the back alleyways here. Be careful going into the industrial district, actually. Yesterday there was a report of a group of known criminals that were found dead. Their throats were ripped out. Granted we didnt hear about it, who carese about serial rapists. Apparently they were known as a rape gang.' He shrugged, death was death to him now after reporting it for the past couple of years. He pressed on.

'The one thing that stands out is not just how random these killings are, its how they're killed.' Kyle demonstrated, using his hand as a claw, he simulated the tearing. 'Only it's not done with a claw.'

Rene didn't have to feign interest in Kyle's tale; she was truly engrossed by it. It brought to mind some curious deaths back in Vegas, not to mention the body that had apparently gotten up and walked out of the morgue one late night. That last had been the case that had finally gotten her in trouble. No amount of begging, pleading, or outright demanding would get her superiors to listen to her theories. When Billy went AWOL, it was the last straw. They'd put her on a voluntary leave of absence, at least for the first couple weeks. When she was ready to come back to work, they still wouldn't hear it. She'd taken several months off, spent some time with her daughter, investigating Billy's disappearance on her own to no avail. She needed closure there, and she just didn't see it happening.

Sensing Kyle's gaze upon her, she realized she'd zoned out. He probably thought she was thinking he was nuts. Truth was, she believed him, and she believed something bigger was out there. She just had no idea what or who that something was. Leaning forward, she started to say something just as the waiter arrived with the meal. She quickly sat back, staring at the steak and potato. They were huge!

"Do they honestly think I can eat all that?" she exclaimed to the waiter and Kyle, who both laughed at her.

Kyle ate his dinner in silence, enjoying the taste of it. It had been a long time since he had eaten an evening meal sober. He ironically felt great all day, probably from his anticipation. Rene brought back a lot of safe, warm memories and he took comfort in her presence. It probably wasn't fair to put her on such a pedestal, since he knew nothing about her as a woman, much less a teenager.

Clinking of nearby glassed and laughing caught his attention. Another waiter was pouring champagne. He watched the gold liquid pour into the champagne flute and suddenly Kyle felt a strange niggling in the back of his head. He stopped chewing his food and looked down at his hands.

They were starting to shake.

He looked back up at the alcohol flowing freely at the next table and then he turned and looked around, noticing everyone but them were drinking alcohol. There were waiters moving smoothly in between tables, carrying silver service plates of wine and champagne bottles. He looked passed Rene, over her shoulder and saw the entrance of the Hotel bar.

He looked at his hands again, recognizing the tremor.

He swallowed the food in his mouth but it was dry and tasteless now. He took a deep breath and thought he could smell the last of the prior evening's alcohol emitting from his skin. Kyle gripped his knife and fork tightly, trying to stop the shaking but making it worse.

Kyle, with a defeated look on his face, looked up at Rene to see her staring at him.

Having eaten more than she usually ate in an entire day, she pushed her plate to the side still holding at least half of the meal. She took a sip of her soda, watching Kyle as he looked around the room. She had known he was drunk last night at the station, hadn't even bothered to ask him about it because she didn't want to embarrass him. She supposed she had hoped it wasn't a usual occurrence. Watching his hands begin to shake, she felt that hope slide away.

She took another sip of the cherry coke before sitting it back on the table and leaning back into her chair. Her head tilted to one side, deep red tresses falling over her bare shoulder. She wasn't sure she knew how to deal with an alcoholic. No one she'd ever been close to had ever had a drinking problem. Under normal circumstances, she would likely let her hard ass exterior run away with it. With Kyle it was different, though. She didn't like seeing someone she'd once felt so strongly for brought so low. It was also quite obvious to her that he was trying very hard to be sober for her sake. While glad she could give him a reason to stay away from the drink, she wasn't sure wanted to also be the reason to cause him such obvious pain.

Leaning forward again, she showed Kyle a compassionate side that few rarely witnessed. She laid a hand over his, and the soft smile she wore sparkled in her dark green eyes. "I appreciate the effort, but if you need a drink to curb the hunger, please don't beat yourself up on my account." Her voice was soft, and so were the fingers gently tracing the back of his hand.

Kyle realized he had stopped breathing. He took a breath as she touched his hand. He could feel the flush creep up into his face and he pulled away from her hand and let go of the utensils.

This was why he drank. The sudden loss of control. Ironic as it was, being lost in a drunken haze gave him that escape from the harsh realities he could not control.

He shook his head. 'A lot has happened in the past 15 years, Rene. It's not an excuse, but it's what I am.' He fidgeted with hands and flushed again at his embarassment. 'There are things here, in Nachton, Rene. Things I could tell you about but you wouldnt believe me.' Again he shrugged, defeated.

'I dont want to drink. Drinking hides the hideous world we live in, but seeing you again...', he trailed off, staring at her. 'Seeing you, remembering...you, gives me a reason to see clearly again.' He crossed his arms and tucked his hands into his armpits and looked away.

Rene withdrew her hand and watched his face. Perhaps it hadn't been the right thing to do, but hell she was as lost as he was about how to handle their situation. She felt tears welling, threatening to fall from her eyes and quickly blinked them back. It wouldn't do to lose it when he was clearly already so torn up about the ordeal himself.

She waved to the waiter and mouthed 'Check please' across the room. He gave a quick nod and made his way to the table, thumbing thru the various tabs he had in his pocketed apron. After a brief, but halfhearted, argument over Rene wanting to pay her half of the tab, Kyle relented.

Not wanting the night to end on such a sour note, she once again curled her arm through his as they made their way out of the hotel lobby. "You're coming home with me, by the way. We need to talk, and I have a hot tub that just begs to be put to use." She said it casually, but the twinkle in her eye was back as she caught his gaze. "You can follow me if you want. I'm down on the beach."

Without giving him a chance to argue again, she hopped into the little red sports car and winked at him as she started the engine and put her seat belt on. She turned the radio up a little and laughed. Though he wouldn't have any idea why of course. She really couldn't stand Jessica Simpson, but the remix of her 'I Wanna Love You Forever' was just too comical to her at that moment. Just how long had the little girl inside her loved Kyle Evans anyway?

((OOC OUT!))

Kyle watched her roar her car's engine and considered her hot tub offer. He looked at this woman, all dressed in green with flaming red hair. She was beautiful, no denying that. Although he wasn't exactly sure if she was offering more, the irritating gentleman in his head decided there wouldnt be.

But he was a man, who was he kidding. 'Ok, let's go.'

((ooc kyle out))