She Was Never The Type To Consider That Things Happened For A Reason Or That Something Out There Had

She was never the type to consider that things happened for a reason or that something out there had predetermined everything that happened to someone because that's how they had wanted it to go. It meant accepting that something had seen everything that she would have to go through and still decided that she would go through it instead of changing it. That everything bad in the world was easily fixable but something decided it shouldn't be. There was something to be said that while she didn't believe in that, she was beginning to believe in big concidences, that maybe some people were meant to come into your life at just the right time. So far the few that she had, had come into her life at times where she could call 'the right time' now. "Oh," she laughed. "You're one to talk. All those times you thought I didn't know you were staring at me when I wasn't looking. Maybe you had something on your face and I just didn't know how to tell you."

Even if it had been a dinner murder mystery thing, she would have still gone. Anything now that she had him in front of her again. "I've missed you too." The words were soft, not afraid to admit it, and ready to apologize again for the time apart. Something she didn't want to do again now. Smiling at his assumption about psychos being dinner mystery fans, silly things like these were one of the reasons she liked being around him. One of the reasons. "I think I read that study," she teased. "I think the leading dentist on that also said that their favorite brand of toothpaste was crest, so now I know who to avoid once I look in their bathrooms." That should have been her first sign all those months ago, when he was silly and it only made her want to be silly back.

Something brought back a moment in time with Orion and she couldn't help but echo back those words as he called her cute. "I'm not cute, I'm fucking adorable."

Antares for her part perked up and purred louder, it was one from deep down as Wally caressed her. "See, told you, she likes you better." Cradling her in one arm, she held out the other to take his. Something she had done countless times before, another sign that she had ignored. The warmth of his hand always radiated within her in a way that nothing else had ever before. A sun thawing out her winter-chilled bones. "Nope, didn't know that." She let him lead them out as she glanced down at the cat in her arm, feeling a little guilty about where they were taking her. "A playground for pets? For dogs? I mean what kind of playground is there for cats or birds? Wait, do the kids and the pets play on it together?" She wondered then if Antares was friendly with other pets or kids. Perhaps she should have gotten her a collar as well, even if Antares didn't come in for long periods at least it would keep her from being taken to a pound if she was ever picked up. "No, did they have to get the fight fighters to cut them open with the jaws of life. How did they even get their head stuck in the first place?"

He nodded and hummed. "Very different. Like I'd taken that transfer job if I hadn't met you. Though that was mostly a no because I couldn't leave my sisters." Not to mention when they had their losses right as he was deciding what department to choose. "Okay, maybe I should say easier than before. I mean now, the mention of date doesn't give you the shudders." Wally teased softly knowing how it had been before but never really pushing her to get over whatever inner obstacle that she had. "Sure you don't." His mouth twisted into a sly smile knowing how she was lying in the moment. Though that didn't stop him from teasing. "Okay, so what was that at the lighthouse when you couldn't keep your stare? Or that time when we were looking over files and you dropped your gaze like a hot potato. Don't think I didn't see you those times that you stared while I wasn't looking at you." he grinned as if to prove a point.

As she left the room his eyes couldn't help but follow her. In that quiet manner they always did when they were soaking her in, basking in her energy. She was like his force field, wherever she went his eyes went with her. "Yeah," he chuckled thinking she was being silly. "Food and a game. Two in one. It's my way to tell you I've missed you. Possibly a little more than normal." But that only made him pull his finger against his lips and make a shh sound like it was some secret. He laughed and rolled his eyes as his head leaned back into the cushion. "We both do that for work, that's not my idea of fun. This is actually fun by all accounts. It's dinner first then a game. Separate not together. Also people who do those turn out to be psychos." Were they? No. But he went off the data from work. Not like anyone would call him out on it.

"I may also have an issues with that dude. So, no. Not a dinner movie mystery theater thing." The laugh came out as amusement. "You know that you're cute?" he asked as he could hear her fussing with Antares. Wally checked his phone for a brief moment to see if he had gotten an email back or a text. Work week always had him on edge. He didn't know when would his next travel was going be and that threw him off especially after recovering. He smiled hearing her voice but didn't say anything and put his phone away as she came back into view.

Getting up he went over to lightly rub over Antares other ear and smiled as he glanced up to lock his gaze with hers. Holding out his free hand he nodded. "I'm ready." Just for good measure knowing that vet visits weren't always fun for animal or human, history he knew a little too well with his own sister in law. He remembered something fun. "Did you two know that there's a playground on the premises? There's a jungle gym for fur babies and actual kids. If you want to check it out?" The question was aimed at Liz as he smiled knowingly at himself. "Heard the story of that kid who got his head stuck on the bars?"

"Oh, you have no idea what I am capable of. " She laughed in response mostly because it was true. He didn't know her, not really. "I'd hold off just to prove a point. Keep pushing it and I might just change my number while you're gone." She wouldn't, neither would she ignore the messages or calls at any hour, she had come to look forward to the talks of cases and questions. They helped her not be stuck in her mind for long, the messages always seemed to come when she needed them the most. Shrugging, she simply said. "Don't get used to it, pal. Admitting things is not in my repertoire, this is a one-time thing only, just because you brought me here."

As she listened to his story, she couldn't help but smile. He always had the best stories and she liked to soak them up like a sponge. Greedily taking in his stories about his family and adventures. After all that talk back in the restaurant she had assumed, as he said, that Hawaii would be his answer and glad that she had been wrong, chuckling at his stupidly rich kid comment.

Peeling her eyes away from the night sky before them that began to blur in the distance into the ocean, to watch his face as he told her this memory. Something about it felt like a moment in time that would not be forgotten, one that meant a lot to him. There were many times that Wally had mentioned the matriarch of his family, a woman that made an ache in Elizabeth open but at the same time made her envious. "That sounds nice." The words were soft and almost carried away with the wind.

"Oh, there you go again." She shook her head turning her attention back out to the view before them. "First caves, then horses. What's next? You going to waterboard me into liking storms?" The soft motions of his fingers on her hand was so foreign but calming for some reason, a little voice in the back of her head told her to put her hand back in her pocket, to stop, but there was a need for the warmth his hand gave her that couldn't be denied. "I'll do the horse thing but I'll have to think about the cave thing."

The fact that he had to pull his phone out for this list of qualities that the person he was looking for made her laugh. "There's a literal list." Pulling away from him a bit to sit up against the wall while he read it off, she began to commit those things to mind as well. Maybe finding him someone to date would give her break from him. While she liked spending time with him and having a friend while she was around, the possibility of becoming attached to a new friend was also something she did not want to do. "Wow," the last statement threw her for a loop. "That's," she tried to find the right words. In all her time listening to what people wanted this was very different from what she would usually hear. "Interesting. Broken person? Do you think you're broken?"

Her eyebrow quirked up at the blank after, something was there but seeing as he always seemed to share willingly without being asked, she wasn't going to pry to one thing he seemed to want to keep to himself. "Ah, so I should lay blame your job and your niece for sticking you into my life then, not fate. No such thing."

"Well, I don't know if you know but," she sighed. "Its more of a personal thing. I know you know about my dad, Orion told me what you guys talked about at the center during Easter. Thanks by the way, for what you said, it helped him, he asks to go see the tall trees all the time now, much to my friends annoyance. He doesn't quite understand that he can't just get on a plane anytime he wants to go from coast to coast." It made her chuckle. "I just like to go during my birthday because that's where I was born and he grew up and I don't know it just feels like a personal thing. I don't like to go any other time. It's a ritual of sorts I guess. I go there and then to India for Diwali and then," she stopped short of saying home because she didn't have one. She usually just went back to New York because that was were her friends were. And as much as she liked being there, it wasn't home. "Back to New York."

Over her shoulder as she made her way down she called back in a sing song like tone. "There better not be!" At the promise of no caves. As much as she would put up a front, the thought of a week of new things to do was exciting. The fact that it would be with Wally added to it, he was nice and there was no rouse, she wasn't someone else she just was, which was nice. "I don't need patience, I just need to be left alone." She argued, but not angrily, just said matter of factly. "I don't like people, which I get is weird since I am one and have to deal with them everyone. But even on most days I don't like myself either, so its neither here nor there. Everyone is too complicated and have so many motives and most days I don't even have the patience for the toaster to toast my bread." Nor did she want to open up, she refused. She'd rather die first than open up the wounds that she hid from people. "Hallo hunt? What's that?"

As he opened the door, she stopped a couple of feet short and crossed her arms. "You're lying, right?" Her eyebrows were quirked in skepticism. "I mentioned I like maroon before, haven't I? That's how you knew to give me this one. You're just yanking my chain, right? This isn't your favorite color too." Closing the distance, she stood just between the door and seat, waiting for him to tell her that it was a lie, that he was just playing around and knew that she liked that color. Rolling her eyes, she added. "Don't argue with me. Just take the bed. You can sleep in late a bit, I'll sleep in the living room on the couch. Like I said, they're going to be in early, that way I don't wake you on my way down. It's not a big day, I've done this before a lot, I know how the Holden's work and what they need, so I'll be fine. I'll make coffee too before I head down so when you wake up you can have some before heading out. " She sat down and smiled at him. "You're welcome, and thank you for bringing me here. And dinner! That was nice."

A slight smirk covered his features as he began to chew on his bottom lip. "Your curiosity is gonna get the better of you. You can't hold off reading the texts until morning." He of course was not one to talk since he could barely contain himself from texting back while in the middle of work. It was a momentary glance that had him stare at her funnily wondering what could have possibly had her want to hide her face. "Hardly," he mused as a laugh escaped him. "Getting you to admit anything let alone that you like my anything is not gonna make me shut up about it. It's a big deal."

"Baton Rouge." It was the fastest answer he had ever given. "Don't get me wrong I love Hawaii and love the life I lead there but Louisiana more specifically Baton Rouge is a different world. The people, the history, the atmosphere. It is a place where everyone knows you and your business but beside that, that's where I can just be me. Just Wally not an Agent or someone they feel the need to fear. I mean, yes, there I'm still the stupidly rich kid but people know the values behind the money." He always missed his hometown. He hadn't been as old as his eldest but he still remembered being free to be whoever he wanted to be. In those moments where he wasn't fearing for his mother's life or his sisters. "But, it also comes with its downsides. I'm happy where I am now as an adult."

He laughed as he remembered another thing. "I do miss the Spinning Arrow, it was a bar, we didn't go there to drink, but the atmosphere they had old school karaoke nights. Sometimes an open mic night. We went on our last night before we officially graduated college. It was my sisters, brothers in law, di and Ma. She told us we were becoming who were supposed to be. Not to be sad or cry. She'd see us soon." His eyes took on an unfocused glare as he remembered the night. "I remember that night like it was yesterday. I had gotten into Quantico so Ma asked Billy Dean to put up a banner for me," he laughed. "It said something silly that took the place of congratulations and you know, she never missed an event for any of us. We were kept apart for most of our childhood but when it counted she was there." Never would he understand how she did the things she did.

"We should go see one. You can look from a safe distance. My brother in law has a ranch and they have ponies. You know that they respect you when you respect them in return. They're not as scary as they seem. Some people just don't know how to act appropriately around them. Which is when you get the horror stories."

He chuckled. "Don't threaten me with a good time. Going overboard with you? Not a bad way to go." Even as she looked up at him his fingers still tangled in her hair, making small motions with his digits. "I wouldn't be mean and take you to face your fear. I'm not like that, just it's called a cave but it's not. Something we can explore from the outside. Safely outside." Feeling her fingers uncurl against his he smiled. His thumb started to play against her knuckles and hummed softly. Turned out what his sister had said was right. Holding hands did feel right when it was with the right person. "Someone who is loyal, sorry just as loyal as I am. A risk taker though she never says what she means by that. I know there's more," he took out his phone and scrolled through the text he had received from her mother. He read off the usual things, loving and caring and funny and then he went into the paragraph, "someone who doesn't mind the quiet, that they don't hide behind the don't want to talk and push you away someone who understands that sometimes it's just about being there. Sitting and holding your hand through it. Someone who joins in on your dreams and doesn't tell you you're insane. Someone with a past who isn't ashamed of their journey to strength. Someone who will love you as you are. A broken puzzle piece to fit together with another broken puzzle piece." Wally finished and sighed. "She says she doesn't want someone with a clean slate. Those are boring and don't know about pain. If someone doesn't know about pain then they don't know how to help a broken person. They don't see how they're still very capable of love then just need more patience."

"Sorry, afraid you can't unsign up. You're stuck." The funny thing about fate was that it could come in a million different ways. "In a way yes it was. It could also have been coincidence but I'm less inclined to believe it was coincidence. It was my first week back to work after," he didn't want to get into that right now so didn't stay on that too long. "The first assignment that landed on desk after three people had declined to take it. They said it was a blocked case. Meaning that it was going to go nowhere. So, I took it and it lead me to you. Originally I wasn't going to take it but and you'll never believe this but Annie said to take it. I wasn't going to travel anywhere so she liked that." He hummed at the question. "They do freak me out. It's the whole mumbo jumbo that I don't like. As a kid I bumped into one that was dressed as a psychic for Halloween and it just freaked me the fuck out. Of course I could have also been agitated from trying to work my way out of a maze."

Wally looked at her in an attempt to convince her he'd change it up. "If I can do it then so can you. I guess we're both lame. I'm actually okay with that. No one else I'd rather be lame with." He narrowed his eyes at her as if to say he didn't believe her but sighed. "Well, I don't know if you know this but you can just go, don't need a reason to take the trip. I can't believe you don't want to take me. That's cold."

He crossed his heart and made a scouts honor. "Promise no caves just a week full of fun and adventure. A week of work not being at the forefront." The smile couldn't be helped as the thought of having an adventure week with her was something he truly was looking forward to. As she stood up he couldn't help but stare at her for a moment. How she made something as mundane as taking off heels so beautiful was so beyond him. He was in trouble he just knew it. Luckily he hadn't been obvious to her which he wondered if she'd ever catch on. This was going to be hard to hide from his niece. The small detective that nothing went over her head when it came to crushes.

Following suit he got up and wiped his pants as he made his way down with her. "I'm not lying. I truly don't think you're an ass. Having a hard shell isn't a bad thing. Some people just don't have enough patience to sit and wait and figure out a way to work with you not against you to open up. No," he made a face. "We don't celebrate fourth of July. It's the harvest or start of actually. Lighthouses are closed but you can come up and do the hallo hunt near the area. They don't shoot them off from here. That's dangerous. It's over by the horizon. Honolulu does it but its seen over on this island. It's a pretty display of colors. It is the start of our horror movies week. There's corn mazes and whatever else the committee deems fun for adults and kids. Down there," he pointed down as they descended. "Is the picnic area. I've only missed the start once and that was when Annie was two weeks old. Work sucked and had me travel but since then not missed one."

Wally nodded his head acknowledging her gratitude. "You're welcome. It's yours. You can keep it. It looks better on you anyway." He wasn't going to take a no, the sweater had Liz's name all over it. "I promise I don't mind. It's one of my favorite colors so glad it's going to a new home." Reaching the car he waited for her to get in before closing the door. "I'd appreciate that. I don't think I can make it home right now." Not that he had coffee but he also knew traffic to get to the other island was going to take forever. So this was a safer choice. "Let me take the couch this time. You've had me take the bed all the other times. I don't want to put you out especially since you've got a big day tomorrow. Also as a thank you for coming with me tonight and dealing with people. Please?"

"Yeah it is a good time for ice cream isn't it babe?" AJ's arms wrapped around his girlfriends waist. These days things seemed harder and harder to remain impartial about the rift Sam and Vincent's breakup had everyone as a group. Hell, it had even split Mason and Zander apart. The only ones that seem to have remained unscathed right now was Adan and Scarlet and he and Silver, which he was grateful and very thankful for right now. "What kind of ice cream you have. It better not be anything with fruit pieces in it." He hated that sensation of cold pieces in ice cream, marshmallows was where he drew the line.

@dozenrozez

The rumbling of his voice reverberated within her body. He was changing the subject and for now, she would have to accept that. If it was what he was needed, she would give it to him. "Hmm," she smiled, pulling back slightly, she had hoped to keep the surprise she had for him secret until she had to leave for home. Back to New York to convene with Lucius before heading off to another book tour again. "I did and I actually got something for you." Leaning forward, she placed a small kiss on his cheek. "Let me go get it." Her hands took his into hers and gently pulled them off of her. "I'll let right back." Standing up, she pulled her dress down to keep from falling over as it had pooled onto her upper thighs.

As she made her way back to the kitchen she kept talking. "I saw this jewelry maker when I got groceries last week and loved their stuff. So I commissioned them to make us something." Looking through the bag she found the box and with a wide smile made her way back over to him, pulling up the bottom of her dress again to take her seat back on his lap, while she held out the box with her other hand for him to take as she settled her knees on either side of his lap again. "I hope you like."

Once he opened it, he'd find two pendants on silver chains. The front of both had a beautiful claddagh image . The back of one had her initials and the other had his. "It's so we can keep each other close."

He took a moment to truly bask in the comfort she provided, the gentle humming and the weight of her against his chest and on his lap. "What did you get at the market, anything nice for yourself?" He'd do anything not to have the attention on himself for a short while. "They usually have those jewellery stands, yeah? Did they have anything you liked?" His arms tighened around her to help brace her on his lap while he shuffled into leaning back into the couch. It helped him to pull back from hiding in her neck and observe her properly, perhaps without looking like a lost dog. He'd find a time to tell her, to sit down and explain it all.