What the night brings
Karr holds the door of the restaurant open for Aly, ushering her in out of the cold.
She thanks him with a smile, stepping into the restaurant and sniffing appreciatively. When the hostess steps forward, Aly asks for two in the non-smoking section. She turns back to Karr as the hostess studies her seating plan. "Thank you for bringing me out tonight."
He shrugs a little, smiling. "We haven't been out since before Christmas, when we went with Susan. We hit a slow spot or something. It's fun to buy you dinner now and then."
She laughs lightly, then follows the beckoning hostess. "We're backwards of everyone else, you know. They all tend to go out more during the holidays." The hostess leaves menus at the table for them and announces that the waitress will be there presently.
He pulls her chair out for her, snorting softly. "Maybe that's why we didn't go anywhere."
Aly giggles as he sits across from her. "That could explain it, in fact.' She takes up her menu, eyeing him over the top of it. "So what're you in the mood for tonight?"
He looks his menu over. "Something fairly tame tonight, I think."
"Not feeling adventurous?" she teases. "How unlike you." She settles on bratwurst and some sides, with a beer to drink and sets her menu down,. looking around for the waiter or waitress.
"It's been a long day, I can't handle any more excitement...especially from my dinner."
Aly's about to respond when the waiter finally approaches. They give their orders to him and she waits until he's out of hearing to lean a little closer. "What happened? Something at work?"
"We haven't focused on much else than what you already know in the past couple of months," He sighs and rubs his temples. "The whole team is getting as hard to live with as I am normally."
She offers him a small smile and her hand across the table. "When we get home, we'll take a nice long soak in the jacuzzi, then just veg out for the rest of the night."
He reaches across and takes her hand. "That sounds fantastic."
Aly squeezes his hand and smiles again. "Guess y'all can't ask for a day off right about now, huh?" It'd actually probably be a good idea if they were as tense as Karr said. Give each pair one day off to unwind. "Actually, if I suggested something, would Rus bite my head off?"
"It all depends on her mood and how you ask. If it's something you think will annoy her, wait until she's had some playtime with Beast...then ask."
"OK," she says easily, withdrawing her hand as the waiter delivers the appetizers they'd ordered. "What I was thinking was each pair in the team gets a day off within the next two weeks, just to get a chance to clear their minds, you know?" She looks at him as she takes part of the appetizer to see what he thinks.
He reaches for the plate too, takes a bite, looking thoughtful. "That sounds like a very good idea to me."
"It sounds like you all could use it," she says, munching thoughtfully. "Anyway ... anything else you'd like to do while we're in town?"
He shakes his head. "No. I just wanted to treat you to a nice dinner. There's no place else I wanted to go."
"I knew there was a reason I loved you," she says, finishing off her part of the appetizer just as their meals are delivered. "You've had a horrible day and still you want to take me to dinner!"
"Only you," he picks at his bratwurst before any of it makes it to his mouth.
Aly studies him, reaching out to stroke his hand. "Hey, you sure you're OK?" she asks softly. His picking at his food worries her a little.
He smiles at her. "I'm fine, really. Just tired."
"OK," she says. "I'll stop pestering." She digs into her bratwurst, sipping occasionally at her beer, doing a little people watching. "We should bring Rus and Beast here sometime," she says. "I think they'd like it."
"I'm not sure Rusti likes german food...though I think she likes brats. Beast eats anything."
She laughs again. "I'm continually surprised by how many people we know that don't like German food!" She shakes her head. "I just figured it was low-key enough that they might enjoy it. " She takes another sip of beer, smiling around as she watches a table of teenagers trying to act grown-up.
Karr glances over at the table she's looking at, then back at her, one corner of his mouth turned up. "They might."
He finishes up the last of his meal and leans back, eyes half closed.
Aly is a little slower to finish, finally pushing her play away with an "I'm full' sigh. "I think I forgot to save room for dessert," she says mournfully. "And they have the best chocolate cake here," she adds.
"Do you want to sit and digest for a bit, then? So you can get your cake?"
She considers for a moment. "Orrrrrr... we could get them to go, and have them later, at home." She grins, waiting to see if he'll pick up on the plural.
He does immediately. He's tired, but not fuzzy. He raises his eyebrows at her, questioning without comment.
"You need a treat after your day," Aly says with a smile ... and a twinkle in her eye. She's already forming some post-Jacuzzi plans, something to ... relax him even more. She signals for the waiter.
Karr listens as she gives the waiter the to-go dessert order, then shifts and digs out his wallet. He gets out what's going to be enough to pay the bill and the tip, replaces his wallet and folds the bills, waiting for the kid to return.
Aly nibbles on some of the remains from her plate, watching him and kids over his shoulder. She leans forward. "That blonde boy is so nervous," she whispers. "He's never gonna get his good night kiss!" She leans back as the waiter returns with two styrofoam boxes, setting them on the table.
Karr glances at the bill, hands the waiter the cash and instructs him to keep the change. He smiles at Aly's observation, but doesn't comment right away.
She gathers up her purse. "Hey, I'll be right back, I just wanna ... " she nods toward the back of the restaurant, where the facilities are. She drops a kiss on his head as she heads past him.
"All right, I'll be right here."
She's gone for several minutes, then reappears walking toward him with a smile, and a slight sashay. "OK! I'm all set," she says when she's a few steps away. "Let's go home and get comfy!"
Karr gets up, pulling on his jacket and picking up their dessert. He offers his elbow to her. "I'm looking forward to it."
Aly takes his arm, leaning against him as they head outside. "Thank you for dinner," she says.
He kisses her temple, handing her the bag with their cake in it so he can switch form. "You're welcome, babe." Switches form and opens his door for her.
Aly leans in a little to set the bag and her purse on the passenger side, one knee on the passenger seat. "We probably shouldn't eat the cake IN the tub," she says with a laugh.
"No, that's probably not a good ide-" He just notices the CEO down the parking lot, pulling a handgun out of his jacket. "Aly, look out!"
"What!?" she turns, to look over his front door, to see what's got his attention.
He starts to tell her to get in, sit down, shut the door, something, but the CEO fires before either can react.
She hears the gunshot but moves too late, crumpling with a shriek, banging her head on his doorframe as she goes down. Blood blossoms through the back of her jeans, at her thigh. She lays there, half in, half out of thte vehicle.
Karr switches form as fast as he can, ripping his gun from the back waistband of his jeans, takes two seconds to empty the entire clip into the CEO's head, then drops to his knees gathering Aly up off the pavement, shivering, snarling, growling to himself in fear and rage, tearing his jacket off and pressing it against the wound in her leg. He knows at least one vessel that was hit, but tries not to acknowledge it. He whips around on the blonde headed teenager that just came out of the restaurant. "Call an ambulance!"
Aly moans as she comes back to, and immediately winces, tears springing from her eyes. "Fuck, hurts," she manages to get out. "Karr?"
Trying to control his trembling, he presses his lips to her forehead while the kid makes the call on his cell phone. Hoping she doesn't see that his hands are completely slick with blood, pressing hard on the wound. "Shh, baby...he got your thigh... I'm here, help's coming."
"You OK," she asks between chattering teeth. "Who was it? Where is he? Is..." she pauses, taking a deep breath, closing her eyes for a second. "Anyone ... else hurt?"
Squeezes his eyes shut, holding her tighter with the arm he's got wrapped around her shoulder. "No...I'm not okay, but he didn't shoot me...nobody else is hurt...he must've thought you were...God, Aly, I'm so sorry..."
"S'not you're fault," she whispers, gripping him tight with her hand. "Not ... " She draws another deep breath, trying to ease the pain somehow. "God Karr, hurts so bad." She can hear the sirens roaring up to them, screeching to a halt. Voices. Someone trying to separate her from him. "Karr!"
A single, heartfelt snarl stops the EMT from so harshly trying to pry her away. Once the man steps back Karr stands, carefully lifting her, still pressing hard on her leg. "It hurts worse because I'm pushing on it. The pressure you feel is my hand. Please take it easy, I'm coming with you, don't worry." The older EMT allows him to lift Aly into the back of the ambulance. "It'll be okay..."
Continued here