Sniff Paint

Hunter tried not to grin as he felt Ryan's foot kick him then rest on top of his own foot. He wriggled it around a little, amused by their hidden antics under the table. 

Chewing a bite of steak, he listened intently to Scarlet. He'd had no idea. "Wow, that's pretty impressive." He glanced at Eli with a wary look. "She hasn't, like, shot up her house while battling bad guys or anything, has she?" 

Eli almost choked on his food as he laughed and shook his head. "Not...that I know of." 

Hunter grinned and looked back to Scarlet. "Sounds like a fascinating line of work." Her question turned his grin into more of a sheepish one. "Well..." Saying it out loud never did sound very good. "I... am an analyst. Of... odds." 

Eli smirked. "He's a gambler." 

Hunter returned the smirk. "Thanks." He gave Ryan a sidelong glance before returning his attention to Scarlet. "I'm involved in high stakes desert racing." Even that sounded more glorified than it really was. "Same thing Ryan's done. Actually, I'm the one that stepped into her territory a while back. I've gotten pretty good at spotting the winners, so..." He shrugged. "Figured as long as that's my hobby, I might as well make some money with it."

"He basically preys on the poor shmucks who don't know any better than to bet against him."

Hunter plucked a piece of steak from his fork with his teeth and threw Eli a look. "You sure know how to make a guy feel good about himself, you know that?" 

Eli just grinned as he chewed his own food. "I'm your girlfriend's brother. It's my right." 

Hunter sighed. "Okay. I'm a gambler."

"All-around risk-taker," Eli added, gesturing with his fork at Scarlet as he "helped" explain. "Risks his wallet on his bets, and risks his neck behind the wheel." 

"Dude!" Hunter's eyebrows had risen. "Can you be any more indelicate?" 

"That's too big of a word for me." Eli shook his his head, still grinning. "Simmer down. "I's just telling the truth."

Come to think of it, it really was a rather irresponsible picture. It was just... what Hunter did. He rolled his eyes. "I do teach Karate several nights a week." 

"Oh yeah!" Eli nodded enthusiastically. "If he doesn't die in his car, he goes and picks on little kids."

Hunter threw up his hand and almost lost his grip on his fork. "And you sniff paint all day long." 

Finally getting him to fight back, Eli's eyes twinkled. "I don't sniff it, I just use it."

"Uh-huh, sure. You're back here fixing dented fenders while it's your girlfriend who's traveling the world and earning the cool points." 

Eli laughed and lifted his beer bottle in a salute. "Touché." 

Hunter laughed too and wriggled his leg next to Ryan's, his knee bouncing against hers. He looked to Scarlet again and shrugged. "I'm not really sure if your question got answered there or not." 


Aaron's laugh was heard only by himself as the door closed. A movie was kind of strange common ground to find with his handler but... it did make him smile. He cocked his head as he listened. No click. Odd... had she forgotten or left the door unlocked on purpose? Sighing, he laid back on his pillow and kept his knee propped up on the ice for a while before eventually drifting off to sleep. 


Ty looked up quickly as the door opened, lifting his eyebrows at the food. "Oh hey, thanks." He wasn't sure about all Sam's methods tonight but he wasn't going to turn down food. And... after trying it... he did think it was pretty good... 

...It was the next morning, and Hal had made it to work just a little earlier than normal...

"Yeah so, nothing much different." Ty shrugged as he stood up and gestured to the monitors before yawning. "Pretty quiet, and I guess Aaron didn't try to pull anything with Sam."

Hal took off his jacket to hang it on the wall hook, and frowned. "Sam? Last night?" 

"Uh-huh." Ty shrugged. "They were in the break room for a while - Aaron cooked some snack food, then they went up to the roof. At least I think that's where they were. There aren't any cameras past the first floor, but she had a blanket with her." 

Hal blinked and straightened up. "Did she tell you what she was doing?"

"No..." Ty looked at him, confused. "You mean you didn't know?"

No, he didn't. Hal's frown deepened. "Thanks for the update. I won't keep you."

"Yeah, okay." Ty nodded and aimed for the door. "See ya."