Wheelsy AU ~ Hollywood Nights

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The airport was crowded an d bustling with tourists, the sunlight outside pooling through the plate glass windows like honey. Starla didn't mind the wait. Security meant she could meet him off the plane, but she could stake out the baggage claim where he was suppose to come out!

She was dressed simply in a blue sundress and sandals, nothing fancy, that was for late tonight at the premier. For now she was just a country girl waiting for a country boy and hoping he hadn't managed to get himself lost in the bowels of the airport.

Comments

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

"Well, yeah. I guess." He chuckled, more than a little familiar with such flaily tactics.

"I guess we did meet that way, but since we're already acquainted I don't think the bleedin" is necessary anymore."

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"Your guess also works for me. You've got good guesses!" Tease tease tease? Oh yeah. "That's why you get paid the big bucks to fill out that uniform and I don't!" Cop instinct!

"But what if bleeding is the magic glue that holds our friendship together?!"

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

"Hm. I can't tell if you're workin' on butterin' me up for when you're a deputy, or if that's some kind of backhanded compliment."

He chuckled, letting her know neither was bad.

"I think we're in some kind of trouble if it is."

[noteasytobepink]

"Neither!" She laughed easily and shuffled something on the desk on her end. "I'm buttering you up for souvenirs! I know, novel concept, but they are these things and you just kinda pick up when you travel far away you know? Or chocolate, souvenir chocolate is good I hear!" Pure pantry love Bill!

"And lucky you I think my nosebleed has bought us at least a week of friendship you know? We'll figure out alternatives then!"

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

"I'll keep an eye out for somethin' good," he promised with another chuckle. "Can't promise any sweets will make it home, but I'll do my best."

Settling back against the pillows, he pulled in a slow breath that exhaled on a yawn.

"A week, huh? Well, if worse comes t'worse I'll start drinkin' again, an' you can fret an' that'll get us some more bonding time."

[noteasytobepink]

"I have faith in your ability to delight and amaze me with your gifts, Sheriff!" She laughed again and something else thunked. She'd found old file boxes! She was, actually, going to sort them yes.

"And if you start drinking again, Bill, I will ignore custom and social rules and just knock you down and sit on you. And if you hit your head you'll bleed a little and get us time!"

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

"What're you doin' over there?" He asked, hearing the noise.

"You're makin' me sound like a drunk. I don't need you knockin' me down, just help me keep upright if I'm walkin' somewhere, an' make sure I don't keel over in someone's flower bed."

That would amount to quality time, right?

[noteasytobepink]

"...sorting?" Helpfully sorting? There were a lot of unsorted records from the incident and thereabouts. Seemed like a lot of boxes had just gotten dumped in the precinct when they cleaned out the town hall and such.

Anyway!

"And no, you're not, but it's a crappy crutch for getting through things like this and I like your liver too much to let you screw it until things get better." And yes, she would totally sit on him to prevent ANOTHER bottle of whiskey over this damn woman.

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

"Yeah? Well good luck with that mess."

Bill got frustrated just looking at all those boxes and paperwork, which is why they were untouched.

"S'now I'm a cripple," he said, voice wry. "I know y'seen me in a bad way a couple times, but it ain't the norm. I was just kiddin' earlier, you really don't got to worry s'much."

His argument would be stronger without the slurring that's crept into his voice, but he's also tired, and a product of laying down is having that tiredness settle.

"Everyone copes somehow, Clarice."

[noteasytobepink]

"Yeah, well, it gives me something to do. Besides, I've told the Sheriff what I'm doing so if I get eaten by the papers you can avenge me properly." So there!

Ah, and, no. "No, you're my friend and I fully expect that at points in this relationship you will knock me down and sit on me out of frustration and for my own good. It's a reciprocal thing, not a cripple thing. Unless I miss and break your knee or something. That'd suck." And she'd be VERY sorry. Very.

"Not everyone copes, Bill. Hell, most don't. The human race is an incredibly dysfunctional one and I wonder a lot how we haven't blown each other to bits everyday honestly, but that's me."

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

"Well, if the paperwork kills you I'd finally have an excuse to burn it all at least." So her death wouldn't be in vain?

He gave a small chuckle to her words, and shook his head.

"An' you say you're not violent. I dunno if I'd sit on you, but I got a perfectly good lock up. An' just wanna remind you my knees are real important for my job. No one wants a gimpy sheriff."

The rest of what she said made him pause and think. He glanced over to the empties on the table, and could still taste the burn of whiskey in his throat.

"We get by," he said, deciding maybe that was a better way to put it. "However we can. If drinkin' myself blind tonight means I get through tomorrow, that ain't so bad, is it?"

It's better than her blown to bits scenario.

[noteasytobepink]

"See? Vengeance would be swift! This appeases me, and I can face this threat with no reserve or worry!" This was, perhaps, the time for ominous music? Or heroic music She might see if there was a radio somewhere in the precinct.

"And sitting on someone is not violent! It's just a handy way to keep control of a situation without causing harm!" Because she was not the kind of mutant who could paralyze people with her brain or anything! "The knees would be entirely along the lines of 'I went to tackle you and missed really badly' so obviously I'll just have to not miss." And she could do that! Or miss spectacularly and make sure she plowed into the floor instead of him...which ever worked better!

"Getting by isn't exactly coping." She shrugged. "It's a temporary fix at best, like slapping a band-aid on a sucking chest wound. Also? I point out that when you're hung over the next day you tend to be short tempered, you don't think about what you're saying much and therefore even WE end up in weird conversation land, and I doubt you want to be wincing around Starla because your head hurts." Poorly planned. POORLY PLANNED!

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

"I've been tackled plenty of times before an' it sure as hell is violent." He had the bruises, bumps and concussion to prove it.

"I've got until 7 o'clock to sober up. She ain't spendin' the day with me so I can sleep it off here."

The free coffee should help. Maybe.

"Don't know what a permanent fix would be, just yet. So i guess I'll have t'settle for the Band-aid."

[noteasytobepink]

"Ah, but the intent behind those tackles was probably vastly different!" Such as...smash the quarterback.

And, well, "You're going to kick around a hotel room for a whole day?" Sounded fun. "What are you going to do to keep from getting bored?"

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

"It was a bit." He admitted, because of course smash the quarterback was the goal.

"Sleep, maybe not as long as I would've, if y'hadn't disappeared my bottle. The room also has cable, an' there's a pool."

He gave a self-depreciating chuckle, looking around the empty room.

"I've lived more'n fifteen years on my own an' survived, I think I can handle a few hours in a hotel room."

[noteasytobepink]

"Bill...you're in CALIFORNIA." She pronounced it like it was a state of being more than a location. "Why would you kick around a hotel room until you get picked up when there's stuff to see? You know people here are going to ask what it was like, you need something to tell them!" And maybe there were tours or something? Or movie sets he could see!

"Why not have a little fun?"

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

He frowned at the phone, shaking his head.

He didn't feel like having fun. Not now.

"Why would I knock around a place this big on my own? They already got the Beverly Hillbillies, they don't need another one."

[noteasytobepink]

...which was probably part of why he should.

"Because it's a place full of things to see and do that are utterly alien to you and your experience? It's a place full of tourists, you wouldn't stand out, and you'd be a lot more courteous that most."

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

He sat up on the bed, then stood and paced to the window. Drawing back the curtain a bit, he looked out.

"What's a place like this got t'offer me?"

Cars were still zooming around on the roads out there, and there were more lights in a few of blocks than there were all over Wheelsy.

"I wouldn't even know where t'start."

He was curious, though. A least a bit.

[noteasytobepink]

"Hey, this is the perpetual tourist you are talking to!" Clarice laughed and switch the phone to her other ear so she wouldn't get a crick in her neck. "You start with a phone book. Look under 'Tours'." It was a place to start!

"Most of the tour place sin big cities will have larger ads that list their types and attractiveness. You probably won't care much about an architecture tour for example but you might like a movie set tour?" And why not? "Like any place that isn't home it offers the chance to see new things. Experiences are nice things to get when you know you can go home and not have to live there."

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

Closing the curtain, he rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at the nightstand where the drawer with the phone book was at.

"I guess a tour wouldn't be so bad. Someone else'd be doin' the drivin'."

[noteasytobepink]

"You might even, amazingly, have fun." She snorted and wrinkled her nose at the phone. "And you could take some pictures. Pictures are easy to throw at people if you don't wnat to get cornered talking!"

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

"I'll think about it," he said with a chuckle, sitting back on the bed.

"If I don't feel too lousy tomorrow I'll give it a shot."

Having pictures and stories to tell about touristing in California would also mean he wouldn't have to talk so much about what happened with Starla.

"I was at least bright enough t'bring along a camera, so I guess I outta try an' put it to some use."

[noteasytobepink]

"Think lots then." She laughed and pulled another file toward herself. "I'll probably nap after my shift here and then exercises and running in the morning, so I probably won't get to call you again until late tomorrow after your thingy." Premier? movie thing? Anyway!

"And yes, take pictures! Pictures are important if we want to bop back over there for something!" In a purely teleporter sense!

[no_andy_taylor.insanejournal.com]

"Alright, I will."

Think about it, at least. But maybe it was a good idea. If he went out he wouldn't have to sit here alone thinking about what happened.

It might be just what he needed to do.

"I promise to at least get you a few pictures."

She would still have a heck of a time to trust one of those portal things.