Around Every Corner

[Clint Cross]

Joe's Bar --

Clint spent the majority of the day in his office below Joe's, partially because he still wanted to keep an eye on Selene and partially because he wanted to be close to the comms in case anything came up and be able to directly deploy agents. He contemplated having Noonian come over but decided against it, that would wait for another day. He had barely known this version of Selene for 24 hours. Yet they had already had sex and he told her more in a few hours than he anticipated.

He didn't have to look far to find Selene, she was parked in a corner booth going through news padds and watching the news reports on the TV over the pool table.

"I can't believe they added an extra hour of news..." Clint said as he walked around the corner of her booth. "They used to have a kid's learning show on this time of day." he put a steaming cup of coffee in front of her. "Refill?"

[Isabella price]

“Thanks,” Selene said with as she picked up the steaming cup of coffee.

She’d been careful to stay out of sight picking the booth farthest from the entrance. Just Incase any agents decided to come up for lunch. She’d been trying to catch up on everything while passing the time. It was a lot to take in.

“How did breakfast go?”

[Clint Cross]

"Well Bella freaked out a bit but... not bad." Clint said as he sat down. "I wasn't going to say anything about you, but the lady is used to everything going straight to hell lately. And she kinda smelled you on me."

[Liara]

“She’s smart to be suspicious.” Selene replied as she pulled up the articles about the attack on the President and First Lady and the subsequent articles about their recovery. “I’ve been doing a lot of reading. She may be mad at you but I’ve read enough about her to build a profile. She’s trying to protect you and the last double wearing a parent’s face tried to kill her and her family. She’s compassionate so even if she made you feel like the child by the end of it you at least had some kind of understanding. Even if it didn’t involve her embracing me with open arms. Which by the way she would have been trained not to do.”

[Clint Cross]

Clint nodded his head and smiled at that assessment. "Got it in one. And I don't plan to just parade you in front of everyone, we've barely known each other a day. But I do think you should at least meet the family, your father... if nothing else so they don't have some insane breakdown because they see you around." he popped the top off his own coffee and dumped another sugar packet in. "Still, I think you deserve a chance." he handed her another padd. "As if you haven't had enough to read and absorb. This is our reality's alternate Jackson and Dominus dossier. Including what he did to our Selene. It probably wouldn't be the worst thing to have Tali or one of our telepaths give you a once over. She had no idea the kind of programming he did until he activated it."

[Liara]

“I don’t like the idea of someone in me head.” Selene said looking him in the eye. There was an undertone of fear in her voice. “But if I can choose I would prefer Tali. I know her and trust her.”

[Clint Cross]

"Good... I mean I wouldn't suggest it otherwise, but knowing what I know... why take too many chances. We had things crop up years after we started working together and if we can save you that hassle, that's a good thing." Clint replied and looked into his coffee cup. "Regardless how this..." he gestured to the two of them. "How we work together... I want you to know that I'm not going to force... whatever to happen because I miss my wife. You broke through my defenses too. Trying to think with both my heads y'know?"

[Liara]

“You’re doing a good job so far.” Selene said as she touched his arm. “Though I have a feeling there is more to meeting Noonian then the fact that I look like his daughter. You’re concerned about something.”

[Clint Cross]

"Well besides the fact that you told me you killed your version of him... and really our's is a lot more mellow. But yeah there were a lot of modifications made to her that they removed her memories about. Again, if we're going to trust you, it'll help when you know you can trust yourself." Clint said and took a sip of his coffee. "Mine spent a lot of time going between 'trusted friend' and 'lock her up, she's a threat'. I hated that. Made us both more antisocial, which was why we sort of formed our own little unit. I do want to give you that much."

[Liara]

“I have a condition.” Selene said holding up a finger and then added another. “Okay two. You come along and you bring Thai tonight. I’ve been researching it today as well. Panang Curry with vegetables sounds good. Apparently, it’s bursting with rich and creamy flavor.”

Selene took a sip of her coffee and grinned at him.

“Don’t worry I won’t kill him. I know I’m in a different reality and people here are not the same. Just don’t be surprised if I’m not warm and fuzzy.” Selene told him and snapped her fingers as dug through the pads. “Did you know your daughter is a best-selling author. Capital City Times #1 Best Selling Author for the last six months. She publishes under Lara Jones. Lara's work sounded similar to some of Price's speeches. I put two and two together.”