All Work and No Play
The sun was high in the sky and the horizon was blue without a cloud in sight, with the temperature hovering in the high seventies. In other words, it was a perfect Spring day in Key West.
Isabelle Shaw grunted as she struck the volleyball back over the net to the opposing team's side and into the sand between the other two women. One of the few things she had in common with her previous incarnation here in Key West was a love of beach sports. Back in her earlier dimensions she'd had to play beach volleyball in sand pits or on the shore of Lake Michigan, here she had one of the best spots in the world to play the game. Her doppelganger had been more of an expert than Izzy herself was before waking up in Key West, the air-headed version of herself hadn't had the distractions of a real college course load and the heavy research schedule after graduation that Izzy herself had experienced.
Fortunately though, those upgraded skills had transferred between the two versions and the witch was putting them to good use today. Izzy knew the players had a bit of a crowd, it was Spring Break in many parts of the country and there was a good representation of the college crowd partying on Key West for the time they had off. Add the fact that all of the four women currently playing were young, in excellent shape, and wearing little more than bikinis and sunglasses, and that pretty much guaranteed a group of guys gathered to watch the show. Izzy ignored them and waited for the serve, she and Nicole only needed one more point and they'd win the last game of the match after a morning's worth of effort.
Sometimes just being in a hotel room was enough to make a man feel like he was trapped and sometimes there was nothing worse than having a clear glass view of the rest of the world. Joseph needed air, fresh air, ocean air to be more exact. He'd come to appreciate certain benefits of this move away from New York and one of those was the ever expansive ocean.
He'd found his way to the boardwalk and was in the process of enjoying a cigarette when his phone rang. Joseph pulled it out of his pocket and lifted an eyebrow at the name displayed, clearing his throat before he hit the accept button and took the call.
Slipping into Italian was easy, meaning his conversation became indecipherable to anybody listening. As he was talking he leaned against the railing overlooking a set of steps leading down onto the beach, the same beach where a game of volleyball was being played.
Predictably a crowd had gathered, a male crowd to be more exact.
The ball came soaring overhead, too fast and just out of Izzy's reach. A shout from her partner had her looking for the ball coming back toward her and a quick slam had it back over the net. The two teams battled back and forth, the opposing team knowing that one more point against them ended the match and playing hard to keep it from hitting their sand.
A quick strike from Nicole eventually sent the ball into the far corner of the court to win the match. Izzy's partner sent the sphere just far enough that neither of the two girls on the other team could reach it in time, and that was that until their next scheduled match. After a few minutes chatting with the other players and picking up her things, Izzy braved the gauntlet of college boys and emerged on the other side.
Now wearing a sarong wrapped around her hips and sandals on her feet in addition to the sport bikini and sunglasses she'd sported during the match, it was time to get a bite to eat and then see what was going on back at the house. Maybe she'd give Rhiannon and Connor a call and see what the couple was up to.
Joseph's eyes flicked up briefly when there was a cheer from the crowd but immediately returned his attention to the call, murmuring a few more things in the rich dulcet tones of Italian. It was the check in, to see how everything was progressing, the reassurance that everything was how it needed to be. Fortunately Joseph could give them those reassurances because he'd been working non-stop from the moment he got to Key West to ensure plans could go forward.
In his peripheral he was aware of eyes, law enforcement eyes, had to be at the request of one Agent Kottler. Not that he expected anything less from the FBI agent.
He exhaled smoke and straightened his back as he continued onto something else, something less suspicious. He'd missed a birthday and was wondering how it had gone, if he'd missed anything and if his present had arrived. Nothing that could be overheard and used against him.
A blonde approaching from the beach looked oddly familiar, but from this distance he wasn't sure why.
Izzy squinted through her sunglasses at the man leaning against the railing to the stairs to the boardwalk, wondering where she'd seen him before. It took another twenty yards before she realized it was Joseph. She'd had a few more run-in's with him since that night they'd gone out to a bar, mostly her dealing with a request to help an associate out with tickets to an event or something similar. This was the first time she'd run into him outside the hotel however.
He was talking with someone on the phone it appeared, seemed to be a pleasant conversation with the smile on his face. She'd always thought Joseph had been a handsome man in either dimension, especially when he smiled. The Key West tan he'd acquired since his arrival only enhanced his looks.
The witch shook her head at the direction her thoughts were going as she approached the stairs.
Joseph's head tilted as he finally realised it was Izzy, looking tanned and healthy, in a sarong and bikini. She looked good. He gave another genuine smile at a response he got from the man on the other end of the line, chuckling a moment later. "Fine," he now responded in English. "I'll be sure to swing back for a visit, soon." Joseph nodded his head and listened carefully to what followed, ending his conversation with a parting spoken in Italian.
He flicked ash aside and closed the phone down, turning his head to offer the blonde a greeting smile. "Good game I take it?"
"It always is when you win," Izzy responded, smiling back. She was a little surprised he recognized her, given the different clothing and surroundings, sometimes people just couldn't make the adjustment. The witch couldn't help but be pleased he wasn't one of them.
"How are you this afternoon Mr. Tropiano? Enjoying the warmer temperatures?"
"Always," Joseph responded as he slipped his phone back into his pocket, tipping his head towards the sun. It did feel good on the skin, even if it had taken some getting used to from the cooler streets of New York city. "And you? Enjoying some time off work?"
He rested his lower back against the railing, hands curled around the metal railing, looking very comfortable with his ankles crossed.
The witch pushed her sunglasses off her nose and up into blonde hair so she could look at him unobstructed, she had to squint briefly from the change in light but was soon back to normal. "Always," she replied back with a mischievous smile. "This is my first day off in almost two weeks, what with the Spring Break season underway, I try to enjoy them whenever I get them. Now that I've got my exercise in for the day I thought I'd grab a bite to eat. Are you out for anything specific or just enjoying the day?"
Joseph shrugged his shoulders and cast a look over his shoulder at the ocean. "Just enjoying the day." Amongst other things, not that Izzy needed to know that. Joseph pushed away from the railing and pushed his fingers into his hair, offering the blonde a smile. "So, you mentioned grabbing a bite to eat, anywhere good around here? I'm still learning the lay of the land." And most of the land he'd explored hadn't been of the nice friendly kind.
Damn but he had a nice smile. Izzy idly wondered how long he'd been charming people then pondered where to go for food.
"I guess it depends on what you like, Key West has it all." She said after a moment, shrugging. "There's your typical American fare, and the usual Italian and Mexican places, but then you've got Haitian, Dominican, Cuban, I've even seen a Thai place but I don't think I'm quite brave enough to try Thai food. And of course, there's seafood, can't forget that."
She knew she was babbling, but couldn't quite help herself. "Sorry, I can ramble sometimes." Izzy's smile turned a bit wry. "That was probably not quite what you wanted to know. You're welcome to join me, but we probably ought to pick a kind of food we both like. We'll probably have to drive a bit, most of the places around the beach are either overpriced tourist traps or really more somewhere to come for a dinner date."
As she babbled Joseph crossed his arms across his chest, closing his hands around each one of his biceps. Sometimes it paid to listen. He waited a moment until she'd stopped babbling before he gave a smirk. "Nothing wrong with trying something new, something different." He shrugged his shoulders and tilted his head at Izzy. "I'd opt for Thai if I was given the choice, can't know anything for certain if you don't try it at least once in your life."
He took a couple steps away from both the railing and Izzy, turning on his heel to face her. "So, what'll be?"
"You can say that about anything." Izzy moved up the stairs and onto the boardwalk toward Joseph. "But sure, why not? If my taste-buds get burnt off from the spices I'm blaming you though." She winked and brushed past him to start toward the parking lot and her car. If she didn't care for the food she could always fix herself something when she got back to the house afterward. "The best Thai place is out on the marina from what I've been told, the Thai Life Floating Restaurant."
She paused and looked over at him. "We'll definitely have to drive, why don't you just ride with me since you're still feeling your way around the area?"
"And anything is worth trying at least once," Joseph remarked with a shrug. Aside from being with a guy and putting harmful illegal drugs into his system, Joseph was willing to try most things. He stuck his hands into the hip pockets of his jeans and fell into easy step beside the blonde, slow confident walk carrying his weight easily. He paused when she did and offered a smile. "Sure, why not? It'll be interesting to see the area from the comfort of a car." He'd spent a long time learning his way around it on foot.
Joseph liked to know a city from the bottom up.
"You haven't got a car and you've been in Key West how long now?" Izzy glanced over at him in surprise as they started walking toward her car. "I guess if you're staying at the hotel you don't really need one, you can always have us call a cab or something." Come to think of it that was one aspect of the concierge service she hadn't handled for him.
Izzy pressed the button on her keychain fob to unlock her car as they approached. The red late model convertible sportster was a college graduation gift and a welcome replacement for the ancient Toyota she could remember driving since high school in this dimension. "Passenger door's unlocked," Izzy told him as she opened the driver side door and slid inside to start it up and get the top on its way down. Keeping it up to avoid birds crapping all over the leather interior was one thing when she wasn't driving it, but on a bright sunny day like today it would be a criminal offense not to take the top down.
Joseph lifted an eyebrow at the car, trying to pin it to the blonde who no offence didn't seem like the kind of woman to be driving around in a flashy sports car. Not that Joseph had anything against sports car, but he'd always been more a muscle car kind of guy. He loved his mustangs. "Nice car," he commented as he reached down to open the passenger side, sliding into the car beside Izzy. Joseph reached beneath his t-shirt and scratched at his collarbone, reaching for his seatbelt a moment later.
"Thanks, it was a graduation present." Izzy knew it seemed out of place, but that was because she wasn't the same person she'd been when the gift had been bestowed on her. "Not what I would have chosen for myself probably, but I like the way it handles and the price was right."
The top now down, Izzy put her own seatbelt on and pulled out of the spot. A few minutes later they were out of the lot and on the road across town toward the marina. "So how much longer do your bosses think you'll be in Key West? Not that I'm complaining, you've been a great guest at work, but the room must be costing your company a fortune."
Joseph's thumb lifted to run the length of his eyebrow as she asked that question and his lips broke apart into a grin as he shrugged, casually. "I'll probably be here for a while, there's a lot of work to be done." Still so much ground to cover and people to take care of it. Taking over new territory wasn't easy and it took time, it took a lot of time. Joseph wasn't the sort to rush something, not when he wanted it done right. "They'll probably tell me to start looking at apartments soon, but I don't think me staying at the hotel is affecting their collective wallets that much." Not when money came as freely as information did when tortured out of somebody.
He turned his head and tilted it as he noted a missing something on a finger, a certain something that had been flashed at him rather pointedly all that time ago. Huh, fancy that.
"I'll be sorry to see you go when you do," Izzy admitted absently, not really stopping to think about her words as she concentrated on driving. "I've gotten used to seeing you around. You've gotten to be something of a minor celebrity with the hotel staff I think."
The car in front of them slammed on their brakes suddenly when the light changed and Izzy narrowly avoided being in a three car pileup, with her front bumper inches away from the beat up pickup's rear, and a similar distance between her and the car behind her. "Jackass," she muttered under her breath.
"Minor celebrity?" Joseph repeated, lifting an eyebrow. "How did that happen?"
He jerked forward rather suddenly as Izzy dealt with an unexpected traffic incident and just made eye contact with the driver in front via the use of his rear view mirror, cocking an eyebrow as if to say 'what the fuck, man?'. There was a moment of unspoken communication before Joseph pulled his gaze away and looked over at Izzy. "You alright over there?"
"I'm all right," Izzy assured him, "just a little pissed off. You go ahead and go through the light when you're that close, not slam on your brakes and nearly kill someone. I'm just glad the airbags didn't take this as their cue to deploy, that would have just ruined the day."
The witch resisted the temptation to cast a hex on the driver of the battered Honda pickup that had only missed creating an accident by a matter of a few inches of pavement. In cases like this the threefold rule applied, and she didn't need that sort of bad karma coming at her.
"Minor celebrity," she confirmed as the light turned green again a moment later and she watched with disgust as the pickup sped off only to turn into the next side street as if he were trying out for the Daytona 500. "Who else do we know at the hotel who has stayed there since Halloween, comes and goes at all hours of the day and night and receives strange packages in the mail? George, the night assistant manager, thinks you're some kind of spy watching the naval station."
Joseph rested his elbow on the door and propped his head up on his hand, long fingers disappearing into the dark strands. The idea that the staff discussed him was amusing, especially as they were so far off base. Probably a good thing. Last thing Joseph needed was people knowing why he was in Key West, not when he had the authorities watching his every move. Undoubtedly this trip to a nearby restaurant would be noted and filed away.
"That's kind of funny," he shared with a smirk. "I guess that's one way to pass the time at work."
"It's mostly the staff that work late or overnights, after about nine thirty or ten there's just nothing more that needs to be done." Thankfully Izzy wasn't the most junior member of the management staff anymore, so she had less of those shifts than she'd had in the past. Her boss's increased confidence in her ability to do the job and realization she wasn't getting married and leaving Key West after all probably had something to do with it too.
"So yeah, sometimes we sit around and talk about the guests if there's nothing else going on."
She turned onto Roosevelt from 1st and spotted the small barge and houseboat combination that couldn't be anything but the resturaunt, based on the description she'd heard from her coworkers. "There we are," she said, pointing toward the strange sight. "This has to be one of the smallest restaurants in Key West."
The Thai Life was one of the smaller eateries in Key West, and one of the few actually on the water. Basically a houseboat with a enclosed barge that served as the main seating area, the restaurant had nine sets of mismatched plastic tables and chairs. Beautiful thai linens under glass tops served as table clothes and music Izzy assumed was a traditional Thai tune playing in the background. The two were quickly seated and had their orders taken.
An hour later Izzy was comfortably full as they walked back to her car. "I have to admit it, Thai food is pretty good. Not as mouth burning as I thought it would be."
"See," Joseph muttered with a smirk. "Wouldn't have known that if you hadn't given it a shot." He rubbed at the back of his neck, excusing himself for a moment as the phone in his pocket vibrated.
It was a call he couldn't miss.
Again, slipping into Italian was easiest, especially for business. The call lasted an all of five minutes before Joseph ended it and turned back to Izzy, offering another charming smile. "I'm afraid I gotta go."
"Business before pleasure I see." Izzy couldn't help but smile back and tried not to think about what sort of 'business' he was really in. "That's all right, I really should get home and changed." She'd slipped a t-shirt on before going into the restaurant but was still basically just wearing a bikini underneath.
"Can I drop you off someplace?"
"Nah," Joseph said with a shake of his head. "I can walk from here." Besides he didn't want her noting where she'd dropped him off, he'd much rather make his own way to where he needed to be. There were events afoot and Joseph was an important part of them all, he had his role to play in everything that was happening.
He slipped his phone back into his pocket and looked at Izzy. "Guess I'll see you back at the hotel, but thanks for the semi-tour. Least I know where to get good Thai food from now."
"It's a start," Izzy agreed. "I'll be happy to show you around some more if you wanted another time." It felt a bit strange saying that, in a lot of ways she still felt like Rhiannon had prior claim on him. Not that she was really asking him out, she told herself, just offering to be a friendly face. "You know where to find me after all."
"See you around Joseph," she smiled and gave a small wave before turning toward her car.
Joseph arched an eyebrow and he lifted his hand in parting gesture. "Yeah, I'll see you around, Izzy." Joseph lingered for a moment before he turned on his heel, yelling over his shoulder, "might take you up on that offer one day," before he started walking away.
Today was going to be one hell of a long night, Joseph could just tell.