InsaneJournal

Being decidedly human meant a slightly longer healing time than most of his teammates. Despite the fact that the dreams had moved on to the next shit-show (and boy was it a shit-show of epic proportions) Clint was still getting through the minimal movement in his shoulder and healing ribs. At least his face didn’t look like he’d argued with a cheese grater anymore.

But he was healing, and since this was the second time Liv had done him a solid, her own weirdness in the dreams aside, he’d figured inviting her out for a ‘thank you’ drink or two wasn’t too bad an idea. Besides, on the rare times that Kate had the night off it was better to go out and do something, so introducing the two didn’t seem like too bad an idea either.

It wasn’t too preppy of a bar, nothing over the top like Tony’s sort of swanky place, but not a dive either.

Kate had the night off work, and one of the last things she wanted to do was go out to a bar. But what else did grown-ups do when they wanted to go out and hang together? They went for drinks. Besides, Clint wanted to get out of the house, and Kate realized she hadn’t been out in a while. Not out besides work, and going over to Clint’s place didn’t count as out. So she dressed nice, did her hair up, and ordered a rum and coke when they reached the bar.

Both Hawkeyes were thankful for the medical examiner for stitching up Clint, and the female one wanted to give her a ‘thanks’ in person. She was looking forward to meeting Liv and having drinks all together.

The first time Liv had stitched Clint up she had joked about him paying her with drinks. At that time she would have been more than happy to go out for drinks. Now all she wanted to do was stay inside and play video games. Thanks to the deceased computer tech currently in the morgue… now missing a brain. But she was trying to fight the personality traits that invaded her. Still remain some semblance of herself and pre-zombie Liv would go for drinks. It was difficult but she manage to pull herself away from the computer and head to the agreed upon bar. Granted a bit late but whatever she made it.

She spotted Clint almost immediately and he seemed to be with some brunette. Perhaps she was joining them for drinks. Fine with Liv. If there was company it would be easier for her to sneak away and get back to her games. “Yo,” she said with a nod as she approached the pair.

Clint’s eyebrow rose ever so slightly at the greeting, but okay, maybe she was a little more awkward out of the morgue where the dead people stayed, it happened. “Hey, Liv,” and introducing not-a-doctor-Doctor Lady to Kate was probably a weird shift from just stitching him up. “Kate, this is Liv, and Liv this is my girlfriend Kate, she wanted to meet you.” Sort of. In a round about way.

“What can we get you to drink?” Since it wasn’t a night where Clint was dead set on getting drunk he was on the beers, while Kate got a chance to let loose a little while she wasn’t working. He had no problem if that was what Liv needed too.

Kate was already nursing a beer by the time the platinum blonde came over to where she and Clint were sitting. She smiled as she turned to check out the medical examiner, and then held out a hand for the other woman to shake. “It’s nice to meet you. Thanks for stitching up the big lug,” she added, giving Clint a soft nudge with her knee. “I was a little worried I might puke all over him if I tried.” Otherwise she totally would have. It wasn’t the first time Kate and Clint were in a situation where they ended up needing stitches--but it was the first time it’d bled over from the Dreams.

Liv accepted the girl’s hand shaking it. “NBD,” she shrugged. “I didn’t want the dude to bleed out or get an infection.” Although Kate had done a pretty good job with bandaging him up. It was just a wound that required stitches and Liv didn’t think it would be the last one either. With how Clint seemed to get in trouble in real life and apparently his dreams.

“I will take the drink,” she added focussing back on Clint once she dropped Kate’s hand. “Jalapeño margarita,” she told the bartender. If it wasn’t spicy she wouldn’t be able to taste it. That much she knew and had experienced. “How are you healing?” she asked once her drink had been ordered. She did want to make sure the guy was okay after all. He was one of the few that knew what she was. That she trusted with her secret.

Clint just made a point of giving Kate’s waist a squeeze at the nudge. It wasn’t like he’d gone out like an idiot and gotten beaten up here. That was just in the dreams and he was unlucky enough that this slipped over. Handing over money for Liv’s drink, Clint just nodded at the ME, “Yeah, it’s good, no tearing or anything, so we’re looking good there.” He’d likely need to revisit her for getting the stitches out soon, when they started getting too itchy.

“The meds helped, and missy here is a terrible doctor, but a very good nurse.” At least Lucky was still getting walked while Clint was wallowing in a semi-hungover stupor over the last week. “Hopefully it’s been quiet at work?”

Kate raised an eyebrow. Jalapeño margarita? Seriously? She didn’t even know that was a thing. But okay, no biggie. Kate lifted her rum and coke for a sip, letting the pair of them talk. If she had something to add, she’d add it. There was a smirk on her lips, though, at the squeeze. Kate and Clint weren’t the kind of couple who were all over each other all the time (at least, not in public) but it was nice to have those reminders every once in a while. They were together. It’d been almost a year, if Clint’s guestimations were correct. And that was a bit insane.

Kate shrugged. “All in a day’s work,” she replied to his comment about her being a good nurse. Then she gave Liv her full attention. Must be crazy to be a medical examiner (coroner?) in Orange County. With all its fuckery.

Well that was good news. Although she assumed if something happened he would have contacted her. But then when she had first met him he wanted to take the bullet out himself so who knew if he would try and tend to his wounds on his own. She did have a feeling that he trusted her now though. Considering he had come back a second time with his dream injuries.

“The meds you and your dog prescribed?” Liv quipped her hand reaching for her phone. “Quiet for OC standards,” which wasn’t exactly saying much but it was somewhat good news. Her drink came and she took a sip. Spicy. Yum. “How long have you guys been together?” she asked opening up Final Fantasy app. What? She could multitask.

“Technically, my dog’s doctor prescribed the meds. Lucky just agreed I should take them.” Presumably they were just as effective for humans as for canines, but there was no infection so that suited him. The less down time Clint ended up with the better, and the sooner his shoulder healed the sooner he could get back to his bow.

“About a year, right?” They both knew they were coming up on that, since they’d talked about it fairly recently too, but it was still one of those things that was kind of hard to believe. He still wasn’t sure how he ended up staying in Orange County as long as he had.

“Lucky’s not a doctor,” Kate chimed in. “Poor pup failed out of canine medical school. It’s okay, though, we’re rebuilding his ego slowly but surely.” She lifted her own glass and sipped again, glancing over at Clint. A stupid, little smile came to her lips that she couldn’t shake. Damnit. She shook her head, smirking at herself for being such a god damned sap. “Yeah, about a year.” She couldn’t believe… it was a long-term thing. A serious thing. Kate never imagined herself in one of those.

“That makes it so much better,” Liv replied sarcastically as she furiously tapped away on her phone. Good thing too because seeing the lovey dovey looks between the couple wasn’t on her to do list. And she could definitely still listen and be on her phone at the same time. She was quite the multitasker.

“Long time,” she added in regards to their relationship. “You guys gonna get married?” she had no idea what possessed her to ask that. She had been through Major all throughout college and they had never gotten engaged. Only in the dreams. She had no idea what to do with that engagement ring still.

Aside from Lucky’s ego and his failed medical career, Clint just shook his head at Kate’s teasing. In some regards Lucky ended up as theirs rather than his, but that was partially from Kate’s constant presence and partially Lucky’s affection for just about everyone. Considering what his life had been before Clint adopted him, it was impressive the resilience he showed.

Of course, Liv went right to the marriage questions while Clint was drinking, which had him promptly start to choke in an attempt to not spit beer everywhere while making the valiant attempt to breath liquid at the same time. His momentary sputtering at least gave him a reason to not answer that question while he made the effort to remember how to breathe.

It was more funny than anything to see Clint start choking on his drink at a simple question. When the simple answer of I don’t know would have been acceptable to all involved. Kate started to laugh as Clint choked and coughed, then reached a hand over to pat him on the back. She turned her attention to Liv in front of them, shaking her head a little. “We haven’t talked about it at all, yet.” She explained, beaming at how silly Clint was acting.

Liv didn’t notice Clint’s choking. She was too into her game. Okay maybe she couldn’t multitask as well as she thought. But she still heard Kate’s response. “Cool,” she said with a nod, eyes still fixed on her screen. “So what’s your story?” she asked meaning Kate. Although the question could go to Clint as well. She didn’t know a ton about him other than he seemed to get beat up a lot and there were some weird ass aliens in his dreams.

He really wasn’t meaning it as a slight or anything of the sort, but he was just caught entirely off guard by it all. Hence the choking on his drink. “Sorry, sorry,” he at least managed to clear his airway without gagging at all or braining himself on the bar. Of course the croak in his throat needed to be cleared with a far more careful sip of beer while he gave what he hoped was an apologetic squeeze to Kate’s side while Liv changed questions.

Kate reached over to pat Clint’s back a little, smirking at his reaction still. She shook her head, brushed some stray hairs from her face, made a mental note to bring it up with him later, and then turned her attention to Liv.

“Well, I grew up in New York City, but ended up at USC for college. Fencing and Archery. And moved here after leaving Mu Theta Zeta House.” Kate lifted her glass to sip from it.

That certainly got Liv’s attention. Enough that she put her phone down. “Mu Theta Zeta?” she asked excitedly. “No way. I was in the U-Dub chapter.” Her sorority life felt like forever ago. Hell her college life felt like forever ago. So much had happened since. She almost wanted to laugh at her former self for thinking changing careers was the biggest thing that would ever happen to her. She would never say that again, about anything. Although she wasn’t sure what could top becoming a zombie.

“You guys aren’t gonna go all greek on me, right?” Clint skipped college, Clint skipped a lot of things. Apparently missing out on college wasn’t that big of a deal all things considered, but still. He knew those parts about Kate, from idle chit chat here and there, but obviously it’d never really come up with Liv since all they talked about so far was bullet wounds, dreams and brains.

Strange conversation topics, maybe. But that was just how the OC rolled.

Kate laughed. “Wow! What a small world! I was in the USC Chapter.” There was a secret handshake, but would that make Kate even more of a nerd than she already felt? She reached over and pinched Clint in the arm, a little harder than was necessary. “Go all Greek on you? Seriously?” She asked, then rolled her eyes. At least it was a playful eyeroll.

“What exactly does that even mean? It’s not like we are going to bust out in togas. In fact I don’t even remember ever wearing a toga,” she commented with a laugh. But really she was curious about what Clint thought ‘going all greek,” was. “Some of my sisters stayed in the USC house,” Liv added to Kate. She hadn’t gone on the trip herself, always too busy studying but she might know some of the people Liv went to school with. “When’d you graduate?”

“Okay,” ignoring that pinch, because he was getting used to the violence now, “if you two start talking in riddles or sharing secret handshakes, I am reserving the right to go and start a bar fight.” Because that would likely get him a. thrown out, and b. some entertainment that wasn’t girls reminiscing about college. “I really don’t need help feeling old right now.”

“Oh, I definitely wore a toga.” Kate smirked a little at the memory. “And not much else underneath,” she added with a tease in her voice. Of course, that last bit wasn’t true (because eew?) she just said it to rattle Clint up a little. Hopefully he’d choke on his beer again. Speaking of, Kate wasn’t nearly drunk enough yet tonight, so she lifted her glass and gulped again before answering Liv’s question with a smile, “a few years ago. I tossed my cap in two thousand twelve.” She’d been twenty-two at the time.

“And on that note,” Liv said finishing off her drink. “I should get going.” They could go have their toga sex or whatever the fuck it was they wanted to do. She had a computer with StarCraft calling her name back at her apartment. “Thanks for the drinks. It was nice meeting you Kate,” she gave a small smile before getting up and leaving the bar.