The Hellion (collateralshot) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-08-25 15:24:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, dan smith, olivia moore |
Who: Dan Smith and Liv Moore
What: Liv needs a drink
When: Recently
Where: The Double Tap
Rating/Warnings Fairly low
Status: Complete!
Returning to Orange County wasn’t exactly ideal. But she didn’t really have much of a choice. As far as she knew there weren’t any other zombies in Orange County, however there were plenty of other supernatural beings there. She would fit right in. Or at least more so than she would anywhere else in the world.
Life went on after being dumped half way across the world. Liv got her job back, went right back to using her visions to help solve cases. She was currently on the brains of someone who liked alcohol a little too much. Liv was having constant cravings, despite the fact that it did nothing for her. But hey, at least this guy seemed to be a happy drunk instead of a depressing one. She couldn’t take much more depression.
Liv ended up at a bar she hadn’t been to before. Sitting down on a stool at the counter she ordered herself a jalapeno margarita. Extra jalapeno. She needed the spice to be able to taste anything. While she waited for her drink she spotted someone who looked sort of familiar. Was it the guy who lied about his name. “Shawn?” she questioned. Or no wait. That was the first name. “Dan.”
The Double Tap was a dive. It was old, with a wooden floor that refused to be quiet, a layer of grime over the windows and the slight smell of stale alcohol, but it was Dan’s pride and joy. Everything that made it undesirable to most was what had made him fall in love with it and decide to hang on to it as a kind of front while he worked is real job. It gave him something to do. A hobby almost.
He hadn’t seen the pretty blonde medical examiner since she had caught him at one of his favorite Mexican places, that same evening she heard his real name. He hadn’t had reason to return to the city morgue in the past several months (despite recent attempts to turn him into a corpse) and had just assumed that she was still there. He didn’t know and hadn’t heard that she’d left California. He didn’t know and hadn’t heard that she’d come back. So he was surprised to find her seated at his bar, and even more surprised that she ordered a margarita of all things.
“Hello, Liv. Fancy meetin’ ye ‘ere.” He probably should have been bothered that she’d walked into his place, considering he’d introduced himself as a detective that one afternoon in the morgue. But, strangely, he wasn’t. She already knew he’d lied to her there, him owning a bar shouldn’t have come as any surprise, now should it?
“Donnea usually git orders fer margaritas, darlin’,” he told her with a teasing grin. “But fer ye? Sure, why not?”
It was a little confusing about why he was behind the bar. Wasn’t he supposed to be a detective? But then he had lied about his name, it made sense that he would also lie about his occupation. The thought that he was the owner of the bar didn’t cross her mind.
“I could say the same for you,” Liv replied. She just seemed to run into this guy in the most random places. Granted her diet also put her in random places but that wasn’t the point.
“As long as it has jalapenos.” It had to be spicy. Otherwise she wouldn’t be able to taste it. “In fact give me extra.” Now Liv has a smirk of her own. However, there was a bit of curiosity too. Just who the hell was this guy? Really? “You a bartender now? New career with that new name of yours?”
Dan’s smirk widened. “Why donnea I jus’ give ye a jar o’ jalapenos?” He asked teasingly. He started making her the margarita. Dan was an extremely competent bartender. He poured the shaken concoction of tequila, triple sec and lime juice into a glass. “Aye, I’m a bartender, darlin’” he said before pulling a jar of jalapenos out from under the bar. “That surprise ye?”
“Might be a good idea,” she joked right back, her tone full of sarcasm. Surprised? A little. She probably shouldn’t be given how much this guy seemed to lie. “Little bit,” she admitted honestly. She had no reason to lie. That was definitely his thing. “The detective thing not paying the bills?” she quirked her brow. “Or did you lie about your career too?” That wouldn’t surprise her.
“I used t’ be a detective,” he told her. He placed her drink in front of her, jalapenos and all. And yes, he actually did leave the open jar on the bar, should Liv decided she wanted an extra snack. On the house. Not many people asked for them anyway.
There was a hint of nostalgia in his voice when he spoke, that grin sliding just a little from his face. Dan was good at what he did, both at the bar and in his other work, but there were times the pain of being run out of his previous career sometimes got the better of him. “Whaddya been up to, Liv?” He asked, leaning on the bar a little. “The dead treatin’ ye alright?”
Liv caught the brief change in his tone. There was a story there. Once again Liv was curious. “Why the change?” she questioned. Although she wasn’t expecting an answer, or a truthful answer at least. This was Shawn Dan after all.
Finally her drink was ready. Not that he had taken too much time making it. She was just seriously craving one. Freakin’ brain. “As well as the dead can treat me.” Another smirk before taking a sip of her drink. Yum. “I was actually out of town for awhile.”
Dan didn’t answer her. He’d had to think about the past more in the past several months than he had in a very long time. Detroit was a long time ago and far away. He wasn’t the man he used to be when he lived there either. That Dan Smith was long dead. All he gave Liv was a mild shrug and stuck that charming grin back on his face.
“Were ye now?” He raised a brow. “Where’d ye go? Some place nice I ‘ope.”
Curious or not, Liv wasn’t going to press the matter. It was clear Dan didn’t want to talk about it, and she doubted she would get an honest answer out of him anyway. So she let the subject drop.
“What? Didn’t you notice?” Liv teased. Obviously he wouldn’t given they had only seen each other twice. It wasn’t like her absence from the county would have any effect on him. “London,” she answered because Liv had no problem with answering questions honestly. Unless it came to her diet or why her personality kept changing.
London. Now that was a far flung place. Dan had never been across the atlantic. Not yet. He had family in Ireland, but he’d never gone. His father talked about them, talked about where they lived -- County Cork, to be exact -- but Daniel Smith, Sr., had never said that he’d wanted to go back, had never expressed any interest. Going himself was something Dan thought that someday he might like to do. Eventually.
“Nay, sorry, darlin’,” Dan said, that playful teasing smirk remaining on his face. “Haven’t had t’ go back t’ the morgue. Though I did notice ye weren’ at our Mexican place. “London is nice,” he went on. “Nevra been meself, but it’s on me bucket list. Did ye ‘ave a good time over there?”
“Oh really?” Liv replied a small smirk on her face. She took another sip of her drink before continuing. “So you were looking for me there?” she teased picking up a jalapeno from the jar he had set in front of her earlier and popping it into her mouth. Delicious.
As for the morgue? “No more identifying bodies for clients?” That was why he had first showed up, but Liv didn’t buy it. Especially now. Knowing all she did about him, or rather knowing all the lies he had told.
“I did. Until the end.” And that was the honest truth. Things with her ex hadn’t been horrible. They just came to the realization that most of what they felt for each other were based on dream feelings, and the fact that they were both zombies. “You should go some time. Pay a visit to Big Ben.”
Dan returned the smirk. He and Liv may not have started out on the right foot, but there was no harm in some casual maybe-flirting here. “I wouldnea say I was lookin’ fer ya,” Dan said playfully, “but yer naggin’ at me ‘bout ‘o I am was missed.” He watched her pop a jalapeno like it was candy. A mental brow quirked. That was not something you saw every day. Girl must really like peppers.
“Nay, no body identifin’,” he shook his head. “Client was satisfied with the results so no need t’ go back,” casual shrug. Half-truth there. His client had been pleased when her husband was buried with his wedding band and Dan had gotten his pay day. Everybody won. Well, except for the poor stiff that ended up in the ground, but he had died after sweating up the sheets with his mistress, so there wasn’t much sympathy to be thrown his way.
“Aye, maybe I will someday,” he said. “What ‘appened that put such a damper on yer trip?”
“I wouldn’t calling nagging as much as wanting to know the truth. Or at least your real name,” Liv pointed out. Her tone was still light though. She wasn’t one to hold grudges. Unless of course the brain she eaten called for it. “It’s not every day a handsome ‘PI’” she made sure to do air quotes on that part. “Walks into my morgue.” Yes she was flirting. Or attempting to. She needed practice now that she was single again. And who better to practice on than the guy whose name she wasn’t even sure of?
“Broke up with the boyfriend,” Liv said casually taking another sip of her drink. Technically he dumped her and she was still a bit upset about it even if she knew it was for the best.
Dan’s grin quirked down a little into a small frown. “Now, that is a shame,” he stated with a geniune tsk in his voice. Liv was a pretty girl. Even the abundance of eye shadow did more to enhance her attractiveness than detract from it. She was also smart, had a unique profession that required intelligence and skill.
It was her sense of humor, though, that was catching Dan’s interest. Most people, after discovering they were being blatantly lied to, would want nothing to do with the person lying to them. Not Liv. Here she was at his bar drinking a margarita and flirting with him. Oh, yes, she had Dan’s interest.
“I’m sorry t’ ‘ear that, Liv,” he went on. He didn’t press on who did the actual leaving of who. His business as a bartender was to listen, not press. “No way for anyone t’ end a trip, ‘specially a pretty Medical Examiner, such as yerself.” He grinned. “I was hired t’ go look at that body,” he went on. “Call it a li’l moonlightin’ if’n ye want. Me name is actually Dan, by the way.”
Liv wasn’t sharing the info about her breakup for pity or anything. There was just no point in hiding it. Or lying about it. It wasn’t like her relationship had been private either, she had been dating a rock star. She doubted Dan was the type to keep up with celebrity gossip, but it was still best to just get it out there right off the bat.
However, she couldn’t help but grin at his compliment. Even if he was just mirroring what she said. Maybe she did still have it. “But here’s the thing,” Liv replied popping another jalapeno in her mouth. “How am I supposed to know you’re telling the truth now?” She raised her brow at him taking another sip of her drink. Granted, Dan was the name she had found out at the Mexican place so she was pretty sure that was the truth. But that was beside the point.
“Aye, ye gotta point,” Dan admitted with a causal shrug of his shoulders. “I donnea exactly ‘ave a way t’ prove it t’ ye. Well, I ‘spose I could go dig out me birth certificate if’n ye really want t’ know,” he winked at her. “But I donnea think ye wanna sit there an’ wait fer me to go find it.”
He leaned towards her, resting his elbows on the bar just in front of her jar of jalapenos, an impish look in his eye and his lips quirked up in a grin again. “But ye strike me as an intelligent woman, Liv. The type t’ know when yer bein’ fed a line. The way ye were all over me ass in the morgue? Wasn’ jus’ because o’ my rugged good looks. Ye didnnea believe fer a second what I tol’ ye. So, the question may not be so much am I tellin’ ye the truth now, because I know I am, but whether or not ye know ye kin believe me.”
Well, if he wanted to play it that way.
If she was being honest, she did believe his name was actually Dan. But she wasn’t about to let him get off the hook that easily. “That depends,” Liv said taking finishing off her drink. “What were you really doing at the morgue that day?”
Dan regarded her a moment. Eh what was the harm? “As ye may be aware of, darlin’, our very esteemed friend, Mr. Oglethorpe, was in the ‘abbit of extra marital affairs. My client hired me not t’ look so much inta the infidelity, but t’ make sure that her sham of a marriage remained intact after ‘is death. Since he ‘ad a ‘abbit o’ takin’ his ring off whenever he went t’ see ‘is mistress, ‘e didn’t ‘ave it on when ‘e keeled over in’er drive way. My job was t’ rectify that. Which I did.”
As far as reasons to break into the morgue went, that one wasn’t so bad. Of course Liv wasn’t happy that he had lied to her, but if she was being honest she knew he wasn’t telling the whole truth when he showed up.
“In that case,” another smirk crossed Liv’s face. “Olivia Moore, nice to meet you Dan…?” She let her voice trail off giving him an open for his last name. Even so, it was her way of saying, that yes she did in fact believe his name was Dan. She even held out her hand to solidify it.
“Smith,” he said, returning her smirk and taking the hand. It was the most generic of last names, he knew, but it worked in his favor. “It’s nice t’ meetcha again, Olivia Moore.” He remembered when they crossed paths at the Mexican restaurant that she had insisted he call her Liv. He also remembered that she seemed...different then. Different from when they had first met in the morgue, too. She had come across as though she just hadn’t cared one way or another about him, which was very different when he’d met her again and she’d been all over him about his name. And now? Dan couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.
Maybe it was just the different locations, the different circumstances of their meetings. Yeah. That had to be it…
“Welcome back t’ Orange County,” he said when he released her hand. “I ‘ope we’ll get more chances t’ run inta each other, outside yer place o’ work.”
Liv did prefer to go by Liv over Olivia. But for formal introductions, or re-introductions as it was, she went with Olivia.
“Or,” Liv replied gesturing to the bar. “Your place of work.” Soon enough she wouldn’t have much interest in drinking and probably wouldn’t return. Even to see the handsome bartender.
And that would have been a shame. Dan was unaware of Liv’s “special” diet, but it really would have been too bad if this was the last time they would get to meet for a while. He grinned at her. “Aye,” he nodded. “I think that kin be arranged. Whaddya think? Dinner?”
The thing about Liv was, she didn’t eat. Not unless there were brains and hot sauce involved. There was no other way to get human food down. And she couldn’t exactly pull out some brains at a restaurant. “Or pool? And drinks.” Drinks were a must if she was still going to be on this diet. And a few games of pool sounded like heaven to her at the moment.
Dinner may have been a little too forward. Learn to read the room, Dannyboy. Dial it back some. “Pool an’ drinks,” he agreed with a nod. “I kin do that.”