Pike, on the other hand, was simply out for a drink. In fact, this was probably the first time in his twenty-nine years that he wasn't drinking to avoid something else. Back in the old days, he'd spent most of his time somewhere between buzzed and drunk to avoid the crappy parenting that always left him feeling like hell, even if he'd never been physically abused. After Buffy, he'd spent his time on and off the bottle to hide from the temptation to go running off to Sunnydale. After Detroit, the guilt and the pain and, yes, the temptation to just say fuck it and quit fighting it. That first night here, to avoid the overload and the terrible feeling he'd gotten in his gut when he'd found out that he'd essentially run away from Buffy over nothing. It was a little weird for him to simply be drinking for no other reason than pleasure, but here he was.
Things with Faith were going well. She was doing so much better than anyone would have guessed, even if she couldn't really see it yet. Yeah, there were still some big huge Sunnydale issues that she likely wouldn't be fully over ever, but despite how easy her job made it to slip up, she hadn't. She'd even gone out of her way to take precautions against just that sort of thing. The changes were huge, and he knew she wasn't just doing it for him. He hadn't asked her to take those precautions, after all. He also hadn't asked her to do anything to help the apartments. While her acceptance may have been hesitant, she had agreed to pitch in if they needed it, entirely without prompting from him.
She was getting there. She still had a long, hard road ahead, but she was getting there.
Of course, there was the issue of his lie of omission about having known Buffy, but that was an issue he'd deal with later. When it was time, and when it wouldn't destroy her progress and send her sliding back down. It would probably cost him whatever relationship they had, lying to her for so long, but it was already too late to tell her now. He just had to hope that after she kicked him to the curb when he finally did come clean, she found someone better.
He didn't have work tonight, and he'd wanted to get out of the motel for a little bit. So he'd picked a bar he'd spotted on his way to work one night and headed in. Pike wasn't really aware of much going on around him at the time, he'd just chosen a seat, plopped into it, and ordered himself a Sam Addams. While he waited, he glanced around, looking for the peanuts.
Which is why he finally noticed the familiar face. It took him a second of study to match the face to the name, but when he did he couldn't help but smirk. Of all the coincidences... "Don't s'pose you'd be willing to share those," he called over, gesturing to the nuts, all of two seats separating the two of them.