Just When You Thought It Started To Get Bad (open

[Ana-Lucia Cortez]

...Fate...

Not too long ago it seemed, a man had told her that fate was a funny thing. Had a habit of bringing people together... Or tearing them apart. For Ana, it seemed to do both things, brought someone back into her life, to only take them away shortly there after. Of course, there was the intention that she wanted to cut him out, but not in that way, for the way that she had thought better. Better for him and better for her. And well... now he was gone... Nothing seemed to really matter much anymore. Gone... Gone like everything else that had been good, now seemed to turn to shit.

Gone. Gone. Gone.

That was yet another word that she had been mulling over too, along with a bottle of tequila. Her thought was to drink enough to numb the pain in her chest, and so far, and three bottles later, she wasn't feeling any different. She just couldn't bring herself to forget, everywhere a reminder of that one thing that just turned everything upside down in the never ending cycle. When it would end, she wasn't sure either.

Sighing, she ran a hand over her tired face before resting it under her chin, her gaze fixed onto the table in front of her where a few belongings were, wedged into the secluded corner of the room, out of prying eye's views. Had enough of people bothering her where ever she went, trying to get the story on Daniel and what had happened and because she would know what had come to pass because she was his fiance. Ana almost snorted at that, because the key word was 'was', they had been engaged before everything, even after she had lost the baby, through and up until the time he left. Surprisingly, his parents hadn't been aware of that fact, welcoming her with open arms as their 'almost' daughter-in-law when they had arrived.

She hadn't had the heart to tell them otherwise.

Licking her lips after another moment, she picked up and downed another glass of tequila while her eyes continued to look over the ring that sat on the table, the platinum band and large stone smiling at her distress. Simple, that was the one word she had mentioned to him when the idea of marriage and engagement had arisen and he had followed that to the 'T' and more so. She didn't want something flashy, though the diamond itself was more then flashy, Ana couldn't help but admit. Even though she would have said something smaller, he wanted to give her the best, he wanted to give her the world. And now... he had. He had given her everything, she thought sliding the ring onto her finger, staring at it, hating how it always seemed to fit so comfortably on her finger. It mocked her.

After insisting on seeing his body to confirm that it wasn't some sick joke, his parents had arrived and came to inform her. Every possession of Daniel Avery was now in the process of being turned over to her. Money, cars, his apartment, stocks, everything. Which was surprising considering that she hadn't married him, though it was written in his will, and his parents hadn't had any qualms about it. No qualms about the fact he had left everything to her in the instance that had anything happened to him. And funnier thing was, she didn't want it. It was like blood money, something she didn't deserve, more salt in her wounds that she had thought had closed, but they hadn't.

Probably never would at this point either, she thought pouring herself another glass.

[naomi]

((I was going to start a new thread, but screw it... better post now while I'm actually here))

Miles entered the Stone Pony. He'd missed coming around the night before but he guess that with the bureaucracy and crap that policemen usually had to go through, Cortez would probably have been there until midnight filling out forms and giving statements. They wasted their time if you asked him. Miles could figure out everything he needed to know in half the time it took them. But his ways weren't exactly considered... kosher.

He couldn't find her until he asked the same person working there as last time who steered him in the right direction, to where Miss Cortez herself was downing her sorrows in a bottle of tequila. "Need some help drinking that?" He offered, slipping into the seat opposite her with a smile. He could lecture her about it, but what would that accomplish? She could do whatever she damn well pleased, and Miles didn't care. Heck, life would be a lot easier if Frank would just go back to normal and start drinking heavily again too, then Miles wouldn't feel like the standard alcoholic of the group for now.

[Ana-Lucia Cortez]

Need some help drinking that?

Ana looked up through her hazy eyes, seeing the figure of the ever familiar man taking a seat in front of her. At least it wasn't a reporter, she thought numbly, not really caring that it was him. That last thing she needed was another reporter, feeling like she was under the microscope again, trying to get a story like they had been trying the last two days, probably had better luck pulling a rabbit out of a hat. She actually preferred his accusations of her being a ghost, rather then being asked fifty million questions, enough to make her head spin.

However, she nodded. "Why not," she all but mumble under her breath tiredly, but then again she hadn't slept since first hearing the news. Grabbing a clean glass that had been put off to the side, she placed him in front of him before she turned her attention back to the full cup in her hands, wishing that she was so much less sober then she was then. Everything was muddled, her movements her, maybe even her words, but her mind still was swirling everything around clearly. More clearly then the alcohol in her glass that she was currently holding, she noted, her eyes becoming unfocused once more as she stared at no particular fixed point on the table.

[naomi]

"Good news" Miles began pouring himself a glass, even she hardly thought in her position that anything would be considered good news, "you're not dead." He put down the bottle of tequila again and downed a quick shot of the little he had poured out, the liquid burned down his throat as he did so. "I really don't get how you can nurse that thing." He watched her holding her glass but she didn't seem to be paying attention at anything around them and it made him wonder just how long she'd been drinking for. He felt sorry for her, the whole situation seemed to suck even though her boyfriend was a complete asshole.

He wondered if he should get onto the bad news... he unscrewed the cap of the bottle again, wondering why he'd put it back on in the first place when he was just going to keep drinking and poured himself another shot. "The bad news... your boyfriend took about half an hour to realize that he was dead." He downed the shot again, trying to meet her eyes but it didn't seem like she could focus on him. "Not only that, but he seems to have no clue how it even happened, so unless he slipped and fell on a noose while he was sleepwalking, it looks like we're back to square one with this thing."

He took another drink and surveyed her again with heavy eyes. He knew he was probably being too callous with this thing, but he'd already made it clear that sympathy wasn't really his thing... but it didn't mean he didn't care at all. He actually liked Cortez a bit more in this vunerable state, which wasn't to say that her being feisty didn't have it's merits as well. He still had to explain to her the whole thing about her being a cancellation and the island, but he would just get through one thing at a time and stepping on eggshells instead of giving her false kudos for dating the asshole of the century seemed like a better way to play it... for the moment.

[Ana-Lucia Cortez]

She wasn't dead? What a surprise, she thought dully, because at that moment, she felt dead. Or rather more dead then she had felt after being shot and this time, she couldn't ignore it and shove it aside and pretend like everything was okay. Because well, it wasn't, it wasn't in the slightest no matter how she looked at it. Though that's not to say, she hadn't tried to not be like so, it just didn't work anymore.

"Acquired taste," she finally told him, not bothering to look up as she poke. Some people preferred whiskey shots, or even vodka, she much preferred tequila for one reason or another, one that she wasn't entirely sure about. It just seemed to always find her hand when she was in one of her moods. "After a while you it goes down like water." And starts to taste like it, too. Or maybe she just didn't care to savor the taste enough before she drank it down. Either way, she'd probably nurse it for the rest of the day and night if she had her way about it. Didn't feel like going anywhere for while.

Miles spoke of Danny, and her gaze once more slipped down to the ring that was now encasing her finger, before she forced her gaze away from it. Not that she hadn't expected him to, Miles was more or less a man of business and she shouldn't have thought any less then what she knew. "Guess so," she told him, just continuing her short replies, really unsure of what else to say. Sure he'd claimed to have spoken to him, though the question was how true was that. It still was hard to believe, but she was still ever the skeptic and wasn't sure how to take the news if it was indeed true. Though, she had to admit, he was telling her more then what everyone else was station. But it was rather disappointing. No new news, and no one was telling her anything. They'd been sure to cut her out on the details, not letting her read on the findings at the station, keeping their mouths closed and edited on her. In short, she was in the dark, a place she didn't like being.

[naomi]

"Suppose it's in the blood" he commented dryly, not knowing if he meant it to be a racial slur or not. Tequila was from Mexico right? He didn't know, and wouldn't even be bothered correcting himself if he did know for sure. Not like he kept anything that was in his bloodline, half because he knew nothing about it growing up without parents and all...

"Well don't expect your boys in blue to come up with anything" he told her, "don't know their heads from their asses half the time" his eyes dropped, "no offense to you." She was distracted again and he saw the ring she kept looking at on her finger, Miles wasn't able to hold his tongue any longer, "I thought the jerkwad hadn't proposed" he made the offhand comment, focusing on it just as much as she was. It looked like Avery's style. Expensive and post modern. "Yeah, if you didn't know..." Miles corrected himself, "Avery was going to propose. Told me he didn't." Miles sighed and poured another drink, not being able to pour and drink fast enough to keep up with himself, feeling like a bit of an ass for bringing up something like that. But it's not like she wasn't wanting a nice little bit of information like that from beyond the grave. Might actually think Daniel loved her more than his stocks after all. He snorted to himself and poured another drink, downing another one to hide it. Like that would ever happen.

[Ana-Lucia Cortez]

"Maybe," she replied, off-handedly, shrugging her one shoulder. It was possible, she couldn't deny that, but she wasn't in a mood to argue with him either if he meant it to the negative. For the moment, she wasn't in a fighting mood, not really wanting to argue. Sighing some, she brought the glass to her lips as he continued to speak, downing the rest of the liquid in one swallow before she reached to refill the glass once more.

"Trust me none taken," she replied, knowing it all too well. Though, it was more a horse's ass in her opinion, people on the force were incompetent half the time. Really unsettling because they were the people entrusted to keep the city safe, get the people that were causing injustice, and yet, they were morons. Though as he spoke about the proposal, her eyes snapped up to him, feeling her mouth go dry. He knew about that? For a moment she was speechless, once more at a loss for words as he explained to her how he knew. Danny hold told him. Danny had planned to ask her again.

Holding back the shuddering breath, she closed her eyes as she brought a hand up and over her eyes. "That moron," she muttered in a whisper, pinching the bridge of her nose, almost losing her bearings right then and there, because she actually trusted his word on that, because that's what exactly he would have done, and what he was planning to do, or at least she figured try to reconcile. But to ask her again... the thought made the pain in her chest hurt even more. "He-he did... We were going to get married this coming spring, but... things... got complicated."

[naomi]

"Let me guess" Miles hazarded, when he heard her call him a moron, "He suddenly got very distant because of all this crap he was involved with in Widmore's little companies that keep cropping up all over the place, and he wasn't there for you for your little shoot out that everyone whispers about but nobody can tell you to your freakin' face that they suspect what you did." Oh yeah... he was good. He would have been smug, but he knew what it was like. Well, not to date a guy like Avery... that was just wrong... but to have no one be able to be honest with you. Human nature. Everyone lied.

Miles played with the small glass in front of him, "if it makes you feel any better..." he began to offer, his tongue loosening. Who gave a crap about walking on eggshells anymore? "The guy had it coming. Managed to piss me off within ten minutes of being there." He took the bottle which was running low now and poured another drink for himself. He was impressed that she'd already finished off most of the bottle herself. Took some kind of woman to be able to do that. "Wants to make sure his precious apartment is all taken care of. You move in and you'll be haunted, just so you know. I don't think he's ever going to leave without being close to his $5000 stereo system and abstract art."

[Ana-Lucia Cortez]

A muscle tensed in her jaw as Ana listened once more to him talk. She supposed he was trying to be civil over it all, but him talking the way he did, it angered her a bit. Not because he was hitting a points on the head, but because he was talking about things that he really didn't know, or probably would have understood, and passing judgments over a man he didn't know. Danny hadn't been distant, or rather he hadn't been distant until she tried putting the wall up around him because she didn't want to let him in and when he began to talk about how 'he had it coming', she found herself glaring at him. "You... you really don't know what you're talking about," she told him, as once more he seemed to put her off. If he did he wouldn't be talk about it the way he did. "You just..." she snorted slightly in her haze as she tried to form words, but there was no way she verbalize it either.

Glancing away and down as her glass shaking her head, she grasped it in her hand before attempted at getting up, almost sluggish and wobbly but she managed to make a bee-line for the bar. She suddenly didn't feel like drinking so much anymore, and she tossed the glass into the sink, hearing the glass clank noisily, but not breaking as it landed inside. Frustratedly, both at Miles and herself, she rubbed at the back of neck, rethinking over everything, as she nearly growled out her frustration, but as mostly everything else, she kept it inside.

[naomi]

Ana-Lucia seemed struggled with a retort to that as far as Miles could tell, but when she did answer and tell him he didn't know what he was talking about he figured just maybe he'd gotten it wrong. Maybe it wasn't Cortez's boyfriends fault, maybe it was hers. He seemed bitter enough for it to be.

He watched her hips move as she got up, swaying purposefully in a sort of drunk-off-her-ass kind of way. His eyes continued to follow her as she went towards the bar and threw the glass in the sink. Probably a good thing, no one should be drinking that much so early in the morning. He got up and steadied himself by putting his hand on the table, the alcohol hitting him slightly before he shook his head to clear it. He wasn't that far gone. He could usually handle liquor pretty well. One of the few things he had up on Charlotte when they were out. When he was ready to get moving, he followed her toward the bar and put a hand on her back to stop her from falling over, bringing his hand up to her neck and taking over when she rubbed at it.

"You can make excuses for the guy," Miles began trying to guess at what she was thinking about when she brushed him off. "But people make their own choices in this life. His job, his clients... that's what ended up getting him killed. People aren't forced into a lifestyle or occupation, they make their own paths. And if someone is setting themselves up for it, there's nothing you or I or the damned cops can do to stop it from happening."

He felt bad... the guy had it coming but he didn't deserve to die and it seemed to be messing up little miss ex-cop pretty badly. He continued to press his fingers into her neck, knowing if she wasn't so vunerable right now she'd probably threaten to snap them (which wasn't necessarily a bad thing); but now that she was vunerable and not the wise-cracking bitch who wanted nothing to be drunk with authority just the way that Police Captain mami was, there was something about her Miles felt sorry for. Sure, she had horrible taste in men, but Cortez had potential. It was actually a relief to see she was taking it this badly, it showed no matter how hard and callous she was rumoured to be... she actually had a heart after all.

"Look Cortez" He said softly, giving a reason for why he needed to keep speaking to her. "There's more that you need to know about why you're not dead. But I can't help you out with Avery unless you give me more information, you know that right? As hard as this is to believe, the guy was less than forthcoming with me."

[Ana-Lucia Cortez]

The world swam a moment and she found herself being steadily by something not of her will. No surprise this time that it was Miles, or the fact she found his hand rubbing at her neck. Though, she merely raised a brow, as she looked over at him, everything still feeling hazy, though she was trying to think more coherently then she currently was.

"Why would anyone want to hurt 'im?" she questioned, really unsure of where he was going this time around. "'specially from his job. He's a lawyer, not from some mafia or any other shit." Though something about that seemed to strike a thought in her, something she couldn't remember completely other then he was worried over mistakes, pissing off the higher ups like he'd lose a finger if he did something completely bad. He'd.. he'd always told her it was nothing to worry about it, always so secretive. Though even now she was fuzzy on the details cause she coudn't fully recall it.

However, she frowned slightly as he continued to talk about Danny. "And how is that different from anyone else that comes into contact with you?" she shot off, though not to piss him off. It was a statement of fact, giving his usual manner, aside from him right now, he was a real piece of work in short terms, always ready to make accusations, say what he thought he knew and not necessarily what was actually true. He was harsh, pig-headed, and prick at times and Danny well. He probably would have been thrown through a loop, he was a damn good lawyer but when it came to certain matters he didn't know how to handle, he got panicky. And then taking into account Miles's asshole behavior, that probably didn't work out so well on both sides. "What could I possibly tell you? I'm not in the loops with.... any of the... 'shit' that they're looking into. I'm S.O.L. on the whole info... thing."

[naomi]

((Finally got to edit this while I'm away. Be back when I'm back.))

Miles snorted slightly as she mentioned no one wanting to hurt Daniel for being a lawyer. "Have you watched TV in the last decade?" He asked with a condescending tone. "Lawyers and politicians are the most hated people in the country." He smirked a little, feeling glad 'ghostbusters' didn't make the list or she'd probably have some snipy thing to say about it.

He continued to rub at her neck bringing his other hand up to gently knead the small of her back. He was good at massages... and remembered when he told Daniel Faraday that on the freighter, when he let out that had a serious backache and Daniel jumped away from him like Miles had said instead that he liked to strangle rabbits. It was the Genius' loss though, just like when he'd offered in the park a few days ago to help him out and be his link to whatever time zones he thought he was jumping through. Idiot never knew how to take a genuine offer.

He took his mind off Faraday for a moment to admire the woman in front of him, eyeing the cabit behind the bar and imagining for a second that he was grabbing her and pushing her against it, or she was thrusting him against it - who the hell cared about semantics? Bottles rattling, the glass near cracking, her calling him 'Danny' (not like he would care), her tongue near his ear...

Then came back to the present. He listened to her words, not letting his eyes drift to her ass this time. "Wow!" He shot sarcastically, "you got me in one," he shrugged, "you know... about 80 percent of people make rash judgements about other people. Maybe you should try actually getting to know people first." He scowled a little, but continued working on her neck. "You're really tense. You should get away from the city for a while. You, me, and island near Fiji, a green bikini - for you not for me - white sand all around us..." He made it sound like he was joking a little, but he was serious. The island was still at the top of his priorities, and whether she'd drop dead upon re-entry or not, she probably had to come to.

[Ana-Lucia Cortez]

(sorry for the late reply, been busy with stuff)

"Yeah, but he's not like that... He's not the kind of guy that would make enemies just like that. He's stern with his work, sure but outside... He's..." He was simply Danny. He wasn't ruthless, sure he was a bit like a statue and immovable at times, but still he was... Kind, caring, the type of guy that sometimes liked reading aloud to her when they were going to bed. The type of guy that didn't like making a fuss over the smallest of things. "You just... don't know him like I do." Of course it could have been the fact that she didn't want to think that he'd have someone go after him. Even if it was better then the idea that he killed himself because that couldn't have been right.

As his other hand slipped to her back, she quirked her brow slightly. "Watch where you put the hands," she muttered to him, her mind hazy still, but not hazy enough to whirl around and punch him in case he decided to do something funny with the placement of his hands, not completely oblivious to how he seemed to wanting to be all up in her business. For what business she wasn't sure, and she surely couldn't be one to figure out at the moment because she couldn't even think straight at the moment for that matter.

"Says the guy that doesn't have a subtle bone in his body," she returned, bemused. "You should be one to take his own advice." Because it was usually him causing all the problems in the first place, opening his big mouth or making comments when he really didn't know what he was talking about. It was a wonder that he wasn't buried six feet under by now just from his mouth.

However with the talk of an island, bikini's and sand, Ana's face scrunched up in confusiion and partially in disbelief. "Okay, you really were dropped on your head as a small child," she told him, shoving his hands away as she put some space between them, glaring at him. That was completely out of left field. No so much about being tense but going away on an island with him... Being dropped on his head made sense.

[naomi]

"Yeah I get it" Miles broke off from her attempt to practically immortalize the guy that used to be her boyfriend, "wait till he's dead and then realize he was the best thing to freakin' happen to you and waste your precious moments of life mourning over him." He was being slightly ironic with that statement, but any moments of life moaning over that guy were bound to be a waste.

Miles shrugged slightly when she critized him. "I never claimed to know everything but how about I make some comments and you tell me where I get it wrong" he challenged. It wasn't even a big deal if he was wrong, but he would never cheapen his statement by saying something like touche and agreeing with her. Just wasn't his style. He didn't stop her as she shoved his hands away, but stuck one in his pocket and kept one on the ready in case she was about to fall on her ass, something that she looked close to doing.

He decided he would bring up the island again later. "You thought Avery was a self-centered asshole when he was alive but now he's dead you think he was the best thing to ever walk the earth" Miles rolled his eyes as he make his first assumption on the whole thing. He'd been around enough grieving exes before and he noticed they were no different to grieving mothers, their guy could always do no wrong and wouldn't have hurt a fly in his lifetime, that's how they saw it anyhow. "Not that I blame you. Everyone does it. Just take it easy and accept defeat for once. You are just as gullible accepting the dead as most of the rest of the population."

He dug his hand further in his jacket pocket for a second and kept a steady eye on her. "I admire you, Cortez" he took his hand out and began drumming it on the bar in front of them, not taking a seat but wondering cautiously if he was safe to touch her again without her ripping his head off. He decided to play it safe and wait. "You were smart enough to become a cop but not dumb enough to stay one." He gave her a slight smirk, there were truth to his words. To Miles, it was a welcome relief to be around someone with brains for once. Most of his time was spent around Charlotte who was an idiot for so many reasons, and lately Betty the bimbo which was a reminder to him to never get involved with stupid women again, no matter how hot they looked. And then there was the rest of the 815 bunch which seriously seemed to be missing a section of their brains from some island-given-labotomies to not realize what was going on with the island and why they had to get back there. "And I'm not stopping you from immortalizing Avery. Heck, if you want we'll go to his place right now and I'll even do you the pro-bono service of wrapping up your own sweet goodbyes to the jerk." He gave her a hard look. "Of course in your state it would probably be the equivalent of a drunken phonecall... except, you know, with the dead." He added the last part with an eerie tone, spurred on by the fact that she made it quite clear she didn't believe on what he did for a living. He was through trying to prove himself, now he could just make a joke out of it.