Claire's mouth fell open at Mark's comment.  Had he really just said that?  She coughed once and cleared her throat.  "Stop it... Roger doesn't want to see how far you can shove a banana down your throat and to be honest, neither do I."  Despite the quip she tossed back, the tops of her ears were hot with embarrassment.  Would he have said that if he knew Roger had asked her and she'd had to politely turn the man down?  Probably.  Mark seemed like the kind of man who liked to get in his little digs.<br/><br/>Roger turned pink into the roots of his blonde hair but said nothing for a moment.  His eyes moved to Claire and she responded by shrugging.  "Well, uh, okay then.  I figured you could start in the locker room and then maybe head out onto the field through the tunnel like you did on that day.  Claire said you wanted to let her experience what you did?"  He led them inside the stadium and toward the locker room, as promised.<br/><br/>She followed behind Roger.  For a moment, she debated keeping pace with her friend and leaving Mark to limp along behind them, mostly because of his snarky comment.  She glanced at him and sighed.  This had to be hard for him, coming back to where his career had been ended and his knee ruined.  "C'mon, if you can keep yourself from making any more rude comments like that to people I know, I'll buy you a beer before I take you home."<br/><br/>A bit of bribery never hurt as far as she was concerned.  Plus, she had a feeling she'd be buying him a lot more beer if she was going to get him to cooperate with her plan to get the story she wanted so she could get the promotion she deserved.<br/><br/>She kept pace with the fallen sports star as he limped along, the pair of them following Roger as he prattled on, emphasizing points of interest about the stadium that no one else seemed to really care about.  They reached the locker room and paused as Roger unlocked the door.  Claire stepped forward with a smile.  "Thanks, Roger.  We can take it from here.  I'm sure Mark remembers how to get out to the field."  Without giving the portly man room to respond, she leaned in to kiss his cheek then effectively dismissed him as she held the door open for the broken quarterback.  "After you, sunshine."