<div style="margin-left: 20px"><div style="text-align: justify"><span style="font-size: 15px"><br/>
Jim was essentially the grim and crotchety officer she’d imagined herself stuck in this charming purgatory with. He was the mental manifest of a man with too many years under his belt and too few left to spare to give two shits about anything, especially anything that alluded to a good time. But Will, more or less, had not been the<span style="font-size: 15px"> physical</span> exhibition of who she’d thought she’d been spending the next foreseeable future with, though whether he’d the personality to match would remain to be seen.</span><br/>
<br/>
<span style="font-size: 15px">“Sorry to disappoint.” His expression smoothed with something akin to ease but still lacked dedication to a smile despite his jest.<br/>
Professional, through and through, perhaps more so for the precariousness that came with the impending time he’d be spending with her. A pretty witness and lapse of resolve weren’t going to be the reasons he lost his job, so though he might not be the old gruff detective she was dreading, the presence of aforementioned stick might still be up for debate.  <br/>
<br/>
She mentioned next that she’d procured coffee, milk and cream if he’d liked, and there were more bagels waiting in the kitchen. <br/>
<br/>
“Great, thanks.” There flashed a smile albeit brief and casually thankful if nothing else, as his eyes drifted down to the breakfast spread on the floor, giving him something else to look at besides her. So inspired by opportune distraction he shifted, crouching to gather the bagel debris as she continued, inquiring in the meantime how long her tether really was if it so existed.<br/>
<br/>
“The rules are that ya stay in town,” He started, prying bits of egg from the floor to pile loosely on one upturned bagel half. Thank god for hardwood.  “And that you’ll be in constant contact with me when you’re out of this house.” Though he’d be following her too, if he must. But that detail went unsaid for both their sake.<br/>
Bacon was plucked up next, flopped limply with the rest. What an unfortunate waste. <br/>
“But otherwise you’re free to mostly do as ya please. You’ll only be earnin' yourself a leash if you don’t come when you’re called.” He glanced at her briefly, met with her own lingering gaze, though he still maintained a certain plainness to his features in reply. This practiced ambiguity came with the job. He couldn’t afford his thoughts or objectives, private or otherwise, to be so evident. He'd be the first the admit that it sometimes tended to make causal engagements harder. <br/>
<br/>
With the capping of the other bagel half, her eggy delight was pathetically reassembled and firmly in-hand before he stood, shifting slightly to better face her, offering the vestiges of her breakfast back to her. Not that he’d figured she’d eat it, though he wasn’t sure he’d judge her if she did… floor seemed clean enough anyway.</span><br/>
She quipped in the meantime that he ought to fashion her with a gun, since he certainly had one to spare. One, two, maybe three to spare really, though she'd hardly be the wiser if he had any say.<br/>
<br/>
<span style="font-size: 15px">“I hardly think you’ll be needin’ a gun lass, I’ll be better off stockin’ ya with breakfast sandwiches.” Buttons safely not pressed she might discover he had a decent sense of humor most days, however occasionally dry. That wasn’t to say there weren’t lines that couldn’t be crossed. </span><br/>
<br/>
<span style="font-size: 15px">If and when Mia reclaimed her weponized snack, Will turned to move away and back toward the kitchen to scope out the reality of her prior promises of coffee, if nothing else. Hunger had yet to scrape at the hollows of his stomach, likely for the shift in his nerves for the sake of a new place, new situation. Once there was more familiarity both with the property and the space, things like an appetite would surely return.<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
Her promise was not an empty one, the lone cup of coffee as surely waiting on the counter alongside the prior cited bag of bagels.<br/>
Hardly a beeline for the break of the center island in the middle of the kitchen, William made his way to the call of caffeine, slowly rounding the center fixture to eventually claim and pry the remaining cup from its cardboard holder. He wrenched the lid off but only to toss it aside to the countertop. The cream and milk remained untouched for his preference of that non-diluted ‘coffae’ bitterness instead, the first sip inspiring a longer second sip before he eased hip-first against the counter.<br/>
His eyes came up to search for Mia, if she’d followed, as his cup came down against the counter, still in-hand.<br/>
<br/>
“So, do you have everything you’re needin’ with you, or are we lookin’ to take a trip into town?” <br/>
</span><br/>​</div></div>