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WHO: Bennett and Topher
WHERE: Boyd's, then Bennett's car then...where ever they decide to go
WHEN: Backdated to yesterday evening.
WARNINGS: BENNETT BEING A CHICKEN. Lol, no, she's going to do it this time.
SUMMARY: Bennett is determined to actually admit her feelings. And figure out why the hell Topher's acting so wacky.
FORMAT: Whatevs.

Pretty much the second she turned off her comm, Bennett was heading down to the parking garage to get her car and go get Topher. She didn't even pay any attention to fixing that outfit she had been so proud of or anything but she did remember to grab that gift she had gotten for him. She just had to go and go now before she lost her nerve and chickened out like the pathetically shy creature she usually was. She wasn't entirely thrilled with the idea of having escorts around, she actually felt a little insulted, like Boyd suddenly didn't trust her to go be with Topher? It was all rather curious and she was really starting to expect he had something to do with her death back home. Whiskey hadn't said it outright but it was insinuated by her comment about being careful around him.

People tended to criticize her for driving with one hand but it wasn't like she had a choice. It wasn't like she was an unsafe driver or anything like that. Well, not normally. Tonight...she might have been speeding a bit. And that might have been a red light she just went through but obeying traffic laws just seemed so...trivial compared to everything else right now.

When she got to Boyd's, Bennett got out of the car, locked the doors and practically ran up to the door. She had to give herself a bit of an internal pep talk before she started creating all sorts of strange scenarios where this would end badly. It was just talking to Topher. Nothing weird about that, right? She pulled out her comm and sent Topher a quick message to let him know she was here. She didn't want to knock and have someone else answer the door. She didn't have time for idle chatting with Boyd or whoever else might answer the door.

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It wasn't Topher who answered the door but a large, muscular man with an indifferent expression on his face. This was someone used to using physical force when needed. He looked down at Bennett, but was pushed out of the way by a rather exhausted looking Topher.

"You're here. Fast." He was dressed in his usual plaid shirt and warm sweater vest. Before he could step out the large man handed him his coat. "Babysitters. Boyd is paranoid I'll be stolen. Again."

Topher moved closer to Bennett and nodded. "Can't be too late, but we can go out. Just ignore the muscle."

"Oh, um. Whiskey mentioned...," Bennett started, looking up at him. At first there was a bit of an edge in her gaze but then it quickly deteriorated into something much more akin to lovesickness.

"I won't keep you up past your bedtime, promise," She said with a hint of sarcasm before she looped her arm through Topher's, even surprising herself a bit with how she hadn't even hesitated.

"So, first off...I...wanted to apologize for what I said. On the Network. When I was 'ported back in to the City. I didn't mean that, I didn't," She explained leading him down to her car.

He tries not to pay attention to the big guys following behind ready to whisk him away at any moment, but it's hard until he just stops thinking and lets Bennett lead the way.

Not thinking is actually really easy with all these meds. "I haven't been sleeping much lately, so bedtime isn't a problem."

Topher picks at his coat and nods where appropriate. "You said Whiskey was a Doll. Just a Doll, but...she's my friend, Bennett. I don't have many of them especially here."

She tilted her head up towards him and gave him a look.

"Topher, I was being sarcastic," She pointed out, slightly confused that he hadn't seemed to be able to recognize that. Then she sighed.

"I...don't think you realize why I was mad at you. I can't go back to the world we came from. The second I go back, I get a bullet through my skull. Whiskey, or Claire, was holding the gun. I was upset that you were siding with her. You didn't even think stop to think that she could have come from different point in her timeline so that the sleeper code wasn't in place yet or anymore. You were trusting her brain over mine. I thought, I thought we were friends too," She said, trying not to let her temper flare up again. She pulled her keys out to unlock the doors and she got in the car.

They're stopped by one of those burly escorts who peeks into Bennett's car like she could be a Two-Face henchman. Topher doesn't really pay much attention having gotten used to this weird extra protection Boyd enforces.

"But, you made it sound like she was still coded. I wouldn't let someone do that to her. Not now, well, not now anyway." He's pulling on his seat belt and so not up to giving Bennett any sort of decent conversation, but he's out which is nice.

She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel, getting annoyed with the body guard before she actually snapped at the guy.

"Is this really necessary? I'm a one-armed girl, what could I possibly do to him?" She barked. Of course, that was the second the memory of punching him in the face decided to replay in her head but Topher had totally had that coming. Once that goon was done poking around, Bennett practically slammed her door shut and started the car.

"Topher, I was upset. People don't, they don't really think things through when they're upset. Hence, the apology," She said, using a much softer tone. She reached behind his seat and pulled a small gift bag up front and handed it to him. Inside was a prop replica from one of those wacky shows she knew he watched religiously.

"Peace offering," She called it, "I...went to the Museum of Science Fiction when I was in Seattle. When I saw that...I had, I wanted to get it for you."

There was a flinch at Bennett's tone; Topher had been very shielded from excess stimulation this past week, and for one moment he thought of leaving the car and going back inside. It was only a moment.

The flinch came again when she reached behind him. This was dumb. She was trying to be nice and she wasn't HIM. He forced himself to remember that he wasn't in any danger with Bennett.

Opening the bag he released his first real smile. "Oh, y-you didn't have too, but it's perfect that you did. You remembered me. Thanks."

Well, he wasn't in any mortal danger, anyway. But it was highly unlikely he'd do anything to upset her enough to warrant any punching.

"Of course I remembered you. How could I ever forget, really," Bennett replied with a tiny laugh. She caught herself staring at him for a second when he smiled. She was rather thankful it was dark out, otherwise he might have seen how red she was getting.

Bennett had been about to put the car into drive when a thought occurred to her. What if they got all the way back to her apartment, she admitted her feelings and it freaked him out? That'd be one hell of an awkward drive back. One she'd like to avoid if possible. So she decided to tell him right now. Which meant her heart was now beating at a panicked pace and she felt like her stomach was in her throat. Oh dear what in the world was she doing.

"I, ah, I sort of had an ulterior motive for this. Nothing...bad, per say, though I suppose from a certain perspective it could be viewed as bad," She started, rushing her words a bit, "I...didn't really tell you about...everything that happened when I went home. Some good things happened. And...I...realized something and I figured I really ought to tell you."

He shifted uncomfortably as things suddenly become more tense in the car. Emotions were not something he was comfortably familiar with and sharing emotions with someone he liked? No, this was decidedly awkward.

If he was feeling awkward, there probably wasn't a word that could describe what she was going through. She could feel the awkward tension though and it was, well, it almost made her decide to give up, tell him to never mind and drive off. But after giving herself some sort of pep talk, which was more or less just Bennett internally yelling at herself for being such a chicken girl, she decided to go through with it. She looked down at her feet, though, so she couldn't see his face in her peripheral vison; she knew Topher would just unknowingly psych her out again.

"I...know I get angry with you a lot but...I, um. I'm usually over it in ten minutes. Any remaining anger is typically because I'm angry with myself for not being able to stay mad at you longer," She smiled and glanced up at him for a split second and then her eyes were turned down towards her feet again. That had been kind of a pointless tangent there. She sighed, trying to think through her words for a second.

"I suppose I'm...trying to say that I care about you. A lot more than I probably show. So much that I think I...that I think I might be in," She paused, struggling to get her mouth to make the words. When they finally came out, her voice was hardly above a whisper, "in love with you?" It came out as a question on account of her shyness but...at least it came out, right? She didn't look up at him as she waited for a response, she was a tad too terrified to do that.

Love? Oh. Oh god, it was getting really hot inside her car and Topher was all sorts of fidgeting. It wasn't that her confession upset him, but right now? Did she have to do this now? He wanted to run from the car and never leave Boyd's home again. Damn, he wanted to kiss her.

Where did that come from?

Topher looked down at her gift he held in his hands and frowned. This was what he wanted because the truth was he was really into her, but was he in love with her?

He opened his mouth and then closed it a few times trying to pull the words out. "I-I...thinkyou'regreat."

"But you don't-," She mumbled, glancing up at him for a second. So is this what rejection was like? Bennett felt like a silly middle schooler right about now. It wasn't an outright rejection but of course, Bennett was looking too far into it, making complex theories out of nothing. Like he was just saying that to be nice to her and despite what he had said to her previously, the whole reason he didn't want her was because of her arm. Something of that nature. Her brain always had to go the pessimistic route. Her face fell and she was having a really hard time trying to not look upset in some way. She had been so sure that this would actually work out considering what had happened back home. Especially with what Whiskey had been saying before she shot the genius. But really, Bennett should have known better. Now she just felt stupid.

"You can...forget I said that. Just, forget it. And you can leave. Now. If-If you'd like. I don't have anything else to say," She murmured, which was sort of a lie, there were plenty of things she wanted to talk to him about but it'd all be too embarrassing now.

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