Lunch with Dad

[agirllost]

It's their first time out in public together in years - and standing outside the hot dog stand she can't help but worry.

She has things to tell him that he has to hear and she couldn't say any of them over a phone.

A few moments later, she spots him walking toward her.

Comments

[agirllost]

She pretends to think, but has known exactly what she wanted for a while. "Chili dog with the works, a diet coke, and an order of fries."

There's a reason she took that extra exercise class this morning.

"So you're getting a salad, right?"

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

"I don't think they have salad, sweetheart. I'll give up the chili and the cheese, though," he says, lifting his feet over the seat of the picnic table.

[agirllost]

"I was just kidding," she says. "You could get the chili."

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

He shakes his head as he steps back from the table. "If I don't get the chili or the cheese, then I don't have to feel guilty about getting more fries."

Heading over to the hotdog stand, he places their order and returns a couple minutes later, laden with food. "There you go, the finest in street meat."

[agirllost]

It's not that funny, but she giggles anyway, noticing that he's finally started to put back some of the weight he lost. "I never feel guilty about fries," she calls to him as he's walking away.

While he's gone, she stares off at the water and listens to the teenagers walking up to stand in line behind him. The girl and boy holding hands aren't so much younger than Behrooz but they might as well be from another universe.

Luckily, the stand owner is fast and her dad returns quickly.

She reaches to help him with the burden of too much food. "Street meat? You make it sound so appealing."

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

He shrugs. "It's a hot dog. It's made of chicken lips, what do you expect?"

[agirllost]

"Chicken lips?" She picks up her overflowing hot dog and takes a bite, missing part of the top layer of chili and feeling cheese spill onto her hand. She puts down the hot dog and tries to chew as neatly as possible.

"I haven't had one of these in so long," she says when she can speak again.

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

"Mmm, me either," he says, licking ketchup from his fingers. This is going to be messy. "Which my cardiologist would probably say is a good thing."

[agirllost]

She licks a smear of cheese from the side of her hand and eats a french fry. "But your other doctor said you needed more fat in your diet."

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

"Not that much, and probably not the kind of saturated fat I'm getting from this stuff," he says, munching on a fry. "He wanted me to get carbs more, and to build my muscle mass, not fat."

[agirllost]

"How is that going? Did you get to the gym yet?" She takes a sip of soda.

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

He shakes his head as he swallows. "Haven't had a chance to check them out and get a membership yet. I was hauling boxes and going up and down the stairs at Milliways this morning; that's enough exercise for one day, I think."

[agirllost]

"I guess that could count as weight lifting," she picks up her hot dog and takes another bite, feeling more than seeing some of the toppings fall on the plate.

"Doesn't Chris's - I mean your place - have a fitness room?"

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

"Well it has a pool, but I don't think the fitness room is very big. Might be useful if I want someplace close to home, but it'd be nice to go to a place with an indoor track and more machines."

He shrugs. "Depends on whether I can find a place I like, too."

[agirllost]

"You have high standards when it comes to gyms?" Kim asks, taking another sip of soda. "I kind of thought they were all basically the same around here."

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

"Well I prefer that it's pretty well-lit and doesn't smell like a locker room, for one," he says, wryly.

[agirllost]

"You should join the Los Angeles Athletic Club, maybe run into some celebrities..." she eats more of her hot dog, trying to get halfway through before the bun falls apart.

"The net's really good for research."

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

Jack rolls his eyes, talking out of the side of his mouth as he chews. "Yeah, right. Since when did you get the impression I'd go out of my way to meet celebrities?"

[agirllost]

She gives him her best serene look but can't keep a straight face for long and takes another sip of soda.

"Well, if celebrities go there, it has to be at least nice."

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

Obviously Moiraine hasn't gotten to the lesson on How To Look Serene At All Times yet.

"Yeah, and expensive. And filled with egotistical pr--jerks."

[agirllost]

"True, but we are in LA." She eats a few more fries. "Where did you used to go?"

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

"CTU, while I was working there. The facilities were really good, and I was working there anyway. The DoD had a good one too, when I moved to D.C."

[agirllost]

She nods, "From what I remember, CTU didn't leave a lot of time to get to the gym." As she takes another sip of soda she tries to think of a way to move the conversation away from CTU.

[action-antihero.livejournal.com]

"Maybe, but that was the good part about having it in the same building--I could head down there on my lunch hour or after work, but still be nearby if anything big came up."

[agirllost]

She grabs a fork and pretends to be very busy trying to get the topping back on her hot dog. After all, when she worked with him there, he wasn't spending a lot of time at the gym.

"Couldn't have lunches like this at CTU though, too messy."