"Circumstances"

Rosalyn manages a quiet laugh at Chad's humor about the lobster. She hadn't thought of how his job might affect his food preferences. "I like seafood too. Actually, it's been quite a while since I've had any. Usually I only come to town for shopping during the week. Or church on Sundays. It's probably been about six months since I was in town for supper at all, and I think that was after some auction or something. I'm pretty sure the meal was hotdogs." 

Closing her eyes and just letting herself relax next to Chad, she tries to forget about her dad for now so she could enjoy the evening. Easier said than done, but if anybody could get her to have fun, she had a feeling, it would be Chad. 

"There's a decent restaurant I've been to once or twice - I can't remember what it's called, but it's basically a steakhouse and they've got some seafood too..."

...Though not remembering the restaurant name, she still knew how to get there, so once they finally arrive to town, she directs Chad the right way. By the time they get to the restaurant it was supper time, and by the time they get settled, order and receive their food, Rosalyn's stomach was ready to handle the scrumptious smelling food. She'd chosen a dinner with both shrimp and lobster, taking advantage of actually getting to eat here again. 

"Thank you, Chad..." She pauses her eating to look across at him, truly thankful that he'd still been willing to stick around after what had happened. "I don't know what things will be like tomorrow... but I'd still understand it if you didn't want to stay. I wouldn't hold it against you."

Ariel laughs, letting Trey put his arm around her shoulders. "Only rusty since you've been in Nevada, I presume." 

Sliding her feet through the sand, she enjoys the sensation of the cool breeze combing through her hair. "Well, for what it's worth, if this is our first official date, you're doing an okay job." Glancing up at him her lips curl into a grin. "If you get me  back to my place without getting slapped then you'll know you fared well."

"There's a drug deal going down, and our goal is to stop it." Reese points to the map on the whiteboard in the meeting room. "Intel suggests there's going to be a meeting here at this warehouse. Intel also suggests that there will only be three or four people involved. But if we can bring those four in we will have successfully put two drug rings out of commission - temporarily at least." 

Turning around, he looks to Nate, Dalton, Jason and Con. "Tonight at midnight is when our targets should be meeting. They will most likely be armed and quite dangerous. The police have already had two run-ins with them and the outcome was not pretty. That's why they've come to us.  For some reason, these four have been pretty slippery. But I figure you four against them puts the odds in our favor by far." 

Jason sits at the table with the others, tapping his pencil on the notepad in front of him. It was early evening and all here would be working late tonight. Dalton wasn't usually put in the field, but Pete and Gunner were busy with something else and Wyatt was off. Jason was just as glad Reese was using Dalton though so they'd have four men out there tonight. Con knew his stuff and so did Nate - and Jason trusted Dalton too. He might usually be back here behind the computers, but he was a force to be reckoned with, no doubt. This right here was why they were called the Elite. 

Jason raises his hand slightly. "So you got a game plan or you want us to figure that out?" 

Reese shrugs. "I'm going to leave tactics up to you, although I suggest looking over the printouts Dalton has of the warehouse layout." 

Con leans back in his chair, thinking. "Prolly be good if we had a sniper's view - any buildings closeby?" 

"Mm-hmm. That's why I wanted you in on this. You're the logical pick to keep an eagle's eye on things. There's a building right across the street from this place that has an adequate roof - from there you should be able to see several entrances."

"Okay, good." Con glances to the other three, making eye contact with Nate last. "You're the high ranking officer in this one. What kind of a setup do you see?"

"No... nu-uh... no..." 

Alec rolls his eyes and points to another kind of ice cream in the freezer section of the grocery store. "Come on... you gotta like caramel and chocolate. Everybody does." 

Mackenzie smirks at him. "Maybe you're the weird one. Mint is my favorite."

"Well why didn't you say so to begin with?" Alec shifts the other items around in his arms to pick up the carton of ice cream. "How's this?"

Mackenzie nods. "Okay." 

"Okay... just okay." Alec huffs a sigh and turns to head down one of the other aisles. "Come on, Blondie. Last thing we need is some potato chips to go with the grilled cheese sandwiches tonight." 

He hadn't planned on bringing Mackenzie shopping tonight, but as luck would have it, Misty had called earlier, saying she'd be stuck at work a while longer today... and it just happened to be a night that Mackenzie was joining them for the evening. Ken hadn't seemed too leery dropping off his daughter in Alec's care for a little while... which had turned into more than a little while, with another call asking Alec to get some groceries so Misty could fix supper as soon as she got home. Alec didn't mind, although he wasn't going to risk taking Mackenzie on his motorcycle... yet... so they'd ended up walking to the store. It would take them a while to get back home, but Alec figured they might get there about the same time as Misty. As far as safety went, he was more concerned about being home when Misty was, than being out and about. She was the target, not him or Mackenzie, and Jason wasn't going to be here until quite late, by the sounds of it. 

"Can we get the sour cream and onion kind?" Mackenzie skips ahead to the chip selection, pointing out her favorite kind. 

Alec grins and nods. "Yeah, okay. You're gonna get spoiled, you know that?"

Mackenzie giggles as he grabs the bag of chips. "Isn't that what uncles are for?"

Alec squints and gives her a light shove to the back of the head. "Come on. We got a long walk and we wanna beat Misty back."

Mackenzie sighs. "Do you walk everywhere?"

"Sometimes." Getting up to one of the checkout lanes, Alec stands with her to wait in line. Glancing around, he suddenly spots someone he'd not planned on seeing. His heart jumps, and for a moment, he's caught staring. 

Mackenzie notices his demeanor change, and follows his gaze to a very pretty dark-haired woman. "Who's that?" 

Alec almost jumps. "Huh? Oh, um... Just..." His eyes remained glued on Ryan, watching her head for another checkout lane. 

"Well?" Mackenzie elbows him. 

Alec looks down at her for a moment before sighing. "That would be my ex-girlfriend."

"Seriously?" Mackenzie looks back over to Ryan again. "How come you broke up?"

"Well, I... guess it was my fault." Alec sighs. "Sometimes guys like me aren't too smart." 

"You so look like you wish you hadn't  broke up."

Alec's eyebrows arc. "Hush. I'm not that obvious."

"Oh yes you are." Mackenzie rolls her eyes. "You have no guts when you need them."

"What are you-" Alec stops short as Mackenzie starts to head for Ryan. "Hey, get back here. What are you doing?" 

Mackenzie just keeps right on walking until she'd come up close to Ryan and gotten her attention. "Hi. My name's Mackenzie. I'm with him." She points back to Alec before giving a sigh of disgust. "My feet are killing me and he and I have to walk allll the way back home. But something tells me he is so not going to ask you for a ride. So I thought I'd-"

By now, Alec had caught up to her from behind, and he slips a hand over her mouth. "Ummm..." He looks at Ryan, his face gaining a bit of heat. "Hi. Sorry. This is my niece who... has a big mouth."

Mackenzie shoos away his hand. "I do not!" She smiles sweetly up at Ryan. "You do have a car, right?"

Alec eyes the ceiling and shakes his head. "Mac... your feet will last."

"They will not! I have a blister and-"

"So do I, but you don't see me complaining. Ryan lives the other direction, and it's rude to ask her to give us a ride." He looks down at Mackenzie, throwing her an annoyed glance. "Especially under the circumstances." 

"What circumstances?" She quirks an eyebrow. "You mean about you not being smart enough to keep a girlfriend?"

"Mac!!" 

"Okay, okay!" Mackenzie holds up her hands in defense. "I was just trying to get us home before Misty." 

By now, Alec was more than embarrassed, leaning more towards mortified. Eying Ryan, he cringes a little and clears his throat. "So, um... yeah..."