Timelined right after Hammered
<Shaw> He hadn't done this in ages. Why hadn't he done this in ages? It was far, far too entertaining. Perhaps he should phase spinning chairs out of the office, because this couldn't be good for productivity.
<Shaw> Now alone, and out of scotch, he was humming. His leather chair spun in lazy circles.
<Paige> Once Paige had gotten some control over her own emotions, she went to pay her respects to Sebastian for losing his friend. she baked him a special batch of cookies and stepped into the office with the plate, watching him spin for just a second before speaking. "Knock... knock... ohhhhhhhhh that looks so fun!!!!!"
<Shaw> Startled, he kicked the bookcase behind the desk, rocking it but luckily not dislodging anything but a balanced SolidWorks manual. He spun to face the door, then smiled. "Ah, Miss Guthrie! ....how about I just call you Paige... it's shorter, yeah?"
<Paige> "Yeah! Have a cookie!" She held out the plate to him with a smile. Obviously he was just fine! Better than his usual dark, brooding self. She liked him like this.
<Shaw> "Thank you! I'd offer you a scotch... but I seem to be out." He gestured at the bottle and leaned forward to take a cookie. It tasted quite good, though his taste buds may have been a little dulled. "Did you make these?"
<Paige> "Of course! I like to bake." And baking was what you did when someone died. She picked up the bottle, shaking it a bit to determine the level of emptiness. "Well.... this is not ok. We need another bottle."
<Shaw> "Oh... I think I've likely had enough." Enough to send the chair around in another circle, at any rate. However... "What do you suggest?"
<Paige> "Well scotch is gross... I always have cake vodka in my room. Tequila is amaaaaaaazing too. Or there is more cookies!"
<Shaw> "....cake vodka." He took another bite of cookie. "There are so many flavored vodkas these days. Is there cookie vodka?"
<Paige> Mouth slightly agape, Paige shrugged. "I don't know... but now I want to find out."
<Shaw> "I agree." He looked up at her as if he had the greatest idea in the history of ideas. "Perhaps we've found a gap in the market!"
<Paige> "Think of the money we could make marketing that! Everyone would want cookie vodka! Oh my gosh! You're a genius!" Paige bounced up and down a bit, happy to be getting along with her coworker.
<Shaw> Oh, bouncing... well, he quite liked that. With a broad grin, he decided she was right - he as a genius. "I do believe we'd make quite the unstoppable team in baked alcohol."
<Paige> Paige plopped herself down on his desk, helping herself to a cookie and eying him a bit. "Not that I am complaining... but are you alright?"
<Shaw> And now she was closer. He smiled up at her. "Well," he drew the word out because he really needed to think about it. "Yes and no, but I'm enjoying the escape right now, so I'm gonna go with it."
<Paige> "Don't worry about a thing. Just enjoy it then. Here, I'll help. What should we do? We cooooould bake... orrrr," she started to say dance, but no, dancing was out. Rachel would flip. "Or get more to drink... orrrr..... I don't know. But sitting in your office is boring."
<Shaw> "I believe Ceci...Cecici..." Christ why was her name so difficult? "Reyes. She texted Jessica." After another cookie, he smiled again. "Thank you... I don't know how to bake. I buy food, I don't make it."
<Paige> "Ok.... what did she text her about? Baking is so eaaaaaaaasy. Even you can do it!"
<Shaw> "I believe 'come get your drunk boyfriend' was the gist of the message." Wait, had she just insulted him? "I've never tried. Well. No. In college there were... mishaps." He made a face in memory.
<Paige> "Well phooey on Jessica. She can wait. We have more cookies to bake!" Paige reached for his hand to help him up.
<Shaw> He may have giggled as he stood up with some effort. The office was moving around him in a most interesting fashion, much as it had the other night at his apartment. Bracing himself with his other hand on the desk, Sebastian found himself face to face with her, or more specifically, her hair.
<Paige> Paige giggled with him as she caught him. "How fast did you drink that bottle, anyway?" She ran her arm around his back to brace him.
<Shaw> "Fast." Blonde. Lovely. He smiled at her. "It would have made Tony proud, in fact."
<Paige> "Ok... drinking that much that fast is alcoholism. You need a buddy. Call me next time." Paige kept ahold of him as they headed to the kitchen.
<Shaw> "Well... I only do it on the worst of special occasions." He let her lead him to the kitchen, deciding he didn't care about the students they encountered. In fact, he smiled at them.
<Paige> "So what brought this on?" Paige asked as they walked through the hall.
<Shaw> "Cece... Cecilia," he paused, unnaturally proud of himself for pronouncing it. "She offered me her condolences over Madelyne, then we argued." He shrugged.
<Paige> Paige gave him a bit of a hug as they walked. "What did you argue about?" She couldn't even imagine.
<Shaw> "The acolytes..." Why was that word easier to say? "The assassins. One is Fabian Cortez' sister. One may be claiming relation to me. One worked for Essex..."
<Paige> "Woah... wait... what!? You have a child!? Why didn't you telllllllll us!" Paige sat him down at the kitchen table.
<Shaw> Sebastian gave her a wide-eyed, horrified look. "Nooo, no I don't!"
<Paige> "Awwww you'll be such a good daddy! You already have the dark glare down," Paige giggled at him as she moved to gather cookie dough ingredients.
<Shaw> He sputtered and couldn't decide if he was insulted or touched or just confused.
<Paige> Paige giggled some more and took the ingredients and measuring cups over to him. "Ok so, first, you have to measure out everything."
<Shaw> "Why?" And there was now a pile of things in front of him. "Isn't it just easier to buy these things premade?"
<Paige> "Because those aren't nearly as good." Paige helped him measure out the ingredients that they needed. "And you're rich. You're supposed to like the finest things."
<Shaw> "....you make a good point there, darling." His accent had slipped out again, but he didn't care. Dusting his hands off, he watched the puff of flour with far too much attention.
<Paige> Paige grinned and clapped her hands too, making another puff of flour to amuse themselves with.
<Shaw> "I don't suppose there's any alcohol in the cookies? That would just improve them, in my estimation. Cookie vodka, cookies with vodka." He swayed his head back and forth in illustration as he spoke.
<Paige> "You're onto something... but sadly we haven't invented cookie vodka yet. Buuuuuttt.... maybe we could put some rum in them?" Paige considered that for a moment.
<Shaw> "Aha! Well aren't you a clever one." He grinned at her and managed to follow her instructions to dump the ingredients into the bowl.
<Paige> "Now you have mix, mix, mix it up!" Paige bounced to the cabinets, checking for any hidden rum.
<Shaw> Her cheer was infectious and he laughed at her while she searched for rum. He even stirred as instructed, though he looked down into the dry ingredients and thwapped them with the spoon. "It looks more like something I'd find Hellfire Club patrons snorting in the back room than cookies at this point."
<Paige> "They snort cookie dough?" Paige gave him a confused look as she found a bottle of rum.
<Shaw> He gave her an amused look and then grinned at the bottle. "And you're victorious!" He dumped the liquid into the bowl and winced at the puff of flour. "Cocaine. Nasty habit."
<Paige> Paige wrinkled her nose at him. "Ewwwww.... I found Rachel tripped out on acid one time. I was not impressed."
<Shaw> "Beyond a little expected experimentation I've never been a fan." He chuckled at her nose wrinkle and reached up to brush some flour off of it.
<Paige> Paige giggled at him again, trying to wiggle her nose like the lady on Bewitched. "I've never tried drugs... just alcohol. Never even smoked!"
<Shaw> "As befitting Miss America," he laughed again and mostly smeared the flour.
<Paige> Laughing with him, Paige nodded a bit, which smeared her face some more. "I was a beautiful Miss America..." except for that whole not eating thing she tried.
<Shaw> Frowning, he let go of the spoon and held her face still between both hands, then brushed it off. "There, now you don't look like coke addict Miss America."
<Paige> "Yay!" Paige said, excited. "Thank you! I don't want to look like a drug addict."
<Shaw> "You're terribly cheerful. I assume you've been told this, yes?" He patted her cheek and took her hand, pressing a kiss to the back of it.
<Paige> She smiled at him, patting his drunken head. "Yep! Now, we have to put the cookies in the oven."
<Shaw> "Does this require a rolling pin?" He knew what those were, at least. Drunken head wandering back to an earlier conversation, he frowned a bit again. "Dark glare indeed. Blown that image a bit here today."
<Paige> "But you're so cute when you try to be intimidating! Maybe that's just because I know Rachel wouldn't let anyone lay a finger on me, so I have no fear of anyone... hmmmmm no, these are drop cookies. We have to get some in the spoon and 'drop' them onto the cookie sheet."
<Shaw> "Cute?" His brow furrowed as he looked up at her. That was a new one.
<Paige> "Yes. It's like you want to keep people at bay so they don't get too close." Paige stuck her finger into the dough and plopped a bit in her mouth.
<Shaw> "That's... fairly accurate, yes." He was definitely out of his mind if he was admitting to this.
<Paige> Paige gave him a weak smile and a spoon, taking her own spoon to dish out a bite of dough. "I'd know that trick anywhere."
<Shaw> "It's served me well for a long time." He took the spoon and a bit of dough. Not bad.
<Paige> "It always does until you wake up one day and realize you're lonely. But it seems you already fixed that problem." She gave him a better smile as she took another bite.
<Shaw> "I have," he said with a genuine smile. "In fact, I wonder where she is?" He fished his phone from his pocket and checked it.
<Paige> "Probably looking for you since I kidnapped you," Paige took another bite, "totally worth it."
<Shaw> "I agree. I almost learned to cook." He winked at her and took another bite himself.
<Paige> "So I have to confess... I rarely get the cookies in the oven." She giggled at him.
<Shaw> "That's quite all right. It seems to work well this way." That cookie vodka idea might still have some legs too. He'd have to think about it ... when he could think in complete sentences again.
<Paige> "Tell you what. Next time I want to 'bake' brownies, I'll come find you. The turtle brownie mix is just divine!" She smiled happily, setting her spoon down. "I should probably get to class though. I've missed a lot of classes lately."
<Shaw> "That sounds lovely." He licked his lips, looking up to watch her. "That seems par for the course here. I've missed several as well. I doubt the students care."
<Paige> "I'm sure they celebrate it, but with everything happening... some normalcy is good." She gathered up their dirty dishes, placing them into the dishwasher.
<Shaw> "Yes... I suppose." The reminder made Sebastian's expression sour again. He seemed to be sobering up a bit and he wasn't sure how he felt about this.
<Paige> Paige paused her cleaning to give him a hug. "If you need to talk, I'm happy to listen."
<Shaw> It took him by surprise, but then he returned the hug with a smile. "Thank you, I appreciate that."
<Paige> "Anytime, Sebastian. My pink couches are always open!"
<Shaw> Biting his lip, he decided not to say the first thing to come to mind and just kissed her hand again. "Have a good day, Paige."
<Paige> "You too, Sebastian!" Paige bounced off toward her office.
<Shaw> Sebastian watched her go, then picked up the remaining dough and gave it a sniff. With a shrug, he sat back down. More for him.
