fanofthegenre | OOM: An invitation extended.

It's been a while since she's run into Jack in the bar.

Mostly, she's trying to chalk that up to her own increasingly busy schedule and the fact that the holiday season tends to bring out the worst in people - which, coincidentally, leads to more murders, and that means her workload has reached a staggering high.

She comes in through her door today on a mission, though, after a fairly successful decorating of her apartment and shopping excursion with Kate. She'd brought up the subject of potentially inviting Jack to New York for Christmas, since the idea of knowing he's Bound from leaving through his own door depresses her a little.

Kate had seemed supportive, and Bar appears to be as well; Beckett doesn't even need to ask before she's being provided with a note that informs her of Jack's whereabouts. She bundles up to find him down by the lake, her own breath appearing in front of her and dissipating away into the chilled air. She doesn't try to sneak up on him. Besides, she has a feeling it'd be hard to do that successfully, anyway.

"Heard you were out here."

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"Well, if you want a couple days to get stuff done without a guest around, go ahead. Whenever you're ready, just find me in here."

Jack raises an eyebrow. "NYPD pay that much better than LAPD?"

"Not much," she admits, with a bit of a smile.

"But I saved. And at least I know where to find you when I tie up all my loose ends."

Namely, figuring out how the hell to play hostess.

"Not like I'm going anywhere anytime soon," he says with a wry smile. "Anywhere you can think of right now that you think I have to see?"

"Anything you've wanted to see, personally?"

She glances over at him.

"Your options are fairly limitless."

He shrugs. "I've been to New York a few times, so I've hit some of the tourist spots already. I don't think I've seen it in winter, though. Central Park must look nice if you've got any snow."

"Oh, we got snow - and plenty of it."

Beckett smiles.

"You ever taken one of those carriage rides?"

Jack raises an eyebrow slightly. "You mean the touristy kind that cost you an arm and a leg for a ten minute ride?"

Beckett shrugs one shoulder.

"Okay, so it's kind of hokey, but it'd probably be really beautiful with all the snow, and the lights."

"Have you ever taken one before?" he asks. He has a feeling she hasn't; he can't remember if she's mentioned growing up in New York, but from what she's said he gets the feeling she did, or nearby. A lot of locals never take the time to do the tourist stuff.

That is unless someone had taken her on a date or something, which makes the thought of going a little awkward.

"Taken one personally? Nah."

She shakes her head. Living in New York sort of inadvertently means you wind up excluding yourself from any and all touristy activities. That includes things like visiting the Statue of Liberty and taking the carriage ride through Central Park.

"I may have always wanted to, though," Beckett admits.

"May have? You're not sure if it's something you've always wanted to do?" he says with a hint of teasing in his tone.

"You know what? Never mind."

She clears her throat and doesn't exactly meet his eyes for a moment.

"You take that with you to your grave, by the way."

"Don't worry, I know how to keep a secret," he says, pasting on a smile. "And we can do it. Maybe this is a chance for you to do all the touristy stuff you haven't done before."

"Only if you want to."

She eyes him quickly.

"This is as much your vacation as it is mine."

"No, I'd like to. I can't really think of anything I absolutely don't want to do. I could probably use a couple days to decide what I do, though."

"Take all the time you need, of course."

She suddenly wishes she'd brought a pair of gloves along.

"Aren't you cold out here?"

"Yeah, but when you head outside in the winter, you kind of have to expect that," he says, clenching and unclenching his hands in his pockets.

"Feel like heading back inside?"

She nods her head in the direction of the bar.

"I'll buy you a drink."

"You've found my weakness, Beckett," he says, though his smile is about as transparent as the observation window. "Free drinks."

"If I'd known that, I could've gotten you to agree to come inside sooner."

She cups her hands together and blows into her palms.

"Well, now you know," he says, turning on his heel. "Though I expect you to use that knowledge for good, not for evil."

She holds up a hand in mock silent oath.

"You bet."

OOM: An invitation extended.

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