(no subject)

[theirlawyer]

Ainsley pinches at the bridge of her nose, trying to fight off the will to sleep. It's been so busy in the White House ever since the President had started to call meetings with a good deal of the legal staff, which meant they weren't available for the day-to-day and Ainsley's workload had dramatically increased. It meant that it was pushing ten at night and she's genuinely unsure if she should leave.

What she wants now, more than anything, is just a night off. The trouble is, if she's here, then she's tied to her phone and that means it's not really relaxing. What she needs is that hotel. Whatever strange logic governed it meant that no time had passed since she and Sam had accidentally wandered into it and right now, she loves the idea of a weekend away when all she does is sleep and relax and rest.

There are two problems in this.

The first being that she can't find a door that opens there and the second being that she doesn't want to go alone. She begins the long walk up from the Steampipe Trunk Distribution Venue towards Sam's office, not surprised to still find him at work. She raps her knuckles lightly on the glass separating his office from the bullpen and pokes her head in the door.

"Do you ever wonder what our lives would be like if we had normal 9 to 5 jobs?" she wonders, in place of an actual greeting. "I don't know what I'd do with myself, honestly."

Comments

[theirlawyer]

She knows about both of them, but the way Sam says it has her hesitating as she raises her brow and sips from her glass of water, beyond grateful when her salad and her mozzarella sticks show up. "Now, see, Sam, you're going to have to clarify that for me. Accidental call girl? I don't remember seeing that as a profession during career day." She's poking and teasing, but it's one of her favorite hobbies.

[imnotrobin]

"I didn't think that was what she was when she met me. She told me she was a law student at Georgetown," Sam explains. "Which is actually true. She was most definitely a law student at Georgetown. But tuition is tuition, so...she had other employment as well."

He isn't ashamed about his friendship with Laurie and he thinks there shouldn't be any issues for her or him that she so happened to be in a vice profession at the time he met her.

[theirlawyer]

"Hence the accidental." She's heard this story before, but never really from Sam himself, which is pretty important to her if they really are going to try this dating thing. "If she weren't a call girl, do you think you'd still be dating her?"

[imnotrobin]

"Possibly? I liked her a lot but she was in a different place from me. There was a pretty large age and professional distance." Sam is not so blinded as to think the only thing keeping them apart was Laurie's profession; there's a vast ocean between a man who has been practicing law for at least ten years and someone who hasn't passed the bar yet.

"I want someone who is my equal. I don't want to date someone who hasn't had a chance to find out who she is and what she likes."

[theirlawyer]

That bodes well for Ainsley. After all, she's more than a little set in her ways, knows what she likes, and who she is. In fact, she'd worried that who she is would be one of those things that Sam couldn't look past, so to hear otherwise is actually more than a little bit of a relief. "Well, then," she says, lifting her wine glass. "Here's to dating someone on your level who knows where they are in their lives."

[imnotrobin]

"I wouldn't want anything less," Sam says, lifting his own glass in response. "Now that we've hashed out terms, how am I doing? Am I passable enough to get a second dinner date or are you still undecided? I've been told I'm fairly persuasive when it comes to these things."

[theirlawyer]

"Well," she says as she sits back in her chair and studies him like she's looking at a problem instead of a person. "You're handsome. Smart. Quick-witted, though unfortunately your politics lean a little too left for my liking. You know enough to take me out for food, but also to let me help you with your work. I think you might even get a kiss at the end of tonight," she says teasingly, but still her stomach flutters to think of that.

[imnotrobin]

"Oh? That's a banner day." The idea that he might get to kiss Ainsley at the end of the evening has him a little nervous and excited in a way Sam hasn't been about a woman in a long time. He suspects this was a long time coming. He's never been able to resist someone who can go head to head with him and when that someone happens to be a beautiful woman with a mind that can run circles around his, it's just inevitable that he's going to fall for her. Ainsley just had to be there for that to happen, no matter how much he might have tried to deny it in the past.

"I'm looking forward to your decision."

[theirlawyer]

"You'll just have to walk me to my room when all this is said and done and we'll just see what happens," she says. She's trying to be somewhat coy, but that falls down when she starts making sounds upon eating her food that definitely are far from ladylike and are filled with the joy and pleasure of the food in front of her. "Sam," she says, poking at it with her fork. "You have to try your food, it's amazing."

[imnotrobin]

Sam is too nervous to really eat but he figures he owes it to Ainsley to give it a shot. Once he finally does, he sees what all the fuss is about. The lobster is perfectly done, the drawn butter just right and the steak he's paired with it just ties the whole thing together. It's amazing.

Still, he's more interested in her than food and he reaches a hand out to touch hers lightly. Maybe that's too much but he wants to risk it. Better to shoot for the moon.

[theirlawyer]

She's surprised when she feels the touch at her hand, though it's definitely not the bad sort of thing. It's just surprising. There's a lot of this that's genuinely surprising and she finds herself staring at Sam like she's seeing him for the first time, a soft smile on her face as she twists up her fingers to slide them over Sam's palm. "Are you always this sweetly affectionate?" she wonders, though she's looking forward to finding out.

[imnotrobin]

"Who, me? Don't leak it to the media," Sam teases. He is this affectionate with a woman he cares about and it's a little less pressure here in the hotel away from prying eyes than it would be back in DC. He thinks he wants to get used to having this here, just between them, so that when the time comes to reveal it back home, he has a good foundation to base his feelings on.

[theirlawyer]

"I can see the headlines," she says wryly, her eyes sparkling as she regards him. "Talented speechwriter for the President is also a very good boyfriend," she mocks, making her words sound immensely dangerous and serious as she gives him a teasing smile. "I don't know how you'd spin that one around in your favor."

[imnotrobin]

"I'd probably need a little help from across the aisle," Sam says lowly. Whenever he looks at her, he feels like he just gets...soft.

"Think you can manage?"

[theirlawyer]

"I think I'd need a few months to really evaluate how good you are before being able to have a good opinion," she says playfully, keeping her gaze serious as she takes him in. "Is that what's on the table?" he wonders. "A relationship that's dinners and talking and potentially physically intimate contact?"

[imnotrobin]

"That is absolutely on the table," Sam assures her. "And it's on the table for as long as you want it to be."

Sam does not want to screw this up. He wants everything to go well between them. He wants Ainsley to feel like they can really build something together.

[theirlawyer]

"Okay, then," she says, approaching this like she would any other thing in her life that needs to be evaluated. "Then we will, do this," she says, feeling a thrill to say it. "We will date and try being in a relationship and we will...start here," she says. "And if it works, then we start telling people at home."

[imnotrobin]

Sam thinks if he can just get through this dinner without screwing it up, he can really make this thing with Ainsley a reality. One proverbial foot in front of the other, apparently, and he's taking his first steps.

"What do you think about getting dessert to go?"

[theirlawyer]

"Really?" Ainsley says with disappointment. "Only they have this bananas foster that I think they light up at your..." She trails off when she looks up at Sam and better gets what he means. "Oh, right. To go," is what she says, now, with a lot more awareness. "In that case, maybe I'll go with the cheesecake, instead."

[imnotrobin]

"Yeah, to go," Sam says, lowering his pitch a little. "We can go share it in my room, maybe? If that's something you're open to?"

[theirlawyer]

Ainsley stares down at what she's wearing, then at Sam. "Could I maybe stop at the gift shop and buy a few things? I mean, I really want to share it, but I kind of just worked a fourteen hour day and I'm feeling supremely unsexy right now," she says, and she maybe sort of wants to shave and freshen up, if they're going to share it in his room. "And then we can do all the sharing we like?"

[imnotrobin]

Sam nods. "Um, yeah, if that's what would make you feel more comfortable. I'm nothing if not flexible." He understands working long days with long hours and he thinks that anyone would want a chance to freshen up and be their best after that.

"Take all the time you need."

[theirlawyer]

She's grateful for his flexibility and also for the small bit of time that gives her to check whether she's presentable for a date amongst partners instead of just coworkers. To show her gratitude for it, she reaches out to twine her fingers with Sam's, leaving money on the table for both of them before she stands.

"Then, in that case, I greatly approve of your plan."

[imnotrobin]

Sam squeezes her hand. It's such a simple thing, this touch, but it still makes his heart skip a beat and puts a nervous flutter in his stomach. It's been a long time since he's been with anyone he cares about as much as he cares about Ainsley and he's excited for what could be as well as grateful for what is.

"See you in a few minutes, then? Give or take?"

[theirlawyer]

She grins and nods, heading into the bathroom where she presses her back to the door and takes in a few quick breaths, searching around for mouthwash, a toothbrush, anything that might help. Deodorant would be nice, too, but she settles for a few of those little hotel soaps that seem like they'll do the trick. "I should have brought you a book or some papers for you to review!" she calls past the door as she tries to freshen up.

"That way you wouldn't be bored sitting out there!"