Tipsy Tim

Word Prompt – Tipsy

Set sometime during the first season.

Now updated and complete.

***

"Did you put something in this?" Tim asked, screwing up his face in disgust.

Ben simply looked back at him innocently. "No, it must be getting to the end of the cylinder or something," he insisted.

Seated beside him, Katie watched with suspicion as Tim took another drink of the 'soda' Ben had bought for him a few minutes ago.

"What?" Ben shouted, incredulously, over the music, noticing Katie's glance.

'This definitely doesn't taste right,' Tim mused to himself. 'Never mind, maybe the next one will be better,' he decided, and downed the contents of the glass.

To his surprise, Ben immediately offered to buy him another couple of drinks to make up for the bad one. He looked at him, quizzically, questioning his motives. It certainly wasn't usual for Ben to willingly part with his 'hard-earned' credits, but it also wasn't an offer Tim was about to refuse.

The drinks still tasted slightly strange, but not nearly as bad as the first one, and since he didn't have to pay anything, he was willing to make the small sacrifice and put up with it.

It was a pretty neat little bar they'd found themselves in. He'd have to take note of the name for the next time they docked there. Plenty of decent tunes, good company, and plenty women – something both Miguel and Jonathan had already taken advantage of. It usually annoyed him, having his friends desert him in favour of chasing women, but for some reason, despite the usual antics, tonight he found a smile constantly tugging at the corner of his mouth.

In fact, he was having a pretty good night. 'Maybe I should join in too,' he thought, and scanned the room for any potentials. 'It must be my night,' he decided, as he caught sight of a pleasant looking brunette over by the bar. 'She seems alright – not too attractive – not too scary. Hell, it's worth a shot!'

With his target firmly in sight, he disentangled himself from the legs of the table and lowered himself from the bar stool, only to find his legs weren't functioning as well as they once did.

"Woah!" Jonathan exclaimed, leaping up to help him keep his balance.

"I'm alright, it's good," Tim insisted. 'One foot down, lift the other. Man, this floor is really uneven! Head up, she's looking this way. It's all good, Tim. It's all good.'

"Ben, seriously, what did you give him?" Katie asked again.

The others looked at him, expectantly. "Just some vodka."

The silence that greeted him, clearly gave away their scepticism.

"Ok, some double vodkas," he admitted.

"Oh, he's going for it," Miguel interrupted, cringing as he noticed the direction in which his friend was headed.

"Oh Lord," Ben stated simply.

'What in the world is going on with me?' Tim thought, making his way across the floor, in what was beginning to feel like a marathon trek. He shook his head, attempting to clear his thoughts. 'Am I drunk?!? No! Can't be, well…Ben!!! No, calm down, not drunk. Just a little tipsy, that's all. Woah, where'd she come from so fast?'

"Hi," Tim beamed at the brunette. "I'm tipsy…uh, Tim…I'm Tim."

The woman smiled warmly, or could it have been nervously? He wasn't sure which. He was going to give Ben hell later – if the alcohol didn't knock him out first.

"Are you with them?" she asked, catching him give Ben an icy glare – at least he hoped it had been Ben.

'Maybe taking my glasses off wasn't such a good idea.' "Uh, no – they're with me," he joked. 'Smooth, Lieutenant, very smooth. Easy does it.'

"So you're a sailor?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"My friends and I come here a lot – you learn to recognise the locals…and you guys definitely aren't locals."

"Yeah, with friends like mine we tend to stick out," he blurted.

She wrinkled her nose at him, not quite comprehending. "What do you mean?"

"Well, like you said, they're sailors – they're charismatic – the kind of people that people are drawn to." He began to wonder whether the drink had loosened his tongue a little too much – where was all this coming from?

"You don't include yourself in that?"

'Yup – definitely said too much.' "Not really," he mumbled, hanging his head, embarrassed. He'd gone and blown it – it was obvious – he could feel the awkward tension pouring from her. No doubt she'd make her excuses and leave.

"If it makes you feel any better, I understand," she said, unexpectedly.

It was his turn to be confused. He looked up, a little too quickly, and had to wait a few seconds for his balance to catch up. "I'm sorry?"

Again the smile – he decided it was a nervous one. "You see that group of rather under-dressed girls over there who just asked your friends up to dance?"

Tim looked over to see Jonathan and Miguel among them, dancing badly. Surprisingly Ben had stayed at the table with Katie. "Yeah."

"Well, they're my friends," she admitted.

"Huh…so why aren't you with them? Why are you sat here by yourself?"

She locked eyes with him for a moment before turning away. Perhaps he'd asked the wrong thing. "Maybe so someone like you would have the chance to speak to me."

"Oh." 'You're blushing! Get a grip!'

Her smile widened. "I'm Cassandra by the way, Cassie, Cassie Parker," she said, reaching out a hand.

He took it without hesitation. "Nice to meet you Cassie. Lieutenant Tim O'Neill." He didn't miss the look of surprise that flashed across her face. It was gone before most people would have had the chance to notice it, but he was used to it – no one ever seemed to expect someone like him to be an officer. "Can I get you another drink?"

"Um…"

'Oh, here we go, she'll be planning her escape.'

"Actually…would you like to go somewhere else? This isn't really my scene."

He looked up at her in astonishment. "Uh, yeah, sure, absolutely," he nodded. 'Some air would definitely be good right about now.'

***

Ben smiled smugly as he watched the fruits of his prank walk out of the bar.

"Where does he think he's going?" Miguel asked, also noticing them disappearing.

"Nice one, O'Neill!" Jonathan laughed, grabbing his drink off the tray Ben had just returned with.

"You should spike his drinks more often," Miguel joked.

He barely had time to let the words register as a 'congratulations,' before Katie thumped him hard across the head.

"Don't even think about it," she muttered, taking a large gulp from her glass.

He eyed her, unimpressed. 'I know whose drink's I'd love to spike,' he grinned.