I'm sorry it's taken so long. I had written most of this, but then real life majorly got in the way. I just now found it and finished it, so here it is.
Anyway, there was a prompt in the Swanfire tag on tumblr months ago about Emma being a regular at a gourmet grilled cheese food truck that was ran by Neal. Another prompter (I don't remember who because my tumblr is being weird right now) asked for the truck to be called "Tallahassee Bagels". Well, the truck doesn't just serve grilled cheese, but it does serve multiple bagel sandwiches. Also, research for this story made me crave yummies.
Emma sighed as she took a break from doing paperwork. While she enjoyed the rush that came from solving a case, she really hated the paperwork. After a glance at the clock overhead told her it was nearing noon, she figured now was as good a time as any to take a much needed break.
Looking over at her partner's empty desk, she realized she was left on her own. David had left about thirty minutes before to go have lunch with his fiancé, Mary Margaret. He had initially asked her if she wished to go with them, but she told him to go ahead without her. Emma figured that since she was already joining them for dinner tonight, they might as well have one meal with just the two of them.
She stretched as she rose from her desk, popping all of the kinks out of her joints that she got from sitting down for hours on end. Checking her phone, she remembered that today was Wednesday. Smiling she grabbed her coat from the stand nearby and slipped it on as she walked out of the precinct.
She walked several blocks to where, every Wednesday, her favorite food truck parked. It was a banana yellow truck with the logo "Tallahassee Bagels: Gourmet Bagel Sandwiches" written along the sides in blue and white in a way that made it seem like postcard from somewhere with a beach. Its menus, one hanging beside the ordering window and the other a little a-sign on the ground for those in line to read, were artfully decorated chalkboards. She smiled as she looked at them as she imagined the owner's face wrinkled adorably in concentration as he handwrote the menu every week.
She let her mind wander as she stood in line to the point that she almost didn't notice when it was almost her turn. Almost. It wasn't until the person before her was checking out that Emma zoned back in. She watched as the cashier cashed the large man in front of her out before turning to smile at Emma. The cashier was the same one every day. She was small with elfin features and eternally had her hair pulled up into a messy bun.
"Hey, Emma," she said jovially.
"Hey, Tink," Emma smiled.
"Your usual?" Tink asked unnecessarily.
"As always," Emma shrugged.
Tink stepped to the side as the food truck's owner, Neal, came over to the window, bag in hand. Tink then walked over to the stove to take over where he left off. The two had been best friends since grade school and knew each other so well by this point that they worked seamlessly together.
"So, I heard that you guys had found that kid you were looking for," he grinned as she handed over her card knowing without him saying that her total was going to be exactly $15.08. "That's exciting."
"Yeah, I was getting worried for a while there. It was starting to be a little too long, and we running out of leads."
"The most important thing is that he's with his family now though, and that's thanks to you," Neal said, looking at her in a way that caused the creases of his eyes to crinkle and definitely didn't cause her heart to beat just a little bit faster. "I knew you'd be able to. There was no doubt in my mind."
She couldn't think of anything else to reply except to smile shyly and a small, "Thanks."
He's already had her food ready, so he handed it over to her along with a bottle of homemade soda.
They talked a little bit more before she left because of the line behind her.
Returning to the precinct, Emma drops her bag and bottle onto the desk before walking over to hang her coat back up. As she sat down at her desk she slowly started taking her food out of the white paper bag. Pulling out her napkins, a small piece of paper fell out and onto the ground. Hungry as she was, she ignored it for the time being to unwrap her sandwich. As always, it was a grilled cheese sandwich on an onion and chive bagel with the perfect blend of cheddar, provolone, and mozzarella with a tomato slice in the middle. Upon taking her first bite, she closed her eyes to savor the harmonious flavors.
About half-way through, she remembered the paper that had fallen to the floor. Carefully balancing her sandwich in her left hand, she reached the other down to grab the paper from under her chair. Emma was swallowing a rather large bite just as she read what was on the paper and immediately regretted it when she choked causing a bit of a coughing fit.
"Are you ok?"
Emma whirled her chair around to face David's concerned face. He was standing by the coat stand having just arrived from lunch himself.
"I'm fine," she said weakly. Coughing once more, she said more strongly, "Wrong pipe."
"Ah," David said, nodding. "You be careful with that. I don't want to have to do the Heimlich on you."
"I'll try," she said smirking at him before turning back around.
Picking the small piece of paper back up, she carefully reread: Dinner? Neal – 212-555-0815