Disclaimer: I am disclaiming all.
A/N: 'Cause apparently I can only get my inspiration the day before Christmas and because it's Christmas and this is my gift to every single one of you.
She was alone for this Christmas. All alone with no one to share the Christmas cheer.
Yeah, right!
Like she could be cheerful on this time of the year. Like she could be cheerful when it was so close to her mother's birthday of dead. Like she could be cheerful when everything was a constant reminder of what she had lost, of what she would never get back. Like she could be cheerful when her dad was in rehab trying to get better, when he wasn't allowed to get visits.
This would not be a good Christmas for her. Not in the slightest.
Kate kept walking the empty street. Hands tucked inside her coat pockets, nose inside her sweatshirt and her feet starting to freeze due to the snow that was starting to crept in.
She would probably get sick. She should probably head back home. It was probably the right thing to do. It was probably the best for her.
But she didn't. She just kept walking forward, never stopping.
Her cheerless house was too depressing. Too naked of the Christmas spirit. Too remindful of her situation.
That's when she saw the stairs that went down, leading to what was probably the only open bar in New York city.
She could use a drink. She wouldn't get drunk. She wouldn't follow her father's footsteps. Just one drink to take the razor sharp edge of pain off.
She went down the stairs.
The bar was desert except for a man sitting on a booth, nursing a tumbler of what looked like scotch.
She sat on one of the barstools and waited for the bartender to come. When it had passed a couple of minutes and no one came, Kate decided to tap on the counter.
"There's no one there." a voice quietly said behind her, making her jump and turn around, her hand reflexively reaching for the gun that wasn't there. "Sorry" the man muttered "Didn't mean to scare you."
She let a slow breath out and waited for her hear to turn to its normal speed.
"You didn't. Scare me, I mean."
The man just nodded, obviously not believing in her.
"Can I get you something?" he asked instead, moving to behind the bar.
"You work here?" she asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. His dress shirt and tailored pants were not within the paycheck of a bartender. That or he really had some great tips.
"No. But I know the owners and they let me stay here for as long as I wanted. It's a great place to sulk." he breathed out "Guess I should've closed that door."
"So, technical, this bar is closed?"
The man nodded.
"But I can get you something?" he asked again, his eyes heavy on here. She could tell that this man was drunk. His eyes were neither here nor there.
"No, thank you. I should probably get going."
She got up to go but was stopped by a hand on her wrist.
"Just. Stay and have a drink or whatever you want."
She glared at the hand that man had around her wrist until he let go of her.
"Why should I stay?"
Why should she stay, really? Why should she stay when the bar wasn't even open? Why should she stay with a man she didn't knew from anywhere? Why should she stay when this man's drunk ness reminded of her father's drunk ness? What was in it for her?
"Because it's Christmas and we're both alone and that's sad." the man stated.
"How do you know I'm alone?"
"Because you are in a bar with no company and you seem in no rush to get somewhere like every single other new Yorker." he said it so matter-of-factly that, somehow, his logic made sense.
She stayed.
Kate sat back down on the bar stool.
"I want vodka, please." the man turned around to get her drink and poured it in a shot glass.
"I'm Rick." he introduced himself, extending a hand for her to shake.
"I'm Kate." she replied, shaking the hand he was offering.
"So, Kate. Why his a beautiful woman such like yourself doing alone in a bar in the cheerfulness of Christmas day?"
"I'm not answering that. For three reasons. First, you are clearly drunk. Second, it's none of your business. And third, you called me beautiful and I am not up to being seduced."
"Not trying to seduce you, Kate. We're just strangers in a closed bar on Christmas day. Just go with it. We'll probably never see each other again."
"You first. Why are you in an empty bar on Christmas?"
He snorted.
"Fair deal, I think." he took a deep breath and a swing of the scotch that he had brought to the counter, so he could drink next to her and make her company. "My daughter is spending this Christmas with my cheater of an ex-wife - it's the first time I spend Christmas without her - and my mother is god-knows-where, doing god-knows-what with god-knows-who, so I was left alone, for what I think is the first time in years and decades. And I felt lonely in my loft. It was too quiet without a five-year-old running around. And I always come here when I'm blocked and need to write. It's also a great place to sulk. We writers to that a lot. It comes with the job."
"And that's why you're drinking your liver out?"
"Well. That and I have abandonment issues with a cheating ex-wife and constantly being left in boarding schools and don't knowing who my dad is or why he left. I'm feeling abandoned right now. And it's Christmas. I love Christmas."
Rick was sitting on a bar stool that he had dragged to behind the counter, so they were facing each other, and had propped his elbow onto the counter, resting his head on his hand. His baby blue eyes seeming far away. Kate could tell that he wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying.
"Your turn." he asked suddenly focusing his eyes on her.
She breathed out and set her heart for what she had to say next. She would just do it like a band-aid. Rip it off quickly, let it burn for a short while and not torture herself peeling the words inch by inch.
"My mother was murdered when I was nineteen and they never caught the killer. So I became a cop and am now trying to find the son of a bitch who killed her. My dad took her dead pretty hard and fell to the bottle. He became an alcoholic and his now in rehab. He isn't allowed to have visitors so I'm all alone because I have no family left."
She said as quickly as she could, making the words trip over each other in the hurry to get out of her mouth, making Rick blink to try to keep up.
"Sorry about your mom and dad. It sucks."
"Sorry about your daughter. It sucks."
He sighed and started closing his eyes. Oh, no! He would not fall asleep on her.
Kate snapped her fingers in front of his face making him open his eyes a little disoriented.
And then the silliest smile took over his face as he said "You're beautiful."
Kate just snorted and answered "You're drunk."
Rick gave a little laugh and nodded his head "Both of those statements are truth."
"Hey, you know what?!" he said suddenly "We should toast."
"Are you going to give a motivational speech?! Because-"
"No, no." he reassured her "Just a normal toast. Come one, Kate. Raise your glass."
She did, making the vodka in her glass slosh around and drip over her fingers and onto the counter. Rick also raised his glass.
"To strangers in a bar." he said simply.
"Aren't you supposed to be a writer? Can't come up with anything better than that Writer Boy?" she teased.
"Hush, Miss Detective. Just go with it."
She nodded and repeated his sentence "To strangers in a bar."
They clinked glasses and Kate downed her shoot in one swift move while Rick only took a sip of his scotch.
After a couple of hours, they were both definitely drunk. And that's when they both decided to head home and sleep the drunk ness off.
Soon it would be the 26th of December and Christmas would be over.
Kate was led by Rick up the stairs and to street level.
He smiled at her and stretched out his hand for her to shake.
She raised an eyebrow at him, but took the hand he was offering.
He held on to it.
"Merry Christmas, Kate." he said, all smiles and bright blue eyes.
"Merry Christmas, Rick." she said back, somehow finding a smile of her own.
And then they both turned on their heels and headed to opposite directions. Each one going to live their lives and soon forgetting the strange encounter with a stranger on Christmas day.
Two lonely souls that had found each other by accident on Christmas day and had made each other feel a little less lonely.
A/N: MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!
Any mistakes are mine, because it his 2:30 a.m. and I'm tired as hell, but I wanted to finish this for you, guys.