2.

"So, what's new? I miss you. I even miss the ambo," Gabriela smiled wistfully, sipping her beer and looking across the small table at Shay. She missed their time together.

"Hmm..." Leslie thought, really trying to recall something 'new' to tell her best friend. Nothing was really new, but things weren't the same without Dawson, that was for sure. "Well, we got a call to a strip club today," Shay smirked. "New girl slipped off the pole and cracked her head open," she couldn't help but laugh. "It was extra funny since Rafferty is all homophobic or whatever. She just couldn't let it go without making a dyke joke," Shay told Dawson, but smiled at the thought rather than looking understandably disgusted.

"Is she still giving you trouble about that? Because you know if she is, I know people," Gabby told her, and she meant it. The moment that Rafferty moved to 51 and Shay told Dawson about some of the girl's comments, Dawson was ready to attack.

"She is, but like-"

Shay was interrupted by the sound of her phone alerting a text. She couldn't help but look at it. She had been holding her cell in her hand for the last thirty minutes, after expecting Rafferty to show up an hour ago. Leslie looked at her text and cracked up laughing, which didn't go unnoticed by Dawson. The text said: "I don't know what to wear. This good?" along with a picture of Rafferty in torn up jeans and a very gay-looking flannel shirt, unbuttoned quite a bit on top.

"Perfect," Shay responded to the message, complete with a winky face.

"Sorry," Shay apologised to Dawson for her lack of social etiquette. But she just couldn't ignore a text like that.

"Do you have a new girlfriend or something? I haven't seen you smile at your phone like that in- maybe ever," Dawson questioned with a smirk. She wasn't trying to be nosey; she just missed Shay so much and she felt like she was missing out on the girl's life for the first time in years.

"Naw," Shay chuckled, shaking her head. "It's just Rafferty," Shay turned her phone to Dawson to show her. "But if you tell her I showed you that she'll kill me, so don't," she laughed.

"Huh," Dawson said, more to herself, taking in the picture and the borderline flirtatious words that went along with it. "So that's her kind of gay joke?"

"No. I mean- yeah, I guess. Now," Shay stumbled. It was hard to put into words and she had never needed to try until now. "When I first met her, she seemed actually like a jerk homophobe, but now..." Shay trailed off, unsure about the 'now' part.

"So you two get along?" Dawson asked, trying to draw answers in her own, subtle way.

"We do," Shay nodded. "Very well. We actually have a lot of fun together, I think," she dased out for a minute, contemplating, but snapped herself back. "Enough about me. How's Casey? Where is Casey?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Almost as soon as Shay had asked about Casey the man walked through the door to the bar, seeking out Dawson. Shay thought that it was as though his head-injury-spidey-sense had tingled. He greeted Dawson with a big kiss and sat down at their table, which kind of crushed Shay's catch-up time with Dawson. After reminding herself of all Dawson's questions about Rafferty, in retrospect Shay wasn't sure if she was glad for the interruption or not.

"Shay?!" Herrman yelled obnoxiously from behind the bar.

"What?!" Shay yelled back, matching his tone.

"A: You've barely touched your only beer. And B: Where the hell is Rafferty?!" he yelled.

It wasn't quite eight o'clock yet, so the bar wasn't technically open to the public, but Herrman had certainly gotten the attention of all of 51 and Shay blushed slightly, on both counts. She picked up her beer and chugged it, cheered on by all of her friends, slamming the glass down when it was empty and wiping her mouth.

"Rafferty's coming," she told him. She could have sworn that she heard Otis say, 'I'll bet she is...' from across the room.