Facing Up to the Worst Move of the Day

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Cady gaped at her for several long moments; Vic had no idea what else to say, so she just stared back and waited for Cady to comment. She made no apologies to Cady for any part of what she had told her. It happened, she did it, she owned up to it, but she'd be damned if she would apologize to anyone for kissing Walt; even him. Whatever the younger woman had to say, when she got past the shock of what she heard, Vic was sure she would more than deserve it. Cady closed her mouth and rested her chin in her hand as she continued to stare at Vic in disbelief.

After another long moment or two the younger woman looked away from Vic and finally spoke, "Dad?" Vic started to reply in the affirmative when she heard Cady add, "Hi."

"Hiya Punk."

Vic heard his steps drawing closer and wondered how he had gotten that far without her noticing. She knew she could not avoid him, no matter how much she wanted to, so she raised her head just as he stopped next to her seat. She knew her face would tell him everything but she forced herself to meet his eyes anyway.

At the shocked look Cady had tried to mask and the guilty look on Vic's face Walt asked, "You tell her?" with a quick dart of his eyes in Cady's direction for clarification.

Vic swallowed and nodded; she'd caused enough trouble for one day and figured she would do well to keep her mouth shut.

He glanced briefly at his daughter and then back to Vic, "Good." Walt wrapped his arms around Vic and pulled her to him. One hand settled just past the midpoint of her lower back, his palm flattened and warmed her skin through the thin sweater. His other hand gently clasped her shoulder encouraging but not forcing her to close the distance between them.

Before her mind could get her body to react, his lips were pushing softly against hers. Reflexively she began to return the kiss, her mind still in a state of shock.

Walt took her reaction as an encouraging sign and coaxed her lips apart. His tongue flowed into her mouth like a warm satin ribbon; soft and tender, but also firm and with purpose. Vic wound her arms around him; one at his waist and the other across his shoulders, pulling him closer; as if that was even possible. He let his fingers find the nape of her neck and gently massaged fingers and thumb at the base of her neck in the minutest of motions. As intense as the kiss was, it was contained within the closed intimacy of their firm embrace; its true intensity shielded from the eyes of others. Vic felt as though he were consuming her and she wanted nothing more but more of the same. When they broke the kiss, Walt released his hold on her and stepped back slightly, remaining well within her personal space, but not touching her. Vic in turn, slid her arms from him, and eased herself back on to the bar stool. When had she gotten off the stool? The question resonated in her brain, not really seeking an answer, merely bringing to her awareness the fact she had not noticed the move in the first place.

"Henry we'll pick up Vic's unit later."

"I am okay to drive I've only had a beer and a half."

Walt picked up her beer bottle and downed the remaining half in one long swallow and the handed Vic the bottle instead of setting it back on the bar, "Now I'm only one beer behind."

She stared at him for a moment, unmoving, trying to process the kiss and the fact that he knew he was drinking her beer. Everyone close to them knew he had just finished her beer. Her mind was bouncing from thought to thought; he not only matched her earlier kiss, he had taken it up a notch, and then he drank her beer. Arizona was a long way and a long time from the moment and yet she couldn't keep her mind from pinging off the associated memories. Walt matched her stare and gently angled the beer bottle into her hand. He wanted her to know he was making a point with what he had just done. Vic opened her hand and grasped the bottle.

As her fingers closed around the bottle, Walt made sure she understood his point with a whisper, "Easier to seek forgiveness, right?"

Henry and Cady exchanged a look over the cryptic comment that only Walt and Vic seemed to fully understand. Vic nodded and set the bottle on the bar without taking her eyes from Walt's.

Walt glanced at Henry and raised his eyebrows slightly in question.

"Dinner will be out in another few minutes." Henry answered the unspoken query.

Walt nodded his thanks and returned his focus to Vic, "We're going to have something to eat and then we are going somewhere to talk and I don't want you to have your unit available so you can run off before we've finished that talk."

"What if I don't want…"

He cut her off, "You started this and we're going to get it settled tonight."

Henry made a face at Cady indicating she should change the subject between the two. She took a deep breath and said, "Just one question, dad."

He kept his eyes on Vic, "What?"

"Are you going to fire Vic?" Henry titled his head to her as if to ask 'that is the best you could do?' and Cady returned with an 'I don't know' look of her own.

"Nope." He didn't take his eyes off Vic when he listened to and answered Cady.

Walt was still looking at her as Henry walked away and returned a few moments later with their meals on a large serving tray; four monster cheeseburgers and seasoned fries. He set the tray on the bar and lifted two of the plates from it, walking around the bar, and setting them on the nearest table. Walt put his hand on the back of Vic's stool and motioned to the table with the other. They made their way to the table as Henry came back with a beer for Walt.

Vic looked at Walt with almost a defiant expression, "If were eating and you're driving I'm having another beer."

Walt gave him a look and Henry went behind the bar and brought back another beer for Vic.

"We will leave you two to eat." Henry said as he placed a hand on Cady's elbow and led her away from the couple, he easily picked up their meals on their way to the far end of the bar.

Vic was uncertain how she felt about the whole situation at this point and simply concentrated on eating her cheeseburger and seasoned fries. She cut the burger in half, remembering the exchange between Cady and Henry earlier; she figured she'd be doing well to finish half the burger and maybe half or even only a third of her fries.

They ate in silence for a while. Vic was surprised there was no tension in their quietness. When they were about half way through their meal Walt asked, "You okay?"

"Me?! Yeah, I'm fine."

Walt nodded.

"How about you. You okay?"

"Yep."

Her turn to nod.

Walt waited a beat or two and popped a couple of fries in his mouth. When he swallowed, he chased them down with some beer and then asked, "We okay?"

Vic stared at him and answered honestly, "I don't know. Are we?"

"I don't know." He waited, thinking she might say something else. When she didn't he asked, "Why wouldn't we be?"

"Oh I don't know maybe because I totally misread the signals and kissed you; in your office." Her anger at herself was evident in the heavy sarcasm that laced her words.

"Signals? I didn't know I was giving off signals."

"Like I said, I misread them."

"I didn't say that. I said I wasn't aware I was signaling."

"And that's different, how?"

"Because I know what I was thinking and feeling so I have a good idea what signals I must have been sending."

He stopped before she thought he should have, thinking or not, she needed to know what else was on his mind, "And?"

"And knowing that, I'd say you read the signals correctly."

A rush of air flooded from her lungs and Vic realized she had been holding her breath. She looked at him and inhaled though a tentative smile, "You sure?"

He angled his head toward her then over slightly to one side, he glanced away for just a moment in thought, and then looked back at her with amusement in his eyes, "Vic, I, I kissed you back." The look on his face and in his eyes reinforced the meaning behind his words; she hadn't misread the signals.

All of a sudden Vic was uncharacteristically embarrassed; she gave him a bashful smile and then looked away. She simply could not maintain eye contact with him at the moment.

Walt could tell she was embarrassed but had no idea why. For the first time ever with Vic, he felt compelled to fill the silence. "I don't know if you were giving off signals; intentional or otherwise. I know I wasn't looking for any and probably overlooked them if you were."

She gave him a 'gee thanks' look but looked away quickly and did not interrupt.

"What I mean is, they got past me but when you kissed me, well that, that was kind of an in my face, couldn't go unnoticed, very clear signal."

Vic gave short grunt, "Yeah. No subtly there."