Jay fully expected to find Dagny gone when he got back, and he was fully prepared to sit on her desk and fake a lot of really loud sobbing if that was the case. She was there, though, and looking like she'd blown right by second thoughts and was somewhere around 23rd. Her officemates who hadn't already bailed out for lunch were just openly staring now that they didn't have work to pretend to be doing. He just grinned everywhere until they all stopped staring and started leaving.
"We could stay here. I brought a lunch, if you don't mind -"
"I do mind. If you want to go somewhere that won't be full of your co-workers, fine. But we're going somewhere."
She nodded and gathered up her things. "Listen, I don't want you to think this is about you."
"It's about more chattering behind your back. I know. It's all right." He knew as well as she did that there was going to be more of that no matter where they ate; that genie wasn't going back in the bottle now.
"If I get a reputation, I might as well pack right up and go back to Colorado, you realize that, right?"
He did. "How long do you have for lunch?"
Watching her think about her answer would have been funny if it weren't coming from a hurt and scared place. "An hour. I ate at my desk yesterday."
"Perfect." He pulled out his phone and made a quick call. "No one from here will be there. Solemn vow."
"You must know I've got to think about trusting any of those coming from you."
He laughed. "Now, how is it fair to turn around and hang gossip on me?"
"It isn't gossip. I have eyes and ears. And you don't even try to cover up what you get up to." Her expression changed and flicked back just as quickly. "Which is kind of comforting these days, to tell you the truth."
Again, she wasn't exactly talkative on the way to the restaurant, but it was less awkward this time. Jay knew she had thinking to do, looking for a place to file him and what he was up to. The thing was, he wasn't even sure himself. She was pretty, sure, and he thought under the hurt and distrust was probably a nice woman. It was going to take work to get to her, though, and he wasn't all that interested in doing a ton of that. At least some of it was about the fact that she'd tried to put him off when he wasn't in the mood to be put off. So, lunch for now. Things would play out however they were going to.
It was hard to miss how much she relaxed when they were shuttled into a private dining room on arrival. It really isn't me. It's people's big mouths. And it's time to put a pin in that nightmare balloon right now. "I know you're not jumping to talk about it. If I guess, will you at least tell me if I've hit on the answer?"
She looked at him calmly, without saying yes or no.
"Someone in Suzuki-gun decided you had big inside information they wanted, and they also decided the way to get it from you was pillow talk. So they sent Sabre in, and we don't need to discuss why it was him over lunch, do we?"
She turned a red not usually found in nature.
"And they finally figured out they were wrong about all the information, and...this is where I lose the thread. Either you found out or he told you the truth."
"I heard him talking to Taichi. About what a waste of time it all was." She was looking anywhere but at him now. "I wouldn't have even minded the way it started so much, but he was going to dump me. I wasn't even worth keeping around for that, I guess. That hits pretty low, you know?"
Yeah, below the belt. Pretty goddamn literally. "I have a really hard time picturing Suzuki thinking they were going to get any major stuff out of you. He knows better than that, maybe more than anyone else knows."
"No, he thought it was a waste of time, and he never made any secret of it. But he wasn't worried enough about it to stop Zack from getting laid, I guess."
"Naturally." He had thoughts on payback, but she didn't really need to know about them. That was between him and...oh, he thought Tama and Tanga might enjoy the work.
"I need to get back."
"You're that anxious to go and get stared at some more? We've been here for 15 minutes. At least try a bite of the food."
She did, but she still wasn't looking at him. She took another look at the plate in front of her, though, and another bite, too.
"You know, the worst of it is over now. It's out, it's said, I'm not going to expect you to talk about it over and over. I'm an asshole, but I'm not the kind of asshole who's going to blame you for getting treated badly." I'm the kind of asshole who's going to send two Tongans in bad moods to beat the shit out of the guy who is to blame.
It was a few minutes more until she was ready to meet his gaze again. He waited it out. It was a little better after that, but she still had some hurt and betrayal to work through, obviously. He still had a million questions, but they were ones she probably couldn't answer. He'd pressed her enough for one day, anyway.
Well, almost enough. There was one last thing, very evident when she got back to the office and she clearly intended to stand outside the building until he left her there.
"If you see it differently, tell me, but I see it like this: They all saw you leave with me. If you go sneaking back in like it's all some dirty little secret, they'll think it is. Walk back in, heads up, like we just had some lunch, and at least it won't give them more ammunition. Truth?"
She chewed over it for a bit, then nodded finally. He left her at her desk, smiling and cheerfully informing her that now she had to go to lunch with him again, so they wouldn't think it was really an afternoon one-and-done after all. She looked a bit like she wanted to hit him, but she finally sighed, shook her head, and agreed.
He could hardly wait to get on the phone. "Tama! I've got some side work for you and Tanga, if you're of a mind to." He suddenly had another idea he thought his squad could help with. Dagny might not like it much as he was going to, but no one really liked a dose of medicine, did they? Not until it started working. "Two bits of work, now that I think of it. Only one's going to take much effort."
It took ten days for everything to start playing out. Brought together, the combination of the beating Tama and Tanga put on Sabre and the rumor they'd set out to spread made Jay feel entirely better about things. He hoped the same was true for Dagny, but he doubted it. He'd seen her once in that time, over coffee. She gave the impression of someone who might not be eating and sleeping especially well, but was hanging in there. She hadn't put up any fight over seeing him again, which pleased him even if none of the rest of it did. He was done being patient now, though. He wanted to see her, to find out how she was.
She was, in a word, furious. As he'd suspected, it wasn't so much over the beating her ex had gotten. The moment he was close enough, she went into hissing outrage mode.
"What the hell were you thinking? Jesus, half the office thinks I've got a schedule to just work my way through you guys."
"I thought you dumping him was a better story than the other way around."
"You also thought it supposedly being for you was better, too?"
"Yeah. It buys me some time."
"To do what? Spread it around that I'm a whore, too?"
"No. To make certain everyone knows better. Because I don't share."
"Did it occur to you for even a second that I might want to go find my own rebound?"
"You don't get one of those. You've got me instead. Starting with dinner tonight."
She actually growled. He thought she'd be happier not to know what that made him want to do to her on top of her desk. "Don't you ever ask?"
"Don't you already know enough about me to know the answer to that question? I'll be back at the end of the day."
She glanced down at her clothes and pulled an oh, wonderful face that made him smile.
"You look fine. Don't run off, now. I'll chase if you do. I might even enjoy it."