Ch. 3

"So you came to my island because you thought it was the Condesce's evil lair or something?"

"Research," he replied plainly.

They hung around the kitchen casually. Dave leaned against the marble island, holding a cup of black coffee in his right hand as he spoke.

Jade was opposite of him, back against her counter relaxed. She nodded as she heard him speak. "Research for a new film, right?"

"Yup." He took a good drink from his mug. He didn't know why he liked the bitter stuff. At some point in his teenaged years, back when SBaHJ was nothing more than an online web comic, he had started drinking coffee to keep him up when he felt particularly inspired to get shit done. Stuff tasted shitty, but got the job done. Now he was accustomed to the taste and effect of it.

"See anything particularly inspiring?" Jade asked, mimicking some of the thoughts in his head.

He gave a mild scoff. "Like I could get over that frog. I was here for twenty minutes tops before you ambushed me all up in arms, ready to pounce like a rabid fangirl. Believe me, there have been plenty. I know what I'm talking about. And you're all desperate for this hotshot, plotting to get me into your bed, even took my pilot captive to lure me into your lair."

Jade smiled, "You caught me." Getting a better look at her, he saw that her overbite wasn't all that bad. Certainly a bit much for a twenty something year-old lady.

Now relaxed, Dave took the time to examine the woman diagonal from him. Jade was still youthful looking, probably around his age. Her hair was long and black, falling down her back carelessly. She didn't seem like the type to pay much attention to that sort of thing. Why would she need to anyways? She lived isolated from the world; there wasn't really anyone to impress. Not that he thought she was unkempt by any means.

"You're damn straight I caught you. I always knows what's up and what the women want. I already told you Harley, can't happen between us. This city guy has a few thousand of girls back home that need him to stay a bachelor. Imagine the heartbreak that'd ensue. Fucking anarchy of the ages."

"Right, right. You have such a heavy burden to bear, fate of the female population and all."

"Don't I know it." His delivery and smirk initiated more bubbly giggling. For a doctor who seemed to know her way around a gun, the goofy glasses and fits of laughter were a bit of a contradiction. The whole situation was odd, and the mischievous gleam in her bright green eyes convinced him that the strangeness of it all revolved around her.

Then again, her dog was a mindfuck in its own right. He would've taken a glance at it, but his back was turned and the gesture would have been too much effort and too obvious.

"Sorry about all that," Jade said sincerely, casting her gaze at the beast instead. "Bec and I aren't very good with unexpected visitors."

"Hey, far be it from me to judge. I'd be pretty wary of an unannounced pair of strangers landing on my pad. Sorry. Rude of me to waltz in."

Jade smiled into her cup. "It's suspicious on both ends. But I'm sorry that you didn't get a chance to look around. I really think this place is great." She paused to look back at him. "As small at it seems, there's actually a lot of ground to cover. There are some really beautiful places here."

He threw the last lukewarm gulp down his throat; the bitterness coating his mouth didn't bother him.

After a good while of somewhat comfortable silence Jade set her own porcelain mug down on the counter behind her. "I have an idea," Jade began. "Let's explore. I'll show you all around, like a tour!"

Dave set his empty mug down. "Sure. I don't know what else we could do anyways with the whole... situation we've got on our hands. Paws."

"There's plenty to do, but that's the reason you came, right? Besides I feel bad about your pilot blacking out..."

Dave cast a look towards poor Raul. He was breathing fine and so he wasn't too concerned. He did get the short end of the stick, being dragged by a giant glowing dog versus a somewhat attractive amazon botanist.

"We have unspecified amount of time to kill, so let's make the most of a bad situation!" Jade chimed.

He didn't have any better ideas, nor qualms so he gave her a quick shrug of the shoulders while stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Lead the way."

Jade clapped her hands once, the excitement rolling off her palpably. "Oh good!"

-x.x.x.x.x.x-

Sorry for the chapter being short! There's not too much content in here, but um... the next chapter will be better and more shippy. I would've made it one big chapter but this part was already ready... Anyways, thanks a bunch for the reviews and favs and alerts! Means a lot to me. Mwahs!