"You're not a vegetarian are you?"
"Excuse me?" Diane asked slipping off her glasses.
"Meat." Kurt said leaning against the door frame. "Do you eat it? I didn't think to ask before."
"Oh." Diane smiled. "Yes, I eat meat."
"Great. I made supper if you're hungry. Took time from shootin' all my guns."
Diane bit her lip so she wouldn't give Kurt the satisfaction of knowing he amused her. He winked before turning to walk away.
She hadn't thought about dinner. Of course she would need to eat, her stomach chose that moment to growl to drive the point home. And it wasn't as though she could leave and get food, he had forbade her from bringing her own car. And while he had a beautiful kitchen was she just suppose to walk in and start cooking? Sure he'd cooked tonight, but she couldn't expect him to wait on her the entire time she was there.
Realizing he was likely waiting for her, Diane got up and started towards the kitchen. Would it be odd if she sat down and ate with him? Would he be expecting her to or was she suppose to take her plate and retreat back to her makeshift office?
She was starting to feel flaky. She didn't do flaky. Of course she didn't normally hole up on the middle of nowhere with a stranger who owned more guns than she's ever seen while she waited for the police to find a man who wanted to kill her. She was on new ground.
"Red okay?" Kurt asked snapping Diane out of her daze when she reached the kitchen. He pointed towards the bottle on the table and she quickly realized her was referring to wine.
"Perfect, thank you." Diane smiled sitting down, happy the place setting had answered the question of where she was expected to eat. She prayed Kurt could not hear her stomach as it again growled when she looked at the seemingly perfectly cooked steak awaiting her. "This looks delicious."
"Help yourself to anything in the kitchen." Kurt said pouring the wine. "If you want me to pick you up anything just let me know. I realize I left you kinda high and dry without a car out here."
"Um, okay, thanks." Diane said. Had she been talking out loud earlier? No, she was acting flaky, but she hadn't totally lost her mind.
"Sure." Kurt shrugged. He paused slightly, steak knife mid air. "What?"
"Nothing." Diane laughed.
"Say what you want to say." Kurt shrugged cutting into his steak.
"Is this all real? Quiet guy out here all alone with your guns and solitude?"
"Would be a weird dream to have."
"Yes." Diane laughed cutting into her steak. She nodded her approval, it was a perfect medium rare. Maybe she would let him cook for her, he was obviously good at it.
"I don't like the city." Kurt said between bites. "But I do leave my house. I have friends. Look around there is no manifesto on my desk or stacks of newspapers from the past twenty year."
Diane nodded. "True. I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to imply anything."
"I know what you were implying.' Kurt shrugged. "But not everyone is how they seem. You should know that better than most."
"Because I am a lawyer?"
"Female partner of a law firm." Kurt shrugged. "No kids, you're not married. Ice Queen, bossy, man hating bitch. I'm sure you've been called it all by people who don't know you."
Diane bit the inside of her cheek. He had a point. She took a sip of her wine and narrowed her eyes, challenging him. "And how do you know it's not accurate?"
"Well I've been around long enough to know that successful women are often times nice. And Kalinda was worried about you. Of all people, she would not care about you if you were just her bitching boss. And you have kind eyes."
Unsure what to say Diane took another sip of her wine, praying she wasn't blushing. "Hmm. This is good wine."
"Thank you. Took a while to perfect the process."
"Of picking wine?"
"Making it."
Diane tilted her head. "You made this?" She smiled. "Very impressive. You can cook, you make wine. You are a man of many talents."
/
"Come on." Diane said urging Justice back into the house. She looked at her watch and frowned. It was only 10pm. In her haste to pack as quickly as possible, she'd only brought work and clothes with her. She wished she'd backed some leisure reading.
Remembering the bookcase she'd seen when Kurt gave her a tour of the house, she tossed Justice a treat and went in search of something to read.
Skimming the titles, she found the expected reference and textbooks, several classics; she stopped when she got to what appeared to be the biography section - Palin, Regan, Rehnquist. She stepped back slightly, had she been left in the middle of nowhere with a Republican?
"Looking for something to read?"
"No. I, um, I mean, I was just looking."
"Take anything you want." Kurt shrugged. He was amused by his house guest. He could tell she was out of her element. Sure, she was stressed, anyone would be if a known killer had threatened their life. But there was more to it. Kurt could tell Diane Lockhart was a woman who liked to be in control and it had probably been a very long time since she hadn't had that chance. That was probably just as unsettling.
"You're a Republican." Diane said frowning slightly. She hadn't meant to sound so accusatory.
"I am." Kurt nodded. "And you are not?"
"No." Diane smiled. "Not even a little bit."
"Come on." Kurt said tilting his head towards the other room.
"What?"
"If we're going to argue. I'd prefer to be comfortable."
"And what makes you think I am going to argue with you?" Diane asked following Kurt into the other room. She nodded when he pointed to the bottle of bourbon.
"You're a successful lawyer." Kurt said filling the glass generously. He smiled as he handed Diane her drink. "Just going back to those generalizations I suppose."
"Mmm." Diane nodded. "I'm a bleeding heart liberal who wants to overfill the government, spent too much money and destroy the country?"
"And I'm a gun touting hick stuck in the past?"
"Well you do have a lot of guns." Diane smiled.
"Well you have me there ." Kurt laughed walking over to the couch. "But that's my job. I am more than just my job. Aren't you?"
"I try to be." Diane said honestly. "But being a lawyer is a big part of who I am. It's all I've ever wanted to be. I like the law. It makes sense."
"Even when it let's out deranged people who want to kill you?" Kurt said and the immediately frowned. "I'm sorry. That was unfair."
"No, it's fine." Diane smiled. "This isn't a regular occurrence. Sure sometimes the outcome is not what I'd prefer. But it's the rules." She tucked her legs up under her. "It's like your job."
"My job is science. It's black and white."
"So is this law. It's my job to try and make it grey, but the rules are all there. I have to follow them."
"Like the constitution?"
Diane laughed. "And you brought it back to politics. Fine, let's do this. I have no desire to take away your guns Mr McVeigh."
"Ah!" Kurt smiled. "You're inner lawyer is showing. We're just having a friendly debate, you can call me Kurt. But you believe in gun control?"
"Yes. Don't you? You see first hand the damage guns can do when they are in the wrong hands. Wouldn't you prefer people respect guns as much as you do?"
Kurt sipped his drink slowly, taking in Diane's words. "Yes. There are guns out there that should never been made. They shouldn't be on the streets. But when you start limiting how people get guns those types of guns just become more popular."
"So we shouldn't try to solve the problem because it just makes it worse?" Diane asked. She smiled slightly. "Like 'Just Say No' did for drugs?"
"Well played." Kurt laughed holding up his glass. He shook his head slightly, having her here was going to be fun.