[B][center][h2]Paige Kennedy[/h2][/center][/b]

The reaction Paige anticipated looking for she oddly enough found in herself. She could believe Milo's tone when he said he still had the same photo and had not gotten rid of it after all this time. Her ears were trained for lie detection and she knew him well enough to tell when he was lying or holding back. It was her first reaction though... When he spoke the words and happily chuckled, she felt [i]relieved[/i], but couldn't explain exactly why to her own mind. He seemed nearly nonchalant about it. A strange departure from his interrogative attitude about Ana at the Winter Party and almost the same as when she arrived at his place to dispatch Jackie. Even if he had the same photo, she didn't expect him to be quite so [i]at ease[/i]. Intrigued, she accepted the picture back from him and leaned back crossing her legs and resting one arm lightly on the seatback. "We sure did win," She stated matter-of-factly with a grin. "And yeah, I think you won the party after too- first place drunk."

The thought of it jogging in her memory view was turning her grin into a full-on smile and combined with the progress they'd made against the sake, she was loosening up. A solid, near non-stop week of heavy investigative work was wearing away like a detox out of her veins. When he brought up his poor car, left on blocks in that parking lot, she laughed heartily, "Was that one of those times you felt like you needed to defend my honor?" She laughed. In her head, she replayed that night as well, though not with completely vivid recollection. She had a few drinks herself and could not exactly recall what started the battle or if they even had anything to do with it. "I think we won the fight though," She said. "I remember that one guy," She continued, "I don't think he'd ever been hit by a woman... That was right before you slugged him blindside, [i]you[/i] fight dirty." She said with mock accusation pointing her finger. She refilled the sake cups again. The thought of taking Monday off was becoming firmly more entrenched in her plans. She knew getting the time wouldn't be a problem, particularly after the returns the last twenty-four hours brought.

[@RoccanIronclad]