my stubborn heart is set on you.

“I’m on my break. You’ll have to get the attention of another server. Unless this isn’t cafe related, then I might have a few minutes.”

“There ain’t no rest for the wicked, Pierce. Well, I want coffee and I don’t trust people to brew my coffee other than you so cut the break short and get to work.”

“That did not look good. If you want I can pretend I didn’t see anything.”

“--- it wasn’t me. It was like that when I got here, I swear. There’s nothing to pretend you didn’t see. I didn’t touch the weird ceramic cat.”

“Come with me to the beach, they said. It’ll be fun, they said. You’ll have a blast. Well it was a blast all right but not the good kind.” 

“What do you mean by not the good kind? Did something EXPLODE at the beach?”

“Put it this way, if the DJ thing ever fails – which I KNOW IT WON’T – you can always pick up facepainting,” Quinn laughed as she held up her phone so that she could look at her reflection on the black screen. She barely had time to reach before the paintbrush was dabbed against her nose so, in RETALIATION, the sheriff took the brush from the brunette and bopped the brush against her nose. “I guess there’s some BENEFITS to blending in when it comes to this kind of thing,” she shrugged as she dropped light green orbs to the paint palette. She might fit in physically, but the woman had a long way to go before everything else fell into place – it was hard to fight YEARS OF SELF CONDITIONING after all. “They’re very cool,” she chuckled, finally meeting the woman’s eyes again. Out of instinct, she reached out with her spare hand and fixed the glasses so that they were less crooked then began to paint the different coloured strips upon Valentina’s cheeks. If Quinn had to be fully involved then there was no way in hell that she wasn’t tugging Valentina down with her – though she figured the other was a more willing participant than Quinn was. She couldn’t help but ADMIRE that. Valentina was so… FREE. “Okay… I can’t guarantee that my work is as good as yours, but I tried.” With one final brush flourish with her left hand, Quinn set the art tools aside and observed her handy work. “Maybe I should hang up the sheriff’s badge and become a facepainter now that I’m looking at you – the cheek paint,” she quickly corrected herself, cheeks flushing darker underneath the rainbow colours that Quinn couldn’t have been more thankful for in that moment. At least she could save a little face as her embarrassment remained hidden. At least, PHYSICALLY it did. “Okay, so… what next, oh PRIDE MASTER?”

“I’m trying,” Quinn grumbled as she tried HER HARDEST to remain still while the other worked, but it wasn’t exactly easy when he attention was being pulled in all different directions by sounds and movements – the entire thing was just SENSORY OVERLOAD for the woman who had spent her life avoiding events such as this. Upon receiving the compliment, Quinn made a face and wrinkled her nose up, though nothing could deter the smile from her face. “Must be your ARTWORK, then,” she chuckled. The heat in her cheeks rose tenfold as the other traced her jaw then rested her palm against her cheek. “Well… am I PARADE READY now?” she asked, quickly turning so that she could grab the paint. “I think you also need a dash of colour.”

“Where was I WHEN?” Logan arched a brow. The huntress knew that the other was referencing the fact that she had been AWOL for about three weeks without cause or explanation, but she didn’t think it mattered. At least, not to anyone that lived in Fort Belmount. Her brothers, maybe. But others? She was still under the impression that NO ONE in town cared for a loud mouthed and often rude Canadian mechanic. “So I’ve been told,” she quipped in return. “Do you honestly think I would work alongside my brother if he wasn’t FULLY CAPABLE of handling something like your bike? Trust my brother, Caro. He’s GOOD at his job.” Hell, he was far more trustworthy than Logan was, anyway. She had a habit of disappearing whereas Jaxson had been nothing if not solid. “— Where’s your bike?”

“Your one and only, eh…” he repeated, more than a fair hint of mirth in his eyes. “Noted.” Jax couldn’t help the laugh that came at her reaction to his recounting a prior customer’s actions. “I suppose it’s true what they say, a hit dog will holler,” he said between laughs. Regaining his composure he weaved them back to where they kept the loaner vehicles. “Alright, normally we find the thing that best matches up to what you bring in, but considering I’m factoring in sentimental value, I think I’ll just let you have your pick….that, and we also don’t have loner bikes.”

“You know what I mean, Jaxson,” Valentina responded, scratching her neck as she squinted her eyes in an attempt to get the man’s name right. “--- Logan is the only person I trust to touch my baby,” she added, following him. “Oh, yeah, touch my bike and I will holler,” she joked. “I’ll take the Honda. It’ll do until I get Lucille back.”

“Not too colourful, not too dull – I feel like that should’ve been my YEARBOOK QUOTE,” Quinn laughed. “Well, I do LOVE yellows, but I think I either want my kitchen or my bathroom to be that colour – or maybe my bedroom. My mother always said that pastel colours suited me more, but honestly? Colours are colours to me; she could point at three different shades and give me their proper names while I’d just call all three YELLOW. It’s a real problem, apparently,” the sheriff shook her head. As long as she knew the red, amber and green of traffic lights then not knowing the proper names of other colours were not exactly important in her books, she would leave that part to others that were more suited to that kind of thing – which Valentina seemed to be. “I’m not actually going to do that, though. I mean, I’m ACTIVE ENOUGH, but even I can’t be bothered doing that kind of thing. I’ll mostly just sit around and complain for a while then just accept what’s in front of me,” she smiled warmly at the other, though the smile almost faded as her previous weekend continued to be the topic at hand. It didn’t happen often, but sometimes Quinn was OVERWHELMED by the role she had taken in her job. She had worked her entire life to get to where she was, and now that she was there – now she would spend the rest of her life remembering that she only got the job because of her father’s death. When those thoughts hit, the bottle was usually brought out. It was something that Quinn was ASHAMED of. “Okay, I’m going to trust you with this, then. The fate of my home’s appearance is now firmly in your hands. No pressure,” Quinn grinned, wells appearing in her cheeks as she did. “Even the chillest of people have a melting point,” she then pointed out, chuckling softly. “I’m not going to try, but I am going to APOLOGISE in advance for if it does happen.” It wasn’t like the sheriff would intentionally irritate the other, anyway. She had grown to value and enjoy the other’s company, and was in no way inclined to ruin that any time soon. Green eyes soon fell upon the fingers that held her sleeve and a deeper colour settled into her cheeks. “You’re amazing – I mean… THANK YOU,” Quinn cleared her throat. “I appreciate it all, I do. – And paint fights… really?”

“Somehow THAT doesn’t surprise me,” the sheriff chuckled. When it came to observations that were based on Quinn or her actions, almost every single person she knew sided with her father. Hell, she herself agreed so, really, it wasn’t a stretch that Valentina had now joined in on it. “To be fair, it’s a BIG DECISION and it’s one that I’ll have to be okay with for as long as I live here – it’s that or I change the colour every time I find the urge to. Which, knowing me, will probably every other week. It’s just so damn hard to settle on something like this. Or anything, really.” After a short pause, the woman shrugged slightly and took a long gulp of her wine. “One that doesn’t particularly paint me in a warm light,” she shrugged again.  “It’s fine, though. I ended up watching an episode of DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES or something then fell asleep on the couch. As you can see, my life outwith work is just filled with excitement and activity,” Quinn chuckled and shook her head in response to her own attempt of a joke. “You do realise that me allowing you to decorate my place would quite literally consist of me following you around the house and most likely moving things from one place to another – I’ve driven Chloe INSANE doing the exact same thing almost every year since we were kids, it probably won’t be too long till it happens to you, too.” She wrinkled her nose and took another sip before lowering the glass away from her lips, eyes glued to the approaching woman. “Val, that’s – I’m SURE you have your own plans. I don’t want to disrupt your weekend. Besides, this could be a complete disaster considering it’s me.”

“Nah, you just can’t get enough of me. Shhe, it’s fine. I can keep a secret.”

“You just get more and more cocky with each passing day, huh?”

Jax simply shook his head as a chuckle fell from his lips. “It’s not a problem, we get people like that pretty often enough. That’s how a mechanic tends to develop a list of their ‘regulars’, if you will. At least in your case you’re willing to work with Logan, there have been a few out-of-towners who weren’t content with anyone and kept insisting on shadowing the mechanic as they worked,” he grimaced at the last memory, before waving the woman over to small door that would let her behind the counter. “Come on, I’ll show you were you can park Lucille, and then we can check out the cars we’ve got for loan.”

Valentina’s left-hand fingers weaved into her long locks, tugging it behind her hair as her fingers fell north, softly scratching the nape of her neck in embarrassment. “I honestly don’t know how or why Logan became my one and only, but she did a good job last time I needed a fix and I sort of trust her.” She shrugged, but the man’s next words brought a reddening to her cheeks. “--- okay, to be fair, I did that once, and I would probably do it again if you insisted on being the one to check out my Lucille.” Yet, lifting her hands in an apologetic defeat, she followed him.

Quinn glanced at the colour the other pointed out before making her way over to the fridge to retrieve the wine. “My dad used to say that I was SO CERTAIN about everything in my life except for one thing: decorating,” the sheriff explained, smiling softly, while she grabbed two glasses to pour the liquid into. Of course, there were OTHER layers of Quinn that she had also been uncertain of, but those seemed so unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Inconsequential, really. It was no wonder she had ignored them for so long. She eventually handed over a glass to the woman then returned to the extensive colour collection to look them over once more, shoulders lifting slightly in response to the continuation of the vodka mention. “It WASN’T that kind of weekend,” she shrugged again, taking a long sip of her own wine. She then placed the glass down and picked up the colours resembling the one that Valentina spoke of. “I’m thinking I’ll buy the paint today then start painting tomorrow,” she mused more to herself than the other. “Or maybe the weekend. Not sure yet.”

Jax could still see her clearly, even from behind the monitor and it was obvious that the woman wasn’t comfortable with the idea of anyone but Logan touching her motorcycle. Opting not to drag this out any more than it had to be -and really feeling up to having to validate his own skill to a stranger- the hunter, just tilted his head to catch her eye and said, ”Look, she’ll be back soon enough and if you’d like, you’re more than welcome to leave the bike and I’ll let her know you came by. No charge for holding it till Lo gets a chance to work on it, and I’ll even let you use one of the garage’s rentals while it’s worked on. Fair?”

Valentina narrowed her gaze, peering into the man’s green eyes silently as if debating whether to allow him to touch her motorcycle. Yet, he promptly proposed an alternative to their current situation, one that shrank her worries and brought her relief. “--- actually, yeah, that’d be great, thank you. I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be a bitch. I just---I don’t really trust anyone touching Lucille.”

“okay, let’s make a deal.” heather grinned, moving towards the pool table, happy to find it free — for once. as she racked up the balls in no particular order, the blonde pursed her lips. “the loser buys the next round of shots. not even ten, one will do. yeah?” she asked, grabbing herself a cue and setting another one against the table for valentina. “we don’t have to get wasted, but a friendly competition never hurt anyone, right?”

“Because you fucking adore me, V. And I’m good company.”

“That’s debatable. I think it was more of a charity case at first, and then I just kept hanging out with you out of pity.”