[Location: Bar in Central] It's Crismas O'Clock Somewhere

[just_axe_me]

When it came to Christmas, Sam Axe was no Scrooge. When it came to Christmas in a subterranean city after being kidnapped by aliens, he was no jolly elf. Hell, he was well below reindeer in the joy to the world stakes

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[location: bar]

[noheatnikki]

Westen had mentioned Sam Axe in their conversation, and eventually, curiosity got the best of Kate. When she was out for a walk and saw Axe's dot nearby, she figured she'd check him out, introduce herself.

She snorted at the misspelled CRISMAS, then entered the bar. She hadn't actually anticipated Axe being the bartender, but then she figured he was probably better than an Extra. She took a seat at the bar and held up her hand.

"What do you have on tap?"

[location: bar]

[just_axe_me]

It was a truth universally accepted that a way to get noticed by the bartender was to be a pretty woman. The greying man behind the bar immediately gave Kate a megawatt smile, pushing aside the nozzle he was cleaning to lean his elbows down on the bar next to her.

"All depends, honey," he countered. "Could be you're one of those microbrew types -- nah. Those girls, you say 'tap' to them, it's like a dirty word. They start spritzing the bar with anti-bacterial, talk about cold filtering. No, let me get this one, there's a trick to it. Kinda like seeing into your future. You like a nice crispy Stella, don't you?"

It was, Sam thought, pretty difficult to keep a bad mood for long around other people. You pushed it back under layers of other sediment. Sometimes it got pulverised, other times it became coal. Wasn't a perfect analogy.

"They call me the Beer Whisperer," he said, already getting her a draft. "Sam Axe for short."

[location: bar]

[noheatnikki]

She grinned at his spiel, and took the draft with a nod. He sounded like he was full of shit, but Kate could already tell she was going to like Sam Axe. She toasted him, then took a sip.

"I generally prefer Yuengling, but this works."

She held out her hand to shake.

"Kate Beckett. Don't ever call me 'honey' again."

[location: bar]

[just_axe_me]

They shook hands amicably. "Will do," he said, though not all that apologetically: you met the older guys, the ones who thought honey or baby were kind of a linguistic divine right, but at least it was some kind of promise. "Kate Beckett, Kate Beckett. Ringing a couple of bells."

Sam clicked his fingers, then leant back from the bar. "You're one of the cop crew," he said. "What the hell makes a bunch of aliens go, 'you know what would be interesting? Putting a bunch of cops in the same place.' Now, don't get me wrong, I love the old protect and serve, but damn if it doesn't make me scratch my head."

[location: bar]

[noheatnikki]

Kate snorted, nodding in agreement.

"You got me, I'm a cop. NYPD. And you've asked the million dollar question. Why the hell are there so many cops in this place?"

She raised her beer again.

"But you are providing a great service, Axe. Every city needs a good cop bar."

[location: bar]

[just_axe_me]

"Augh," he said, with a theatrical shudder. "Bite your tongue, sister. I'm not in the business of running a cop bar. Never seen so many depressed people in one place at a time, nobody ever pays their bar tab, and I don't care if there are never any fights because the TV channel's never set to ESPN. Grainy CNN twenty-four hours a day. No, this is just a Christmas service, don't get used to it."

This was followed up with a firm finger-jab in her direction, as though to say, don't even think about it! Then again, if he was already mixing the drinks... "But I'll keep your beers coming, Kate Beckett," he said. "So, you met my buddy Mike?"

[location: bar]

[noheatnikki]

She laughed, throwing her hands up in playful concession.

"Okay, okay. You just look so...comfortable, behind the bar. And we have all these cops, and no crime. What else are we supposed to do but drink, bitch, and moan?"

She toasted him again.

"I met him on the tablet, not in person, yet. We've been talking about getting all the law enforcement folks together at some point. Has he told you about it?"

[location: bar]

[just_axe_me]

"Cops do drinking, bitching and moaning best of anyone I know except for park rangers," said Sam, but he was laughing with her. "And those guys just drink real silently. Kind of staring off at a wall by themselves. Which is what we'll be doing at our law enforcement meetings, if I get my way. Kind of like an incentive."

He did look pretty comfortable behind the bar -- he was even unconsciously wiping it down, like he was in an episode of Cheers. "Yeah, he's working on it. You got any ideas so far? What'd you do back on the Force?"