I'd been all too tempted to order a Margherita pizza, just to taste what they'd shared every night whilst together, but it felt odd, so I'd settled on a pumpkin and rocket salad, light, knowing I could finish the meal. We'd been sitting for about ten minutes, when a bulky short man approached the table, a dirty white stained apron tied around his torso. The moment Dawson returned his gaze, his face lit up, a rare smile in place.

"Dawson!" The man seemed equally as happy to see him, outstretching his arms for a quick embrace, the pair patting each other on the back.

"It's been too long my good friend" He told Dawson, an Italian accent seeping through

"Yes, yes it has" Dawson told him, looking toward me "Carl, this is Jasmine, Jasmine this is my friend Carl, he owns the cafe"

Carl's gentle big brown eyes turned to me, the stubble on his cheeks almost covering small dimples when he smiled "Oh, hello Jasmine, it is very nice to meet you" He held a hand out to pat mine in greeting

"You too" I held his hand briefly in my own

"I'm very happy to see you here" Carl placed a hand on Dawson's back "How is Valentina, is she well?"

"She is doing good, she's due to be married in a few months" Dawson told him while I assumed Valentina was his mothers name

"That's lovely Dawson, lovely" He smiled cheerfully "So what can I get you both, Margherita?" He joked with his old friend, a smile from ear to ear

"No, not today Carl, I'll just take a coffee and some cheesy fries" He ordered by heart when Carl turned to me.

When I'd ordered and Carl had joyfully returned to the kitchen, I could not refuse a smile, looking to Dawson "He's sweet"

"He's a good guy" His eyes were down on the napkin he was folding between his fingers

"Your mums new partner, is he a good guy?" The question was personal, and he could have quite easily chosen not to answer it, but he did

He nodded, looking out the window beside us "He seems okay, I haven't spent a whole lot of time with him though.." He trailed off

"Did you, did you do a background check on him?" I smiled crookedly

He mimicked my half grin, his eyes moving to meet mine "Of course I did"

"That would be useful to have, do you check everyone you meet?" I became curious

"You want to know if I checked yours?" He assumed, out eyes connected

I scoffed, laughing "No, but now that you've mentioned it.. did you background check me detective James?"

He shook his head, breaking our gaze briefly "No, I didn't, but Isaia did"

"Wait, what.. Isaia did?" I was surprised, why would Isaia have done that to me? I was a victim

"It was very early on, he wanted to ensure you had no ties to what had happened at the store, we've had a lot of cases take a twisted turn where apparent victims were in fact involved.." He tried to explain

I understood where he was coming from, I'd watched enough crime TV. I'd had nothing to hide anyways, so in the end, it didn't matter. Fifteen minutes later, our food arrived. My bowl released warm steam, dispersing into the cool air. The wind had picked up, clouds beginning to form outside, a low rumble of thunder warning us of what was to come.

"Is the weather always like this here?" I asked, piercing my fork into a piece of pumpkin

Dawson shrugged, shaking a small paper rectangle of sugar before peeling a corner off "It's like this in the city too, we just don't ever pay much attention to it, there isn't a whole lot else out here to pay attention to"

"You seem to have a love hate relationship with this place, sometimes you speak of it like you're angry at it, and other times like you really miss it" I added a piece of lettuce to my pumpkin, squishing them together

"I guess you could say it's a bit like that, I have mixed memories here, the later the better, the earlier on they go the worse they kinda get" He stirred his coffee, his phone beeping from his pants pocket

Taking a mouthful, I watched Dawson pull his phone and read over the message, his expression not giving away anything when he placed it back into his pants. I had wanted to question if it had anything to do with my case, but I kept my tongue bitten. I was sure that if it were important, Dawson would tell me.

"Tell me about your dad" I was surprised by the request, Dawson making casual conversation as he leaned back watching me

I shifted, my jaw tightening

"If you aren't comfortable though, that's okay.." He must have noticed me seize up, brushing it off as casually as he'd brought it up

"No, no it's okay" I cleared my throat, straightening my back out. He'd revealed a lot to me about his family, and from what I'd gathered through Isaia, that wasn't something he usually did on the daily.

My dad was a great, he was the best, my best friend, he deserved to be spoken about. He deserved to not be pushed into the back of my mind because it was too painful to speak of him.

"He died about a year ago, it was, unexpected. It had just been him and I since I was ten when my mother died from cancer, I don't remember a whole lot from back then, just pieces" I began "He was always so happy, he was patient and kind, but he was so awkward" I felt my lips pull upwards "He had a lot of social anxiety, he didn't quite know how to speak with people, he would always stutter when someone at the grocery store started a conversation with him, or when women tried to flirt.."

Dawson watched me carefully, his eyes soft as he listened

"He and Tony, they were good friends, they understood each other, when they were together, it was always a fun time. I remember when Tony and Loretta would have spats, he would come over and he and my dad would play cards, they tried to teach me so many times, but I could never understand" I shook my head "One night, Tony asked that we teach him about the stars and the sky, we spent majority of that night in laughing fits, I think the accent Tony had made the situation ten times funnier when he'd tried to pronounce certain words.."

"Sounds like you have a lot of good memories of him, of them both, it's a valuable thing to have, to remember" Dawson told me softly

"Yeah, it is, I'm fortunate that way, all the memories I do have of both my parents were good, despite my mums condition, she was always smiling, even when I could tell she was in pain, she never let me see it"

"My mother was the same, when her and my dad separated, she always tried to keep their problems from me, I would always hear stories from other people about them, but neither of them directly said or did anything in front of me to make me think it was a messy divorce" He told me through a sip of his coffee

"Sounds like we were both pretty lucky, my friend Camille, she's told me some horror stories from her childhood" I shook my head, continuing to eat my lunch "And with your job, I can only imagine the things you've had to see.."

He nodded "Some things will stick with me for a long time unfortunately, I generally like to separate myself from what I do, it can take a huge toll on some of us mentally if we allow it"

"You do a good thing though, for the amount of bad things you've seen, I would assume there to have been a lot of good too?"

"It's hard to weigh them against one another, but I do often recall some of the good times, the moments families have thanked me for having given them closure, for having saved lives being in the right place at the right time, I know I'm making some of kind of difference"

"Well, if it's any consolation, you've definitely had an impact on my life, I mean, when that man was in my house, if you hadn't of gotten there when you did.." I remembered the moment the man had lunged at me, determined to snuff out my life, the rage in his eyes, it made me shutter

Dawson shifted, his fingers running through his hair as he sighed "It's hard to disconnect from moments like that, they teach you about it in the academy, we run drills, practice what to do and say, but when you're in that moment, it's different"

"Were you supposed to have reacted differently in that situation?" I mused

"I.A told me that my actions had been warranted, and they were, but the one thing we're always taught is to never let our emotions control the situation"

My eyes were narrow, attempting to decipher what he had meant. What was he indirectly telling me, what did he know that I didn't? Instead of questioning it, I allowed it to slide. I could already see that the conversation was turning dark, and there was already enough of that darkness in the situation itself.

Light casual chatter was all the we continued to speak of. At one point, Carl had joined us, needing to know more about Dawson's absence. Dawson gave minimal away, only outlining the situation briefly, careful of his wording. Carl was lovely, involving me when he could, sympathetic of my predicament. When Dawson and I were ready to leave, Carl had refused Dawson to pay for the meals, laughing when he told Dawson he was an idiot for thinking he'd have to pay a friend for having visiting his home.

When we'd returned to Dawson's temporary home, rain fell. We sat in the car, trapped as a downpour had fallen with heaviness and thickness. There was only a short run to the safety of the house, but even within the small distance, we both knew we would be saturated. Listening to the heavy rain hammer against the car roof, I watched as the droplets slammed against the windows, escaping to the ground.

"It's just water, right?" I sighed, a memory flashing through my head

Dawson looked to me, perplexed

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning how to dance in the rain" I quoted my dad, a moment between us once similar "My dad read it in a book, and one day when we came home from the hospital to visit mum, the sky had opened up, just like this" I explained "He used the quote a few times, when I'd cry about my mum being sick, when some girl at school created a mean rumor about me, somehow he always knew how to use the quote as some kind of positive way of looking at things"

Dawson was staring at me, and slowly a smile developed

"What?" I questioned his sudden mood change

"A mean rumor about you? What mean thing could they possibly have said about you?" He smiled charmingly, capturing my full attention

I rolled my eyes "She claimed I stole her boyfriend, who wasn't actually her boyfriend, just a guy she had a thing for"

"You stole her boyfriend?" He repeated with a short laugh

"I didn't" I pointed "He asked me on a date okay, I didn't even know him that well, I told him I wasn't interested, and somehow that got twisted into me asking him on the date, when Georgia found out, she started started telling everyone that I was a man-stealer and to 'watch' out for me" I laughed, the prospect of the entire rumor now completely absurd and humorous

In another rare moment, Dawson let out a genuine laugh

"It's funny now, but when I was sixteen, it was like the end of the world, Georgia had a lot of power back then over the school social hierarchy"

"And where is Georgia now?" Dawson wondered, his laughter easing slightly

I shrugged "God knows, I couldn't care less"

"Good on you" Dawson approved, pulling his door open, rain entering the space as he exited the vehicle into the storm

"What are you doing?" I screamed towards him, his head popping back down through the door

"It's just water, right?" He smiled, his lips catching rain before he shut the door and began walking backwards in front of the car with his arms out wide

"Dawson!" I called, laughing before I bravely followed