Dropping By (Riley)

[Leila Gold]

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and Leila wanted to stop by and see a friend. She'd picked up a book for Riley a few weeks back--it was on bird calls, she'd seen it on sale at the book store and thought he might like it--and hadn't had a chance to give it to him yet. Since she had the time and the desire now, she decided to go ahead and stop by.

Thankfully she knew where to go, since she'd already been to his place for the New Year's Eve Party...was that half a year ago already? Clearly she needed to stop by more often.

She also picked up a 2-liter bottle of lemonade for them to split. She trusted Riley to have some sort of baked goods on hand, and if he didn't, well, they could always make something.

So she rang the doorbell and rocked happily forward on her toes and back on her heels, smiling broadly.

"Hello, Riley!" she said when he answered the door. She stepped forward and wrapped him in a big hug. The effect was actually quite comical--she was a bright, tiny blond woman hugging what might appear on first glance to be a large teddy bear.

"I brought you a present, and some lemonade!" Dancing inside, she handed him the book and set the lemonade down on the table. "How's everything been going? I haven't seen you in simply ages. We should hang out more. And maybe you could come visit me in the office sometimes. Cobalt's all stuffy, and Ben's no fun to pick on anymore. He just doesn't realize I'm teasing him most of the time." She pouted slightly before perking up.

"So, what have you been doing lately? Any good baking?" She made herself comfortable, sitting down in the living room on the couch.

She is Leila B. Gold, and she does what she wants to and goes where she pleases. God save us all.

[Riley Adams]

Sundays had always been Riley's favourite day of the week. Rain or shine, he held a high regard for the one day he always associated families with. But he woke up feeling a little empty. It didn't help that his bed was also the same. Riley contemplated on staying in, not wanting to get out from under the covers. But he couldn't. His body didn't allow him that luxury as he got out of bed to take a shower.

The apartment, in his eyes, was a complete mess so Riley spent the whole morning cleaning and dusting and arranging and rearranging his clothes according to size.

That didn't even put a dent on his time so after another quick shower, Riley made a mess of his kitchen with the ingredients to a chocolate fudge brownie. As if that wasn't enough, he also whipped up a batch of caramel custard pudding. Maybe he could go around Pilot Ridge, giving up his baked goods just to pass time.

But after another shower and decorating the brownie and pudding, the doorbell rang. He hadn't been expecting anyone and a little thought pinged in his head that swelled him up with hope. Had Stephen come back?

Quickly, he answered the door, a smile already making its way across his lips. But it wasn't Stephen. It was Leila. The bubble of hope popped in his head only to be replaced by fondness of the young blond woman he had made acquaintances with. Her hug was reciprocated with a lingering one on his part. Though he had to bend over a little, it was a comforting hug that he wished could last just a little longer in his state.

He was pleasantly surprised by her arrival and her opening statements. "A present?" His smile widened as he stepped aside to let Leila come in and closed the door behind her. He thanked her for the book, taking a quick pee at the title. A book about bird calls? It wasn't something he would actually pick out for himself but a book is still a book and Riley always held on to the: "It's the thought that counts" motto.

Chuckling, Riley placed the book on the countertop near the kitchen and ushered the young lawyer in. "True, the last time we saw each other was New Year's Eve! Things have been great. Met so many wonderful people and even more customers." Riley grinned, not adding the fact that he had just parted ways with his now former partner. No need to ruin the moment. He briefly wondered what was going on with Cobalt and Ben but shook his head of the thoughts.

As Leila went to the living room and settled down, Riley laughed at her questions. "As a matter of fact, I just finished baking some brownies. I hope you like chocolate fudge." He said, disappearing into the kitchen to slice up the brownies, cutting them into little bite sized cubes and served it on a long rectangular plate.

He grabbed a couple of long tumblers for the lemonade and rejoined Leila, setting everything down on the table. He sat across Leila, his smile still intact. "I haven't really been doing much. Just working. We're changing our data entry system so I've been cooped up in the office most of the time. I can't wait to be finished with it so I can go back to the actual landscaping." He gave out a somewhat mirthless chuckle. He did miss getting his hands dirty instead of getting papercuts.

"What about you? What's been going on in that big office of yours?" Riley had always wondered how Leila and Cobalt worked. He had never taken an interest in law and probably never would. He didn't think he would be able to argue his case in front of people. And he definitely wouldn't be able to defend the people who were in the wrong. It was a commendable job. Just not one for him.

[Leila Gold]

Had Leila been aware that Riley was feeling upset, she would have been more than willing to try to comfort him. As it was, though, she was just glad he hadn't ordered her out of the house--not like he would; this was Riley, after all, not Cobalt, and he was just a little bit of a pushover.

"Ah, so your business is expanding. Lucky. And I bet that means all your customers are happy people. That's one of the bad parts about working with the law. People are rarely happy." Present company excluded, but Leila knew she was a strange case. "And you're meeting people, which is excellent. Hopefully nice people instead of just cranks and weird-o's." She laughed.

"I love chocolate fudge!" She sat up straight and bounced just a bit in her seat. She was ready to follow him into the kitchen but found herself distracted glancing through a bookcase in the living room. When he reappeared with the food and the cups, she went back to the couch and plopped down again.

"Ew. Paperwork. That's why I do my best to get out of the office." She waved her hand at his question. "Nothing much out of the ordinary for Blue and me. People coming in to complain about their lives and us trying to have to put everything together. I do a lot of the legwork, since Blue's knees are crap and because I'm better with people. He also likes it when I do all the paperwork, though, too. Really, I think the only part about it he enjoys is arguing with everyone. Plea deals, arguing in court, whatever it is, that's where he gets his kicks. Lucky he's so good at it, too. I'm just glad we don't have to deal with a lot of actual criminals. Criminal justice stinks, and it's so hard to tell when you're actually right." She sighed. Leaning forward, she poured herself a glass of lemonade and grabbed a brownie.

She took a large bite of the chocolate and her whole face lit up. "Oh my God, this is delicious! You are such an amazing cook, and your house is so neat, and, uh. When I get older, remind me to be as awesome as you, okay?" She rolled her eyes in delight and tucked her feet up under her as she nestled into the couch.

"So what have you been doing recently? Not just at work, tell me what's up. And while you're talking I will enjoy this delicious food, and then I can tell you some stories about the office or something." Then she turned back to the food and munched happily through a good five cubes.

[Riley Adams]

[OOC: Yes, I suck. Sorry for the late reply and whatnot >_<]

"Yep," Riley nodded at Leila's conclusions. "I think they're happy." He squinted his eyes in thought, a grin shaping at the corner of his lips. "I mean I hope they are! And I've got a few new people working for me. One of them is Cobalt's old friend, Danny. Such a small world," the landscaper shook his head in amusement.

"Oh good, good. Halfway through baking, I remembered I was allergic to chocolate." He gave the young woman a sheepish grin as he brought the brownies out. "Although I suppose I could save some for my sister. I obviously can't force feed you this whole batch. Unless you can...?" he grinned suggestively at Leila. Or...what he thought was suggestive.

He chuckled lightly at Leila's consternation over paperwork. "Tell me about it." He replied in agreement. At Cobalt's description, Riley bit his lower lip from laughing too much. He hardly thought it was accurate since he knew Cobalt didn't just enjoy the arguing part of his job but he didn't voice out his opinion.

Grabbing a tumbler of lemonade, he almost spat it out at her compliment. He carefully swallowed his drink and hid his embarrassment as he wiped his mouth. "Leila, I'm not that awesome." Riley shook his head. "And I live here alone, so it's not that hard to clean." He shrugged in embarrassment.

Looking on as the blonde made herself comfortable on the couch, Riley copied her and let her question sink in, wondering how he should broach the subject without ruining the atmosphere. "Well, I haven't been up to much really. Mostly just meeting a lot of new people. I visited Elaine the other day as well. You know Elaine right? Cobalt's sister. Yeah." He smiled, recounting the meet with his dear friend. That's basically what I do in my spare time really, meeting with people." He smiled, still avoiding the touchy subject.

Seeing the plate of brownies finishing up fast, he excused himself to get more of the brownies to top up the plate. "How about you? Anything exciting happen recently?"

[Leila Gold]

"Wait, Cobalt's old friend? Another one?" Leila sat up straight and looked Riley in the eye. "You're not kidding me, right? This is someone that Cobalt actually knew, like...like when he was little?" She was grinning uncontrollably now. "Man oh man, this is going to be wicked...You have to introduce me to him. We have to meet. What's his name again? Danny? Danny, I gotta remember that...don't worry, I'll find him. And then we'll talk." And then she would know.

She stopped in the middle of reaching for a brownie. "You're allergic? And you didn't even realize until mid-baking? Are you sure everything's okay? You don't really seem like the forgetful type." She took up his challenge, though, without hesitating. "Don't tempt me. I'll wipe out this whole plate before you even realize. And then I'll be asking for more." She absolutely loved sweets.

"Don't kid yourself. You're super-awesome. And well-adjusted, and you have a great job...and just because you live alone doesn't mean anything. I live alone. Cobalt lives alone. Have you seen our houses? Never mind. Don't. It's not pretty. Even my place is disgusting, and I have a sense of personal hygiene."

Leila was sitting in the couch happily, but she was restless. Possibly because she was on her fifth brownie and the sugar intake was getting to her. So, without really thinking, she slipped off her shoes, swung her legs over the back of the couch, and sat with her head hanging off the edge so she was looking at Riley upside-down.

"Yeah, I know Elaine," she said, eating another brownie. She brushed a handful of hair from under her back out to hang down to the floor. "Not his real sister, but basically like a sister. She's someone else I need to talk to one of these days. I wish I could meet more new people. It feels like I'm always stuck up in that office, never getting out. And like I said, everyone I meet in there is a weird-o. Honestly, it would be nice to hang out with people my own age one of these days." Quickly she stopped herself. "Not that I want to stop hanging out with you, or that you are any less amazing! Just that, you know, variety is always good."

When he stood to get more brownies, Leila swung herself back up onto the couch so she was now lying on her stomach, stretched out. "Uh, nothing too exciting really. Except this one case, it was really cool...but it was really technical. I'm not sure I could explain it all. Unless you want me to try, but it's mostly all legal text and it might put you to sleep. But are you doing anything special these days? Meet anyone destined to become your new best friend for life?"

[Riley Adams]

"Yup," Riley nodded, grinning at Leila's enthusiasm, completely unaware of the can of worms he had opened up for Cobalt by introducing another person whom Leila could bug about Cobalt's past. "Yeah, they grew up together. Even before Hammel. Or so I gathered from Danny anyway." He shrugged, still smiling.

Her queries led him to give her another sheepish grin, one hand rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "I'm...I usually just bake for Janice anyway so I guess it was reflex...I dunno." He had to agree with Leila, even at his age, he usually didn't forget but like when he forgot his lunch date with Cobalt and Josh, it had been because of Stephen. Although the first time was more because Riley had been afraid of losing the recruiter. But now, the dark haired Scot was gone for good.

"Oh, Leila. Please. You're welcome to it. And if you want, I can show you the easiest way to bake brownies." He offered with a strained smile. He really didn't want Leila to think she was bothering him or anything. She was really a perfectly good distraction.

Leila's babble made Riley laugh, genuinely amused by the young woman. She really was just a ball of sunshine, wasn't she? Cobalt was lucky to work with her as far as Riley was concerned.

"Yes, I know they aren't related." He smiled softly. "But they might as well be. I've seen Cobalt around her. He's different. He's less...prickly. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought they were together." He chuckled. "If you want to meet new people, I could always introduce you to Janice and Rina. Janice is my little sister and Rina's my colleague. She's around your age, I think. Janey is a little older than you but she has the energy of a twenty year old, to be honest. I think you'll like her." He smiled, completely unoffended by her statement.

"Oh you could, it's not like I have anything more exciting planned today or anything. And I've always been interested in learning new things so you'll be doing me a favour." He called out from the kitchen as he cut up more brownies, adding a little more than before so Leila would enjoy it. And finish it, he thought to himself. It was a pity that he was allergic to chocolate. It just smelled so delicious.

"Well, I did meet this guy. Griff. He's such a nice guy and new to Pilot Ridge. I don't know if he would be my new best friend for life but I wouldn't rule him out just yet. And besides, I'm quite content with Josh and Cobalt. So I'm good." He nodded, returning with the plate of brownies. Seeing as she had occupied the couch, Riley sat across from her in an armchair with his legs crossed, leaning back.

"Oh, I never asked before, do you have family here in Pilot Ridge? Or did you come here with Cobalt?" Riley asked conversationally.

[Leila Gold]

Leila was going to have so much fun tracking down Danny and questioning him about her business partner. But for now she managed to settle her enthusiasm and instead focused on eating more of the delicious food and talking to her friend.

She wasn't sure who Janice was, but she guessed she could understand his explanation. If there was someone else who really liked his baking, then he was definitely the kind of person who would make that just for them. Even if he didn't get any of it.

"Forget brownies. They're delicious, but so is everything you make. You should do blondies, or more pie. I love your pie. That way you can have some too!" She said all this while loading a pile of brownies into her hand to make for quicker shoveling into her mouth.

"Janice? I don't even remember you mentioning a sister. We definitely have to meet. How is it that you know all the cool people? Wait, nevermind. I guess awesome people just kind of gravitate together. Though I guess in this case it would be that you were born into the same family. Must run in the genes, huh?"

She was glad to see the heaping plate of brownies returning from the kitchen. She refilled her lemonade glass and took a quick drink. She wasn't going to have any room for any other meals today, but part of her was perfectly okay with that.

"Griff, huh? Well, if he's fun, I'm sure I'll meet him. Maybe he can join the collection." Whoops, did she say that aloud? It wasn't meant to come out that she sometimes thought of her "dork troop" as a collection in the same way that one might collect stuffed animals or figurines. And then you play with them.

"Naw, no family here. I came here from Chicago with Blue. We had a firm there, but we thought it would be a good idea if we came here to better work with the meta rights issues. There's a large concentration of metahumans here, if you hadn't noticed." She grinned. "I'm actually from Texas. My parents still live out there. I see 'em every once in a while, go home to check on Red and all that. But I don't like leaving everyone here hanging, either, and I know they'll all be okay back at the ranch."

Rolling over again and sitting up, crossed legs underneath her, she leaned forward and looked at Riley. "What about you? I never really heard much about your family. Do you mind sharing? You have a sister...anything else?" If he didn't share, it wouldn't be anything new, nor even unexpected. Not everyone was willing to share their past so quickly as she.

[Riley Adams]

Riley smiled, blushing lightly at Leila's compliments. He thanked her and nodded at her suggestion. "I should try making blondies one day. Need to find a good recipe for it. Maybe you should come over and help me!" The landscaper suggested enthusiastically.

He was about to apologise for not mentioning Janice earlier when Leila bareled on about awesome people and it made him laugh lightly. What a doll, Leila was. Riley was definitely not used to being called awesome and it felt nice being acknowledged as such, he was coming to understand. "Ah, but that by default means you're awesome too, Leila."

Leila's choice of word puzzled the cell regenerator. "Collection?" He asked, taking a sip of his lemonade, looking at Leila in confusion.

"Is there?" The change of subject made Riley grin. "Well, I have definitely not noticed the number of telekinetics and weather manipulators around these parts!" he joked. Where she came from was a bit of a surprise. He must have really not noticed her southern twang. "Red? A friend?" He asked, wondering if Leila gave all her friends colour nicknames.

Family brought up a swell of pride and a bit of disappointment, if Riley were being honest. He was sure Leila didn't need to hear about his father and Riley was more than happy to talk about his mother. "Well, my parents passed away awhile ago. Janice and I grew up in Burlington with my mom. She helped me with my business before she passed. That's...really it." More or less, Riley thought to himself. He smiled at Leila before taking a sip of his drink.

"Thanks for coming over, Leila. I appreciate it." He spoke as he reached out to set his glass on the table. "I'm sorry you had to come here instead of us meeting somewhere else though."

[OOC: WAUGH sorry for the suckage >_<]

[Leila Gold]

"Sure, I'll help! I've got a pretty good recipe, and I love baking. Maybe in a few weeks, when I'm not so busy. We should have most of the current cases closed up by then." It was good to make plans, gave her something to look forward to.

"Well, duh. Of course I'm awesome. Which explains why we became friends so fast." Humility was not one of Leila's strong suits.

"Er. Yeah. Collection. Like, collection of friends. It's not one of the more commonly used definitions of the word, but it is basically synonymous with group in this sense. Like I said, not as familiar. I sometimes forget that not everyone's read the dictionary and uses words out of their normal usage like I do. Haha." She even managed to make the laugh sound convincing, even though almost the whole thing was a lie. She'd only read part of the dictionary.

Riley was using sarcasm, which made Leila grinned. She attributed it to herself rubbing off on him, even if that wasn't true. She liked to think that she could make a difference in the world.

"Naw, Red's my horse. Got him a while ago--he's getting along in years now, but still a good beast. I try to go home and ride him every once in a while. He's probably the least loved horse on the ranch, which always makes me feel a bit sad. But where would I put him here? It's not like there's a good place for me to stable the horse at my apartment." Not to mention bringing him, feeding him...plus, he was older, so it was probably better that he could stay at home and just enjoy the pasture.

"Sounds like you had an awesome mother, too, then," Leila said, smiling. "Makes it easy to see how you turned out so well. Even if you are a..." She leaned forward and looked suspiciously from side to side before whispering, "metahuman!" She quickly slapped her hand over her mouth, as much to continue acting the part of horrified human as to hide her huge grin.

"Oh, glad I could be here. I love hanging out with friends. And don't worry, I was glad to come over. Besides, where else were we supposed to go? Nowhere else would have had these delicious brownies." Which were almost gone. There were only a few left on the plate, actually. Leila eyed them but could feel that her stomach was completely full. She hadn't quite managed to wipe out the whole batch, which was probably well enough. "Not every day I get to invade someone's house, you know. It was nice to come over." Only every other day did she let herself into someone else's home.

"Right, I guess it might be just about time for me to leave. Thanks for the talk. We should definitely do something like this again. Only maybe next time I'll plan it. Maybe." She danced around the table and reached over to give Riley a hug. "See you soon, all right?"

[OOC: Hush you. Stop apologizing for things that aren't even true.]

[Riley Adams]

"That sounds good. I look forward to you coming here again." Riley smiled widely at the prospect of having soething to look forward to in the near future. He laughed at Leila's 'humility', "You were just very friendly when we first met." He insisted. It was really a good thing that she was since he wouldn't have thought to approach her had the situation been different.

"Right, of course." The landscaper chuckled, not believing her for a second. She may have been a lawyer but he could still read people better than most of the people he knew.

"You...have a horse?" Riley was torn between wanting to know how a girl who had a horse becomea lawyer and forgetting how bad his first and only experience with horses was. "That's...wonderful." He gave out a nervous chuckle.

"She was amazing." He nodded, a soft smile curving his lips. Pursing his lips, he tried to stop himself from laughing too loud at Leila's little joke. "Is it not blasphemous?" He shook his head, forcing down his growing smile. He could grin about it now despite not having the best childhood because of his abilities.

When Leila started to excuse herself, Riley accommodated the young woman's leave, not because he wanted her to go but he really didn't want to keep her from a possibly busy day ahead of her.

He returned the hug firstly before asking her to wait. "Let me pack you some desserts. Give some to Cobalt as well when you see him." The gentle giant lopped over to his kitchen and placed the foods into small containers and then into a paper bag for Leila to bring back. "Thank you once again for coming and for the book! I'll be sure to put it to good use." He gave her cheeks a peck and sent her out the door.

Soon was going to come way too fast...

[OOC: *gasp* is that foreshadowing? Is it?? ^^ I am such a dork. Wrapped! Thank you for indulging me PenPen ^^ILU]