Can't Escape Your Past (Quinn)

[Ian Black]

Ian couldn't believe it'd been a year since his fiancé had left him. He'd given her too much time to cool off, more than he'd planned, and it was now time to go get her and bring her "home." His home. He'd make it hers too once she got there but first things first. He'd assumed she'd stay close by but when he showed up to her old address and found a new couple living there... Well, where else would she have gone? He talked to all their old friends and got a mixed set of responses rangin from calling him a dick and slamming he door in his face to people shaking their heads in pitty at him. It was frustrating. In the end he'd just hired a private investigator to find her.

Pilot Ridge. He never expected himself to ever see this place again. He felt as if he'd stepped into an old black and white movie where everyone knew everyone else and things never changed as a narrator told about the people there. He sighed. If this was we're he'd find her... He'd parked his bike on one side of the town and was now walking through to the other side. He'd gotten Quinn's address from the PI but he wasn't ready to see her yet. He had to know what this place offered her before he could convince her to leave it.

Strolling easily down the street, he peered through windows to the businesses inside. There was the Greek restaurant, the law firm, and the spice place. He stopped in front of the flower shop, though. Mama's Garden. It was a store he'd been to before but it'd seemed a lot bigger then. Most of these places did. He sighed, eyeing some the arrangements inside. He'd need to get some flowers. They always seemed to make appologies more sincere and girls liked them no matter what anyway. But which were Quinn's favorite? He'd given her roses before and roses were usually a pretty safe bet when it came to women but he'd need some sort of special power for this one. He frowned, concentrating, trying to remember, looking like a creeper outside the flower shop and not even caring. This was important.

[Quinn Collins]

Quinn yawned as she left the doctors office. This day had been entirely too long and she was ready to go home and take a nap then maybe meet up with Brandon for drinks or something, she really hoped he'd be around tonight. She was really enjoying her time with him and even the thought of him made her smile. Which was scary. She hadn't smiled this much since before Ian broke her heart... but that was something she tried not to think about anymore. She'd had a year to get over it, to lick her wounds and get back out there and it finally seemed like she was ready and finally dating someone worth her time unlike the ungrateful son of a bitch she'd been previously engaged to.

She racked her hands through her raven hair and strolled down the street cursing to herself for not driving. She'd been on this healthy kick the past couple days for some unGodly reason that she truly didn't understand. She'd even eaten a salad for lunch! She was starting to scare herself. But it was a nice day, strangely warm for the season and she was comfortable in her white peacoat and blue scarf.

Hmm, maybe a coffee would be nice. Wake her up before the night started. As she headed into town she smiled and said hi to the shop owners she knew out of pure politeness, she wasn't someone who usually went out of her way to be nice to strangers but she'd found a soft spot for the Pilot Ridge community. It reminded her of Gilmore girls and if it was she wanted to be Lorelai Gilmore.

Coming up to the coffee shop she noticed someone standing outside the flower shop and she stopped breathing. No. She recognized that man from a mile away and could recognize him in a heart beat, which she did. What the hell was he doing here? SHe was fuming. Did he knew she lived here? She was frozen, dead frozen just staring at her for what seemed like forever before one of the customers from the coffee shop opened the door into her making Quinn drop her bag and the contents on the ground. SHIT.

She quickly scrambled to pick everything up hoping he hadn't noticed her.

[Ian Black]

Roses are red, violets are blue… Violets? But what about the strange tiny, white, fluffy ones? Orchids, maybe? Ian rubbed his chin. Maybe he should just go inside and ask the lady for help. Her favorite color was purple so maybe a purple flower. What flower came in purple? Oh, it didn't matter. He'd pay someone to die them, if he had to. He closed his eyes a moment, trying to remember, the frown seemingly becoming permanent for the moment. Lilies? It seemed to spark some recognition in his mind. He'd have to ask the lady to show him lilies to be sure. He'd walked past the door to peek in through the window, so he turned back and froze.

This was too good to be true! He had just enough time to blink in amazement before the coffee shop door opened into his "ex"-fiancé. His eyes lit up and he darted toward her. Perfect! He could be her hero again by helping her pick up her things. "Quinn!" He just about ran over her in his attempted to get to her fast enough and grabbed as much of her stuff as he could. "Are you ok? Are you hurt?" Grabs for her wrist and steps closer to inspect her all over. "I'm so glad I ran into you! You need to come home. We miss you. You don't belong here. Come home with me, Baby." He 'unconsciously' held on to her things. She wouldn't leave without them, would she? If they had been in her purse, probably not.

He put his hand on the small of her back. "Let's at least get coffee and talk it over, ok?" He shoved what he could into his blazer pockets and pulled the door open for her. Making an exaggerated bow, he held it. "After you, m'lady." He grinned his most winning of grins and hoped the publicity would help gain him some ground and keep her as placid as possible. He didn't want to get into a shouting match with her and maybe, just maybe, people would see them together and spread the word. His hope was to kill any chance she'd have of getting a boyfriend and force her to reconsider him as an option. It wasn't a likely scenario in his head, but it was better than nothing.

[Quinn Collins]

He shot over like a comet and before she could even register that he had spotted her, had her things, and was now talking at what seemed like a mile a minute. She could hardly get out an obligatory hello and smile. Weren't ex's supposed to be polite to each other? Kind of... awkward but polite and keep space between them? Apparently not! Not only did he have half of the contents of her purse including several tampons and her ipod but he also had her wrist in his hand.

"Hello Ian. It's nice to see you too." She said though her tone of voice was obviously not thrilled. It wasn't totally cold either though, the shock had not worn off. Her face hadn't changed since spotting him, she was still angry. What the fuck was he doing here? She was really curious and he was acting faaaarrr too nice for this to be anything she was going to enjoy.

She could feel the knot in her stomach already forming, she really wasn't ready for this. To see him and for him to actually be nice to her, not that he was particularly cruel to her earlier. But she had given her heart to him, her entire heart, and he'd broken it and embarrassed.... She came up to Pilot Ridge to start over.... well as over as one could going to the town you went to high school in. But the opportunity popped up and she wanted to start new in a familiar place. And it had worked out so well. Up until now.

"What are you doing here Ian?" She asked just staring at him. No. She wasn't ok. She was emotionally just getting better and really didn't need him here to make her spend another six months drowning herself in whiskey. "Come home with you?" She nearly burst out into laughter. Home? What the hell was home? She was home. She quickly saw exactly why he was here.

"I don't think coffee is the best idea right now." She told him point blank. "I think you have my tampons in your pocket."

[Ian Black]

Ian froze. He still had her wrist and could feel her pulse through it but her tone of voice. She was using her 'I'm angry at you' voice. That was good. If she was angry, it meant she still cared about him. He didn't stay frozen long as this realization filled his head. It was too much to ask for. He finally looked at her face, and blinked. It was filled with a combination of emotions he couldn't quite place. Except anger. He'd grown quite familiar with that one since it'd been the last one he'd seen on her. Well, there'd be plenty of time for him to make up for his one mistake. He just had to make her realize that that was all it had been. A mistake.

"You're angry. Of course you're angry. You never gave me a chance to explain. It wasn't what you thought, Quinn. Babe, seriously, none of it meant anything. I just couldn't go through with our marriage if I wasn't sure. Cold feet, that's all it was. I loved you. I STILL love you. You love me, too. I know you do. Just give me a second chance." He let her wrist go. If only his power worked in a way to make her happy. He could make her feel cold and he could make her feel a pleasurable tingle but there was no way for him to make her happy.

He almost laughed when she asked what he was doing here. Wasn't it obvious? Hadn't he already asked her to come home? "I'm here to get you. After you left, I thought you'd cool down and come back and things would be ok again but you never came back. Do you know how hard it was to track you down?" She didn't need the details of it and he wasn't about to tell her how he'd found out where she was. Maybe, once they'd been married a good long time, he might tell her then. "Yes. Why not? It's better than this dinky town."

He continued to hold the door open. "Quinn." Starting with this one word, his voice changed. It was subtle enough that people who could overhear wouldn't notice. His ex-fiance should though. She knew him and knew his tones. This one spoke volumes. He was no longer simply asking her to join him for a chat. No, now he was telling her to quit her antics, to do as he said. He wouldn't harm her in public but he definitely had his ways of making her regret any decision other than the one he wanted. "Have coffee with me. I'll give you your things afterward." He straightened himself, patiently waiting on her, and put a hand in his pocket.

[Quinn Collins]

It wasn't what she thought? So his penis inside of another woman WEEKS before they were supposed to get married was just a little mistake? Not at all pre meditated? She honestly didn't know which one she would have preferred, him planning to sleep with some slut or him just getting drunk and doing it! Both of them were awful! And how did she know that it was ONE TIME? For all she knew he could have been sleeping around for months! Hell! For their entire relationship! It was about so much more than him sleeping with Amy, it was about him breaking her trust and stomping on it. He would never get that back.

Not to mention he had a whole damn year to come and find her! She hadn't heard a word in all that time and had moved on! She wasn't the same person, she had lived on her own and grown and done stuff for her... started to get to know herself again and she quite liked who she was now. She couldn't just leave that and become his little wife, his little pupet, his arm candy to show off. That wasn't who she was. She'd worked hard to be a doctor and to become independent and to build her own life. She couldn't just sacrifice that.

She wanted to slap him when he started talking about love, and about how SHE felt. No. She didn't love him anymore, not even a little. She'd let go of that a long time ago. "No, I don't love you anymore... that ended a long time ago and was only secured by months of NO word." Her voice was like ice ready to castrate him at any moment, her glare was even more deadly. "Maybe I didn't want to be found ever think of that? And I don't know this "home" you're talking about because I am quite happy here in Pilot Ridge and have been for months." She informed him, "And no one is making you stay in this dinky town... least of all me."

His hand hadn't moved from her wrist, the whole time. That grip on her... She went to shake him off when his tone changed. She closed her eyes tight. She wasn't stupid. He was threatening her now. Things were turning ugly earlier than she thought they would. She looked at him, clenching her jaw together and swallowing, her eyes showing traces of fear knowing what he was capable of. All of a sudden Quinn's voice was lower, softer, less harsh and more like a small girl who knew what was coming to her. "Fine.... 20 minutes... you get 20 minutes." She said and lead the way into the coffee shop making a B-line for the counter.

"I'll have a skim chai latte please..." She said pulling out her wallet and giving the girl money quickly. She didn't want him to pay. She didn't want him to have any more grip on her than he already did and paying for a little coffee could speak volumes. "Keep the change."

[Ian Black]

Ian sighed. He knew she wouldn't be so easily swayed on this one. It HAD just been the one time but women, they tended to exaggerate things in their heads. Sleep with one woman one time and suddenly you were cheating on her the whole relationship. He'd fix it though. He had to. First, he'd have to address the issues she presented to him now. "Babe, if you didn't still love me, you wouldn't still be angry. You'd have sent me back my grandmother's ring or some symbolic thing like that. You still have it, don't you?" there really was no good answer for her. If she still had it, then he was right. If she didn't... Well, it was a priceless family heirloom, after all. There was no telling how he'd react to her getting rid of it, or worse, losing it.

He raised his brows at her suggestion that she didn't want to be found. Oh well! Too late! "Well, that doesn't matter now. You ARE found. And as I recall, it was your home too. Just because you left it doesn't make it any less your home. You can stay here as long as you want to. Won't change the fact that Pilot Ridge isn't your home. As for me leaving, I'm not going anywhere without you." He hadn't been willing to relocate when they'd been together but he might have to sacrafice something to save their relationship and this could be the ticket. Would she agree to give him another chance if he said he'd move? It would be a big loss for him. Neurosurgery wasn't big in small places and he'd been in the perfect location for the perfect residency, setting himself up with the perfect job. Here goes nothing! "If you really like it here that much, I guess we could make it our home."

He could see the understanding crossing her face. He'd come here for her and he meant business. He wouldn't force her to leave unwillingly but he'd be damned if he wouldn't convince her to be with him again! All he needed was time. He was really going to have to push the charm and remind her why she'd liked him in the first place. "20 minutes. Fine." It was a good first step. He fell easily into step behind her. He was taller than her. He had longer legs. She might have been tryin to put some distance between them, but he could keep up. It'd been one of the things he'd first been attracted to.

He stood to her side and slightly behind, putting his hand back on the small of her back. To any prying eyes, they'd look like a couple, regardless of who paid for what. In this day and age, it wasn't unheard of for the woman to pay... Or for the couple to split the bill. He waited patiently for the barista to finish her order before he placed his. "Plain coffee, black." He liked it strong. He paid for his and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "You can pick the table." It was as innocent a sentence as he could muster though it had been said in the least innocent manner. Just another way to fool people into thinking what he wanted them to. As unlikely as it seemed, maybe the rumor mill of his po-dunk town would be useful to him.

[Quinn Collins]

The ring... Quinn had totally forgotten about the ring not even sure where it was.... She still, even though she'd lived in Pilot Ridge for over a year wasn't unpacked yet. She was never good at unpacking and so much of the stuff she had were things she'd bought for them.... when they were supposed to be living together. She still had things with the Black name on it, towels, two robes, embarrassing really. She wouldn't let him know that. "You can have the ring back."

Quinn couldn't believe every word that came out of the son of a bitch's mouth. As he recalled... he didn't have the right to recall a damn thing! "No THIS is my home now. And i guess you're dying here then." She corrected him. She was so sick of him telling her what was right for her, what she thought and what she needed and wanted. Only she knew that not him. She didn't belong to him despite what he might thing.

Quinn grabbed her coffee off the counter getting a shiver when he whispered in her ear to pick the table. She knew he had things up his sleeve, she could tell just in the tone of his voice and she knew that every move he was making was calculated. He wasn't stupid, in fact he was far from it and she wished he was dumber. But she wasn't dumb either and she was planning to have some fun as well. She'd embarrass him. The Ian she remembered had a big ego and she was almost certain that embarrassing him in public would be a good start to getting him to lose interest. Of course it wouldn't be anything brutal, she'd avoid a fight, but perhaps making it look like he wet his pants or getting him to run some ridiculous errands, embarrassing him in front of coworkers would work quite well too.

She lead the way to a table by the window towards the middle of the coffee shop. She didn't want to be in any deserted corner or look like she was trying to get alone time with him.