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who: Alex Reagan and hopefully you!
what: An open log. There's a couple open prompts but if they don't work just add your own! And don't worry about styles. I'll match em.
when: The month of August.
where: Anywhere you want her to be that's not the mingle, honestly!
warnings: Not that I can think of at the moment.

I.

Despite everything else in her life, Alex Reagan happened to be someone who was a person of habit, and so where she could be found just happened to be habit as well. So, all too often Alex found herself working at The Coffee Shop rather than her office with the substandard coffee and the annoying interns. She was there almost every day with at least one empty cup in front of her, one full one and some sort of pastries there for anyone who might happen to want to stop by and visit, or for anyone whom she had a lunch date with. The table itself was largely taken up with two books and a notebook, along with her phone from home. She inevitably had one of the books open, even though both of them were on the same lines of things, even if vastly different.

Alex would either be reading from a book on learning Spanish and copying what she was learning into the notebook in small and frantic writing, as if her hand couldn't keep up with her brain, because well... That's basically what happened, even in things like this. Still, she was making a real effort to do it, and the book was deeply into, as Alex was hitting the harder parts of the beginner's section and there were lists of words that went along with it.

The second book is much older and still somehow less well-loved than the first one, and Alex had found it in the back of the library shelves. Despite having taken it out days ago, she was still dealing with the beginning pages of it, and if there was something that was guaranteed that would make her grumble, it was this. But still, she was determined to try and teach herself how to read Cruciform even if it killed her, which at this point it honestly just might do. So when someone came up to her, she was all too ready to sit either of them aside, and greeting the other person with a grin, especially if it was someone who she expected.

ii

The other way in which Alex was a creature of habit came with her walking her dog in the afternoon. Alex's pitbull was large and gray and more than a little friendly, which probably made sense considering Alex Reagan was his owner. Her mornings were normally running and rowing, but afternoon walks were more slow and leisurely and normally made by herself. Well, by herself as well as her playing Pokemon Go, even if no one else was. So, yes, she's walking her dog but she's also got her device out to let her know when there just happens to be a pokemon or two in the area that she's walking in.

Normally she collects one or two, and fights at a gym or so, and then goes about her business and comes home. Not today though. Today, Alex just stopped so suddenly that Apo's leash actually snapped taunt for a moment before the gray dog came back to see her, and Alex is just staring at her phone for a second. The dumbed silence only lasts for a second or two before Alex just yells like the child who she can come times be: "Oh my god! It's a Pikachu! It's a Pikachu!" Then without a preamble other than that, Alex just takes off after it, a giant grin on her face. She's never caught one before.

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"I'll have you know, Richard Strand, that I can be both sets of things all at once." Which honestly, was probably a rather good description of her, as they'd talked about before. Alex was all of those things rolled into one, and she also knew that Richard loved that about her, even as maddening as she could be sometimes. He didn't need to say the words, it was just something that she inherently knew with their interactions, even when he was looking at her like he wanted to strangle her at times. Or when he was as huffy as he was now.

A huffiness that Alex was just going to chose to respond to with a bright smile and a little shake of her head. "Nope, you don't get to know until you're coming. That's not how being kidnapped works, Richard." Which is hilarious from a three time kidnapping victim to a two time kidnapping victim, but honestly, it was things like this that helped her deal with getting over that whole thing. Or at least as over it as Alex tended to get.

he may have agreed with her, but he wasn't planning on answering a positive or negative comment about it. Instead, he chose to observe her outfit better. Sundress, a hat for protection from sunburn and ridiculous flip-flops. Clearly wherever she wanted them to go involved being outside. Not a particular favorite activity.

"I'm not planning on going anywhere near the waterpark." He was fairly certain that she'd been there many times, and while she didn't seem to have the straps of a bathing suit underneath her dress, that didn't change the fact that she could drag him out of here and try to force him into swimming trunks.

"Richard, do I look stupid enough to think that you'd go anywhere near that place?" She hadn't even bothered to ask him if he wanted to go, because she already knew the answer was going to be no, even as she talked Stan into coming with her for his own good. That said, however, she knew from the way that he looked at her that he'd gotten the information from her outfit. Which is why she caught the hem of her dress a little bit (but not so much that it would be obvious to anyone outside, because she wasn't always an idiot even if she suffered from a distinct lack of chill) to show off a rather nice pair of underwear below it rather than well, "no bathing suit either. So you don't need to complain that I'm dragging you off to the beach or anything like that either." Of course, she knew that he probably knew that, but still.

"Also, I am keenly aware of your preferences not to have sex anywhere but home, so don't worry, I'm not intent on attempting to seduce you somewhere you don't want to be seduced. Besides, that's one thing I'd fail at. You're better at denying yourself than I am at overcoming that particular skill of yours." The words aren't angry, instead they come with more than a little bit of cheek in them. "Also not a party or anywhere you're going to need to deal with anyone but me."

He would argue, if he felt like arguing, that she had more than enough ammunition to seduce him at any given place or point in time. It was simply that he had more control over his desires that she often did. But at least she'd admitted to no waterpark. In fact, she'd admitted to many of the things he'd been concerned about not being what she'd been planning on.

He also had no desire not to go with her. It wasn't often that they were able to be alone together, especially with Simon's penchant to stalk Alex wherever she went. It was a nice change when they actually could be alone. So it would be beneficial for both of them if he were to give in, which ended in him standing and taking her hands. "Alright."

She may have had the ammunition of course, but Richard had that entire constitution that was made of steel and bound in iron. After all, even when she knew that he wanted to kiss her, he hadn't done it because she didn't have those memories of them and their last conversation before he arrived here. Even after he had permission and she had almost gotten him to give in at the picnic he had shown greater fortitude than Alex had and sent her off for her goodbyes so he could cool down.

Besides. If showing up in his office in a corset and lingerie hadn't done it, Alex was pretty sure nothing would.

But she made a pleased and surprised happy squeak when he agreed so readily and that definitely earned him a lingering kiss as she stood up and moved onto her tiptoes. After a moment, she broke the kiss with a grin and gave his hand a tug. "Good. I definitely owe you this, my Richard."

Owe him this, a strange turn of phrase. For Richard, Alex didn't owe him anything. She was the one person to stay by his side through all of this. The person he dragged into everything without thinking through what it could do to her. Even Ruby was kept at a distance from what was going on, but Alex, Alex had a front row seat.

If she were talking about her time in this place, her, liaison, with John, then he had forgiven her that too. He'd taken on the blame that she so graciously had offered and locked it deep within himself.

He allowed her to take his hand and move him toward the door, slightly curious as to what she was planning, but also wondering if he'd make a horrible mistake.

If alex knew that he thought she blamed him, this would be an entirely different sort of girlfriend he was dealing with. She didn't blame him for any of it in any way whatsoever and she never would have thought that he might have taken the blame onto himself like he did because there was none for him like that.

As of now she was just assuming that he was a little cautious about whatever it was that Alex had planned. Which of course was something that he would be considering how very alex like his Alex happened to be at times. Even with how she had planned not terrible things in the past? He probably had a right to be wary of the surprises she had in store for him.

When they reached the doorway to his office, Alex released his hand so that she could go over and grab the basket, picking it up with a wince and a long sound of "oof." It was a Lizzie training day after all and the basket was heavy and Alex Reagan was often quite guilty of not thinking things through.

A normal man, the kind that all of Alex's friends felt she deserved, would have rushed in to take the overfull basket from her with gallant grace. Richard wasn't that man. Instead, he reached for his suit coat and raised a brow. No offers of taking her independent lifting task away from her in sight.

Alex was an adult and could brainstorm her own overzealous basket problems.

"If there are red cups, I'm going back to work." He was almost sure there were. Alex's sense of humor was horrible and she took every opportunity to harass him about certain peculiarities that he had.

"There are in fact, not red solo cups," Alex admitted with a smirk, watching him as she shifted the picnic basket to her other hand. She didn't expect him to take it of course, because if he took it, it might look as if he'd planned this ridiculous thing, and he damned well couldn't let anyone in Riverview think that. So, instead she would carry it, at least for now.

Besides, she was going to refuse to admit just how much Lizze's lessons were actually kicking her ass. There was too much pride in her for that. She'd carry it and get him to carry the empty basket home, and then she'd die in the shower. That seemed like a good safe and sane plan to her.

"I do remember promising you a proper picnic, and proper picnics do not involve red solo cups or paper plates or any of that sort of thing." A beat, and a smirk before she added, "why do you think the basket is so heavy, Richard." Spoilers: it's probably got something to do with the bottle of scotch in it, among everything else.

"Wasn't that actually a euphemism for having sex outside?"

At least, he was pretty sure of that. The conversation was rather, sexually charged, and, at the time, the idea of having such a liaison was something Richard was almost willing to partake in. At least he would have been willing if she had remembered everything. But he wasn't actually expecting a picnic. In fact, he'd forgotten all about it by now.

Like he always did, Richard slowed his gait to match Alex's. It had become something almost unconscious as the years had passed between them. This time, however, he moved closer, taking part of the burden of the basket by acting as if he were simply trying to hold her hand. It was, after all, a Lizzie day, and while it entertained him to no end to watch her struggle in soreness at the choice she'd made, he wasn't a wholly cruel man to let her hurt herself more.

"Maybe you thought that's what it was, Richard, but I didn't." Which was probably more than a little bit of a lie, given the smirk that played across Alex's lips when she said it. Oh yes, she had definitely been flirting with him to an obscene degree that day, there was no denying it. Of course, he had been flirting back, and it was one of the few times that she'd managed to put even a dent in that steel will of his.

The smirk softened to more of a loving smile when he took the basket, and her fingers gave his a squeeze in return, one that was gentle and coupled with the trace of her thumb across the back of his hand. "No, I do believe what I promised you was a proper picnic, with just me. So, that's what you're getting."

Richard hid a soft smile at the movement of her fingers. In truth, these gestures from her meant much more to him than her repeated calling him love or 'my'. There was no doubt in his mind that, in this sense, he was wholly hers, even if the world questioned it. But it was gestures like these between them that told the truth of their relationship.

"Please tell me you didn't cook." It's an important worry. Alex couldn't cook to save her life, and that wasn't really an exaggeration (he was pretty sure she could burn water). He didn't want to end this questionable surprise with food poisoning.

"Of course I didn't cook, Richard. I'd rather not have this picnic end up with the two of us showing up to Victor or Beverly because I've given us food poisoning." The words are one hundred percent cheek, coupled with a bump of her shoulder against his arm. "Besides, I remember what scares you, Dr. Strand." An old call back to when she asked him once what scared him in his world, and that was it. Days before demons and not sleeping and all of that happening were safe.

"I went to The Coffee Shop and got us steak sandwiches. They're not exactly cheesesteaks, but they're pretty good anyway." Because Alex also remembered the conversation that they'd had when she was injured about food he missed from home. Before of course the conversation went so so so much deeper than it was. "And I grabbed some salads and some stuff from the bakery too." She's leading him towards the park, and then through it, towards the back of it.

His brow raises at the amount of food she's provided. There's, a lot, more food than he was certain that they both could eat (depending on the size of the sandwiches). More than likely there would be leftovers and he would be forced to carry the basket back to to the house. Not something he's looking forward to in the slightest.

He walked with her, hand still holding both hers and the basket, wondering exactly how far she was taking him into the woods. He'd entirely expected her to find a spot out in the open where everyone was and plop down unceremoniously. But no, the further they walked, the further back they went. "Are you attempting to recreate our last romantic walk through the woods?"

Alex just laughed at the comment about their last walk in the woods. Well that had been a trip hadn't it? If nothing else it had been a sight to see as Strand had done it in his suit like that was totally normal. Much like today in that way, she thought as she looked up at him with a smirk. "Nope. I'm definitely not hiking that far on a Lizzie day. I'd die. Besides. Scarier things are in the woods than demon cabins and I don't want to be eaten by something."

Her words are teasing and they take a turn on the path into a small clearing with a stream next to it. "This place however is totally safe. I found it when I was doing Pokémon mapping actually."

Alex dropped her normal oversized bag onto the ground before she pulled out an old blanket and spread it on the grass before dropping down on top of it. "Private. Just like I said."

Richard placed the basket (which he was now holding alone for some reason) down and made his way to sit on the blanket. It felt weird. Like something young lovers would do, not someone in his early fifties. Not that he was saying anything against his age, he was fit, after all, that didn't mean that things that seemed created for youth didn't seem, off, when he did them.

"And now I suppose we eat this lunch you've brought." Then what? There was no way he was going to play frisbee or some other stupid picnic game. No matter how much she wanted him to.

Alex is sitting on the blanket and she pulled a bug candle, lighting it with a smirk as she watched him. "Yes, Richard now we eat a picnic. Well dinner I suppose. Don't worry Stan and Simon are good for dinner." Look more planning Richard, aren't you impressed? Let's be honest you probably should be. If nothing else the rather large smirk on Alex's face says so.

And of course she reaches over and opened the top of the picnic hamper, something new that she'd brought obviously and detached the actual glass plates from the top, offer one over to him with real silverware rolled in an actual cloth napkin. Clearly someone had taken that yuppie comment she's made about him in the past quite to heart before she hands him a wrapped sandwich to put on it. Setting her own plate in her lap, Alex rummaged around the basket before she removed the chilled wine and two actual glasses. And a corkscrew before firmly closing the basket before he could look inside.

As she pulls things out, he can't help the brow raise. He's not sure if she's being impressive or being ridiculous. Probably both. He's not actually curious about the contents of the basket, he's sure that whatever is in there is probably something he's not interested in.

"You realize how ridiculous this looks, don't you." He was sure she did.

"Hey, you're the one who has some sort of personal vendetta against red solo cups and paper plates, Richard. So I went out and got the most yuppie picnic basket I could find. Like Williams and Sonoma levels of yuppie." Alex is just going to smirk at him, because honestly if she met someone who actually purchased five hundred dollar picnic baskets, it'd be him. Well, sort of anyway. Like he would actually own a picnic basket.

She did not pay anything even approaching that for this basket, honestly, but hey it looked like she did.

And they were eating coffee shop sandwiches off of china plates. Because that was them, wasn't it?

"You could have just taken plates from the house." Alex would be surprised to know that Richard did, in fact, own a picnic basket. Once. He wouldn't be able to tell you where it is now. Probably sold or thrown out or somewhere under a million forgotten things from the past of a happy husband and father.

Still, he unwraps his sandwich and takes a bite, chewing thoughtfully before asking. "Better?" Because really, this was all Alex being Alex rather than anything designed for him.

Alex wouldn't actually have been that surprised, unless he'd still managed to have it. Most people, in her experience, had the basket itself if nothing else. It was part of childhoods and families and all of that. Including romantic times, like Alex was doing it now.

Or at least trying to do now. A grumpy Strand was still a grumpy Strand after all, especially when she was trying to do this for him. So Alex just let out a soft sigh before she took a bite of her own sandwich. "Yes. And I could have grabbed plates but then we wouldn't have a picnic basket for whenever I decide to take on my worst partner title and drag you out to the woods for a picnic."

The words that she spoke were entirely amused, and she just smirked at him and took another bite of her sandwich with gusto, watching him.

"There's, going to be other times?" That was horrifying. Next Alex would try to start cooking and burn the house down, or worse, make him actually eat her cooking. The whole idea of it made his stomach turn a bit and he had to put down his sandwich.

"What brought on this strange want of a Hallmark movie." It just didn't seem like her. Then again this whole actually going on dates situation was new to both of them. They were more of a couple who didn't do anything special in regards to their relationship except exist. Something that Richard appreciated about it.

Alex had done things that Richard Strand considered mortifying no few amount of times during their relationship both working and not. It was part and parcel of who they were. So, she was well aware of what it looked like on his face, and Alex just frowned in puzzled manner when he set his sandwich down. She followed suit, completely not expecting the question.

"I didn't think you even knew what a Hallmark movie was," she said quickly, a reflex lacking any sort of heat, the confusion still evident on her face. "I... didn't have any sort of ulterior motive here, Richard." There was a little bit of hurt mixing with the puzzlement, because she thought that they were past his thinking that she'd have one. "I just ran into Rogue at the waterpark, and it reminded me that I owed you a picnic, and then I saw the basket and thought 'well, maybe this is a sign.'" And before he could say it, she added, "yes, I know. 'There is no such things as signs, Alex. But I just thought it'd be nice to have a proper picnic with just us."

"I never said you had an ulterior motive." He really didn't think that. He was fairly certain that Alex didn't want anything except to spend a picnic with her. While it was odd, it wasn't something to be terribly concerned about. "It's just not something I would expect from you." Which, in and of itself, was odd. Richard knew Alex very well, he almost always knew her next move, but he'd never thought of this one.

"I mean, it was sort of something that I mentioned ages ago, Richard." She just watched him with an amused smirk entirely amused by how he had failed to predict this and how it was bothering him. “I mean I directly told you I was going to do it even if I was being shamelessly flirty at the time.” Which was one way to describe it honestly. Other people would probably use other terms for it but it’s what she had known she was doing at the time.

“I mean I like stories and nights at home reading and date nights at fancy bars.” Like the party she’d dragged him to before. “But sometimes I like things like this too. Just you and me and outside of the house and away from everyone else.” Where they didn’t need to worry about anything but sunburn or mosquitoes. Speaking of that she asked, “do you want sunblock? I mean you’re pale as I am and I didn’t buy you a silly hat.”

Even if she should have here and stuffed it into the basket.