"This doesn't look like a steakhouse."

"What am I, made of money?" Rosa crossed her arms.

"I thought you could expense all this."

"I can, but that's not the point. Do you have any idea how expensive a good steak is these days? My boss would have my ass if he saw I spent that much on a casual lunch with you two."

"Is that what this is?" Eric questioned. "A casual lunch?"

Rosa flashed him a grin. "This is as casual as I can make it, you know. In my eyes, at least, it doesn't get much more casual than a Tex-Mex joint."

"Did you have to pick the one where the staff apparently only speak Spanish?"

"Why, is that a problem?"

"Yeah, it is – how are we supposed to order?"

Rosa waved him off. "That's why I'm here."

Eric just sighed tiredly, picking up his menu with no small amount of resignation. "Can't even read what most of this stuff is supposed to be…"

"That's why they included little pictures of everything," Rosa pointed out.

"Smart ass…"

"Thanks, I try." She turned towards Thirteen. "What do you feel like eating? I can point you towards something good."

Thirteen's brow furrowed as she stared at the pictures of food on the menu. After a moment, she shrugged; Rosa's expression faltered, and she turned back to Eric.

"What, are you not feeding her or something?"

"What kind of question is that?" he asked, looking up from his menu. "Of course I'm feeding her. Hell, you ought to ask the same thing to the Military – did you know she's barely eaten anything aside from nutrient paste for nearly the entire time she's been in the service?"

Rosa blinked, then looked over to Thirteen. "Is that true?" Thirteen nodded, and Rosa sucked in a breath. "Okay… I recommend you get this, then." She pointed at a picture of something on the menu. "Arroz con pollo. Literally just chicken with rice and some spices, drizzled with cheese sauce. It's pretty basic, but if you're coming off a diet of nutrient paste, it's probably better to be safe than sorry."

Thirteen just nodded. Eric, meanwhile, looked over his menu for a bit before pointing at something."That burrito with ranchero sauce sounds good," he grunted. "I'll have that."

"I thought you wanted steak?" Rosa asked.

"Who goes to a Mexican restaurant and orders just a steak?"

"Plenty of people, actually. There's a reason why they even offer it as an option, you know."

"Seems like it'd defeat the point of coming to a place like this."

"If you say so." Rosa let out a sigh, leaning back in her chair. "Anyway, I'll go ahead and order for you both, so no worries there." Her gaze turned towards

Thirteen, and she smirked. "So, be honest – how tempted have you been to beat the crap out of him so far?"

Thirteen's one good eye blinked. "...The only humans I am supposed to do harm to are smugglers, bandits, and terrorists. Eric is none of those. And even if he were, I am supposed to be retired."

Again, Rosa's expression faltered. "Right, right… of course… forget I asked."

A heavy silence fell over the three of them for several minutes, lasting until their food finally arrived. When it did, Eric raised an eyebrow.

"This isn't what I ordered," he said, confused.

"I know," Rosa replied, giving him another smirk. "I figured you needed more vegetables in your diet."

Eric glared at her. "You're lucky I can't speak Spanish, otherwise I'd be sending it back."

"Whatever you say."

As the two of them bickered, Thirteen tore into her meal, doing her best to ignore them both. Surprisingly, the food was quite good – it was certainly a far cry from her nutrient paste. The mix of flavors and spices was unlike anything she'd ever eaten before. It was so mind-blowing for her that, before she knew it, her plate was empty. She blinked, staring at it in surprise, her fork and knife still poised for her next bite. After a moment, she lowered the utensils, then turned towards Eric and Rosa, who she realized were both barely halfway through their respective meals.

"O-kay, then," Rosa said, breaking the stunned silence that had settled over the two of them. "Eric, does she always-"

"Pretty much," he said, "but this was intense, even for her. She must have been hungry."

"That or it just tasted really good." Rosa cleared her throat. "You can order some more, you know. This place is pretty cheap, all things considered; I don't think my boss will mind if you get more."

Eric expected her to refuse, as she'd always done, but to his surprise, she hesitated for just a moment before nodding. Rosa gave her a small smile, then called for the waiter and began conversing with him in Spanish. He left a few moments later; as he walked away, a thought occurred to Eric, and he turned to Rosa.

"How come you're nice to her and not to me?"

"Hey, I'm buying you lunch, aren't I?" Rosa countered. "Besides, my first meeting with her didn't end with a series of four-letter words between the two of us. Can you say the same?"

Eric let out a begrudging sigh, then turned back to his food. He'd barely gotten a few bites into it when Rosa suddenly looked over to Thirteen.

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"That reminds me, would you mind giving us a few minutes alone?" she asked. "I have some stuff I need to go over with Eric, and I'm sure he'd appreciate the privacy."

Thirteen hesitated, apparently unsure about what to do, but eventually relented with a nod. "...I'll be up front," she said quietly before standing up and walking away.

Once she was gone, Eric turned his handler, confused. "We're really doing this here?"

"Come on, you didn't think I was only here to check on her, did you?" Rosa asked. "I'm still your service officer, too – that means your well-being is, on a certain level, still partially my responsibility. Now, are you going to be difficult about it like usual?"

Eric's gaze narrowed. "Is that why you took me to a public place for once? So I wouldn't make a scene?"

"Honestly? No. Genuinely, I wanted to try and do something nice for her; this is just a good bonus. So, I'll ask again – are you going to be-"

"For fuck's sake, just get it over with," Eric growled. "Ask your damn questions, already; dragging it out is only making things worse."

"Fine, fine." Rosa adjusted her position in her seat, then pushed her sunglasses up slightly. "I'll start with the obvious – how do you like having her living with you?"

"The extra money's nice."

"That's not what I asked."

"That's the answer you're getting."

"Alright, I guess it's going to be like that." Rosa sighed tiredly. "So she told me you've already seen her naked."

Eric choked on a mouthful of chicken. After a few seconds of gasping for breath, he managed to get it down, then turned back to her.

"She told you that?"

"She did," Rosa confirmed. "Should I be concerned?"

"No, no… it's just… she's used to sleeping naked. I guess the other members of her unit didn't have much of a nudity taboo. Makes sense, given that they weren't a typical unit." He brought a hand up and ran it through his hair. "And in my defense, I looked away as fast as I could and established some ground rules about that sort of thing. It won't happen again."

Rosa simply nodded. For the first time, Eric noticed she was typing on a tablet, and he glowered at her."Are you notating what I just said?"

"Forgot to mention, we're on-the-record," she said without looking up.

"Bitch."

"Got that, too. Anything else you'd like to add?"

"Notate this." Eric flipped her off, and she paused, peering at him from behind her sunglasses.

"Real mature," she said flippantly as he lowered his finger.

"You know us soldiers – real pinnacles of maturity. Speaking of maturity, that makes two questions; were you planning on asking the other eighteen any time soon?"

She rolled her eyes, but didn't offer a response. He was disappointed. "She mentioned you've been drinking."

"Yeah, what else is new?"

"Is your drinking a joke to you?" Rosa suddenly demanded, causing him to go silent. "She mentioned you went out with a bottle of alcohol, then came back – drove back, even – hours later, minus most of the alcohol and clearly intoxicated."

Eric blinked. "...Told you that, did she?"

"She did," Rosa confirmed with a nod. "Eric, be honest – is everything okay?"

"If I say yes, will you believe me?"

"Eric-"

"I know, I know." He heaved yet another tired sigh. "Look, it's just… Victory Day was a hard one, you know? I figured it would be, but I didn't think it'd be quite so bad. What I did was really fucking stupid, I'm aware, and I'm sorry, and I won't do it again."

"And I appreciate the sentiment, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm worried about you." Rosa leaned in, dropping her voice down to a mutter so the other patrons wouldn't hear. "And the nightmares? How are those?"

Eric crossed his arms. "...Same as ever," he admitted. "I still see 'em, damn near every night. It never gets any easier."

"Is that why you're drinking so much? Or was it some combination of that, Victory Day, and having her here with you?"

"Hell if I know," Eric admitted. "Look, can we change the subject?"

Rosa stared at him for a moment. "Eric, I really think you should consider seeing a-"

Eric slammed his hand on the table, cutting her off.

"Change. The. Subject," he said sharply.

Rosa's expression narrowed behind her glasses. "I don't know why you're so resistant to this idea. Tougher men than you have-"

"Because I don't want the fucking stigma, okay? What's so hard to understand about that? I already know what they're going to fucking tell me, I don't need them to confirm it. Besides, I'm dealing with it just fine on my own."

"You really consider drinking and driving like that to be dealing with it just fine?"

"That was a one-time thing and it's not going to happen again," Eric promised.

"How can I be sure-"

"Rosa," Eric interrupted, his tone taking an edge. "I mean it. Drop it."

Rosa stared at him, but finally relented with a small nod. "...Alright. Okay. Fine. But just know that this conversation isn't over."

"It is for now, and that's good enough for me."

At that moment, the waiter returned with Thirteen's second plate of food. Eric watched him set it down, then looked back to Rosa.

"I think that's our cue to call her back," he said.

"We're not done with-"

Eric suddenly stood up and motioned for Thirteen to come back. She didn't hesitate, and began making her way to their table. Rosa glared at him, then sat back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Asshole," she muttered.

Eric said nothing in response, instead going back to his own food as Thirteen sat down and resumed eating as well.

The entire time, Rosa continued to glare at him, and he did his best to ignore her.

***

A short while later, they left the restaurant and Rosa dropped the two of them off at Eric's house. As he stepped out of the passenger side of her car, he turned to her.

"Thanks for lunch," he begrudgingly offered as began to walk away.

"Eric." He paused, then looked back to her. "I mean it. We're not done having this conversation. You can't avoid it forever."

Eric merely stared at her for a moment, until she put her black SUV into reverse, then pulled out of his driveway. He watched her drive away, only taking his gaze away when the car turned a corner and he completely lost it from view. He gave an annoyed huff as he unlocked the front door and stepped inside, Thirteen trailing behind him the entire time.

"I don't know about you, but I need to let all that settle for a bit," he said as he took a seat on his couch. "You good?"

Thirteen nodded from her spot in the living room. Eric's brow furrowed; for some reason, he suddenly felt bad about treating her so dismissively before. He had no idea why that thought had occurred to him, but now that it had, he couldn't get it out of his head. He turned towards her, noting she was still dressed in her green Marine Corps shirt and surplus pants.

If nothing else, she needed a new wardrobe. And that much, at least, he could help her with.

"Hey," he said, getting her attention. "You need some new clothes."

Thirteen stared at him, tilting her head in confusion. "What's wrong with these?"

"Nothing, but they're not much to look at. And besides that, you don't have very much to call your own, anyway. Tell me – they paid you during your time in the Marines, right?" She nodded, and he let out a breath. "Good. Tell you what – I'll help you pick out some new clothes in a bit, once my food's settled. That's what we'll do the rest of the day. Sound good?"

Thirteen nodded, and Eric let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

"Alright," he said. "Until then… goodnight."

With that, he closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift off for a short nap, the entire time praying that the nightmares wouldn't be too intense this time.