16891/A Very Late Dinner

A Very Late Dinner
Date of Scene:	12 January 2024
Location:	Mel's Roadside Diner
Synopsis:	Tom and Ducky get late night dinner after seeing each other after ten years. There are some sore subjects brought up, but a light at the end of things!
Cast of Characters:	Atrice Duckstein, Tom McCarthy

---

Atrice Duckstein has posed:
Ducky had suggested dinner as a spur of the moment thing. It was pushing eleven in the evening and normal people didn't just do dinner in the middle of the night with people they hadn't seen in ten years. Neither of them were normal though. She'd asked him to meet her at Mel's Diner down the road from the Triskelion. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was close and if anything happened they could bail.

She'd found them a booth towards the back so they could talk and not have too much eavesdropping. She was excited and that was easy to see.

Tom McCarthy has posed:
Mel's suited Tom just fine. As she mentioned, close enough to get back to work if needed - and good comfort diner food. After he'd left, he chuckled to himself at the fortune to have run into her again - especially at the workplace. Of course, that brought up more questions - was she just an agent? Or had she been changed as he was.

he wasn't too long in arriving after she had, waving to her as he spotted her across the diner. A smile as he neared the table. "Fancy meeting you here, Ducky." He chuckles, taking a seat across from her. "I'm surprised we never ran into each other here."

Atrice Duckstein has posed:
Ducky gives a big smile to him when he arrives, though if she were not so pale it would probably look better. She pats the table, "Have a seat." she grins at him. "Well...I was in the hospital for the better part of 2023, so that's probably why." she points out smoothly and easily.

"Sometimes I have long stays. I try to not let it effect a lot, but..." she shrugs.

"What sounds good?" she asks him. "How did you end up joining SHIELD?" she adds the question.

Tom McCarthy has posed:
Settling into the seat, he hrms. "Hospital? Why so long? Is everything ok?" He asks, setting his hands on the table. It's the caretaker side of him, of course! A sympathetic smile is offered over. "And you can tell me to shut up if I am asking too much."

Looking over the menu, he hrms. "I think I am going to go with the fried chicken." A nod. "Mashed potatoes, all that." He looks up to her. "Well, I got recruited after retiring from the Air Force. They appealed to my need to do something..." A smirk.

Atrice Duckstein has posed:
The question has Ducky looking at him and there's a moment of debate, but in the end she comes clean, "I have a rare form of anemia that one of the major treatments for are blood transfusions. I spent my first year on Earth in the NICU and the last few years things have been fine, but last year was a bad year health wise." she admits. "Sadly there are no cures for it and the life expectancy is not really long. But if I keep on top of things I should be fine." she tells him.

"But I think I'm going to get the meatloaf. It's really good and I haven't been here in ages." she smiles to that. "Retire? Did you get an injury or did you put in your twenty years?" she asks him.

Tom McCarthy has posed:
<<We could resolve that for her.>> Digi intones in Tom's mind. His eyebrow goes up, a bit surprised at that.

"Anemia is rough. Sorry you have to go through that. Let me know if you get too wiped out to talk with me." A smile over to her. "And treatments can be found, I am sure. Science and medicine is making huge advancements as time goes on." He comments.

"Several injuries, yeah. But that's not the reason for retiring - just an early out and I had been shot at enough for my liking." A shake of his head. "Then I joined SHIELD and got stabbed by a demon. Go figure." He snickers.

Atrice Duckstein has posed:
"It's called Aplastic Anemia if you want to research. If you are born with it you usually don't survive your first year or through childhood. So I either am lucky or the Gods want me to stick around for something...like filing paperwork." she chuckles to that. "Yeah, my doctor sends me treatment updates. Just...marrow is still a weird thing." she frowns.

"I don't want it to be a damper on anything. It's why I tend to not talk about it." she adds.

"Yeah, SHIELD tends to be funny like that." she grins at his history. "So...do you have a wife? Girlfriend? Three girlfriends?" she asks him with a grin.

Tom McCarthy has posed:
A nod, taking mental notes to look it up later. It might be something Digi could solve - if Ducky wanted. "Well, I'm glad you made it through." A grin to her. "I'll look it up. I was pararescue in the military, so I do know a bit about triage and care." He smirks. "And got my nursing degree."

"You're not a damper. But let me know if I am too nosey, yeah? I don't want to bring up stuff that brings you down."

A laugh at the questions on girlfriends. "I had a few, yeah. Nothing that seems to go the distance - I think it's my job."

Tom McCarthy has posed:
"How about you? Do you have any boyfriends?" He teases back.

Atrice Duckstein has posed:
"Oh I don't want to be a bother to anyone else really." she tells him. Stubborn lone wolf syndrome. Orphans get that. "But you seem to have all the talents, Tom." she grins at that. "I don't think you're nosey. I just...if I think I might be spending a fair amount of time with anyone I tend to let them know in advance that...I...well..." she sighs.

Anyways!

"I can imagine you've had more than a few." she winks at him. "And no, no boyfriends. My fiance died back in 2019 and I just never got back out there." she admits. "I am just a bundle of sunshine. I know." she chuckles.

"So what do you do when you aren't being a SHIELD agent?" she asks him.

Tom McCarthy has posed:
His head cants to the side, studying her a bit. "Nah, not all of them. Some of it is luck." Tom admits, with a smirk. "Might be spending a fair amount of time with? Are you planning on more dates?" He grins - watching her with friendly expression on his face. He's clearly not put out by the thought, by his posture.

A shake of his head. "I keep stumbling onto the rough subjects." He says, apologetically. "You're fine - I am just sorry you've had to go through so much, you know?"

"I don't really... have too much I've gotten a chance to do outside of work. I keep myself busy, and tend to be in a regular on-call situation." He taps the bracelet. "She keeps me alert, so I can knock out any problems as they turn up."

Atrice Duckstein has posed:
Ducky realizes that she spoke in her outside voice and she blushes brightly, "I just...you know..." she sputters. "No pressure. I'm open to dates and things." she tells him. "We did sort of...not get the chance last time." she admits.

There's a softer smile given to him, "Tom, my life is definitely one large rough spot. So I can just hope for a bit of smooth sailing sometimes." she tells him.

Then there's a look to the bracelet and she grins, "A girl huh?" she looks amused. Her mismatched gaze then moves from Digi to his face, "I'm glad she saved you. I think you've got a lot of things ahead of you." she states.

Tom McCarthy has posed:
"Dates would be fun. Have a bit more time to talk and get to know one another?" He suggests, with a grin. It's not like there was much of that before - as she mentioned. "I definitely like the thought of that."

"Rough spots can be smoothed over. I'm up for helping where I can, you know?"

He looks to the bracelet, then back to her. "Yeah, me too. I wasn't done living, after all." The man muses. "So what have you been doing outside of filing? Do you do field work or just keep to the building?"