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roll. Like he seemed to spend a lot of his time doing.
    "You okay, man?" Jim offered him a fond, happy grin as he asked the question. "I am. It's nice to have a change of scenery, right?" Horse said.
    "Yeah, although I'm still feeling the beach love at home."
    "Definitely. I love it there. I can't show you off there, though." God, he was turning into a sap. It was worth it, though. Look at that grin. Jim was pleased by his words.
    They talked about their beach, about some of the things making headlines, just shooting the breeze and enjoying each other's company.
    It didn't seem like it had been twenty minutes at all when Barton brought over their food. "You guys want more beer?"
    "Please." Horse felt himself actually drooling at the sight and smells of their meal.
    "Yeah, thanks, man."
    "Dig in," Horse suggested. They didn't stand on ceremony at home, he didn't see why they should here.
    "You know it." Jim stared at the steak, at the fork and knife, then set to cutting himself a piece, his face a study in concentration.
    Horse watched, but managed not to cheer when Jim succeeded. Instead, he dug into his own steak, confident Jim wasn't going to starve, or to miss out on delicious food because of his arm.
    They ate--slower than he was used to, sure--talking between bites, joking about the different songs on the sound system. Taking a moment to sit quietly when "Walking on Sunshine" played--the favorite song of one of the guys who hadn't made it home.
    "We're the lucky ones," Horse noted. Stumps and broken relationships and all--they were still here.
    "Yeah. Yeah, we were. To Daniels." Jim held up his beer.
    Horse knocked their bottles together and they drank before going back to the last bites of their food.
    Jim offered him a fry, then stole a bite of bacon from his potato. Look at them, sharing their food like an old married couple. Horse liked it. A lot more than he'd admit to anyone but the man sitting across from him.
    The place was beginning to fill up, and a band set up on the stage, warming up.
    "There lots of dancing?" Jim asked.
    "Barton says so. My first time since coming home." He'd wanted to bring Jim, though. He knew the man liked dancing from when they were deployed. Jim had talked about it with a fondness.
    "Yeah? I used to dance a lot."
    "You totally did." A strange voice sounded, one hand landing on Jim's head. "You always said you were going to let it grow out for me, Jimmy."
    Jim turned, glared at the little, dark-haired man standing behind him. "What the fuck are you doing here, Andy?"
    Andy? As in Jim's ex? Horse's hands curled into fists. What the hell was that man doing with his hand on his Jim? He wanted to punch Andy's lights out, but he thought maybe Jim would like that honor.
    "I came to apologize. I fucked up, baby. I swear, I'll make it up to you."
    Jim just stared at Andy like he couldn't quite figure out whether the man was speaking English or not.
    "He's not your baby." Horse managed to say the words evenly.
    "Not even a little." Jim turned his back on the guy, facing Horse again. "Go home, Andy. Leave me be."
    Horse gave Jim a supportive smile.
    At least Andy had waited until they'd finished eating before crashing their party. Jim didn't look all that broken up, really. In fact, it was that Andy guy who was just staring. Horse decided he'd give the man about sixty seconds to move along before he helped it happen.
    "You want some dessert?" he asked Jim, trying his best to forget the asshole was even there.
    "Sure. What's good?"
    "You're just going to sit there and ignore me? I drove all the way down here." Fuck this guy was working his way to shrill.
    Horse saw Jim's hand clenched around the beer bottle, go white knuckled. "I can do whatever the fuck I want, man."
    Horse looked up to meet Andy's gaze, but the man refused to look him in the eye, still staring at Jim. "Look, man. Jim has made it pretty clear that he's not interested. You made the trip for nothing."
    How the hell had Andy known