"I'll have what she's having."

"I'll have what she's having," Dawn smiled, looking over at the blonde, who looked quite stylish and classy sitting there with her legs crossed, slowly sipping a cocktail and puffing on a cigarette. Certainly she looked more elegant then Dawn did, angrily downing pints. Beer and rage was Quentin's thing, and she hated to think she was becoming like him; maybe she needed a new attitude.

"Manhattan it is," the bartender said, moving off to make the drink.

"So I thought Rome conquered the Egyptians," Dawn said, returning to their conversation.

The woman smiled a slow, deliberate smile. "I guess the blind chick wasn't much of an archaeologist. I'm Kelly, by the way," she said, offering her hand. "Barroom psychologist."

Dawn took her hand and gave it a small, gentle touch. "Dawn, bad breakup." The woman's hand was soft, but she returned Dawn's squeeze with a gentle pressure, her thumb moving slightly back and forth outside of Dawn's hand, an almost imperceptible motion but charged with secrecy and intimacy. Dawn held on to the woman's hand perhaps just a trifle too long, and Kelly smiled, her hand slipping away, a bemused smile forming on her lips, echoed in her dark brown eyes.

The bartender had just returned and Dawn took a deep breath and paid the man. Her composure returned, she turned back toward the woman, holding up her glass up for a toast. "Cheers."

"Cheers," Kelly smiled, and their glasses clinked together, and Dawn felt a bit of a chill as the first taste of the whiskey and vermouth slipped into her mouth. Maybe it was a premonition, maybe it was nonsense, but she felt like she was on the edge of an adventure, about to set off into new territory and encounter the unknown.

"Want to grab a booth?" Kelly asked. "You can tell me all about it."