The Past is in the Past (AU)

24

"Hey, excuse me miss!" A young man dressed in khaki's and a blue polo yelled as he jogged up beside Regina, "Have you ever thought of joining the Air Force?"

She snickered, "Me? In the military? I don't think so."

"Why not? You seem young and fit? A beautiful woman like yourself would do great in the Air Force."

"I'd much rather control the Air Force," she quipped, "And I will, once I'm commander n chief."

"Ahhh! So you want to be president? Ambitious. I like it. Just what the Air Force needs!"

She smirked and rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on. You gonna give me the silent treatment now? What if I told you the Air Force could pay for you to go to college."

"Already graduated. A Political Science Degree from Columbia University. Now I intern for the senator, but I plan to run for congress soon. As far as money goes, my family is pretty much set, so I don't think I'll be needing much help from our Air Force. Thank you for your service tho."

He chuckled and started to jog backwards so he could face Regina as she weed down the sidewalk.

"What are you doing?" She scoffed.

He winked, "Trying to get the attention of the pretty lady. Is it working?"

"Not in particularly, no," she responded as she gave him the ole up down.

"Well damn. I suppose since you don't want to join the Air Force you wouldn't mind giving an airman your gratitude by letting him take you to dinner?"

She stopped and stared at the peculiar man in front of her. Who did he think he was? Trying to seduce her. He was rather attractive tho. Clean shaven. Straight teeth. Nice hair. Clearly fit. As she looked him up and down she noticed a tattoo on his wrist that read Roland.

"You sure I'm your type?"

He gave her a confused look but followed her gaze to his wrist.

"Oh this! This is my son's name. Roland. He's 14 months," he replied with a proud smile.

"I see, so you're either trying to make me a homewrecker or you've left a poor unfortunate soul to raise your child alone."

His smile dropped and he crossed his arms, "Not that it's any of your business," he started, with his tone going from that a cheery, flirty, and confident to more serious, "But I loved my wife until her dying breath. I am the sole caretaker of my boy and I do a damn good job at it if I do say so myself. Have a good rest of your day ma'am."

Now Regina felt terrible. What started as a snarky way to turn down the military guy turned into her being the bad guy. Any Poli-sci major knows a bad impression can end up being a bad reputation. And against military personnel on top of it. She had to make this right.

She quickly jogged after the airman in her heels and placed a hand on his shoulder. He jerked back ready to fight whoever touched him but relaxed seeing it was just the woman he stopped earlier.

He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted with Regina's hand raising in the air, signaling him to stop.

"I don't say this often, so listen closely," she began as she looked to the side avoiding eye contact, "I am sorry for what I said earlier. I had no idea that-"

"Than maybe you shouldn't speak on people's personal lives," he interrupted.

Her head snapped forward to face the airman, "Look here Private Ryan. I am apologizing. I just- Look let me make it up to you. How about I make it up to you? Drinks? At The View. Tonight at 8?"

He narrowed his eyes at the intern and raised an eyebrow, "This a joke?"

"I don't joke," she answered, "So what do you say?"

He gave her an up down and narrowed his eyes once again, "I'll meet you there at 8."

She smirked, "It's a date."

...

When it was time to meet the airman Regina all of a sudden became very nervous. Her life had been fine up until that day. Ever since she had graduated from the inpatient psychiatric program years ago she had managed to steer clear of drama. Yet here she was going on an apology date with a single father who happened to be in the military.

"What have you gotten yourself into Regina?" she asked herself as she struggled to put an earring in her ear. Once she succeeded she snatched her purse and raced outside to the cab she had called earlier, "The View please."

"The View? Fancy date I take it," the cab driver implored as she started driving, "Man my husband hasn't treated me to something like that in awhile."

"Well it's not really a date. More like a strategic means to an end."

"Ah, I've done those too."

"Really?"

"Yes really," the driver said feigning offense, "Don't let the taxi fool you. I'm very well off. This is just a fun social experiment that happens to bring in money."

Regina was intrigued. She leaned forward and rested her chin on her fist, "Social experiment?"

"Oh yeah! Especially here in New York. There's such a wide array of people here that I have an endless supply of data for my study."

"Study? Is this for school."

"You betcha. Getting my doctorate, and this is my biggest study yet. It's gonna be a hit with the board."

"It sounds interesting enough."

"Not as interesting as a date at The View. Do tell, if ya don't mind."

"Not at all. Just promise me that if you decided to make me look like a bad person in your study don't give out details that could point back to me."

"Promise."

"Well I kinda insulted an air force recruiter so I'm buying him make up drinks."

"Is that it? So it's not even a date? How boring."

The intern scoffed.

"No offense. Dates are just more interesting. Yours is more business hun. Sorry."

Regina shrugged, "Well I guess that's what it is. I plan on being president and I don't need something like this come to surface and I get dubbed anti-military before my elections even begun."

"President? That is an aspiration isn't it? Well ya got my vote, I don't know what it is, but ya got this spunk to you and I like it."

Regina smiled softly, "Thanks."

"No problem."

They drove for a few more minutes before arriving at the destination. Regina handed the driver a hundred before heading out, "Keep the change, and good luck with your study. I look forward to hearing about your results."

"Why thank you. And say, that wouldn't be your airman now would it?" she asked motioning towards the man who had been staring at the cab since it arrived.

Regina looks in the direction the driver motioned to and indeed there was the airman.

"That would be him."

"He's handsome. You sure you don't want to use this date more like a date than a political thing?"

She looked over at the man again, who had tried being less obvious and started looking elsewhere than at the cab. He was dressed in a nice suit, tailored, black, and a bow tie. A bit childish, yet it somehow fit him. The smallest of smiles crept onto her face, "Perhaps."