Baltimore, Maryland - Thursday Lunchtime

[itsananomaly]

Since Becker’s birthday was at the end of June, Connor and Cutter had decided to arrange a special birthday lunch for him and take him to one of the local museums on the mainland and show him their neck of the woods. Plus it was a nice way for both of them to spend time with Becker, since they hadn’t really done that lately with everything going on and since Cutter had gone on his camping trip with Becker the other week.

They were meeting for lunch first, Cutter had been able to print the photo of Becker licking the rock while fossil hunting on their trip and he’d made sure his shirt from shenanigans had been thoroughly cleaned and dried so that he could give it to Becker as well.

“So how are you liking Baltimore so far?” Cutter smiled as they sat at their table.

[for Connor and their guest. Up early for timezones. NFB for distance!]

Comments

[thearcfamily]

"We're off to a brilliant start so far. Everything has been amazing so far, so I cant wait to see what else you boys have in store" Becker said with a grin as he focused on enjoying the last little bit of his meal, savoring every bite.

[itsananomaly]

"Well I think you're really going to like what we have planned," Cutter grinned as he finished off the rest of his meal, "we found a place that we think you're going to love,"

[thearcfamily]

"Aye something that will be right up your alley," Connor said with a playful smirk. It felt nice to be the one who knew something Becker didn't. Usually, it seemed he was the one in the know when everyone else was feeling a bit in the dark. It was a nice change of pace.

"Should I be worried?" Becker asked as he finish up the last of his wine. "I mean it is you two after all" he said with a playful smirk and a fond smile.

[itsananomaly]

"Well you haven't opened your presents yet," Cutter grinned at the pile that was on the chair next to them, "but I think without saying too much, you'll really love this ... its something that you're quite passionate about," he added.

[thearcfamily]

"Oh these are for me?" Becker asked, looking at the stack of presents and giving a smug laugh. "I had no idea. Guess I better start opening them then huh?"

[itsananomaly]

“I mean if you don’t want them .. .I’m sure we can find someone else to give them to,” Cutter said with a grin as he started to get the presents from the chair so he could hand them over to Becker.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

Connor couldn't help but grin at that as he picked up one of the gifts. "Shouldn't be too hard at all really..."

"Hahaha nice try you two" Becker laughed as he reached out for one of the gifts Cutter was holding.

[itsananomaly]

Cutter started to laugh as he handed over the gift that he was holding, "happy birthday Becker," he smiled warmly as he did and he settled back in his seat to see Becker's reaction to his gifts.

[thearcfamily]

"Gotta open this one at the same time too" Connor said with a grin as he handed Becker a similarly shaped gift.

Becker raised an eyebrow and gave a small chuckle as he began to open Cutter's gift. He pulled back the wrapping paper and stared a moment and then looked up at Cutter with a "are you serious?" look. He then dd the same with Connor's gift, the look on his back going from confusion to amusement and back to confusion again.

"OK, do I even want to know where the hell you found these?" he asked with a laugh.

[itsananomaly]

"You can thank the Dean of Students at Fandom for these," Cutter said with a grin, "I have no idea where he finds these, I'm not sure I want to know either," he admitted, "we thought you might like a bit of colour in your wardrobe," he added with a laugh.

[thearcfamily]

"Riiiight" Becker said with another eyebrow lift as he looked from the shirts, to Connor, and then to Cutter. "I will have to keep these handy and wear them to the next Casual Friday at the ARC!"

Did they have a Casual Friday? No, no they did not- and that was the entire point!

"I'm afraid they are a little too bright for standard issues uniforms for the security team though" he said with a small wink and a laugh.

[itsananomaly]

"Well we can always implement a casual Friday," Cutter grinned, knowing full well that they did not have a casual Friday, you weren't getting out of it that easily Becker, "we were talking about doing more team bonding activities, I think that would be a very good one to kick start the team bonding sessions, what do you think Connor?" he asked with a smile as he glanced over at him.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Oh for sure! Good idea there Nick, definitely need to get Lester onboard with that idea ASAP!" Connor grinned at Becker who sighed as he shook his head and laughed.

"GUess there's no escaping my fate eh? You two are absolutely terrible sometimes you know that?" he asked as he held up both shirts, but there was a broad grin on his face and a laugh in his voice as he did.

[itsananomaly]

Cutter laughed at that as Becker held up the shirts, “I will definitely see what Lester thinks, I think it will be really good for team morale,” he added with a mischievous grin, “the shirts will definitely be mandatory,” he added, “actually we should try and grab a few more shirts from the shenanigans for the team as well,” he considered because he could definitely be a troll like that.

[thearcfamily]

"Oh well if it's not just me being embarrassed and humiliated then that sounds good" Becker said with a laugh as he folded up the shirts and put them on the end of the table. "Alright, which gift next? he asked looking at the remaining gifts.

"This one for sure!" Connor said with a smug grin as he looked at Cutter and handed Becker the smaller square-shaped package.

"Alright, this one it is then!" Becker said as he took the gift and examined it for a moment trying to see if there were any clues to hint at what it might be.

[itsananomaly]

“Well it’s not another shirt,” Cutter said with a grin as he watched Becker with the present, “if that’s what you were worried about,”

That wasn’t really that reassuring Cutter.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

Connor looked at Cutter with a knowing grin and then watched as Becker started opening the gift. He had to put a hand to his face to hide the smirk as he watched Becker's expression.

Becker gave a curious look as he opened the gift to find he was looking at the back of a picture frame. Casting a glance at Cutter and Connor he slowly turned it over to look at the picture there.

The expression on his face went from surprise to laughter as he realized it was a picture... the picture... of him licking that damned rock from the camping trip with Cutter.

"You know... yu are one sly little devil Nick," he said, trying to sound annoyed but the grin on his face spreading despite his efforts.

[itsananomaly]

Cutter couldn’t help it he started laughing, “well we needed to have proof that you went on a fossil hunt and that you used a very sound and reliable scientific method of testing for fossils,” his grin widened at that.

[thearcfamily]

"Great.... wonderful," Becker said with a slight eye roll as he laughed. "Guess I will have to find a place of honor for it in my office" Becker said, knowing that at least for a time he wouldn't get away with hiding it somewhere out of sight. And who knew... maybe none of his men would notice it. If he was lucky.

[itsananomaly]

Cutter grinned at that, "we'll hold you to that," he promised, "I'm sure we'll have many reasons to stop by your office after all, we can see where you decide to place it,"

[thearcfamily]

"Oh I am sure it will be the talk of the office!" Connor said with a smirk, really enjoying this more than he should. But it was so rare to see becker rattled and off his game so it was worth enjoying while he could.

Beker gave them both a look and then shook his head as he reached for the next gift. There were two left,and he wasn't sure whether he should be glad that was all or worried about what these two gifts might be.

"I am not entirely sure I want to open this one" he said with a playful laugh as he did in fact start to open it. The tag on it said from Cutter so he was watching him closely as he opened it.

[itsananomaly]

Cutter kept his expression as neutral as he could make it but now that they were getting to the actual proper gifts, he was feeling a little more anxious now and he was hoping that Becker did like his gift.

“I think you’ll find it’s quite useful,” he promised.

[thearcfamily]

Becker nodded and finished opening the gift. As he looked at it a grin spread over his face. An honest genuine grin as he looked over at Cutter.

"This is really cool!" he said as he examing the multi-tool in his hand. "Will be perfect for camping and even around here at the ARC. "Thank you. This is really really nice Nick!"

[itsananomaly]

Cutter was relieved that Becker really liked his gift, "I'm really glad you like it," he smiled, pleased to see Becker's reaction, "I thought you would be able to find several uses for it,"

[thearcfamily]

"Was a great idea Nick. Thank you" Becker said again and then he reached for the final gift, obviously from Connor. He started opening it and as he did and realized what was under the wrapping paper he started to chuckle.

"You guys know me too well it seems" he said as he held up the box containing a high-end shoe polishing kit. "And they old things were due for a nice spit and polish soon too!"

"Aye after everything we have been through, something would be wrong if we didn't know ya just a bit... Hillary," Connor said with a smirk, lowering his voice to just a whisper at the end there.