A night out. A real night out to forget all the sh*t that had happened. That's what Dinah needed. Well, that's what she figured her friends needed. Laurel, well Laurel had been a bit better since she dragged her across half the US in a tour bus. But still, that was constant activity, something going on every minute of every day if they weren't passed out on the bed in the back of the bus. It had kept Laurel distracted and busy. Which was what Dinah figured she needed most. But this was the last stop of the tour. Dinah wanted to do something more. She wanted to get out. She usually got cabin fever around this leg of the journey anyway. And being in New York afforded her all sorts of ample opportunities to get out. So she simply told Laurel to get ready, they were making a break for it. She wouldn't tell the lovely blonde exactly where they were going. Just that they were getting out.

And that they had someone they had to pick up.

Dinah signaled the limo driver to stop in front of the Avenger's Mansion and she ran out, snagging her jacket as they stopped. Her outfit was not meant for the outdoors of New York in early spring, but she wasn't planning on being outside much tonight. So she slipped the leather jacked on over her bare shoulders and hit the call button on her phone as she stood in front of the gate.

"Aileen! Get your ass out here! We're gonna go have fun!" She jumped up and down in front of the gate as she held the phone to her ear. "I've got a limo! C'mon! There will be naked women!"

I heard you had a voice like an angel

As much as Laurel just loved surprises, whenever it was Dinah seemingly surprising her, she always had these moments of worry. She knew Dinah well, probably better than almost everyone else out there. So she knew that, when Dinah wanted to keep something a surprise, it meant Laurel probably wouldn't outright approve of it right off the bat. What the spunky red head could possibly be planning, she had no idea. And, honestly, at this point, she supposed she shouldn't even care anymore. She just had to trust that her friend wasn't about to thrust them into trouble. So she had gotten ready for a night out, even though part of her still just wanted to stay in. If she was honest, most of her time spent outside of the concerts this tour had been spent trying to just hide away on the tour bus. She was pretty sure that had something to do with why she was being forced out at the moment.

Putting an outfit together for herself hadn't really been all that hard when she actually went through her clothes. And, yes, while she knew it was stupid to have so much green, considering it was pretty much the biggest color in her costume, she couldn't help but have a love for the color. Besides, she liked to think it made her eyes pop and she knew damn well she looked good in it. After seeing Dinah's outfit, though, she almost wondered if she was over dressing herself. And she couldn't help but find it odd the lack of a real warming component to her friends outfit. Oh well, she probably didn't need to worry that much about it.

Her eyes stayed focused out the limo window, not nearly as enthused as she probably should be. Dinah was trying, that was what really mattered. And she appreciated the effort. Maybe a proper night out would do her some good. Even if she wanted to just curl up with a book in her hotel room. Or on her phone with her parents. She still couldn't believe that Ollie had done this to her. Her own father tricked her to get her to go out. She still loved him of course but damn if she still wasn't just a little annoyed at the fact he'd set this up. There were worse people to be stuck with though. She'd rather be stuck with her best friend than, say, her brother, for one thing. A small groan escaped her lips when her ears caught onto the words 'naked women'. Getting her window to get rolled down, she shot a pointed glare to her friend, trying not to smile. "Dammit, Dinah, I told you I'm not a stripper," she shouted, trying to get heard by whoever the other woman was on the phone with.

472	Aileen Barton Dinah Grayson
woke her muse up right quick and in a hurry! hope this is alright.

Blinded by the light shining from your own halo

✿

Aileen hadn't been expecting to do much that day. She'd gone through her usual routine of waking up, eating a healthy breakfast and then going for a five kilometre run. It was after that she'd gotten a bit stuck for what to do. She hadn't been home in a while, and the others were in and out of Avengers Tower far more frequently than she was. To tell the truth, she'd only actually been home twice since....what had happened, and both of those times had been to pick stuff up. She knew the others were probably worried about her, and she was working to convince them she was fine. And she was. She was absolutely fine. She just didn't really want to be on her own if she could avoid it.

She'd watched a couple of the movies they'd had lying around the place, but either James or T'Shan seemed to have supplied most of their DVDs, as they were all spy movies or action movies, or, for some reason, an old copy of Titanic, and honestly watching Leonardo DiCaprio drowning or people saving the White House got kinda boring after a while. So she'd taken a very very long shower to try and unwind a bit. Maybe she'd go see what Ginnie or T'Shan was doing tonight, if they wanted to hang out. She had just gotten out of the shower and was starting to get dressed when her phone buzzed, and, with slightly sad speed, she rushed to pick it up. A distraction would be good.

She wasn't expecting to hear Dinah's voice on the other end, but she grinned as the other girl greeted her in a fairly unexpected manner.
"Hey there," She said into the phone, trying to hide how happy she sounded that somebody was calling. She listened to Dinah's vague description of what was happening, but she'd made her mind up from the second she'd heard "come on". "Where are we going?" She asked, but she didn't care. She'd be happy to just sit in a bar right now if it meant she'd have more company. And then she snorted as naked women were mentioned. "Alright, I'm definitely there. But give me a minute, unless you want me to walk out in just my panties and be one of those naked women." She was rushing over to her wardrobe to pick out something to wear when she heard the dim shout from someone else. She didn't recognise the voice. "Tell your friend I wouldn't mind if she changed her mind on that by the end of the night."

Aileen then hung up the phone so she'd have both hands free for picking an outfit, and went through her wardrobe quickly. In the end she settled for a little black dress that showed she was looking for a good night out. Surely this sort of thing would convince Ginnie she was back to normal, right? Going out with Dinah, hanging out with naked women, apparently. That would be enough, surely. She pulled on the dress, fetched her purse and picked a nice pair of shoes, and then headed out, being careful not to turn out the lights. She didn't want to come back to a dark tower. She grinned more as she saw Dinah by the gate, and strolled over to hug her quickly.
"You look awesome," She told her, "So what are we doing with naked women?"

"I'm not telling you where we're going. This is a kidnapping. That would defeat the purpose!" Dinah laughed over the phone. She looked back and grinned mischievously at Laurel as she hung up the phone, completely unaware of the previous meeting between the two women. She was dragging them both out for a night of drunken debauchery, and damn it, that was what was going to happen, whether they liked it or not. She let out a small excited squeak as Aileen came out to meet her and gave her a big hug. She looked very, very nice in that LBD, and Dinah had to stare at her appreciatively.

"Yes! Naked women. No, it won't be Laurel who's doing the strip tease. At least not while she's sober. My petite blonde sister from another mister is as grumpy pants as you are and I thought I'd take you ladies out. We do a lot of shit and sometimes forget to take care of ourselves. So, just let dear old Dinah take care of you tonight, hmm?" Dinah smiled as she looped her arm through Aileen's, guiding her over to the limo. She opened the door and with a fabulous and over dramatic wave, motioned for Aileen to get into the car.

"Your chariot awaits, mad'am." She smiled, having no clue as to the time bomb about to go off in front of her.

I heard you had a voice like an angel

She couldn't quite lie. The idea of the girls night had been, even if only secretly, exciting at first. Everyone was right, she needed to start trying to do more, well, normal things again. And there wasn't much normal about trying to hide in a tour bus while she went around with Dinah, was there? It wasn't necessarily easy to get back into the swing of things but at least she had people that understood. She hated using anything as an excuse, hated just how weak and feeble all of it had made her, but that didn't really change it. No, the only thing changing anything was, well, Dinah at this point. She'd probably still be locking herself up in her room if it wasn't for the red haired rock goddess getting her out and about.

So she had been a little excited, at least at first. She had her best friend with her and she was potentially getting to make a newer one out of someone that Dinah already knew. There was nothing more exciting about all of that, now was there? At least, not until she caught a glimpse of the other woman as she looked out the window. The excitement and happiness that had been so prevalent in her features just moments ago all but disappeared as she stared at her. She knew her, not well, but she did. Well, not as well as that b*tch that had taken her place for a year had. But she supposed that didn't quite matter when it came to stupid bimbos like that chick. What was he name again? Ai-something. Not that she really cared.

There was a roll of her eyes as Laurel crossed her arms over her chest, turning her head away from the window. "Just great," she muttered to herself. Scratch what she was thinking before, she'd probably prefer the lock away treatment again to the hell that she was sure she'd be experiencing tonight.

xxx	Dinah Grayson Aileen Barton
i'm sh*t for taking so long and i know it

Blinded by the light shining from your own halo

✿

Aileen couldn't fight a grin as Dinah squeaked and came over to give her a hug. The other girl's enthusiasm was pretty infectious, and it had been a while. She squeezed Dinah as they hugged, clinging on just a second longer after she moved to pull away before finally letting go. Alcohol, naked women and Dinah. With a bit of luck, this would be exactly what she needed. Dinah's appreciative stare didn't go unnoticed, and Aileen shot her a cheeky wink, already feeling more like her old self. "Hands off until I've had a few," She said teasingly.

Aileen's grin continued through Dinah's explanation of the night out and the naked women, right up until she heard the name of the third person who'd be accompanying them. Laurel. There'd been a really big misunderstanding there, and one that was probably more on Aileen than anything else. But how had she been supposed to know the girl had been replaced, and that it was her (hopefully) bitchier and less friendly duplicate. Sure, that duplicate had helped stop a bank robbery, but with it had come tension and a few threats of arrest. Aileen hadn't been to happy, and well, she hadn't exactly been the nicest to Laurel after everything, and now she was pretty sure the archer really didn't like her. Which promised to make an awkward night out. Perhaps a few drinks and some debauchery would break the ice slightly?

Aileen forced her smile to keep up as much as she could. No need to make Dinah worry that her night was going to blow up in her face, and responded to Dinah as happily as she could.
"Well we can't keep the naked women waiting," She said to Dinah, linking arms as well, "Especially not if...uh, your friend might be joining them sometime." She felt a bit guilty saying that now she knew who the friend was. Perhaps she'd buy Laurel a drink. Or several. Maybe a lot. She had the money, after all.

Aileen gave Dinah an unconvincing smile as she got in the car and sat in her seat, trying to give Laurel as much space as she could. She waved awkwardly. No way was she going to go for a handshake, that would just lead to....unpleasantness.
"Uh...hi Laurel," She said, trying to sound as friendly as she could. She was hoping Laurel would give her a chance to make it up to her, for Dinah at least.