2013.06.29 - Common Ground

The secretary that works for Justin Hammer has, once again, misplaced a stack of messages that she was supposed to give to the CEO. It's truly a miracle that she hasn't been fired yet, especially since Hammer has a tendency to go through secretaries pretty quickly. The rest of the upper administration staff have a pool going as to how much longer she'll last, and the odds get steeper every day.
Among the missed messages that Justin finally got his hands on was the contact information for an FDNY firefighter by the name of Cace Gallagher. As the day started to draw to a close, the CEO gave the firefighter a call. They arranged to meet him at a restaurant in the Upper East Side for dinner, to discuss a time for Hammer to tour the firestation. Of course, it being Justin's side of town, he picked the restaurant. The place chosen is a high-end place by the name of Park Avenue Summer on 63rd. The place is designed modernly, with sparse decoration done in yellows, greens and light colors, and from the looks of it, costs a small fortune to eat at.
Justin arrives a few minutes early to the restaurant, and gets a table toward the back of the dining room. His security team is present, but they're stationed outside and out of sight. The CEO doesn't want to make Cace feel uncomfortable, and is starting to grow tired of being continuously tailed. Hammer, in a dark three piece suit, sits back in his chair looking through the contents of his phone.
A better part of the past couple weeks have been spent in an office, trying to convince a not too enthused fire captain to allow a weapons manufacturer to set foot in Rescue 1. After the tireless debate the firefighter had finally convinced his captain that letting Justin Hammer have a tour of the firehouse would be beneficial. As for dates, Cace picked a few that the captain finally agreed on, and that he would be in the firehouse. 
Another challenge entirely had presented itself when Cace had tried to forward the dates to the CEO himself. Cace knew that getting a hold of the man was probably going to be a challenge, but this was getting ridiculous. Giving it a couple days he would try again, and then try again, finally he was rewarded with a response. Settling on a time and a place an agreement to meet had been made.
Cace had a feeling the restaurant was going to be high end, and made an attempt to try and not look terribly out of place. Managing to find the old black suit and tie he had worn at his wedding nine years ago he threw it on, surprised that it still fit him. Nothing fancy, but he guessed it would be alright. 
Arriving about ten minutes after the CEO Cace made his way through the door, immediately shoving his hands into his pockets, outwardly showing he was feeling out of his element. A hostess made her way over to him, after inquiring that he was there to see Justin Hammer she showed him to his table. 
"You have a Hell of a taste in restaurants, I will give you that."
The CEO looks up from his phone when he catches sight of a pair of figures walking toward him. Smiling that shark-like grin of his, lots of teeth and little actual emotion, he stands up. "Mister Gallagher, good to see you, good to see you," he greets, holding his hand out to shake. "I hope you don't mind, I tried to pick a place that would have a good selection. Please, sit, relax." Hammer sits back down again glancing toward the hostess as she turns and walks back toward the front of the restaurant. He takes note of the other man's suit, and his attempt to dress up for the occasion. "I want to start off by offering my apologies for not getting in contact with you sooner. Turns out my secretary had misplaced a stack of messages. Ya know, it's hard as hell to find good help these days."
Taking the CEO's hand he gives a firm handshake, offering a smile in return, it being far more genuine than Justin's. "Good to see you as well mister CEO." Taking hold of one of the chairs he pulls it out and takes a seat, trying to relax a bit and try not to look and feel like he was completely out of place. "Never been here..." he said taking a look around. Or anywhere close for that matter. Leaning forward he leaned on the table, looking over to the CEO he offered a slight shrug. "It's quite alright, I figure you are a busy guy. I am just glad that you finally got back to me. Took a bit of convincing to get the captain to finally agree to the tour, so I can somewhat relate."
"Don't worry about the mister thing," Justin says with a grin. "Just call me Justin. Thought we went over this last time we talked." He looks up and over as the waitress comes to take their drink orders. Hammer orders a bottle of wine from the wine list, one that costs several hundred dollars. In reality he knows very little about wine, though he does fake it fairly well. It's expensive, it has to be good, right? After the waitress has taken her leave, the CEO looks back to the firefighter. He arches a brow. "Took some convincing, huh? Well, I appreciate you going to bat for me. I'm looking forward to seeing what it's really like in a firehouse. I mean, you can't trust what you see in the movies and on TV, right? Like that one, what was it called, Backhaul? No, Backdraft?"
Smiling the firefighter nodded. "True, we did." Odd to be on a first name basis, especially with someone with the standings of Justin Hammer. "I am perfectly okay with Cace." When the waitress arrives the firefighter leans back in his chair, sitting up straight and trying to make up for his improper posture he was displaying a moment before. After taking Justin's drink order the waitress turned to him. "Just water." An odd look was given from the waitress along with a slight shrug, but she immediately scrambled off to put in Hammer's order. Cace didn't want to put himself over what little budget he had, and he really shouldn't be drinking since he had a shift in the morning. "Yeah well, trying to convince the captain to do anything is like talking to a stack of rocks, he doesn't budge without good reason. Don't worry, I put in a good word for ya." Cace couldn't help but put his hand over his face and shake his head at the mentioning of the movie. "Waaaaay different. I despise that movie, Hollywood succeeded in failing with the research on that one. Though, that isn't much of a surprise. I am glad however, that you are looking forward to visiting the station, I am looking forward to giving you the tour. You are going to enjoy it, I hope."
Hammer chuckles lightly. "You know how those boss-types can be sometimes," he says with a tone that suggests humor but sounds more sarcastic. "Note taken on the movie, I'll take that one, and any others, with a grain of salt. 'Course, after the tour, I'll have a reference point." The waitress delivers the wine, and the water, pouring a glass of the expensive alcohol for the CEO before sipping off again to give the two men a few more minutes to look over the menu. Upon seeing the waitress again, it reminds Justin to look over the menu. "Everything here is pretty good. The ribs are great, unique recipe. The scallops are also excellent. Order whatever you'd like, my treat."
A slight nod was offered by the firefighter. "Well, in my case my so called boss can mean life or death, so I kind of feel obligated to listen to him..." Cace offered a grin. "Well, most of the time." A reference point, Cace hadn't thought of it that way. "Well if you are looking for a reference point, check out a movie called 'Ladder 49', it is a lot closer to reality and they actually did their research on it and the actors went through a course at a fire academy. Condensed course, but course nonetheless." The firefighter was glad that Justin was excited or the tour, and honestly Cace is glad to give it. Usually the tours were reserved for school groups or curious passerbys that asked if they could take photos, and Cace being the way he is, offered more than just photos and showed them at least around the bay. 
When the waitress returned he realized that he hadn't even touched the menu that had been placed in front of him, and immediately picked it up and started flipping through it. Thankful for the suggestions the firefighter immediately jumped to the conclusion that he was going to order ribs. Safe enough, he at least knew what those were. "You sure?" Cace asked when Justin offered to pay for his meal. "I do appreciate it."
Listening to your boss being a life or death decision is something that never really crossed Hammer's mind. Sure, in the labs, he could see that. It made him think a moment. He takes mental note of the movie title as well, wanting to check it out if he gets a chance. When the firefighter asks if he's sure about paying for the meal, Justin maks a dismissive gesture with his hand. "Of course. I picked the place, so it's only fair it's my treat, right?" He sets the menu aside, having made his decision, and picks up his wine glass. He gives the contents a light swirl (because that's what people do with wine, right? ) and takes a sip. "Oh, this is good, Sure you won't have some? I bought the whole bottle."
The waitress makes another appearance, this time to take orders. She looks toward Justin first, likely recognizing him from one of his many appearances in the media. "I'll have a serving of the chocolate-tea ice cream, and the surf and turf. Medium rare. Oh, and bring out an order of the brie-stuffed tomatoes. And the ice cream first, please." Did he really just ask for desert first? Just one of the many off quirks about the man. The waitress nods, not batting an eyelash, and turns toward Cace for his order.
"Thanks, I really appreciate it." Honestly, the firefighter was grateful for the offer. Money has been really tight these past few weeks and any and all help he could get was appreciated. Setting pride aside was difficult, but he also didn't want to make the CEO angry if he could help it. Jeeze, he bought the whole bottle? Shrugging the firefighter took one of the empty glasses on the table and poured a little bit of the wine. "Sure, I guess a little bit won't hurt." Taking a sip of the wine, he let it set in his mouth for a minute so he could get a good taste of it. "Alright, that isn't bad." He said, setting the glass back down on the table.
Desert first? Interesting. The firefighter didn't question it however, and instead placed his order with the waitress. "I'll have an order of the ribs please." He said with a smile, taking Justin's advice. Jotting down their orders on her pad the waitress offered a nod and turned away.
"So, I do have a few dates in mind for the tour. I don't know what your schedule looks like or how busy you are, so I managed to land a few days over the next couple months. I will be in the station for all of them, so I can give you a legitimate tour."
Paying for the food is partly a kind gesture, after all Cace is helping Justin out with a decent publicity stunt. But it's also to cement his status, the outing was engineered to show the kind of wealth and power the CEO wielded. He could have picked anywhere to eat, there's a lot of good food in New York City that's a lot more affordable and less pretentious. Sad as it is, that sort of thinking is just hardwired into Hammer's brain at this point, and it's difficult for him to do something nice simply for the sake of doing it. There always seems to be an underlying motive or personal benefit.
"You won't be disappointed with the ribs," Hammer says, leaning back in his chair. "They actually use Doctor Pepper in the recipe. They come out amazing." Finally coming back to the subject at hand, Justin nods. "I'll be out of town from the third to the eighth on business, but beyond that I think I'm fairly open. The TeXpO was canceled, and that was the last big trade show I had scheduled for this year."
"Dr. Pepper huh?" Cace said, leaning on the table and crossing his arms over the top of it again. "Sounds like ribs and soda would make a great combination, why didn't I think of that?" Making a mental note of the possible new recipe, deciding it was one that he might have to try out at the firehouse for the guys. "Well..." Scratching his chin thoughtfully. "I work twenty four hours and than I am off forty eight. So, pretty easy schedule. I am actually in the house on the second, if that isn't too soon for you to plan around. If not there are the eleventh and the fourteenth coming up that the captain agreed would be acceptable dates, though we are usually really busy on the weekends." Cace had forgotten to bring something with him to write on, and it had completely escaped him to try and print out some kind of schedule for the CEO to look over. "I can send you the other dates as well if none of those will work out for ya."
Justin reaches into an inside pocket of his suit coat and pulls out the phone he had been looking at before Cace arrived. He navigates to the calendar app and looks over the brightly colors lines that cross over the date squares. "Second is gonna be a bit too soon," he comments, "Need to get everything ready for my trip out to Nevada. Eleventh I could do, I can move the couple meetings I have. If you can, email me the rest of the dates, just in case something comes up. You have my email address, right? Should have been on my card." Depending on how things go in Nevada this next week, he could either be flying high or doing damage control when he gets back. It all rides on how well a Bullshark can fly. 
"So you really work for a full twenty four hours at a time? Isn't that really tiring?" Justin has pulled days like that, no sleep and insane hours, but those are the exception, not the norm. He can't imagine it being his regular work schedule.
Duh, cellphones. "The eleventh will work for me than, I will be sure to e-mail you when I get a chance and let you know the other dates that are available. There are a few fall back dates, so not to worry if something comes up and you aren't able to make it. I understand, I can't even imagine how busy you are." Reaching for his wallet he pulled out the business card that Hammer had given to them when they first met, confirming that he did in fact have his e-mail address. Talking with the CEO has caused Cace to relax a bit, and it shows. Finally he was able to sit back in his chair and cross his arms over his chest, the form in which he usually sits.
"That I do, I work twenty four hours, get fourty eight off, work another twenty four, off fourty eight, work a final twenty four, and then I get five days off, known as a Kelly week. You get used to it after a while."
Justin nods as he listens to the explanation of the hours. "So I guess you're handling emergencies the entire time you're there, then? You get some down time, right?" Workaholic or not, Hammer would go stir crazy having a schedule like that. He's grown rather used to scheduling most of his time how he sees fit, and giving himself down time each day. The waitress brings the two men their meals, setting the plates down onto the table in front of them. She places Justin's order of ice cream in front of him, with his main course off to the side. She had spaced bringing it out before the meal itself, not used to customers asking for desert as an appetizer. The portions are what you'd expect for a place of this nature- not as much as you would think for the price you pay, but there's still enough to eat. Food delivered the waitress slips away once again. Hammer takes his napkin and tucks it into his shirt collar as he looks over the now-laden table. "Oh, this looks good. I'm starving, had an early lunch today."
The firefighter shrugged when Justin asked if he got any downtime during his shift. "It depends really, some days are slower than others, and some days you are dealing with an emergency during a majority of your shift. Definitely have had those days where I haven't had a minute to relax at all and are lucky to even get a decent meal in. I don't mind though, I am in this business to help people, and I love what I do. Sacrifices are just a part of it." Cace trailed off some, causing him to briefly looking back on all of the sacrifices him and his brethren have made over the years. "I can't imagine doing anything else though, there is nothing more satisfying than what I do. Well, nothing I have found anyway. Believe me I have worked my fair share of odd jobs."
When the waitress arrived with their food the firefighter unfolded his arms and sat up straight. "Thank you ma'am." He said with a big smile. Cace himself was on the hungry side, hadn't eaten since early that morning and had spend most of the day helping out at his friends busy auto repair shop. Taking the napkin he unraveled it to unveil the fancy silverware and placed the napkin in his lap. That was what fancy people did right? Though, Hammer tucked his in his collar. Cace wasn't going to go that far. "I am starving to, this does look delicious." Less food than he was used to, but it works. "So, any particular reason why you eat desert first?" Finally he had to ask, curiosity getting the better of him.
Making a sacrifice for your work. Justin actually does know about that. His company is part of what killed his marriage, and he has put in a lot of long hours and traded a lot of potential opportunities in order to keep Hammer Industries afloat. Not the same as putting your life on the line for someone else's, but it's at least a little common ground. Both men are hard workers. "I can believe it. Risking your life to save others. We're damned, damned lucky to have folks like you." The CEO starts in on his ice cream, chuckling at the question. "Why not? Life is short and uncertain Even Sif, the Goddess of War, agrees with me on that." He speaks the deity's name as if he's actually spoken to her, in person, and they could even be friends. "In your line of work, I'm surprised you don't."
It seemed that the two men did have common ground, both have put aside everything to pursue something they love to do, and have lost a lot in the battle. Cace had lost his father, his marriage, and almost his son thanks to the nature of his job. At least if the day ever came when he had to bow out of the show, he does have a back up plan. "Well, know that each and every one of us loves what we do. Yeah, we have rough days, and things don't always go well. But I be damned if I am not on that rig the next day despite everything." Hearing the CEO's explanation of dessert first, it did make sense. Though it was odd to hear him speak about the Goddess of War agreeing with him. Were they friends, the firefighter had met the God of Thunder himself so it wasn't out of the question. Him and Justin seemed to be good friends. Cace is all about being open minded though, and doesn't question what others believe. 
"Actually I rarely do dessert." He admitted taking one of the ribs and starting to chew on it. "I try my hardest to stay in the best shape that I can, so sugar is rarely on the menu."
For someone who eats desert first, Justin appears to be in good health. He's far from overweight, staying pretty trim, and it's likely his fidgety, ADHD nature that keeps him from gaining too much weight because of it. "Guess it's a good thing you don't eat a lot of desert, then. Definitely don't want to be out of shape for what you do. For me? Doesn't matter so much. I just run a multi-billion dollar company, I don't save lives." While the comment is meant to be humorous, the tone in Hammer's voice could make it sound a bit boastful. Not how he meant it, of course, but he seems to lack the proper regulator to control what he means versus what he says.
"Have to be in the best shape that I can be. I am not saying that dessert is a bad thing, I just can't over do it." Justin's comment on not saving lives was a little rough, but the firefighter didn't call him on it. "Ya know, in a way you do save lives. I mean, HI does have contracts with the military does it not? I view weapons as a means of protection; it just depends on the hands they are put in. So, in a way, you are protecting our soldiers and saving their lives. At least that is how I see it." Cace ate in silence for the moment, enjoying the ribs that he had ordered. Yes, definitely going to have to try the soda with the ribs, the guys at the house would get a kick out of it. Well, if they hadn't tried it already. "Seems we do have some things in common Justin."
...And the firefighter just gained a lot of points with the CEO. Hammer looks up from his meal with a grin. "Thank you, thank you," he says holding his hands out a bit, the right still holding the spoon for his ice cream. "Finally, someone gets it. If we don't properly arm our military, police, security and even our civilians, I think we'd be in a lot more trouble than we are. And with all the meta-human types out there, we have to be double careful. This world is really starting to turn on its ear, and we have to be prepared." He takes another bite of his dessert. "You may be right, think we're more alike than first glance."
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