He went every morning to a small coffee shop on the fringes of Death City where he would drink a cup of coffee and read the morning paper. There were rarely other patrons, and there weren't waiters constantly inquiring if he needed a refill. If he wanted more, it required him to stand and actively move to the register and order another. Stein considered this place a small slice of paradise in a very crowded and active city.

That was why, when he saw a woman sitting where he usually would, a romance novel in one hand and a cup of tea in another, he nearly turned around in a swirl of coat tails and left. The old woman behind the register gave him a small smile and held up a cup- he knew that it was what he was there for, would be done exactly to his taste and sighed. Finding another coffee shop that could serve him acceptable coffee would be more bothersome than sitting in a different seat.

With a small smile, one that didn't touch his eyes, he accepted the cup from the woman and placed the correct change on the counter. She patted his hand briefly as he laid the money down and then swept it off the counter and into her hand before sorting the coins into the register as he looked out at the mostly empty shop.

He finally settled on a seat that was further from the door than he would have liked, but still offered a clear view of the street. He sat there and drank his coffee, occasionally looking up from the paper to see if the woman was still there.

She never left.

He finished reading his paper and moved to the trashcan beside the door, throwing it away as he passed through and out into the street. He turned once more to look in the window, the light flashing off his glasses and obscuring his eyes.

A good thing, too.

The woman met his gaze boldly and gave him a smile and a small wave. He turned and left, the smile falling from the woman's face.

She was there when he arrived the next morning as well and Stein felt his hands twist into fists at his sides. This was his sanctuary, and she was invading it. He paid the old woman again and moved to the seat he had chosen the morning before, closing his eyes to fight off the irritation before opening his paper.

When he opened his paper she was sitting across from him, a smile on her face, her golden hair shimmering in the sunlight and framing her face. It almost completely obscured the eye patch that covered one of her eyes.

"Can I help you?" he asked acidly, shaking the paper open with a snap of his wrists.

"Well, you were here yesterday and I caught you staring at me a couple times, so I thought that I'd come and introduce myself today. Marie Mjolnir. It's a pleasure to meet you!" She held her hand out, as if expecting him to shake it, and Stein closed the paper before standing.

"I do not share that pleasure. You have interrupted my routine for the second day in a row. As it seems that you now wish to converse, which I do not, I will be leaving. Good bye."

He left Marie and his coffee sitting on the table and strode out of the coffee shop, his paper tucked underneath his arm. The old woman bit her lip before coming out from behind the register, and placed a hand on Marie's shoulder.

"Don't take it too hard, sweetheart."

Marie looked up at the woman, a smile still on her face. "Oh, don't worry. I'll be here tomorrow, and the day after. I love your coffee."

"Tea."

Marie just laughed. "I'll see you tomorrow, Rose!"

Stein arrived half an hour earlier than normal, desperate to have his daily ritual complete before that infuriating woman arrived again.

She sat there, a paper and a cup of coffee across the table from her, a cup of tea in her left hand and a book in her right. Stein's fists clenched as he realized that she was actively trying to involve herself in his daily routine instead of simply leaving him alone.

"Oh, come on! It's not like I'm going to bite you. It's better to share your morning with someone than to sit by yourself. Isn't that right, Rose?" The woman asked as she looked over at the older woman.

'So her name is Rose.' Stein thought as he stood in the doorway of the shop.

"Quite so, Marie. It'd do him a world of good to socialize with someone anyway." A sly look crossed the old woman's face, "Unless, of course, he just isn't up to the challenge."

With a growl Stein moved to the table and sat down, snapping the paper open and blatantly ignoring the woman while he finished reading it and drank his coffee. He left the money for it on the table beside the newspaper and left.

A smirk covered Marie's face behind her romance novel.

It went on for weeks, Stein gradually becoming more and more familiar and comfortable with the woman, Marie's, intrusion into his daily routine. He eventually stopped leaving the money on the table when he found that she had also left it.

It was a Monday morning that he walked in and didn't find her waiting on him. Without even realizing it he furrowed his brow and looked around to see if she was simply at another table. He looked at Rose and the old woman just shrugged.

"She didn't come in yet."

Stein paid for his coffee for the first time in nearly a month and sat down at the table they shared and waited. An hour passed, his coffee grew cold, and his newspaper sat unread beside his cup. Finally, after what seemed like a short eternity, the bell above the shop's door rang as the door opened. Stein watched a man enter the shop, look around almost confused, and step to the counter to speak with Rose. Rose, after a second, pointed at Stein and the man walked over.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry for bothering you, but do you usually drink coffee with a woman?"

Stein's eyes snapped up to the man's, noting the fact that the man's were kept to mere slits. "Who are you?"

"Her friend, Joe. She was in an accident a couple days ago and asked me to come and find you, to let you know it might be a while before she could come back for your "dates" as she called them. She's fine, it just took me a while to find the right coffee shop." Stein was silent, his hand wrapped around his cup in a white knuckled grip. Joe saw it and said quickly, "She's fine though. Just got bruised up and is staying home from work for a while. That's why she won't be coming here."

"Thank you." Stein stood and left, leaving Joe and Rose behind him.

"You want me to do what?"

Stein met the red-head's gaze squarely. "I want you to find this woman's address."

"I'm not helping you stalk someone! You don't even know her last name, Stein." The man reclined in his chair, propping his feet up on his desk. "It's not happening."

"Spirit-"

"Officer Albarn."

"Spirit, how long have you been on me to meet someone? I spend about an hour each morning with her."

"But you don't know anything about her!" Spirit cried out as he sat upright in his chair.

"She sent someone to tell me she had been hurt!"

"Then why didn't you just ask him how to get in contact with her?" Spirit asked, his elbows resting on the desk as Stein paced the room.

"You know I don't handle new people well."

Silence stretched between the two men. Finally Spirit sighed and nodded before saying, "I need a picture though." Stein just stared at him and Spirit sighed again. "I'll take care of it. Does she have any identifying marks?"

"Yes, an eye patch."

Spirit sighed, looking at the picture he held in his hands. The owner of Death's Coffee, Rose, had given it to him. Apparently it had been taken without either of them knowing, and Spirit thought that they made a cute little couple. The blonde in the picture was happily chatting away and Stein was in the middle of a nod, taking a sip of coffee.

He had lucked out and one of the men in the precinct had recognized the blonde- she took care of his son at one of the local preschools. He was outside the preschool now, getting ready to go in and ask about the woman in the photograph.

'Marie,' a voice in the back of his mind said. He straightened his tie and jacket then stepped into the preschool, looking for the superintendent.

He found the woman in her office, courtesy of her secretary. 'Her very hot secretary...' Spirit thought as he stepped into the office. The woman looked up, her intricately braided hair hanging in front of her.

"Kami said that you had some questions about one of our staff who had failed to appear for work, Officer. I'll do my best to help you."

"I'm simply wanting to find out this woman's name and address," Spirit said, showing the picture to the woman.

"Marie Mjolnir. I'm certain I have her information in a file, if you'll give me a moment. May I ask why you're investigating her?"

"There was a report that she may have been in an unreported accident and my department volunteered to step in and check on her."

"How altruistic." There was something in the woman's tone that gave Spirit pause, a cold bitterness, but it was gone a second later. "Here you go, Officer. This is her address and home phone. She's a valued member of our staff, so let us know if you find anything out, please."

Spirit nodded and left her office, only stopping briefly to talk with her secretary. He left the building with two phone numbers.

Marie yawned, curled into her blankets, her right arm cradled against her chest by a sling. She could have removed it to sleep, but she felt more comfortable knowing that she couldn't fling it out and risk hurting it again. She had slept in late, and had only been roused by a sudden noise that she couldn't quite remember now. She gave a stretch and another yawn escaped her.

A sudden knocking caused her to jump and freeze. Her left hand grabbed for her eye patch and with some difficulty she managed to get it in place before pulling on a pair of pants over her sleep shorts and moving to the door. She stood on her tiptoes to peer out the peep hole and wanted to burst out laughing.

She opened the door and Stein stood there, two to-go cups and a newspaper in hands.

"May I come in?"

Marie smiled as she moved out of the doorway.

A/N: It's been a while since I posted anything I wrote, but this will be only the first of about 30 chapters in this fic.

I was sent a challenge of prompts to write for my OTP and this is the first of those prompts: a Coffee Shop AU.

The next will be posted soon (hopefully the day after this is done.) I hope you all enjoyed this.

~Lialane.