Joy was a far removed emotion from Elphais. Really, just about any emotion was far removed. His weekend with Charlotte had gone from bad to worse and then to whatever was worse than worse. He wasn't sure if she'd keep her promise; he wasn't sure if she would ever look at him again. The problem was, now that he knew that he still loved her, that he'd made a huge mistake in letting her go, he wanted her back. But, that was impossible.

Now more so than ever.

It was with that thought on his mind, yet again, that he had found his way into La Diplomat after he'd finished with a rather mundane iterrogation that had led to absolutely nowhere. He was, for all that he'd been in the cafe for five hours, only on his fourth drink and when Alyssa sat down, he barely did more than to move his eyes.

"What are you still doing here? Shouldn't you be at home crying into your pillow and missing your husband?" he asked, being unnecessarily cruel.