Pepper looked at the napkin quizzically for a moment before the recognition dawned on her face, which came in two parts; first wide-eyed embarrassment, then a sarcastic snort as she snatched the napkin from him and wiped her nose off. Nope, nothing ladylike here, that was for sure.

"You'd think payin' for their room wouldn't be a problem for most of 'em," she said wonderingly. "I mean, most of them c'n just make whatever they want, right? Then again, so c'n you, so I guess it doesn't really matter." She knew there was an economy lesson in there somewhere, but she really wasn't interested.

She chuckled after a moment, remembering how uncomfortable John had been and oh-so-amused to know that he had been nervous about the wrong person under the mistletoe. "Well, that explains a few things for sure," she decided before sighing heavily. "They're not talkin'? I'll beat them both. Bloody stupid the two of them, you can't fix anythin' without-" But she cut herself off as some private voice in her ear shouted the word hypocrite. As if she were any damn better. No, in the end it was Adam, Adam as always. He was the one who knew what needed to be done.

So the least she could do was meet him halfway. "I c'n ask Crowley. He did it b'fore, I think they just got lax with 'im away. And I dun't need Gabriel for it; it's nothin' I haven't dealt with on the playground when we were tiny." She felt his gaze, always keener than she felt anyone's, so she looked up and met it. "I just... wasn't sure. About how badly I'd screwed up. With you." She had luckily managed to stop herself before she said us; there wasn't an us, there was him.