The weekend had definitely not been as nice or as relaxing as Lee had hoped it would be. Between the talk with Robert on Friday, how heavy the conversation at the bar on Saturday with Rachel and Matt had gotten, and then her sparring match with Tony on Sunday which had left Lee not entirely sure how things stood with her siblings and with a broken hand and rib.

The breaks weren’t bad, just hairline fractures according to DocProf, who had then healed her up. But Lee hadn’t realized that she had been hurt as bad as she had been.

Overall, not a great weekend.

Then she had to rehash a lot of it on Monday because she had told Matt she would explain. So by the time Lee and Tarin were home Monday night, Lee was wanting normal.

Normal (for her now) like watching baseball together on the couch Monday night.

Normal like going for a quiet, simple dinner date on Wednesday.

To be honest, Lee couldn't think of anywhere that could be described as a simple, normal dinner date restaurant better than the Chinese restaurant. And, despite the fact that they ate from there just about every Friday night, Tarin hadn't gone to eat there yet.

Since the restaurant was closer to the shop than it was to the apartment, they had arranged for Lee to meet Tarin there. And so Lee arrived at the shop wearing a black dress with white dotted lines, hoping that his last session wasn’t running late.

Normal was such a wildly relative term, Tarin had to think as he sat, waiting for his last session of the day to get over and done with. It was the older lady, Mrs. Miller, who seemed to simply come to his shop to bicker with her dead husband. It was absolutely wild what some spirits considered unfinished business, but this man had shucked his mortal coil only to come back in spiritual form to argue with his wife as she described her weekly escapades. Presumably the man would continue to do so until his widow joined him in the great beyond.

In a way it was kind of heartwarming, but it was also incredibly weird. Who was he to judge someone else’s normal though? The woman was there at the shop like clockwork for her appointment every week. It also wasn’t a difficult session for Tarin, he wasn’t required to do much of anything besides facilitate the conversation between the two and usher Mrs Miller out the door when time was up.

Tonight though, he was a bit more impatient than usual for things to finish up. Lee was meeting him here and they were going to actually go to the little Chinese shop they often got takeout from and eat there. It was a wonderfully normal thing, and they’d agreed that they desperately needed a little normal after the last couple of weeks.

It was like ever since the quiet weekend they’d spent together right after Kevin had left for Texas, it had been one wild event after another. From the building collapse, to all of the incredibly stressful interactions with Lee’s siblings, to the sparring match a few days ago where Lee had been determined to show her brother and sister just how strong and capable she was. Things had been…hectic. So far, this week had been alright. They’d watched the Mets win (again) on Monday. Yesterday had just been an average night at home. Tonight they were going to dinner.

The watch on Tarin’s wrist sounded, indicating that the session was over and he gave the couple a chance to say their goodbyes and gently ushered Mrs Miller towards the door telling her he’d see her next week.

The door shut behind the woman and Tarin bustled about for a few minutes, getting everything tidied up and closed so that once Lee arrived they could get going. She arrived right on time and Tarin couldn’t help but grin as he made his way over to greet her with a quick kiss. ”Nice dress..” he said, wondering how it was possible that Lee looked good in literally everything, ”And better timing…just finished up.”

When Lee walked into the shop, she was relieved to see that Tarin was alone in the shop and was tidying up for the night. And Tarin immediately came over to give her a quick kiss.

Returning the kiss, Lee smiled up at Tarin. ”Thank you,” she replied. ”Oh, you mean I don’t get to just sit here and watch you work for a few minutes?”

That was a shame. Maybe Lee needed to get Tarin to the gym with her to work out again. Or find some work for him to do around the apartment…

But it did mean they could get to dinner that much sooner.

”So I’m guessing your afternoon went well?” Lee asked as she waited for Tarin to grab anything else he needed before they left.

”I’m sure you’re devastated…” Tarin said when Lee commented that she wouldn’t get to watch him work. Who would want to watch that?

Had his afternoon gone well? Tarin shrugged, ”It was fine. It’s a lot better now though.” he said, leaning through to turn off the lights in the back of the shop. It had been like every other day working with dead people and the people who wanted to talk to them. Some days were more uncomfortable than others, but today had just been…fine. Like he’d said.

Checking his pockets to make sure he had his keys and his wallet, Tarin made his way back towards Lee and stopped close enough to slip an arm around her. It wasn’t like they had reservations or anything and Lee sure looked nice in that dress.

”How was your day?”

Lee simply shrugged a shoulder slightly when Tarin commented about her being devastated. Watching a session, she could definitely do without seeing that. Most of the time in her experience, if the session wasn’t boring or searching for some sort of family treasure…Well, if it wasn’t one of those, it then was generally not a good session for very different reasons.

After he’d turned the light in the back off, Tarin made his way back to her. But rather than heading to the door, his arm wrapped around Lee’s waist and she smiled up at him. ”Well, Matt’s stopped looking at me in complete shock,” she told Tarin. Though, to be honest Matt had taken everything so much better than Rachel and Robert had in many ways. Yes, he had been very surprised, but Matt had also known even less of what she was actually capable of than her siblings had.

”I also finally managed to get an appointment scheduled, so overall, it was a pretty good day.”

Lee smiled up at him and Tairn returned the look, his whole demeanor relaxing as he stood there in the shop and held Lee. Things just felt better when she was around.

Matt had apparently adjusted to the news that Lee was quite a bit more than met the eye and was no longer staring at her in shock. Tarin had been nervous all day Monday waiting to hear from Lee how things had gone when she’d filled Matt in on some of the things she’d told Rachel and Robert. Lee had said that she was going to hold some things back, and she apparently had, but Matt had still managed to take things better than either Rachel or Robert had. It should have been surprising to Tarin that things had shaken out that way, but knowing what he knew, it just wasn’t.

”You sure it was shock and not open admiration?” he said. With Matt, it could have honestly been either.

Lee had also made an appointment, ”Well that’s good, aat least it sounds like you were productive.” he commented, assuming that if Lee wanted to share what kind of appointment it was, she would. ”I was equal parts bored, secondhand embarrassed, and impatient all day…even if things were fine.”

Pulling Lee close for just another moment, Tarin sighed and released her as he stepped back with. The goal tonight was to go out.

”Ready?”

Lee laughed when she heard Tarin’s question about Matt. ”Nah, I’ve seen that look from him before,” she said jokingly. Mostly. ”This was different.”

Tarin’s day, however, sounded, well, it sounded rather typical. Though, secondhand embarrassment could sometimes provide interesting stories. Sometimes, unfortunately not always.

’You’ve been impatient?” Lee asked innocently as she looked up at Tarin. ”Why, is there something that you've been waiting for?”

And much too soon for her liking, Tarin let her go, asking if she was ready. No, she wasn't’. Lee wanted to spend much more time in his arms. But she had also been the one who had wanted to have a normal night, a nice, simple, good dinner date with just the two of them. And the longer that they stood in the shop, the less likely that was to happen.

”Yeah, I’m ready,” she said as she smiled up at Tarin. They did have the entire night after dinner still.

Tarin bet that Lee had seen that look of open admiration from Matt before. She sounded like she was joking, but if Matt had known Lee as long as he had, and not had that look on his face before…Tarin didn’t know what to think.

Shock was a reasonable response though. At least far better than stubborn disbelief. Tarin still found it interesting that Lee had managed to keep those things about herself almost completely separate from her work at the bar. Not the details, but some of the things that had happened had gone a long way towards making Lee who she was. Knowing those things was knowing her.

As for being impatient, Tarin had nodded and wondered yet again if they really needed to go out to have a perfectly normal evening. Staying in was the best way to ensure that nothing out of the ordinary happened after all.

Lee said she was ready though, and Tarin sighed again…just a little. Maybe part of him had been hoping that she would say she wasn’t ready yet.

Still. The way Lee was smiling up at him, Tarin couldn’t help but smile back.

”Okay,” he said, reaching out and grabbing Lee’s hand as he headed for the door, ”Dinner it is.”

Tarin nodded when she questioned him being impatient, when she asked if there was something he'd been waiting for. He nodded, but didn't say anything.

Was that a sigh she heard when she confirmed that she was ready to go. If neither of them really wanted to leave yet…

But Tarin had let her go and grabbed her hand, making his way to the door. With her following since they were holding hands.

”At least we have the whole rest of the night after dinner, too,” she said softly.

”You’re making it really hard to walk out this door…” Tarin said over his shoulder, hesitating for just a moment as he reached out to open the door.

”Because, I’ve been waiting all day, and will be waiting all through dinner and the whole way home to kiss you the way I want to kiss you.” he said softly.

”But if I do that, we’re not going to go to dinner any time soon, so we better go.” Tarin added, noting the similarities between now and Saturday when they’d almost managed to be late to the bar to meet Rachel and Matt.

Only. Nobody was waiting for them tonight.

But, Lee had wanted a normal night. ”So, we’d better go.” he said and opened the door.

She was making it hard to leave? Tarin didn't make it very easy, either, she thought as she shrugged innocently.

But then Tarin was explaining why he was impatient, why he'd been impatient all day, and Lee's bottom lip found its way between her teeth as her breath caught.

He had to wait. To kiss her. Because if he kissed her, they wouldn't…

Lee's breath caught again as Tarin turned to open the door, repeating that they should go.

Lee tried to speak, but had to swallow before the words would come out, and then they only did in a whisper. ”Or you could kiss me anyway…”

It appeared that Tarin had a choice to make. In all honesty he had planned for Lee to show up at the shop, for them to go to dinner, then head home. The perfectly normal night that Lee had planned. This was kind of normal too though, wasn’t it? At least it was normal for them. Maybe someday, years down the line, the two of them would be able to spend time together without things like this happening, but boy that day seemed far away as Tarin stood there in the doorway of the shop.

The way Lee had whispered had stopped Tarin in his tracks. He could keep walking, she’d probably come with him and they could go to dinner. The last time they’d tried to do that though…neither of them had really eaten and they’d ended up in Lee’s room.

So.

Tarin dropped Lee’s hand, pushed the door shut, and very deliberately reached up to turn the lock before he turned around, looking down at Lee. He so very very rarely had her at a disadvantage, he couldn’t help but tease just a little. ”What was that? I couldn’t hear you over the street noise.”

Lee had said, well whispered, that Tarin could kiss her anyway, and he had stopped moving. He didn't continue out the door. But he didn't turn to kiss her, either, didn't even turn to look at her right away. He just stood there for a number of looking seconds.

When he did move, Tarin let go of her hand and closed the door. Then very obviously and deliberately locked it before turning to look at her.

Seeing the look on Tarin's face, in his eyes as he looked down at her, Lee's breath caught again. It was a very good thing that he had locked the door, she thought.

”I said,” and Lee noticed that if her voice was a different volume, it had just gotten quieter. ”You could kiss me anyway…”

It was absolutely silent in the shop. It got like that sometimes and in the past, Tarin had found it a bit unsettling and had wondered if it had something to do with the work that was done and had been done there.

Tarin was grateful for the silence now though, because as he stood there looking down at Lee he didn’t think he could have heard her speak if it would have been any louder.

Lee was looking up at him and Tarin smiled a slow smile, ”Ahh, I thought that maybe that was it.” he said, his arm sliding back around her waist and pulling her close as he leaned down for that kiss.

This had not been the plan. The plan had been to go have dinner, to eat their fill of Chinese buffet and have a date night.

That plan had apparently gone out the window as soon as Tarin had explained that he had been impatient all day, and would continue to be for a kiss that would not get them out the door for that dinner.

Because once he had said it, that was what Lee was wanting, for Tarin to kiss her like that.a kiss that would make her forget about dinner.

As she whispered the second time that he should kiss her anyway, that smile started spreading across Tarin's lips, and Lee's ended up between her lips in anticipation.

Then, finally, Tarin was moving closer to her once again, his arm going around her waist to pull her closer. And as he leaned down to kiss her, Lee's arms wrapped around his neck, pulling her even closer against him as she returned the kiss.

Dinner? What dinner?