Tonight was the night.

Ever since the perfectly normal dinner date that Tarin and Lee had planned and never made it to, Tarin had been working on something special. As he and Lee had walked to get takeout on their way home that night, the idea of going somewhere fancy had come up and Tarin had declared it to be a date.

That was when the real work and planning had begun.

The only restriction had been that Lee didn’t particularly want Mexican food, but Tarin had come up with a few ideas of his own and the little project had kind of blown up. Research had been done between appointments at work, Rachel had been contacted for workable dates for her to hang out with Kevin, and in the process of doing that, Tarin had asked Lee’s sister for another favor.

It had been more than a little difficult to set that little bit of this whole thing up without tipping Lee off, but Tarin had known that for what he was planning ‘nice jeans’ simply weren’t going to cut it. Tarin also knew that it had been ages since he’d tried to find himself new clothes that weren’t casual and that Rachel’s literal job was fashion related.

Rachel was still Rachel though, and Tarin had found himself trying on some of the wildest things that Rachel had insisted were current fashion. It had taken a lot of negotiation and Tarin being far more assertive than he generally liked to be to get Rachel to help find him something more traditional to wear.

The pants and jacket were brown, lightweight, and well cut and the shirt underneath was white. Tarin had thought about wearing a tie, but honestly thought it looked better without, plus yuck. Rachel had finally approved and Tarin’s clothing problem had been solved. From there Tarin had told Lee that she needed to dress fancy and to ask Rachel if she needed more details.

Now, all of the planning was done and it was time for the date.

Rachel was there, jabbering away with Kevin in the living room and Tarin was waiting somewhat nervously in the living room for Lee to finish getting ready. Their reservation was still a little ways off and considering the fact that there were other people present they wouldn’t have any trouble getting out the door. It was kind of silly that he was nervous, but he and Lee hadn’t done much dating despite the fact that they’d been together for a few months at this point so this felt novel and new.

There was also his clothes and the fact that he’d planned every detail hoping that Lee would be happy. It all remained to be seen though, and so…yeah, he was nervous.

”Stop pacing, you look fine and it’s not like you’re taking her to prom.” Rachel said with a dramatic eye roll.

Realizing that he had been pacing, Tarin stopped in favor of leaning against the wall by the kitchen. Surely Lee would be ready soon and put him out of his misery.

They had talked about going out to dinner, actually going, at a fancy restaurant the night that they had planned to have a dinner date and then hadn’t left Tarin’s shop for hours. They had talked about ti and both thought that it was a good idea, that they’d like to do it. Tarin had said that he would plan it.

And then Lee hadn’t heard another word about it.

Though after they had had that conversation, Tarin had gone to the mansion for ’training’, they’d started the whole therapy thing with Dr Rossi, and then Kevin had come home.

A lot had happened.

Then out of the blue, Tarin had asked her out for that dinner. And when he had said he was going to plan everything, he had meant everything; Rachel had already agreed to come over to watch Kevin before Lee had even known about the dinner.

Tarin hadn’t told Lee too much about what he’d had planned or where they were going. He’d simply told her to dress ‘fancy’. Honestly, that could mean a lot, and she had needed to ask Rachel for more details, what kind of ‘fancy’ she needed to dress.

Rachel had arrived early, as always with the intention of at least helping Lee choose her outfit. But this time Lee had shooed Rachel away and finished getting ready on her own.

Lee knew that Tarin had been ready for a little while since she could feel the three of them out in the living room. But she didn’t rush things as she finished her makeup; Lee knew that getting ready properly would be more than worth it when she saw Tarin’s expression when he saw her. Not that she had taken that long to get ready.

When Lee was ready, she stepped out of her room wearing an off the shoulder lavender dress.

But Lee stopped dead in the hallway after a few steps when she caught sight of Tarin standing and leaning against the wall wearing a suit. Then just simply stood there staring at him not moving other than her eyes as she looked him up and down.

Tarin had stopped pacing a little while ago, but he was restless. Lee was taking her time to get ready and Tarin knew that when she did that the result was going to be nothing less than stunning. It was always like that.

Still, it was hard to wait. Maybe they needed to do this more often so that it wasn’t so difficult to wait. The anticipation was kind of sweet though, the novelty of the surprise tugging at a spot in his chest.

Eventually though, the door opened and when Lee stepped out of the room, Tarin’s breath caught. The dress was stunning, absolutely stunning, and Tarin just stood there for a moment taking in the sight.

Lee, it seemed, approved of his outfit too, and Tarin could feel a flush moving up his neck as she looked him up and down. Tarin couldn’t help the slow smile that spread across his features at that look and he pushed off the wall to walk over to Lee since she wasn’t going to be the one walking. He wasn’t nervous anymore.

”Wow.” Tarin said as he stopped in front of Lee, ”Just…wow.” he’d wanted to say something more suave or flirty, but the words just weren’t there. Oh well, surely Lee knew…and if she didn’t he’d find a way to tell her later.

”If you stand there looking at each other all night you’re going to lose your reservation…” Rachel said, apparently still mildly peevish that Lee hadn’t let her help with the getting ready.

”I told you they were gross…” Kevin added.

”Annnnd that’s plenty of audience participation.” Tarin said, and offered Lee his arm, ”We do have reseverations though…”

Lee had been expecting Tarin’s reaction when she had walked out of her room. She had not expected her own reaction. Yes, he had looked handsome and damn good when he’d dressed up to go to the bar, or for their ‘first’ date.

That was nothing compared to how he looked standing there in that suit.

Then Tarin was walking toward her, and Lee suddenly felt her lip between her teeth and warmth rising in her cheeks as she looked up at him. A wide grin spread across her face as she heard Tarin’s words. ”I could say the same,” Lee whispered, finally able to speak again.

But the peanut gallery felt the need to share their thoughts as well, and Lee glanced over. ”We can always kiss right here,” Lee reminded her son.

”Mum! That’s gross.”

Lee was already turning her attention back to Tarin. Smiling, she took his arm when he offered it to her. ”Yeah, we probably should get there for the reservation, shouldn’t we?”

It did not take long for them to get out of the apartment, and once the door was closed and locked, Lee looked up at Tarin again with a happy smile. ”I wasn’t expecting…” she said softly. Then took a deep breath before she was able to say more. ”You look amazing. I wasn’t expecting you to be so handsome tonight.”

Lee returned his compliment and Tarin’s smile turned vaguely uncomfortable at the praise. Tarin had wanted to look nice tonight because he’d known that Lee would look stunning. He hadn’t expected the extra attention, and Lee was standing there looking up at him and biting her damn lip while they stood there in the living room.

Lee said they could kiss, just to goad Kevin, but Tarin knew for a fact that if they did kiss they wouldn’t stop for a long time and that just simply wasn’t appropriate. So Tarin was relieved when Lee took his arm and they made their way out of the apartment.

Tarin shut and locked the door and turned to find Lee smiling up at him again. She spoke and he had to grin, a soft chuckle escaping him as Lee once again complimented his appearance. She hadn’t expected it?

”I knew you were going to be painfully gorgeous.” he said, echoing his thoughts from earlier because he’d been right. ”So I just wanted to make sure that I measured up.”

He wanted to kiss her still. Hell, he wanted to do all sorts of things, but Lee deserved more than that after all the effort she had put into getting ready. They were going to do things right tonight.

”Let’s go.” he said, grabbing Lee’s hand and heading for the stairs. Where they were going would require an elevator ride, so Tarin didn’t want to push things early. That had been part of his research though, and he was confident that would be just fine.

Painfully gorgeous? Lee blushed hearing the tone of Tarin’s voice as he said those words. She’s known that Tarin would like how she looked, had known the way he would look her over when she came out of her room. That had been her entire goal with what she’d chosen to wear.

But ‘painfully gorgeous’ went far beyond what Lee had even been hoping for.

”Oh, you definitely measure up,” Lee said as she started walking with Tarin toward the stairwell. ”I may insist on more fancy dinner dates if it means you’re going to dress up like this each time.”

It didn’t take long for them to make their way down the stairs to the lobby of the building. ”Where are we eating?” She asked. Tarin hadn’t told her yet. He hadn’t even told her what kind of restaurant they were going to. Lee was hoping that now that they were on their way for their date that he finally would.

Well, the whole night was already absolutely worth it, Tarin couldn’t help but think. It wasn’t that Lee was generally reserved when it came to how she felt about him, but Tarin had to admit that her reaction tonight was incredibly gratifying. It was also incredibly distracting ”I could absolutely get behind that idea.” he said, because it meant that he also got to see more of Lee dressed up.

She wanted to know where they were going and at this point Tarin didn’t think it would hurt to tell her.

”It’s a relatively new place here in Manhattan, it’s called Luna Lounge.” he said as they made their way out into the street

”It’s a rooftop place, but it’s super nice and has this kind of celestial theme. There’s string lights and greenery” there was also one other thing he wasn’t going to bring up yet. ”And a dress code.”

”Theres supposed to be really nice views.”

Lee’s smile widened when Tarin agreed that more dates at fancier restaurants were alright with him.

And Tarin was finally telling her where they were going for dinner. Luna Lounge? That was definitely not a place that Lee had heard about before. Though to be honest, it was as though Lee talked to a lot of people who would frequent really nice restaurants that had dress codes.

It did sound really interesting, and definitely different. So not only were they going to get to have a very nice dinner, but they were going to get to have a good view of the city…

Lee stopped, turning and looking up at Tarin. ”It’s a rooftop restaurant?” Lee asked, slightly concerned. ”How high is the building?”

This had been the most difficult, and frustrating, part of the research. Tarin had wanted to find somewhere with a view, and that hadn’t really been all that difficult because loads of places wanted to boast that they had the best view of the city.

The problem had been that while things were starting to get a bit better as far as the stupid elevators were concerned, they were still an issue as was evidenced by the fact that Tarin had made Lee walk down all the stairs in their building in that dress and her heels. Getting to any rooftop in New York with a view worth anything was going to require an elevator, one that went pretty high.

So Tarin had worked and researched until he had found this particular restaurant with a view and then he’d paid it a quick visit.

Lee stopped and Tarin stopped with her, looking down as she turned and giving her a reassuring smile.

”High enough.” he said, a bit sad to lose this mild element of surprise, but there was no way he was going to let Lee worry the whole rest of the way that he was simply planning to be stoic. ”But one of the really cool things about this particular rooftop place is that they like their view so much that they want you to see it the whole way up. The elevator is glass.” he said, ”And I went and checked it out.” The people a the high rise had been incredibly accommodating during non-business hours.

”I told you, you don’t have to worry about a thing tonight.” he added, then kept walking.

Train stopped with her and looked down with a smile. A smile that showed fast less concern and quiet than her face was showing.

And then he started explaining that the building was ‘high enough’, which did absolutely nothing to reassure her that Tarin would be ok.

Tarin went on to describe how this particular building had a glass elevator so you could see the view the entire way up as well.

And he pointed out that she didn't have to worry about anything that night. Lee nodded, smiling up at Tarin again.

”Alright, I'll try not to worry,” Lee said, returning Tarin's smile. ”I just wanted to make sure. Let's go.”

As he spoke, Tarin could tell that Lee wasn’t completely convinced. That was fair, but there was no way Tarin would have let his ego or a bout of overconfidence ruin this night.

Everything was going to be absolutely fine and when Lee agreed to try and not worry Tarin smiled and nodded, ”Good” he said, ”I’ll get us a cab.”

The restaurant wasn’t terribly far from the apartment, but it was far enough that at least on the way there a cab was going to be more practical than walking.

It didn’t take terribly long to flag one down and soon enough they were climbing out of the cab and entering the building . The lower floors of the building housed various businesses and a boutique hotel, but on the 24th floor sat the Luna Lounge, a new endeavor that had replaced a rather huge pool deck for the hotel.

The lobby of the building was turn of the century and filled with all the gilt and marble a person could
ask for in New York City, but a little reception desk on the side opposite the main elevators was where they were headed.

At the desk, Tarin gave his name for the reservation to a very smiley hostess and he and Lee were directed to the elevator.

The wait wasn’t terribly long and then the doors were opening and Tarin pulled Lee inside. The first couple of floors were enclosed, but Tarin expected that as he pushed the only floor button present on this elevator and turned his back on the doors.

A few short moments later, the elevator started to move and a few short moments after that it was like the back wall fell away and the building started to come into view. Letting out a small breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, Tarin grinned at Lee and shrugged. ”See? No big deal.”

It really didn’t take much time at all for Tarin to get them a cab, for them to climb in and start off. And almost before she knew it, they were there.

Holding Tarin’s hand as they made their way inside, Lee looked around with a small smile. Despite living in Manhattan for as many years as she had, Lee didn’t exactly have reason to step into buildings like this very often

But instead of the bank of elevators in the lobby, Tarin led her over to a small reception desk. Which in turn directed them to a n elevator nearby. Almost as soon as the doors opened, Tarin was pulling her inside. That was enough of a surprise that Lee smiled as she turned to look up at Tarin.

He certainly did look to be doing better being in here than the last time they’d taken an elevator, Lee thought. A few moments later when she saw Tarin turn to look at her, Lee’s smile grew. ”I’m glad,” she said softly. Then she noticed that the back wall of the elevator was really just a window and she turned to look at it.

Lee stood there, watching as they climbed higher, her head coming to rest on Tarin’s shoulder.

Until they stopped moving. Then Lee straightened up and turned back toward the doors as they opened.

Then just stood there in awe for a moment. ”Wow…” she breathed.

It really was okay.

As long as Tarin kept looking out the window and didn’t think about the fact that there were closed doors behind him, the panic didn’t start creeping into the edges of his consciousness.

So that’s what he did and when Lee smiled at him, things got even easier. There was something transfixing about the buildings rushing by outside the glass wall and it was a little thrilling as the ground seemed to fall away.

Sooner than Tarin honestly would have expected, the elevator gently lurched to a stop and the doors whooshed open to reveal the rooftop. As they turned.

The pictures online had not done the space justice.

Lee’s reaction was better than Tarin could have hoped for and he moved forward out of the elevator, gently pulling her with him and on to the rooftop.

Open-air was perhaps too strong a word because there were exposed beams hung with string lights and strategically placed panes and half panes of glass here and there. Everything was incredibly cozy, but at the same time open and airy. Plants and trellises and vines were peppered through the seating that seemed very organic and natural and small tasteful touches of the celestial theme could be seen here and there.

Beyond the seating area was a stage and people could be seen dancing as a small band on the stage played some kind of slow instrumental arrangement. It was a far cry from the type of music at the bar, but live music all the same.

All of that to say nothing of the view. Somehow, even though they were far from the tallest building in the area, the view seemed to stretch for miles. The night lights were really just starting to come on and Tarin had to admit it was really cool.

There was a hostess here too and as she instructed them to follow her to a table Tarin grinned at Lee again and ask, ”What do you think?”

Lee allowed Tarin to pull her out of the elevator to where another hostess was standing. Even though she had pictured the place when Tarin had described it in the cab, it was nothing compared to seeing it in person.

As they were led to their table, Lee kept looking around, a smile on her face. She had mentioned just after leaving the apartment that they were going to have to go out on more dates to fancy restaurants if it meant that Tarin was going to be dressing up like this again. But seeing this, Lee couldn’t help but think that they would have to come here more often.

”This is amazing,” Lee said, smiling up at Tarin as they approached an empty table.

Having reached the table, Lee took a seat and smiled across at Tarin. ”This was a great idea.”

As they made their way to their table, Tarin couldn’t help but watch Lee as she took in everything on the rooftop. It was clear from the expression on her face that she liked what she was seeing a lot and Tarin couldn’t have been more thrilled that so far all of his instincts had been right. It felt so good to see Lee so happy and excited.

Lee confirmed Tarin’s thoughts as they approached the table and sat and when she said that this had been a great idea he nodded, ”I’m sorry it took so long.” he said, ”It took me a while to figure things out and getting reservations took a minute too.”

Now that they were seated, Tarin took a minute to look around. Whoever had set up the restaurant had known exactly what they were doing, and every table had an excellent view.

Picking up the menu, Tarin started looking over things, it was the same as he’d seen online so he already had kind of an idea of what they were getting into.

”They kind of do Traditional fancy American stuff. The cocktail menu is supposed to be good too.” he said, looking up and smiling before setting the menu back down.

”I’m really glad you like it.”