Noelle wasn't at work for long when she got a call about a body. She grabbed her bag and was out of the office within minutes. She glanced around for her co-worker, Will, but was informed that he was out picking up another body. She nodded her head at the information, then made her way toward the exit with plans to give him a call later.

She headed across town and parked near a few police cars, then made her way toward the river as a body was being pulled from the water. She glanced down at the body, getting first impressions before she got to work. Right away, she could tell the girl wasn't in the water for long.

After living in Florida she had seen several bodies that were underwater for too long. Most were accidental drownings, but some were crime-related. Either way, she had seen what water could do to a body when it was in it for too long, but this one looked fresh. Plus there was the fact that this girl still had her makeup on, which also pointed to the fact that she hasn't been under for long.

Hearing someone walk up and come to a stop beside her, she turned her head and smiled when she saw it was Jamie. He grinned at her and gave her a small nod, but kept his mouth shut. He didn't trust himself to speak to her because he was worried he would say something inappropriate for where they were at. Since they were at work, they needed to be professional.

"Is this how it's going to be now?" Renzulli questioned as he walked over to the couple, getting their attention. As they turned their heads to look at him, he added, "Anytime you two are on the job, I'm gonna have to watch you make goo-goo eyes at each other?"

The two blushed and avoided looking at each other to keep from being distracted, but Jamie couldn't stop himself from glancing over at her from the corner of his eye as she placed her bag on the ground and opened it before grabbing a pair of gloves to get to work.

"Sad. Beautiful young girl," Renzulli stated as he watched Noelle squatted down beside the body.

"Still has makeup on too," Jamie spoke up. "Must have just happened."

Noelle lifted her head up to look at him, impressed that he picked up on the same thing she did earlier.

"Wow, so when I talk about my job, you actually listen?"

"I listen to everything you say, Nol." Jamie flashed her a smile.

"Good to know you listen to someone, rookie," Renzulli said, getting their attention. "I was starting to think you had a hearing problem."

"I don't have a hearing problem," Jamie said to his partner, then joked, "I just usually ignore you most days."

"Watch it, kid," Renzulli joked back.

"Don't take it personally, Renzulli." Noelle stood up. "He usually ignores me too, which is why I'm so surprised when he does listen."

"You're joking, right?" Jamie shot his friend a look. "Listening to you is why I got in trouble 90% of the time growing up. You were always daring me to follow you or to back you up with some big plan you had, then once we got caught- which almost always happened- we got in huge trouble for it."

He paused for a moment in thought. "Well, actually, I was in big trouble. You would usually turn on the waterworks and get away with it."

"I did that once." She held up a finger to get her point across. "Plus I seem to recall the tears got us both out of trouble that day."

"Yeah, with your dad, but then I had to go home and tell my dad about it and he wasn't as understanding," he pointed out.

"I never knew that."

"Why do you think I was grounded for a month?" When she shrugged her shoulders, he added, "It was for the whole summer, but Mom talked him down to a month."

"I'm sorry, Jamie." A smile appeared on her face as she joked, "But you could have said no at any time, you know?"

"You dared me," he pointed out, like that was the most obvious explanation and to him it was. She pulled him into a lot of messes growing up because she dared him to do it and he couldn't back down.

"I'm starting to think you two were a bunch of hellions growing up." Renzulli looked between the couple and playfully shook his head at them.

"It was all her." Jamie nodded his head over toward the brunette. "She was the ringleader."

"Always blaming me," she mumbled, before getting back to the task at hand. She looked down at the poor girl whose life was cut too short. "He's right though, this is recent."

"Hm, maybe you have learned a thing or two, rookie," Renzulli said to his partner. "Of course, it's not up to us to speculate. We secure the scene, and then we wait." Looking off to the side, he saw a couple of suits coming toward them. "Here comes the brain trust now."

Recognizing the man in the lead, he added, "Just our luck. Sonny Malevsky."

"That's Sonny Malevsky?" Jamie questioned, causing Noelle to turn her head to look at the man in the suit. She looked back at Jamie, wondering who this Sonny Malevsky was.

"Yeah, why?" Renzulli questioned him.

"Just..." Jamie paused for a moment, realizing he couldn't spill the real reason he was curious about the man. "I think he used to work with my brother Joe," he added, aware that Noelle was watching him closely. She could tell there was another reason he was asking.

"Renzulli," Sonny greeted as he got closer to the trio. "Ah, you finally got your stripes. Mercy promotion?"

"Don't bust my chops, alright?" Renzulli said back.

"Who's the newbies?" Sonny questioned as his eyes landed on Jamie and Noelle, who were now standing side by side. He turned his attention back to Renzulli. "You babysitting?"

"I feel like it," Renzulli joked as he cut his eyes to the couple.

"I'm the ME. Noelle Kelley." She stepped forward to introduce herself and shake his hand.

"Nice. A ME who actually shows up. You must be new and eager," Sonny guessed, judging her wrongly. Before she could say anything back, he turned toward Jamie and saw the last name on his name tag. "Reagan. So you're the PC's youngest."

Jamie nodded his head to answer, then reached out to grab the back of Noelle's blazer to pull her back the few steps she had taken earlier. If his feelings were right about Sonny, he didn't want her anywhere near him. He wanted to keep her off of his radar.

"Is this your first floater, kids?" Sonny questioned them. After Jamie answered with a yeah, he added, "Well, looks fresh. You should see 'em after a couple of weeks, after the fish and the crabs get to 'em."

"Let's see what we got." Sonny kneeled down by the body, then glanced at Noelle for a moment. "If you're gonna be sick, sweetheart, you might want to step aside."

When he looked back down at the body, Jamie saw her open her mouth to say something rude back, causing him to step up behind her and slap a hand over her mouth to stop her. He shot her a warning look before removing the hand.

A fake smile appeared on her face as she looked over at Sonny. "FYI, Detective Malevsky, this might be Officer Reagan's first floater, but it's not mine. I can handle it."

"Suit yourself." Sonny turned his attention back to the body, missing the look she shot him.

"You two probably think she jumped from the Manhattan bridge and floated down, right?" Sonny lifted his head to look at the ME and rookie cop.

"Actually, I don't think that." Noelle folded her arms across her chest. "If she had, there would be signs of that. As hard as she would have hit, there would be contusions present on her body, but as you can see..." She squatted down on the other side of the body and motioned toward it. "There are none."

When Sonny looked over at her, she shrugged her shoulders. "Told you it's not my first floater." She brushed some of the damp hair from the dead body's neck. "She would have a broken neck though."

When the small group saw the purplish bruise around her neck, like someone had strangled her, Sonny spoke up, "Looks like somebody did that for her."

"Let's see if there's anything in these pockets," he added, but instead of moving toward the pockets, he looked over at Noelle instead.

Lowering her eyebrows in confusion, she asked him, "What?"

"Glove," he simply said.

She held back an eye roll and opened her medical bag to grab one of the many sets of white gloves she kept in there. He slipped them on, then reached into one of the front pockets and pulled out a small business card.

"Detective Daniel Reagan," Sonny said, reading the card. As Noelle looked over at Jamie with wide eyes, he continued, "Now, there is one for the small world department."

He pulled out a small evidence bag from his jacket pocket and placed the card inside. "Renzulli, looks like this one's gonna be a homicide." He turned his attention to Jamie. "Hey, kid, maybe you want to call your brother. He might want to come down here and finish what he seems to have started."

Sonny didn't say much more to them as he stood up and walked over to his partner to tell him what he found before the two began to question witnesses and the other officers involved. Noelle grabbed her bag and stood up, seeing Jamie and Renzulli walk over to the yellow crime scene tape to ask a reporter to leave. She pulled out her cell phone to send her co-worker a text, then got one right back saying he was already on his way.

She looked back over to Jamie, seeing that he was busy and decided not to bother him. She turned and began to walk away from the river to head for her car to wait for her co-worker. She put her bag into the car, then turned her head when she heard someone call her name. She smiled and shut the car door when she saw it was Jamie.

"Hey, are you really leaving without saying bye?" he questioned her as he came to a stop in front of her.

"No. I'm just waiting on my co-worker and you were busy, so I didn't want to bother you." She leaned back against her car.

"You never bother me, Nol," Jamie softly said as he reached out to lightly touch her hand. He wished he could hold it or even pull her into his arms, but they were surrounded by co-workers and needed to remain professional.

"Good to know." Noelle smiled as she linked her pinky with his. She only held onto it for a minute or two, then released it before anyone could see. She folded her arms across her chest to keep from reaching out to him. "I'll tell you one thing, I'm not a fan of Detective Malevsky. How dare he try to suggest that Danny had something to do with this."

"Yeah." He nodded. "It's clear that it's someone he probably came across before and was just trying to help."

"Exactly," she agreed with him. "I could tell you weren't a fan either."

"I don't know him enough to know what I think," he said, not wanting to get into his real thoughts about the man. If he did that then he would have to tell her about the blue Templar and now was not the time for that. Sometimes he wondered if there would ever be a time for that, the last thing he wanted to do was put her in danger.

"That might work with anyone else, but it won't work with me, Jamie," she pointed out. "Who is this guy?"

"Like I said before, I think he worked with Joe," he said, hoping that would be enough for her, and maybe it would have been if she didn't see him tap his finger against his leg- something she knew he did when he was hiding something from her.

She tilted her head to the side, watching his finger nervously tap his pant leg a couple more times. Shooting him a look, she said, "Seriously, Jamie, what is going on? And don't lie to me."

"I just- I'm still figuring some things out." He took a few steps to stand in front of her. "Just give me a little time, okay?"

A worried look appeared on her face as she began to ramble, "Is everything okay? You're not in trouble or anything, right? Did something happen-"

"Hey, shh..." He placed his hands on either side of her on the car, then leaned forward- trapping her between his body and the car. His eyes scanned her face, seeing how his presence was affecting her; hers was doing the same to him.

Smiling down at her, he added, "Everything's okay."

"Yeah?" When he gave her a short nod, she whispered, "Okay."

"Okay," he repeated, then had to hold back a groan when she bit her bottom lip. He would have loved to lean closer to her and bite that bottom lip himself, but he knew he couldn't right now.

Remembering where they were, he pushed away from the car and took a few steps back. With a smile, he asked, "Are we still on for tonight? I mean, you do still want to go out with me, right?"

"Did you seriously just ask me that?" She laughed. "I've been waiting for years for you to ask me out. I would go out with you right now if I could."

Jamie chuckled at her comment, then nodded his head. "I would too. Actually, there's a lot I would do to you right now if I could."

She let out a dramatic gasp, her mouth dropped open. "Jameson Reagan, are you trying to get fresh with me?"

"I'm trying." He winked.

Noelle laughed at his comment and felt her cheeks blush. She wasn't used to this version of Jamie- the flirty side of him, but she could get used to it.

She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, she saw her co-worker pull into the parking lot, reminding her that she had a job to do.

Turning her head back to look at Jamie, she said, "So, I guess I'll see you tonight?"

He nodded his head. "I get off at 7, so I should be at your place around 8, is that okay?"

"Sounds great," she said. "And where are we going?"

"It's a surprise." He grinned.

"Really?" She playfully narrowed her eyes at him. "Or is that just your way of saying you have no idea?"

"I have ideas!" he exclaimed, causing her to laugh as she began to walk away.

She turned to face him and shot him a smile. "I can't wait then."

"Me too," he said back with a smile of his own.

When she turned to walk over to her co-worker, his smile fell. Now he just needed to find a way to keep her from asking about the blue Templar, as well as, protect her from someone he didn't even know... Oh and plan the best first date ever. No pressure at all.

•••

Later that evening, Jamie checked the time and saw that he still had an hour to go before his tour was over and two hours until the big first date- meaning he only had two hours to combine all the ideas he had in his head to come up with the perfect date.

This has been building for years; the bond and the feelings between them and now he finally had a shot.

Sitting silently across from his partner during their lunch break, he took a sip from the drink he was nervously passing from one hand to the next. He had declined the food, his stomach was already in knots and he didn't think he could stomach anything more than liquids.

Needing a distraction, he glanced over at his partner and asked, "How'd the anniversary go?" The selfish part of him hoped whatever Renzulli did for his wife, maybe it would spark an idea he could use for his date with Noelle.

"It was good. I got my wife a snow globe." Seeing the disappointed look on Jamie's face and misunderstanding it, Renzulli added, "I know it's, uh, too lowbrow for your Harvard tastes, but my wife loves snow globes."

"Fake snow...I get the appeal," Jamie joked as he took another sip from the straw. "I actually gave Nol a snow globe once for her birthday." Which was the real reason he looked disappointed, there was no way to use the idea now since he had already done it.

"Not bad, rookie. Maybe there is hope for you after all," Renzulli teased.

Jamie chuckled at his comment. "She was living in Florida at the time and I didn't want her to forget her home was here." He shrugged. "Plus she loves snow, so it was perfect for her."

"My wife would love her." Renzulli smiled. "She always gets excited when it snows. The first snowfall of the season is practically a celebration in our house."

"Same with Nol. She always drags me out in it to have snowball fights and make snow angels." Jamie laughed.

As memories hit him of their childhood, he added, "I'm usually standing there freezing to death, while she's running around without a care in the world and a huge grin on her face. It's like it doesn't even bother her."

Renzulli silently watched him with a knowing smile on his face. If he didn't know before how he felt about his best friend, it was clear to see it now.

He finished off the cheeseburger, then stood from the table and gathered his trash. He snapped his fingers in front of Jamie's face when he saw that he was lost in thought, then motioned toward the door to let him know he was done and it was time to go.

Needing a break from trying to plan a date in his head, he looked over at Renzulli as they walked out of the small restaurant. "Tell me how you know Sonny Malevsky."

"Why are you so interested in that putz, huh?" Renzulli questioned.

"I'm just curious." Jamie threw his drink in the trash, hoping he seemed nonchalant asking since he didn't feel so cool, calm and collected.

"Well, some guys become cops because they love law enforcement, some guys for job security, some guys because they don't know what else to do." He came to a stop beside the patrol car. "And then you got guys like Malevsky who's just on a big power trip."

Jamie nodded his head in understanding. "Anything more than that?"

"What, like, corruption?" When Jamie gave him a small shrug, Renzulli added, "Let's just say I think that he's someone...when you're talking to him, you better have one hand on your wallet. Know what I mean?"

As Jamie gave him another nod, he playfully reached out to slap his arm. "You should worry less about Malevsky and more about your date. It's tonight, right?"

"Yeah," Jamie breathed out as he fished the keys out of his pocket and began to walk over to the driver side.

"I still think she's out of your league, but who am I to stand in the way of true love," Renzulli joked as he stepped over to the passenger side. "Do you have a plan yet?"

"Why do people keep asking me that?" Jamie rested his arms on the roof of the car.

"Well, do you?" Renzulli pushed, having a good idea what the answer already was. He remembered those moments; the panic of trying to come up with the perfect plan for a date but worrying it was never good enough for her.

Jamie blew out a breath, then nervously tapping a finger on the roof of the car. "I have ideas."

"Ideas are not a plan, kid," Renzulli said, stating the obvious and earning an eye roll from his partner.

"I know that," Jamie said. "The problem is, I want to take her somewhere special, but somewhere special cost more than I can afford."

"Instead of spending a lot of money on someplace and hope it's special; have you thought about taking her somewhere that is already special?"

When a confused look appeared on Jamie's face, he added, "You two have a long history, right?"

"Yeah," Jamie answered.

"I'm sure you have a lot of places that are already special to you two, why not take her to one of those places?"

A smile appeared on Jamie's face when he realized that was a good idea. He was too excited to even be mad at himself for not thinking of it first.

He tapped the roof of the car and thanked his partner, then opened the door and slid behind the wheel of the car. Ideas were finally starting to form into a plan and he knew where to take her now. He just needed to make some phone calls first.

•••

Arriving home from work, Noelle jumped right into getting ready for the date. She hoped everything she had to do would keep her distracted until Jamie arrived.

First, she took a long, relaxing bubble bath and took her time shaving her already shaved legs. Then she stepped out of the tub and applied lotion before putting a fluffy bathrobe on. She went into her bedroom and laid out the outfit Nicky helped her pick out days before.

She stared down at the outfit for the next several minutes and debated with herself if it was the right thing to wear. She even looked in the closet only to realize the new outfit was the best choice.

With outfit officially picked out, she spent the next thirty minutes applying makeup and trying to decide what to do with her hair. She pinned it up, then took it down a few times, before deciding to keep it up.

Next, it was time to get dressed. She put the black skirt and colorful top on, then looked at herself in the mirror. She turned to one side, then the other and back again to look at herself from every angle. She faced forward and lowered her eyes to her feet, nervously hiding her marked foot behind the other one. Her eyes traveled up to the skirt, shirt, and hair, taking in everything.

She made a face, then reached up to unclip her hair and shake her head, causing her hair to fall down around her shoulders. She caught the time through the reflection of the mirror and blew out a nervous breath when she realized he would be there in about ten minutes- meaning she still had ten minutes left to freak out.

There was still a part of her that was terrified of messing things up between them and losing him completely. She couldn't live without him. It was torture not being able to see him every day while she was living in Florida, but at least they could talk on the phone. Now, if something went wrong and she couldn't talk to him at all, she couldn't handle that.

She laid a hand on her stomach, feeling sick at the thought. With a shake of her head, she looked at herself in the mirror and gave herself a pep talk. She told herself that this would work and everything was going to be okay. She even went as far as to give herself a wink and a finger point, which caused her to giggle at herself for being so ridiculous.

Turning away from the mirror, she walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it as she slipped the ankle boots on. She had just slipped the second one on when she heard a knock at the front door, causing her to jerk her head up and swallow hard. She knew it was just Jamie, but someone at the door still made her nervous.

Blowing out a breath, hoping to calm herself, she left the room and began to walk down the small hallway to the front door. She ran her sweaty hands down the front of the skirt, then reached out to open the door and saw a smiling Jamie on the other side dressed in a pair of khaki pants and a light blue sweater with a white button-down shirt underneath.

With one smile, she felt all the fear, doubt and nerves slip away. In this moment she knew they were headed in the right direction and everything would be okay.

"You look...wow, you look beautiful, Nol," Jamie breathed out as she stood in front of him. She truly took his breath away. "I mean, you always do, but tonight, you-you're just...wow."

Noelle laughed and blushed at his compliment. She lowered her head for a moment, then glanced up to look at him. "It's okay, I know what you mean. I feel the same way about you."

Realizing what that meant, she chuckled. "I mean, you look great tonight. Not pretty, but great. Really great, actually."

"Thanks." He chuckled, then joked, "I'm a little bummed you don't think I'm pretty though."

"Shut up." She laughed as she playfully punched his shoulder.

She grabbed a coat and purse she had by the door, then asked him if he was ready to go.

"Yeah." He reached behind to pull something from his back pocket. "But first, this is for you."

A grin appeared on her face when she saw him holding a white daisy. She wasn't a big flower person, but for some reason, she always loved daisies.

Maybe it was because his mother always grew daisies every summer and allowed her to pick them. She always loved seeing the smile on his mother's face, as well as her own mother's face, when she gave them the ones she picked. Or maybe it was because she loved making flower crowns with them and pretend to be a princess when she was alone.

"You remembered," she quietly said.

"Of course I did." He held it out to give to her, but before she could take it from him, he changed his mind and pulled it back, telling her to wait a minute. She looked confused as he tore off half of the stem until he placed the flower behind her ear.

"There... Perfect." He ran his fingers through her hair before dropping his hand. He shot her a smile, then grabbed her hand and intertwined their fingers before the two walked out the door.

After locking the door, she leaned against him as they left the apartment building and toward his car. She couldn't help but smile when she saw he was driving Joe's old car, a blue 71 Chevelle, a car they both use to love riding in when they were younger.

"Wow, when did you start driving this?" she questioned as he opened the passenger side door for her.

"A few weeks ago," he answered. "Dad told me to take it home."

"Lucky," she breathed out. After sitting down in the passenger seat, she lovely touched the dash. "I wish I could take it home."

Jamie chuckled at her comment and antics. He shut the door, then jogged over to the driver side and slid behind the wheel. "You can't have my car, Nol."

"Will you at least let me drive it?" she asked. "Like now?"

"You don't know where we're going." He laughed as he cranked the car.

"Well, you could tell me where we're going."

"Then it wouldn't be a surprise."

She turned her head to shoot him a teasing look. "So you do have a plan? I thought you just had ideas."

"I had ideas and now I have a plan." He smiled over at her for a moment, then pulled out into traffic.

"And the plan is?" she questioned, trying to get anything out of him.

"The plan is a surprise." He shot her a playful look before looking back at the road.

"Do you really have a plan?" she asked, curiously.

"I really have a plan." He looked at her for a second before looking back at the road. As his plan crossed his mind, he smiled. "Just lay back, relax and trust me."

Laying her head back against the headrest, she angled it to look over at him- her tone honest as she said, "I always have."

At her comment, he flashed her a quick smile, then turned back to look at the road. He removed a hand from the steering wheel, then reached over to grab one of hers and held it as he got closer to their destination.

Several minutes later, he parked the car on the side of the street of a smaller, less busy neighborhood. There were several good restaurants around, but also some that didn't quite last that long and now the buildings stood empty. He was parked in front of one of the empty ones now.

Noelle looked out the window at the dark and deserted building, then looked back over at Jamie, thinking this had to be a mistake, but all he did was flash her a smile before stepping out of the car. She looked back at the building as he opened the car door and held his hand out for her to take.

"I'm not trying to rain on your parade here, Jams, but this place looks closed. Like for good." She placed her hand in his before he helped her out of the car.

"That's because it is." He looked over at the building, then looked back at her. "And it's not where we're going. We're going somewhere else."

"So where are we going then?" she asked as he held her hand while the two began to walk down the sidewalk together.

"You will find out in a few short minutes."

"Or you can just tell me now."

Jamie turned his head to look at her, a chuckle on his lips. "God, you are still so impatient when it comes to surprises." He shook his head. "I remember every year for Christmas and birthdays you would drive me crazy every day asking what I got you."

"I wouldn't have to drive you crazy if you would have just told me."

"Then that would ruin the surprise."

The two laughed about their past until she began to look around. "Wait, I recognize this neighborhood now."

"You should." He looked over at her. "We spent a lot of our childhood walking down this sidewalk."

"Yeah, I remember now." With a gasp, she pointed down the sidewalk in the direction they were walking. "There was this little Italian place down there that our families would always get together once a month and eat at."

"Mm-hm." He nodded. "We spent a lot of holidays and birthdays there too. We even went there to celebrate our high school graduation."

"Yeah, I remember that," she softly said as she thought about all the celebrating they did there. That was back before his mother died and before her mother's health took a turn for the worst. Back when things were simple- back before any of them were touched by the meanness of the world.

Realizing they came to a stop, she glanced over at him and saw a smile on his face. He nodded toward the building they were standing in front of, causing her to turn her head. A smile of her own appeared when she saw they were in front of the restaurant they were just talking about- a little place called Salvatore's.

When she snapped her head to the side to look at him happily, he gave her a shrug. "We've celebrated a lot here, so I thought it was only right that we celebrate our first date here. I just thought this would be the perfect place to start a new chapter in our lives."

"This is amazing, Jamie, really..." She turned her head to look at the building again and noticed how dimly lite it looked inside. She lowered her eyebrows in concern, then turned back to look at him. "But...are you sure they're open? They look closed or something."

"They are." Jamie walked them toward the door, then opened it. "Or at least they are to everyone else, but they agreed to stay open for a certain couple on their first date."

"You bought the restaurant out for us?" Noelle asked surprised. "Jamie, that had to cost you so much-"

"It really wasn't a lot," he interrupted as he laid a hand on the small of her back and ushered her inside. "Okay, confession? I didn't do much. I called Dad and Dad called Sal- the two worked out a deal."

He grabbed her hand to pull her through the small foyer and into the main room which was decorated with candles and twinkly lights. Every fake bundle of flowers the restaurant owned was placed throughout the room and there was even fake rose petals on the floor leading from where they stood and over to their table. There was even soft music playing on the overhead speakers.

"Wow," Noelle breathed out as she smiled over at him. "This is- This is amazing, Jamie." She had a feeling he would do whatever to make their date special, but this was more than she could have ever imagined. It was perfect.

"So you like it?" Jamie asked nervously.

"I love it, I do." She nodded with tears in her eyes. No one had ever done something like this for her before.

With a smile, he reached out to run a thumb under her eye to catch a tear before it could fall.

"Happy tears?" he questioned.

"Very happy," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

With a smile still present on his face, he laid a hand on the side of her face, then leaned forward to rest his forehead against hers. He took in a breath, catching a whiff of her shampoo or lotion- he wasn't sure which it was, he just knew she smelled incredible.

The scent of her was familiar to him and always took him back to a more innocent time- back when they experienced a few first together; like a kiss and falling in love. It also made him think of a future with her and other first he wanted to experience with her as well. It was just comforting to him, it felt like home.

He rubbed his nose against her, then paused right before his lips touched hers. He knew the kiss usually came at the end of a date, but he didn't think he could wait that long. He found it hard not to touch her or kiss her constantly. He could never get enough of her.

Before his lips could touch hers, they heard footsteps coming toward them. He pressed his lips against her forehead instead, then pulled back as the owner, Salvatore Capello, walked toward them with a smile on his face.

The tall white-haired man shook Jamie's hand, then gave Noelle a hug and peck on the cheek before asking them how their families were doing and talking about how he missed them all through the years.

"I knew there was something between you two." Sal motioned between the couple. "I saw it even when you were little children," he added, causing Noelle and Jamie to turn their heads to look at each with a smile.

"Especially after you two wrote on the wall. I always say that wall is special," he continued.

"You still have the wall?" Noelle asked in surprise.

One of the walls toward the back of the restaurant was used for people to write their initials or leave messages. Sal always believed the wall brought people together. When she and Jamie were young, they wrote their initials down- followed by the letters 'BFF'. They wanted the world to know their friendship was permanent and forever.

"Mm-hm." Sal nodded to answer her. He watched the two for a moment, then asked, "And this is the first date, no?"

"Yeah, first date." Jamie smiled over at her again. "First of many. I hope."

As Noelle smiled back at him and gave him a nod, Sal said, "We are honored you two choose us for your first date. We already have a feast ready for you." He motioned over to their table where one of his waiters placed a big salad bowl in the middle of the table, then two small bowls in front of the two chairs across from each other.

As the waiter filled the wine glasses, he continued, "My wait staff will be near to tend to your needs and I'll be in my office in the back if you need anything else."

"Thank you, Sal," Jamie said, shaking his hand. "We really appreciate this."

"You're welcome." Sal nodded. "Tell your father I said hello. Both of you."

"We will," Noelle promised before the older man turned to leave the main room. His waiter had gone back into the kitchen to wait until he was needed again, giving the couple some privacy.

"You hungry?" Jamie gestured toward the table. When she shot him a look, he laughed. "Right, sorry, I forgot who I was talking to."

Noelle let out a laugh as he laid a hand on the small of her back and led her toward the table, walking on the trail of rose petals. He pulled her chair out for her, then once she was seated, he walked around to the other side and sat down across from her.

As he began to fill their bowls full of salad, she glanced around the room in awe. The restaurant never had a romantic atmosphere before, it was always a family restaurant, even down to paper tablecloths, but right now it was the most romantic place in the world to her.

Glancing down at the table, she couldn't help but chuckle when she saw the paper tablecloths were still in place. It was nice to see that some things don't change.

Hearing her laugh, he looked over at her and asked what was so funny.

She nodded at the table. "Paper tablecloths. Remember how we use to play tic-tac-toe all the time?"

"Mm-hm." He nodded, then let out a laugh of his own. "I also remember you use to cheat all the time."

She let out a dramatic gasp and laid a hand over her heart. "Me? How was I cheating?"

"You always had 'X' and you always had to have the middle space."

"X marks the spot." She shrugged.

He froze in the middle of what he was doing, then looked over at her. "What does that even mean?"

"I dunno." She laughed. "That excuse worked when we were kids, so I went with it."

"Yeah, I never got that as kids either," he said as he began to put more food in the bowls.

"You never asked for more of an explanation when we were kids."

"Confession..." He handed her a small cup full of dressing, knowing she liked it on the side to dip her salad into. "I liked letting you win. I liked how happy it made you."

"Aw," she cooed. Realizing what he said, she added, "Wait, does that go for everything? When we played chess, board games, and basketball too? Did you always let me win?"

"I feel like the truth is only gonna make you mad."

"Seriously, Jamie? Every time?"

He laughed at the shocked look on her face. "I'm kidding. It wasn't all the time." He took a sip of wine. "In the beginning, when we were younger, I would let you win, because I loved seeing that smile on your face, but then as we got older, you got better and would kick my ass."

"And I still can, I bet," she joked, causing him to laugh.

For the next several minutes, they talked about work and their past, until the salad bowls were empty, then a waiter walked back into the room to clear the bowls. He filled their wine glasses and place a plate of spaghetti and meatballs in front of them.

"Spaghetti!" Noelle picked up her fork and stared down at the food with a huge grin on her face. "I love the spaghetti here."

"I remember that." Jamie smiled. "I remembered that's what you would always order."

"Mm-hm." She nodded and took a bite, then let out a small moan at how good it was. "It's just as good as I remember."

"It is," he agreed as he took another bite.

"You want to do like Lady and the Tramp?" she joked.

"What?" He laughed, almost choking on his food.

"You know, how they use to both eat a piece of noodle then meet in the middle to kiss."

"Wait, is that why you always ordered it as kids?" When he saw her lower her head and try not to smile, he had his answer. "You were trying to get me to kiss you again."

"Okay, yes!" She laughed and raised her head. "When we were kids I was trying to trick you into kissing me again."

"You sly little minx. I'm gonna have to watch out for you," he joked, causing her to laugh again. Now that they were honest about their feelings, it was nice admitting to their childhood antics.

After eating more, he leaned back in his chair for a moment and looked around the room. He looked back at her with a smile on his face, causing her to ask him what he was smiling about.

He took a sip of his drink. "It's just...being here with you, in this place and eating the same food we use to, it's like nothing has changed."

"Yeah." She nodded. "Well, except for the fact that this time we're on a date instead of playing tic-tac-toe."

"You know what I mean." He playfully rolled his eyes.

"I do." She let out a laugh. "It feels like no time has passed at all, but it has. It's crazy how some things can change, but some stay the same."

He nodded his head, then reached out to lay a hand on top of hers on the table. "And after everything that has happened, no matter what different paths we took, we're here- in this place again- this place that is a big part of our past, and we're together."

She smiled at his words, then let out a laugh. "This is just so weird; me and you being here like this. I mean, a good weird though...or actually, not weird at all." She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts. "It's just, I've dreamed of this for so long, and it's just weird that this isn't weird, you know? Sorry, I don't even know if I'm making sense."

"No, I understand what you meant." He grabbed her hand again when she went to pull away.

"It's just...going from friends to more, it should be weird, right?" She didn't wait for him to answer. "But tonight, I mean, before you showed up, I was a nervous wreck, but then you knocked on my door and as soon as I opened it and saw you standing there, I knew this was right. Everything just feels right with you, Jamie."

A smile appeared on his face as he nodded his head, knowing exactly what she meant because he felt the same way. He didn't say anything at first, just kept his eyes on her, until a new slow song began to play, causing him to ask her to dance with him.

"What, no!" she exclaimed with a laugh. "Come on, Jamie, you know I don't dance."

"No, I don't know that." He leaned toward her and lowered his voice, "But I do know that's what you tell people when in reality you do love to dance. You just think you're bad at it."

"That's not true," she tried to argue, causing him to shake his head.

"No, it is true." He laughed. "Come on, Nol, don't forget, I know you. I know your deep dark secret. I know how you always secretly wished you were a princess that got to go to the ball and dance the night away. You try to play it off, but I know deep down what a closet romantic you really are."

"I hate how well you know me," she joked.

He shook his head. "No, you don't."

"No, I don't," she repeated honestly. The truth was she really did love how well he knew her, no one knew her the way Jamie did.

He held out his hand to her and whispered, "Dance with me."

She looked at him for a moment, then smiled as she laid her hand in his. He stood up from the table and pulled her up to her feet, then led her off to the side to slow dance among the rose petals on the floor.

After grabbing one of her hands, he raised their arms above their heads and gave her a small spin, then laid a hand on the small of her back to slowly sway side to side.

"Smooth moves, Jams." Noelle laughed. "How did I not know you could dance?"

"It just never came up." Jamie shrugged.

"Where did you learn to dance?"

He blew out a breath. "Confession... Do you remember that dance in the sixth grade?"

"The Valentine's day dance?"

"Yeah, that one." He nodded. "I wanted to ask you to go, but I didn't want to look like an idiot on the dance floor, so I asked Mom to teach me to dance."

"I never knew that." She smiled for a moment before it fell slightly in thought. "But you never did ask me...what happened?"

"I chickened out."

"But you did ask me to prom."

"That was different though," he said back. "We went as friends."

"We didn't dance there either."

"No, we didn't." He shook his head. "I chickened out then too."

"Confession..." she softly began to say. "That night I kinda pretended that it was more than just friends. I imagined all of these scenarios where you would ask me to dance and admit that you had feelings for me."

He smiled at her words. "Confession...a part of me wanted to."

"Why didn't you?"

"I was scared," he simply stated. "After I kissed you on your birthday, my feelings for you were starting to change and it terrified me. I talked to Joe about it and he listed out the pros and cons of it all, but in the end, I was still too scared to go there. I was too scared of ruining what we had and losing you."

"So you had feelings for me back then?" she softly asked, surprised at what she was hearing.

"Yeah," he quietly admitted with a nod. "But I put our friendship above anything I was feeling. I felt like that was more important. I still do think that...our friendship is everything to me, Nol." He pulled her closer to him. "But if I knew then what I know now, I would have gone for it. We could be celebrating so many years together now."

"Or maybe not." She shrugged.

"You don't think we would have made it all these years?" he asked surprised.

"Yeah, I do." She nodded. "But we don't know for a fact if we would have. Something could have gone wrong, maybe back then wasn't our time, but now it is and that's all that matters."

He nodded his head in agreement, then leaned forward to kiss her forehead, the tip of her nose, then hovered over her lips for a moment, causing her to grin as she whispered to ask him what he was doing.

"I'm going to kiss you," he whispered back. When she shook her head, he pulled back. "So I'm not kissing you?"

"Do I look like the kind of girl who kisses on the first date?" she teased.

"Well, we've already kissed before and slept together-"

"As in actual sleep, not sex," she cut in.

"Right, as in actual sleep." He laughed. "We're already going backward anyway; so why not a kiss?"

"Hmm." She pretended to be deep in thought. "Well, when you say it that way...why not?"

"Why not?" he questioned.

"Why not." She laid her hands on the back of his neck, lightly running her nails against his skin. "Kiss me, Jamie Reagan," she whispered.

Jamie smiled at her words, then leaned forward to press his lips against hers for what started as a gentle kiss, until she lightly tugged on his hair while nibbling on his bottom lip, causing him to pull her closer against him as he captured her lips for a passionate kiss.

The two continued to kiss as they slowly swayed on the makeshift dance floor. All he wanted was to give her the perfect first date, and in her opinion, that is exactly what he did. The night was magical and like a fairytale- like the ones she had secretly loved growing up. Something only Jamie would know and something only Jamie could give her.

•••

A/N; So, I know their date was corny and sweet, but corny and sweet is what I like lol. Plus I just see Jamie as a romantic or at least my version of him is.

Thank you to everyone reading!

Happy reading!
xx