Authors Note: This is completely shameless fluff, not going to even lie about that. I will one day maybe write a fic about them that has some purpose beyond releasing these feelings but oh well.
Robert Langdon and Katherine Solomon had their fingers laced together tightly as they entered the great ballroom Peter had hired, and she couldn't help but think about how lucky she was to finally have a partner for this kind of event. They had spent as much time as possible with each other since the events in Washington but it had been made difficult with their work and that they lived on alternate sides of the country yet they were happy because they spoke daily and used Skype during their overlapping free time. He had finally accepted modern technology was incredibly useful as the thought of not being capable of seeing her when they had been apart for weeks was unbearable.
Her brother was hosting a presentation about the Smithsonian and naturally Katherine and Robert had been first to receive invitations to it which they gratefully accepted. It had been at a party just like this one where Katherine had gave Robert her phone number for the first time and she was enjoying pointing that fact out as much as she could without him actually getting annoyed. If he were honest then he thought she was pretty adorable when she pretended to sulk that they could have been dating a lot longer had he cared back then.
A few hours into the party they had barely been able to share a moment together on this particular night and although they understood that they each had different careers and therefore different people wanted to speak to them, they were missing the middle ground they had established when having their own conversations.
She knew he was in a conversation with some man but Robert looked relatively bored about the particular subject he was supposed to be discussing, causing her to smirk at him before walking away. She decided to tease him so grabbed a piece of blank paper from a pad on the desk out at the entrance hall and ripped a small rectangle from it. On that she wrote out her mobile number and her name, putting a little x as a kiss at the end. Waiting until the stranger paused for a moment Robert made the introductions; Katherine placed a gentle kiss to Robert's cheek and subtly dropped the scrap of paper in to his left breast pocket, loving the feel of the hard muscle under her fingers as she patted it to let him know to check it.
He watched as she strolled away to find someone else to talk to, marvelling at her long dark hair that fell in waves across her back and shoulders, with a strand from either front side clasped at the top to stop it going over her face. The dress she had bought was floor-length, off-the-shoulder and deep purple, the colour of which accentuated the pale gray of her eyes while the cut made the best of her figure. When he had first caught a glimpse of it he had assumed it should have been worn by a slightly younger female with less of a shape to her but as always Katherine had pulled off the outfit in the most spectacular of ways.
He mentally shook himself in an attempt to take in anything this Theology professor was telling him but his wonder over what she had gave him was too much and he eventually excused himself from the company he was sharing and sat on a stool next to the bar. Taking the note out of his dark suit jacket he unfolded it and started to laugh outwardly at her writing. He looked up and caught her eye, raising a brow while holding up her note. Her response was simply to flash him one of her dazzling smiles and shrug while pretending to pay attention to the person she was speaking to, who just so happened to be the person who had been their first connection: Peter.
He took his iPhone – she had bought him one for Christmas which had been the month before – out of his trouser pocket and texted her with the message "Hello there, I think you left this number on my person. I would love to get to know you more. X" He could see her take out her cell from her matching clutch bag and scroll through her inbox with her thumb until she tried to hide an obvious giggle. He watched as she typed back a reply and put it back into her bag without looking at him once.
"I couldn't help it; you look lovely in that suit. Come over here and we can see how compatible we are?" was what appeared on his screen within seconds.
Peter was happy for the couple so did not really mind when Robert put his arms around Katherine's waist and quickly kissed her collarbone before releasing her and greeting his old friend. The older man decided to let the couple have some privacy since he could see they were longing for it.
"Do you honestly believe I could forget your number? It is etched on to my brain and I am confident I could recite the one of the phone you had before you upgraded to the latest model since you gave me that all those months ago."
"Yet you never once used it to contact me?" She pouted mockingly at him before he came up with a response.
"Can I say that I knew destiny would let us meet again after that?"
"No because you don't believe in mystical forces."
"You know, you should talk to my girlfriend - she loves talking about pretend subjects such as spirits and mind control… How about if I do this," he said before capturing her lips in a tender kiss.
"That's good, you can use that excuse more and use it as an apology as well, please." He gave her another short kiss before noticing that somebody was waiting for them to break apart so that he could speak to Katherine, this time though he chose to stay by her side to see if her brain could recover sufficiently enough to have a meaningful conversation about Noetic research which he was starting to take more of an interest in because he couldn't escape it when he spent so much time with this woman.