Abby hummed happily as she changed into the elegant white elf costume that Connor had insisted she wear. Normally these conventions weren't her cup of tea, but the fact that Connor had been just as excited about the nice dinner with her as he was about the convention made her heart melt. She was actually looking forward to this weekend now, if just to see the happy grin on Connor's face as he ran around looking at everything. He'd already told her it was the best weekend of his life, and it hadn't technically started yet.

Abby's plans for the weekend were simply to make sure it was as good as, maybe even better than, he expected. She knew that Connor had been in love with her for years, and she'd pushed him away and set up so many barriers between them, but she the thought that maybe, just maybe, in a new fantasy setting, with costumes, and maybe a drink or two inside her, she'd finally be brave enough to let him know she felt the same.

She stepped out of her room and heard Connor gasp when he saw her. She hadn't actually let him see the costume on her in the store, having stayed in the changing room after making sure it fit, and she knew he'd been quite disappointed then. The elf costume consisted of a long shimmering white dress that almost looked silver at times when she moved. The long sleeves tapered out elegantly from the elbows onward. There was also a long silver hooded cape that fastened with a leaf-shaped brooch and had leaf-shaped embroidery running along the hem. The silver and glass necklace she wore hadn't been part of the costume, it was something Connor had given her for her birthday the year before, but she'd thought it went well with the costume.

Connor had also insisted that all elves had long hair and, after awhile, Abby had given in and donned a long wig. She'd settled on a black one, just to be different than usual, and she was pleased to find that it made her blue eyes stand out even more. Connor had once said he liked her eyes, so she used a bit of silver glitter on her eyelids to increase the effect and placed a dainty circular crown that was also silver in her hair. She'd chosen a slightly bolder shade of lip gloss than she'd normally wear to match the dark hair, one that had some shimmer to it. The only thing she'd absolutely refused to wear was the pointed ears that Connor had tried to push on her. They were incredibly uncomfortable and the long wig was covering her ears anyway, so she really didn't see the point.

"Wow," Connor said when he saw her, standing up and finding his voice, "Abby you look…" he hesitated a bit and looked at her shyly, "You look breathtaking."

Abby knew he was being bolder than usual with that compliment, but she grinned and let him get away with it. Connor himself was dressed as Frodo, mainly because he thought the costume worked great around the ring he always wore around his neck. Abby was sure their costumes didn't match each other at all, but Connor insisted it was fine. "Anyway," he'd stated, "It's not like we're going there as a couple."

"True," Abby agreed, but then thought to herself, 'But hopefully we'll be leaving as one.'

As they stepped through the doors of the hall where the convention was being held, Abby realised there were a lot of other elves around too. She stared at the different intricate costumes in amazement. She wasn't certain, but she thought a few of them were decorated with real diamonds or emeralds and she wondered what they cost. It had been expensive enough to come to this event and they'd never have come if Lester hadn't paid for it.

"Abby?" Connor said suddenly, interrupting her thoughts. Abby looked at him and he grinned at her. "You're the prettiest elf here. You're even prettier than Luthien Tinuviel herself."

Abby hadn't the foggiest who Luthien Tinuviel was, but she did see the hope in Connor's eyes that she wouldn't lecture him for the compliment and suddenly she wondered if Connor had been hoping for the same outcome of this weekend as she was. Then again, sometimes she thought Connor woke up each morning hoping she'd change her mind about him that day. She gave him a smile, "Thanks, Con, and you're pretty handsome, for a hobbit."

Connor grinned and then spoke quickly and impulsively, "Abby, we don't actually know anyone here, so you don't have your reputation to worry about and all and I don't wanna look like a total loser, so just maybe you'd pretend to be my girlfriend?"

Abby laughed, "Con, there is no way you could come across as a loser when everyone here is as excited about The Lord of the Rings as you are."

"I s'pose," Connor sighed, looking disappointed.

Abby hesitated and then shrugged, "I didn't say I wouldn't do it, Con. I just don't see the point."

Connor's eyes lit up, "But you'll do it anyway?"

Abby nodded, "Yeah, why not?"

The rest of Connor's face lit up too, "And I could hold your hand?"

"If you like."

"And put my arm around you?"

"If you like."

Connor hesitated and then gave Abby a pleading look, "And give you kisses?"

Abby faked an exasperated sigh, but honestly she was rather amused, "Yes, Connor, whatever."

Connor stared at her suspiciously, "Are you sure you're Abby in that costume?"

Abby couldn't help but to drop the irritated façade and chuckle, "It's me: Abby the Elf."

Connor laughed too, "Abby the Elf is much more agreeable than Abby the Scary Kickboxer."

"I'm not scary!"

"You are sometimes, Abby!" Connor protested.

Abby frowned a bit, not liking that he thought that, and then suddenly his earlier words really hit her. "Connor, what did you mean when you said my reputation wouldn't be ruined?"

Connor shrugged, "Well, they don't know you, Abby, so you don't have a reputation here, not to mention you're in costume anyway."

"Okay, but Con, you know I'm not embarrassed by you, right? I wouldn't actually care if people thought I was dating you even if they did know us."

Connor stared at her, perplexed, "But Abby, you always correct them so harshly when they think we are dating."

Abby smiled, "Only because we're not. But it's not about my reputation. You're the best guy I know and I'm proud to be seen with you. I actually like it when they think that, sometimes, I just don't like to lie to them. I'm proud of you, Connor."

"Oh," Connor said, taking this information in with a surprised grin. Then, to Abby's surprise, he impulsively leaned forward and gave her a quick peck on the lips before grabbing her hand and dragging her over to the nearest display table.

Connor hadn't been able to believe his eyes when he'd first seen Abby in her get up. She was absolutely stunning. Somehow her dark wig made her eyes stand out even more, or maybe that was the sparkles.

Everything was going wonderfully until they actually got to the convention, and then he had suddenly felt a bit worried. It was obvious that Abby was the prettiest woman at the convention and compared to the men, there weren't really that many women to begin with. He suddenly worried that someone might try to pick her up, so to speak. And so he'd blurted out the question about pretending to date and winced inwardly as he did; Abby'd never go for that.

Except, amazingly enough, she had, and the thought Abby even pretending to date him was enough to put Connor's already good mood over the top and make him feel just a little bit less like the geeky loser he was sure she usually saw him as. He knew he was pressing his luck when he asked if he could kiss her, but hey, he was on a roll and she was in the most agreeable of moods.

He saw the exasperation in her face and cringed, expecting her to take back the entire thing, but then she'd just agreed that yes, he was allowed. Still, he didn't think he'd get up the nerve to actually do so until she started saying a bunch of nice things about him and then he'd summoned up all his courage and gone for it, even if it was over way too fast. He saw that she was as surprised as he was that he'd actually done it and, despite the fact that she'd given him permission a moment ago, he was expecting a lecture. After all, no one had actually been watching them so it wasn't really necessary for their little game of pretend. He quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her over to a table full of chain mail, trying to divert her attention before she told him he couldn't ever do that again. He was pretty sure that she could probably feel his heartbeat through their joined palms.

He took a deep breath and finally got up the nerve to glance at her face and, to his surprise, she looked more amused than annoyed with him. When she caught him looking at her, she gave a little chuckle and repositioned her hand so that her fingers were intertwined with his. Connor caught his breath and did his best to act like it was no big deal, that it really was just as pretend to him as it obviously was to Abby, but he couldn't deny how much he wished it was real.

"Abby, look!" Connor said, trying to distract himself now, as much as her, "Did you know they made all the chain mail in the Lord of the Rings by hand, linking each ring on, piece by piece?"

Abby burst out laughing, "Connor, of course I didn't know that! Should I be concerned that you do?"

"Special features on the extended DVD, Abs. You should watch them with me someday."

Abby groaned, "Con, let's not forget I'm still Abby. I am never gonna be excited about chain mail."

"Aww c'mon, Abby, it could protect against dinosaur attacks you know. Maybe I'll put that in my notes to Lester. We should all wear chain mail."

"Please don't."

Connor grinned and tugged at her hand, pulling her to the other side of the table, "Look Abby, this one is mithril: silver. It's light as a feather, and harder than a dracorex's scales, and even looks pretty."

Abby ran her fingers over the silver material, "It does look beautiful, Con, but there is no way this thing would be of any protection and I swear this is painted aluminium, not silver."

Connor looked at it, carefully, and frowned disappointedly, "It was brilliant in the movie."

"It's a prop, Con. You have to learn to decipher make believe from reality. This would do nothing in a creature attack."

"Right," Connor said, looking down at their joined hands and unintentionally reminding himself that his relationship with Abby wasn't real either.

Abby stared at him, "Con, what's wrong? It's just a stupid shirt of rings. You look way too upset about this."

"It's not the shirt, Abs," he said looking up at her. "It's just that, you're right, everything I love always turns out to be make believe."

Abby saw the way he looked at her and understood what he was referring to, but pretended she didn't. She wasn't ready quite yet. "That's not true, Con. Dinosaurs are real and so is time travel."

Connor gave her a half-hearted grin, "Yeah, I suppose," he said, "But elves are cooler than dinosaurs."

Abby smiled at him gently, "I beg to differ, but I thought we were talking about mithril chain mail."

Connor blushed, "Well, you know, anything Tolkien really."

Abby kissed his cheek, "C'mon, Con. You're meant to be enjoying yourself, remember? What else do you want to see?"

Connor grinned at the kiss and then glanced around, his eyes lighting up when he saw a doorway with a large sign over it indicating that it lead to The Shire. "In there, Abs!" he said, dragging her towards it. "Please, let's look in here!"

Abby laughed, "You don't have to beg, Connor. We'll look at whatever you want to as long as we aren't late for our dinner reservations at seven, yeah?"

Connor was already through the door though, with Abby in tow, so it hadn't really mattered what she'd responded.

"Wow, this is amazing!" Connor said. Even Abby had to agree. It was as though they had stepped through an anomaly into The Shire itself. There was a dirt path to walk along and hills of turf. Sign posts pointed toward Bag End and The Party Tree. Connor was already walking along the trail toward it. Abby noticed that, even though they were indoors, a large canvas had been strung across the ceiling and projections were being made to shine blue sky and moving clouds across it, giving them the impression they were outdoors. The fans causing the air to circulate through the room and a nature CD that was playing added to the effect.

"This is actually really cool, Con. I can't believe how much work they've done."

Connor grinned at her, truly happy that she was enjoying herself too. "It's awesome," he said, stopping to read a sign post. "Abby, look! The Green Dragon is open!"

"Green Dragon?" Abby questioned.

"The local pub for Shirefolk. Maybe after we see Bag End we could get a drink."

Abby chuckled, "Now this is my kind of convention."

The line up to actually get in to Bag End was quite long as they only let a few people in at a time, but it moved quickly. Abby noticed that although Connor was still holding her hand, he made no effort to actually talk to anyone else there, let alone tell them his relationship status with her. Instead he rambled on to her about all the things he hoped to see inside the Hobbit Hole and why they were so significant. She asked him the occasional question to show she was listening to him, but if she were honest, she was more entertained by the rambling itself than the subject matter. He'd been extremely excited to see a sign out front that read 'No Admittance, Except on Party Business' and said that he was sure it meant their wait was almost over.

Bag End itself seemed to live up to Connor's expectations, more or less. Connor excitedly pointed out every little thing, from the stack of dishes in the sink to the intricate carvings in the wooden fire place. Still, she noticed a slight flicker of sadness in his eyes when he saw a table with a dagger upon it and a plaque in front of it saying that the dagger was called "Sting."

"Con, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he lied, giving her a grin, "Only I'm about ready for that drink now, yeah? How about we head to the Green Dragon?"

Abby nodded and he led her back out of the Hobbit Hole and to the make-shift pub set up just before the Shire's exit. There was another line up here, and when it was their turn they hopped up onto a set of stools and a man dressed as a hobbit slid a small glass of ale to each of them across the dark wooden counter top and offered them each a friendly grin before moving away to serve some other customers. Abby took a sip of hers and then turned to Connor, "Con, this is Hobbit Land, yeah? We should get some photos of you in your Frodo costume here. It'd look pretty neat."

Connor grinned his agreement and Abby pulled her mobile out of a hidden pocket in her silver cape and took a few of him at the pub.

"And how about one of the happy couple together?" asked the bartender, coming back.

Abby laughed, "I don't think my costume quite fits into the setting. I'm an elf."

Connor shook his head vehemently and snatched the mobile from her hand, giving it over to the bartender. "Please," he said to the man, "We'd love that."

Abby chuckled and leaned sideways toward Connor, still facing the camera and posing with her half-full Hobbit-sized glass of ale. Connor kept his eyes on the camera also, but turned his face toward Abby, kissing her cheek for the photo, and Abby's face lit up when he did so.

"Aww, that's perfect," said the barman, snapping the photo and returning the mobile.

"Thanks!" Abby said with a grin, but the bartender had already moved off again. She hit a few buttons so she could view the photo and smiled when it came up on the screen. They both looked quite happy in it.

"Aww," she said to Connor who was leaning close over her shoulder to see it too. "We're so cute together."

Connor looked at her in surprise, but agreed readily. "Yeah, we're just a smashing couple, ain't we?" he asked, expecting to be reminded that they weren't really a couple, but instead she only nodded and smiled.

"C'mon, Con," she said, downing the rest of her drink, "Others are waiting for our seats. Let's go get some more hobbity photos of you and then we'll move onto something else."

"Only, I don't think 'hobbity' is a real word, Abs." Connor said, chugging the rest of his drink as well before standing up and offering his hand to her.

Abby rolled her eyes at him as she took it and hopped down from her stool. "I'm not entirely certain 'hobbit' is a real word either, Con. Where do you want photos?"

Connor led her back through the Shire, getting her to take photos in front of the Party Tree and a few other places. He was tempted to go back through Bag End again to get some, but Abby reminded him that they might not have time to see everything if they waited in line again and Connor decided to move on after making Abby promise they'd come back later if there was time.

Then they headed off to a new room that was called Lothlorien and Connor pulled out his own mobile. "This is Elven land, Abby. It's my turn to get photos of you."

Abby laughed, "Only I don't care so much, Con, if I have elf photos of myself or not."

Connor shook his head, "I want them, Abs. You will pose for me, won't you?"

Abby nodded, "Okay, but you have to promise to delete any that I don't like."

"Deal," Connor agreed.

Abby followed him through the room that had been beautifully decorated as a golden-leaved forest at night. The ceiling canvas here shone with sparkling stars and many of the trees had platforms high upon them. Connor got Abby to pose in front of an extremely large tree that he called a mellyrn.

After that they went to see what Connor referred to as 'Galadriel's Mirror' and what Abby called 'A birdbath.' It was filled with water and had some images projected inside of different movie stills. Connor had seemed excited when they waited in line to look into it, but after staring at it for a few seconds, Abby noticed the small sad flicker in his eyes again. She squeezed his hand and, to her surprise, he looked even sadder.

"C'mon, Con," Abby said softly, knowing he wouldn't tell her what was bothering him, "Let's look at something else, yeah?"

Connor nodded and his smile came back. "Sure, Abs. We can go back to the lobby and see some of the table displays."

"Aren't there any more rooms like these?"

Connor hesitated and Abby suddenly got the feeling that he didn't quite want to answer that, but then he did. "Well, there's three more according to the brochures I looked at ahead of time. There should be Rohan, Mordor and The Paths of the Dead…"

"But…?" Abby encouraged him.

"But they take longer to go through and there's an 11:00 showing of the Fellowship of the Ring, extended version, in the theatre that I really want to go to. Please!"

Abby groaned, "Connor, you've seen the movies many times over!"

"Yes, but I've never seen the extended ones on a big screen. Please, Abby!"

"Ones? They won't have all three, surely. We won't have time!"

Connor became animated, "Oh, but Abby, I've got it all worked out. We'll go look at the lobby displays until 11:00. The movie will go until 2:30 and then we have time to see the rest of the rooms before 6:00. Then we can leave to go get ready for our dinner, but they'll have the second movie starting at 6:00 tomorrow morning and the third will be at 10:00. We could be out of here by 2:30 tomorrow, Abs. Please!"

Abby stared at him as though he had grown a second head. "You want me to get up tomorrow morning to watch The Two Towers at 6:00?"

Connor gave her a puppy dog pout and Abby sighed, giving in because she never could resist that look. "Okay, Con, but if I fall asleep half way through, I'm using you as a pillow."

"Yep," Connor agreed, wondering if that was supposed to sound like a punishment or a reward.

Connor dragged Abby around, showing her important swords and costumes and factual posters about characters and creatures. At one point Abby leaned close to him and whispered, "Shouldn't you be taking notes for Lester?"

Connor shook his head, "And let go of me pretend girlfriend's hand? Never. Besides, Abby, I already know everything about Tolkien's creatures. I just didn't tell that to Lester or he might not have let us come here. I'll write him some notes later."

Abby chuckled and pulled her hand from his. "You gotta let go anyway, Con. I'm gonna take a toilet break before the movie starts."

Connor nodded and looked around, "That way," he said pointing, "I'd better do the same."

Five minutes later Abby emerged and found that Connor wasn't back yet. She smiled to herself, thinking that this was the first event she'd been to where the ladies' loo line up was probably considerably shorter than the one for the men's. While she waited for him, she headed over to the nearest display table and grinned when she found it to feature a large book of phrases translated into the Elvish language called Sindarin. She quickly scanned the book until she found what she was looking for. I love you: Ge Mellon. She grinned and committed it to memory thinking that, if the weekend went as she hoped, she might get the chance to use it. She wasn't sure how to pronounce it, but she was sure Connor would appreciate the effort.

She closed the book again and moved over to another table before Connor could see what she'd been reading. The new table featured a special fantasy breed of horse called the mearas and Abby was still reading the poster when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She spun around, startled, and found Connor grinning at her.

"Ready for the movie?" he asked, draping his arm around her waist.

Abby nodded and let him escort her into the theatre.

Connor couldn't wipe the smile from his face as he crossed the parking lot to Abby's car, her hand still resting inside his even though there was no one around outside. To be honest, he'd mostly expected Abby to complain the entire day about having to spend her weekend at the convention, but instead she'd seemed eager to let him tell her all about everything they saw and take photos with him, including quite a few of them together in the Rohan Room. She'd been particularly fond of that room because of the horses. She'd also held his hand nearly the entire day (a little too tightly perhaps when they'd walked through the haunted-like caves called the Paths of the Dead, but she'd denied being scared so Connor had too, even if he knew that they both knew that they both were.)

Now they were heading out to check into their hotel, get changed, and then go out for dinner. "Abby," Connor said as he buckled himself into the passenger seat of her small navy and white Mini.

"What?"

"Thanks, for having fun with me."

Abby laughed, "Anytime, Con, especially when Lester's gonna pay me to do so." Immediately she wished she hadn't said that last part as the sad look filled Connor's eyes again.

"Yeah," he muttered, " 'Cuz you wouldn't have normally done something like this with me. You just pretended to have fun but don't worry, Abs, I know really you're too cool for the convention. It's just pretend, like the mithril chain mail, and Sting doesn't really light up blue and Galadriel's Mirror doesn't really show you the past and future, and you're not really me girlfriend. The whole day's been pretend, but it's still fun. I like the pretend stuff."

Abby stared at him for a moment, wondering how to respond, but then she silently started up the car. She'd tell him. She'd tell him that she didn't want the relationship to be a pretend one anymore than he did, and she was suddenly sure that's what'd been bothering him all day, but she'd wait until after she'd gotten changed at the hotel because she wanted it to come from the real Abby and not Abby the Agreeable Elf. No need to confuse him any more. She turned to him suddenly with a grin, "Well, anyway, Connor, you don't need some stupid birdbath to see the past and future. Anomalies work just as well, yeah? And if that's what that mirror is supposed to do, you'd best put that in your notes to Lester too."

Connor chuckled, relieved to let her cheer him up and change the subject that he wished he hadn't brought up.

They checked into their hotel and found themselves in a room on the top floor. It really was a lovely room. Most of the furnishings were white and tan, but the trimmings were gold, dark brown, light pink, and pale blue. There were pink roses on the nightstand, robes in the bathroom, and mints on the pillows.

Abby tossed her keys onto the bed and nodded toward Connor. "I'm gonna go get changed." She grabbed her duffel bag of clothes and headed to the washroom, ignoring Connor's request that they just go out in their costumes.

When she emerged again, she was pleased to find that Connor had dressed too and was no longer looking like a hobbit. Actually, she thought to herself, he looked really good. He was laying on the bed watching the TV, and was dressed in khaki dress pants and a white dress shirt that he'd left untucked. He'd even donned a light blue tie. His hair was a mess, but she liked it like that.

"Connor," she said, drawing his attention away from the screen and onto herself, "You look great! Very dashing. I'll have the handsomest date in the restaurant."

Connor stared at her, shocked into silence for a moment by both the compliment and the word 'date'. It took him a moment to recover and then he grinned, "Thanks, Abs! You look really pretty too. I mean, Elven Abby is gorgeous, but real Abby is even prettier, yeah?"

Abby smiled brightly. She'd left on her silver sparkly eye shadow, but the costume was gone, as was the itchy wig, and she now wore a flirty light blue spaghetti-strapped sundress that fell just above her knees. There were little pink and white rosebuds printed on the skirt portion and she wore light blue heels and carried a small white purse to tie the outfit together.

"Thanks. Are you ready?" she asked him, reaching for her keys.

Connor nodded and flipped off the TV before jumping to his feet. "Ready," he said eagerly.

Abby saw him hesitate beside her and she knew what he was worrying about. "Con, it's okay," she said, slipping her hand into his and leading him out of the room, "You can be my boyfriend for the dinner too."

Connor's face lit up as he squeezed her hand tightly. "That's brilliant, Abs, because I was just about to say that if this place is as nice as Lester says it is, it'd look so much cooler to be there on a proper date."

Abby shook her head, amusement evident in her eyes. "Connor, I doubt anyone would notice the difference if we were there as friends or on a date, and if they did, no one would care."

Connor looked puzzled and she saw the question forming in his face, but they were already to the car before he finally dared to ask it. "Abby, if you think that no one would know the difference, why are you letting me pretend I'm your boyfriend?"

"Because you want to," she answered simply.

Connor felt just as confused as before and wondered what else he could get away with doing just because he 'wanted to'. He took a deep breath and asked her quickly as Abby started the car, "Abby, next weekend there's a dinosaur exhibit at the science museum. Do you want to go with me?"

Abby groaned a bit, "Connor, don't you get enough dinosaurs at work? Anyway, I bet there's nothing in that exhibit you don't know already. They probably use your database for their facts!"

Connor smiled a bit proudly, but continued, "Yeah, but Abs, you never know, we could learn something new and very useful. If not, we can have fun making fun of everything they get wrong about the creatures."

Abby smiled, "I suppose it could be informative. We should tell Lester to send the entire team so we don't have to pay."

Connor frowned and blushed, "Only, I meant for just me and you to go, Abby. You know, to spend time together because I had fun with you today." He looked at her hopefully.

"You mean like a proper date," Abby half-stated, half-questioned.

"Yeah," Connor whispered, barely daring to breathe and wondering why he'd thought that this was such a good idea a moment ago.

Abby bit her lip, feeling a bit conflicted. On one hand, she loved that he'd finally asked and she wasn't about to say no to a date with Connor. On the other hand, something like this, it probably really would be a good idea for the full team to be there and she didn't really want their first proper date to be at a dinosaur exhibit. She wanted something more romantic. She supposed she could count the dinner they were on their way to as the first date, but Connor wasn't and they were being paid to be there, so she wasn't sure. She was about to tell him that she'd go out with him somewhere else, when suddenly he interrupted her thoughts and, to her surprise, he sounded angry.

"You know what, Abs? Never mind. Just forget I asked. You could've just said no and I'd pretend I didn't care like I always do, but I guess the idea was dumb enough it didn't even warrant a response at all."

Abby winced. She really hadn't meant to take so long to respond. She pulled up at the restaurant and climbed out of the car. Connor did the same, slamming his door as he did so, and Abby quickly came around to his side of the vehicle and took his hand. Connor pulled away and started to walk ahead of her.

"Connor, stop," Abby ordered, "before I turn into Scary Kickboxing Abby."

Connor grumbled, but moved back to where she was standing and leaned back against the car, looking at her impatiently.

"I'm sorry," Abby offered.

"Because you ignored me, or because I'm a pathetic loser you'd never date?"

"Neither. I'm sorry I didn't answer fast enough. I was going to respond, Connor, I was thinking about it, is all."

She saw the anger in Connor's face drain away and become replaced by the sad look again. "Thinking about how to let me down, you mean," he stated matter-of-factly. "I'm sorry I got so mad."

Abby nodded, "Connor, it's just… if we're gonna go on a proper date, I don't want to spend it looking at dead versions of the creatures I try to save."

Surprise crept across Connor's face slowly as he processed her words. He swallowed nervously and then asked, "What about a different date, Abs? Would you say yes if I came up with a better location?"

Abby smiled shyly, "I'd like that," she admitted. "I'd like that a lot."

Connor whooped and lifted Abby off her feet in a tight bear hug, laughing. "Oi! Abby! I'll come up with somewhere brilliant, yeah? I'll surprise you."

Abby laughed too as he put her down again. "Nothing too geeky though, Con."

Connor hesitated, "Maybe you should give me some ideas actually, eh?"

Abby chuckled, "Well we could pretend that Lester isn't paying us tonight and make this a proper date, yeah?"

Connor frowned, "But Abby, we're going to dinner tonight regardless. I want to take you out another time too. Tonight doesn't count."

"Only you know, us going on a date, it doesn't have to be a one-time thing, Con. We can have a second date after the first one, and a third and a fourth, if you like."

Connor grinned widely, "Yeah? So we're just officially dating now?"

Abby nodded, "Just promise me something, Con."

He looked at her, eager to promise her the world if she asked for it.

"I don't want things to change," Abby said, cautiously. "Whether we're dating or not, or even if we date and decide it doesn't work later, promise me we'll sort it and still be best friends. I don't want to lose you."

Connor nodded, "I promise, Abs. But me and you will work because we're both stubborn enough to work hard at a relationship no matter what."

Abby smiled, "You especially. You've never given up on me, have you? Not since we met. Not too many people could change my mind like that. Now c'mon on, we can't be late for our reservations."

Connor nodded and this time when Abby slipped her hand into his, he didn't pull away.

Abby and Connor stared in surprise when they entered the elegant Mediterranean-Style restaurant. It certainly was the nicest place that either of them had ever eaten at, but what surprised them most was the lack of other customers. The moment they entered they were greeted by name and sat down at a candlelit table for two with a single pink rose in the centre.

"For such a nice place, it's not very busy here, is it?" Abby commented to the waiter as he poured their champagne for them.

"James Lester hired it for the night for you two. Normally it would be much busier. He must have some great connections to get them to agree on such short notice, or at all."

Abby gave Connor a look of disbelief and waited for the waiter to move off before speaking, "I can't believe he went to so much trouble for us!"

"I can," Connor retorted with a laugh, "He was probably afraid the champagne'd make me do something stupid."

"Like stand on the table and announce you're a time-travelling dinosaur's hero?" Abby chuckled at the image.

"Exactly," Connor laughed. "You'll have to tell him I behaved myself nicely."

Abby raised her eyebrows, "First, let's see if you actually do behave yourself."

Connor grinned mischievously and started up a game of footsy with her under the table. "Me? Misbehave? You must be thinking of someone else, Abby."

Abby giggled as the waiter returned to take their orders. Keeping in the spirit of the restaurant, Abby ordered the Mediterranean chicken, some steamed vegetables, and a bowl of red clam chowder. Connor ordered a steak and cheese-stuffed potato and the waiter promised them that their meals would be ready in about twenty minutes and pointed out the dance floor to them if they wanted to dance while they waited.

Connor surprised Abby by jumping up immediately and offering his hand to her. "Shall we?" he asked.

Abby grinned and let him escort her to the dance floor where some soft romantic music was playing. Immediately Connor put his arms around her waist, drawing her quite close to him, and Abby wrapped her own arms around his neck, resting her head on his chest and letting him just hold her up as they swayed a bit to the music. She heard him sigh contentedly and felt his grip tighten on her a little bit and she smiled.

After a couple minutes, she felt Connor placing kisses in her hair and then suddenly he spoke, "Abs, look at me, please, so I can kiss you properly."

Abby laughed happily as she complied and Connor immediately captured her lips with is own. She smiled against him when she felt the eagerness in his kiss and after a bit she pulled away and went back to resting her head on his chest. They were both contentedly silent for awhile longer until she suddenly heard Connor whisper against her hair, "Abby, Ge Mellon."

She could've laughed outright as she looked up at him. "Me too, Connor. Ge Mellon."

Connor stared at her in shock, "Abby, do you even know what it means?"

She nodded. "I do, Con. I looked it up for you before. I mean it, Connor: I love you."

Connor grinned at her, "Abby, this is the best day ever! I said it would be before we left, but it's sooo much better than I expected even."

"Even though the mithril wasn't real?" Abby teased.

Connor nodded giving her another quick kiss, just because he was allowed to. "Yeah, Abby. And I was thinking, since we had so much fun at this convention, we could do something to relive it for our one month anniversary. In exactly a month there'll be this Star Wars convention in Oxford and maybe if I start comparing creatures to Ewoks we won't have to pay…"

Abby burst out laughing and kissed him to shut him up. "Connor?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't press your luck."