Chapter 3

Phoenix decided to wear just a simple jacket and shirt along with some nice black slacks to dinner with Derek and Angie, not having much to wear to a semi casual dinner sort of date. He had thought that he'd be able to get something to wear for this in the weeks prior to the actual engagement, but then he kept remembering that he hated shopping for clothes. He took one last look in the mirror, letting out a sigh, and decided it would have to do. "Miles, are you ready?" Phoenix called back into their bathroom connected to their bedroom.

"Yes," came the simple reply. Miles emerged from the bathroom looking much like he normally did, though his suit jacket was not present and instead he wore a pair of black pants to match his vest. "I suppose I am," he added, looking to the other expectantly. After all, this was Phoenix's night, and he was merely along for the ride at the other's insistence. He buttoned the cuffs of his sleeves, though it had taken him longer to bring himself up to his normal attention to detail. He'd already done it once for work, after all. Getting ready for something twice in one day seemed like a hassle right now.

Phoenix turned and looked at Miles, smiling and saying, "You look really nice."

"Hm. I don't look much different than usual," The prosecutor replied offhandedly, looking the other over. "You look different, however. It somehow suits you," he did his best to be kind to the other when they were alone. After all, it was not Phoenix's fault that this case was taking up most of his thought. It did, however, explain why he didn't put much thought behind anything else.

Though most people wouldn't have caught something being off in Miles' tone, Phoenix easily did. He kept wishing that Miles would just talk to him and get whatever it was off his chest so that he wouldn't seem so sad and distant when he interacted with everyone. Getting close to Miles and tenderly touching his cheek, he softly said, "You're beautiful."

Miles made to reach out for the other, but offered instead a slightly bitter smile, stepping away. "We'll be late if we don't get going," he said, smoothing out a wrinkle in his vest.

Miles' less than positive response to his words hurt his feelings a little, but he took a breath and decided to ignore it. "Umm, okay, I'm ready to go."

Miles nodded. "All right, come on, then," he headed out to the main room, where he put on his shoes and retrieved his car keys from his jacket pocket.

Phoenix followed Miles out of the door, looking forward to seeing Derek again and meeting his fiance.

They soon arrived at the somewhat fancy restaurant that they had decided on, somewhere in between gourmet and the deli that Phoenix and Derek frequented. Pushing past the two double doors at the entrance, just inside stood the doctor and his assistant, the latter who was waving Phoenix over. "Hey, Phoenix, this is Angie, my fiance," he said with a grin, placing one hand gently on her back as he gestured to her.

Phoenix gave her a friendly smile, extending his hand to shake and said, "It's nice to meet you." Angie smiled back and said, "It's nice to meet you too. I've heard a lot of things from Derek about you." "Good things, I hope." Phoenix said, chuckling, then turning to gesture to Miles, "Derek, Angie, this is Miles."

"Good to meet you, Miles," Derek offered a hand, smiling genuinely. Miles simply nodded, taking the hand out of courtesy and shaking it, then shaking Angie's gently as well. "It's a pleasure to meet both of you," he said cordially.

Angie did find Miles attractive indeed in person, but he did seem a little aloof to her. She figured he was one of those people that took a while to warm up to others, so she said, "Well, I think we can get seated now that we're all here." She led the way to the host table and shortly, they were led to their booth in the restaurant.

Settling in, Derek picked up the wine list, giving it a slight glance before handing it to Phoenix.

"Why don't you pick out a wine for us? I'm terrible at that kind of thing," he laughed, smiling softly at Angie. He wasn't sure what he thought of Miles yet - so far, it was exactly how he'd pictured the other, though a bit more subdued. He trusted that Phoenix had a good reason for liking him though, and he silently thanked Angie for taking it all in stride.

"Well, I'm pretty horrible at that stuff myself, but Miles seems to know a thing or two about fine wines and all that." Phoenix said in humor, looking over at Miles.

"Well, great," Derek smiled cheerfully. "Why don't you pick something out for us, then?" he suggested, looking over to the prosecutor. "Very well," Miles took the wine list from Phoenix and nodded, looking it over for something that they might enjoy.

As Miles looked down the wine list, Angie looked at Phoenix and asked, "So how is work going for both of you?"

"I guess things are going okay. I'm between cases right now, so I suppose I'm taking a bit of a break." Phoenix glanced over Miles and continued, "Miles never really gets a break, though."

The prosecutor frowned slightly, setting down the wine list after deciding what to order. "Well, as you can imagine the prosecutor's offices and the individual offices of defense attorneys function very differently."

"Ahh, I'm sure. So, are you on a case right now?" Angie asked curiously, sounding interested. Phoenix just stayed silent, hoping that Angie or Derek wouldn't ask too much about Miles' current case. Even if he had no idea what the actual case was about, whatever it was had significantly bothered Miles, and it bugged him that he couldn't really help him.

"At first we thought it was an attempted suicide, of course, but a quick study of the wound revealed that to be almost impossible," Derek shrugged. Miles, who had remained mostly quiet, was a bit relieved when the waiter came to take their drink orders. He ordered a decent wine for the four of them, handing him the menu.

Phoenix then said with concern, "Did anyone figure out who hurt this person?"

"Ah, yes, it seems they've been caught. I think they'll be spending a good amount of time in jail," Derek nodded, picking up his own menu to take a look. Miles found he had nothing to say on the topic, sipping his water and generally avoiding the looks of the others, especially Angie, who sat directly across from him.

But Angie noticed his shifty behavior, and wasn't sure what to make of it, just saying, "So, Miles, how is your case going?"

He looked up at her, for some reason surprised to be addressed. "It's going as cases often do. There's overwhelming evidence indicating the defendant, and there are no other possible murderers. Even I've looked into it. It seemed too easy. But, as I assumed, the facts all line up."

"Well, it's good that you know you have the actual perpetrator of the crime, though." Angie said in a serious tone.

"Perhaps," Miles replied, turning back to his menu.

Watching Angie, Derek subtly took her hand under the table, admiring her for trying. The more they spoke, the more difficult Phoenix's boyfriend seemed. "Things are going normally for us, as well. Luckily, we haven't had any strange cases lately."

"No more of that...what was it called? GUILT, right?" Phoenix quickly said, deciding to change the subject, wanting to prevent Miles from getting upset.

"Right. We still can't really talk about it much, Caduceus managed to keep it a pretty well kept secret. But I have to say, those were the strangest... things... we've ever had to deal with. I'm glad to be working on normal patients," Derek laughed.

Phoenix smiled, but it died a little when he looked over to Miles to see that he seemed to be even more subdued than when they first came to the restaurant.

As the waiter brought their wine to the table and poured each glass, Derek pulled his hand away from Angie's and grinned. He was having fun, even despite the fact that his friend's boyfriend seemed highly uncomfortable. He could only surmise that he would warm up eventually. Miles took a sip of his wine, his mind too distracted to come up with some sort of discussion. Could there be any other possible explanation? Had the child been asked to kill the other, maybe? Did it even make a difference..?

Phoenix then put his hand over Miles' when it looked like the prosecutor was definitely tuning everyone out. He leaned close to Miles and whispered, "Hey, is everything okay?"

Miles almost jumped, but managed to make it unnoticable, so that only the other, with his hand over his, could feel it. Turning to look down at the hand and then up at the other, a tiny, hard to notice blush crept across his cheeks. "...Yes, it's fine. Have you tried the wine yet?"

Phoenix ignored the question about the wine, and he whispered back, "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," Miles replied lowly, feeling as if he did not want to have this discussion in front of the other two. Meanwhile, however, Derek and Angie had busied themselves talking about the wine, mostly Derek's attempt to give Phoenix a minute to talk to the other.

Phoenix let out a sigh, but decided to drop it, knowing that he wouldn't get anywhere like this, and he especially didn't want to make a scene in front of Derek and Angie. He pulled away from Miles and said to the both of them, "What do you guys think of the wine"

"It's perfect," Derek smiled to both, then specifically to Miles. "Thanks for picking it out for us. It wouldn't be nearly as good if you left it up to me!"

"It's not a problem," Miles replied, busying himself with setting aside his menu, ready to order.

Phoenix let out a small sigh, hoping that dinner with the two wouldn't be so awkward.

As the meal came to a close, Derek found it to be entirely enjoyable, and not terribly awkward, despite the mostly silent prosecutor. He would have to ask Phoenix later if they had done something to offend him... just to make sure that he didn't have to offer some kind of apology. Still, there was plenty of conversation, even with the occasional attempt to include Miles, before they paid the bill and stood, getting ready to leave.

As the four of them made their way to the door, Phoenix said, "This was really fun. And it was really nice to meet you, Angie." Angie smiled and said, "It was nice to meet you too, Nick." She then turned to Miles and said, "And you too, Miles." "We should do this again soon." Phoenix said to both of them.

"That would be great," Derek replied with a nod. "I'll call you tomorrow and we'll plan our next lunch," he added, taking gentle hold of Angie's hand. "Bye Nick, Miles," he waved. Miles nodded to the both of them, letting Phoenix take care of the goodbyes.

"Okay, talk to you soon! Bye!" Phoenix said, waving as they walked toward their car. When they had gone, Phoenix said to Miles as they walked to their own car, "Is everything really alright? I mean, you were awfully quiet most of the time."

"I just have other things on my mind. Derek is very nice - he's exactly the sort of person I'd imagine you having as a friend in school," Miles replied, unlocking the car and getting in the driver's seat.

"Well, I'm glad you liked him." Phoenix said, sounding a little hesitant in the sudden change of subject, but he let it slide again. He knew it would be no good to try to force Miles to talk to him. He would just have to come to him when he was ready. After entering the passenger's seat, Phoenix spontaneously leaned toward Miles and pulled him into a short but passionate kiss. He wasn't quite sure how else to convey that he cared for him, and that he was here for him. He was glad that the parking lot was dark enough to conceal them from being seen, since he wasn't quite anxious for them to be the next headline in the tabloids.

It was clear from his expression that this melted Miles just a little bit, but yet he simply turned back to the wheel. He couldn't tell Phoenix. He couldn't let him know everything that had been going on in his mind, how long he'd worried about things, frivolous things... things that would just be a bother to his lover. Phoenix would worry more, and then Miles would feel like an inconvenience. No, it was better this way.

Phoenix could tell that his kiss wasn't a complete lost cause, but he didn't quite get to where he wanted. No matter, he just had to wait patiently for Miles to come around. "Let's go home." he said softly, reaching over himself to put on his seatbelt.

After a short ride to their own apartment, Derek and Angie headed inside, hanging up their things and sitting down on the couch to relax. "So, Angie, what did you think about Phoenix? Pretty great guy, huh?"

"Yeah, he was really nice. I can see how you guys could have been friends, he's a lot like you." Angie said, smiling as she remembered.

"Like me?" Derek laughed a little, then fell silent for a few moment. "I... don't know about Miles. I wonder if he's that cold to Nick..."

"I agree that he was definitely very standoffish tonight, but he couldn't be that way when they're alone," Angie said, "I mean, I don't know why Nick would stay with him otherwise."

"It wouldn't make sense, that's for sure," Derek sighed, putting his arm around Angie's shoulders. "I was kind of hoping he'd change the impression the media gave me of him, though."

Angie snuggled closer to him, letting out a small, happy sigh, and she replied, "Well, both of us didn't even have the best first impressions of each other either. I bet there was just something going on with him tonight that made him act like that."

"Maybe you're right, Angie. He did seem to be trying," Derek said a little more brightly, mostly just curious about his friend's lover.

"I'm sure he was just stressed with work." She added, "There are times that we're probably not the most personable people either."

Derek laughed outright. "That's true, especially for you, Angie," he teased.

She then gave him an annoyed pout and then gave him a playful poke in the stomach. "Someone has to make sure you're not fooling around too much, mister!"

"Yeah, I guess you do keep me in line," the other chuckled. She could be cute when she was mad. Unless she was really mad, then she was just scary.

"Damn right, I do." Angie then smiled and leaned in to give him a kiss, wanting to take advantage of this time together, since work and everything kept them from getting many of these moments.

"And the best thing? You're people-friendly. I can show you off," Derek grinned mischievously, leaning in to kiss his fiancee.