Wherever that obnoxious beeping was coming from he wished it would stop.; it was too early and that noise was too loud. When the beeping finally stopped he opened his eyes and didn't recognise where he was at first; he rubbed his hands across his eyes and pushed himself up onto his elbows. For once he could honestly say he was happy to be awake.

Katelyn was standing at her dressing table brushing her hair, and Loker had definitely never seen that outfit before; she was wearing a black skirt and then nothing else but a black bra. Clearly her decision to have him stay over had broken down a few more barriers for her; either that or she hadn't realised he was awake.

Loker took a few more seconds to fully take in what he was seeing before giving a gentle cough; Katelyn turned her head slightly and gave him a flash of that beautiful smile he loved.

"I thought you'd never wake up." she said putting her brush down on the table and turning fully towards him. Loker was momentarily speechless, she passed him a mug of coffee and he took a swig eagerly seeking a quick fix to his still dozy state.

"Well if you'd told me I would wake up to this;" he gestured towards her and grinned, "then I'd have been up hours ago."

Katelyn laughed and perched on the edge of the bed reaching for a striped turtle neck sweater she had laid out on top of the covers. As she went to put it over her head, Loker reached out to stop her from lowering her arms.

"Hey, you'll mess my hair up" her protest was muffled underneath the fabric that covered her face.

Loker scooted closer across the bed, his hands still holding her arms above her head. Gently he placed a kiss just below her ear; when he felt her relax he moved his lips carefully down her neck.

He felt her take a deep breath and noticed how her skin flushed slightly. Loker pushed the sweater back up off her arms discarding it on the floor, he continued to place soft kisses along her neck and jaw line.

"We'll be late." she said breathlessly; her voice indicating ever so slightly that she didn't really care.

Loker pulled away knowing that as much as he would like to see how far this would go right now; they would be late and given that they wanted to leave on time this afternoon it would be best if they put things on pause just for now. He settled for being rewarded with the look on her face.

Loker picked up her sweater from the floor and handed it to her; she looked a little disappointed in his decision to stop. He watched her pull the sweater firmly over her head and reluctantly got out of bed to make himself look a little more respectable. When he came back from the bathroom, she was fully dressed and washing applying the finishing touches to her make up.

"You really don't need that much you know." he said tugging on yesterdays shirt.

"Tell that to the cameras I get to stand in front of." she said putting the mascara back in the make-up bag.

He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist; unable to kiss her neck again he rested his chin on her right shoulder instead.

"So, what time are you picking me up tonight?" she asked leaning back into him and making eye contact via the mirror.

"Is eight ok? I've got somewhere special in mind."

"Sounds good to me, do I need to wear anything in particular?"

"No, you don't need to wear anything at all."

Katelyn elbowed him gently, "Hey, you know what I mean."

Loker laughed and backed off raising his hand in front of him in defence. She laughed back and looked towards the alarm clock on the bedside table.

"Come on, we need to go."

They stopped off at Starbucks on the way into the Lightman Group for more coffee and something far too sweet and sickly that couldn't really be classed as breakfast.

Foster and Lightman were already in and were standing outside the conference room deep in conversation; they stopped abruptly when Loker and Katelyn walked in.

Lightman looked surprised at seeing the two of them together. Loker guessed that after leaving him yesterday to watch the cameras and then seeing him in the lab after his 'discussion' with Katelyn, his boss had come to the conclusion that his researcher had been ditched. Foster on the other hand was looking knowingly at the couple and even gave Katelyn a slight wink as they walked past.

Loker opted to completely ignore both their expressions, he really couldn't care what they thought, he was just happy that he'd been given a second chance. He continued to walk Katelyn up to her office trying to make each step last just that little bit longer.

"Probably best if we at least try to get some work done today, don't want Lightman to sack us both." she said softly as they stopped outside her door.

"Hmm, I'll do my best." he said brushing a stray strand of hair back behind her ear.

A slightly longer than appropriate kiss later and Loker was heading to take up his place in the lab for the day. He just had to concentrate on something other than her for seven hours and then he would be on his way home to get ready for date number five.

Fortunately it turned into a busy day. A new case had arrived on the books and although Lightman in recent typical fashion had chosen Torres to take the front seat, Loker was kept occupied scouring CCTV footage.

Foster joined him just after lunch and he was appreciative of the company. He ran through his findings with her and was pleased when she agreed with him on just about everything; it was possibly the first time in the last few weeks that he had turned up something solidly productive.

"Any plans for tonight?" Foster asked as she handed Loker the disc he'd just ejected from the machine. She had a look in her eyes that said she already knew the answer.

"Er, yeah actually. I have a date."

"So how many will that make it?"

"Number five, officially my longest run yet." he said leaning back in his chair.

Foster patted his knee in a slightly 'proud mother' kind of way and changed the topic back to work. Loker was secretly relieved that she hadn't asked anything more; he felt strangely protective about this relationship - almost as if it were something fragile that he wanted to keep safe from the outside world, just for a little longer anyway.

He turned his attention back to work for the final few hours of the day.

Loker buzzed the intercom and made his way up to her apartment. He had a very good feeling about tonight; and had even gone totally against his usual self by picking up a bouquet of yellow roses.

"Given the severe lack of just about anything in your apartment; I thought I would bring you these to liven it up," he said handing her the roses; "and this too." he finished, presenting her with a rectangular package.

She put the flowers in a glass vase, placing them carefully in the centre of the kitchen table and turned her attention to the gift. It had been a last minute idea and had involved interrupting Lightman again to get access to the cameras, but this time Loker felt it was good decision.

Katelyn pulled off the paper, "Oh Eli."

"Do you like it?"

It was a photograph; their kiss this morning had all been captured on the CCTV and Loker had taken a screen capture from the recorded footage. A quick trip out at lunch to buy a stylish silver frame had completed his gift.

She looked up from the picture, "I love it."

He couldn't quite decipher her expression but quickly forgot about it when she kissed him; he wrapped both arms around her waist and lifted her over to the front door. Putting her down and breaking their kiss, he took the photograph out of her hand, placing it down on the table by the door.

"If we keep doing that then we'll never get anywhere." he said with a smirk.

"As long as we have take away menus we'd be ok." she replied adjusting the frame so it stood up correctly.

"I can do better than a take away tonight."

"Are we there yet?" Katelyn was being purposefully annoying and Loker wasn't going to give in.

"Nearly."

"And where is there?"

"For the fifth time, I'm not telling you." he replied rolling his eyes, although he couldn't help laughing at her pout.

"I thought you'd like a surprise."

"I do like surprises, but you gave me some sugar earlier and its gone to my head." she quipped.

"Kissing's off limits for the rest of the night then." his tone produced another pout from Katelyn; he shrugged and turned his head away from her trying to keep his serious demeanour in place.

"You don't mean that." she said nudging his knee with her own.

Loker pretended to be thinking it over before turning back to her.

"So you're a deception expert now?" he asked leaning towards her.

Loker grinned when he watched her face change into her press persona.

"That question is not based on any significant evidence."

"Ok; but you're calling me a liar." he moved closer again trying to make her falter.

"There's nothing to verify that allegation." her answers were short and quick as if she was dealing with a journalist hell bent on twisting every word.

"Alright; so you're not a deception expert and I'm not a liar; but I think you'd have the harder job of not kissing me all night than vice versa."

"Consider this a pre-verdict briefing; I am requesting an embargo on your version of events until the final results have been verified. I'm sure you'd only want to make it an official statement if your facts were correct."

He was hovering dangerously close to her lips by the time she finished speaking; it appeared that a challenge had been set and not liking to lose, he was going to try his best to win. Her face still hadn't faltered although her eyes said otherwise; he was fairly sure his were giving him away too.

"That'll be fifteen dollars." The cab driver interrupted the moment.

They'd arrived at his surprise.