Allison woke up Saturday morning nervous about having dinner with Ben and his family that evening. She had not gotten a lot of sleep the night before, even despite Ben's ability to tire her out. She laid there, and listened to the quiet snores of him sleeping snuggled close to her. Ben had came home late from filming and Allison wanted to let him sleep a while longer. She closed her eyes and try to will herself back to sleep, but it was useless. She got up as quietly as possible and got into the shower. She sat for a long time, warm water runner over her body as she tried to reassure herself tonight would be a great night. Soon she felt a rush of cold air and turned to see Ben watching her. He had an evil grin on his face and she beckoned him in with her finger. He shook his no, trying to play hard to get. Allison just said your loss and turned around to grab the soap. As she lathered up her body she kept her eyes on him. She was going to try and tease him into the shower. His state of nudity didn't hinder his excitement, and Allison knew he was enjoying watching her. He didn't budge, he just stood in the doorway and watched her intently. Allison decided to do something she had never done before, not for an audience that is. She let her hand wander across her chest, down her stomach then between her legs.

Just as his eyes met hers, the most frustrating thing happened, his phone rang. He dropped his head and turned around to retrieve his phone. She could see him, and could faintly hear his voice drifting in from the bedroom.

"No, I didn't have anything scheduled today. I looked last night and saw nothing on my calender." She could see him pacing, saw him grabbing some things and tossing them onto the bed.

"Fine, no it's fine. What time and where?" He stopped at looked at Allison and she could see a sadness in his eyes. She rinsed the soap off as he was finishing his call.

"I can be ready in a matter of minutes. I will head there right away. You need to find out why I was not made aware of this. I cannot let this happen again."

He hung up the phone as Allison came out of the bath with a towel wrapped around her. He was getting dressed and Allison already knew he had to go for work.

"They forget to update your schedule?"

"It appears that way. I'm sorry Love, but I have to run down to do an interview for a morning show. It will be live so maybe you could watch me, tell me how I looked when I get back." He turned around half expecting her to be upset, but she had a look of pure adoration on her face. She came over to help button up the front of his white shirt. He had slid on a pair of perfectly tailored khakis and she thought he looked good already. He watched her as she finished with his buttons and straightened out his collar. She went to the closet and found a tweed jacket as he ran a comb through his hair. He came out of the bathroom saw her sliding a pair of panties on under one of his t shirts.

"Do I look alright Love?"

"Always. Here put this jacket on." He looked at the tweed jacket then to her. He smiled as she helped him pull it on and he turned around to hold her before leaving.

"Let me guess, you had a dream of Professor Langdon last night?" Allison kissed him softly before answering him.

"Maybe, but besides that I know your taking the bike, and it's chilly. You can take it off at the studio, but I don't want you sick."

"Walk down with me?" Allison nodded as she followed him downstairs and out into the garage. She had her arms around herself trying to keep warm while he pulled his helmet out and climbed onto his bike. He dropped it off the stand and leaned over to kiss Allison goodbye. He slid on the helmet and started the bike. Allison backed up to the doorway and watched him pull out into the street and go on his way before closing the door.

Back inside Allison turned on the telly and made herself a cup of tea. She had put on a pair of sweats and warm socks before coming back down to find Ben on the morning show. Once she found him she turned her phone onto silent so that she wouldn't be interrupted. The anchor man started the interview with some questions about the upcoming season of Sherlock. Ben gave some vague answers and made a couple jokes with the anchor man. Then a question about an upcoming project with David Tennent. Ben answered the question but then acted as if he wasn't supposed to say anything. Then as the anchor man asked his next question Allison almost hit the floor.

"So, rumor has it that you have gotten cozy with a mystery woman. Care to comment?" Allison didn't know if Ben would be angry, or if he was just tell the world. He smiled for a moment that seemed to go on for minutes to Allison. She watched at he licked his lips, then ran his hand across his chin. What happened in that second seemed to take an hour to Allison. She was waiting on the edge of the sofa, dying to know what he would say.

"Well, that is a rumor that I don't know if I am allowed to comment on." He had a smirk on his face and punctuated the statement with a wink. Then the anchor man had several viewer submitted questions to ask. Oh crap Allison thought, these could be about anything, hopefully his career or words of wisdom. The first two were innocent question and he answered gracefully. The third was a young fan wanted to know how he had prepared to do the voice and Smaug. Ben got animated when answering that question and went on for a minute about it. Then few more fun questions were asked then the look on the anchor man's face looked surprised.

"And as our final viewer question, and for the record, I didn't choose these. The rumor is your dating an American, why wouldn't you choose to date someone closer to home?" Allison sat and watched the screen intently, she could tell the anchor man looked uncomfortable even asking that. Then it switched the camera that was trained on Ben. He had a polite smile on that was hiding his anger. He looked at the camera and got serious.

"Well, um, that is bit of a rude question now isn't it. If you really want to know, I never intended on dating anyone, but someone came into my life by chance and I could never get her out of my head. She positively changed my outlook and I feel so much better when I am around her. I would like to thank my dear friend Chris for stealing my lighter that night, he is the reason I met her." Benedict stopped to laugh then he added that last thought.

"Maybe he will be our best man one day." He was joking as he said it but Allison knew that this would be amazing ammo for the papers. She wondered if he had really meant that. He used the "L" word but only as a pet name. He had never said those three words to her, and she hadn't said them either. The anchor man was quick to the punch though.

"Are you saying that we could have a future Mrs. Cumberbatch?" Ben grinned now and he looked amused at himself.

"Well there always a could be." He laughed a bit with the anchor man and soon the interview was over. Allison new there would be a small photo session with the morning show then he would be home. While she sat with her mind racing all over she noticed her phone vibrating. She picked it up and noticed a familiar number, but couldn't place it right away. She picked it up and was shocked to hear who it was.

When Ben got back it was after lunch and he could hear Allison talking on the phone in the kitchen. He took of his jacket and shoes and walked into the kitchen and saw she had just made herself a sandwich for lunch. She was talking to her mom and she must not have heard him come in and he decided to be a trickster today. He quietly picked up her sandwich and took a huge bite out of it before sneaking into the other room. Allison finished putting things back into the refrigerator while listening to her mom go on about the cat. She turned around and went to grab her sandwich when she saw a bite missing. She knew immediately who had done it and decided to try to get off the phone with her mom. Once she had hung up she took a bite of what was left of her sandwich and walked around the downstairs. When he was no where to be found she headed upstairs. She walked slowly into the bedroom where he was laying on the bed.

"You looked great in the interview, a little professor like in the jacket, but defiantly great." He flashed her a devilish smile and motioned for her to join him in the bed.

"You aren't upset with me are you? I know I said something without thinking and now I have got press talking." Allison climbed into bed next to him and put her head on his shoulder.

"Not at all babe. I knew you were upset at the final question, but I think you answered it beautifully. Now the question is, what is your mom going to think."

"She thought I was fantastic. She said she really can't wait to meet you now." Allison turned his chin to look at her and kissed him deeply. Once she pulled her lips away to looked deep into his hypnotic eyes, she wanted to say those three words, but when she opened her mouth to talk, they didn't come out.

"I got a call today from the agent I've been working with about the audition I did. They offered me a role." Ben pulled away and sat up, panic hit Allison quick. He turned to her and had a huge smile plastered on his face, and the panic faded quickly.

"Really Love? That is wonderful. Tell me about it."

"Well I haven't actually accepted the role yet. It's being filmed here in London, and you have a project coming up in L.A. So I wanted to talk to you first."

"Well I think you should take it. If you are worried about time away, don't. We will working something out. There is always Skype." He moved close to Allison with an devilish smile and leaned down over her.

"Although Skype doesn't compare to touch." Then he kissed her neck, until his phone rang. He buried his face into her neck as he groaned. Then he pulled away and reached for his phone. He answered and Allison gathered it must have been someone who had seen the interview. Allison watched him for a moment before getting up and looking through the closet. She knew they would be heading over to his parents house and Allison wanted to find the perfect outfit. She could hear Ben talking and laughing on the phone and was glad that whoever it was seemed to understand his little slip up. Allison looked through her clothes and pulled out a few outfits and laid them on the bed. Ben, still talking, got up and walked over to look at what she had picked out. He then turned to the closet and pulled something else out and laid it on the bed. He had pulled out a simple navy button up dress with pale pink buttons and piping. Allison then picked up the rest of the outfits and hung them back up. She went to her lone dresser drawer and pulled out a smooth pink bra that wouldn't show up under the dress. She then stripped out of her sweats and his tee before sliding the bra on. She felt him move close behind her, but ignored him, payback for his playing hard to get this morning. He was still on the phone as he leaned down to kiss the back of her neck, his hand wandering. She playfully slapped his hand and walked away. Soon she was dressed and headed downstairs with a pair of pink flats in hand. Ben finished his phone call before coming down the stairs.

"You enjoy teasing me don't you?"

"I wasn't teasing Mr. Cumberbatch." Allison tried to sound innocent as he stood close to her. She wanted him to just take control of the moment by pressing her against the wall, but he took control by walking by and putting on his jacket. He was going to make her wait now.

They pulled up in front the large estate and Allison got very nervous and looked to Ben for reassurance. He helped her out of the car and held her hand as he led her up to the door. Just as they approached the door, it opened and a familiar face appeared. Allison recognized Ben's mother from some of the pictures that he had shown her and knew this was her. She greeted her son with a hug and a kiss and turned to Allison.

"Well you must be Allison. I have heard so much about you, It's nice to finally meet you. Please come in." Ben let the women enter first before coming in and shutting the door. Allison followed his mother into a large library that was full of books. There were photographs of his family and Allison smiled when she saw a young picture of Benedict. His mom motioned for them to sit on a large leather sofa and Allison ended up in the middle.

"Benedict made quite a claim today on television. What did you feel about it?" Allison looked at Ben then to his mom, not really knowing how to put into words what she felt.

"Well Mrs."

"Oh none of that, please call me Wanda."

"Oh, alright. Wanda I was scared, not for myself, but for Benedict. I know the press with have a field day with this. But I could see how upset that question made him, and honestly I don't think he could have answered it any better." Wanda smiled and patted Allison's hand.

"I think you and I are going to get along just fine. So tell me, how do you feel about my son." Allison smiled not knowing what to say exactly but let her heart lead the way.

"I care for him deeply. I enjoy every moment we get to spend together, and I hope I make him as happy as he makes me." Wanda looked to her son and smiled. She could see how happy he was and decided not to press the matter. Soon Allison met his father and enjoyed dinner with his parents. They seemed to be genuine and caring, Allison was in awe at how wonderful of a family he had. They sat and enjoyed a fire while talking longer before Ben said they needed to head home. His parents walked them to the door and this time Allison was given a hug as well as Benedict. He took her hand and led her to the car. When he opened her car door he stopped her from getting in by grabbing her arm. She turned to look at him and he pressed a kiss to her lips. He pulled away and waited for her to slide into her seat before shutting her door. As he drove around to the end of the driveway, Allison fidgeted in her seat until she leaned down to get something in the floor board. He tried to look over but it was hard to see in the dark.

"Are you alright love?" Allison didn't answer she just sat up and smiled at him. Then she pulled something out of her hand and put it on his gear shift. Ben looked for a moment before realizing what it was.

"Oh, well aren't you being a naughty girl?" Ben purred as he pulled her panties off the gear shift and put them into his jacket pocket.