Wayne could not take his eyes off of her. She looked as beautiful as she did in his memories, and his fantasies. Grace Van Pelt in that little red dress that had caused him so many sleepless nights the past year. The only thing missing was that awful flower.

Grace stood fidgeting in the doorway for a few seconds before finally approaching him. "Hey." She kissed him on the cheek before giving him his instructions. "I left a clean shirt out for you. Go get cleaned up, our reservations are in 1 hour and 15 minutes."

"Reservations?" Rigsby managed to croak out. "We're going out?"

"Very observant Agent Rigsby. Yes, we are going out. I got a clean bill of health from the Doctor and I feel like celebrating."

Wayne wanted to protest but right now he could deny her nothing. "OK, I'll be right back."

While he was changing Grace walked around the apartment blowing out the candles. It seemed a little silly now, lighting them when they were going out shortly, but she could not resist. She wanted the correct tone of the evening apparent from the moment he walked through the door. And judging by his reaction she had succeeded. It was going to be a long dinner she groaned to herself. Grace picked up the last candle and stood looking into the flame, almost as if it was a crystal ball and she could see her future, and liked what she saw.

Wayne came out of the bedroom and stopped dead in his tracks. The room was almost dark now, and Grace stood in the middle illuminated by a single candle. She was in profile and in the candle light her skin looked like fine porcelain, her hair had more curl than usual and fell softly around her face and shoulders. But it was her eyes that captured him. As she sensed his presence she turned and looked at him and her eyes sparkled like emeralds. He wondered if it was possible to fall in 'love at first sight' over and over with the same woman. Because this was only the most recent of at least a half dozen times he felt that way when looking at her, beginning with the first time she wore that dress.

"Are you ready?" he asked. The sooner they got going the sooner they would be home and….Wayne did not want to think about that. He had to get through dinner.

Grace blew out the last candle. "Yeah, let's go."

As Wayne was unlocking the car door Grace started fidgeting. Wayne smiled, she really had no idea how beautiful she was. "Stop fidgeting Grace. I guarantee you will be the most beautiful woman in the room tonight."

Grace looked up into his face and knew that in his eyes at least that was true. And tonight, no one else mattered.

Once Grace was in the passenger seat and Rigsby had gotten behind the wheel he asked "Where to?"

"Zinfandel Grille."

"Really? Very nice."

"I hope so. I've heard good things, and wanted to give it a try." The truth was she had researched Sacramento restaurants on the web. The menu at the Zinfandel Grille seemed elegant, but simple. No fusion confusion.

After they arrived and handed the car over to the valet, Grace tucked her hand into Wayne's arm and they walked toward the front door. As Wayne held the door for her he asked "What name is the reservation under?"

Grace started fidgeting again. She had no idea why but when the hostess asked her what name to put the reservation under, she automatically answered "Rigsby."

If Wayne was surprised he did not show it. He just went up to the hostess and checked in. When he turned back to where Grace was standing she seemed a little nervous about something, but he could not figure out what. He walked over and put an arm around her waist as he placed a light kiss on the top of her head. Just then the hostess called them "Mr. and Mrs. Rigsby? This way please."

Grace froze, but Wayne did not seem to react at all. He nudged her gently with the hand that was still around her waist and they followed the hostess to their table.

They were seated and looking over their menus and still Grace had not said a word. Wayne lowered his menu and reached over to take her hand. "What's wrong Grace? Are you in pain?" Suddenly he became worried. Although she said the doctor had given her a clean bill of health, was there something she was not telling him.

"I'm so sorry Wayne. I wanted this night to be perfect, and I guess I just messed everything up." Grace was trying not to let the tears flow.

"What?? Messed up?? Are you kidding me? Grace so far tonight has been perfect. What do you think you messed up?"

Grace was twisting her napkin around in her lap "It's just when they asked me what name to put the reservations under, I don't know why I gave your name."

"So your traditional Midwest upbringing had you put the reservation in my name. What's wrong with that?"

"But then the hostess thought we were married….." Grace stopped as Wayne started to chuckle.

"Is that what you're worried about? Grace I can assure you that I was not embarrassed or upset that someone thought you would marry me. So…unless YOU have a problem with it…." Wayne suddenly started feeling insecure again.

"NO! I just didn't want you to think I was getting ideas about how our future was playing out."

Wayne laughed. "Oh Grace, it's too late for that! I've had ideas since the day you walked into the Shand Creek Winery wearing that!"

Grace started to relax. They went back to looking over the menu. By the time the waiter returned they were ready to order.

Two hours later they were headed back to Grace's. Both were excited and nervous at the same time. Grace had been planning this night for 4 weeks now and had spent all afternoon getting ready and anticipating how the night would end.

Wayne knew that Grace had put a lot of time and thought into planning for tonight. It took all of the self control he had to allow her to take the lead.

Once they were back inside the apartment, Grace turned around and immediately pulled Wayne's head down for a heart stopping kiss. Wayne's arms snaked around her to bring her closer. As his hands started to move up and down her back to mold her body to his, he suddenly pulled back.

"Grace you're not wearing anything under this dress are you?"

Grace bit down on her lower lip as she slowly shook her head "After 6 weeks of not working out there wasn't enough room for anything."

Wayne groaned loudly "It's a good thing I didn't know that before we left for the restaurant. We never would have left."

Grace smiled and she turned in his arms and reached back to grab Wayne by his tie and led him into her bedroom. Just inside the door she turned as he pulled her back into his arms, but stopped him before he could re-capture her lips. She watched his eyes darken as her hand slowly caressed his face.

"I love you Wayne." She whispered huskily.

Wayne's hands which had been slowly moving up and down her back stopped. He looked into her eyes as a trained investigator looking for any sign that she was not totally sincere. He did not want her saying something just because she thought it was what he wanted to hear. All he saw reflected there was…love.

The next morning Grace Van Pelt woke up feeling…different. It took her a minute to place her finger on it, oh yeah, she felt loved. She was so glad they had waited. This was so much better, more intense than if they had hooked up on that first night. Sure they would have continued to date, and get closer, but this was slow and romantic and…spectacular.

Grace felt Wayne tighten his arm around her waist as he woke up. He started to place light kisses along her shoulder and down her arm. She rolled over onto her back and he immediately trapped her beneath him. "Good morning." He whispered. Grace shook her head "No, GREAT morning. Are you hungry?"

Wayne grinned widely as he lowered his head to capture her lips. At first he kissed her gently and sweetly. When he got no resistance he deepened the kiss. Grace snaked her arms around his neck to keep him close. She was sure she would have trouble walking on Monday morning.