Kris was so nervous. This was officially her and Junior's first date. They hadn't gone out together, by themselves, at all. She was practically shaking. She wasn't really sure why, but she felt like she was going to screw it up. She didn't know how she would, but she felt like she would. She sighed and gave her hair a bob, fluffing the bun that it was in.

She wasn't able to get a sitter tonight. After all, it was a Friday night, everyone was going out. So, without telling Junior, she'd called Dani. That was where she had taken Tim earlier when she "dropped him off at the sitter's house." She knew she couldn't tell him, it would wreck their evening.

Kris was shaken out of her thoughts when Junior knocked on the door. He was dressed in black pants, an orange shirt, and a striped tie. He looked amazing. He'd even combed his hair differently from the scraggliness it had been since he'd come back.

"Are you ready?" Junior asked, walking behind her and putting his hands on her shoulders. She looked so beautiful. She was wearing a black dress that fell just below mid-calf, and every time the light caught the piece of fabric, the sparkles on it glistened.

"No," Kris answered honestly.

"Why?" he said, giving her a confused look.

"I"m nervous, Junior," she answered, taking three broad steps over to their bed. "I mean, we haven't been on a real date in eight years. Eight years. What if something goes wrong and-" Kris stopped herself before she got overly-emotional.

"And I leave?" When Kris nodded, he continued. "I wouldn't be that stupid again, Kris. Just relax and everything is going to be alright." Junior sat next to her and rubbed her upper arm soothingly.

She leaned her head down on his shoulder as she felt an unwelcomed tear slide down her face. She felt ready now. This night would be good for them, she was sure of it. She just needed to do what Junior had told her to, relax. And so she stood, Junior's arm still around her.

"Are you ready now?" Junior asked her.

"Give me a few minutes I'll be down there in a second," Kris said, gently shoving him out the door.

"Okay," Junior yelled halfway down the steps. Kris didn't know it, but Junior had something he needed to take care of.

Kris wiped the little bit of mascara that had run on her face. She got a washcloth from in the bathroom, ran cold water over it, and dabbed it gently on her face. The last thing she needed was to smudge the rest of her makeup. She rubbed it along her neck and then when she was sure she felt better, put it back in the bathroom.

When she returned to the bedroom, she looked at the bed. There sat her purse and the shawl she was bringing in case it got cold in the restaurant. She ran over and plopped down. She stared at her reflection. From how she looked, you wouldn't have been able to tell she'd been in hysterics not that long ago. Her eyes met themselves in the mirror. Are you sure this is what you want? You need to trust him fully and completely, her eyes asked themselves through the glass. She shook her head at what she was doing and went downstairs, grabbing her purse and shawl on the way.

"Are you ready now?" Junior asked her in a playfully teasing tone.

"Let's go," Kris said, heaving a sigh. She was tired already, and it was only 6:45. Their reservations were for seven o'clock, but sometimes it was better to get to these types of places early.

"Hey," Junior said. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to him so she was flush against his body. Then he slowly brought his face down to hers and kissed her slowly. She tensed when he first touched their lips together, but he felt her slowly relax against him as the kiss got a little heavier. He pulled his lips away from Kris' and kissed her once more on the mouth. Junior left their fingers laced together as they walked outside to the car.

Their hands broke for as small a time as Kris could handle. The contact made her feel better. Made her feel more strong. And when Junior got in on his side and entwined his fingers with hers again, she squeezed hard. He looked at her and smiled as he started the engine.

When they got there, Kris saw that the parking lot was packed. There were two limos, one black, one white, parked by the door and she watched as some very well-dressed, probably even more well paid, people stepped out of the vehicles.

Junior found a parking spot not too far away from the door. He came over to the passenger side to open the door for Kris. He held out his hand for her to take and lifted her out of the low-riding seat. When she was up and at his side, he put his hand on the small of her back and led her to the doors, which were held open by a plump black man in a well-kept black suit.

Kris smiled at the kind man who had held the door open for them and thanked him. In a word, to her, this was all fairy-tale-like. Surreal. When she and Junior had gone out all those years ago, the fanciest place he had ever taken her was to Mario's.

At this restaurant, the crystal chandeliers were large and sparkly, and you could almost smell the money radiating off of people that passed. Kris felt so out of place with her almost knee-length dress that she had gotten on sale at JC Penny. She could hear the thoughts of the women that passed her, wearing their Dior cocktail dresses and Cartier 2 karat diamond necklaces. Look at that girl, their voices hissed. She'll never belong in this restaurant, much less this world.

As they were led to their seats in the restaurant, Junior looked over at Kris, who looked intimidated. Her body had shrunken to more than half its size since they'd entered the restaurant. He grabbed her hand back and held their hands in between them. He gave her a reassuring look, and she responded by giving him a sheepish smile.

When they were finally seated out on the patio, Kris looked at the menu. Most of it was French. They were in America, they could at least translate the menu. She couldn't even pronounce hardly any of it. She frowned and put the menu down, staring at the cover. She hadn't even known the name of the restaurant, and now that she was faced with it, she found she couldn't pronounce that, either. She sighed and glanced over in Junior's direction, where his eyes were scanning over the menu.

"You already know what you want?" Junior asked her. He was surprised. He'd been here a couple of other times with his dad, so he knew some things that would probably be good to get. He was just looking at the menu to see if anything jumped out at him.

"Uhh... I think I'm just getting a salad and some water," Kris said, shrugging her shoulders and shaking her head a little bit.

"You sure?" Junior asked her, a look of concern written on his face.

"Yeah," She said, nodding.

The waiter came up just then and put some glasses on the table, one for white wine, one for red, and a larger, more round one for ice water. He filled the water glasses.

"Are you ready to order?" the man in the tuxedo asked them.

Before Kris could say anything, Junior said, "Could you just give us a few more minutes?" The waiter nodded curtly and sped off toward another table.

"Weren't you ready, too?" Kris asked him.

"Yeah, but, I mean- You should have something different tonight. It's a special night, after all," Junior said.

"I really just want a salad."

"But Kris, they have really-"

"Junior, stop please," Kris said with a firm tinge to her voice. She shot him a meaningful look.

"Kris," He reached over to her side of the table and grabbed her hand, his eyes boring into hers.

"I just- Feel- I feel so out of place here, Junior. These people- the way they dress- and the menu, I can't pronounce hardly any of it," Kris said to him. Her voice was strained. She was even more tired now and just wanted to curl up in bed.

"Okay, here's the deal. We'll both get salads and some dessert, and then we'll head home. Sound good?" Junior said, rubbing his thumb in circles on her hand.

Kris nodded. Salad and dessert didn't sound half bad right now. And maybe even some coffee with dessert. Fancy places like this always served coffee with dessert. Although here it probably had a funny name.

"Good," Junior said as he placed a small kiss on the top of her hand.

The waiter came back a few minutes later and Junior ordered for them. Two salads, and two club sodas. He'd managed to convince Kris to get that instead of water.

Junior excused himself to go to the bathroom. As he washed his hands at the shiny sink in the well-lit bathroom, a felt a bulge in his pocket. He took out the box that was in there and stared at it for a moment. He'd completely forgotten about the reason he'd taken Kris somewhere so fancy this evening. Well, he thought to himself, it's gonna have to wait for a while. Tonight just isn't the night. He put the box back into his pocket and finished drying off his hands.

As he walked out he looked at Kris from across the room. She was looking around rather frantically. He finally managed to catch her eye and when their eyes met he smiled at her. She smiled back. And it was a genuine smile, of true happiness. He saw that their salads had arrived.

When Junior walked over Kris felt like everything would be better. He sat down and they started eating their supper in silence. Kris finished quickly and found Junior was already done when she was.

Someone came to clear their table and they ordered dessert. Junior was so bold as to order a bottle of red wine for them to have with the chocolate cake. The cake and wine came quickly and was presented very well.

Junior poured the wine for them. Kris hadn't really drunk wine much around him, but he'd thought it would be a nice treat for something different. He watched as Kris slowly raised the clear glass to her lips and took a very small sip. Her face didn't register any particular emotion as to whether or not she liked it, so he assumed that she did.

Kris dug her fork delicately into her cake and let it dissolve on her tongue. It tasted so good. Like perfection or heaven. She took another sip of wine and let the cool, fruity liquid slide down her throat. She would savor this. It had to have been the most amazing dessert in the world. She didn't used to be much of a wine drinker except on special occasions, but in this particular red, you could hardly taste the alcohol.

Half an hour later, they were finished and had paid the bill. Junior was thankful, because he was getting a little bit of a buzz from the wine and he just wanted to go home. It was also getting increasingly loud in the restaurant as more people filtered in and out, and he hated seeing Kris uncomfortable.

He pulled the car to a stop in the driveway of Kris' house, which was completely dark and void of any life what-so-ever. Kris was about to get out herself, but remember the theme of the evening. Junior was always such a gentleman on their dates. She appreciated it. A lot.

When they got inside, Junior wrapped Kris up in a hug. She melted as he whispered in her ear, "I love you." Kris took her head away from his shoulder and up to his lips, pressing them against hers and moving them in a way she was sure would have been forgotten in all their years spent apart.

Junior felt Kris' arms wrap around his neck loosely and play with the ends of his soft hair. He smiled and deepened the kiss, lifting her so her legs were around his waist. He braced his hands behind her head and played with the fuzzies that had come out of her bun. Slowly and carefully, Junior carried Kris up the steps to the bedroom, taking one of his hands off of her lower back to close the door. It went right back to the same spot and he lay her gently back on the bed, his body right on top of hers.

She felt a new kind of exhilaration running through her body. The way Junior's body was pressed so close to hers made her hold him even closer, their body's fitting together. Chills ran down her spine as he delicately slipped her black shrug off of her shoulders, tossing it to the floor. She let out a quiet moan when Junior's finger's brushed the bottom of her spine as he unzipped her dress.

She loosened his tie and took it off of him, unbuttoning his shirt soon afterward. The tie and shirt got thrown in two completely different directions and she slipped his pants down without even bothering to unbutton or unzip them. But then Kris stopped, breathing heavily.

She was scared. They hadn't done this in eight years. That was such a long time. What if it wasn't the same now? What if she did something wrong? Killed the mood?

"Kris?" Junior questioned. He was only in his boxers, which were blue plaid. He sat up and scooted over to where she was at the top of the bed.

"I- Are you sure we should be doing this? It isn't too fast? I mean- what if something happens? And we get irritated and-" Kris started to say, but she stopped herself.

"I don't think it's too fast. Nothing bad will happen. I am sure we should be doing this because the one thing I know is that for the past eight years, the only person I've been able to think about is you. The way your hair curls at the ends when its humid, the way you laugh when I tickle you. The way that you blush when I touch a sensitive spot," Junior put his hand on her knee, one of the telltale spots, and watched her face get pink as she smiled shyly. "And how much I still love you after all that time that I never saw you."

Kris looked up at him and smiled. His loving gaze drifted down to her soft lips and he leaned in, locking their lips together. It wasn't too long before their bodies were locked together and their tongues entangled.

Kris lay flat on her back, breathing heavily. She was surprised that they could- that they were still so... She smiled at the memory that had been filed away tonight. She felt Junior shift to face her and she tried to calm her breathing. She turned to him so they were facing each other.

"Wow," Junior said quietly, smiling a goofy smile that made Kris laugh.

When she stopped laughing, she replied. "Yeah," she said. She brought her head closer to his and kissed him. It was a long, lazy kiss. One that made them forget where they were, what time it was. Made them forget everything.

After they had broken the kiss, Kris scooted closer to Junior and lay her head of soft, full hair on his chest. She felt his breath on her neck, hot and ragged. She ran her hand up and down the soft skin of Junior's chest and felt his breathing go softer.

This was a wonderful night. He didn't ever want to leave this spot in this bed with Kris. As her fingernails ran along his chest he felt his heavy breathing give way to a calm breathing pattern. One that was relaxed. The feel of Kris' skin on his skin was something he had managed to forget in the time they were apart. He knew know that it wouldn't be something he would forget again. It was something that felt so amazing, so special. The way that they never lost contact.

Junior sighed into Kris hair and kissed the curly lumps that had fallen down. "God, I missed this. Us. I love you so much, Kris."

Kris looked up into his face, which was dreamy, but still serious. "I did too. And I love you, too, Junior. So, so much."

Their bodies curled together in a way that was so familiar to them both that it was almost boring. They put each other to sleep with their calm breathing and the feeling of the other one's body. The thing they didn't know was that they had both fallen asleep with small, dreamy smiles on their faces.