Thanks to bmcgeeparker for a quick fashion consult.

It was still early evening, that June night, when Sam heard a knock at Spencer's door. She was so used to people just coming and going as they pleased, as she always had, that under other circumstances she would've wondered who would bother to knock.

Tonight, though, she knew. Freddy had insisted on going home for a little bit, "to shower and change," but also if tonight was going to be a real date, he wanted it to start with him picking her up.

"And promise me you'll dress like we never knew each other. Like you would for a date. You have gone on dates?" He couldn't help a little dig even then, it was in their nature.

"More than you," she replied, scowling.

"Good, all I wanted to know."

Really, all she wanted him to know. Sam had seen a bit of the country after leaving Seattle. She'd travel, find a situation (or a person) she liked, and stay there for a few months, even up to a year. One day though, she'd just be gone. Sometimes she left a note, but only sometimes.

She couldn't stand an in-person goodbye, not if there was a serious chance it was final.

…

He wouldn't tell her what he had planned, but he did assure her they wouldn't be going to any formal dance so she dressed up, but not to the nines. She'd decided on a short - ish (just above her knees) navy blue dress with shoulder straps, over tights that were darkest blue; with black heels. Now is the time to knock his eyes out, she thought, and in that moment she remembered the first time seeing him up close the night before and thinking, He looks so tired.

She opened the door to find him equally well – attired, just one step down from a tuxedo. Didn't he know she didn't want him to look that good?

They made awkward small talk for a few minutes, getting used to this strange mix of the familiar and the new. And when he said "Well, we should get going," she nodded and headed towards the door but he said, "Let's take the elevator."

She stopped and looked at him. The elevator? The elevator was where they'd broken up. It was where they'd done a number of things, including have their last kiss as a couple.

It wasn't as if they'd never been there together since but this night, she wondered why he was insisting on it. A little uncertain, she walked with him to the elevator door.

They rode down in silence, but his hand tentatively found hers, and he didn't let it go until they reached his car and he opened the door for her. Which made her feel a little weird. She'd broken into his car. She'd jumped through the window of his car. And now he was holding the door for her?

"Freddie," she said, "It's still me."

"I know."

Before he started it up, he reached into his jacket pocket and took out a sleep mask.

"Do you trust me?"

She gave him a long, sideways look. "Yes..."

"Then would you put this on, please?"

"Why?"

"Ah, ah. Trust."

She slowly slipped the mask over her eyes and he started the car.

As he drove, he kept holding her hand in one of his except when he absolutely needed to use both. And he talked to her, quietly. He told her where he'd been since they'd seen each other last. He told her, carefully, about forming a friendship with Malika.

"Magic Malika?" She asked.

"Yeah."

He knew Sam hadn't wanted to react but her hand tensed slightly. "So what do you guys...do?"

He gently stroked her hand with his thumb.

"We're just friends, Sam. I needed someone to hang out with when -"

"Always just friends?" She interrupted before he could say, When Carly and then you left me.

Now he squeezed her hand. "Yes."

He drove in silence for a while and then said, "Except-"

She withdrew her hand.

"Except?"

He missed her hand, but he wasn't going to lie to her.

"Well there was a week or two when we tried dating."

"You guys kiss?"

"People who date generally do," he said gently, "but it just didn't feel right. I knew it almost immediately, I think she did too. I think one reason we tried to be more than friends was just because it was prom time, and neither of us had anyone to go with."

He'd said it easily, but it still made her feel a little guilty even if she didn't want to and would never have admitted it.

But she did gently slip her fingers around his again.

"So what was the giveaway?"

"I don't really know how it felt from her end, obviously, but from mine – well, I'd already set the goal for kissing kinda high and this…" he reached for the word and though he didn't find it, she was pleased.

"So what'd you do?"

"We talked. It was like – remember what I told you at the lock – in before -"

She turned so as if she hadn't been wearing the mask, she'd be looking at him. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"...it was like the opposite of that. Then, I was encouraging you to tell someone if you had more – than – friendly feelings for them. This time I was trying to tell someone that I didn't. Fortunately so was she. We stumbled a little, of course, there were misunderstandings-like our life was a sitcom or something – but we soon figured out – yeah, we were just buddies."

A couple of seconds went by and she said,

"Good."

"We're here."

He didn't let her take the mask off until they were inside the building, by which time the wonderful smells in her nostrils had let her know this was a restaurant. When he took it off she saw that it didn't seem to be a restaurant she remembered – and she knew Seattle restaurants - yet there was something about the room that felt familiar.

He'd made a reservation and they were seated within just a few minutes. She heard the waitress say something about the best table in the place, "as ordered," but she wasn't really paying attention because she was marveling at the eclectic mix of music playing gently on the PA system. It would go from the deepest of deep cut rarities to, now, the least obscure band in the world.

Yeah, you...got that something
I think you'll understand
When I feel that something...

He told her he'd taken the liberty of ordering for them. Now that was bold. To presume you knew what Sam Puckett would like in a restaurant she'd never been to before? In her younger days she might've just looked at the menu and said, "Yes." But she kinda liked the confidence so she let it go, and her faith in him was justified when they were served a chicken lasagna so good she hardly looked up from her plate until she was finished. It was something of a relief not to have to worry about what a date would think of her eating habits. Freddie had seen them at her worst, and he'd still treated her like a princess when they were together, alone. Princess Puckett likes this, she thought. At the same time her mouth was telling her, we haven't had lasagna this good since – wait.

Almost forgetting to finish her last biteful before she spoke, she asked,

"Is this - "

He smiled and nodded at her.

"They hired the cook from Pini's."

"Wow. What genius had the smarts to do that?"

"Funny you should ask." He raised a hand to get the attention of a waitress and told her they would like to to speak to the owner to thank him for such a good meal. She nodded and disappeared into the back for a few moments. Then the door opened and the owner walked out. Almost simultaneously, Sam and the owner said the same thing.

"Gibb-"

"Gibbay!"

...

After Sam had gotten up to give him a quick hug, Gibby pulled up a chair to their table and the three old friends spent some time catching up. She wanted to know all about how he'd chosen this location, because -

"There's something familiar about this place."

Freddie and Gibby's eyes met and they smiled. "Try to imagine," Freddie said to her, "getting a real nice kiss right about – there," pointing to a spot in the room.

"Or eating some amazing quesedas," Gibby added.

It hit Sam and she sat up straight, looking around.

"This was Troubled Waters?"

"Yup. They moved to a larger facility and -"

"And I was able to pick up the property for a song." Gibby looked very satisfied.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter...