They slid back into their seats at the booth expecting an outburst from at least one of their friends but they were met with silence. Kevin and Jo's faces were absolutely neutral and Neil and Audrey shifted uncomfortably under their intense gaze.

"I suppose we have something to tell you?" Audrey started nervously.

The question was met with raised eyebrows from the pair of them and a few more seconds of stony-faced silence before Kevin cracked.

"Damn straight you do, you sneaky pair of..." he started, holding back a smile.

"This is amazing" Jo interrupted, her face breaking into a grin that lit up her whole face.

"How long have you been lying to us then?" Kevin asked. "Hang on, before we start we're going to need more drinks" he blurted calling their server over. Once they were done, the attention was focused back on to the breaking news in front of them.

"So you're the guy she took a trip with right?" Jo asked Neil.

"Yes, of course he is!" Audrey exclaimed before he could reply. "It was a strange situation for us. Work didn't know... nobody knows actually" she cringed. "We had get away to check we were actually on the same page instead of trying to sneak around San Jose."

"And?" Kevin pushed.

"We were on the same page" Neil smirked.

"So it's been what? Three weeks?"

"Erm, not quite" Audrey replied preparing herself for some backlash. "We kinda got drunk and had sex before Christmas" she mumbled.

"What the..." Jo shrieked before getting herself in check. "Really?"

"Why aren't you chipping in here? I'm getting all the grief and you seem to be enjoying it a bit too much" she said nudging Neil who had been sitting back watching the whole exchange, hardly saying a word with a small smile on his face.

"But you're doing such a great job" he laughed, earning himself another elbow. His arm was stretched out along the back of the seat as it was before dinner, but this time around they were sat so close that you couldn't see light between them. "Okay, okay" he relented. "Let's get this over and done with. You've got five questions" he said to their friends after a moment. "Choose wisely!"

They sat in silence for a few minutes and watched as their friends conferred on the opposite side of the table. He leaned in close to her and whispered something in her ear, meant only for her and his heart swelled as she smiled back at him holding eye contact. Lost in each others gaze for that moment, they startled when a cough from across the booth caught their attention.

"As cute as this is, we're ready" Jo smiled. "Are you?"

"As we'll ever be" Neil replied, moving his arm and leaning forward, putting his elbows on the table. ""Shoot!"

"Okay, first up is how long exactly has this been going on?" Kevin asked.

"About four weeks" Neil replied. "We spent the night together before Christmas when Andrews pitted us against each other for Chief. When he kept it for himself, we went out and got drunk and..." he shrugged. "Andrews screwed us, so we screwed each other. That's what we decided at the time, right?" he asked Audrey who let out a little laugh.

"So all these years you've been drunk together before and nothing happened, you've purposely avoided it. Why was this time different?" Jo asked.

He looked over his shoulder at her, still sat back in her seat with a pensive look as she formulated an answer. This one needed to come from her.

"It's me, I'm different" she told them. "It took a little... talking too for me to see it and I'm still not perfect, but I think I might have figured some stuff out" she said just loud enough to be heard. He sat back so they were shoulder to shoulder again and put his hand casually on her thigh, giving it a little squeeze. "I showed up in his office in my 'really' attractive hospital gown and robe and told him I had feelings for him and I suppose that was it" she shrugged.

"That whole feeling of being helpless while she was lying there in that bed was almost too much" Neil said before pausing and looking at her with a sad smile. "It broke my heart but I'd learned my lesson before, I wasn't going to push this time around but when the attitude got a bit much, I might have shared some interesting facts and here we are" he shrugged. "Three more questions to go" he reminded them, trying to move the conversation on, not wanting to dwell on Audreys emotional epiphany in such a public place.

"Are you going to tell the hospital? Make it official?" Jo asked, a very clever way of asking if this was serious without actually focusing on it too much.

They looked at each other before Neil took a breath. "When the time is right" Audrey said first, getting herself a sweet smile from Neil. That was good enough for him right now. He wasn't going to elaborate on that answer but the knowledge that she wasn't against it was fine by him.

"Are you happy?" Jo asked.

They both just nodded with grins on their faces, lighting up their eyes saying everything they needed to without actually speaking.

Their friends paused, not actually having a fifth question planned.

"I've got one!" Kevin announced. "How is the sex? Was it worth the wait?!"

"Kevin!" Jo admonished, spraying her beer onto the table and coughing until her eyes watered. "That wasn't one of our questions!"

"But they answered everything else already, it seemed a waste to not use it" he laughed in his defence.

He knew Neil wouldn't answer that question in a million years even after a few drinks so he turned to Audrey and raised his eyebrows wondering if she'd had enough beer to fuel an answer.

"Phenomenal" she shrugged causally, thoroughly calling his bluff, this time causing Kevin to choke on his drink and the rest to laugh loudly as he mopped up the mess.

X

The rest of the night flew by with the friends laughing and talking as if they'd never been apart. The only difference this time were the light touches being exchanged by Neil and Audrey which didn't go unnoticed.

They nodded to each other when Neil held out his hand to pull Audrey out of her seat at the end of the night and how she tangled her fingers with his instead of letting go. They had seen it before, many years ago but they could tell that this time was different.

As they got to the door, Neil turned and pulled her into him, kissing her soundly wrapping his arms right around her while she draped hers around his neck.

"Whoa" Jo exclaimed, teasing them. "We'd tell you guys to get a room but we're sleeping in it" she joked. "Sorry!"

She was glad to see Audrey laughing as she turned. "This is all top secret remember?" she smirked. "You should consider this a great privilege, like seeing an endangered species in the wild!" she quipped before opening the door and heading outside. Holding the handle, Neil gestured for them to follow and once they were all outside it dawned on them what was going on.

The street outside the bar was well parked up so they walked down the block a little to find their rides and it became painfully obvious what Audrey had meant. Without the cocoon of the bar they walked apart, careful not to touch each other in any way. Neil's hand were stuffed in his pockets to try and stifle his instinct to reach out and take her hand again.

As they reached they cars, they all turned to say their goodbyes. She was enveloped in a great hug by both Kevin and Jo who whispered to her just how happy they were to see her like this. After their intervention a few years earlier, she hadn't exactly followed the path they had expected but it had finally led her to the right place.

"You should have stayed over too" Jo said as she pulled back. "We could have had breakfast together" she smiled.

"I've need to be a bit more fresh than you guys tomorrow. I don't think sleeping on his couch would help with that" she laughed.

"It's a very nice couch, thank you very much!" Neil objected with a grin.

"Oh, I know" she smirked. "Nothing but good memories of that couch" she said in a stage whisper as she kissed him on the cheek to say goodbye.

"Too much information!" Kevin exclaimed, laughing feigning horror.

"I'll come over first thing and I'll bring breakfast. I don't have to be in until noon" she said looking at him, getting a small smile in return. "I suspect there'll be some sore heads in the morning" she laughed smiling at him as he leaned past her to open the door.

"That would be great" Kevin replied.

"Sounds perfect" Jo added.

"Night Aud" Neil smiled.

"Night guys" she replied, getting in and waving as her car pulled away.

Walking just a little further to find their car, they headed back to Neil's in high spirits and finished their night with a couple more drinks. Deciding eventually that enough was enough, Kevin and Jo went to turn in but not before engulfing Neil in a hug of his own, again telling him how happy they were for them both.

Getting ready to settle down for the night, he kicked off his shoes and clothes and dumped them unceremoniously next to the side table. Lying back, he shuffled around trying to get comfortable before reaching up to turn off the light and a small smile graced his lips as he reached for his cell phone.

'Wish you were here' he typed, hitting send before he had the chance to overthink it. He didn't expect a reply tonight, he assumed she'd be out for the count and jumped as a reply flashed up onto his screen.

'Next time ;-)'

Smiling to himself he replied again 'Goodnight Audrey.'

'Goodnight Neil' he read before he closed his eyes and fell asleep with a satisfied little smile fixed on his face.