Dan wasted no time arranging his date with Elin. She had mentioned once in lab that she was a huge hockey fan, so Dan pulled a few Cahill strings and was able to get tickets to the Bruins' game that night. They had talked all through the game, cheering as necessary, but really, the just wanted a reason to sit next to each other and talk. When Dan dropped her off that evening, they made plans for the next day. And then, the day after that. Neither could get enough of the other. They had walked all over Boston the last two days. Something had broken loose inside of Dan when he finally got the nerve to ask her out. They had been to Quincy Market and Elin had been delighted to find a few Swedish treats from home. She said she wanted to introduce Dan to Swedish food.

Dan had responded with the obligatory IKEA remark, to which Elin simply rolled her eyes.

Dan brought her back to his house, the Cambridge headquarters, she began to pull the food items from her grocery bag one at a time, explaining each briefly before offering them to Dan to taste.

At some point, Atticus had let himself in, and hearing their voices, came to the kitchen to investigate. Dan made the introductions.

"Elin, meet Atticus, my best friend, and Att, meet Elin." Dan said, gesturing to one another.

Atticus stuck out his hand, "Nice to finally meet you, Elin. Dan's talked about you a lot lately."

"Oh?" Said Elin, her eyebrows raised, looking from Atticus to Dan.

Atticus, sensing the embarrassment from Dan, continued, helpfully, "Oh yeah, he barely shuts up about you."

"Thanks Atticus, you're really helpful. I'll make sure not to mention to Elin that you have a broken violin string collection. Or that you get really bad gas when you chew gum all day long."

Elin laughed while Atticus turned red under his brown skin.

"Back to the treats," Elin said, pointing to the items on the counter. "You have to start with this one" she said, holding up a Daim bar, "these are so delicious."

Dan and Att each took a bite of the toffee chocolate bar and closed their eyes in savory happiness.

Both boys looked at Elin with gratitude. "That was delicious!" Atticus said.

"What else did you get?" Dan asked.

Elin pulled out a large yellow can from her shopping bag. "It's Surströmming" she said with a playful smile.

"What the hell is it?" Dan asked with a wrinkled nose.

Elin was beginning to giggle, "It's traditional. It's basically fermented herring."

Dan continued to look at the yellow can with distain, "you're making me try rotting fish?"

"That's pretty much what it is," Elin said, looking Dan right in the eyes, smiling broadly. "The smell is putrid."

Elin handed the can and a can opener to him.

"Well, it can't be any worse than the 21 American hotdogs I stuffed in my mouth in 60 seconds last year when I won that I Love a Good Weiner, T-shirt.

"It's really good. You'll love it." Elin said deadpan.

Dan had a wary look on his face as he began to crank open the can. After a few turns, a squirt of foul-smelling cloudy liquid landed on Dan's hand; he looked revolted.

"Gross, this can just jizzed on me."

Both Elin and Atticus burst out laughing. They couldn't decide which was funnier; Dan's proclamation, or his obvious disgust at having to eat the contents of this nasty can.

He flicked the lid onto the floor and held the Surströmming at arm's length.

"Go on, then," Elin encouraged between peals of laughter.

Dan picked up a limp headless fish and held it up. Can juices dripped off the slimy thing. Dan looked like he was ready to puke.

"I hate my life," Dan said as he scrunched up his face and stuffed the fermented fish in his mouth.

Atticus was howling with laughter, then suddenly stood, wide eyed and shouted, "I'll be right back!" and took off upstairs.

Elin silently handed Dan the trashcan where Dan spat the fish out and mumbled, "thank you".

While Atticus was gone, Dan took the opportunity to stare at Elin. Not only was she beautiful, she had a sick sense of humor; just like he did. She was perfect.

Elin held a smirk on her face as she watched Dan try to wipe out the inside of his mouth with a napkin.

"You know, you have a sick sense of humor," Dan said between wipes.

Elin smiled more broadly, "You're welcome. I knew you'd like these."

Dan straightened up, his smirk firmly fixed on his face. He began to take slow steps toward Elin, all while continuing to wipe out the fish from his mouth. "I liked them. Especially the rotting fish. It's my favorite."

Elin stood from her stool and sensed what Dan was about to do. "Is that so? Because, you can have the rest of the can if you like."

Dan was inches from her now, "Mmm. Yum. 32 ounces of dead rotting fish just waiting for me. I'm going to get right on that."

Elin was as tall as Dan and not for the first time appreciated that he could look her level in the eyes; those piercing blue eyes.

"Have you ever made out with a guy who smells like Surströmming?" Dan asked playfully.

"Of course," Elin said deadpan, "What do you think they make Swedish breath mints taste like?"

Dan hadn't been expecting this and he cracked a smile and gave a small snort of laughter before composing himself again. She really did have his sense of humor.

Then, before Dan had any more time to think about it, Elin grabbed the back of Dan's head and pulled him to her for their first kiss. Dan stood there with his hands limp at his sides for a few moments before he instinctually wrapped them around her back.

She felt so good, and she smelled good. This was way better than the fantasies he had dreamt about her for the last 5 months. They stood like this for a few seconds, or maybe it was a few decades, Dan didn't know, but all too soon, their reverie was broken up by pounding feet on the stairs.

They both jumped back as if electrocuted seconds before Atticus returned from his journey upstairs.

"Ta-da!" he said triumphantly thrusting a bag of blue and yellow into the air. "I found them!"

Atticus had a way of missing things right in front of him so he appeared to be completely oblivious to the pink hue both Elin and Dan were displaying around their neck and faces.

"Swedish Fish! I knew I had a bag upstairs somewhere."

Atticus tore open the bag, plopping it down on the counter next to the Surströmming and helping himself. Dan eyed Elin and she eyed him right back. If their next three dates happened in the rapid succession that these three had, they'd be married with kids by the end of the year. This thought made Dan smile. He had always wondered why Amy and Jake got that googly-eyed look with each other; but now he knew. Dan couldn't wait to see Elin again—this time, without Atticus around. He was particularly impressed that Elin had initiated their first kiss—especially with a date whose mouth tasted like a Swedish trashcan.

Dan knew Jake and Amy were due to return from Norway in a few days' time. It appeared it would be a roundtable of good news to share from both the Cahill siblings.

Dan looked over and her and grinned. Elin Möller was a force to be reckoned with, and Dan was up to the challenge.