Told from Carter's POV.

She's nervous. She'll pretend she's not but I know she is, she keeps fidgeting with her hands and I can see it in her eyes. Instinctively I place my own hand on hers to try and calm her down. She looks at me alarmed but soon relaxes and clasps her own hand in mine. Our fingers intertwined she clasps tighter.

I try to ignore the sudden bolts of electricity that shoot through my body at that particular moment.

We sit there in a comfortable silence for a minute or two. I keep glancing occasionally at her she looks beautiful. She sees me staring and I look away instantly but she just smiles up at me, then turns her head to the window again.

"So do we not have to get our stories straight?"

She pulls me out of our daydream, our hand still joined.

"What?"

She laughs, her laugh send chills down my spine and I involuntarily shiver. She doesn't seem to notice.

"You're in a world of your own tonight Carter."

"What were you saying?"

"Our stories, you know, how long we've been going out, where we met, that sort of thing."

I think about it. Gamma will probably ask us questions like that so we should sort out a few basic things before we arrive.

"Ok."

"Ok, how long have we been going out?"

Her eyes are sparkling, there is laughter in them. She thinks its funny. But all I feel is a pang of regret, why we have to pretend to be going out. I regret that things aren't different.

"Ok, umm. How about three weeks?"

"Three weeks?"

She smiles and scrunches up her nose. I protest.

"What's wrong with three weeks?"

"Well nothing, but think about it logically. I mean how serious do we have to pretend to be to get your family of your back?"

She has a point.

"You're right. How about four months? Long enough for us to have developed a serious relationship but not quite so long enough for you to have been introduced to the family yet."

"Ok."

She seems satisfied with this, I see her thinking it over in her head.

"Ok, where did we meet?"

I laugh, she's getting excited.

"Abby we work together."

"I know but that's boring Carter."

"How about," I pause, " we were friends for ages, years even and we both liked each other. But no matter what we did things always seemed to get in the way. And then one day we just realised how stupid we were for wasting all that time and we realized how we really felt.

I say this looking at her but she avoids my gaze, choosing instead to look out the tinted window. She is looking away from me but I recognize and all too familiar frown upon her face. We soon retreat into an uncomfortable silence. Somewhere during my little speech she let go of my hand. I miss the contact almost immediately and quickly fold my arms. My statement hit a little too close to home.

We were both looking for something to say to break the silence. She gets there first.

"Is this going to be a big event?"

"Should be, what else would people expect from a Carter family function."

This statement should have been a joke but comes out in a small, even voice. It doesn't sound funny at all. She just nods.

I inwardly sigh. We both automatically feel we need to change the subject as soon as things become awkward or the subject of us come "us" comes up. We can't just talk about it.

"Look Abby……"

"Where here Dr. Carter."

The driver signals towards the museum. I sigh and nod.

"Thank-you."

I get out of the limo and hold my hand out to Abby. She gets out and looks around at all the commotion. In the excitement she seems to be ignoring our previous conversation. And any previous feelings of animosity towards me put behind her.

"Ready?"

I ask her. She immediately looks up at me, her eyes shining again. She takes a deep breath and gives me one of the most amazing smiles I have ever seen. I can't help but smile back.

"Ready."

For the second time that evening I offer my arm to her and she takes it gratefully. She seems apprehensive and clings to me just the slightest. We take one last glance at one another and walk in doors, unsure at what lies ahead.

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Ok, so I wrote this really quickly so I would have it up before I go back to school. So keep R+R. Thank you for all your encouragement so far. :)

Aisling