Forty-five minutes later, Greg left his house and headed out to his car. The hot water had done little to calm his nerves, but he thought he had done a pretty good job with the whole "formal" thing. He couldn't recall one instance where he had to wear a suit, or even a semblance of one. Before he got into the car, he did a once-over of himself in the reflection on the side of the car. He thought he looked sharp. He was proud of himself. He smiled as he stepped into the car and headed off to pick up Beth.

It was seven, and she was waiting on her porch swing for Greg to arrive. She had butterflies in her stomach, and she wasn't sure why. He had said tonight was to celebrate their one-month anniversary. But something in his voice betrayed his words. She couldn't place it, but she figured that he was hiding something.

Before she could sort through the myriad of things that Greg could have planned, she saw his silver Civic turning onto her road. She remained motionless, even as he parked his car. He beeped his horn at her and she laughed, slowly standing. She stepped down off of her porch and began to descend her stone stairs.

Greg was shocked speechless when he saw her step off the porch. He stepped out of his car to get a better look at her. She was dressed in a deep blue satin gown that flowed down to the ground. The dress had thin shoulder straps that seemed to glitter in the setting sunlight. Her wavy brown hair was down around her shoulders, gracefully framing her face. In the four years he had known her, it was the first time he could recall seeing her with her hair down. She was wearing silver studs in her ears and a small silver chain around her neck. As she neared the bottom of the steps, he took her hand and led her over to the passenger side of the car where he opened the door for her.

When Beth came down her porch steps and saw Greg get out of his car, she was immediately stuck by how handsome he was. He was wearing a black suit coat and pants with a white button-down shirt underneath his suit coat. It was the first time she had seen him in a suit and she was amazed by how well it fit him. As she scanned his attire, she couldn't help but giggle when she saw the tie that Greg had decided to wear with his suit. The tie was red silk with thin diagonal black stripes. The chemical structure of a water molecule decorated the bottom of the tie. She knew that it was his favorite tie, so she let him wear it. His hair was spiked, as usual, but he had done something different with it tonight, and she thought it looked more attractive than usual. When she approached him, he led her to the passenger's side of his car where he opened the door for her. He closed the door when she sat down and returned to the driver's side. After he got himself situated in his seat, he started the car and backed down the driveway.

"So, Greg. Where are we going?"

"We're going to The Cascade to celebrate our one-month anniversary."

"The Cascade? I've heard that is one of the nicest restaurants in Vegas."

"Well, you're worth it."

"Brownie points!" Beth's smile stretched from ear to ear and she leaned over to place a kiss on his cheek.

Greg had smoothed another unexpected wrinkle in the plan. He was glad that she was content with his answers. He didn't know how he would have handled her interrogation. He kept her engaged in idle chatter so that she wouldn't have time to doubt his words.

When they arrived at The Cascade, parking was a nightmare. Greg had to drive around the lot three times before he found a spot. And the spot that he finally found was about as far from the restaurant as humanly possible. He parked the car and he and Beth stepped out. As they headed towards their destination, Greg spoke. "I think that's The Cascade I see way over yonder, but it's so small, I can't be sure."

"Wow Greg, you really parked in the middle of nowhere."

"Yea, sorry about that." A smile spread across Greg's face as a thought took root in his mind. "I'll race you…" Before he even finished the thought, he broke into a dead run towards the restaurant. Beth almost died laughing. Greg had seemingly forgotten that he was wearing a suit. She had to lean against one of the cars parked nearby or she would have fallen over. Luckily the car had no alarm. She took a glance at the vehicle she was leaning on, and was surprised to find that she recognized it. She stopped laughing. She couldn't be sure, but she thought it was one of the CSI Tahoes. She reprimanded herself as she thought about how many Tahoes there must be in Vegas. And even if it did belong to one of the CSIs, they did have the right to eat at a nice restaurant. She gathered herself and walked on to catch up with Greg, who had apparently remembered that he had a suit on and had stopped running.

When she was once again by her side, she asked, "What was that all about?"

"I'm not really sure. My inner child took over and I couldn't resist." He flashed his cutest smile at her, knowing that she couldn't resist.

"That's cheating. That smile is like my Kryptonite and you know it."

"What are you talking about?" Greg tried to play the innocent victim, but he wasn't doing too great a job.

"You…" She squinted her eyes and waved her finger at him. It wasn't long before they were both laughing. The long walk to the restaurant ended up being not so long.