A/N: Angelmouse challenged me to write John and Ridley on a date, so here we are!

An unexpected development

As he unfolded himself from the auto-cab and looked around to check his bearings and find his way to the right apartment block, John felt distinctly uncomfortable with his level of nervousness. He shouldn't have been, it was not the first time he'd gone on a date, nor the first time he'd met her, but he was nervous and it didn't sit well with him.

All in all, Ridley had been unexpected.

She wasn't the first person he'd ever been interested in as more than a friend, Jo Bultcher had been. He'd met them at Oxford, but after three years they'd known that the relationship simply wasn't going to work- when one person wants to live in space and the other is terrified by the prospect it's generally considered a rather large incompatibility. They'd parted on cordial terms and remained friendly though. A while later he'd made an attempt at a long distance relationship with Tina Grey- a researcher at the Manua Kea observatory complex in Hawaii- but they were both busy people so that had eventually tapered off.

He hadn't bothered with romantic relationships since then, he simply didn't have the time nor the inclination to go through the winnowing out process of finding someone interesting enough to pursue romantically.

Then Eden happened.

Of course he'd looked her up after the mission. She was interesting and being posted to Global One meant she was a neighbour so he'd snooped- he'd long ago given himself access to the GDF's personnel files so that he could check on all his neighbours. Her official file made him curious enough to find her social media, and he realised she liked many of the same things that he did.

Without really knowing why he'd reached out to her to extend an open invitation to stop by for a coffee if she was ever in his area of space, not expecting anything to come of it, and to his surprise she'd accepted, 'knocking' on his airlock a few days later.

The friendship had happened first, helped by the allure of coffee in gravity- Ridley hated the 'sippy cups' the GDF had decreed were the only acceptable hot beverage holders when in space- followed by the offer to teach her zero-G handball when she'd asked how he kept fit. One thing led to another thing which had led to him taking a rare trip off Five to take Ridley on a date when she was on her groundside rotation. It wasn't anything spectacular, just dinner and a movie marathon- there was an anniversary special rerun of the 2010s Star Trek series and it turned out they were both classic sci-fi movie buffs.

He found his way to the intercom at the front door, pressed the buzzer and waited.

When the news had gotten out to his family that he was down for a date, the reactions had been… interesting. Grandma and Scott had been pleased, Alan was surprised but he was still clueless about dating, Virgil's reaction was 'Finally!', echoed by Kayo's 'At last' (evidently they'd seen it coming, which he somehow hadn't, this was all still rather a surprise to him), and Gordon had been dragged off in a headlock by Kayo when he started making suggestions for the date that definitely were not PG-13. The next thing he knew, someone (probably Kayo) had told Penny who had called him, congratulated him on going on a proper date and promptly informed him "John dear, I know you find your brown check shirt comfortable, but for a first date it simply will not do. Let me handle your wardrobe."

So that was how he'd found himself in black jeans and a pale blue button down shirt with a grey knitted jumper for warmth in the decidedly non-climate controlled environment of groundside. He'd been a bit apprehensive when he'd found the outfit laid out on his bed, but Lady Penelope picked well- not just for size and style, but his comfort as well.

The door opened and Ridley appeared, smiling when she saw John. "Hey there spaceman." She greeted him, teasing gently.

"Uh, hey there yourself." John managed to reply. She looked so different in civvies- a fluttery and feminine white top scattered with flowers, casual blue jeans, brown ankle boots and a caramel coloured jacket. Her black hair, he noted, was kept in a neat pixie cut, probably for convenience's sake with the flight caps that came with the GDF space suits, and for half a second he wondered if she might want to grow it out if she got the chance to- their space suits didn't need flight caps after all.

"So, where are we going for dinner?" She asked as she stepped outside and linked arms with him. "You pick the place, but it's my treat."

"There's a place near the theatre that looks good, at least the internet reviews say so." John replied as he started to walk her to the patiently waiting autocab.

"Well then, let's go see if the reviews have any truth to them." She smiled back.