Hey guys! I lost my mojo for a while, sorry about that! But I have a few chapters written out now, so hopefully this time it won't be as long between chapters anymore.

This is just a fluffy little chapter to get back into things. Enjoy!


The days following Dot and Buck's first date were busy. Between work, shopping with Maddie (and she liked to shop), Dot hadn't really been able to meet up with Buck. They had been texting when they could, FaceTimed once or twice, but she was looking forward to actually seeing him again.

Dot and Buck had both made sure to get their Thursday evening off that week, so they were going on their second official date. Dot offered to plan it, but Buck had adamantly refused. He told her he had an idea, and that she had to wear something comfy. Once Dot explained that comfy could mean anything from sundress to sweatpants, he clarified that she should wear leggings or a pair of jeans. And a shirt, 'obviously'. Getting off work that evening, Dot changed into her 'comfy' outfit consisting of plain black leggings and a cream and black polka dot shirt, said goodbye to her coworkers, and walked out into the parking lot to find Buck leaning against his Jeep, staring at his phone. Hearing the door close, Buck looked up and smiled the boyish smile that sent warmth through Dot's stomach.

"Hey." Dot smiled, walking up to Buck.

"Hey. Look! Dot in dots." Buck laughed to himself.

"Hilarious Buckaroo." She responded, deadpanned, stopping in front of him. Buck reached out his arm, grabbed her waist, and pulled her in for a quick kiss. Pulling apart, Dot looked up at him in a bit of shock.

"I hope that was okay. I figured we could skip the awkward second date greeting."

Instead of answering, Dot smiled, curled her arms around his neck and drew him in for a deeper kiss.

"So what are we doing?" Dot asked once they broke apart again,turning to walk to the passenger side, both trying not to show that they were breathing heavier, and for Dot, trying to show how shocked she was that she did that.

"Guess you'll have to get in to find out."

"Oh? And how do I know you're not just gonna steal my things and dump me in an alley?"

"And deal with the wrath of Athena? I don't think so." They laughed as Buck pulled out of the parking lot. The drive to their destination was filled with laughter and catching up. Buck told stories of the different calls they went on, including an actual cat stuck in a tree. That one was mostly because they happened to already be close by on another call. Pulling into the parking lot, Dot looked at the building and read the sign.

"Larry's PuttPutt Palace. Why are these places always named after a Larry?" Dot mussed as they both got out of the Jeep. "Also what exactly makes it a palace? What is a puttputt palace?"

"Well if you stop asking so many questions, we can just go in and see."

"Fine. Keep your secrets." Dot squinted up at Buck, while reaching for his hand, intertwining their fingers, then pulling him forward to the building. Buck huffed out a laugh, allowing himself to be dragged by the short girl in front of him.

Getting into the building, Buck watched Dot take the space in. They were standing at the door, looking into the neon wonderland that was 2 stories of miniature golf. She looked at him with a smile, grabbed his hand and they went over to cashier.


"Sweet or sour?" Buck asked as Dot stabbed at the basket of chilli fries that was set between them. They had finished playing their round of golf, with Buck winning but not without considerable effort on Dot's part, and had decided it was time for a relaxed and greasy dinner. A perfect second date to compliment the sophistication of the first.

"I have a major sweet tooth." Dot replied, shoving the pile of fries in her mouth before they fell off her fork.

"Does that mean you bake?"

"I do."

"Does that mean you'll bake for me?"

"Maybe." Dot finally glanced back at Buck with a teasing smirk. Buck raised his brows and quickly leaned over the small table and pecked her lips before sitting back with his own smirk, watching Dot's cheeks quickly turn a soft red.

"You do that a lot." Buck stated, leaning forward onto the table.

"What?"

"You blush or get really shy when I kiss you." He explained.

"Okay Casanova. We've already discussed that I have basically 0 experience in this field." Dot tried to brush the conversation away.

"I know. But you also used to take your clothes off for money." Dot looked up at him in shock. "Not that there's anything wrong with that, or that I'm upset about that or anything! I promise! I just find it interesting that with your other experiences that it would make you uncomfortable." Buck hurriedly tried to explain himself. Dot sighed, and put her fork that she had been picking at the fries with down, and wiped her hand and face with a napkin.

"It doesn't make me uncomfortable. It just… look, you're a firefighter right?" Buck nodded his head confused. "But if you were in a building and suddenly there was a large fire, and you didn't have any equipment, no team, nothing but your training, you would still have some panic and fear right?"

"Yeah, of course. Everyone would."

"Okay. So I'm not saying this scares me or anything. I'm just saying even with my 'training' and 'experiences'," Dot said with air quotes, "I'm still out of my depth. This is a totally different situation than I've been in. I never kissed any of the people I danced for. And I've never really had anyone interested, like really interested in just me." Dot started to quickly ramble, "And I've definitely not had anyone into me, and I was into them back. And I've especially never had anyone as good looking as you interested in me, for just me. So I'm seriously just starting to learn how all of this works." She paused for a second, softly smiling to herself, then looking across to Buck, "But I'm enjoying learning with you."

Buck's smile could have lit up the whole room at the end of Dot's speech. Throughout her rambling, he listened closely. He knew that she didn't have a lot of experience in actual relationships, but hearing her explain it the way she did, made him realize how much they would really have to work on their communication skills. Knowing all of this now was great for him, so he could work on bringing her out of her shell.

"Well, I can tell you right now to get used to things like that, because I am definitely someone who shows their… care," he stuttered, realizing that using the word love, regardless of the context would be way too early, "through physical affection. If you're okay with that of course."

"Of course." Dot replied, reaching out to grab his left hand, bringing up to her lips and kissing his knuckles. Buck broke out into another smile that melted Dot's heart.

"Good. Perfect. Okay, this has been amazing. What do you say we go drive around the city for a while?" Buck said standing up and gathering their trash.

"I say yay!" Dot laughed, following his lead. Once the garbage was thrown out, they locked hands and walked out the door, got into the Jeep, and started a drive that would turn into parking in a random parking lot to watch the sunset and talk till the stars started to come out.


"So. How's everything going?" Hen asked Dot, cocking her eyebrow and sipping her glass of white wine.

"Uh, fine?" Dot answered hesitantly. "Work is good, basic you know. Dealing with drunk people isn't the most fun, but I get good tips. Should be able to save up quite quickly. Get out of Athena and Uncle Bobby's hair."

"Oh Sweetheart, you know you're welcome here for as long as you need." Athena said to Dot, reaching to heRyan's to grasp Dot's. Hen, Athena, Dot, and Maddie were having a wine and cheese night (or sparkling juice in Maddie's case). Dot was so happy to be connecting with the people in her new family's life. She had been slowly connecting with more people, going out for a drink with people from work sometimes, having lunch with Maddie and Josh during a break when she was around the dispatch center, and taken care of Hen & Karen's kids. She didn't really have a support system back in Vegas, and she may still be new in all of their lives, but she felt welcome and cared for, for the first time in a long time.

"Yes, that's lovely, but that's not what I'm asking about. I wanna know about you and our resident Buckaroo." Hen smirks across to Dot.

"Okay, ew. I don't need to know this." Maddie laughs.

"You were with me when he originally asked me out!" Dot defends.

"And I'm not looking for any gory details!" Hen defended. "I just want to know what's going on. Is he treating you right? Because you know if he isn't he can make his life pretty miserable." Hen goads Dot, making everyone else laugh around her. Dot shook her head and had a sip of her wine.

"Don't do that. He's great. We haven't been out too much, but have been talking a lot." Dot shared, a bit bashful. "He's the sweetest. I'm honestly lucky that I found him. He's very supportive with everything that's going on. You all are. I'm lucky I found all of you," She paused, cheeks quickly turning red, "And at this point there's no gory details."

The last comment made everyone laugh and the conversation moved on to less embarrassing topics.