The concert was amazing, just as they expected it would be. The Boss played for hours and even Audrey enjoyed more than she would ever admit.

"Want to leave now? Get out before the crush?" he shouted in her ear, making her jump.

"No way, I committed to this. I'm staying to the end" she smiled.

"Great" he replied and he went back to watching the stage while Audrey went back to watching him.

As the last few chords of Thunder Road rang out, the lights came up and the rush for the exits started.

"Want to wait here a bit?" he asked, watching as row upon row emptied, adding to the backlog of people trying to squeeze out of the exits.

"Probably best' she said smiling. "So...I actually enjoyed that. I recognised a lot more songs than I thought I would" she admitted as they sat back down in their seats.

"Excellent! So I've converted you?" he laughed while she shook her head. "That was a brilliant show, I'm gutted Adam couldn't make it" he said with a sigh. "Not that it wasn't great watching it with you" he added quickly.

"You realise Kev is going to have a field day with this right?" Audrey said, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah he will, he still insists we are dating" Neil laughed. "But we can take it. Maybe we should suggest he focuses more on his own love life."

"Instead of ours" Audrey agreed hastily. "Not ours as in ours. You know what I mean" she tutted as he chuckled at her reaction.

They sat in silence for a few moments more, watching people pass by until they decided it was a good time to make a move.

Neil headed down the narrow stairs first with Audrey following behind. Pulling the door open, they found themselves face to face with hundreds of other people still moving along the concourse.

He found himself automatically reaching behind for her hand before stepping out into the crowd and smiled when she gripped it tightly.

Getting caught up in the flow towards the exit was not comfortable. Some lines of people were moving faster than others and if they hadn't been holding on tight, they'd have been separated in no time. More than once, he could feel her pressed right up against his back as the crowd in front slowed down for a few moments.

Finding themselves thrust outside into the fresh April air they stopped to one side, out of the way. They intended on leaving via the door they had arrived by to be close to the car, but that plan had quickly gone out of the window. Stood there, still holding hands, they caught their breath and smiled at each other.

"Could have waited a little longer maybe" Audrey said smirking at him.

"Ya think?!" he laughed, looking down at their hands, still linked together.

Clearing her throat, she took her hand away and he could have kicked himself for drawing attention to it.

"Ready to head back to the car?" he asked. 'Got a bit further to walk from this side."

"Sure" she replied with a smile. "Let's go."

The sidewalks were busy, people were milling around after the concert finding a place to have a drink and maybe a late dinner. Neither of them were in any rush to get back to the car so they strolled along side by side.

"Thank you for coming tonight" Neil said, smiling at her. While they walked he'd stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets, it was a little cooler out now than when they had arrived.

"Not a problem" she replied. "Like I said, I actually enjoyed" she laughed, inadvertently giving a shiver. It didn't go unnoticed by Neil, and before she could say a word, he'd shucked off his jacket and was putting it on her shoulders.

She gave him a look of 'really' and he just shrugged. "My parents raised me to be a gentleman" he said smiling. "I'll be fine."

"Well, I'll try to remember to thank them" she smiled. Over the next few step, she moved a little closer until their shoulders were almost touching. She took a deep breath and linked her arm in his. He didn't say a word, he just kept his eyes straight ahead but he did have a little smile on his face.

"What?!" she challenged. "Penguins stand close to share body heat. Nothing to see here" she said, smiling to herself.

"Yes Ma'am" Neil replied keeping his eyes front but still with that little twinkle that came with every smile.

X

Dropping her at the kerb outside her apartment, he watched in amusement as she tried to remove his jacket in the confines of his front seat.

"It's started raining Aud. Just hang in to it until tomorrow" he chuckled. "If it's easier..."

"Oh hush" she smiled. "I'm half done now" she said, flicking the half empty sleeve towards him. "Pull" she demanded.

He gave a little tug and almost snorted when she let out a little growl in response.

"Honestly Aud, I have another jacket" he said.

"No!" she snapped before checking herself. "Sorry, sorry" she said. "I just didn't think it'd be a good idea to return your clothing at the hospital. You know, in front of other people."

"Back to that again?" Neil sighed. "It's just a jacket. It's not like it's my underwear" he said shaking his head.

"Neil!"

"What? If it's a problem, I'll have it back Thursday. I'm picking you up right?"

"Yes please" she replied as she sat back heavily in her seat, letting out a big sigh. "That would be great, thank you" she said sounding relieved.

"I know I said this earlier, but thank you Aud" Neil repeated. "It means a lot that you came tonight."

"Yeah, you said. You know I just figured we'd have better seats for Thursday anyhow" she said with a shrug moving to get out of the car.

"Sure thing" he replied with a laugh. "Night Audrey."

"Night Neil" she smiled before heading off to her front door at a jog.

He watched as she dodged the puddles and made it to her front door. She turned and gave a wave as she shook the rain from her hair. He gave a smile and raised his hand as a response and started the ignition to head home.

'I wonder if I would have enjoyed tonight as much with Adam' he thought to himself on the way home.

X

Two days later, he was sat in the same spot at the kerb waiting for Audrey. He knew she had been running late leaving the hospital that evening with a last minute emergency which she needed to attend to. He'd give her another couple of minutes then he'd have to go and knock. It was going to be busy tonight and they'd still need to park the car despite not being in a rush to find seats.

Just as he was about to undo his seatbelt, he saw her door open and a rather frazzled looking Audrey trotting towards the car. He couldn't help but smile.

She dropped into the passenger seat with a "sorry" busting from her lips before he could even say hi.

"It's fine" he smiled. "You okay?"

"Just hate running late" she replied, pulling on her belt. "Chop chop" she smiled over at him getting a shake of the head in return.

They arrived at the parking lot with around five minutes to spare to discover that there were no decent spaces to be found. Dropping Audrey at the entrance with instructions to get the snacks in he circled again eventually squeezing the car into a space right at the back, restricted by one of the neighbouring vehicles who was parked over their line.

He squeezed himself out of the driver's door and set off at a jog making it just in time to catch Audrey going into the screen to find their seats.

"Hope you aren't going to get towed" she teased. "Last thing I need after today is a walk home."

"We're fine" he chuckled. "Might need to lay off the snacks if you want to squeeze back in later though" he continued earning himself a thump to the arm.

There was little time to catch up on the rest of their day before the lights went down and the movie started. Spending the next couple of hours alternating between watching the movie and Audrey, it was Neils turn to enjoy his evening more than he thought. He almost laughed out loud when she cringed as Hulk beat Loki into submission and grinned as she let out a hissed "yes" as Hulk saved Stark before he crashed into the ground.

Learning their lesson after the concert, they waited until the exit was clear before making a move.
"Want to get a coffee?" he asked as they headed to the exit. "Doubt I could actually get into my car right now. If we hang on a bit, they might move first."

"Sure. We need to discuss what just happened in detail" she replied, smiling at his confused reaction.

"What happened? What did we do now?"

"Nothing" she said, shaking her head. "I need to talk about what we just watched. Pick holes in the plots and figure out where it's going next."

"We can do that" he smiled.

X

Sat side by side, they had a good debate about how Neil thought Thor was better than Ironman because his strength was natural, not man made. Audrey argued the opposite that Tony Starks massive brain was his natural strength and Thor was born with an unfair advantage.

After agreeing to disagree, they finished their drinks and headed out to check on the car, Audrey casually linking her arm with Neil just as she had done a couple of nights before.

What they didn't realise was that one simple action that neither of them even thought about would be the start of events that would change the course of their relationship the next few years.