In the week between Allen meeting Nora and Allen being redeployed, he went on three dates with Nora.
The first was to a five star restaurant called Menton, where the highlights of the evening consisted of Allen staring at the menu trying desperately not to say some variation of "the fuck is this?" in regards to every menu item, Nora telling Allen (much his dismay) that he failed miserably at not saying anything, and Nora spending the rest of the evening educating Allen's palate. Allen's favorite part of that evening had been the walk home.
"You were miserable, weren't you?" Nora asked, sheepishly.
The two had been walking through the streets of Boston for an hour, just kind of chatting. Allen was sauntering, sort of circling around Nora taking great big strides. Nora seemed to be taking her time with her walk, no doubt enjoying seeing Allen carefree, as opposed to his earlier discomfort.
"No, no," Allen assured her. "The food wasn't up to my plebian standards, but the company was high class," he said with a dramatic smirk.
"Anyone ever tell you you're an amusingly bad flirt?" asked Nora between laughs.
"At least I'm amusing." Allen said triumphantly.
"That you are," Nora sighed, "Alright, serious time."
Allen slowed down to walk side by side with Nora.
"I'm not getting the second date, am I?" He decided to resign himself to the cold, hard truth. "I get it. I mean -"
"Allen-"
"High class and low brow tend not to mix well…"
"Allen," Nora waved a little, but Allen's eyes were downcast.
"Look, I get it no hard feelings and all…"
Without out much warning, Nora ordered loudly, "Eyes front, Soldier Boy!".
Instinctually, Allen snapped a reply, "Yes ma'am!".
"What I was going to say," Nora explained, "Is that I'm not looking for someone to impress me. I've enjoyed just talking. I want to get to know the real Allen, not the Russian diplomat or whoever you think I'll like."
"I never said I was a Russian diplomat." Allen protested.
"So, what do you want to do tomorrow?" Nora asked, staying on point. Allen gave it some consideration, physically stopping under the strain of his thought process.
"There's this nice little pub I tend to frequent." Allen suddenly said.
"Sounds like fun."
The were three people to know both Nathan Wake and Allen Marks: Lynch, the man who recruited Allen, Conner Martin, a former ambassador to Russia, and the last being a former CIA agent turned pub owner named Derek Moore.
Nora knew the second she walked into Captain Kelly's Kitchen, arm in arm with her new beau, that this would be an entirely different evening. Allen had a grin, almost wider than his face, and greeted the owner by name.
"Uncle Derek," he called, breaking away from Nora to give the 5ft 3in man a hug, "How's the family?"
"On holiday," The little man answered in a thick Irish brogue, "They're in london."
"Fun." Allen commented, returning to Nora's side.
"So, who's this?" Derek asked, motioning to Nora, "I told ye, boy, I don' need anymore employees."
"Uncle Derek, this is…"
"Nora Taylor," the woman beside him interrupted, "It's nice to finally meet you, Allen talks about you all the time."
No, he didn't, and Derek knew it.
"Two things, Miss," Derek started.
"What's that?"
"Never bullshit an Irishman," Derek reached to shake Nora's hand, "An' you are the loveliest little redhead I've seen outside o' Ireland."
"That's enough of that, sir, I'm here with someone." Nora joked with an easy laugh.
"Who? Can't be the boy here, he's much too much of an eejit for a woman of your caliber." Derek said, watching the blush on Allen cheek's grow.
"I'll say, he brought me here after all." Nora replied, going for the low blow.
"Can we stop having fun at my expense?" Allen pleaded, jokingly.
"I'm yer uncle boy, it's me job. Now, go sit down, I'll see if we don't have some candles in the back."
Nora and Allen found a place to sit, Derek was a few moments behind them with a dollar store candle.
"So…" Nora prodded.
"So what?" Allen pleaded ignorance.
"There's clearly a story here." Nora said, with a half laugh.
"Well," Allen said, opening his menu. "Derek's not really my uncle. But I've been coming here with my family since I was kid so he might as well be."
"Where is your family?" Nora asked, "Are you close?"
"It's...complicated." Allen answered, trying to dodge the question.
"It'd have to be, what with you being CIA." Nora commented slyly, forcing Allen to do a double take.
"How'd you know?"
"You were at the party with Marion. Carlson's mentioned him a few times. It wasn't a hard deduction to make." Nora said casually.
"Look, I would have told you…" Allen started.
"No, you wouldn't." Nora teased lightly.
Allen tried to justify himself. "It's for your own safety."
"I understand." Nora responded. "What's good here?"
"That was easy." Allen didn't mean to speak aloud.
Nora looked up from her menu, "Was it supposed to be difficult?"
"In my experience, most people want to know the details of soldier's life, and spy is even more interesting than soldier."
"I don't much care about your military history," Nora said, before wincing. "Sorry, that was indelicate, and not entirely true." She sighed and put down her menu.
"So, what is true, then?" Allen asked, more confused than anything.
"You're interesting."
"Like a science experiment?" Allen joked.
"More like a mystery T.V show." Nora tried to explain herself, "I've met a few like you, always keeping secrets, even from themselves."
"How can I keep a secret from myself?" Allen asked.
"My money is that you've told yourself quite a few things to keep yourself distant." Allen went quiet. He didn't have a response. "You're an compelling man, Allen, and pretty decent company." Allen was quiet for a little while longer before grabbing his menu and scanning it before. He was quickly scolded by a passing Uncle Derek.
"Put that down, boy, I know what yer gettin."
Allen put his menu down.
"I'm not a project." He said to Nora. "I don't need someone to fix me."
"I get that." Nora tried to reassure him, but Allen either didn't hear her or didn't care.
"I see my therapist, I take my antidepressants, I mourn, I try to move on. I'm a workaholic, but I manage. I don't need someone trying to fix me." He was building up steam, but he kept his hands beneath the table, and his tone at a reasonable level.
"I'm not trying to fix you, Allen." Nora responded, gently.
"Then what are trying to do?" Allen asked, his voice firm.
"I'm trying to date you." Nora answered with a grin. There was silence, and Allen started to laugh, quietly at first, but it turned into great big belly laughs.
"I can handle that." He said when he finally calmed down.
"I'm glad. Now, what's good here?" Nora asked once again, opening her menu for another look.
"The Waterfront salad is good for a vegetarian," Derek interrupted, zooming by the table.
"How did he know I was a vegetarian?" Nora asked, "I haven't even told you that."
"He's uncle Derek, he has a knack." Allen said simply, as if it answered everything. "So, you're vegetarian, huh?"
"Funny story about that actually."
The rest of the date proceeded as dates tended to go. Some light conversation, some heavy conversation, some good moments (mostly good moments), some awkward moments (caused by Uncle Derek). While Allen still didn't tell Nora anything about who he'd once been, or his time on deployment, he found that it didn't matter - because it truly did seem like Nora didn't care all that much about the things on which Allen, pointedly, refused to linger.
The next date was of Nora's choosing. It was a movie, followed by dinner. Unremarkable it most ways. Until the end, that is.
Allen was walking Nora home, and when they arrived at the massive apartment complex in which she lived, she had kissed him. A simple, quick peck as Allen had been backpedaling trying to explain, nicely, why he found the Grognak movie (which Nora loved) to be ridiculous.
"Sorry," Nora said with a smile, "You were just too damn cute."
"First time I've been called that." Allen responded in a daze. Finally shaking his head, he started talking again.
"Look, I get deployed tomorrow." He sighed and went on, "This time for a bit longer...and we really did just kind of meet, and I know this is asking a lot, but if I come back and you haven't…"Allen trailed off.
"Haven't what?" Nora prodded.
"You're gonna make me say it, aren't you?"
"Say what?" Nora asked coyly.
"Fine," Allen closed his eyes, "If I come back, and you haven't met 'the one' can we meet up again?"
Nora started her answer by giving Allen another kiss, this time a bit longer and with a bit more passion. It made his head swim.
"Does that answer your question?"
"What question?" Allen asked. He suddenly couldn't remember much.
"When you come back," Nora finally answered, wrapping her arms around Allen. "Look me up."
"I can do that." Allen replied, returning the embrace.
"That's an order, soldier boy."
"Yes ma'am."