Thanks again for the amazing reviews.

For those of you who asked, the prologue occurs about 15 years before the main bulk of the story. So, if the main bulk happens in 2006/7ish then the epilogue would have been set at about 1991 or so.

Ok, next chapter is up 4 u, hope u like...

(Because I flick from place to place here, I've put the location of each bit in italics, so that it's (hopefully), less confusing.

Chapter 2: The first dates.

Jack's place

"What do you think?"

"Yeah, great."

"You're not even looking!"

"Hmm?"

"Jack!" Hearing the warning in her voice, he raised his head from the gameboy that held his attention. He was sitting in a kitchen chair, still in his usual clothes from a hard day at work. Though Jack could hardly complain: being a sports teacher was hardly the hardest job in the world for him, he loved it. But he'd set his sights on a quiet night in, just him, his gameboy and a cold one. Then she had turned up. With clothes. Lots and lots of clothes.

"Couldn't you ask Janet, I mean she's a woman, she might know a bit more."

"No, that's the point, being a guy; you're more likely to know what another guy would like to see."

"Geez, Sam. Fine." He appraised her white cotton trousers and light blue blouse, comparing it to the earlier beige pencil skirt and white blouse.

"Well?" He sighed.

"The skirt was better." She frowned, looking down at herself.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Why?"

"Why?" He huffed, irked. "You're asking me why?"

"Of course. Why the skirt over pants?"

"Because you looked hotter in the skirt, ok?" A faint redness appeared on her cheeks, and he gave her a smirk.

"Sam, you look good in whatever, go in the pants if they're more comfortable."

She smiled at him, and then gave a small laugh. "You know, for someone who claims to be bad at talking about stuff, you have a tendency to always say the right thing to me when it comes to moments like these."

He huffed again and returned his attention to his gameboy. He was so used to the flip of his stomach by now that he could ignore it with an ease he was almost, but not completely, proud of.

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O'Malley's

The drone of his voice had lulled her into a semi-conscious state. She felt on the brink of actually falling asleep when he stopped talking abruptly.

"Sam?" The sound of her name startled her back to consciousness,

"Oh, I'm sorry Narim. I had a hard day at work, some third years were being a bit rowdy, you know. I, eh, I…you teach geography, right?"

"Yes, at St. Marcus's, the private school down the road. Do you know it?"

"Yes. It seems like a lovely school," she added politely, fighting back a yawn.

"Yes, they have a fantastic library, and an especially good section about stamps…."

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Unspecified Italian resteraunt

"You mean he spent the whole night talking about stamps? Daniel, where did you find this guy?"

"I really am sorry Sam; he seemed like such a nice guy!"

"It's ok Daniel. He probably was, just not my type, or something."

"If I was a woman on a date with a guy like that, I think I might have slapped him upside the head and told him to talk about something else. Like baseball or something."

"Jack, if you were a woman, that'd probably be worse than talking about stamps."

Daniel laughed at the pair of them, smiling at his wife. Janet rolled her eyes back at him.

The four of them were sitting in a booth at an Italian restaurant, having met to discuss Sam's first blind date. Her awful first date, apparently.

"Okay, so it was a bad date," Daniel interrupted the sparring pair as their argument started to escalate. "What about this Martin. He doesn't sound like the type of person to like stamps. He's a sports teacher like you, Jack." His friend grimaced.

"Then I'd say keep away from him, he's likely to be a slime ball when it comes to women!" Sam punched his arm.

"I've never known you to live up to the title slime ball!"

"Well I don't know," conceded Daniel. "When was the last time you heard of Jack going on a second or a third date with any girl?" Noting the tensing of Jack shoulders, and the way his eyes strayed to the table, flicked to Sam then back at the table, Daniel decided to change the subject.

"Well, anyway, how about it Sam? 7pm on Friday night?" She was looking back and forth between himself and Jack curiously, but she answered:

"Sure, what have I got to lose?"

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Jack's place, a few days later

"It can't have been that bad," Jack said as he clicked the kettle on, turning back to where she was leaning on the opposite counter. Her face was a grimace.

"He asked me what colour underwear I was wearing."

"Maybe he was curious?"

"And whether he could see them tonight sometime."

"Ah."

Turning towards the kettle again, he grabbed a mug and poured her some of the green tea she really liked. He passed her the mug, looking at her searchingly.

"You sure you're doing the right thing here. I mean, you haven't hear from Malcolm for a month now. He's probably not even listening out for this."

"Maybe. But I need to move on with my life. I've been pining for him for fifteen years, Jack. I'm twenty-eight. I want a long term relationship, the wedding, the kids, the dog, hell, even the white picket fence. Malcolm will hardly offer me that on a platter will he?"

Jack nodded thoughtfully, but didn't say what was on his mind. Truthfully, he wasn't entirely comfortable about this blind date thing. He had no idea why, though. Protectiveness, probably, he thought. Then why had he become so uncomfortable the other night when Daniel had mentioned his own lack of long term partners? Geez, he'd had enough women showing interest. But he knew that his own lack of interest in anything but a short sexual relationship had something to do with the blonde leaning so casually opposite him on his kitchen counter. And it scared the crap out of him to think about it. So he tried not to, and changed the subject as quickly as possible to something a little safer.

"Hey, there's a game on Saturday. You coming with?"

"No, 'fraid not. I'm going on a daytime date Saturday. Some guy called Tom Orlin. He sounds ok. But then, so did the others."

"Hey, remember, if it all goes to hell, there's always cake in my fridge."

With that, she smiled, crossed the kitchen and hugged him tightly.

"What was that for?"

"For always being there for me, in your own little way. I have no idea what I'd be doing without you."

"Probably eating less crap." She guffawed into his shoulder, and then released him, searching his brown with her blue. Giving him a peck on the cheek, she placed her empty mug on the counter behind him and walked out of the kitchen. He heard the front door of his flat click shut behind her. Sighing, he tried to get her smell from his nose by shaking his head. But he knew the smell already, had memorised it years ago. Rolling his eyes at himself, he grabbed the mug. Washing the dishes. That would take his mind off things for a bit.

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I think that'll do for now. Anyone for more??