AN: Sorry 'bout the long wait guys! :V RL caught up to me and threw tons of classwork at me, and I lost my inspiration for a bit :P But it's back! :D As ever, thanks for the reviews and hope you enjoy this chapter! It's the dinner :3 I'm really pleased at how it came out, actually.

Abby glanced over at Connor across the tabletop, the chatter of her friends fading into background noise for a moment, mixing with the soft music playing over the sound system. Despite getting to the restaurant earlier than everyone else, thanks to a trip to the gent's, Connor ended up across from Abby rather than next to her. For some reason, though, he wasn't complaining like she thought he would've. Connor was laughing at something Becker, who was sat next to him, had said. It had been surprising to find, that outside of work, perfect-hair unrelenting-soldier Becker had a real sense of humor and a knack for telling jokes.

She smiled as she watched Connor, his golden-brown eyes bright and sparkling as he laughed, and had to give herself a mental shake out of the moment. Danny raised an eyebrow at her, smirking, and she kicked him in the shin to stop him from saying whatever it was on his mind.

Danny grunted, and the others looked at him in concern. He rolled his eyes at her, and at her hidden glare, sighed. Sarah, who was sitting on the other sde of Danny, next to Connor, fought to keep her grin off her face as she realized what Abby had done.

"Sorry, accidentally banged my knee into the beam." Danny said, and everyone either chuckled or smirked, and went back to eating.

Connor was staring longingly at Abby's salad, and when she noticed, she shook her head in amusement.

"Conn, why didn't you just order a salad?"

"Because, I don't want all of it, and' it'd be a waste of money..."

"You're looking at her salad like it committed a crime against you by not being on your plate, mate." Danny said with a chuckle. Connor raised a confused puppydog look to meet Danny's gaze.

"Wha'?"

Abby rolled her eyes, and passed her cherry tomatoes over to Connor, whose eyes lit up again as he grinned at her.

"Thank you Abby." He sing-songed in response, and she couldn't help but chuckle. The others exchanged looks, and a secret bet was passed from Becker to Danny. The only reason Abby didn't notice was that Connor had brought up Jurrasic Park, and they'd started to bicker over whether or not it was still a good film, in light of their jobs. They'd bantered about it before, but never settled the debate, and it was a fun topic.

Besides that, it was also safe.

Connor had changed his order three different times earlier, and when the food finally arrived, he'd almost changed his mind again. Only a glare from Abby made him sink back in his seat and accept what he'd ordered. Becker snickered.

Half of the paper cover of a straw hit him in the cheek, and Sarah whistled innocently. A few moments later, they were acting like children, pieces of paper wrappers flying everywhere, until Connor dared to threaten Danny with a spit ball if he didn't quit it, and Abby finally sat back and warned the others that their food was getting cold. After that, they calmed down a bit, several moments spent just concentrating on eating.

"Why did the Velociraptor cross the road?"

Three groans, and the joke was repeated, the person telling it insisting that it wasn't going to be dumb.

"But, why would there be a road in the cretaceous, anyway?"

"Connor, it's a joke!"

"Plus- mrflfmf" someone covered someone's mouth with their hand before the rest of the restaurant heard something they weren't supposed to about the ARC. The someone whose voice was muffled glared at the other.

"Can you guys just behave for a few minutes?" Abby said, exasperated. Sarah chuckled, glancing her way.

"I don't think they can, Abby. They're guys, after all." She said with a grin. Abby laughed, ignoring the mock-outraged looks on the guys' faces.

"Oi, whatd'ya mean by tha'?" Danny exclaimed, poking Sarah's shoulder across the tabletop. The archaeologist swatted at his hand.

Connor rolled his eyes at Becker, who was biting his lip to keep from laughing, as Sarah and Danny somehow started arguing about that topic, and when Abby toed his shoe, Connor gave her the kicked puppydog look. When she didn't show leniancy, he only smiled and went back to eating. After a few moments, the argument dissolved into more idle chatter and the sounds of them eating their meals.

"Can we get desert, Abbs?"

"Why do you need desert?"

"'Cause! They've got th' best blueberry pie in London!" Now Abby was reconsidering her earlier opinion that Connor, who'd chosen the place, had just picked out at random. She realized that they rarely talked about their lives before they'd met, apart from a few quips about uni from him and work from her, and wondered if and when

Connor had eaten in this restaurant before tonight.

"What's so special about the blueberry pie here, Temple?" Becker asked, sounding dubious. Connor rounded on him with wide eyes.

"Don't answer him, Conn, he's just trying to provoke you." Abby cut off the snappish comment on the tip of Connor's tongue, and he sat back, glaring at Becker, who rolled his eyes.

"I think I'd like to see what the pie tastes like. What about you, Danny?" Was Sarah's comment on the discussion. Danny nodded, watchign and listening with mischief in his eyes.

"No-one's going to ask me?" Becker piped up, a single eyebrow raised.

"You clearly don't like the idea. So I don't think you should get any." Connor sniped. Abby failed to hide her chuckle. Both men glared at her, though Connor's gaze softened much quicker. Abby had to look away after a moment, feeling uncomfortable with the reality that despite all the walls she had up, Connor was still sneaking his way into her heart.

"Fine, sorry, Connor." Becker said grudgingly.

"Much better." The geek said cheerily, grinning triumphantly at Abby, who tried to hide her grin in looking down at the table.

"Okay, let's order pie! Should we share a piece?" Sarah asked, looking at Connor. He was still staring at Abby, eyes bright. Abby looked up and frowned when she felt her cheeks warm in response to the look in her best friend's eyes. It was getting harder and harder to avoid letting herself fall for him. And recently she'd begun wondering why she was trying not to.

"Earth to Connor!" She called to him. His cheeks turned red and he looked at Sarah instead.

"Huh?"

"Does it make sense to share a piece of pie?"

"Oh, erm, Maybe two pieces between us five?"

"Sounds good to me."

They all admitted that Connor was absolutely right: the best blueberry pie they'd ever tasted, for sure.

Both Abby and Connor were reluctant to end the fun night the five of them had been enjoying together - and more specifically, they were reluctant to go their separate ways until the next day at work. Not for the first time, Abby wished she had the courage to tell her little brother to leave. Jack was a nuisance and didn't care about anyone but himself, and he was constantly getting on her nerves. She'd prefer to have Connor living with her, just because it had been the norm for the two of them for 3 years now. He wished he'd suggested sleeping on the couchinstead of moving out when she'd broached the subject originally. Or gathering his courage to tell her how he thought, at the very least. But despite the occasional signs that Abby was starting, maybe, just maybe, to feel more than just friendship towards him, he was still too afraid of loosing his best friend and the love of his life. He was content, somewhat, to settle with what he had instead of risking it all.