AN: First, still not mine. Second, lets make a deal. I know someone is reading this and I want to know how its going. ie: Are they in character, does the idea work, what do you guys like, what do you not like, too short? Ya getting the drift yet? There is this little blue button at the bottom... see where I'm going with this? Feedback = love!

This is my take on the disasterous first date that they mention on the show. :)

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Jim made a reservation at one of the fancier places in the city. It was a little Italian place with a dress code and wandering violinist. He was really hoping to impress Elizabeth, knowing that her former suitors had been able to afford a different standard of living than he was able to show her.

They'd had a few romantic evenings together, he'd made her dinner the first night and a few others, but nothing that would qualify as official. A real date involved going out somewhere different, dressing up and making an effort to not get publicly drunk. It was about flowers, manners and hand-holding. Needless to say, this made Jim a tad nervous.

Elisabeth had gone to her own apartment after work to get ready, leaving Jim alone at his place to stew. He'd already changed his shirt three times, each time deciding they didn't look quite right. Too nerdy, too uptight, too… groovy. He'd finally settled on plain blue, Alice once telling him the color brought out his eyes. As he looked in the mirror he tugged at the sleeves of his borrowed sports coat. The sleeves were a little short but he was hoping no one would notice. Concluding that this was as good as it was gonna get, he headed out for Elisabeth's.

The restaurant was a block over from her apartment, so he was picking her up there and they were going to walk over. When he got there his hand immediately reached for the door before he remembered it was considered rude to barge in without knocking. Of course, he'd been there before, and if she was still getting ready he didn't want to interrupt. He stood there in the hallway, indecisive, no idea that Elisabeth was on the other side of the door, smirking as she watched him through the security screen. He finally made up his mind, determined to do the right thing and knock, only to have the door swish open under his raised knuckles. The sight that greeted him was enough to make his head go numb.

The first thing he noticed were her eyes. He had never seen her with makeup before, she never needed it, but with kohl lining her dark eyes he thought perhaps he could sink into them forever and never come back. Her hair hung in soft curls around her face, accenting the seductive twinkle in her eyes and leading his gaze downwards to her dress. He had no words for how she looked in it. It was formfitting silver, modest at the neckline but cut high in the leg. On top of the heels she was wearing it made him want to throw the good doctor over his shoulder and forget the whole 'date' idea. He swallowed hard as his eyes trailed back up to her face.

Elisabeth was having some not-exactly-polite thoughts of her own as she watched his normally crystal clear eyes turn a stormy shade of blue and her mind went to an entirely rated R place as she watched his Adam's apple bob. Oh the things she wanted to do to that man's neck! She was about to scrap the entire plan for the evening when he finally cleared his throat and offered her his arm. "Shall we?"

She took it, smiling at the way her hand fell on his exposed wrist. They kept sneaking glances at each other on the way to the elevator until she couldn't take it anymore. "Aren't you going to say anything about my dress?"

Jim met her eyes as they waited for the car, the heat in them almost palpable. "As soon as I can think of a response that doesn't make me sound like a caveman or involve ripping all your clothes off, I'll let you know." He was pleased by the blush that colored her cheeks.

When they got to the restaurant he sent Elisabeth to the bar to order them some wine while he went to check with the maitre d'. When he came back to let her know that their table was ready he found her being actively hit on by a suit. (He was fairly certain there was a lawyer in the suit, he'd seen enough public defenders to recognize the obnoxious dripping off the guy's personality.) The guy had taken the barstool nest to Elisabeth's and she looked like she was half listening to him with a mixture of amusement and bored tolerance. When she spotted him she rolled her eyes.

Jim smirked back at her, knowing her distaste for the type. He took a deep breath and put on his 'serious cop face' before he tapped the guy on the shoulder and tried to calmly explain that the lady was here with someone else. It probably would have worked if the guy hadn't already had half a bottle of something a little stronger than wine.

He gave Jim a condescending look. "Well if she's here with you I credited her with better taste. Too bad too." He smirked at the affronted expression on Elisabeth's face as he patted her thigh, sending Jim's vision into the red zone. "She had a chance to go home with me toni-oooggh!" He didn't get a chance to finish as Jim's fist smashed into his face.

Elisabeth let out a cry as the guy's flailing arms sent her glass of wine all down the front of her dress. Jim threw her a startled (and apologetic) look before focusing his attention of the drunk that came back at him swinging. To be fair, the guy had obviously had some sort of boxing background, and had it been a fair fight, he might have stood a chance. This wasn't a fair fight and he didn't stand a chance. The guy was inebriated, his balance woefully impaired, and Jim was a street cop that knew how to fight dirty. The guy got in one lucky shot when he started toppling and grabbed at Jim's borrowed coat for support, ripping the sleeve half off. Jim was shocked enough to pause, trying to decrease the damage by grabbing the guy to slow his descent and getting an elbow to the eye for his troubles.

In the end the guy got hauled off to the clink by some of Jim's buddies at Precinct 12 and he and Elisabeth got kicked out of the restaurant for public disturbance. He slipped his ruined jacket around her shoulders as they left looking… well, bashful and uncertain were the words Elisabeth used when she retold the story to the girls at work. "I'm really sorry about your dress…" he started, rubbing the back of his neck in discomfort.

She sighed in reply, looking down at the ruined silk. "I'm sure the testosterone will wash out, but the red wine could be a problem…" smiling when she looked back up.

Jim was confused. "You're not angry?"

"This is definitely the most interesting date I've been on in a long while," she replied, thinking of her final date with Malcolm, during which he droned on ceaselessly about his latest grant proposal making her wish for the beeping monitors, shouted instructions and general chaos of the trauma center to give her ears a rest. "Besides," she concluded, "I told you I don't really care about the formality. It was lovely of you to think of it though.

He watched her thoughtfully for a second before he noticed the "Fine French Takeout!" place they had stopped in front of. (It was obviously brand new from the lack of graffiti and he questioned the viability of French takeout for a moment before giving it a 'What the hell' mental shrug.)

"Well its not over yet. I'm going to make it up to you. Stay right here," he said, hands firm on her shoulders, planting her in place, before running inside to order and then making a quick call. She shook her head in amusement as she watched him through the window, wondering what he was up to now. Every once and a while he would glance out at her, eyes glinting as he gave her a devilish smile. It made her heart melt a little.

He soon exited, large box of food under one arm, and laced the fingers of his free hand through hers to lead her down the street. "Where are we going?" she asked, looking back at the quickly disappearing tables in front of the takeout place.

He grinned down at her, all teeth. "I know a guy."

She raised her eyebrows in question but followed without comment, knowing life would never be boring with Jim. Turns out that 'knowing a guy' got them a private table in a relatively clean alley near the museum with a red and white checked tablecloth that had seen better days but appeared to be clean. There was a candle, bottle of wine and bag of frozen peas waiting for them. As Jim laid out their food they were soon joined by a man with an accordion that Jim referred to as 'maestro,' (his real name was Vinnie.) Their evening was spent laughing and talking to the (garish) accompaniment of Vinnie's finest compositions before returning to Elisabeth's apartment so she could properly thank Jim for their evening out and he could properly express his appreciation for her ruined dress, ("It is as enchanting as the woman wearing it, now may I please tear it off?")

Later, as they lay curled in bed together, Elisabeth gently tracing Jim's black eye while the sweat dried on their skin and their heart rates returned to normal, she commented that the night wasn't a total disaster.

The next morning they both woke up heaving from the food poisoning.