Grabbing the towel from the rack, Michael stepped out of the shower. It was already twelve o'clock and they were supposed to be at John's house in thirty minutes and he still had to shave and get dressed. He'd given Sara the shower first this morning although he'd been tempted to join her. Instead he'd taken the opportunity to call his brother and remind him that they might be late tonight. With a finally swipe of the towel, Michael tossed it into the hamper, grabbed his razor and began to shave.

Satisfied he hadn't missed anything, he turned on the faucet and rinsed the lingering shaving cream from his face. Taking a final look in the mirror Michael reached for his boxers, the only piece of clothing he'd brought into the bathroom with him. He still wasn't quite sure what he was going to wear today and he didn't have much time to decide.

Boxers in place he opened the door to the bedroom and found Sara bent over, butt in the air, pulling a shopping bag out from under the bed. Michael felt his temperature rise a notch just watching her. Stepping into the room he walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Instinctively she leaned into him and immediately felt him pressing against her backside. Sara didn't say anything. She just smiled.

Michael tried to peek over her shoulder. "So what do you have there?"

Sara leaned forward and reached for the bag sitting on the bed. Releasing his hold on her waist, he stepped to stand beside her. She lifted the bag and held it out to him. "It's a present. For you. For today."

Michael took the bag from her, the side of his mouth tugging at a smile. "A present?"

She was nervous. "I wanted to get you something to wear…today for the barbeque." Sara began to chew on her bottom lip.

Michael recognized this nervous habit of hers and wanted to calm her fears. He opened the bag and found it was a shirt. He stuck his hand inside and pulled out a burnt orange polo shirt. "Sara you didn't have to…"

The words died on his lips and she could see from the look on his face the moment he had noticed them. Short sleeves. "Michael before you say anything let me explain."

The shirt still in his hands he turned to look at her. "You want me to wear this? Today?"

"Yes," she said simply.

The look in his eyes was distant, guarded. "Sara…I…"

Sara placed two fingers over Michael's lips to keep him from protesting further. "Michael hear me out." Taking a deep breath, she decided to go for it. She need him to understand her thinking on this. "First of all it is supposed to be eighty five degrees today." This first revelation didn't seem to faze him so she continued, "Second, your co-workers know about you right?" He didn't answer but he didn't have to. It was something they'd discussed many times. They all knew. "Third…," She softened the tone of her voice. "Third…your tattoos are part of who you are Michael. They're a visible sign of how much you love your brother." His eyes had softened a little. She hoped she was getting through but she wasn't sure. "Please. Just try."

He remained silent. She was waiting for his next protest when she heard him say, "Ok."

~

They were running a little late but luckily found the address Michael had been given without any problem. Sara sat in the passenger seat as he maneuvered the car into a parking spot along the edge of the street. She'd been watching him since they'd left the apartment. They'd gotten a few looks on the way to the car from people on the street but Michael didn't seem to be letting it bother him. In fact once the decision had been made, he seemed to be resolved in keeping with the plan. Sara watched as he put the car in park and turned off the engine. That was so like him. She knew though that no matter how he acted, he was still nervous about this. She wondered how his co-workers would react to seeing his ink.

Michael got out of the car and Sara followed. He met her at the sidewalk and she slipped her hand in his. He looked over at her, "You ready for this?" She nodded. Hand in hand they made their way up the sidewalk to the door.

Stepping onto the porch Michael reached for the doorbell. Before he could ring it, however, a woman about John's age swung the door open wide. With a huge smile she quickly looked the couple over, "You must be Michael and Sara. It's so great to finally meet you." The woman stepped back to allow them to enter. They were both a little taken aback by the joyous welcome, but stepped inside. She closed the door behind them and started moving toward the kitchen. Turning back to look at the young couple she motioned for them to follow.

They arrived in the kitchen and food was spread everywhere. The woman suddenly stopped as though forgetting something and turned to face them, "Oh where are my manners. I'm John's wife, Becky. We are so glad you could join us."

Michael seemed to still be adjusting to the warm welcome they were receiving from his boss's wife and said nothing. Just as Sara was about to answer, John walked in from the patio. "Michael! Sara!" John stuck out his hand in greeting. "I was beginning to wonder if you two were coming. We were just getting ready to put the meat on the grill."

This time Michael found his voice. "Sorry about that. The morning just kind of got away from us."

Michael said this with a straight face to his boss but it was taking all of Sara's willpower not to giggle so to distract herself she turned to Becky, "Did you need some help carrying out the food?"

"Oh that would be lovely dear. Thank you." Becky turned and viewed the spread. She handed the ribs and burgers over to her husband and gave the rest of the grilling supplies over to Michael. Handing Sara a tray, she herself grabbed two trays of appetizers and followed them out to the backyard where everyone else was gathered.

The whole office was there along with their wives or girlfriends it appeared. When they stepped out onto the patio the low murmur of conversation stopped. Only Matt gave Michael a small nod in greeting, the other's gave a quick appraisal of the new arrivals and then huddled back into their conversations. He nodded back to Matt and followed John over to the grill.

Sara followed Becky and laid the tray she'd been carrying down a few feet from the heat of the grill. As she set the tray down she heard Becky gasp and turned to see what as wrong.

Becky's hand reached out to bring Sara's left hand closer. "Oh my dear…John why didn't you tell me?"

Sara began to blush. "I don't think…"

John had been concentrating on laying the meat on the grill and hadn't been paying much attention to the women. "I'm sorry?"

Becky dropped Sara's hand and placing her hands on her hips, addressed her husband with mock anger, "Why didn't you tell me these two were engaged?"

The conversation that had started to pick up again in the back yard immediately went silent. Becky appeared to be oblivious. "Oh well then…congratulations are in order I suppose," Becky said excited.

Michael, observant as always had noticed the interaction between Becky and Sara. He'd also noticed that their conversation was no longer private.

Sara took a moment to glance up at Michael and her heart sank. To anyone else he would look unfazed but she'd seen that look to many times. Michael was putting up his walls to prepare for what he thought was the inevitable scrutiny of his co-workers.

Michael began to move toward her. Leaving John alone at the grill, he moved next to Sara and placed an arm around her waist plastering a smile on his face. "Thank you," he said. "I asked her two weeks ago and she graciously said yes."

Sara leaned into him and was grateful for his support. She felt a little guilty though. She'd asked him to come today and bear his ink before his co-workers and now he'd have to deal with this as well. Hopefully the revelation to this small group would go better than it had to her fellow doctors and nurses.

What happened next gave her some hope. She saw a man and a woman about their age crossing the yard. As they approached, Becky mumbled something about getting more ice and hurried back inside. Arriving in front of them the man reached out his hand to Sara. "Hi. I'm Matt and this is my wife Vicki."

Sara'd noticed Michael's hold around her had relaxed a bit at the approach of this couple so she took that as a good sign. Sara shook the proffered hand and also that of the woman. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Sara."

"It's very nice to meet you, Sara." Matt said. "I thought I heard that congratulations were in order?"

This time Sara did blush. "Yes well…"

But before she could elaborate Vicki jumped in. "Well I hope he did a better job at proposing than this one," she said as she jerked her head toward her husband.

Sara found herself liking this couple very much. Weaving her arm around Michael, she glanced up at him. The darkness she'd seen earlier had dimmed a little. "Yes, it was quite romantic," she beamed.

"Well one of these days maybe we can get coffee and you can tell me all about it," she smiled.

Sara smiled back, "I'd like that."

The two men had been quite during the exchange but Matt finally spoke up and addressed Michael, "I was wondering who the lady in the picture on your desk was. How come none of us knew you were engaged?"

Michael just shrugged, "I guess I never thought anyone would be interested."

Just then John approached the small group. "Yeah Sara, Michael here doesn't exactly like to share. You have a remedy for that?"

Sara couldn't help herself. The laughter just started. The hand on her waist tightened a little and she spared a look at the man beside her. But instead of the shielded look she was afraid she'd find, his face seemed more open than it had moments before. Maybe things would work out all right after all.