"What are you doing Saturday night?" Eric asked, grinning into the phone from his perch on a stool in the Print Lab.

On the other end of the line, Shauna smiled broadly. "Well, my apartment needs cleaning," she teased, "and my poor dog needs a bath in the worst way."

"That's too bad," he played along, "because I have Sunday off this weekend and I was thinking we might go out on a real date Saturday."

She laughed lightly. "Not softball and ice cream? Or a movie on the couch?"

"Not this time," he told her. "I'm thinking dinner at a nice restaurant, maybe some dancing afterwards, late night dessert…"

"Sounds wonderful," she agreed.

"Good," he said softly. "I haven't exactly been easy to be around the last few weeks, and I want to make it up to you."

His words were true, she knew. He had been a mess of ups and downs over the previous month, celebrating some success at work one day and close to tears the next, finally allowing himself to deal with the emotions he'd been bottling up. It had more or less put any development of their relationship on hold, but they had managed to stick together through it all.

And now he wanted to push forward. "There's nothing to make up for," she corrected gently. "But I'm not going to say no to a night out with you."

"So Francis will have to get his bath another night?"

She laughed again, nodding into the phone. "Francis will have to get his bath another night. Maybe if he's good, I'll bring him home a doggie bag."

"What do I get if I'm good?"

Shauna could practically see the twinkle in his brown eyes from her where she sat on the couch in her living room. "You'll just have to wait and see," she answered slyly.

"Pick you up at seven?"

"I'll be ready."

ooo

She didn't hear the knock on her door, but her spotted Great Dane did. His booming bark echoed through the apartment as he rushed to the door, anxiously waiting to find out who was on the other side. Shauna trailed behind the big dog, fastening an earring as she moved.

"Alright Frankie, that's enough," she called. He continued to bark, of course, eyes riveted to the door in full protect mode. Earring in place, she glanced through the peephole, her lips curving into a smile at the sight of Eric in a slate gray suit, complete with a shirt whose color could only be described as "tangerine". The expression he wore, though, was one tinged with a bit of bewilderment.

The dog's deep bark surprised him. Smiling brightly, she ordered Francis to sit ten paces away and swung open the door. "Hey!"

The big Dane lunged forward, more to inspect Eric than anything else, but Shauna held up a hand halting the big dog in his tracks. "Hey," her date answered, entering the apartment with his eyes locked on the eager dog. "This must be Francis."

"Yep, this is my baby," she replied. Then, to the dog, "Now you be good, Frankie, you got it?" She gave him the all clear signal and he went straight for Eric again, more politely this time, nose wiggling fervently. "You okay with big dogs?"

"Yeah," Eric responded, relaxing a bit. "As long as they know they're not supposed to eat me."

"Frankie's all talk," Shauna assured him, sizing up the dog's reaction to their guest with satisfaction. "Except this one time I had him out for a walk and a guy decided to hassle me. Guy's lucky I lift weights or I wouldn't have been able to keep Frankie off him."

"He was protecting you," Eric smiled. "I can relate to that."

She chuckled. "So you two are gonna get along, then?"

Francis had begun wagging his tail, having assessed Eric and found him friendly, particularly when the CSI reach out and scratched the dog's ears. "Yeah, we're going to get along just fine."

"Good—I'll be right back." She flashed him another smile and disappeared down the hallway into her bedroom. "Make yourself comfortable," she called. "Francis doesn't shed that much, and I've got a lint roller just in case."

Eric wandered into the living room and dropped down onto the couch, followed closely by the Great Dane who continued to watch and sniff at him, his tail wagging excitedly. "At least he doesn't jump," Eric commented toward the hallway.

She reappeared carrying a pair of shoes the same shade of "tangerine" as his shirt and the floral pattern on her white dress, sitting beside him on the couch. "He did when he was a puppy," she explained, "but 'stay down' was the second thing I taught him, right after 'go to the door when you need to go outside'. I knew I couldn't have a full-grown Great Dane jumping on people when he got bigger."

Eric was still looking at the dog as he paced around the living room, trying to figure out what to do with the newcomer. "That's good thinking."

"I have my moments." She grinned again and slid a hand over his arm. "You ready?"

"Absolutely." He followed her to the door, slipping out while she held Francis back, and slid his hand into place on the small of her back when she joined him for the walk to his truck.

The ride to the restaurant was spent in light conversation, Eric's hand affectionately clasping Shauna's as they drove. When they arrived, he helped her out of the truck and wrapped an arm around her waist as he escorted her to the door.

Her eyes went wide when they entered the lobby. "Wow! Look at this place," she whispered, leaning close to his ear.

"You like it?" he chuckled.

"It's gorgeous," she smiled. "If the food is half as good as the décor…"

His grin softened and he pressed his lips to hair. "Shall we?" They trailed behind the host to their table, sitting close to each other, hands joining again as they looked over the menus. "You look beautiful," he told her gently when they were alone again.

"You look pretty good yourself," she commented brightly, reaching over and thumbing his lapel with her free hand. "'Tangerine' works for you."

That earned her a laugh and a squeeze of her fingers. "I try."

The easy tone of their conversation carried over from the truck through dinner, the intimacy they'd developed showing plainly in their facial expressions, their words, their body language. A second feeling hovered in the background, though, one that both felt but that neither could quite identify. It grew slightly stronger as dinner went on, developing into something almost tangible by the time they reached the dance club.

It's awkwardness, Shauna realized, watching Eric pay the cover charge. Not awkwardness at being together…awkwardness at being romantic together.

She smiled warmly when he glanced back at her, her mind whirring as they salsa'd, two-stepped, merengue'd, and swing danced through the night. But when the music slowed and Eric pulled her close, her suspicions were confirmed. He kissed her hair, her cheek, cradling her hand against his chest as he wound an arm around her waist. The gestures were sincere, she could tell, and so tender, but strange nonetheless.

He drew back very slightly so he could look into her eyes. "Having a good time?"

"Yes," she answered truthfully.

"Good," he replied leaning in and brushing his lips over hers. "You deserve it."

She smiled a small smile. "So do you."

His lips found hers again, gently at first before he slowly deepened the kiss. As he did so, he felt not only her affection for him, but also the awkwardness Shauna had identified between them earlier in the evening. Why does if feel odd to kiss her? It never did before…

ooo

He walked her to her door in the wee hours of the morning, his fingers laced through hers, standing protectively close to her while she hunted for her key. Finding it, she turned to him and smiled.

"Wanna come in?"

The strangeness of their kiss still in the back of his mind, he shook his head. "I don't think so…it's late…"

She read the discomfort in his face. "Eric, what's wrong?"

He pressed his lips together and glanced down at their clasped hands. When he met her eyes again, he was frowning. "Did anything seem…odd to you tonight?"

"Odd?"

"Between us," he clarified.

Understanding dawned over her face and she nodded. "Why don't we talk inside?"

This time he didn't protest, allowing her to lead him through the entryway and into the living room, petting and calming Francis as she moved. Plopping down on the couch and shooing the dog away, she slipped off her high-heels and rubbed her feet, gesturing for Eric to sit beside her. After being rebuffed several times and realizing he wasn't going to get any attention, Francis stalked haughtily into the bedroom, leaving the pair alone.

"You noticed it too?" Shauna asked when Eric was comfortable.

"Too? You mean you—"

She nodded. "—felt it, yeah. Something was—"

"—not quite right," he finished. "It was almost—"

"—awkward," she supplied, nodding again. "I mean, I meant it when I said I had a good time. I really did enjoy tonight, Eric."

He smiled affectionately. "I know you did. I did, too…I had a lot of fun. But when I kissed you…" He let his voice trail off a moment before completing his thought. "It was like kissing one of my sisters."

That made her laugh. "One of your sisters?" she grinned.

"Well, not exactly…"

"I know," she smiled, patting his knee. "It was good—you're a good kisser, y'know—but it wasn't like it used to be. It was more…friendly, I think."

Her choice of words triggered an answer in his mind. "The last handful of weeks that's what we've been," he explained, understanding now. "We've both been so focused on my state of mind that we sort of put all things romantic on hold because of how I freaked out before."

"But not our friendship," she added, seeing where he was going. "We still touched each other, held hands, cuddled up together."

"Still talked to each other, every day," he continued, "and spent time together. It was all just platonic."

"And we didn't even realize it," she chuckled, shaking her head a little in amazement. "So what do we do now?"

He picked her hand up off his knee and held it in his own. "I think the decision has already been made, actually," he told her. "We're apparently not meant to be lovers."

"But we make good friends, don't we?" she smiled, squeezing his fingers.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, smiling in return as she slid closer and relaxed against him. "Yeah, we do."

"So we go with what works?" she asked, though she already knew the answer.

He nuzzled her cheek and nodded in response. "We go with what works."