After dinner, in which Arthur makes sure to leave a hefty tip for the mortified waitress, they take a walk. He reaches out and takes her hand, sliding his hand down her arm as he does so. She shivers.
"Are you cold?" he asks, remembering her earlier words. I wish I had a jacket to give her.
"No, that's not why I shivered," she smiles up at him.
They are quiet for several minutes. It is a comfortable silence, and they approach a park. They sit on a bench near a pond and watch the ducks.
"Guinevere," Arthur says, and she turns toward him.
"Hmm?"
"I really like you. A lot. More than I've ever liked anyone," he stops, assessing her reaction. "Am I freaking you out?"
"No." She thinks a moment, then repeats, "No. I feel the same way. When I said I felt like I've known you a very long time, I was completely serious. I feel so… comfortable with you, like I could tell you anything. And I can't get you out of my brain. That's never happened to me before. Usually there are about three or four trains of thought running around up there, but since last night I've thought of little else but you. Am I freaking you out now?" she grins at him.
"Not at all. I feel exactly the same way. It's like you're a magnet, drawing me in," he says, illustrating his point by leaning in to kiss her. This time it is tender, soft, but still full of passion. He pulls away and looks into her soft brown eyes. "Would it be completely insane to tell you that I think I love you?" Almost a whisper.
"Not half as insane as the fact that I love you too," she replies, and kisses him again.
They walk some more, and come across an ice cream van. He buys them ice cream just so he can watch her eat it. He is not disappointed, her pink tongue licking, lips sucking at the cold soft mound of ice cream perched on its cone.
He learns that she can say the alphabet backwards. She finds out that he knows how to fence quite well. She knows a surprising amount about cars; he enjoys opera. He also unintentionally gets her to confess that she unbuttoned her shirt.
"So this counting habit you have. Is it just to irritate Morgana?"
"No, it's just… something I find myself occasionally doing without realizing it. For example, back at the library, I caught you looking down my blouse nine times. Before we went into my office."
He risks it. "Well, if you hadn't been showing them to me, bending over in front of me and doing things like unbuttoning your shirt while I wasn't looking, maybe I wouldn't have looked so much."
She gasps, but is smiling, and admits, "You noticed that, huh?" She takes a bite out of the cone, trying to hide behind it as she makes doe eyes at him over the top of the ice cream.
"I had an inkling. Which you just confirmed, thank you very much," he says, spooning another bite of his sundae into his mouth. "And thank you for the show," he adds.
They finish their ice cream, and Arthur looks at his watch. "It's getting late. I should probably be taking you home," he says reluctantly.
"Probably," she says, looking up at him through her dark lashes. "You do realize I live with Morgana, don't you?" she asks, not really sure if he's thinking what she thinks he's thinking.
He is. "Oh. No. I hadn't realized." His eyes meet hers and he says, "I live alone."
"Oh." She smiles.
He takes her hand and leads her to his car.