She was excited for that afternoon. She and Danny were going on a long overdue romantic date. They were going to one of her favorite restaurants, and were planning to eat outside. The outside patio shouldn't be too full of people at two o'clock on a Wednesday afternoon. But if it was, they'd just order it to go and eat in the backyard.

As was usually the case, she was wearing one of her shorter dresses and her new high heels. The shoes were a gift to herself, a splurge she couldn't resist. They were black and shiny high heels, and had never been worn... which meant the soles were dangerously slippery.

But she wasn't thinking about that as she inspected herself in the full length mirror. For a few seconds, she questioned her dress choice, wondering if she should put one on with a longer hem. She ultimately decided against it; maybe seeing the dress would get Danny thinking those thoughts.

Linda smiled to herself, feeling warmth spread through her chest. She walked out of the room, into the kitchen and grabbed her purse on the counter. She made quick work of shutting the lights off before walking to and out the door.

Danny was waiting for her by the car, already changed into fancier attire. His clothes were still comfortable, just like his wife's, and he smiled at her as she came down the few stairs.

Linda grinned back at him, breathing in the fresh summer air. She realized the shorter, lighter dress was the right choice, as it must have been eighty degrees in the shade that day. But as she thought about her attire, she somehow misstepped and fell down the remaining stairs onto the sidewalk. She hissed as she ft the concrete tear at the skin on her knees and at her palms.

Danny was quickly by her side, "Linda!"

"Ow..." she whimpered, sat on the sidewalk with her knees pulled up. She looked at her palms which were red and very lightly tinted with blood. Her knees look the same way, she was sure.

"Shit, are you okay?" Danny asked, concern in his voice. He wanted to hold her hand, but that might be painful for her, so he rested his hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah. I'm okay... ow." Linda almost whimpered again as the stinging pain was still very present.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up." Danny stood and took Linda's hands, easily pulling her up to her feet. He held her hand as they ascended the stairs and walked back into the house.

Linda dropped her purse on the small table by the door as she followed Danny to the kitchen. She stood by the island while he turned to the medicine cabinet.

"Is the first aide in here?"

"It's not that bad, Danny. Just a little scrape."

He ignored her, "ah, here it is." He turned around and dropped it to the island surface. Without warning, he put his hands on Linda's hips and hoisted her up to the counter. (He'd say he did it easily, but she helped once she understood what he wanted to do).

Linda smirked, "really?"

"You've done it all these years."

She made a face that said she couldn't argue while he dug out the correct things. She watched as he turned around, wetted a hand towel and grabbed a dry one. He took one of her hands and started wiping off the dirt and blood— very gently, as if she was going to break.

"You have to be more careful, sweetheart."

"I was being careful! I was holding onto the railings, like my doctor said to! I just... slipped." She stretched her leg, rolled her ankle. "I guess these shoes don't have tread on them."

He looked at her, trying to smile. He hoped she couldn't tell that it was faked and strained.

Of course, she could tell. She had known him since high school and was married to him more than twenty years. Linda put her hand on his cheek, "what's wrong?"

He took her hand, focused on cleaning it. "You scare me sometimes. That's all."

"Because I fall? Danny, that was an accident. A fluke. I usually don't fall like that. And I realize my balance got out of whack, but I don't just... fall like that.

"You could've killed yourself!"

Briefly she thought that he was too dramatic and was about to tease him about it. But she saw the look in his eyes. She put her left hand, the one he had already cleaned up, onto his shoulder. "Hey. I'm okay. Really, I am. I've just got a few scrapes and bruises."

"Linda-"

She kissed him to shut him up, then pulled him between her legs for a hug. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, embracing him tightly. "I'm okay, and I'm here. Don't worry about me."

Danny chuckled, "I'm your husband. It's my job to worry."

"But not about me falling. I scraped my hands and knees, and that was it. End of story." She let go of him, "now finish what you started."

Danny kissed her sweetly before stepping back and finishing cleaning her hands. He dried them off with the other hand towel, working in silence. "Do you think they need any first aide stuff?"

Linda held up her hands, inspecting the palms. She had some torn skin, some abrasions, but they weren't bad enough for bandaids or stitches. Besides, hands and fingers were fast-healing. She shook her head, then almost coyly bit her lip. She thrusted them at Danny, giving him a knowing smile, "kiss 'em."

He matched her smile and peppered kisses across her Palms and up her fingers. He grinned at her giggles.

"Now your knees."

Her knees were much more torn up than her hands were, and she emoted more hisses and small whimpers as Danny carefully wiped away the dirt. He cringed as he saw the torn skin still hanging on like a hang nail. "Do you need a bandaid for this?"

Linda looked down at the skin and shook her head. Quickly, and without initially flinching, she simply tore it off.

"Ugh, Linda!"

She laughed, "what? It's not bleeding."

He made fake gagging noises but continued to clean her knees. Once he was done, he kissed them like he did her hands. Only, they were her knees, and kissing up them lead to her thighs which lead to other areas.

Linda grinned almost wickedly as he lifted his head to look at her. "What say we make that late lunch an earlier dinner?"

"I like where your head's at." He hugged and kissed her, very happy that she was okay.