InsaneJournal

Who: Sam Carter + Mr. Gold
What: Surprise dinner
When: 25th May
Where: UC Irvine then a restaurant
Rating: Low
Status: Complete



His conversation with Lulu the other day on his mind, Robert Gold decided to be more impulsive than usual. He'd closed his shop early, worked through his remaining paperwork for his position on the Council, and then headed over to the college Samantha Carter worked at -- duly aware that he would make it on time for the end of her office hours, and not while she was teaching.

He knocked on her office door with some time to spare -- which was good, since it wouldn't be prudent to get there when she was already gone.

Sam had been looking over some of her students research proposals for the last couple of hours and was about to give up when the knock came at her door. Looking at her watch she would be surprised if any of her students had hung around until now to ask her something.

“Come in” she called out, her smile brightening when Robert stepped into the office.

“Sam,” he greeted -- having by now figured out to not call her Ms. Carter (hey, he learned, albeit slowly, sometimes). He made his way in, looking around her office curiously. He had never actually been here before. “I was wondering if you might be free for dinner?”

Her office was fairly plain, a few physics cartoon strip jokes on the wall, pictures of her family and friends on the wall behind her and a large bookcase with many many physics and astrophysics books on it as well as a few not so well hidden romances. She always forgot they were there.

“Oh that sounds great” she nodded, hearing Lizzie in her head telling her to clarify whether or not it was a date, “And you have wonderful timing, I’d just about finished”

Everyone had a bad vice or two, and Gold was sure he could forgive tawdry romance novels. They did make his smile a bit as he looked over the titles of the books. It was like a cute surprise, honestly. “Do I?” He asked, clearly pleased. He’d planned it this way, after all. “Was there anything you’d like in particular? I know you have all the best places charted out.”

Had she remembered they were there Sam would probably have been mortified but as it was she was too happy that he’d surprised her.

She laughed softly as she packed away the proposals she’d been looking at, locking them in her drawer, “That spreadsheet is going to haunt me” she grinned, “Italian maybe?” she suggested, “I don’t mind where though”

“I’m sure we can find somewhere suitable.” His smile was easy, and upon some expert advice from a married woman, a little flirtatious. Well, for him, anyway. “I’m not rushing you, am I?”

Sam responded well to the flirtatious smile blushing just slightly but returning it with one of her own, “Oh no not at all” she replied, “If I’m honest I was on the verge of a headache so like I say you really did have perfect timing”

“Brilliant.” A pause. “Well, not the headache part. But the timing bit.” Sigh, there was that awkward again. He pushed through it as best he could. “Well, then. Shall we?”

Sam didn’t mind the awkward, it was less than before unless that was wishful thinking on her part.

“Absolutely” she agreed picking up her bag and moving out from her desk.

---

He’d driven -- it seemed silly to take two cars. In the end, they’d decided to go downtown for food -- there were nice restaurants there, but not so nice that they needed to worry about dress code (Gold nearly always wore a suit, but he was aware he’d caught her at the end of the work day). There was a little Italian place there, nestled in between a few high-end bars. Considering it was a weekday, it wasn’t hard to get a table.

Sam was a lot more casual at work than Gold, working at a University meant jeans were perfectly acceptable though she did generally wear black trousers with a casual top. Very different from when she was making an effort. So she was glad when they went for a nice italian restaurant that wasn’t too posh.

Once they were seated she smiled, “So to what do I owe this lovely surprise?” she asked, “You must have closed early” she commented, pleased to think he may have done that just to take her out.

“I might have,” Gold agreed with a half smile even as he tucked his chair in further beneath him and then fiddled with the wine listing menu. It was his store, though, and he could really just set his own hours - although it was something he rarely did. “No reason, really.” he gave a little pause, looking for all the world a bit innocent. “Just wanted to see you, is all.”

She blushed slightly, “That’s very sweet of you” she told him with a smile. “And I’m very happy you did, this is a much better end to my working day”

“I’m pleased to hear it,” he said, because he was. Sometimes even he liked knowing he was doing something right - even if he had already suspected he was. “Wine today?” He handed over the list, because random equality was important or something.

Sam looked over the wine list, usually she left it to him to chose something so she was a little thrown by being given choice. She was surprisingly indecisive sometimes. “Sauvignon?” she suggested handing it back to him, “I guess it depends on the meal”

He smirked, amused. “You’re probably right. I’ll find something suitable once we’ve both ordered, in that case.”

Speaking of which, the waiter came over, and he made his selection.

Sam made her choice too and let Robert chose an appropriate wine to go with their meal. “So how have you been?” she asked him, “Everything at the shop okay?”

“Oh yes,” Gold said, once the waiter was on his way. “Can’t complain. It’s always a bit the same of the same at the ol’ shop.” Which was nice. “Sometimes it’s nice not to have any surprises when dealing with work.”

Sam nodded, “I imagine the routine aspect can be quite comforting” she said, “Like some of my lectures, they haven’t changed in years although with discoveries being made everyday they do need tweaking sometimes”

“It can be,” he agreed, but then gave a little pause and a half crooked smile. “Not that I don’t like surprises now and then -- that’s what makes life interesting, after all. But there’s something nice about surety, too.”

“I’m definitely not going to argue that surprises are very nice” Sam replied, smiling at him. Maybe she should be the one to surprise him next time. If there was a next time.

Why wouldn’t there be a next time? Gold seemed to be enjoying himself, and he assumed Sam was as well. “I should hope not,” he said, since he’d done just that for her today - and clearly she approved enough to have agreed to come out with him.

Sam knew they did enjoy each others company, but she’d been feeling the need for clarity over exactly what it was they were doing. It felt like dating but neither of them had really called it that and, although she hoped, she wasn’t clear if he liked her in that way or not. She felt like she was an awkward teenager again. It was not a feeling she was used to or enjoyed.

The waiter brought the wine to the table and poured before leaving again, she took a sip, “As always another good choice” she told him.

“I do my best,” he said, and it wasn’t really stated all too humbly. Speaking of having feelings like confused, awkward teenagers -- Gold sipped his wine, and then rose his eyebrows, as if curious. “So.”

Sam took a sip of her wine, okay she could do this. She’d rehearsed this loads, gone through it with Lizzie and now was the perfect time.

“Are we dating?” Well crap, that was nothing like her practiced speech. She scrambled to save the situation, “I mean, we’ve been out a few times now and I feel like we get on well. I know I enjoy spending time with you and it kind of seems almost silly but I feel like a teenager again wondering if the boy I like, likes me back and I just think if we agree that we are we might be able to move on a bit and relax” she stopped to breathe and take another sip of her wine, her face a deep red.

Gold couldn’t help himself. He smiled so terribly wide, he was sure his face might just break in half if he continued. And then? He actually gave a chuckle. Mostly, though, it was oddly relieved. He’d been just about to ask her the same thing. Except maybe with a little less word vomit included. Really, Sam had saved him some work, here.

“You know, I was about to ask the same thing,” he said what he was thinking, if only to comfort her a bit -- she really had gone very red. “So it must be, hm?”

Sam laughed too, also relieved, “I should have let you, I’m sure you would have been much more eloquent than I was” she told him, “But it’s good to know we’re on the same page” she added happily.

“Maybe,” he said, grinning quite brightly indeed. “Hypotheticals can stay that way though. So. Same page. Dating.”

“Dating” she agreed with a smile clinking her wine glass against his.