"I can't believe you wanted to come here," Jo said with a smile in her voice. "We stick out like sore thumbs."

Alex shrugged as he leaned back on the wall behind him, "We always just go to Joe's or order takeout. Why not branch out? We're surgeons, we should at least act like it sometimes."

Jo nodded and slipped her hand into his as she continued to people watch, "That woman over there has on more makeup than I go through in a month."

Alex followed Jo's gaze and scrunched his nose in disgust, "She looks like a clown. Check out the jewelry. That's like a years' worth of student loan payments right there just in her necklaces."

Jo cut her eyes at him in a playful, sly manner, "You create a distraction and I'll grab 'em."

Alex chuckled and sat up straighter, "You'd never make it past that security guy."

"Is that a challenge?" she asked with a bit of defiance in her voice and a raised eyebrow.

Before Alex could rebut her the hostess called for them to be seated. He stood and placed his hand in the small of her back to guide her across the room and then held out the chair for her at the table. She watched him curiously as he sat across from her, the candlelight accentuating his strong jawline as he studied the menu. He glanced up and caught her stare, "What?"

She smiled quickly and looked at her own menu, "Nothing. I just don't think you've ever pulled out a chair for me before."

He smirked, one side of his mouth raising ever so slightly, "I'll be sure to pull a barstool out for you more often."

She giggled slightly, "Or escorted me across a room like that."

His eyes darkened somewhat, "I can't touch you in a fancy place as much as I usually do when we go out."

She beamed at him, "Well that's a definite pro for hanging out in our usual ways." He smiled at her amusedly before glancing back at his menu. She looked down to see her choices and gasped, "They round to the dollar."

"So?"

"We are so out of our league. These prices are…."

He cut her off firmly, "Don't worry about it."

"But Alex…"

He closed the menu and set it on the table, "Look. We've never done this. When we got together we skipped the whole dating thing and really just hung out the same way we always had."

She gave him a flirty smile, "Well not exactly like we always had."

Alex gave a lopsided grin, "You know what I mean. It's been almost two years, Jo. Screw the cost. I think we're overdue for a date night with a nice meal."

She smiled appreciatively and looked at the menu again, "What is Jidori chicken?"

He smirked slightly, "Now how the hell would I know that?"

"You picked this place."

"Robbins suggested it. And whatever that is you asked about is not the kind of chicken we had in Iowa, that's all I know to tell you."

Jo nodded in understanding, "Okay, so it's not chicken fingers. Gotcha."

"Hey," he protested sharply, acting offended. "That's not all. We also had chicken wings."

She gave him a dazzling smile before looking back at the menu, "Bone marrow? Scratch that off."

Alex narrowed his eyes in disgust, "Who eats that?"

She grinned, "In my mind? Robbins."

Alex chuckled as the waitress came and they placed their orders. He looked down at the china and flatware, "What is all this for?"

"Just start on the outside and you'll figure it out."

He smirked and asked with humor in his voice, "How do you know that?"

She shrugged, "I saw 'Titanic.'"

They talked easily about everything imaginable and sampled each other's dinner choices once it was brought to them. Afterwards on their way back to the car, Alex took Jo's hand and asked if she wanted to walk down to the waterfront for a bit. Jo immediately agreed, not wanting their night out to end just yet. She shivered slightly with Alex noticing immediately and shrugging off his jacket to wrap around her. She smiled gratefully, "This has been the most amazing night. Thanks for suggesting it."

He grinned slightly, "I'm glad we did it, even though it felt weird."

She sighed in relief, "Oh thank God, I was thinking you may be wanting to do this more often."

Alex smirked and threw his arm around her shoulders, "Nah. Maybe once a year or so though?"

Jo nodded as she wrapped her arm around his waist, "I could be into that."

They walked along the waterfront before stopping to sit on a bench overlooking the bay. Each sat in comfortable silence, content to watch other people pass by and enjoy the small breeze coming off the water. Jo turned slightly to look at Alex and wondered how she ever got so lucky. She rested her head on his shoulder, "This is so perfect. I almost feel like I should be waxing poetic about how much I love you right about now."

Alex met her eyes and grinned, "Calm down. Don't want you to get too carried away." She beamed back at him before leaning in to meet his lips in a sweet kiss.