Date Night [Closed to Samantha]

[lincolnmiller]

He should have asked Lee's advice. Should've asked her last night or this morning but he hadn't and now, now he was stood in his boxer briefs not knowing what the hell to wear. A suit was kind of too much for dinner, for a first date at a restaurant he usually wore jeans and a tee too. And he kind of just wanted to put his Jurassic Park tee on and call it quits for the night. Except he kind of wanted to go. He kind of wanted to go a lot.

Finally settling for something between the two Lincoln grabbed his wallet, phone, and keys before stuffing them in his pocket. Heading out, it didn't even take him twenty minutes to walk over to Sam's. Knocking on the store door, Lincoln pressed his lips together as he buttoned his jacket up and then quickly unbuttoned it. Before, of course, he immediately buttoned it back up again.

"Play it cool, okay you're an idiot." Lincoln murmured to himself, looking up and smiling at Samantha. "Hey, I'm not late am I?"

Comments

[lincolnmiller]

"Yeah, a little but not the only thing. We used to watch the football together, my dad really loves football and I guess it was just a thing that we could all do together. And he's- despite what people think of him, he's the best guy. He's smarter than he lets people think, he's honest, and he looks out for his friends." Lincoln said, smiling before he turned to order just the one beer. He didn't want to drink and make a fool of himself tonight but one might settle his nerves. "He lets everyone else think he's an asshole though sometimes. I think no matter what, it'll be us two at the end. You know? Through everything."

Lincoln smiled, running his fingertips down her arm and back of her hand. Gently rubbing her pulse with his thumb.

[starting_over]

Samantha turned her smile back to Lincoln after ordering herself a glass of the house red wine. Her eyes darted every now and then to the hand he held, watching the way his thumb moved over her wrist, his fingertips over her arm. The small motions were doing things to her pulse rate and her breathing, but they felt so nice, she wasn't about to ask him to stop.

"It's good you have a friend like that; important, too. They might be insufferable, but when bad things happen, you know they'll be there right by your side no matter what. Nothing can replace that, I don't think."

She accepted the wineglass from the waiter, and took a quiet sip.

[lincolnmiller]

"No, nothing can. Not those kind of relationships, probably why I have so many friends and why I'm terrible at-" Lincoln gestured between the two of them. Because he was a terrible date, boyfriend- he must be, to still be so single when all his friends tried to tell him he was a catch. "-this, at dating. Dating is a lot harder than people think. Being friends with someone is a lot easier, lot simpler... most of the time."

Lincoln smiled, warm fingertips rubbing her wrist softly and gently as he looked into her eyes. He could get lost in them, the sweetness in them and her lips.

"So, being the new kid or new-ish kid in town. How are you finding it?"

[starting_over]

"Maybe it is, I wouldn't know, but I do know that you're just fine at dating if I'm any judge so don't be so hard on yourself," Samantha told him with another squeeze to his hand and the same warm smile on her face. He really was beyond adorable and his smile was enough to do serious damage to her pulse rate every time he flashed it.

"It's been a strange transition, not only moving from a big city to a smaller town, and changing the course of my career so abruptly at the same time. But Siren Cove itself, and some of its residents, definitely take some getting used to." She laughed a little. "And with your fire thing, I'm probably telling you something you already know, aren't I?"

[lincolnmiller]

"I'll try not to be so hard, you can tell me I'm fine at it at the end. We've still got three courses for me to ruin," Lincoln murmured, lips tugging into an easy smile. His breath drawing in as he felt her squeeze her hand so lightly, so delicately. "I've never been out of Siren Cove. Well, holidays but not permanently. So, I can't begin to imagine what it must be like. Hard, I imagine. I hope we're making you feel welcome at least?"

Lincoln nodded his head, flashing her a grin as she mentioned his fire thing.

"My fire thing, I'll show you it sometime when we're not in a place that's quite flammable. I'm great at birthdays, everyone always wants me for their birthday cakes."

[starting_over]

"Very welcome, yes. I was almost expecting the stereotypical small-town response to an outsider when I came here, but I've been very pleasantly surprised at how open others have been. Makes me think that all those instincts I had about coming here were right, and that maybe there was more than chance involved when I threw that dart."

Oh that smile, she thought, was a deadly thing; especially the way it lit up his eyes like that. She felt the answering bump in her chest and a warmth spread all through her.

"I'd love to see it. I've only really seen one magical thing since coming here, the woman that changed her face right in my shop, and I'll tell you, I'd rather not see that again any time soon."

[lincolnmiller]

"Yeah, I think we're a weird enough town without the whole pitch forks and being this is a local town for local people." Lincoln murmured with a joking lilt to his voice. He didn't know if she'd get the reference and he kind of kicked himself for it but well, he was a stupid geek at heart. "Well, I'm glad the dart landed here."

Lincoln let go of her hand for the moment, taking a breath in before he concentrated on the candles. It was easier like this, smaller to contain and control. Big fires had their own life, their own personality that defied being controlled but little ones were easier. Willing the candles to go out one by one, Lincoln smiled at Samantha before letting them all flicker back into life.

"There, now you've seen something else. And I'm guessing she was a Siren, yeah that can be a shock to anyone." Lincoln replied. He was used to it, what with Roosevelt and everything but sirens always were his weak spot.

[starting_over]

"She was a Siren, yeah. My ex-boyfriend's current girlfriend. I didn't feel all that threatened by it, but for a while, I couldn't close my eyes without seeing hers. It was more than a little off-putting. But she seems a nice enough woman, and Levi's very happy with her, so...," she paused and shrugged as if that said it all.

Then she realized that the candles had gone out, and sprung back to full flame independent of any air currents. "Okay. That was pretty cool," she grinned. "And I'm glad the dart landed here, too."

[lincolnmiller]

"Oh, wow not just any siren then but the whole Matriarch thing. Yeah, wow that would be definitely a look." Lincoln replied, looking a little bit in disbelief. He wasn't in touch with the whole Siren-Matriarch thing, witches usually did their own thing except the whole council bit but they didn't answer to one person. He couldn't imagine being required to either. Mostly his family kept him in check if he ever needed it, which he hadn't since he'd learnt control. "It definitely has its advantages at work."

Lincoln smiled when she said that, reaching out to thread their fingers together before pausing when their server returned to take their orders. Lincoln just ordered his usual ridiculous amount of food and hoped Sam wouldn't have too much to say about that.

"I know- it's a lot, I kind of burn most of it off at the gym or at work." Lincoln didn't add 'Or in bed' because that was Roosevelt's influence and honestly it had been far too long. He was just glad that Samantha had actually wanted to go out with him.

[starting_over]

"I can imagine it does. If you don't mind my asking, how much control do you have over something so large? I mean, could you do away with a whole house fire?" The idea was intriguing to her, but she truly had no idea about how such things worked. And what she'd woken up from the coma with was nothing short of haphazard and nothing she had any control over whatsoever. It just happened and she had to try and find a way to work through it when it did.

Sam ordered the pasta primavera and just smiled at the amount of food he ordered. "I've seen my share of guys go through a small mountain of food, I really didn't think anything of it."

[lincolnmiller]

"I wish I could, it'd make things a lot easier but no, big fires like that have an energy all of their own. I can only absorb or divert so much, little fires I can douse easily but big ones? Not so much," Lincoln said. It wasn't to do with control but energy and physics, he could only take away what he could put elsewhere. Big fires were too powerful to take control of, walking through them was easier though. He managed to save people that way even if he couldn't save the building through magic alone. "But my control is pretty good. I don't set things on fire anymore just from sitting down or touching a beautiful woman's hand."

Lincoln smiled as he looked at her hand, hoping she wouldn't flinch or pull away. "I'm glad, it's not that attractive I know but better that then a grumbling stomach at the end of the night."

[starting_over]

"Feeding an appetite isn't attractive? I'd rather you be comfortable than be someone you're not because its what you think I want to see, you know? And I'm glad to know that you won't be setting my hand on fire any time soon, or your seat for that matter."

She blushed, just a little, when he called her beautiful, mostly because she'd never learned how to respond to compliments like that. Accolades on her legal prowess? Sure, she could roll with those all day. Anything more personal than that she was left floundering. Yet another legacy from her ice cold aunt.

[lincolnmiller]

"I don't know, I'd talk about previous dating experiences but I'm pretty sure that's a faux pas, right?" Lincoln murmured. Smiling at her when she blushed, he tried not to over think how breathtaking she was when she blushed like that. "It really does put a new spin on liar, liar pants on fire."

Lincoln laughed, tilting his head as she blushed. Shifting his legs, he smiled when he felt his legs brush against hers.

"You don't like compliments, do you? Or you're not used to them?" Lincoln asked, looking at her with a warm gaze. "You're beautiful when you blush, it's cute."

[starting_over]

Samantha laughed full out when he dropped the liar liar comment, enough so she had to put a hand over her mouth to muffle the sound lest she disturb everyone around them with the cackling. "I don't know about faux pas, I don't mind hearing about things from your past. I just can't share much of the same. I didn't date much...well, ever. I was too focused for that."

And, of course, him saying that only made her blush again. She laughed and gave her head a shake as if she could get rid of the redness that way. "Not used to them, I guess. I know how to take professional compliments, how to roll with being called a bad ass lawyer, but anything personal? I tend to just smile and nod because I don't know what to say."

[lincolnmiller]

Lincoln smiled brightly when she laughed, watching as her hand came up to hide her face as she laughed loudly. Letting go of her hand as their food was brought over, Lincoln nudged her knee a little and smiled at the light contact between them.

"On your work? I've had a four girlfriends before, been on a few dates as well but it never usually lasts. I don't know people have an idea of what dating a Fireman is like but the reality isn't that great." Lincoln replied honestly. There was long hours and some people couldn't handle the whole bit where he put his life at risk sometimes to save others. "Well, I could compliment your card making skills but I like complimenting you. You are beautiful so... just keep blushing, I like it."

Lincoln shrugged lightly nudging her knee a little bit, a light tease since his hands were going to be full with his order of pollo della casa, garlic bread, salad, and arancini. Which he was going to share of course.

"Want to try the arancini?"

[starting_over]

At this point, they'd be able to cook dinner on her face from the sheer heat of the blushes he kept causing, both in words and the soft touches under the table. "It's kind of funny to me, that with all your claims of being bad at the dating thing, you've had more relationships than I have." Yes, she was deflecting again, but it was her only defense against her head spontaneously combust. However, she could dish it back. "Not surprising, as gorgeous as you are."

Even around the blush, she managed and impish smile, and nodded at his offer of the arancini.

[lincolnmiller]

"One of them was from high school," Lincoln replied. Some of them hadn't even lasted a year and he was thirty, which compared to Roosevelt was probably pretty terrible numbers. Lincoln wasn't even sure how many girls Roosevelt had been with but he could probably count how many girls he'd been serious about. "So, it counts but I'm not sure how much it counts. Plus, I'm pretty sure I'm older than you."

Lincoln pressed his lips together, laughing lightly at that. For so long he'd been the tall, chubby, geeky guy at school. He wasn't the heartbreaker everyone kept telling him he was now. Still he didn't mind it when Samantha told him that. Like she actually meant it.

"Now that was pretty brazen, I like it." Lincoln replied, putting one of the arancini on a fork and offering it to her. "What do you think?"

[starting_over]

"I wouldn't be too sure of that," Samantha laughed, "and even though you're not supposed to ask a woman her age, I'll tell you mine. I'll be thirty this year." Her mouth twisted and she sighed a little. "Which is trying like hell to depress me, but I'm not going to let that happen tonight. So, were you right about the age thing?"

She leaned forward and took the offered bite, savoring it. "Not bad. I think I prefer the type without the peas, but theirs are very, very good."

[lincolnmiller]

"Well, see I am older than you so it does count. I'm already thirty," Lincoln replied laughing at first before reaching out to give her a warm smile. A hint of heat and mischief lingering in his eyes as he looked her over. "I don't see a thing to be depressed about. Do you want me to list the reasons? You might start your own fire over there if I do."

As she leaned forward, Lincoln followed the line of her throat and down before drawing his gaze upwards. Clearing his throat, he rubbed his knee against hers again for the moment content with the brief, tantalising touches.