"Where are we ?" Echo asked, noticing that they were on the opposite side of the city.

"There's a little restaurant I'd like to take you to." He said simply.

"Why didn't you just tell me that? We could have met there instead of leaving my car in that strange parking lot. This is the complete opposite side of the city from where you told me to meet you." She said.

"I wanted to save you part of the drive, besides, I left someone behind to keep an eye on it." He said casually but she stared at him suspiciously.

"You wanted to make sure I was dressed properly before being seen with me, didn't you?" She asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Did I neglect to tell you how good you look tonight?" He said, reaching out and placing a hand on her leg. "I like that dress."

"I'm sure whatever you brought along for me was nice too." She said, trying to ignore the hand.

"You can wear it next time." He said simply.

"Do you just have a collection of dresses in case the women you date need a hand?" She asked and he smiled at her.

"Are you jealous?" He asked, "Because I don't mind if you are, I wouldn't mind the attention at all."

"I am not jealous." she said, turning away from him and pushing his hand away but he placed it back firmly.

"In case you didn't notice, sweetheart, all of the things I give you are brand new. I would never make you wear something that I didn't pick out especially for you and I've never had to pick out clothes for a woman I date." He said. "You're adorable when you're jealous but you don't have to be."

"I already said I'm not jealous." she insisted but this time she didn't try pushing his hand off.

"We're here." He said as the SUV came to a halt. The door on his side was opened and he got out before extending his hand towards her.

With a sigh, she reached out and let him help her down, but when she would have let him go, he pulled her in close and surprised her with a quick peck on the lips.

"Come on." He said, giving her hand a squeeze before letting it go only to rest it on her waist as they made their way to the front entrance.

Echo followed along, much too concentrated on not falling on her face to complain about the contact. If anything, it was disturbing how very natural little things like this were beginning to feel.

"Mr. Farina, we have your table ready."

The words were said the moment they walked in and a tall, skinny waiter quickly led them to the back, where Luke immediately sat on the same side of the table as Echo.

"To drink?" The waiter asked.

"Bottle of wine and two waters please. And you can put in our food order. Get us my usual." He said, making her stare at him.

"What?" He asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Most people say please when they ask for things." She said.

"I'm sure they do." He said.

"Are you always going to order for me?" She asked, recalling he'd done the same at lunch.

"Have you ever been here before?" He asked, looking directly at her.

"No but..." She began but he cut her off.

"Exactly. Trust me, I know what's good." He said, "Now, let's not sit here and waste time arguing over trivial things when what I really want to do is tell you about all the fun things I'd like to do with you."

Echo blushed immediately, noting how he was staring at her.

"So what are we having?" She asked trying to change the subject and he laughed.

"I can tell you what I'd like to be having." He replied, enjoying the way she was turning red. Echo tried to be calm, turning and looking around the room and trying to remember a trick she'd learned in therapy for dealing with her anxiety. Name four things, just four things.

Table

Tray

Bar

Ben

She took a deep breath, feeling herself relax...

"Wait... what?" She said aloud suddenly, making Luke raise his brow.

"What?" He repeated and her eyes widened.

"Oh my god" She said, sliding down in her seat.

"What?" Luke asked again, confused.

"It's Ben!" She said, leaning forward on the table and putting her hands to her face as if trying to hide.

"Who's Ben?" Luke asked with a frown, looking around the room.

"Don't look, don't look." She said, reaching out and turning his face towards her. "I don't want him to see me."

"Why? Who's Ben?" Luke asked.

"He's my brother." Echo finally said, looking over her shoulder at him.

"Your brother?" Luke repeated, turning now to look. "Jesus. Just what I needed."

"We need to go somewhere else." she said, "I can't let him see us. He can't see me... not like this."

Luke nodded, signaling for the waiter.

"Yes, Mr. Farina. What can I do for you?" the waiter asked.

"We just realized we need to go soon. Is our food almost ready?" Luke asked.

"Another 10 minutes maybe." the waiter said. Luke nodded.

"Can you pack it to go when it's ready? The lady and I are going to use your back exit." Luke said.

"Yes sir, right away." the waiter said, hurrying away.

"Come on, we'll wait in the truck." He said, taking her hand and letting her walk in front of him. Echo moved quickly, trying not to fall as she hobbled down the hall and past the back door. The fresh night air surprised her and she stopped, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Thank god." She muttered as the SUV suddenly pulled up around back.

"I know." He said, thinking it would have been hard to be as close to Echo as he would have liked if there was a big brother hanging out in the room. He moved forward, opening the door for her and turning. Echo sighed, taking two steps... before falling forward onto her knees.

"Shit." She said as she felt the pain and Luke took a deep breath as he moved forward.

"Are you okay?" He asked, wondering how she'd managed to fall over. She'd barely even moved.

"Yeah... owww..." she said as he helped her up, noticing how her knees were scraped up, bits of gravel all over her legs.

"Yikes. Okay, no problem. Up you go." Luke said, lifting her up off the ground. Echo stared at him in surprise, letting out a little gasp.

"You don't have to... I'm fine really." She said as he lifted her into the SUV. "I'm sorry, i'm heavy."

He closed the door, walking around to the other side and getting in.

"You're not heavy at all." He said as the doors were opened once again.

"Here. Everything is settled." Marco said, handing him the food and lifting a brow at the sight of Echo's bloody knees.

"We need a pharmacy." Luke said and Marco nodded, closing the door.

Echo sat awkwardly, feeling more embarrassed than she could express especially since one glance at Luke told her he was annoyed. He just sat there, staring out the window, refusing to look at her. For the first time all night, Echo was glad that there was a partition blocking the view from the front seats.

"I'm really sorry." Echo began to say but the SUV stopped again and Luke hopped out. She sat there, waiting and wondering what was going on but he was back almost as quickly as he'd gone.

"Okay, let's see." He said, as the SUV began to move again. He reached over, turning the lights on and looking down towards her knees. Again he was silent and shaking his head.

"I'm really sorry." Echo repeated, "I didn't mean to ruin the night or make a mess of myself."

Luke raised his brow, staring at her for a second.

"It must be really embarrassing to have to deal with me." She went on when he didn't say anything. She saw him close his eyes and shake his head, shaking a bit like if he was about to yell but then...

he burst out laughing.

"You're so... ridiculous." he said between chuckles.

"Beg your pardon?" She asked seriously. He sighed and reached out, pulling her legs onto his lap.

"Why are you apologizing? You fell, you're not used to the shoes." He said, inspecting the knees. "I know I shouldn't laugh but it was funny. I'm sorry."

She watched him reach into the bag and begin to take items out. She slid closer to him, allowing him better access to her knees and allowing herself to have a better look at what he was doing.

"Well, I'm sorry we had to leave." She said.

"This is going to sting." He warned as he started wiping the scrapes clean. She winced and bit her lip, surprised at how very gentle he was being. "Is that okay?"

"Yes, thank you." She said, as he continued to clean the knees.

"So we had to take our dinner to go, it's not a big deal. You didn't plan on your brother being there and I wanted us to have privacy." He said, making her look at him. "It's fine. I don't mind at all."

She looked back down towards her knees as he finished up.

"All set." He said, beginning to pack up the items.

"Thanks." She muttered again, moving to slide her legs off but he put his hand down stopping her.

"Where do you think you're going?" He said, pulling her closer and keeping one hand on her thigh. "Unless you were going to wrap your pretty arms around my neck, I can't think of a better way to eat our dinner."

"We're going to make a mess in here." She said and he smiled.

"Unfortunately not the type of mess I'd like to make but don't you worry. It'll be fine." He said, moving his hand up and down her leg. "You know... you look really great in this dress."

She gulped. She wasn't used to compliments, wasn't used to having any one this close or having someone like Luke touch her and hold her this way.

"I was really hoping you'd let me take you shopping. There are so many things I want to give you." He said, his fingers stopping at the hem of her dress before slipping under.

"I...." She said, unsure if she should stop him. His hand was so warm and she couldn't help but find it... distracting. Why wasn't she slapping it away? Why was she just letting it slide under her dress that way? "I can buy my own clothes."

"I know that." He said with a nod, finally resting his hand on her upper thigh. He didn't move it, he didn't try anything he just rested it on her skin, enjoying the contact. "But I want to give you the things you wear for me. I know this isn't really your style... I know when you do it, you're doing it for me."

Echo took a deep breath, the way he was looking at her was making it hard to think. Deny it, just deny it and tell him what you came here to tell him... whatever that is.

"Do you have any idea what it does to me Echo? to know you do these little things for me?" He reached out with his free hand and brought it to her neck, pulling her face close to him. "Would you like me to show you what you do?"

Then, he was kissing her. He didn't even wait for her to try to reply, he was kissing her and holding her so close against him that she was sure she would just disappear inside him. And wouldn't you know? She'd wrapped her arms around his neck, making it impossible for him to break free even if he wanted.