It had been a long day at work. With Woodwick gone, some more responsibility rested on his shoulders and he had to go through more paperwork than usual. All by all the day hadn't been too bad, but it had certainly been different from what he usually did during his shift.

It had been a few days since he had visited Nadine in the middle of the night, and things had been nice. He had given her the spare key to his house because he didn't like his house to be empty, and he assumed she might like spending time in a somewhat bigger house than her own. He also just really liked having someone, and more specifically her, around. He was now glad that Othello had turned down his offer to live with him.

It was fun to see Nadine in the military wing. Nobody knew what was going on between them, but the looks they gave each other certainly made his day more interesting and fun. So far he had been able to contain himself and hadn't suggested a 'private meeting' during their working hours, but who knew what the future would bring.

Aldrich walked up to the front door of his house, but as he was about to unlock the door, it swung open. He looked up in surprise, and then his jaw dropped in awe of what he saw. If they had planned for Nadine to come over tonight, he had forgotten about it, he would blame it on the paperwork, but it was a very nice surprise to see her there. He admired her for a moment before stepping inside with a smile on his face. "You look absolutely gorgeous", he said, gesturing at her to do a spin for him so he could admire her from all sides.

The officer was thoroughly satisfied by Aldrich's reaction: the extra effort had been indeed worth it. Deep down she knew she didn't need affirmation, but it certainly felt nice. Aldrich's approval and gaze warmed and excited her.

"Thanks," she grinned, obliging him with a slow spin. "Figured I'd try somethin' different from the uniform."

Nadine took the few steps forward, and would try to plant a kiss on Aldrich's cheek before looping an arm through his.

"Dinner should be about ready," she continued, nodding towards the kitchen, then winked. "Then I've got a few things for our fun tonight."

She could hardly wait, nearly thrumming with anticipation. Nadine had felt younger and happier, her decreased irritability even pointed out at work. She did not focus long on that thought, quickly drawn back into the moment and excitement of Aldrich.

He couldn't remember the last time a woman had dressed up to look nice for him when he arrived home. It was possible that she might have just done it for herself, but it certainly was a gift to hi(s eyes) as well. He nodded,m approvingly when Nadine finished her spin and smiled at her. It was different from a uniform, for sure. While a nice-fitting uniform also looked good on her, this left less to the imagination.

Nadine kissed him on the cheek and looped her arm through his. He continued to smile but raised a questioning eyebrow when she mentioned 'a few things' for their evening. He wondered what they could be, but didn't want to ruin the surprise by asking. The man followed her to the kitchen, realising that he was pretty hungry and that a good meal would be nice.

"Dressed up and you cooked? Nadie, I'm barely worthy of all that effort", he said while laughing. "Can I get you anything to drink?" he asked. It was the least he could do before sitting down and lifting his feet. He wouldn't just let her do everything, that wouldn't be fair.

"We deserve to have a little fun now and again when the big brass are away," Nadine grinned. "Something light to drink. I don't want it to ruin our fun."

She pulled the pot off of the fire, removing the lid to a hearty aroma. Taking a large wooden spoon, Nadine stirred the stew fully before divvying it into two bowls. She hummed a bit as she delivered the bowls to the table, setting out utensils and glasses. Playing housewife for the night wasn't so bad...it was a fresh and exciting experience, despite the menial labor. She saw how Aldrich appreciated it, and that made her feel warm and fuzzy inside, another fairly novel experience.

It might be the first time since the pact with the monster Moloch that she allowed herself to be carefree. Happy. And the Shadow Realm seemed as distant and flimsy as a nightmare now...maybe it had all been a bad dream after all.

Nadine sat, scooting in her chair and crossing one leg over the other. "So Aldrich, ya haven't gotten much complaints about me now, yeah?"

Something light. He never quite knew whether that meant something alcohol-free or something with a low percentage of alcohol. He'd risk opening a bottle of white wine, hoping it paired well enough with the dinner she had prepared for them.

"I'm not quite used to them being gone just yet", he said while she filled their plates. He didn't talk much about work out of work, and he assumed Nadine wasn't too eager to do so either. Most of their lives were already dedicated to the military, and he wasn't about to dedicate his spare time to it as well, so he was glad that they could sit down and have a nice meal like a normal couple. He stopped in his tracks, mentally. Couple? The man looked at Nadine and smiled at her when she sat down. He wouldn't, or shouldn't, go as far as calling themselves a couple... Right?

"I haven't received any new ones", he replied with a chuckle. "You've bettered yourself."

He lifted his glass of wine and held it out. "To us", he said, whatever 'us' meant.

She nearly stuck her tongue out at his comment of bettering herself, but settled for a bemused eyeroll. "Guess I can't complain if it's workin'. Now I just need the Captain or someone to notice and promote me from babysitting duty." Nadine looked around the house, reclining a bit in the chair. "And if I got a raise I could get used to this cush lifestyle you've got here, Aldrich."

The officer was pleased with the drink he procured, smiling with a nod. She was a bit surprised at his offered toast...'us'. Did he want to officially become an item? As official as a secret military relationship was, at least? Nadine supposed it meant she wouldn't be hearing anything more about his other women and her worthiness compared to them.

In the past, Aldrich never had been the settle down and stick with one woman type...Nadine had been fine with it at the time. She had been young, and nonexclusively meant she got to explore and party with all sorts of men, even the occasional woman. But those days had been behind her for a while. Something steady might be the new experience she needed...not to mention the drama and time it would save her. But was that what Aldrich wanted?

"To us," she repeated, gauging his body language as she clinked her glass against his. "And the future."

He laughed at her comment about his lifestyle. He wasn't used to anything else, or anything less. He had been born into a noble family, after all.

She responded to the toast and repeated 'to us'. He took a sip of the wine and placed the glass down on the table, playing with the foot of it a bit while thinking.

"Do you- uh", he started, before clearing his throat and looking at Nadine. "Do you want to define what 'us' means?" He didn't mean that she should come up with a definition, but suggested that they talked about it together to know what exactly they were doing, before someone Aldrich got hurt again.

Nadine raised an eyebrow at that, an elbow on the table as she leaned forward a bit. "I think we have a pretty good thing going. We make a good team. I'd hate to see it ruined."

Not to mention, she'd very much toyed with the idea of taking it beyond bedtime fun. She liked Aldrich, and she'd be interested in something steady with him...but she also didn't want to scare him off by moving too fast. Would he even want emotional and personal intimacy beyond the flesh? To one day stand before an Elder Witch together?

"What do you want us to be?" she returned the question, then raised a shoulder and suggestively ran a finger down her exposed sternum "What do you want me to be?"

He felt nervous after he had asked her what 'us' meant to her. He didn't want to ruin what they had going by wanting to make it more than it actually was. Any kind of relationship or friendship was ruined the second one had more feelings than the other. He really didn't want to let Nadine slip through his fingers another time.

And they seemed to agree on that. She said she didn't want to see their thing ruined. Aldrich nodded with a serious face, showing that he was listening and took it seriously.

Although he was 37, he still didn't know if he wanted to get married. He never really wanted to have kids, and reminded himself that with Nadine, kids would be a difficult subject anyway. All he knew was that he currently had some sort of feelings for her, and that he liked spending time with her outside of the bedroom too. It was nice to come home to her, and to be able to let his guard down.

He was just about to tell her that, when she asked him what he wanted. That he wanted to try a serious relationship with her, and that they could see where it went from there. But then she suggestively ran a finger down her sternum, which caused the Lieutenant to keep quiet. The action had made it look as if she wanted to keep the relationship purely sexual to him, and Aldrich sucked on his bottom lip for a second to find the right words to continue.

He didn't want to be perceived as weak. He didn't want to be the only one who was developing a crush. He didn't want to be in that submissive position, because once she knew the truth, she would own him. So he stayed quiet for another minute, but you could tell from his face that he was thinking and that he wasn't just sitting there.

"Just to be clear, I would also hate to see this ruined", he then said, looking at her again. He had a difficult decision to make. On one hand, he felt like he was getting too old to not come clear about his feelings and his wish to have a relationship with her, but on the other hand he also felt like he was too old to find something else, and if she rejected him, he wouldn't have a partner and he wouldn't have any bedroom action. Eventually he decided that not telling her how he felt just so he could sleep with her without the risk of losing her, was beneath him. Nadine was worth more than that.

Aldrich sighed and cleared his throat. "I would like to ask you if you want to be my romantic partner, exclusively mine, a real relationship, if you will." He looked at the beautiful woman. "I'm getting too old to play games, and you're the only one who has ever made me feel good about myself, and the only one who whom I have ever really cared about." He paused a moment. "I don't know what I want in the future, and I don't want to put pressure on you, or us, if there is an us after what I've just said. I'd just like to be yours."

Nadine was curious seeing Aldrich stare, the clear debate and thought raging in the man’s mind. In a rare moment her confidence was stripped, cold worry pricking her heart. This was where men confessed they were engaged, that they had pledged themself to their future wife and wanted to end everything. This is where Nadine was left an afterthought once again.

She should have expected it, of course. She steeled her face, blinking back bothersome tears as she sipped at the wine.

Then came his words. Partner. Exclusive. Relationship.

Nadine nearly choked on the wine, spitting it back into the glass to look at the man across from her with wide eyes.

“Me?” She asked, pointing to herself as if to be sure. “You’d be mine? Aldrich…you’re the man who actually makes me feel seen and known. I just always thought…well, we were both running around with other people, but…yes. Yes, absolutely. Aldrich, if you’re willing to commit yourself to this, to me…I’m wholly yours.”

And he had done it. He had managed to scare her away. He was sure of it. He had caught her by surprise and she had spit her wine back in her glass. Aldrich prepared himself to hear her laugh, to have her ask him who he thought he was. He had never really asked anyone to be exclusive, and had never bothered to have a commited relationship with anyone. If Nadine turned him down, he would probably never bother to ask anyone for one again either.

But the things he expected didn't come. Instead, she made sure that he was actually talking about her, and said that if he was willing to commit, she'd be his. A smile broke through on his face as he got up from his chair and walked over to his. He placed his hands on her cheeks/jaws and planted a firm kiss on her lips. "Yes, I want to commit myself to you", he said, keeping his hands where they were and softly stroking her cheeks with his thumbs. "I want to be with you."

Time felt a bit surreal as Aldrich's hands clasped her face and his lips met hers. The kiss didn't come from a carnal desire or a bout of passion. It actually made her feel those proverbial butterflies all the younger women chattered about.

Plus, there wasn't a strong smell of booze from the man, her other worry with the proclamation of devotion. These were actually his words, then. This was real.

"I'll stand by you as long as you'll have me," she replied, one hand moving up to rest on his. "I'm excited to explore life with you, Aldrich Abbott."

Nadine raised her other hand to his chin, gently pulling him in for another kiss. She felt safe...loved. It was a warmth no amount of booze could replicate.

"Is this...us, going to be a secret?" she asked as their lips parted, large brown eyes looking into his before cracking a smile. "I don't want to have to go around cursing every witch who stares too long at my man."

Never in his life had Aldrich thought that he'd be experiencing something like this. While it wasn't really a conventional way to start a relationship, it didn't mean that it wasn't romantic in a way. If the current day Aldrich would have told his 21-year-old self that one day he'd be kissing a woman he had genuine and real feelings for in his kitchen, he wouldn't have believed himself. He had never thought that he'd actually settle down, a thought that had only seemed to become more and more unlikely the older he got.

But somehow the world had blessed him, and had gifted him a woman who made him feel seen and understood him. A woman that didn't look down on him when he made mistakes or took questionable decisions. The whole situation with Grayson now seemed like a necessary evil. He didn't think he would have realised how special Nadine was if he hadn't been without her for a year. It had been a dull, weird and empty year without her. He had slept around and now realised it had been an attempt to fill a hole only Nadine could fill.

He smiled at her and gladly kissed her back when she pulled him in for another kiss. Kissing her had always felt great, but kissing when you knew there was something between you and the person you were kissing? It was an immaculate feeling.

"Do you want to talk this over while eating? I'd hate to let the delicious meal you made go cold."

If she agreed, he'd go back to his seat. If she didn't, he'd pull up a chair and sit next to her.

"I definitely don't want us to be a secret, and I don't want to overwhelm you, but we should definitely talk about it, yes." He thought for a moment. "We're already in an unfortunate position because I'm a noble, and you're a commoner, but let it be clear that I could not care less about that, or what anyone would have to say about that. That being said, if we go public and are not courting, people will think you're my mistress. It would reflect poorly on you, and I don't want that either. But courting would mean we eventually get married."

Aldrich became silent for a moment, allowing what he said to sink in. "And I don't know how you feel about that."