fandomtownies | Ching Tai - Saturday Evening

Lana loved the smells of the restaurant. Made her hungry just walking in. Which was probably a good thing since her appetite still hadn't quite returned to normal.

She smiled over at Chris. "Really good choice."

Chris smiled back. "You know, they don't serve grilled cheese here," he teased.

She gasped. "No! You'd better bring me straight home then, Mister!"

"Sorry, no can do," he laughed. "You're stuck with me now. Maybe if you ask nicely, they'll bring you some bread and water or something."

Mock-pouting was always fun. "So mean," she said. "Just for that I'll be stealing from your plate all night."

"Oh no!" Chris put his hand to his forehead. "What ever shall I do?"

The hostess gave them a strange look as she led them to a table.

Chris smiled at Lana as he picked up his menu. "Do we want appetizers?"

"Szechaun dumplings?" Lana said hopefully. "Or soup. Wonton soup is always good."

A part of her mind was shoving back how often she and Jim had gotten food from Ching Tai's. She didn't want to think about it, didn't want to compare the two - not that they were all that much alike anyway.

"Dumplings sound good," Chris said. "I like spicy food."

"Me too," she said, "Though I have to admit that chow mein is sort of my default Chinese comfort food."

"Well, that's because it is good comfort food," Chris agreed. "My grandpa always used to order us Wonton soup when we were sick, so that's my default Chinese comfort food."

"One of my other favorites," she admitted. "No matter how sick you are wonton soup always seem to make you feel a little better."

Chris nodded. "Most definitely," he said. "Of course, we ate a lot of Chinese and pizza and deli food because my grandpa wasn't exactly a great cook."

"My Aunt Nell and I used to cook together sometimes," Lana said. "I always really liked it. Made us seem more like a real family, you know?"

"Yeah, I can see that," Chris said. "We used to get home cooked meals when we visited Daryl & Sheila. They were friends of our parents and their son is around Wyatt's age."

Lana nodded. "Must have been nice. I'll have to cook for you sometime."

"That would be cool," Chris grinned.

The waitress came with glasses of water and a pot of tea. He ordered the dumplings and then poured them each a cup of tea.

She smiled at him pouring for her and sipped at the tea. She really wasn't used to anyone being solicitous of her like that. Not unless she was sick or something was really wrong.

It was nice. And she definitely could get used to it.

Which made her long for things she couldn't have, wish for things it was too early and too close to Jim's leaving to wish for. So she simply smiled and sipped at her tea and tried to keep all the rest off her face.

Chris noticed that she seemed to be thinking about something. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she said with a smile. "So... dinner... what are you thinking?"

He wasn't sure if he believed her. "I think I'm going to get the sesame chicken," he said, putting his menu down and looking at her.

"Lana, if there's something on your mind, you can talk to me."

She ducked her head. "It's nothing, really. I just... I was thinking how happy I was and that it's probably way too early to be feeling this happy and comfortable. And I was wishing it wasn't so soon so that no one would be questioning us. This."

She was blushing and hoping it wasn't so noticeable in the dim light.

It wasn't very noticeable, something Chris was also grateful for. "It's no one else's business but ours," he said gently. "We agreed to be honest with each other and take it slow. What other people think doesn't matter."

She nodded. "I know. I just wish it wasn't even an issue. That I could tell someone I was really happy without them telling me I wasn't being fair to myself or you."

She smiled up at him unexpectedly. "Guess I'll just have to tell you."

Chris smiled back. "I'm glad you're happy," he said, reaching for her hand. "By the way, this reminds me that I was supposed to tell you Parker said hey."

She took his hand with another smile, but her face shifted when he mentioned Parker. "Parker? Told you to say hello? That's... unexpected. She doesn't particularly like me."

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