Dinner Date
March 26 th , 2023
Time flew by faster than Lynn and Nate wanted it to. As soon as she was back in the med-bay every day felt like a blur.
Waking up next to each other, cuddling, working, working out, having dinner together, falling asleep in each other’s arms.
And then all over again the next day.
They were lost in the tracks of daily business, trying to maintain the love and care for each other every single day but it wasn’t easy. Some nights they were so tired that Lynn fell asleep even before Nate came back from his workout with Oliver. Yes, they still spend their time together as much as possible but as they were still limited to stay at headquarters, they were not able to break out of the comfortable daily bubble they created.
Lynn only had less than hundred hours left of her sentence, meaning she would be free to leave headquarters soon. Nate couldn’t wait to take her out again, to do stuff outside of headquarters. Movies, theaters, restaurants, fairs. He would do it all with her.
As long as they were still trapped inside the CIA headquarters, they had started a new tradition: memorial dinner. This was different to their regular dinner, as they tried to only cook dishes that were connected to some memories of one of them. Some weeks they even included Marta and Oliver, cooking recipes from their pasts as well.
Today was such a special dinner with all four of them and they decided to grill some steak, potatoes, and green asparagus. It was the exact thing Nate and Oliver loved to grill when they were back home between operations, like on the day of the photo in Nate’s bedroom. Lynn had looked at it again a few days ago and asked Nate if he remembered what they had cooked that day.
Ever since Lynn suggested to re-cook this memory, Oliver and Nate couldn’t stop talking about this summer.
“My parents were so overwhelmed when I told them that I was bringing a friend home. I remember dad saying to mom ‘what is this? High School? He’s a grown man. He can’t just bring friends over’. It was hilarious.” Oliver’s laugh echoed from the hallway.
Lynn and Marta were already in the kitchen, preparing the potatoes and vegetables. They had decided to change the recipe a little, so Marta prepared some rosemary potatoes in the oven and Lynn sautéed the asparagus in a pan. As they didn’t have a big barbecue grill at headquarters, they weren’t able to make it all outside. It was still the CIA headquarters at the end of the day, not a summer house with an outdoor kitchen and lounge chairs.
To be able to grill at least the steaks Oliver had organized a small portable grill from Jakob that they had placed in front of the main building. It was a Sunday so the best day without disturbing too many people. Most of the central function employees had their classic 9 to 5 job but the Agents were around however long they needed to be when they had an urgent case. But this weekend was pretty quiet, making it the perfect opportunity to grill some steaks outside.
“But in the end they loved me,” Nate said the moment they entered the communal kitchen with a huge plate full of steaks.
“Of course they did. You were prince charming,” Oliver laughed.
“Prince charming?” Lynn raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend.
“Believe it or not, darling, but there was a time where I was so carefree that people actually liked my company,” Nate said, rounding the kitchen and giving Lynn a peck on her nose.
“We still enjoy your company, Butch,” Marta intervened. She had her face in front of the oven window, inspecting to see if the potatoes were already good or not.
“Just because this wonderful woman made me a tolerable person over the last few months. Before I wasn’t actually the best company and you don’t have to say that it’s not true. It is true. We all know it.”
Marta only huffed in response. She stepped away from the oven and towards her own boyfriend, wrapping her arms around him and resting them on his butt cheeks. Oliver had placed the plate on the counter and now inhaled his girlfriend’s scent .
“Good that you were tolerable from the day I met you. And that never changed,” she whispered and gave him a kiss.
“Well, I hope I’m more than just tolerable by now,” Oliver answered between kisses.
“Get a room. It’s disgusting,” Nate whined loudly, making all four of them laugh.
Although both couples were like love drunk teenagers, they had the habit of mocking each other with it. Lynn poured them all a glass of wine before they changed location and went to the couches. The veggies still needed a few more minutes to be done and the steaks needed ten more minutes in the oven to be medium.
“So how’s the med-bay doing? Haven’t heard from you in a while about it,” Marta asked.
She had her palm placed on Oliver’s thigh and leaned into him. His arm was around her shoulders, giving her better access to his chest.
“It’s doing good. The past few months were pretty basic business. A lot of check-ups and a few minor injuries. Nothing severe. But there hadn’t been any big operations for the teams. The drug trafficking task force does have an op at the beginning of April, so I already contacted Toby to be ready if I need him.”
“Oh that’s great to hear. How is he doing?” Oliver asked because Marta had taken a large sip from her wine.
“He misses the CIA. He liked working here. Said, and that’s a quote, it’s so much cooler than the lame ass hospital he’s normally in,” Lynn chuckled .
“I don’t know about you, but I’m happy that we don’t have drama every day. That’s exhausting,” Nate commented with a loud sigh.
“That’s true, pal. We were all a mess when you were hurt, Lynn,” Oliver added.
“I know. I don’t need drama every day. Working in the ER was very stressful. Of course we had people coming for bullshit injuries as well, but most of them were actual emergencies like accidents. We also had a lot of people that came too late for stuff that should have been treated weeks ago. Just because they weren’t able to afford a doctor. It was really like Pandora’s box some days.”
“It’s a fucked-up system,” Marta sighed while jumping on her feet to get the potatoes out of the oven.
“Cheers to that,” Nate said and clinked his glass with Oliver’s. Lynn rose to her feet as well to help Marta in the kitchen while Oliver and Nate continued the conversation and talked about the advantages they had because of working for the government. Eventually they stood from the couches to help their girlfriends in the kitchen but were shooed away to the dinner table.
“I wouldn’t have been able to afford the long rehab and three therapists if the military hadn’t paid for it,” Nate commented while collapsing on one of the chairs.
“And in the end, you got a therapist for free who helped you,” Lynn shouted from the kitchen, shooting Nate a warm smile.
“In the end I got way more than only a therapist, darling.”
“Glad you see me as more than your therapist.” Lynn winked at him .
“From what I hear through the walls, he sees you as a god, too. At least he’s moaning that a lot,” Oliver commented casually without making a grimace.
“Oliver!” Marta, Nate and Lynn exclaimed in unison, but Oliver simply took a sip from his wine and shrugged his shoulders.
They finished the preparations of the veggies and placed the different plates and bowls on the dinner table.
Without hesitation Oliver and Nate both loaded their plates, happy about all the memories this dish brought with it.
“One day we should all meet up at your parent’s house and do one of those pool parties again,” Nate suggested with a chuckle in his voice.
“Oh yes. That would be fun. Maybe we can do that when they're cruising around the world. I need to go down to Georgia anyways once a month to check if everything’s alright.”
“Cruising around the world?” Lynn asked, surprised.
“Yes, his parents decided to do a one-year cruise around the entire world. Starting in the Caribbean and then going all over South America,” Marta answered instead of Oliver.
“Yeah. They told me they’d waited long enough to care for grandchildren but as neither my brother nor I have kids now, they decided to do something they’d always dreamed of. Traveling around the world.” Oliver added as an explanation.
“I didn’t know you have a brother, Oliver.” Lynn was surprised again .
She had been at the CIA for a little over a year now but never heard of Oliver having a brother. To be honest they never really talked about their life outside of the CIA. She knew Marta didn’t do it because she didn’t want to be reminded about her husband and unborn child being killed because of her job. But she didn’t understand why Oliver never talked about it.
“They're not really close. Simon had always been jealous because their parents were so proud of Oliver joining the SEALs. He works in a sales department of a bigger computer company and never got the same praises and attention as Oliver. It’s a tense topic within the McGreen family,” Nate leaned into her and whispered in her ear.
“Oh,” Lynn only responded, feeling herself reminded of her own complicated family constellation. She had been on good terms with her parents and they even visited her a few times after she was stabbed but the missing puzzle piece of the family, Ann, was always hovering like a shadow over the family.
“I didn’t talk about this with you because I didn’t want you to be reminded of your own family. It’s just not fair to share all the funny family moments while you’re still mourning your sister,” Oliver sighed before loading another plate full of food.
“That’s very kind of you. But you don’t have to stop talking about normal stuff just because I lost my sister. Nate’s been through way more and we still talk about terrorists and Iraq,” she argued, shooting small smiles to the others .
“True. Not talking about it can lead to ten years of not talking to anyone. Can’t recommend that,” Nate chuckled, lighting up everyone’s mood a little.
Lynn nudged her shoulder into his boyfriend’s while giggling slightly.
“No, not gonna do that,” Oliver agreed.
“I wanna have that too one day. A big house with a pool. Living outside of the compound.” Nate suddenly changed the topic, making the other three turn their heads towards him.
“You do?” Lynn asked him in a low voice.
“Yeah. I’m thinking a lot about changing from a field-job to a desk-job, too. I could work with Liam and be the operator when the team is out on operations. Doesn’t matter if it is national or overseas,” he responded casually as if it wasn’t the first time that Lynn, Marta, and Oliver heard about this.
“Where has that come from, Butch?” Marta raised an eyebrow at him while Oliver stopped eating and just looked at his best friend with a shocked expression.
“I don’t know. Been thinking about it from time to time. I wanna have a family someday. Don’t want to be a ticking time bomb for Lynn and the kids just in case I get triggered on a mission. I mean let’s be honest. It’s not unrealistic that we’ll find people that worked with az-Zawahiri in the future as well. And regarding how much I was triggered when we went to find Atef… I just thought that I was done with the risky business. I’m okay with settling down now.”
He had side-eyed Lynn the entire time, watching the shine in her eyes when she heard his words. They weren’t completely new to her. She knew he wanted to have kids and she had hoped he could imagine that with her. But hearing him say this out loud in front of their friends was a special moment for her. Especially as Nate had never been on the emotional side. She placed her hand on his thigh and drew small circles with her thumb. Her head was turned in his direction and her lips curled upwards in a smile.
“You don’t have to decide now, honey. But it sounds like you thought about this well,” she said with a soft tone.
“I did. I’m ready to settle down. With you.” He smiled back at her.
“You know, pal. That actually sounds like a good idea. Preventing yourself from getting triggered will help you heal even more. I don’t like being alone on operations, but I like that idea for you. This could do you good,” Oliver said after thinking about Nate’s words for a while.
“You’re not alone. You still have Peter and Eliana.”
“Yeah, well. Those two still have a long way to go until they're on your level of professionalism. When they're not busy battling each other, they try to rip each other’s heads off. I really need to watch that, because I don’t know how long I can take it anymore. We need to be able to trust each other 100% when we’re out on an operation.” He sighed.
“I thought they’d improved?” Nate asked.
“They get along better, but on operations it’s still a little tense…”
Marta furrowed her eyebrows and looked at her boyfriend .
“We’ll talk about that later, Oli. But Butch? If you ever want to change to a desk-job then let me know. I promise you, we’ll find a solution.”
“Thank you, Marta. That means a lot to me.” Nate gave her a wide smile and relief flooded his body. This topic had been a weight on his shoulders for a while and he never found the right timing to talk about it. Not even with Lynn although he shared everything with her. Nate hoped that she wasn’t hurt that he hadn’t told her about his plans before but it really became clear in his mind today. When they were wallowing in memories of their summers at Oliver’s parents, a switch was turned in Nate’s mind because he realized that this was exactly the life he was always looking for.
“But only if I’ll be the godmother of your children!” Marta laughed, earning herself a slight slap from Oliver for it.
“Hey,” she mouthed in his direction but couldn’t stop laughing because Nate and Lynn looked at her with shocked faces.
“Sorry, didn’t want to make it uncomfortable for you,” she added and saw both of them relax.
“No, yeah, well. We haven’t talked about the whole family thing in detail. So don’t get high hopes of being a godmother sooner,” Lynn said with a wink at Marta.
She had almost dug her nails into Nate’s thigh when the kids-topic came up. The Agent tried to maintain a straight face but needed to grab Lynn’s hand that was clawing into his thigh to get some release from the pain.
“Wait, but I can be the godmother?” Marta’s jaw was on the floor now .
“Sure. But Oliver will be the godfather, so if you ever break up you will still have to deal with each other to make our kids happy. So get yourselves together,” Nate answered this time.
“That can be arranged. I don’t plan to get rid of her anyways,” Oliver said and gave Marta a kiss. Nate took the time to lean over to Lynn and whisper in her ear:
“Sorry if that was a bit too much pressing forward with this topic. I know we haven’t talked about it in detail.”
“It’s fine. I like the idea of settling down with you in a house with a pool and our kids splashing around the water until one of them cries and needs cuddles from their daddy.”
“I love the sound of that.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“But maybe not in the next few months.”
“No, maybe not. We have a whole life to have kids. No need to rush,” he agreed with her. Lynn had only turned 30 that year and they had time to have kids. But just the fact that Nate thought about a future with her and considered having kids with her, made her heart skip a beat. This man was the best thing that happened to her ever. Lynn smiled at Nate who had jumped into another conversation with Oliver about the rivalry between Peter and Eliana.
Their past year had been a rollercoaster and Lynn almost lost him and her own life. But right now when Nate and she were sitting here and chatting, shooting each other smiles and side-eyes from time to time, Lynn realized that her life was perfect the way it was.
Because all the ups and downs had led them to this.