You know I've never given you a date chapter so I figured it was about time! Enjoy!

Also I have mentioned this specific date before so I hope you enjoy that tidbit.

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Donovan parked the Mercedes outside of Carter's apartment and climbed out. The early evening air felt pleasant despite the heat of the day. As he ascended the stairs, he straightened his shirt and rolled his shoulders. Each time he approached her front door he felt this knot of anxiety in his stomach. But once he saw her, that all went away. He knocked and the door opened.

It wasn't Carter on the other side but Steve.

Donovan tried to make his posture even more formal but it was difficult since he was already rigid.

"Hello, sir," Donovan said.

He wished that seeing Steve in casual jeans and a t-shirt would make him less intimidating but it wasn't true. He figured nothing would change facts: he was Carter's father, former Navy SEAL, currently Secret Service.

"Come in," Steve said.

Donovan walked into the living, trying not to look around for Carter.

"Have a seat," Steve said. "Carter is running late with Maggie. Do you want something to drink?"

Donovan nodded since his throat felt suddenly dry. No Carter and alone with her father. Even after going through three different courses to prove he could watch out for Carter, in front of Steve he felt like some reckless teenager here to steal his daughter. Not the twenty-two-year-old he was.

Steve handed Donovan a glass of water and Donovan drank it, reminding himself to slow down so he didn't choke and spit up all over Steve. In contrast, Steve looked completely at ease sipping his water.

"Donovan," Steve said. "This will be your twelfth date."

"Yes, sir."

Steve nodded, regarding Donovan with solemn eyes. Slowly, he set his glass down on the coffee table. Donovan wanted to bolt for the door and make his apologies to Carter later. But he held firm. It was more threats, he could handle that. He'd grown up with three older brothers after all.

But what Steve said startled him.

"Did you know I was a year younger than you are now when Carter was born?"

Seeing the strong, capable man in front of him, Donovan found it hard to picture Steve that young. And with a newborn.

Steve smiled softly, leaning over, arms resting on his knees, hands clasped. "I was twenty-one when I first held Carter. I thought at first that my love for her would come over time." He shook his head. "It was instant. The moment I saw her I knew I would kill to protect this precious baby girl." He locked eyes with Donovan, his gaze serious. "A love like that only grows with time. So imagine how I feel about her now, if back then I was willing to kill for her?"

Donovan swallowed but his throat was dry again.

"I'm telling you this because I was your age once. I know that it's easy when you're young and first getting close to someone to say a lot of things. Make a lot of promises." He held Donovan's gaze. "Do not make my daughter promises you can't keep. Is that clear?"

Donovan swallowed again. "Of course, sir."

Steve eased back, his smile calm. "Good."

The door to the apartment opened and Donovan almost sagged with relief but knew Steve would notice so held himself together. Carter rushed in but stopped at seeing them. She threw one hand behind her making Donovan notice the shopping bags she was attempting to hide.

"How long have you been here?" she asked Donovan.

"Few minutes."

"Captain, you didn't kill him," she said, beaming at her father. "I'm proud of you. I'll be ready in a second."

She darted into the hall and Donovan heard the door to her room close.

"She went shopping with Maggie," Donovan said.

"Yes."

"Of her own free will?"

Steve nodded slowly as if making sure Donovan understood the significance of that. He did.

"Like I said, do not make my daughter promises you can't keep."

Donovan didn't know what to say. He wasn't someone likely to make shallow promises. But he also thought about all the things he did want to say to Carter. How he was seriously falling for her. How he didn't like to think about a future in which she wasn't a part of it in some small way, even if she decided she didn't want to be with him.

Instead of seeing Carter as the girl he loved, he saw her as a girl who was loved by a protective father.

He couldn't admit all the things he wanted to. Steve was right, Donovan couldn't say things that couldn't be unsaid, Carter deserved more than that. She deserved actions more than words. Words were easy, actions would say it all.

So he would wait. He would show her over and over again that he chose her. That she was the girl who he wanted by his side always. That now or in five, ten years it didn't matter, he would feel the same way.

When she emerged from her room in a maroon top - that blended perfectly with her skin tone -, a pair of loose cotton shorts, and her hair free of a ponytail, he was hit again with how much she meant to him.

As long as she wanted him around, he would be there.

"You ready to go?" she asked.

Donovan stood. "Yes."

He shook Steve's hand and nodded, letting Steve know that he understood it all. Steve smiled in return. Carter opened the door.

"Don't wait up, Captain," Carter said.

Steve snorted. "Funny one. I'll be right here when you get back."

"You need a life," Carter said.

"I told you, you are my life."

Carter grinned and took Donovan's hand. Somehow the action meant more to him than before, as if his promise to himself meant everything he did with Carter held more weight.

"So," she said, as they headed to his car. "You said you wanted to show me all your favorite places in DC, is that still the plan?"

"It is."

They drove off and traveled in silence. For the first time, Donovan wasn't worried about doing things right but things wrong. Utterly aware of how he could mess up this perfect thing.

"Captain's threat really got to you this time, didn't it?" Carter said.

"What makes you say that?" Donovan asked.

"Because you have a nervous bunny energy about you."

"Did you call me a bunny?"

Carter smiled. "Yes, a nervous bunny."

"I'm not nervous."

"You sure? Because I get the feeling that you're stressing over there in silence."

"I'm not."

"Sure," Carter said mockingly.

She turned her head away, watching the passing scenery. Donovan didn't say anything, realizing that he was stressing. Hearing Steve talk about how precious Carter was made him see her as that even more than before. It made him aware of how he could lose her.

"You're not going to hurt me," Carter said to the window. "I trust you."

The girl with trust issues trusted him.

"What if I do?"

She looked at him. "Then you'll be dead and I'll move on."

Donovan smiled at that and Carter relaxed. "Thank you. I thought you were going to be Mr. Intense from here on out and then I would be the one hurting you."

"Like you could hurt me?" he said.

"There are more ways to hurt than physical. I should know."

Though the comment was made lightly, Donovan still understood the depth behind it. And again he feared he would somehow make that list of people who'd left a scar on her.

Carter hit his shoulder. "Snap out of it. I'm allowed to make morbid jokes." She shook her head. "I'm talking to Captain when I get home. He has to stop threatening you. It's ruining my date."

"Sorry."

"Don't say sorry, be Donovan again. You know, that obnoxious know-it-all that I've felt like punching on multiple occasions."

"And have tried but failed to."

"That's mean."

Donovan sent her a wicked grin and she laughed.

He pulled the car up to the curb outside a used book store and they both got out. When Donovan rounded the car, he hesitated, eying Carter.

"Am I supposed to make mention of how you look good in your new clothes or do you not want me to draw attention to the fact that you went shopping at all?"

Carter threw up her hands. "I have no idea. I felt like I kept wearing the same thing on our dates and wanted something new. But now I don't know if I should feel better that I have new clothes and I don't know if I want your approval or not? And if I do, does that make me less me?"

"I don't know. I bought this shirt and wondered if you'd like it, does that make me less me?"

Carter leaned back, taking in the dark blue shirt. "No, because that shirt just makes you look better."

"And those clothes make you more attractive to me."

"I guess I'm happy I got them then. Now, why this place?"

Donovan took Carter's hand and led her into the bookstore. It smelled like a second home to him. The cost of new books added up when he'd first started buying them online when he arrived in DC. That's when he'd found this place and made a trip to it once a month, sometimes twice.

"Hey, Donovan," Doug, the cashier, said.

"Hi, Doug."

Donovan guided Carter into an aisle and she stared at him.

"The cashier knows you?" she said.

"Yeah, I might come here...often."

Laughing, she just shook her head.

"Since I'd already finished high school by the time I went back to Middle School with Link, I needed something to distract me from the boring teaching. Books became that thing."

Donovan took her all over, showing her his favorite genres. When he found a series he loved, he pulled out the first book and started talking about it. Carter rested her shoulder against a bookcase and looked up at him, never interrupting.

There was something in the way she watched him that made him feel loved, though he couldn't explain why. She was simply looking at him, listening to him. But it wasn't the same as her other looks.

Once finished, he checked his watch, realizing he'd been talking for almost half an hour.

"We should keep moving," Donovan said, slightly embarrassed he'd talked so long about one series. "There's more to see and we don't want to miss it."

The next stop was a Mexican food place. When Donovan pushed open the door, the aroma of spices welcomed them. This was another home to him. Books for his mind, food for his stomach.

"Smells good," Carter commented.

"Growing up near San Diego I lived with Mexican food being a staple in my life. When I moved here I missed the food almost as much as I missed my family." He drew her to the counter. "You can imagine my happiness when I found this place. It's the closest you can get to authentic this far from the border.

After they ordered, he talked about how this was where he took Brock when he got his job at the FBI. And where he visited with his brothers whenever they came to town.

When Carter finished eating, she admitted that it was one of the best meals she'd ever had. 

After that, Donovan took her to an ice cream place that added crushed-up candy bars to the ice cream while customers watched. With their desserts, Donovan held her out of the shop and towards the Mall. They arrived as the sun set. Sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, they ate their ice cream and watched the sky as it blended pastel colors together.

"Does this place have any special connection?" Carter asked, stealing some of Donovan's ice cream. "Or are we here for the sunset?"

It took a moment for Donovan to answer since he was enthralled with her action of stealing his ice cream. It was so simple but something about it made him content. Like this was something they'd always done and would always do.

He cleared his throat. "This was the first place you met James. Also, this was the first place I talked to Brock about you."

"Oh? And what did you say about me?"

Donovan thought about how he'd gone on some monologue about her and then his thoughts had run away from him. Both were too revealing and he focused on scooping his ice cream.

"I think I said something about finding you interesting or something like that."

"Okay," Carter said, skeptically.

She sent him a smile that said she didn't quite believe him. He didn't mind. Having her know him well enough to know that he wasn't admitting everything made him feel like they shared a special connection.

Finished with their ice cream, they tossed their trash and Donovan took Carter's hand again. He walked through the city, talking about in the first year how he'd run every street, charting a new path each morning. He'd wanted to know the layout and by the end of the year, he did. Eventually, their journey ended back at the car and a short drive later, they idled before Link and Donovan's apartment. Donovan didn't move from the driver's seat.

"I still remember my father dropping me off here," he said. Carter stared up at the building. "I thought about how weird the city sounded. I grew up with the loud rumble of trucks, distant gunfire, helicopters overhead. It felt strange. Foreign."

Carter looked at him, her gaze intent.

"And you were only sixteen."

She touched his face, an awed glint in her eyes.

"Donovan Keller, you are unlike any guy I have ever met."

He grinned. "I should hope so, it means you can't easily replace me."

Carter kissed him and when she pulled back there was a quiet certainty in her eyes. It said everything, that he was irreplaceable, he was hers.

"So is this the end of memory lane?" she asked.

It took a second for Donovan to pull his thoughts together, she seemed to have that effect on him.

"No, there's one more stop."

They drove away, neither speaking, neither feeling the need to.

When Donovan pulled into the lane to Carter's home and stopped before her house, she frowned in puzzlement.

"You said there was one more stop," she said. "This is just you dropping me off."

"It is."

Donovan got out of the car and Carter followed. When he took a spot against the hood, Carter joined him. He tilted his head back, absorbing the night sky. He didn't understand why but the patch of sky looked better in this one spot. Maybe it was for the simple reason that it was the one patch Carter would always look up at. He focused on her.

"I've dropped you off here a lot of times," Donovan said. "But the time that sticks out the most is after that party we went to for Maddy. The one where Link fell asleep in the back of the car. Do you remember what you told me?"

Teasingly, Carter cocked her head to one side.

"I believe I told you I wasn't impressed by how much you benched."

Donovan nodded. He knew there were so many promises he wouldn't be able to give her. But he wanted to share a promise he'd made to himself.

"Yes, and you told me I would have to find some other way to impress you," he said. "As you walked away I told myself I would."

Carter laughed. "Is that why you're always flexing your muscles when I look over and wear a tight shirt?"

"Has it been working?"

Carter ran her fingers through his hair, her laughter fading. "No. Because you impressed me in so many other ways." Her hand came to rest on the back of his neck and he never wanted her to remove it. "You impressed me by protecting Link and by going through the million and one hoops my father has made you jump through just to date me."

She shook her head in wonder.

"There are so many days I don't understand why I'm worth the effort. Yet here we are."

Donovan felt his emotions building inside his chest ready to explode into words. But he held them in. Actions above words.

"Here we are," he said.

He kissed her, sliding his arms around her waist. When they eventually broke apart, Carter let out a sigh.

"I would say come in and we could watch something," she said. "But the living room curtain is twitching and somehow having Captain hovering nearby us just doesn't seem super romantic."

"You might be onto something there."

Carter kissed him briefly once more then headed to the stairs. Donovan watched her as she climbed and he never wanted to look away. As she slipped inside, she sent him one final smile. He made a promise to Steve that he wouldn't make promises to Carter. But that didn't mean he couldn't make a promise to himself.

So as he stood there a second longer, he whispered the words that echoed in his chest.

"I love you, Carter Owens. And one day, if you'll have me, I'm going to marry you."

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Hey there doughnut!

Soooo! You got a date chapter! Only took 100 one shots to get there. What did you think? 💭💬🗯

Not going to lie Donovan and I feel the same way about Mexican food. The town I grew up in California was pretty small and still we had 11 Mexican food restaurant in the span of 13 blocks.

When I moved across the country I didn't realize how much I would miss Mexican food. It's my comfort food! Besides ice cream of course.

Any who I hope you like this, vote, comment, follow

What do you think of this latest Carter Owens character art??

She definitely has the attitude in my mind!