(A/N): Okay, this is my first Necessary Roughness fanfiction, and I've seen that a lot of people gave up writing for this fandom a while ago, but I couldn't get the conversation that must've gone on between Paloma and Nico before Nico went to Dani in 3x09. So, this is my version of how I think that conversation went.
I don't own Necessary Roughness or any of its characters. Otherwise it wouldn't be over.
Right Call.
"Paloma, have you seen Doctor Santino?"
Paloma jumped at the sound of the voice behind her, the voice she knew her boss needed to hear more than anything after the hell they'd been through that day. She glanced up and smiled at Nico Careles, who looked almost awkward as he stood tall, his dark eyes curious. "Mr Careles. Dani went home for the night."
"Right." Nico turned to move away as silently as he'd shown up, but Paloma couldn't let it go. Deep down, she knew Dani would never tell Nico what had happened that day with the forced kiss and the blackmail and everything else, but the assistant felt the dark haired man deserved to know, especially if he was going to the doctor's home that night.
"Mr Careles?"
"Paloma."
"Listen, Dani would probably kill me for telling you this, but..." She trailed off, biting her lip.
"But?" Nico repeated, stepping closer. "Paloma, just tell me. Dani won't kill you."
"Well, see, Troy blackmailed her today." Paloma sighed guiltily at her role in it all. "He got a boxer called Blake Bridges to pretend to need her help, and then… He kissed her, forced her to keep still whilst he kissed her… Made it look like she'd breached-"
"Like she'd breached her code of ethics by becoming involved with a patient." Nico interrupted calmly, though the harsh set of his jaw alerted Paloma to his growing anger. "Go on."
"She got pictures of it, and didn't know what to do. Gossip travels through the assistant circles pretty quick, and I knew who it was, so I told her everything I knew. We told C-Mac, who fired Troy. I dunno what it is, but somehow… This doesn't feel like the end of things."
Nico nodded, allowing his mouth to relax into a tiny smile as he looked at the assistant. Looked like he'd have to confront Dani, trying to ignore the hurt part of him wondering why she didn't tell him herself. "Thank you, Paloma."
He walked away, leaving Paloma sat at her desk. She knew that Dani might not see why she'd done it straight away, but the blonde woman knew that telling the dark haired security guy about Blake Bridges was the right call. And that was all that mattered.
End.