Lacey, Lacey ,wait up"! A familiar voice called breathing heavily behind her as she walked towards JohnnyCakes for the first time in five months. It was her first day back in Green Grove and she fully expected to see Danny, didn't he always find her no matter how hard she tried to hide. This time though she thought laughing inwardly as she turned around she would enjoy engaging in their cat and mouse ritual.

"Danny" Lace exclaimed with a honeyed tone as she perused his face slowly, taking in his lips slightly parted, his cheeks flush and his dark hair struggling to free itself from its binding a tendril sweeping across his eyes as they stared at her questioningly.

"Its good to see you" She offered finally after examining him. She Bit her lips and softly returned the stray lock of hair that had fallen loose back behind Danny's ear.
Danny shaken a bit by her forwardness smiled tentatively in return.

"Umm.. Its good to see you too. You look really good" He said as he took in her appearance.

He couldn't help but notice how different Lacey looked. The long sleeve purple mini dress she wore made her seem more mature and more ... He didn't know more dangerous. She tempered it with a black lace vest that she opened as she smoothed out a crease that appeared near her thigh at the hem of her dress. Her legs were bare above a retro pair of black booties.

The silver bracelets that she wore jingled almost musically as she tugged at her dress and caught the light in her eyes as she looked up at him. Her wavy hair placed gently to the side seemed to dance to the tinkling rhythm creating a still moment that felt to Danny as if hours passed with her looking up at him instead of seconds.

It was shocking enough to see her after so long wondering where she was, how she was and if he'd ever get to look into her beautiful eyes again. Now that he had it unnerved him. As Danny searched her face brown amber stared back at him directly challenging him to look away.

He found that he couldn't.

Her glossy lips parted into a brilliant dimpled smile at his compliment and she broke their intense gaze by lowering her eyes and laughing softly . "Well thanks a break from Green Grove high has changed me for the better then I guess".

Danny took that moment to regain his composure as he tried to remember what he needed to say to her. Taking cues from her response he said

"I know I haven't seen you in a while since..." He paused letting the inference of the sex tape hang in the air.

"But Where have you been all this time"? "I have been calling and coming by your house "Your mom wont talk to me or let me or anyone else talk to you". "I was worried about you". "I heard you and Clara got pulled out of school and I thought maybe you left to live with your dad and I'd never see you again".

"Lacey I ..." Danny stopped, rubbing his hand over his hair wondering if he should go further before he went too far, then the image of him as he walked by her house glancing up at her darkened window, wishing he had told her before it was too late hit him and he knew he had to say how he felt before he never saw her again.

He grabbed her hand and gently stroked it "I missed you". "I MISS you". "I miss us, and I know I let you down and I'm so sorry". "You risked so much for me and the thought of you suffering without anyone really made me realize how much more you needed me than I needed you". "I .. I just want us to start over". "Please Lacey can you forgive me"? "Can you let me make this right"?.

Lace paused for a moment trying to comprehend How she was supposed to feel towards Danny or what exactly he wanted her to say. She knew Danny and she knew that she once felt for him but she only knew this through the lens of Lacey's memories. As she tried to figure out how to handle his declaration sudden flashes of the day Lacey called out for her passed through her mind...

An empty pill bottle, a tear stained pillow Breathe me playing on repeat in the background, a welcoming blackness as Regina glowed brightly in the distance...

"Lacey." "Lacey" Danny repeated. "Lace" He said with more force. Hearing her name Lace came to with a start. "Hey", He said his dark eyes searching hers nervously "I lost you there for a second".

Refocusing her attention Lace decided the best way to handle this was to try to be as clear as she could with him, to alert him to the new dynamics that he would dealing with.

She smiled serenely and said with as much gentleness as she could muster "Look Danny I'm sorry but I just don't feel the same way about you and us as I did before". "I'm a different person now". "Being away these past five months helped me to see that sometimes people grow up and sometimes they grow apart". "So of course I forgive you and you should forgive yourself too okay". She ended her statement with a friendly pat to his hand. As she removed it from his grasp.

Danny sought out her eyes focusing into them to see some part of the warmth and longing he remembered there. What he saw looking back at him instead was fire that smoldered underneath her lashes and like a moth it lured him in, but its intensity also silently warned him of the danger if he came too close.

Lace for her part enjoyed engaging in the silent conversation they were having but she had to pickup the dinner order for her mother and she knew there wasn't much left to be said at that point.

She turned to walk into the diner when Danny broke the heavy silence by saying "Lacey look I know its been awhile but maybe we could catch up sometime soon you could tell me about all the new things you've been up to since you've been gone"? He flashed her a charming smile trying to tip the scales in his favor.

"Sure I'd love that" she said. "Oh and Danny.. it's Lace now". "Just Lace" she added smiling wickedly. She turned back around and walked into the diner hips swaying slowly in a silent rhythm as she went up to the counter.

Danny stood there dumbfounded staring at her walk away wondering how he would handle this new and dangerous Dark Lace.