Disclaimer: I don't own any Las Vegas characters. I can't say exactly when this is set, how about just a time when Danny and Delinda are cool and he's not dating anyone.
Danny was walking through the casino and he noticed Delinda getting off the elevator with another girl. The other girl looked to be about the same age with light brown hair and blue eyes. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt but she struck him.
"Hey, Danny," Delinda greeted.
"Hey, how's it going?" he replied.
"Good, Danny this is my cousin, Janelle," she turned to her cousin. "Janelle this is Danny McCoy, our head of surveillance."
"Nice to meet you," she responded then looked down at her attire. "I feel way underdressed now."
"Ah, you look fine," Delinda said then looked at Danny. "Janelle just moved here from Arizona, she stopped by to say hi to Dad and me."
"Oh, well welcome to Vegas."
"Thank you," Janelle smiled an intoxicating smile. "Well I better get going. It was nice meeting you, Danny."
"You, too," Danny told her then watched her as she walked away.
"You can stop staring now," Delinda commented.
"What, huh?"
He looked at Delinda and she smiled then shook her head. "You're hopeless," she said and walked away.
Danny had more questions for her about her cousin, but she was gone. He decided he would have to find out on his own.
A couple days later, Danny walked into one of the restaurants in the casino. He sat down at the bar and waited for the bartender. He saw a new woman behind the bar. Her hair was up and she was wearing a short-sleeve black shirt. She turned and walked over to him.
"Mr. McCoy, aren't you supposed to be working?" she asked.
He smiled. "Janelle, you are not who I expected to see here."
"Yeah, I needed a job and Delinda and Uncle Ed hooked me up." She leaned down on the bar. "So, Danny, what'll it be?"
He mirrored her infectious smile. "I'll have a Jack on the rocks."
"Comin' up," she replied and stood up to get the drink.
"So," he started as she set the drink down. "Why Vegas?"
"I, uh, fell on some hard times and I decided to go back to where I would have some family support."
"I see."
"So, what's your story?" she didn't wait for an answer. "Wait, let me guess. You're a Vegas native, and you are Ed's little shadow."
"I don't know about shadow. How about partner?"
She laughed. "I stick with shadow. But I was right about the Vegas native part, right?"
"Yeah, you were. Can you guess anything else?"
"Hmm," she thought for a second. "You're single, but you have no problems with the ladies and you know it."
"Ouch," he put his hand to his chest. "That was deep."
She started to laugh then walked over to a new customer. A few more customers came up to the bar as well keeping her busy for a while. Danny watched her as she was working. She moved with ease behind the bar. He didn't notice a ring on her finger, which meant fair game in his world. Unfortunately she had been right about him being confident about being able to get a girl. He hoped that she wasn't going to judge him based on that observation.
She would come back over to him every once in a while and refill his drink between other customers. She'd smile and fill the glass.
Danny stayed at the bar until he and another guy were the only ones there. Janelle walked over and held up the bottle to offer him more but he declined.
"Well, I'm off. The next guy will be in here in a little bit. Can I get you anything else, Danny?" she asked.
"No, I'm good." He put some money on the bar and she grabbed it up. "I'll walk you out, though."
"Alright I'll be out in a sec." She rung up the drinks then disappeared into the back and the male bartender came out.
When Janelle came out she was wearing a sweatshirt over her uniform. They walked to the parking garage at the back of the building. Janelle's car was close to the door. They approached and she took her keys from her purse.
"Thanks, Danny, for walking me out. I'll see you tomorrow, maybe," she told him.
"Yeah, no problem. I'll see you later," he smiled then watched her get in her car then he walked away.
The next night Danny did the same as the night before. Janelle just shook her head at him with a smile when he sat down at the bar.
"If I didn't know better I'd think you were stalking me, or you're an alcoholic," Janelle said and giggled.
Danny smirked. "If I wanted to stalk you I would just watch your every move upstairs on the monitors, and if I was an alcoholic I would've been here a few hours ago."
She put up her hands. "Ok, ok I surrender. So, a Jack on the rocks?"
"Actually tonight I'll just have a coke. I just came down to keep you company."
"Yeah, ok," she raised her eyebrows then got his coke.
"I was thinking that we should go out sometime," Danny suggested.
Janelle furrowed her brows. "Uh, Danny I barely know you, and besides I'm complicated."
"I can handle complicated." He took a sip of his coke.
"Mm, I'm not sure you could handle my complicated. Let's just be friends for a while then we'll see what happens."
He watched her walk around behind the bar to make some drinks. He was taking a sip of his coke when Mike came and sat next to him.
"Hey, man," Mike greeted.
"Hey, what's up?" Danny replied.
"Not much, man this night is going pretty slow," Mike looked at Danny's drink and furrowed his brow. "Why are you even down here if you're just drinking a coke?" he asked.
Danny's eyes went to Janelle.
"Oh, I see," Mike responded.
"I was thirsty, and the coke is better down here than from a can."
Mike smirked. "You're crazy, and I'm not stupid."
A couple hours later Danny found Delinda on the casino floor.
"Come on, Delinda there has to be something. You have to tell me," Danny pleaded with her.
"Danny, listen. It's not my place to tell you anything ok. If Janelle wants to tell you she will. Just let her, ok. Don't do your digging either."
"So, it's something big then, huh?"
"Let it go, Danny." Delinda was beyond annoyed now, and frustrated.
It took a couple more nights of Danny coming down to the bar to talk to Janelle for her to agree to go out with him. They agreed to meet at a restaurant close to the casino.
Danny was early. He stood outside, waiting for Janelle to show up. Finally, she came toward him dressed in a black strapless dress. He couldn't help but stare as she approached. She was smiling at him.
"Hey, Danny," she greeted. "Are you staring?" she laughed.
"Oh, sorry. You look beautiful," he told her.
"Thank you," she replied.
He took her hand and led her into the restaurant. They were taken by the hostess to a table by a window overlooking the strip. Danny was a gentleman and pulled Janelle's chair out.
They enjoyed each other's company immensely as they ate. Janelle was still secretive about her past. Danny reaffirmed that he did grow up in Las Vegas then told her he had been in the military. He told her he enjoyed working at the Montecito more than being in the Service, even though it had its times of excitement it was still more relaxed than the military for sure. Janelle did tell him she had owned her own café back in Arizona, but that she had to sell it. She also told him that she had a younger brother that lived in Arizona. Her mom, who was Ed's sister, had died of cancer when she was young and her father now lived in New Mexico. Danny told her that his mom was in Vegas but they weren't close and his dad had died recently.
Janelle looked down at her plate. "I, uh, I was married before, Danny." She looked back up at him. "It didn't work out between us. We were only married for about two years. That's why I left Arizona."
"Secret's out," he commented.
"Yeah, I guess so."
It seemed like there was more, but Danny decided he wouldn't push it. "You want dessert?"
She looked at him for a second and leaned on the table to look at him closer. "How about at my place?"
Danny raised his eyebrows. "Alright," he replied and a smiled pulled at the side of his mouth.
Janelle didn't strike Danny as the kind of girl that would have sex with a guy after only one date. He was willing to go back to her place, though.
When they got to her apartment building Danny followed her from the elevator to her door. She pulled out her keys and put them in the door, but didn't open the door yet. She looked at Danny and bit her lip.
"Just real quick," she pulled him to her and kissed him deeply.
One wouldn't be enough. He knew he was going to need more from her. She pulled away and he went in for another, but she stopped him.
"Wait, ok?" she paused. "There's a little more to my secret."
He could tell she had been dreading this.
"I, uh, you know just come inside and you'll see."
Janelle opened the door and they went inside. There was a young girl sitting on the couch. Danny was confused, but he decided he could work with it. He watched Janelle had the girl some money, and then the young girl picked up her book bag and left the apartment.
"Just wait right here," Janelle told Danny and went down the hallway.
He saw her first go to the room at the end of the hallway and kick off her shoes into the room. Then she went into the other bedroom. When she came out she had a baby girl in her arms. The little girl was mostly asleep in her arms.
"Danny McCoy, meet my daughter, Elizabeth. I guess she's another part to my secret."
Danny looked at the baby girl that was facing him in Janelle's arms. Her eyes were barely open. Janelle was looking at him with a sweet smile. "I, uh," Danny started.
"Hey, listen I know this is kind of a shock. Just showing her to you was the best way I could think of to tell you about her. I completely understand if you wanna split, being with a girl that has a kid isn't quite what most guys want." She adjusted the baby so she was on her shoulder.
"I'm not…I guess I'm just a little taken back." Danny scratched his head. "Janelle, I really like you. To be honest I'm not sure what it would be like to date a girl with a kid, but I'm still getting to know you."
"I know, I just felt that if it seemed we were going to continue that I needed to tell you, and I did. Really, you're the first guy I've even been on a date with since I got divorced."
"So, she's your ex's too?"
"Yeah, we got divorced soon after I had her. He just wasn't ready to be a parent, and I didn't want to make him continue." She shifted the one year-old little girl in her arms. "Danny, I need to know, are we gonna keep going with this? If you say no I'll be ok, I promise. I won't even let things be awkward at work."
"You know why don't we just take it slow and get to know each other and we'll see what happens."
She smiled. "Alright."
"So, this is what that kiss was all about, huh?"
"I didn't know if I'd ever see you again after you found out about my daughter, so I had to give it a try."
Danny cracked a smile. "You could go put her down then try again."
Janelle shook her head. "I'm tired."
"So, cold."
"Besides, I'm not having sex with this little one in the next room."
"You were talking about sex? I was just talking about a heated make-out session." He came toward her.
She put her hand on his chest to stop him. "Let me put this one down, and we'll see what happens."
A few days later Danny was at Janelle's apartment. He had called her and asked if he could come over for dinner. She let him inside and he kissed her as a greeting. He saw Elizabeth sitting on a blanket on the living room floor. This would be the first time he was around Elizabeth and he was a little nervous.
"Ellie, come here, baby," Janelle told her as they came into the living room. The baby girl wobbled as she stood up. She hobbled over to her mom, and Janelle picked her up and nuzzled her neck. "This is mommy's friend, Danny, say hi."
Ellie nestled into her mom's chest.
"Hey, Elizabeth," Danny said quietly and lightly rubbed the little girl's back.
"She's a little shy. She'll warm up to you." She set the little girl down on the floor. "So, I'm not a gourmet cook. I made some chicken parmesan."
"I'm hungry, anything sounds good right now." He looked back at Elizabeth on the floor. "I'll play with her while you finish up."
She smiled. "Ok," she kissed him. "Thanks, Danny."
"For what?"
"Not leaving."