Dani had agreed to one more follow-up visit with Dr. Gunner, her therapist. She hadn't wanted to, since she knew the subject of her romantic life would come up. Also, Dr. Gunner sometimes seemed almost irritated with her, although she wasn't sure why.
She had told him about Matt and how that had ended up. Surprisingly, he seemed to understand that and think she had handled it well. But he wouldn't stop asking questions about Nico, for some reason.
She explained that Nico hadn't spoken to her in six months after he saw her kissing Matt, and that he had left the Hawks without saying a word. When he referred her to V3, he had been cold and almost cruel at first, but that he had started behaving differently, and she didn't understand it.
"Different? Like how?
"Well, he was being really unhelpful about this one client we were working on and when he brought her to my house in the middle of the night…"
"Wait a minute…he brought a client to your house in the middle of the night?"
"Yes, but that was pretty typical of him when he was back at the Hawks. He was always showing up at 2, 3 in the morning with something that couldn't wait until morning. One time he took me to a strip club to try to coax my client out of there."
"What about your kids? Where were they when this was happening?"
"Well, they never woke up, and the one time I left them alone…"
"To go to the strip club…"
"Nico brought someone from Hawks security to guard the house so they wouldn't be alone."
"Didn't that seem a little extreme to you? I mean, your children are both older teenagers."
"Yes, but he knew that I was going through an ugly divorce and he didn't want me to seem negligent."
"How did he know that you were going through an ugly divorce exactly?"
"Well, I told him, but he already knew because he had a comprehensive background search done on me."
"He had a background search done on the team therapist?"
"Yes, I guess that was part of his job. And it turned out that he was helpful to me because I think he scared off the private detective that Ray had following me."
"Wait a minute…how did he scare him off?"
"I don't know, really. I assume he said something scary or threatened him or something. I don't know how Nico gets things done. He said it was all part of his job."
"So, let's get back to him showing up at your house in the middle of the night after six months of silence."
"Well, he showed up with the actress I was treating, and she was very upset about a boyfriend who had obtained a restraining order. She wanted to see her latest boyfriend and I told her that wasn't a good idea. She asked me if I'd ever had something so intense and indescribable with someone that if I didn't act on it I would explode."
"And…?"
"Well, I looked over at Nico when she said that, and he happened to be looking at me."
"Do you think he might have gotten the idea that you felt that way about him?"
"I don't know, I mean, I did glance away after meeting his eyes and then blushing, but he was kind of doing the same thing, so…"
"So what was the upshot of this?"
"He started being a lot nicer to me."
"What do you mean by nicer?"
"Well, he was helping me with some computer security at work and he promised me that no one would be able to get access to my work notes again."
"That doesn't sound particularly nice, it sounds professional."
"Yes, but it was kind of the way he said it."
"And how was that, exactly?"
"He had his arm on the back of my chair and was looking deep into my eyes."
"I see. So that made you think he was being nicer?"
"Yes." She paused. "Also, I'm pretty sure he was smelling my hair. I mean, just for a second."
"Didn't that seem sort of intimate to you?"
"Well, I have a hard time thinking when he's looking in my eyes, I guess, so I didn't really make note of it…You know, my assistant did say something about how Nico's feelings for me were completely transparent, but I sort of shrugged it off because thinking about it made me uncomfortable."
"Anything else that you noticed that made you think he was being nicer?"
"Well, we had a big work cocktail party and he came over and we talked for a few minutes."
"About what?"
"Well, he told me I looked beautiful."
"And what did you say to that?"
"Nothing, really. I sort of blushed and smiled and looked at the ground."
"Anything after that?"
"Not really, our boss came over and Nico left."
"So let me get this straight. When you worked together before, he repeatedly showed up at your house in the middle of the night. He helped you with your divorce. You mentioned before that you kissed and almost had sex. He told you he had feelings for you and that he needed to know if there was any reason for him to remain with the Hawks. He sees you kissing Matt and leaves. He doesn't talk to you for six months, and he's cold to you when he sees you. Then because you make eye contact when people are talking about undefinable, irresistible attraction, he starts staring into your eyes all the time and calls you beautiful. Your response to this is to blush and smile shyly, and it makes you very uncomfortable to talk about him. You have a hard time thinking clearly when he looks at you sometimes. What does that tell you, Danielle?"
She stared at the floor, then looked up with a smile. "I see where you are going with this. Sometimes there are people you just can't read. Nico is one of them."
Dr. Gunner stared at her for a long while, then said, "Yes. That's exactly what I meant."
He paused for a second, then asked, "So tell me about your current practice. Do you find yourself doing any couples counseling?"
"Not really."
"That's probably for the best."