"So what was your first impression of me, anyway?"

He laughed. He hadn't had this kind of new-relationship discussion for years, and he was enjoying it.

"Professionally or personally or both?"

"Just in general."

"Well, professionally I thought you were out of your league, to be honest. As far as I knew, you were there because you were Donnally's latest girlfriend, and he didn't exactly date rocket scientists."

She seemed strangely delighted. "Oh my GOD, you thought I was stupid?"

"Not stupid, just that your relationship with Matt was not a cerebral one."

She patted him on the head playfully."Nicely put."

"I figured out that you weren't to be trifled with fairly quickly, but I still didn't think you were going to succeed."

"Well, I nearly didn't."

"But when I saw you with TK at that cemetery I knew you were the real deal."

"Wait, what? You were there?"

"From a respectful distance, but I'd been trying to track down TK, remember?"

"I get it. You were doing your job."

"From that point on, I was very impressed with you, and everything I learned made me like you more."

"Awww." She gave him a quick kiss. "Now do you want to know what I thought about you?"

"Sure. I bet I can guess, though. Not forthcoming. Mysterious. You weren't exactly shy about expressing that opinion."

"Actually..." she paused. "I thought you were a little naive."

He was speechless for a second. "Naive? In what way?"

"Well, to be honest, it was your tactics. You pushed way too hard to try to get things done the team's way. The second I voiced my concerns, you started mentioning my contract with the Hawks, or baiting me. It was the absolute wrong thing to do."

"If I recall correctly, you ended up doing all those things."

She gave him a wry smile. "Nico, I was going to do them anyway. I just needed to understand why I was being asked to do it."

"You're right. I pushed too hard. I'm surprised you didn't go full Santino on me."

"I knew it wasn't coming from a bad place. You weren't really a bully. I figured you just didn't know how to handle women, and you needed to learn what motivated me."

"Well, I'm glad I got a second chance."

"Me, too."

"And now, how about I show you what I've learned?"

"Huh?"

He pulled her close to him. "About how to handle women."

"Sounds good to me," she purred. "But I should tell you I'm already highly motivated."