It wasn't okay though, at least not instantly. Nico offered to drive her to the station and help her deal with it, he'd already dealt with the kids personally when they'd broken the law before by selling TK's autographed merchandise, but Dani wouldn't hear of it. Her ex-husband Ray was already reaming out the kids, though from what Nico knew of the man, he suspected that was probably more like saying, "Boys will be boys," and then trying to figure out a way to simultaneously get Ray Jr. out of the trouble while still trying to make the whole thing look like Dani's fault. In any case, she seemed to feel that Nico's usual approach involved buying his way out of problems and that would be detrimental in this case. That, or intimidation might just make it worse.

"All right, but call me if anything comes up," Nico gave her an intense look. "Remember, you're not alone."

She didn't call.

He didn't know if that was because he wasn't needed, she was too proud, or something else entirely.

The first few days were awful. Due to where Marshall's plane crashed, and the impending divorce, the arrangements for the funeral were going to take awhile, not to mention the delay from autopsies to make sure it wasn't anything extraordinary added to the mess. Juliette was taking the situation worse than Gabrielle and even worse than Nico had expected. Not that she was even willing to speak to him. In fact, it seemed no woman wished to talk to him. Things had never really fully repaired between him and Juliette since he put her in rehab and vowed to stop taking her 911 texts, but they certainly weren't repaired now. Just when he thought they'd been getting better they were screwed up again.

At first, this was fine by Nico. He secluded a bit and focused almost entirely on work, dealing with the Hawks getting ready for the new season, and all the legal ramifications of Marshall's passing. By the end of the first week though, he had more than a few questions about where Dani was. She still wasn't back and practicing, even though not only had he thoroughly checked for bugs, but he'd even gotten her all the tapes and any possible copies. Maybe he should get her an extra white noise debugger just in case. Like the one he carried for his own emergencies. Still, the situation with Ray Jr. wasn't finished yet, and Nico was sure that Danielle had other things on her mind.

So Nico took to reading in his off time. He started with more Ken Follet, but it reminded him too much of the SEALs, work, and by extension, Marshall. So he switched to something he hadn't read since high school. He drank his wine and read late into the night, he even fell asleep in the chair.

"Gabrielle," Nico nodded to her curtly. She was wearing the skimpy black dress he'd always loved most and a mini red scarf around her neck. She looked gorgeous, but he wasn't happy to see her.

"Fancy seeing you here," she didn't smile. Too weary from everything.

"Quite," he replied shortly.

"Oh yes," Marshall shared a look between his two heads, "You two know each other well, don't you?"

Nico rested a hand to his forehead, he didn't want to do this. Not here, not on Earth which was about to be destroyed as part of the Pittman's possible divorce, and not here on the Improbability Machine. He had to admit though, on a scale of improbability, traveling through outer space with the Pittmans, while they practically viewed him as another pawn to fight out their games over, it was pretty up there. Not impossible, but definitely improbable.

"Jealous? Given your dalliances in France..." Gabrielle smirked like a cat getting into the cream. It was a good thing Nico was as confident in both his ability to stay safe, and Marshall's simple lack of caring in killing him, because otherwise he'd probably be shuttled out into space with no shuttle and no oxygen.

"I thought you got revenge for that on Mars," Marshall scoffed.

Gabrielle's eyes narrowed, "You're paranoid. You know I don't sleep around unlike you."

"You slept with Nico," one of Marshall's heads scowled, the other just nodded in agreement.

"That's ancient history," Nico kept his face even, though he desperately wanted a seat. And a stiff drink.

"Is it?" Gabrielle gave him the pout that used to always make him weak at the knees. In front of Marshall, no less. Oh yes, they were going to blow up the world in this fight, all right.

"Yes," Nico insisted firmly.

She shrugged simply and turned to Marshall, "There you have it."

And suddenly Danielle was there, giving Nico a look, but protecting him from the fighting by literally standing between him and the Pittmans. It was a strange look. He expected her to be critical, but she only gave that look to Gabrielle and Marshall themselves. Nico half expected the look Danielle was giving him to be pity, but it wasn't that either. Just empathy. She really did understand what he was going through. She knew him that well. It was like their lives mirrored or reflected each other, two sides of the coin.

"You really think I know you better than she does?" she gave a quizzical headtilt and offered her hand out to Nico.

He felt like he was drowning emotionally. Under the turbulent waters of the two people he liked most fighting with each other. Marshall who'd saved his life, Gabrielle whom he could never fix, and they were trying to drag each other down. Marshall needed a vacation. A way to get away from Gabrielle's pettiness, and Gabrielle needed to get away from his games. They both needed to get away from each other's games, and Nico wanted away from their games. He reached out to the offered hand that was going to rescue him from drowning under their weight of emotional tides. "I know so," Nico informed her.

They moved. A jump, a blink of the eye, and suddenly they were eating at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe and laughing. "This is your Tuesday restaurant?" Dani asked, her voice full of disbelief.

"Of course," Nico smirked and sipped his wine.

Professor J.D. Aldridge arched an eyebrow, "Connections?"

Nico just gave a mysterious grin, "What else?"

Danielle scowled. "He never lies, but he rarely explains anything," she huffily told her date.

"I explain more when asked," Nico's grin grew more devious. Danielle just needed to ask the right questions, but he left it unstated, a challenge to her to see if she'd pick up the gauntlet.

She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Is that an invitation?" Nico smirked. J.D. faded into a book and Nico decided he really wanted to kiss the woman across the table from him.

"Not if I cut in," Donnally stepped forward, wearing a suit and tie, and offered her his hand.

Danielle giggled, and took the offered hand, standing up to go dance. Nico rolled his eyes as they danced about in a waltz. "Jocks," he muttered with a sidelong glance to Xeno.

Xeno was a robot. A depressed robot, strangely enough. Really, why would Marshall program a robot to be depressed? Then again, if he wasn't depressed, Danielle wouldn't have needed to treat him. Maybe it was Marshall's excuse to have reasons to talk to the therapist. Or maybe Nico was overthinking it. "Why don't you go get her, boss?" Xeno gestured at the dance floor which had switched from a ballroom to a nightclub, T.K. and other aliens danced about in corners, and there was a diamond ring disco ball.

"Maybe I will," Nico adjusted his tie and stood up. Matthew was distracted with playing basketball and Nico used the opportunity to lead Danielle back to the ballroom dance floor.

"Is that how you always operate?" Marshall Pittman asked, his second head drawing attention away from the two, now three of them. "Wait for the guy to be done and swoop in?"

"We broke up," Danielle clarified firmly for Nico's boss. Former boss? Boss again? Marshall was Marshall. "He bought a ring, but-"

"Ignore him," Nico led her away and twirled her about on the dance floor, finally creating their own space with distance. "You look lovely this evening. Red's a good color for you. Much better than black." Black was more Gabrielle's thing anyway.

"You too," she grinned and straightened his tie, "But then you always do."

Ah, the advantage of always wearing suits, unlike the jocks and their lack of formal wear. Suddenly Nico was in a top hat and tails, but he didn't miss a step, leading Danielle about on the dance floor. They discussed literature, the players, psyche profiles of fictional characters and she was graceful and fierce in her defense of everyone. "Can anyone really know the true Nico?" she tilted her head at one point.

He tilted his head back in surprise, "Don't you?"

"What's the question that answers 42?" she replied softly.

He grinned, his eyes truly sparkling and he leaned forward to kiss her lips and whisper in her ear, "Everything."

They made love as the universe exploded around them and then reset. This time there were dominating overlord cats. Or maybe Nico and Onyx just switched positions. Honestly, Nico was okay with that. The fact that he was comfortable with that was an uncomfortable proposition, but it didn't change the fact that overall, Nico was okay with that.

"And when will you bring this girl over?" Onyx purred and peered over his glasses at Nico.

Nico shrugged. "When the time is right."

"When will that be?" Onyx mused and flicked his tail irritably.

Nico played chess with the Earth-creating mice while Marshall's two heads debated whether a man was dead if he was forgotten but alive, or dead if remembered but lost. "Forty-two o'clock," Nico told his cat.

At forty-two o'clock on the dot, Nico brought Danielle to the apartment. "This is Onyx," he introduced her. "Onyx, this is Danielle."

"Mr. Careles," Hank Griffin interrupted, "We follow the rules here. Isn't Ms. Santino's mother a gambler?"

Nico's face stayed even, but mentally his mind raced to protect Danielle and her family, and to head off any stupidity. "It's not an issue," he insisted firmly, "I dealt with everything already."

"President Pittman might believe you to be Master of the Universe, but Mr. Pittman is dead now and I will not allow any tomfoolery on my watch," Griffin grumbled, his stupid mustache wiggling.

Onyx tutted at him and offered to Nico, "Shall I eat him?"

"Tempting, but no, that's not the way to get rid of this situation," Nico put his sunglasses on, ready to get serious now.

"Too much concern about 'Tomfoolery,'" Danielle emphasized the word and used her fingers for air quotes, "Is often a symptom of a complex preoccupied with control. It seems like Griffin is just worried about how much control he has over the situation and the team."

"So I should unbalance him by showing him exactly how little control he has?" Nico arched both eyebrows. He liked the sound of this plan.

Danielle gave him a look. A cute one that was almost scolding. Like a mother reminding her errant husband when he was crossing a line.

"You're so formidable," Nico kissed her cheek.

A giant blue fish as tall as a skyscraper swam by through the air and Onyx went chasing after it while Marshall Pittman was a tiny speck riding on top. "This is a much better mascot for the Hawks, don't you think?"

Nico woke up in his armchair surrounded by Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books and he instantly vowed never to fall asleep in his chair again. Little did he realize that as he and Dani continued on their separate lives, dealt with the respective loss of their friends, confused past love lives, and fixing problems without talking to each other like the best friends they were, what dreams would come of it.