A/N: Thanks Brian! Haha - I've never been to New York City, but I trusted my instincts on the prices... ;)

As said before, sometimes you'll come across a word that's made bold - that was part of the challenge: to include certain words from a list in your story. Enjoy!

Part 2

"Thanks Nancy, that was delicious!" Clint said, leaning back in his chair. Nancy treated him to a wide smile, accepting the compliment. "Thank you. I'm glad you liked it. Of course, you bought the dessert, so I can't take credit for that," she added.

"Well, I didn't think you would mind chocolate-chip cookie dough Ben & Jerry ice cream," Clint said with a grin, knowing it was a guilty pleasure they both shared.

"Not a chance!" Nancy confirmed with conviction, causing them both to grin.

Clint rose and started to clear the table. "Oh, you can leave that. It'll give me something to do," Nancy protested.

"Uh uh, you cooked, I clean, that's the deal, right?"

"Yeah, but you already did the groceries and took care of the dessert… but if you insist…" Nancy said with a grin, sitting back in her chair. Clint shook his head. In the end they did the dishes together and drank some hot chocolate while talking about various things.

As Clint was leaving, he took his coat from the hanger, having gone straight to Nancy's place to bring the groceries. Accidentally his hat flew to ground, and as he kneeled to pick it up, he noticed a pair of Nancy's shoes. Looking around to where Nancy was, he quickly looked at the shoe size. He rose, and turned back around. "Well, thanks for dinner. I've had a wonderful evening."

Nancy turned around from where she'd been cleaning the mugs from which they had drunk the hot chocolate.

"You're welcome. So did I."

"Well, see you tomorrow then."

"Yup, see you tomorrow," Nancy replied cheerfully.

Clint crossed the hall and opened his door. He had a phone call to make. He had intended to go back to his apartment while Nancy was cooking, and make the phone call then, but Nancy and he had started talking and in the end he hadn't left her apartment. With a quick look on the clock to confirm it wasn't too late to call yet, he punched in the familiar number.

"Doc Johanson," a gruff voice said.

"Hey Doc," Clint said, kneeling down in front of the fireplace. Squeezing the phone between his ear and shoulder, he managed to light a modest fire. He knew he couldn't let it grow too large tonight, since he would have to go to bed at some point too, but he liked the atmosphere of having a fire going. It always made him feel at home.

"Clint! How are you doing?"

"Just fine. How about you and Dottie?"

"Oh, we're managing just fine. You sure you can't make your way here for Christmas?" asked the man who had functioned as his father since he was ten years old.

"As much as I miss Dottie's chocolate chip cookies,I really am sure… It's going to be Raul's first Christmas."

Doc Johanson grunted. Clint didn't have to explain why he wanted to be there for Raul's first Christmas.

"'sides, we're having a Christmas party on Christmas Eve at the clinic, and just this morning we drew names for a gift exchange. Actually, that was kinda what I called about." He stopped prodding the wood, confident the fire would hold out for a while, and sat down on the couch.

"You drew someone you don't really know and want to see if we know of something to buy?" Doc Johanson guessed. Clint grinned. "No, actually, quite the opposite. I drew Nancy's name, and I know what I want to give her. It's the buying that's the problem. Everything's much more expensive here than it is back in Montana."

Doc Johanson snorted. "You don't have to tell me that, that's well known in these parts. The only thing you can probably get cheaper there is live stock."

Clint grinned. "Wouldn't bet on it. So could you put Dottie on for a moment?"

"Sure thing son, hold on."

Clint waited as he heard Doc Johanson call for his wife, who appeared just a moment later. "It's for you," Clint heard Doc say, before the sound of Dottie's kind voice reached his ears.

"Hello?"

"Hey Dottie," Clint said, his voice softening a little.

"Clint!" Dottie exclaimed. "How are you, dear?"

"I'm fine. Doc told me you're doing ok as well."

"Oh yes, we're fine. Harley's been clearing the snow from the driveway today, so at the moment he's a bit wiped out."

Clint chuckled at her teasing tone, and could just picture her looking at her husband with a raised eyebrow and a smile on her lips. In the background, he heard Doc Johanson grumble something, at which Dottie giggled. "Oh hush, or I'll send all the chocolate chip cookies to Clint."

Immediately, Clint could hear the protests coming from the older doctor, and he chuckled. "You know, Dottie, I wouldn't complain about that in the least…"

Dottie's laughter sounded like music to Clint's ears, and for a moment he wished he could actually go back to Montana for Christmas. But then he remembered a certain nurse down the hall, and a young boy downstairs, and he knew he wouldn't want to be anywhere else but with them. "Yes, I know you wouldn't complain," Dottie said. "Do you have any snow around in New York?"

Clint looked outside the window for a bit. "Well, they say it's not gonna snow, but the way the air feels, I'm thinking we might just be gettin' a white Christmas after all. But that's not what I was calling about."

He proceeded to tell her what exactly he was looking for, and asked if she'd mind helping him out.

"Of course I'll help, dear! What a wonderful idea. I'm sure she'll love the gift."

"Thanks, Dottie, you're the best."

"Thank you, Sweetheart." If they'd been in the same room, they'd be sharing a hug right now. Dottie cared for Clint as if he were her own son, and he loved her as the second mother she was. Suddenly her voice got a sly tone. "So… it sounds like you and Nancy are getting along pretty well…"

Warned by the change in her voice, Clint rolled his eyes. "Yes, Dottie, we get along great." He paused, knowing exactly what was coming next.

"That's great! Are you two dating?" Yup, exactly what he would have predicted. A smile crept up his face despite himself.

"Nah, we're not that kind of friends," Clint said as he watched the fire again.

Dottie raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that? You seem to know an awful lot about her that most men don't know about their friends."

"Yeah, like what?" Clint asked, partly curious, partly amused. He was enjoying the conversation, and could tell Dottie was too. It wasn't every day he got to talk to them on the phone, so when he did, he usually made sure to settle down for a long conversation.

"Well, you know what shoe size she has," Dottie started, "you know what colour boots she prefers and what kind of style she likes. You helped her get an apartment – in the same building where you live. You were pretty tenacious about getting her and her mother reconciled. Oh, and she helped you pick a couch when you moved into your apartment, after you'd only known each other for what? A week or two?"

Dumbfounded, Clint blinked at the phone before putting it back to his ear. "Hold on, just how do you know that?"

"Know what, dear?"

"That it was Nancy who helped me pick my couch."

"So I'm right!" Dottie said in a delighted voice. Clint rolled his eyes, before asking, "You were just guessing?"

"Well," Dottie defended, "when you said a friend helped you pick out a couch, I highly doubted you meant Raul." She paused. "Although on second thought, I wouldn't have been surprised at all if you had let Raul pick your couch either."

Clint chuckled. Dottie sure knew him well. He returned to one of the other things she had listed. "But I only just found out her shoe size tonight when I was over at her place."

"And just what were you doing over at her place?" Dottie asked, not deterred in the least.

"We just had supper together. That's nothing out of the ordinary," Clint defended himself. Dottie grinned knowingly.

"Look," Clint said, giving it one more try, "Nancy and I are friends, nothing more, nothing less. Just friends."

"Uh huh," Dottie said, obviously not believing it for a second. Clint shook his head, and decided to steer the conversation back to the original topic.

"Well, I really appreciate you helping me out and all."

Dottie recognised that the topic was over. "It's not a problem, dear. I'll let you know how I get on. I'm glad we got to talk."

"So am I, Dottie, so am I," Clint agreed. They said goodnight, before ending the call. Clint put the phone down and leaned back against the couch. That was one thing taken care of. It had been good to hear the voices of both Dottie and Doc Johanson again too. Slowly his thoughts went back to the questions Dottie had asked, and how he'd told her he and Nancy were just friends.

He smiled as he thought about the nurse with the compassionate heart and the fierce personality. He remembered the sparkle in her eyes whenever they teased each other. That evening at the Crystal and Fire ball a few months ago, he had really enjoyed her company. He couldn't help but remember how nice it had been to hold her in his arms. Or how his heart jumped whenever she would laugh at a joke he made.

But they had also shared some difficult times already. How his heart had broken for her that time when she had come to him after she had discovered her mother had cancer. In a way he could sympathise – he knew how hard it was to know one of your parents was going to die to that disease; he had watched his father struggle with it and eventually succumb to it. And he would have given anything to spare Nancy and her mother that particular struggle. But he knew he could not do anything but be there for them.

Sometimes he would see a particular look on Nancy's face, and he would know she was thinking of her mother. She regretted those years during which she and her mother had been apart. Clint knew he couldn't give her back those years, but he would be there for her, and remind her to not focus on the past, but focus on the present.

So sure, he cared about Nancy a lot. He admired her for the way she stood up for other people's rights, and for her willingness to go the extra mile for friends and patients alike. She had helped him settle in New York, had stood by him when he had set out to prove Hector Gonzales was not Raul's father – even if the man had turned out to be the boy's biological father after all – and had helped him get his hospital privileges back when Oliver had gotten them revoked. Yet Nancy wasn't afraid to let him know when she disagreed with him either.

Clint grinned. Boy, had she been angry with him when she thought he was meddling with her relationship with her mother. They had talked it out though, and for that Clint was very grateful. She could be a formidable foe, yet she was a much better friend. Which was, Clint decided, railroading his thoughts back to what had started the trip down memory lane in the first place, exactly what they were: just friends. Good friends, but still just friends.

Sometimes though, he wondered if they could perhaps be more than just friends… Abruptly he shook his head. He was letting Dottie's prodding get to him. The fire had nearly gone out, and a look at the clock told Clint it was for the better, so he got ready for bed. He had a lot to thank the Lord for. He had just remembered how blessed he really was to have a friend like Nancy.

TBC