I was standing and waiting in the lobby of the hotel Danny was staying in. He had been surprised when I had called him, but only for a moment, after that he had told me where he was staying and that I could come by any time.

So here I was.

"I barely believe my eyes – you're really here!"

I heard his voice behind me and turned around to see him walking towards me. He had changed into a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a leather jacket and looked nothing like an FBI agent, but still very good. And of course, he was grinning at me.

"Said I would be here," I answered and grinned back.

"Yeah, but after you turned me down earlier I wasn't so sure", he said.

As he came closer I could see that his hair was still wet from a recent shower. I smiled and shrugged.

"So… what did he do?" Danny asked when I didn't say anything.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"Your boyfriend. What did he do? To make you change your mind so suddenly."

For a moment I remained silent, staring at him in disbelief. Finally I managed to say: "I don't… have a boyfriend." Unfortunately my reaction had been too late and too hesitant for him to believe me.

"You don't?" Danny looked at me, one eyebrow raised.

I shook my head. "I wouldn't be here if I had a boyfriend."

"Yeah, of course you wouldn't", Danny said laughing, and I wanted to hit him but remembered just in time that he was injured and I'd better not. So I changed the subject:

"Well, where shall we go?"

"I don't know, you're the one who lives in this city so you get to make the decision."

"Okay, then I suggest we go and get a bite to eat, then we could catch a movie and go to a club afterwards."

"Oh – seems like you got it all planned out", he said, grinning again and put an arm around my shoulders as we started walking towards the exit. He smelled nice.

After walking silently for a while he let his arm fall and looked at me. "So… honestly – what did he do?"

I stopped walking. "You really want to go out with me although you think I've got a boyfriend?"

Danny shrugged. "Yes. I mean… going out doesn't mean you have to cheat on him you know… and with the plans you've made for tonight it doesn't sound like… well…"

He couldn't finish the sentence because I grabbed him by his shirt collar and pulled him close and kissed him. He was obviously surprised but he responded to the kiss and wrapped his arms around me.

After a while I broke free to ask: "Do you believe me now?"

Danny just nodded and kissed me again. We moved closer, every inch of our bodies touching now, and in between the kisses he whispered into my ear: "Now, that I know you don't have a boyfriend how about we skip the dinner and movie part and go straight to my room?"

"I don't live far from here, and my room mates are both out tonight so I think we should go there. I also have a well stocked refrigerator in case we'll get hungry later…"

I wanted to say more but Danny put his finger on my lips and shook his head. "Stop talking", he said before he kissed me again.

Although I wanted nothing more than to be alone with Danny in my bedroom with the curtains closed, there was this little part inside of me that said what I was doing wasn't right. And that was the reason why I had suggested going to my place; despite the kissing I still wasn't sure how far I wanted to go. The drive to the house gave me some time to think, but by the time we arrived I still hadn't decided whether I should listen to my body or my mind.

In the end it was Danny who made the choice. The moment the front door closed he grabbed me by my shoulders and pulled me close for another kiss, even more passionate than before, and I soon forgot my doubts.

Danny's hands quickly found their way underneath my shirt and that was when I finally stopped thinking. Instead I did my best to remove his jacket and t-shirt until he winced. He pulled away from me and cursed, then looked at me and said: "Sorry."

"No – I should be sorry", I said, feeling guilty. "I should have known better than to do this."

"Nah – it's alright. It's not like I didn't do my best to convince you."

"But I'm your doctor – I should be telling you to lie down and get some rest and…"

"You're not my doctor anymore", Danny interrupted me. "Right now you're my date."

"But…"

"Look, I'm OK, you don't need to worry about me…..unless you don't want this to go any further? If you don't its fine, you can tell me, I'd rather know the truth'

"I…" I sighed. For a moment I thought of Derek then I remembered the conversation we'd just had, and suddenly the anger was back.

The thing about loyalty is that it's very hard to tell when it turns into stupidity, but in this case I was certain that to keep thinking of Derek and to turn Danny down once again would surely be stupid.

Well... it would – wouldn't it?

"I want you to stay", I finally said.

We didn't even make it to the bedroom. We kissed again and a few moments later I found myself on my back on the small couch in the living-room with Danny on top of me. It wasn't how I expected it to be – not as gentle, but still long and slow and so so good.

Afterwards, Danny dropped onto the floor; the couch was too small for both of us to lie next to each other. We lay still for a minute or two catching our breath then Danny sat up and leaned against the couch, his face turned towards me; our eyes met and I smiled.

I couldn't remember ever having had a one-night stand when I was completely sober, but – with Derek pushed to the back of my mind – so far I didn't regret it.

"You okay?" Danny finally broke the silence that had fallen between us.

"Yes, I definitely am!" I said. "But I'm starving now. What about you? Are you hungry, too?"

"Can't say I'm not – but before we eat I think we should straighten things out between us."

I couldn't help grinning. "You don't seem like the type who wants to talk about things like this."

He shrugged. "We don't have to. I just wanted to make sure we both agree with this being a one-night only thing."

I didn't answer.

"You do agree, don't you?"

Rolling my eyes I sighed and said: "Yes, of course I do. I mean, even if I didn't you're gonna be back in New York by this time tomorrow and I'll never see you again. But that doesn't mean, we can't enjoy the rest of the night, does it?"

Danny just grinned.

We made pizza and took it up into my bedroom, sat on the bed and ate. I found out that he was very good company not just for sex but also for amusing conversation. We spent at least two or three hours just talking, mostly about our jobs. I quickly noticed that Danny seemed reluctant to talk much about his personal life, but it didn't matter because he had so many interesting stories to tell about his work. We talked and talked and as the night proceeded it felt more and more like we had known each other forever – and in between all the talking we had some more fantastic sex.

It was a wonderful night and just what I needed. I knew I had to be at work by 7am but at 1am I was still wide awake, too excited to fall asleep. The conversation had died away and from his deep even breathing I knew that Danny had fallen asleep. For a moment I was annoyed but then I decided to let him sleep for a while. After all, he had been stabbed today – as his doctor I shouldn't have let him do anything else other than sleep in the first place. With a sigh I pulled out the blanket from underneath Danny so I could cover us both with it and then lay back against my pillow to watch him sleep for a while.

He was lying on his good side, looking very cute– and I wondered how it could be that I felt so comfortable around him when I had only known him for a couple of hours. At some point I must have fallen asleep too, because the next time I looked at my alarm it was three a.m.

For the rest of the night I slept poorly, waking up every half an hour and every time my guilty conscious would surface again.

The alarm went off at half past five. I always set it half an hour before I have to get up, but usually I stay in bed until the last possible moment; this morning, however, I jumped right out of bed, happy that I didn't have to try to fall back asleep again.

"What time is it?" I heard Danny's sleepy voice.

I told him and added: "I'm sorry, but I have to go to work soon."

"Well, I guess that means, I'm getting up now…" He sat up and rubbed his eyes. His hair was sticking out in every direction, but he still looked cute and I thought it really wasn't fair that men could look so good after they had just woken up.

"I need to shower now", I informed him. "If you want to, you can wait and I'll drop you off at the hotel on my way to work."

Danny shook his head. "No, I'll go now. " He smiled and ran a hand through his messy hair but it didn't really help to tame it. "I had a lot of fun last night."

"So did I", I assured him.

There was an awkward silence for a moment, then Danny got up and began gathering his clothes together. When he was finally dressed he came towards me and placed a gentle kiss on my cheek. "I'll have to go now. Thanks for last night Meredith."

I grinned, ignoring the disappointment inside me that he was going to leave. "Next time you're in Seattle you know where you can find me."

Danny grinned back. "How could I forget?"

I made an attempt to walk him to the door but he shook his head. "You get your shower; I'll find my way out." When he was gone I couldn't help watching from the window as he headed down the porch steps and then along the street. He was on the phone, probably calling for a cab. I watched him for a while then turned to go until I saw another figure standing on the sidewalk opposite my house.

It was a man and he was watching Danny – just like I was. But then suddenly he turned his head to look up at me and our eyes met.

Derek.

TBC