Connie looked over at Mike sitting on her couch, his attention focused on a file he was reading, and sighed internally. Since he'd arrived, he'd seemed pretty intent on just getting through the work that needed to be done, with minimal chit-chat. Any efforts made by her at initiating conversation were met with pleasant, but fairly short answers.

She made another attempt, asking, "So, did you have a good holiday?"

Mike glanced up briefly at the question, but shrugged noncommittally and continued frowning at the file in his hands. "You know, the usual." But then he surprised her by continuing the discussion, asking in return, "What about you?"

She figured he was being polite, but took the opportunity anyway, thinking about the question. "Well, it was nice to see everyone, and my mom didn't hover too much." Her parents had returned from Spain just in time for Christmas, and had been anxious to check up on her, but they'd relaxed once they were satisfied that she was alright. Connie had had a permanent seat on their couch throughout the holiday, whether she'd liked it or not, but her ankle had healed enough that she could put some weight on it, so she'd been allowed to help decorate the tree at least. She smiled, "I think I ate enough food for at least a month though."

"Yeah, I think that's pretty common," Mike remarked, as he made some notes on a piece of paper.

She continued dryly, "However, my absolute favorite part of the holiday was when my sister decided to show my starring role in 'Larry Plus Ten' to any of my relatives who hadn't already seen it. Plus a few who had." She shook her head. It had been bad enough putting up with the jokes when it had first aired, she hadn't needed to be reminded of her brief brush with 'fame' again. Elena was lucky that Connie was still grateful for the help with her ankle – otherwise some sort of revenge would have been necessary.

Mike still didn't look up from what he was reading, but he smirked. "I bet that was fun for you."

She smiled wryly to herself. "Sure, who doesn't enjoy ritual humiliation? Isn't that what families are for?"

He gave a small snort of laughter, "Yeah, I guess so."

He didn't say anything more, and she figured that was it for social pleasantries now, so she tried to concentrate on what she'd previously been doing. Her thoughts began to drift though, as they had been doing so often recently. She found her gaze coming to rest, almost involuntarily, on Mike, which seemed appropriate, as he seemed to have become a permanent fixture inside her head lately.

They had been spending a reasonable amount of time together before Christmas, not just working, but more socially as well. That was unusual. Not that she'd minded. On the contrary, she'd often found herself waiting for the evenings when he'd come over with anticipation. And while it would have be easy to blame that on her general lack of company, she knew that wasn't the real reason. Though she was always happy to see her sister, Connie hadn't looked forward to Elena's visits nearly as much.

It was nice, having him in her apartment, just the two of them, spending time together. She'd found herself almost dreading the day when she was fit enough to go back to work, and there would no longer be an excuse to have him come over.

And then, there had been the... incident.

They'd just been sitting on the couch, talking. Innocent enough conversation, albeit over a glass of wine. When suddenly she'd looked up to find him watching her closely, with a look that she couldn't quite identify. He'd seemed to be considering something, but the intensity in his gaze had made her stomach flutter, and her face flush, and she'd found herself holding her breath, waiting to see what he was going to do. They'd not moved for a moment, until they'd been interrupted by the door buzzing (her food being delivered), and then he'd made some excuse and left. And she'd thought over and over about what had happened once he'd gone, and kept coming back to the same conclusion.

She was fairly certain that he had been about to kiss her, and she was also pretty sure that she wouldn't have had a problem with that at all.

So, over the holiday, she'd been unable to stop herself thinking about the situation between the two of them. She'd always deliberately never spent much time considering exactly how Mike felt about her. While she'd acknowledged to herself early on that there was a mutual attraction between them, thinking about anything more than that had been too dangerous, and so she'd just avoided it altogether.

At least until Woll had appeared in front of her apartment the day of his trial, and tried to suggest that Mike was more bothered by the case (and everything else) than he let on, because he had feelings for her. She had dismissed it all at the time as another of Woll's mind games - and also because it was just easier that way.

When she'd thought about it over Christmas though, the way they'd been acting around each other since her accident, coupled with what had almost occurred between them that one night, had forced her to accept that maybe, he wanted exactly what she wanted - something more than friendship - even if they were both unwilling to admit it to each other.

It was a slightly scary conclusion to reach - she wasn't entirely sure how to deal with the revelation. So, she'd been alternately welcoming and dreading the prospect of seeing him again. However, once the holidays were over, and she'd gotten back to work, she'd found that he seemed to be avoiding her.

She'd e-mailed him with simple questions about work, and he'd replied as usual. But whenever she called him, it always seemed to go to voicemail, and she'd leave a message - which would receive an e-mailed reply. He apologized in the e-mails that he'd missed her calls, claiming that he'd been in court, or otherwise occupied... but he'd always found time for her before now. And when it came to delivering more files for her to work on, he'd sent a legal aide. That was entirely reasonable, except that previously, he'd always come himself. She had a feeling it wasn't a coincidence. He was backing away from her. Again.

In the end, something had come up with one of her cases that had meant he was unable to avoid her any longer, and so he'd come over tonight, after over two weeks of no direct contact. She'd let him in, and now here they were, working intently, only really speaking when necessary in order to resolve any issues that came up with what they were doing.

After they'd been working for an hour or so, he cleared his throat, "Ok, I think that's it."

She sat back in her seat. Normally, this would be a point at which they might talk about his current trial case, or things going on at work, or even just have a general chat. But she had a feeling that any attempts to get into that tonight would be useless. So she nodded, "Right, thanks for the help."

She thought for a moment, then decided that it was time to broach the subject of her return to work. Any issues with Mike aside, she was keen to get back into the action now she was almost better. She spoke up, "By the way, I was thinking - since my ankle's fit enough to walk on, at least some of the time, maybe I can start coming into the office again?"

He frowned slightly, considering this. "When did you want to start back?"

Connie shrugged, "As soon as possible. Monday?"

He nodded slowly, "As long as you feel up to it, and Jack agrees, then it's fine with me. You still might not be on any active cases until you're fully recovered, though."

"Ok, fair enough." At least it meant she wouldn't be stuck at home anymore. And, she couldn't help thinking, he'd find it much harder to avoid her when she was back at work.

Mike got up to leave. "Right, well, I guess I'll probably see you next week then."

She nodded, and once he'd gone, she started thinking about how she was going to deal with the current status of their relationship. Obviously, Mike had decided that he was going to pretend all the events before Christmas had never happened, and seemed to have made up his mind to simplify things by spending as little time as possible around her.

Before now, she might have been ok with that - after all, it negated the need for any awkward conversations, and meant that there were no difficult decisions to make. But if she was honest with herself, she'd had enough of denial. She had tried ignoring this thing between them, and repressing her feelings, and look how far that had gotten her.

And she couldn't help thinking that if they carried on like this, they'd eventually reach breaking point - maybe one night when they'd both had too much to drink, or they were feeling tired, or just had their defenses down - and something would happen that they wouldn't be able to ignore, and they'd be forced to deal with the fallout whether they liked it or not. Their working relationship could end up irreparably damaged, which was the last thing she wanted. At least if they faced up to this now and went into it eyes open, they'd have a bit more control, feel more prepared for what to expect. Make decisions in an informed way.

It also occurred to her that Mike could be holding back because he didn't realize how she felt. While he'd given a few hints as to his interest in her, she'd always tried her utmost to keep her own feelings under wraps, and she knew that she'd generally been successful. It was possible that he believed she just wasn't interested.

Either way, it seemed that the ball was in her court. If they were ever going to resolve this, she was going to have to make a move.

Fine. In that case, she would.

######

However, it seemed that making that decision, and actually plucking up the courage to do something about it were two different things. She'd been back at work a few days, and things between them had basically gone back to business as usual – colleagues, nothing more.

Connie knocked on Mike's door late in the afternoon. He was sitting at his desk, throwing a baseball from one hand to the other, lost in thought, but he looked up at her knock. She came inside - she was still using her crutches a little, but her cast had been removed a few days before, and she was almost walking completely unassisted now. She was back to helping him out with his current caseload, and so she'd been doing background research on their main suspect.

She put some papers on his desk. "Here you go, this is what I've found so far. Nothing's jumping out, but see what you think."

He glanced at the notes, but still looked distracted. "Thanks."

Connie checked her watch. She had a doctor's appointment at four o'clock, so it was probably time to head off. She spoke up, "Right, I need to get going now. I'll probably be gone for the rest of the day."

He looked up at her. "Oh, ok. Another check up?"

She nodded, smiling. "Hopefully my last one. If I get the all clear, I'll officially be fully healed."

Mike gave her a small smile, "Glad to hear it. You should celebrate."

She paused. She hadn't really thought about that, but his words made her think - maybe this was an opportunity. She hesitated, but decided it was now or never. "Well, now that you mention it, I seem to recall that you still owe me a drink," she pointed out, being careful to keep her tone casual. She watched him closely though, waiting for his reaction.

There was surprise in his eyes, but he nodded slowly, thoughtfully. "That's true."

"Maybe we could meet up after work then, if you don't have other plans?"

There was a long pause, and she thought he might make up some excuse, but he shook his head, "No, I'm not busy." Then, he continued, with a tentative smile, "Ok, drinks would be good. If you pick the bar, I can meet you there."

She almost agreed, but then was struck by a thought. Maybe she could take this a step further. She plowed ahead before she could change her mind. "You know, actually, there's a restaurant just around the corner from my apartment I've been meaning to try." She took a deep breath. "How about dinner instead?"

This time, Mike seemed at a loss for words. That was definitely new territory for them. Sharing a few drinks was one thing, but going out to dinner together (particularly with no work pretext) implied something less friendly, and something more like... well, a date. She knew the significance of the suggestion wasn't lost on him. He gave her a searching look, but she managed to keep her face impassive, and she hoped he couldn't hear her heart pounding from where he was sitting.

Finally, he gave a small nod. "Sure. Dinner would be nice."

Connie quietly let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding, and smiled at him. "Ok, great. How about you meet me at my apartment about half past seven, and we can walk there? It's not far."

He nodded again, still watching her intently. "Ok."

She forced herself to move. "I'll see you later then."

"Right."

As she left the office, she took a few calming breaths. So, she'd asked her boss to dinner, and he'd said yes. No big deal. Now, something decisive might happen between them later, or it might not.

She still wasn't completely sure what option she was hoping for, but she had a feeling the next few hours would pass very slowly.