*****Changes were made to Chapter 6 which affect Chapter 7
Dani and Nico are enjoying a romantic walk along the bridges in the city as they head back to the hotel.
They arrive just as Matt, Coach and Anna return from their night out with Anna's brothers. Matt is
shocked to see Dani in town since he knows she would have had to fly out to Chicago on her own. "Hey,
where did you three disappear to?" Nico asks of coach as they head into the hotel. "Seems our Doc
here is a native, we had a hell of a night up in "Old Town." Nico looks back at Anna who is tipping the
valet. "Really, she is from Chicago?" Coach laughs. "and her brother is Adam Starr." Nico is surprised.
These details he doesn't know. They don't ring a bell at all regarding Anna. What he does know is that
currently, Dani has a death grip on his arm. It is time to move along. Matt is waiting for Anna so Nico
determines that it would not be rude to escort his lady in. Plus he is kind of looking forward to spending
the night with her without the distractions of home. It also gives him a chance to see what on earth has
been bothering her recently.
Matt and Anna follow the others into the hotel. Coach bids them goodnight as he passes his room.
Matt escorts Anna to hers. "Thanks for tonight. That was a lot of fun." Anna turns around with a smile.
"Wait till we hit Houston. Goodnight, Mathew." He laughs. "Goodnight, Anna." He turns and heads to
his room.
Nico mindlessly flips through the channels while Dani is snuggled against his chest fast asleep. He
adores these quiet moments. The bliss of normalcy that he has missed in his life sweeps over him.
He plays with her hair and runs his fingertips over her skin. She responds to his touch by moving closer
to him and draping her body over his. He loves the warmth of her skin against him as he drifts off to
sleep. The happiest thought is that he still has two more nights of this. Two nights is a nice start indeed.
The remainder of the trip has all of them busy playing their roles with the team as they make the final
preparations for game day. Nico is appreciative that Anna's role has her and Dani out of each other's
hair.
Game Day:
Juliette invites Dani to join her in her luxury box during the game while Anna is busy down on the
sidelines with the various trainers, therapists and Doctors. The game is exciting but
uneventful which for Anna is definitely a good thing. It is time to wrap up business in the Windy City and
head home to the Big Apple. After the game she visits with her brothers for a bit before it is time to
depart with the team. It felt good to be home. It had been too long.
Tuesday:
After a day off, it is time to get back to business. Anna is in her office with the chaotic Tuesday routine
that comes with dealing with an NFL team. Time to deal with the injuries and the replacements, she
sighs; NFL Tuesdays are merely Monday's on 'roids.
Dani storms into Anna's office unexpectedly startling Anna. "I need a word." Anna looks up from the piles of medical
files on her desk with a sigh. This is not the day for this she thinks to herself.
"You are going to tell me what your game is and how you know Nico and you are going to tell me now."
Anna looks up at her over the top of her glasses. "Does it have to be this minute, I happen to be up to
my elbows in broken bones and concussions at the moment…" She looks back down. Dani reaches
down and clears Anna's desk. Anna is now quite annoyed with the 52 pick-up done to the medical files
of about 20 players. She looks at Dani in silence. Dani knows she is over reacting and she doesn't know
why. This is not like her but she can't stop herself. "You want to know how I know Nico?"
"I think I have a right to know. I want the truth." Anna looks at her. She has no idea why Dani has had a
grudge against since the first day but at this point… she is equally pissed. The shouting has drawn both
Matt's and Nico's attention as they head down towards Anna's office. Anna thinks for a moment. Well
she started the code red…. "You can't handle the truth." She reaches behind her and grabs a frame
from the desk behind her and shoves it at Dani. She walks out of her office grabbing her bag on the
way out of the door.
Dani is stunned by what Anna handed her. Anna storms passed both Nico and Matt without a word and
despite Matt's protest about the fact that it is Tuesday. Nico hits the door first. Dani is flustered and
staring at the picture. "What the hell just happened?" Dani thinks to herself... "I happened."
"Nico, why aren't you in this picture?" She hands Nico the frame. Nico is stunned by the fact that
Dani is standing in the middle of this chaos with a picture frame in her hand. Nico stares at the picture for a
moment as Matt hits the doorway. "What in God's name happened in here?" Dani looks at him with a blank expression.
"Dani, I'm not in the picture because I took this picture." Matt looks at the both of them for answers as
to why it looks like a bomb went off in Anna's office and he has the sneaking suspicion that it was a Dani
bomb. Nico is thinking back… if you want to hide something. Hide it in plain sight. How many times had
he been in this office and not seen that picture.
"How could you take a picture like that and not know who she is." Nico paces in the papers for a
moment lost in his own thoughts.
"Dani… because the person in this picture is Lt. Commander A. Sullivan… known as Sully… she wasn't
Adrianna Starr. Matt sees the picture. It is of Anna, Marshall Pittman and several other people dressed
in uniforms that he does not recognize. Matt looks up and sees matching picture with Nico in Marshall's
place behind her desk. Nico spies the same picture. "Who is she?" Nico looks up at Matt
and pulls his thoughts back. "Anna was a Navy flight surgeon attached to the Special Forces. She was
attached to our unit for a long time. She and Marshall were close friends." Nico remembers why
Anna's past is a blank. It is because she was attached to some rather significant events and now her
name change back to her original name. "She was married to a SEAL." Matt watches Nico's expressions
as he responds.
"What happened to change that?" Nico looks up at Matt. "I don't know but her contract with us is not
random chance. It would have been Marshall's idea."
