"What do you mean you won't be there?" Nicole lost the smile that had been on her face the entire day two months later. "Danny, you're the best man. You have to be at the engagement party."

"I'm sorry, Nick. Katie and I are going to Jamaica that week." Danny had purposely made the arrangements so he wouldn't have to be at that party. It was becoming increasingly hard for him to watch Nicole and Don together knowing that their happiness could have been his happiness if he hadn't been so stupid as to push Nicole away.

She let out a sigh. "I'd say that we'd wait for you to return because we really want you there, but I'm guessing you'd be out of town or working then too."

"Nikki, don't be like that."

"Look, Danny, I don't care if you want to come or not. I'm used to you acting like a spoiled brat, but Don isn't. Don is your best friend and he wants you at our engagement party and at our wedding in four months. I'm sure you are going to find something else to on New Year's Eve though."

"Whoa, Nicole, that was harsh."

"It was meant to be, Messer. I don't think you realize what your selfishness is doing to your friendship with Don and all because you realized, a little late, that you want to be with me. That's ridiculous."

"Whoa, you're the one being ridiculous, Nicole. Katie and I have had these Jamaica plans for weeks, since before I knew about your little engagement party. It has nothing to do with not wanting to see you and Don together."

"That's bullshit!"

"How the hell do you know that?"

"Because Katie called me up last night hysterical about how you keep calling her 'Nikki' and told me that the only reason you wanted to go to Jamaica is because you couldn't watch Don and I together anymore. We were too happy." He was silent. "You really need to stop getting drunk and calling your girlfriend."

"Nikki," his voice was softer as he spoke a few minutes later, "can I be honest with you?"

"It would be a nice change of pace, Messer."

"Hey!" Danny swallowed his anger. She was right. "OK, the truth is, I did realize, a little too late, that I screwed up, that it should be us planning an engagement party and a New Year's Day wedding, but I am not going to stand in the way of you being happy. You deserve to be happy."

"And so does Don. In order for Don to be happy, Danny, he needs his best friend at these parties. Think about him. We have to invite the partners from my firm and some of his father's friends in the NYPD brass that we really would love to leave out. It would be nice to have a friendly face there."

"OK, Nick. You have my word that I'll be at your wedding. I don't think I should cancel with Katie. Jamaica might be good for us."

"It worked for you and me." She finally smiled again as she thought back. "Just don't break up with her if she wants to take a better job." He laughed as she did.

Danny sat on a Jamaican beach two weeks later, a Red Stripe in one hand, and Katie holding on to the other, but he wasn't happy. This wasn't where he needed to be. The more he drank, the more the blonde to his left started looking like the blonde he wanted to be with. He'd fucked up, he'd pushed her away, and now she was happy with someone else. She deserved to be happy, even if it was with his best friend, but he missed her. Katie was warm, but insecure. Nicole, his Nickel, was warm, caring, confident, and strong, certainly stronger than he was given that he'd run away rather than face her smiling face looking with adoration at Don Flack.

As Nicole sat at the long table in the trendy restaurant in Midtown, Don's arm around her waist, all of their family and friends around them, she strangely missed Danny. In planning their engagement party, she thought that she and Don would be better off without Danny there to embarrass them and himself, but they weren't. She smiled ruefully and sipped her champagne. Don thought that her sadness was because she missed her parents, and she let him believe that because it was easier than telling him the truth. The truth was, she was used to her parents not being around given that they had both died in a plane crash when she was nineteen, it was Danny Messer that she missed because she was used to him being around.

Don kissed the top of his fiancé's head as they rode home from their engagement party. The taxi driver was taking the long way, but he didn't care. It gave him time to warm Nicole's cold feet. The entire day she'd had a forced smile on her face and a sadness in her blue eyes. He knew that was because Danny was away with another girl. Ever since he'd proposed, he'd noticed how she and Danny had suddenly started talking every day, Danny meeting her everyday after court. He knew that Danny was poaching; he'd seen it in his best friend's eyes. There was pain and sadness that was magnified when Nicole would walk into a room. Nicole and Danny had been together for almost three years, their breakup being hard and swift, neither of them knowing if the relationship had drawn it's close, so there were still strong feelings that remained. He knew that, but he wished, somehow, that Nicole would stop looking at Danny with a look of longing Don knew she'd never have for him.