Meant to Be - PG-13
Pairing: Danny/Mary
Disclaimer: I don't own Las Vegas. Things would be a lot different if I did.

Chapter 10

Mary was having the most amazing dream. She was lying on a beach--the bright sun shining down on her and a glorious breeze wafting by. She could feel Danny's hands softly caressing her bare legs as he kissed his way up her thigh.

"Mmmmm," she moaned.

Danny's rough chuckle vibrated against her leg and sent tingles all the way down to her toes.

"Wake up sleeping beauty," his voice broke through her slumber.

Mary slowly opened her eyes to a smirking Danny. Unfortunately, unlike the one in her dream, this Danny was wearing way too many clothes.

Her mouth instantly formed a pout and Danny chuckled again.

"Why are you dressed? What time is it?"

"It's almost 6AM. I've got to head to the Talavera jobsite. We're way behind and I want to see if I can get some of the paperwork caught up before the guys get there and I have to start kicking some butt."

"What are we going to do about my car? It's still on the other side of town."

"Do you think one of the girls could pick you up this morning? We can go get it later when I take you to a late lunch."

Mary beamed as she sat up with her back against the headboard, "You're taking me to lunch?"

"I need to come by and talk to Ed about some things. I think we need to figure out as soon as possible what Penny is up to," Danny said seriously, letting the implications of that statement hang in the air between them.

Being with Danny last night had been so wonderful that for a few moments this morning Mary had completely forgotten about the incident with Penny.

She quickly shook off the dread that was starting to build in the pit of her stomach.

"Okay. I'll see you later then?"

"I'll be there." Danny smiled; relieved she was handling everything so well.

He gave her a quick kiss on the mouth before heading out the door.

Later that day Danny walked into the Montecito. One of the things he missed most about not working at the casino was not having access to its resources. He hated having to rely on other people, but in this case he had no choice. He would do anything to protect Mary and that included swallowing his pride and asking Ed for help.

Lost in thought, Danny rounded a bank of slot machines and ran straight into Mike, literally.

"Whoa, Buddy! Long time no see. The construction business must be keeping you pretty busy, huh?"

"Among other things," Danny replied cryptically.

"Listen, Mike, is Ed around?"

"Yeah, he should be upstairs. You thinkin' about coming back, man?"

"No, but I could use both of your help with a little problem."

They both headed through the door marked "Employees Only" and proceeded upstairs to the security room. Having seen Danny's arrival on the monitors, Ed was waiting in his office.

"Glad to see you finally came to your senses," he said with his back to the door.

"Excuse me?" Danny was confused.

"Well, aren't you here to beg for your old job back?"

Danny shook his head and rolled his eyes, "Sorry to disappoint you, Ed, but my visit has nothing to do with business."

"Then why are you wasting my time? I've got a casino to run and in case you hadn't heard, I'm a little short-staffed."

Danny ignored the jab and tried his best to explain the sordid details of the last twenty-four hours.

When he was finished there was silence for a moment before Mike spoke.

"So, you and that realtor never hooked up before? I thought you said she was all over you?"

"She was, but I wasn't interested," Danny replied.

"What's wrong with you, man? She was hot," he blurted out.

"…And obviously psycho! You need to focus, Mike. Besides, I just told you I'm back with Mary now."

"Sorry. I was just trying to possibly understand her motivation."

"Yeah, whatever." Danny's patience was starting to wane.

"I want to know if you can do some research on Penny. See if she has anything in her history that would give me a clue as to why she would do something like this."

"Maybe you just have that kind of effect on women."

"I knew this was a mistake," Danny said, rising from his seat to pace the length of the office.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry, man. I was just giving you a hard time."

Danny stopped and ran both hands through his hair. Sighing, he turned to Mike.
"This is serious, Mike. I'm not worried about me, but this girl obviously has issues. What if she tries to hurt Mary?"

Mike sobered immediately, realizing the seriousness of the situation.

Throughout this whole exchange Ed remained silent, obviously running through all the possibilities in his head. Things had been strained between them the last few months, but Danny hoped they could put that aside for now.

After a few moments Danny asked hesitantly, "So, Ed, can you help me out?"

"Yeah, kid, we'll do some digging. You just take care of Mary."

"I will," the relief was evident in Danny's voice as he shook Ed's hand.

"We'll let you know as soon as we find something out."

Danny felt lighter as he walked through the casino looking for Mary. He knew with Ed on the case this Penny situation would be resolved in no time. He spotted Mary standing near the front desk writing on her clipboard.

"Come here often?" he asked doing his best Rico Suave impression.

"You know if you're going to woo me you'd better get some new material," she replied without turning around.

He wrapped his arms around her from behind and rested his head on her shoulder.

"I should warn you. I'm expecting my boyfriend any minute," she teased.

"Well, he'll just have to wait in line."

Mary giggled as Danny's kisses tickled her neck. She slowly turned around in his arms so she could get a better look at him.

"How'd it go?"

"Good. Ed's going to look into it. So where would you like to go for lunch?" Danny quickly changed the subject.

"Lucky Burger!" She yelled excitedly.

"Are you serious? I thought you'd want to go somewhere nice."

"I've been craving Lucky Burger for weeks, but if you wanted to go somewhere fancy…"

"Nope--Lucky Burger sounds great to me. I'm just happy you're still such a cheap date."
Danny moved quickly to avoid her playful smack, almost taking out the large flower arrangement near the exit door.

"You're going to pay for that comment later, Mister," Mary tried to sound serious, but could do little to hide her smile.

"Oh, I'm counting on it," he replied as he kissed her quickly and led her to the car.