In life there were two things she feared the most; rejection and being left alone. He didn't bug her like he used to and that meant he didn't care to know what was bothering her even if it wasn't. Something told her not to be mistrustful but she knew that wasn't really her; she had survived this long by never underestimating what someone was capable of; especially a man. What irked her most was his oblivious happiness of which reason told her to leave well alone. For him to be that happy she must have been doing something right. Or…fuck! She thought.

Back in Sacramento, she once heard someone say 'There's nothing more dangerous than a woman left alone with her suspicion.' Running the curling iron through her hair one last time, she agreed. Before she knew it she was at a club in Adams Morgan with a group of 'friends' she called solely for that purpose. They were regulars and she remembered what that felt like. Robyn's Who's that girl was blaring and her back was furthest from the wall. In fact she danced until the balls of her feet were on fire. To her the men were commonplace but the high wasn't; she used to do this every night and wondered why she ever stopped. She was one Harvey Wallbanger away from dancing on a table and only a 911 call from Nina could stop her.

"What's wrong?" She yelled over the noise in the restroom.

"With you? A lot, clearly. And why are you yelling? Where are you? Do you know it's four a.m.?"

"Already? Damn."

"Yeah. Damn. Where are you?

"I'm grown Mom."

"Then get your grown ass home."

"I can't."

"You have a car don't you?"

"In this neighbourhood?"

"This isn't you Nikki."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You went to Phoenix which made you mad at yourself so you want to be mad at him by association. I get it, I've done it but one day you'll both realise all you have to fear is fear itself and then you can stop playing games and…" Nicole stopped her mother's good sense with a flip of the phone. She already knew her problem; she wasn't used to vying for Antonio's attention or someone else doting over him, because she didn't. That wasn't the way she loved him. She didn't know how and if her way stood in the real world and for a chilling moment in Phoenix she was taken by the thought that it didn't, that it lacked what she felt was so solid and potent when they were together and because of their rocky past; her insecurity told her they weren't forever, to which her reasoning yielded.

She crashed on the bed, alone and slept until the afternoon where she woke up the presence of a familiar visitor.

"I think it's creepy to watch people sleep. Just so you know."

"Are you okay?"

"I don't know."

"You should talk about it."

"I don't know if it matters anymore."

"It matters to me. Come on."

Jess' words became unintelligible as soon as she saw him, leaving the Agent from Maryland bemused on the phone.

"What are you doing here?" She asked in a more user-friendly tone than their previous encounters allowed.

"I'm heading back to Manhattan. I thought you should know." With all they shared, their whole relationship seemed reduced to a few words and an awkward silence. "I'm not leaving Jess; if that makes any sense." Somehow it did, and that's why a few weeks later when she received a pair of keys in the mail she kept them. Though for that moment, she had to avert a potential disaster. Nicole was in an unexpectedly pleasant mood while walking towards Antonio's office. Jess tried to stall her with news of what had happened in her absence but that only stretched so far.

"Where's Antonio?" Blood boiled in her veins and rid her of her conscience; her bad angel had her good angel in a headlock. The voice of the high-schooler inside of her took precedence.

Jess thought on her feet. "There's a seminar at Virginia State."

Unfortunately, Nicole's curiosity got the best of her and her intuition was proved right; Raquel was in the building, but now that she stood eye to eye with it, she didn't know what to do or say. Her stomach felt like a pit and though she couldn't hear what they were saying or decode the looks on their faces; she felt like the intruder. The high-schooler said it was okay to stab her but the woman with the full blown Phoenix fever didn't know what to do without embodying a madness that only accounted for a fraction of what she felt. All she could do was call Tobias Burke the Maryland SAIC from the John Doe case and agree to the undercover job he'd offered her a few days before.

Antonio went home to find the wrong woman doing laundry.

"My dryer broke. Actually I kicked it; then it broke. Where's Nicole?"

"I thought she was here." Nina shook her head. "I've been here for an hour."

He looked for a note, an action which brought on a painful feeling of déjà-vu, but instead of a divorce lawyer's letterhead, hers was written on the back of a flyer for a banana yellow 1970 Hemi Dodge Challenger Convertible. It was low on details and had a dubious 'I love you' written at the bottom. He called her as Nina left.

"You've reached Agent Nicole Scott, leave a message at the beep." Beep.