A/N: So I have no scheduled updating days anymore, I just post whatever I have written as I feel like it. That work for you? I hope so :) Oh, btw, this chapter? The one you've all been waiting for ;)
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 11
"And before I could say anything, she ploughed right into Johnny DiMarco, practically flattening him into his locker," Lindsay finished her story with a giggle she couldn't help. "If it were me, I'd've been wishing my life would end, but not Winter. She totally took advantage of the situation, if you know what I mean..."
"I think we can guess," Dani cut her daughter off, unsure whether she was more embarrassed for herself or for Nico who was smirking for all he was worth.
Lindsay just didn't have a volume control or a much-needed mute button. Her tales of high school fun were fine when it was just the three of them, but in front of company, Dani felt somewhat awkward. Maybe she wouldn't have last time Nico was here, but somehow things were just different now. When she looked at the fixer she didn't just seen her good friend and work colleague anymore. She was getting all these other thoughts and feelings, dirty dreams that she was losing control of, and wandering thoughts that were just not appropriate for a woman not even yet divorced and barely broken up from her last relationship!
"Mom?" said Ray Jay for the third time, snapping her out of a daze she barely noticed she was in.
"Dani, are you okay?" asked Nico, his hand on her arm making her jump much more violently than it should have, but then given where her mind had wandered too, it wasn't entirely surprising.
"I'm sorry," she apologised immediately, painting on a smile. "I guess I got a little distracted there. Um, is everyone ready for dessert?" she checked, moving to get up.
"I'll help," Nico told her, only to have her snap at him.
"No! No, I mean, no, it's fine," she said quickly. "Really, I can manage."
"Okay," he nodded once, though he was looking at her oddly, presumably trying to work out what was wrong with her.
Dani hoped he didn't ask since having to explain right now, especially in front of the kids, would be bad, oh so very bad.
"Great food, Mom, as always," Ray Jay smiled as she cleared away the plates.
"Absolutely," their guest agreed. "I know you all told me how great that chicken parmesan was but honestly? That was even more delicious than I could've imagined, Dani."
"Thank you," the hostess all but blushed as she hurried off to the kitchen.
Lindsay watched her mother go, eyes on the kitchen door until she saw it firmly shut behind her. She leaned over the table so far then, Nico thought she was going to fall into his wine glass, when she started whispering loudly (if such a thing were possible).
"Thank you so much for not telling Mom about the whole J.D. thing," she said with genuine gratitude apparently.
"Seriously, dude, that was cool," Ray Jay agreed. "Mom would've killed us if she knew we asked you to look into her boyfriend like that."
Nico smiled and sipped at his drink. They were good kids, and he supposed he really had done them a favour by not letting Dani know they asked him to research J.D. Aldridge before. The fact of the matter was he probably would've done it anyway given half the chance. Oh, who was he kidding? Of course he would've done it, at the very first opportunity he got! He cared way too much about Dani to let her date a potentially dangerous man. Besides, if he could find any fault worth exploiting, he would have done it. It was childish and maybe even creepy, but Nico could live with that. He'd been called much worse before now.
"It's fine, no problem" he assured the teens. "Your Mom understands that I was just looking out for her and I apologised if I over-stepped. We never need mention it again, okay?" he advised, knowing that a slip of the tongue in front of Dani might yet get them all into trouble again.
"Mom's the word," said Lindsay, tapping the side of her nose, and making Ray Jay laugh as Dani returned with a cheesecake balanced on one hand and dishes in the other.
"What? What did I miss?" she asked, off Ray Jay's over-zealous smile and trying not to laugh all the more.
"I was just telling a funny story of my own," said Nico, covering once again for the mini Santinos - it seemed he just couldn't help himself.
"Oh really?" asked Dani curiously. "People in your line of work have funny stories?" she checked, as she began serving dessert.
"Judge for yourself," he shrugged, as he began his tale.
Before long, the whole family were in fits of uncontrollable giggles. So far, it was a great night.
It was getting late and tomorrow was a school day, so Dani had insisted the kids go off to bed. She got very little resistance actually, and couldn't help but wonder if Nico's presence was the reason. Looking like brats in front of company didn't always bother Ray Jay and Lindsay but they did seem to have some strange respect for Nico. It was nice, and a definite positive, Dani decided, that her kids liked a guy that she liked so much. It could only be a good thing, though she daren't let her imagination wander again as to why, at least not now. Finally, she and Nico were alone, glasses of wine in their hands as they shared the couch and a comfortable silence for a few moments.
"Thank you for coming over tonight, Nico," she said then. "I really enjoyed the adult company."
"Well, thank you for inviting me," he smiled back at her, clinking his wine glass against her own. "And y'know Lindsay and Ray Jay really aren't as bad as you think sometimes," he assured her.
"Oh, I know," she sighed. "They're good kids, underneath all the snark and the tantrums," she laughed lightly, moving to put her wine on the coffee table then sinking back into the cushions with her eyes closed a moment. "Still, being the equivalent of a single Mom is not always easy. I guess I didn't think much about them losing their father when I threw out my husband."
Nico didn't really know what to say to that. For himself, he had to be glad Ray was out of the picture. If not, he and Dani would probably never have met, and he certainly wouldn't have the opportunity to be close to her like this. She was such a singular woman; a good therapist, a good mother, an incredible cook apparently. On top of that she was beautiful, inside and out, and Nico knew he hadn't felt this way about another woman in years, not since he and Gabrielle were in deep.
"Hey," Dani's voice cut through his thoughts and Nico finally realised how far he'd drifted from reality. "You okay? You look ready to run out on me again."
Dani looked genuinely concerned as she sat up a little straighter and tried to meet his gaze. Of course Nico knew she was referring the one other time he had been invited for dinner with the Santino family. Just as soon as his quiet conversation with Dani turned to kids, he had bolted like a frightened rabbit, without ever explaining himself.
It wasn't fair and she deserved better. Besides, with the rumours that were circulating about the Pittmans and their relationship issues lately, he could really use someone to talk to about this. Two birds, one stone, it made sense. Dani could know him better, he could keep his word about never lying to her, and maybe take a little weight of his own shoulders into the bargain.
"Nico," her hand on his arm and the concern in her eyes when they met his was enough to convince him.
"I have to tell you something," he admitted, voice barely above a whisper as his hand covered hers. "But… it's very private," he said a little awkwardly, looking toward the stairs.
It wasn't that he didn't like the kids or even that he didn't trust them, but they were just teenagers and this was more than a little serious.
"Okay," Dani nodded in apparent understanding, her hand turning over to grasp his fingers and pulling him up with her when she stood.
They went through to the kitchen, checking the pantry on the way for anyone who might've crept in (Dani's Ma perhaps!), and then bolted the door behind them as they passed into the office.
Dani flicked on the lights and Nico turned a full circle, presumably checking for anyone outside the window or door. He really was a suspicious person by nature, but Dani knew that wasn't his fault, and made him just about perfect for his job. Still, the audio scrambling device he explained then as he put it on the table still took her by surprise somehow.
Sitting down in her usual armchair, Dani pulled her legs up underneath her and waited for Nico to sit down as well. He didn't. All he did was pace up and down the room at least six times, until finally on the next pass, Dani grabbed at his hand and stopped him.
"Nico, come on," she urged him. "If you have something to tell me, I wish you'd just say it," she told him, trying not to let the shake in her voice show too much.
This was a little cloak and dagger even for the fixer, and honestly he was starting to scare her. She had sort of hoped whatever he had to tell her might be some positive thing about liking her a lot or similar. That seemed shallow and vapid, Dani knew, but she couldn't help herself. When he got to looking so very serious, with the audio scrambler and the pacing, now she was genuinely concerned. In his line of work, Nico got involved with all kinds of unsavoury people and dealings. She opened her mouth to ask jokingly if he killed someone, but shut it again fast when she realised maybe that really was why they were here...
"You know that Pittman has a family, right?" he said at last, moving to sit down on the couch at last. "A wife and a daughter?"
"I do," Dani nodded once. "Well, a wife and a kid, I didn't know specifically a daughter…"
"Juliette," he confirmed. "His wife is named Gabrielle, and her daughter is Juliette," he smiled some, despite how serious the situation appeared to be. "I, er… Before Marshall and Gabrielle got married, I was seeing her," said Nico, though he barely looked at Dani at all, eyes focused on the carpet between his feet and elbows rested on his knees. "Once they were married, we didn't exactly stop being involved."
"Wow," said the therapist, completely blown away by the revelation, but before she had a chance to say or even think any more about it, the second announcement came.
"I don't know for sure, but Gabrielle has always implied that… that Juliette was mine, not Marshall's daughter," said Nico all in a rush at last.
He looked up then, not entirely surprised to see Dani's jaw working up and down, with no sound coming out. He had shocked her, as he was sure he would, but even so, Dr Santino usually had an answer for everything in there somewhere. On this one occasion, he seemed to have managed to render her completely speechless.
"Wow," she repeated after a few seconds more. "I mean… I guess now I see why my asking you about secret children hit a nerve."
"You couldn't've known, Dani. Nobody does, that's the point," Nico told her. "It's just now that there are rumours about the Pittman's divorcing, I know it's going to become an issue again, whether Gabrielle had affairs and…"
"Which she did," said Dani straight out, interrupting Nico without hesitation. "She did... or she is?" she posed her question carefully, unsure whether she even had a right to ask.
The fact was, she and Nico were good friends, but not officially anything more. They had never been on a date, never really kissed, never professed any feelings that way. She possessed such feelings, that much Dani was clear on, but she had no claim on the fixer, she knew that all too well.
"The affair is in the past," he promised her faithfully and she believed every word as she always did from him. "There were… lapses," he admitted. "As recently as last year actually, but for the most part it's been over a long time."
"Uh-huh," Dani nodded along, not really sure what else she was supposed to say.
So Nico was free, single, and available still, that ought to please her, but right now she was a little too bowled over by the idea that this man, this seemingly honest and wonderful man, had an affair with his bosses wife, on and off for years. Plus he may in fact be the biological father of the heir to the Pittman fortune.
The silent treatment was making Nico more than a little uncomfortable. He wanted to tell Dani this truth, wanted her to know and to understand, but all he seemed to have achieved was shocking and disgusting her. That hurt more than anything else in this whole sorry business.
"I should go," he said getting up fast then, but his stopping to pick up the audio scrambler gave Dani time to react and catch him.
"No, please don't," she urged him, her hands to his arms, encouraging him to stay put as she looked up and met his eyes. "I'm just surprised is all. Very, very surprised, but you don't have to leave. I don't want you to."
"With what happened between you and Ray, I guess I thought you'd be disgusted, with me being involved in an extra-marital affair," he admitted, hoping that her behaviour now might just be proving him wrong.
"That is completely different!" she insisted. "First of all, you weren't cheating on anybody, not really, since you weren't married then… right?"
"That is true," he agreed.
"Okay, and second of all, you at least show some remorse for your actions," she insisted, already knowing it was true from how he struggled to tell her the truth, how he wanted to bolt from her sight right after. "Ray never cared what he did and I don't think he ever will. You're a way, way better man than him, Nico, you truly are."
"Thank you, Dani," he smiled down at her in such a way that she would've sworn her insides melted. "You're a hell of a woman, Dani Santino. You are. You're... a good friend," he made himself say, not that it wasn't true but just because it reminded him that kissing her now would not actually be a good plan, no matter how strong the urge.
"Well, you're not so bad yourself," she told him, feeling ridiculously girlish for her age. "Nico, you have to know you mean a lot to me. Maybe more than you should…"
That was all the encouragement Nico needed to give in, and so he did. Dani's next words, whatever they might've been and even she wasn't sure, were lost when his lips covered hers in a searing kiss to rival those of her most vivid dreams about him. Dani felt like she was drowning, and yet at the same time, being saved from just exactly that fate, as the moment went on and then was abruptly over. There they stood, arms around each other now, breathing hard, his forehead resting on hers.
"What are we doing?" he asked her seriously though a smile played around those lips that had just thrilled her in ways she never could have imagined.
"I don't know," she admitted. "Probably something that's not the best idea for either of us right now."
"Probably not," he agreed and yet when her eyes met his again, he already knew she was going to initiate another kiss and he was going to let her.
They both had to be crazy. As much as they liked each other, this was hardly a good plan. She was in the middle of a messy divorce and just recently broken up with another boyfriend. He had just confessed to an affair with the wife of their boss, and possible fatherhood of a child by that same woman. Still, this was what both Dani and Nico had been wanting for a while now, and it really felt too good to give up already.
"Nico, we really shouldn't," said Dani breathlessly as she pulled away just enough to speak. "I mean, I'm not sorry this is happening, but it's getting late, and I have T.K.'s appointment tomorrow morning."
It was ridiculous as excuses go, and they both knew it. Of course, they also knew that if they let this situation go any further it was only going to end one way. With the failed relationships they already had on both their records, this was one they really didn't want to screw up. Slowing down, if only just for now, seemed sensible.
"I should go," said Nico, trying to think of anything else but the feel of Dani's arms around him, her lips attached to his own. "Um, work is going to be crazy with the game coming up and everything," he rambled in a way he wouldn't usually, such was the effect she could have on him.
"Crazy, yeah," Dani agreed as they stepped apart, the pair of them looking around absently a moment as if they didn't remember where they were.
A moment later, Nico was letting himself out of the back door, hoping that if nothing else the fresh air would bring his bearings back. Dani followed and there they stood either side of the threshold, meaning to say goodnight and yet not quite doing it.
"I'll see you tomorrow, I guess," she said eventually.
"You probably will," he replied, somehow unable to turn away yet.
Dani felt her breath hitch once again as his hand slid into her hair and pulled her head closer until they shared one last sweet kiss.
Finally, Nico walked away, and Dani breathed a sigh of contentment. That wasn't exactly how she had expected this evening to go, not at all, but she really couldn't find a way to be sorry about it. She only hoped that Nico could say the same.
To Be Continued...