Okay. wow.. that took WAY to long to get done. I apologize. I started it, then restarted it half a dozen times. I was just really unhappy with where it went. But this final incarnation makes me happy. So enjoy!

Jesus. Joel, what the Hell were you thinking?" Aidy was practically glaring at the detective. He'd come to her lab for a tox report and the lab tech had greeted him with that question. But, then, the man deserved it after the stunt he had pulled - assaulting a suspect on video. He half chuckled, smiling at her in that almost shy way of his that told her he was amused.

"I was thinking that I know what I'm doing," he told her, enigmatically. Oh! So, the boy's got a plan then. Joel was a smart cookie, Aidy knew, so the fact that he had something in the works eased her mind a great deal. For a bad moment, she'd thought he had gone stupid. Her expression changed to one of shrewd curiosity.

"You're not going to tell me, are you?" He shook his head.

"Nope. It's one of those things it's better you don't know."

Giving him a look of pouty petulance, she half whined, "But those are the best kind!" Adeliene handed over the report she knew he'd come for as he chuckled softly over the statement. "For your sake, I hope you do know what you're doing."

Joel nodded. "Me, too." His warm eyes narrowed at her ever so slightly. "On the same subject - hoping people know what they are doing - I hear you've been spending a lot of time with DDA McNorris. You sure that's wise?"

"Wise?" Aidy snorted. "Probably not. I could have picked a simpler way to spend my time."

"Aidy-"

She cut the man off with a smile. "Everyone is so concerned about the company I keep. You're the fourth person to talk to me about this."

His gaze was sincere when he asked, "Are you noticing a pattern?"

"Yes," the girl confirmed, nodding thoughtfully. "None of my friends think much of my judgment or intelligence. Which hurts." She put on a mocked hurtful expression.

"That's not what we're saying," Joel protested.

"I know, I know," Aidy assured him,. "You're just worried about me." She waved her hand at nothing, as if shooing away the idea. "I appreciated the sentiment, but I'm not some gullible little chit and McNorris ain't Svengali." Aidy snorted and Joel chucked again. She began to organize some papers on her desk. "The guy just needs a friend."

"So, you're just friends, then?" Though his tone was even and his question reasonable, Aidy knew he was thinking incredulous thoughts.

"Give me a little credit, Stevens," she said with a smirk. "The last thing I want, need, or would do is to get involved with someone like David. I want someone whose gonna take care of me, not the other way around."

It was that half-derogatory statement that seemed to put the detective at ease. Adeliene was relieved. When she'd had this conversation with Ray two says before, she'd eventually just given up and told him to mind his own damned business and feed his Krispy Kreme habit, because he was grouchy when he's jonesin'. Which, somehow, had maintained the good will between them, but - as a side effect- had increased the officer's already considerable animosity towards the Deputy DA.

The Deputy DA, who had just entered her lab.

"Well, speak of the Devil," Joel quipped. David smiled engagingly.

"Oh, come on, detective, lawyers aren't the Devil," he reminded the other man. "We just work for him."

Joel chuckled, lifting a hand to Aidy in parting, and left the room.

"Just work for him?" Aidy asked with a grin. "Like a mall Santa?"

David laughed. "That's cute. I'll have to remember that one," he said with a smile. "So, I got your message." He took a Post-It from his suit jacket pocket and held it up to read. "Be at my lab before five or I'll come and find you. And I know a guy." Aidy grinned at the monotone way he spoke the message she had left for him with his secretary. "It's a good thing Tracy isn't the suspicious type. She might get the wrong idea."

Aidy snorted, shutting down her computer and gathering her things. "Speaking which, how goes things with Marian?"

David's eyes fell away from hers. "Not good," he told her as he opened the door and gestured for her to pass. "She's still not answering her phone, not returning my calls. Not that I blame her."

"Blame's got nothing to do with it." Aidy turned to regard him seriously as they waited for the elevator. "She doesn't know about your father, does she?"

Pale brows shot up towards equally pale hair. "Know what?" the lawyer asked, evasively. That was all the answer she needed. Her earlier hunch had been right and Mrs. Marian knew nothing of her husband's damaged core. Nothing specific anyway; there was no way she didn't know something was very wrong inside David McNorris. Aidy let the subject go for now, knowing better than to push him when his walls were up.

Once safely cloistered in the elevator and on their way to the parking garage, David turned to her. "So, what's on the Fixing David McNorris agenda for tonight?" he asked. She smirked.

It was true, Adeliene had been doing her best to try and put a few things that were out of joint in David's life back into their proper places. At first, he had resisted, but he'd finally given in. She knew it wasn't because she was so persistent, but she did wonder if it was because her efforts made him feel better or if he was just lonely. Since officially becoming David's friend, Aidy had broken his anti-social habit of working through lunch almost completely. And even managed to get him out of the office and/or house for an evening once in a while. She couldn't be with him all the time, though, and knew he still drank himself to sleep every night. It made her twist inside to think about it, but it wasn't anything she could fix. Not instantly, anyway. One step at a time.

"Remember how I said you need a hobby?"

"Constantly."

She smiled. "Well, I know you play hockey. Dashle plays for this amateur league team and they are holding try-outs for their season tonight."

The blonde man held up his hands, warding her off. "Oh, no. You want me to join a hockey league?" he scoffed. "I'm a DA. I don't have time to skate around with a bunch of-"

Aidy held up a warning finger. "Before you say anything insulting, remember I just told you it's Dashle's team." He took the hint and didn't finish the sentence. The doors opened and they stepped into the garage, heading for their cars. "A lot of the men in the league are professional types - doctors, stock brokers, even lawyers. I didn't say you had to do it. Just come with us."

"Us?" They both paused, for this was where they would have to split up to get to their assigned parking spaces. DDA's get much better parking than lab technicians.

"The rink is only closed for tryouts for about an hour before closing. Megan and the kids are going. I was invited along. I invited you along. Just talk to Dashle about it. If you try out, fine, if not, fine." She made a cutting motion with her hands to indicate that would be the end of the discussion. "But it'll be fun. Besides," she gave him a shy smile, eyes twinkling impishly. "I need someone to teach me how to skate. And Gaelen is too small."

He joined her in a laugh at the image of the child trying to keep her on her feet on the ice. Then, David lifted and dropped his hands in defeat. "Okay. I'll go. No promises on the league, though." He gave her a pointed look with those eyes of his and she nodded, gave him the address of the rink and time, and they both went their separate ways.

"Ah!" FWUMP! Whine. "Ow, my junk trunk!"

"What?"

Aidy glared up into obnoxiously blue eyes, which was hard to pull off because she was still grinning. She took the hand David offered and hissed to him as he pulled her to her rather unsteady feet.

"I'm surrounded by kids, man! I can't say 'ass'."

Gaelen -who stood patiently nearby- giggled, hand over his mouth, looking absolutely adorable. David grinned at the boy. "So much for that plan."

Adeliene laughed and wagged her finger at Dashle's youngest. "You didn't hear that from me, you understand?" He shook his head, grinning like the imp he was and skated off as nimbly as an ice pixie in Fantasia. The girl groaned, watching him with envious eyes. "Why not me?" she pouted. David laughed again.

"You're not doing terrible for your first try," he assured her. He held both of her hands and skated backwards before the girl, leading her across the calm center portion of the ice, safely away from the circling people who knew how to skate.

"For a lawyer, you're a terrible liar," she muttered, eyes on her traitorous rental skates. Like roller blading my ass! McNorris chuckled and Aidy kept hating him for being so at ease on the ice, where she was about as graceful as a hippo.

Though he'd been a bit aloof and uncomfortable around Dashle's family, it hadn't taken David very long to loosen up once Aidy got him out on the ice. It wasn't all her, though, Gaelen had helped a great deal. The boy was just naturally gregarious and obviously loved to see people smile. Ten minutes on the ice and he had David spinning him in circles, skates swinging through the air. This, of course, drew RJ and Maya like flies and soon David had the good will of all three Hermes children.

"I suck," Adeliene said forlornly. The blonde's brows furrowed and he smiled sympathetically.

"You'll get better with practice," he promised.

"How would you know? You were born knowing how to skate," she accused. He chuckled, carefully drawing her forward. The man really did move across the frozen surface like he'd always known how. He was totally at home on the rink and it showed. His smiles came easily and every one was genuine. He laughed and the shadows Aidy always saw in his eyes, while not gone, were definitely driven back. He was not DDA McNorris or Damaged Dave, though both of those incarnations were still present below the surface, he was just David.

It made her happy to see him at ease. Even his clothing was the most relaxed she'd ever seen him don, with the exception of the pajamas she, herself, had dressed him in. David wore simple jeans, that looked like this was maybe the fourth him he'd ever put them on, and a black pull-over with a zippered neck. He looked almost like a different person when he wasn't in a suit and every time the girl saw him thus, she was taken aback at the transformation. David might look dapper in a three piece, but if given the choice, Adeliene would go with flannel PJs or jeans any day.

"Bend your knees a little, don't be so stiff," the man instructed gently, for the third time. Aidy made an impatient sound.

"Last time I did that, I ended up on my ashtribula," she reminded him unhappily, but it only made him grin incredulously at her.

"Now, you're just making words up."

"Hush, McNorris!" she warned, then squeaked when one of her skates almost came out from under her. "Son of a! That's it, I quit. Take me back to the benches."

The man gave her a look of somber disappointment. "Quitter," he accused.

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I just said that. And don't look at me in that tone of voice. I'm the one who's go bruises all over my tailgate." David grinned. She tried not to be annoyed that he found her euphemisms so endlessly amusing, but it was difficult in her current bruised and generally disgruntled state. He slide easily behind her. "What are you doing?"

She would have turned to look at him, but knew from before -when Gaelen had called her name- that it would only end with her on her tush again. David placed a steadying hand on her shoulder for a moment before resting both his paws lightly on her hips.

"Skate. If you fall, I'll catch you and then you won't hurt your stern," he said, giving her a little push.

"Oh, that's clever." Aidy did as he said, tentatively propelling herself forward in a small oval.

"There, see? Now, bend your knees."

She smiled as she made it around her tiny circuit a whole two times. But her ass was magnetically attracted to the ice and it took massive amounts of concentration to keep the two apart. David skated just behind her, giving a constant stream of feedback on her form and words of encouragement. Gaelen came shooting passed with Dashle and gave her a big double thumbs up before the two zoomed away again.

"He really is a cute kid," McNorris said. Aidy nodded, lip caught between her teeth.

"He likes you."

"Everyone likes me."

The girl snorted at his cocky tone. "For some reason, I had the idea you were one of those guys that's- Whoa!" One skate slipped beneath her and she would have gone down if not for the bracing hands David curled around her waist. His mitts were pleasantly warm against her in the cold air of place. Once she was steady again, he let go and dropped back a little.

"One of those guys that?" he prompted.

"Is uncomfortable around kids," the tech finished her thought.

"I love kids," he admonished. "Where would you get that idea?"

She shrugged. "Must be the suit and the foofy furniture. I really hate your house, David," the girl said, glancing over her shoulder. "It's pink." She said that as if it were an offense against nature.

"Well, I didn't buy it for me," he said. She knew he was about to get maudlin, thinking about the incommunicative Marian.

"Well, that much is obvious. You're more of a periwinkle kinda guy." Her quip had the desired effect and he chuckled. While Aidy encouraged the man to talk about Marian and their problems, skating around an ice rink, surrounded by happy people, was not the proper time nor place. Especially when he should be focusing on keeping her vertical. "You're getting the hang of it," he told her, sounding almost proud. Adeliene's mind was suddenly dominated by the rather sweet image of David coaching his own child this way. An adorable little boy or girl with his eyes and charming smile.

"You're jinxing me," she warned. But in saying, she'd jinxed herself. Her skate hit a slick patch of ice and she lost her balance. With an undignified squeal, her hands went up and the rest of her went down.

"Oof!" She had landed on something firm and warm and oofy instead of the unforgivingly hard glacial surface. "I think you broke my spleen."

She laughed, tilting her head back and to the side to look at the man beneath her back. "Myyyyyyy hero!" she cooed with a grin. David scoffed and gave her shoulders and ineffectual shove. He'd slid forward as she fell and cushioned her landing rather chivalrously. The two now lay on the ice, arms and legs akimbo, Aidy laughing at her savior.

Dashle had apparently seen them go down, and came skating over with Megan and the kids. He offered her a hand up. She accepted - begrudgingly, because he was laughing at her. He and Megan helped her back to the side of the rink and over to the benches so she could remove the evil, evil rental skates, while David limped dramatically behind, aided by Gaelen and a giggling, blushing Maya.

"If I don't make the cut now, it's your fault," McNorris told her, smirking and rubbing his thigh where she had landed on him the hardest.

"So, you are going to try out?" Dashle asked. David shrugged, looking thoughtful.

"I wanted to talk to you about that," he admitted. The two men wandered off to discuss manly, hockey things, leaving the women and chillun behind. Megan helped Aidy remove her skates while RJ helped Gaelen, somewhat wobbly, to the men's room.

"He's not what I expected," she of the crazy red curls told the tech, obviously referring to David. "The way you two talk about him, I was expecting some uptight jackass."

Maya giggled over her mother's mild profanity and gazed after David and her father.

"He is," Adeliene informed her, sighing with massive relief when she could wiggle her toes freely again. "When he's at work." And whenever you say something that makes him a little uncomfortable, and when he's in a bad mood, and... "When he's not all stressed out, David's not a bad guy at all."

"Makes you being friends with him a lot more understandable," Megan told her. The girl shrugged noncommittally.

"He's fun," Maya said, cheeks pink. Both Aidy and Megan tried to hide their grins.

"Yes," the child's mother said, obviously trying not to sound amused. "He's fun."

David did try out for Dashle's team, the Ice Rays. The captain told him they would be making their final decisions that night and would give him a call the following day to let him know if he made the cut. Dashle gave him a grin then that told Aidy McNorris didn't need to worry his pretty, blonde head over whether he'd passed muster or not. The little voice in her head (that sounded painfully like Lisa) chuckled very like a cartoon villain and rubbed her hands - if a voice in your head could rub its hands. Excellent. It was a big step, assuming he actually kept on with the team. It solved the problem of getting him manly friends. Adeliene could be many things for David, but an actual dude was not one of them.

As the two headed to their cars, they chatted happily about the events of the evening.

"That little one, Gaelen is quiet taken with you."

The girl smiled affectionately. "He's a cutie."

"You know, he warned me away from you," David told her, eyes twinkling even in the crappy yellowish light thrown by the parking lot lights. "He pulled me aside and told me I can't marry you, because he is going to when he turns ten."

Adeliene's brow furrowed and she made a loud "awe" sound at the adorableness of that. "That's the cutest thing ever!" The man chuckled, jingling his keys. It was an action she might have called nervous in another person. And it might have been accurate, given the way his expression became suddenly sincere.

"Thank you, Aidy," he said, then, voice matching his face. "For tonight, for everything. I might not show it, but it does mean a lot to me."

She smiled, giving him a reassuring pat on his upper arm. "It shows, David."

Her internal Lisa crowed with triumph at the little exchange as McNorris waved good-bye and headed off to his car. She had been telling the truth, it did show. But that didn't mean they didn't still have a long way to go, or that one mistake could fuck the whole thing up and she'd have to start all over again. Being a good friend is hard work. She frowned at the voice as she unlocked her own car.

"Shut up," she told the voice once she was safely in her car and no one would find it insane that she was talking to herself. "You're dead."

Dead is a relative term. That sounded just like something Lisa would say, too. Damn.

Like it? The idea was to show another side of David, I hope you all enjoyed it like i did. Hopefully the next chapter will come easier. -crosses fingers- thanks for being patient!