Lacey stood in the bathroom mirror silently judging her outfit choice. She purposefully chose not to wear anything too dressy and she wore light makeup. That last thing she was trying to do was give Danny any romantic ideas about this dinner.

"Going somewhere?" Clara said as she suddenly appeared in the bathroom doorway.

"Um... I going to have dinner at Danny's," she said exiting the bathroom, walking pass a shocked Clara.

"I'm sorry—did you say dinner with Danny…As in Danny Desai?"

Lacey rolled her eyes at her sisters' dramatics. "Yes Clara. I think I said that clear enough the first time."

"Someone's snappy. You can't blame me for being surprised. I mean you have been hesitant about being around him," Clara reminded Lacey.

"You're right, what am I doing? This is stupid. I'm not going to go," Lacey said as she sat on the edge of the bed.

Clara sat down next to her sister. "No you can't do that. If you cancel and Danny finds out it was because of me he'd probably hate me forever." She breathed in frustration. "Look Lacey all I'm saying is that I'm glad to see your attitude towards Danny has changed. He's trying really hard to be your friend again."

"I know that. That's all tonight is…It's a dinner between two friends," she said reassuringly for not only Clara's understanding but her own as well.

"Well then," Clara said standing, "I'm going to let you finish getting ready. You guys have fun and I'll see you when you get back."

Lacey did one more mirror check and grabbed her coat and purse. Tonight, she thought, would be a fun, low key evening with an old friend.

Danny grabbed the last remaining part of the meal out of the oven. He was sure that he was making this dinner between him and Lacey out of more than it actually was. He knew she probably only agreed to the dinner to thank him for his friendly support at the hospital. Regardless of her reasons, he was just happy that she wasn't scared to be alone with him after what happened in her car the last time.

Hearing the doorbell, he almost fell over from the nervousness in his stomach. He looked around and went to answer the door. Lacey stood before him, looking just as nervous as he was. "Hey Lace, you look beautiful."

So much for a simple outfit, Lacey thought to herself. "It's just a plain dress. It's definitely not the best thing in my closet."

Danny didn't doubt that but still it wasn't everyday he got to see Lacey in casual wear let alone a dress of any kind. "Still…you look nice. Come in," he said.

Lacey stepped in the door and looked around. She could tell from the outside that the place would be nice inside but it was way more beautiful than she had imagined. "I like your place. It's very…you."

"Thanks—I think. I hope that's a compliment. How was your day?" he asked as she followed him to the kitchen.

"My day was good. I spent most of with my mom. What about yours?"

"It was good…Spent most of mine with Sam and Jag. We saw a movie. He wanted to have a sleepover but I told him I had plans," he said smiling at her.

"I think its sweet how you are with him…with kids in general."

"Thanks. With his dad being away and Sam's brothers spread out across the country, I thought I could look after him. I wish I could be there more often. It's the least I could do after all Sam did for me when I moved to Florida."

Lacey didn't want to know about what Sam did for Danny after he left Green Grove. As much as he expressed how much he missed her in letters, the communication between them ceased and she knew he had found a way to move on without her. "I'm just happy he has you."

"It's not just him that needs me, I need him too. He's kind of my do over so to speak, a chance to have one good healthy relationship." He paused and went on, "But enough talking, I worked very hard on this dinner."

Lacey watched as Danny carried over a bowl of salad and two plates with oven roasted chicken, rice and a baked potato on it. He also brought a bottle of wine over and she decided even though she didn't drink, she'd have just one glass.

"Danny this all looks really good."

"Thanks, let's hope you feel that way after you've taken a few bites" he said modestly.

…

"I'm just saying Lace, Archie Yates is kind of a jack ass but I'm going to give you a free pass. It's kind of impossible to find someone better than me. It was worth a shot though," he said clearly joking. After dinner they had gotten comfortable on the couch and started talking about life after each other. It was weird but there relationship wasn't exactly normal.

"Look Desai, I wasn't trying to do better than you." She grew a serious look. "Actually at that time I didn't—I didn't think there was anyone better for me than you. That's the reason Archie and I ended things. Because I kind of always thought you'd come back. You promised you would," Lacey said in a hurt voice.

That, he knew, was probably the reason she didn't trust him. An awkward silence followed but Danny knew he had to say something. "If it Matters, I meant to keep that promise that I made you 6 years ago on my front porch. I had every intention of coming back to you but—"

"You built a life there Danny. I get it. You really don't need to explain anything."

Well it was kind if too late to pretend like his broken promise hadn't been brought up. He'd been waiting to clear the air on this for a while. "But I do. I told you that I needed to go away—to be the old Danny that you needed but I didn't think it would happen. I thought I'd be the same screwed up boy that found his aunt's dead body. Some stuff just doesn't go away. I know it sounds like an excuse but it's the truth."

What Danny didn't know is that she knew full well what he meant about certain things not going away. "I'm not mad or anything if that's what you think. I mean I was, but I had to move on and so did you. You're here now but—"

"I'm too late," he said staring at her intensely. "I wish I wasn't."

She stared back at him and suddenly a voice inside her said to kiss him. As soon as his lips touched hers, she knew that it was wrong but she didn't have the power to push him away even if she wanted to. But that didn't mean something else couldn't. She jumped back at the feel of a vibration in her pocket and pulled out her phone out to see Julian was calling her. She contemplated not answering it but he'd call the house looking for her if she didn't.

"Hey Julian, how are you?" she asked in a low voice trying to not sound distracted by her current situation.

"Hey darling… I just wanted to hear your voice. The time zones are different here on the islands. So I know you'll l be going to sleep in a few. Dad says hi."

"Tell him I said hi. I love and miss you," she said while looking at Danny as if to send a message.

"You too sweetheart…Goodnight," he said before hanging up the phone.

She didn't waste time in grabbing purse. "This whole dinner was a mistake. I never should've come here." Lacey opened the door and walked quickly to the elevator.

Danny wasn't trying to go for another ambush attempt like the night in her car but he wasn't just going to let her leave without any explanation. She kissed him and it probably would've gone further had Julian not called.

He caught up with her in the elevator just as the doors were closing.

"Danny don't...I don't want to talk about it. I just want to go home," Lacey said. She wanted to kiss him but she was ready to own up to that.

"I knew you'd say that but thing is I don't really care. You can't just kiss me and—" Suddenly the elevator started shaking and the lights flashed for a few minutes before cutting off completely. The elevator came to an abrupt stop as both Danny and Lacey fell where they stood.

"Danny," said Lacey in a frightened voice," What's going on?"

"I think the elevator just broke down," he said.

"No, No, No this can't be happening."

"Calm down Lacey."

"Don't tell me what to do" she said. "I need to get out of here right now!"

He could hear the terror and panic in her voice. As a child Lacey had never been scared of much and that included the dark. He wondered what had her so spooked. He decided to take a gentle approach to calm her down.

"Lace It's going to be okay. We're going to get out of here." She didn't respond to him. All he heard was faint breathing as if she was having a panic attack. She was really starting to scare him. He moved around in the dark to get to her and his hand found her shoulder but she flinched.

"Just breathe," she said. In fact, she was whispering it over and over as if to calm herself down.

"Lacey I'm going to get us out." He went to locate the call button in the elevator but evidently it was also out of order because he got no response. "I'm going to need your phone. We need light. And I'm going to try and call for help."

For a minute, he didn't hear any movement but he heard sounds as she searched her purse for her phone. She found it and with shaky hands, she held it out for him to take.

He saw that there was little signal but it would have to do. He tried dialing downstairs but he got no answer so he called 911. "Hello yes we're stuck in my building elevator. I'm worried about my friend so I need you to get here right away," he said in a rushed tone. Danny didn't suspect that would be a problem because he only lived 5 minutes away from a fire station.

"They're going to be here soon Lace," he said while shining the light on her face. He didn't want her to feel like she was alone. "How about I sit next to you and we just wait in silence. Is that okay with you?"

Lacey shook her head and as soon as Danny joined her, she grabbed his hand. Danny looked at her but she only looked straight ahead. He knew she probably needed this silent comfort but her actions were a mystery to him. For the first time in his life he was unable to see through her and that scared him.

TO BE CONTINUED…We'll See What has Lacey so unsettled about closed in dark places?