A/N: The first part of this chapter is for Nat – who'd better get all A's since it seems she's studying so hard that she's begun to slack off on her ff.net duties. She asked for something like it – so here goes. Oh and according to PCGirl - the word of the day is "punk".
Until 36! xox-G
Chapter Thirty-five
"Take a hike - lover boy, she's not here." Julia said with a frown.
"Relax. I'm not here to see Kate. I just wanted some coffee. You sell it here don't you?" Danny replied looking sullen.
"Do you want me to guess what kind? I'm Lia remember? Lynnie's the psychic." She said as she glared at him.
"Iced mocha – milk, 2 sugars." He replied. Danny watched her huffing and puffing, clearly annoyed with him as she worked.
Lia jabbed a straw through the opening of the plastic lid on his cup with much more force than was necessary.
"Have a nice day." She said as she shoved it at him, holding out her hand for him to pay.
Danny dug into his pocket and handed her a five dollar bill. He stared at her, wondering out loud. "God. Julia, seriously. What did I ever do to piss you off so much?"
"Like I need to tell you." She snapped as she rang him up.
"I know what I did - but seriously. I cheated on Kate, not on you." He said as she handed him his change. "I made a huge mistake and believe me – I learned my lesson."
"I happen to love Katie to death. Here's how it works. You mess with her – you mess with me, punk" Lia shook her hair back and placed her hands on her hips.
Did she just call me punk? Danny asked himself. What the hell was wrong with her lately? He looked down and shook his head, trying to hide a smile. He guessed she was trying to sound tough but she sounded like a bad imitation of Clint Eastwood.
Lia continued to stare at him. "Now that you have your coffee I have to ask. Why are you still here?"
Danny's head shot up at that. OK. That's it. He'd had enough. He began to get annoyed himself.
He paused for a minute and tried to reign in his temper. His first thought was to leave but just after he turned to go he whirled back around to face her. His voice shook with anger as he spoke.
"You know what Lia? Despite what happened, you forget that I love her too. From what I hear she's moved on – so lose the attitude will you?"
"I don't see why I should. I'm not the one who lost the best thing that came his way for something that lasted a few measly weeks." She said, disgust lacing each word.
"Your concern for my love life is heartwarming." He glared back at her. God, she was so stubborn. He looked her over from head to toe. That was odd. He never noticed before how the gold flecks in her eyes sparkled when she was angry. He never noticed there were gold flecks in her eyes before come to think of it.
This was stupid, he decided as he gazed at her. They shouldn't be fighting like this.
Danny took a deep breath and tried again. "C'mon Lia. We've been friends forever. Cut me some slack."
As he leaned against the counter and prepared to take a sip of his coffee he eyed her suspiciously.
"Did you poison this?" He asked. The way she was acting he wouldn't put it past her.
"Alas, no. But what a brilliant idea though." She grinned wickedly.
Lia tried to stay angry but was quickly losing steam. Danny was right. They were friends, had been since they were little. Plus, he looked a bit pathetic at the moment and she hated to kick a guy when he was down. She did have some standards.
Still, she had a point to make. "You hurt her." She said softly.
He nodded. "I know I did and I wish I could change it." He looked into her eyes again. "Lia, c'mon. Kate's moved on - why can't you?"
She honestly didn't know why this whole thing was concerning her so much. Still she it seemed she couldn't help herself.
"What about Taylor?" She heard herself ask.
Hearing the sound of her name being spoken didn't sting as much as he'd thought it would. Danny shrugged and gave a little sigh. "It was the whole long distance thing. She wasn't into it. You need to believe that I wouldn't have hurt Kate like that if I'd seen it coming."
"Lynnie could've told you she'd bail." Lia said, smiling a bit. "Me? All I can give you is great coffee and a hard time."
Lia did that all the time. Compared herself to Lynnie, lamenting that she was less than her twin because she didn't share her gift. It had always bothered Danny now that he thought of it.
"You give yourself too little credit you know that?" He replied, looking at her thoughtfully.
Danny always could turn on the Irish charm when he wanted to, Lia noted. "Trying to get back on my good side huh?"
"Do you even have one?" He asked with a glimmer in his eye.
She couldn't help it. She started to laugh.
He smiled wider at the sound. His voice got soft. "Really, though - I'm serious Lia. I know Lynnie's got that thing going on that makes her special but – you know what?" As he said the words he realized he was being completely sincere. "So do you. The way you care about your family and friends? That's really amazing."
Now he was complimenting her? What the hell was going on? Lia suddenly felt unbelievably nervous and completely embarrassed. No one ever made her feel like that – and for God's sake - especially not Danny Thornhart.
Lia knew one thing for sure. She needed to stop feeling this way and quick.
She glanced at him and her face flushed pink. "Ugh. Please. What's made you so sentimental? Seriously, I like it tons better when you're annoying me, Thornhart."
Lia moved to straighten the counter and knocked over a whole stack of coffee cups. She bent down to pick them up and pushed her hair off her face, completely flustered.
"Am I making you nervous, Donovan?" Danny laughed. It certainly seemed that way. He'd never seen her rattled before. She looked cute when she was off balance. He'd never been able to do that before. He planned to do it more often now that he knew what set her off. It was fun."Don't be ridiculous. I'm not used to you saying something nice to me that's all." She insisted as she tried to busy herself, completely unsure of what to say next.
"You can deny it all you want - but I really think I am." He laughed harder. "Not only that - I'd never thought I'd see the day. I have rendered Julia Donovan speechless."
Lia almost sighed with relief as her temper flared again. She slammed the cups back on the counter and threw daggers at him with her eyes. "Let me tell you something. I've got words for you, Thornhart. Tons of them. Words that my mother would wash my mouth out with soap for saying. Want to hear a few?"
Danny decided he was through trying to make up with her. The truth dawned on him. He liked the way she looked when she was angry. Despite her rough exterior, maybe because of it he'd always really gotten a kick out of Lia. Now that he really stopped to think about it one thing was for certain. Lia was alot of things but she certainly was never boring.
He took another sip of coffee, feeling much, much better than he had when he'd walked in earlier. "No. That's OK." He grinned at her. "I'll see you later, Lia. Tell Kate and Lynnie I said hi."
"Yeah. I'll get right on that." She spat back at him.
She was so angry now for no reason the look on her face just cracked him up. "See that you do." He laughed at her as he eased out the door.
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Rafe walked into the house, hearing the TV blaring in the den. He knew he was late for dinner but he didn't think he was that late. He peeked his head in and saw his children settled comfortably on the couch eating dinner while watching TV.
"Why are you all eating in here?" He asked, confused.
"Mom's sleeping." Grant replied with a grin.
"OK…" Rafe still didn't understand. "Is there something wrong with the kitchen table?"
"Umm. Yeah." His son said, smiling wider. "She's sleeping right next to it."
"Katie finished making our dinner, Daddy. It's chicken with rice. I almost ate all mine already." Becky informed him.
"Did you?" He said as he came over and kissed the top of her head.
Rafe looked over at Kate, his voice soft. "How long has she been sleeping?"
She smiled up at him. "About an hour I guess. She asked me to check on dinner while she took a little rest. The next thing I knew she was out cold. We came in here so we wouldn't wake her."
They were such good kids. Rafe thought as his heart melted. Despite his worries about what Kate was up to he always knew that. "I'll go check on her." He said as he moved towards the doorway.
He sighed at the sight of her, curled up on the window seat with her head on a pillow. One of the kids had covered her with a blanket from the living room and they had even thought enough to dim the lights.
Rafe moved next to her and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Angel?" He whispered.
She grunted and turned her back to him in response.
Smiling, Rafe bent down and picked her up in his arms. She barely stirred as he carried her upstairs and gently placed her on the bed. As he did she immediately turned on her stomach and grabbed hold of the pillow. He carefully arranged the blanket around her and sighed as he moved to sit down on the chair next to the bed.
As he watched her sleep he couldn't help but comment. "I can tell already. You're going to wake up at 2 am and make me go out to get you something to eat aren't you?"
"mmmm." Was all he got from her as she pulled the blanket closer around her..
"What'll it be this time?" He asked, not expecting a response. "Cheeseburgers? Chinese? All sorts of sweet stuff like with Becky?"
He was left to wonder as she simply sighed in her sleep.
Rafe ran a hand over her head, and then moved down to rub circles on her back over and over. He knew this week had been pretty tough on her. She was more sick than usual this time around. It lasted almost all day long. "I'll get you two whatever you want. You just let me know, OK?"
She began to snore.
Laughing, he bent down and kissed her forehead before going back downstairs.
Hours later Rafe felt her tugging on the sleeve of his t-shirt. Then he felt her lips kissing that place night near his ear.
"Yes?" He asked as his eyes opened slowly, knowing exactly what was next.
"Pizza." Alison whispered with a grin. "We want pizza."