Disclaimer; I do not own "Las Vegas: the series" or any of its characters.
Notes;I feel thisstory winding down. Thanks again for the feedback, I hope everyone is still enjoying it.
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"So, she didn't buy it?", Mike chuckled.
Danny glared at him. "No, and it's not funny. She's going out with him tonight."
"What's the big deal, man? Let her go out and have some fun. It's only dinner", the bald man reasoned.
"It's not only dinner." Danny stood up from his chair in the control room in anger. "It's dinner with Jeff Cooper. The only other guy besides me she's ever loved."
Mike shook his head in amusement and slight aggravation. "Ok, so she has real feelings for him. So what? You have an advantage on him, man. You're her best friend. No matter how much she may love this guy, there's no way she loves him as much as she does you. That's obvious to anyone, except you apparently."
Danny sighed and stared at the bank of monitors in front of him. "I really hate this."
"And why is that? Because you love her or because you just don't want to share her with anyone?"
He turned to look at his friend with confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Look, man", Mike placated, "I'm not saying that you don't have feelings for Mary. But exactly what kinds of feelings are these? Are they feelings for someone you want more than anything else? Or are they feelings you have for a favorite toy you don't play with anymore but don't want to give away?"
Danny looked horrified. "Mary is not a toy. I would never even think of her as one let alone treat her like one."
Mike grimaced. "Ok, so maybe that was a bad analogy."
"Maybe, Mikey?"
"I just meant, how do you really feel about her?"
Danny walked back over to his desk and picked up the frame that sat on it. It held an image of him and Mary at his birthday party last year. She had thrown it for him, it was a surprise. It was his favorite picture. He gently ran his finger down the side of her face. "All I ever did when I was over there fighting was think about her. I kept saying to myself, I gotta make it back home... back home to Mary. She's waiting for me. I swore to myself then that if I made it back in one piece, I wasn't gonna blow it this time. I wasn't gonna run away... I wasn't gonna lose her. I need her, Mikey. I love her. I've never loved anyone but her." The weight of Danny's confession seemed to fall heavy on him as he leaned back in his chair for support.
"Woah. That's deep, man. I didn't think you had it in you", Mike admitted. "So you know how you feel about her. Great. Does Mary know?"
Danny paused before answering. "Yeah. I think. I'm pretty sure. How could she not know?"
"That's what I thought", Mike mumbled more to himself but made sure Danny heard it. "If you've never even told her how you feel, then you don't have the right to be upset about her and Jeff." He held his hands up as if washing them of the whole thing.
"But-", Danny protested.
"No! I don't wanna hear it. You need to stop acting like a child and tell Mary the truth. You're making me sick."
Danny frowned, insulted, then his cell phone rang. "McCoy", he answered. "Oh! Yeah, I'll be right down." He looked back to Mike after he hung up. "That was Mary. She's downstairs with Jeff. I've gotta go down and meet them." He got up and straightened himself out before leaving the room and meeting the man who was trying to steal his woman. He decided not to wait for the elevator and ran down the back stairs.
Mary watched as Jeff put a quarter into a slot machine. "It must be fun to work around here", he said as pulled down on the handle.
"Sometimes", she shrugged. "Other times it can be pretty chaotic."
"I think that's true about any work place." He tried again as the machine came up empty. "Bet you get to meet a lot of... interesting people."
She snorted. "Oh yeah. Vegas is full of crazies." The slot machine then whooped and lit up as a few coins fell from it. "You won!", Mary smiled.
"Yep! A whole dollar! And I'm not sharing it with you", Jeff joked.
Danny scanned the casino floor looking for them, then spotted Mary with her head thrown back in laughter. It hurt him to see her be happy with another man, but he saw red when she reached out and straightened Jeff's collar. That was their thing. He narrowed his eyes, squared his shoulders and went up to them. "Hey", he nearly barked.
"Oh Danny! I think you two remember each other. Danny, this is Jeff. Jeff, Danny."
"How you doin' McCoy?" Danny looked down at the extended hand in distaste before taking it. "Fine. And you?"
Jeff slightly flinched at the pressure Danny exerted. "Uh, good." He then pulled his hand out of Danny's grasp.
Not hiding his smirk, he asked, "so, where are you two going tonight?"
"We're going to Le Bistro. It's this little French restaurant just outside of the strip", Jeff answered.
"French restaurant?", Danny scoffed. "Mary, you hate French food."
She looked at Danny as if he were crazy. "No I don't. I like French food. It's Indian food I don't like, remember?", she asked threateningly with her eyes.
He smacked his own forehead. "That's right. My mistake." He then gave her a once over. "What are you wearing?"
She looked down at herself in insecurity. "A dress. Why?"
"Isn't it missing something?"
"Like what?"
"Like the rest of it?"
She rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Danny-"
"You know how chilly it gets at night. Didn't you bring a jacket?", he all but scolded.
"Yes, it's in Jeff's car."
Danny nodded. "Good, good."
"So how've you been, McCoy?", Jeff got back in the conversation that they had left him out of.
"I've been pretty good. Been seeing someone."
Mary cocked an eyebrow at him. "Oh, that's nice", Jeff replied as he put his arm around her waist.
Danny's eyes wandered to the offending hand that was resting on her hip then into Mary's eyes. "Yeah, she's a real special girl."
She shivered at the husky tone in his voice and the way he was looking at her. Jeff felt it. "Maybe a jacket's a good idea. You cold?"
"Huh?", she broke away from Danny's stare. "Uh, yeah. A little."
"Well, we should get going anyway. We have reservations. It was good seeing you again, McCoy. As you probably already know, I'm performing here tomorrow night. I hope to see you there."
Danny clenched his jaw and forced a smile. "Sounds like fun."
"Ready, Mary?"
She nodded. "Goodnight, Danny."
"Goodnight, Mary." She kissed his cheek, then walked out with Jeff. Danny didn't turn to watch them leave.
