Notes; I can't believe it's been a month since I've updated. The time flew by. I'm sorry about that. Anyway, here's the next part. I hope you all like it. And as always, thanks for the support!

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Mary and Jeff were seated at their table in Le Bistro chatting, while waiting for their food to arrive.

"That was kind of fun."

Mary scrunched her brow in confusion. "What was?"

"McCoy", he chuckled.

"Oh." She shook her head. "I'm so embarrassed. Sometimes Danny can be a pain in the neck."

Jeff smirked. "He likes you."

Mary snorted. "Well I should hope so. We've been best friends since forever."

He shook his head. "No, I mean he LIKES you." Mary froze as Jeff continued. "It's obvious. He wanted to meet me before you went out with me and he was practically marking his territory right in front of me. Trust me, I'm a guy. I know these things."

Mary's voice caught in her throat until their waiter returned with their dinner. "Oh, look. The food's here."

Jeff shook his head and chose to let the subject change for now as their plates were placed in front of them. His eyes widened at the so-called food staring back at him. Looking at Mary, he could see she had the same reaction. "Something wrong?"

"Uh, it's just... what is this?"

"It's chicken. You ordered it."

"I know, but it doesn't look like chicken." She poked at it with her fork.

Jeff looked back down at his plate. "McCoy was right, wasn't he? You don't like French food."

"I do!", she assured him.

"No, you don't. And you know what? I don't either."

"Then why did you want to come here?"

He raised his head and shrugged. "I guess, I wanted to impress you. Why'd you say yes to coming here?"

She smiled. "I wanted to impress you too."

"So we were willing to torture ourselves by eating French food just to impress each other. We're pathetic." They both laughed. "You wanna go grab a burger somewhere?", Jeff suggested.

Mary nodded enthusiastically. "God, yes!"

"Waiter! Check, please."

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They sat in Jeff's car in a secluded area overlooking the strip eating take-out they had gotten through a drive-thru.

"This is real classy", he remarked with a mouthful of food.

Mary stifled a laugh as she chewed on a ketchup coated fry. "Who cares? It's good. Although, I am a little overdressed for burgers", she joked.

Jeff gazed out of the windshield to look at the view. "The strip looks great. I've missed living here."

"Why did it take you so long to come back?", she asked before taking a bite of her burger.

He shrugged. "I uh, had someone back in New York. We were thinking of getting married."

"What happened?", she asked after swallowing.

"Things just didn't work out. It just felt like we were in two different places, you know?"

Mary nodded. "I know exactly what you mean."

Jeff turned back to her. "So what about you? Any serious romances in your life?"

Mary blushed. "I don't know. There's this guy, and there's really strong feelings there, but I keep thinking that we're not meant to be. Things just never work out between us.We've tried and tried and there's always something getting in the way."

"But you love him."

"Yeah". She then laughed quietly to herself. "A lot."

"So do you think it's still worth trying for?"

Mary sighed. "It gets harder the older I get."

"I know it's frustrating, but if you love him... Does he love you?"

Mary smiled slowly. "Yeah, he does." She knew Danny loved her. There was never a doubt in her mind about that, despite their issues.

Jeff winced. "Please, I'm eating."

She laughed. "I'm sorry. It's rude to talk about another guy when you're out on a date."

"This is a date?", Jeff raised an eyebrow.

"Isn't it?"

He winked and finished off his burger. "This is a great spot you picked."

"You don't remember it?", she carefully asked, hoping he would.

"This is where we came the night before I left."

She let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah, it is."

Jeff collected his and Mary's trash, then grabbed her hand. "I'm glad we did this. You ever think about... what would have happened if I had stayed in Vegas?"

She licked her lips. "I think about that a lot."

Jeff's eyes strayed to her mouth at her actions. He then lightly cupped her face with his other hand, bringing her in closer and dipped his head. When Mary saw his eyes closing, she did what came naturally and slid her hand behind his neck pulling him forward until their lips touched.

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"I had a great time tonight", Mary said as Jeff walked her to her door.

"So did I. I guess I'll see you at my show tomorrow?"

"Definitely. I can't wait to hear you sing", she beamed.

"Well, goodnight", he kissed her briefly on the lips.

"Isn't this cozy?"

They turned at the slurred voice behind them. "Danny?"

He staggered towards them and would have fell if Jeff hadn't have grabbed his arm, steadying him. "Easy, McCoy."

"Get your hands off of me", Danny jerked out of his grasp.

"Danny, are you drunk?"

"Yes, I am."

"How did you get here? You didn't drive, did you?", Mary frowned.

"I took a cab. Did you have fun tonight?", he asked accusingly.

"Why are you drunk?"

"Because."

"That's not an answer. Let's get you inside. Jeff, will you help me?"

"Sure."

"Don't touch me, Cooper!"

Mary tucked her hair behind her ears in frustration. "Why are you acting like this?"

"Maybe I should leave?", Jeff suggested, knowing his presence was upsetting Danny.

"Maybe?"

"I'm really sorry about this, Jeff", Mary apologized.

Danny leaned against her door for support. "Don't apologize for me, Mary."

"Will you be ok?", Jeff worried.

Danny scoffed. "I would never hurt Mary. Unlike a certain other person."

"I'll be fine. I can handle him."

"Ok. See you later." Jeff walked to his car, looking back as Mary was able to bring Danny inside of her apartment and closed the door.