Notes: I promise there will be an end to this story. It won't just go on and on with them fighting and making up, fighting and making up. I hope I haven't lost anyone with the path I've led these two down.

Anna stepped away from Danny, and he moved out of the way so she could open the door. He followed her inside but had no idea what to do next so he just stood inside the doorway.

"I know that you didn't sleep with her, but I need to know where you were that night. Were you drinking?" she asked as turned around to face him.

He leaned back so that his body was braced by the door. "No."

"Jack said that she ordered you a drink. He said that you were in that bar with her, and she ordered you a drink."

"I didn't drink it. And I didn't go up to that hotel room," he said as his voiced quivered a little.

"Where were you?" she asked surprised at her level of composure considering she felt like she could fall a part at any moment.

"I…I…called my AA sponsor. I met him at a meeting, and then we talked for a while. I didn't drink that night, and I didn't sleep with her, but part of me wanted to," he answered honestly.

She swallowed hard after hearing his admission. "You wanted to?" she asked as her voice cracked. Her composure was quickly withering away.

"I felt weak. I felt like we were hanging on by a thread, and I fought with Raffi that day, too. And I just wanted to forget about everything. And she…she was making it so easy—"

"Oh…god…Danny…I can't…I can't deal with this again. I can't," she responded in a raised, emotional voice. "It's bad enough that I worry that you could drink again, but that you could even consider being with someone else…I don't understand. I don't get it. I can't even stand the thought of someone else touching me."

Danny closed his eyes. For a moment, he thought maybe he told her too much, but then he realized he had to get it out in the open. "Don't you understand? I know. I know that being with someone else is the one thing that would drive you away for good. I know that if I slept with someone elsethat would be it for us. And that's why I was tempted to do it. Because opening up to you…and trusting what we have…it's the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Sometimes, I think it would just be easier if I was alone."

"Why? Why are you like this? Why now? Our troubles…our problems haven't been about this, Danny."

"When I see my brother, I see the person I could become. He and I aren't that different. I'm just a few bad choices away from being where he is. I think about that, and I realize that I don't deserve someone like you. I could be just as screwed up as he is. You should have better than that."

Anna shook her head emphatically. "You're wrong. You're not like him. You've never been like him. Just because you both have addictions doesn't make you the same. The difference between you and your brother is that when you've been faced with tough choices, you've always made the right choice. You can't use him as an excuse to mess up what we have. I won't let you."

He ran a hand through his hair and rubbed his eyes before responding in frustration. "I talked to him today. He told me what he did to you that day. Don't you see? Just that you had to deal with that—it's enough for me to think about walking away. You shouldn't be exposed to that."

Anna took a deep breath and tried to wrap her brain around the whole situation. "So it really wasn't about being with this woman or any woman. It was about doing something awful that would destroy us so you could protect me?"

His eyes widened upon hearing the dire statement, but he couldn't disagree. "In that moment—when I thought about drinking the scotch and following her to that hotel room—I thought that would be the easiest way to get out of 'us'. But then as I sat there, I realized I didn't want to get out of it. I remembered that I really didn't want to live without you so I called my sponsor."

"Why didn't you call me?" she asked in a hurt tone as a tear escaped her eye.

He sighed heavily. "Because I needed to focus on helping myself. I couldn't let it be about you. I had to not want to take the drink for myself. If I had called you, then I would have been doing it for you. That's what happened in college. I tried to quit for you and I ended up hurting you so much. I couldn't do that again," he said solemnly before continuing. "Then after I talked to my sponsor, I came home and there you were. I watched you sleep for the longest time. I knew I made the right decision."

"My heart sank when I saw you come out of the bathroom. I felt like that naïve nineteen year old that had no idea what you were doing behind my back. But when you made love to me, I knew you hadn't been with anyone else."

"How did you know?"

"I just did," she answered with a shrug. "Why didn't you tell Jack and Olczyk about your AA sponsor. You could have at least told Jack. Your sponsor is your alibi for that night."

"I shouldn't need an alibi. I didn't go up that hotel room. Jack should know that," he said defiantly.

"He knows that you wouldn't do that, but he's worried about what you would do if you were drinking."

"He has no faith in me."

"Don't say that, Danny. Yes, he does," she said emphatically. "You should have told him about this woman from the very beginning. How long have you known that she wanted more from you? How long have you been dealing with this?"

Danny shrugged. "I've known for a while that she had a thing for me, but it's only been in the last few months that she's pursued me."

"The last few months…since we've been together? Why wouldn't you tell me?"

"For the same reason that you didn't tell me what Raffi did to you when he came here that night. I wanted to protect you, just like you wanted to protect me. We'd already had the fight about Christi, and I was afraid that you would feel threatened."

Anna shook her head and rubbed her temples. "What are we doing? How are we ever going to make this work if we don't tell each other things?"

"I'm sorry."

"God, I'm getting so sick of hearing that and saying that. It seems like we have to apologize for something every day. It shouldn't be this hard Danny. It kills me because I love you so much. I don't want to be with anyone else."

"Me, either," he responded quietly.

"Okay…then can we just promise each other that from now we won't try to protect each other? We'll be brutally honest with each other. I know you think I'm some kind of china doll that will break at the first sign of trouble, but I promise I won't. Please Danny."

"I promise."

"Will you make me one more promise?" she asked in a concerned tone.

"Anything."

"You need to tell Jack about calling your AA sponsor. You need to tell him so we can move on from this mess and get this crazy woman out of your life."

"No. No way. My word should be enough, Anna. I've worked my ass off for him for seven years. He should believe me. And once Olzcyk knows the whole office will know, and I don't want that."

"Is this about pride? No one will think less of you if they know you're an alcoholic. Your team knows, and they don't think any less of you. Just tell Jack that that is where you were. Maybe it won't have to go further than him. Don't be stubborn about this, Danny."

He thought for a moment about the reason he didn't want people to know. He hated the thought of people seeing weakness in him and liked the fact that everyone in his office saw him as a carefree, competent agent. He didn't want that to change, but he knew Anna had a point. "I'll think about it, okay?" he replied earnestly and then shook his head. "I'm so tired of thinking about all of this. I can't even think straight anymore."

"Maybe we should just sleep on it. Things will be clearer in the morning," she said quietly.

"We should sleep on it?" he asked in surprised tone thinking she may want some space after their intense discussion.

"I don't want you to go. I want to be here for you," she said as she took his hand and lead him into the bedroom.

The next morning, Anna forced herself awake before 5 AM. She wanted to make sure she was up and gone before Danny woke up. For the first time that she could remember, she seemed to be holding Danny instead of the other way around. His arms were around her waist under her tank top and his head was nestled on her chest. Her fingers were tangled in his hair. They'd fallen asleep almost instantly after getting into bed.

She had to move carefully not to wake him. Once she got out from under him, she watched him sleep for a few moments. He looked like a little boy. She knew that they'd just talked about not protecting each other the night before, but she had to do it one more time. He needed her help, and she wanted to do the only thing she could think of to help him. She grabbed the cell phone from the nightstand and took it into the bathroom.

She found the number on the speed dial and pressed talk. After hearing a wary voice answer, she responded. "Hi. It's Anna Ridley. I need to talk to you about Danny."