AN: Okay it's done! Hope you guys like it! The bit in italics is flashbacks. Thanks for everyone's support! Reviews loved as always 3

"This is ridiculous" Jake said from his position opposite Mary.

"What's ridiculous?" Mary answered, absentmindedly running her finger around the edge of her wine glass

"We barely see each other anymore and when we do you're not even here."

"I'm here. I am. I'm sorry" Mary forced a bright smile and rubbed Jake's thigh reassuring under the table. "I know we're not together as much as you'd like but…"

"There you are again. As much I'D like. What about you Mary? I know things have been difficult what with Danny's fathers death, but that was weeks ago now. I understand he's hurting but you've got to let him deal with it himself"
Mary's hand snapped back from his leg and back into her own lap.

"I'm hurting too Jake. I don't think you realise how much that man meant to me."

"I know there's a history between you and Danny, Mary, but you can't let the past guide you all the time."

"I didn't mean Danny." Mary's voice was sharp as she picked up her wine glass and quickly drained the remains. "I meant his father. That man was much more of a father to me than my own and I'm still hurting over it all. I need Danny as much as he needs me."

"Calm down Mary" Jake nervously glanced around him to see whether any of the fellow diners had caught on to the tension between them and Mary let out an exasperated sigh. More and more things were starting to annoy her about Jake. Not least the way he was always thinking of how other people were perceiving them. Not for the first time she was wishing she'd followed through on her instinct toward finish the relationship after the failed trip. Circumstances had caused her to put it off more and more until she'd eventually lost the ability to judge when it would be a good time. "Maybe we should leave this till later."

"No. I don't think we should Jake. You keep bringing up your unhappiness with the situation but as soon as I react you don't want to talk about it anymore."

"This isn't working is it" Jake said after a long pause looking up from the design of his plate he'd be fixated on.

"What?" Mary's voice was filled with shock. Not at what he'd just said but at the fact it was him saying it.

"I feel like I'm compete ting for you Mary. You told me when we got together that you and Danny were over. But you spend more time with him than me."

"That's not true" Mary said, and it wasn't. She'd spent most of her time lately alone. Telling Danny she was with Jake, and Jake she was with Danny. The more time she spent with either of them the more confused she got. She'd wanted to be with Danny for so long, but she'd told herself that moving on was the best thing, and in had stepped Jake, seemingly perfect and just what she needed. But over the last few weeks her relationship with Danny was getting closer and closer, and it terrified her. She'd been hurt too many times, and here she was listening to Mr. Perfect tell her that things weren't working, and all because she'd gone back on her own promise to not let Danny in again.

"I don't know what to do anymore Mary. I've tried, but this isn't what I expected it would be?"

"And you think it was fair to have expectations from that start?" Mary took a deep breath "I'm sorry, I shouldn't of said that" But even as she apologised she knew it was true. It wasn't fair of him to have expectations of her as much as it wasn't fair for her to put him into the box of what she needed to get over Danny. It appeared that both hung too much on the relationship from the beginning without getting to know each other first. "You're right. This, this isn't working."

Jake leant over and took her hand "You're a great girl Mary, but I think you need to work out what it is you really want."

Danny walked threw the halls he knew well enough to walk blind folded and took in the empty spaces. It seemed so odd for the house to be so sparse. He smiled a sad smile as he remembered back to the days when his father had complained to his wife about her hoarding habits, saying the house looked cluttered. After her death he hadn't the heart to throw anything away though, so cluttered it had remained. This emptiness just seemed unnatural. Over the past few weeks he and Mary had sorted threw memories and possessions and he felt drained from it all. Given the dedication he had to his job he wasn't sure he'd be able to cope with not working for a large period of time when he'd first heard about the Montecito's renovations, but this summer had been hard on him. His fathers death had brought a lot of emotions to the surface that he should of dealt with a long time ago, and spending time with Mary reconnecting had only spurred on the conclusion he'd came to the night of his fathers death. He wasn't going to let Mary out of his life again. Unfortunately, this time it was she who pulled away every time they got closer to something more than friends. He'd like to think that it was because she was with Jake, but he was pretty sure the pulling back had a lot more to do with him. He smiled as he saw a flash of red hair from the room at the end of the hall.

"Hey" He said knocking lightly on the open door as he walked threw it sitting down on the bed next to Mary who was lying still staring at the ceiling.

"Hi" She smiled up at him before moving over leaving room for him to lay down next to her.
"What you looking at?"
"The paint marks" Mary smiled and pointed up at the collection of pink specs that adorned the white ceiling

"I was so mad at Greg when he did that. I wanted it to be perfect." Danny said wrapping his arm around Mary and holding her too him

"It was perfect." Mary smiled remembering the day she'd came back to find Danny and Greg covered in pink paint.

Mary let out a groan of relief as she opened the front door and let herself in slipping her shoes off. She'd just finished at 8hour shift at the diner she'd began working at and all she could think of was taking along bath and going to bed. "Danny?" She called out as walked into the living room look for any sign of life in the house. She'd moved in with the McCoy's two months prior and although she'd always felt more comfortable in this house than her own she still couldn't quite get used to being here alone.

"Happy now! She's back we haven't got time to fix it!" She heard Danny's voice grumble from down the hallway

"Dude, calm down. We're back here Mary!" Curiously Mary followed the sound of Greg's voice toward the back room which had now been given to her.

"What have you two been…." Her voice trailed off as she took in the sight in front of her. The prior cream walls were now painted a vibrant pink and her two best friends were covered in what apparently had not made the walls. Mary breath hitched unsure whether to cry or laugh

"Do you like it?" Danny asked grinning at her anxiously as Greg led her out of the room and showed her the door. Her name had been carefully stencilled onto the door. Looking at it was the last straw and tears began to pour down her face. "Are you okay?" Danny looked at her worriedly while Greg tightened his grip around her shoulder reassuringly.

"I'm fine" Mary said laughing "How did you? I mean Why?" She paused taking a breath "I love it. But why? And isn't your dad going to kill you!"

"Dad knew about it, we wanted you to know that this is your home now. We wanted to make it personal. We didn't want you to think this was some semi-permanent arrangement. He was meant to be helping me paint but he called onto a job so I called Greg to come help after your left for work."

"You called Greg to do something on a Saturday morning." Mary slipped out of Greg's hold and walked over to Danny giving him a hug. "And you actually did something on a Saturday other than sleep!" Mary said grinning over at Greg as she wiped away the tears

"Ah, anything for my girl" Greg said winking

"Our Girl" Danny corrected

"Right. Our girl, and uh sorry about the paint splashes" Greg moved his arm motioning to the ceiling and floorboards "We kind of got carried away"

"It's okay, it makes if unique right! I love it! Now why don't you two get cleaned up and I'll make us some dinner"

"I can't believe someone else is going to be living here" Mary relaxed into Danny's arms in a way she knew she shouldn't. Her earlier conversation with Jake had been playing on her mind all day. He had been right, just because he was out of the way it didn't mean all the issues were.

"I know, it just seems so strange to think about someone else just…living here." Danny's fingers started tracing small patterns on Mary's arms

"I broke up with Jake"

"What?" Danny tired his best to not let his happiness show in his voice

"Well no, he broke up with me."

"I'll kill him" Mary let out a small laugh at Danny's response

"No, it's okay. He was right. Things weren't working. In fact I should of finished it a long time ago. I didn't want to be in a relationship, not with him" Mary's voice trailed off and Danny could feel her pulling away from him

"Mary" Danny turned them both so they were looking into each others eyes "I need to ask you something." He paused for a moment taking the fact that Mary didn't turn away as permission to continue. "Why didn't you leave with Jake that night? You never want to talk about it, and you always seem to get quiet when I ask." Silence hung in the air for a few moments, their breathing synchronising

"You know why" Mary's voice was timid when she eventually answered. "Of course you know why. Danny you know me better than anyone, you can read me like a book and god sometimes I hate it, but you know why, and please don't make me say it"

"I can't read you Mary. Not anymore. You've shut yourself off from me ever since…." His voice trailed off as he tried to think of the right words. He'd been waiting weeks for this moment. Longer really, and the last thing he wanted to do was say something that would make her clam up. "We've not been the same in along time Mary. This past summer we've gotten closer again, and I've loved it. I have. But you always seem to be holding something back from me."

"I can't…"

"You can't what" He urged

"Give you that part of me again Danny, I can't. I couldn't leave that night with Jake. I couldn't move on. No matter how I tried. I couldn't leave YOU! Don't you get that?" Mary's voice got louder as she pushed herself up into a sitting position attempting to climb over Danny to leave. Cursing the small bed, and the fact that she was trapped between a wall and Danny.

Danny looked at Mary, seeing her fixing to run away he grabbed her arm and pulled her top him pressing his lips to hers. His arms wrapping around her waist, pulling her flat against his body. His tongue playing against her lips urging her to give him entry. After a few seconds he felt her relax into the kiss her lips parting, her body moulding to his. As quickly as she'd given in she pulled away standing up

"We can't do this Danny."

"Actually I think we were starting to do it quite well" Danny grinned up at Mary

"God Danny, don't. Just don't joke okay. We can't act like we did when we were kids. Laughing things off and pretending there's no significance, just letting things pass us by."

"You want to talk about letting things just pass by Mary?" Danny voice had a sharp edge to it as he stood up himself and Mary took a few steps back putting some distance between them. "How about the fact that after years of telling me you loved me, and that all you wanted to do was be with me you turn around and give me back your engagement ring without a second word!"

Mary bit back tears as she felt anger bubbling inside of her. "You really don't get it do you! That is what I wanted. IT'S WHAT I WANT! But you can't expect me to just accept that after years of picking me up and putting me down whenever the hell you like you've suddenly decided you really wanted me? No explanation. No nothing."

"It wasn't like I just woke up one day and decided to propose Mary. I was nearly killed Mary. Nearly every day my life was flashing before my eyes. The possibility that I'd never see you again was so very real. All I thought about was you. I just wanted to know you were okay."

"Just because you thought of me, it doesn't mean you love me Danny." Mary's voice was quiet this time, as she closed the space between them pulling Danny down into a sitting position next to her on the edge of the bed. "We've known each other literally as far back as we can remember. I don't know about you but I have very few memories that don't involve you in some way or another. So it's natural that at times when you're thinking about your life I'm going to be a prominent feature"

"You doubted I loved you?" Mary was taken aback by how shocked Danny looked by this statement. She'd just kind of always assumed he knew what she was thinking, that she didn't need to explain herself to him.

"Not that you loved me. Just that you were IN love with me…"

"But I was, I am, God Mary I've always been in love with you."

"Really?" Danny lifted Mary's chin with is fingers so she was looking into his eyes and he brushed at few tears which were falling down her cheeks.

"Really. I love you Mary Connell"

"I love you too" Mary leaned into Danny kissing him softly

"I want this. You. Us. I swear to you Mary I'll never make you doubt that I love you again." Danny pulled Mary over so she was sat on his lap holding her tightly against him

"Let's just take things slow okay? Our whole life we've been rushing in, and out just as quickly. I need to know this is for real"

"Slow. I can do that. How about a date? A proper one….In fact." Danny stopped and stood up pulling Mary to her feet and looking into her eyes his face a picture of seriousness. "Mary Connell will please you go out to dinner with my on Friday night?"

"I'd love to" Mary giggled and after a few moments Danny cracked a grin and started laughing too