Thank you so much for the kind reviews for the last chapter and the adds as followers. I hope this chapter has less typos than the last one, although I fixed it. Sorry again for that.

I wasn't really sure what to make of this weeks episode and the Nico files. Especially because I am still missing 3 minutes of the episode. It just didn't record. So, sorry if some of this doesn't make sense together with the episode, but the last scene I saw was Nico watching the video of TK.

Hope you like this chapter anyway.

Chapter 4: Nico and the song

When Dani left the Hawks facility that night she wasn't ready to go home. Too much had happened and she felt like a tornado had come into her life and was spinning everything around her head. It had been like that for three days and the clarity she was seeking hadn't come yet. Her son was heartbroken, her best friend pregnant, TK was doped up on painkillers and didn't seem aware of the problem. And then there were the two men in her life: She was sure that Nico was still having an affair with that league chick and she had started and affaire with Matt. She wasn't sure which of the two was more wrong and would hurt her more in the long run. Although she hadn't seen Vera around for over a week, she still couldn't get the picture out of her head. It was burned in her mind that Nico had placed a hand on her back and had gently led her away. It was a simple and harmless gesture, but Nico wasn't one to touch others. The intimacy of the gesture was immense and she was still convinced that Nico had either a history with Vera or was having an affair with her now.

She leaned against the wall next to Matt's office, knowing that he was still in his bathroom and would need a while to come out. It was so unprofessional what they were doing that she could barely believe she was a part of it. It was late and it was unlikely that anyone was still around but that hardly made her feel better.

From a door further down the hallways she suddenly heard how the volume of a song was rising and rising. So they weren't alone after all. Slowly she walked towards the familiar song and looked through the glass door. Nico was sitting in his large leather chair, the remote still in hand. His head was resting against the headrest and his eyes were closed. He looked so concentrated that she wondered if he was meditating.

Our love is questioned, such a mournful sound
Tonight I'm gonna bury that horse in the ground
So I like to keep my issues drawn
But it's always darkest before the dawn

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh whoa

She knocked on the door before she opened it, knowing he wouldn't hear her. When she stepped in he must have felt her presence or a draft- either way he opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Didn't know you liked that song. I would have taken you more for a Dobie Gray kind of guy," she teased and smiled softly, knowing of his little singing stunt with the Coach, as he turned down the volume.

"No, I like that song," he just said without giving anything away that she didn't already know.

"Can I come in?" she asked then, still with the smile on her face.

"Of course, Doctor," he smiled back and sat up straight as he motioned for her to sit down on the sofa in his office.

"What are you still doing here?" she asked him after she had taken the offered seat.

"Listening to music," he replied, but she only had to raise her eyebrows and he gave her another answer. "Watching videos," he said and switched the screen on that showed the halted image of TK in the locker room as he dropped his towel in front of the reporter.

"What are you looking for?" Dani asked, knowing Nico wouldn't watch the video because he wanted a repeat performance of TK showing off his assets.

"I'm trying to find out if he's really lying or if he simply can't remember everything about that event."

"He's forgetting an awful lot these days and has some weird mix-ups," Dani nodded. She had wondered the same thing.

"I've seen this too often, but I guess I don't want to believe that he's already that deep in," he sighed and tiredly wiped with one hand over his face.

"I guess in your line of work painkillers are a real problem," she said. He dealt with athletes all the time and god knew who he dealt with in his free time.

"I'm not sure but I think he's either already taken to other drugs or he soon will be. You can only get so many painkiller pills before someone notices. And after a while they don't do anymore and you need something else."

"Are you talking about yourself?" Dani gasped because of the way he had spoken.

"No," he shook his head, "Juliette Pitmann," he clarified. Silence spread between them until Dani broke it. "She started with sleeping pills."

"What are we gonna do with TK?" she asked.

"Aren't you the therapist? All I can do is handcuff him and throw him into some locked up basement room until he's clean," Nico offered.

"I will come back to that offer when nothing else helps," Dani grinned, but then turned serious again. "However as a therapist I can't help someone who doesn't want my help. So far I don't think that TK sees that he has a problem. And until he does, my hands are bound."

"I know," Nico nodded and let out a long breath that sounded suspiciously like a sigh. "We should go home, it's late," he added and stopped the video that was playing. The window closed on the TV and another one showed up behind it, showing an overview of all the feeds of the security cameras in the building and on the facility.

"There are cameras in the offices?" Dani gasped shocked. She and Matt had 'met' several times in his office when they had thought everyone else was gone and now it turned out that someone could produce a nice home video with it? She concentrated on breathing, she knew otherwise she would most likely start hyperventilating.

"Yes, they turn on every evening after eight when everyone is supposed to be gone," Nico confirmed and grimly looked at the feed that showed that Matt was just leaving his office. The way he looked at Matt and the section of the screen that showed Matt's office let her know that he had seen the videos and knew what was going on.

"Oh my god," she said and was glad that she was sitting or her legs wouldn't have held her anymore.

"There's a hotel close by, for further notice. The concierge is a quiet man... Ms. Dade likes staying there," Nico advised. Dani couldn't be more mortified or embarrassed.

"No, it won't be necessary," she stuttered and was surprised herself at the sudden tears that stung her eyes. She would not cry now, there was no reason to. She sniffed twice and then got a grip on her emotions. Bravely she looked up at Nico and even managed a little smile.

"What are you doing Dani?" Nico exclaimed suddenly and so vehemently that it was totally out of character for him, as was the use of her first name.

"I don't know," she shrugged, her smile getting wobbly. "But I know that it has to end."

"Sometimes you have to go back before you can move forward," he told her quietly and more controlled again. She smiled when she remembered that she had very recently used the exact words.

"Does that apply to you and Vera as well?" she asked, because she still wanted to know if they had a history and now seemed like a good time to ask when they were both so open for once.

"No," he shook his head, "no history there. How's your son?" he asked then.

"Better. I'm just happy he made it to college," she said and a proud smile appeared on her face. "Have you heard from Marshall?"

"No, but Gabrielle called me last week. Apparently she doesn't like the league officials hanging around here." The sentence seemed so harmless but Dani knew what it implied. Gabrielle had her sources and knew about Nico and Vera and she didn't like it.

"How did that go?" she asked simply, although the whole thing was a damn mess.

"It will still take a while until she will understand that I don't compromise myself for anyone and I never lie," he shrugged and Dani was surprised by his nonchalance. Her face gave her thoughts away and before she could comment and Nico shrugged. "I guess after all these years I'm simply not in love with her anymore." On one hand Dani liked his answer, liked it a lot because it meant that he could finally be happy with someone else. On the other she didn't like it, because she wondered if Vera was the cause for his sudden awareness. She didn't dare to ask. "Although I have to admit that I kind of lied last night," he said then and the fake seriousness on his face made her already suspect something.

"What did you do Mr. Careless?" she asked curiously and stopped her pondering on Nico's love life.

"I called a tow-truck and had the car of the GM towed off, because he used the parking space for disabled," he said with a mischievous look on his face.

"Where's the lie in that?" she asked.

"I switched the signs before," he grinned and made her laugh out loud. He laughed with her and explained the whole situation to her. It was good to laugh so freely together and Dani had some witty remarks to the whole situation. When their laughter died down they were looking at each other with smiles on their faces. They were somewhat partners in crime now and that made for a certain closeness, even though he was still on his chair and she still on the sofa. The usual electricity sparked between them once more, but this time it felt more comfortable and less forbidden.

"I really liked the song," she said after a while and referred to the song that he had muted when she had come in.

"It is good," he stressed with a smile and started the song again before he leaned back in his chair again and closed his eyes once more. The smile didn't leave his face and mirrored the one Dani wore as she lay down on the couch and closed her eyes to enjoy the song, before she would go back home and return to the real world.

And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
And given half the chance would I take any of it back
It's a fine romance but it's left me so undone
It's always darkest before the dawn

TBC