I can't tell you all how grateful I am for my wonderful beta-reader, who makes this all sound so much better. Thank you!
And thanks to those who always review. I really appreciate it!
Chapter 13: Death Star and Lone Star
Dani listened intently to Nico's story. He told her how the FBI had approached him, how they had threatened him, and what they wanted from him. He even told her that they had some valid charges against him, but this hadn't surprised her. She already knew that the duties of his job didn't always fall within the purview of the law. So when he was done talking, she still looked puzzled and struggled to process everything he had told her. It was a lot to take in.
"So that's why you didn't go to Dallas?" she asked. For her, it didn't really matter what the exact charges against him were or how he had gained Connor's trust so easily. What was important to her was why he had told her he'd go to Dallas and then stayed in New York. He really had intended to go to Dallas, and there really was a personal reason why he hadn't.
"I still have a job waiting for me there; I just have to finish what I started here," he said and looked at her, "whatever that is". His tone and expression showed that he was talking about her, about them. It was a look full of meaning and longing, and it filled her with warmth. Dani still fidgeted with her hands in her lap, and she couldn't resist smiling at him. His eyes darted down to her lips and she felt drawn into him. She leaned in to meet his kiss. Dani longed to kiss him again, but their situation, what it all meant, its complexity made her pause. She stopped and then pulled back with an apologetic smile, her hands balled into fists to keep from reaching out, running though his hair and pulling him to her. Nico pulled back, too, but his smile was less apologetic and more vulnerable.
"You still don't trust me." It wasn't a question; it was a statement, slightly disbelieving, slightly hurt.
"No, I just... I think that uh..." Dani thought about how to put into words what she wanted to express. It wasn't easy when her head was still spinning from all the new information. "There are bigger things at play and that we should keep us simple," she said finally. Nico seemed relieved because his face relaxed, and his smile was genuine again.
"We've managed so far," he told her, and she could tell that he caught her reference back to what he had told her about things being worth thinking about. Anything that couldn't be explained in four words...yes, they should definitely keep things simple. Dani smiled at him, looked him in the eyes, and was glad that he understood what she had said. She wanted this to work, and for that they needed to go slow, especially in the complicated situation they were in. She had hurried into every relationship in her life, and none of them had worked out. She felt a lot for Nico already, and she just needed this to have a real chance. Everything job-wise was a mess, her love life shouldn't be, too. Job... that brought her back to their original topic of conversation. She slid back so she sat fully on the sofa and tried to sober somewhat. It was suddenly hard to concentrate when he was sitting next to her. "So, the FBI was right about the money laundering. We just don't know why. Or how Carl and Hutch and the elusive Joseph Crabcheck fit into it all," she summed it up, and tried to ignore Nico's smile that told her he recognized her efforts to gather in her wayward desires and tempted her to learn the feel of it.
"Crabcheck should be able to tell us," Nico said, and they both nodded slightly in agreement. Then Nico got up and straightened his coat as he walked to the door. Dani got up as well and hurried after him when a sudden thought struck her.
"Well, what am I supposed to do while you're tracking him down? Just skip on back to the Death Star like it's Disney Land?" she asked.
"Just act normal" Nico replied with a tiny smile and then was out the door. Dani didn't have a choice; she just had to accept it- but she could pout a bit.
She couldn't sleep that night, despite all efforts. Her conversation with Nico kept playing on repeat in her head, and it wasn't the part about work that kept her up. She worried that he had misunderstood what she had said about keeping it simple. He hadn't seemed angry or hurt, but Nico rarely let emotions show when he was in control. After thirty minutes of tossing and turning, she decided to end being chicken and just ask him. This blooming relationship was too important for her to jeopardize it, especially because of a potential misunderstanding.
"Dani? Everything alright?" he asked, answering on the second ring. He didn't sound tired or sleepy, and she was glad he had picked up the phone and wasn't back to ignoring her again.
"Yes, I just…" she paused, not sure how to say it. "I guess I just wanted to make sure that you didn't put me back on your block list," she finished warily.
"You were never on my block list," he said.
"On your ignore or avoid list, then," she insisted, and the line went silent for a moment. Nico waited for what she really wanted to say, and Dani tried to work up the courage to say it. "I don't want you to misunderstand my comment about keeping things simple between us," she finally spit out and closed her eyes as she pressed the words out. When he didn't say anything right away, she continued, "I didn't mean that I don't want you. It's just…everything is so complicated right now with Carl, and V3, and Joseph Crabcheck. I just need something to be simple. But simple doesn't mean that I don't want to see where this is going, because I do. I really do. We just shouldn't jump head first into this, although it is very tempting, because I want to and…"
"You're rambling," he interrupted, with a smile in his voice.
"I know. Thank you for pointing it out," she replied with an embarrassed giggle.
"Dani," he sighed then and his voice became serious, "I like you. I like being with you, and I like kissing you. That's as simple as it gets for me. The circumstances are complicated, I know, but isn't it easier to have things out in the open than to tiptoe around them?" he asked her.
"Yes, it is. And I like kissing you, too," she admitted and felt the heat rising to her cheeks as a deep blush settled on them. She was glad he couldn't see her. Still, she pulled her comforter up higher.
"So you like kissing me, but you don't like me. That's complicated not simple, doctor," he teased her.
"Nico Careles, are you flirting with me?" she asked and bit her lip to keep herself from grinning like a fool.
"I might. Or is it too complicated?" he asked, and they both had to laugh. Dani couldn't hold the foolish, love struck smile back any longer, and the phone was pressed to her ear as she sat in bed listening to his deep chuckles. She felt affection for him run through her and knew that she was in deeper than she had originally thought.
"Please don't ever shut me out again, Nico," she said quietly, the vulnerability and hurt audible in her voice.
"I won't, I promise," he replied, and they were silent again for a moment. "I'm sorry," he added then.
"It's ok. I know the whole story now, and I understand," Dani said, knowing that he was probably beating himself up pretty badly.
"Do you trust me?" he asked, still serious.
"Of course." She didn't need to think about it.
"Good, because we have to work as a team now. You know too much to run off alone and handle it the Santino way," he warned her.
"Same goes for you. If you make someone disappear, tell me first," she agreed. "I might even buy some of those mysterious sunglasses you wear," she added jokingly because she didn't really want to talk about work right then. She got rewarded when he laughed out loud. "Maybe I'll add a black coat, too."
"You'd have to lose the heels. You can't run in them, and they make too much noise," Nico played along.
"You're no fun. Female spies in movies always wear heels," she pouted playfully.
"What are your plans for tomorrow?" he asked her then, changing the topic.
"Why? You want to confiscate my shoes?"
"No, I want to show you how much fun I can be. Will you grab lunch with me?" he asked. Dani smiled brightly, her eyes lighting up.
"Like a date?" she asked excitedly.
"Why don't we keep it simple for now and just go to lunch together. I think someone requested that we do that," Nico teased her.
"You're being mean," she was back to pouting.
"So that's a yes for lunch?" he asked.
"Yes, that's a yes," she laughed. She stopped when she heard something weird over the phone line.
"What was that?" she asked.
"That was Onyx."
"Onyx?"
"My cat," he clarified, "he's feeling neglected because I am talking to you instead of giving him my undivided attention."
"Aww, you spoil him," Dani giggled. She couldn't quite picture Nico with a cat. "I bet he's used to having you all to himself" she added, still flirting with him.
"He is. There hasn't been anyone he had to share my attention with in a long time," Nico said. He didn't say it flirtingly and made Dani's heart speed up as heat ran through her body. It made her feel lightheaded, causing the next words to come out before she had given them much thought.
"And now there is?" she asked.
"Keeping it simple, Dani" Nico reminded her and cleared his throat. "So if we are both free: lunch tomorrow?" he came back to the original question.
"Yes," she agreed. "Say hi to Onyx for me," she added as an after-thought.
"He left and went into the living room or kitchen," Nico told her. "Pouting," he added and made Dani laugh.
"You're in bed?" she asked, her brain to mouth filter still not working. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."
"You didn't. I'm just sitting somewhere with a glass of red wine." His voice was husky when he said it. At first, Dani's brain tripped over itself providing her with images of him in the bathtub, before it registered with her that maybe his voice was a little too husky.
"Watch it, Careles," she reprimanded him. "Where are you?"
He laughed. "My office at home, working. How did you know it wasn't more interesting?"
"I guess I know you," she smiled.
"I guess you do," he agreed. "Good night, Dani," he said then, and she was sad that he obviously wanted to end the call.
"Good night, Nico. See you tomorrow," she said and hung up with a small smile on her face. Flirting with Nico was fun, and she was glad that she had called him. She placed her phone on the nightstand and snuggled into her pillow. She knew that she would dream of Nico that night, and so, this time, sleep came easily.
They both had to cancel their lunch date the next day. Dani because she had to work with new patients and Nico because he was looking for Crabcheck and was scared that a lunch date with Dani would put unwanted attention on her now that Troy was back. She wasn't too happy when he told her, but then again, she couldn't really protest because she didn't have time, either. Besides cancelling their appointment, they didn't talk the next two days. They both didn't like it, but they were both busy. Dani jumped in surprise when she stepped out of the elevator three days after their dalliance and Nico was leaning on the left side of the exit, waiting for her. She just laughed, although usually she reacted with annoyance to his stunts, because she was happy to see him.
"Oh, Good morning," she greeted him as she exited the elevator.
"Good morning," he replied and fell into step beside her.
"I thought you'd be Paloma holding my coffee," she joked quietly.
"I have something better. How do you feel about Connecticut?" he asked mysteriously, and for a second, she thought he was asking her to go on another vacation trip with him.
"Depends," she said then, deciding she needed more information."What's there?"
"Our first lead" he told her and walked off when he saw one of the management assistants come around the corner. Dani wrinkled her forehead at his sudden departure. Just a few seconds later, her phone vibrated and she already knew that it was him when she pulled her phone out of her bag. "Garage in 30 minutes" the text read. Typical Nico style. It made her smile.
"Hey," Dani greeted him when she got into his car. She was right on time and so was he.
"Hi," he greeted her back and pulled out of the garage. As soon as he was out on the street, he handed her a cup of coffee seemingly out of nowhere. "Might not be Paloma's, but I hope it's ok," he said.
"Thank you," she replied shyly, took the cup from him and squeezed his right hand with her free one. She yearned to lace her fingers though his and hold his hand for as long as she could, but they weren't really there yet. So instead, she pulled her hand away and held her coffee cup with two hands. "So, where are we going?" she asked him.
"Connecticut," he said, telling her what she already knew.
"Nico," she sighed, but found him grinning when she looked at him. "Oh you," she laughed and lightly slapped his upper arm.
"I found the address of Joseph Crabcheck's mother, and I am hoping that she'll be able to tell us where we can find her son," he elaborated, still smirking.
"How did you find her?" Dani inquired. He just looked at her for a second and raised his eyebrows. "Oh really?" she challenged. "You're going with your 'If I tell you I'd have to kill you' excuse again?" she gaped at him. He nodded without looking at her, the cheeky grin back on his face. Dani tried to slap his arm again but this time his used his super human reflexes and caught her hand before she touched him. He didn't even have to take his eyes off the road.
"Doctor, would you please stop slapping me," he requested and glanced at her, her hand still in his.
"Why will you break my fingers one at the time if I don't?" she challenged him playfully.
"Not a bad idea," he pretended to think about it, tracing his index finger along her palm in a manner that was anything but threatening, "but I think I'll just keep your hand to make sure you really behave," Nico said then and laced his fingers through hers, like she had wanted to do.
"I have very bad impulse control when I am around you, so that might really be better," she flirted back. Nico started laughing and squeezed her fingers lightly.
"You and me both, Dani," he chuckled. "You're killing me here," he admitted then laughingly.
Dani smiled at his admission but decided that it was better getting back to safer topics. "Good coffee," she complimented because it was the first thing that popped into her head.
"Glad you like it. You slept well?" he asked.
"Yes, thank you. You?"
"Me, too," Nico said. "Carl's stopped haunting you, then?" he asked next, her fingers still tightly entwined with his.
"Yeah, haven't seen him since we decrypted the green stick," Dani replied. "You know about nightmares like that, don't you?" she suspected, thinking back to his questions at the cafeteria when he had known her symptoms by heart.
"Yes, I know a thing or two about nightmares," he admitted.
"You still have them?" she wanted to know.
"Occasionally. A lot less recently." As he said the last part he looked at her with a grateful tenderness that let her know that she was involved somehow.
"Did you have nightmares about me?" she asked him.
"No, no nightmares. I just had trouble sleeping while I was trying to drive you away," Nico admitted.
"It didn't work," she consoled, her thumb stroking up and down his pinky finger, the only one she could reach.
"I still hurt you."
"Yes, you did," she nodded. "But I hurt you, too."
"Yes, still, I'm sorry," he apologized to her.
"Me, too, Nico," she said and gave his hand a squeeze.
"You done with your coffee?" he asked, returning them to stable ground.
"No, not yet. You want a sip?"
"Not enough sugar," he shook his head. Were he to tell the full truth, he didn't care about sugar so much as he didn't want to let go of her hand.
After they caught Mrs. Crabcheck lying to them, they suspected that Joseph must still be around somewhere. They decided that while Dani had to get back to work and act like nothing was going on, Nico would try to find Joseph. Dani had no idea how he intended to do that, but when he called her the next morning, she knew he must have found something.
"See, this morning I am bringing you coffee with lots of sugar," Dani grinned as she got into his car and handed him the cup.
"We really have to go for a real meal once we find the time," Nico grumbled.
"Did something happen? You seem grumpy this morning," she observed.
"Nah, just tired," he shook his head and took a sip from the coffee she had brought him. "How was your day yesterday?"
"Not too bad. The new case with the sisters is a bit puzzling, but other than that it was quiet. Yours?"
"I spent the rest of my day trying to find Joseph. Did you hear about TK?"
"No, why? What happened?" she asked worriedly.
"He had a little accident at practice. Something about his arm. I didn't have the time yet to dig into this any further. On another note, I got a call from Juliette yesterday," he reported.
"Ray Jay might have mentioned that she still drinks too much," Dani admitted.
"Nothing new. She needs therapy, not Paris," Nico stated and grabbed the coffee again. They drove in silence for a long time, both thinking about Juliette and Ray Jay, TK and Joseph. Dani started to fiddle with the radio about half an hour into their drive, and Nico didn't stop her. He let her listen to whatever she liked, but seemed more awake the longer they drove.
"How long did you work last night?" Dani asked him randomly.
"Until about three this morning," he told her as he parked the car in front of the baseball field of a school. "We're here," he let her know.
"How did you track him down to here?" Dani asked him.
"I assumed he was either coaching or playing nearby. So I checked out all the schools in a thirty mile radius of his mother's house. And a coach, Tom Craigan, fit the description," he replied. It was the first time he'd ever clued her in to his methods, and she was interested to note that it was more research and less intimidation thatn she'd expected. When Nico moved to get out of the car, she stopped him by placing a hand on his arm and uttering a few deterring nonsense syllables.
"Uhm, why don't you let me get this?" she asked, and Nico looked questioningly at her. "Sometimes, you can be a little intimidating," she told him, grinning as she spoke. If he knew how hot she found his intimidating side, he would totally use it against her.
"Hmm, I'll take that as a compliment," he nodded after thinking about it for a second.
Dani just smiled. "Ok," she returned, getting out of the car so she could talk to Joseph herself while tall, dark, and mysterious would wait in the car.
They had just gotten back from Connecticut and were entering V3 when Connor and Troy busted Dani on seeing Joseph. Neither was too pleased as apparently the former player had pressed charges against her and V3. Dani, however, accepted the blame and let it appear like Nico was only acting at her behest. Troy seemed to suspect Nico was more involved, though, because he made a lame attempt of threatening him before he followed Connor out of Dani's office and left the two of them alone.
"You think they bought it?" she asked him quietly once she had walked over to him and closed the door to her office.
"Connor yes, Troy I don't think so," Nico replied and gave her one of his deep and heated looks. "You were great. Thank you," he added quietly. "But we really shouldn't talk about this here with all this glass around. For all I know, these walls have ears or maybe lip readers."
"Thank you, Mr. Careles, for driving me today," she said in a normal volume, so that if someone was listening they would still think she was behind all of it. Nico looked around before he opened the door to her office and let his hand glide over hers as he left. Dani's certainty that the caress was hardly accidental intensified the butterflies in her stomach.
"Nico, can you come over? I need to talk to you," Dani requested when he answered his phone. It was six in the evening, and she had arrived at her house, changed into some comfortable clothes, put a kettle with water for tea on the stove and then called him. She really needed to see him.
"One-step ahead of you. Just pulling into your driveway. I need to talk to you, too," Nico replied, his voice serious and tired. She ended the call and walked to her front door. When she opened it, he was already standing there.
"Come on in," she said, stepping aside. It didn't go unnoticed by her that he was out of his usual suit attire and dressed in a leather jacket and jeans. He was even sans his typical Oxford shirt, opting instead for a plain black t-shirt. It was informal, intimate, even, like she was seeing him without his armor. Dani licked her suddenly dry lips even as she reigned in her wayward impulses.
"Are you alone?" he asked her and closed the door behind him.
"Yeah, Linds is off at Winter's for the night," Dani nodded, taking a seat on the stairs as he seemed in a hurry to tell her what was going on, but she was too bone-wary from this last week to bother standing any longer.
"I just spoke to the FBI. They aren't happy that the money trail that led to Crabcheck went cold. Told me to stay out of it and just do what I am told from now on." The frustration was evident in his voice.
"You don't like it."
"Of course I don't like it!," he exploded," I worked ops that were more complicated and more dangerous, and now they want to tell me what to do? I put a job on hold and spend eleven months doing something I never wanted to do just so they can tell me what I can and cannot do?" he vented his frustration.
"Seems like your day continued exactly as pleasantly as mine did. Troy fired Paloma today," Dani told him because she needed to talk about it just as much as he needed to vent his frustration.
"Did you talk to Connor about it?" he asked her and leaned against the wall beside the stairs, every bit as exhausted as she was.
"Sure, I tried. But Troy said that Paloma faked being sick and that HR can prove it. Connor said that he doesn't want liars at V3." Dani paused and shook her head with a sigh. "She's not a liar. It doesn't make any sense. And why do they think she is lying anyway? Did they send someone to spy on her, to check her temperature?" Dani asked her finger pointed at him in a half-hearted accusation.
"It wasn't me," he simply said with calm reassurance, and Dani sighed. "You want me to look into it?" he asked, walking around the railing so he was standing on the right side of her, closer despite the railing, a comforting presence.
"I don't know," she said and looked puzzled. It was Nico's turn to sigh, though Dani sense that was more out of commiseration with her confusion than out of any frustration. "I used to know," she insisted in annoyance. "Who to trust, when to push." Nico glanced down, clearly catching her admission that she should have trusted him with Carl's flashdrive, but he silently allowed her to finish her though. "But with Crabcheck, I pushed too far." She spoke from the heart, not minding that Nico could see how unsure of herself she was right now. He just shook his head, stepped closer to the railing of the stairs and braced himself on his forearms, leaning towards her.
"You did what you thought was right," he assured her, but received no more than a brief pursing of lips that spoke to her lack of trust in herself. "That's what I love about you," he continued, and Dani looked up in surprise when he said the l-word. "You never give up the good fight," he finished and seemed neither embarrassed nor unsure about what he had just said. Instead, he smiled at her and she found herself smiling back at him. Could it be true? Could he still feel for her what he had felt a year ago, even after everything that had happened?
"So, are you really gonna go to Dallas when all of this is over?" She asked him the question she really feared the answer to. Her uncertainty about whether or not Nico intended to remain a permanent fixture in her life, now that they were moving towards something together had felt like the big fat elephant in the room since he had explained himself. How could she start anything enduring with him if he would leave for Dallas as soon as his job was done here?
Nico nodded pensively and let out a deep breath. "That's the plan, yup," he told her. She couldn't blame him. Nothing had really changed, so far, so why should his plans have? However, that in no way meant she had to roll over and submit; it wasn't the Santino way. Instead of just accepting his answer, Dani set her jaw stubbornly. With a downright puckish smile, she stretched her hand out to wrap around the banister, wishing he were close enough to bush her fingers against. With a studied nonchalance, she pulled herself over until she sat firmly in his personal space , daring him to retreat, to tell her she held no sway over him. That he silently allowed her to invade his territory informed her of his acceptance of her claim.
"I'd miss you," she told him warmly and looked up at him. He couldn't stop the soft smile her words invoked, but quickly covered it with a sardonic quirk of his eyebrows as he glanced away.
"That's funny, I believe the last time you said the team would miss me," he pointed out. It seemed he still bore a few scars from how she'd last reacted to his intent to immigrate to the Lone Star State. Dani let out an embarrassed laugh at being called out but sobered quickly.
"Well, yeah, that was because of Matt," she told him, willing him to understand. "And I thought it wouldn't be fair under the circumstances."
"And now it's fair?" he asked, his face a mixture of skepticism and hope. His heated gaze burned through her, his eyes so dark as to appear black. She smiled brightly, couldn't help it, because she was absolutely sure that she really wanted to try this- whatever it was- between them. She nodded her head slightly and looked up at him, wide-eyed and expectant. What would he do now? She had basically just told him that she wanted him to stay and be with her. Before he could say anything though there was a knock on the door,
"You expecting someone?" Nico asked her, surprised.
Dani snapped back to reality "No," she replied and went to open the door while Nico stayed by the stairs, her watchful backup. The door opened on a hesitant Joseph Crabcheck.
"Joseph?" she asked, both surprised and confused. She could feel Nico stand down behind her at the revelations that it wasn't Troy or anyone else from the Death Star.
"Uh, can I talk to you?" the young man asked nervously.
"Sure, come in." She nodded and pointed him in direction of the kitchen.
"You want me to stay?" Nico asked when they were alone again.
"I don't think he'll talk unless I'm alone with him; he seems scared." She appreciated his offer, but couldn't accept it if she wanted the cloak and dagger bit to end anytime soon.
"I could always wait somewhere in the house without him knowing. I can be really quiet. That way I'd be here if you need me," he pressed insistently.
"Nico, I really don't think..." she started, but he interrupted her.
"I don't want you alone with any of the parties involved in this scheme as long as we don't know who plays what role," he finally told her, his eyes worried and his breath shallow and rapid.
"Ok," Dani murmured soothingly. She nodded slowly as the prudence of his concern occurred to her. "Ok, wait upstairs. I'll tell him you left," she agreed, because although it wasn't in her nature to act out of fear, she still found Nico's concern touching, and she knew that he had survived as long as he had because of his caution. When in black-ops, she thought to herself, do as the operatives do.
"Thank you," he said, gratefully and finally let her go into the kitchen to talk to Joseph as he faded into the shadows of her second floor.
TBC