Sadly, this chapter is not yet betaed, but I just wanted it out there already. I hope that's ok.
Chapter 14: Going rogue
"It's all about the clinic," Joseph told Dani when he was already standing outside her house. Then he left and she didn't know what exactly to do with that information.
"Now at least we have something," Nico remarked when he suddenly appeared behind her and startled her. She hadn't heard him coming down the stairs and let out a breath before she turned around in front of her door to face him.
"But what do we do with that something?" she wanted to know. She really had no idea how to proceed.
"We'll figure it out," he tried to calm her down and gave her a small smile which she returned. Suddenly her smile disappeared though and her eyes widened. "What is it?"Nico asked alarmed.
"TK told me that he will be treated in this clinic." She took a step towards him, needed to be closer to him because he seemed to radiate a sense of security.
"Then you need to talk to him, ask him what exactly is going on and then we can decide what we'll do about it," Nico advised. It seemed liked he had the plan already mapped out in his head in a matter of seconds. "Did Joseph tell you anything more detailed than what I heard?"
"No, he just said that he couldn't talk and that it was about money and his mother. The only really new thing is what he said is the info about the clinic," Dani shrugged and then sighed deeply. Her legs suddenly felt weak as the thrill of the situation left her body and left her bereft of all strength and energy. So she stumbled back and sunk down on the stairs.
"You ok?" Nico worried and was by her side in a flash.
"Yes, just tired. It's a lot to take in and I'm just… so tired," she repeated herself as she couldn't think of another word, stressing how exhausted she felt.
"Why don't you head to bed then?" he suggested and softly stroked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Bed sounds good," she slurred slightly because she was so tired and leaned into his hand. It didn't even occur to her that under different circumstances he might have taken this as an invitation to take her to bed. Instead she let her eyes close for a second as she leaned her cheek against the back of his hand just to blink tiredly against the light when she opened them again.
"Come on," he urged her and pulled her gently up by her hands. When he was sure that she was standing safely he stepped back and zipped his jacket. "Good night," he wished and buried his hands in the pockets of his jacket. Dani realized that he wanted to say or do something else, but she could only look at him tiredly and wait. In the end he gave her a small wave and left her to climb the stairs to her bedroom alone.
When Dani stepped out of the elevator the next morning at work Nico was once more waiting for her, this time with a cup of coffee in his hand.
"Hey Nico," she dragged out the first word and smiled at him.
"Good morning doctor. You're feeling better?" he smiled back and handed her the hot beverage. He had been worried about her last night after her talk with Joseph Crabcheck when the energy had left her like air left a balloon when stung with a needle.
"Sleep helped," she nodded, "thank you for the coffee." She immediately took a sip and he was glad that he knew it wasn't that hot anymore or she would have burned herself. They started walking towards her office and although he really just wanted to look at her and admire how beautiful she looked in this blue silk top she wore, he knew he had to get the information he needed. He was sure that she had already spoken with TK this morning, this well he knew her.
"What exactly did TK tell you?" he came straight to the point.
"Just that the experimental treatment was starting up in a few days. He was pretty vague about the details, but he was so excited about it," she told him quietly so she wouldn't be overheard, but just loud enough so people wouldn't start wondering why she was whispering. "He said that they promised to get him back on the field in a flash. What are we gonna tell him?" her tone was urgent.
"Nothing yet. That can compromise the entire investigation,Dani," Nico insisted. There were pros and cons to working with her, but one of the big problems was that she was an amateur and a very impulsive one at that and she needed to learn to monitor what she was saying to whom.
"Really, because the investigation can't compromise me, or my clients," she insisted and Nico nodded resigned. He knew that when push came to shove the safety of her patients was the thing that was most important to her, even more important than the safety of herself or the operation. "Uh, you didn't give your FBI guy any names like Hutch or Crabcheck, right?" she asked then and proved what he had just thought about.
"No," he replied and couldn't keep the feeling of anger completely out of his voice. It frustrated him to no end that she still seemed to have doubts when it came to trusting him.
"Good, because I don't want either of them to get pulled into this. They've been through enough." As soon as his anger at her had come it was gone again because this caring side of her was just adorable. "What about TK?" she wanted to know and snapped him out of his daze.
"I promise nothing will happen to TK. You have my word," he tried to assure her, but it didn't go unnoticed by him that instead of looking at him she looked down at her coffee cup. He held back a sigh and took the note he had prepared for her out of his jacket pocket. It wouldn't help the investigation if he would dwell on their trust issues, so it was better to change the topic. "In the meantime you have an appointment," he informed her and gave her the white slip of paper. Dani read the name of a cafe aloud and looked at him questioningly.
"Around twelve every day, she's there," Nico added and then walked away from her before he would confront her about her lacking trust in him. They both had other things to do, but it still hurt.
After Dani had found and talked to her former assistant, who admitted that she had lied to her, the FBI was waiting for her in front of the coffee store. Dani didn't let it show that she was scared or intimidated, simply because she was too mad in the situation itself, but as soon as she stepped into her own car she felt herself shaking slightly. On her way home she called Nico and told him to meet her at her house. When she got there she had enough time to change into something more comfortable before he knocked at her door.
"You want some wine?" she asked him when she opened the door for him. Nico raised his eyebrows and hurried after her when she just left him standing in the foyer and walked into the kitchen.
"What did the FBI want from you?" he asked her instead of answering her question. She didn't seem to mind anyway because she just took one glass out of the cupboard.
"Information. They basically kidnapped me n front of the coffee shop where I met Paloma," she raged and opened the bottle of red wine that had already been sitting on the counter. "This agent Benett wouldn't even let me call a lawyer because we were just talking and I could leave any time." She was now pouring the wine into her glass. "I was sucker punched," she finished and turned around to face Nico.
"What else did he say?" Nico hadn't got any real information yet and he was already fuming. He had warned that jerk, he had told him to stay away from Dani...
"He threatened me with subpoenas, jail time, mints," she listed angrily and looked furiously over to him over the kitchen island separating them. "Look, you promised me, you gave me your word," she vented her anger and sadly he was at the receiving end.
"I wasn't informed they were bringing you in," he pointed out and tried to stay calm on the outside while he was already thinking of at least fifty ways how to punish this ass of an FBI agent.
"Oh God! Every time I get near you my whole life explodes!" Dani accused him and lost control over the volume of her voice. Nico was in no state to keep calm and so for the first time he lost with patience with Dani and raised his voice as well.
"I tried to keep you out of it Dani or did you forget that part of the story?" he corrected her. Dani looked surprised at first, then seemed to agree with him because instead of arguing back she lowered her eyes and put her glass down on the counter. She remained silent for once. "Lay low, I'll handle this," he ordered and wanted to leave. Dani wasn't one to be bossed around and so just when he thought he had won she spoke up.
"No, you won't. No, no!" she disagreed loudly and clearly. "We're not going by your rules anymore, all bets are off, Dani going rogue, right? I'm not playing nice anymore," Dani let him know. He just lifted his eyebrows for a second. She was right after all, the time of playing nice was definitely over.
"You and me both," he said and knew that Dani didn't have an inkling what a threat that was out of his mouth. She had no idea what he was capable of, especially when the ones he loved were being threatened.
Nico was so furious that he went to the gym and worked out for a while before he even tried to come up with a plan concerning agent Benett. He decided to have a little chat with him and tell him that he didn't approve. For the past few years his black outfit and the sun glasses had been enough to intimidate people. This time however he decided to wear more casual clothes, clothes in which he had more space to move if needed.
It felt so good to press this jerk against the car and finally let his anger and frustration out- at least partially. If he acted like he felt the guy would probably be dead. How could this FBI guy be so stupid, Nico asked himself? This guy was one of the few people in the world who knew what he did and what he was capable of. This guy knew about all the black ops – at least what wasn't blacked out in the files, he knew about the military, he knew about him being in the game, he knew the numbers- and still he was stupid enough to mess with him when it came to the one person he would go back to his old ways for? He had warned them, hadn't he? He had told them that Dani was off limits and he didn't listen. After his talk with him he would listen or he would make him listen. As long as Dani would be safe he didn't care for much else.
What Nico didn't know was that Dani was set up from a completely different side. When her new client kissed her and someone knocked at her door late at night trying to blackmail her, Nico didn't know about any of it, because Dani never told him.
She decided to go rouge and her argument with Nico when she had told him that she wouldn't be bossed around by him anymore didn't allow her to call him. It didn't even cross her mind if she was honest. She was angry and didn't think that the situation could possibly be dangerous. The night when the pictures had been placed in front of her door she knew that it wasn't nico knocking. Was it a good idea to open the door with an umbrella in hand as a weapon? Probably not, but she was too stubborn to run to nico for help. Afterall he hadn't been able to protect her from the FBI – so what good would it be now?
The night on the stairs when she had told him she would miss him if he left for Dallas seemed to be ages ago. Back then she had trusted him and she had opened up to him. She had gone with everything he had said and still she was knee deep in this mess. Dani knew that it wasn't fair to blame him, because he had warned her after all, but who else could she blame?
She decided to deal with Nico later and first get Paloma back- that was something she could manage on her own. She needed an allye now more than ever. Paloma wasn't a friend like Nico was but she could trust her at least when it came to work. She organized part of her chaos instead of causing even more chaos.
"I can't believe you got my job back. Thank you Dani," Paloma gushed and hugged her tightly with tears in her eyes. She had managed to get her back and they were standing at Palomas desk.
"Don't thank me at. We still have a lot of work to do," Dani shrugged it off and was glad that she had her back. Plaoma turned to her desk and saw a pen lying on top of it.
"Ew, is that that ear wax?" she asked, pointing to it.
"Yeah probably," Dani was disgusted and made a face. Paloma just took a tissue, wrapped the pen in it and threw it away.
"Okay," Dani sighed and turned to walk into her office when a sudden thought struck her. "Oh, listen," she stopped at her door. "If Mr. Careles should call uhm just uhm..." she wasn't sure what to say. What should Paloma do if he called? Should she patch him right through? Tell him she wasn't around? She wanted him near her and loathed him at the same time, because she didn't know what to do about him. She had feeling for him- strong feelings- that much she knew, but at the same time all the mysteries and problems caused to have problems trusting him completely. Workwise it was never a problem, but could she trust him with her heart? "Never mind, forget it, it's ok," she mumbled distraught and rubbed her forehead with her hand. She felt tears burning in her eyes all of a sudden and trying to hold them back gave her a mild heachache in a matter of seconds. She felt like throwing herself on the ground, crying 'I want Nico' so he would come, pick her up, hold her and tell her everything would be ok. This was real life though and Nico wasn't this fairytale knight in shining armor she made him out to be. He was secretive and although he never lied he kept a lot to himself and avoided answers wherever he could. She left Paloma standing there as she tried to keep her composure, aware that she was surrounded by glass walls.
Dani knew who was at her door when she came down the stairs that night and tightened her blue silk robe around herself. The knock was a dead giveaway. She was still half asleep when she opened the door and it was rude awakening when he basically pushed inside and started talking before he had closed the door behind him.
"Why didn't you tell me about Blake Bridges? I had to find this out from Paloma," it was not so much a question as it was an accusation.
"What did Paloma tell you that for?" she asked and became angry at her assistant. It was none of her business.
"Because she cares about you. She doesn't like what's going on," he replied.
"It's because I knew that you would react like this and try and get in the middle," she said and put more distance between them by taking a few steps back. "I can fight my own battles!"
Nico shortened the distance by taking a step towards her as he spoke. "You need to get out of V3 Dani." Again with the orders from him.
"I don't need to do any such thing," Dani disagreed unnerved. "I'm invested over there with TK and Paloma and my clients."
Nico felt disappointment settle upon him. Even after everything they had been through and after the kisses they had shared she still didn't listen to him. "Fine, you stay, I'm going, my job with the FBI and V3 is finished," he spit out and turned to leave, but Dani caught his arm and held him back.
"Wait a minute," she said and when he looked at her he saw that she was confused. "You just gonna walk away?" she asked him with huge eyes.
"Yeah," he nodded and wrinkled his forehead. "And so should you. This fight is over Dani," he let her know. His mission was done even though the fight was still going on. In the past they had moved in with the SEALs, completed the mission they had been send to do and then had moved out as soon as possible. Their fight had been over even though the war had still been going on.
"Not for me. And I do not walk away from a fight. I need to find out what happened to Hutch," she disagreed with him. Couldn't she for once just agree with him and do as he told her? Was that really too much to ask?
"We're gonna find out what happened," he nodded tiredly. It was exhausting having to explain everything. He was used to people just accepting what he said without questioning it. "TK walked out of the clinic with evidence. I handed it over to the FBI."
"You talked to TK? You protected him?" she seemed surprised at first and then he could see the realization settling in that he had once again kept his promise, while she had shut him out and had kept information from him.
"I told you I would," he insisted. Dani's eyes filled with tears but she tried to fight them. "You need to trust me," Nico stated. If she didn't trust him then he had to leave, for him it was that simple. There was nothing left to stay for when she didn't trust him.
Dani had to swallow hard before she could reply. "I'm trying," she said softly and still her voice cracked.
"I have a ticket for Dallas in my pocket," Nico informed her of the newest development. It was only fair, so she couldn't blame him for leaving without saying goodbye.
"You can't leave," Dani stated, swallowed and blinked back the tears.
"Why not?" he asked the most important question. If she would leave it unanswered again or give him another excuse he would walk out the door and hop on the next flight.
Dani didn't hesitate this time and closed the gap between them. She went up on her tiptoes and kissed him like her life depended on it. She let her fingers glide through his hair like she had wanted to ever since their last kiss, before she tried to pull him closer by his shoulders. When he didn't budge she grabbed the collar of his leather jacket and pulled him into her.
Nico had stopped thinking when she had attacked him with her lips, because this kiss was everything he had dreamed of. It was the answer he needed and there was no doubt in his mind that he couldn't walk away from her now. When she broke the kiss he just stood there and stared at her, couldn't believe that she was finally letting this happen. He saw in slow motion when her lips curled into a sassy smile before she turned around, walked up the stairs and let her robe glide down. The skimpy black satin gown she wore underneath was more revealing than it was covering her curves and he finally willed his feet to move. He lost his black leather jacket on the stairs and caught up with her when she reached the landing. When she felt his arms wrap around her waist she turned around, the smile on her face now even wider, and moaned when he kissed her passionately. He pressed her up against the wall in the hallway and didn't even think about if her daughter could be home. He needed her desperately and knew that there was no stopping this time.
"Where is your cell phone?" he asked her between kisses.
"In the kitchen," she replied breathlessly. He didn't say anything, just grinned approvingly and sealed her lips with his again. They became nearly frantic as her nightgown went flying first and his pullover followed.
"Nico, bedroom," she breathed as he sucked on her neck and then pulled him into her bedroom and kicked the door shut behind her.
"I'm hungry," Dani said and buried her face in the crook of his neck, nibbling softly on his skin. They were lying in bed, still awake but exhausted from the passion they had shared before.
"I'm not eatable," Nico chuckled and pulled her tighter against his body. "But we could always go downstairs and see what we can find," he went on.
"But I like it here and I don't want to get up," she pouted and looked up.
"Food or bed, you decide," he told her sternly, but the kiss he gave her was soft and tender.
"Spoilsport," she was still pouting when he pulled back. Dani sat up and untangled from him, the sheet falling down to her waist. Nico's eyes dropped from her face to her chest and a grin spread out on his face.
"Maybe, we should stay in bed after all," he said, pulled her back in his arms and kissed her again.
"Mmmh," she sighed against his lips and then pulled back. "Didn't you want to bring me something to eat?" she asked innocently and batted her eyes at him.
"I never said that," he shook his head and smiled at her. She smiled back and they were drawn to each other once again for another kiss. "Come on, lazy, let's get you fed," Nico teased her after they broke apart, got up and held his hand out to her. She took it and let him pull her out of bed and in his arms.
"Where's your daughter?" he asked and looked down at himself and then at her. They were both completely naked.
"At her dad's. But we should get dressed anyway. Who knows who might knock at my door in the middle if the night?" Dani said and gently smoothed his hair down as it was sticking up in all directions.
"Who else but me is showing up here in the middle of the night?" Nico wanted to know and raised both eyebrows.
"Strangers who place compromising pictures in front of my door," she replied and stepped away from him, turning slowly around while her eyes scanned the room. "Where is my night gown?" she asked then.
"If I remember correctly it is still in the hallway," Nico grinned and Dani blushed at the memory how it got there, but couldn't stop a smile from appearing on her face. She didn't say anything but just bit her lip and opened her drawer to get another nightgown out. She decided for something longer and less lacy than the one she wore before. With the gown and underwear in hand she walked towards the bathroom and stopped when she passed Nico.
"I'll just be a second," she said, placed her free hand on his chest and pressed her lips against his for a moment.
"Ok," he nodded as she walked away, but let his hand glide over her middle until it dropped when she was far enough gone.
When Dani got out of the bathroom she found her bedroom empty and walked down the stairs to the kitchen. She noticed that Nico had picked up their discarded clothing and found him standing in front of the open fridge, dressed in his jeans and a black T-shirt.
"We could make some pancakes or omelet," he said when he heard her behind him. Dani didn't reply immediately, but wrapped her arms around his middle from behind and rested her cheek against his back.
"Aren't you staying?" she asked instead.
"Why?" he asked suspiciously and turned a bit then lifted his right arm so he could pull her to his side.
"Because you're completely dressed," she let him know disapprovingly and slipped her fingertips underneath his shirt. He stopped her hand at his waist by placing his own over it and kissed her forehead.
"I don't want to scare your daughter if she comes home unannounced," he said, looking into the open fridge again. Dani just placed a kiss on his collarbone and then turned towards the open fridge.
"Omelet sounds good," she decided after checking the contents and went to grab the eggs, but Nico held her back.
"You get us something to drink, I take care of the food," he decided and pushed past her to get the eggs himself.
"Red wine?" she asked without protesting and saw Nico nodded as he started opening her cabinets searching for a pan. She decided to let him work, if he needed help he'd ask her. Dani walked to the storage room and got the red wine for them, opened it and poured them both a glass. Nico was standing by stove meanwhile, already roasting some mushrooms he had found. She handed him his glass and toasted in his direction before she took a sip of her own wine.
"It's good," he complimented her choice and poured the eggs into the pan.
"Glad you like it," she replied, hopped up and sat down on the counter next to the stove so she could watch him better and be at eyelevel with him. Nico took this as an invitation and stepped between her legs. With a roughish smile and while looking her directly in the eyes he took the glass out of her hand, put both of their glasses down and kissed her passionately without saying another word when she lifted her eyebrows in question. Dani giggled against his lips at first and wrapped one arm around him, while her other hand cupped his cheek. The humor was gone after a moment though because kissing him hadn't lost its intensity one bit after they had slept together- quite the contrary. Now that she knew firsthand what it could lead to she just melted against him, moaning into the kiss from time to time. He really knew how to kiss.
"Don't burn the eggs," she whispered against his lips, but didn't move. Nico pecked her öips and then pulled back- making her groan in disapproval. He wore a cocky grin because of it as he took then pan off the stove and placed the omelet on the plates.
"Here," he said as he placed the plate in front of her and sat down on the other side of the counter. Dani squinted in his direction and he knew why she was squinting. "Eat," Nico told her and softly stroked over the back of her free hand with his fingertips, giving her a promise for later. Her face relaxed and she smiled at him. Understanding what he was doing, and ate the first bite of her omelet. The sooner she was done eating the sooner they could go back to bed.
TBC