Chapter 20

"And then I told them that it is simply impossible to fix a histrionic or narcissistic personality disorder. They're not illnesses, just problematic. Especially, because either type doesn't seek any faults within themselves and always blames others. I mean, that's the disorder," Dani ranted while she was sitting her couch with Onyx curled up in her lap as she scratched his ears.

"So, neither Connor nor Troy can be fixed?" Nico summed up what she had ranted about for the last ten minutes when he came in with two cups of tea. The FBI had arrested both Troy and Connor and V3 headquarters asked Dani to give a report on whether or not they could work for them again or not. At first she had refused, but then she wrote an evaluation and sent it to their lawyer as well as the HR department of V3. Neither, of course, had been happy with what the report said, because Conor didn't gone to therapy for his substance abuse issues, still tried his hands in dangerous business deals and had a, basically, non-treatable personality disorder. The same went for Troy with the exception that he was only narcissistic and less shrewd.

"Not really. And they definitely should not be put in positions of power again, especially not together. It's a wonder these two didn't cause greater damage."

"We don't know the full extend yet. So far we have illegal doping, money laundering and probably embezzling, blackmail, assault… the list goes on. My rap sheet is short compared to theirs," Nico told her and sat down beside her.

"Isn't your rap sheet non existent since your deal with the FBI?" she knew.

"Hopefully," he shrugged.

"And I bet it was a lot deadlier," she teased him.

"I don't know if I'd call it that, but it was definitely less selfish."

"That's because you don't have an anti-social personality disorder. You're just bad-ass." She leaned into him and rested her head against his chest. The movement upset Onyx, who complained loudly, before jumping down on the floor. "I'm glad when I am finally done with this mess and can concentrate on my own clients again," she sighed, took a sip of her tea and closed her eyes when he hugged her to him with his free arm and started running his fingers through her loose curls. "Also I'll be home more and see you more often. I miss you," she added.

"It's strange not to be working together at the moment. But you're right. Once you reopen your practice we will see each other more often again. And I am really looking forward to it," Nico replied and leaned forward to put his cup on the couch table he had his feet on, before leaning back against the backrest again and wrapping both arms about Dani.

"Can't say it in four words this time, Dominic?" Dani smiled up at him.

"Sure," he shrugged, mirroring her smile. "I miss you, too." Dani quickly put her cup on the table as well, before she kneeled beside Nico's thighs, sat down on his lap and brought her lips to his. The kiss started out slow and tender, but quickly got more heated. They hadn't really seen each other since the morning of the day before. Nico had come in late last night because of some important meeting and Dani had already been asleep, because she had had an important meeting this morning. She had been out all day and finally made it back half an hour ago.

"Mmmh, your hair feels different," she mumbled knowingly against his lips, while her hands stroked through his hair. "You got a haircut."

"You can feel that?" he chuckled in surprise.

"Sure, I have become a tactile expert on all things 'you'," she nodded and kissed him again. Slowly she let her hands wander down his neck, over his shoulders and down to the first button of the dress shirt he wore. She let her lips slowly follow down to his throat, placing kisses on the exposed skin. "God, I really missed you," Dani whispered and breathed the scent of his subtle aftershave in. When she was able to stroke her hands over his chest, she brought her lips back up to his, gliding her tongue into his mouth immediately. Nico took the hint and started unbuttoning her blouse, much quicker than she had done with his shirt. They both froze when they heard the key in the front door and then the door opened.

"I thought Lindsey is staying with her father this weekend," Nico muttered as he quickly buttoned his shirt again.

"You and me both," Dani agreed, slid to the seat next to him, fixed her blouse and quickly ran her hands through her hair.

"Mom? Nico?" they heard after the door had closed.

"Living room," Dani yelled back and ran her thumb over Nico's lips, to wipe away the rests of her pink lipstick.

"Anywhere else?" he asked quietly and started rubbing his neck, fearing she had left marks there as well.

"No, you're good," Dani smiled and couldn't help but peck his lips, just when Lindsey walked in.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt," she smiled a bit when she came into the room, Onyx following her.

"We were just talking about work," Dani shrugged it off, ignoring the look Nico was giving her. "And I don't mean to sound like I don't want you here, but aren't you supposed to be at your dad's?"

"I was. I just… I have to talk to you about something."

"Please, tell me you're not running away to Paris," Dani exclaimed and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Mom, I'm not my idiotic brother," Lindsey rolled her eyes.

"Ok, so what is it?" Dani let out a relieved breath.

Lindsey looked at Nico, who suddenly felt uncomfortable. "I'll give you a minute," he decided and got up.

"No, please stay. It concerns you too," Lindsey insisted and he slowly sat back down beside Dani, who took his hand.

"You're making me really nervous now, Linds'," Dani admitted and gripped Nico's hand a bit tighter.

"It's nothing bad, mom," Lindsey said, but sounded so sad as she spoke that Dani and Nico exchanged a worried look.

"You know that I applied to a lot of schools and yesterday I got an offer from Princeton for psychology," she started.

"Oh my god, Lindsey," Dani exclaimed, shot off her seat and hugged her daughter, "that is amazing, honey."

"Congratulations Lindsey," Nico said once Dani let go of her daughter and he gave her a hug as well.

"Thank you, but I am not done," Lindsey said with a teary smile and they both sat back down on the couch, waiting for her to continue.

"I thought that if I got in, I could maybe just live here at home, get a job and hopefully between you and dad and myself, I would be able to afford it. But they sent the plan for fees and tuition and all and it's just a lot more than I expected. So, I talked to dad, because he has been buying a new house and a new car and all," Lindsey had to take a deep breath to be able to continue. "He said that his company is struggling right now and he has to get new clients and something about taxes and… he won't pay anything for my school. He said he'd have to change his whole life style in order to pay for it and that you should pay it all, because you have Nico now… I just got so angry," she said and wiped a tear away that had escaped. "First he leaves you with this whole tax mess, then he spends all our college money and now this. I just couldn't stay there anymore," she said and took another breath to calm herself. "But I also got into a couple of state schools in the area. I mean, you didn't go to a fancy school either and still did great so… I'll be fine. I just wanted you to know," Lindsey finished. During the silence that followed Dani and Nico had a whole conversation with their eyes only. While Dani was furious with her ex-husband, Nico was mostly worried how involved he could get without making Dani even more angry.

"Do you want me to look into it? I am sure there are ways to make him pay," Nico finally spoke up, addressing both Dani and Lindsey.

"Preferably very painful ones," Dani muttered darkly.

"Don't torture him!" Lindsey exclaimed. "Sure, he's an idiot, but," she just shrugged her shoulders.

"He's still your father," Nico nodded. "And I was talking about legal ways. Involving lawyers," he let them know.

"God, will it never end? I am so sick of one Ray-sized mess after the other," Dani sighed and fell back against the couch, covering her face with her hands.

"No, but thank you. As I said, I have other options. I just didn't want to keep this from you, because I know that at some point dad will bring it up. I know that mom can't pay for the school on her own, especially now that she's just reopening her practise." Lindsey sounded calmer now. "Please mom, don't worry. It's fine. I'll be fine," she assured her.

"Lindsey, you got accepted to Princeton. And yes, I had you two to look after and couldn't go to the school I really wanted to, but that doesn't mean that you should miss your chance. You earned it, you worked so hard and you are going to be amazing," Dani said, sat back up and then looked at Nico, giving him a small smile and a quick nod.

"Accept the offer for Princeton," Nico took over, understanding the hint, just when Onyx jumped on Lindsey's lap.

"But Nico…"

"Accept the offer and don't worry about the money. We've got it covered," he told her.

"But… how?" Another look passed between Dani and Nico and it was up to him now how much he wanted to tell.

"You remember Marshall Pittman?" he asked the young woman.

"Juliette's father? The owner of the Hawks?"

Nico nodded. "Marshall and I were very good friends and when he died he left me some money. So, it won't be an issue, accept the offer," he tried being as vague as possible without lying.

"But Nico, I don't want you to spend your money on me. Maybe you want to buy something with it like, a car or a new house and…" Nico stopped her rambling by placing a hand on her arm, while his other hand took Dani's.

"He left me shares of a company that are worth several million dollars," he spelled it out for her, leaving aside the fact that he owned another fifty percent of the same company, that he hadn't inherited. Lindsey's mouth dropped open and she stared at him.

"Did you know this?" she finally asked and looked at her mother.

Dani chuckled. "Yes, Linds' I knew. Well, not in the beginning, but once we started dating."

"I just have one condition," Nico said once Lindsey seemed able to breathe again.

"What?"

"You concentrate on your school and I don't want you to worry about money. But no crazy stunts. I won't spoil you and I won't sponsor anything over the top. You know Juliette and I don't want you to end up like her. If you fail a class you repeat it, if you want to change your studies you talk to us, you drop out, you're on your own," he told her.

"Oh my god, Nico! Thank you! I love you," Lindsey exclaimed and flung herself at him, giving him a hug.

"I take it you accept my conditions?" Nico laughed and hugged her back.

"Of course, yes," she nodded.

"Just one more thing," Nico spoke up again.

"What?"

"This stays between us. I trust you enough that I told you about the money from Marshall, but I don't want anyone else to know. Not even your father or your brother. Of course, you can tell them that we are paying for your school, but you tell anyone about the inheritance, you pay for your school yourself," he said sternly and Linsey looked a bit scared.

"I promise," she hurried to say.

"Ok," Nico nodded and his expression got softer. "And I love you, too." He gave her another quick hug and Lindsey relaxed again.

"Mom, are you ok with this?" she asked and sat back down, putting Onyx in her lap once more.

"Yes, I am. It's not really what I had in mind all these years, but Nico and I have talked about this before, hypothetically, and Nico made it clear that your education, both RayJay's and yours was not something he would spoil just because I am too proud to accept the money."

"I really can't believe this…"The full extend of what Nico had told her seemed to dawn on Lindsey. "Why are you not living in some huge mansion somewhere, travel the world, drive fancy cars?" she asked him.

"I like my car, I have travelled the world before and will go on vacation whenever your mother feels like she needs one. Mansions are a pain to keep clean… and I love your mother and this family. It's really all I need," he shrugged. Dani leaned over and kissed him softly for his answer.

"Speaking of family: You two remember that tomorrow your grandmother and Ronnie will come upon us," Dani remembered then.

"It's about time I get to really meet your sister. The last time I saw her we were still working for the Hawks."

"Can you say that again and I will record it, just so I can play it for you once you've actually met her?" Dani asked him and picked up her phone from the table.

"She's not that bad, mom," Lindsey rolled her eyes. "She's fun."

"Yeah, but her idea of fun and Nico's idea of fun are not exactly compatible."

"From what you told me I wouldn't necessarily say that," Nico smirked and Dani narrowed her eyes at him.

"Hey, is it ok if I stay here tonight? I really don't wanna be around dad at the moment," Lindsey interrupted their staring contest.

"Lindsey, this is your home, you can always stay here. Have you already eaten something?" Dani asked her.

"No, not yet."

"Pizza and movie night to celebrate?" Dani suggested.

"No movies with singing this time. Otherwise Onyx and I will hide in the office," Nico lay down the law.

"Fine, spoilsport. But then you order the pizza. And no crazy bada bing on it this time," Dani replied.

"Crazy bada bing?" Lindsey laughed.

"He had them put lobster on the pizza. I didn't even know that existed."

"What? I like lobster," Nico shrugged and took Dani's phone to make the call, since his own was upstairs in his suit jacket. "Come on Onyx, let's get you fed, too," he called as he left the room and Onyx followed him like a flash.

The three of them had barely sat down for breakfast the next morning when there was a knock on the backdoor. When Nico opened it he found TK standing in front of him.

"Good morning in the morning," he said with a wide smile and wanted to push past Nico, but he blocked the entrance with his body and a stern look on his face.

"What are you doing here?"

"What? Can't a man visit his favourite doctor?"

"Not on a Saturday morning without an appointment."

"Nico, let him in. He won't go away anyway," Dani called from the kitchen counter.

"See, that's why she's my favourite," TK smirked and walked past Nico into the house. He got himself a cup and a plate from the cupboard, poured himself a cup of coffee and grabbed one of the muffins, before sitting down with them, ignoring Dani's glare.

"Your favourite still likes to know why you are here," Dani pointed out when Nico had sat back down.

"Ya know, a little birdie told me that it's gonna be the big Santino Careles family party today and I thought, what's a party without a TK?" he smiled widely. Nico only raised one eyebrow before he switched on his iPad to read the newspaper and check on his email.

"So, I guess you talked to RayJay," Dani said knowingly.

"Where is Jaybird anyway?" Tk looked around.

"Hopefully at his shift at the cafe," Dani said, referring to the job RayJay had, so he could pay for groceries and his apartment on campus, expenses that weren't covered by his scholarship.

"Doesn't Sneako have some kind of 24/7 surveillance on him, so you guys know where he is at all times? I mean, after the stunt he pulled with Paris and Julie."

"RayJay is an adult TK. It's none of my business if he decides to show up for his shift or not," Nico shrugged and then fell silent, looking at something on his ipad. "Your mother is here," he told Dani then.

"How do you…" Tk started just when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get changed real quick," Nico told Dani and pecked her lips, before he walked upstairs.

"You two clear the table, please," Dani told Lindsey and TK and went to open the door.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing Nico in his pjs, even if they're just sweatpants and a shirt," TK turned to Lindsey. "That guy is scary."

"Mom can be scarier, believe me," Lindsey replied and high fived TK when he held his hand up.

"That is not possible! I lose again?" Dani's sister Ronnie yelled after having lost the fifth poker game in a row to Nico.

"You lose, I win. The circle of life," Dani's mother grinned and held her hand open so that TK could hand over the fifty dollar bill.

"You bet against me, ma? Thank you for the confidence," Ronnie huffed.

"Dinner is ready, everyone," Dani called from the kitchen. Lindsey, TK, Dani's mother and sister and Juliette all got up to follow her out into the garden, where the table was set for all of them. RayJay held Nico back though. "Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?" he asked.

"Sure," Nico shrugged and sat back down on the chair.

"You know, Lindsey told me earlier that you're paying for her school. And I wanted to tell you how great that is and thank you," RayJay said.

"It's no big deal," Nico replied, but looked suspicious.

"Oh, but it is. It's a huge relief for her to know that she won't have to worry about money and can go to such an elite school. It got me thinking…" Ray Jay went on and Nico sat up a bit straighter in his chair. "Recently it's been really hard with classes and work and all. And I thought that maybe if I could quit the job and concentrate more on school…"

Nico interrupted him. "Do you remember what your mother told you when you moved to Paris?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're mother told you that if you walked out that door you would be on your own. You went anyway, not thinking for one second about how much you hurt her."

"You weren't even there."

"No, I wasn't, but she told me about it. You ran off with Juliette, got your GED online and with an average that was miles away from what you could have done if you had stayed."

"Hey, that is none of your business!" RayJay got angry.

"You just made it my business when you decided to ask me for money," Nico shot back.

"I didn't…"

"Don't start RayJay, you know how much I hate lying!" Nico shot him down again. "You have your scholarship for the tuition and books and even a room in the dorms, which you decided were beneath you. It was your decision you wanted your own apartment on campus, it was your decision you needed a car and it was your decision to run up a crazy phone bill because you keep calling Juliette in Paris. Your decisions, so you pay for them and be the adult you decided you were, when you walked out on your mother to run off to Paris." Nico was so furious, he didn't even yell. Instead his voice got dangerously quiet.

"But it's unfair! Lindsey gets all this money and I.."

"Don't even start about what's fair or not or I'll have a little chat with the board for the scholarship and tell them about the two fake doctor's notes you handed in so you wouldn't fail your statistics class."

"Hey, what's going on here?" Dani asked when she came into the living room and found Nico and RayJay in a stand off.

"Do you want me to tell her or should I?" Nico asked the younger man.

"You're gonna do it anyway, so whatever," RayJay huffed and hurried out of the room. "Jerk."

"Nico?" Dani asked confused.

Nico squeezed the bridge of his nose for a second and closed his eyes before he answered. "Your son feels he is entitled to getting money from me, so he can quit his job and see university as even more of a joy ride than he already does."

"Lindsey told him that you're paying for her school," Dani said knowingly and wrapped her arms around his middle.

"Yes," he confirmed and then sighed. "Dani, if you want me to give him the money, I will…"

"No, he made his bed…"

"I don't want to fight with him, especially not today. I'm sorry."

"Aw, honey, you have nothing to be sorry for. RayJay is just… being his father's son, I guess," Dani shrugged and kissed Nico. When she pulled back he wrapped her in a hug and held her for a while.

"Welcome to parenthood. And if it helps your mood: Onyx bit TK when he tried to pet him," Dani told him and it had the desired effect of making Nico chuckle.

"Serves him right for hanging around the house all day," Nico replied and let go of her. "Dani, I really don't want to be the horrible stepfather…" he wasn't ready to let it go yet.

"You're not. And I will talk to RayJay later and tell him that he is way out of line. If god forbid, he acts like a responsible adult one day, then we can start helping him again. And I will also remind him later that without you, he would have lost his scholarship twice already. He doesn't need to know the extent of your input, but still," Dani shrugged. "Thank you for always having my back, even if it's against my son."

"Always," Nico smiled back at her and kissed her again.

"And now let's go back out. If I remember correctly, we have something to celebrate," she told him with a giddy smile on her face, before dragging him out into the garden by his hand.

Dani clinked her spoon against her glass once dinner was over and everybody was juts sitting around the table chatting.

"I just wanted to say thank you for coming. I'm glad you all finally got to really meet Nico here," she smiled and moved closer to him, giving him the chance to wrap one arm around her waist. "There is also something we wanted to tell you," she went on and exchanged a smile with Nico.

"Oh my god, you're pregnant!" Ronnie exclaimed before Dani could say more.

"Way to go, Sneako, knocking up the good doc! Bow chicka wowow" Tk laughed and lightly hit him in the shoulder.

"Ew, TK," Lindsey scrunched up her face and saw that her brother looked just as weirded out by TK's choice of words.

"Jesus, what made you say that? Do I look pregnant? I've been drinking way too much wine all day to be pregnant, for gods sake," Dani exclaimed while Nico tried to keep a straight face and not laugh at the madness surrounding him.

"So, you're not pregnant?" her mother wanted clarification.

"I'm not pregnant. I'm done with diapers, thank you very much," Dani spelled it out for all of them. "I am however something else," she went on and felt strangely nervous all of a sudden. She looked at Nico, begging him with her eyes to help her out, but the look he gave her only said 'it's your family'. "I'm a married woman again," Dani finally said and smiled happily at Nico, glad that the cat was finally out of the bag.

"What?" TK squeaked.

"We got married on Barbados a while back," Nico supplied a bit more information.

"Barbados? But that was three months ago!" RayJay knew.

"You got married without TK as your maid of honour?" the football star pouted.

"But you only got together six months ago. You're sure you're not pregnant? Seems a bit rushed to me," Ronnie pointed out.

"It might seem rushed to you guys, but not to us. We'd been dancing around this for so long…" Dani shook her head.

"And really we had no other choice, we had to get married," Nico spoke up with a mischevious twinkle in his eye.

"We had to, huh? Why, may I ask?" she smiled at him.

"So we can't testify against each other," Nico replied and smiled happily when Dani burst out laughing. The joke was completely lost on everyone else, of course, but Dani didn't care. After the last six months together, three months of them married, she knew everything there was to know about one Dominic Eugene Careles and was able to close the Nico files investigation. She would be there for all the rest of his adventures anyway.

The end