-5 -

The walls were back up—he could sense it in her posture. Her back was rigid as she watched the sun set behind the mountains.

"Hey," Danny said quietly, trying not to startle her.

She didn't turn around, just responded with her own quiet, "Hey."

"Sam said you were upset." If he thought she was tense before it was nothing compared to now. She pulled her arms around herself and Danny watched her shoulders move almost to her ears.

"I guess I'm just miserable and taking it out on everyone else. I'll apologize to her later."

She was trying to dismiss him, but he wasn't going to let her get away with it. "Why are you miserable?"

"It doesn't matter. Look, Danny, let's just get back inside," Mary turned to move past him, but he stopped her.

"I don't want to go back. I want to stay here with you so we can talk. I've missed that so much, you know? You used to tell me everything, Mary. Now I look at you and I have no idea what's going on in that beautiful head of yours." He ran his hands up and down her arms, trying to help her relax, but she still refused to meet his eyes.

"My head's probably not a place you want to be right now," she spoke so softly he had to strain to hear her above the breeze.

"Well, I'll be the judge of that. Tell me what's going on," Danny had moved his hand to her neck and was gently massaging the knots he found there.

"Why can't I get over you?" The thought formed in her head and was out of her mouth before she could stop it.

"Mary…"

She pulled away from him then. The last thing she wanted was his pity. "This is a mistake, Danny. I can't talk to you about you and I can't talk to anyone else either," Mary said as she frantically wiped the tears from her face. "I don't know what to do anymore."

Danny couldn't stand to see her like this, but he knew that if they were going to make any progress he needed to know how she felt. "What do you want to do, Mary?"

"I just want to stop hurting every time I see you with someone else. I want to be able to talk to you again without my stomach getting caught in my throat. I want to be able to look at another guy without comparing him to you. I want to move on and I can't. And being with you that night just made it ten times harder."

Danny was completely taken aback. She said she wanted to move on, but everything she'd just said meant that she was still as much in love as he was.

When he didn't respond right away, Mary took a deep breath and tried to compose herself, "Look, Danny, I'm fine. I just need some time okay."

Danny was still trying to process everything she'd told him. His carefully thought out plan flashed through his mind and he decided that if he was going to be successful he needed to step it up. Danny just hoped that he could convince Mary that they were worth another shot.

"I think a year is more than enough time."

"What?" she asked him confused.

"It's been more than a year since I watched you walk away, Mary, and I'll be damned if I let it get to the point where I have to watch another man down on his knee in front of you. I want us to talk, right now," Danny's voice was forceful and Mary couldn't help but be confused.

"I don't understand. Why are you doing this now, Danny? I saw you and Delinda."

"I don't know what you saw, but there's nothing going on, Mary. I swear." Danny made a mental note to tell Mary everything that had happened with Delinda, but first he wanted to get things straight between the two of them. Unfortunately, fate had a different idea as Danny's cell phone chimed in his pocket. He let out something between an exasperated sigh and a growl as he noted Ed's name on the display.

"Yeah," he spoke tersely into the phone.

"Danny, I need you up here now," his boss' tone was just as short.

"I'm on my way, Ed," Danny slammed his phone shut before turning to look at Mary who had once again turned away from him.

"I'm sorry. I've got to go."

Mary didn't want Danny to see her tears so she stayed facing away from him only indicating she'd heard him with a nod of her head, but Danny knew her too well. He cautiously approached as she stared at the lights of the strip, wrapping his arms around her from behind and resting his head on her shoulder.

"Will you meet me later?" he asked softly.

"Danny, please…let's just leave it, okay?" Mary trailed off as she tried not to cry.

He nuzzled the side of her face with his nose before placing a tender kiss just below her ear. "We can't keep running from each other, Mare. We have to work this out. There's a lot of stuff I need to tell you."

"Okay," Mary responded in a trembling voice.

"I'll call you as soon as I can get away."

---

"What's up?" When Danny entered the security room he saw Mike hunched over one of the monitors while Ed looked on.

"I want you and Mike to run diagnostics on every system. I want all the cameras checked and double-checked and all the top-level access codes changed. I also want to reevaluate all the surveillance areas. I don't want there to be one inch of this place that we can't see on a monitor."

"You got it. Is there any new information on the robberies?" Danny asked as he sat down to get to work.

"No," Ed told him as he headed up to his office, "but I just want to be prepared for anything."

Once Ed's door was closed, Mike turned to Danny. "What's going on with you and Mary?"

"Nothing…everything. We're just trying to work some stuff out."

"It's about time. You two just don't make sense apart, man. It's like you're both just wandering around aimlessly without your other half."

"Thank you for the insight, Dr. Phil," Danny replied sarcastically. "Come on, let's get started on this stuff. I don't want to be here all night."

---

It was almost midnight when Danny and Mike decided to finally call it a day. They'd finished most of the diagnostics and agreed to get started on the cameras first thing in the morning.

Danny walked down the hallway housing the executive offices and noticed Mary's light still on. Her door was slightly ajar and he watched her work for a moment before lightly rapping his fingers against the wall to get her attention.

"Working late?" he asked as he moved into the room, his long-since discarded tie hanging lazily from his hand.

"Yeah," she sighed, "but I think I'm almost done—at least for tonight."

"Have you eaten? I was thinking maybe we could grab a late dinner?"

Mary knew she couldn't put this off any longer. She'd done a lot of thinking since Danny had left her on the roof and had come to some important decisions. No matter what happened between her and Danny she needed some sort of closure on the past. The scary part was she just wasn't sure if that closure would mean the end of their story or the beginning of a new chapter.

"I'd like that." Her smile was tentative, but warm and Danny couldn't help but smile back.