Thank you to those who reviewed the last chapter, for your comments and suggestions. If you didn't review - feel free to review this chapter! It's set pre DOA for a Day.

Thanks to Lily Moonlight for the readthrough/beta!

See chapter one for disclaimer.

Distance - Chapter Two

The locker room was quiet; the usual smells of sweat and deodorant hitting him as he walked in, making his headache worsen. He sat down on one of the benches near to his locker and unknotted his tie, trying not to feel tired. He should have taken a cab back from Angell's the night before, but had wanted to breath fresh air, or as fresh as it got in New York City. He heard footsteps and looked up, catching a brief glimpse of Angell emerge from one of the shower cubicles into the ladies' area of the locker room, a towel tied around her and hair dripping down her back. The sight was enough to make him want to go home and play war games on a games console, feeling like a teenage boy trying to get over a crush on the class' most popular girl and not succeeding.

His nature got the better of him and he wandered over to the tall set of lockers that divided the male and female areas. He paused at the side of them, hearing her movements as she dressed inside a cubicle; the sounds of zippers being done up, material rustling as it was pulled on, creating images inside his mind.

"Jess," he said, raising his voice even though the locker rooms were empty save for them. "You got time to talk?" He didn't dare look round as he heard the cubicle door open, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the ground at the same level as his heart.

"There's no one else here, come round," she called back. He read nothing in her tone that suggested how she was feeling about him. She could have been calling to anyone. He stepped around the lockers, noticing her things on one of the benches, items he recognised; her make-up bag, perfume, shoes. Standing with his back to the lockers he looked at her and noticed the light had gone out of her eyes.

"I hear you've had someone staying with you?" he said, expecting the teasing come back, the enquiries as to why he wanted to know, and dreading the answer.

She nodded, not looking at him. "My brother. He's in New York for a dentistry conference and wanted to stay with me instead of booking into a motel. Since he's had his own practise he's been learning how to save money."

He felt his pulse rate double, relief lifting the wieght that had been hanging on his shoulders. "Robbie," he said, remembering the tales she'd told about her siblings. He'd heard about Robbie one evening when Jess had been recounting the times she'd been caught trying to sneak out of the house when her father was on night shifts and Robbie had caught her, locking her in a closet. "I thought you were seeing someone."

She smiled, sitting down on the bench and looking up at him. "When've I had time? If I've not been working, I've been some place with you, or with you and Danny, or at home. Flack, I'd have told you. And besides…" she stopped mid sentence. His mind raced at what she had planned to say.

"So you're still single?" the words fell out of his mouth and he looked at her, not liking the feelings he was having, the vulnerability he felt, the exposure. He managed to keep his tone soft, rather than accusatory, feling awkward at asking such a question.

"Flack, if I was about to start seeing someone, I think you'd have known about it, or you would have been there when I met them. The closest thing I have to a boyfriend is probably you, and I know I've been kind of distant lately, and I own you an explanation," she said. She loosened the towel her hair was in and pulled her hair back, tying it away from her face. The act mesmerised him. "We work together. I needed to put a bit of space there so I could get my head around... I don't know, this thing between us." He felt a tumult of emotions as she said the words, knowing that what he was feeling wasn't going to be dismissed.

He sat down on the bench next to her, fixing his gaze on his shoes, noticing her bare feet and wondering what to say next. He didn't usually struggle for words, but this was difficult. "I missed you," he said, still unable to look at her face. He was honest by nature, but that was usually through a facade of wit and banter. Now his honesty was putting him at risk. "It bothered me that I thought you were dating someone else." He felt her hand grab his and he found himself smiling, fears flying away like birds released from captivity.

"Why didn't you come talk to me?" she said.

He shrugged. "I didn't think I should, you know, we're colleagues – I'm not your keeper," he finally looked up at her, losing himself as he looked into large brown eyes, letting himself be lost.

"But we are friends. I probably should have spoken to you about what was going on in my head, but…" she looked at him and he read a mixture of sorrow and hope in her eyes. "And - I didn't think the rumour mill would put two and two together and make seventeen. I was glad Robbie was here, it just gave me something to be distracted by."

"I should have said something, Jess, but we work together," he said, trying to explain things for the both of them. "We're being partnered more and more often. We shouldn't have…" he struggled for the word.

She nodded and he knew he didn't have to say any more. "We going for coffee at the end of shift?" she said.

He smiled. "As long as you let me pay. Is your brother still staying with you?"

"He left this morning to fly back home, so you can sleep on my couch without being busted by him," she said, standing up and pulling his hand up with her. The slight contact made everything better and he stood, maintaining the touch. Beside him, in bare feet, she was tiny. He fought urges he hadn't allowed himself to acknowledge before, knowing that they needed to get back to where they were before any instincts could be acted on.

"I'm not scared of your brothers, Jess," he said. "I haven't done anything."

Her laughter filled the room. "Yet," she said. "You haven't done anything yet." The contact between them broke as she bent down to pull on shoes and he began to make his way towards the exit.

"By the way," he said. Angell looked up. "You look good in red." She shot him a smile that showed she liked what he had said, her eyes dancing, and he knew how much he'd missed that.

He left the locker room and headed towards his desk, passing Danny on the way.

"You look better, Flack," Danny said, stopping.

"It was her brother," Flack said, an odd euphoria flowing through him.

Danny nodded. "Thought it might have been. Bet you could eat that mixed grill now."

Yep, I know haven't it be her brother was a tad obvious, but more likely than it being the reccurance of a boyfriend. Still another chapter to go in this three shot.

Please review - I love reading them!

I know there's one already, but I want to set up a Flack/Angell C2. If you have any suggestions as to what to include - I already have quite a few to add but I doubt I've red them all - please PM me.