Chapter 11. Really long time no see…sorry about that….I was rather busy but I am back now so you can be happy again… ;-) Anyway here is chapter 11. I hope you like it… Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I own both Daniel and Katharine

Spoilers: Um well Heroes but that is a CSI NY episode so…

"We cannot tell the exact moment a friendship is formed; as in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses, there is at last one that makes the heart run over."

Unknown

"This is just cruel and unusual punishment," Daniel muttered to his companion as they sped down the coast of California. Katharine had insisted they take the shore roads instead of the highway because, while they were a little longer, she had always loved the smell of the ocean. Daniel had been only too happy to oblige because the longer the drive was, the longer he could put off confronting Bonnie and Alexander.

"What is?" Katharine replied tapping her fingers to the Martina McBride song that was playing on the radio.

"Making me drive and making me listen to country music," he replied with a grimace.

"I can drive," Katharine offered, "but I cannot promise that I will not get lost."

"Thanks," Daniel replied sarcastically, "but that wasn't that part that was bothering me." In all honesty, driving did not bother him very much. It was actually kind of reassuring to be driving down the familiar roads again. He really did miss the west coast.

"What have you got against country?" she demanded looking away from the window to watch him.

"Only the fact that we are about three hundred miles north of the Entertainment Capital of the World," he replied, "and you choose to listen to the only music that is strongly linked to another city in the United States."

"Would you be happier if I made you listen to good old California Girls Katy Perry and Kelly Clarkson?" she teased him. It was very strange. She had known Daniel for a little over a week at this point, and yet she was talking with him like she had known him for forever.

"First of all, yes," he replied calmly, keeping his face straight only by concentrating on the road, "And second of all, Kelly Clarkson is from Texas."

"Okay," Katharine said slowly, processing what Daniel had just told her, "I know that, but why on earth do you?"

"My little sister," Daniel replied defensively, "she loves Kelly Clarkson."

Katherine laughed lightly. "Your sister has good taste," she told him, "how old is she?"

"Fifteen," Daniel replied fondly, "Her name's Jessica, still lives in Carmel."

"If we get this case wrapped up quickly maybe we could go visit her," she told him hoping to give him a beacon of hope on what looked like a dark horizon, "and by we, I mean you."

"You could come too," he offered diplomatically, "I think Jess would like you."

"Thank you," Katharine told him, "I do not think there is a higher praise than saying your sibling would like me." There was no hint of sarcasm in her voice, and Daniel sensed that she was being serious.

"Do you have any siblings?" he asked conversationally trying very hard to ignore slow country love song playing over the radio.

For a moment, Katharine went very still and stared unblinkingly at the road in front of them. It had been nearly five years and she still had not figured out how to answer that question. "Not anymore," she told him finally, "her name was Aiden."

"I'm sorry," Daniel replied sincerely. He did not know what he would do if he ever lost Jess. "What happened?"

"She was killed working a case for the New York Crime Lab," she explained, "The guy she was chasing beat her to death and then burned her body. That was five years ago." The real story was longer and more complicated than that, but Daniel did not need to know the details. All he, or anybody else, needed to know about Aiden was that she had died trying to rid the world of scum.

"Did they catch the guy?" Daniel asked even though he knew they must have. He could not see Katharine letting someone get away with murdering her sister.

"Yes," she said shortly.

"Did he—" Daniel started again.

"I like this song," Katharine said suddenly turning the radio up and humming along. Daniel took that as a signal for him to drop the subject and lapsed into silence as he too listened to the radio. They rode in silence for several minutes before Katherine spoke again. "I should not have jumped down you throat," she told him not looking away from the window.

"Don't worry about it," he told her, "It wasn't any of my business anyway."

"True," she told him a little pensively, "but I guess it is rather hypocritical of me to jump down your throat for it, when the entire point of us coming out here is so that I can do it to two other people."

"You have to do it," Daniel reminded her, "it is your job, and it may save a girl's life. At the very least, it will help us put a criminal in jail." There was a pause where Katharine smirked, and Daniel thought about what he had just said. "Did you deliberately set me up to do the whole try-to-convince-you-of-something-when-really-I-am-saying-exactly-what-I-need-to-hear thing?"

"Um," she said biting her lip thoughtfully as she turned away from the window, "no you did that all by yourself." They both laughed at that, and the mood in the car lightened significantly. For the next half and hour or so, they joked and teased each other while darkness fell outside their windows. Finally, Daniel's stomach growled loudly.

"Hungry are we?" Katharine asked him lightly.

"Yea," he replied, "I don't think I've eaten since we flew out of DC."

"Liar," she reminded him, "you stole at least half my food on the plane."

"Still that was hours ago," he said not bothering to deny the accusation, "Where do you want to eat?"

"I'll eat pretty much anything except southern cooking," she told him with a shrug.

"What kind of country girl are you?" he asked her.

"The kind born in New York," she replied with a roll of the eyes.

"You were born in New York?" he asked incredulously, "You don't have an accent."

"No I never have, but Aiden—Daniel, watch out," she shouted at him a headlights suddenly appeared out of the darkness heading straight for them, but it was too late for Daniel to do much of anything. Moments later they felt the impact.

Another cliffhanger…hehe…review if you want to know what happens…or if you liked the chapter.