She had been happy about the two-night stand with Sam, but a little taken aback that he had shown up at the office a few days later. All of a sudden she realized that she wasn't going to be able to avoid seeing him on occasion. That was not simple, that was potentially complicated.
She realized that during the morning's staff meeting. She was seated between Sam and Nico, and was enjoying some flirtatious glances with Sam when she looked at Nico. Nico gave Sam a stare-down, while she cringed. What was wrong with him? First Matt, now Sam? Was it some sort of alpha dog thing that men did when they met their female friends' dates? Was he even her friend? And why was she cringing? Oh, yeah, because she had very nearly had sex with Nico, and now he was meeting somebody she was sleeping with NOW.
These musings were interrupted by an FBI raid, of all things. She flew into action to protect her files, only to have Nico steer her away from the FBI agents. He explained that she wasn't at risk, but that wasn't comforting, at ALL. How did he know for sure? He seemed to know what he was talking about, certainly. No wonder she never learned anything about his personal life - between all the Navy Seal, Gulf War, FBI-raid experiences, he probably didn't have one.
When Sam came over to see if she was OK, it was extremely awkward, but she was surprised to see that Nico was visibly uncomfortable meeting Sam. What was with him? Well she had more important things to worry about right now than Nico's behavior being inexplicable. She had to get those files back.
Later, when she was approached by Carl, the company's CFO, she was at a loss about how to help him with his problem, so she found herself conferring with Nico in his car. He was rather cold to her at first, but then dropped the wall when she told him about Carl's ethical quandary. He arranged a meeting between the FBI and Carl, and was there to see that Carl didn't show up. At that point she told him that based on Carl's message canceling the meeting, he was a suicide risk.
Reluctantly she went to the benefit that evening, knowing that Nico was searching for her client. While she was waiting, she saw Sam, who chided her gently for being wrapped up in her work. That crystallized it - she wasn't cut out for a casual relationship. Fortunately, she was able to break it off gracefully with Sam, probably because neither of them had strong feelings involved. Immediately after she did that, she received a text from Nico. It turned out that Carl had committed suicide. She nearly broke down on the spot. She hadn't been able to help him, and now his children didn't have a father and his wife was a widow. She wracked her brain to understand why she had failed. Had she done enough?
Later, when she was in Connor's office discussing the event with Troy, Connor and Nico, she learned that he hadn't written a suicide note. That didn't make sense. Didn't he want to say good-bye to his family? In any case, she'd never know.
She walked to her office in a daze. Nico had hurried to catch up to her and had told her it wasn't her fault. She was vaguely conscious of his hand on her arm, comfortingly. She would have liked to accept that comfort, but right now she needed to process what had happened.