A/N - Thanks for all the reviews. They make my day!

They'd fallen asleep almost instantly. While he'd teased her that spending the night sleeping wasn't what he'd had in mind, Danny had been exhausted from the long, frustrating day so falling asleep with her in his arms was just what the doctor had ordered. He hadn't done that in a long time, just sleeping with a woman. Most of his girlfriends had been woefully short-lived, which usually meant that he would leave them in the middle of the night. Somehow staying until the morning had seemed to signal to the girl that he was ready for a serious relationship, but that had rarely been the case for him.

Until now.

Elena was different, and it wasn't just because of Sophie. For some reason, he couldn't get Elena out of his head. Even while sleeping, she invaded his dreams. Still in a blissful slumber, he felt her body against his and her lips on his skin. And her voice…

"Mi amor…"

"Quiero que me hagas el amor."

She sounded so real to him. She felt so real.

Slightly opening his eyes, he saw that it was real.

Still mostly asleep, he couldn't tell if she was really awake or not, but she was his kissing neck as she whispered in his ear. And then he felt her hand slowly travel down his stomach, lingering on the narrow trail of hair below his navel. Instantly feeling aroused, he turned towards her and then pulled her close. Without words, they found each other in the darkness. It had been a couple of months since he'd last had sex with her and it was all he could do to control himself. As their bodies connected in the darkness, he heard her attempt to stifle her moans of pleasure. Trying to help her stay quiet, he pressed his mouth to hers and kissed her deeply. Out of the corner of his eyes, he watched her reach out and grab the bars of the headboard to brace herself as he thrusted inside of her. With the exception of heavy breathing and panting as they moved against each other, they both managed to contain themselves as they came together.

Danny took a couple of deep breaths as rolled onto his side to take Elena in his arms. Within seconds, they were both sound asleep again.

A couple of hours later, Danny was woken up by the sound of a morning street sweeper going down the road outside Elena's building. On instinct, he glanced over at the clock on her bedside table. 5 a.m. Still early, but at least he'd had several hours of uninterrupted sleep, save for their almost unconscious yet intense encounter just hours before.

Deciding to make a quick exit to hopefully avoid Sophie, Danny reluctantly pulled his arm out from under Elena and slowly moved away from her. Then he quietly started dressing as he watched Elena sleep. She looked so peaceful like that. It took all the willpower he had not to wake her up and make love to her again.

Finally dressed, he resisted the urge to kiss Elena goodbye. Instead, he quietly walked out of the bedroom. Sophie's bedroom door was slightly ajar, so he peeked in to find her still in dreamland. Danny smiled sadly. He wished that he could stay there until they both woke up. He wished that he could be there every morning with them to have breakfast and help Sophie off to school. Somehow, in very short order, he'd fallen in love with both of them and having to leave like this made him ache inside. But he knew it was the right thing to do. Elena needed to take things slow. She didn't want Sophie's world to change so quickly again. He understood, but it didn't make leaving any easier.

Making his way outside, Danny stifled a yawn as he walked down the steps of the building and turned to head toward the subway. The street was quiet except for a jogger and a few cars and taxis on the road. As he started to turn the corner, he had an eerie feeling like someone was behind him. Stopping abruptly, he turned quickly, but nothing was there. Shrugging slightly, Danny continued the short walk to the subway.

After making it home and taking a quick shower, Danny started the coffee maker and turned on ESPN to check the scores from the night before. Walking to his closet, he picked out dark blue suit and a light blue dress shirt. Elena had mentioned that she liked it when he wore blue, so for some reason, he found himself picking blue suits more often than not.

Smiling to himself, Danny laid the suit on the bed. Just as he was about to get dressed, his cell phone rang. Picking it up from his dresser, he smiled as he looked at the display.

"Buenas dias, hermosa."

He heard Elena giggle on the other line. "Buenos dias, mi amor. What happened to you this morning?"

"Did you miss me?" he asked in a seductive tone.

"I did," she replied quietly.

"I didn't want to push my luck. As much I wanted to stay, I didn't want to force you into explaining something to Sophie. I think we got away with quite a lot already last night."

Hearing her sigh, he could practically see her blush through the phone. "I don't know what I was thinking. I guess, for once, I wasn't. I'm just thankful I remembered to lock my door. And I do appreciate you not pushing our luck."

"I gotta say, I kind of like when you don't think and just take a chance every now and then. I loved being with you last night. I loved falling asleep next to you and everything else."

"Mmmm…me, too."

"It's Friday, you want to take Sophie to a movie or something tonight?"

"That sounds good. If we have a quiet day, maybe we can leave early enough to grab some dinner before? I promised Sophie a pizza night."

"Sounds like a plan. See you at work?"

"Yep, my mom just walked in the door, so I'll be on my way in a few minutes."

"Um…uh…I…be safe. I'll see you soon," Danny stammered.

"Yes, soon. Bye."

Ending the call, Danny put his phone back on the night stand and sat on the bed for a moment. His instinct had been to tell her that he loved her, but they'd only been seeing each other for what amounted to a few months. It was too soon. He couldn't remember the last time he'd said the words to a woman and genuinely meant it. Taking a deep breath, he stood up and continued his morning routine.

Danny arrived at the office to find that an old case had reared its head. They had a new lead, so Jack told him and Martin to check it out. The lead led to a flurry of activity for the team that made the Friday go by quickly. As it turned out, they found a missing person they'd been trying to find for over six months. Danny and Martin had the pleasure of reuniting her with her family at the hospital. As they headed back to the office, they both dreaded the paperwork that would have to be completely before they could leave for the weekend, but Danny also looked forward to returning because he hadn't seen Elena all day.

Walking into the bullpen, his eyes travelled to her desk where she was on the phone in a focused conversation. Shrugging to himself, he took a seat at his own desk to begin typing up his report. Minutes later, his focus was interrupted when he heard the sound of heels clicking on the tile floor. Looking up, he saw that Elena was walking out of the bullpen without so much as a hello to him. Frowning, Danny quelled the instinct to go after her as he tried to remain focused on finishing his report.

It took him another thirty minutes to put the finishing touches on what he'd written. He and Martin took a few moments to compare notes to make sure they got everything documented, and then he e-mailed the report to Jack. Checking his watch, he saw that it was 4:30. Getting up from his desk, he looked over to see if Elena had returned, but she hadn't so he walked out of the bullpen to see if he could track her down.

Walking down the hall, he smiled as he saw her and Sam get off the elevator.

"Hey," he called out.

"Hey," Sam responded as she stopped in front of him.

Danny looked at Elena as she seemed hesitant to stop or even look at him. Turning his attention back to Sam, he asked, "Where are you guys coming from?"

"The lawyers upstairs needed some explanation of the warrants we obtained this morning. Was Molly happy to see her parents?" Sam asked, referring to their missing girl. Her boyfriend had helped her run away months before. After running away, Molly had decided she wanted to return home, but her boyfriend had intimidated her into staying with him.

"She was relieved that they weren't angry with her. It always amazes me how these runaways think their parents are going to kill 'em when all they want to do is hug them, you know?" he asked, trying to make eye contact with Elena again.

"Well, alls well that ends well," Sam said as she looked from Danny to Elena, who still hadn't said a word. Noticing the strangeness between them, she decided to excuse herself. "Well I'm going to pack up to go home," she said as she started to walk away.

When Elena started to move as well, Danny reached out to her. "Do you have a minute?" he asked, voice sounding almost annoyed.

Sighing slightly, Elena stopped and turned towards him still not meeting his eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a concerned tone.

"I'm fine," she smiled awkwardly. "I'm just ready for the weekend."

Danny nodded. "Yeah, me, too. You ready to get out of here?" he asked, still assuming that they were going to spend the evening with Sophie.

"Yes, I am, but I think…I, um, Danny, I don't feel like going out tonight," she replied in a wary tone.

Smiling, Danny shrugged. "That's okay. We can stay in. I'll rent something—"

"No," she interrupted. "I just…I just need to spend some time with Sophie tonight...alone."

Frowning, Danny shook his head. "What's going—"

"Danny, do you have minute?" Vivian asked as she approached them in the hall.

Danny was about to tell Vivian that he couldn't talk, but Elena spoke first, "He does. Excuse me," she said as she brushed passed them and walked quickly to the ladies' room.

"I didn't mean to interrupt. I just wanted to find out if you remembered the name of…"

Vivian's voice trailed off as Danny watched Elena walk away.