A/N: So… who wants to join me for lunch? :-)

Chapter four

The restaurant was crowded, but Dani managed to get a table in the back corner that was relatively private. She sat down and tried to calm her nerves by doing the same simple breathing exercise that she taught her patients, but it was no use. Every time the door opened and a customer walked in, the swarm of butterflies that seemed to have taken up residence in her stomach took flight. Why on earth had she suggested lunch? She'd be surprised if she even managed to swallow one little bite, let alone a whole sandwich! Well, too late to change that now. She looked at her watch yet again. It was twelve fifty, only two minutes later than the last time she'd checked. Drumming her fingers on the table, she let her mind replay the awkward encounter outside the DA's office. Although Nico hadn't seemed that awkward… In fact, he'd looked as composed as he ever had. On the other hand, he was back to talking in those short, concise sentences she had come to recognize as a defense mechanism he relied on when he felt he was in danger of revealing too much of himself. Or was that just her imagination and was that just the way he always talked? You're the only one who knows me, he'd said on two occasions, but she wondered if she really did. Then the door opened and Nico walked in. He made a beeline for her table, without her having to get his attention first. Dani sat up and laid her hands flat in front of her, barely resisting the impulse to fidget with her hair.

"Hey," she said when he reached the table.

"Hey yourself," he answered with a small smile, and sat down. He looked down at the table for a moment, then straight in her eyes as he took a deep breath and continued: "You look beautiful, Dani." And the butterflies in her stomach went wild.

"Uh, thanks," she managed, before her voice seemed to abandon her. She tried to look away, but found she couldn't. It was as if she was held captive by his eyes. She saw him open his mouth to say something else, but then a waitress appeared at their table and the spell was broken. Dani blinked a few times and let out the breath she hadn't even realized she was holding, while the waitress jotted down Nico's order and then turned to her. "Um, I'll just have a salad, please. And some water." The waitress turned to leave and Dani found Nico giving her an odd look. "What?" she said.

He shrugged. "I just never saw you eat a salad before. Going vegetarian all of a sudden?"

She gave him a horrified look and answered: "Vegetarian? Hello? Have you met me?" He chuckled at that, which made her smile in return. And just like that, her stomach unclenched and the tension between them was broken.

Their lunch arrived, and Dani found that she did, in fact, have an appetite. "So, what has kept you so busy these past weeks?" she asked him between bites.

"Well, I have my very own security business now," he answered.

"You're kidding."

"Nope. Even got myself a website."

"Really? I'll have to check that out. But how did you get a whole business off the ground so fast?"

"Oh, Marshall and I had laid the groundwork for this business years ago, so it was just a question of picking up where we left off, more or less. And you? Back to your private practice?"

"Hm, still deciding." Dani pushed away her plate and drank some of her water. "I was actually offered a job at a sports agency yesterday."

"Oh? Which one?"

"SBG Management. You know, the agency V3 first went to war with and then later took over?"

"I remember. The owner's Abby Bruce, right?"

"Yeah. Did you know that she was also part of the whole FBI thing?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Who told you that?"

"She did, right after she offered me the job." Dani then told Nico all about her meeting with Abby. When she was done, he remained silent for a minute. "So, what do you think?" she asked.

"I don't know."

"Yeah, well, that makes two of us," Dani sighed.

"Want me to look into her story?"

"Would you?"

"Sure, I'll see what I can find out."

"Thanks, Nico," she smiled.

"No problem." He looked at his watch and took out his wallet. "Well, I hate to cut this short, but…" He put money on the table.

"Oh, that's okay, really. Actually, I've got TK coming in for a session in about forty minutes, so I should get going too."

"I'll get back to you when I know more about SBG," he said, getting up.

"Great." She got up too, and then they both just stood there looking at each other for a moment. Unsure of what to say next. Dani felt the tension return in full force, her heart rate picking up speed. She glanced at his mouth, then back up to find him glancing at hers. "Nico…" she started, but she fell silent again when he brought his hand up to her face.

His index finger touched her lips, gently hushing her. "Shhh. Don't ruin a perfectly good lunch now, Dani," he said in a low voice. He leaned in and she felt the lightest brush of his lips against her cheek. Her breath caught. "I've missed you," he whispered, barely audible. Then he turned and left.

"Hey, Doctor D! Lookit you girl, all tanned 'n healthy-lookin'!" Before Dani knew what was happening, TK had enveloped her in a hug. "Damn, 's good to see you again, Doc!" He released her and plopped down on the couch, his hand already outstretched to the jar of jellybeans.

"Hello, Terrence, it's good to see you too. Guess recovery is going well, at least the sling's gone."

"Yeah, just a few more weeks and I'll be good 's new and ready to go kick some ass out there on the field." He popped a candy into his mouth.

"Well, that's great news, isn't it?"

"Damn right it is!"

"So, Paloma seems to think that there are some things that you would like to discuss with me."

"Yeah, but not just yet. Cuz first I wanna know 'bout you, Doctor D! We talk 'bout me all the time… So, you git a little taste of that Spanish Fly, or what?" The wide receiver grinned and helped himself to some more candy. Dani crossed her legs, folded her hands in her lap and just looked at him expectantly. "Aw, you really not lettin' me off the hook here, are you?"

"Do you really want me to let you off the hook?"

"Hell, I don't know what I want anymore, Doc!" He sighed. "My head's a mess, you know? An' no matter what I try, I just can't get it on straight again!"

"Okay, tell you what, Terrence. Why don't you tell me what happened while I was on vacation. Because, you know, right before I left I saw a post-game interview with a guy that seemed to have his head on straight for the first time in oh, I don't know, three years? What happened to that guy while I was in Barcelona?"

TK released a heavy sigh. "His team lost the playoffs, that's what happened."

"Yeah, but… There'll be other chances at winning, right?"

"Not for me there won't."

"Now why would you say that?"

"Cuz it's true. I'm gettin' too old, doc. My injury? Yeah, it's healing, but I'll never be at the top of my game again! And we barely even made the playoffs this year, and so now I got the feelin' that this was my last shot at a ring, ya know?"

"And… you blew it? Is that what you mean, Terrence?"

"Hell yeah I blew it! If my shoulder had been allright, this never woulda happened and we woulda kicked all their asses!" TK leaned his elbows on his knees and looked at the carpet. "Why do I keep screwing it all up, doc?"

"Okay, first of all: you didn't screw anything up here, Terrence. You didn't get injured on purpose, now did ya?" He didn't react to that. "And second… Trust me, Terrence. Even if you wouldn't have gotten that injury, there's no telling what would have happened with the playoffs. And you know that. As for your future chances of winning a ring, remember the last time we were talking about rings?" She let the silence stretch out until finally he sat back up again.

"Yeah… I asked you why rings mattered so much…" she nodded to encourage him, "And then you said there's no greater bling than a man's reputation…"

"Exactly. So…?" Dani smiled and raised an eyebrow at him.

"I shouln't worry so much about that damn ring? Yeah doc, I know. But I still do, see, that's the whole problem!"

"Okay, so let me ask you this: is that ring the only ring you want, Terrence? Because as I seem to remember, the reason we were talking rings back then, was because of the engagement ring you gave to Sheera, right?"

"I guess… But I haven't seen that woman since, doc, so what's your point?" TK reached for the jellybeans again, and Dani knew she was on the right track.

"And are there other any women in your life right now?"

He grinned. "Hell yeah, my love life's on a roll ever since I kicked Sheera out! There's Sally… and Bridget… and Jasmine… and that was jus' last night! Night before, there was…"

"Whoa! Terrence! Hold it right there. I don't need the whole… guest list, thank you! I just wanna know: do you ever miss Sheera?"

"Well… Yeah, sometimes."

"Would you like to get back together with her?"

"Aw, hell no! That girl… she just… Hell, you know!"

"Yes, I do know. But if you don't want her back, then what exactly is it that you miss about her?"

"Hell, I don't know…"

"What's the first thing that comes to mind?"
"Ahh, well, havin' dinner together, I guess. Yeah. Comin' home and then just, ya know, sittin' with her, eatin', talkin'… At least when Sheera was there, I wasn't… alone all the time. And I liked that, ya know? It felt good 's what it did."

"And do you know any women that might make you feel the same? I mean, there was Vivica once…"

"Nah, she engaged now. But, there's this one woman… But that ain't never gonna happen."

"Why not?"

"She and I, we gotta working relationship. And we're friends too. And I don't got that many friends, doc, real friends I mean. So, hell, I don't wanna mess that up…"

"But you are in love with her, aren't you, Terrence?" He nodded. "And how does she feel about you?"

"Uh, well, she said I'm a good man, but…" he shrugged.

"Well, that's a start, right?"

"Sure. But… What if she's wrong about that, doc?" He looked at the carpet again.

Dani leaned forward, grabbed one of his hands and waited for him to look up at her. When he finally did, she smiled and said, "What if she's not, Terrence?"

They talked a bit more about reputations on and off the field, and then time was up. When TK had left, Dani felt emotionally wrung out. Between the deposition, lunch with Nico and the session with TK, she had the feeling that she was right back to where she'd been before she left for Barcelona. She caught herself hoping that Abby and SBG were legit, so she could finally make that fresh start she so badly needed.

Dani went to bed early that night, but couldn't sleep at first. She kept replaying lunch with Nico in her mind. I've missed you… She could still feel his lips on her cheek. She tossed and turned, until finally she realised that it was no use. She got up and wandered out to the back porch for some fresh air. She sat on the very same bench she and Nico had been sitting on when they shared their first kiss and let her memories of him flood her mind.
When her eyes started burning and her throat closed up, she was surprised at first. Then she realised that she hadn't cried one single tear about everything that had happened between them, not even when she was on vacation. She had been too busy being angry with him. But her anger seemed to have subsided over time, and what was left was sadness. And suddenly she couldn't outrun that feeling any longer. She was too tired to fight it, so she finally let the tears come.

It was almost midnight and the room would have been dark if it wasn't for the light of the full moon. Nico sat on his couch sipping scotch, tired after his long day yet too keyed up to sleep. Onyx didn't have such problems: the cat was stretched out on the back of the sofa, snoring softly in Nico's ear. Nico took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. What Dani had told him about Abby Bruce had surprised him. As far as he had known at the time, the feds had had only two people inside V3, himself and Stanzi Palmer. Though it would make sense for them to also enlist Bruce's help, with her being able to get much closer to both Connor and Troy than he or Palmer could ever hope to get. Nico knew that Bennett would never give him the information about Abby's possible involvement freely. After all, Nico wasn't an agent, he was just an informant. Luckily he had other contacts within the Bureau that would gladly help him out.
He decided to make that call first thing in the morning, so hopefully he would have answers for Dani in the evening. For a moment he enjoyed the idea of showing up at her doorstep in the middle of the night to give her those answers, just for old time's sake. But he would probably just give her a call. Lunch had been great, but he couldn't escape the feeling that she had only invited him because she wanted him to look into SBG. And so he just hadn't been able to resist touching her, kissing her. Although she hadn't seemed unaffected by that, he wasn't entirely sure anymore if she could ever get past the issues that were still between them. He'd wanted to give her time and space to work through her initial anger, hoping she would eventually come to him to talk things out. But he was beginning to wonder how much longer he'd have to wait. He'd played the waiting game before, with Gabrielle. And frankly he just wasn't sure he could, or even wanted to, do it again. Not even for Dani.

Just when he decided to try and get some sleep, his phone buzzed with an incoming text. A smile lit up his face when he read the four words in the message: I've missed you too. He felt something deep in his chest relax, for the first time in weeks. Maybe he could wait for her just a little bit longer.