A/N: Apologies for the delay (again). Next update will probably NOT be this weekend, as I have promised my boyfriend to give him some more attention. Hope you'll anjoy this enough to leave a review!

Chapter seventeen

Dani felt like she could totally relate to the two birds that were very vocally fighting each other over some food in her front yard when she got out of the cab. Something similar was happening in her mind right now, with one part of her saying she should give Nico the space he'd asked her for and the other part demanding she put the information Bill had given her to good use sooner rather than later. Sighing, she paid the cab driver and walked up her driveway while rummaging around in her purse looking for her keys. The birds flew away when she got too near to them for their liking and frankly that was a relief. She felt a headache coming on. As soon as she got inside, she would take some more Ibuprofen and then go take the bath she'd had planned since this morning. When Ray Jay got home, they could order pizza and… Ha, there were the keys! She took them out of her purse and looked up, right in time to have someone shove a huge bouquet of wildflowers into her face. "Whoa!" Dani cried out, raising her arms.

"Woops. Sorry, Doctor D! I thought you saw me!" TK quickly took a step back, giving her a wide grin that quickly gave way to a shocked expression as he took in her face. "Damn, girl! They told me you were kidnapped by that Cutler creep, but nobody said anything about you gettin' hit by a bus too…"

"Ha-ha. Nice to see you too, Terrence… But you do realize your appointment isn't until tomorrow, right?" Dani raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But I just hadda come see for myself how my favorite therapist was doing." He held out the flowers again. "Plus I wanted to give you these."

She couldn't help but smile as she took the bouquet from him. "Thank you, Terrence, they are lovely."

His eyes beemed with pride. "They are, right? I picked them out myself. I went for the yellow ones cuz I thought they looked like those flowers you have on the chairs. You know, in your office?"

"Well, that is very thoughtful of you, Terrence. I will put them in a nice vase and then you can admire them in my office tomorrow, okay?"

"You got yourself a date!" TK grinned. "And hey, you know what? So do I… I'd better get goin' or I'll be late. And let me tell you one thing about my girl India, she don't like waiting!"

Dani remembered running into TK and India outside the SBG building on Monday morning. God, that seemed weeks ago… "So, you asked her out, huh? Good for you!" she said, but he shook his head.

"Aw, hell no – she asked TK out. Said she didn't wanna wait no longer for me to quit foolin' around and see what's right in front of me. Gotta love a woman who goes after what she wants, right? Especially if what she wants is TK!" He laughed.

The arguing voices in Dani's head had fallen silent while he talked, and she sighed with relief. "Well, Terrence, I'm glad things are working out for you and India." She really was. India struck Dani as a girl who would know just how to handle TK's antics, and the wide receiver seemed to be really in love this time, not just looking for some no-strings affair. "Have fun tonight, okay?"

"Oh, don't worry 'bout that, Doc! Tell you all about it tomorrow!" TK winked and chuckled, then headed down the driveway.

"Just remember I won't need all the juicy details!" Dani called after him. He just raised his hand in greeting and got in his car. Rolling her eyes and smiling, she went inside. She put the flowers in a vase and brought it to her office, still thinking about India going after what she wanted.

At six in the evening, Nico decided to call it a day already. He hadn't been able to get much work done anyway. But before he could go home, he needed to check in with some of his men to get updates on the progress of their various assignments. He opened his desk drawer very carefully, as if there was a bomb inside that would go off if he moved too quick. Nothing happened, of course. Feeling silly, he reached for his phone – dropping it when it started to vibrate the exact second he picked it up from the bottom of the drawer. "Dammit!" He snatched the damn thing up again and scowled at the caller ID. It wasn't even her, it was an unknown caller. Trying to ignore the disappointment he felt, he unlocked the phone. "Careles."

"Mr. Careles, this is Paul Decker with the NYPD. Glad I finally caught you." The man sounded a bit out of breath, as if he'd been running or something.

"Decker? What's going on? Something wrong?" With Dani? Nico left that last part unspoken, but he couldn't keep the concerned tone from his voice.

Decker of course picked up on it immediately. "No, Doctor Santino is fine – although you should probably give her a call if you're so worried about her."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, thanks for the advice, I'll keep it in mind. But I'm guessing that's not why you're really calling me."

"No, it's not. Actually I wanted to ask you some follow up questions about the Santino case. I'm… ten minutes away from your office. Alright if I come by now?" Nico wanted to say no, because he really wanted to go home. But he knew Decker wouldn't leave him alone until he'd asked his damn questions, so he reluctantly agreed. He then dropped the phone back on top of the pens and paper clips and closed the drawer with a bang.

The smell of pepperoni pizza still lingered in the kitchen and the boxes the food had arrived in were littering the counter. Dani and Ray Jay were sitting at the kitchen table with some coffee, both wrapped up in their own thoughts. "So, Ray Jay – I wanted to talk to you about Paris. Well, about what you told me about Nico actually." Dani said eventually.

He frowned at her. "I really don't get why you're so hung up on this guy, mom. He's bad news."

Dani flattened her hands on the table and frowned back at him. "Ray Jay."

He sighed and crossed his arms. "I told you all there is to know. He tried to buy me off. I said go to hell. End of story."

Dani leaned forward. "He just popped up out of the blue and offered you money. Just like that."

"Yes. Juliette says that's what he does. Pays people to get lost. Sometimes threatens them too."

Dani remembered how Nico had once paid off a private detective her ex had hired. But that was different. Or wasn't it? "Well, that may be true, more or less, but why do it to you? Did he give you a reason?"

"I told you already. He didn't want me near Juliette."

Dani really didn't understand why Nico would want to protect Juliette from Ray Jay. Her son may have his flaws, but he could hardly be considered a bad seed. "So he told you to stay away from her?"

"No. Not in so many words. But Juliette told me he's scared guys away from her before, so…" Ray Jay shrugged. "Besides, what other reason could he have?" He pushed his chair back. "Okay if I go now? I promised some friends I'd drop by." Without waiting for her reaction, he rushed out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Dani sighed and massaged her forehead with both hands. After a while, she heard him come downstairs again and looked up just in time to see him walk by the kitchen. When the front door slammed shut, she reluctantly got up to clean the kitchen and make herself some tea. She'd really rather have a glass of wine, but she needed a clear head to think things over. It took her two cups of tea to reach a decision. By then, it was almost nine. Time to go put on her combat gear, she thought with a slight smile.

Thirty minutes later, she was dressed and ready to go after what she wanted. She grabbed her purse and took out the folded piece of paper on which she'd written down the address Bill had given her that afternoon. She traced her own handwriting with her finger, thinking about how strange it was. Nico had been in her life for three years now, and yet she had never once in all that time set foot in his home. Well, that was about to change. Because by not answering his phone and not calling her back either, what other choice had he left her with? Putting the paper back in her purse she grabbed her car keys and walked out the front door.

Nico walked into his apartment, took off his blazer and briefly stood eyeing his liquor cabinet. There was a perfectly good bottle of Scotch in there that might help him relax, maybe even sleep if he drank enough of it. Problem was, it would more than likely also make him want to do stupid things involving his phone and the woman he couldn't stop thinking about. Not a good idea. He did, however, need to do something about the restless energy that was buzzing around in his system if he wanted to have even the slightest chance of getting any sleep tonight. Unbuttoning his shirt he went into his bedroom where he carelessly let it drop to the floor while walking over to his closet to get his workout clothes. Nothing like a session in his well equipped home gym to work off the tension. Well, almost nothing. But he tried not to think of other good ways of letting off steam because they only made his mind wander back to Dani again.

Dani's black high-heeled boots echoed on the marble steps leading up to the entrance of the luxury apartment building that Nico seemed to live in. She spotted the keypad next to the doorbells and took out the piece of paper again. Underneath the address was a six-digit code that, as Bill had assured her, would enable her to open the entrance door without having to ring the doorbell first. Dani thought the keypad looked like something straight out of a spy movie, with its blinking red light. She entered the code and the light went green. The entrance door swung open automatically. Dani walked inside, into a big lobby with a shiny black marble floor that seemed like it would be a better fit for an office building. Or a bank, maybe. The elevators were on the other end of the lobby, next to a door that was labeled Security. Bill had told her that there were security camera's everywhere, but she hadn't been able to spot one yet. As she walked towards the elevators she wondered who, besides ex Navy Seals, would feel the need to live in a building with this kind of security. And why Nico did. Well, maybe she could add that one to her list of questions to ask him, although it wasn't nearly as important as why did you leave and why did you try to buy off my son. Taking out her compact mirror, she checked her appearance one last time while waiting for the elevator on the left. She'd done her best to conceal the bruises Troy had left on her face with make up, but it hadn't worked as well as she'd hoped. So she had left her hair loose and put on some fiery red lipstick in an attempt to divert attention from them. The red lipstick also went very well with the red tank top she had on under her black leather jacket. As she put the compact mirror back into her purse, the elevator dinged to signal its arrival. She got in, pushed the button for the top floor and spent the ride up trying to calm down her flutterig stomach by taking deep breaths. It worked. Kind of.
The elevator doors opened to another lobby, but this one was smaller and had thick sand-colored carpet on the floor instead of cold black marble, which was a relief as the echoing of her heels had made her very self conscious. There seemed to be only one apartment on this floor, Dani noticed as she stepped out of the elevator. Well, that figured, didn't it? Of course he would live in the penthouse. Having neighbours on each side wasn't exactly his style… Walking across the lobby, she squared her shoulders and took one more deep breath. Then she raised her hand and firmly knocked on the heavy hardwood door.

Nico had spent an hour doing the most intensive workout he could think of, but it hadn't done much to relieve his tension and instead of feeling merely frustrated, he now felt frustrated and sweaty. He went into the bathroom and took off his T-shirt. Just when he reached out to turn on the shower, he heard a knock on his front door. For a moment he just wanted to ignore it, but he knew he couldn't. The only people who had the downstairs access code were Bill and Xeno, and if Xeno came knocking around midnight, it was probably urgent. As he walked to the door the knocking was repeated. "Yeah yeah, I'm coming," Nico muttered. He pulled the door open without bothering to check the identity of his visitor first. And then he could only stand there, feeling like someone had knocked the breath right out of his lungs, as he saw Dani looking up at him, her hands on her hips and a determined look in her eyes.

"Hi," she said, "Mind if I come in?" Without waiting for his reply, she just stepped right past him and walked straight into his living room, her heels clicking loudly on his oak floors. "Nice place you got here," she called back at him over her shoulder, making him realize that he was still standing at the front door, staring after her.

Dani had a hard time keeping her voice casual. She hadn't exactly counted on him opening the door wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants. His bare chest had immediately invoked all kinds of mental images and memories she could really have done without for the time being. She needed to focus on other things now. As she sat down on the black leather couch she heard him enter the room. "What are you doing here? Who gave you the access code?" He asked.

She turned her head towards him. He was standing just inside the room giving her a guarded look. "You're not the only one who has resources, you know. As for what I'm doing here… We need to talk."

He heaved a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Dani… I think it's better if you leave now."

"Yeah, see, I knew you were gonna say that." Dani crossed her arms and gave him her best squint. "Well, guess what? You're out of luck. Because I'm not going anywhere until you've answered my questions."

A/N: Oh, yeah, I almost forgot... Get your fans ready, people, next chapter we will be taking the heat up a notch :)