A/N: It's been brought to my attention that I've been making a consistent error in puntcuation, I've looked at it and it is, again, because of a cultural difference. If you think it's annoying, let me know and I'll change it, but for now I'm leaving it as it is. If you don't notice it, never mind. Thanks, lil.

Another thing regarding style is whether to write eg 'Daniel said' or 'said Daniel'. I'm not sure I like the latter but I've been running with it anyway. What do you guys think?

I divided this chapter in two, because it was so damn long.

Chapter 15

When the evening had fallen Noli, who had the unusual habit of going home when her work day ended, came by Daniel's room to say goodnight. She let the pile that was her coat, bag and other things land on his desk while they exchanged a few words, and it was a while after she had left that Daniel noticed her handbag had been left behind. He picked it up with a troubled expression, wondering for a moment if he should look inside to see if there was anything she would immediately need in there. It felt a bit like a breach of integrity but he decided the end made up for the means and unclasped the lock. He peeked inside and shook the bag to see if any important keys would surface from the contents. There was make-up, pens, band-aids and other typical bottom-of-the-bag things hopping around in there, but he soon spotted her palmpilot and wallet amongst the debris. She probably needs those, he thought and decided he might as well call it a day himself and drop the bag off on his way home.

Daniel had been to Noli's place a couple of times before, dropping her off when she had had engine trouble and picking her up together with the others to go out for a drink, but he had never been inside. Standing outside her door he wondered for a second if it was weird to come by unannounced, if maybe he should have called first. She might not be home at all. He rang the door bell and listened. At first there was nothing, but then the patter of feet led up to him and the door opened.

Noli's face lit up with equal parts joy and surprise when she recognized the sheepish looking Daniel outside her door.

"Heya!"

Daniel stared at her for a second. Noli was holding her hands up in front of her like a surgeon, and they were covered in flour and dough. He wondered how she had opened the door if she was worried about touching things, but then realised her foot was still on the door handle. She was standing a bit further from the door opening than one normally would, but otherwise looked comfortable in the strange position, as if she wasn't really thinking about it. Daniel blinked and remembered his business.

"Hi. I, eh..." he said and held up the handbag. Noli's eyes opened wide.

"Oh thank god, I thought I lost it. Thank you, that's so sweet" she said with breathless relief. She let go of the door handle, still maintaining perfect balance and motioned with her head. "Come on in! You want a cookie?"

Daniel couldn't think of anything better to say, so he said "Sure", and stepped inside.

Noli's apartment was open and spacious, strangely divided between three levels. Beyond a dining area was the kitchen, to the far left of the big first room. To the right and on a slightly lower level accessed by a couple of steps were bookshelves, a couch and armchairs and a large window, making up a library-like living room. Between the two, straight ahead from the front door, two steps led up to the higher placed back area where a small corridor led to bedroom and bathroom. Daniel would have imagined it full of knick-knacks to match Noli's hyperdivert interests and energy, but it was actually quite clean, with light woods and understated, elegantly shaped furniture.

"Just put it down anywhere", called Noli, making her way back to the kitchen.

"Ok", answered Daniel and left the bag on the floor next to her shoe rack. With the feeling of having just been thrown into the opening scenes of Breakfast at Tiffany's, he hung his jacket up and walked a few steps into the room, still curiously looking around. He was about to comment on something and turned his eyes back to Noli, but stopped when they landed on her. There was something unusual about her, but he couldn't put his finger on what. She was standing at the detached kitchen counter, shaping pieces of dough into cookies and placing them on an oven tray. She had a look of serene concentration on her face. Nothing unusual about that. Her hair looked like it had been through a wind tunnel and then tied into a pony tail. Nothing unusual about that either. She reached up and rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand, leaving a smudge of sticky flour on her face - somehow she had managed to get bake related matter all over her forearms. Daniel's gaze swept across her arms, torso and face and he realised, that was it - he had never seen her wearing less than a t-shirt and full lenght jeans, and, of course, shoes. Right now a spaghetti strap tank top clung to her upper body leaving her arms, upper chest and shoulders bare, and the pants she was wearing ended shortly below the knee revealing her smooth calves and naked feet. Normally the shirts and lab coats Noli wore at work did a good job hiding her figure, and her t-shirts with their silly messages stole the attention from her body if she took the shirt off. In this attire, hugging her curves closely and leaving so much skin bare, she looked different. Unprotected. Daniel watched her lift her hand to her face again, unknowingly rubbing off some flour on her nose. In that moment, exposed to the surroundings and caught up in her own world, she seemed vulnerable in a way Daniel wasn't used to seeing her.

Noli looked up and Daniel quickly diverted his eyes and looked around, suddenly aware he'd been staring at her.

"I guess you're supposed to have dinner before dessert... You hungry?" she asked, leaning on the counter. Daniel walked up to her, hands in his pockets, trying to look like he was still admiring her interior decorating.

"Sure, I could eat."

"Artichokes", she said with a look of content surprise over recollecting the vegetables lying in her fridge. "You like artichokes? They're good company food." She turned around with the cookies and slid the tray into the oven.

"Company food?"

"Takes ages to eat and there's not really any food on them, so it's only worth it if you have company" she explained. A smile curled Daniel's lips.

"Leaving space for extra dessert, I suppose", he teased, having regained composure.

"That's right", said Noli sternly, pointing to emphasize the seriousity of the statement. She started washing her hands in the sink. "Get them out of the fridge, would you? And hand me those scissors." Daniel obeyed, fishing out a couple of large artichokes from the fridge and laying them next to Noli, and handed her the scissors hanging beneath the cupboards.

"Now what?" he asked, eager to be of use. Noli started rinsing the large vegetables and cutting the thin ends off the leaves.

"Now you sit and talk to me", she said. Daniel took possession of one of the bar stools on the other side of the counter and did so.

It was nice, sitting in the kitchen watching Noli cook, talking about whatever popped up in his head. After a while the scent of freshly baked cookies started to seep out from the oven, making the atmosphere almost ridiculously homey. Daniel started to feel like he could sit there till the cows came home, just basking in the comfortable warmth of Noli's home.

"Can you take them out?"

Noli was busy rummaging the fridge for something to drink. There had been no alarm and she had hardly given the cookies a second look since putting them in the oven.

"How do you know they're done?" asked Daniel, getting up to do her bidding.

"Experience. Developed into a sixth sense. Automated scent-induced timing and all that. I make a lot of cookies..." Noli's ramble faded into thoughtfulness. She emerged from the fridge with a bottle of mineral water. It doesn't show, thought Daniel. Noli's body was wasn't skinny but slender, with softly swelling curves and lean muscles flexing underneath the smooth skin now showing. She didn't look like the type to eat between meals, but Daniel could hardly imagine her at work without her hand in a can of nuts.

"Do you think a simpler life form would be more or less prone to understand the concept of 'mu'?" she asked, reaching for glasses in the cupboard. Daniel smiled.

"From cookies to zen. Ok... How'd you end up there?"

Noli turned her head, a curve teasing on the corner of her mouth.

"How'd you end up with a tray of cookies? You were just here to drop my bag off."

Daniel was still holding the tray, not sure where to put it. He looked down on it.

"Things just sort of happened, I guess."

"Association. Everything connects, rings on the water. Leading, forward, blah blah." Noli poured water from the bottle into two glasses, set the bottle down and discretely shook her hand in an unconcious gesture, as if of habit. Daniel noticed.

"PET?"

Noli made a disapproving grunt.

"It doesn't agree with me", she said. "Sort of... itches."

Daniel felt a twinge of sympathy. As fantastic as that gift of hers was, and how happy he was to take advantage of it himself, he knew it definately had to have its drawbacks. Still, it sometimes struck him how incredible it was, almost wishing he had it too just so he could feel what it was like. Part of him still half expected it to suddenly be revealed as a big hoax, being as unbelievable as it was. An unreal glitch in a perfectly real girl.
"I thought you had to focus to feel things."

"I wanted to check if it had gone flat..." Noli looked a little apologetic.

"You're weird", Daniel said as she passed him his glass. She raised an eyebrow. "I mean... not weird as such", he studdered. "Just... special. I mean, not..." Nothing was coming out right and he wondered how he was going fix this one. Noli just passed him a forgiving grin and said in a lazy drawl:

"My mama always said I was special..." She added: "Well, not in as many words..." She headed for the couch in the living room. "Before I learned to shut up, my parents sent me to so many shrinks they could have started their own country." She crawled up in one end of the couch, Daniel following her sank down in the other. "Welcome to Wedontbelieveinya. Please check your self esteem at the gate", Noli said with the tone of an airport announcement. She leaned her temple against the back of the couch, looking thoughtfully somewhere beyond Daniel. "It's a strange thing, experiencing your parents' shortcomings the first time."

Daniel shifted in his seat so that he could face Noli more comfortably.

"It must have felt terrible, that they didn't believe you."

Noli had zoned into a state of mind that Daniel recognized as contemplative rather than sad.

"It was more that they worked so hard not to listen when I talked about it", she said. "Waved it off. Sometimes I got the feeling that they somehow knew exactly what was going on but denied it all they could, just to avoid admitting there was something strange about me. To protect me from being a freak."

"So you just stopped talking about it?"

"Yup."

Noli's turned her focus back to Daniel, a mild smile spreading across her face. A moment went by while silent communication passed between them. Not anymore though, said the sparkle in Noli's eyes. Daniel's expression lightened.

"You know I'm happy to listen whenever you need to talk... about it, or... anything."

Noli almost laughed. "I know, sweetie. I noticed." She picked at the cushion for invisible lint. "I really don't know why you stand hanging around for more than five minutes at a time." Noli knew she was prone to wandering off topic and making incomprehensible jokes, but for some reason this guy never seemed to mind.

Daniel's face broke into a shy smile. He was just about to come up with something to say in protest when the timer for the artichokes went off. Noli shot him an excusing smile and went to take them off the stove.