"What's wrong?" is the first thing he asks, because Sam is by the elevators, a bunch of flowers in her hands and her eyes full of tears and that itself is a disturbing sight he's not used to witness. He doesn't like seeing her crying, he decides.

"My whale gave me roses," she sniffles like kids do after they fell down and need their mom's attention. Her nose is as red as an apple, he notices.

He has noticed plenty of things about her, like the way she takes her coffee or the way she holds her pen. The way she takes her hair out of her face, or the way she smiles for real when she looks at him.

"And?"

"And he told me: 'There's as many roses as the numbers of days I spent here at the Montecito with the most beautiful creature ever created. Six roses symbolising the six most beautiful days I've ever had. Thank you, Ms Samantha Marquez.'," she quotes as she wipes away the tears.

Danny's hand reaches up and soon he's thumbing away the tears, and she lets him. It's invading, it's intimate, but he doesn't care because her lips are trembling and she doesn't stop crying and he doesn't know what to do except from chasing away the tears.

"That's why you're crying then, because he declared his love for you? Samantha Jane Marquez, a Romantic, who would have thought?" he jokes but the idea of someone wooing her is strange. He doesn't know why, he doesn't want to understand why, he just finds it strange, doesn't like it even.

Sam pauses to look at him like he has no brain, then she rolls her eyes so hard that her tears stream down her cheeks. "This was the cheesiest and dumbest shit I've ever heard, Danny, and I've seen and heard my fair share of cheesy and dumb whales!"

He blinks, confused, his fingers still on Sam's cheeks."...But you're crying?"

"I have allergies!" she snaps but her voice has turned hoarse so it cracks a little in between words and Danny realises that she is actually really allergic to those flowers because she looks like a mess, a pretty mess, but a mess nonetheless, with her wet eyes and red nose.

She presses the bunch of flowers to his chest. "Get this thing away from me! My eyes and nose are burning and I can feel a headache growing up. I swear I don't deserve this. I've been nice today."


The headache is so intense that Sam only realises she's right in front of her suite when Danny opens the door for her.

"So flowers are fatal to you," he says as he leads her into the room. She doesn't tell him to leave so he supposes she doesn't mind him staying. "So this leads me to wonder; what is the true way to Ms Marquez's heart?

"Aside from alcohol, you mean?" she lets herself fall onto her bed. The coldness is expected, welcome even, because she always forgets to switch off the air con but she doesn't feel cold, not really, because Danny is sat close by and she swears she can feel his warmth even in the coldness surrounding her. "I have a sweet tooth," she admits as she closes her eyes. The headache is getting worse, she can even feel it behind her eyelids.

"Chocolate?" he guesses.

His hand finds her hair and he slowly starts massaging her scalp. Sam sighs appreciatively.

"M&M's," she breathes and she feels sleep coming up, threatening to ruin everything but Danny doesn't stop and she is content, happy even: here and now, in the heaviness of the sleep, in the stillness of the room. If she could choose to remain somewhere, with no escape, she would choose to be stuck in this moment forever, with Danny.

He laughs. "M&M's? My favourites. I'll share my stash with you. Just don't tell Mike, okay? Otherwise he'll be jealous. He's very sensitive, you know."

"I promise I won't tell on you," she smiles and Danny knows she'll sell him out on the first occasion and the thought makes him laugh a little. He sees her smile slowly drop from her lips and soon, she doesn't move anymore and the change in her breathing indicates that sleep finally caught her .

Sam is already far gone in the land of dreams when he takes off her shoes and puts the blankets safely around her. Then, he puts a glass of water and some pills on the table by her bed. Before leaving, he drops a kiss on her forehead, and walks out of her suite, his stomach feeling as heavy as his heart in his throat.

Sam, he realises, he likes her a bit too much.