Friction Points……

Kevin Tidwell was up to his armpits in alligators as the saying goes. He had four dead perps, an officer /girlfriend in ICU and Crews MIA. IAD was breathing down his neck hungry for any dirt whatsoever on Charlie Crews and despite the green eyed monster lurking deep within, something in Tidwell was not going to roll over on Crews. It looked like a good shoot to him and the brass could take a hike, but the paperwork, phone calls and media blitz were killing him.

As the phone rang for the eleventh time in seven minutes, Tidwell decided enough was enough he needed a break and knew just where he was going – to visit his favorite detective. He rolled down his sleeves, retucked his shirt, straightened his tie and examined himself in the rearview mirror of his car. Not bad – he concluded. The suit Dani insisted on him buying really did lift his appearance to a whole new level and he'd noticed several looks from the ladies in dispatch since acquiring the trendy new outfit.

He arrived at the hospital just after lunch and quietly slipped into the ICU with his badge obviously displayed on his belt and his jacket open. Roya looked up from her book and nodded to him. Tidwell whispered to her "how is she?"

"She is sleeping" Roya stated flatly. Both Reese women had the same talent for stating the obvious and making you feel like a dolt at the same time he concluded. He wanted to say, "Yeah I can see that" but bit his tongue and just approached Dani as she slumbered silently.

"Hey babe" he said holding Dani's hand. Dani's eyes fluttered open and she smiled at him. The smile on Tidwell's face was beatific, he positively beamed at her, making Dani laugh slightly. This was a side of things that surprised her mother. Dani had not one man smitten with her – there were two – this one Dani had not seen fit to mention to her mother. Roya's eyes narrowed as she examined the police Captain's apparent intimacy with her daughter.

"So….how's my favorite detective?" Tidwell joked with her.

Dani didn't answer right away, instead looking at her mother silently asking for space and privacy. Roya read the unspoken signal in her daughter's look and announced she was going to the cafeteria to get some lunch. Both Dani and her Captain looked appreciative when she excused herself, but Dani knew her mother's questions would be sharp upon her return.

"Dani" Tidwell began "I've been so worried, you scared the hell out of us" he looked at her sheepishly. He let the comment hang and then looked out the empty door after Roya "I guess you didn't have time to tell your mom about us" he continued in a questioning tone.

"There's nothing to tell" Dani said flatly, leaving Tidwell to think how blunt both Reese women could be. "I don't know what I would say."

"I see" Tidwell said sounding rather dejected.

Dani reached out to him "hey" she held his eyes. "Its just complicated with them. Everything in my life is complicated. Nothing is simple." She explained with a shy smile. He heard what he wanted to hear – hope. Hope that there was a future for them. It was just going to be hard. Anything worth having requires effort he thought and Dani Reese was definitely worth having in his life.

"I was gonna give Crews hell for letting you get shot, but I think he was as upset about it as I was" Tidwell admitted and watched Dani's eyes narrow at the insinuation her current hospitalization was due to a failure by her partner.

"Come on, you can't be mad at me for being mad at him. You got any idea how crazy it makes Tidwell to get one of those 3AM phone calls and it's about my girlfriend?" he pled with her. Dani relented and relaxed a bit, but she remained aloof and withdrawn.

"It wasn't Crews fault and I won't accept anyone blaming him for this." Dani stated in a tone that brooked no argument, her dark eyes glittering, still able to muster an angry look through the haze of pain killers he knew they were feeding her intravenously.

Tidwell went for the only acceptable response he could muster "OK, but you gotta know I was really worried about you babe." He said shyly, which was uncharacteristic for the usually brash man she knew and thought for awhile perhaps she loved.

"I asked you not to call me that" she arched an eyebrow at him.

"Sorry…" he said softly, but in the back of his brain a thought niggled at the things Crews whispered to her during his brief visit this morning. He wondered if Dani glowered at Crews when he used endearments too, while jealously peaked at him from behind the curtain of confidence he usually wore like a cape.

"Me too" Dani said squeezing his hand. "It's been a long week and I'm really tired. I'm sorry we scared you." He forgave her instantly and smiled at her softly.

"Okay, well I got a squad room full of anxious IAD types that want Crews' ass – so I have to get back to the precinct" he said announcing his departure.

"Station" she reminded him with a smile.

"When I take you to see New York, you'll see what I mean" he leaned down and kissed her gently, but when he pulled away something in her look made him feel like she was disconnected from him, slipping away although she was still right there next to him, his lips still warm from her kiss.

When he stepped from Dani's room, he instantly registered the presence of someone leaning against the wall outside her room and glanced over to find Roya Reese eyeing him with curiousity and what he was certain was disdain.

"You are not only Dani's Captain are you?" she asked directly.

"No ma'am. I'm not just her Captain." He admitted with his eyes on the floor. He looked up to find Dani's mother still examining him "I'm… well, I'm just hoping to have the chance to be much more to her…..but I guess that's up to her."

"Yes, it is" Roya said coolly. "It seems my daughter has more young men than she has time to explain to her mother". Tidwell wasn't certain if Roya was more pissed that she didn't know her daughter was dating her Captain or if she genuinely disliked him – but neither seemed good for him.

Why did Crews have to be so god damned likeable? he thought. Tidwell had to admit that even beat up, bloodied and dog tired Dani's partner inspired trust and confidence in people. The man could charm even the toughest of ladies and shyest of children with his smile and openness. It was hard not to like Charlie Crews, but Tidwell was beginning to genuinely dislike the man.

Dani tilted her head, closed her eyes and sighed at the ceiling. She waited for the confrontation that she knew was coming with her mother. They were close, they always had been. Dani could not hide much from her mother and the only way she could successfully keep anything from her was not to mention it at all. Kevin Tidwell was one of those things Dani didn't mention. When she opened her eyes and looked out in front of her, there stood Roya Reese with her arms folded and a stern look on her face. Dani felt like she was fifteen again and had flash of that same anger, but held back.

"What?" she asked her mother.

"Who is this man to you Dani?" Roya asked directly.

"He's my boss." Dani admitted the obvious "and sort of my boyfriend" she said closing her eyes and waiting for the lecture.

"I see" was all her mother said. Dani's eyes snapped open and she was speechless. He mother never avoided telling her when she was making a mistake and usually her mother was right.

"I don't know what the hell I was thinking…. I guess I wasn't thinking… he's really good to me and it's never affected our work" Dani rambled defending herself and Tidwell.

"Do you love him?" Roya asked with her finely honed penchant for directness laser focused on Dani.

Dani looked at her mother as if she'd never truly considered the question before that moment. "You're not going to lecture me? Tell me how I'd screwing up my life?" she said angrily.

"Only you know that" Roya responded somewhat regally, but it was what she said next that rocked Dani back on her heels "you must not compare your life to others, you know nothing of their journey".

Dani just stared at her mother as the words echoed in her head "is that Zen?" she said not conscious she'd asked the question aloud.

"What is Zen?" Roya questioned quizzically.

"It's…." Dani laughed as a vision of Crews battered face and disheveled look from the morning sprang to the forefront of her mind. "It's nothing….maybe…it's something" Dani thought about Crews kneeling on the floor of the dojo inviting her to meditate with him, leaning against the hood of their unmarked eating some kind of fruit out of plastic cup, standing at the podium in her AA meeting pronouncing he was powerless. Roya gave Dani a look that expressed true confusion. "It's Crews. He's in my head." Dani said smiling.

"But is he also in your heart?" Roya questioned softly. "You must choose, Dani. I'm sure they are both fine men, but it is cruel to both of them to continue to give them hope when only one is in your heart. And I know you – I did not raise a cruel child."

Dani threw her head back in frustration and anger. There is something about mothers that no matter your age, be it 12 or 20, that allows them to get inside your head. It's like there's a secret passage straight to your heart that only they hold the map to and moms can unerringly focus directly on that which is most dear to you and force you to look hard at yourself – sometimes they can do it all with only a look. Dani's mom was a master at it and Dani knew she was right – she was always right.