The Invitation……

About a week after the incident with Tidwell, which Reese obstinately refused to discuss further, Charlie came back from the market to find Dani in a tense discussion on her cell. He could tell from the degree to which her eyebrows dove inward and her low tone that it was serious. As he juggled the bags full of fruit settling them on the marble counter top, his interest peaked, he questioned with his eyebrows and silently mouthed the question "who is it?"

Dani simply shook her head and turned away from him, which annoyed Charlie greatly.

Stubborn, stubborn woman he thought ruefully shaking his head, abandoning the groceries and walking to her side.

It was then he realized that he could not make out what she was saying by listening or watching her lips because she was speaking Farsi. Her mother he thought and noticeably relaxed. Dani shot him an annoyed look at the intrusion, but he stood his ground smiling brightly and remaining near her, as solid as a piece of furniture.

She concluded the call and looked up at him. "Don't crowd me Crews" she groused.

He said nothing, but reached down and squeezed her shoulder. She looked up at him and the gentleness in his eyes eased her anger. She was healing, but the pain still dogged her and it manifested itself in anger – anger came easily for Dani. Peace would be harder, but she was learning and growing stronger everyday. She'd learned to put away physical pain, by concentrating, emotional pain would be tougher, take longer, but he believed there was nothing Dani Reese could not do.

Charlie stroked her hair and lightly touched the side of her face, but said nothing. He waited for her – for Dani. She was still Reese now. Some times she just needed time - he knew this instinctively.

She relaxed and her annoyance faded, as his touch became a caress, and he simply watched her, patiently waiting. She reached up and held onto the back of his hand, to still it. She pressed her cheek into his palm and he smiled again. Then Dani was there, smiling shyly, his Dani - "I'm sorry, I'm not mad at you."

"I know" was all he said.

Charlie simply resumed waiting, quietly, supporting her - lending her strength and calm, by his simple presence, but not asking for anything from her. Dani had just begun to appreciate the peacefulness Crews could maintain when he wanted to. Far from being restless, like her, or eternally talkative, as she'd previously assumed; he was capable of great periods of silence, during which he did little more than sit still. But he was almost always connected to her, sometimes with a hand on hers or often just his eyes. He was capable of such blindingly fast, viciousness and such utter compassion and peace; he often seemed like two different men inhabiting the same body. He'd need that patience for where they were going next, she thought.

"My mother" she sighed, "My mother insists that we come for dinner" she admitted the cause for her consternation.

"I can take you anywhere you want to go" he began and then changed when her look darkened, "or…or you can drive yourself. You are getting along pretty good now. The doc seems to think you are healing nicely" he stumbled past the scowl on her face, looking for the right combination of words to erase it.

"No, Crews" she said, once again annoyed "she wants 'us' to come to dinner. As in - you and me – together" she highlighted the problem for him.

"And you don't want to?" he guessed.

"I….I…don't know what to think. My parents….my father....is very hard on the men I date. And as we all know, you and my father aren't exactly starting off on neutral ground. This could be painful – for everyone." She confessed her fears to him.

"No, honey. It'll be fine. I'll be on my best behavior. Scout's honor" he held up his fingers smiling "I'll even wear my napkin in my shirt and eat with a fork" he grinned, trying to convince her he could be nice. Charlie wondered with all the dark things she'd seen him do – if Dani feared him - and was afraid for her family.

"I'm not worried about you" she said, sounding annoyed. "And my mother clearly adores you" she said with raised eyebrows "although I'm not sure what that's about. But my father…" she trailed off, without finishing the thought.

"He loves you, Dani. He loves your mother and we will be fine – I can handle this" he told her, sure of his ability to keep from fighting with Dani's temperamental father.

She cocked her head to the side and looked hard at her partner, lover and perhaps more.

"That's right you guys had beers" she said wryly "now you can just retire to the family room and watch football like a couple of buddies" she countered, letting the unfinished conversation from a week ago bubble to the surface again.

"Since when did you become the defender in chief of my father?" she questioned with a hard look.

"Reese. I don't want to fight with you, okay? I know you're spoiling for a fight, but it won't be with me." He coached.

Charlie knew she was scared from the way she nervously chewed her bottom lip and the pain wore on her. She was still tired, weaker than she'd like, and toughing out the pain through the rehab of her injury. She seemed to almost enjoy punishing herself, a trait that troubled Charlie to no end.

The woman could face down armed robbers, but still feared her father's reaction. She was so fascinatingly complex, he reasoned. Beneath her tough exterior, lurked a shy little girl, who adored her father and just wanted to please him. Dating Charlie Crews would not please Jack Reese and she knew it.

"When?" he asked softly, while she thought quietly in the background. He could see the possible bad outcomes filing through her brain and the faraway look in her eyes told him there was still more he didn't know about her.

"When what?" she said confused, as he intruded on her thoughts.

"Dinner" he reminded.

"Oh" she said distractedly, her scowl returning "Sunday"

"That soon" Charlie said subconsciously looking at his watch, a matter of hours, he thought as he swallowed hard. He was more anxious about the event than he wanted to let on. It's a big thing meeting your girlfriend's parents. Bigger when the first time her mother laid eyes on you – you were soaked in her daughter's blood, a daughter you'd let get hurt, he thought. Jack was almost easier – pure unadulterated hate - he got.

Dani's mother made him nervous in the same way she did. He wanted Roya to like him, to trust him, to trust him with her only daughter. Plus Charlie knew Dani's mother ran their family. Jack Reese was one tough old bastard, but that family revolved around Dani's mother, the beautiful, poised, elegant and regal woman was unerringly the pivot point of Reese's family. That's the one he needed to win with.

Jack was just an annoyance, no one would ever be good enough for his little girl in Jack Reese's mind – Charlie was pretty certain the man was right.