After that, she had done everything possible to avoid him. She actually was doing a pretty good job of going to ground, now that he thought of it. He reminded himself to be patient. She had been hurt pretty badly by her husband, and Matt hadn't helped either. He knew she needed time to work through her thoughts. It was funny that someone so in tune with others, so infinitely wise, could barely look at him without blushing sometimes. He realized that when he came to her house and she was lying on the floor. She clearly wasn't ready to deal with it. A few weeks later, he got the message: for the moment, she couldn't deal with the reality of what had happened. He understood. He also knew she was worth waiting for. He couldn't imagine that an experience that…magical…was one-sided. She just wasn't ready to feel something so intense.
Weeks passed with no change. He still felt a charge when she was near him, and their relationship had not returned to that playful banter they used to have. Things were awkward, and he was starting to think that they were going to remain that way, preserved in amber, for eternity. When he got the offer from Cuban, he decided to test the waters. Her dismay that he was leaving was clear, but she couldn't – or wouldn't – define what she felt for him. Her answer – that the team would miss him – first made him happy, since she was clearly talking about herself. Then he realized that they were still just treading water.
He really had it bad, and although he might have managed to pine for Gabrielle for the better part of two decades, he wasn't sure he was going to be able to make it for two more months knowing that Dani was so close, but not his.