The sound of the doorbell-a normal bell still-echoed through the mostly quiet house. The bell cut through light snores that were bouncing off of the bedroom walls. After the third ring, bothered moans now replaced the snoring. Grey eyes fluttered open while a copper face tensed because the noise was not going away.
"Damn it," Dane muttered with a growl, now fully awake thanks to the doorbell.
"Leave it. They might go away," Nicole suggested, staying cuddled close to her lover. She caressed Danny's stomach, figuring it would be able to help keep the musician lying right where she was.
"Okay."
The couple tried to settle back down to return to dreamland, but whoever was at the door seemed to be totally against that. Their visitor might possibly be leaning on the doorbell, they considered from the continuity of the noise. Eventually, it got on Danny's nerves to the point that she sat up. Nicole let out a long whimper, missing the warm body of her love already.
"I've got to get this damned clown off of the bell," Dane declared with a frown.
"My hero," Nicole remarked as the sound persisted. She resisted the urge to stick her fingers in her ears, knowing that would not help much.
Dane hopped out the bed, as naked as the day she was born. She was about to charge out of the room like that, forgetting her state of undress, until Nicole stopped her by clearing her throat. Dane turned around and saw Nicole holding a very familiar pair of basketball shorts.
"Going somewhere without these, stud?" Nicole teased, smiling in that way that made her eyes sparkle and Dane's heart flutter.
The younger woman glanced down at herself and yelped, realizing that she was about to give whoever was the door quite the show. She charged over for her clothing, the shorts and a tee-shirt that was nearby. Nicole handed over the shorts without a fuss, but she did go in for a brief kiss, which she got. While Dane put on her clothes, Nicole decided to see what time it was. She was shocked to find that it was almost eleven in the morning. She chuckled a bit.
"We're sleeping in really late this morning, Danny," Nicole commented.
"Well, since we're up now, I'll get started on breakfast," Dane replied before being interrupted by the bell again. "After I beat the shit out of a very persistent deliveryman," she added with determination in her voice.
Nicole laughed and scanned the room for her robe while Dane disappeared out of the door. The musician marched downstairs, barking that she was coming to whoever it was that did not want to believe no one was home. When she got to the door, she was so annoyed that she did not bother to ask who it was. She just yanked the door open and wished to that she not done something so foolish as soon as she saw who was standing in front of her.
"Tyler," Dane frowned so deeply it covered her whole face.
"Dane? What the hell are you still doing here?" Tyler demanded to know, a scowl immediately conquering his face.
"Minding my goddamn business, as you should be doing. What the hell are you doing here?" she countered. She had much more of a right to be there than he did, after all.
"Where's Nikki? What did you do to her?" Tyler snarled and reached out to grab his cousin by the collar.
Dane was unimpressed, even with his pale hand so close to her neck. "I didn't do anything to her, you fucking idiot. Now, what do you want with her?" she inquired in a hard tone.
"I have some things for her from work. Now, where the hell is she?" Tyler started shaking the ebony-haired musician, who looked bored by the whole process. Her expression earned a growl from him and he tightened his grip.
Dane was tempted to tell her cousin to "fuck off" in no uncertain terms, but she considered his words. If he did have things of Nicole's from work, then she knew that Nicole would want those out of his hands as soon as possible. He was a slimy bastard and never to be trusted, after all.
"Chem!" Dane called into the house.
"Who the hell is Kim? Did you bring one of your filthy, fucking whores in here? How dare you disrespect Nicole like that, you disgusting bitch!" Tyler snarled while shaking Dane some more. He was ready to ball his other hand into a fist, but he was holding his briefcase. He did figure that if his cousin ticked him off a little more, he would just beat her with the case; it did not occur to him to just put it down.
"Chem!" Dane repeated, still looking rather detached from Tyler's abusive actions.
"What, honey? I'm trying to finish getting dressed!" Nicole replied from upstairs.
Tyler balked when he heard the voice and then he shook it off. It can't be, he thought. It was impossible.
"Chem, come on! I don't know how much longer I can stand here and not hurt this dumb motherfucker," Dane informed her lover.
"Baby, who the hell are…" Nicole trailed off as she rushed down the stairs and saw just who was at the door, manhandling her girlfriend.
"Baby?" Tyler echoed as his face twisted from confusion and his eyes went wide, making it clear that his brain was already coming up with a million and one excuses for why Nicole had called Dane by such a term of endearment.
"Tyler, what the hell are you doing here?" Nicole demanded to know, going to stand next to Danny. "And get your fucking hands off of her." Nicole proceeded to yank Tyler's pale hand away from Dane's person.
"What the fuck are you doing dressed like that and calling this disgusting bull-dyke 'baby'?" Tyler countered, motioning to both women as he mentioned them. Nicole was wearing her short robe and he was taking a good guess that there was nothing on underneath it. Dane was clearly in her pajamas also. He knew that something was up, but he did not want to believe that it was what it looked like.
"That's none of your business. What the hell are you doing here?" Nicole glared, a fiery look in her eyes that would have set Tyler ablaze if she only could.
"Saving you from Dane apparently! Did she touch you? Did she do anything to you? Anything at all? I'll call the cops right now!" Tyler started reaching into his pants pocket, going for his cell phone. He had every intention of calling the police.
"Don't you dare! She didn't do anything wrong," Nicole stated while pushing his hand down to keep him from dialing the police. She was not interested in making more of a scene than they already were; besides, if the police showed up, she would be tempted to have them arrest Tyler for harassment.
"I'm going to go start on some breakfast," Dane volunteered. She really did not want to leave Nicole alone with her overly excited cousin, but she doubt that her continued presence would help him calm down.
"Good idea," Nicole agreed for the same reasons. Dane was gone before another word could be uttered and Nicole focused her attention on Tyler, making sure he did not get into the house.
"What the fuck has she been doing?!" Tyler demanded, pointing inside of the house, almost hitting Nicole in the side of the head with his arm.
"That's none of your business, Tyler. What the hell are you doing here?" Nicole countered once again. She continued to glare at him, silently informing him that his presence was not welcomed.
"Why did you call her 'baby'? She seduced you, didn't she? She's nothing but trouble, Nikki! Her own family doesn't trust her! Her fucking parents don't even trust her! You don't know the real her and how fucking evil she is! She's probably planning to rob you blind when you least suspect it, so she can blow the money on dope! Who knows what kind of whores she brings in here while you're at work!"
"Now, you listen here," Nicole paused to snarl and poke him hard in the chest with her index finger. "Danny has been nothing but good to me in the months that she's lived here! She's sweet, generous, and takes better care of me any other person on the planet, so I won't have you standing her badmouthing her with all of your bullshit. So, just tell me what the hell you're doing here and then don't let me see you on my street again!" she commanded.
Tyler flinched, stepping back as if she struck him. "You're going to stick up for that bitch Dane instead of fighting for us?"
"There is no 'us'! I went over this the last time we spoke! There is no us! Now tell me why you're here or I'm just going to slam the door in your face!"
Tyler snarled from his fury and he was tempted to walk away from her doorstep without giving her the documents that he personally volunteered to deliver. The only problem was that he knew if she did not get the documents, it would be his fault and it could mean his job. So, he went into his briefcase and shoved the folders into her chest.
"Your father sent me to give those to you," he stated as if those words were an insult of some kind.
"Thank you," she shot back, like that was an insult.
"You need to watch out for Dane. The bitch is nothing but trouble. I don't give a shit how good she might eat you, you need to remember she's-" He was cut off at the knees for such vulgar words. Well, actually, he was slapped in the face for his words. The noise seemed to echo through out the neighborhood and ring in his ears. The sting to his ego was instantly a hundred times worse than the sting on his cheek.
"I didn't ask for your opinion! Danny is a hundred times the partner you ever were. Now, get the fuck off of my porch," Nicole ordered before shutting the door right in his face.
The auburn-haired attorney snorted and tucked the folder under her arm. She marched into the kitchen and was met by a cup of tea, which soothed her raw nerves before she even started to drink it. She smiled at Danny and was able to easily forget all of the bad things that Tyler had been spouting seconds ago.
"I hope the neighbors enjoyed the show," Dane remarked with a laugh as she sipped her own drink.
Nicole groaned. "Oh, god, I forgot about them. I'm sure Mister Boyler is telling his wife right now what a bad influence you are on me and screaming out there like that. Not to mention I slapped Tyler."
"Tyler deserves more than that. I was ready to kick him in the ass. Who's Mister Boyler? That's the bastard next door that always glares at me when I'm mowing the lawn?" Dane asked. She had taken to mowing the lawn to save her some stress when she got the "urge to do something" and she already cleaned the house. It saved Nicole some money since she did not pay for landscapers anymore.
"Yes, and I do wish you wouldn't call him that. He's been very kind to me since I moved into this place a couple of years ago. He just thinks that you're a crazy teenager and he wants to keep an eye on you so you don't get me into any trouble," Nicole explained with a teasing smile.
"Everybody's worried that the big bad Wolfe is going to get the precious Nicole in trouble," Dane commented, shaking her head. She stepped over to Nick and wrapped her free hand around her girlfriend's waist.
"What they don't know is that I have the big dog on a very short leash," Nicole quipped while bumping her hip against Danny's thigh.
Grey eyes rolled. "The Great Dane doesn't do leashes."
"Good thing I'm here with Danny then." Nicole put her cup down and hugged her girlfriend, holding her tightly. "I'm glad I'm here with you, Danny," she whispered.
"I'm glad to be here. Is it all right for Tyler to know about us? He'll tell your parents and everyone at your job, right?"
"It should be fine. My parents already know I date women on occasion and who gives a shit what people at work think? I hope this news will keep some of them away from my door!"
Dane laughed a little. "What about your friends? Will they care?"
"No. Hell, Mina knew I had the hots for you before I did, so I know there's no problem there. Clara will just be happy that I'm with someone that treats me well and respects me."
"You have really good friends to a certain degree, even if they do take advantage of you sometimes," the musician commented.
"They are good people. I know they already like you just from all of the stories they've heard and the times they've seen me on the phone with you. I've got nothing to worry about with Tyler. What about you? Can he make any trouble for you?" Nicole asked curiously.
"Hell, no. The only person in the world that gives a damn about me is standing right next to me. She's also the only person whose opinion matters to me."
Nicole blinked. "Are you serious?"
"Dead serious. I love you, Nick. I've never felt this deeply for another person and I damn sure know no one has ever felt like this for me. There's nothing that Tyler can do that can keep me from you," Dane vowed.
Nicole smiled and she planted a deep kiss on Danny's mouth. Tyler was a memory after that, but not for long. He rushed back to the forefront of Nicole's mind when she remembered the documents he brought by. She looked down at the paperwork after taking it from its folder.
"These were in my desk. Did he go through my desk for these? Did Daddy go through my desk for these?" Nicole wondered. Both were not good prospects, but she knew that one or the other had taken place. She tried to dismiss it from her mind since it was already done, but she could not stop thinking about one of them rifling through her things and she knew that both of them would do just that if they felt like it.
-----
Tyler drove around the city for several hours, brain trying to process what the hell he had just stepped into when he was at Nicole's house. He seethed and stewed while Nicole's voice echoed in his mind, a voice calling out the nickname "baby" and it was not directed toward him. No, it was directed toward Dane. He even said the name with venom in his own mind.
"That twisted fucking bitch Dane seduced my Nikki!" he screamed at the top of his lungs as he came to a red light.
His fist hammered heavy against the steering wheel and with each hit, the frown on his face cut a little deeper into his cheeks and wrinkled his brow just a little more. He could not believe that Nicole allowed Dane to touch her! He had heard tales of Dane's exploits, but he never thought that they were true until now. Dane had something that made women fall into her lap, all women, even sensible women like Nicole.
"Well, she's not getting my damn woman! Who the hell does Dane think she is anyway? She comes to my house out of the blue and then has then nerve to stay after I get kicked out?! What the fuck is wrong with her?! Stupid bitch thinks the world belongs to her when she's nobody! Nobody gives a fuck about her! She should just die!" Tyler hollered quite seriously.
He never liked Dane…but then again, no one in the family liked Dane. He never really had a personal reason to dislike her since they never really interacted much, but now that he did, he felt his hatred amplify over a thousand fold. How dare that guitar-playing cripple bitch touch Nikki?!
His head shook; no, he was not going to allow Dane to have what was his. He refused to let her even entertain that such a thing was going to happen. She might think that she had Nicole now, but there was no way in hell that he would allow her to keep such an elegant woman. His elegant woman.
His mind started moving, realizing that he had to do two things. He had to get Dane out of the picture and he had to get Nicole back into his arms. He doubted that he would be able to get Nicole to throw Dane out. If she wanted Dane gone, she would have gotten rid of the misfit months ago. So, whatever lies Dane fed her, she obviously believed, which did not surprise him.
"Nikki would believe it was night out even if the sun was staring her right in the face if told that enough times," he muttered while shaking his head.
He was convinced that his evil cousin had manipulated Nicole with some "lesbian mind trick" and whatever that trick was made Nicole think that Dane's word was better than his. Now, he had lied to Nicole many times in the past, but he doubted that anything he ever said was on the level of deceits that Dane had to throw her way. How in the hell was he supposed to break such a spell?!
And then the solution hit him, like a bullet right between the eyes. He knew exactly how to get to Nicole and put an end to all of the nonsense with Dane. It was all so simple that he could not believe he stressed over the situation for so many hours.
"Don't worry, Nikki, you'll be mine again soon. I'll save you from that bitch," he silently vowed while taking out his cell phone.
-----
Raymond Cardell was sitting in his office, even though it was the weekend. His daughter was not often the only one with piles of work. He knew how to manage it a little better than she did thanks to years of experience. He was willing to bet that she would figure out how to do it sooner or later. It was in her blood; her mother could handle enough work for a team of people and still have free time. His work was interrupted by the sound of his phone ringing.
"Raymond Cardell," he answered the phone.
"Raymond, I need to talk to you."
"Tyler?" Raymond asked. He knew the voice very well, but he always needed verification before continuing any discussion.
"Yes, it's me. I was hoping to talk to you about Nikki," Tyler informed his boss.
"What about her?" Raymond asked curiously. He knew that Nicole had been the one to end the relationship with Tyler, which he had not been too happy about. He kept those thoughts to himself, though. He thought that Nicole might have found something better, but then, such a person never showed up. It was a little disappointing and disheartening since he was hoping that his little girl settled down sometime soon to just have the support that only a spouse could give and to also start a family.
"Has she told you she's dating recently?"
"No, she hasn't mentioned anyone in her life recently. We thought she was taking a breather from the dating scene."
"No, not a breather, sir. Nicole is dating, someone I know very well in fact. She's dating my cousin, Dane," Tyler reported.
"She's dating your cousin? How did she even manage to meet your cousin?" Raymond wondered if Nicole had met more of Tyler's family than she let on, considering the fact that she was dating his cousin Dane and had his cousin Danny as a roommate. That made him wonder how deep her relationship with Tyler ran before she broke things off.
"My cousin stopped by one day a few months ago. I don't know what my cousin did to Nicole, but I know it's bad. My cousin is just bad news. Dane is a woman that can only do wrong."
"Dane's a woman?" Raymond sighed. Now Nikki's back to women? What the hell is going on with her lately?
"Not just any woman. She's a drug addict and I mean serious drugs, like cocaine and heroin. I wouldn't be surprised if she tried to get Nikki to start using. It's very likely that she's taking money from Nikki and she might even be doing more than that. She runs with a really horrible crowd, drunks, druggies, pimps, gang members, and hardened criminals. She's basically just like all of them too. She's into some seriously freaky and dangerous shit, not just with drugs, but with prostitution and gang stuff. She's just not a good person and I'm worried about Nicole being with her," Tyler sounded choked up, lost, as if he did not know what to do. He sniffled, like he was near tears.
Raymond was quiet for a few seconds, trying to take everything in. He was trying to make sense of what was being told to him. Nicole had not mentioned any "Dane" recently or seeing Tyler's cousin in a romantic way...or any way at all really. It was not like her to keep something like that a secret, but then again, it was not like her to date such an unsavory sounding character either. He did recall Tyler saying similar things when he talked about his cousin that was living with Nicole, so now he was wondering what type of family Tyler really did come from. He seems like the best of the bunch.
"How long has she been seeing your cousin…Dane?" Raymond inquired curiously. He was almost certain that her break up with Tyler now had something to do with this Dane person. Maybe Dane had come between the couple and somehow poisoned Nicole's mind...if she was as horrible as Tyler made her sound.
"I'm not sure. I didn't even know about it until I few hours ago. I can see why she wouldn't want to talk about it. My cousin isn't a good person, sir. She's definitely not right for Nikki. I'm really surprised my cousin's not in jail for some of the stuff she's done. I don't want to see Nikki get into any trouble because of Dane and I know it will happen. Dane's done all sorts of horrible things in her life and I don't want her to hurt Nikki." He sounded so pathetic, like a lost little boy.
"I'm sure you don't, Tyler. I'm glad you called me." At least somebody's looking out for Nikki!
"Oh, one more thing, sir."
"Yes?" Raymond doubted that he could take another surprise involving his daughter, but he needed to know everything going on around her with the hopes that he would be able to save her from herself. He supposed that he was starting to understand her recent behavior a little better now that he knew that she had such a bad influence in her life.
"I saw some weird files in Nicole's office when you told me to retrieve the other work that she needed. They looked like applications to college or something. Is Nicole going back to school?" he asked innocently.
"No, of course not."
"Oh, okay. Maybe she was just holding them for someone else. I hope you can talk some sense into Nikki, sir. I really tried, but she refused to listen to me. She believed more in my lying cousin than she did in me and she's known me for so much longer. I don't know what ideas my cousin could be pouring into Nikki's mind, but they're clearly working. I'm so scared for Nikki."
"Don't worry, Tyler. I'll get to the bottom of this immediately," Raymond stated. "I'll talk to you later."
"Goodbye, sir," Tyler said and the call was disconnected.
Raymond frowned deeply as his thick, auburn eyebrows drew together. He leaned back in his leather chair and tried to figure out what was going on. He wondered why Nicole had not said anything about dating a woman, Tyler's cousin, Dane. It just was not like her. She was not one to hide the fact that she was dating anyone, man or woman, but then again if Tyler was telling the truth then Dane was not any regular man or woman, like Nicole usually dated.
He did not see why Tyler would lie either. There was nothing in it for Tyler, as far as he could tell. It was not like Nicole was planning on going back to Tyler, although that was a hope. He thought that Tyler was the one for Nicole since they seemed to be rather close. After all, Tyler was the only person to call Nicole "Nikki" aside for her parents; they did not know she hated it when he did that. They thought that it showed Nicole had a deep level of trust in Tyler and then she broke up with him out of the blue and then a short while later Tyler's cousin Danny was suddenly living in the house. Maybe Danny was the one that brought this Dane character over, he considered, trying to make sense of all of this.
"This is something that I need to talk to her about face to face. Should I tell her mother? God, Kate is going to flip," Raymond groaned just from the thought of telling his wife about what their daughter was up to.
It would be worse for him if he did not say anything and Kate found out, he knew that. So, that sort of settled things for him about involving Kate. He would tell her first and then they would confront Nicole about things.
"Nikki, what've you gotten yourself into now?" Raymond wondered with a sigh.
-----
Nicole was sitting on the couch pretending to watch a movie, but really concentrating on Danny, whose head was in Nicole's lap and nuzzled into her stomach. Dane was placing light, wet kisses to Nicole's abdomen, which was uncovered thanks to Dane pushing her camisole up slightly. Every now and then, Dane's tongue would sneak out and draw circles around a quivering navel. Nicole's heart rate was pounding and then felt like it would explode when the loud ringing of the telephone interrupted their play.
"Shit!" Nicole hissed while reaching for the damned phone.
"You could just let it ring," Dane suggested while continuing her onslaught after a brief pause.
"It could be important," Nicole replied and then she saw the number. "Baby, I need you to stop. This is one of my parents."
"Really? Then I could get you off the phone faster if I don't stop," Dane reasoned.
"Honey, don't be a brat," Nicole lightly admonished her lover.
Dane pouted and whimpered into warm flesh. She was somewhat ignored. Nicole rubbed Danny's shoulder while answering the phone.
"Hello."
"Nikki, sweetie," it was her father. "We need to talk to you right now."
"Right now? It's can't wait until tomorrow?" She could talk to her parents at work or after work.
"No, it can't!" That was her mother and the snap in her voice told Nicole that she needed to move her ass before her mother moved it for her.
"Okay. I guess I can be by the house in an hour."
"Thirty minutes," her mother said and then she hung up the phone.
Nicole sighed and put the phone down. "So, apparently, I have to go to my parents house and I have to be there in thirty minutes, so that'll put an end to our day," she informed her girlfriend.
"No, it puts our day on pause unless you plan to move back in with your parents tonight," Dane corrected the older woman before sitting up to place a light kiss on willing and wanting lips.
"You're right. Hopefully, this won't take too long. I'll bring dinner back with me, okay?"
Dane smiled and nodded. Nicole ran off to get ready, not really having as much time as she would have liked to do it. She took a quick shower and changed into what amounted to casual clothing for her, a white polo shirt and khaki-colored pants. She then returned to Dane for a goodbye kiss, which left her breathless and weak in the knees.
"You keep kissing me like that and I won't be able to leave, let alone drive," Nicole commented in a low tone.
"Words like that, not gonna stop me," Dane remarked with a smile.
"I'll be back as soon as I can. I hope they don't have a serious emergency or something."
"Well, does this happen a lot?" Dane asked, not bothering to point out that it had not happened since she moved in.
"Sometimes they call because they want us to have lunch together or something. It usually happens when my mother feels like she hasn't seen much of me or my father, which has been the case lately. So, that could be it."
Dane nodded, even though she did not understand such a thing. She did not feel the need to point out that her parents never got the urge to see her. Instead, she kissed her girlfriend again and made sure to pout like a sad puppy as Nicole left the house and drove off.
The musician sighed and picked herself up off of the couch. She was not sure what she was going to do while Nicole was gone. She did not have any lessons lined up and the house was clean. She guessed that she might as well just take a nap. It seemed like a good idea and she wondered what it would be like to nap on the bed upstairs.
-----
Nicole sighed as she pulled up to her parents' house, which was located in a gated community not too far from her own home. It was a pure white colonial-style mansion with a large front yard, garden, pool, and a tennis court. She parked in the driveway, which was where her parents' cars were; they all drove the same car, but in different colors.
She entered the house with her keys and found her parents in the den; it was where they usually were when waiting for her. She was surprised to see them sitting with drinks in their hands, but she did not say anything about that. They typically did not drink until the evening, unless something was troubling them.
"Have a seat, Nikki," Raymond said, nodding toward a chocolate leather armchair that was close by.
Like she did whenever given an order by her parents from more than likely the day she was born, Nicole nodded and complied. She slid into the chair and looked between her two parents, who were sitting on the small, matching sofa to the left of her chair. She could not help feeling in trouble, but she could not for the life of her recall doing anything wrong in the last few days.
"Nikki," her mother, Kate Cardell, spoke up as soon as Nicole was seated. Kate was a deceptively short woman and just near the point of being round now that she was middle-aged; the weight had caught her off-guard in her forties and she had never been able to lose it. Her silky black hair was cut to just above her shoulders and she had sharp brown eyes that caught anyone that she looked at in shock. She had a rich, olive tone that her daughter inherited from her and sometimes it saddened her to think that was the only thing that Nikki inherited from her.
Raymond chimed in before his wife had a chance to go on. "It's been brought to our attention that you might have gotten yourself into a mess."
Nicole's face scrunched up. "Not that I know of." She reviewed her activities for the past few weeks and did not see where she could have gotten herself into a serious mess…not something that her parents should be worried about anyway.
"Oh, so you're not dating some lesbian drug-addict that likes to make whores out of her girlfriends?" Kate inquired in a short tone.
The daughter blinked hard. "Wha…huh? Who told you that?" She was so thrown off that she did not bother to guess the one person that would tell them that.
"Never mind that. Is it true?" Raymond demanded to know. "Because I'll be damned if I'm going to let you throw your life away like this!"
"Daddy, I'm not doing anything like that and I don't know who would tell you such lies!" Nicole retorted and then a frown conquered her face as her wits gathered themselves. "You're been talking to that asshole Tyler, haven't you?"
"He says you're dating his cousin," Raymond said, as if that was a crime in and of itself.
"A woman," Kate chimed in with disdain dripping from her tone. "God, I thought you grew out of this nonsense," she muttered, not very quietly, making her stance on the issue clear already.
"Dane," Raymond finished off in a manner that told their daughter to start talking, explaining-now.
"Tyler's just being an asshole, like always! You two don't know it, but he is an asshole pure and simple," Nicole informed them. In any other situation, she would have known that was a poor defense, but her mind was having trouble keeping up with what she was dealing with...a common problem when her parents were involved.
"But, that doesn't tell us if he's telling the truth or not. Are you dating his cousin, a woman by the name of Dane?" Raymond asked.
"Yes, but-" Nicole was cut off by her mother.
"Isn't it best to assume that he knows his cousin better than you do since they are family?" Kate inquired.
"That's just it! Tyler doesn't know a damn thing about Danny! She's kind and sweet-" Nicole did not get to finish that either. She frowned; they had gone through this same crap when Tyler started telling them that she was living with Danny.
"Danny? You mean this Dane woman is your roommate Danny?" Raymond demanded to know. Both he and his wife's faces tensed as hard frowns cut across their faces, wondering why Nicole lied to them about "Danny's" status in her life from the start. Now, they were upset that they had not believed Tyler from the start; they were also upset that Tyler never told them his cousin's name when he was talking about her staying at Nicole's home since it would have saved them some confusion.
"Yes, she is," Nicole confirmed. Her face was scrunched up some because she thought that they knew that already. Maybe they're trying to confuse me...and they're doing a damn good job.
"Then why the hell have you been telling us that she was your roommate when she's obviously your live-in girlfriend?" Kate pressed as she squared her shoulders because more tension was ripping through her petite form.
"She's not! I mean, she is, but she wasn't before!" Nicole tried to explain. She was starting to feel very confused, knowing that her parents were already forming pictures in their minds and that their questions were now only going to help shape those pictures. Making matters worse, they probably would not let her get a word in unless it was to answer those questions. It had always been like that from when she was a small child.
"What happened, Nikki? I thought you were done with women and you've never been with someone so distasteful before. You had Tyler. He was a good guy. A gentleman with a steady, good paying job and then all of a sudden his no-good cousin shows up and you dumped him like a hot brick. That's not like you," her father said.
"I didn't dump him because Danny showed up," the younger woman argued, fury showing on her face now. What the hell kind of lies has Tyler been telling?!
"But, it was conveniently around that time, wasn't it? What did she do to you, Nikki? Does she score you drugs?" Raymond asked.
Nicole's blood was starting to boil and a fire was burning in her emerald eyes while her face flushed a deep crimson. "NO! Danny's not like that. She doesn't do those things anymore!"
"Anymore?" Kate echoed and her frown was now a diamond-cutting scowl. "Nikki, people don't just stop doing unsavory things! You can't be so naive to think that she's not doing drugs just because she told you that. Tyler is her cousin, surely he knows her better than you do."
"He doesn't know anything! He doesn't like her!" Nicole countered vehemently while fighting off a sense of deja vu. They had had a similar argument about Danny already, but that was back when she was just a roommate. She also doubted that she was going to win this time.
"And I can see why! She's a scoundrel and you're too blinded by whatever spell she put on you to see that!" Kate proclaimed. The fact that she raised her voice caused her daughter to pause, blink a few times, and try to recall the last time Kate had seriously yelled at her.
"You need to stop seeing this girl and you need to get her out of your house as soon as possible," Raymond declared as if that was the end of the argument. To him and his wife, it was.
Those words jump-started Nicole's brain again. They wanted her to make Danny leave the house? She could not even fathom such a thing happening, so she knew that she would be unable to do it.
"I won't," Nicole replied in a hard tone.
Raymond did not seem to hear that response. "I'll ride over there with you and help her leave. She might get violent-" he was cut off.
"No, Daddy. I'm not kicking Danny out," Nicole stated soundly. There was no room in her voice for argument, but her parents were going to try anyway.
"The hell you're not! I'm not letting you stay in a house with some pimping, drug-dealing, drug-addicted woman who has more than one name apparently!" the father boomed, shooting up to his feet to glare down at his daughter.
"She's none of those things! And she does have one name, which is Danny!" Nicole was standing now too.
Raymond and Kate were silent for a moment, glaring at this stranger in their daughter's body. They had never seen her put up such a fight…not in her personal life anyway. Kate slowly rose to her feet, watching Nicole in a manner that the younger woman could not place.
"I don't know what this woman has done to you, Nikki, but it's making you into quite the ugly person. People have been complaining about you at work. You needed your father to hire an assistant for you. You've been missing days," Kate listed the offenses, counting off fingers as she went.
"It was two days!" Nicole hollered, wanting to tear her hair out, but resisting the urge. She could not believe that her mother was throwing two days back in her face, but it was par for the course with her mother. Every detail mattered to that woman, after all.
"It doesn't matter! I know she's the reason you're being neglectful at work," Kate said.
"And she's putting ridiculous ideas in your head about going back to school, isn't she? What's she trying to con you into doing, Nikki? Did she get copies of real applications or somehow get her hands on fakes and then talk you into giving her money for them?" Raymond inquired.
Nicole growled. "You were going through my personal papers? God, this is just like when I lived here! I don't have a bit of privacy!"
"The woman is trying to con you, yet you're getting angry with us? Unbelievable," Kate hissed.
"I can make my own decisions and pick my own partners. I don't need you to hold my hand through everything!" Nicole argued, throwing her hands out to the side in frustration.
"Obviously, you do, if this the type of person you want to have around you," Kate countered matter-of-factly.
"I'm going to take care of this shit right now," Raymond declared and he marched off.
"Daddy! Daddy, where are you going?" Nicole shouted, trying to follow behind her father, but Kate held her back. She turned to glare at her mother.
"He's trying to do what's right for you, Nikki, and you know that. You have to let this woman out of your life before she gets you into something deep. Let your father handle it," Kate stated.
"No! I'm not going to let him ruin the best thing in my life!" Nicole declared, trying her best to tear away from her mother, but she held back out of fear that she might hurt the smaller woman.
"You only think she's the best thing in your life because you've allowed her to brainwash you," the mother said.
"Like hell! You don't know Danny, Mommy!" Nicole broke away from her mother as she heard a car pulling off. Damn it! She knew that her father was leaving and more than likely heading to her house. She had to get there before him, she thought, as she raced to her car, ignoring her mother calling for her to come back.
-----
Dane woke up to the sound of the doorbell ringing. She rolled out of bed, which she silently admitted was much better for napping than the sofa, and she marched downstairs. Not learning from her previous mistake of not bothering to ask who was there, she opened the door to see the last two people she ever expected to see unless there was a serious emergency.
"Dad, Mom, what the fuck are you doing here?" Dane somewhat demanded, sounding bemused and outraged. She was too confused to make her tone exceptionally harsh.
"What the hell is wrong with you? Barging into your cousin's life and stealing his girlfriend! Why did you do that? Just to amuse yourself? Prove that you could?" her father snarled, glaring at her with a familiar hatred.
Dane blinked hard. "Steal whose girlfriend?" What new bullshit is he talking about?
"Tyler's girlfriend. What the hell is wrong with you? Have you truly sunk so low that not only do you leech off of people, but then you repay their kindness by seducing their fiancées and leeching off of them next?" he hollered, energy building in his grey eyes.
"What the hell are you talking? What's this new bullshit you and Tyler are trying to put on me?" Dane inquired.
"You stole his girlfriend! You got her into drugs and other depravities, like you always do!"
"Oh, that's bullshit! But, of course, you'd believe Tyler over me. Nicole's none of your fucking business, so get the hell out of here," Dane ordered her father, brushing him off with a wave of her hand.
"No, I won't, not until you leave this poor girl alone. You know you're good for nothing and worthless like no one else. What can you do for this woman aside for getting her hooked up in drugs, gambling's debts, and all the other bullshit that comes with being around you? God, you almost got Bryan killed!"
Dane flinched as if she had just been beaten in the head with a baseball bat. I almost got Bryan killed?! What the hell had that bastard been going around telling people?!
"Dane, you're nothing but bad news. Even if you don't get that girl involved in those things, you know you bring that bullshit around just by presence. You're a poison, Dane, and you know it. You've proven it time and time again and Tyler's not going to stand for you ruining his fiancée," her father proclaimed.
"That's bullshit," Dane spat.
-----
Raymond tried to pull his car into the driveway of his daughter's home, but was shocked to see a car already taking up the space. He considered that it was probably Dane's and he thought about how Nicole told him that Danny did not drive. A lie. Nicole was lying to him thanks to this Dane person, which made him dislike her all the more.
After parking, he climbed out of his car, turning his attention to the front porch while he was moving. He paused, seeing three people standing there and two of them were arguing vehemently, faces twisted into expressions of pure hatred. He was taken from that haze as Nicole's car pulled up right behind his. He glanced over at her as she got out of the car and before she could say anything to him, she noticed just what he was looking at.
The father and daughter were certain that they came in on the tail end of the argument as the man at the door started pulling on Dane's arm. Dane was screaming and trying to pull back, but her father was bigger than she was and apparently in better shape than she would have guessed. He dragged Dane out of the doorway and onto the stairs. His face tensed with each moment that she resisted him, making his job all the more difficult to get her out of the house. He managed to yank her down the stairs and flung her on the walkway because of all of the struggling.
"Hey!" Raymond called. Sure, he did not know any of them, but he could not stand idly by while a man possibly harmed a woman, any woman.
The three individuals by the house turned to see who was speaking to them. Nicole rushed over to Danny in the moment of distraction. Dane's father turned his stormy grey eyes to Raymond, who was glaring right back.
"This isn't any of your business," Dane's father declared.
"It is when it's happening in front of my daughter's home. I suggest you leave before I call the police," Raymond replied.
Dane's father frowned deeply and then turned his attention back to Dane, who was still on the ground. "This isn't over, Dane. You know you're poison. Leave this woman alone before you ruin her life like you've done with everything else you've touch." He then turned to go to his car with his wife by his side. She paused just to give Dane a good look of disdain.
"Danny, sweetheart, are you okay?" Nicole asked in a low voice.
"I'm fine. I've had worse," Dane answered. She landed on her good leg, but her hand and wrist were throbbing from catching herself. She scratched up her palm and calf pretty good too.
"Danny, who the hell are those people?"
"Them? My parents," she replied in the coldest, most detached tone that Nicole had ever heard.
Nicole blinked hard and turned to look back at the couple before they were gone. The one thing that stood out was that they were both Caucasian. She considered for a moment that Danny might be adopted, but Danny never mentioned that she was adopted when she spoke of her parents. Instead, she made it seem like she had serious problems with her parents and from what Nicole could see that was an understatement.
Danny's parents looked something like Nicole would expect Tyler's parents to look like. Her father was dressed in a black tailor made suit with expensive leather shoes to match. He amazingly enough looked very much like Dane with the same grey eyes and ebony hair. It was clear that Dane got her height from him, her facial structure, and even her nose, although his was bent slightly to the left. Nicole could only wonder how the man refused to claim Danny when it was so clear whom Danny took after.
Dane's mother, who had not said a word so far, was wrapped up tightly in a long fur coat that covered most of her body, which was about average height. She had deep brown eyes and long blonde hair. She quickly made her way to the passenger side of the car, rushing to get in. Her husband was not as quick to move, turning to glare at Dane for another long moment and look completely disgusted by her existence, before entering the car, and driving off.
"Danny, are you sure you're okay?" Nicole asked, noticing the haunted look in Danny's eyes as she watched her parents drive away.
"Nikki," Raymond said.
"Not now, Daddy. Can you just leave, please?" Nicole requested in a deep, troubled sigh.
Raymond had the good sense to recognize the look of resignation in his daughter's eyes and her tone. He slumped his shoulders and he marched to his car while Nicole helped Danny to her feet and into the house. The door closed, but Nicole had a feeling that something was opening and had the ability to tear apart their happiness.
-----
14: Ticking time-bomb
Dane was sitting in the den, staring at the dull walls, grey eyes looking for answers that were not to be found outside. Seeing her parents should not have disturbed her as they did, she mentally scolded herself, but she could not help it as the stirred up memories that she would have rather forgotten, things that she had forgotten. Convenient, very convenient of me.
"Of course I'd forget those things while I'm with Nick. Why should I remember what sort of ass I am? Or how fucked up I am? I've been lying to her all this time, lying horribly. All it would take is one slip and I could fuck up her life so badly that it would be beyond repair…"
Her parents had planted a bomb in Dane's head and it was close to detonating. The more that she thought about her past, the more she could see just how she would be trouble for Nick, and the more she could see the future was not the bright sun-shiny day she had envisioned less than twenty-four hours ago. A little voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like her father told her that her future bleak, hopeless, pathetic, just like her past. She was nothing and would never amount to anything, the voice reminded her. She was worthless, could not be trusted, and things would always be that way. She tried to ignore it, but she knew what was coming. With each second that ticked by, the bomb was closer to exploding and Dane knew it.
10...9...8...7... The musician tried to counter the bomb with words of assurance that she was a different person. She did not do the things that her parents mentioned anymore. She was done with drugs, alcohol, and other mind-altering substances. She was done with fast women and she was done using women as toys. Hell, she had never been a gambler; that was all Bryan's fault, not that her parents would ever believe that.
...6...5...4...But, there was a little voice of doubt, which was attached right to that bomb from her parents. The voice questioned just how long did she think her old life would no longer interest her? She just stopped one day and she could just start again any time now. She knew that she could start again any time; her father outright said that she was a drug-addict and would always be a drug-addict! She was a useless junkie, a user of people.
3…2…1…She could start again any day and that would affect Nicole. If she got back into things as deeply as she used to, it could really affect Nicole. She was not pleasant to be around when she was drunk or high. All of the emotions that she kept pinned inside and tried her best to pour out of her guitar came out when she was drunk and high. Those emotions were almost never positive ones and she directed them at whoever was around at the time. That would be Nicole now. She would end up hurting Nicole.
Dane later would not recall gathering up her few belongs from the den, just the things that she showed up with so many months ago. She would not recall quietly leaving her sanctuary either. She just knew that she had to get far away from Nicole before she poisoned and tore down her love in ways that she could barely fathom. Her brain did not think, her body just moved, moved to free Nicole. Destruction complete.
-----
Nicole had fallen asleep early that night; Danny had been by her side then. So, she was shocked to wake up to an empty bed. The bed never seemed so huge until it did not have Danny in it. She ran her hands over the space that Danny had occupied the night before to find it cold, so it was clear that the musician had been gone for a while.
"Danny," Nicole called as she climbed out of bed. She was wearing pajamas; the previous day was too emotional for them to muster any energy once they laid down in bed to do anything aside for sleep.
She wandered downstairs, thinking that Danny woke up earlier and probably started breakfast. It was not like that was unheard of, after all. But, when she reached the bottom of the stairs, the silence that greeted her let her know that Danny was nowhere near the kitchen. Still, she could not help checking it and the living room.
"Danny?" Nicole said again while scanning the kitchen a second time, just in case her lover magically appeared there while she was in the living room.
She bit down a little panic that rose into her stomach and traveled up her throat. She rushed over to the last room that she thought Danny might be holed up in-the den. She walked to the room with the broken door and knocked on the wall, hoping for some kind of answer. She did not hear anything that could be mistaken for noise in the dark room. She stepped in and flicked on the light. Her heart shattered with the sudden burst of light, revealing the bare room to her.
"Danny…" Nicole whimpered. The beat-up guitar case that Danny lived out of was gone, as was her guitar. The pallet that she usually left on the floor was cleaned up, folded, and on the couch. "Danny? What's going on? What happened?" she asked the air, which gave her no answers.
The lawyer tried to keep herself together, thinking that she might be overreacting. After all, Danny could have had an early lesson. No, that would not explain why she took her beat-up guitar case, but there was probably an explanation there. Sure, there was probably a logical, reasonable explanation for it all and, no, Danny was not gone and never coming back. Why did her heart not believe that, though?
Nicole sighed as she went about her morning in a mechanical manner while wondering where her girlfriend disappeared to. She frowned as she realized that she did not have any way to get into contact with Danny either to know if she was overreacting or to find out why Danny left. She mentally scolded herself for never getting her girlfriend a cell phone when she had the chance. It just never seemed important until now.
She was not sure how she made it to work or how she got through it. Everything seemed like a blur as she prayed that Danny would call, but that never happened. She did not eat lunch that day and merely tried to will time to speed up, so she could get home. When she got home, things did not get better.
Everything was just as she left it and there was no sign that Danny had been there all day. There was also no sign that Danny was going to return. Nicole stomach flopped and her heart dissolved as it felt like bitter acid flooded her system. It felt like her soul was split in half and was being shredded.
"Danny…" Nicole sniffled as tears filled her eyes. She was about to break down and cry, but the ringing of the phone stopped her for just a moment. She did not move from where she was standing and let the machine pick get it.
"Nick, I'll make this quick," Dane's voice sounded distressed and hard. "I'm happy that you didn't answer it. Guess you're not home yet."
"Danny!" Nicole rushed the phone. "Danny, I'm here!"
"Nick?" Damn it! This would have been so much easier if Nicole had not answered the phone.
"Danny, baby, where are you? Tell me you're coming home!" Nicole pled, tears leaking from her eyes. The tears slowly slid down her cheeks, falling like lost drops of rain.
"Nick, I'm sorry, but I've been lying to you all this time, misrepresenting myself to you. I'm not coming back and I know you're better for it. You might not think it, but you are."
"Danny, please!"
"Do me a favor and keep eating and don't go back to Tyler. You're worth so much more than that. I know there's a prince or princess out there that's perfect for you and will treat you like you deserve."
"You're perfect for me!"
"I wish I was, angel. I really wish I was. You don't know what kind of person I can be, though. You don't know what type of bastard I am. You're better off without me. I promise you that. Goodbye, chem."
"Danny!" A beeping dial tone was her response. "Danny!"
The tears suddenly fell like a torrid hurricane followed by gasps and wails that could have easily rivaled thunder. Dropping to her knees, her tears flooded down her cheeks and pooled into her carpet. The cries shook her body as they came from her gut, heart, and soul. She wrapped her arms around herself, as if trying to keep herself from literally falling apart. Danny was gone and she was alone.
-----
"Richard, where the fuck is the Evans file?" Nicole demanded as she stormed out of her office to scream at her assistant for the fifth time since arriving to work…twenty minutes ago.
Her attitude certainly caught her assistant by surprise. Up until today, he wondered how she was a lawyer of any kind and working at such a prestigious firm. He heard about what her previous assistants were able to get away with and he had not been able to dredge up an ounce of respect for her, especially when seeing how she let the whole firm use her. There were even times when he stared at her with utter disgust and other times when he dared to look at her for what he thought she really was, a pretty face, banging body, and a nice ass.
Now, he was careful about looking at her the wrong way, lest she castrate him with the fountain pen in her hand. He heard people muttering, "what's Nicole's problem?" and he hoped that one of them got an answer before she ate him and vomited him up. She was looking for the smallest excuse to tear into his ass and fire him.
"Well?" she pressed with a glare that reminded him very much of her mother. He gulped and his heart sped up while he forced himself not to squirm under her hard gaze.
"I'll have it to you in a minute, ma'am." That was the first time that he had ever called her "ma'am." Before that day, he had the nerve to call her "Nicole" as if they had been long time friends. She never bothered to correct him because she knew that one compliant from him would have her father breathing down her neck.
"You'd better." The glint in her eyes told him that he had exactly sixty seconds to fetch what she required or it was curtains for him.
Nicole returned to her office, or the bowels of Hell as it was coming to be known for the past couple of days. Nicole had been on a tear, being in the worst mood that anyone had ever seen; some of them thought it could possibly be the worst mood in the history of the world. It was beyond anyone could comprehend since Nicole was just about the most tame and sweetest woman they had ever seen, let alone met.
"She's being a total bitch," someone muttered, referring to Nicole. Too bad the statement was made with one of Nicole's friends in earshot.
"Hey, shut the fuck up about Nicole. She had a few off days and now you're labeling her a bitch? I bet you'll smile in her fucking face when you need some legal help, won't you? Fucking bastards, you'd kiss her fucking ass to do your fucking work, wouldn't you?!" Mina snapped as she exited her office. She did not even know who she was talking to, but she figured it was a good message to just about anybody in the crowded hallway that was going to talk about her friend while Nicole was obviously going through something.
The people in the wide and frequently busy halls of the firm all looked down, making them all look guilty, and then they went about their business, not wanting it to seem like they were the ones that spoke harshly about Nicole. Mina scowled at everyone until they were out of her sight. She then ducked back into her office, waiting for the next moment where she would have to reprimand the many assholes that she worked with. Why the hell is such a prestigious firm populated with dickheads?!
Mina was planning to talk to Nicole…as soon as she was certain that she could get close enough to auburn-haired woman and not lose an arm. She had tried to approach Nicole yesterday, but the frightening warning glare that screamed "back off!" kept her at bay...and stopped her heart for a few more seconds than she liked. She was just going to have to wait until it was safe to tread water and Nicole's attitude was not something akin to a bull shark.
That attitude built for a few days before it seemed to reach its zenith. Nicole did not blow up on anyone to show that the attitude was at its height. She just quietly dismissed any and everyone that came into her office, including her assistant. Her father even tried to go into the office, for business reasons of course, and she dismissed him like he was any other person. He was so taken aback by the chilling demeanor that he did not put up a fight and just backed out of the room.
The day after that, Nicole came in subdued. She had been crying the night before, listening to the message that the voicemail recorded of her and Danny. The reality set in that Danny really was not coming back. She was not gone just to sort herself out after Tyler ruined their world by calling their parents; Nicole knew Tyler was somehow to blame for Danny's parents suddenly showing up and making her a mess. Danny was honestly gone, thinking that it was best for Nicole. Every time the thought came to Nicole's mind, she cried and she had wept all last night.
Nicole dragged her body into work, not too sure how she managed to get there…again. She trudged to her office, not bothering to greet anyone, which had become normal for her the past week. A few people that she went by notice the change in her demeanor and the change in her appearance. The flames of Hell no longer seemed to be pouring off of her with intense heat. Instead, it seemed like it was raining on her, putting out her fire and covering her with dark, heavy grey clouds. No one mentioned her puffy, red eyes or flushed face; they just let her go by, not wanting to chance bringing demon-Nicole back.
She dropped into her chair behind her desk and stared down at the dark wood. It barely took a couple of minutes before more tears gathered and fell. She sniffled, but did not bother to wipe away the tears. She knew it would be a waste of time.
"Danny…" Nicole sobbed and quickly covered her mouth. The last thing she wanted was someone running into the office to see what was wrong with her.
Her body shook as sobs burst through, coming straight from the gut. Her hand over her mouth was hardly doing anything to stifle the noise, moans bouncing off the walls and assaulting her ears. People outside did hear, but they were not in the mood to feel her wrath if "bitchy Nicole" decided to make a return if they checked on her.
It took her almost twenty minutes to get herself together and that was only because she ran out of tears ten minutes into the weeping. Once she ran out of tears, her body and spirit still ached, throbbing constantly. She took deep breaths to calm herself down, having to tuck her head between her knees for a little while after that. Then she was ready to work-well, as ready as she was going to be that day anyway.
The next day, Nicole entered work just as somber as before and quite disheveled...for her anyway. Her hair and clothes were not perfect like always; her shirt was not ironed and her hair was frizzed just a little. Her colleagues watched her as she went by, but no one said anything to her. She marched to her office and flopped down at her desk, trying to hold in the urge to weep. Just when she thought the dam was going to burst, the door to her office flew open.
"Go away, Daddy," Nicole grumbled.
"Look, Nikki-" Raymond was going to attempt some words of comfort, but his daughter did not allow him that.
"I said go away, Daddy! I have work to do," Nicole huffed while making a show of going through her briefcase and pulling out files.
"Nikki…" His voice was weak and then withered in his throat when she glared at him. He gulped.
"I'm only going to ask you one more time," she warned him. The fiery look in her eyes-it would have made a lion run for cover.
Raymond did not press his luck. He exited the office while wondering what in the world was wrong with Nicole. He had never seen her in such a condition as she was now. He truly had never witnessed her in the bitchy state that she was in before either. He was morbidly curious and terribly concerned about what was happening with his daughter. He went to the one person he was sure would be able to get answers because he knew that she was just as concerned as he and Kate were.
"Mina," Raymond said while softly rapping at her door, even though he entered before being given permission.
"Yes, sir?" Mina inquired, knowing who it was without bothering to look up from her computer.
"Do you know what's wrong with Nikki lately?" he asked curiously.
"Well, considering the fact that the last time I asked her what was wrong, she told me to go to Hell with gasoline drawers, no, sir, I do not. I think it might have something to do with Danny, though," Mina answered.
"Danny?" Raymond blinked in surprise by the mention of the name. He had not heard anything about Tyler's cousin in almost two weeks.
"Ever since Nicole's been in her funk, she hasn't eaten lunch, which is something Danny would never allow if they were all right. She also hasn't said anything about Danny since getting in her mood. Clara's been bugging Nicole's assistant and according to him no one by the name of Danny has called, which is just plain weird. I guess they had a little fight," Mina reasoned. It certainly would explain Nicole's mood since Danny seemed to keep Nicole balanced as far as her friends could tell. Although, she did think that referring to it as a "little fight" was not doing it justice considering the way Nicole had been acting.
"You think so? Do you know about Nicole and Danny?" Raymond asked curiously.
"I know they're roommates. Danny's been pretty good for Nicole. She's helped Nicole a lot. I can't wait to meet her one day." Mina smiled, very pleased that someone was finally good to her friend.
"Then you don't know they were dating?"
"Dating?" This got Mina's attention enough for her to turn her eyes away from her computer. She searched Raymond's face to make sure that he was telling the truth and had not just misinterpreted something, like she had done.
"They're dating."
Mina grinned, which confused Raymond. "That's great! Danny takes such great care of Nicole and I could see that Nicole cared a lot about Danny, even though she denied it. I'm glad she recognized it."
"So…you think it's a good thing?" he asked just to be sure.
"Very much. Nicole seems to be at her happiest when talking with Danny. It's wonderful to see," Mina proclaimed sincerely.
"But, isn't Danny into all sorts of horrible things?"
"Well, to hear Tyler tell it, yes. To hear Nicole tell it, Danny is tamer than toy dog and much less annoying-more than we can say about Tyler. Now, I would think that Tyler knows his cousin since they're family and all, but Nicole's been living with Danny all these months. I guess it boils down to who do you believe. I believe Nicole. I've seen her make bad decisions when it comes to relationships, but she's never looked so happy when talking about someone she's in a relationship with," the mocha-skinned attorney explained with a proud smile.
Raymond nodded. "I suppose…" He could not really concede the matter, even though she had a point. It was just that he had met some of the women that Nicole dated in the past and it seemed like a long line of mistakes. Of course, she was not much better when it came to dating men, even though he and Kate thought that Tyler might have been the one. But, Nicole and her friends seemed to see something in Tyler that made them want to run from him more than anything else.
"You liked her best with Tyler, right?" Mina asked, even though she knew the answer to that.
"He could have made her happy."
"Tell that to Nicole and watch her face turn bright red with anger. Tyler didn't give a damn about Nicole and he wasn't even trying to pay her any attention until after she dumped his ass. All he was about was having Nicole do every damn thing for him while tearing her down. She was his trophy. Danny is good for Nicole because their relationship is nothing like what Nicole had with Tyler. Danny gives Nicole strength. Talk to Nicole before you pass judgment, especially if you're going by what Tyler said. I know the guys around here might not think so, but we ladies find him to be a bit of a slime-ball," Mina informed him.
Raymond's jaw tensed a little and he shifted on his feet. "And why's that?"
"Aside for the fact that he's hit on every woman on this level at least once and much of that happened while he was dating Nicole?" she asked with an arched eyebrow and a slightly smug look on her face. She knew that she had him and she was glad that she did. She was all too aware that Nicole's parents rarely listened to Nicole, but someone needed to let them know when they were damned wrong.
Raymond decided not to ask any more questions or he thought that he might pay Tyler a visit next…and Tyler would not like the nature of the visit. He decided to get started on his own work, mostly because he was not sure on what to do next. Mina turned her attention back to her computer, but she did not resume typing as Raymond left the office.
"Nicole is dating Danny? So why the moods from Hell? She should be happy," Mina thought with a confused wrinkle in her forehead.
She figured that it was time for her own investigation. She abandoned her work for the moment and walked the short distance to Nicole's office. She paused at the door, her brow wrinkled even more as she heard sniffling coming from behind the door. She knocked softly and waited patiently for a response, giving Nicole plenty of time to straighten herself out.
"Come in," Nicole said.
Mina stepped inside and quietly shut the door behind her. She took a moment to study her friend from across the room and decided that she did not like what she saw. Nicole's face was flushed, a dull red, from crying. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy, more than likely from weeping. Her clothes were usually always pressed sharply, but now hung off of her as if they had been bunched up before she crawled into them.
"Sweetie, you look like a hot mess. What's wrong? Danny actually let you leave the house like that?" Mina inquired as she took a step forward.
The glare that Mina received at those words halted her in midstride. She was almost certain that her blood frozen in her veins and her heart dared not beat, lest it make a sound that displeased the angriest woman in the world at the moment. Apparently, teasing was not the way to go, Mina silently noted.
"Sweetie, did you and Danny have a fight? Is that why you've been in such a foul mood?" Mina asked in a low, concerned tone as she inched her way toward her distressed colleague.
Nicole whimpered and before she could stop it, tears were falling from her eyes like casualties in war. She quickly hid her face; she never cried-at least not in front of anyone. Mina made a sympathetic coo while plucking a tissue from Nicole desk and handing it to the weeping woman.
"Nicole, sweetie, tell me what happened?" Mina requested in a soft, touching tone.
"She left me!" Nicole bawled, having spoke those words out loud for the first time since Danny's departure. It had been dying to get out, but she had not wanted to acknowledge it.
"Who left you? Danny?" Mina was now at Nicole's side and she gently wrapped her arms around the crying female. Nicole continued to hide her face, bawling into her tissues now.
"Yes…" she squeaked.
"You mean she moved out?" Mina was trying to take it lightly, not wanting to hit Nicole with anything heavy lest she cry even harder. She doubted that such heavy-duty weeping came from Danny just moving out, but she hoped that was the case.
"She didn't just move out! She left me! Ran off in the middle of the night and then called me with some cheap fucking explanation!" Nicole roared, her voice muffled by her tissues.
Mina tightened her hug ever so slightly, silently telling Nicole that she was there. "Calm down. I'm sure she had a reason. Though I never met her, I know from your stories that she cared a lot about you, Nicole. I doubt she just left for no reason."
"She said she was misrepresenting herself, like she was lying to me. What the hell? No one could pretend to be that sweet! She didn't want anything from me! She wasn't pretending…" Nicole had to stop to breathe for a few seconds.
"I know this isn't a good time to ask, but are you sure she didn't want anything? This is Tyler's cousin," Mina said. She was slowly, but surely getting pissed at Danny for leaving her friend in such a state and now her relation to Tyler was working against her very much.
"Don't compare her to that dipshit! I'm sure this is all his fault! He found out I was seeing Danny and the first thing he did was run to my parents and tell them all those lies about her! They wanted me to kick her out! And I'm sure he had something to do with her parents showing up too!"
Mina's brow wrinkled in thought. Tyler was a slimy bastard; she was more than sure of that. He had been pining for Nicole since he lost her, so it was possible that he did something, especially if he thought that it would somehow get Nicole back in his arms. She could not see how he could get Danny to leave, though.
"Are you sure your parents didn't get to her at some point when you weren't home?" Mina asked.
"No! She left the very day my parents confronted me with all of this shit. Her parents showed up and did something to her...maybe. I don't know! I don't know what I'm going to do…" Nicole began crying hard again, not even bothering to wipe her face now.
"It'll be okay," Mina promised while rubbing Nicole's back.
The auburn-haired woman continued to bawl. Mina was not able to get anymore information out of her friend, but she was there as Nicole cried on and off again for the next hour. She was able to talk Nicole into going out for lunch. They took Clara with them and Nicole took a very tiny step toward normalcy.
-----
Tyler smiled to himself on his way to work, taking the long way to the office. The long way involved driving past Nicole's house and noticing that a certain rusty bicycle was not on the porch. He had heard whispers that Nicole had a falling out with her "roommate" and since the bike was gone early in the morning, he supposed it was true. He was happy on so many levels to know that Dane was no longer around his sweet Nicole.
Even though he was late for work, the smile on his face did not vanish. He had plans for today and nothing was going to stop him for going through with them. First, he was going to get a little work done before putting his plans into motion.
He set himself up at his computer and before he even started doing anything, he started thinking about his cousin. Everyone knew that Dane was no good, worthless, shiftless, and would easily take advantage of anyone, especially an innocent young woman like Nicole. He knew that he needed to save Nicole from his wicked cousin and he had gone with more than just contacting Nicole's parents. He was glad that he called Dane's parents. He felt like a hero, saving Nicole from an evil witch.
His uncle had called him a few days after they spoke to Dane, letting him know that Dane had been thoroughly reprimanded for her distasteful behavior in seducing his "fiancée." He was not sure what to make of that considering the things that he had to add to that news, namely Nicole's foul mood followed by her strange seclusion. He knew better than to approach her while she was like that, so he just tried to find out what happened with his rogue of a cousin beyond the fact that her parents had given her a stern talking to.
Dane was not very likely to listen to her parents, Tyler knew that just from growing up around her. He did know that his uncle knew how to talk to Dane, though. His uncle Russell knew how to put Dane in her place, which was why Tyler called him in the first place. His thoughts were confirmed now that he knew that Dane was not at Nicole's house any longer.
Tyler's smile broadened, thinking about how his cousin was gone from his life. "More trouble than she's worth. I don't see why Uncle Russell didn't fight for Aunt Christine to give Dane away or something," he said to the air.
He spent several minutes cursing Dane out in his head before work consumed his mind for a little while. He focused on his own matters until it was nearly lunchtime. It was then that he pulled himself from his desk and confidently left his office. His strolled with his shoulders squared and a secure pep in his step, going down the decorated hall, having to turn a corner before coming to the corridor that house his destination. He knocked on the dark door and entered before he got an answer.
"Come…" Nicole ate her final word when she saw the door opening and the last person that she wanted to see entering her office. "Tyler, what the hell do you want?" she demanded as a deep frown cut across her soft face.
Tyler smiled, despite the almost tangible hostility coming from his former girlfriend. "I was about to go grab a bite to eat. I wanted to know if you wanted to join me." He figured by now after sometime alone, she would love company and he was glad to be that company.
"Not if you were the last man on Earth," Nicole stated bluntly while turning her attention back to her work. Her tone and obvious disinterest did nothing to his cocky grin.
"Don't be that way, babe. I figured you would have cooled off by now. I mean, it's been almost seven months. I know you missed me."
"In your fucking imagination, Tyler. I don't miss you and I don't want to have lunch with you. I want you to leave me the hell alone and stay out of my life." Nicole's eyes then opened and settled on him as if a light bulb went off in her head. "Far out of my life, which includes talking to my damn parents. What right did you have to tell them that I was dating Danny?" she demanded to know while climbing to her feet. She wanted him to look into her eyes and see her fury up close and personal.
"I was just looking out for you," he countered, bordering on outraged and fearful because of the way that she was stalking over to him. He thought that she might actually devour him whole. She was shorter than he was, but her presence right now seemed to fill the whole room and felt crushing to him.
"You don't have any right to look out for me. I don't know if it was your damn pride or the fact that you really think that Danny is dangerous, but you don't have any right to stick your big nose in my business. This is my life to live and if being with Danny was a mistake, it was mine to make. You don't have any fucking business crying to my parents about anything," Nicole said in a calm, tense tone that made the man before her gulp.
A lone bead of sweat traversed the length of Tyler's face, a chill following it. "But, Dane would've done horrible things to you. She already managed to seduce you…"
"She didn't seduce me. I am madly, head-over-heels in love with Danny and that happened through her actions, the way that she treated me, and how she respects me. We had a decent, fulfilling relationship before we became a couple and after. Now, you've freaked my parents out. They think that Danny's some kind of sex-maniac-criminal."
"She is! You don't know Dane the way I do."
Nicole folded her arms across her chest. "Then enlighten me, Tyler. Name instances with examples that you know of from personal experience that makes Danny a bad person," she challenged him in a firm tone with a level glare in her eye.
"If I knew we were going to be having a trial I would have prepared, counselor," Tyler snapped.
"If I knew you were going to fuck up my life more so than you already did, I would've told my parents not to believe any of the bullshit coming from your mouth. Are you the reason Danny's parents showed up too?" Nicole demanded to know. She was bit surprised that she said that because she had not really thought too much on the timing, but now that she was looking at Tyler, her brain was working again, reminding her just how much she detested him, and how underhanded he could be.
Tyler frowned. "What do you care? You should be happy I got that plight out of your life before she hurt you like she's done other girls. You think that 'Danny' is so great and precious? Well, let me tell you something about Dane. Dane is a hardheaded punk who likes to be seen with her arm around a different woman every time you see her. She gets drunk in the middle of the day. She shows up to places high as a fucking kite, not bothering to consider what type of place she's going or what type of drugs she's taking. She a nasty viper, who has been known to abuse her girlfriends-"
"You damn liar," Nicole hissed, outrage pouring off of her like a tangible gas. How dare he ruin Danny's good name with his bullshit!
"You think so? 'Danny' never told you about the lawsuit her daddy had to make go away? She beat the living shit out one of her girlfriends. And that was just one that was willing to come forward. I can only imagine the ones that were too scared."
"You're lying," Nicole stated and she turned her chin up in defiance. She was not going to believe a word out of his mouth, especially not about Danny. She knew all too well how Tyler had no conscience when it came to lying to her face about something.
"You think so? Why don't you ask your precious 'Danny'? I'm sure she'll tell you the truth." Tyler rolled his eyes.
"She's been more truthful and upfront with me for the half-year that I've known her than you have in the whole two, almost three years I've known you," Nicole countered with just as much attitude.
"Fine, take Dane's side. See what it gets you. Just know Nicole, if you mess around too long, I'm going to be gone," Tyler stated as if that was a threat.
"Good. That's what I've wanted since I threw you out of my house all of those months ago."
"I'm serious." Despite all of his posturing, he was not making any moves toward the door to walk out of her life…or at least out of her office.
"Bye, Tyler."
"How the hell can you pick her over me?! Dane doesn't have a steady job and she's homeless! She takes fucking advantage of everyone that she comes across! She's a horrible human being that it takes mind altering drugs to seem likeable!"
"You might think of her that way, but I don't. Danny is just better than you, Tyler, simple as that. Before I was even dating her, she was better than you to me. She was just better," Nicole explained as if it was the simplest thing in the world. Her voice was calm and her demeanor was commanding, which was something he was not used to and it was making him even angrier.
"You think she's better because she turned you into a faggot?" his tone was hateful and that last word twisted out of his mouth without shame or decency.
Nicole entire body tightened, as if he had struck her with that word. Her hand went to a thick metal pen holder on her desk without her realizing it. "I think she's better because she wouldn't ask me something like that. I think she's better because she knows the world doesn't revolve around her. Now, step out of my office and never come back in," she commanded in a dead serious tone with her hand tightening on the pen-holder.
"Oh, did I say something touchy?" He dared to give her a haughty look, as if such behavior was going to help him get back with her.
"No, just something hateful, something I could expect from a small-minded asshole like you. So, once again, get the hell out of my office and never come back in. Don't call my parents for anything that isn't work related either," she ordered. "Now, get the fuck out before I throw this fucking thing at you!" She shifted the pen-holder before picking it up and flipping it in her palm.
Tyler did not falter and continued to look at as arrogant as before. "Your father didn't seem to mind the tip. I'm sure if I have any other news, he would be happy hear it."
"I'm sure he would be happy to know that you called his daughter a faggot too. I'll remember to tell him that at dinner one day. Maybe if you ever come up for partner, I'll mention it." She smiled at him, looking like some unholy, avenging demon. "Now, unless you want to have surgery on that big fucking head of yours, I would suggest you leave." She tossed the pen-holder up a couple of inches.
Tyler's throat seized up, preventing him from uttering another comeback. She managed to back him out of the office thanks to his shock; he took a step back whenever she stepped to him. The moment that he was across the threshold, she slammed the door in his face.
"Fucking jackass. He thinks that I'm going to get back together with him? If anybody in his family is on controlled substances, it's him," she thought with a huff as she made her way back to her desk. She slid her pen-holder across the desk, not caring where it landed.
She tried not to let Tyler's words trouble her as she settled in to finish some of her work, but she could not help it. The few things that he said made her recall how Danny said that she was misrepresenting herself to Nicole. Were the things Tyler brought up part of that?
Before she could dwell on those things, Mina and Clara entered the office to drag her off to lunch. She did not put on any struggle on what was quickly becoming their routine now that she did not bring her own lunch. The first couple of times they did it and she did not want to go, Mina laid a good guilt trip on her, surprisingly enough using Danny to do it. Sometimes, Mina is just too damn persuasive.
"So, I saw Tyler coming out of your office looking like you had killed, skinned, fried, and eaten his puppy right in front of his face. What the hell was he bugging you about?" Mina asked curiously as the trio sat down inside a small café. The weather outside was too chilly now for them to eat comfortably outside.
"The slimy bastard was actually asking me out to lunch. Can you believe he thought that I was going to go out with him?" Nicole said in disbelief. She sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes. She actually looked insulted that he asked her.
"He's been pining for you since you left him," Clara sighed and shook her head.
"The fucker's been giving you all the attention in the world after you left him. That was the best decision you ever made might I add. I wonder what made him think that you would go out with him now, though," Mina commented, mouth turned upward in thought.
"I think he knows that Danny left me. Somehow, he knows. I think he's the one that sent her parents to her too. I mean, how else would they know that she was at my house? They don't know me and Danny never spoke to them," Nicole reasoned.
"He was probably trying to get them to take Danny home or something, so he could try to get to you again," Mina suggested.
"Whatever his plan was, if the outcome was to make me single again, it worked. I don't know what Danny's parents said to her, but it was enough to scare the shit out of her and have her leave me the same day they showed up," Nicole informed her friends.
"Well, I think we all know that parents know the best buttons to push…next to younger brothers anyway," Mina said, which earned her a couple of amused smiles. It was not secret that Mina hated her baby brother because he liked getting on her nerves, but he was quite the sweetheart to her friends.
"Danny's father was very rough with her. It wasn't so much pushing her buttons. He yanked her off the stairs and threw her to the ground. He made her hurt her already-injured wrist and she cut herself up too," Nicole reported, tone haunted with the memories of that day.
"Sounds like a piece of work, like his nephew," Clara commented, shaking her head and frowning in disapproval.
"Yeah, I can definitely see why Tyler is his favorite nephew. I wish everyone would just butt out of my life…" Nicole sniffled, but she forced herself not to cry. She wanted to believe that she was out of tears, but the hurt was not going away like it was supposed to. Going home to an empty house stung as much now as it did the first day she walked into the house, knowing Danny would not be there, and that was almost three weeks ago. It was like being hit by a truck every time she went home and every time she woke up.
"Don't cry, sweetie. We know how much Danny meant to you. If she loves you half as much as you love her, she'll come back after she realizes that she made a mistake," Mina tried to assure the tearful lawyer while reaching over to rub Nicole's shoulder.
"And if she never comes back? I don't know how I would get along like this for the rest of my life," Nicole said.
"You shouldn't think so negative," Clara chimed in. "If Danny doesn't come back, she's not the caring individual that you thought she was and you don't need another asshole Wolfe in your life."
Nicole wanted to laugh, she knew the comment was made so that she would laugh. She just could not muster the energy to do so. She did not want to hear how Danny was not what she thought she was or some other cliché like that. She just wanted her roommate, girlfriend, lover, and soul-mate back. She felt incomplete without Danny around and she could not imagine living with the feeling for the rest of her life.
Mina and Clara had mercy on Nicole, dragging the subject away from her lost love and her idiot ex-boyfriend. They had a pleasant lunch and returned to work in good spirits. Nicole stayed at work long after everyone else, hoping that the demand of her cases and files would keep her from thinking about Danny. Besides, she dreaded the thought of going back home to that empty house. But, she did have to go home eventually.
The night was cold, nipping at Nicole's exposed face as she walked to her car. The wind howled outside her car as she drove home in the chilly night. Winter was on its way, frosting over the outside like Nicole's soul and darkening her resolve with the shortening of the days.
She pulled onto her street and her headlights shined onto her front yard before she parked the car in the driveway. There was a shadowed lump on her dying grass. Nicole exited her car and kept a watchful eye on the lump while carefully approaching the mystery item.
A shiver that had nothing to do with the weather raced through Nicole as she got close enough to make out that the shadow was in the form of a body…and wheels. She gulped, not sure what to think since she never had to deal with a body on her front lawn. Upon closer inspection, it was a body and bicycle. A body that looked mighty familiar.
"Oh, my god, Danny!" Nicole gasped as she fell to taller woman's side.
Dane was lying on her stomach, spread out like she had fallen from the sky. The right side of her face was planted in the dirt. Her eyes were half-mast and nonsense gargling was coming from her dry throat.
"Danny, what happened?" Nicole cried, putting her hands out, but not touching Danny. What if she did something that hurt the musician more so than she already was!
"Huh?" Dane turned in the direction of the voice coming from above her. Her unfocused eyes could only see a strange blur before her. "Oh, an angel! I guess I finally died. Great!"
"That is not great! Don't you ever say anything like that! Now, what the hell is wrong with you?" Nicole demanded to know while finally taking hold of Danny to help her up. Anger kept the lawyer's tears at bay, but her sorrow and relief wanted to escape her body. She refused those emotions for the moment.
"I dunno. I'm drunk…or high…or both, but definitely one of the two. Probably both, though," Dane answered with tired honesty, face still planted in the dirt.
Nicole had to bite back the pure rage that she felt race through her like white, hot lightening in hearing that Danny had been drinking and possibly getting high. She would address those issues later, after she got Danny off of the lawn and out of the cold. "Danny, I'm going to need your help if I'm going to pick you up." Nicole groaned as she strained to lift the larger musician.
"Don't waste time helping me, angel. Bury me where I lay…" Dane announced as if she was acting in a play.
"Shut up and get up," Nicole commanded in a hard tone that Dane had heard only a couple of times before. The thing was that it worked.
Dane groaned and coughed as she started climbing to her feet. Nicole did assist her in standing and as she stood, they could hear her joints popping even over the howl of the wind. Nicole dragged Dane's freezing, heavy body into the dark house, not sure what to make of what was going on. The blackness of the house seemed to swallow them and their problems as the door shut.
-----
15: Salvation
Nicole did not bother to turn on the lights in the house as she entered with Dane. She just wanted to put Danny some place for the younger woman to rest. She could feel the weight on her-cold and wet-and she knew that Danny was close to passing out from the feel of things. There was no chance that they would make it upstairs, especially since Dane was barely lifting her feet as they walked. Nicole managed to get the musician to the living room sofa.
"Come on, Danny, rest yourself," Nicole said gently while easing the rundown woman onto the couch. Danny leaned when he back hit the cushions, half-sitting up and half-lying down.
"Nick…" Dane moaned, sounding like a drowning woman. She lurched as if she was trying to get up.
"Just rest now, Danny. We'll talk later, once you've rested," Nicole replied while softly shoving against Dane's chest, finding the area damp and chilled. Part of it, Nicole was sure was due to the rain on the lawn and the frosty air, but another part of it, she knew was from the alcohol in Danny's system.
Dane took the prompt and fell back, lying down on the couch. Nicole bent down and lifted Danny's legs up, so that she was completely prone on the sofa. With that done, she then pushed Dane back a little and eased the taller woman onto her side; Dane did not make a sound, not a groan, moan, or even a breath. Nicole stood there for a moment, hoping to hear Danny breathing and for a moment panic rose in her chest, but then wheezing, shallow breaths came from the reclined body. Nicole made sure that the musician was secure on the couch and then she went to turn on the light, wanting to see what she was working with because the chill on Danny was alarming.
When the room was illuminated, Nicole had to bite her lip when her eyes settled on Danny. The musician was dressed in shorts, despite the cold weather, and the shorts had seen much better days. The garments were torn, tattered, and caked with dust and grime. They were showing off dusty, dirty, and marked up legs. Some of the wounds looked fresh and bright red from being irritated. Her socks were just as bad and appeared to be wet, meaning her feet were probably frosted over. Making things even worse, her injured knee looked like it might never see a good day again. It was swollen, which she could tell, even though Dane's whole leg was swollen, and it was bruised deeply and very dark. Nicole winced from imagining the pain that Danny must have been in.
Dane's chest was only slightly better because she had a long-sleeve shirt underneath her short-sleeve shirt. Unfortunately, both shirts were torn, holey, dirty, and drenched. There looked like there was some dried blood on it too, which made Nicole swallow hard. She hoped that those stains did not mean anything too deep. She especially hoped that the blood did not belong to Dane.
"Oh, Danny, what happened?" Nicole wondered aloud with concerned eyes. Her voice made it clear that she wanted to burst into tears, but she knew that would not do any good right now.
Dane started quivering and her teeth began chattering. "Cold…"
Nicole rushed into action, first going to strip off Danny's filthy and drenched clothing. Dane was in no shape to put up a fight, or to help in any way really. The musician was quickly and easily stripped of all of her clothes and she did not even seem to notice. Nicole dumped the dirty clothes on the floor and gave Dane the once-over as a quick checkup. Danny was much thinner than she had been weeks earlier and her body was checkered with scratches and bruises. One thing that was noticeably absent were any track marks, so Nicole figured that whatever Dane might possibly be high off of did not involve using a needle. She then took a moment to take Danny's temperature by feeling her forehead and her neck. She found that Danny was colder than she first assumed.
"Shit," the lawyer hissed in distress.
She made a dash for the linen closet and grabbed a thick blanket. She returned to Danny and covered the tall musician. She made sure the cover was over the entire length of Danny. Her heart rate sped up as Dane started coughing, so her next move was to make some tea. She wished that she kept cough syrup in the house, but she never had any use for it, so she never brought it. She hoped that the tea would do the trick.
"Danny, honey, I've got peppermint tea for you," Nicole said in a tender tone while placing the beverage on the coffee table. She gently shook Dane, just in case the younger woman was sleeping.
"Huh?" Dane groaned, wanting to open her eyes, but fairly certain that her headache was not going to let it happen. Nicole smiled just from the sound; it showed that Danny had not died on the couch.
"I have tea for you. I want you to drink it to help warm you up," the attorney informed the ill woman.
Dane was confused and sure that she needed to stop mixing legal and illegal substances. Everything seemed like a blur to her, past and present, sight and sound. Nothing made sense.
"Nick?" the name came out as a bewildered groan mixed with a cry from a person that clearly had no clue what was going on.
Nicole wanted to weep again. She could sense Danny's bemusement and she could almost picture the damage Danny had done to herself over the past few weeks. She had to take a deep breath before speaking to make sure she sounded composed and to make sure that she did not sob while talking.
"Yes, sweetheart. You're home. Now, I need you to drink this tea, baby. It'll warm you up and you definitely need to be warmer," she gently urged the younger woman, tapping her a little to see some movement from the musician.
Dane groaned her complaint, not sure if she would be able to move her mouth enough to drink anything. Even if she could drink it, she was not sure if she would be able to keep it down. Out of the few things she could remember at the moment, she was pretty sure that her stomach was allergic to food, unless it was a brownie packed with weed, and her belly rebelled against all drinks, unless it was alcoholic.
"Here, it's not that hot." Nicole put the mug to Dane's dry, cracked lips.
Another groan came from the musician, but she was lifting up to take the warm liquid into her body. She burst into a hacking cough after swallowing, feeling her throat seize when the drink slid down her throat. Nicole hurried up and put the cup down to pat Dane on the back. As soon as Dane stopped coughing, she waved for the cup to come back. Nicole obliged.
"Yeah, that's helping get the taste of ass out of my mouth," Dane muttered. It sounded like she was talking with a mouth full of rocks. She made sure to focus her dull eyes on the floor.
"Ass?" Nicole echoed and she hoped that was not meant literally. She might never kiss Dane again.
"It's too bland to compare to garbage, but just as nasty. My mouth is so fucking disgusting. Throwing up would be an improvement," Dane remarked in a low, scratchy tone. She was trying to force out a smile, but it was not coming. She just looked like she was in intense agony, which she was.
"Are you good to talk? Do you want something to eat?" Nicole asked in a rush. She wanted to move in any and every direction in order to bring some comfort to Dane and help her in someway. Underneath the panic, she did remember her own pain, but right now, Dane was at the forefront of her mind and would continue to be until she was sure that Danny was all right.
"Let me finish the tea, please," the younger woman requested in a tiny voice.
Nicole nodded and retrieved the mug. She put it back to Dane's lips. The cup was taken by a shaky bronze hands, but Nicole made sure to keep a grip on it when she noticed some of the tea spilling out. She smiled at Dane, whose eyes were still half-lidded and locked on the cup that she seemed to be having a problem holding. The musician seemed to be more focused on the tea than anything else, which was fine by Nicole.
"Do you want more?" Nicole asked when Dane was done with her beverage. "Should I make you some soup? Do you think you could eat?" the caregiver inquired quickly, but in a tender tone.
"No, but didn't think I could drink either," Dane answered honestly. Her voice was clearing up, not longer sounding like she was holding stones in her mouth. But, her voice was still very small.
"Well, let's try to get some soup in you. You need to warm up. Do you want another blanket? Make sure you lay down."
Dane shook her head to answer the question and then did exactly as Nicole told her. Nicole gathered that Dane just did not have any argument in her, which was why she mechanically followed orders. That was fine with Nicole because it meant that she would be able to care for Danny without worrying about the musician acting like everything was fine. It was also a clue of how bad off Dane really was since Dane typically always made it seem like she was all right, even it was clear that she was in pain.
She was able to feed Danny some soup, but Dane was not able to finish the whole bowl. Dane fell asleep right after eating, which was fine by Nicole. She put a pillow under Dane's head and another blanket on top of musician to make sure she was warm. She then set herself up for some sleep, camping out on the living room floor in her pajamas. She wanted to be close by if Danny woke up needing something, or worse-tried to sneak out again.
-----
Dane's eyes shot open as her bladder demanded that it be emptied. She sat up, trying her best to ignore the headache ringing in her ears and the pounding in her head that felt like a sledgehammer was being smashed against her forehead. Her entire body was throbbing in agony, but she had been ignoring that for days in order to make it through the day. She groaned and then almost tripped over something that she guessed was a fallen board or something.
She was about to curse and kick the board when she realized a few things. The first thing was that she was warm and the second thing was that she was naked. She blinked and then squinted, trying to take in her darkened surroundings, hoping that something looked familiar or that she could recall where she was. She attempted to remember what happened.
"Nick…" Dane whispered. She remembered hearing Nicole's voice. It was then that her eyes realized that she was in Nicole's living room.
She did wonder if she was in the living room, what was she bumping into on the floor? She looked down and could make a form that she was sure she would know, even if she was blind. A small smile settled onto her weary face.
"Definitely an angel," Dane decided.
She carefully stepped over Nicole and had to hold in a wince as she put her weight down on her lame leg. She willed herself to stay on her feet, even though her leg was begging to stop supporting her. She made her way to the downstairs bathroom and did her business. She took a moment to wash her face. She even managed a shower, but could only stand for a few minutes. She felt somewhat better now that she was clean and she then returned to the couch, going right back to sleep, still wrapped in her towel.
The next time Dane awoke, she could hear Nicole speaking in a low tone. She could not really make out what was being said, so she did not bother with trying to listen. She glanced around to check her surroundings, just to be sure that she was back at Nicole's place. A contented smile worked its way onto her mouth when she was sure that she was home. Home…
Before Dane's mind could start working and make her recall why she had left in the first place, her angel appeared before her. Worried emerald eyes fixed onto Dane and for a while Nicole could not speak. Dane could not speak either, so they had a long moment of silence.
"How do you feel?" Nicole asked in almost a whisper. Her voice was shaky and her bottom lip was trembling.
"Like shit, for everything…" Dane admitted, looking Nicole in the eye, so that the lawyer would know how sincere she was. Dane could hardly believe how much she had screwed up and she doubted that she would ever be able to forgive herself for it. She both hoped and feared that Nicole would forgive her.
Nicole was about to jump at the chance to talk about that statement and everything that it was supposed to cover, but she held off. Her first priority, she told herself, was to make sure that Danny was all right. Everything else could come after that.
"Do you need anything? I'm going to make you some oatmeal for breakfast with some apple juice, okay?" Nicole stated.
"Sounds good," Dane managed to croak out, turning her eyes to the floor and looking like her world was about to come to an end. "Can I have some headache stuff too?" I want to ask for heartache stuff too, but she shouldn't provide me with that after I acted like such a fucking jackass.
The redhead nodded. "Sure. Do you think you're okay to try to make upstairs to the bed? I think it might be better for you."
"I'm fine here, but I think I can make it up to the bed. Are you sure you want me there?" Dane asked, glancing up at Nicole with a curious glint in her eyes, like there was more to her question.
"Yes, I want you there," Nicole answered, both parts of the question. Her eyes spoke even louder than her words, backing up the declaration with honesty so blunt that it struck Dane like a bat.
The musician could not believe the response, even though she knew that she should have expected such a thing from an angel. She nodded to answer the question about making it upstairs and climbed to her feet, making sure to keep a hold on the blanket, somehow thinking that she might offend Nicole with her nakedness. Nicole did not say anything about the gesture and watched Dane limp heavily through the room.
"Danny, do you need help getting upstairs?" Nicole asked with concern, tilting her head to regard Danny's leg and to see if it managed to get worse during the night. She could guess what the response would be now that Danny was speaking, but she wanted to see just how bad the limb was.
"I'm fine. I think I fell on my leg or something. It's not that bad," Dane answered through gritted teeth. She was trying her best not to scream in pain with each step that she took. She did not even have the energy to put on a fake smile.
"I'll bring some ice for it too. Are you sure you can make it upstairs on your own?" the older woman pressed. She squinted her eyes, as if trying to examine Dane closely, and cocked her head to the side as she regarded Danny.
The musician forced out a charming smile and nodded while trying her best not to fall to the ground in an agonized heap. She shifted her eyes to the ground, not able to maintain eye contact with Nicole as the lawyer just stared at her, studying her as if she was a case. She marched to the stairs while Nicole made her way to the kitchen. It took Dane several long and excruciating minutes to get to the bedroom and she paused as she stood in the threshold while sweat dripped down her face.
"Danny, are you okay?" Nicole inquired, standing behind the taller woman with a tray in her hands.
"You shouldn't be helping me…" Dane answered in a low voice. She sounded a cross between confused and scared, even though intellectually, she knew that there was nothing to be afraid of and there was nothing perplexing about the situation. Logically speaking, though, and from what she knew about other human beings, Nicole should have left her to die on the lawn.
"Danny, I still love you, no matter what happened or what happens. Now, go lie down on our bed," Nicole gently ordered.
Just like last night, Dane could not disobey. She automatically did as she was told and settled down on the bed. Nicole placed the tray down next to the prone musician. She then went to one of the dresser drawers, pulling out some clothing.
"Do you want to get dressed?" Nicole asked while turning her attention back to Danny.
"Yes, please," Dane answered in a quiet voice.
Nicole handed the clothing to Dane and then turned away because she noticed how modest the younger woman was suddenly. Dane groaned as she tried to lift the shirt over her head, but she managed after a few tense seconds. She then slide the shorts on, careful of the tray beside her.
"You can look now," Dane said, eyeing the mattress.
Nicole turned around and walked over to the bed. She checked the tray and then sat down on the empty space at the foot on the bed. She eyed Danny, who continued to eye the mattress.
"You should eat," Nicole pressed in a soft tone.
Dane nodded in agreement and looked at the food. It was a bowl of oatmeal, apple juice, yogurt, and a diced apple waiting for her. She went for the apples first since there was some steam coming from the oatmeal. Nicole fidgeted while she watched Dane slowly eat and as the seconds ticked by her anxiety grew exponentially.
"Is it okay to talk now?" Nicole asked, unable to hold it in any longer. She needed answers; she craved an explanation.
"If you want…" Dane answered, eyes on her food.
"Can you look at me while we do talk?" Nicole requested with some hope in her voice. Her heart skipped a beat when grey eyes locked onto her form. She noticed how tired and dull the smoke-colored orbs were. "Are you really okay?" she begged to know.
"Better than I've been in days," Dane replied in a strong, sincere voice that was also very low and still somewhat scratchy.
Nicole swallowed hard because she believed Danny. "What did you do to yourself?" she asked while giving Dane's body the once-over. Since showering, the dirt was gone from Dane's form, but scars remained. There were small cuts and nicks all over her arms, which was shown by the tank top that she was wearing. Her legs were the same, and her lame leg was very swollen and discolored-to the point that Nicole flinched when she saw it. She was amazed that injured limb looked even worse now that it was clean because it was clear just how bruised the body part was.
"It's bad…" Dane whispered when she saw where Nicole's eyes settled.
"As bad as it looks?" the attorney asked in a whisper of tone too. Her voice quivered as she posed the question, feeling so bad for Danny, even though this woman had hurt her so much. She just could not help feeling for Danny.
"Hurts a lot. I wasn't sure how much longer it would last. I just wanted it to bring me home…" Dane paused and choked back a sob. The storm in her eyes looked ready for a downpour, but she held it together. Everything hurt so much, but right now everything felt infinitely better. She wanted to focus on the present while she still had it instead of crying over the past and possibly mourning the future that she could have had.
The lawyer nodded absently. "Well, you're home now, Danny. I'm going to take care of you…if you let me." Her voice was still quiet, but strong with that promise.
Dane lost a little control from that vow. A tear rolled down a copper cheek. "I will." She made the promise in a breath, the words almost getting caught up in her emotionally tight throat.
"Good because I took off a day from work just to pamper you and nurse you back to health. Depending on how things go, I might take tomorrow too. Now, back to my question, what did you do to yourself? Last night, you said you were high or drunk or both. Are you using and drinking again, Danny?" Nicole inquired, eyes flashing with fury and concern.
Dane had the good manners to glance away and look ashamed. "I just…I just wanted it to stop hurting…" The sobs wanted to escape again, but she swallowed them down. It made her words shake and her mouth trembled while her heart clenched in her chest over and over again. She wondered if she might actually be having a heart attack.
"Wanted what to stop hurting?" Nicole asked while moving a little closer to the younger woman.
"I wanted the pain of being away from you to go away. For the first week, I was able to drown it out, ignore it, use music to cover it up..." Dane paused as her emotions tried once again to choke her up. Her entire jaw shook and the action seemed to signal a few tears that they should fall while she was trying to get herself together. She wiped the tears away before running her hand through her hair three times. Once she was certain the tears were gone, she continued. "But, damn it, by the second week, it felt like my whole life had fallen apart. This was worse than when I figured out I couldn't play my guitar the way I used to. I thought I died then, but this was truly the ninth level of Hell for me."
"So, you turn to drugs and alcohol?" Nicole huffed. She was about to go off, but she took a deep breath and told herself that Dane did not need a scolding right now. She needed love, care, and compassion. Her eyes softened and she traveled just a little bit closer to the musician.
A shaky dark hand ran through tangled ebony locks again and more tears silently fell. "I wanted something…something to make you go away. Something to forget how you felt in my arms..." She wiped her eyes again and hid her face in her hands for a moment. She then suddenly wrapped her arms around her body as if she was cold. "...Something to forget how you touched me and how it felt to touch you. Just something to forget. It used to work…" Her face scrunched up and it was clear that she was close to a breakdown. Her eyes frantically searched the air, looking for nothing at all and finding just that. She put both hands through her hair and then started pulling it.
Nicole acted quickly, reaching over and taking one of Dane's hands in her own. She regarded Danny with soft, tender eyes. "When you used before? When you were younger?"
The musician nodded like a child and then rubbed her eye with the heel of her hand in a very child-like manner. "Yes. It worked then, but then again, it really just gave me another outlet for my emotions. When I wasn't fucked up in some fashion, I could get my emotions out through my music. When I was fucked up, it let my emotions come out…or so I'm told... Hard to remember sometimes. The emotions were never nice. I was angry, all the time. This time, I wasn't angry. I was…" She trailed off, her eyes searching again, but now trying to find the right words.
"You were?" Nicole prompted, pressing Danny's hand just to remind the younger woman that she was still there.
"Sad." She found that short, simple word summed up her feelings best. Being on her own, away from Nicole was just sad. It was a perpetual type of sadness, despair that things would never get better and it ate away at all that was inside of her. She knew that only one thing could fill that void, the one thing that she had walked away from, that she felt she needed to stay away from. "I kept crying, Nick. Crying for you, for me, for us, for everything we were and everything we would never be. It killed me every second, every moment. It just kept killing me." She clutched her chest and then patted over her heart, showing what part of her was in real pain. She sounded like she was crying already, even though no tears were falling. "Then I just thought I wasn't fucked up enough, so I would do more drugs or drink more, but I just kept crying, kept being sad. No amount of liquor or weed could stop the tears," Dane said, appearing as if she was on the verge of weeping again at any moment.
"Weed? Is that the drug you did?" Nicole asked curiously. She would actually feel relieved if that was all Danny did because she thought that would be much easier to kick than if Danny had gone back to cocaine.
Dane licked her chapped lips. "I couldn't touch anything else, no matter how sad I got. I just…couldn't." I couldn't disappoint you like that.
"I'm glad for that. You didn't totally ruin your time sober." She wanted to be supportive right now, so she let it go for the moment, but she did plan to talk to Danny later on about drinking and smoking. She wanted Danny to cut those things out if they were going to be abused, or a problem, or cause trouble in their relationship.
Dane let out a hallow laugh and shook her head, disappointed in herself. "Funny thing is, I left here because I was scared that I would start using again, that I would get angry with you sometime."
"But, you weren't angry when you were high this time."
A dark hand went through ebony hair before settling to massage a copper forehead. "It wasn't something I planned on, but now that I think about it, I just never really have a reason to be angry with you over anything. Being apart from you is just endless sorrow, bottomless sadness. I don't want to be apart from you anymore. I hadn't wanted it since the night I left."
"Yet you managed to stay away for three fucking weeks," Nicole finally snapped, her emotions showing a little now. Her eyes flared with anger and her jaw tensed.
Grey eyes looked off to the left. "I know. You should be pissed at me for what I did, but I thought it would be better for you. Last night, I gave in under a fog of a four-day bender with almost no sleep. The sorrow was just too much and my mind forced my body to go where the suffering would end. The only thing I remember from yesterday was thinking, 'I wanna go home.' I had to go home." A couple of tears flowed down her face as she thought about just how badly she wanted to go home last night and how frightened she was, thinking that she might not have a home anymore.
"It took you that long to realize how much you wanted to be with me?" Nicole demanded to know, tears welling up in her eyes now. "That long?!" She reached up and grabbed Danny by the chin, forcing the musician to look at her. Dane flinched seeing the depth of agony that was in those usually lively emerald orbs. She was so ashamed to know that she was the one that put the hurt there, but she dared not look away.
More tears came from Dane's eyes, burning their way down her cheeks and brushing across Nicole's fingers. Dane tried to talk, but the first thing that came out of her mouth was a guttural sob. It took her a few seconds to gather herself and try again, with better results. "I knew I wanted to be with you from before we even kissed. I stayed away, thinking it would be best for you. I wanted to spare you having to deal with me when I finally fell. I told you, I've been misrepresenting myself to you. Eventually, the old Dane was going to come back! She would have hurt you!"
Olive-toned fingers clutched Dane's face to the point of pain and Nicole's usually soft, gentle voice came out as a booming yell. "You already hurt me! When you left, it hurt! It hurts all the way down to my core! I hurt in places I didn't know existed!" Nicole then flung Dane's face away from her and used the hand to hold her chest. "I hurt all over, everyday, all the time because you're gone!"
"It was for the best-" Dane did not get a chance to finish that line.
The fires of Hell roared in Nicole's green eyes. "No, it wasn't! We're both a mess! Look at you! Look at your damn leg! I've cried for a week straight and been working as late as possible to avoid having to think about you, to avoid coming home to an empty house! What the hell are you so afraid of, Danny?"
Dane swallowed hard. "…I don't want to hurt you…" she whimpered, looking and sounding like a frightened child. It was the sound and expression that gave Nicole a moment's pause. The lawyer was able to tone things down inside of herself, remembering that she was not the only person in the room that was hurt.
"Are you talking about possibly hitting me?" Nicole asked quietly.
Dane took a deep breath and raised her hand like she was going to put it through her hair. Instead, she brought it down to rest in her lap while staying focused on Nicole. "Tyler talked to you, didn't he? I bet he told you I almost killed one of my girlfriends or some bullshit like that."
"You know I never believe Tyler, so you tell me what happened. What're you so scared of?" Nicole pressed, reaching out a hand and touching Danny's good leg.
There was a moment of comfortable silence between them. Yes, both of their hearts were pumping so fast that the feelings strained their chests and hurt their ribs, but there was something about the trusting contact-Nicole being able to touch Dane's injured body-that mended some intangible force between them. Suddenly, Dane slowly nodded and moved her mouth around, preparing to speak.
Her voice was quiet, but steady and strong as she confessed. "…I did hit a girl once. She wasn't really my girlfriend. We slept together a few times, but to me that didn't make us girlfriends. We were arguing. I don't even remember what the hell we were arguing over, but she called me a monkey, that much I remember. I told you when I was high or drunk back then, I was angry. I don't even think she meant it in the way I took it, but my mind didn't have the time to process that. I just heard 'monkey' and punched her as hard as I could. I gave her a black eye. I was such a fucking asshole and I never want to be that way with you."
Nicole nodded. "Have you ever hit anyone since?"
Dane shook her head, looking much like a child again. "That one time was enough. Don't they say if it happens once, it'll happen again?"
"Did it ever happen again with you?" Nicole asked.
Dane shook her head and it would not have surprised Nicole if she answered, " No, ma'am" from the way she looked. Danny's actually response was not too far from that. "Uh-uh," she said.
"You haven't hit another woman. How old were you when this happened?"
Dane shrugged. "I dunno. Seventeen?"
"You haven't hit another woman in almost ten years. Not just a lover, but a woman in general?"
Another head shake. "Haven't hit a woman since."
"Did you think the girl was using a racial slur against you?" the redhead inquired.
Dane nodded again and felt the need to explain herself. "…In my family, ever since I can remember, they whisper that about me as I go by. 'The monkey,' 'the savage,' 'the…'" she growled, just thinking about it was enough to boil her blood. The memory of it made her so tense that a vein in her neck popped up while her eyes were a firestorm of anger, showing more than just depression for the first time that night.
Nicole began rubbing and caressing the limb under her hand. "Oh, Danny. Do they really say that?" she asked with an empathy that Danny certainly was not used to when it came to the subject.
"And worse. So, when she said it, I snapped. I don't want to snap on you," Dane said in a pleading tone. Her tears were back, streaming again, but there was a different sort of look in her eyes now. There was passion and fear; she so did not want to hurt Nicole, but she could not trust herself to not do that. The last thing in the world that she wanted was to somehow hurt Nicole in any manner, especially physically.
It was Nicole's turn to nod and she reached out to grab onto Dane's hand. She made sure to look into those troubled grey eyes as she spoke from the heart. "I have faith in you, Danny. I don't think you'll snap on me, especially if you stay away from any drugs. You were high at the time you hit this girl?"
"High as a kite on coke and drunk off my ass, but that's no excuse. I shouldn't have hit that girl."
"No, you shouldn't have, but you do understand that. Now, I have faith in you to not snap on me. You need to have faith in yourself to believe you won't snap. You also have to believe that I would never call you a monkey, especially not in the way that your family seems to mean it. I would never use any sort of racial slur against you," Nicole assured the younger woman.
"I didn't think you would!" Dane said very quickly, wanting to throw her arms up, but the movement would be too much. Besides, that action would have severed her connection with Nicole, who was still holding onto the musician's hand.
There were a couple of seconds of silence. "Danny…could I ask you a personal question?" Nicole sounded shy, unsure if it was a polite thing that she wanted to ask.
"Of course."
"Are you adopted?" Nicole asked.
"Adopted?" Dane blinked in confusion and then she remembered that Nicole had seen her parents. "Oh! No, those are my birth parents. You see, my mother, as quiet as it's kept, is actually mulatto. Her parents died when she was a baby and her mother's parents raised her, trying to cover up her father's side of things. They're an old money family and they looked at it as scandalous that their daughter had a baby with a black man. So, my mother doesn't really acknowledge her father." Dane shrugged to show that she thought it was a silly thing to do.
"I didn't know people still did things like that in this day and age," Nicole admitted, not caring about how naive she looked in front of Danny since she knew that the musician would not judge her.
Dane nodded. "They're weird and racist as hell if you haven't guessed. With my mom, it helps that you can't tell she's mixed. It gives her a way of denying things and deny she does." She snorted and rolled her eyes, thinking about her mother's behavior. "It wasn't an issue until I was born. You can imagine why." She smiled and got a chuckle out of Nicole.
"You took after your grandfather when it came to skin tone," Nicole guessed.
"I'm the only one in my family that looks like this. Instead of acknowledging that my mother is mulatto, my father preferred to accuse her of sleeping around. He wanted a paternity test, which he got, and it told him that I was his daughter. Instead of believing the test, he wanted another one, which said the same thing. So, now he basically accuses the tests of being liars and my mother's a liar for saying that I'm his kid," Dane explained as best she could.
"You look like him," Nicole accidentally blurted out. She hoped that she did not offend the musician.
Dane laughed. "I know I do, but he claims he doesn't see it. He's one of the main people that call me monkey when I'm not around and has been since I was little. Hell, when I was little, I thought that was one of my many nicknames and it took me a while to learn different. When they came here, he was being his usual condescending self, saying I stole you from Tyler. Hell, he was under the impression that you were Tyler's fiancée." She rolled her eyes.
"Tyler called them. He called my parents too. He was trying to start trouble and he succeeded."
Dane locked eyes with Nicole. "He been bothering you?" she inquired with a scowl.
"He thought that we would get back together and he was trying to get me back, but I told him where to go. Did your parents remind you of this past thing? Is that what made you run away?" Nicole inquired, eyes begging to know.
The younger woman nodded. "My father did. He made it seem much worse than it was, but I expected that. He always does that. He only heard about it because Bryan, my former best friend, told him about it. Bryan's told him a lot of things about me that my dad twists for his own sick mind. I let him get to me, though. Whenever I let my father get to me, he plants a little bomb in my head, leaving me to think on it long and hard until it explodes. This one exploded with fear that I could hurt you one day, that I could turn back into the angry punk who hit that girl. But, if you're going to take the chance, I will too."
Danny looked shy and was not sure what to say now. Everything seemed to be on pause as she waited for Nicole's response, which took seconds that seemed like centuries to Dane. Suddenly, a bright smile lit up from the room and it was from Nicole. This brought a monster grin to Dane's face.
"I'm glad for that. You should have faith in yourself. Now, eat up while I get something for your leg." Nicole lightly patted Dane's aforementioned appendage while continuing to smile.
Dane was too happy to argue. She turned her attention to the oatmeal while trying not to let her mind wander to the fact that she was getting a second chance, despite how stupid she acted. Nicole smiled more when she saw that Danny was still being compliant, so she reached over and caressed Danny's cheek for a moment before getting up to get things for Dane's leg.
They existed in a comfortable quiet as Dane ate and Nicole rubbed her leg down. Dane winced a bit as Nicole massaged the sore limb with some sort of balm. Once she was done rubbing the leg down, she put ice on the scarred knee, keeping a couple of baggies of ice on the knee with ace bandages. By then, Dane was done with all of her food. Nicole moved the tray to the side and then settled in the space that the tray had been occupying. Dane wasted no time putting her arms around the lawyer and pulling her closer, causing both of them to sigh.
"I missed this so much," Dane whispered and she kissed the side of Nicole's head.
"I did too. Where have you been staying since you left the house?" Nicole asked curiously while curling into Dane, being mindful not to put too much pressure on the injured woman.
"The street mostly, condemned buildings, park benches, little crawl spaces, and places like that. Cut myself on a lot of shit while I was out there. I didn't feel up to bothering anyone for a place to stay for a few days. I used to wander around from family member to family member. They really don't like me, but they let me stay because they think it'll get them on my parents' good side." Dane shot her lover a crooked, mischievous smile.
"You mean they think it'll get them into you parents' wallets?" Nicole guessed.
"Yup, my mom is from old money and my dad is actually a very successful lawyer in defending very rich assholes. My relatives are nice to me to a certain extent, thinking it'll help with my parents. I doubt it helps, but it's something I'm not above taking advantage of for a couple of days, if only to grab a shower and a free meal."
Nicole nodded in understanding. "I've dated people like that."
"I'm sure Tyler was one of those people. I'm not gonna be like that," Dane promised in a strong voice.
"I never thought you were. You're one of the only people that I'm certain likes me just for who I am, not because I have money, not because I'm pretty, not because I'm smart, and not because I'll bend over backwards to try to please you. That's why I love you, Danny," Nicole explained, staring deeply into smoke-colored eyes. She thought it was good to remind Danny that she was in love with the musician.
"I love you too, Nick. I'm sorry I hurt you by leaving. I'll never leave again, unless you tell me you want me to," Dane vowed while caressing Nicole's side and arm.
Nicole smiled and curled in closer to Danny, sharing their body warmth and mending their broken hearts. She placed her hands around Danny's waist, setting her palm against the musician's abdomen. She gave a little squeeze to Danny, showing her approval of that idea.
"Honey," Nicole said with a little pout on her face.
"Yes?" Dane was settling in, ready to close her eyes and just enjoy the closeness between them, but the lawyer was about to knock her slightly off balance.
"You haven't been eating well. The little round part of you is gone," Nicole teased, an amused grin on her face. She drew a circle around Danny's completely flat stomach. She really did miss the little pouch that Danny managed when she was living at the house.
"You know, most people would like that her girlfriend has abs."
"And I'm sure you like mine, but you don't have abs, honey. You're just thin. Still, I like it," Nicole assured her love, continuing to draw her circles around Dane's bellybutton. Her fingers wandered close to the musician's tattoo, but stayed in the area of her navel.
Dane smiled. "You just love me for my body."
"Aw, you found me out," Nicole riposted. She was close to grinning, happy to have back their banter, happy to just have Danny back.
Dane suddenly yawned. "Do you think you're up for a nap?"
"As long as I can stay right where I am, I could sleep forever."
They fell asleep with smiles on their faces. Nicole awoke first and watched Danny in her sleep. She could not help settling as close as possible to the musician and caressing her, just to feel her and know that she was really there. Eventually, she managed to tear herself away from Danny to go make a light lunch. She also checked on the younger woman's leg before waking her up. She smiled a bit, thinking that the limb looked better already, but it would definitely need more ice.
"Danny, baby, lunch," Nicole whispered while gently shaking the musician awake. She also made it a point to rub Dane's head, just in case Danny had gotten back into the habit of waking up in a total panic.
"Hmm…" Dane turned in the direction of the sweet sounding voice speaking to her and also leaned forward to get more of that delicious petting. She smiled before opening her eyes. "I thought it was a dream that I was back here," she muttered through a yawn.
Nicole smiled and kissed her girlfriend's cheek. "It's no dream, honey. I'm glad you're back. Now, I want you to eat."
Dane nodded and turned her attention to see what was for lunch. Grilled cheese, tomato soup, and more apple juice. Dane attacked the apple juice first, taking a big gulp. She was glad that her stomach was finally keeping things down; she suspected having real food made things a lot easier on her poor stomach. Nicole joined her, having a sandwich of her own.
"So, you said that Tyler told your parents about us. What did they think?" Dane asked, more trying to make conversation than anything else.
"Considering the fact that Tyler made you sound like a raving maniac, they weren't happy to know I was in a relationship with you. They also think I lied about you being just my roommate. I don't care what they think, though." Nicole locked eyes with Danny and the musician was happy to see those emerald eyes shining at her with sincerity. "Danny, I love you, enough to not care what my parents think of you," the attorney stated soundly, putting down her sandwich. She then placed her hands on Dane's forearms and kept her eyes on the copper-tone face.
Dane grinned, having a feeling that she looked like a complete idiot and she did. But, Nicole was happy that Danny was her idiot. She smiled back, which only made Dane smile more.
"Danny…do you think you might want to meet my parents and maybe my friends?" Nicole requested in a shy voice. She wanted them to see the Danny that she saw, so her parents could stop worrying and her friends could see how her taste finally improved.
Dane's mouth dropped open and she almost dropped her sandwich. "You want me to meet your parents?" she asked in disbelief, her mouth shaking and her words doing the same.
Nicole balked, thinking that she might have just put too much in her recovering lover. "If you want to! I don't want to put any pressure on you. I just think that if they meet you, they'll relax a little. Tyler scared them really bad about what type of person you are. I want them to see he's just a dirty rotten liar," she reasoned.
"I guess if you think I'm parent-meeting material, I'll do it. I don't want them doubting your judgment just because Tyler's a dipshit. When do you want me to meet them?"
"Soon. First, I want you to get better and then I want to talk them a bit before hand. Then, I'll bring them over here for dinner. We'll have home-court advantage," Nicole remarked with an amused smile.
"If that's what you want, angel. I'm here for you. I just hope I don't embarrass you."
"As long as you're your usual self, you'll be fine. You're a sweetheart, Danny. You know it and I know it. So, just be your usual self when they come over. After you meet my parents, then we'll work out how you can meet Mina and Clara."
Dane nodded. She was ready for anything as long as she could stay with Nicole. She now knew that Nicole was all she needed in life, all she had in this world, and she was going to keep Nicole no matter what. She was going to work to make the relationship last.
-----
Nicole took a deep breath as she approached her father's office. She was packed up to go home, coat on and briefcase in hand. She was hoping to catch her father as he was leaving too, and she did. He almost walked over her as he was exiting his office.
"Daddy, watch out," Nicole warned him and he stopped dead in his tracks.
"Wow, Nikki, I'm glad you said something or I definitely would've gone right through you," Raymond remarked with a sheepish look on his face. He was also happy to hear his daughter saying something to him beyond making a request that he leave her general area.
"I noticed. Daddy, can I talk to you? I mean, seriously talk to you?" Nicole requested with determination cut into her face.
Raymond noticed the expression and wondered what was so serious, not that it truly mattered. He was just glad Nicole was speaking to him! "Sure, of course. Do you want to step into my office or would it be better if we did this some place out of the office?"
"Outside would be great."
Raymond nodded and they walked outside together. They strolled a short distance to a bar that most employees of the firm frequented after work. They found a table in the back, sitting down and waving off a waiter as he came to take their order. They ignored the crowd and no one bothered them; it was the smart thing to do.
"What do you want to talk about, Nikki?" Raymond asked.
"I want to talk about Danny. I know you believe every foul thing that Tyler said and more, and I don't want you to. I love Danny and she makes me very happy," Nicole began, but her father was quick to interrupt, jumping in before she could make her point.
"Nikki, you haven't know this Dane or Danny or whatever the hell her name is long enough to know you love her-" It was Nicole's turn to cut him off now, slicing into his speech before he tried to downplay her feelings or make it sound like she did not know what she wanted or what was best for her.
Nicole frowned as she spoke sharply. "That's where you're wrong, Daddy." Her face was fierce and she tapped her finger hard on the table for him to get she meant it. "I know I love her and I know I want to spend my life with her, and I'm going to do that regardless of what you and Mommy think of her. She is a very sweet person and she's nothing like Tyler said. Tyler is a manipulative liar, even for a lawyer," she quipped before leaning all the way back in her seat, waiting for his next move.
"Nikki, think this through. Tyler should know his cousin well-" He started an old argument that had been used before only to be cut off again. He flinched from the way she cut into his speech, almost like she physically cut him.
"Should, but doesn't. Why are you so willing to take his word over mine? Do you trust him so much more than me?" she demanded with a hard look in her eyes.
Raymond shook his head. "Nikki, it's not like that-"
"Do you not want me to be happy?" It was not really a question and the tight look on her face, as if she was accusing him of condemning her.
"Of course I want you to be happy!" That was the honest truth and they both knew that. Still, his eyes begged her to believe him. He leaned forward across the table, as if being closer would help.
"Then starting with this, you have to let me make my own decisions and you have to trust me." She paused and he gave an almost mindless nod. He was following everything that she said, though. He did not want her to mistake his concern for anything more than it was and he never wanted her to question his feelings for her. She smiled at him a little, to ease some of the raw, worried tension out of his body before she continued. "Danny is nothing like Tyler said. Yes, she has a past, but very few people don't have one." Her entire face softened and her eyes lit up at the thought of her lover. "But, Danny is kind, sweet, and gentle. She makes me breakfast every morning and dinner every night, and this was before we started dating. I didn't lie to you either. Danny started out as my roommate, by accident too. She showed up one day, looking for Tyler, and then when I kicked Tyler out, he failed to take his cousin with him," Nicole explained.
Raymond arched an eyebrow. "He left her in your house?" he asked, bewildered. How do you just leave your cousin in the house of a person she doesn't know? And how the hell do you just leave the woman you claim you love with someone you claim is dangerous?!
"Yes. She thought it was his house and she was coming for a visit. He didn't take her with him when he left, didn't explain anything to her. That's the kind of person Tyler is," Nicole insisted, sounding and looking disgusted as she thought Tyler.
"Tyler doesn't seem so irresponsible. How did she end up staying with you, though? Why didn't she just go back home?" Raymond pressed, not understanding how any of this happened.
Nicole waved his question off and spoke to her father in an eerily calm tone, as if showing she had complete control of the conversation. "That's not relevant to the argument. Right now, I just need you to know that Danny makes me happy. I want you to get to know her, through her and not her jackass of a cousin, before you pass judgment on her. She really is a wonderful person." She paused again and smiled so brightly, looking almost like a totally different person and it took her father aback. Her eyes lit up again and as she spoke, her voice was filled with a joy that he never heard from her before. "Before I met her, I didn't know what happiness truly was, Daddy. Not this constant, wonderful light feeling that flows through me everyday just because of her. I can't give it up." She shook her head and her face was tight again, making her seriousness clear. "I went without her for the last few weeks and it was Hell. I refuse to go through it again."
He squinted and his eyes searched her face, trying to find answers to so many questions. "These last few weeks? You were so miserable because she was gone?"
"Yes, Danny left me and the house after that incident with her parents. I can't go through that again, Daddy," she stated soundly while shaking her head. "Not for you, not for Mommy, not for anyone. I need Danny in my life. It's either something that you accept or you'll just have to learn to ignore it," she informed him in a tone that made it clear there were no other choices. She was not going to be dictated to anymore, especially not when it came to her love life.
Raymond sighed and nodded to show that he understood. He could just tell there was no room for an argument with her-she sounded so much like her mother, he thought-but, he did share his opinion. "I know you have to feel strongly about her if you're willing to go through all of this. I suppose I could try for you, Nikki. Still, I think that Tyler would know his cousin better than you would."
"I don't understand what makes you think that. Just because they're family doesn't mean they're close," Nicole pointed out, tapping heavily on the table with her index finger. Of course, before meeting Danny and seeing how her parents treated her, Nicole would have thought her reasoning was ridiculous, so she knew that her father would find it a bit shocking.
Raymond's forehead wrinkled in confusion. He was not thinking about what he saw from Dane's father when he was at Nicole's house. He was thinking about examples in his family right now, which was why he was still confused. "I guess you're right. I don't see how a person could not know his cousin, especially if they're about the same age."
She knew where her father's mind was. "Daddy, not every family is close like the ones you and Mommy were raised in. Not every family is like ours. You were there and you saw what type of man Danny's father is to her. Does that look like a close family?"
The frown that cut across his face would have frightened away small children. "You're right..." he conceded. He wanted to say more, but he did not know Nicole's stance on Dane's family and he did not want to offend her considering how much bite she had in her because of his stance on Dane before.
"Daddy, even if Tyler did know Danny well, he doesn't like her and he's been telling outrageous lies about her because of that. It doesn't help that he thinks she stole me from him, which I can assure you was not the case. I was done with Tyler long before Danny walked into the picture."
"Why?" Raymond leaned forward slightly and a curious look overtook his features. "Why were you done with Tyler? Your mother and I thought that he was going to be the one for you."
Nicole scoffed loudly and rolled her eyes, which flashed with indignation. "You wanted him to be the one for me. Mommy definitely just wants any man I date to be the one, but that's not the case. You don't know Tyler like I do. You only interact with him at work and you don't even see him much there since you're working and on a different floor anyway, but I get to see him on a personal level and it's not a pretty sight. He's underhanded and shifty. Hell, he was actually stealing from me while we were dating," she stated. Usually, she would not have told such worrying news to her overprotective father, but she wanted him to understand why Tyler was gone and never, ever coming back into her life.
"Stealing from you?" While his voice was incredulous, his subconscious made his face hard and his emerald eyes narrowed.
She scowled because it sounded like he did not believe her...again! "Yes, stealing from me. He denies it and I can't prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt, but if there are only two people in a house and money is missing and I know I didn't do anything with it, it has to be the other person. I think he was doing it just to be a cheap jackass. He wasn't stealing large amounts, although I'm sure it added up over time. I was with him for a year, after all," she said, trying not to think about what Tyler did do with all of those small sums that he disappeared from her house over the months they had been dating. She could not help sounding disgusted by him and his actions and the fact that she had to explain what happened to her father because he did not seem to believe her.
Raymond was silent and blinked a few times, trying to get over his shock. He replayed what she said over and over in his head and it sounded pretty logical to him. He could not see why she would ever make such a thing up, but the sheer stupidity of Tyler's action was hard to wrap his mind around, which explained his question. "Are you sure?"
Nicole huffed. "Yes, I'm sure. Money was missing every time I had him over. He's not a nice person, Daddy. Just believe me on that." Emerald eyes pled desperately for understanding. "Believe me on something..." she begged, losing some of her composure because of the hurt that came from her parents always second-guessing her and making it seem like they did not trust her.
Raymond was nodding before he realized it, but when he did, he continued nodding. "I believe you, Nikki. I'm sorry you didn't feel safe saying something sooner." He reached across the table and took her hand, squeezing her smaller hand in a reassuring manner.
She squeezed his hand back, feeling his sincerity. "I'm grown, Daddy. I don't need to tell you and Mommy everything about me now. I could handle Tyler just fine on my own, but then he started going behind my back and talking to you two. There's no reason for him to do that."
"He said he was concerned," Raymond argued, even though now that he stopped and processed what happened, he silently admitted that it was very juvenile for Tyler to call them rather than talk to Nicole.
"Of course he said that because he couldn't very well tell you guys the truth. Instead, he has to play like he's doing the good deed for the day. Daddy, if you can, I want you and Mommy to meet Danny. You can see for yourself what type of person she is and you can judge her from that."
"You know, it'll be hard to convince your mother to do that. She liked Tyler a lot and she never wants to meet your girlfriends," Raymond reminded Nicole, not that she needed he reminder. They both paused and cringed at several memories that hit them about times when Nicole brought home girlfriends. She recalled how her mother hid the night of her prom instead of coming out to take pictures because Nicole was escorting another girl to the dance.
"Will you talk to her?" Nicole begged. "Danny has already agreed and she's already planning a menu on what to cook. Come by Friday night and just see, please!"
A large hand scratched a squared jaw. "I'll try my best, Nikki, but I don't know if I can talk your mother in to this agreement."
Nicole smiled. "I'm sure you could if you put your mind to it."
Raymond chuckled a bit, but he was going to try. He could see just how much Danny meant to Nicole through her eyes alone, but to hear her speak-her voice laced with passion-about Danny, told him even more. He had to meet Danny and he had better like her because she was there to stay; he could tell that much. He was going to have to get his wife to understand that and accept it as much as she could. Damn, I've got to work a miracle there! And then, he made a mental note to check on Tyler at work, see what the younger man was really doing with his time.
-----
"Are you sure this is good enough?" Dane asked while tugging nervously on her plain black, short sleeve shirt.
"You look fine, honey," Nicole assured the musician while smoothing out her own clothing. She decided to wear a dress because she knew that her mother liked seeing her in such attire. She hoped that wearing a dress would get her points with her mother. To appease her mother even more, it was a dress that they had brought on their last shopping trip together, celebrating one of Nicole's victories in court. It was a white and yellow sundress that was designed to look like curves in sand.
"And you're sure they'll be fine with salmon?" Dane inquired, mentally going over the things that she could have made.
"The way you make it, yes, they'll be perfectly happy with salmon."
"Should I have brought different shoes?" Dane glanced down at her black leather loafers, which were partially covered by her khakis.
"Baby, you're fine!" Nicole tried to assure her nervous girlfriend for the umpteenth time, smiling as she spoke. She knew that Danny was anxious because she had never met anyone's parents before, but she thought that Danny was taking things way too seriously.
"I want to make a good first impression!" Dane actually whined. I want these people to like me!
"You'll be fine." At that, the bell rang, so they both knew that Danny had to be fine or they were both in trouble. They both knew that if Nicole's parents did not like Danny, Nicole would never hear the end of it.
The couple rushed to the door; of course, Dane limped heavily as she moved because her leg and knee were still healing. They took a moment to compose themselves and run one last check on things before Nicole opened he door. Dane was surprised that she did not faint as soon as she laid eyes on Nicole's parents. She was happy that she managed to stay on her feet as Nicole motioned for her parents to come in.
"Mom, Dad, I'm so happy that you decided to come. I'd like to introduce you to my soul-mate, Danny Wolfe." Nicole took Dane's hand in her own. "And, Danny, I would like you to meet my mother and father, Kate and Raymond Cardell." She made a sweeping motion toward her parents with her free hand.
"Kathleen," Kate corrected her daughter, eyes locked on Dane just so the musician knew the hostile vibes coming from her in monstrously powerful, venomous waves was directed right at Danny.
Dane glanced right over the resentment. "Pleasure to meet you, ma'am. I've heard a lot about you." She reached out and shook Kate's hand, even though the hand was not even offered. Kate pulled away quickly as soon as she realized she was being touched, which did not faze Dane at all. She then turned her attention to Raymond, reaching out to shake his hand.
"Now, is it Danny or Dane?" Raymond asked, sounding polite enough while giving Danny a firm handshake. He was impressed with her grip.
"It's Danny to those who are near and dear to me and Dane to everyone else," the musician replied.
"Danny it is then," Raymond declared with a smile, which brought a smile to Nicole's face. Kate glared at her husband, which he ignored.
"Good to know, sir," Danny replied with a smile of her own. One down, one to go.
"Let's go to table since dinner's totally ready. Danny put a lot of effort into the salmon tonight, so the least we can do is eat it while it's hot," Nicole quipped.
"You cooked?" Raymond asked Dane.
"She cooks almost every night," Nicole chimed in proudly.
"Nikki, why don't you take your mother to the table? I'd like a minute alone with Danny," Raymond said, glancing at the aforementioned woman.
"Daddy-" Nicole began sternly, but she did not get the chance to finish.
"It's all right, Nick. I'll be fine and if not, at least dinner's ready," Dane joked. She had a feeling that Raymond wanted to give her a lecture that only a father could...she had seen them on television. She had never been a part of one, though. She hoped that she did not screw it up since he seemed to like her, or at least he was trying to like her.
Nicole did not question Danny, knowing the inquisition that her father was going to do was going to happen no matter what. Better it happen sooner rather than later. So, Nicole led her mother away, even though Kate resisted a little, trying to stick around for the carnage. Raymond's smile faded as soon as he was alone with Dane, who gulped when she saw the severe change in his demeanor. Maybe he doesn't like me and it was a damned good act when Nick was here.
"Okay, Danny, let's get this straight, I want Nikki to be happy. She says that you make her happy and from what I can tell, she's actually right. What I don't want is for you to do something stupid and she ends up in that same state that she was in a few days ago. You obviously mean a lot to her, making you responsible for a lot. So, if I see my little girl unhappy, I'm holding you responsible," Raymond stated in a hard tone while pointing at the musician.
"Sounds very fair, sir," Dane concurred with a nod.
"Now, I don't think that you're the absolute darling that Nicole makes you out to be, but I doubt you could be the absolute demon that Tyler made you into either, not with the sparkle you put in Nikki's face. I just want to make sure we're clear on a few things. You're never to bring drugs anywhere near this house." No room for an argument there.
Dane's response was swift and decisive. "I promise."
"No hookers either."
"I have never and never plan to use hookers, sir," Dane said with a sobering sincerity.
"No strippers or other seedy characters."
"Done."
"You will try to live up to these expectations that Nikki has of you," he commanded.
"I will try my best, sir," she vowed in a strong tone.
"Now then, I'm going to give you a tentative, trial run," Raymond remarked, but nothing in his demeanor hinted that he was joking. "If in the end I feel like you're worth it, I'll talk to my wife and try to convince her. As you might guess, she's only here tonight to see Nikki."
Dane nodded. "I would appreciate that, sir, and I'm going to try my best to get you in my corner."
Raymond wanted so badly to come down on Danny, but the respectful manner that she had about her made it impossible for him. She seemed humbled before him; something that never happened with someone that Nicole was dating. There was no hint at all of typical annoying arrogance that usually oozed off Nicole's partners. He decided to end his speech there, not seeing the point in laying it on thick for Danny. He recalled that when Nicole was dating Tyler, he had not spoke to Tyler at all, just taking for granted that the young professional would take care of his daughter. He frowned while thinking about how wrong he had been; he just hoped that he was not wrong about Danny.
The pair walked off to join their ladies in the dining room. The couples sat on opposite sides of the rectangular table. Raymond and Kate took in the meal, which was already laid out on plates and in their places. The meal looked almost professionally done with salmon, pilaf rice, and mixed vegetables on the plate. There were hot dinner-rolls in the center of the table and Nicole poured a glass of wine for herself and her parents. Danny had apple juice.
"You cook really well, Danny. Where'd you learn to do it?" Raymond asked, hoping to break the ice.
"I mostly just follow the recipes in books. This is sort of a mix between me and Nicole's cooking. She told me what type of spices and stuff to use that weren't in the book," Dane explained with a shrug.
"Well, you do a good job. Doesn't she, Kate?" Raymond said.
"Nikki probably made the food," Kate assumed in a cold tone. From that answer they could all guess what type of night it was going to be, but Kate was not done yet. She had a follow-up question. "So, Dane, what type of work do you do and are you just after Nikki's money?"
Nicole groaned while Dane tried to figure out how to answer that question without making it seem like Kate was right. Raymond watched as Danny kept her cool under his wife's intense and hard questioning. It certainly was going to be a long night, but they had faith that they would survive.
-----
16: Beginning
Nicole groaned and rolled over in bed, flopping on top of a very nude Dane. The musician moaned from the contact and her arms automatically went around her mate. Nicole snuggled closer to Danny, burrowing her face in Danny's neck, wanting to revel in the soft, sweet-smelling skin for as long as possible. She took a deep breath, which tickled Dane's flesh and made the taller woman laugh.
"Are you sniffling me?" Dane asked in a whisper of a tone, eyes opening partially to see a mass of auburn hair buried in her neck.
"Maybe…" Nicole replied while blatantly sniffing her human-mattress. She loved the way her girlfriend smelled. There was something about Danny's natural aroma that was so...her. To Nicole, Danny smelled just like she should, subtle, laidback, almost like a lazy summer afternoon with nothing about her being overpowering. It was intoxicating.
"You get stranger by the day." Although if asked, she would admit that she sniffled Nicole every now and then. She especially liked the way that Nicole smelled right after hot showers and she also enjoyed the way that Nicole smelled after they made love.
"I'm just trying to commit as much of you to memory as I can, so I can make it through the day. You do remember it's a long day for me, right?" the lawyer asked while allowing her fingertips to dance along Danny's side. She doubted that she would ever get enough of the feel of her girlfriend.
"Of course I remember. I never forget anything about you. You'll be all right, just like you were the last couple of times. It's me that has to make it through torturous hours alone in the quiet still of the house," Dane dramatically complained, giving Nicole a squeeze around the waist, which earned a giggle from the smaller woman.
"Please, you probably light off fireworks and have blockbuster parties when I'm not here to nag you about things."
Dane kissed the top of Nicole's head. "Since when do you nag me to do anything?"
"Oh, those trips where I had to drag you to the doctor's office kicking and screaming wasn't nagging? Good to know. I'm going to do it more often, then," Nicole remarked, knowing it would make her lover adorably nervous.
"You wouldn't dare! That physical therapist is evil!" Dane stated with heartfelt emotion that made her girlfriend want to laugh.
"Baby, she's not evil. She's helping you get your hand stronger and helping you with your leg and knee, so you should be happy about that instead of giving that woman such a hard time."
"Nope, don't wanna."
Nicole giggled at the childish response; it was made for the sole purpose of getting her to laugh. When all was quiet again, Nicole ran her hands up and down Dane's bare side. Dane halted the movement by placing her hands over Nicole's busy ones.
"Don't start something you can't finish. You have to get up in a few minutes," Dane warned the lawyer.
"I could call in sick," Nicole suggested with a sly smile.
"No, you're not going to call in sick. You have class tonight too, so you're going to have to leave the house eventually."
Nicole kissed Danny's neck; it was a long, wet kiss meant to seduce. "I don't have to go to class either."
Dane whimpered, but she managed to stay strong and pull away. "Yes, you do. School just started and it won't look good for you to miss a day so early. Besides, what if you really get sick or something? You can't miss a lot of days," she reminded her lover.
"You're right, honey." Nicole pouted. "I hate it when you're right."
"I know. That's why I don't make it a point to be right often. C'mon. You get in the shower and I'll start on breakfast. I'll make you an egg sandwich with sausage," Dane hummed, smiling because she knew that she had her girlfriend.
Nicole sighed. "Fine. You do drive a hard bargain."
"I know I do, but I'll make it up to you with lunch."
Nicole smiled and leaned up to give Danny a "proper" good morning kiss, showing her approval in the offer. Dane moaned loudly as Nicole took command of her mouth and controlled the kiss. Dane submitted to her lover's will for almost a minute before she pushed back, trying to take over. Nicole battled with Dane before the musician pulled away.
"No, no, no, we've got to get out of bed!" Dane chastised herself and her girlfriend. She knew that if they continued on as they were Nicole would be late for work.
"Party-pooper," Nicole teased, but she was finally making moves to get out of bed.
Dane sighed and took a few deep breaths while watching Nicole cover her nude form with a nearby robe. The cloth teased Danny's senses by leaving very little to the imagination. Damn, being responsible was hard.
Dane was not able to get out of bed until Nicole was tucked away in the bathroom adjacent to the bedroom. She yawned and stretched, a few joints popping, and a couple of bones cracking to accompany the sound of the shower starting. Dane had scanned the room for her clothing, finding her boxers near the closet, all the way across the room. She could not help chuckling while remembering how the underwear got there. She did not even bother looking for her tee-shirt and just fetched a new one from her dresser drawer. After sliding on the new tee-shirt, she grabbed a fresh pair of boxers to avoid tempting Nicole when she came down for breakfast.
Once she was dressed, Dane made her way downstairs while going through a mental checklist of what she needed to do that day. Since Nicole was going to be out late, having class that night, it would be the perfect night to do laundry. It would keep her occupied while she was alone in the house.
"God, this woman makes me happy to do her laundry. I've been bewitched!" Danny mentally joked. She hoped that the spell never wore off if that was the case.
She gathered the items that she was going to need for breakfast and also what she was going to need for Nicole's lunch. She packed the lunch first; it was leftovers from dinner, as it almost always was. She dropped two pudding cups, chocolate and vanilla, into the lunch bag while making a mental note to go shopping later on in the day. Iced tea was the beverage for the day and since Nicole was going to be out for most of the day thanks to graduate school, she put a fruit cup in there for the lawyer to snack.
With lunch packed, Dane started on breakfast. By the time she was done with the eggs, Nicole was in the kitchen and pouring them both some orange juice. They had breakfast together as always, talking about any and everything that came to mind. Dane walked Nicole to the door and sent her off after giving her a deep, loving kiss.
By the time Nicole was out of the driveway, Dane was already going about the house to pick up any dirty clothes that had somehow not made it to the hamper. She had a couple of hours to kill before she had to get to a music lesson and she figured clothes hunting would do just that. After that, she planned to do the grocery shopping. Once she was done with that, she would get to the laundry, and then she was not too sure what she was going to do with the rest of her time since Nicole was not going to be home until about nine-thirty at night.
A smile suddenly worked its way to her face as she got an idea of just what she should do. "Nick'll kill me for sure," she thought, still smiling up a storm.
-----
Nicole yawned and rubbed her eyes. She glanced at her clock, finding that it was time for most of the office employees to go home. She would have been running out the doors right with them, but there was no point to it. She had class in an hour and there was no point to her going home since it took her that long to get home with rush-hour traffic.
Raymond poked his head into Nicole's office. "Nikki, sweetheart, are you going home?"
"No, Daddy. I told you before that I have class on Mondays and Wednesdays," Nicole answered. She found that her parents had very selective memories now when it came to the days that she had school. It let her know their opinions remained the same on her going back to school for her chemistry degree, but she did not care. She got the support that she needed and she was going to get that degree. After that, she was going to do her best to get the hell out of practicing law.
"Oh, right. It really doesn't make much sense for you to be taking classes again, Nikki. You've got the degrees you need," Raymond commented.
"Not the ones I want, though," she countered in a calm tone. She was beyond getting upset with her parents when they brought up the subject because she knew that they were not going to agree with her. There was no point to debate the issue, since it was not an issue to her because she was going to go to school.
Raymond frowned slightly and silently conceded the argument once again. He found that he had been conceding to his daughter quite a bit lately. It was not something that he enjoyed since he felt like he had always had such a good relationship with his daughter. It felt a little like their relationship was declining because Nicole was doing things that he and Kate disagreed with. They did not understand why her personality had shifted so much and they were having a hard time dealing with it; he was dealing with it way better than Kate was, though.
He eased her door shut and marched away from the door because he was not sure what else to say to Nicole. He did not know what to make of her wanting a chemistry degree when she already had a career as a lawyer; a career that she was brilliant at. He was trying to accept that it was something she wanted to do for herself, but he just did not understand it. He did not think it was as bad as Kate did because his wife at first took it as a personal betrayal, like Nicole betrayed them by stepping out of their shadow. Kate figured that Danny had managed to get Nicole to go back to school and was trying to turn Nicole against her parents. Raymond did not think that things were that deep, but it was hard to argue against her once she got an idea in her head.
Kate was sure that Nicole's change in personality was due to Dane and accused Danny of stealing Nicole from them. Now, Raymond would concede that Danny was probably the reason that Nicole was changing so much, but he was not willing to think of it as a completely bad thing like Kate was. He knew that Dane was good for Nicole's emotional wellbeing, but he still did not like disagreeing with Nicole so much over the graduate school issue.
Raymond shook the thoughts away, not wanting to waste time on something that he could not solve on his own. He had his briefcase in hand and his coat was already on. He was heading home for the night like most others in the firm. He made it to the main hall and saw there was a commotion rising in the lobby.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Tyler's bellow could probably be heard through out the whole building.
Raymond made his way over to things, wondering what was causing Tyler to raise his voice to very inappropriate levels. Upon closer inspection, he saw that Tyler was yelling at Danny. A small crowd was watching the scene, wondering what was going on. Having an audience did not seem to stop Tyler; in fact, he seemed to be happy that he could humiliate his cousin in front of so many people.
"We don't have handouts for bums!" Tyler continued on. He wanted everyone to know that Dane was a lowly person and he wanted them to look down on her, just like he did.
Dane eyed her cousin in a bored manner, not even bothering to yell back at him. Tyler's face was bright red from raising his voice. He did not even notice the crowd that gathered around were not on his side and looking down on Dane, but actually wondering if Tyler was about to make someone in the firm lose a client. Whatever Tyler was doing, it certainly was entertaining and they stayed there to keep watching.
"Tyler," Raymond called in a calm voice.
"What!" the irritated attorney demanded to know and then he turned to see who was talking to him. His expression immediately sobered.
"I think you need to take that attitude outside," Raymond ordered. He was about to inform the young lawyer that he was already on thin ice, but he figured that he would keep that on hand in case Tyler really wanted to act out.
Tyler frowned. "Why should I go outside? Dane doesn't belong here and doesn't have any business being here." He pointed at his cousin with the same regard that he would point to an object.
"Danny's fine here and has plenty of business here. I think the person that doesn't have any business here at the moment is you, so go home," Raymond stated in a calm tone.
A feather could have knocked Tyler over at that point. He looked back and forth between Dane and Raymond. He sputtered, trying his best to say something, but finding it utterly impossible. Once words failed him, he stormed off in a huff.
"Throws a temper tantrum just as well as his uncle does," Dane remarked, eyes on Raymond instead of watching her cousin leave.
"You here to surprise my daughter?" Raymond asked curiously, suppressing a smile. He could not remember a girlfriend or boyfriend surprising Nicole, so it helped Danny gain some points in his eyes, but he was also upset with her. The reason he was upset had not lost Dane any points yet, though.
"I'm trying. I thought bigmouth might blow the whole thing," the musician quipped with a half-smile.
"I'm sure he was trying. Has Nikki said anything about him bothering her?" Raymond inquired. He heard things around the office about Tyler now that he was listening out for them and he did not like what he heard. He did not like the few things that he observed when he watched the younger man every now and then either. After the display moments ago, he was going to talk to Tyler tomorrow about his conduct while he was inside the firm because Tyler did not seem to know what it meant to be professional. If he was going to continue on as he was, he was going to end up out of a job.
Dane ran a hand through her hair. "She talks to me about Tyler as much as she talks to you about him."
He nodded. "That sounds like Nikki. Danny, can I talk to you for a few minutes before you go see her?"
She shrugged and followed behind Raymond as he returned to his office; they had to go up a few floors in the building. There were a few whispers as they walked by people to the elevator and then to his office. Dane had been up to the firm once before not too long ago, but she had remained in the lobby, waiting for Nicole to come to her. It had not been enough time for people to get a good look at her, but it did start the rumor mill for whatever reason. Nicole told Dane that she suspected the rumors were started because Tyler was going around telling people that Nicole was a "dyke" and bedding a homeless woman, so when Dane came up there, people were able to see "the homeless woman" for a moment and that was enough to get them to start swapping stories. Now that Dane was up there again, people were able to get a better look at her and start talking again.
"Close the door behind you," Raymond instructed Dane as they entered his office.
She silently nodded and closed the door as soon as she crossed the threshold of the office. She glanced around for a quick moment, taking in the dark woods that decorated his office. It was rich, like she expected of Raymond. She could only imagine how decedent Kathleen's office looked.
"Danny, did you know about Nicole going back to school?" Raymond inquired with a puzzled expression on his face. He did not mean to look like that, but he just could not figure out why Nicole was going back to school and every time he thought about it, it confused him.
"Yeah, we talked about it," Dane admitted with a lazy shrug. Of course she knew, they lived in the same house and Nicole had already attended two weeks of class!
Raymond could tell Nicole going back to school was not a big deal to Danny, which he could not understand either. He scratched his forehead a little, as if that was going to help clear matters up for him. When that did not work, he decided to continue on with the discussion.
"Well, she never said anything to me or her mother. This isn't good, Danny. It's going to cut into her time at the firm, her time with you," he pointed out. He thought that might get Danny caring about Nicole's strange decision. If Nicole was not working as much, then she was not going to be able to support Danny as much, and he knew that Nicole was the one supporting the couple. He also thought that Danny might care because she would not be able to spend as much time with Nicole, which could be bad for their relationship. He figured once that was on the table, Danny might decide to talk to Nicole and get her to stop entertaining the silly idea of going back to school for a degree she did not need and wasting her time.
Dane shrugged again. "It's what'll make her happy. I'm willing to sacrifice a little time if it'll make her happy."
"Why is she doing this? She already has a damn good job," he stated with a firm expression on his face.
Dane frowned and regarded him as if he was small. "Yes, it's a good job as far as money goes, but it makes her miserable. She hates it here. She hates what she does and she hates a lot of the people she's forced to interact with. She deserves to be happy."
Tension pulled at Raymond's features and clouded his eyes. "She has been happy. She's good at this job."
Dane made a very perplexed face. "Being good a job doesn't mean it makes her happy. It just means that she takes pride in her work. Have you asked her what would make her happy?" she inquired curiously. She was not trying to start a fight or even be a smart-aleck.
"I know my daughter," he stated soundly.
She shrugged. "Uh...No disrespect, sir, but you really need to talk to Nick. I mean talk to her, not dictate things to her or tell her what to do, but actually talk to her. I think you'll understand her a bit better if you did just that."
Raymond was quiet for a while, taking in her words. He was not ready to give up just yet and decided to go at Dane from a different angle to try to get her on his side. "Does she think she can support the both of you by up and leaving a promising career?"
Dane was not too sure how to answer that one. She did not like how he was attempting to manipulate her either, bringing her relationship with Nicole into something that bothered him. She supposed that she needed to put a stop to that before he ended up bringing his wife into the matter and then getting double-teamed by her girlfriend's parents. They had tried with limited success; the "success" part worried Dane because the two tried to double-team her before without much success, but they had done it plenty of times with Nicole. They bullied Nicole into things that she really did not want to do; she had seen it and heard tales about it. It was that sort of behavior that they used when they were trying to strong arm Nicole into kicking Danny out of the house, which Dane was very happy to say that it did not work.
"Well, she wants to do science and she should do what she loves. That's what I always tell her and I mean it," Danny stated.
Raymond eyed the musician suspiciously. "How long did it take you to talk her into this, Danny?"
She scratched the end of her nose while thinking about it. "Basically since I moved in. She's miserable with this type of work. It's not for her and she doesn't want to do it. She should do what makes her happy, not something that's expected of her."
"And you know her so well?" Raymond snapped, looking Dane right in the eye and glaring sharply at her.
She made sure to keep her composure, not even thinking about taking the bait of getting into an argument with him. She just stated what she felt were facts. "I know she's not happy with working here. Yes, she does her work, and other people's work, and she does it well with very little complaints. Do you know why she complains so little here? Because she comes home and doesn't shut up about the shit she takes here for at least an hour, and it's an hour if it was a good day. Hell, if you guys dump new stuff on her while she's already swamped and she has to help these so-called lawyers around here, she might not shut up about until I put dinner in front of her. She barely knew how to relax when I first moved in with her and she didn't know how to vent very well either. She vents now, and she's able to put the stress down. And do you know what she does after that? She unwinds with a chemistry book. She's a chemistry nerd, pure and simple. She. Likes. Chemistry." Dane pointed out as plainly as she possibly could in a very deliberate manner.
"Oh, so now you know everything about her?" he huffed, glaring at this woman, who did indeed seem to know a lot about his daughter.
Dane sighed and ran her hand threw her hair. "Raymond, I'm not going to argue with you about Nick. This is what she wants and that's why she's doing it. You're not going to use me to talk her out of it either. I want her to go and I don't give a damn what it costs me as long as it makes her happy. You should know that by now."
Raymond growled, the noise rumbling deep in his massive chest. He glared even harder at Danny, who was quite unfazed by the stare. Little did he know, but she had to put up with far worse looks on Saturdays when Nicole forced her to go to physical therapy.
Suddenly, Raymond laughed and threw his arm around Danny's shoulders. A half-smirk worked its way onto her face; apparently, she was out of trouble for now. He found it impossible to be upset with her since she was so insistent that she wanted his daughter to be happy and she showed that she was telling the truth every time he saw her.
"You know, Danny, this is one of the many things I like about you. You stick to what you think is best for Nikki and you never let us talk you out of what you think is best for her. Now, Kate is going to kick your ass the next time she sees you, though," Raymond proclaimed with a laugh.
"Doesn't she always? I'm pretty sure she owns the property rights to my ass," Dane remarked with a small, amused smile.
"She will after this. She was hoping I could get you to talk to Nikki. We want her to follow in our footsteps, Kate especially," Raymond said, shaking his head a little.
"I know you guys do, but you have to realize that her going to school has nothing to do with you. She's not rebelling or anything like that. She's not trying to hurt your feelings either. She's just doing something for herself for once. She deserves this. She needs this. If you talk to her about her classes, you see the way her eyes light up, then you'll know. She needs this," Dane tried her best to explain and to get him to understand.
"I know, Danny. I know, but I had to try. Kate is going to be on a tear until she gets used to this. I'll be using you as a shield," Raymond quipped with a friendly smile. He was trying to relax about the school thing now that he talked to Danny and figured that it was going to happen whether he liked it or not.
She smiled back at him. "The hell you will. I'll be hiding two states over thank you very much."
"Smart move. Well, I'll let you go. Oh, Danny."
"Yes, sir?"
"Don't let Nikki take on too much in school and don't let her walk away from this job until she's fully secure with another one."
Dane nodded. "I will, Raymond. I know how much you guys worry. Do you think that you guys could ease up on the case load?"
Raymond breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. "I will do that. I don't want her to get overwhelmed. I'll also talk to people about bugging her for her help."
Dane grinned, happy to hear that he was actually paying attention to the things that she was saying before. "Thank you for that, sir. She'll really appreciate that and so will I."
"All right. Now, do you know how to get to Nicole's office?" he asked curiously.
Dane shook her head as a response. He gave her directions and they said their farewells. Raymond smiled a little as Dane exited the office. He had warmed up to Danny since meeting her, noticing the effect that she had on Nicole. He wished that she talked Nicole out of going back to school, but considering Danny's passion for it, he could guess how much it meant to Nicole. He supposed that he and Kate were just going to have to learn to accept that Nicole really wanted to be a chemist and they had pushed their desires on her; that thought was going to take a while to get used to.
Dane quickly put the conversation with Raymond out of her mind, knowing she would live a repeat of it for months to come, even though it was clear that he was listening to her. She had more important things on her mind than how she had upset Raymond and Kate by convincing their daughter to go get her chemistry degree. She had to go down a floor and then she navigated the long halls of the firm before she found her lover's office. As she drew closer to the door, she wondered if she should knock or just walk right in to really drive home the surprise. Her good manners won out and she knocked when she got to the door. She was greeted with an annoyed groan.
"Yes?" Nicole's voice called.
"Somebody order a stripper?" Dane asked as she opened the door, seeing Nicole at her desk and emerald eyes pouring over a pile of documents.
"Danny?" Nicole was out of her seat in a flash and wrapping her girlfriend in a hug that made it seem like they were apart for days instead of hours. "What're you doing here?" she asked in a quiet, but amazed tone.
"I came to see the sexiest, most brilliant woman on the planet," Dane answered with a charming grin.
"And you stopped by to see me first?" Nicole teased.
Dane laughed a little and then leaned down to place a deep kiss on willing lips. "Only to see you, chem. Only to see you," she promised.
"You are just too sweet for your own good, honey. Now, to what do I owe the pleasure? I hope like hell you didn't ride your bike all this way just to surprise me at the office," Nicole said, voice bordering on scolding.
Danny knew that she had to do damage control quickly. "No! I didn't ride my bike. Crow picked me from my last lesson and drove me here. I wanted to have an early dinner with you before you went to class."
Nicole could not contain the grin on her face. "Aw, that's so nice, honey. I would love to have an early dinner with you. Are you going to hang out with Crow afterwards?"
"I had to make that deal in order to get her to drive me here," Dane replied with a light laugh.
The lawyer chuckled. "She still doesn't think too highly of me, huh?"
"Nope, but her opinion doesn't matter. I think you're just swell," Dane remarked. "She's promised to try, if I ever bring you around anyway. She's not a bad person or a bad friend, but she's not used to the new me yet." It was nice that Crow was trying to adjust, though. It was what made Dane realize that Crow was a decent person and friend, unlike most of the other people she knew.
"You mean, the Danny that exclusively dates someone with a degree and a career and has a permanent home to return to every night without drugs being involved?" Nicole teased.
"Yeah, that Danny. The Danny that wants to take you to dinner before it's too late."
"Should I pick you up after class?" Nicole asked.
"I'd like that. I'll call you and let you know where I am around nine, okay?"
"Sounds good. Remind me to get you a cell phone sometime soon so I can call you when you're out."
Dane smiled. "You trying to put a leash on the Great Dane?"
"You know it, big dog. I want everyone to know who you belong to."
"Trust me, there's no doubt about that one." Dane leaned down and kissed Nicole again with just as much passion as always. The lawyer felt her knees go weak, like they did every time her girlfriend kissed her.
They managed to break apart for the few moments that Nicole needed to put her work away. Dane fetched her girlfriend's coat and eased it onto Nicole's shoulders. They then exited the office, Dane's arm around Nicole's waist. They smiled each other and locked eyes, emerald on grey promising love, devotion, and happiness.
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The end.
Once again, please, let me know what you think of the story: starving.lunatic@gmail.com
I made an attempt at drawing Nicole: http://starvinglunatic.deviantart.com/art/Nicole-outline-129066863
And an attempt at drawing Dane: http://starvinglunatic.deviantart.com/art/Dane-outline2-129068266