Fic: [NR] Mix of Dark Minors and Sunny Majors (Chapter 11/14)
Mix of Dark Minors and Sunny Majors
Word Count: Chapter 11: 3,133; [48,282 total]
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Nico/Dani-Possibly. Eventually?
Spoilers: References something from 1x07 and 1x11.
Disclaimer: don't own. Don't profit. Don't … a lot of things
Summary: She'd be willing to bet the Nico of reality was somewhere between her good guy and his evil one but he wasn't ready to see that just yet. "Nico, I work on feelings and intuition. Of course I see the potential. You work in cold facts and realities that aren't pretty so you see the bad. In order for music to be beautiful, there has to be a mix of sunny majors with the dark, harsh minors."
Author's Note: So, you can blame or credit, jeer or cheer brokenroots & goodisrelative for this 92-page (20+ chapter) fic. Brokenroots started me thinking about NR fic (go read hers, it's better) and then they both beat me up to get more. Please note, this fic is done. finished. fin. over. ended. ... that doesn't mean there is not be a sequel. at least a "Sunday Supper at Mama Coluni's"
"Dani?"
"Juliette, have a seat." Dani smiled. "How have you been?"
The young woman sighed. "Good mostly. Your family is great. Ray Jay would make me laugh when I started to get too intense. Lindsay's been making me do stuff, reconnecting to what it's like to be young. Jeanette and your mom have yelled and hugged in pretty equal measure." She looked over at Dani. "The structure has been really good. Not claustrophobic but rigid enough that there were consequences that people followed through on. I've wanted to run, to leave, but Jeanette would see something in my eyes and just get me outside and tell me to breathe and watch the waves."
Dani nodded. "I can't be your therapist, Juliette. The relationship would just not work. I have three I would like you to meet and we'll pick one of them to be your therapist."
"You don't want me?" Juliette stood up quickly.
Dani reached and grabbed the girl's hand. "I did not say that. Please sit, Juliette. Remember you called me for help: you need to trust me now." She sighed and waited for the younger woman to sit back down but kept her hand tight on the hand she was holding. "I want you to come live with me and the kids. We'll work out structure for you: therapy, time with the kids and with me and Jeanette. We'll schedule visits for you and Nico. Eventually, if you like, we can work with your parents. Maybe even enroll you in a class at the community college. You need to remember what your youth is."
Juliette stared at Dani. "Wait. What? You want me to live with you? What about your kids? I'm not a good role model. I mean TK is probably better than me."
Dani smiled at the young woman's fear. "There will be rules and consequences when they are broken: for all involved, including Nico and my kids."
Juliette shook her head. She could not take this in. "You want me to live with you." She whispered softly.
"Yes, Juliette, I want you to live with my family and I. You need to understand, though, this isn't just a temporary thing. I'm not giving up on you. Nico says I have a mama bear protectiveness that doesn't let go. Well, you're in it now, so get used to it. It's going to chafe. It's going to be restrictive. It's going to support you. It's going to guide you when you feel lost." Dani sighed: now for the hard part. "Juliette, one of the rules is that Nico is not to know for the first few weeks. He needs to know that you are secure but that he cannot come and help fix you. You are strong enough to start that on your own this time. I'll schedule visits during those weeks but he cannot know where you are staying."
Juliette would have laughed but the good doctor lady was so serious. "You think you can keep this from Nico?"
Dani chuckled and released the young woman's hand to wave for Nico to come down. "I will, Juliette, for a few weeks. The question is: can you?"
"Working out therapy schedules already?" Nico asked as he stopped between the two women.
Juliette blinked then looked up at him with a huge grin on her face.
Dani just sighed and stated, "I am not going to be Juliette's therapist, Nico. She and I will meet with three I know and she'll pick the one she would like to try. Our relationship is so far from therapist-patient that it can never get back there." She saw Nico tense. "That is not to say that I will not see her every day for long periods of time. I'm not cutting her lose, Nico. Both she and you are stuck with me. You are the one who called it my mama bear protectiveness. It's just that I can't be professional with her and I do not want that to hurt her, Nico."
He nodded. He could understand that but he didn't have to like it. Something came to him then. "When you were telling Mrs. Pittman off on Saturday you said in a few days even I wouldn't know where Juliette would be."
Juliette looked from one adult to the other as Dani stood up. The girl wasn't stupid: she made her escape back up to the house.
"Remember how I had Frank control the door when we found her?" She waited for his nod. "It's like that. For the first few weeks, she needs to get settled where she is staying and she cannot have interruptions. She needs to learn routines and normalcy; immerse herself in it. And she needs to use her own strength to start this time." Dani watched the waves crashing for a moment before she continued, "Nico, if you know where she is, she'll use that as a crutch. You can come get her. If you don't know where she is, she has to make a conscious choice to tell you, that will make her stop a moment and think about what she is doing. She's gotten used to running then using you to help her. That needs to stop."
Nico studied her carefully.
It hit Dani then what he might be thinking. She reached for his hand and laced her fingers in his. "I'm not doing this to hurt you. Neither is Juliette. And if this is going to work, I need you to trust me, trust what I am doing."
Nico blinked. "Of course you wouldn't do this to hurt me. And I do trust you, more than I have anyone else in a very long time." He sighed and looked out over the water. "Would it be good to take some time, a few days or a week when I can know where she is?"
Dani beamed up at him. "Taking two to three days would be perfect, Nico! I'll give you dates tonight. But you cannot try to find her or have others, including Xeno, try and find her. And no asking anyone questions except me."
Nico laughed. "You think you know me so well, don't you?"
Dani nodded. "At least better than you think I know you. I've been studying you. And Mama Coluni likes to tell stories."
Nico groaned. "You would listen to her."
Dani leaned into him and pulled his arm over her shoulders. "Hard not to. She asked me to come back next week."
"Guess this means I'm going to need to stop by there more often." Nico chuckled.
-%-
"Yo! Yo! Yo! V and TK in the house! Let the party begin! But not before the sunglasses go on!" TK yelled as he entered the beach house at 515 PM. And he started handing out Rayban sunglesses to each person. "I's selected thems myself for each one of ya, my peeps, my family." He smiled and hugged Lindsay and gave Ray Jay a high five. Making his way around he even pulled out a pair for Xeno. "Thanks for taking care of the Chicklets, man." Then he handed over a pair to Nico: the exact pair he always wore. "Figured ya could always use a spare, especially around my situations."
There was craziness and talking all at once and Dani just took a few steps back and watched the show with a soft smile on her lips and a tear in her eye.
"Hey, there, this isn't a sad scene, Dani." Nico materialized next to her, putting his arm over her shoulders.
Dani smiled up at him. "Yes it is. I've realized I missed the crazy."
-%-
Two mornings later Jeanette scowled as she tossed off the covers. It was suddenly too quiet in her home. She missed the kids and the chaos. And she missed coffee already made in the morning. And the man who made it. Sighing, she grabbed her robe and headed downstairs to make coffee. It didn't hit her until she hit the last step: she could smell the coffee. She frowned and moved quicker to the kitchen. No one was there but the coffee was done brewing and there was a note.
You can set it up at night, Jeannie. It'll turn on in the morning if ya set it up and hit the button before you go to bed. Enjoy these cups. -X
"That was never the point, silly man!" Jeanette whispered and sighed.
"Then what was?"
Jeanette jumped, spilling her nice, hot coffee. Then she swore at him. Finally, she just softly told him, "The point was the thought."
Xeno smiled and stalked silently up to her.
-%-
She survived the first week because she didn't see much of him. With the playoffs win, TK winding down with Vivica, settling Juliette in, and talking with the six new women Nico's army of informants found, Dani didn't have time to herself, let alone worry if Nico was trying to find out where Juliette was staying. She had supervised two visits between the two but had taken a page from Nico's book and shadowed them and let them build their own trust back up.
She should have known it wouldn't last. Instead of getting up to let him in the back door he knocked on, she just sighed and said, "It's open, Nico."
"You couldn't know for sure it was me. What the hell were thinking?" Nico fumed. "Your kids are upstairs. What if-." But he stopped his tirade when the fear entered her eyes. Swearing he moved to grab her left hand. "No, he's not out. He's not getting out."
Dani nodded and smiled over at him. "I haven't had a late night visit all week, I figured I was due one." She got up, poured him a cup of black coffee. "Let's sit on the back porch." And she made her way out there. She looked at the swing then at the stairs and settled on the stairs. She waited until he settled on the step next to her. "So what brings you here tonight?"
"Things are heating up between the Pittman's."
"Don't ask it again, Nico." Dani stopped him. Her eyes flashed anger but her voice was low. "We've been down this road a time or two and it isn't going to change because you ask again."
"I need her safe." Nico whispered.
Dani put her coffee mug down and reached for his arm. "She is. Neither one of them knows where she is. How can they if even you don't?"
Nico glared. "That is why I need-."
Dani shook her head. "I can't do this, Nico. Either you trust me with her or you don't. That's your choice. You have my rules; you know there will be consequences." She picked up her mug and stood up. "Just leave the mug on the table out here; I'll get it in the morning."
He had the door picked and was standing in her kitchen before she was done washing her mug.
Dani stared at him in disbelief. Then her eyes flashed something he had never seen on her before: fury. She got in his face and while she wanted to scream, she kept her voice low but hard. "Don't you ever do that again. This is my home, not some drughouse. Nor am I one of the players. My children live here and I will not have you breaking in when you can't have your way." She poked him in the chest now and again to emphasize points, making him back up and out of the door. God she wanted to slam it in his face! The nerve of him!
Nico heard the click of the lock. Why did the action he would normally take suddenly make him feel ashamed, like he owed her an apology or even more?
Dani slumped against the door, shaking with fury and disappointment. She had known he could be a bastard. She had even wanted him to be one at times, had asked him to be one to the man who had hurt Juliette, but she had never thought he would try it with her. She had thought he trusted her. Obviously, she was wrong and he had lied to her. "Damn you, Nico. You said you didn't lie," She whispered as the tears started falling.
-%-
Juliette found her on the couch in the morning and knew something was wrong. "Dani, what is it? What happened?"
"He lied to me," Dani couldn't stop the whispered words before she blinked and clamped her feelings back down. "It will be okay, Juliette."
Juliette studied her before she sat down Indian-style on the couch next to her. "Nico stopped by last night. What did he say?"
Dani shook her head. "No, Juliette. What goes on between Nico and I is not your business."
Juliette smiled. "Taking a page from Nico's book, Dani?" She sobered and stated, "He hurt you, Dani, and I have a feeling I'm at the heart of this argument."
Dani reached over and caressed her cheek. "I don't want to hurt him, Juliette, but sometimes it just doesn't matter what we want. I'll be fine. So, you are spending time with Jeanette today, correct? What are your plans?"
Juliette nodded. "I think we are hitting a gallery or two in the City."
Dani smiled. "She mentioned something about the Jim Henson exhibit at Museum of the Moving Image, if I recall."
Juliette blinked. "The Muppet dude? Really? That's cool! The Hecklers are my favorite."
Dani cracked up. "They are mine too. You might as well use this early morning to beat Lins in the bathroom, dear. Pancakes good for breakfast?"
"Thanks, Dani."
Since they were both standing, Dani hugged her. "Never a problem, Jules."
Juliette stilled. She tilted her head to study Dani at the nickname. "No one's ever given me a nickname. They've called me names all the time, but never have I had a nickname."
Dani nodded. "Do you mind? Take your time and think it over."
Juliette shrugged. "I will."
Dani saw Juliette off with Jeanette then the kids went over to Ray's and Dani was left with a quiet house that she just couldn't bear to stay in. Since it was Friday, she put in a call to the Coach to tell him she could be reached on her mobile, then she talked with TK and told him she needed a mental health day. He had her smiling by the time she got off the phone, which she was thankful for.
Looking at her phone, she smiled and called Mama Coluni.
-%-
"He what?" Mama Coluni blinked.
Dani nodded. "He didn't like what I said so he broke into my home."
"Girl, I hope you tore into him good!" Mama Coluni shook her head in disbelief. "Hell, Danielle, when I see him, I'll slap him for you!"
Dani chuckled. "This is why I needed to come, Mama Coluni." She reached over and took the older woman's hand. "I'm hurting him, Mama Coluni. I don't want to but he isn't giving me a choice. He says he trusts me with something but every time that trust is tested, he takes the something back. And I can't allow that anymore. The something was broken and it's mending now. I know he's protecting it but he doesn't see how much he is also cracking it apart."
Mama Coluni sighed. "He's helping Juliette again. I told him that girl needed to stand on her own. It isn't right that she uses him to escape whatever mess she creates. He cleans them up and she has no consequences. How's the girl supposed to grow? Everyone's born into problems that aren't their own but he keeps taking hers away and she's left with learning that she can do anything and none of it will touch her. Not saying she didn't get the raw deal with her parents, but others have had worse."
Dani blinked. "Mama Coluni, what I say here doesn't go to him. It can't."
"I ain't ever been, nor will I ever be, a rat."
Dani smiled and nodded. "Sorry, Mama Coluni, I didn't mean that." She looked out over the backyard and her eyes fell to the gate sitting up on workhorses under the London plane tree. She blinked back her tears again and turned back to the older woman. "I'm helping Juliette. She wants help. She wants to stop using Nico. She's seeing he's just another addiction she has, using him to clean herself up."
"And he doesn't like that you are doing this?" Mama Coluni asked softly.
"No, actually he wants me to help her."
Mama Coluni nodded in understanding. "He doesn't trust that you will do it. He questions your methods, questions your ability because he is not involved with the decisions."
Dani nodded. "Exactly."
"And because he doesn't trust you, he's destroyed a part of you." Mama Coluni patted the younger woman's hand. "There are two ways you can go, Danielle. I can teach you how to slip a blade between a man's ribs without him suspecting a thing. It won't kill him but it will teach him you are just as dangerous as he. He'll never forget learning that lesson."
Dani sighed. "And the other?" She wasn't sure she could physically hurt Nico, she didn't have that in her. When she thought of the man attacking Juliette, she sighed: I guess I do have that in me.
Mama Coluni chuckled, knowing exactly what the young woman was thinking. "Dear, I never thought of becoming an enforcer, it just happened. One day a man pushed further than I wanted to go. Actions were taken on my part that put me in a position there was no turning back from. I moved with it. The rest, well, it lead me to a man I love to this day. Bad can lead to good. Just as much as good can lead to bad. It's how we play our hand that counts."
Dani nodded. "What is the other way I can go with this?"
Mama Coluni chuckled. "You take the beatings and you keep showing up. For you, you hold the line where you need to hold it and as much as he hurts from it, as much as he hurts you for it, you hold the line because you know you are doing the right thing for the one he desperately needs to protect. And then you make sure you look damn fine every time he sees you just to rub it in that he may try to take you down, you ain't going down."
"I miss him, Mama Coluni." Dani whispered.
Mama Coluni patted her hand. "I know, dear, I know."
Chapter 10
Word Count: Chapter 11: 3,133; [48,282 total]
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Nico/Dani-Possibly. Eventually?
Spoilers: References something from 1x07 and 1x11.
Disclaimer: don't own. Don't profit. Don't … a lot of things
Summary: She'd be willing to bet the Nico of reality was somewhere between her good guy and his evil one but he wasn't ready to see that just yet. "Nico, I work on feelings and intuition. Of course I see the potential. You work in cold facts and realities that aren't pretty so you see the bad. In order for music to be beautiful, there has to be a mix of sunny majors with the dark, harsh minors."
Author's Note: So, you can blame or credit, jeer or cheer brokenroots & goodisrelative for this 92-page (20+ chapter) fic. Brokenroots started me thinking about NR fic (go read hers, it's better) and then they both beat me up to get more. Please note, this fic is done. finished. fin. over. ended. ... that doesn't mean there is not be a sequel. at least a "Sunday Supper at Mama Coluni's"
"Dani?"
"Juliette, have a seat." Dani smiled. "How have you been?"
The young woman sighed. "Good mostly. Your family is great. Ray Jay would make me laugh when I started to get too intense. Lindsay's been making me do stuff, reconnecting to what it's like to be young. Jeanette and your mom have yelled and hugged in pretty equal measure." She looked over at Dani. "The structure has been really good. Not claustrophobic but rigid enough that there were consequences that people followed through on. I've wanted to run, to leave, but Jeanette would see something in my eyes and just get me outside and tell me to breathe and watch the waves."
Dani nodded. "I can't be your therapist, Juliette. The relationship would just not work. I have three I would like you to meet and we'll pick one of them to be your therapist."
"You don't want me?" Juliette stood up quickly.
Dani reached and grabbed the girl's hand. "I did not say that. Please sit, Juliette. Remember you called me for help: you need to trust me now." She sighed and waited for the younger woman to sit back down but kept her hand tight on the hand she was holding. "I want you to come live with me and the kids. We'll work out structure for you: therapy, time with the kids and with me and Jeanette. We'll schedule visits for you and Nico. Eventually, if you like, we can work with your parents. Maybe even enroll you in a class at the community college. You need to remember what your youth is."
Juliette stared at Dani. "Wait. What? You want me to live with you? What about your kids? I'm not a good role model. I mean TK is probably better than me."
Dani smiled at the young woman's fear. "There will be rules and consequences when they are broken: for all involved, including Nico and my kids."
Juliette shook her head. She could not take this in. "You want me to live with you." She whispered softly.
"Yes, Juliette, I want you to live with my family and I. You need to understand, though, this isn't just a temporary thing. I'm not giving up on you. Nico says I have a mama bear protectiveness that doesn't let go. Well, you're in it now, so get used to it. It's going to chafe. It's going to be restrictive. It's going to support you. It's going to guide you when you feel lost." Dani sighed: now for the hard part. "Juliette, one of the rules is that Nico is not to know for the first few weeks. He needs to know that you are secure but that he cannot come and help fix you. You are strong enough to start that on your own this time. I'll schedule visits during those weeks but he cannot know where you are staying."
Juliette would have laughed but the good doctor lady was so serious. "You think you can keep this from Nico?"
Dani chuckled and released the young woman's hand to wave for Nico to come down. "I will, Juliette, for a few weeks. The question is: can you?"
"Working out therapy schedules already?" Nico asked as he stopped between the two women.
Juliette blinked then looked up at him with a huge grin on her face.
Dani just sighed and stated, "I am not going to be Juliette's therapist, Nico. She and I will meet with three I know and she'll pick the one she would like to try. Our relationship is so far from therapist-patient that it can never get back there." She saw Nico tense. "That is not to say that I will not see her every day for long periods of time. I'm not cutting her lose, Nico. Both she and you are stuck with me. You are the one who called it my mama bear protectiveness. It's just that I can't be professional with her and I do not want that to hurt her, Nico."
He nodded. He could understand that but he didn't have to like it. Something came to him then. "When you were telling Mrs. Pittman off on Saturday you said in a few days even I wouldn't know where Juliette would be."
Juliette looked from one adult to the other as Dani stood up. The girl wasn't stupid: she made her escape back up to the house.
"Remember how I had Frank control the door when we found her?" She waited for his nod. "It's like that. For the first few weeks, she needs to get settled where she is staying and she cannot have interruptions. She needs to learn routines and normalcy; immerse herself in it. And she needs to use her own strength to start this time." Dani watched the waves crashing for a moment before she continued, "Nico, if you know where she is, she'll use that as a crutch. You can come get her. If you don't know where she is, she has to make a conscious choice to tell you, that will make her stop a moment and think about what she is doing. She's gotten used to running then using you to help her. That needs to stop."
Nico studied her carefully.
It hit Dani then what he might be thinking. She reached for his hand and laced her fingers in his. "I'm not doing this to hurt you. Neither is Juliette. And if this is going to work, I need you to trust me, trust what I am doing."
Nico blinked. "Of course you wouldn't do this to hurt me. And I do trust you, more than I have anyone else in a very long time." He sighed and looked out over the water. "Would it be good to take some time, a few days or a week when I can know where she is?"
Dani beamed up at him. "Taking two to three days would be perfect, Nico! I'll give you dates tonight. But you cannot try to find her or have others, including Xeno, try and find her. And no asking anyone questions except me."
Nico laughed. "You think you know me so well, don't you?"
Dani nodded. "At least better than you think I know you. I've been studying you. And Mama Coluni likes to tell stories."
Nico groaned. "You would listen to her."
Dani leaned into him and pulled his arm over her shoulders. "Hard not to. She asked me to come back next week."
"Guess this means I'm going to need to stop by there more often." Nico chuckled.
-%-
"Yo! Yo! Yo! V and TK in the house! Let the party begin! But not before the sunglasses go on!" TK yelled as he entered the beach house at 515 PM. And he started handing out Rayban sunglesses to each person. "I's selected thems myself for each one of ya, my peeps, my family." He smiled and hugged Lindsay and gave Ray Jay a high five. Making his way around he even pulled out a pair for Xeno. "Thanks for taking care of the Chicklets, man." Then he handed over a pair to Nico: the exact pair he always wore. "Figured ya could always use a spare, especially around my situations."
There was craziness and talking all at once and Dani just took a few steps back and watched the show with a soft smile on her lips and a tear in her eye.
"Hey, there, this isn't a sad scene, Dani." Nico materialized next to her, putting his arm over her shoulders.
Dani smiled up at him. "Yes it is. I've realized I missed the crazy."
-%-
Two mornings later Jeanette scowled as she tossed off the covers. It was suddenly too quiet in her home. She missed the kids and the chaos. And she missed coffee already made in the morning. And the man who made it. Sighing, she grabbed her robe and headed downstairs to make coffee. It didn't hit her until she hit the last step: she could smell the coffee. She frowned and moved quicker to the kitchen. No one was there but the coffee was done brewing and there was a note.
You can set it up at night, Jeannie. It'll turn on in the morning if ya set it up and hit the button before you go to bed. Enjoy these cups. -X
"That was never the point, silly man!" Jeanette whispered and sighed.
"Then what was?"
Jeanette jumped, spilling her nice, hot coffee. Then she swore at him. Finally, she just softly told him, "The point was the thought."
Xeno smiled and stalked silently up to her.
-%-
She survived the first week because she didn't see much of him. With the playoffs win, TK winding down with Vivica, settling Juliette in, and talking with the six new women Nico's army of informants found, Dani didn't have time to herself, let alone worry if Nico was trying to find out where Juliette was staying. She had supervised two visits between the two but had taken a page from Nico's book and shadowed them and let them build their own trust back up.
She should have known it wouldn't last. Instead of getting up to let him in the back door he knocked on, she just sighed and said, "It's open, Nico."
"You couldn't know for sure it was me. What the hell were thinking?" Nico fumed. "Your kids are upstairs. What if-." But he stopped his tirade when the fear entered her eyes. Swearing he moved to grab her left hand. "No, he's not out. He's not getting out."
Dani nodded and smiled over at him. "I haven't had a late night visit all week, I figured I was due one." She got up, poured him a cup of black coffee. "Let's sit on the back porch." And she made her way out there. She looked at the swing then at the stairs and settled on the stairs. She waited until he settled on the step next to her. "So what brings you here tonight?"
"Things are heating up between the Pittman's."
"Don't ask it again, Nico." Dani stopped him. Her eyes flashed anger but her voice was low. "We've been down this road a time or two and it isn't going to change because you ask again."
"I need her safe." Nico whispered.
Dani put her coffee mug down and reached for his arm. "She is. Neither one of them knows where she is. How can they if even you don't?"
Nico glared. "That is why I need-."
Dani shook her head. "I can't do this, Nico. Either you trust me with her or you don't. That's your choice. You have my rules; you know there will be consequences." She picked up her mug and stood up. "Just leave the mug on the table out here; I'll get it in the morning."
He had the door picked and was standing in her kitchen before she was done washing her mug.
Dani stared at him in disbelief. Then her eyes flashed something he had never seen on her before: fury. She got in his face and while she wanted to scream, she kept her voice low but hard. "Don't you ever do that again. This is my home, not some drughouse. Nor am I one of the players. My children live here and I will not have you breaking in when you can't have your way." She poked him in the chest now and again to emphasize points, making him back up and out of the door. God she wanted to slam it in his face! The nerve of him!
Nico heard the click of the lock. Why did the action he would normally take suddenly make him feel ashamed, like he owed her an apology or even more?
Dani slumped against the door, shaking with fury and disappointment. She had known he could be a bastard. She had even wanted him to be one at times, had asked him to be one to the man who had hurt Juliette, but she had never thought he would try it with her. She had thought he trusted her. Obviously, she was wrong and he had lied to her. "Damn you, Nico. You said you didn't lie," She whispered as the tears started falling.
-%-
Juliette found her on the couch in the morning and knew something was wrong. "Dani, what is it? What happened?"
"He lied to me," Dani couldn't stop the whispered words before she blinked and clamped her feelings back down. "It will be okay, Juliette."
Juliette studied her before she sat down Indian-style on the couch next to her. "Nico stopped by last night. What did he say?"
Dani shook her head. "No, Juliette. What goes on between Nico and I is not your business."
Juliette smiled. "Taking a page from Nico's book, Dani?" She sobered and stated, "He hurt you, Dani, and I have a feeling I'm at the heart of this argument."
Dani reached over and caressed her cheek. "I don't want to hurt him, Juliette, but sometimes it just doesn't matter what we want. I'll be fine. So, you are spending time with Jeanette today, correct? What are your plans?"
Juliette nodded. "I think we are hitting a gallery or two in the City."
Dani smiled. "She mentioned something about the Jim Henson exhibit at Museum of the Moving Image, if I recall."
Juliette blinked. "The Muppet dude? Really? That's cool! The Hecklers are my favorite."
Dani cracked up. "They are mine too. You might as well use this early morning to beat Lins in the bathroom, dear. Pancakes good for breakfast?"
"Thanks, Dani."
Since they were both standing, Dani hugged her. "Never a problem, Jules."
Juliette stilled. She tilted her head to study Dani at the nickname. "No one's ever given me a nickname. They've called me names all the time, but never have I had a nickname."
Dani nodded. "Do you mind? Take your time and think it over."
Juliette shrugged. "I will."
Dani saw Juliette off with Jeanette then the kids went over to Ray's and Dani was left with a quiet house that she just couldn't bear to stay in. Since it was Friday, she put in a call to the Coach to tell him she could be reached on her mobile, then she talked with TK and told him she needed a mental health day. He had her smiling by the time she got off the phone, which she was thankful for.
Looking at her phone, she smiled and called Mama Coluni.
-%-
"He what?" Mama Coluni blinked.
Dani nodded. "He didn't like what I said so he broke into my home."
"Girl, I hope you tore into him good!" Mama Coluni shook her head in disbelief. "Hell, Danielle, when I see him, I'll slap him for you!"
Dani chuckled. "This is why I needed to come, Mama Coluni." She reached over and took the older woman's hand. "I'm hurting him, Mama Coluni. I don't want to but he isn't giving me a choice. He says he trusts me with something but every time that trust is tested, he takes the something back. And I can't allow that anymore. The something was broken and it's mending now. I know he's protecting it but he doesn't see how much he is also cracking it apart."
Mama Coluni sighed. "He's helping Juliette again. I told him that girl needed to stand on her own. It isn't right that she uses him to escape whatever mess she creates. He cleans them up and she has no consequences. How's the girl supposed to grow? Everyone's born into problems that aren't their own but he keeps taking hers away and she's left with learning that she can do anything and none of it will touch her. Not saying she didn't get the raw deal with her parents, but others have had worse."
Dani blinked. "Mama Coluni, what I say here doesn't go to him. It can't."
"I ain't ever been, nor will I ever be, a rat."
Dani smiled and nodded. "Sorry, Mama Coluni, I didn't mean that." She looked out over the backyard and her eyes fell to the gate sitting up on workhorses under the London plane tree. She blinked back her tears again and turned back to the older woman. "I'm helping Juliette. She wants help. She wants to stop using Nico. She's seeing he's just another addiction she has, using him to clean herself up."
"And he doesn't like that you are doing this?" Mama Coluni asked softly.
"No, actually he wants me to help her."
Mama Coluni nodded in understanding. "He doesn't trust that you will do it. He questions your methods, questions your ability because he is not involved with the decisions."
Dani nodded. "Exactly."
"And because he doesn't trust you, he's destroyed a part of you." Mama Coluni patted the younger woman's hand. "There are two ways you can go, Danielle. I can teach you how to slip a blade between a man's ribs without him suspecting a thing. It won't kill him but it will teach him you are just as dangerous as he. He'll never forget learning that lesson."
Dani sighed. "And the other?" She wasn't sure she could physically hurt Nico, she didn't have that in her. When she thought of the man attacking Juliette, she sighed: I guess I do have that in me.
Mama Coluni chuckled, knowing exactly what the young woman was thinking. "Dear, I never thought of becoming an enforcer, it just happened. One day a man pushed further than I wanted to go. Actions were taken on my part that put me in a position there was no turning back from. I moved with it. The rest, well, it lead me to a man I love to this day. Bad can lead to good. Just as much as good can lead to bad. It's how we play our hand that counts."
Dani nodded. "What is the other way I can go with this?"
Mama Coluni chuckled. "You take the beatings and you keep showing up. For you, you hold the line where you need to hold it and as much as he hurts from it, as much as he hurts you for it, you hold the line because you know you are doing the right thing for the one he desperately needs to protect. And then you make sure you look damn fine every time he sees you just to rub it in that he may try to take you down, you ain't going down."
"I miss him, Mama Coluni." Dani whispered.
Mama Coluni patted her hand. "I know, dear, I know."
Chapter 10