Tessa's therapist noticed the change in her the next time she came for her session: more relaxed and confident, calmer. She had been so surprised by the sudden development that she asked what changed over the spam of one week, she just shrugged saying "I don't know".

"Did you get something?" Her therapist asked her, prodding to know what brought about such a positive attitude.

"No, not really,"

"Did Ryle say something?"

"Oh, no, he's been busy,"

"Did you meet someone? An old friend?"

"I..." Tessa trailed before a smile overcame her face. "I did."

"Who?"

"Daniel," The soft smile on her lips was enough to earn a second take from her therapist. "Daniel and I made up, I told you about him, he's the-"

"-The officer you used to live with in Baltimore,"

"Yeah,"

"Then how come he's here?"

"Oh, he's FBI now, moved to New York over a year ago,"

"And you two are friends now?"

"That's right,"

"Can I ask why the drift occurred between you two?"

"Well..." Tessa sighed and clasped her hands on her lap. "It's a long story,"

"We have all the time in the world,"

"Okay, then...Well, he was the officer who managed to get me on probation when I had joined that gang, and he gave me shelter at his apartment. He always treated me gently and knew everything that had happened to me and he was constantly there, he was my..."

You were his best friend, his confidante, he's not better off without you, Daniel's words rung through her head and causing her to pause momentarily at the peculiarity of his saying.

"His best friend," She muttered quietly.

"His?"

"My," Tessa shook away her thoughts. "He was my best friend."

"Okay, and?"

"And he was there for me, all the time, took care of me, ensured I went to school and he is one of the main reasons as to why I applied to Pratt Institute." She resumed. "Somewhere along the way, he fell in love with me, and not the platonic love, but the intimate love, but by then I had been dating Xavier and once I broke up with him, I got occupied with applications and I went off to University. Daniel drove me down to Brooklyn and helped me get settled, appeased all my worries and wiped all the tears, constantly telling me how proud he was of me," Tessa smiled softly at the memory, realizing that she had known all along he was in love with her.

"We used to talk all the time, sometimes all night long, he always called me Bambi and he was Casanova," She chuckled. "We occasionally flirted and we knew how to read each other so well that others would get freaked out,"

"But then...on Nathan and Delilah's wedding, he confessed that he loved me, and not in a platonic sense and I was happy, I really was,"

"Then what happened?" Her therapist asked of her and noted things down on the notepad.

"I felt like...I felt like I didn't deserve all that love Daniel had for me, I didn't deserve such an amazing man as him and I let my low self-esteem get in my way and tell me he was better off without me, but he isn't...he wasn't."

"And how do you know that?"

"He told me," Tessa let out a heavy breath, placing a hand on her chest and staring out at the window. "He...He came to my place on Friday and we sat down and talked and I told him about Ryan and the therapy and he said he could find out for me if I wanted, and I told him he was better off without me. He kept saying how I don't know that and how, maybe Ryan's life isn't as good as I think it to be and that he misses me every single second of every single day and that he is constantly so angry at the cruelty of the world to take away the one person that meant the most to him."

"But he's talking about Ryan,"

"No, don't you see," Tessa turned back to her therapist. "It's him, he was telling me about what he had been through without me in his life and made up the pretense of Ryan's emotions. He is Ryan,"

"I'm sorry," Her therapist shook her head. "You lost me, Tessa,"

"He wasn't talking about Ryan, he was talking about himself. He told me he wanted to be a part of my life again, that he felt hollow without me and just wanted to have me close whether I loved him or not, he didn't care as long as I was part of his life,"

"And did you let him back into your life?"

"I did,"

"Why did you do that?"

"Because I..." Tessa stopped herself at the thought that came rushing to her like a revelation, staring up at her psychiatrist in shock to finally understand. "I love him,"

Daniel stepped out of his car and closed the door behind him. Locking the vehicle, he rubbed the tenseness in his shoulders, groaning at the long day and realizing that he still had work to get done. Making his way up the steps of his brownstone, he waved to his elderly neighbors and unlocked his door. Stepping in and taking off his shoes before entering the house, turning to put his keys in the bowl beside the door before putting down his laptop bag, reaching for his gun and holding it out in front of him.

"Fuck!" He groaned and put away his gun. "Damn it Tessa, what the hell?" He put a hand to his chest as she stood frozen before him.

"How did you get in?"

"The backdoor was open," She squeaked out, a little shaken by the whole ordeal.

"What do you mean the backdoor was open? I locked it,"

"I mean, I unlocked it, you keep your keys under the flower pots, so I opened it and came in,"

"And the alarm?"

"What alarm?"

"This alarm," He pointed to the white box on the wall beside his door and above the bowl housing his keys.

"Nothing happened,"

"What do you mean 'nothing happened'?" He scoffed and opened the flap, staring in confusion to see the screen being blank. "What the hell?"

"Seems like your alarm isn't working," Tessa shrugged and turned to make her way into the kitchen.

"What are you doing here?" Daniel followed after her, confused as to what she was doing.

"I just thought I'd drop by," She shrugged as he watched in confusion to realize that she was cooking.

"You're making..."

"Dinner, yes,"

"Why?"

"Just because," Tessa shrugged again and resumed stirring the pot. "I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd drop by to make you dinner since you're mostly busy to make food,"

"What would have happened if I had come home late? Like around 1?" He leaned onto the counter, picking up a carrot from the cutting board. "What would you have done then?"

"Slept in your room," She smirked.

"I have a guest room you know,"

"I know, but your bedroom is set up,"

Daniel chuckled at her before shaking his head.

"I'm going to shower,"

"Alright,"

He made his way out of the kitchen and made his way through the dining room and lounge before going upstairs. Quickly showering, he wrapped a towel around his waist before looking for his sweatpants and t-shirt, cursing when he realized he forgot them in the dryer.

Sighing, he made his way down the stairs, his bare feet pattering against the wood of the steps and of his lounge before he opened the door to the guest bathroom where his washing machine and dryer was as well.

"Hey, food is-" Tessa found him, her words dying in her throat to see him standing in nothing but a towel, blushing furiously before turning her back to him. "I'm sorry, I didn't see anything,"

"What have you made?"

"Uh...Cajun Chicken pasta,"

"Yummy," Daniel said as he sidestepped her and made his way towards the kitchen, momentarily surprised to see the pasta, garlic bread, and a bowl of salad set up on his dining table for six, looking from the dining table to the marble island and back. "Why did you set it up on the table?"

"Would you have had me set it on the floor?" She asked teasingly.

"No, why not the island? I mean, we are just two people so the island works fine,"

"God no," Tessa scoffed and took a seat, waiting for Daniel to do the same as he eventually came and sat down across from her. Grabbing the bowl of salad and putting some in his plate while she helped herself to garlic bread.

Once he took a bite of his pasta, he chewed slowly before looking up at the girl settled across from him.

"What?" She looked at him in concern, anxiety eating her from inside when he got up. "Is it bad?"

Without saying anything he went to the cabinet standing against the wall and pulled it open, taking out a wine bottle from inside before making his way into the kitchen and grabbing two wine glasses from the other cabinet.

"You're 21 now, right?" Daniel asked as he returned with the wine.

"22,"

"Legal," He nodded and poured her a glass of wine and put it before her, pouring himself a glass as well. "You've had a drink before, right?"

"Of course!" She exclaimed a bit too quickly.

"You haven't," Daniel sighed as he sat down across from her and raised his glass. "Well, bottoms up," He resumed eating, taking an occasional sip as Tessa looked at his nonchalance in surprise, hesitantly taking hold of the glass before her and looked at the red wine.

"Cheers," Tessa murmured before taking a tentative sip, pulling a face at the decomposing grape taste that lingered in her mouth, smacking her lips before taking a bite of the pasta, realizing it actually went quite well together.

The two ate in relative silence, speaking only a few words here and there before Daniel took the plates, washing them despite Tessa's protests, saying that she could do it. Eventually, he shooed her off to the lounge with a cup of green tea before following after her with a mug of his own. She had thought he'd come to sit beside her but sat opposite her instead.

They sipped their tea in silence as she brought her legs up to be folded beneath her, a silence settled between the two.

"Girlfriend?" She asked out of the blue.

"Sorry?"

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"I don't," He chuckled. "Actually...my last girlfriend was Amara,"

"The one back in Baltimore?" Tessa confirmed incredulously. "What? 3 years ago?"

"Yeah,"

"Why?" She demanded in confusion. "I mean, you have the looks and the personality, you're charming and charismatic-"

"-I don't have the time," He shrugged in nonchalance. "I don't have time for such commitments, besides, no girl in her right mind would want to be with a guy who is married to his work,"

"I'm sure the girl would be if she knew how worth it all would be,"

Daniel laughed at her words, shaking his head at her before sipping his tea in silence.

"So, you won't get married?"

"Oh, I will," He nodded, swallowing the hot drink. "Moms already looking,"

"W-what do you mean?"

"Arranged marriage?" He stated as Tessa's heart sank to her feet. "I mean, I'm the last one of us fiv-four. I'm the last one of us four to get married," Daniel cleared his throat.

"And since I'm turning 27, mom wants to find me a girl I can commit to and who understands my current circumstances and all,"

"And what if you don't like her..." She asked him quietly, playing with the teabag.

"I don't have much of a choice then, I guess," He leaned back in his seat. "I mean, I'm going to trust mom and go with the fact that she chose the girl for some reason,"

"I don't think you should do that," Tessa shook her head, taking a sip of the tea.

"And why not?"

"Because it's stupid," Daniel raised an eyebrow at her words. "Why would you want to rush getting married to a person you don't even know and have no clue about whether it would even work out between you two? I mean that's stupid,"

"And you do have a choice, you don't have to get married right now, you don't have to rush into anything – it ends up badly, believe me, I know." Tessa sighed and leaned forward. "You're just 26 for the love of god Daniel, take your time, no one is expecting you to get married, I mean Tony got married after 30. There is zero need to rush into things,"

Daniel wanted to contradict her words. Tell her it was absolutely detrimental that he settle down with a girl and soon because his heart burned to know that he couldn't have Tessa, to know that she was with someone else again, and that she wasn't his. She was back in his life, and he was forever grateful to that, but she was the love of his life who couldn't be his. Daniel doesn't want to force her into anything, and for that very reason, he told his mother to find him a girl who could compensate for the one he didn't have. It was a twisted idea, he had no doubt, but if it meant that Tessa would be happy, he was willing to end his future for her.

He simply nodded to her words in acknowledgment before standing up, holding out his hand to her.

Tessa looked at his hand in momentary confusion before putting her free palm in his open one.

"Your mug, Tessa," He clarified, watching her face flush in embarrassment before handing it to him, looking away when she realized she had just held his hand when he had been asking for her mug, her declaration in her therapist's office having her blush even more at the memory.

"It's getting late," He sighed upon his return, running a hand through his hair. "Come, I'll drop you home," Daniel kicked himself off the doorway and stood straight, waiting for Tessa to get up as well.

"I like your house,"

"Thank you,"

"I was wondering if I could stay the night here,"

Daniel blinked at her in silence, wondering what she was doing or if she was just rubbing it in his face that she knew he loved her and was now going to torture him by staying under his roof yet still half the world away for him.

"What's wrong with your place?" He found himself asking her.

"I just..." She trailed, trying to formulate a reason for her staying, "I just missed you these last two years, that's all..."

The man heaved out a heavy breath, rubbing a hand over his weary face and scratched at the back of his head before turning to walk away, leaving Tessa to sit alone in the lounge. She shook her head at her nativity, thinking that after everything, he would welcome her in his home with open arms. Getting up from her place she began to pull on her jacket and grab her bag before Daniel returned from upstairs with a blanket in his hands.

She watched him silently as he stood before her, cocking his head in the direction of the hallway. Unsure, she followed after him as he led her down to the basement, opening one of the doors there to reveal a guest bedroom set up with a simple king-sized bed with fresh sheets, a wardrobe and an ottoman bench standing at the foot of the bed.

"I'll drop you off tomorrow on my way to work," Daniel told her and put down the quilt on the bed. "Have a good night, Tessa," He began to walk towards the doors.

"Bambi," She corrected him.

"Sorry?"

"Have a good night, Bambi,"

A soft smile overcame his face at her words before she chuckled at her antics.

"Have a good night, Bambi,"

"You too, Casanova,"