Skilled at Pretending

As Linda walked through the precinct she smiled at the familiar faces of Danny's colleagues. As she neared the bullpen she saw Danny entering the interrogation room and Baez standing outside watching. Curious to see him in action she headed over and stood near the window, close enough to see him without been seen and hear him through the intercom Baez was standing next to.

"Hey Larry." Danny greeted the suspect as he sat. The man across the table was a frumpy, middle aged man wearing an ill fitting taupe suit. He shifted in his seat and looked at Danny.

"So, tell me about Jenna." Danny said, Larry just stared him.

"Says here she was transferred into your department six months ago." Danny read aloud from the file in front of him and Larry nodded.

"She was beautiful." Danny held up her work ID photo and showed it to Larry who looked away.

"It can be difficult working everyday with a beautiful woman. Trust me, I get it, you saw my partner." Hearing this, Larry eyes shifted back to Danny.

"Beautiful women are very distracting. When they smile at you or when they stand really close. My partner, she sits right across from me and she does this thing where she pulls her hair to one side and slowly rubs her neck. I can't concentrate when she does that." Although Linda knew this was a tactic to gain the suspect's trust, watching and hearing Danny talk, she couldn't ignore the feeling that what Danny was saying was true.

"Was Jenna always doing things like that, distracting you?" Danny asked and Larry nodded earnestly. On cue Baez knocked on the door then opened it.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt, I just need you to sign this." Baez told him.

"I'm in the middle of something." Danny feigned annoyance while Larry watched engrossed.

"Sorry, it has to be done today." Baez told him and flashed him her sweetest smile. Danny nodded and she walked over and, standing unnecessarily close, handed him the fake document. He went to speak but stopped when she held up a pen and smiled at him. He took it, signed the document and gave both back to her. He waited for her to leave and close the the door before turning back to Larry.

"See what I mean? How can I be expected to concentrate with her around?" Danny asked and Larry nodded sympathetically, completely sold.

"How long have you been married?" Danny switched topics looking at the ring on Larry's left hand.

"Twenty five years." Larry finally spoke and Danny nodded.

"I've been married eighteen. It's hard isn't it? You spend all day around someone like Jenna or my partner, then you have to go home to your wife, who starts in on you the moment you walk in door." Danny sighed and Larry nodded in agreement.

"Jenna was different, wasn't she? She was nice, she listened you, she never nagged you. So you decided to make a move." Danny continued and noticed Larry's eyes widen.

"But she rejected you, didn't she Larry? And that made you mad, so you killed her."

"I didn't mean to!" Larry blurted out, Danny nodded pretending to understand.

"She freaked out, didn't she? You panicked." Danny offered.

"She started yelling, saying she was going to tell my wife. I just wanted her to stop talking, I just wanted her to be quiet, and I…" Larry trailed off as he mimed a strangling action.

"You shut her up." Confirmed Danny.

"I didn't mean to. I swear to god, I didn't mean to kill her!" Larry insisted getting upset.

"It's okay Larry just write it all down. Write down everything that happened, how she lead you on, how you didn't mean to kill her. Write it all down and we'll see if we can't sort something out with the DA." Danny told him as he slid a pad of paper and a pen across the table. Larry took it and started writing, Danny sighed, shook his head and left the room.

Linda watched as Danny crossed the room, walked past his desk and stood at the whiteboard covered in photos and notes. She got a bit closer but was unable to resist the urge to stay back and keep watching.

"Did he confess?" Baez asked looking up from her desk.

"Yup. Poor guy." Danny sighed and Baez, stunned at his comment, put down her pen.

"Poor guy?" She asked as she watched him start removing things from the whiteboard.

"He's a bored, middle aged guy stuck in a mediocre marriage. He fell for a beautiful woman at work and things got out of hand. I get it." Danny explained.

"She rejected him and he strangled her to death." She reminded him as he carried what he had removed from the whiteboard over to his desk and took his seat.

"I'm not excusing what he did. It's just, I know what it's like to have a distractingly attractive coworker." He said placing the documents and photo's into a manila folder. He stared at the folder for a moment before lifting his eyes to meet hers.

"So do I." She smiled at him, he stared captivated by her smile.

"But I wouldn't strangle him if he rejected me. I'm a cop, I'd shoot him." She added grinning and the pair shared a laugh never breaking eye contact. Linda felt very uncomfortable witnessing the obvious chemistry between the two. Danny on the other hand was thrilled that they had somehow gotten back to being friends with everything going on between them. It was only when Danny saw Larry waving from the interrogation room that he finally broke eye contact.

"Looks like he's finished." Danny said and Baez turned to see Larry gesturing to get Danny's attention. They shared another small laugh before Danny stood and went to walk back to the interrogation room. He hadn't even taken two steps when he stopped.

"Hey, after we've booked Larry do you want to go and get some lunch?" He asked.

"Sure, where?" Baez looked up at him.

"You can choose." He told her.

"How about Frankie's?" She suggested.

"Yeah, I love Frankie's." He smiled.

"I know." She replied smiling back. Danny headed off to the interrogation room when he saw Linda coming around the corner. Linda smiled at him and tried her best not to react when she saw a flash of disappointment cross Danny's face when he realised his lunch plans were going to have to change.

"You must have been starving." Linda said as she sat across the table from Danny in a diner just a couple of blocks from his precinct. He paused mid chew and looked up at her.

"You haven't said a word since the food came." She pointed out and he nodded, grateful she had provided an excuse. As they sat having a quiet lunch, she watched him and couldn't help but think about the state of their marriage. She knew there was a distance between them, she could even admit to herself that distance had been growing. What she sadly realised, as she sat in that diner, was that as they were growing further apart, he and Baez were growing closer together.

That night neither Linda or Danny could sleep, they lay together in the dark both pretending to be asleep. Linda glanced over at the bedside clock, the glowing numbers telling her it was just after one in the morning. She closed her eyes and tried again to fall asleep, moments later she felt the bed move as Danny sat up and got out of the bed. She opened her eyes in time to see him grab his phone from the nightstand and walk quietly out of the room. She waited for a minute before getting up and following, she followed him downstairs and saw him walk into the living room. She stopped, partially obscured by the doorframe and watched. He lay down on the couch and unlocked his phone, he opened his contacts and scrolled quickly to a number. He tapped it to select it and pushed the green call button. He put the phone to his ear and put his other arm behind his head. It rang twice before the call connected.

"Hi." She greeted him.

"Hi. I didn't wake you did I?" He asked.

"Nope. I'm just lying in bed staring up at the ceiling." She told him. His mind instantly conjured an image of her lying in bed in a singlet and shorts with her hair spread all over her pillow.

"Danny?" He was brought out of his daydream by her voice a little louder in his ear.

"I'm here." He said quickly and she realised what she had interrupted.

"What's keeping you up?" She asked wondering what he wanted to talk about this time.

"I keep thinking about Larry." He said with a sigh. Hearing this confirmed Linda suspicion, he was taking to Baez.

"Larry?! All the things we've seen and you're thinking about Larry?" She couldn't stop herself from laughing.

"I know, right?" He chuckled.

"I'm sorry. What about Larry?" She asked once she stopped laughing.

"I sort of feel for the guy. Maybe I'm more like him than I want to admit." He explained with a sigh. Linda felt a stab of pain hearing Danny identify with the man she'd seen earlier, she realised things were worse than she thought.

"Hey, you are nothing like Larry." Baez reassured him.

"Really?" He replied unconvinced.

"First of all, you would never kill anyone. You're not bored, you love your job and your distractingly attractive coworker likes you back." She told him, emboldened by the fact she could not see him. He smiled, his eyes wide surprised by her candidness.

"Oh." He replied, getting a funny feeling in his stomach as he wondered where this conversation was going. They sat in silence for a few minutes as Linda, seeing the look on Danny's face, tried to guess what Baez had said.

"We have to get up in a few hours." Baez stated moving things back to a safer topic.

"I know." He replied and they fell silent again, both smiling at each others desire to stay on the phone. After awhile Danny heard her try and fail to stifle a yawn.

"I should let you go." He told her.

"No, I'm fine." She assured him and he smiled at her willingness to keep talking to him.

"It's ok, you need to sleep. I'll see you at work." He said.

"Ok, bye."

"Bye." He replied.

"Oh, Danny?" She added before he could hang up.

"Yeah?" He asked smiling.

"Try a hot chocolate." She suggested.

"Good idea. Bye." He chuckled.

"Bye." She said before finally hanging up. He sat up and put his phone in his pocket, as he stood Linda moved back down the hall. She ducked around a corner and watched him head into the kitchen. As Danny began fixing himself a hot chocolate, Linda crept up the stairs not ready to have the conversation she knew they would have if she asked him about Baez.

The following day Danny and Baez were in the park, in plainclothes, watching a guy buying drugs. Once the buyer had completed the transaction, he walked out of the park. Baez and Danny however, were focused on the dealer who had begun to make his way through the park. Baez slipped her hand into Danny's and they strolled through the park together keeping an eye on the dealer. They eventually came out the far exit of the park and followed the dealer as he turned right. They followed him for two blocks before he began to slow down.

"Where is this guy going?" Danny wondered aloud.

"If we knew that we wouldn't have to follow him." Baez replied and they shared a smile. They looked back at the dealer to see him walking up to a pay phone, thinking quickly Baez pulled Danny by the hand she was still holding over to a shop window and pointed inside. Danny immediately played along standing behind her and wrapping his arms around her. Her pulse quickened as she felt Danny's warm body against hers, she froze for a second before relaxing into his embrace. Danny, feeling her body relaxing into his and the smell of her perfume as it filled his nostrils tried very hard to focus on the reflection of the dealer in the window.

"Look, we should get that for our place." She told him as they watched the dealer making a call.

"Oh, so we live together?" He asked, enjoying the cover story she was making up.

"Well, not yet, but you're going to ask me any day now." She grinned and rested her arms on top of his. He smiled at her in the reflection, then turned his attention back to the dealer, who was having an intense conversation on the payphone.

"That won't go with my lounge suite." Danny smirked as he furthered their cover story. Her eyes shifted from the dealer to Danny as she smiled.

"That's ok, when I move in we'll get rid of your lounge suite and use mine." She grinned as she leaned her head back and rested it on his shoulder. His heart beat a little faster as he felt the soft skin of her face as it came to rest against his. Their eyes locked in the window and she could not suppress a smile or resist the urge to tease him.

"Distracted?"