Eli sat alone at the bar at Doug's Place staring into his tonic water brooding. Did he do the right thing telling Lani the truth about his feeling? Just then Julie approaches and he plasters a smile on his face. It's not that he did not love his grandmother dearly, it's just now was not the time. Had he not promised to meet his mother, he would be at home right now wallowing in his misery privately.

"That smile doesn't fool me for a minute buster," Julie says. "Something's wrong. I hope it doesn't have anything to do with Lani."

"No, it's nothing like that," Eli lied. "It's just that I'm dead tired and after the day I've had I need about 100 hours of sleep."

"You should be home resting then, are you meeting someone? I hope it's not…"

"No, it's not Gabi," Eli said chuckling at his grandmother's tenacity. She could hold a grudge forever and a day. "I'm meeting my mom. She should be here by now." He looked at his watch. Val was 20 minutes late.

"Well your mother is a talented physician and it's been all hands on deck for Marlena."

"Yeah, she said she needed to take a break tonight. She says getting a change of scenery helps her to focus when she's back at work."

Val enters and rushes to the bar out of breath. "I'm so sorry I'm late. A specialist flew in tonight. Kayla and I met with her."

"How is Marlena doing?" Julie asks her voice full of concern.

Val shakes her head. "All I can say a this point is that we're doing everything we can."

"Such a shame," Julie said clucking her tongue. "That DiMera person has caused so much havoc in the last few days. I have been checking the freezer every hour since she stashed Susan and Eve in there. As a matter of fact. I'm due to check again right now, if you'll excuse me." With that Julie walked briskly to the back of the restaurant.

"You look how I feel," Val said regarding Eli. She rested her pocketbook on an empty bar stool. "Are you coming down with something?"

Just lovesick that's all, Eli thought to himself. "Nahh...I'm alright," he said out loud and stood. "Let's get a table."

Once they were seated Val mentions again that Eli does not look well.

"It's just work stuff," Eli says in response. "We had a drug bust yesterday and then there's tracking down Kristen DiMera."

Val shivered. "Be careful. Everyone thought she was dead once. Then she survived a fall that left Paul fighting for his life."

"Kristen DiMera is problematic, but some women are far more dangerous." Eli sighed. He had not stopped thinking about Lani for one second since they parted at the station. If this continued he was definitely going to lose his mind. The DiMera case was child's play compared to what was going on with him internally.

"Who could be more dangerous than that woman?" Val asked.

Eli says he would rather not talk about work now and picks up a menu. "Order anything you want and something to take back with you to the hospital."

Val glances at her phone. "Actually, let's wait a few more minutes before we order. I invited Lani to join us…"

"You invited Lani?" He said incredulously and immediately regretted raising his voice at his mother. Something he never did. Eli was determined to not talk about Lani, not tonight. It was bad enough that he was constantly thinking about her. And he certainly could not handle sitting across from her chatting amiably as if nothing had happened. Not while he was still second guessing himself about telling her that he cared.

"I didn't think it would be a problem," Val explained. I ran into Lani earlier and asked her to join us if she was free tonight and we talked a bit about you."

That's just great Eli thought. Lani would run away for sure now with him and his mother pressuring her. "I wish you had not done that. But anyway, I am positive Lani is not joining us tonight."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I just am."

Just then Val looked over his shoulder and smiled. Eli turned to see Lani standing right behind him. He immediately rose to his feet. "Lani...you're here…" he said thinking that his eyes were deceiving him. But there she was, dressed far differently than usual. Tonight she was wearing a satiny dress that fell to mid thigh leaving most of her smooth golden brown legs bare all the way down to a pair of high heeled sandals that exposed red painted toes. Her hair hung in soft waves around her shoulders. She wore maybe a tad more makeup. The fringe of lashes over her brown eyes was darker, which made her direct gaze that much more stunning. This woman was a vision.

"Um...obviously, I'm here." Lani quipped.

"Don't you look pretty tonight." Val said. "I love that dress. Red looks gorgeous on you."

Lani moves past Eli to greet his mother with a kiss. Then she pretends to kiss Eli on the cheek, but instead whispers. "You're staring…"

"I'm glad you could make it." Val says and then her phone rings. She leaves the table to take the call. Eli pulls out a chair for Lani.

"You know I hate chivalry" she says.

"It's the way my mom raised me and she's looking at us right now. So please humor me this one time." Lani sits down in the offered chair. Eli sits down beside her.

"Listen Lani, I had no idea that my mother had invited you tonight. The last thing I want to do is to make you feel pressured."

"Do I look like I'm pressured?" Lani said and crossed her long legs. "I drank too much coffee today thanks to you. Now I need to unwind. And I wanted to…."

Val returns to the table interrupting their conversation. She says that she isn't going to be able to stay for dinner. The colleague from out of town has to leave a day early due to a family emergency. So they're going to conference again on the case. "But you two go ahead. Enjoy yourselves," she said. Without waiting for an answer, Val blows them both a kiss and walks over to Chloe who had taken over for the bartender. She whispers something to her and then leaves.

Eli looked at Lani who was rummaging through her purse. He knew from months of working with her that even on her days off she carried nothing but a phone and a tube of lipstick. This fascination with the contents of her bag was obviously a ruse to deal with an awkward situation that had gotten even more awkward now that Val had left them alone. Eli sat back in his seat and sighed. This could not possibly get any worse. Then as if in answer to his thoughts, the first few chords of a melody filled the air. Chloe was now seated at the piano. "I just got a request for a song. This is a little something I wrote this week. I hope you enjoy." She played for another minute before she began to sing. "A love so strong/A passion that never ends/A feeling so real..."

"That doesn't even rhyme," Lani said in a low voice so that only Eli could hear. Whatever she was looking for in her bag now forgotten. Thankfully Chloe had helped to break the ice.

"Chloe has a beautiful voice," Lani continued, "but the lyrics could use some work. And I don't know why Doug's Place always has to be so dark for the dinner crowd."

Eli raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "So no chivalry for you. And no romance either I see."

"Nope, I don't do either. Give me a WNBA game any day over candle light and piano music and a little bit of food on a great big plate."

Eli laughed. He knew of her love for the WNBA-and heaping plates of food. Lani had played basketball in college and dreamed of going professional until an injury sidelined her. "Listen Lani. My apologies for all of this. I know it looks like a set up, but I swear to you. I had nothing to do with it."

"I totally believe you. I thought I saw my dad's car parked a few blocks down from here when I came in. Just the other day he was telling me that I should get out more. Then Val asked me to come to dinner with the two of you. They're probably in on this together."

"Apparently, your dad is my mom's getaway driver for the night."

"You are always thinking like a cop even when you're not on the job."

Julie comes by the table and tells them how good it is to see them together. When she leaves Eli tells Lani that it's always been just him and his mom. It's strange but nice to have family like Julie around all up in his business. Lani says it might take some getting used to having so many people who care about you. That word "care" hung between them. Then they spoke at the same time. Eli insisted that she speak first. Lani says that part of the reason she came tonight is not only because of the invitation, and to relax, but to also assure him that he had done nothing wrong. In fact the notepad argument made her laugh more than she had in weeks, maybe months.

"But then you suddenly got so serious and then it continued at the station," Lani explained. "I know you're walking on eggshells because I freaked out a few weeks ago…"

"You had every right. I shouldn't have kissed you…"

"No, you shouldn't have done that, but not for the reason you think. Not because you were wrong, but because I was in so much pain and so confused. I was just not ready yet. It was too soon."

"You mean…"

"I mean that I care about you too Eli." She reached for his hand. "I wasn't sure before. We've been through so much and alot of it has been painful and sad. But today when we were laughing about your horrible handwriting, I knew. I want more moments like that with you."

Eli took both of her hands in his. "Lani, I am so relieved. I want that too."

"You promise?"

"A solemn oath," Eli crossed his heart.

"In that case since your grandma isn't looking, you and I are going to slip away and…"

"And…"

"And we're going to the pub for clam chowder. Now that is real food."

"Ugh" Eli screws up his face. "Maybe it was better when you were accusing me of harassment."

"You're such a wimp."

"Oh, so I get it. You want more moments where you get to make fun of me."

"Uhhh...yeah. I mean you are so make-fun-able." Lani smiles and stands. She straightens her short dress before reaching to pull Eli to his feet. "Let's walk through the square. Maybe I'll harass you on the way."

"While that sounds very, very tempting. I actually have a better idea."

"Oh and what is that?"

"Dance with me."

Not waiting for her to answer Eli takes her hand and leads Lani to the small dance floor where a few other couples were swaying to the music. Chloe was now covering an Aretha Franklin song.

Lani crossed her arms. "I told you…"

"I know, you don't do romance, but I do." And with that he pulled her into his arms.

To be continued...