Have been playing with this siliness since I finished Stepping Into the Past. This one starts out with Danielle Melnick's blind date with Sam Prescott, that is mentioned in one of the final chapters of SITP. If you are one for Jack & Brooke stories this one will get back to them in due time. With the premier of L and O coming soon, I assume my draft of this one will be revised as we see Jack and the new guy in action.

"You told Brooke about the Five Stages of Love?! My God, I can't believe you even remember that silly thing! Jack,do you want to go back to Manhattan General," Danielle Melnick asked incredulously as she looked at the cell phone in her hand.

Leave it to Jack McCoy to add drama to a simple trip home from the hospital…she thought as her cab crossed Hogan Place on its way to Clancy's Traven. The one time I want to ask Romeo for advice, he loses his touch and manages to piss of his current flame…and he does it the day he decides to propose, of all times!

"…Listen, Jack it's simple," Melnick, continued, making a valiant effort to hide her annoyance, "you call her. …Do you want my advice or do you want to argue? … Good. Now, you call her. You tell her you acted like an idiot because you have been terrified you were going to lose her-…Yes, I said 'terrified'…yes, you were…you were, so... Jack! Do you want to be proud or do you want to be happy? ... Well, you have to pick one !...Good. Tell her to get on the next train back to Manhattan and when she arrives don't let her leave until she agrees to marry you…"

Melnick raised her shoulder so she could continue the conversation as she slipped her compact and lipstick out of the black velvet clutch bag. She carefully ran the tube of 'Evening Sunset' over her lips as she thought about Randy Dworkin's pitch to her.

Melnick just left Judge Rivera's chambers when she saw Dworkin and another man standing by the elevator. Neither had heard the soft tap of her heels as she joined them. She smiled at the stranger who was telling Dworkin in no uncertain terms what he thought of something Dworkin wanted him to do.

"…Randy, you can pitch it a million different ways and I'll find a million different ways to tell you 'no'. Now I may be a little rusty after all these years but when I was prosecutin' drug lords and kidnappers, it seemed to me that their counsel had to do what the client asked, not the other way around. Has that changed?"

"Sam, it's the duty of counsel-," Dworkin began.

The stranger pressed a finger to Dworkin lips, as he smiled back at Melnick.

"Eck. Now, Randy, answer the question. Yes or no, has that changed?"

Melnick couldn't see her colleagues face, but she knew Randy Dworkin well enough to be able to imagine the look of defeat she on his face. Finally, he shook his head. The stranger glowed with pleasure as he took his finger away.

"Good. Then we understand each other, "he said firmly. "No more talk about bringin' Mal into the courtroom."

The man smoothed his tie and vest down, giving Melnick a slight bow.

"Now that that's settled, I think I'll get a little exercise and take the stairs. See you in the mornin' Randy."

Melnick watched the tall, lean figure move down the hall towards the stairs.

"Danielle, are you coming?"

Melnick turned to see Dworkin all ready inside the elevator and holding the door for her. She blushed as she stepped inside the elevator car. Dworkin smiled at her embarrassment.

"He's available, Dani."

"If he's a client, he may not be available for long," she countered as she pressed the button for the main floor.

"Oh, this one is innocent. Haven't you been following the Prescott case?"

"That was him? That was Sam Prescott? Gee, I pictured someone in a ten gallon hat and cowboy boots- the way the guys at the states attorney's office paint him. The man's their version of Superman and John Wayne rolled into one."

Dworkin nodded.

"He's got quite a reputation," Dworkin said as the imaginary wheels in his brain began to spin.

Melnick could see Dworkin was up to something and she didn't plan on sticking around to find out what it was. Once the doors opened, Melnick strode quickly towards the Centre Street exit.

"Dani, wait," Dworkin said as he breathlessly caught up with her. "Listen, the trial isn't going to last much longer. The guy just came out of hiding, his marriage is over. He really could use a friend right now."

"You mean to say Brooke isn't staying with him," she asked.

Melnick figured when all was said and done the Prescott's would reconcile. At least based on the late night, scotch filled, conversations she'd had with District Attorney Jack McCoy over the corse of the trial.

"Between us," Dworkin asked quietly. "If that marriage wasn't over when Sam left without so much as a word to her in the last five years, it was over when Brooke fell for your friend McCoy. Sam knows it. He's just waiting for the trial to finish before taking the necessary steps to end it."

Melnick stared at Dworkin. She knew Randy Dworkin could pull almost anything to try to get a client an acquittal. Especially a client he believed to be innocent. It was common knowledge in Manhattan legal circles that Prescott's wife and Jack McCoy had been seeing each other for months. It was also common knowledge that Melnick and McCoy were good friends. The last thing she wanted to do was to be used as a pawn by Randy Dworkin against McCoy.

"Tell you what Randy, if you manage to get Prescott acquitted, I'll have a drink with him. But not before," she said increasing her speed as she moved down the courthouse steps.

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Melnick scanned the crowded bar, half hoping the attractive West Virginian would be a no show, half curious about the man who had captured her attention almost two weeks before.

"Danielle Rose?"

Melnick turned to find Prescott beside her, his hand outstretched holding a perfectly formed long stemmed white rose.

"Now, I realize red is the customary color, but seein' as how I haven't done this in a while, I figured white was much more appropriate. 'Specially with your reputation."

Melnick inhaled the fresh scent of the rose and looked inquisitively up at Prescott.

"White usually symbolizes new beginnings, so I understand the reference to you entering the single world. But you lost me with my reputation."

Prescott reached out protectively as a group of businessmen moved passed to get to the door, a few staggering as they went.

"Tell ya what, would you mind if we went someplace a little less chaotic? I can't hear myself think in here."

Melnick nodded and let him guide her out the door and into the early evening breeze. After a brief discussion, the pair agreed to a quick cab ride out of the down town area and over to Forty Sixth Street to an Italian restaurant that had been a fovorite of Prescott's before he left New York and five years of Witness Protection.

"After all this time, half of the hot spots I knew have either moved or closed all together," he said as the cab pulled into traffic.

Melnick nodded.

"Things change pretty fast around Manhattan," she agreed as she looked down at the flower. "I believe you were going to tell me about my reputation?"

"Indeed, I was. I didn't need ol' Randy to tell me about you. Danielle Melnick was a name that struck fear into the hearts of even the most seasoned prosecutors when I worked for the Southern District."

Melnick laughed, slightly embarrassed but none the less flattered by, what she knew by his tone, was meant as a compliment.

"I doubt anything ever struck fear into your heart when you were a federal prosecutor."

Prescott smiled bashfully.

"Maybe a thing two," he said thoughtfully. "But, we were talkin' about you. I'll have you know Ben Stone told me about your work on the Blaine case way back in '91. Hench the white rose. Only a woman with a pure heart and sense of innocence, could take on the cases you have," he said seriously. "The kind of traits symbolized by a white rose."

Melnick put a hand to her cheek, feeling the glow of a blush. She lowered her eyes once more, momentarily flustered.

"I apologize if I embarrassed you with that remark," he said with sincerity that surprised her.

He lightly placed his hand where in the area where he'd read a bullet had hit her a few years before. Melnick looked up at him even more startled.

"But after what you've been through, you should be anything but embarrassed."

"I'm not the one who survived mafia death threats, much less a murder trial," Melnick countered as composed herself.

Prescott started to reply, but waited when Melnick's cell phone rang.

"How rude of me," she said as she reached into her purse. "I thought I shut it off."

"A client," he offered, when he noticed the frown on her lips after she read the caller ID.

"A friend whose going to go right back in the hospital if this isn't important," she replied as she opened the phone. "Listen, if you didn't break your stitches open, I'm hanging up…If you didn't do what I told you to do, then there's no point-…. She was? Well, that's good. You don't have to wait another hour to resolve… "

Melnick suddenly moved the phone away from her ears as if she couldn't believe what she had just heard.

"You thought you heard who when you called her…Logan," she asked incredulously, before her tone became accusatory. "How many pain pills did you take? ... You have to ask why? Because you're delusional, that's why! "

Prescott leaned back and nodded in response to Melnick's apologetic look.

"… Now is not a good time to discuss that…because," she said lowering her voice as she turned towards the window. "Because with someone …yes, we're on our way to dinner … Call me in the morning and let me know what she says," she commanded as she snapped the phone shut.

"That's another reason I chose a white rose," he said knowingly.

Melnick shook her head, once again, not following his train of thought.

"Word has it, you're part of a dyin' breed, Danielle Rose," he explained with a wink. "You are one of the few women in this town that knows Jack McCoy well, that hasn't 'known' him in the biblical sense."

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