As she walked down the hall toward Daniel's office, Kate Moretti was surprised to see a young woman backpedaling out of the room, looking more than a little perturbed. Muffled by the walls and distance, Kate could hear Daniel's voice and nothing seemed too alarming.

Still, she stopped the girl and asked, "Something wrong?"

"Oh," the co-ed replied, casting a look back at the door, "Yeah, no, just…Professor Pierce is talking to himself really intently. It's kind of weird."

Kate bit back a wince and pulled an excuse out of her hat. "It does seem strange when he does that, but it's just part of his process when he helps us at the Bureau."

That seemed to ease some of the nerves from the girl, whose eyes brightened. "Oh, right, yeah, I heard he was some kind of consultant…Are you working on a case?"

"Classified," Kate said, then stepped around the girl and continued into the office, quietly closing the door behind her. Inside, Daniel was talking, hands arching in expressive gestures as he spoke to the empty chair in front of him.

Biting her lip, Kate took a moment to breathe. Even if Daniel hadn't told her about his struggles with paranoid schizophrenia, the FBI had vetted him before they would allow him to consult on cases. She knew he'd spent time at a treatment facility, knew he wasn't on medication but was managing in other ways, keeping a schedule, having Lewicki around to help.

She also knew his involvement in her cases was disrupting his routine. A part of her wished she'd never pulled Daniel into her world, but another part knew he liked working through the puzzles of cases as much as she did, liked seeing the pieces come together to form the final, whole picture.

Sometimes, Kate wondered what it said about her that she had been drawn to Daniel since that very first lecture years ago. During her time as a student, there had been nothing inappropriate about their relationship and, after she corralled him into helping at the Bureau, they had developed a deeper friendship and something that could be more, given the right circumstances. She was almost certain he felt something for her, but….

Well, she held back too. Tried to move on. Michael was perfectly lovely, but after a few dates, he had smiled at her and told her she should follow her heart. The fact that he had picked up on her feelings did not bode well for her attempts to keep things locked up.

Shaking herself from her musing, she said, "Daniel."

She saw him stiffen, saw the line of his back go tight even as he whipped around to face her. The look on his face was like a punch to the kidney. He looked horrified and more than a little afraid, like he thought she was going to judge him for talking to his hallucination.

"Kate," he replied, folding his arms defensively, eyes bouncing from her to the empty chair. "I was just…."

"I know," she said quickly, giving him a little smile. "Dinner?"

"Dinner?"

"Want to get something to eat with me?"

For a moment, she thought he was going to turn her down again as he stopped to gaze at the chair, but then he turned back to her, posture relaxing as he offered a tentative smile of his own. "Dinner sounds nice."

Baby steps were still steps in the right direction.

Comments, pretty please?