"It's complicated."
"Nothing is complicated," K snorted, shaking his head. "Life is real fucking simple- a series of choices you make. You chose to stay away. Why? Your job?"
"Partly," Daniel admitted. "Max was still undercover and I didn't want to put him at risk."
"I understand that, but Faith doesn't exist within the bubble of Lam. She teaches. She trains. She has an apartment..."
"Figured maybe she needed some time to cool down before I approached her again. Knew I would be at Lam tonight. Thought I could gauge her reaction and move on from there. I am in the process of resigning and getting my life together. I'd like her to be a part of that," he admitted. "She seems receptive to..." K's laugh cut off the rest of his sentence. "What?" he asked, confused.
"She was just involved in a traumatic thing an hour ago, watched a man she gives a shit about almost bleed to death. She's reeling. It's not going to be that easy. Once Ant is out of surgery and she can take a deep breath again, she's going to remember she's pissed at you and then she's going to make you work for it. She'll let you have it, though, if you stick it out. The question is whether you are willing to or not."
"Willing to is a shit way of putting it," Daniel said, shaking his head. "I am determined to."
"Like the sound of that better," he agreed with a nod. "Oh, and I know you're technically still and FBI agent and threatening you might get me pinched, but... you get my fucking meaning here," he said, giving Daniel a hard look then moving down the hall to talk to the girls as they walked out of the bathroom.
Faith had changed into something he didn't think she would normally be caught dead in. She, in general, seemed to prefer clothes that made it easy to jump to action if the situation called for it- jeans and tanks or tees or, alternately, workout gear.
But Corey's taste ran more toward the feminine and she hadn't packed jeans and a tee. No, she had packed a skintight electric blue body con dress with a square-cut bodice and a short hem, showing off her shapely legs. Her feet, though, were absurdly still clad in the combat boots she had worn to work.
It was a look.
Daniel felt his lips curve up into a big smile as Faith was obviously bitching to K about the dress, grabbing a handful of the stretchy material and he was pretty sure he heard her say something like, "No spandex, my ass."
She and K exchanged a few words, he reached out and wrapped a hand around the back of her neck, pulling her close so their foreheads touched, then released her and walked away and out of the hospital.
Corey and Faith walked back toward him a moment later, Faith grimacing, Corey sporting what Daniel could only label a wicked smile. It was right about then that he figured maybe she had packed that dress on purpose.
"Nice dress, sweetheart," Daniel said, just to get a reaction out of her.
"A fucking club dress. In a hospital," she snapped, shaking her head.
"What the fuck is that?" another male voice called suddenly and there was Salvatore. He had been rushing past, but caught a glimpse of Faith and skidded to a stop, brows drawn together. His eyes got to her face, and he laughed silently, shaking his head, and shrugging out of his suit jacket. "Here, kid, can't have you walking around in a dress, God forbid," he said. "I'm heading up. You waiting here?" When she nodded, he gave her a small reassuring smile and moved off. "I'll be down as soon as I know something."
"At least let me belt that," Corey insisted, curling her lip up at the material hanging almost down to Faith's knees, her body looking completely shapeless underneath. "Daniel, give me your belt," she went on, doing a gimme hand at him.
"Who the hell do I have to impress in the emergency room, Cor?"
From there, it was an argument to which Daniel cut in and told them he would be back in twenty, after he checked in on Max.
He walked down the hall to the sound of Max's loud, booming laugh and felt a bit of the knot in his stomach untie. He knew he was alright, but it was one thing to know it, and another to have proof of it. When he rounded the corner into his room, a smiling copper-haired nurse with freckles was walking out, shaking her head.
"She was cute," Max said as soon as he saw his friend. "I like freckles," he added as Daniel pulled up a chair and all but fell down into it, suddenly feeling completely drained. "You alright? I can call nurse freckles back in here to look you over. Everywhere, you know... just in case," Max smiled, the dimple etching into his cheek at the motion.