"Shhhhhhhhhhhhh..." Lizzy laughed as Caleb and Dana half carried, half dragged, her towards her hotel room door. Caleb was not as far gone as Lizzy was, but he had had one too many to drive so Dana had driven them back to their hotel in their truck.

"It's OK Dana; the dent is hardly noticeable, Quinn won't even notice," Lizzy whispered in a less than quiet voice.

Dana, never having driven a truck before, had backed into the mailbox at her house.  It was a mailbox that was surrounded in brick and had been built to last. The bumper on Quinn's truck had been left with a nice dent after the collision.

Lizzy had not been able to stop laughing.

Now that it was over Dana could see the amusing side to it.  They had piled into the front seat with Dana behind the wheel, and as soon as they heard the crunch and felt the jerk, they had all worn the same expression of shock. Lizzy recovered first and fell into peals of laughter as Dana and Caleb had gotten out of the truck to inspect the damage.

"Are you sure you didn't have a few too many Dana?" Lizzy eyed her as she leaned against the wall next to her door. "Caleb you should have driven." Lizzy just about shouted the last statement

"Shhhhhhhhhhh..." Caleb said trying to fit her keycard into the slot.

"Shhhhhhhhhhh..." Lizzy hissed back. "Quinn's gonna be pissed."

There was silence as Caleb worked on the key.

"You're lucky that Dana's not pissed at you. You did try to steal her boyfriend after all."

"I did not!" Lizzy sounded belligerent.

"I'll say I did it." Caleb offered as the door finally swung open, completely changing the subject again

"Did what?" They heard behind them.

The looks on Caleb and Lizzy's face were comical; as if they had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar before dinner.

Dana just closed her eyes at the sound of his voice. She slowly turned to look at him, and he looked as if he had just returned from dinner. He was still wearing his long duster coat to keep off the rain that had been falling steadily all night.

The door on their other side opened, and Davis stepped out into the hall yawning, his eyes half opened. He took in their little group shook his head and then retreated into his room, apparently not impressed with the scene. Lizzy stumbled into her room and fell backward onto the bed groaning.  "I'm getting too old for this. It is the last time I party with you Caleb; you're a bad influence on your big sister."

"Promises promises..." he muttered moving to the room that Davis had disappeared into, forgetting completely about the previous conversation and Quinn's truck as the door slammed behind him.

Quinn looked at Lizzy sprawled on the bed and then at Dana, his eyebrow raised in question.

"Oh don't look at her like that brother. It is just a small dent."

Lizzy crawled up the bed and pushed down the covers before pulling her boots off in a less than ladylike fashion. "Go away and get the light as you leave. Dana, I'm sorry about Matt, but since you're in love with Quinn I figured it didn't really matter, and I've always had a thing for musicians."

Dana watched fascinated as she crawled under the covers and was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

"Maybe I should start drinking," Dana muttered wishing the floor would open and swallow her whole.

"Don't worry, she'll pay for it tomorrow," Quinn said ignoring the love comment. He looked at his watch. "She has to make a flight in five hours."

Dana realized that they were alone in the hallway. There was an uncomfortable silence.

"So about the dent?" Quinn asked, breaking the silence.

"I backed into a mailbox. Let me know what I owe you for the damages." Dana turned to leave, not wanting to expound any further on the subject, but Quinn reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her from going.

She closed her eyes at the shock of the warmth of his hand on her arm. She felt as if her stomach had just dropped to her toes.

"How are you getting back home?"

Of course, Dana, did you think that he was stopping you to beg you not to go? Her heart cracked a little.  All of the careful mending she had done coming undone.

"I'll get the bus."

"I'll take you." His voice sounded gruff.

"Its fine Quinn, the bus will do."

"Stop arguing with me; you don't live that far."

He knew where she lived?

Quinn caught the question in her look because he smiled. "Caleb told me just in case."

Dana couldn't do more than nod at this.

He held out his hand for her to precede him, and the walk back to the truck was silent. To his credit, he didn't even look at the bumper as he moved around the truck to get into the driver's side.

"I'm serious if you tell me how much the repair is I will pay for the damage."

"Don't worry about it Dana; it won't break me."

"It won't break me either." She snapped.  How could he be so passive and calm? Her heart was about to explode out of her chest just sitting next to him. His presence filled the cab of the truck, and she could smell his aftershave. It was doing funny things to her stomach. Make conversation Dana. Her mind screamed; act like him, like you don't care.

"I enjoyed watching you and Caleb roping this afternoon." Real smooth Dana that's it tell him you still enjoy watching him.

"Thanks, it's been a while since I've competed, it was fun to get back into the arena."

"Well, I'm glad I got the chance to see you two in action."

He looked over at her, giving her his lopsided grin, and she felt her heart jerk. She turned to look out the window trying to pretend that he wasn't so close. It would be so easy to reach out and run her hand through his hair.

"So you're working now?" This time he tried to break the tension with light conversation.

"Yes, at the school, it keeps me busy."

"You're going to school. I would think that would keep you busy enough." Quinn's voice dripped with disapproval.

Dana's turned to look at him, and she couldn't help the smirk as it crossed her face.

"You had your chance to have a say, Quinn." She should feel better at being able to throw it back at him, but all she felt was sadness that he had not chosen to have that say. She turned to look out the window as the silence lengthened. She was not about to justify her actions to him. The rest of the short drive was in silence as he pulled into her driveway. He did look over at the mailbox.

"Well, at least the mailbox survived."

Dana couldn't help the small smile that escaped.

As she jumped out of the truck Ace came hopping towards her, not putting any weight on his front paw. She knelt down to take the paw in her hand, and he yelped, pulling it away and licking her hand. Someone at the party must have let him out, or he snuck out when they were leaving. Usually, it wasn't a problem he was too old to wander, so he always kept to the yard. Quinn must have heard the yelp because he cut the engine and moved around to her side to see what was wrong.

"He's limping, and he won't let me touch his paw."

Quinn picked up the dog as if the eighty something pounds weighed nothing.

Dana moved quickly in front of him, opening the door and leading the way into the house through the light mist that had begun to fall again. When they walked in all conversation stopped at the sight of Quinn holding Ace. He was wearing his duster and, as always, his cowboy hat was pulled low.  He looked very much like he had the night she had met him.

It seemed a few friends had stayed to visit in the quietness of the party's aftermath, and they had all been struck silent by the sight of Quinn. He nodded a greeting and looked over his shoulder at Dana.

She passed him leading the way into the dining room turning on the light as she entered. Quinn sat the quiet dog on the table, and she watched as Ace leaned into Quinn's stomach, licking his hand as he had Dana's.

"What's his name?" Quinn rubbed his ears, receiving a happy groan in response.

Dana watched Quinn's hands massage the dog, swallowing hard at the sight.

"Ace." It came out strangled, but it did come out.

Quinn must have misunderstood her tone because he smiled his reassurance. "He seems fine Dana."

She just nodded, not trusting herself to speak. The others had moved into the room and were watching the scene eagerly as Quinn continued to run his hand over Ace checking for injuries. "Is he up to date on all of his shots?"

"Yes." Dana licked her lips her mouth suddenly dry. She noticed Quinn's gaze follow the movement of her tongue, and when his eyes met hers she was able to see, just for a split second before he was able to mask it, desire.

He turned his attention back to the dog, slowly moving his hand down the dog's leg. Ace licked him as if to say it was alright, that he knew he was there to help. When he spread the paw Ace jerked and yelped, causing Dana to wince, but Quinn held on and kept the paw in his hand, feeling the tendons and bones. He released the dog's paw and scratched both ears at once kissing him on the head. "Good boy."

Ace's tail thumped against the table in response.

"He has a broken toe." Quinn stepped back from the table, and Ace stood up trying to follow him. He had to reach out to stop the dog before he fell off of the table.

Dana knew the feeling of Quinn removing his warmth, and she remembered being tempted to follow that warmth just as Ace had.  Dog's reactions were so honest; it was a shame that humans couldn't be as honest as well.

"There's nothing you can do. The bone is too small to set; it will just have to let it heal on its own. He'll be hobbling on three legs for a few weeks, but he'll be fine." He lifted Ace up and put him back on the floor. Ace sat on Quinn's feet looking up at him adoringly, and Quinn gave a lopsided smile to the dog as he patted him one last time.

Dana noticed that the women in the crowd were mesmerized by Quinn.  She couldn't blame them, he was drop dead gorgeous, he had a sexy smile, and he was caring for an injured animal.

"I'll see you out," Dana said, suddenly in a hurry to get him away from all of the adoring female attention.

"Please stay," A young redhead said, moving to stand next to him. She looked up at him batting her eyelashes, and Ace growled at her, having the guts to do what Dana wanted to do. The redhead was a friend of Leigh's and was used to Ace's moods, so she just ignored the dog, linking her arm through Quinn's.

Quinn shook his head and politely disengaged his arm. "I'm sorry, but I have an appointment early tomorrow."

He looked over at Dana, and she ignored his friendly grin and led the way to the door, a sour expression on her face.

He looked down at her as she held the door open. "You seem upset?" his voice held amusement as if he knew she was jealous.

"You would be too if your dog had more guts than you did." She watched his face, fascinated as he looked confused then slowly understood.  When he finally got it, he laughed a devilish smile creasing his face.

Just then Matt wandered in from the kitchen.  "There you are Dana, do you mind if I crash here?" He was utterly oblivious to the vibe in the room.  The others were discreetly watching from the living room, trying to act as if they were relaxing.

"Sure Matt," Dana said, not paying attention to him.  Matt often crashed on the couch when he had had too much to drink. Quinn's eyes narrowed when he heard Matt's name, and he turned to look at him, his glance taking in the spiky red hair and baggy jeans.

Dana licked her lips nervously, and Quinn followed the movement with his eyes again. She thought for sure that he was going to kiss her.  She was willing him to, but in the end, he just gave a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"For the record, you're one of gutsiest people I know," he said softly, kissing her on the forehead as a brother would do, and then he left.

"Who was that?" Matt asked. Something in his voice reminded her of the way Marcus would sound when he was in his possessive mood. Dana took a long hard look at Matt and didn't like what she saw. "That was Lizzy's brother." She took her time and drawled out Lizzy's name, letting him know she was aware of where his attention had been all night.

He turned red at her comment.  So he was not as bad as Marcus, yet.

Ace whined as Quinn's truck roared to life and backed out of the drive.

"Come on boy," she said as she shut the door, not wanting to see Quinn drive away.

"Who was that yummy man?" the redhead asked.

"Just a friend." Dana brushed past Matt. "Goodnight," she said over her shoulder as she retreated into her room. She locked the door behind her then fell on the bed and quietly cried herself to sleep with Ace whimpering beside her and giving her kisses every so often.