When Rocco got Gavin tucked into bed, he had expected he'd find Dani passed out somewhere. She woke once when he stopped for ice cream but seemed out of it. It was funny when she stumbled into the house with a deer-in-headlights look. He reminded her where she was, and she smiled and started giggling.

From Dante's pained texts, it sounded like she was doing much better than Lexi, who kept Dante up to suffer with her.

Rocco was surprised to find her awake and sitting on the couch with a blanket wrapped around her. She was eating some ice cream with the remote in her hand. Apparently, she had found his coke stash and had a can sitting on the table beside her.

"I thought you would have passed out by now," he chuckled dryly; honestly, he'd been anxious to get home and pour his troubles into a few good shots of bourbon. He couldn't do that with her cute little drunk self sitting in his living room.

"I found a movie," she grinned and took a big bite of ice cream lying back against the couch; she curled her legs underneath her.

"Oh yeah?" He walked over to the couch to glance at what she had found. It was Family Man with Nicholas Cage.

"Isn't this a Christmas Movie?"

"Sort of; it's cute." She pouted at him. "Come on, sit down and watch it with me."

He couldn't bring himself to say no to that face.

"Yeah, just give me a second; I see you found my coke stash." He pointed to her pop with a smirk.

"Guilty; I'll help you keep it stocked," she promised.

He headed into the kitchen and grabbed a pop and a glass, screw it if he was going to sit up and watch a damn Christmas movie with this girl; he wasn't doing it sober. He grabbed his premium bottle of bourbon from the cupboard above the fridge and returned to the living room to join her.

"Thanks for the ice cream." She held up a spoonful and smiled at him again; he could get used to that. "This was always my favorite; my dad and Kev liked chocolate. Jillian and I always wanted cookies and cream."

"Speaking of your aunt, the bear..."

"Kiki," she corrected with a sloppy grin.

"Yeah, Kiki," he smiled; she was an adorable drunk.

"Your Aunt Jillian gave that to you?" he asked softly.

"Yeah," she smiled. "It was a miracle he survived the fire."

"That meant a lot to you," he said, "It... Gavi will understand. You can't just give that away."

"Stop Rocco," she said. "Seeing how much Gavi loves Kiki makes me feel so like... I'm as good as her to him, or as she was, I don't know."

"You've become a really important person to him in a short time, and Kiki is a reflection of you to him. That's why he loves it so much."

"Rocco." She sniffled back a few tears and wagged her finger at him, "Don't do that when a girl's been sipping tequila." 

"Sipping you say?" He arched an eyebrow.

"Well it started that way," she offered. 

"You are something else, Valentine." He poured himself a half-short glass of the amber liquid and sniffed it before taking a slow sip. He couldn't indulge in it as often anymore, but man, it tasted good right now.

"You're drinking whiskey with a coke chaser, and I'm something else?"

"It's not a chaser; it's a side drink." He gave her a duh look, and she giggled. 

He stood there for another second, filling his glass one more time; every part of him wanted to sit down next to her, but every part of him also knew that was probably not the best idea.

"You ready to watch this now or what?" She rolled her eyes impatiently.

"You didn't have to wait for me to start it," he laughed.

He finally opted for a chair near the couch where she was sitting. They shared the end table; he set his drinks down and relaxed. She was still for a second and then stretched her legs out on the couch.

She was sound asleep about halfway through the movie and he was stuck with the agonizing decision of what to do with her. Should he wake her up? He didn't want to scare her in her drunken state, though. He could cover her up and let her sleep, but then she could get a sore neck or back. He finally considered taking her in his arms and carrying her to her bed.

The last idea appealed heavily to his entire body, which instantly warmed up at the thought. The image of her stunning curves displayed in that tiny suit was permanently burned into his head.

Bad, bad idea, he told himself, sighing in frustration.

Maybe she'd wake up by the movie's end, he could hope, right? He refilled his drink and settled into the chair as he got into the movie's plot.

** 

It was pitch dark again when he opened his eyes; he was in bed, his bed?

It didn't feel like it...

"Mm." A warm body snuggled closer to him.

Oh god, oh no, his eyes popped open, he had a girl in his arms, and he knew... he knew by her warmth, her sweet fresh smell, and by the way, her perfect body fit up against his, just who he was holding, and it wasn't his wife.

 A lump formed in his throat and yet he couldn't move away from Dani's peaceful sleeping form. 

What was he going to do?

She shivered, and he tightened his hold on her in pure instinct; she nuzzled her head against his chest. She felt so damn good; all reasonable thought left his mind for a few minutes. It wasn't until her body started to move and her breathing altered, indicating she was waking up, that the panic set in.

How had they ended up like this? How far had it gone, and why couldn't he remember it? How was he supposed to explain this to her? 

He considered maneuvering her out of his arms, but had they done what he was afraid they'd done that could hurt her feelings, and he couldn't stand that.

"It's cold," she mumbled into his chest, snuggling even closer, so close he could feel her long lashes tickling his bare skin.

His bare skin...he nearly swore out loud as he realized he was only wearing boxers, and she had some silky little slip or something on, but her legs were bare.

It was very cold, oddly cold, and dark; they must be in the basement. So, had he carried her down there after all? The last thing he remembered was getting into that movie she'd picked out while he enjoyed a fair amount of whiskey.

What would happen when she woke up fully and realized where she was and who she was with? He could feel his heart racing as she started moving, pulling her head back from his chest to look up at him. He froze, waiting for her reaction. She surprised him by smiling and stroking his cheek tenderly.

"Morning," she said in her melodic voice. "What time is it?"

"Pretty early, I'm guessing," he managed to get out; why was she not flipping out?

She yawned and rested her pretty little head back on his chest instead. His one brain screamed at him to stop this now! While the other one was dying for a repeat of whatever he had missed the night before.

She then pressed tiny kisses all over his chest and shoulders; he moaned involuntarily. Good lord, what was this woman doing to him?

"Dani..." It came out as a raspy groan instead of the, what the hell are you doing, tone it was meant to have. Her hands roamed over his chest, and she flung her leg over him. His body reacted to her instantly, his blood boiling with a desire he'd never felt before. This had to stop; it had to...all coherent thoughts left his mind, though, as her thigh found the most urgent part of him and rubbed purposely against it.

She paused suddenly before pulling away from him. He groaned and resisted the urge to pull her back.

'She had to come to her senses, and so do you', he thought, desperate for his painful urges to subside.

"Hold that thought." She giggled and maneuvered her body from his hold, sitting on the bed.

Her long chestnut hair fell in a thick curtain over her shoulders and down her back. He could see now that she was wearing his silky black button-up shirt and nothing else. His jaw almost dropped as he gaped up at her.

"Little feet," she explained, seeming to take his stiffening for wondering why she pulled away.

"What?" He didn't finish thinking as the bedroom door creaked open and dim light flooded the room.

Little Gavin was running into the room, and Rocco found his jaw dropping again. How did he explain this?

"Come on up, Tiger," Dani said calmly.

Gavin jumped onto the bed, seemingly unfazed to find them both in there. He climbed between them and pulled the oversized comforter up to his chin. Dani laid back down, pulling him into her arms and cuddling him.

"Maybe Daddy will put another log on the fire and then come back and cuddle us?" she asked sweetly, looking up at Rocco with a heart-melting little smile.

"I, what?" He was so confused, but getting out of the room would help, right?

Yeah ...log... fire ok...

He stumbled out of bed and left the room; he found himself in a dimly lit hall of a small. Was it a cabin, a log cabin, or something? 

Did they go somewhere? How could he not remember that? How long had he blacked out? 

He continued down the hall, which held the room he had just left, a bathroom, and two other small spaces, the first one was all decked out with little boy stuff and was remarkably similar to Gavin's room.

The other room was nearly empty except for a small desk and a laptop. The Kiki bear was sitting on the desk, Rocco felt like it was looking at him. A little freaked by it, he shook his head and kept walking.

"It must be a cabin," he murmured, noticing the woodwork-styled walls surrounding him.

He walked into a cozy living room with a fireplace in the center of the room. A plaid plush couch and a matching chair sat facing the fireplace. Logs were stacked up neatly next to a little brick fireplace. It was cold and drafty in this place, and Rocco spent some time getting the fire going again. It was a relaxing chore that let his mind ease up for a while.

After the fire was roaring Rocco entered the small kitchen area adorned with a nice modern oak finish and hardwood floors. The kitchen area was small and cozy with an old gas stove and a cute farmhouse sink that faced a window. There was a round oak table and chairs in the corner.

The fridge drew his attention next and his jaw dropped at all the pictures of himself with Gavin and Dani on the fridge. Picture after picture of the three of them. At the zoo, the beach, a pizza place, sledding...sledding? 

Did he block out some large gap in time somehow? Was there an accident? He was wearing sweats pants, no shirt, no pockets, and he didn't spot his cell phone anywhere.

"What is happening?"