Hot Number (Hot Zone 2)

"We've got some strong interest from cable and satellite stations in having you as commentator. I think I can get them into a bidding war with GMA."

Damian inhaled deeply, then slowly exhaled. "Funny thing is, I' m not as worried as I thought I'd be about that part of things. I trust you and I have enough faith in. my ability to pull something off. Anything to keep myself busy," he said and forced a laugh. "It's not the professional stuff that's getting to me. It's the personal."

Suddenly Yank rose and slowly came up beside him, leaning heavily on his walker as he moved.

"I didn't realize you were walking so well," Damian said.

"If I wanted to get out of that hellhole, I had to work for it."

Damian nodded.

"Micki was always the lost one," Yank said, the topic of conversation catching Damian off guard.

But now that the older man had opened up, Damian wanted to know more and Yank seemed more than willing to talk.

"Annabelle was the oldest and she understood if I didn't take them, social services would split 'em up. So she became the peacemaker, the one who made sure her sisters behaved, not that they ever did," he said, chuckling at the memory. "But she took it on her little shoulders to try. She was serious and the little mother, following behind Lola and making sure everything was just so."

Damian smiled at the vision.

"Then there was Sophie. She was always hardest to figure out. She'd escape reality with her nose in a book all the time. In some ways it made her the easiest because she had all the answers even before I knew there were questions."

"And Micki?" Damian asked..

A smile curved the man's mouth into a smile. "Always had a soft spot for her 'cause she told it like it was and was never afraid of my bluster. She walked up to me that first day and called me a pig. Then she told me to call her Micki instead of Michelle. Didn't sit well with her sisters, that much I can tell you."

Damian met Yank's gaze. "I didn't realize her name was Michelle," he said, surprised.

"I don't believe anyone has called her that since the day I took the girls in. She just looked me in the eye and became my little Micki. But she missed out on the girlie stuff her sisters enjoyed and they never thought to include her since she seemed to like sports so much more."

With a groan, Damian leaned against the window-sill, exhausted from no sleep and overwhelmed with the desire to understand what he could do to fix things between himself and Micki. Assuming there was something left to fix.

"So she considered herself one of the guys?"

"And I never did anything to discourage it."

"I'm sure the guys she's dated have dispelled that notion " he said, his gut cramping at the thought of another man's hands anywhere on Micki's body, never mind another man actually making love to her. He knew he wasn't the first but he damn well wanted to be the last.

"Not too many guys that I know of. A jackass or two wanted an in with me. Another couple she dated but if you ask me they were pansies, not worthy of my niece." Yank shook his head. "I shouldn't be telling you any of this. It feels like I'm betraying her."

Damian laid a hand on the other man's shoulder. "You're giving me insight that might help. I'd slit my throat before I'd use it against her," he promised.

Yank nodded, seemingly satisfied. "End result is she's confident in business and one hell of an athlete, but her self-esteem in the female department leaves something to be desired. It wasn't till just recently that she started to make an effort to look more… womanly. Even a blind man like me could see she was tryin' hard."

"She never had to try with me. I knew from the first time we ki-I mean from the first time we met, that she was special," he said, watching his words this time. He opted for specialover hot number since Damian didn't need Yank coming after him with his walker.

"I knew that. She saw the real you, too. She knew you were more than the idiot ladies' man you pretended to be." Yank ran a hand over his straggly beard. "But if I know my Micki, she's only thinking about the kind of women you spent time with before her and she thinks she can't compete."

"She can't," Damian said, slamming his good hand against the window.

"Watch it, wise guy. You bust the other hand and nobody's gonna help you wipe your-"

"I get the picture." Damian cut the older-man off, suppressing a laugh. "But I'm serious. Micki can't compete against those women because she's head and shoulders above them."

Yank pulled him into a hug with one arm, hanging on to the walker with the other hand. "Good luck convincing her of that," Yank said. "Because the one thing Micki learned from me beside sports is stubbornness and once that girl makes up her mind, changing it is some kind of difficult."

Damian glanced heavenward. "Thank you for that advice," he said, sarcastically.

Yank grinned. "My pleasure. Oh and if it makes you feel any better, I didn't screw you. I just wanted to be livin' on my own again before I asked Lola to accept me and my problems back into her life."