Checking In

Who: Danny and Maya
Where: The Walker residence
When: midday

The ball at the weekend had been far from all social for Maya. She'd actually had a few very interesting conversations with various people - you could have very different conversations in public than you had behind closed doors. people so did feel the need to keep face, and they'd agree to different things than they would when nobody would be watching them turn you down.

But, along with that, she'd also see the altercation between Cheyenne and the officer that she'd set to watch her girl. And, from what she'd seen - not that she'd been close enough to overhear - it hadn't gone well. So, Maya had taken the decision that she and Danny really needed to meet again.

She'd left him a message at his desk, figuring that he'd get it first thing on the Monday morning. All it asked was if he could call round 'at his convenience'. He could take that as he would. She'd put in a message about being worried about strange noises outside her townhouse at night, for his own cover. No meeting at the Drake this time - he could call on her at home.

To say he'd been annoyed to find the message about Maya when he got into work on Monday was an understatement. Still, Danny had smiled through it, making a comment about checking up on it as he was circulating his beat. It took a little while before he could shed too many watching eyes, but eventually he found his way to the Walker home.

When the maid opened the door he tugged his hat off his head, sticking it under his arm. "I'm Officer McKinnon with the ECPD. I got a call from Mrs. Walker regarding some suspicious noises?" he told the woman politely. The maid nodded as if expecting it, standing aside to let him inside. After closing the door behind him she led the way through the house towards Maya.

Maya was sat in the sun room at the back of the house. Not that 'sun room' was a particularly apt descriptor today, the mist swirled outside the tall windows, and the room needed the help of several lamps to take it to an acceptable brightness. She was reading a book, which she put down to one side as Danny appeared and she stood. "Officer - how good of you to humour me and call on me at home," she said, holding her hand out to him.

"I'm assuming you weren't actually having issues with strange noises then?" Danny asked hesitating before taking her hand, gripping it quickly and letting go. He didn't sit instead he just stood away from her, smoothing the front of his uniform a little as he repositioned the hat under his arm again.

Maya sat, even if he didn't. "Honey, in this city, there's always strange noises," she told him, unfazed by the question. "But, no - actually I asked you here to discuss Cheyenne," she told him, raising an eyebrow and looking at him pleasantly.

Danny flinched internally, but kept his cop face on. "Was there anything in particular about her you want to discuss? Not much has happened since you and I last spoke on that topic." Besides Cheyenne essentially telling her she wanted nothing to do with Danny of course. Still he was determined to fix that.

"I just wondered how you thought you were faring," Maya told him, this time not offering him anything in the way of refreshments. "I observed the two of you talking on Saturday night," she added, to give him just a little bt of guidance on the topic, though if she had to call him out on things, she would.

"Things are fine," he told her gruffly, not offering much at all. If she saw them at the ball then she probably saw Cheyenne walk away from him, or else she wouldn't be asking. "Just a small roadblock is all."

"Right," Maya agreed, sounding like she didn't at all believe that, but was too polite to say. As far as she was concerned, what it looked like was that the man was getting absolutely nowhere, possibly worse than that. "Did you want to try again there, officer?" she suggested. "And, please - be honest. I promise I won't bite."

Danny paced a little across the room before answering. He didn't want to admit defeat but she was right, he was getting nowhere. "She doesn't trust me," he finally conceded. "She knows I'm married and knows I have no business having an interest in her and yet I keep trying."

"Clearly sex is the only interest a man could have in a woman," Maya agreed, conversationally, though it was clear that that 'agreement' was anything but. She was disappointed, she'd thought more of him, thought that he could come up with something, but clearly he couldn't. She had her end goal though, it simply couldn't be achieved with Plan A. "have you told her the truth?" she asked,giving no judgement on that. She hoped he hadn't - simply because, if he had and Cheyenne still was pushing him away, then this all was hopeless.

He'd started pacing again and stopped when she asked about the truth. "Of course I didn't tell her," he said with an air of annoyance. "And I'm sure there's a way around this, I just haven't found it yet."

Maya watched him pace for a few minutes, silently. "What does she think of you?" she asked, eventually. If he thought there was a way round it, maybe she could help him find it in a way that was suitable and acceptable to both of them.

Danny considered the question before answering. "I think in some ways she does like me. She's told me more than once she finds me good looking." Cheyenne's opinion on his looks didn't necessarily mean much of anything but it was the details that Danny had been trained to notice. Maybe Maya could make something more of it. "She just caught me in a lie, and a simple one at that. Now she thinks I'm going to lie to her about everything else." He paused, no longer pacing but watching Maya closely. "Which makes everything slightly more difficult since that's what I'm actually doing."

Maya pursed her lips slightly and looked at him. What he'd said just then stated something about the man and the say he viewed the world. That he seemed to think that sexual attraction was the only way to go forward with gaining trust and a foothold into someone life. "What was the lie?" she asked, simply.

"I honestly don't remember. She wasn't really forthcoming with the information, and I'm not sure where I messed up. I imagine it had something to do with my wife, why I wasn't with her one night or something. That makes the most sense." Danny started pacing again. "Of course lying about my wife is what's going to make her think I'm another crazy stalker or something, which isn't the case." That part was irritating him. He didn't want to cheat on Janey again, his heart couldn't take it. Despite what Jackson may accuse him of, Danny had loved Stella. "There's no need to force intimacy, that's not what your asking, and it's not something I'm sure I'm willing to give," he started, raising a hand to smooth the furrows in his brow. "But after this she doesn't even seem willing to be a friend."

"Nobody said anything about intimacy, darling. Or even friendship. All I asked was that you keep an eye on her. How you do that is up to you," Maya reassured him. "You lie about your wife?" she asked, as though simply making conversation. Really, she was frustrated. The more she found out, the more that she wished she had the whole story - but bluntness wasn't her way, and it never had been. She wasn't going to start now. Still, she wished she knew what had happened.

"I don't lie about my wife. If I did I wouldn't wear my ring. That's usually step one in lying about being married. I just might have lied about why I was out and not at home with her. Call it making fake excuses for being a shitty husband." Danny's own frustration was starting to seep through. It felt like being interrogated by Jackson again. "And the poor girl thinks she's being followed, me just showing up everywhere she is to watch over her isn't going to make that feeling any better. She'll try harder to lose me, to avoid me. It will just go downhill."

She eyed him for a while. "Honey, you need to stop pacing and put your brain in gear," Maya advised him. "I never suggested that you lied about being married. You were the one who said that you lied about your wife. Given that you had already said that you had lied about why you weren't with your wife, you have clearly told her you were married. But you then went on to talk about lying about your wife. Clearly, you lie in regards to her - possibly on a semi-regular basis." She set the glass back down on the table. "I have to admit I'm a little confused why you felt the need to add on information which was phrased to suggest a future possibility, but which, given what you've already told her, it actually and impossibility. It makes it sound like you're contradicting yourself." She considered that for a moment. "Do you do that a lot?" she asked him, thinking that if he did, that could be one of the reasons why Cheyenne didn't trust him - on top of catching him in a lie.

Danny stopped, his expression annoyed but then it faded as he dropped into the closest chair. "I dunno, I've never thought about it. Probably? I'm not much of a talker." That much was true. He was a man of action, shove you against a wall, cuff you up and drag you into a squad car. But talking to perps? That wasn't something he was good at it. It had been listed on his record under reasons why he was passed over for a promotion to detective. He was a damn good cop but a shitty interrogator.

"It's something that would be worth considering," Maya advised. "If you're not much of a talker - maybe you should concentrate on saying less, rather than more. At least then you'd have consistency on your side. But, that aside, what are we going to do about the fact that you're not in a position right now to complete the job I gave you?" she mused, looking to him for suggestions.

He nodded at her comment, already trying to come up with a way to just stop talking around Cheyenne. It would be helpful if she'd stop asking him questions about himself. When Maya mentioned his inability to follow-through though, his face when white. "I'm not giving up," he told her, his mind darting to Janey. "I just need another chance. I'll work this out."

"My aim," Maya told him, after a moment or two's thought. "Is the safety of Cheyenne. As I told you before, I'm concerned that there's someone out there who has her in their sights. That nothing should come of that concern is my number one priority. But you cannot achieve that if she doesn't trust you, or doesn't want you anywhere near her." Maya paused and took another small sip of water before continuing. "I had hoped that that could be achieved subtly, without the need for my involvement, or mention that this had been organised. However, keeping my name out of this is not my primary objective. Her safety is. I suggest, therefore, unless you have a better plan, that you simply have a policy of telling the girl the absolute truth - including why you are trying to spend time with her. She has caught you in a lie once, and you've felt the consequences. I doubt that Cheyenne will believe that your reasoning for lying the way you seem to think she caught you in doing has anything to do with my request of you, but maybe the absolute truth will go some way towards building bridges back up again."

Not answering right away he watched her closely. Danny didn't trust her one bit, but that was more based on her involvement with the family rather than her person. Since meeting her Maya had been nothing but polite and had yet to threaten him, although she did somehow manage to inspire him to do what she asked without deviation. In fact, in addition to his fears about his wife's safety, he was disappointed in himself for letting her down. "I might give it a try," he told her. Danny didn't want Cheyenne to worry more, or to try and ditch him at every turn because she didn't want a babysitter. But he couldn't deny that in some ways Maya was right, maybe only the truth would set him free.

"I can't see any other way out of it," Maya told him, which, again, was frustrating for her. But then again, she was disappointed that he had got himself into this situation in the first place. She'd really expected more of him. But crying over spilt milk wouldn't help the situation. What was done was done and she simply had to take what she could out of what was left and hope that they could work with it. Either that, or find someone else who would be able to follow through. She thought back to Jakob the other night, then dismissed him immediately - she wanted someone rather less smooth and, therefore, to her mind more trustworthy, than that one for this.

Danny didn't answer, not willing to both admit his defeat or say outright that he would rather continue to lie to Cheyenne. It was like being stuck between a rock and a hard place. Standing instead, he straightened his uniform. "Was there anything else?"

"Not today, officer, not today," Maya told him with a small smile. Whether she'd have any use for him in the future, would remain to be seen. He'd need to show himself capable, but maya knew she had her favourites, her people she liked to be able to rely upon, and something told her that this man could be one of them. Enough that she would be horribly disappointed if he wasn't.

"Right, well then I'll be on my way then. The city needs her ever watchful eyes on the streets." And Danny needed a drink, a strong drink. He was already thinking of the flask under the seat in his cruiser. "Have a nice day Mrs. Walker," he told her as he headed out of the sunroom.

"You too, officer," Maya called after him, silently wishing him luck as well, before she turned back to watching the mist.