“Danny, I told you, I don’t do that kind of exclusive,” CJ laughed into the phone, kicking up her heels on the desk. “Just this once, please?” He loved the sound of her laugh, and any time he could elicit one from her, he made sure to do so. Danny imagined her sitting behind her desk, her long fingers twirling the phone cord while she stared at an imperfection at the ceiling. “No. I told you. I’m not that kind of woman…” Drawing a breath, she nearly told him what kind of woman she was, but that would be against their rules. Every unwritten rule she knew told her that she would have to keep her fingers out of the cookie jar if she wanted things to stay as solid with Danny as they were. Once she got in to relationships, they went down hill, and that wasn’t a risk she wanted to take with him. Ben…as much as she cared for him, only fulfilled the physical demands of her life, and Danny filled the psychological aspects, making her realize how desperate she was to keep that sacred and untainted. “Well, what kind of woman are you, then?” He was intrigued by this new direction. Of all the times they’d talked since he’d gone away to follow his story (which became another, and another and then, surprise, another) this was the first time the conversation seemed to take on such a direction. CJ thought it over for a minute, carefully choosing her statement. “Rocky road with extra chocolate syrup.” “What?” She had always kept him on his toes, but this was ridiculous. He had absolutely no clue what she was saying now. “That’s what kind of a woman I am,” she said, her voice clearly relaying just how widely she was smiling at the new direction of their conversation. “Nutty and rich?” He thought of all the properties of rocky road and even though he could think of a few comments to be made, he kept his mind out of the gutter. “I like to think delightful and delicious,” CJ offered. “Sometimes gooey?” He tried to ignore her comment, thinking about all of the potential paths the conversation could take if he didn’t tread lightly. “Did you just call me gooey?” She tried to sound mad at him, but even in mock anger she fond him much too amusing to really feel anything less than affection for him. “All boys think girls are gooey at some point in their lives,” he tried to point out, although he was hardly sure if he should be drawing such parallels. “Are you not past that point yet?” “Well, I have to admit, some girls are still gooey. But you’re okay, I guess,” he said, in his best six-year-old-boy-on-the-playground voice.” “Everyone’s favourite,” CJ asked sweetly. Danny couldn’t disagree with her there. She was certainly his favourite, even if she was giving him a run around on the talking points of the new Middle Eastern assembly. “Got me there,” he conceded, willing to let his actual ‘professional’ reason go. She wasn’t about to give them up, and he certainly wasn’t about to fight with her when for once he got her on such good terms. “You’re maple walnut fudge,” CJ decided, thinking it was worthy of sharing. “What?” “You’re maple walnut fudge,” she stated, point blank. It was as if it were a perfectly normal statement to make. “Why?” Considering the ice cream, Danny wondered what criterion she was using for the flavor selection. “Because…You’re so talented and multi-purposed that you’re sinful,” CJ replied, her voice low and seductive. “Maple walnut fudge,” he repeated, wondering how that worked. “Just enough chocolate to be a tease, but satisfying and still good for me…” “I’m good for you?” “I shouldn’t answer that.” “But will you?” “I’d best get home before...before my cat starts to worry about me.” Danny sighed. He knew the code. CJ didn’t have a cat, and she certainly didn’t want one. But she did have someone waiting at her apartment. That’s why she wouldn’t let him call her there ever. “Well… I’d say scratch him under his chin for me, but I’m fairly certain that’d be misconstrued,” he said, mumbling something incoherently under his breath. “Good night Maple,” she said as she hung up the phone, smiling. She liked when he called her after her last briefing. She liked that he still checked in, and she liked that he reminded her of her favorite comfort food.