Chapter 2.

Dara was sitting in her office savoring her victory in court today. She was pleased with the guilty verdict and shortly after the beginning of the year the Norvell trial would start. The case was strong and she was confident they would get a conviction. A few months ago she was seriously considering leaving Port Charles. It seemed that she was rarely convicting criminals and she worried about the effectiveness of the district attorney's office. But things have started to turn around. The disaster with the Luke Spencer trial shook people up in the DA's office and on the PCPD. They were working harder and more thoroughly to gather evidence and gain convictions. Yes, professionally, things were starting to turn around. Dara rose and placed a law book back in the bookcase. Someone knocked on her office door and Dara told them to come in. Mac walked into the office.

"Hi Dara." Mac smiled as he walked towards her at the bookcase. "Still working?"

"Nope, I'm actually finished for the day."

"Congratulations on the conviction," he said. You should celebrate and I'm here to help you do it. What are your plans tomorrow night?"

"Christmas Eve? I was just going to call my family in St. Louis and have a quiet evening at home. Why?"

"Well, I'm not looking forward to spending Christmas Eve at my apartment and I would actually like to cook, so I thought that maybe we could cook dinner together." Seeing the hesitation in Dara's face Mac quickly said, "I know that it's short notice and it won't have to be fancy. Just a nice home cooked meal. Plus, I thought that you could give Kelly's the night off," he said teasingly.

Dara grimaced and blushed a bit at Mac's teasing. "O.K. Go ahead and make fun of me. I know that I rely on Kelly's for dinner most nights but it doesn't make sense to cook a meal every night just for myself, especially when I have a lot of work."

Mac grinned. "I know; I'm just as guilty as you are. That's why we should get together tomorrow night. I'll bring the main dish and wine and bread. You can make the salad or vegetable and dessert. What do you say?"

Dara thought, "Why not? I don't have any plans and it would be great to be with Mac tomorrow night. I just hope that the whole evening won't be spent talking about Felicia. But I won't know how the evening will turn out unless I say yes."

"O.K." Dara answered. "Why don't you come over to my place around 6 o'clock tomorrow"?

"Great, I'll be there. The main dish will be beef. I'll see you tomorrow night." Mac said. He smiled and left the office.

"Is this a good idea?" Dara thought. "After all, it's just dinner." She grabbed her coat opened the door to leave her office. "It's just dinner..." She told herself again as she left.