They only had 3 more days together. They still kept things pretty low key in public, but the dirty talk was almost constant, as were the dirty texts. But they didn’t do more than kiss, and Marina didn’t spend the night with him. Taking her to the airport was horrible. Neither of them wanted to say goodbye and they still hadn’t been able to figure out when they would see each other again. Donnie still had to wrap up the tour, finish a movie, and film Blue Bloods. Marina had to get things reorganized at work, work on the fundraiser with Danny, and get started on the workout routine Danny had given her.

Donnie sent her text messages and called her all the time, but he respected that when she was at work, she couldn’t really just talk on the phone. He had seen her job firsthand and personal phone calls weren’t part of the environment. There were a few emails exchanged and soon there were plans for Donnie to visit her over a weekend. Unfortunately, those plans fell through when Blue Bloods had a crisis and they had to reshoot half an episode at the last minute. Danny, on the other hand, was in Memphis two days a week helping Marina work on the fundraiser they had decided on. It would be a public event to raise awareness about both HIV and Breast Cancer. The proceeds would be split equally.
Marina was losing her mind. It had been six weeks since she had seen Donnie in person. She hadn’t been able to go visit him for his birthday party event because one of her staff had gotten sick and missed three weeks of work. Her father was wanting to donate a large chunk of money at the fundraiser. This would draw attention to her. She had lost those 20 pounds that she wanted to lose and looked great. And Danny Wood was her closest friend somehow.
The day of the benefit, Donnie’s flight got cancelled and he ended up not making it to the benefit, but he was still trying to come visit somehow. There was a bad storm where he was and no one could fly out. Marina understood, but it still hurt. She asked her father to please not advertise that she was his daughter. She really wasn’t up for all that would come with that revelation coupled with the news that Donnie couldn’t make it.
The benefit was a huge success. They raised $800,000. James Royce had promised to match the donations of everyone else and did so. He loved his daughter and knew how important this was to her. There was a bit of speculation about Marina and Danny since they attended together. The press took lots of pictures and there were a few stories about good friends working together to help others. During one chat with the local news, James Royce took the opportunity to make himself seen. When the reporter asked him why he had chosen to support the project, he said “If it’s important to my daughter Marina, then it’s important to me.” Chaos broke out. Marina refused to comment. Both her father and Danny followed her outside.
“Not one word from either of you until we are at my house. Not one word!” She was completely freaking out. They rode in her father’s limo back to her place by the river. Her dad came in and sat down as if nothing major was going on. Marina paced. And looked at him. Then paced some more.

Danny wasn’t sure what to think. It was obvious Marina didn’t want to talk. He looked at her father. “So you are Marina’s dad?” Danny knew exactly who James Royce was.
“Yep,” he looked at her. “She might not want people to know it, but I am.” Marina stopped pacing finally.
“It’s not that I don’t want people to know you are my dad. If they could know that you are my dad without it putting me back in the spotlight, I’d be all for it.” She sat down on the sofa next to her dad. Danny sat on the chair nearby. “Dad, I love you but, what were you thinking?”
“Mari, I’ve always respected your decision to live your own life. But your life is about to change. Whether you know it or not, you are in love with that young man. I’ve seen you in love. But if you are going to be in a relationship with him, you are going to be back in the public eye. Maybe even more than before. Being Marina Walker is easy for you. Being Marina Royce Walker is complicated. Marina Royce Wahlberg will be a media frezy. For the rest of your life. You need to start embracing it.”
“Dad, I’m not marrying Donnie. I think I do love him. But it just doesn’t seem like things are going to work out for us. We don’t have time to see each other. It’s been too long. There’s no way it can work if we can’t even see each other.”
“Marina. That’s what I’m talking about. You are going to have to decide if you want to have your privacy and continue living like you have been or if you want to take a chance at being in love and let people know who you are again. It’s not like we don’t have a the means to fly you to visit him. You could stay at the house in New York if you wanted to.”
“I like my job Dad. And what I do is important. I can’t give it up.”
“No one is telling you to give up your job. You can work less hours at the hospital. And your volunteer work can be coordinated from anywhere. Stop making excuses. The real issue is that you’re scared.” She looked at him but didn’t speak. “You had it all once. Truly. And it was taken away and replaced with something horrible. You made it through with a few scars. Now you are afraid to try for that kind of happiness again.”

It scared her sometimes how well her father knew her and how her mind worked. “I don’t think I can handle losing it all again.”
Her dad stood up and got his coat. “No one said you would lose it Mari. But don’t you at least want to try?” He kissed her cheek and shook Danny’s hand and left without another word.
She looked at Danny. “So you’re James Royce’s daughter?”
“Yes.” She sighed. “So you know who he is?” Danny nodded. “Shit. You realize Donnie doesn’t know this about me?” More nodding. “No one knows this about me.”
“Can I ask why you lie to everyone about it?” She cringed.
“I never really thought of it as lying. I just never tell anyone about my family or the money. Once I was a teenager, everyone wanted pictures of me and I couldn’t go out without people following me. I just got tired of all the drama. I’m just a person.” She got up and started walking around. “Didn’t you enjoy just being a husband and father, working a regular sort of job, and being able to live your life?”
“Well, yeah. I missed some of the attention, but it was nice to have some peace.”
“It was like that my whole life. When I met the first man I ever loved, I told Dad that I wanted to try to live a normal life. He worked it out. It was a small wedding and my name was changed. Things were so simple. I never thought I’d ever consider going back to life the way it was before.”
“Are you saying that you are considering it now?”
She sat back down. “Danny, I’m crazy about Donnie. It seemed like he felt the same way about me. But maybe it was just all some sort of infatuation on his part. I knew that if I wanted to be part of his life, I could never ask him to give up doing what he loves and being accessible to his fans. That’s why I’ve been fine with him not being able to visit all this time. His love for his fans is part of what makes him so amazing. I know that if I’m with him, I’ll have to encounter the fans and publicity from his life and my old life. And now Dad has thrown a curveball at me by telling that reporter who I am.” She leaned back on the sofa and took a deep breath.
“Well, at least with all the chaos, you’ll be in love with a really great guy.” He was still shocked to find out who she was. He remembered hearing about her on the news when he was younger. He just wished he could offer something to comfort her. It was when he had that thought that he looked over and realized she was crying. He immediately moved to the sofa and pulled her into a hug. “Why the tears?”
“That’s just it. Donnie’s a celebrity. He’s a great actor. I just can’t help but feel that I bought a really great act and that he’s really not that interested. The fact that I wouldn’t sleep with him just made me a challenge.”

Danny couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He knew Donnie. Donnie wasn’t just after sex. Not with Marina. He was different with Marina. He was pretty close to certain that Donnie was just as crazy about Marina as she was about him. But Donnie maybe needed a little push in the right direction. “I have an idea about how to get Donnie here and then you can find out if this was all just temporary.” She looked up at him. It was at that moment that he realized just how beautiful she really was. He kissed her forehead. “I’m gonna take a picture of you in this amazing dress and send it to Donnie telling him what he missed tonight….well, not the news about your Dad, but how hot you look. Let’s see how long it takes for him to respond.” He pulled his phone out and she stopped him.
“If I’m gonna do this, let me at least touch up my hair and my makeup.” She smiled and made a dash for her bedroom.
Danny took that moment to send Donnie a text. ‘Dude, where the hell are you?’
Donnie replied quickly. ‘Don’t ask. I’m in hell. How was the benefit?’
‘It went great. Lots of $$’
‘How is my girl?’
‘Your girl is having a hard time lately. Why haven’t you been to see her?’
‘Work has been crazy. U know.’
‘Right now what I know is that I’m with her and you are not. And she’s hot. I’ll send you a picture.’
‘Take care of my girl.’ There was a pause for a minute then Donnie sent ‘Why are u saying my gf is hot?’
Marina had returned and Danny took her picture with his phone. He sent it to Donnie. He convinced Marina to come sit on his lap and pose for a picture of them together. He sent that one to Donnie too. And he finally answered Donnie’s question. ‘I’m saying she’s hot because she is hot. I’ve been helping her with her workout routine ;)’

‘Just when was she sitting in your lap?’ Danny laughed. Donnie was jealous. He showed the series of texts to Marina.
“Danny, you deliberately misled him.”
“Well, yeah. But he deserved it. His ass should be here with you tonight.” His phone rang. Of course it was Donnie. He shushed Marina and answered it on speaker. “Hey man. I was just about to call you…”
“I’m sorry. I’m not sure what came over me. I trust you with Marina. More than anyone.” He sighed. “I just miss her. And I’m jealous of anyone that gets to touch her.”
“No problem. If she were mine, I’d be a little possessive too.” He looked at Marina. “She’s beautiful. Inside and out.”
“I know. And if I can ever get out of this fucking airport tonight I’m gonna make sure she knows just exactly how I feel about her.” Marina was just trying to keep quiet.
“Which airport are you stuck in now,” Danny asked?
“I’m waiting on my bag at the airport in Memphis. Hoping to be at Marina’s place within an hour. Do you think she’s still awake?” Danny put his hand over Marina’s mouth.
“She’s had a rough sort of day. I doubt she’s going to sleep anytime soon.”
“Great. I’ve got my bag…I’m grabbing a cab. I’ll call you tomorrow. Thanks for the pictures.”
“You’re welcome. Later.” He ended the call and removed his hand from Marina’s mouth. “You need to get changed. It needs to look like you had at least gone to bed when he gets here. I’ll let him in. I’ll tell him I was going to sleep on the sofa because you were having such a rough night.
Marina went to leave the room again, but then stopped. “What should I put on?”
Danny laughed. “I guess that depends on what you want to happen tonight. He’s just a flesh and blood man Marina and you look pretty damn fine after all that work you’ve done.”
She blushed. “So you weren’t just kidding when you said that stuff about me being hot earlier?”
“No. I wasn’t kidding.” He looked down. “Go get ready for Donnie.”
She walked over and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you for everything Danny.” And then she ran for her bedroom to change. She took a quick shower, but didn’t wash her hair. She just pulled it up. She put on a negligee and then took it off. If Danny was supposed to have been sleeping on the sofa, she shouldn’t be in a negligee. She settled on a pair of panties and a tank top. She had just pulled the covers back in her bed and climbed in to make it look like she had at least attempted to sleep when she heard Danny open the front door to her place. She quietly opened her door and hid where she could see them but they wouldn’t see her and watched. Seeing Donnie was wonderful. She realized just how much she had missed him.