I stood there and thought, I’ll bet it does. Anything to take his mind off the daily tragedies of life that ER and the crew of TLC faced.

My eyelids fluttered. The annoying buzzing tickled my ears, and I opened one eye to look at the digital clock on the bedside table. Midnight. Geez. I thought it was time to get up for work. I turned over and shut my eyes-then realized this wasn’t my bed.

I sat bolt upright and I looked around the old Victorian room where I’d been sleeping. Oh, right. D-day. Time to take my life into my hands and check on Dano. I’d peeked in on him just before I’d gone to sleep myself, but he’d been awake and growled the date and time as I’d said good night.

As I rolled out of bed and slipped on my shoes, I had to smile. I’m sure he was fine, since his attitude never adjusted one second.

When I padded down the short hallway, I noticed light coming from under his door. Hmm. Maybe Dano couldn’t sleep and was up reading. I slowly eased the door open despite the squeaking sound the old thing made.

Dano was fast asleep. The Tiffany lamp on his bedside table was still lit. Oh well. Guess he dozed off and forgot to shut it off. I only hoped he hadn’t gotten too tired because of the head injury. Purposely I walked to the edge of the bed, reminding myself of my nursing days. It almost felt as if I were making my rounds on the unit where I used to work.

“Ah. No. No!” Dano mumbled.

“Are you-” I started to say until I realized he was sound asleep.

Dano talked in his sleep. But the thing was, he sounded disturbed by something. Suddenly he lashed out with a left jab.

I stepped back. Geez! He could have knocked me out with that one. I remembered what he’d said about not getting close. Dano must have known that he was a restless sleeper. A very restless sleeper.

He tossed and turned, still mumbling, so I got as close as I could, thinking I could move back fast if need be, and said, “Dano. Dan, it’s Pauline.”

I stepped back as Dano suddenly sat upright.

“Dan?” I asked.

But he merely looked my way in a glassy stare. Not a word, and he was out of bed and walking toward the door. Dressed in black boxers and no tee shirt, Dano looked hunky, but when I realized he was sleepwalking, I had other things on my mind other than how hot he looked.

What should I do?

My sister Mary had a child who walked in his sleep and the doctor had told her never to try and wake him. Dano was out the door already! So I hurried to follow him but found him standing in the hallway, rubbing his head as if in pain.

“No. No. I should have. I should have given the epi. She died because of…” His eyes locked on me. He paused, blinked. “What the hell?”

Dano had woken himself up with some nightmare that sounded like an ambulance run gone bad. It wasn’t any that I’d been on with him, as I didn’t remember a patient needing epinephrine. No. Dano must have relived a case from the past.

Standing there, looking at this hunk of a guy appearing so confused and upset, I had to wonder how long it had taken for him to burn out from such a stressful job.

Soon enough to commit fraud for money?

“I’m fine,” he growled and headed into his room.

When I went to the doorway, he was already under the sheets with eyes shut. “Good,” I said.

“Thursday. It’s freaking Thursday, Nightingale. Go to sleep.”

I nodded and mumbled, “Technically, it’s already Friday.”

“Semantics,” he said, and I knew his head was fine.

But what demons did ER Dano face on a nightly basis?

I tossed and turned in the bed with the too-soft mattress, knowing that I couldn’t fall into a deep sleep, or I might not get up to check on Dano. Then again, I also knew he might show up at my doorway in a sleepwalking state.

That one kept me awake the longest.

But I reminded myself that I worked tomorrow, or later today, and had to get some rest or not be in any shape to assess or treat patients. With my luck, I’d get a helicopter run.

“Aye!”

I flew up to the sound of shouting coming from ER Dano’s room. Damn! Thank goodness I’d had the common sense to wear real clothes and not pajamas. I jumped out of bed and ran down the hallway.

He wasn’t up but was flailing back and forth in the bed, arms swinging as if in a fight, and pillows flying.

“Oomph!” One hit me in the stomach and, if it were heavier, it would have knocked me over. As it was, it knocked the wind out of me. The damn feather pillow weighed more than Spanky!

Dano continued on until I could no longer stand watching. I cautiously stepped forward, remembering how the patient had hit him today. If I got knocked out, I’d be no good to Dano.

“Hey. Dan. I’m here. It’s all right. You’re dreaming,” I said in the softest yet clearest voice I could manage. Enough to wake him up, yet quiet enough not to startle him.

I knew I had to rescue ER Dano from his dreams, his nightmares…himself.

I got close enough to touch his arm, all the while using soft words to calm him down. I grabbed it until he quieted and stopped fighting me.

As if a switch turned him off, he stopped immediately, looked me in the eyes and shut his.

He was awake.

I sat on the edge of the bed and said, “You’re all right now. It was only a dream.”

His opened his eyes again. “A dream? It was a freaking nightmare, Nightingale. A nightmare. A nightmare that comes each time I go to sleep.”

Not being able to help myself, I sat on the edge of the bed, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and hugging him to my chest.

Dano was apparently fine as far as the head injury was concerned, but his mental-health status was in question as long as he worked his job, tried to save lives and sometimes lost them.

He moved closer to me, his head pressed against my chest, and I tightened my arms around him. It seemed like hours that we lay there, me trying to comfort him yet knowing that I couldn’t do anything to release the demons from his memory.

I brushed his hair back behind his ears and he looked up at me. Not sure exactly what happened next, but knowing his head was fine, I gave in to his lips when they touched mine.

And we kissed as if starving for each other.

“I’m all right. Just a nightly occurrence, Nightingale. I’m all right,” he repeated.

I returned his kisses, and with my lips pressed against his cheek managed to say, “I know you are fine. I’m glad.”

With one swift motion he’d reversed our positions, and now I was lying next to him, his arms straddling mine, and his lips covering mine-and it felt so good.

Dano slid his hand beneath my top, running his hands across my breasts-and I was so glad I could never sleep with a bra on. When he touched my hardened nipples, I moaned.

He then lifted my top over my head and the last coherent thought that I had was, we are two adults. Two consenting adults, sex was a natural desire and…oh, man, did I want to consent to ER Dano.

So I did.

Since we both needed some semblance of sleep, I went back to the guest room, telling myself I’d be able to sleep. Ha! After such a pleasurable ride, I could barely shut my eyes without reliving parts of it-no, all of it.

This was going to be a futile effort, I told myself, until I felt my eyelids close.

When I opened my eyes to the sound of the shower running, it again took several seconds to orient myself to my surroundings.

ER Dano’s guest bedroom.

Yikes. Was that a fantastic dream that I’d had or the real thing? I turned over, hugged the pillow and smiled.

Then I looked at the alarm clock and groaned. Damn. A half hour to get to work, so I jumped up and grabbed my makeup kit. I’d at least get my teeth brushed in the downstairs bathroom until he was done with the shower. Ignoring the fact that I could join him…but knowing there wasn’t time, I hurried out-and told myself to stop those kinds of thoughts.