This is my first story so I'd love some feedback. I was listening to the radio when I heard this song by Clay Walker and I thought up this little ditty. The song is centered and the letter I mentioned in the summary is italicized. Please read and review *runs and hides* *peeks head out* totally un-betaed *ducks again*
"Hey Don?"
"Yeah?"
"You got a package, well it actually an envelope, today. I signed for it since you weren't home."
"Thanks, Jen."
Don Flack walked into his apartment after a long day at work, slightly thankful his neighbor had a crush on him. She was 12. He thought about buying her some flowers for always signing for packages, usually sent by the friends he had across the state. Today his envelope was from Montana. After seeing the return address he set it down not wanting to open it. Today was the first day he managed to go to work and not look for Danny, since he and Lindsey had quietly eloped and moved away. Mac was the only person in the whole lab who knew what happened when they didn't show up for work one day two weeks ago. It wasn't until Flack was on his way to Danny's apartment to drag him out for some hoops the next day that Mac fessed up. Now he was staring at an envelope that he knew was sent by Danny. Lindsey had no reason to contact him. They weren't that close and she didn't know about him and Danny. Finally deciding that it might heal the pain he had in his heart for the past two weeks Don reached for the envelope. With shaking hands he opened it to see a letter and a CD with a note attached.
Please listen to this.
The note wasn't signed but Don knew exactly whose handwriting it was. He walked over to his CD player and swiftly deposited the disk. It was country. Don could tell that from the opening to the song but once he listened to the words he felt like Danny had come back to punch him in the gut.
It's the third hardest thing I'll ever do
Leaving here without you
and the second hardest thing I'll ever do
is telling her about you.
She's been good to me
when things were going rough
how can I tell her that good ain't good enough
The hardest thing I'll ever have to do
is holding her and loving you.
If give me one good reason I'd be gone
But she ain't done one thing wrong.
So don't expect me to just walk out of the door
I still her but I love you more
She's been good to me when weren't going right
she made days long before you made my nights
the hardest thing I'll ever have to do is holding her and loving you.
He will never know how he made it back over to the couch when his knees felt like jell-o, but somehow he was sitting on the couch with the letter in his hand. He was almost scared to open it. In the end curiosity won and Don slowly opened the letter as if it were explosive.
Don,
First I am so sorry that I didn't tell you what was going on. Lindsey insisted on keeping it a secret. I was driving down the road yesterday and I heard this song. Country is just about the only music you can get out here. I had to pull over because for the first time since Reuben died I cried. I realized as I listen to this song that it was truly how my life is right now. Don, I know I never told you but I love you very much. I love you more than I love Lindsey but I can't walk away from her when she hasn't done anything wrong. The whole baby thing makes it so much harder. I went home last night and told her everything about us except the fact that I love you. I told her how much I miss you, and I do miss everything about you. Please forgive me for walking out your door all those months ago. Please believe that I love you and miss you terribly. Being with her and loving you is the hardest thing I will ever do.
I Love you
Danny
For the first time since Danny walked out his door 6 months ago Don Flack Jr allowed himself to cry. He dreamt that night that Danny came back for him. Saying that it was too hard to pretend he didn't love Don. Mac came by that night to check on Flack. Danny had called him and very subtly told him Flack would need checking on. Using the emergency key Mac was given so long ago he let himself in. He walked in to see Don fast asleep, curled into the smallest ball a 6-foot man can make, on the couch, tear stains on his face, a letter clutched in his hand, mumbling in his sleep. The only thing he ever said clearly was "I love you too, Dan" and in that moment Mac understood why the younger detective was so empty these days. He gently laid a blanket over Don's sleeping form and placed a pillow under his head. As he left he silently vowed to talk to the younger man the next day and find out what happened.