Scars and Tears

SarahSoph

Disclaimer: None of the characters seen here belong to me. They're the property of CBS etc. I'm not making any money from this, it's just a little form of stress relief.

A/N: This is just a rather pathetic little idea that popped in my head when I was stressing and getting way to upset about exams. I decided to run with it as a little distraction from my studying.


Danny stands at the door watching her cry. He knows it's been a tough case for all of them. He knows it's it hit Aiden Burn harder than the rest of them for some reason. He knows how much she hates seeing them get away, especially one so obviously guilty, he was pretty much walking around with it tattooed on his forehead.

But he doesn't know what to do now, at this very moment, with her sitting only a few metres away from him. With her sitting her crying. So he just stands in the doorway watching Aiden Burn break down in front of his eyes. He wishes he knew what to say, that he somehow had all the right words to make it all go away.

He feels Stella come and stand next to him. She sees Aiden as well, and shoots him a questioning, slightly accusing look, no doubt wondering why he's just standing there. Without receiving much of a reply, Danny's still entirely focussed on the girl in tears, Stella enters the room, leaving him behind. So he stands there and watches both of them, hoping he'll get some clue from Stella as to what he should do.

Aiden looks up, suddenly startled at Stella's entrance. Quickly jumping to her feet she busies herself at her open locker, trying to pretend hopelessly that there's nothing wrong and that her locker is in desperate need of cleaning. But it's too late for all that and Stella calls her on it, asking if she'll be okay, if there's anything she can do. Aiden just shakes her head, insisting that she's fine when she obviously isn't. She doesn't look at Stella and she still hasn't noticed Danny pathetically standing there after all this time either. She just busies herself with rearranging the contents of her locker.

Within a few minutes Stella is on her way out again, with a reassuring hand on Aiden's shoulder, telling her that she'll see her tomorrow. As Stella reaches the doorway she leans closer to Danny and whispers, "Do something!" before walking away. Danny gets the entire message from the look in her eyes. There's a definite 'or else' on the end of that message. If he doesn't do anything, he's bound to face the full Bonasera wrath when she finds out. It's not a pleasant idea, but not something that's necessary. He'd do something anyway. For her.

With Stella gone, he notices how the lab's started to empty out. He takes a deep breath and with it he hopes will come everything he needs to say.

Finally he takes that step into the room and sits down on the bench near her locker, unsure if she's realised he's there or not. "Hey." He says, knowing it's not the best opening line, but it's the best attempt he can make, not knowing where else to start. She jumps a little at his voice and he mutters "Sorry."

He hears a soft "It's okay" in return, but he's worried by the fact that the entire time she hasn't turned around.

"Aid?" He asks. She stills for a second before returning to her pointless rearrangements, no doubt wishing he would just leave so she could gather her dignity and leave.

"Aiden." He says it a bit more forcefully this time. She's still ignoring him and Danny's disappointed by the fact that his best friend can't even trust him to let him know that she's upset about all this. He stands up and places his hands on her shoulders. "You can't keep ignoring me forever y'know. I'm not gonna leave."

He turns her around to face him and for the first time he gets a good look at her face. Cheeks tear-streaked, eyes red, basically looking incredibly miserable. Her eyes meet his and they look so vulnerable. So completely different to that fiery attitude he's used to getting from her (and secretly loves).

Something inside him aches at seeing her upset about this and he pulls her to him in a hug. She doesn't resist, and he feels her wrap her arms around him and let him hold her for a few minutes.

Finally she pulls away from him, looking more composed and attempts to smile at him. He smiles back and pushes some hair out of her face. "Let me take you home?" he asks, and is pleased to see her nod in answer. He might not have the words to make it all go away, but he can at least attempt to make things better.


A/N: Just to let you know, I'm planning on a second chapter to this, just to explain some things that I think need explaining. Look out for an update! I'm just not sure how soon it's likely to come with my exams jumping around in front of me telling me I'm gonna fail unless I get some study in.