Danny's Prologue:
It's safe to say that Police Constable Daniel Butterman has a crush on Sergeant Nicolas Angel. He's well aware of this fact, and has been for some time. Even the first time he met the man, as the Sergeant was pulling him out of his car by his lapels, Daniel's reaction was very visceral, and very physical. Of course, at the time he wrote it off as an artefact of his current state. He was pissed off his rocker, to be honest. And any man would have reacted the same way to those strong, er…capable hands pulling you out of your car, a lithe body pressing you backwards into it as intense eyes lashed at you like whips across your flesh...er, yes. Yes, that was perfectly understandable.
After that it was hero worship. The Sergeant had seen and done so much. He reminded Daniel of the cops from his collection of "buddy cop" movies. Daniel's feelings about his partner were in no way influenced by his theory that the common theme in all of these movies was that the 'buddy' cops' favourite way of relieving stress after a tough day on the job was to go home and bugger each other into the mattress (a theory that, Daniel had to admit, had some influence on his decision to become a police officer in the first place). So each time Daniel would see the Sergeant and would get that feeling in his stomach as if the earth had suddenly fallen out from under his feet, well…that's the way people feel when they spot someone they idolize. Also perfectly understandable.
The occasional dreams were understandable too. The Sergeant was good looking, had a great body. Daniel had had dreams like that before. Hell, even Detective Constable Cartwright had shown up in a dream or two throughout the years. Admittedly, the bit at the end where, afterward, instead of rolling over and falling asleep, or getting up to get dressed, Daniel would instead cuddle closer in to Sergeant Angel's side and whisper 'I love you,' okay, THAT was different. Daniel was usually of the mind that dreams, especially repeat dreams that keep showing up night after night, were your unconscious's way of telling you something important, but sometimes a wet dream is just a cigar.
Harder to write off was the warm gooey feeling Daniel would get in his belly when, on the rare occasion, he could make his usually stiff-upper-lipped partner smile. The way Nicolas's dry sense of humour would make Daniel's insides melt; the way his mind's workings would knock Daniel to the floor, the way a slight accidental touch would send jolts of heat through Daniel's whole body, those things were harder to ignore.
So what? Daniel had a crush. No big deal. He had had crushes before. It's just that it felt like more than a crush. Daniel had this strange feeling that he would do anything for his partner. Defying his father, for instance, to the risk of angering a wily pack of murderous neighbourhood watch cult members who had taken it upon themselves to cleanse the village of all undesirables. Or the split second decision he made when he saw Weaver shoot the blunderbuss at Nicolas. Without even considering himself, he willingly jumped in the path of the shot to save his partner.
Daniel had a lot to think about as he lay in his hospital bed recovering from the shot. He mulled over his feelings as best he could, despite the amount of pain-killing drugs that were currently running through his system. Finally, sloppily, but without question, he had come to a realisation. Somehow, throughout Nicolas's short time in Sanford, somewhere in all they had been through, Daniel had fallen in love with the Sergeant.
It was as this realization finally dawned on him that he heard a throat clear, and looked up to see the very same Sergeant standing in the door of the hospital room holding a Japanese Peace Lilly.