"I'm leaving Allison." Scott's voice was cold and lifeless, but he looked right at Danny as he said it.
Danny sat beside Scott on the steps of the funeral home, doing his best to be quiet so the people filing into the funeral home wouldn't hear him. "You don't know what you're saying. It's the grief. You love her."
"How can I love her? She killed my daughter."
It took everything Danny had to not react when Scott leaned against him and sighed. Honestly, Scott probably wasn't even thinking about the things he was saying. He wasn't thinking about how much Danny had wanted to hear him say that he was leaving his wife. Though, Danny had wanted them to be part of a happy moment.
"That's not fair, Scott. You guys, neither of you, knew she was allergic to peanuts. Allison gave your daughter peanut butter cheerios because the store was out of the plain kind. It was an accident," Danny pointed out sadly. "The doctors didn't catch it when you guys had her tested. You can't blame Allison for something that wasn't her fault."
"I know that, I do, but I can't stop blaming her. I need someone to blame. Something."
Tears fell down Scott's cheeks and Danny resisted the urge to wipe them away; to kiss them away. His brain fought every instinct his body and his heart had.
His husband, Stiles, was inside with Allison. They'd decided that, if Allison and Scott were to start fighting, they'd separate them. Danny insisted on taking scare of Scott even though he was Stiles' best friend. He was too ashamed to admit why.
"I can't be here." Scott whispered as he fought back sobs. Danny didn't even bother speaking as he grabbed Scott and held him to his chest. Tears and snot were ruining his best shirt and he didn't care. His fingers ran through Scott's hair as he rocked him back and forth. He whispered comforting things as he held his lover.
He told Scott how he was a good father. How he was the best father. How he didn't mind when Scott cancelled one of their increasingly rare days together to go to the zoo with Allison and his daughter, because that's what the best kind of father does.
"You need to be here for you daughter, Scott," Danny told him as he continued holding him. People were heading into the funeral home, passing Danny and Scott and giving sympathetic looks. Danny wondered if they would give them the same looks if they what Danny had done, or what he had been thinking.
Because as horrible as he felt about Scott's daughter, Danny was glad that he was finally allowed to touch Scott in public. To embrace him and love him. To share affection with his lover and not have anyone think anything of it, no matter how brief.
"My daughter is dead," Scott reminded Danny, every words punctuated with a broken sob. "She's not in that house: in that coffin. She gone. Forever. And I need to go. I need to leave."
"Scott, all these people are here to help you. They love you and they care about you. Let them," Danny tried to reason as Scott collected himself.
The grieving father stood and wiped his eyes and nose clean with his jacket sleeves, then offered a hand to Danny. "To hell with them. I want to leave, Danny. I want to leave this town and these people and never look back. And I want you to come with me."
"This isn't you, Scott. This is the grief," Danny told him as he stared at Scott's hand.
"Danny, my daughter is dead. The only thing I have left in this world is you. I love you. Come with me."
His brain finally losing the war with his heart, Danny reached out and grabbed Scott's hand. There were a few stragglers coming into the funeral home, but they just hurried past Scott and Danny and into the building. Danny didn't know if they had heard. He didn't care. He just sat on the steps holding Scott's hand.
"Wait." Danny let go of Scott's hand and looked at the ring on his left ring finger. He remembered Stiles putting it there. He remembered how much he still loved his husband, even if he was no longer in love with him. He remembered how, just that morning, Stiles had kissed him and told him that he loved him and they talked about horrible the death of a little girl was.
The ring came off with an ease that made Danny's heart break. He stood and put it on the porch railing. Then he held his hand out. Scott put his own wedding ring in it, and Danny put it beside his own.
With the weight gone from his finger and his guilt at its highest, Danny walked down the four steps and stood in front of Scott. And he stood there as Scott kissed him. It was melancholy and there was no romance to it. None of the forbidden passion they'd shared over the last three years of sneaking around and secret hookups. But it was what Danny wanted and needed. It was more loving than any kiss he had shared with Stiles in all of that time.
"Scott? Danny?"
Allison's voice was raspy as she walked onto the porch and saw her husband kissing the man that was married to one of their best friends. They broke apart, but Danny held Scott's hand.
"The funeral is about to start..." Allison said numbly, clearly in shock from what she had just seen. "I was told you were out here."
"Goodbye, Allison," Scott said sadly. His hand clenched Danny's so tight that it hurt. "I can't anymore."
"Scott." Allison's voice cracked and angry tears began to fall down her face. "I don't care if you leave me, you bastard. Tomorrow, next week, it doesn't matter. Just not today. Don't leave our daughter."
"Our daughter is dead!" Scott yelled in a pained voice as he began crying again. Danny was worried he'd trigger an asthma attack or something. "She's not in there, Allison! That's just her body."
"What's going on out here? Allison, are you okay?" When Danny heard his husband's voice, his resolve to stand by Scott began to crumble.
Stiles walked onto the porch and closed the door. Danny watched as Stiles took in everything he was seeing: Allison crying at the top of the stairs, Scott and Danny standing on the sidewalk holding hands, the abandoned wedding rings on the railing. Danny could feel his husband's heart begin to shatter. His own tears started to form in his eyes.
"Danny?" Stiles eyes were locked on the rings as he approached the others. He picked them both up and stood by Allison before looking at his husband. His jaw was quivering as his eyes scanned Danny and Scott's hands and confirmed what he was clearly hoping wasn't true. "Please tell me I'm wrong."
Looking at Scott, then back to Stiles, Danny's heart leapt into his throat. He couldn't say anything. At all. His mouth refused to do more than hang open and suck in and exhale air.
"Let's go," Scott whispered to Danny. He began to walk away, and Danny walked with him. They ignored the sounds of Stiles calling and Allison's sobs. Danny's phone began ringing and she saw it was Stiles calling him. He shut his phone off.
They stopped at Scott's car. Danny looked at him, and saw that they were both shaking. Neither one smiled. It was not a happy occasion. Scott pulled out his keys and Danny took them from him. He was in no condition to drive: Danny was barely together enough at that moment to operate a vehicle.
Danny helped Scott into the passenger seat. He walked around the car and opened the driver's side door. Then he saw Stiles and Allison running into the parking lot.
"Danny! Wait! I love you!" Stiles screamed. He held up Danny's ring and it glinted in the sunlight. "Please, just talk to me. We can work this out. Whatever this is."
Still unable to say anything, Danny looked away from his husband and climbed into the car. Then he locked the doors and buckled up. Stiles was still screaming at him as he started the engine and looked at Scott. Scott reached over and took Danny's hand into his own. Danny loved this man. He knew it. And even as he drove away, watching in the rearview mirror as his husband fell to his knees and cried, Danny knew that he would always love Scott McCall.