FrFroze disclaimer - I do not own. If you think I do, I have abridge I'd like to sell you.
A/N: HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE DISNEY MOVIE OF THE SAME NAME. Just something I thought would make an interesting one-shot. This takes place four months after "Dirty". For those not verse in psychology, PTSD comes in many forms and can be caused by more than just battlefield trauma. So this story is t too far a stretch. For those looking for good resources to help them with details when writing Perception fanfiction just google DSM. While you won't get access to the entire Diagnosic and Statistical Manuel you will find some pretty helpful stuff.
The weather report said it was going to continue to snow through the next day. Daniel flipped off the TV and wondered if he should send Lewicki out to shovel the front walk again. He decided against it and picked up a magazine of puzzles. He was halfway through his tenth pathetically simple KenKen when the doorbell rang.
Daniel tossed the magazine aside and rose from the couch and made his way to the door. He knew of only one person who would come to his door this late at night. It had been almost a week since she'd sought him out in the dead of night. He'd hoped that her therapy sessions had been able to alleviate the nightmares but as he opened the door to find Kate Moretti standing in the middle of the blizzard wearing nothing but a tank top and yoga pants it became obvious that she was still haunted by the events of four months ago.
"Jesus Kate," he breathed, reaching out and yanking her inside. She was ice cold to the touch, her skin was pale and her lips were unsettlingly blue, her long dark hair capped with snow, giving her the appearance of wearing a wooly hood but in reality she had no such protection from the elements.
Daniel pulled her into a tight embrace as he kicked the door shut with his right foot. He'd gotten accustomed to her showing up in whatever she'd worn to bed that evening but the weather hadn't been as horrendous the other times her nightmares had driven her to his doorstep. He'd taken it for granted that she would have the sense to put on a coat.
She shivered against him and Daniel turned his gaze up the stairs "Lewicki!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.
His assistant appeared at the top of the stairs only an instant later. The young man had been expecting that Kate would drop by for the last few days now. He'd been keeping an ear out for the doorbell and had a feeling he would be needed. He just didn't know how badly until his eyes fell upon Daniel, cradling a freezing Kate to his chest.
"Holy shit," the young man muttered as he made his way down the stairs. The FBI agent looked more than half frozen to death.
"Make some tea please," Daniel commanded in a frantic tone. As Lewicki disappeared into the kitchen Daniel maneuvered Kate in the direction of the couch. He grabbed the blanket off the back and wrapped her in it.
"What were you thinking Kate?" he asked softly as he sat beside her, staring into her face.
When she responded, her voice was tiny and shook, whether from the cold or from fear or both Daniel couldn't be sure "I guess I wasn't," she admitted, leaning up against him "I saw you die again," she told him, referring to her nightmare "It was worse this time. In the, the fire, you were trapped but I couldn't get to you. You died and it was all my fault."
Max came and set two mugs of tea on the coffee table. He remained silent, knowing it was not his place to intrude on this conversation. He had foisted enough blame on Kate at the hospital that day. Agreeing with her statement now would only incur Doctor Pierce's anger.
Once Lewicki had disappeared upstairs again, Daniel lifted one of the mugs from the coffee table and forced it into Kate's hands. Her fingers were like ice and he found himself having to bend them for her so that she didn't drop the hot beverage.
Kate allowed Daniel to guide the mug to her lips. She took a long sip. It scolded her throat but it felt good at the same time. She felt foolish. The nightmare had been terrifying and had felt so real. But to have woken up from it and not thought to grab some sort of protection from the storm before rushing out into it to see Daniel was just dumb. Her car had been freezing cold as well and the drive had not been long enough for the heater to properly warm up. Add to that that when she had reached Daniel's front door she had paused for quite some time wondering if she should really bother him yet again.
Rationally she knew he was alive but part of her needed to see him and touch him to be sure. It hadn't been long after he'd returned home from the hospital that she'd first paid him a late night visit. During the all night conversation that ensued Daniel had come to the conclusion that she was suffering from a minor case of post traumatic stress disorder. It didnt feel minor to Kate, it was affecting her life. Daniel had promised to help her. He'd been with her every step of the way since then. It wasn't lost on him that he appeared to be the source of the trauma.
"Kate," Daniel began in as calm a tone as he could muster "It wasn't your fault. We had what seemed like a less than credible tip."
"I should have gone alone," Kate mused quietly as she took another swig of tea.
Daniel felt his stomach twist at the notion. If she'd gone alone, he could have lost her. Rather than vocalize his fear, he continued with his reassurances "You saved my life that day Kate."
He took her mug and set it on the coffee table. Taking her hands in his and silently rejoicing that they didn't feel quite as cold anymore, he placed them on either side of his face "I'm alive Kate," he moved her hands to rest over his beating heart "I'm alive because of you, because after reckless Kate Moretti was thrown clear by the shockwave she ran back in to save me."
Kate wrenched her hands free of his and flung her arms around his neck. She began to shake with quiet sobs.
Over Kate's head, Daniel found himself staring at an alternate version of himself, the same version he hadn't seen since he'd been investigating the supposedly faulty DBSs. His doppelgänger spoke "Not used to having to be the strong one, are you?"
Daniel glared at the hallucination. He wanted to ask the self proclaimed happy Daniel Pierce why he was there but he thought better of it.
"She needs you," the hallucination continued "She needs you and you're not sure you can handle it. When in your life have you ever been needed, really needed?"
Daniel turned away from what he was quickly deciding he should dub his evil twin and back to Kate. He reached down and brushed a piece of hair, soggy from melted snow, out of her face "Kate, look at me," he commanded gently.
"Do you have it in you?" his alternate self remarked. Daniel did his best to ignore the other him. "You know what's going on here," the hallucination continued "In the time since the explosion she's called off her engagement and kicked Donnie out on his ass."
When Kate looked up at Daniel her face was tear stained but it had regained its color and her lips were mercifully no longer blue.
"She's had lunch with you nearly every day," his duplicate pointed out "She makes excuses to see you even when you're not working a case. It's obvious to me what's going on so I know it's obvious to you. The question is, are you ready to admit you feel the same?"
Kate's eyes bored into Daniel's questioningly. Daniel cleared his throat "I can't have you getting frozen half to death like this on a regular basis Kate," he told her.
She nodded "I thought I'd gotten the nightmares out of my system," she admitted.
"That could take several more months or even years," Daniel acknowledged. He smiled mischievously at her "So in the meantime I guess you'll just have to move in here."
She stared at him in bewilderment for a moment and then smiled softly, pushing herself into a seated position and reaching for her tea "You're joking."
"I'm not," Daniel replied.
"But there's no room," Kate argued "What about Max?"
"I think you misunderstood," Daniel explained "I'm suggesting you move in to my room, with me."
Kate downed the rest of her tea "So you mean, we'd share a room?" she asked slowly putting the pieces together in her mind.
"That's what I said," Daniel told her.
"Share a bed?" Kate questioned.
"I do only have the one in there," Daniel pointed out.
"Are you sure about this Daniel?" she asked. Kate was all for the idea. She was clear on her feelings for Daniel and she suspected she knew what his feelings were but she wanted to hear him say it.
"Yes, are you sure Daniel," the other him echoed "With all the doubts in your head about whether you're strong enough for her the way she's strong enough for you. With all the fear that the feelings you have for her cause. Are you really, really sure?"
Doctor Daniel Pierce paid his hallucination no mind as he leaned forward and pressed his lips to Kate's. She responded immediately by deepening the kiss and forcing him backwards onto the couch. Out of the corner of his eye Daniel saw his other self give him a thumbs up before disappearing.
When the kiss finally broke they were both starved for oxygen. Kate smiled "I've been wondering for a long time what it would be like to kiss you."
"Really?" Daniel's curiosity had been peeked "How long?"
Kate felt her still cold face grow suddenly warm "You don't want to know," she replied dismissively.
"Well," Daniel unwillingly left that line of questioning for another day in favor of his ego "How'd I measure up?"
Kate leaned in so she was inches from his face "Definey better in real life," she said seductively.
"So you'll move in?" he asked hopefully, running his hands up and down her arms to impart a little more warmth to them.
"That depends," Kate replied thoughtfully "You think you can handle the fact that every once in a while I'm gonna have a nightmare so bad I wake up crying?"
"Only if you can handle me occassionally talking to people or seeing things that aren't there."
"Piece of cake," Kate grinned "But can you handle that I enjoy eating all the unhealthy food you avoid and that nine times out of ten I prefer coffee to tea."
"Only if you can put up with all my, to put it mildly, eccentricities."
"I could do that with one hand tied behind my back," Kate scoffed. "Promise it won't freak you out that I love you."
Daniel was a little taken aback by the request but he didn't skip a beat "As long as you promise me that even on my darkest days when I may not know what's real that you'll always remember that I love you too."
Kate beamed and kissed him gently "I promise Daniel," and he knew she meant it.