Author's Notes: I posted this story earlier, but deleted it again because there were too many mistakes still in it (Thanks for your interest in this, Anmodo!). There will probably be still a couple of mistakes in it, because I'm posting the unbetaed version (I'm just too impatient, Maria… ;)

I hope you'll like this. I used to hate Elena, but what if she's the one to make Danny happy? In this story she is…

Enjoy!

The sun was shining through her bedroom window, when Elena woke up by the sound of her cell phone vibrating underneath her pillow. For a little moment she was confused, opening just one eye, carefully. Next to her Danny was still fast asleep.

Slowly and with some effort Elena sat up in bed, wondering why her phone was waking her on a Sunday morning and – even more – why her phone was under her pillow. With a groan she reached for it to turn it off before it was going to wake Danny – and that was when she remembered.

She had put the phone under the pillow to make sure it was going to wake her – and just her. She had plans for this morning. It wasn't that those plans didn't include Danny, but she wanted to surprise him, and therefore she needed him in bed and asleep until everything was ready.

With another groan Elena pushed away her blankets and crawled out of bed. Trying to remember when there had been the last time she had done something like this for a man – if she had ever done it – getting up on a Sunday if she didn't have to and didn't want to just to make him breakfast as a surprise.

But after what he'd been through the day before Danny deserved it.

Maybe even breakfast in bed, she suddenly thought. She couldn't remember them ever having had breakfast in bed, but it seemed like a good idea.

Suddenly a smile appeared on Elena's lips. It was strange; she had never enjoyed doing things for a man as much as doing things for Danny. She cooked for him when she had time, and she didn't mind ironing his shirts.

But he deserves being treated like that, she thought.

And the way he was taking care of her – and of Sophie – it was absolutely true. It had been Elena's greatest fear that her daughter might not accept their relationship, but Sophie loved Danny, and their relationship was almost like she was his daughter.

Elena made her way into the kitchen, not bothering to put on any clothes. The only thing she was wearing was her nightshirt which wasn't really a night shirt, but an old t-shirt of Danny's that covered just enough of her to make her feel not naked. It smelled of him.

She knew that once out of bed she had about ten minutes before Danny was going to wake and get up to check where she was. He always seemed to worry about her and he constantly needed to make sure that she was okay. And Sophie too.

Today, though, it was just the two of them, Sophie had spent the night with her Grandmother.

Elena was about to put some plates on the table, when the phone rang. With a frown, she checked the time again. It was still early, only 9 am, and it was a Sunday. A call at this time could only mean that –

"Hello?"

"Elena – it's your mother. Did I wake you?"

"No Mum, I was up. What's wrong? Something wrong with Sophie?"

"Not exactly."

"Mum", Elena said, impatiently. "What happened?"

"She had a bad dream, Elena. About what happened yesterday. And she spent the rest of the night more or less awake, and I promised her we'd call as soon as we could without risking to wake you."

"What kind of dream?" Elena asked although she had a pretty good idea of what must have happened in the dream.

"Do I really have to tell you?"

Elena sighed but her mother didn't give her any time to answer: "She dreamt that Danny didn't come out of that hostage situation alive. Really, I don't understand why you had to take her to that place. Now…"

"Mum…" Elena tried to interrupt, but again her mother wouldn't let her.

"Now is Danny around? Because I promised Sophie that she could speak to him and make sure he's alive and well."

"He's still asleep", Elena said, closing her eyes. The short conversation was exhausting her already and suddenly she felt guilty. Guilty for putting her daughter through what had happened. Suddenly she wished that she had made a different choice, but she couldn't turn back time.

………………

Elena saw Jack roll his eyes when he saw her get out of the car and slam the door shut. But when she walked around the car to get Sophie from the back seat Jack came marching over.

"No", Elena could hear him say before he had even reached them.

"No way she's not gonna stay here."

"Jack…"

"Elena, did you hear me or do I have to say it again? This is no place for a little girl."

"Jack, she's worried. She loves Danny – she needs to be here to see him when he's getting out of there."

"Elena it can be hours before we can get him out of there. It's even possible that…" Jack interrupted himself and paused for a moment, then he continued speaking. "Why did you tell her, anyway?"

"I didn't. She saw what happened on the news. My mother called me and told me that they'd heard about that hostage situation on the radio and when they put on the TV they saw you on the news and that was when they got really worried. So they called me to make sure that I was okay. And then they asked about Danny. What was I supposed to say? Besides, I called Sam ten minutes ago and she said the whole thing's almost over – so I could bring Sophie so Danny could see her when he was out of there. And she could see him."

Jack hesitated. "Yeah…" he finally admitted. "Ten minutes ago we almost had him, but he changed his mind." He sighed. "Look, I understand why you brought her here, but considering the current situation I don't think it's a good idea. Take her home, Elena, and take care of her. We'll keep you posted."

It took a moment for the words to sink in but when they did Elena was furious. "You don't honestly think I'm going to go home to sit and wait, do you?"

Jack looked at her and she stared back, but Elena knew that she couldn't win.

Finally Jack lowered his head and shook it before he lifted it again to look her in the eyes. "It's an order. Go home."

"Okay, fine." Elena fought with her temper, but she didn't want to lose it in front of her daughter. She grabbed Sophie and lifted her into her arms. The little girl hadn't said a word but when her mother started carrying her away she started whining. "Mommy?"

"Yes?"

"I wanna see Danny. You said we come here see if he's okay."

"He is okay, Sweetie."

"I wanna see him…"

"In a bit. Okay?"

"What's she doing here?" Looking up at the voice Elena saw Vivian walking towards them, looking nervous.

Elena was taken aback; in all the time she had known Vivian Johnson she had hardly ever seen her let anything get to her, but this obviously was. Vivian came closer and kneeled down to say hi to Sophie. They had never met, and Elena's daughter gripped her mother's hand tighter and gave Vivian a shy look.

"I thought, we could see Danny", Elena said, starting to feel stupid.

"He's still in there", Vivian said in a tired voice. She frowned and turned to nod towards the huge company building they were standing in front of.

The case had started on Friday morning and nobody had expected it to end like this; a man had gone missing and his wife had told the team she was afraid he'd hurt himself, because he had been depressed after losing his job. But after investigating the team suddenly realised that he wasn't going to hurt himself; he had bought a weapon to kill his former boss. Danny and Martin had arrived at the company first, but they were too late. Now the man had more than twenty hostages; and Danny was one of them.

"You think he's okay?" Elena asked, looking at the building. It looked huge and intimidating to her, but guessed it was just the situation; it was making her feel just as nervous as Vivian looked.

Glancing at the small girl that was still holding Elena's hand tightly, Vivian's serious expression turned a bit softer and she even smiled. "I'm sure he will be. It's Danny:"

………………

"Who's asleep?"

The voice startled Elena and she almost dropped the phone. She turned around to see Danny standing in the doorway, clad only in boxers and a t-shirt that looked a size to small but was perfect to show off the outlines of his body. Although Elena was worried about her daughter she couldn't help a smile that spread over her face when she saw him; his hair was out of control and he looked like was still half-asleep.

Danny smiled back and came over to kiss her gently. "Who's on the phone?" he asked.

"It's Sophie."

Danny's sleepy expression changed into a worried one. "Everything alright?" he asked, frowning. He loved the little girl as much as she loved him, and although at first Elena had been sceptical he had turned out to be a good father. Much better than Sophie's biological father although – Elena had to admit – that wasn't that difficult.

"Mom, hang on a second…" Elena took the phone away from her ear and covered the receiver with her hand before she explained: "She's just worried about you."

"About me?"

Elena nodded. "Yeah, apparently she had a nightmare about that hostage situation and now she's not sure if you're okay. Although my mother spent half the night awake with her she couldn't convince her that you're not seriously injured or… well…"

Danny seemed confused for a moment and his frown deepened. He nodded towards the phone in Elena's hand. "You want me to speak with her?"

"Please." Elena nodded. She lifted the phone to her ear again and said: "Mom, put her on, please." She handed the phone to Danny who started talking right away.

"Sophie? Honey, you there?"

Although she couldn't understand the words Elena heard the unmistakable whining tone in her daughter's voice, and judging from how Danny was still knitting his brows the little girl must have had a really horrible night. Suddenly Elena wished her mother had called earlier, and she knew that Danny was thinking the same, but Elena's possible reaction to being awakened by the phone in the middle of the night must have stopped her. Normally that could only mean that something had happened to Sophie and after what they had all been through the last thing they needed was a false alarm.

"Honey I'm alright", Danny's voice pulled her back to the present. Elena was glad he didn't mention the cut above his eyebrow and the bruises that covered his chest and stomach. He'd taken a beating, it wasn't a big deal, but to the little girl everything would sound terrible.

"… of course you can come over later… yeah, we'll play something, okay? … Of course you can bring her…"

Elena smiled. She knew that 'her' referred to Lisa, Sophie's favourite doll.

"Yeah – Mommy's here, too. We can all play something together… No I'm really not hurt… A dream? Tell me about it…"

Elena sighed. Knowing that the conversation could take a while she continued making breakfast. She had given up on the idea of having it in bed. They were both too tense to go back to bed now, and she hoped that a good meal would relax them enough.

She glanced at Danny. He had to be hungry. It had taken another five hours before the FBI was finally able to end the hostage situation and after that Jack had called Elena. Danny had been taken to the hospital to be checked out although he wasn't seriously hurt and Elena had taken Sophie to her mother's and had driven to the hospital to get Danny. Once at home they had both just fallen into bed, exhausted.

"… it was just a dream Sophie dear. I'm alright, and your mum's cooking me breakfast right now. And I bet you're hungry too because you haven't eaten anything yesterday, have you? … Yeah, you can see for yourself, later, because you… no, now you have to be a good girl and eat your breakfast and Mommy and I will come and get you later… You want to speak to your mother now? … No? Okay, then we'll see you later." Danny hung up the phone and turned to Elena, who shrugged.

"She didn't want to speak to me?" she asked, but wasn't surprised. Sometimes she had the feeling that the little girl loved Danny so much she should be jealous, but then again, the reasons were obvious. Of course she loved her mother, too, but Elena was the one who told Sophie to go to bed, or to get up in the morning or to eat her vegetables. Danny didn't do that, so in a certain way, he was special to the little girl. Plus, right now, Sophie was mad at Elena for not letting her see Danny the night before. She had promised her daughter in the afternoon that they would go and see him, but broke that promise and in the evening she had gone to the hospital without taking Sophie with her.

How could she know that Sophie's fantasy would turn this into a nightmare that was scary enough to keep her awake for the rest of the night?

"She seemed a bit angry when I asked… Now what's for breakfast?" Danny changed the subject quickly before Elena could start a discussion.

She smiled. "Well, it was going to be a surprise, but since you're up before it's ready you can as well chose yourself."
"I'll eat anything if you're making it", Danny and grinned. He put the phone on the kitchen counter and came over to hug her from behind. He placed his chin on her shoulder and she could feel his breath grazing her neck. It was good to feel him, to know that he was alive and there with her. She lifted her hands and placed them on his and they remained like that for a moment before Elena finally broke free from the embrace. She walked over to the fridge and opened it before she turned back to Danny and said: "What about pancakes? I could make you some."

Danny laughed.

Confused, Elena knitted her brows. "What?"

"Doesn't sound like you…" he said and stopped laughing, but kept smiling.

"Why?"

"Well, if I remember it right you were totally mad at me when I made pancakes for Sophie the other morning."

"Yes, but that's because now she expects this every Sunday, and because I won't make them for her very Sunday morning, she's mad at me… But what am I expecting? I'm the bad parent, anyway."

Now Danny laughed again. "What makes you thinks something like that?"

"Well, maybe the fact that you're always playing with her and making her pancakes for breakfast but as soon as she needs to be told to do her homework that's usually my job."

Now Danny looked almost guilty. "Well, you're better at doing that…" he finally tried to excuse himself.

Elena snorted. "Yeah, right. I just think you don't want to do this…"

Raising his hands in defeat Danny admitted: "Okay, maybe you're right. I'm sorry. I promise I'll be better from now on – now can we have breakfast, please?"

"Alright – now what about pancakes?"

"Sounds good to me", Danny said and grinned. He sat down at the table and watched as Elena started preparing their breakfast. After she had finished making the first pancake she made another one for herself and sat down next to Danny to eat. They both had another one but after that they felt full and Elena got up the clean up the kitchen.

When she walked by Danny's chair he grabbed her wrist and pulled her close until she came to sit on his lap. They kissed and afterwards she remained sitting there, enjoying to be so close to him.

She put her hands underneath his t-shirt and lay them flat on his warm, naked skin, feeling the movements of stomach against her palms as he breathed in and out. More and more she was very aware of how little clothes they were wearing and judging from the way his body stiffened and his breathing became quicker, he was aware of that, too. She moved her hands, running them down his sides, knowing that this was probably more than he could take without making his move.

And for sure he pulled her closer and took her face into his hands, kissing her hungrily. She responded the same way and they didn't even make it to the bed before ripping their clothes of eachother and making love right then and there.

"I love you", Elena managed to get out before she collapsed against him, exhausted, but happy and very satisfied.

"I love you, too", Danny mumbled as it was over. Suddenly he looked tired again and thinking about getting back into bed Elena realised that she, too, didn't have anything against it. They left the kitchen as untidy as it was and a few minutes later they crawled back under their covers. Danny put an arm around her waist but fell asleep before he could pull her closer. Elena smiled and snuggled up against him and a couple of minutes later, she was asleep too. After all they still had hours before they would have to get up and get Sophie from her mother's.

The End