Inspired by last Friday's repeat of "Two Daughters." Just a fairly short, missing scene ficlet for the episode. Usual disclaimers apply; nothing recognizable is mine. Anyway, enjoy. :)
He'd just needed a moment to himself. A moment to think; a moment to process. A moment to try and sort out his thoughts into something they could use.
It was a moment he knew they didn't have. Time was of the essence now; there was literally none to waste.
The clock in the far corner only served to remind him of that fact as it ticked each and every passing second away, the sound to Don's ears a deafening echo. It was as though it were taunting him; with every minute, it seemed the steady ticking grew progressively louder. And there was nothing he could do about it, short of tossing it out of the room.
That would require his opening the door. It would require revealing himself to his team again; reacquainting himself with the questioning glances in their eyes.
He was their leader. He was supposed to give the orders; he was supposed to know what to do.
But he didn't. Not this time. Not when one of their own was lost in possible peril somewhere. Not when it was the woman he…
Closing his eyes, Don rested his forehead against the cool wall, forcing himself to concentrate on his breathing in order to stop that train of thought in its tracks. He couldn't start thinking like that; he couldn't let himself face this with anything but professional eyes.
Because the moment things became personal, that was when everything started to go downhill.
But then again, as he stood locked away from his team in a dark, empty interrogation room, Don had to admit things were looking pretty bad as it was. He knew with regard to this case, he'd already veered into personal territory. He was losing control; considering doing things he never even would've humored in the past.
And it wasn't just because Megan was a part of his team.
Slowly he clenched his fists at his sides, feeling the dull ache throbbing within his knuckles, the pain reminding him that he wasn't losing control. No, he'd lost it the moment he'd snapped at David. He'd lost control the moment he'd stormed off to this empty room, slamming the door behind him and jerking the blinds over every window. He'd lost control the moment his fists had connected with the wall.
He'd lost control the moment he'd put his heart before his mind.
And now he stood, alone in the dark, trying so desperately to regain that control. For every moment that control escaped him was a moment that left his team without a leader; a moment that left Megan without hope.
There was no telling what Crystal might have done to her. Megan's life could be slowly slipping away with every moment that passed, and there was nothing Don could do about it. He had no idea where she was, how to contact Crystal, anything.
He didn't even know if Megan was alive.
The very thought sent chills through his body, intensifying the feeling of cold dread that had settled in his stomach hours earlier.
Megan was strong; Don knew that all too well. Megan could easily hold her ground against almost anyone, and oftentimes she came out on top. She knew how to stay calm under fire; there wasn't much that could cause her to snap. She knew the minds of criminals like no one else; Don found it almost frightening just how well she knew how the bad guys worked. She knew the kinds of schemes they tried; the games they played.
But this was no game. Crystal Hoyle was dangerous. Don gave a bitter scoff; dangerous was an understatement. The woman was crazy; the fact that she'd taken a federal agent hostage was testament enough to that. Sure, Megan would be able to keep herself calm; what Don was worried about was Crystal losing her cool. The woman obviously had no qualms about killing. She was already going away for life. What was there to stop her from killing once more?
It was a realization that sent yet another shiver through his entire body. The situation had nothing to do with Megan; nothing to do with her composure or her intuition. But it had everything to do with however Crystal was feeling with each passing second.
Every second that passed was a second that Crystal's mood could drastically shift. All it might take was Megan saying one wrong word. In one second, Crystal could have her at gunpoint, pulling the trigger in the next.
Every second could possibly be Megan's last, and yet each of those seconds found Don just standing alone in that dark room, contemplating that instead of looking for some way to save her; any possible way to bring her home.
If only he could clear his mind and block his emotions long enough to come up with something, anything. But it wasn't quite that simple. This wasn't some hostage he'd never spoken to in his life. This was Megan. Everything was different, from the way he approached the situation to the way he handled it, and he had to admit he was walking quite the fine line with regard to that.
He was already breaking rules, breaking protocol, even for just a hint of where she might be. He could only imagine the lengths he would go to if he did know where she was and how to get to her. In the past, he'd worked hundreds of cases; a few of them kidnapping cases. With none of those had he been able to justify stepping outside of the lines. Those boundaries were there for a reason; Don had spent his career staying as far away from those lines as possible.
With this case; with Megan, his objectivity wasn't just skewed. It was completely gone. He was crossing those lines right and left.
But then again, with Megan, there were no lines. There were no rules, no protocol. Just one, single objective -- getting her home, at any and all costs.
It scared him just how far he knew he'd be willing to go for her.
He knew, given the chance and nobody to stop him; Don knew he would willingly trade Buck for Megan. Logically; legally he knew he couldn't do that, after all, the boy was a felon; a murderer, for God's sake. But Megan; Megan was…
There was only one reason why he'd risk everything for her. It was simple, really. It was a simple realization, but the moment he'd realized it had been the moment that everything became complicated.
Megan simply meant more to him than all that. Megan was everything.
And if something didn't happen soon, Don knew he'd do anything just to get her back. At any and all costs to his career, to his integrity, to his life.
Trade the boy for her? In a heartbeat.
Break every last rule in the book? He was already two-thirds of the way there; what would a few more matter?
Put his own life in the balance if it meant hers would be safe? Given the chance, yes.
He was ready to cross every last line; knock away every last boundary that he'd come to respect for her. Boundaries between personal and professional, boundaries between friendship and something more. Boundaries he'd built between them himself because they worked together; because of her involvement with a fairly good friend. It was agony to the part of him that had spent his life fighting for justice and upholding the law, but even those boundaries between the legal and illegal; he knew if it came down to it, he would knock them away without a second thought.
Because if he would admit it, when it came to just how far Don would go for Megan, there were no boundaries.