This is a three part story told from Danny's point of view.
the lyrics to Lacey's song were originally written by me. Oh and I don't own Twisted or its characters.
Goodbye Danny"...
Danny was in Hell and the closest words he could find to describe it was soul piercing loneliness. The oppressive endless quiet, and the mind numbing monotony melded with daily bouts of heartbreak and constant regret. Yeah Danny mused bitterly that type of Hell.
Mini novellas that the Born again Christians handed out at busy street corners didn't tell you that True Hell was more of a feeling of loss than nightmarish depictions of swirling lava pits surrounded by flames.
Danny had decided firmly after years of living like this, that this life was the real Hell. Insidious, Draining, Empty and Seemingly Never ending. And with every year that passed the Loneliness became stifling and more terrifying than any booklet he had ever read.
It became a mini death that erased him little by little until he faded into a ghost like existence neither present nor absent from the activities going on around him.
As he raked his hands through his slowly thinning hair the idea that haunted him the most was that this Hell was a hell of his own choosing.
He could have kept her. She forgave him time after time, lie after lie because she thought that he loved her in the way that she loved him ,and he did, But..., he was afraid of her light. It was too honest and asked too much of him that he wasn't ready to give her. So he made his choice to stay in the darkness
Back then he thought at least he was lucky enough to have had a first one of living without her or the other of living with someone while living without her.
Like the coward he was he chose the latter.
Like the fool he was he thought his choice would make the pain easier
And like the Failure he was he ended up making the worst mistake of his life.
It didn't help that she had left Green Grove behind to move on to bigger and better things. Maybe if her music wasn't playing on every radio he could put the sound of her voice behind him..
"Goodbye Danny".. she said the last time he saw her. A lonely tear escaping her closed lids as she kissed him on the head and then turning around she got into the cab and she was gone.
He could hear her voice calling to him in the lyrics of her songs like the letters that she promised she would write but never did. They accused him of breaking her heart of changing her inside or leaving her alone unprotected when she needed him most.
When the sound of her was too much he would run home to escape her and find peace, but in Hell there is no peace. On every magazine and Billboard her stilled face dreamily gazed up aglow with confidence and contentment.
On Late night shows they churned out jokes about her sainted persona when she teamed up with legendary rock stars to promote her charity for women
Entertainment News sites showed paparazzi following her as she politely smiled walking through them perfectly posh and put together with the wind blowing through her hair. Large dark sunglasses covered her doe brown eyes as she ignored rumors of the latest sighting of her with A-list Hollywood Stars on her way to some event or award show.
If he didnt know her he would believe her irresistible persona was just hyped up Hollywood magic but he did know her and she was as amazing as everyone thought she was.
Selfishly he had realized too late that the qualities she possessed that she hsd freely offered to him were hard to find in most. A gift that you didn't take for granted unless you were as selfish as he was trying desperately to destroy that gift with childish mind games so that being with her didn't make him feel so uncomfortable. So that instead of him becoming better she could come down, closer to his level.
And maybe just Maybe If they didn't force him to watch her become an even more beautiful woman and person than she already was maybe then he could leave the thoughts of her behind and exist in this Hell pretending that the last time he saw her would not be the last time but rather a series of missed opportunities between old friends to meet up when their lives weren't so busy.
Maybe letting her go was the only redeeming thing he had ever done.
Her light could shine and other people
could appreciate what he probably would have taken for granted had she stayed.
Still there was an unyielding part of him that believed that she belonged to him and It was an unbearable weight feeling as if she was near to him in so many ways when in every way that counted she was so far away, unavailable to his undying affection for her.
It was in this distracted state that
Danny sat blankly with Good Morning America playing in the Living Room as he made his morning coffee.
He heard her voice again and turning around quickly there she was on the Television apparantly promoting her album She was dressed in a white form fitted lace halter dress and white full length gloves. Her hair laying in thick black ringlets on her shoulder.
For the first time in many months Danny felt something stir inside him. Excitement perhaps. Who Knew? It had been so long since Danny had really felt anything remotely close to this and watching her all he could think was that her being there meant that she was nearby or at least not so far away in some exotic country whose name he couldn't pronounce.
Readying herself to perform. She brushed her hair off her shoulders and Danny felt the longing to touch her that used to plague him whenever they were together form a chorus of butterflies in his stomach.
At that moment she picked up her mic and gazed sadly into the camera as if she was looking directly at and then through Danny instictively sensing somehow that he was watching her intently. Lowering her lashes she smiled a brilliant smile that her dimple emphasized like an exclamation point and an eerie calm descended on Danny who became lost in her again.
Her voice cut through the thick silence. Minny Rippertonesque in its pitch and smoothness. A hypnotizing bluesy pop ballad of low guitar chords and piano highs began to play.
*When you love someone, all you want is their affection, ooh ooh
So when did love become a battle for my man's attention
I'm not naive but I believe in love that is old fashioned.
A love you give to me with honesty and all your passion
S say
Eyes only
Eyes only fooor meee
Eyes only ee
Eyes only oon me...
The song became soundtrack as Danny remembered back to the last time he saw her.
She was standing there with her bags on the stoop waiting for the cab to the airport.
"Whats Going On" he yelled "You were really gonna leave without telling me weren't you"?
She didn't deny it she simply asked "How did you find out"?
"Your mom called Tess to let Jo know and she told me, not that it matters since I wouldve known if you'd answer my calls once in while
"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME DANNY"? She screamed as she hopelessly wrapped her arms around herself...
The song continued and she wrapped her arms around herself letting her hand trail down her body playing on her sensuality with a slow sway of her hips.
*So how can I believe
When you say
I'm your one and only
The choice for me is live a lie or
finally leave you lonely
*So II saay...
Her voice faded into the background as the memory became clearer...
"I wish"... I just want everything to be back to the way it was before".he said pleading "I care about you"..
"STOP"! "Just stop it Danny okay" she snapped. "Im so tired of what you want". "My life has been consumed with what YOU want since you came back". "But you can't have it both ways. I can't sit here and watch you figure out which one of us is the better choice for you at the moment while I'm paralyzed here afraid to move on and afraid not to. It's always been Jo so be with her and let me go"...
The guitar stopped and all that could be heard were the tinkling keys of the piano as She began talking softly
*Love me in your need then leave me.
Broken on the ground and bleeding
I choose you, I always choose you before me
Why oh why can't I make you adore me...
"That's not it" Danny said "I'm not trying to string you along Lacey". "I..care about you more than you know. Its just that with Jo it's different she accepts things about me that you wouldnt and with her I don't have to be this upstanding perfect person that you want me to be".
"You think I wanted you to be perfect". She spat out bitterly "Your imperfections were why I loved you". "They made me step outside of myself and be someone I would never have allowed myself to be". "I never wanted you to be perfect Danny what I wanted was for you to trust me enough to know that I could see your imperfections and still love you anyway" "Anyway it doesn't matter anymore I'm leaving i have to get away from here and It's not because you don't love me now it's because it's obvious from that statement and from the way that you see me that you never did". "I've risked and lost everything for you including my self respect". "My love for you was all I had left"...
Soft high riffs floated above the melody as she finish the song
*Eyes only
Eyes only on me
Eyes only
Eyes only for meeeeee
Your eyes my eyes
Inside I see in
Your eyes my eyes your eyes
Only for me...
The Taxicab pulled up silently at the curb and she grabbed her overnight bag slinging it over her shoulder.
"Don't worry Danny there's no hard feelings. I'll write to you guys as soon as I get settled in Seattle".
She walked past him to the car as the driver exited to grab the rest of her luggage.
Panic formed a knot in Danny's throat and he reached out grabbing her arm and swinging her around.
He needed to tell her now. She needed to know that he loved her that he always had.
That his life would be meaningless if she wasn't in it. Their eyes met and he saw the tears shining in them as she looked Into him and then through him
"Lacey I ... I...
But he couldn't make the words come because she was right. He knew she loved him but loving her meant that Danny had to stop hiding himself. Lacey had an uncanny ability to read him and she wouldn't let him keep secrets from her even the darkest one he kept that he didn't feel that he deserved her love or any body else's.
He was still the broken little boy in Juvie and even though both Jo and Lacey loved him Lacey understood him too well to let him shrink back into himself. She would challenge him. Expect things from him like honesty and unbroken trust and in return she would have complete faith in him.
The idea of that weighed heavily on Danny.
What if he couldn't be "that" person.
What if he was just like his father and he had children that grew up resenting him for all the pain his reputation and past caused them. Jo would accept that he didn't want children as she accepted with a little manipulation most things he said.
With Lacey her love was all or nothing.
So he made his decision.
"I'm gonna miss you" he said pulling her in for a hug as he silently breathed her in.
"I'm gonna miss you too"."Goodbye Danny" she said A lonely tear escaping her closed lids as she kissed him on the head and then turning around she got into the cab and she was gone...
The sound of the audience standing around the square was still before giving her long standing ovation that pulled Danny out of his flashback.
She smiled and gave two graceful curtsies as the host ran over to the stage with flowers.
When the applause died down the host began to talk.
"Wow your performance was amazing and
"You're glowing" she screamed out as the crowd screamed back in approval many holding signs saying "We love you Lacey"
and "Marry me Lacey".
"Thank you" she said and paused coyly biting her bottom lip which made Danny suddenly wonder what she was thinking
"So you're here today with British Pop Star Shane from "One Way Street" the host continued "Performing your new duet" "Dark Twisted Love" Is there any truth to the rumors of you two dating".
She looked behind her backstage and the camera cut away to focus on Shane as he walked towards her from the partition. Deafening roars sounded off around him and then standing behind her to the shock of everyone watching including Danny he wrapped one arm around her waist lifted up her left hand and pulled off her glove to reveal a beautiful gold and diamond encrusted band on her ring finger.
She smiled as he turned the band around to the front to reveal a princess cut diamond to the crowd. Leaning her head against him she tilted her head up they as they kissed each other with the ease of a couple that had been together for years.
"There you have it" the host said as the continued kissing "Shane and Lacey".
The crowd continued to scream as the show went to commercial.
"I love you Lacey" Danny said sadly glaring at the screen wondering when his Hell would ever end.