Disclaimer: I do not own Blue Bloods.
This story is unbeta'ed so all mistakes are mine.
Summary: My take on what happened between the time Jamie got beaten up till everyone was sitting at Sunday dinner.
A/N: This one-shot is a birthday present for my mom. She got me hooked on Blue Bloods and this one episode just stuck with me. One thing I learned from this show is that family means a lot to them and for Jamie to be battered and nothing really was said about it, I felt the viewers were robbed of that confrontation. So here is my take on how that moment could have went.
Episode tag: Moonlighting Season 2 Episode 9
Family Business, Too
Danny was scooping red potatoes into the serving dish.
"It was necessary," Erin said, standing at the sink.
"You could have given me a warning," Danny shot back, looking at his sister.
Frank was carving the roast for dinner, listening to his children bicker back a forth, silently.
"Nothing happened," Erin protested.
"I could have died," Danny argued.
"I'm sorry." Erin sighed.
"Now," Danny smirked, covering the rest of the potatoes. "Was that so hard?"
"Yes," Erin said, almost pouting.
Picking up the serving dish, Danny walked past Erin and gave her a one arm hug. "Thanks, sis," leaving Erin and Frank alone.
Erin looked at her father and saw that he was almost enjoying the banter between the siblings. She was about to open her mouth when the back door opened up.
_000_000_000_000
Danny placed the dish of potatoes on the table when he heard a crash in the kitchen. First instincts kicked in, looking out the side window seeing Linda and the boys outside just fine, he headed off to the kitchen.
Coming around the corner, Danny was greeted with a shock.
"What the hell?!"
Danny rushed over to his kid brother. Erin was already at his side, tipping Jamie's head up so that she could look at his battered face more closely.
"What happened to you?" Erin exclaimed.
"Who did this?" Danny growled. "Huh?"
"Danny," Jamie gasped out, trying to get out of Erin's firm hold. "I'm okay."
Frank kept his distance. He knew that he had to stay back, but seeing his baby boy in this much pain was too much for Frank. It took all of his willpower not to go to his son's side.
"Kid, you better start talking," Danny warned.
"What happened?" Erin asked again.
"It's nothing," Jamie gasped out.
"Nothing?" Danny raged. "NOTHING! Look at your face. How can you stand there and say that this is nothing?"
During Danny outburst, Erin looked at her father. Almost pleading for him to say something, do something. But he just stood there.
Then she saw it. She saw it in her father's eyes.
"You knew anyway," Erin directed that statement to her father.
Erin spoke, cutting into Danny's rant. Both men looked at their father. Frank looked at his three children.
"Dad," Erin said. "What's going on?"
Frank took a deep breath as if he was going to say something. All three looked at their father expectantly. Frank saw different emotions on all his children's faces. Anger. Intrigue. Resignation.
Looking at Jamie, he could see it in his eyes, well just the one eye that was open; he thought he would be 'ratted' out. So many times when his children were younger, they felt very protective of their baby brother. Sometimes it was a welcome feeling, but other times, especially when he got older and then when he decided to join the police academy, it became a hindrance. Frank saw this. He had heard it many times from Jamie. The sad look on his youngest son's face almost had a hint of betrayal. Something Frank never wanted to see on any of his children.
"Say something," Danny raged, bringing Frank out of his musing.
"Calm down," Frank's voice boomed well over Danny's rant, quieting his oldest instantly. "Yes, your brother looks," sighing, "awful, but I do believe he is capable of taking care of himself."
Both Danny and Erin looked incredulous at their father's statement. Jamie looked up at his dad, and there was a small twinkle in his eye as he beamed up at his father. Deep down Jamie knew that this situation was hard on his dad, but he promised that he would stay out of it and let him handle it.
"You can't be serious?" Danny said, completely baffled at his father's statement.
"I am."
"Dad," Erin pleaded. "Look at him."
"I see no more damage on him than what I've seen before when you all were kids," Frank said, picking up the large platter of roast and leaving the kitchen.
Danny and Erin looked at each other, and then both of them looked at their baby brother.
Jamie sighed as he knew, looking at his siblings that this was probably far from over.
Danny reached out and put his hand on his little brother's shoulder and gave him a mild squeeze.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Danny's voice was much calmer this time.
Jamie looked up at his brother and could hear the concern and worry in his tone.
"I'm just a little sore," Jamie tried to shrug off, but the sudden movement of his shoulder cause his side to flare. Looking at his siblings, he saw that he had to quickly defuse this powder keg before 'nuke' Danny flared off again. "I'm fine. Please, Danny."
Jamie looked at his sister. She hadn't said much since her initial look when he came through the door. And that was surprising. Never did he see her move so fast to get to his side before. Usually is was Danny that would push past their father to get to him. A feat in itself seeing as their dad was well over six feet tall, towering over all of them. Jamie was surprised that Erin didn't get cut from the knife their father was holding when she pushed past him.
"I promise," Jamie pleaded. "I'm fine. It's okay." He looked from Danny to Erin. "Please don't make a big deal out of this. It's fine."
Danny looked like he was about to explode; jaw clenched, hand knotted into a fist. Jamie was impressed that even thought Danny looked like he was ready to take on the entire cartel alone, the hand that was still on his shoulder was infinitely gentle.
Erin looked calmer than she had a moment ago. Jamie could tell that she was struggling. He knew how protective she could be and sometimes it felt like she was more so than Danny.
"Alright," Erin murmured after a long moment of silence in the kitchen. "If you say so."
Danny looked like he wanted to argue some more but surprisingly kept quiet.
"But I will say this," Erin said in the same soft tone. "If you ever come through that door and surprise us like you did today..." Erin walked away leaving the brothers alone in the kitchen.
Jamie quickly sent a pleading look to his brother.
"Never again," Danny said, backing a few steps from his brother.
Jamie sighed and nodded.
Danny walked out of the kitchen, but instead of going to the dining room, he headed upstairs. Jamie watched him leave and assumed that he was trying to relax before dinner.
Linda walked into the house and caught Danny walking upstairs.
"Go on, boys," Linda instructed. "Get cleaned up and go to the table.
"Okay," the boys answered back heading for the bathroom.
Linda walked upstairs and found Danny standing in Jamie's old room.
"Everything alright?" Linda asked.
"Yeah," Danny said, dismissively.
"Oh yeah, sure," Linda said, leaning against the door. "What's going on?"
"I'm just trying to calm down."
"I can see that."
"It's Jamie," Danny sighed.
"I guessed," Linda said.
Danny turned and looked at his wife.
"He says he's fine," Danny turned away to look at the room again.
"He is fine," Linda said, walking into the bedroom.
Once she got close to her husband, she wrapped her arms around him.
"He may be a little sore, but he will be all right."
Danny quickly turned to look at his wife, effectively causing her to lose her hold on her husband.
"You knew?"
Linda narrowed her eyes at him. "Really, Danny. What hospital do you think he went to?" She could see the wheels in Danny's head turning and quickly spoke. "He asked me not to say anything. He said he was going to tell you. Stop worrying."
_000_000_000
Jamie knew that his dad and grandpa knew what happened since his dad was the PC, so it was just convincing his brother and sister. He sighed and headed towards the dining room.
Walking into the room, he saw Erin whispering to Nicky. Not wanting to get into it start anything, Jamie sat down at the table. There was a sharp tap on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Danny standing by his chair.
"Move over," Danny ordered.
Jamie looked up at him, brow furrowed.
"Now."
Out of habit from that tone, Jamie got up from his seat and sat down in the chair next to it not saying another word.
Erin and Nicky stepped away from each other and Erin sat down in her usual seat as if nothing's changed. Nicky sat next to Linda.
Jamie looked around the table and thought to himself; things never change.
The End
A/N: This is my first fiction for Blue Bloods. I hope that you enjoy it. Please leave a review letting me know what you think.
Happy Birthday, Mom!
Many hugs and kisses to you all!
Mandancie :)
