Another Tomorrow

Chapter One: Collision

So this was it. Nicholas thought as he drove Danny's Volkswagen down towards the M4 junction. Danny. His partner's face--red from the tail lights--haunted him still, even though by now he must be at least 20 miles away from where the parted.

"Extremely regrettable" was an epic understatement. Danny had made his choice, and he chose to continue living the lie that was Sandford. Frank was a murdering mastermind responsible for the death of Sergeant Popwell, Nicholas' predecessor. The thought brought a caustic sensation to his chest, much like how he felt when he heard about Uncle Derek's side job as a drug dealer. Angel had a keen sense of intuition when it came to suspects in a crime investigation, but it appeared that he was absolutely useless when it came to those he considered his friends.

The burning feeling left him moments later, but it took all the other feelings he should be having at a time like this with it. He was neither furious nor disgusted, and those were two things he should have been nurturing right about now. Only emptiness remained as his glazed eyes counted the white dividing lines on the road.

One. One. One. Nicholas counted. Maybe Danny should have just stabbed me with a proper knife.

A pair of headlights zeroing down on his position snapped him out of his reverie.

"Shit! Skinner's plates." Nicholas said to himself through a scowl. Even worse: Other cars followed in a caravan behind Skinner's car. No time to be an emotional zombie now. Quickly he considered the worst case scenario: The NWA figured out Danny faked the stabbing to save him, a couple of the NWA members followed Danny in their car, picked him up, and now they were here to eliminate Nicholas.

The question was: What were they planning to do with Danny? As far as Nicholas could tell, Danny has had it much easier than anyone else who broke the law in Sandford. Drunk driving only cost him a month's supply of chunky monkey. However, letting Nicholas get away and putting the NWA's plans in jeopardy were far more serious in the eyes of the NWA, and maybe not even Inspector Butterman could protect Danny this time from the crazed mob. Nicholas already saw first hand that they could murder one of their own—the late Ms. Tiller— without so much as a second thought at how ridiculously derailed their logic has gone. Justifying really cutting off Danny's head could not be far off in their runaway train of thought.

Nicholas moved on to consider his options: Surrender for Danny's life? That had a 50 percent chance of failing. It really would be just in their hands. Reason with them? Nicholas quickly dismissed that idea. Fight them? No, Nicholas was unarmed and the caravan that was closing-in on him was probably armed to the gills. Outrun the mob? Nicholas knew the VW could only outrun Skinner's Jaguar for so long.

How to save Danny?

Quite unnoticeably to himself, several emotions had found their way back to Nicholas. Once again he was angry at the NWA for having crossed still another line in their petty game. Once again his heart ached when he thought about how Danny chose not to fight by his side.

Now he was scared Danny would die.

Why do I even care what happens to Danny? Angel thought as he shifted the car into fifth gear and accelerated to buy himself some extra time.

It was a rhetorical question. Nicholas already knew why.

Oh, how he could not have even gotten this thing—this most important thing—right. Danny scolded himself. Currently, he was sandwiched between Joyce and Bernard Cooper in the backseat of Dr. Hactcher's sedan.

Joyce had taken the point of not taking to Danny since the NWA picked him up on his way back into town. No one had to say anything, really, since they knew immediately what Danny was up to; they followed him, didn't they?

Bernard was napping on the other side of him, so at least he was not directing any negative energy at Danny. Dr. Hatcher, seated in the driver's seat, concentrated on following Skinner's Jaguar, which just sped up again. Danny thought about the other passenger in Skinner's car: His dad.

He must be furious at me. Danny gulped. He could not remember the last time his dad had been this mad. Actually, he could not remember a single instance after his mother died that his dad got really mad at him for anything. Just about anything he did wrong could be fixed with a month-long supply of junk food courtesy of cuts from his paycheck.

This time, though, the offense was much more serious. When Skinner's car pulled up in front of Danny after he parted ways with Nicholas, the elder Butterman was in the passenger seat, just glaring at Danny with unblinking fury. Danny barely even noticed when Dr. Hatcher came up beside him and led him to the back to his car, where Bernard and Joyce secured him in the back seat.

Danny tried not to worry about anything he could not fix now. Whatever else happens tonight, now that he has betrayed the NWA, he knew here was no going back to his idyllic life. Now he concentrated on what to do about Nicholas. He had to help him, but actually coming up with an answer was very difficult. He was good at making friends with the community and shopping during patrol, but actually coming up with a plan of action at a time like this... all he could think of were the action movies where everyone shot at or blew up everything else until the hero was left standing, and that was not going to cut it since he has no guns, bombs or fast cars. He would have to think of something more practical.

Okay, let's just review what I do know. Danny thought as he tried his best to not give anything away to Joyce's scrutinizing glare. He looked up at the car ahead. Skinner and Inspector Butterman were in the lead car. Dr. Hatcher, Joyce and Bernard Cooper was in this car. There were other people in the two cars behind them, but Danny did not know how many.

Before he could get anywhere else with his analysis, Danny heard the shrill of tires peeling layers off onto the asphalt from a distance. Dr. Hatcher had stepped on the breaks to slow them down, and immediately after that, Danny saw his Volkswagen—the one he gave to Nicholas for his escape—spin sideways off the road on all four wheels. The car's front end slammed squarely into a sign post for Heston services and then came to a full stop.

"Nicholas!" Danny had his seatbelt off before Dr. Hatcher even stopped his car. Before anyone else from the NWA could react, he had climbed over the still-sleeping Mr. Cooper and was out the door, heading towards the totaled Volkswagen. Someone shouted behind Danny, but he was not to be stopped. "NICHOLAS!"

The driver's side door was ajar from the impact of the crash, so Danny had no trouble tearing it off of what little was left of the hinges. A cat-like whimper escaped from Danny's lips when he saw Nicholas. The young sergeant's head and arms were braced against the steering wheel. Shards of the shattered windshield stuck out from his arms and his head, highlighted by spots of blood now oozing from the wounds.

Danny resisted the urge to just grab Nicholas right then and there and remembered the bit of emergency medicine he had to learn as part of his training that was now relevant. He held Nicholas' head and neck as still as he could and gently leaned the sergeant's head back against the headrest. There was a particularly nasty cut on Nicholas' forehead and his eyes remained closed.

"Nicholas." Danny whispered. "Nicholas, can you hear me?"

"Danny, get away from there!" Inspector Butterman grabbed Danny's shoulder and pulled him back.

"Dad, no, Nicholas!" Danny shouted back and shook off his father's arm. "You can't kill him! You can't!" Danny's father started to argue with him, but was interrupted when Nicholas fell out of front seat of the car and onto the ground.

Danny dropped to his knees and pulled Nicholas towards him to rest the back of his head against his legs. "Nicholas?"

"I'm fine." Nicholas croaked, followed by a couple of labored breaths. "I... I..."

"What is it, Nicholas?" Danny asked. By now the entire cast of the NWA surrounded the pair, scowling that Nicholas did not take this opportunity to die.

"Who are you?"

Danny heard a couple of the NWA members take a step back after Nicholas said this. Instead of closing in to finish off the tenacious Sergeant Angel, everyone paused.

"Nicholas," Danny smiled weakly, "it's me, Danny."

"Danny..." Nicholas closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He reopened them again and bowed his eyebrows upwards. "I don't know any Danny's."

Danny looked at Nicholas like he was about to cry. Inspector Butterman knelt down next to him and patted him on the shoulder, trying to comfort his son.

"Officer?" Nicholas now looked at Inspector with the same confused expression. "Officer, how did you get here so fast? How... how long have I been out?"

"Everything will be alright, Nicholas." The inspector smiled. "Help is on its way."

"Thank you." Nicholas closed his eyes again, his breaths steady as he fell unconscious again. Danny hitched his breath but relaxed once he realized Nicholas was just sleeping.

The members of the NWA considered the scene before them.

What to do? They all thought.