AN - Hello! As promised, a continuation to Going Back. Is it still a continuation if it's actually happened earlier? A pre-continuation? Anyhow, it revolves around Danny's return from Fallujah, which many of you seems to want to read. So... here's my take on it. I hope you enjoy. Ages and current occupations might be a little bit off, but I'm getting my information from the internet, and piecing the rest of it together!

Into the Dark

Air Base outside New York, December 2004

Danny adjusted his white cap and stood up straighter as the giant plane started to shriek. He clasped his hands behind his back, like the two men in front of him, readying himself for stepping out on the tarmac of the air base. To his left, a dozen white caskets took up the rest of the space, secured with ropes. Danny cast yet another glance over them, dreading the look of the families waiting outside. Waiting for their sons, brothers, fathers, the caskets. Danny wasn't one of them. He easily could have been, he knew, but it wasn't his time. He had lost coworkers before, since he had graduated from the academy in '95, he had lost too many fellow cops already, part of them on 9/11. But this was different, he had grown to care for the bunch of younger men he had gotten to know in the 93 days he had spent in the hell hole called Fallujah. These bodies, in the caskets to his left, were his friends, his brothers, and he had been the only one of them to return, alive. The latch started to grind open and Danny quickly blinked the tears away and collected himself. The small assembly of people outside the plane caught his eyes. Frank towered above them all, currently a Deputy Chief in Brooklyn South. Rumors had implied a promotion not far away to Chief of Departments. Next to him, Joe, only a few inches shorter, but not as broad shouldered. Four months out of the academy, and he couldn't stop talking about his training officer, Anthony Renzulli. On Frank's other side, Erin stood, smiling her teeth out, but with tears in her eyes. She was on her last year of law school. She had eight months old Sean on her hip, bumping him slightly up and down and seven year old Nicky was standing in front of her, impatiently tripping around. Linda was trying to hold on to the squirming, three year old Jack, before he ran off to lord knows where. She had kneeled down and was talking to the little boy, his eyes fixed on the opening plane, when he grabbed Nicky's hand. Next to Joe was Jamie, a junior in high school, with slouching shoulders, hands in his pockets, stomping around a bit, trying to keep his feet warm. All of them dressed heavily in winter clothes and Danny felt why, just a second later, when the door opened up fully and let in the chilling wind. He hauled his canvas bag up from the floor and cast a last glance across the white caskets before following the two other men out with a sigh. He walked briskly to his family, happiness, relief and worry edged in his face. Linda met him half way, throwing herself into his arms and hugged him tightly. He dropped the bag as the remainder of the family closed in on him. Linda, not having said a word, but crying in relief let him go, hesitantly before he was enveloped by Frank and padded on the back. Next up was Erin, who hugged him so tightly around his neck, that he almost lost his breath. Then Danny squatted down and the shy Jack leapt into his arms, Danny jumping up and swinging him around. Jack squirmed and Danny put him down only to grab hold of his youngest son, bubbling Sean, who looked at him with giant eyes, before Erin captured the boy again. Danny had to look up, when Joe stepped in and pulled him into a bear hug with lots of padding on the shoulders before they let go. Last in line was Jamie, not as tall as the rest of the Reagan's, but more scrawny, Danny would call it when teasing his youngest brother. The two of them hugged, not as tightly as the rest of the family, but tight enough. The age gap between them had always been a hurdle for them, not having the same things to talk about, and almost always having something to disagree on. When Danny turned to Frank his smile of joy turned into a grimace of worry.

"Mom?" he asked, his voice unnaturally low, anxious.

"Just having a bad day," Frank responded carefully. Mary had good days and bad, strongly affected by her level of stress. The news about Danny had taken a lot of her strength, but she was coming back up to the surface. "Pops is taking care of her," Frank continued. Mary's cancer had taken a great toll on the whole family. The kids were too young to understand, but they knew something was wrong. The cancer had been removed by a surgeon, but she still had regular treatment sessions.

"Man, it's good to have you back," Joe smiled and padded Jamie on the back again.

"Well, somebody have to bust your chops every once in a while, kid," Danny replied and Joe faked a hurt smile.

"What do you think my TO has been doing the last four month, besides talking about his wife? Reagan this, Reagan that," he said, trailing off to the laughter of the people around him. Renzulli had been married for two months, when Joe was partnered with him.

"I never thought I would say this, but I've missed you, Danny," Erin admitted and harvested another round of laughter from the family. The two of them had been like cat and dog, for most of their childhood. No one dared to talk about what had happened only two weeks earlier and it left a certain tension between the grownups. When they had watched the news on the TV, Frank's leg had almost buckled beneath him, and the entire family had waited for updates on Danny, hoping, praying, that he was still alive.

"I've missed you too, sis," he replied with a smile and wrapped an arm around Linda, who was now in control of her tears again. "It's not to put a rush on you guys, but it's a long flight from Berlin and right now I'm hungry enough to eat a camel. Not to mention that I'm freezing my butt off," he joked and placed kiss on Linda's temple. He lowered his voice to a murmur. "I love you," he spoke into her ear and placed another kiss on her cheek.

"I love you, too, Danny," she smiled back at him.

"Well, Sunday dinner isn't until tomorrow, so I'm voting for pizzas," Joe called out, as the group began to walk away from the plane. Danny glanced for a last time over his shoulder at the white caskets being unloaded. He noticed that Jamie had picked up his canvas bag and was carrying it over his shoulder. The kid had gone more silent since he had last seen him three months ago. Their mother's sickness had been hard on him, being the only Reagan still living at home. He had seen it every day, and knew how awful it could be. Danny pushed it aside for now, he would talk with Jamie later. Maybe, they could have some bonding time, which was much needed between them.

"Pizza!" Jack yelled and jumped excitedly next to Linda.

"I guess the choice has been made," Erin laughed when Nicky grabbed hold of her free hand.

"Pizza it is. From that place in northern Brooklyn," Danny stated with a smile as the all walked to their small collection of cars.