A/N1: First off a very special thank you to MariaLisa for her guidance and discussion on this chapter. In a way this chapter is for her.
A/N2: Secondly thank you every one for the reviews, the discussion, putting the story on alerts, because I'm writing this for therapy as much as anything and I hope you get something like that from it as well.
Key West Blues
Chapter 1
"I just have two questions for you, Danny."
He gripped the locker door tighter but didn't turn to face her, couldn't face her. He hadn't expected the talk to come quite so soon. He thought she'd be long gone since their shift had ended over an hour ago.
--
The two questions had been burning in her mind ever since his clueless look, followed by his weak apology and we need to talk comment. But dammit! If only she could get her legs to support her long enough to verbalize them and hear the answers.
Without preamble. "Did you sleep with her?"
"Yes." Flat, no hesitation.
She'd half expected it but still the punch to the gut almost sent her looking for a toilet. But she steadied herself and swallowed hard because she had to ask the next question even if the answer could actually bring her to her knees.
--
He heard her quivering inhale before she asked.
"Do you have feelings for her?"
He dropped his hands to his side, balling them into fists, head tilting back to look at the ceiling, hoping to keep the tears at bay. Maybe it was better this way. Just let the hounds of hell loose to do their damage.
"Yes."
He heard a small sob followed quickly by a sharp cough. But he knew he couldn't leave it this way no matter what he might have been thinking for the past month – that he'd never wanted to have this conversation with her. That it would be easier if he could ignore her and she would eventually give up and go away – leave him alone.
So he turned.
"Lindsay, we need to talk."
--
She shook her head mutely as the tears began to fall. And for the second time that day she was mad at herself. Mad because she didn't want to cry in front of him. Didn't want to show him how much he had hurt her when it was becoming painfully obvious he cared so little for her. But she couldn't help it. God himself couldn't have kept the emotion at bay at this point. She'd just have to blubber through it because she was going to have her say and be done with it once and for all.
"Talk? You want to talk now? You didn't even have enough respect for me to break it off with me first when you realized you had feelings for her and certainly before you slept with her. And you want to talk, now?"
--
He didn't know if it was her tears, the anguished look in her eyes, the rapid rise and fall of her chest or the accusatory tone in her voice but whatever it was, it caused him to step around the bench and slap a hand on the locker behind her head.
She flinched, but her jaw clenched and she stood her ground, staring him hard in the face.
"Lindsay, god dammit, it just happened!"
She laid a sting across his cheek that finally unleashed the tears pooled in his eyes.
"You bastard. How clichéd can you get? Just because you have feelings for her that makes it okay to treat me–and her–with so little respect that you'd lie to both of us?"
--
His placed his other hand on the locker effectively blocking her in, his head drooping close to her face. She felt his warm breath on her neck as she turned her face away. The jagged edges in his voice cut at her as he pleaded.
"Lindsay."
--
"I'm done talking, Danny."
And she ducked under his arm and walked out of the locker room.
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A/N3: And thirdly I'm not finished yet. :)