And here comes the final chapter; hope you'll like it. Thanks again to all those who read and reviewed.
Disclaimer: the usual
Since Danny's first surgery, several days had passed. His condition had improved and he had been moved to a single room. But he had never woken up. The doctors said that it was not unusual. Danny needed to recover. They had to give his body time to do so.
Not even two days after the hit, Jack was discharged. The doctors said that it was important for him to go home, in familiar surroundings where he would feel safe, and for his recovery it was important that his mother spent as much time with him as possible, giving him the reassurance not to be abandoned. Linda was torn. She wanted to stay with Danny, but Jack needed her at home. Also in order to make her feel better, Jamie, Henry, Nicky and even Erin and Frank decided to take turns for staying with Danny, so that he would never be alone. Even Detective Baez and Sergeant Gormely came for a few hours. But it was Jamie who stayed the most with Danny, keeping watch over his unconscious brother.
Jamie was now sitting on a chair near Danny's bed. He was exhausted. He hadn't slept much the last few days. Therefore he had placed his crossed arms on Danny's bed and was leaning his head on them, trying to rest. Something woke him from his half-sleep. He lifted his head expecting to see a nurse or a doctor, but he was alone with Danny. He turned his gaze to his brother, who was still lying unconscious on the bed, motionless.
Wait! There! Danny's eyelids had fluttered, just for one short moment. Again! And the index finger of his right hand! It was moving! Jamie stood from the chair in order to move closer to Danny's face. There again! Danny's eyelids slowly opened for a moment, but closed quickly and a frown appeared on Danny's face. The light! It must have disturbed him! Jamie immediately positioned himself so that with his body he would provide shadow from the light coming from the window. Again Danny's eyes slowly opened; this time they remained open, but unfocused. Jamie's face lit up. He moved into Danny's field of vision and smiled.
"Hey!" said Jamie in a soft voice, being careful of not giving him a fright.
This got Danny's attention and he turned his head slightly in Jamie's direction.
"Hey?" Danny croaked.
"You're awake!" Jamie stated clearly relieved and not being able to stop that single tear of joy from running down his cheek.
Confused Danny asked: "What happened? Why am I here?"
"You don't remember? What is the last thing you can remember?" inquired Jamie.
Danny thought about it. "I'm not sure", he said tiredly. "I remember shopping with Jack." He paused. Then he looked at Jamie bewildered. "I remember a naked rabbit."
Jamie frowned. That head injury must have affected his brother very badly. But before he had the time to come back with a reply, Danny started to panic.
"I remember being hit from behind! Oh my God! Jack was with me! What happened to Jack? Jamie, what happened to my son?" Danny cried frantic with worry.
The machines to which Danny was connected started beeping like crazy. That wasn't good for Danny's condition. Jamie jumped from his seat and was trying to hold Danny down before he hurt himself.
"Danny! Danny! Jack is fine" he tried to reassure his brother. "He's at home with Linda."
But nurses and doctors were already storming into the room and moved Jamie away in order to check on Danny and give him medication to calm him down. Jamie had just the time to shout to his brother:
"I'll call Linda. She'll come immediately with the boys! Don't worry! They're all fine! I LOVE YOU DANNY."
And Jamie was shoved out of the room by the medical staff.
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Of course Linda and the boys hurried to the hospital as soon as they heard that Danny was awake, closely followed by Frank and Henry and finally by Erin and Nicky. Seeing that his family was fine calmed Danny down, more than any medication could have done. Realizing that Danny was better and that for the moment he was in good company, Jamie decided to finally go home, take a shower, change, rest a little while before going back to the hospital where he intended to stay for the night with Danny.
When he returned to the hospital, he met Linda and the boys who were just leaving. The expression of relief was not to be missed on Linda's face, and also on the boys'. But Linda still felt guilty for not being able to stay with Danny at the hospital, so when she met Jamie outside Danny's room, she took him into a hug.
"Thank you Jamie for staying with him. I really appreciate and I'm sure he does too."
She let go of him, but still held his shoulders with her hands, smiled at him with gratitude and nodded. Then she turned to take Sean's and Jack's hands in order to go away with them. But suddenly Jack, who had been very quiet since after the attack, came forward, put his arms around Jamie and hugged him firmly. Jamie was surprised at first but hugged him back right away and held him in that embrace until he felt that Jack finally relaxed in his arms. Jamie kissed him on his head. When they parted, there was a little smile on Jack's face. Then he turned around and joined his mother and Sean, who were waiting for him.
Jamie looked at them until they disappeared into the elevator, then he turned and entered Danny's room. Danny had his eyes closed, so Jamie supposed that he was sleeping. He tried to position as silently as possible the chair near to Danny's bed. When he looked up after sitting down, he met Danny's eyes who were observing him.
"You're awake!" stated Jamie in surprise.
"Yes, I am and this is the second time you tell me this today", Danny replied but smiled at his brother.
Jamie smiled back at him and said: "And you can't even imagine how this makes me feel happy."
Danny closed his eyes, but he was still smiling.
"Danny?" Jamie tried to get his brother's attention.
Danny opened his eyes again. "Yes kid?"
Jamie was moving uncomfortably in his chair and the smile had disappeared from his face. He didn't know how to start this conversation, but it needed to be done. Jamie didn't meet Danny's gaze and this worried Danny.
"Jamie? What's up?" he said anxiously.
Understanding that he shouldn't agitate his brother, Jamie decided to go straight to the point, but he hadn't the courage to look into his brother's eyes, so Jamie stared at his own hands.
"Danny, I'm really sorry, I never meant what I said. I would never want to miss you in my life. I don't want to be an only child. I want to have you as my brother."
He paused just a moment. "A really annoying brother sometimes, but still the big brother I love. I should have never said that. If there were a way to unsay it, I would", he whispered in a pained voice.
Then he timidly raised his gaze to meet Danny's. His brother had closed his eyes again, but two tears were slowly running down his cheeks. Jamie frowned.
"Danny?" he called him in worry.
"Yeah, kid." Danny croaked and opened his eyes. "Look, I'm the one who needs to apologize. I've been an idiot with you, Jamie. I'm so sorry. You're a great cop."
He paused and finally added: "You know why sometimes I'm getting angry at you or start picking on you?" He asked but did not wait for a reply. "I asked this myself a lot after our last fight. Partly it is because by doing it right you show me how I should do it better. And my ego doesn't always accept to be taught better."
He put on a frown but added in a softer voice: "But it's also because I fear the day when the hard reality of our job may destroy your optimism and your faith in humanity; I can't protect you from that so I'm probably trying to harden you for that moment."
He paused again, turned to look at Jamie with a pained expression and begged: "Can you forgive me for having been such an idiot with you?"
Jamie gasped. He hadn't noticed that he was holding his breath. "I'll forgive you, if you'll forgive me" said Jamie.
Danny lifted his hand and put it over Jamie's. "I forgive you."
"I forgive you too" said a relieved Jamie. "I love you Danny."
"I love you too kid", said Danny and relaxed, finally letting go of all the tension he had been building up.
Both smiled and remained in silence, just enjoying each other's company.
Jamie became conscious that he must have nodded off when he was abruptly startled by movements in Danny's bed. Perplexed he looked up and saw that Danny was struggling to sit up.
"Danny, what are you doing?" he asked concerned. "The doctor said you should not be moving."
"My left foot is killing me, it doesn't stop itching. I need to rub it, but I can't reach it." Danny complained weakly.
Jamie looked at the end of Danny's bed and realized that Danny was lightly grinding his foot against the bed sheets, trying to get rid of the itch.
Jamie exclaimed: "Really? These are great news."
Danny stopped moving and stared at his brother in disbelief.
"Why would my foot itching be great news?" he asked puzzled.
Jamie laughed and run out of the room leaving an even more confused Danny behind. Shortly after Jamie came back along with the night shift doctor.
The doctor addressed Danny and said: "Detective Reagan, I understand your foot is itching?"
"Yes, but I don't think that this problem requires a doctor in order to be solved", said Danny to the doctor but turned an incredulous look at Jamie, who was grinning even more at him.
"Can you move the foot which is itching?" The doctor asked Danny.
Danny gave up trying to understand his brother, and complied with the doctor's request. He moved his left foot.
"Can you move also your right foot?" the doctor wanted to know.
Danny did not see the point of this request as his right foot wasn't itching but he complied and moved it for the doctor. Now it was the doctor's turn to smile.
"Excellent. We will do some more tests tomorrow morning but I am sufficiently confident to tell you that the paralysis is gone."
Danny gaped at the doctor as realization hit him. 'Paralysis?' The drugs they were giving him didn't make him think straight; otherwise he would have understood by himself that the paralysis had gone. Jamie apparently had got it immediately. He looked at his brother and saw him busy texting with his cell phone. Most probably everyone in the family knew about his improvement by now. Danny smirked and closed his eyes.
When Jamie looked up from his phone, he saw that his brother had already fallen asleep. The doctor had left, but Jamie didn't move from his spot. He remained there watching his big brother for another moment. He still looked terrible with the bandage around his head, with all the bruises and the swelling on his face, but he wasn't in a coma anymore and he was slowly but certainly improving. Jamie was very thankful for that. Finally Jamie moved to the bed, pulled Danny's blankets up to his shoulders and he tucked him in, like their mom would do when they were kids. Satisfied with the result, he sat down on his chair. Shortly after also Jamie was softly snoring.
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When Jamie woke up in the morning, every bone in his body was aching. The chair was not really the best place for a restful sleep. His brother was also stirring and was most probably going to wake up very soon. Jamie stood and tried to stretch. In that moment a nurse entered the room.
"Good morning, is Detective Reagan awake?"
Jamie was going to reply but was interrupted by his brother.
"He is now", muttered Danny from his bed.
Jamie grinned. "Good morning to you, Danny. You've never been a morning person, right?"
Danny glared at him, but then his attention was caught by the nurse.
"I'll need to check your vitals, replace your bandages and clean you up" she said to Danny.
"I don't need to see that", returned Jamie. "I'm going to buy a coffee."
He nodded at the nurse, and then headed to the door and before disappearing out of the room said "I love you Danny."
When Jamie finally came back, the nurse was gone.
As soon as he sat down on his seat, Danny asked him: "What did you say to me just before you left to grab a coffee? You know my eardrum burst and therefore I don't hear very well, anymore."
"Only your left eardrum is burst, your right ear is working just fine, Danny. I'm sure you understood what I said" replied a smirking Jamie.
"I'm not so sure, because I think that I heard you saying 'I love you Danny'."
"You see, your hearing is good, because it's exactly what I said." Jamie stated.
"And yesterday, shortly after I woke up, you also left my room and said 'I love you Danny'." Danny added.
"As I can see, your memory is also working just fine" Jamie simply stated.
Danny paused a moment. "Can you tell me what this is about Jamie?" he asked in a more serious tone.
Jamie looked at him, and then looked away. He wasn't replying.
"Jamie?"
"Danny" started Jamie but stopped, not sure if he should go on. But then he took all his courage and continued: "I can't forget the last words I told you before you were attacked. I was thinking about them while you were brought to the E.R. I thought about them while you were in surgery. I couldn't stop thinking about them while you wouldn't wake up afterwards."
His voice had grown emotional, but for once Danny didn't make fun of him. He paused. "I wasn't sure you would make it Danny", he admitted, "and it killed me knowing that those had been my last words to you."
He stopped, looked into Danny's eyes. "I want to be sure that whatever happens in the future, my last words to you will always be kind."
Jamie couldn't keep Danny's gaze anymore and looked away. He was sure that Danny wouldn't understand, that he would mock him, so he was really surprised when he heard: "Come here kid."
And he saw a very emotional Danny with his arms wide open inviting him into a bear hug, which he accepted immediately. They kept their embrace for a short moment.
When they split, Jamie sat down again and felt his whole body relax.
Danny however said. "You know kid, if each time we part you'll tell me 'I love you'; this could cause some very awkward situations." Danny smirked.
'And here we go' thought Jamie and rolled his eyes.
Danny continued. "Imagine that you arrest a perp that I need to interrogate. You hand him over to me at the precinct and before you leave you say 'I love you' to me. Can you imagine how awkward that interrogation will be afterwards? You would ruin my whole badass reputation which took me years to build up."
"Danny, you're an idiot." Jamie said laughing.
In that moment the door opened and Linda came in. Jamie smiled at her and said to her:
"He's all yours."
His tour was starting in nearly an hour. So he took his belongings and headed to the door. He had nearly reached it when he heard an alarmed Danny:
"Jamie!"
He turned worriedly to his brother. "Is there a problem Danny?"
"Are you leaving?" asked Danny. He sounded scared.
"Yes. I'm working today." Jamie explained confused, not understanding the problem, especially considering that Linda had arrived.
Then Danny asked. "And after your explanation about your need to always part on kind words, now you leave and the last words you told me are "Danny, you're an idiot"? Really?" Danny asked incredulously, but with a mischievous grin.
Jamie paused, observed him for a moment and then said in a grave tone. "I'm really sorry Danny. You're right. These can't be my last words to you."
He seemed to consider it for a moment and then said: "Danny, you're an idiot, but I love you."
"That's better, kid" chuckled Danny.
Jamie grinned at him, turned on his heels and headed away. Before he closed the door he shouted: "I'll see you this evening."
Linda looked confused from the door to her husband and asked: "What was that about?"
Danny was grinning all over his face. "Oh, nothing, Linda. Don't worry. The kid just loves me."
THE END
