A/N:
Thanks for continuing to read and review our fic! We're so happy you guys are enjoying reading it! Also, yay, a chapter from Danny's POV! Thanks again for bearing with us on this!
As to Cathy's comment about the timeline of things...yeah, apologies for that. The comment about Sam's baby was something we meant to fix but forgot about in the hurry to post a new chapter. I'm sure you appreciate these things happen when writing long chapters and it wasn't a huge error so we hope you can forgive us! As the chapter has been posted and all we won't be changing it. It likely won't be relevant again, but this fic is set late season 5, you are totally correct on that! However, as this is sort of taking on what some may call an AU-style mind of its own, if you prefer you can just believe that we chose to disregard cannon. But like I said, it probably won't come up again anyway!
Also, in this chapter there are three references to a specific Taylor Swift song. Just see if you can see them all and guess the song :)
He was in the car with Martin, Adisa was in the back but that hardly mattered to him and Danny felt like he was flying. The case was moments from being over, all that they needed to do now was sign the man in the backseat over to the prison guards. He'd just gotten a call from Jack to say Viv had come out of surgery and was going to be fine. As though all that wasn't reason enough to be cheerful, Danny had dinner plans with the man of his dreams.
Sure, it wasn't an official date, but the hesitance in Martin's voice when he agreed, the sweet smile they shared just seconds ago when Martin had stopped the car at the traffic lights, told Danny that maybe the other man wasn't as oblivious to his feelings as he had once thought.
Maybe it wasn't officially a date, but that didn't mean it wasn't the start of something bigger than friendship between them.
If they hadn't had a suspect in the car at that moment, Danny may have even made a move right then. He had never felt so sure Martin Fitzgerald was exactly what he wanted until today.
Lost in these thoughts that were consumed with Martin, he only turned his head when he heard the sharp click and bang of doors opening.
Before Danny knew it, the first shot had been fired.
It happened so fast, he didn't have time to think or act; he could only watch with wide eyes as Martin tried to ram the gunmen, then reversed hastily at Danny's horrified pleas. All the time, shots were ringing out, glass was shattering, Danny's heart was lodged in his throat. Their car was soon crashed sideways into another.
Getting ahold of himself, Danny opened his door and cowered behind it, letting the painted steel take the brunt of the bullets. He fired off a few shots, hitting one of the hitmen in the leg. Dornvald jumped back into the van, shadows closing over the face now burned into Danny's mind forever.
Dashing back to the van, he saw Martin. Blood drenching the front of his white shirt, Danny could not take his eyes off of the wound.
Blood. Too much blood.
Shock marred Martin's usually handsome features and his blue eyes fluttered closed. Moving on pure adrenaline, Danny dragged Martin out of the car and laid him down on the cold, black street, taking a moment to sweep his gaze over the other man's pale face. Digging tissues out of his pocket, Danny pressed down on the gunshot wound, watching in horror as the blood of the man he loved bubbled up, red and hot and sticky, between his fingers.
Then he was in a hospital, whitewash halls stretching for forever either side of him, he entered the door that stood ajar to the left and Martin was lying in the hospital bed, blue eyes open and watching Danny move from the door to the bedside and clasp Martin's hands in his own. Danny opened his mouth and told Martin how much he loved him, because of course that is the type of thing you tell someone after a life or death incident.
Martin smiled and so Danny leant forward and kissed him. Suddenly a loud, long beep sounded and doctors ran in through the door to swarm Martin's body, pushing Danny down onto the vinyl floor.
In the blink of an eye, he was at work going through credit card bills when Jack put a coroner's report on his desk. Danny flipped it open, felt sick to his stomach...felt what was left of his heart shatter.
Fitzgerald, Martin
Cause of death: DANNY TAYLOR
Danny looked back up at Jack but it wasn't Jack anymore, it was Martin, blood seeping through his shirt and worms crawling through his face.
"How could you?"
~.o0o.~
Sweaty sheets were wrapped around Danny Taylor's long legs as he struggled against the demons that only he could see. He awoke with a gasp, drenched in sweat and panting like he had just run a marathon. He tasted bile on his tongue and his hands were shaking- Danny frantically rubbed them on the duvet, paranoid they might still be covered in Martin's blood.
It took him a good minute to remember why he wasn't in his own bed and why there was no bright lights outside his window; why the New York traffic was replaced with soft foot traffic and an occasional train horn. He wasn't in his Brooklyn apartment. He was in his cousin's condo in Florida.
Danny checked his bedside clock to see 6:36am glaring at him, lighting up the dark guest room. If he were at home, he'd be chugging down his second cup of coffee right now. Danny stood, the boxers he had slept in soaked through with sweat and sticking to the back of his thighs.
In the shower, Danny let the hot steam come close to suffocating him before turning the notch down to a lower setting. The stupid dream was nothing new; he had similar ones almost every night since the shooting. Every time Danny came close to telling Martin how he felt, a dream like that one would plague him. A dream where he had been gutsy enough to admit his feelings, only for him to lose Martin anyway.
Maybe it was a sign. Martin was better off not knowing, and being alive, than being aware of how Danny felt and becoming worm food.
That seemed to happen to a lot of the people Danny dared to love.
Logically, Danny knew there was no such thing as curses and bad luck. But when it came to Martin, he wasn't about to risk jinxing him. Danny wasn't sure he could take another night in a hospital waiting room alone and terrified.
Throwing on clothes that were much too heavy for Florida weather, Danny made his way down the hall and began preparing breakfast for his second cousin, Michael. He had somehow been tasked with looking after the kid while his parents went to 'reconnect.'
At the very least, Danny figured it would take his mind off Martin.
~.o0o.~
Danny smiled absentmindedly at his young cousin who grinned in return as he sat on the couch creating a love story between his two dolls as the theme to SpongeBob Squarepants blasted from the television in the corner of the small room. After almost an entire fortnight babysitting the young boy while his parents went on some much-needed date nights, the federal agent was just about ready to assassinate the animated sponge and his idiotic pink friend.
"Hey, Mitch?" Danny joined the small boy on the faded seat. The boy glanced up then back down to his dolls who were about to be wed.
"Yes, Uncle Danny?" The four year old was now paying attention to his older relative, his toys held loosely in each hand.
"Can I watch my show on TV since you're busy?"
Mitch frowned and shook his head.
"But you're not even watching! Please!" the agent whined at his cousin. Danny noted that Mitch was starting to rub off on him and he needed a break from his holiday, even if it meant just watching the New York news for a few minutes to see what had been going on in his city.
"No! I need to know how Patrick got really smart after he fell off the cliff. And also if he and SpongeBob will be friends again when they fix him up!" Danny was shocked at the level of concentration that the boy had been paying attention to his cartoon as well as dictating a romance epic starring G.I. Joe and his female counterpart.
"Come on! I haven't watched anything I want all week!" Danny knew he sounded puerile and petulant but he was going stir crazy, like a golden retriever kept inside. Mitch turned to Danny, his hazel eyes swimming with tears. Danny was shocked; his cousin didn't seem the type to cry when he didn't get his way.
"I...I don't like the bits where people get hurt. Mommy doesn't make me watch the news be-because I get sad."
Danny felt horrible. He didn't blame the kid; the news was freaking depressing. Always another riot, another natural disaster, another killing.
"It's fine! SpongeBob is good." He now understood why Michael always refused to watch 'Uncle Danny' on TV; he was only on TV when someone was missing.
After a few minutes, Michael winked at Danny and said "I need to put my dolls to bed, you can do whatever it is that you like!" Danny shook his head at Mitch's antics as he watched the boy practically skip into his bedroom.
Danny found the remote behind a crocheted seat cushion and switched from the cartoon to the news. A familiar redhead smiled serenely at him and began her news story.
"I'm here at New York town hall where Harry Pressler, among other contenders in our state election, have openly challenged the absence of their opposition's leader, Jackson Fort. A debate, scheduled months ago, will be starting momentarily. A senior member of Fort's party will be debating on his behalf, while we anxiously await a verdict from the Judge as to whether the election will continue or not in Fort's absence."
Absence? What kind of idiot just took off in the middle of an election? Not that Danny paid much attention to this stuff, but he'd thought Fort had a pretty good chance of winning this year. I guess the drama got too much for him, Danny thought, remembering the news reports of the increased levels in anti-gay crimes of late.
Because this was a public debate-to show how much the people's opinions mattered (yeah, right)-a handful of the most refined protesters were allowed into the room. Most of them were too busy listening intently to cause any drama, but some held small sat quietly, but all the same, there were easily fifty security officers surrounding the stage.
Danny watched as the debate began with the usual remarks of; "They will make our children gay" and his personal favourite, "If we allow gay marriage, it will result in small animals being raped." He rolled his eyes and laughed out loud at the utter ridiculousness of their accusations.
Still, deep down, Danny couldn't pretend their words didn't matter to him. He didn't care what these narrow-minded strangers thought of him-the fact that they had an opinion on him at all simply because of his sexuality was enough to highlight what complete idiots they were, but it was far more than assumptions and over exaggerations and plain lies-it went farther than that. It was about acceptance and rights that he was being denied, even if they weren't all that important to him right now.
Some day, Danny might meet someone who actually wanted to be with him, and it sort of sucked that if that person happened to have a penis, they weren't allowed to get married, adopt kids or be each other's next-of-kin without spending years petitioning for it.
A single face drew his attention back to the screen.
Martin. His eyes flicked to camera, making the Cuban man blush as Martin's blue eyes met with his brown - even though he was on the other side of the country, the piercing gaze always made him lose his train of thought. He sighed heavily- Martin was gorgeous, it really was too bad that women thought the same thing and Martin seemed to return the sentiment when it came to them. Take Samantha, for instance.
Then Danny's mouth dropped open. Why was Martin at a debate anyway? He wasn't interested in politics...or was he? Danny had only been away for fourteen days, how much had changed about his best friend in that time?
The blood ran cold in Danny's veins.
Martin was standing on the right of the hall.
In the front row.
Behind Harry Pressler.
Beside him was a young girl who held a sign that read, "Gay love is not real love."
Danny read it three times, certain this was some sort of sick joke. Maybe Martin had stumbled in here by accident; maybe Martin was directed to the wrong side of the room; maybe there was a perfectly innocent explanation that had nothing to do with homophobia.
He felt his heart tighten in his chest as the girl leaned over and whispered something in Martin's ear. Martin smiled widely at her, then they both proceeded to clap as Pressler stepped down from the podium. His eyes were shining with something Danny recognised as pride.
Straight pride.
"No. No. No. No. No. No. No." Danny felt tears burn at his eyelids which were currently shut against the onslaught of his best friend and long-term crush standing with the political party that seemed determined to take away his rights to marry the man he wanted, whomever that would be. Previously he had fantasized it to be Martin; that blind hope was now replaced with brokenness and betrayal.
He couldn't watch anymore. He hit the 'Off' button on the remote control and fired it across the room, not caring where it landed. He buried his head in a couch cushion and pulled his knees up to his chest, trying to make himself small enough to fit into the space those bastards in New York wanted him to.
The comment 'if we allow gay marriage it will lead to the raping of small animals' is a real comment made in Australia parliament