Chapter 9

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Danny had gotten in his car and headed into town. He had lost sight of Ed's car some time ago and pulled off to the side of the dirt road. Shutting the car off, he hit the steering wheel and collapsed his head into his hands crying like a baby. "Why did this happen? Why did you leave me? What was I thinking in the pool?" Danny was so confused and felt like he was loosing control of everything; his emotions, Mary, his job that he hadn't gone back to yet. Everything was falling apart. Ed and his family had been there for him, especially Delinda, but he just felt like there were things he was feeling that no one else would understand. At the moment he knew he had to pull himself together and go see his dad. He hadn't talked to him yet, but he did know that someone would have called and told him about Mary. That's just how his friends were; they always took care of each other no matter how much crap they dished out.

Taking the sleeve of his sweatshirt he wiped the tears from his eyes and turned the key in the ignition. It was a matter of minutes before Danny was at his Dads house, where Danny and Mary had spent so much of their childhood. Before he could turn the car off the front door opened and his father was standing in the doorway. His face was stained with tears, as was Danny's. Danny rushed out of the car and over to his dad. He threw is arms around him, Larry doing the same, and just stood there. He hadn't felt this close to his father since…since they rebuilt his mother's car.

The two walked into the house wordlessly. After two minutes of awkward silence Larry finally spoke.

"How are you holding up?"

"As good as can be expected." Danny replied hoarsely.

The two men sat and talked on and off for the next two hours mostly about Mary and the funeral arrangements. Anytime Larry would try to bring up anything about what happened to Danny over in Iraq there was a long awkward pause. After a few tries he gave up and stuck to talking about Mary. The hardest decision they had to make was about Mary's father. After an intense ten minute conversation they came to an agreement to tell her father, but not to let him attend the service. Danny didn't want to have anything to do with him, he knew what he did to Mary and after that he was no longer her father.

Shortly after their decision Danny got up and said his goodbyes. He was now supposed to go over and meet Ed and Delinda at the hotel, but he had one more stop to make before doing so. A few stop lights and turns later he was there, he pulled up and sat in the car for a moment. He then got out and saw Delinda leaning against the side of her car.

"What are you doing here?" Danny asked confused and perplexed.

"I figured that you'd come here and I didn't think you should do it on your own." She said placing a hand on his back. Danny nodded his head and took out the key to Mary's duplex. The two entered getting a whiff of Mary's sent. At first it startled the tall marine, but he then saw a picture of the two of them on her nightstand and walked over to her bed. Delinda stood back to give Danny his privacy. Picking the picture up with one hand he picked the pillow on her bed up with the other. He brought the pillow to his face taking in a deep breath of her perfume. As he went to put the pillow back down something caught his eye. He pulled back the covers of her bed to find the t-shirt he had left there the night he left.

Delinda had now made her way over to see what Danny was focusing on and as her eyes came across Danny's shirt a tear fell from her eye.

Smiling, Danny got up and made his way over to the closet. He opened it searching through obviously looking for something, when he suddenly stopped and pulled out a knee-long, black, dress. Going back a few dresses he found a dress bag hanging on a hanger. He then pulled it out and placed the dress in the bag. He placed the bag down on the bed and looked up to see Delinda looking at him with tears streaming down her face. Danny quickly walked over to her embracing her in a warm hug. She sobbed in his arms for a few moments and then pulled out.

"I'm sorry." She said still crying.

"Sorry for what? You and your family have helped me through a very difficult time. You have nothing to be sorry for." He said with her face in his hands.

"I came here to help you, not to start bawling and upset you."

"You're not upsetting me. Actually it's comforting to see someone else cry besides myself." He said reassuringly then pulling her back in for another hug. "Now let's get this dress back to the hotel and meet up with your dad." He said grabbing the dress and leading Delinda out of the house." As he turned around to lock the door he took in one more look at Mary's home. Taking in a deep sigh, he shut the door.

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"Hey Julie, how are you doing?" Ed asked walking into Mystique.

"I am ok I guess, we are all taking this pretty hard. How are you doing?" she said mournfully.

"I am as good as can be expected." He said nodding his head. After a short pause he decided to change the subject. "Have you seen Delinda?" he asked.

"No, I thought that she would be with you." Julie answered slightly alarmed.

"Wait you mean she's not here?"

"No, I have not seen her all day." Ed turned around and walked briskly out of the restaurant. He must have pushed a dozen people aside while he was barreling through the casino. He finally got to the lobby and was about to exit the front doors towards his car when he saw Delinda walking in with Danny. Stopping, the older man took in a deep sigh of relief. He wasn't quite sure what he was worried about, but now that she was standing in front of him he felt a lot better.

Calming down, he casually walked over to the two. "Hey, where did you get off to? I was just looking for you. Nowhere, I just went to help Danny with a few things. Why what's wrong?" she said starting to sound a little alarmed.

"Nothing's wrong, I was actually coming to see if you had heard from Danny, but obviously you had." Ed said "What's that?" Ed questioned pointing towards the dress bag Danny had been carrying.

Delinda opened her mouth to answer, but Danny said it before she could.

"It's Mary's dress." He said grabbing a hold of it tighter.

Ed shook his head walking over to Danny and gesturing a hand to one of the employee doors.

"Shall we go upstairs?"

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As Mitch was hard at work trying to identify the card cheat at blackjack thirty-eight the phone next to him would not stop ringing.

"Hello!" he answered irritably.

"Mitch, it's Mike. Have you seen the girls by any chance? They were supposed to meet me in Mystique and they never showed."

"No I have not. Oh and before I forget Ed's looking for you."

"Wait, what Ed's here?" Mike asked a little confused

"Yeah, has been for a couple hours." Mitch said casually.

"Mitch! Why would you neglect to tell me something like that?"

"I don't know Mike, maybe because I have been doing three million other things for you." He barked. Mitch finally looked up from the computer screen and up at the surveillance monitors. "Mike!" he half shouted.

"What?" Mike questioned a little startled.

"Mike, Danny's here."

"What?! Where?!" Mike asked a little excited.

"Umm…"

"Where is he Mitch?"

"Uhh…looks like the lobby." That was all Mike had to hear. He hung up the phone and took off through the casino towards the front of the hotel. Once he finally reached his destination he didn't see his friends. Looking around he saw the employee's entrance to the maintenance hallways.

"Mike." Sam yelled at him while he was running towards the doors. "Where are you going?"

"Danny's here."

"What? Why wouldn't you tell me this?" she asked running behind Mike in her high heels.

Once Mike opened the door to the hallway he saw Ed, Delinda, and Danny about to turn the corner. Sam was right behind him.

"Danny!" Sam yelled getting a glimpse of him. The three stopped and turned around to see Mike and Sam running towards them. Danny started to walk at them when Delinda took the dress from him. Mike reached him first and brought Danny in with one arm giving him a good guy hug. Then the sound of Sam's heels were getting closer and Mike moved aside.

Sam looked into Danny's eyes and flew into his arms. "Danny I am so sorry." She said starting to cry. Danny tightened his grip around her and then walked her to Ed's office where the five of them sat quietly. After about five minutes Nessa walked in slowly and quietly. Although she was not crying at the moment her face was red, she had obviously been crying before she entered the room. She made her way over to Danny and embraced him in a hug.

Mike, Sam, and Nessa had all been shocked at how well Danny seemed to be handling things; they had not seen him break down. The Delines had seen their fair share, but they were not about to share that with anyone. After a few minutes Nessa spoke up.

"Have you…made any arrangements? Because if not Sam and I would gladly take care of it."

"No, Delinda and I sat down earlier and took care of most of it, but thank you for the offer."

"Don't hesitate to ask for anything Danny." Sam said putting a hand on his knee.

"Thanks Sam, you're starting to sound like your talking to one of your whales." He said laughing.

"Sorry, it's a habit." She said smiling to herself. "hey I have to run I have a real whale downstairs, but I am serious if you need anything just ask. We are all here for you." She said hugging him again and then exiting through the side entrance.

"Yeah I have to go too, I left Sonia in charge and her lunch started twenty minutes ago." Nessa said patting Danny on the back.

"I hate to say it, but me three. I asked Mitch to check up on a few things and he started crying. So I should probably go check on him." Mike said jokingly.

Again, it was left to just the Delines and Danny. He didn't really care, he felt comfortable around them. Ed was sitting at his desk while Delinda and Danny were sitting at a table in the corner of the office. She pulled out a manila folder and placed it on the table.

"Are you ok to talk about a few more things." she asked

"Yeah, go ahead." Danny said confidently

"Ok, I called a few people and I have made arrangements for the funeral to be held at 11:00 at the cemetery you requested; after we will all come back here for a celebration of life. Does that sound ok?"

"Yeah that sounds perfect. You ordered the roses right?"

"Yeah, they will be at both the funeral and celebration of life."

"Thank you Delinda. This really means a lot and I know Mary would have appreciated it too."

"It's no problem Danny, really."

By this time it was about four o'clock, Danny had stopped at his apartment before going to his dad's house to change into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, so he wasn't looking like a hoodlum. After thirty more minutes of funeral talk the two decided to take a brake and go for a walk. It had been a few years since Danny had just taken a stroll down the strip. The two talked about various things, nothing really important just making conversation to lighten the mood. An hour later they returned back to the hotel and made their way back up to Ed's office where they found both Ed and Jillian.

"Are you guys ready?" Ed asked

"For…?" Delinda questioned

"Dinner, the four of us are going to Mystique." Jillian answered.

"Oh uh, I am not really dressed to go to Mystique. All I have on is jeans and a t-shirt."

"It doesn't matter; I had Ed shut down the restaurant especially for us tonight. So come on." Jillian said motioning for the two to get a move on.

"Ok." Danny said compliantly.

The four walked down to the restaurant where there was only one table set. As they all sat talking about miscellaneous things the thought of Mary kept popping into Danny's head. It wasn't that he disliked thinking of her, it was the pain that came along with those thoughts that he disliked. Delinda, sitting next to him, noticed the distant look on his face, but didn't comment on it. She knew exactly what was going through his mind. She was thinking about the same thing. Everyone was thinking of Mary and mourning for her.