Well, here is the last one. I will tell you that this one took me awhile to write. For some reason, once I heard the song, my muse just wouldn't let me stop writing. The song belongs to the WWE, it's Raven's Theme song "End of Everything" This one is really long, and you might want to have some Kleenex near by because I wrote this and I even cried. It is another cross-over between Miami and New York and it is kinda spoiler-ish for "Lost Son". I don't own any of these characters.
Oh and go and check out the Fan Fiction awards in the Forum. There are some amazing authors and stories out there that deserve to be nominated. Let me know what you think of this chapter...so that means Read and Review. Thanks all and I will be back with Beauty soon.
Danny woke up to the sound of his cell phone ringing. He rolled over and stretched into the sunlight that was coming through his bay window. He reached over and saw it was his lieutenant's number.
"Yeah, Messer"
"Danny, I know that it's your day off and I'm not calling for you to come in. There's been an accident." Horatio Caine said with a heavy heart.
"What do you mean, an accident?" Danny said as he sat up in bed. "Is everyone ok?" By everyone, he meant the only person who meant the world to him. As he waited for the lieutenant's answer he looked down at the ring on his finger and smiled.
"Not really. I need you to meet me at the hospital."
Danny felt like he was suddenly being chocked. He knew that going to the hospital only meant one thing. "Please tell me what happened?" He stuttered as he got ready to leave. He put his phone on speaker and set it down.
"I would feel better telling you face to face."
"It's Tim isn't it?"
"I wouldn't be calling you otherwise."
"I'm on my way."
Danny headed out to the garage that he and his lover shared. He and Tim had been together for only two years, since they met over the phone on the cross country case, but when they met face to face it was love at first sight for both of them. At first they had tried to go with a long distance relationship but when it wasn't working, Danny did the unthinkable. He requested a transfer from the New York Crime Lab to the Miami-Dade Crime Lab to be closer to the one he loved. He had the support of everyone that he had worked with because of the fact that they knew how much Danny cared for Tim and vice versa. Even though they were going to miss him, they knew what was best for him and that was to be in Miami.
He arrived at the hospital as quickly as he could and headed towards the ER. He looked around for his boss and saw him standing in front of a room. He ran towards him and skidded to a halt. He looked into the room that his boss was staring into and gasped. He couldn't believe the amount of blood that was surrounding his lover, it brought back sudden memories of his last visit to New York. The memories came flooding back to him like the blood that was flowing through his veins.
Standing in front of the room that Louie was in being looked after was on his top 5 scariest things in life. He had gotten a phone call from Mac a day before telling him that his DNA had come up in a case and they needed him to come back to set some things straight. Tim had wanted to come with him but Danny reassured him that he wouldn't be long, if only he knew. The only thing he knew as he was standing watching his brother battle between the lines of life and death was the pair of arms that wrapped themselves around his waist was the only thing keeping him standing at that very moment. He could smell Tim's distinctive smell, very little cologne, hair gel and, for some reason, cinnamon gum, this smell alone was giving him the little comfort that he needed. He turned and put himself into the clutches of his lover and sighed.
"Everything's going to be ok." Tim told him. He didn't know if he could believe that. He had seen many horrible crime scenes in his time but the sight of his brother laying on a gurney being operated on was the one thing that was going to haunt him for the rest of his life. He looked up and saw Don standing over on the far side of the hallway looking anywhere but at Danny and Tim. He grabbed Tim's hand and walked over and looked Don in the eye. There was always a part of Danny that would always love Don more then a friend but he would never admit it out in the open. The three men sat down and waited for any news.
Danny was brought back to the present when the door to Tim's room opened and a doctor, covered in his lover's blood, walked out looking sombre. Danny could feel his heart begin to tighten as the doctor walked over to where they were standing. He had tried to prepare himself for the worse but he always thought that they would be together forever, until death do us part, that was the way it was suppose to be.
"Are you here for Detective Speedle?" Both men nodded.
Danny step forward and looked into the doctors eyes, "I'm his husband"
"I am really sorry. We have done all we can. Unfortunately there is just too much damage. Even if there was more we could do, Mr. Speedle has lost too much blood for him to be able to wake up."
"How long?"
"Right now we have him on machines to keep him alive. Unfortunately that's all that is keeping him alive. Are you the only family in the area?" Danny nodded his head. "I am going to take it since you are life partners that you are also his next of kin?" The thought of being notified as the next of kin was hard for Danny to grasp. He always remembered doing the notifications but never once had he been notified.
Horatio, seeing the conflict in the young man's eyes, stepped forward. "Yes, he is. Can you give us a few moments?" The doctor nodded and slowly walked back into the room. Horatio could feel Danny shaking underneath his hand. "Danny, you need to make a decision."
"He wouldn't want to be hook up to all those machines if he couldn't fight, it's what we had discussed if something like this ever happened. But how can I turn off all those machines, the very things that are keeping the one person who knows me better then me?"
Danny stepped back and sat down. Out of every decision he had to make in his life leading up to this moment, it had been the hardest. After a few moments, he stood back up and walked towards Tim's room. With his hand on the door handle, he took a deep breathe and slowly entered the room. He looked the doctor in the eye and silently gave a plea for some time alone. The doctor granted him the privacy and walked out with the nurses in tow. Danny walked over to the bed and saw his best friend attached to wires and tubes. He hung his head and started to sob.
"I can't do it. I can't stand here and watch you be supported by so many machines but I can't let you go. Why couldn't you have stayed home today? Why did you have to be so selfish and go to work? How can you leave me?" Danny didn't know what he was feeling anymore. Part of him was angry at Tim but the other part of him was hurting, just wanting his lover to hold him and tell him that it was going to be ok. He heard the door slowly open and straighten up.
"I know you will probably want a few more minutes but I need to know what you want to do so that we can either move Mr. Speedle or do whatever else we need to do." The doctor explained.
Danny turned around and looked out the window. He saw all his Miami co-workers standing, looking in at him. "Um, I think that it would be best if, um, he wasn't attached to all of this. I know that he wouldn't want it. But can you give them a minute to say goodbye?" He pointed to the group standing outside the door. The doctor nodded and let him leave the room first. Danny looked up at everyone and sub-consciously wrapped his arms around himself, trying to feel Tim there with him. "I've come to a decision and hate me for it, I don't care. Tim and I talked about it a while ago when we first got, married, I guess. And we both came to an agreement that if it came to this we both didn't want to be hooked up to anything. So what I am trying to say is, is that they've allowed you all a few minutes to say whatever you need to. I can't make him live, I can't make him come back to me. The only thing I can give him peace."
Eric Delko stepped forward and pulled Danny into a hug. "It's what he would want. We can't get mad at you for that. You're right, you can give him peace."
One by one everyone entered the room and said their goodbyes. When everyone was finished Danny walked in, followed by the doctor, took Tim's hand and kissed him on the forehead. "I'll love you forever baby, I promise. You never judged me, you loved me for who I was, and not what my past was. You proved to me that love existed and I thank you for that. Take care my love. I will see you someday." Danny slowly nodded his head and watched as the doctor turned off all the machines. It didn't take long for Tim's heart monitor to flat line and when it did, Danny felt a small part of himself die along side Tim. He felt a pair of hands of his shoulders guiding him out of the room. As he got to the door, he turned around one last time and whispered "I love you".
The next 24 hours were the hardest for Danny. He knew that there were numerous phone calls that he had to make but he just didn't feel like making them. Luckily, Eric had offered to call and make the necessary arrangements at the funeral home and contacting what was left of Tim's family. The only other phone call that Eric made, unbeknownst to Danny, was to Danny's family back in New York.
As soon as Mac Taylor heard the news of Tim's death, he gathered everyone in the break room and began to make arrangements for them to fly down for a few days together. The one who took the news the hardest was Flack. Danny was his best friend and so, in some ways, was Tim. He couldn't imagine what Danny was going through. He decided to fly down before anyone else and see if he could do anything to help Danny through the hardest time in his life.
When he arrived in Miami, Don spotted Eric a mile away. They shook hands and headed to Eric's car. Don took a deep breathe as they were headed to Danny and Tim's condo on the beach. "How has he been?"
"Better then I expected. Although, I think that he is trying to show everyone that he can handle this."
"That sounds like Danny. The only one to be able to get through to his emotions, was Tim."
"And you from what I hear."
"What? Danny and I are best friends. Nothing more, nothing less."
"That's not what I meant. Before Tim came into Danny's life, you were always there for him. Made him a human being with actual emotions."
Don couldn't believe his ears. "Where did you hear this from?"
"Danny. The night Tim died, I went over to see if there was anything that I could do. We sat and had a few drinks and we ended up talking a lot about his life in New York. Sounds like he misses it. From what I gathered, he and Tim were considering moving back there. It's not like Tim had real family living down here, only us." Don shook his head. He knew that Danny was missing everyone, but for Tim to be more then willing to move to New York for Danny was amazing. He gained more respect for the fallen detective.
They pulled into the driveway of the condo and Don slowly got out. "Does he know that I am coming?"
"I didn't tell him."
"Good. He never liked me seeing him vulnerable. I can take it from here. You go home, get some sleep and I'll see you in two days at the wake." Don headed up the stairs to the front door and let himself in with the key that Danny gave him 6 months before. The house was eerily quiet as Don put down his bag and moved deeper into the living room. He could hear the TV on in the bedroom and headed towards the sound. As he got closer, he could hear Tim's voice, mixed with laughter, and a hint
of crying mixed in. He slowly opened the door and saw Danny laying on the bed, surrounded by Kleenex, watching old home movies. He smiled to himself and entered the room with little sound.
Danny could swear he heard movement behind him. Part of him actually thought that it was Tim coming home. He rolled over and saw the body of his best friend about to sit on the end of the bed. He let out a small smile and sat up. "When did you get here?"
"About a half an hour ago. Eric picked me up. I thought that I would come down before everyone else and see if you needed anything."
"Everyone else?"
"Yeah. The whole team is coming down to support you Dan. We all love you." Don took Danny into his arms as Danny started to cry at the thought of his old co-workers coming to pay their respects to someone that they had only met a few times.
The next few days were the toughest for Danny but Don being there made it a little more tolerable. They both had begun to pack some things up and making final preparations for the family. The day of the wake, Danny didn't want to get out of bed. He just wanted to stay in his nice warm bed watching old movies, hoping that Tim would still be coming home. Then he realized that Tim wasn't coming home and that he wouldn't have anyone to hold him tight after a long shift and tell him that things would only be getting better. Don, with the help of the team, was able to get Danny out of bed and dressed for the longest day of his life. They all knew that he didn't want to stand around and listen as everyone sent their condolences to him. So after only an hour and a half, Don walked Danny out to the car and drove them both back to the house. As soon as the car was in park, Danny got out and headed around back. He looked out over the ocean and closed his eyes.
"We picked this house for a reason. We both always wanted a place that overlooked the ocean and had its own private beach area. We were going to adopt a child in the coming years, and they were going to need somewhere to play. He gave me everything I ever wanted. A house, a life, his love."
"Then that's what you have to hold onto Dan. Hold onto everything he gave you, hold onto his love. That's what he would want you to do. Tim loved his life just as much as he loved you. So all you need to do is to hold onto that love."
A few minutes later, the men walked back into the house and began to prepare themselves for the emotion day that was ahead of them. Danny knew that he was going to have to speak, and he wouldn't have had it any other way. No one knew Tim as well as he did.
The next morning saw Danny up bright and early. For some reason he wanted to get an early start to the day. He had thought out what he wanted to say, made sure everything was packed and ready to go and had showered once before getting really antsy. Don walked into the kitchen to see Danny pacing back and forth, they had about 45 minutes before they would have to leave for the funeral home.
"Anything you want to do before we leave?" Danny shook his head, at this point, he didn't trust his voice.
When they arrived at the funeral home, Danny was allowed a few private moments before the ceremonies were to begin. He said his prayers and his "final" goodbyes before swallowing his tears and heading into the chapel. Most of the service was a blur for Danny. He knew that Don was on one side of him, while his mom, dad and Louie were sitting behind him along with his co-workers from New York and Miami. When he lifted his head up, he looked in the pastor's eyes and knew that it was his time. He stood up on shaky legs and made his way to the podium.
He cleared his throat and took off his glasses. "Tim always did like me without my glasses on. Said that it was me in my most pure form. That's what drew me to him, when we first met. He had this ability to make you feel as if you were the most perfect person on the planet. He knew how to make me laugh, that's the other thing that he loved about me, was my laugh. I remember, we were sitting outside, one night after we had just moved into the new house, looking out over the beach and something funny had caught my eye and I started to laugh. Tim told me that if there was one thing that he would want to capture in a time capsule for the future to find, it would be my laugh. I feel in love with a man's voice. That was the way we first met. Working a case together over the phone. We talked for a while after that and then we decided to meet for a few drinks while I was on vacation, and the rest they say is history.
"I guess I should thank everyone for all their support the last few days. They have been the hardest for me. But I don't think that I would have gotten through them as well as I did if it weren't for all my friends and family, that love me almost as much as Tim did. I was standing outside last night, looking over the beach and someone told me that the only thing that I needed to hold onto from Tim was his love for me. I think it's safe to say that there was a lot of that. From what I have heard from people, he talked about me a lot, the good, the bad and the ugly.
"I'm not going to stand up here and talk about how much I am going to miss Tim, because that is a given. Of course I am going to miss him, I loved him more then I loved anything else, even my job. But I realized something. Tim wouldn't want me, or any of us, to stand around and cry and talk about how great of a person he was. Everyone already knows that. He would want us to go out and celebrate live. Because we are the lucky ones, we get to stick around for longer then he did. So please, when this is all over, tell the person that you love, that you love them. Don't take anything for granted because it can be taken away in the blink of an eye. Now, I know that there are other things that have to be dealt with but I want to offer to anyone here today, that has a story or something that they want to share with everyone about Tim, to feel free to come up and talk. I feel that doing this is the best way to celebrate Tim's life because that is what we are here to do." Danny stepped down from the podium and stopped in front of Tim's coffin. He bent down and gave Tim one last kiss on the cheek and stepped away.
He sat back down beside Don and listened as, one by one, people got up and shared personal stories of how Tim affected their life in one way or another.
After everything was said and done, Danny couldn't wait to get out of his suit and tie. He had invited people back to the house to share some food, some laughs and a few drinks before everyone headed home. It felt as if it were one last hurrah for Tim; the end of everything.
Two days later, Danny was, once again, standing on his back deck watching the water. He heard the door open and turned around to see his best friend walking out the door. "You ready to go?"
"You know what? I am. I feel good doing this. I know everyone feels that I am abandoning everything I had here, but the only thing that was keeping me here was Tim and I know that he wouldn't want me to feel obligated to stay."
"Is it true that you guys were thinking about moving back to New York?"
"Yeah, we were. We hadn't really talked about it but it was an option. I guess I'm just doing it alone."
"You're not alone. You've got all of us, your job, and most importantly, your memories. You can always come back for a visit whenever you want."
Danny nodded and headed out to the front of the house. He looked back and the structure and couldn't help but smile. He knew that no matter where he lived, whether it is New York or Miami, Tim would always be with him.