Broken –Chapter 10

"Hey, you still alive in here?"

Danny sprang up on the bed at the sound of his partner's voice. He had been laying there in silence, having long since turned off the TV that Steve had left on to distract him. It wasn't distracting. It was just annoying so Danny turned it off, listening instead to muffled sounds of Steve and his ex-wife arguing outside until they eventually stopped. That had been almost 30 minutes ago and Danny had been going out his mind since then, wondering what was happening.

"Is she gone? Is she pissed? What am I saying? Of course she's pissed! You didn't tell her everything, did you?"

Steve held his hands up to stop the onslaught of Danny's rapid fire questions.

"Hey! Take a breath." Steve instructed him.

"Sorry." Danny apologized. "Is the gone?"

Steve shook his head.

"No. She's downstairs. She wants to talk to you."

Danny groaned and began wringing his hand nervously.

"Um…I don't know about that."

"Danny, if I thought she was going to read you the riot act, believe me, I'd boot her ass out of here. But she's genuinely concerned about you. She's on your side."

"Sure. She says that now. But as soon as she leaves here she'll be on the phone with her lawyer."

"I don't think so."

"Oh is that so?" Danny snapped sarcastically. "Well excuse me but I think I know my ex little better than you."

Steve rolled his eyes, realizing he wasn't going to win this argument.

"OK fine. If that's what you really think, then it's probably a good idea to go down and talk to her first. Yeah?"

Danny considered this for a moment.

"Danny! She just wants to talk. You're already expecting the worse, so what could this possibly hurt?"

Danny sighed.

"Fine! Fine! I'll go talk to her."

"Good boy." Steve replied, giving Danny a supportive slap on the shoulder.

"How do I look? Do I look OK?" Danny asked nervously, tugging on his now oversized t-shirt and running his hands through his hair.

Steve gave his partner a supportive smile. Danny really did look like hell. His usual, perfectly coiffed hair hadn't seen a blow dryer or hair product in days and now sat in somewhat wavy mop on his head. His cheeks were sunken in from all the weight he had loss and dark circles were prominent beneath his bright blue eyes.

"Do you think you could stall her while I shave?" Danny asked him.

Steve shook his head.

"No, honestly, I don't think so." Steve replied. "You look fine." He lied.

"Ok." Danny nodded and headed toward the door. Steve followed him and the two headed downstairs.

Rachel was pacing the living room nervously when she spotted Danny and Steve descending the staircase. She gasped and brought her hands to her mouth when she got a good look at her ex. Danny, noticing her reaction stopped and turned anxiously back toward Steve.

"It's OK. Go on." Steve whispered to him.

"Oh my God Danny." Rachel cried. Crossing to meet her ex at the base of the staircase she quickly through her arms around.

Danny's body stiffened in Rachel's embrace.

"I'm OK." Danny said quietly.

"Really?" Rachel asked, releasing Danny and then placing her hands on his face to look him in the eyes. "Because you look awful."

"Is that what you came here for? To tell me how awful I look?" Danny asked, pushing himself from her from her grasp and walking to the opposite side of the room.

Rachel glanced at Steve who have her a sympathetic smile.

"No. No of course not." She insisted. "I'm here because I'm worried about you."

"OK that's a lie." Danny shot back. "You are here because of Grace. You don't care what happens to me?"

"Danny, that's not true." Rachel insisted, shaking her head.

"Yes it is." Danny replied.

"Danny, come on." Steve said.

"Don't 'come on' me!" Danny snapped at him. "I know this woman. I lived with her for nine years and I know how she thinks. OK? And I know what she's thinking right now."

"Oh I can promise you Daniel, you have no idea what I'm thinking right now." Rachel insisted.

"Sure I do!" Danny laughed, throwing his hands in the air. "You're thinking 'that stupid idiot has really fucked up now and now…now I can take my daughter wherever I want and there is not a damn thing he can do about it!'"

"Danny relax." Steve pleaded. He had been pretty confident that Rachel was truly concerned about Danny's well-being and had no intention of taking Grace. But Danny seemed hell bent on his own destruction at the moment.

"Stop telling me to relax!" Danny shouted at him.

Steve gave up trying to reason with Danny and instead turned his attention to Rachel.

"OK Rachel, remember what we talked about? This is exactly what I was talking about. It's a side effect of the withdrawal. Please, please don't hold this against him."

"What are you talking about? What exactly did you tell her?" Danny demanded.

Steve groaned. This really wasn't turning out how he envisioned.

"Danny." Rachel took a step toward him and addressed him calmly. "Listen, I know you are upset with me and you have every right to be. I never should have tried to take Gracie from you. OK? I admit that."

Danny chuckled.

"Oh that's very big of you. I don't see how you could deny it."

Steve opened his mouth to interject again, but Rachel raised her hand to stop him.

"You're right Danny. You are absolutely right. But I promise you…I am not going to take Gracie from you. Not because of this. This is just as much my fault as it is yours and I take responsibility for that. I do! I just want us to work this out…for Grace."

Steve could see Danny start to relax as Rachel's words sunk in.

"Come on." Steve said, placing a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Let's just sit down and talk about this. OK?"

"Yeah OK." Danny nodded. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry." Steve replied as the he and Danny took a seat on the couch. "It's all good."

Rachel took a seat in the recliner across from them.

"I want to see Grace." Danny told them.

"Of course." Rachel replied.

"This weekend." Danny clarified. "I want her with me, at my house this weekend. OK? I…I…I missed my weekend so I want her this weekend with me."

Rachel's jaw dropped and she glanced nervously at Steve.

"Oh Danny…I don't know that I'm comfortable with that." She told him.

"What are you talking about?" Danny said, raising his voice once again. "You just said I could see her!"

"See her…yes! But I meant a supervised visit."

"A supervised visit? I don't need supervision to see my own daughter!"

"I'm sorry Danny, but until you've seen a doctor and have this situation under control, I'm afraid you do."

"She's right Danno." Steve said.

Danny whipped around on the couch to face his partner.

"Oh now you're taking her side?"

"It's not about taking sides Danny. It's about what's best for Gracie!" Steve shot back.

"OK! OK! Fine Danny." Rachel interrupted. "You can have Gracie this weekend."

"What?" Steve asked, shocked by Rachel's declaration. He loved his partner, but he really didn't think leaving Gracie with him was a good idea right now.

"Do you mean it?" Danny asked. "Please don't say it if you don't mean it."

"Let me finish." Rachel replied. "You can have Gracie on one condition."

"What that?" Both Danny and Steve asked in unison.

"You can have Gracie if you both stay here-with Steve. Would that be OK with you Steve?"

"Of course! I'd love that. What do you think Danno? That'll work. Right?"

Danny buried his face in his hands.

"I don't need a babysitter." He groaned. "I can take care of my own child."

"Of course you can." Rachel agreed. "It's has nothing to do with your ability to care for Grace. I know you will always take care of her. But I also know that you've been having nightmares and panic attacks and Gracie would not know how to deal with that."

"She's right buddy."

Danny didn't respond, he just sat there with his head in his hands.

"Come on!" Steve said excitedly. "It'll be great! We can invite Chin, Kono and Kamekono over. We'll have a cookout. Gracie will love it!"

"OK." Danny replied with a little less enthusiasm than Steve was hoping for.

"OK?" Rachel tried this time.

"OK! OK! Yes. Let's do it." Danny said.

"Alright then." Rachel said, getting up from her chair. "I guess I should get going then. I have to get home and get Gracie packed."

"I'll walk you out." Steve said, getting up to join her.

"Hey Rach." Danny said.

"Yeah." She replied, turning back to face him.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome Danny. I'll see you soon."

Steve opened the front door and Rachel stepped out. Before heading to her care she turned back to Steve.

"You take care of him. OK?"

Steve smiled at her.

"Always."

To be continued…