Chapter Twelve

Sorry for the long gap between updates! I have been ridiculously busy with work sending me away from home! Anyway please keep reading and reviewing this!

Aeidhryn- thank you for your comments. I don't feel that Danny is 'crying all the time', although this does portray him being emotional and shedding a tear- which could be deemed as slightly out of character for the Danny we all know and love. The medication that someone has to take that is suffering from Leukaemia can affect your emotions- the side effects range from exhaustion to nausea and basically leave you feeling pretty shocking and very down emotionally- that added with the fact that you are forced to face your own mortality, and contemplate your family being left behind and I can imagine that emotions would get the better of you- even someone as stoic as Danny. I hope that answers the questions that you raised, thank you for taking the time to review.

Thank you to everyone that has reviewed- all comments are appreciated! Please keep the reviews coming!

Chapter Twelve

Jamie had no idea how long he had been asleep for when he finally opened his heavy eyes to find his sister sat beside him.

"Hey" he greeted, his voice croaky and his throat dry.

"Hi Jamie, how you feeling?" she asked him with a smile moving closer to her younger sibling.

"Bit sore, but okay" he replied honestly. "How's Danny?" he asked, concerned that he had somehow failed his older brother.

"He is ok Jamie, he was awake and talking- now he is resting. Dad is in with him along with Linda" she replied, keen to reassure her brother that everything was going smoothly.

"Good" Jamie replied with a smile, he was tired and ached all over, but all things considered he felt all right. He just wanted to go home and get life back to normal- although he knew that that wouldn't happen until his brother was home safely.

"Jamie, will you be okay for a minute if I just go and get the doctor? They wanted to see you as soon as you woke up" Erin questioned softly, knowing that her youngest brother must be going through a range of emotions that she couldn't fully comprehend.

"I'll be fine" he replied with conviction and with a simple smile she nodded and left the room.

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As Danny opened his eyes, his stomach rolled with nausea so intense that he felt the bile rising in his throat. He rolled to his side lethargically, and was grateful to whoever had wordlessly placed a kidney dish under his chin as he coughed and retched- his throat burning and his chest heaving. He squeezed his eyes shut and felt the burning shame of hot tears rolling down his cheeks as his pain overwhelmed him.

"Easy Danny, it's ok son" a soothingly familiar voice hushed him, as he eased him back onto the bed gently.

"Dad?" Danny questioned softly, swallowing down on the nausea that continued to rush through him.

"It's okay Danny, I'm here" Frank replied, his voice calm and confident as always. Danny carefully blinked his eyes open, his body a mass of aches and pains and his head pounding.

"I'm okay" Danny stated, his voice cracking at his words. Frank chuckled at his son's stubbornness that he had undoubtedly inherited from his father.

"Sure you are Danny" he replied with a grin that was hidden by the mask. "But you sure as hell will be" he stated with so much conviction that Danny actually felt strengthened by it.

"I know Dad, I know" he replied, his deep brown bloodshot eyes locking on to his father's, absorbing whatever strength he could from the older man. Frank smiled, he had always known that his eldest was a strong and courageous man- he had just never thought that he would have to prove it time and time again and in this way.

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Henry paced frantically, he loved spending time with his great grandsons, but he also desperately longed to check on his grandsons. He had been updated over the phone, but it wasn't the same as seeing that they were ok with his own eyes. The family had been through enough- first Frank's wife had passed away, then Joe had been killed and now this. He just prayed that they would all come through it, prayed that they would all be strong enough to.

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Frank smiled fondly as he looked at his now sleeping son, his eldest looked so young and vulnerable in his drug induced slumber. His closely cropped dark hair and the pallor of his skin reinforcing to Frank the height of his son's illness. He couldn't believe that they had come so close to losing him, he knew that his son had faced things that no man ever should- especially one of Danny's age. The things that he had seen in the marines when he was deployed to Iraq Frank could only guess at, he could join the dots and draw assumptions- but he would never know what his son had been through as Danny had never spoken to him about it, he doubted if he ever would. He knew that the detective had faced every conceivable element of society since he had joined the police department all those years ago- he had seen things and done things that members of the public couldn't fathom, but yet he did it day in and day out without complaint and was proud to be of service to the citizens of New York- proud to wear his badge and willing to draw his gun if he needed to, hell he was willing to, and had taken a bullet if he needed to, and then this happens. An illness drains the life from him and threatens to take him away permanently, and all they could do was sit by and watch. Frank sighed as his thoughts spiralled, they couldn't let it happen- he had come this far and they would make sure that he kept fighting.

End Chapter Twelve