A/N: I think I may suggest that while you read this chapter you listen to "Give Me Love" by Ed Sheeran. Just because I've heard it a thousand times while writing it and it kind of fits (enough for me naming this chapter after the song).
And thanks for all of your lovely reviews, they're really awesome.

Shortly after Emily left, Daniel heard his phone ringing and for a moment just thought of letting it go to the voice mail that he'd check on it later. Even so, he went for it to find the caller was a blocked number. This was actually becoming a thing from the past months and he knew that they didn't leave any messages, so he'd have to answer.

"Daniel Grayson." He said in his sharp business man voice.

"Daniel, this is agent McGowen."

Daniel felt chills running down his spine hearing the FBI agent's name. He was the one responsible for the investigation on his father and was a passenger on the same flight that was taking his mother to Washington to testify in the case. If he was alive… Daniel dry swallowed with the thought.

"I'm calling you since you were the one who delivered the evidence to us some months ago. Your mother said that I could trust in you that day."

Daniel was confused. He had told his mom that he hadn't done it when she brought it up the night that they had their argument. But apparently, McGowen didn't know about this. He wanted to know the reason that the agent was calling him after all this time.

"I'm listening." He said as he thought that the man was waiting for him to say something.

"Your mother is on the witness protection program after what happened to her plane." He was saying things slowly since it was a delicate subject.

"Is she… alive?" Daniel dared to ask.

"Yes, she is. She had some injuries, but she made it. I'm calling you about this. She's still recovering and maybe it'd be good for her to see some… familiar face. We know what happened to your sister – plus the fact that she's a minor which it'd require a responsible consent – so we were just wondering if it was possible to arrange a meeting for the both of you, tomorrow."

Daniel was freaking out. This was too much for him. There was something inside him that made him trust that his mom was alive all this time, but he wasn't waiting for anything like this. Out of the blue he'd see her, talk to her… knowing everything that happened. That she's still willing to go forward with her wish to come clean about the David Clarke case when she knew what was in game. He wasn't sure if he could do this. But then he remembered how bad he felt with the thought that his mom could be dead and the last thing he'd remember about her was a slap that left an ugly stain on his face. He weighed in, he had to decide this quickly.

"Ok. Just tell me where." He said wishing not regret it.

"You'll have to be discrete about this. Make sure that no one knows about it…" The agent begun to give him the coordinates.

She had worked hard on the past few days so she felt like she deserved to give herself a rest, especially because it was raining cats and dogs since the day broke. She was just enjoying the quiet gray day where she had really managed to shut off all her non stopping thoughts for a moment. So that when her phone rang she mentally cursed Nolan, assuming that it was a call from him, but much of her surprise she saw Daniel's picture in the screen. She frowned as she motioned to pick it up.

"Daniel…"

"I need you." He sounded drunk. "Please don't hang up."

"Where are you?" She was preoccupied with him.

"At your porch."

She ran downstairs to find him standing in the rain in front of her house totally trashed. He probably hasn't shaved in some days nor did he change his clothes in a while – that at that moment were soaked wet. She hung up her phone as she opened the door to him while he struggled to go up the stairs that led to her door. As he reached the inside of her house he just fell in his knees crying.

"Daniel, you're soaked. You have to change your clothes." Was all she could say to him as she got down on her knees beside him.

"They just want to use me. Like everybody else, I'm just a pawn on everybody's lives." He mumbled. "It's just ridiculous."

His breath smelled like alcohol but he was managing to make understandable sentences. Even so, she wasn't understanding what she was talking about. "What are you saying?"

"My mom. She's alive, I saw her. But it turns out that she only wanted to see me because they need to gather new evidence on David Clarke. She wanted me to do it, she wanted me to betray my father." He said while he still was crying. "You're the only person that I can talk about it."

Emily shivered at his mention of her father's name. He clearly had no idea of what he had just said since he seemed to be avoiding this subject lately. But she couldn't bring herself to harass him to say more when he was that way on the floor of her living room.

"You'll tell me everything. After you changed your clothes and took a warm bath." She said as she grabbed his arm. "Come with me."

She took him to the bathroom and started the shower for him then went to grab a towel and some clothes of him that were still on her house.

"Go in." She helped him with his clothes. "Here are some fresh clothes, I'll put these ones on the dryer. And make you some coffee."

She was leaving the bathroom when he spoke again. "Thank you."

"You don't need to thank me." She said warmly.

She went downstairs, took care of his clothes and rested the palms of both hands on the cupboard as she waited the coffee to be ready. Just when she thought that her day would be calm… She had never seen Daniel this vulnerable, not even when he was arrested or when she broke up with him. All she wanted to do was to protect him even with the mention of her father's name. If not in this situation she'd react a lot different with the information she had just got, but she just couldn't, not when Daniel was this way.

She waited until she heard the shower go off to pour the coffee in two cups – making sure that he got the one full on sugar, he had to get as much glucose as possible – when he got downstairs looking a bit better.

"Here, take this." She motioned to the cup. "It'll make you feel better. It's not your favorite, but it'll work."

"Thanks." He said as he came closer. "For this and… the clothes."

"I guess I didn't return all of it." She said lightly.

They drank their coffees quietly as both of them weren't sure what to talk about. It was a rather strange moment since Daniel had came for her on seeking for help.

"I can't go home right now." He said, finally. "I can't face my father."

"When did you saw your mother?"

"Three days ago." He said. "And haven't gotten home yet. My father thinks I'm visiting Charlotte."

"How's her?" She was taking it small.

"Better than ever. Not a scar was left." He said hurtfully. "She's on the witness protection program and suddenly was interested in me again. I should've known."

"There was no way you could know this, Daniel. You're still her son, you have faith on her like you always did." Emily said as she grabbed his hand and led him to the couch.

"But I can't let people do that to me. Not anymore." He sounded more sober already.

"You mentioned David Clarke earlier…" Emily dropped.

"And I shouldn't have." He said quickly.

"You said you needed me." She grabbed his hand again.

"If I tell this, you have to promise me that you'll settle down with this." He held her hand tightly. "And that you won't go after this. I can't put you in risk, I can't think that you're somehow in danger because of this."

"That's… That's heavy, Daniel." She said as she was actually surprised.

"It is, and that's why I wanted to keep you away from this. Promise me, Emily." He said steadily.

"Ok, I promise." He won't go on without this, anyway.

"Do you remember the Flight 197 case, don't you?" He asked.

"Yes, it was a huge thing, terrorism was involved and all…" She said as if she didn't know every detail of it.

"Basically, my father has his part of guilty into this. When I told you that there was a sort of organization making threats for me, it was because of this. My dad ended up giving in their threads and started to laundry money for the group responsible for the down of the flight." He paused to look at her. "But then things begun to get complicated and they needed a scapegoat for everything. That's when the organization highly suggested the name of David Clarke, since he was one of Grayson Global's employee it would be easier to frame him in."

Emily dry swallowed. She never got to know such thing. She always thought that Conrad had taken her father as a way to get him for having an affair with Victoria. She tried to put herself together as Daniel continued to tell his version of the story.

"It didn't hurt that he was having an affair with my mom – which you already know since Charlotte is his daughter. This subject only came up again when David Clarke was about to get released from jail, the organization started to harass my father about how he could destroy everything, taking everybody down if he decided to talk. They basically decided that the man should be killed. And now everything's back, including the threats and this was going on while we were still together." He looked at her again and shook his head. "You might be thinking that my family is full of monsters, don't you?"

She took a deep breath and waited the adrenaline low a little bit before answering, studying what she should say. "Kind of, to be honest."

"But it's my family. The same people who got me out of jail. I can't turn my back on this when I'm fully aware of what's in game, it would be selfish of me when my father has done all of this to protect me." He gave her a light smile. "I don't expect you to understand. I just hope that now we're even."

She couldn't answer to that, since she wasn't sure what he had just said meant to her. Instead, she just pulled him closer to a hug and stayed that way for a moment. When they broke apart both remained silent looking at the rain that still fell outside.

"Thank you." He finally said.

"Why?" She grinned.

"For letting me know that I can still be myself." He said, hopelessly.

There, again. He had just left her motionless, she didn't know what to say or to do besides looking into his eyes. He had a kind of angst inside them that just set all her guard down. A part of her had all the wrong reasons for going after him again but she couldn't deny that there was some feelings as well.

"I shouldn't be doing this." Daniel said as he got closer to her.

"Why?" She said as she noticed how close he was.

"Because it'll just make everything harder."

He grabbed her face gently and kissed her. She liked how relieved he felt by just doing this, all the muscles that once were tense when he appeared on her door were now redeemed. She got closer to him and intensified their kiss until both had to go apart to take a breath.

"Can I stay over? Just tonight." He wasn't sure about asking. He knew what this could mean for both of them and it wasn't any good. But he had nowhere to go. "I don't want to go home right now."

"You don't have to ask." She grinned. "Come, you need to sleep."

"I'd be fine here, downstairs…" He really wasn't sure of what was worse for him. "I mean, you know…"

"You need to rest and you need company." She said as they went upstairs. "We can make an exception for today."

Less than 10 minutes later Daniel was sleeping on the same side of the bed he always did and Emily watched him. She grabbed her phone and typed a message for Nolan: "Don't come over tonight. Daniel's here, explain later." and sent it without caring for his answer. She just laid down next to him enjoying the feeling of having his warmth back, even if it was just for one night.