Chapter Twenty-five: Speed

Impatience swept over and through him while he waited for the light to turn green so that he could continue his journey. The day had been remotely normal, locked away in the office because his injury wouldn't let him work the field, or so Jack told him. He figured that it was an order straight down from his father. Technically he shouldn't be driving since he only had the one good arm but that's exactly what he was doing, though it wasn't really all that easy. He was kind of in a rush but he drove carefully because the vehicle belonged to the government and he didn't want to have to explain to anyone how it got scratched or dented. Tapping a nervous thumb on the steering wheel he kept replaying everything that happened.

He got to work that morning and was promptly put on desk duty, working with computers. Apparently someone thought typing with one hand was an easy thing to do. Somehow he managed to make do and eventually he found a rhythm that worked for him. He helped Vivian locate some files on an ex-con that had gone missing and read them to her over the phone. He felt that the case was a lost cause, that one of the guy's former cellmates had something to do with his demise. According to records the ex-con hadn't been the nicest guy even while behind bars.

When lunch rolled around he'd been planning on going out with Sam to a diner they used to visit when they were dating. She said something about wanting to catch up with him and hearing the full story about how he and Danny met. Getting out of the office for a while appealed to him. The last thing he wanted to get was cabin fever. But the lunch had been canceled when she got a call from Jack about the case and he got a call from Danny. They quickly decided to make other arrangements, like having her over for dinner some night with Danny, too. Since the kidnapping, which he really didn't care to think about, he found himself finally feeling like normal. That was until he answered the phone.

Even now, as the light finally turned green, he could hear the urgency in Danny's voice.

"Martin, you need to get over here right now. Something's come up and…just get here. Please?"

What could possibly have come up that made his lover so worried? It couldn't possibly have anything to do with the kidnappers. The idiots had gotten into an argument and subsequently killed each other over what they should do with him; hold him for ransom or kill him to make a statement. In the end they got neither. Jack told him that he stayed up late researching the two guys to see if there was a third party or if they worked alone. Thankfully it was the latter. So what had upset Danny to the point he called Martin at work? A few months back a mutual agreement was made that Danny would never call him at work. 'Course, now with the cat out of the bag, so to speak, it didn't matter if anyone caught him talking to Danny.

It was a full twenty minutes after the call that he arrived outside the building that housed Danny's small law office. He'd been by here just yesterday to talk with his lover and had nearly lost him. As he made his way up the stairs he recalled the kiss they shared, the simple memory was enough to make him feel flush. For once in his life he knew what it meant to feel loved. His parents tried their best but his father was almost always away at work and his mother had so many social functions she chose to attend. For the first time in his life he understood what it meant to be the center of someone's world. And he liked it. He liked knowing that someone cared as much for him as he did for them. After all these years he could finally say that falling in love was the greatest feeling in the world and one he never wanted to lose.

He knocked on the door, so as not to scare anyone, before entering the small office. Danny was sitting behind his desk, tapping the butt of a pen off the wood and staring out the window at the city below. "Danny?"

"He came by here, Martin."

"Who did?" he asked, closing the door. Martin had a good feeling that he already knew the answer to the question.

Danny turned to look at him. "You're father came by. He wanted to speak to me again about my relationship with you. I kind of figured that he would learn I visited you at the hospital but how did he know that you were here yesterday?"

"He's got to have someone watching me. That's all I can think of because I sure as hell haven't spoken to him since leaving the hospital." He walked across the office and stopped in front of Danny who remained seated. "Eventually he will get the idea that I'm not interested in breaking things off with you and he'll leave us alone."

Before Martin even finished talking Danny was shaking his head. "I find that highly unlikely."

"Why?"

"He…offered me money to walk out of your life," Danny said quietly.

Martin felt like someone had sucker punched him. His father was trying to buy off his lover now? Just how low would Victor go to ruin their relationship, to ruin his happiness? "How…how much?" For some reason he found that he could no longer look at Danny. The air simmered with tension.

"A quarter of a million…"

"That's a lot of money."

"More than I'll probably ever see in my lifetime," remarked Danny.

Martin swallowed nervously. "Are…I mean, I'd understand. You could help get your brother out of that apartment and think of what you could for your clients."

Danny stood. "Martin look at me." He did. "I'm not going to take your father's money. It may be a lot and maybe some people can be bought like that, but I'm not them." Danny reached out, drawing Martin into an embrace. "Your love is priceless and the only thing that matters to me."

He could feel the tears welling in his eyes as he rested his head on Danny's shoulder. Never in his life did he expect to find someone that loved him as wholly as Danny did. It filled him with emotions that he couldn't find words to describe. And though he should have been happy at that moment, held by someone who had just declared their love to him, he felt like the world was falling apart around him. His father wasn't going to stop trying to break them up; Victor never backed down. Martin feared what his father was going to do next. He worried that whatever it was he wouldn't be able to mend the broken fences between him and Danny. And if that happened…He hugged Danny tighter, not wanting to think about what it would be like without the only person he'd ever truly loved.