Chapter 37

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Danny was once again found himself surrounded by darkness, but it was different this time, it wasn't as dark, but he was just as frustrated. 'I can't believe this Louie wasn't my brother, and my old man wasn't my dad. Mom how could you have done this to me.' Danny was thinking. 'I want answers, damn it. I deserve answers.'

Dr. Hartney, Sheldon and Nola sat at Danny's bedside watching Danny's vital signs go from within normal ranges to being dangerously high.

"We have to get his blood pressure back down." Dr. Hartney said. "If we don't he may have a stroke."

"We've given him the max amount of drugs that we can. What do we do now." Nola asked.

"I think we need to get his family back in here and wake him up." Dr. Hartney said.

"That's not possible right now." Sheldon said. "They'll all upset and they need to talk and calm down first, before they can possibly come back in here and calm Danny down."

Dr. Hartney shook his head. "How can any parent keep something like this from a child."

"There's a lot of underlying reasons here Jerry. I'm not sure I know all of what may have gone on with Danny's parents." Sheldon sighed looking over at his friend. "I just hope that whatever happens, Danny finds peace."

"We have to make sure he understands no matter who his father is, we still love him just that same." Nola said.

"Yeah, you're right, it doesn't make a difference. He's still Danny."

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"Don didn't know who I was at the time. He was having a rough patch in his marriage and seeking affection, I was a waitress at the bar he came to and well as they say one thing led to another and a one night stand for him became a life long commitment for me. Not that I regret it one bit, Danny was been the one true bright spot in my life. I can't image what my life would have been like without him in it."

"Did you every tell the Chief that you were pregnant with his child?" Mac asked angrily.

"No, I kept hoping the Stan was Danny's father so I waited until after he was born, then when I worked up the nerve to call Don, I found out that his wife was pregnant with their first child. I knew that they had been experiencing trouble having children so when I heard the news I stayed quite hoping that Stan would just assume that Danny was his and all would be right with the world."

"Was the fact they had trouble having children part of the trouble with the marriage?" Sid asked.

"I think so, yes."

Don just sat there in shock, hearing about the fact that his dad had cheat on his mom was bad enough but now to hear that one of the reasons may have been the fact that his mom had trouble getting and or staying pregnant just blew him away.

"When did you realize that your husband had an idea that Danny may not be his son?"

"The first time he saw him. You see Danny was born with light blond hair and bright blue eyes."

"But aren't most babies born with blue eyes?" Logan asked.

"Yes, but not bright blue eyes." Nan looked over at Don. "His eyes were the same color as yours is now. They just changed as he got older."

Don just shook is head in disbelief, but simply whispered. "Did my dad ever suspect that Danny maybe his?"

Nan nodded. "He had just made detective third class and came to the house to talk to Stan about a suspected mob beat down. I'll never forget the look on his face when Danny came home from school, his eyes where still that bright blue color and he looked a lot like you did when you where younger Donnie."

Don snorted. "I bet my old man had a cow over that."

"He wasn't happy to say the least and it was what turned to be the one thing that your dad and Stan could agree on."

"In what way?" Don asked.

"Well at that time we couldn't find out who was or was not Danny's father, they both more or less agreed that neither one of them would ever claim Danny as their son."

"Say what?"

"Stan said that being Danny may not really be a Messer but the bastard son of a cop he would never ever treat him as a son. While Don, Sr. said that since Danny was 'dirt' because of his association with the like of the Messer's he would never be his son."

"So poor Danny was left out in the cold. Two fathers, but no Dad." Don said sadly. "This explains what my father said to me?"

"Why would you say that Donnie?" Nan asked.

"Father always said that no son of his would ever be a gang member."

"If you love Danny as much as you say you do. Why did you stand by and watch your husband say and do the things to Danny that he did?" Adam suddenly yelled.

"I – I couldn't get involved or he would have turned on me."

"So it was better for you to let Danny take beatings and verbal put-downs."

"It wasn't like that." Nan yelled. "Stan could be very violent and I had to be able to take care of Danny when things were over with."

"You're his mother for God's sake, but yet you never called the police and when the school called about bruises on Danny, you would instead cover for your husband." Mac jumped in.

"I had to Stan was the bread winner. If he went to jail what would happen to the boys and I? I did what I had to do in order to survive. Besides the cops would have 'lost' the report, I mean after all it was just the Messer's."

"You should have pushed the issue." Stella snapped.

"And what, gotten Don involved to do what, claim Danny as his son. That's a laugh don't you think, he would have never, ever claimed him."

"Well he has no choice now, does he." Lindsey seethed. "Let's see what Chief Flack has to say about it now."

"It won't matter." Nan said.

"Yes it will." Don said. "I'll see to that personally. He IS going to accept Danny as my brother or so help me I'll…." He stopped speaking when Logan squeezed his hand that she had been holding.

"Don don't say anything you might regret." Samantha said grapping Don's other arm.

"Don't worry sis the only Flack that will have anything to regret it's going to be our beloved father." Don said with great malice.

"Don, Samantha you have every right to be angry with everything that is happening, but I think you need to sit down and try to talk it out with your dad."

"There's nothing to talk about. Nan said that he had to have known that Danny was his son and still treated him like he was nothing. With everything he's been through in his life Danny is one hell of a guy, he deserves nothing but the best."

"We agree Don, but we can't change what has happened." Mac said.

"We may not be able to change the past, but we sure the hell can make the future better."

"Oh great I just realized something." Sam moaned.

"What's that Sam?" Logan asked.

"Now I have TWO older brothers to tell me what to do."

"Danny's older…." Don said somewhat in shock.

"That's right older brother, you now have a brother that can tell you what to do." Sam said with a giggle.

"Right like Mess is going to tell me what to do." Don said.

"Sure he can, he is the oldest sibling." Sam said trying not to smile to big.

"You're getting a kick out of this, aren't you." Don said looking sideways at his sister.

"Oh yeah, I'm enjoying the heck out if this." Sam said letting the smile take over her face. "I have a feeling Danny's going to make a great brother."

Don looked at his sister affectionately all the while hanging on to Logan's hand. "Danny's our brother."

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Jessica finally found out who Thomas Wicks son was and had gone to the lab to talk to him.

"I'm sorry Detective Angell, but he left after getting a phone call. He was extremely upset." Connie the receptionist said.

"Did he happen to say where he was going?" Jessica asked.

"Not to me maybe he told one of the other lab techs. Let me see who I can get on the phone."

"Thanks Connie."

Connie looked down at the list of CSI's and lab techs to see who might be able to answer Jessica's question. "Here we go." She said aloud to herself as she dialed the phone.

"Hey, girl. Detective Angell is here and has a question that maybe you can answer. Yeah, I'll send her to you. Bye."

"Go find Emma Hayes in trace. She maybe able to help you."

"Thanks again, Connie." Jessica said heading toward the trace lab.

"Emma." Jessica called out when she saw the woman she was looking for.

"Hey, Detective Angell, what can I do for you."

"I'm looking for Eric Thomas, do you happen to know where he is?"

"He got a phone call that upset him a lot. I think it was a family emergency of some kind. He took off and said he would return as soon as possible."

"When did he leave?"

"Almost 30 minutes ago."

"Okay thanks." Jessica said. "Oh and let me know when he comes back."

"Sure think Detective." Emma said as she turned back to the piece of evidence she had been working on.

Jessica left the lab and head back to talk again to Thomas Wicks. As she was pulling into the parking garage she spotted the car registered to Thomas Wicks. 'Now we'll get to the bottom of this.' She thought to herself as she took out cell phone and dialed.

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