Linda sighed as she looked at the clock; it was 2:30 in the morning, and she couldn't fall back to sleep. She rolled over, expecting to feel her husband, but he wasn't there. She furrowed her brow and looked over at the en-suite. No light was coming from it, prompting her to put on her robe and peek into the kids' rooms. She had found her husband there more and more lately. When he wasn't in there, she made her way downstairs. She sighed mentally when she saw her husband sitting on the couch, seemingly staring into nothing. "Danny?" Linda softly asked, moving towards him. "Are you okay?"
"Ye-" Danny's voice involuntarily cracked, making him try to cover it with a clearing of the throat. "Yeah."
Linda watched him down the last of his whiskey. She sat down next to him, "Are you sure, sweetie?"
Danny nodded, wiping the dried tears away. "I'm sure."
She put her arm around him and looked at the album on the table. "Our wedding album..." she was very grateful to her husband for scanning all the photos from the albums they had had. He stored the "back-up albums" at his father's, just incase something happened to them.
"I like this one..." Danny handed Linda a photo of them in their wedding day. The photographer had obviously taken the photo when they weren't paying attention, because they were so enthralled with each other. Their foreheads were resting against each other, both of them had smiles for miles.
"Me, too." Linda agreed, noticing a fresh set of silent tears slowly falling down the detective's face. "Danny..." she sighed, "I know you're scared, and I don't blame you. I am too. I know the fire and the crash scared the sh!t outta both of us. And that's understandable. But I don't think this is healthy. For either of us. You can't just come down here, have one too many glasses of whiskey, and look through our photo albums, and tell me you're okay. I've known you for thirty-some years, I know when you're lying. And you're lying to me now. Tell me truthfully. Are. You. Okay?" Linda stressed every syllable of her question.
Danny looked at his loving wife before he answered. He saw compassion, understanding, love, fear, worry, and everything he was feeling in his wife's eyes. He couldn't hold it in any longer as he hugged her tightly and let his tears fall. He'd forever curse himself for breaking down like that, and Linda would forever tell him that it was okay.
Linda knew she didn't have to say anything- she just had to hold her husband tightly, and let him cry it out. She had cried on his shoulder more times than she could count, it was high time she returned the favor.
"Sorry..." Danny shook his head after his tears wouldn't come anymore.
"For what? For crying? You're aloud to cry, Danny. Crying doesn't make you any less of a man. It just means you have a heart. A good heart. A loving heart." Linda smiled and kissed Danny sweetly before he deepened the kiss.
He sighed when he pulled away from her, resting his forehead on hers. "I love you."
"I love you more."
"I love you most." Danny kissed Linda again, pouring everything he felt for her into the kisses. He loved her more than anything, and he had almost lost her more times than he wanted to admit. He nuzzled his face into his loving wife's neck, "I love you. So much."
"I love you too. More than you'll ever know."
They hugged each other, and leaned against the back of the couch. Involuntarily, they both fell asleep, all nightmares being vanished from the radiating love coming from the love-struck couple.
