A/N: Chapters 4 and 5 of "Drowning" contain a non-explicit description of what Danny's unit went through in Fallujah.
"You and Danny are coming home with me," Frank says when she's stopped crying.
She shakes her head. "The boys…"
"Erin is going to pick the boys up from the Keenan's, then go get clothes and stuff for all of you, and bring them to the house. Are you good to drive?"
She nods, wipes her nose. "Thank you, Frank."
"Anytime, Linda."
She goes over to the passenger side of the car, where Danny is staring at something while Doc talks quietly.
Doc squeezes his shoulder, then turns to her. "You're going home with the Commissioner?"
She nods quietly.
"Good. Do you have someone to talk to?"
She nods again, biting her lip and trying not to break down for the second time. "Dr. Bennett. She… helped me after I was shot last year. I…I'll call her."
"Good. I don't think Danny will have another flashback tonight, but probably nightmares. Get him home, get him to take his meds—full strength of the pain pill, because maybe it'll help him sleep."
She nods and gets in the car.
Danny is staring blankly ahead.
"Danny, are you with me?"
He nods. "Yeah. Yeah, I…I'm with you."
She starts the car, backs out of Doc's parking-lot and hits the main road.
After a minute, she reaches over to rub his shoulder. "Erin's getting the boys, and we're going to spend the night at your dad's, okay, babe?"
"I'm sorry," he says in a monotone that, frankly, scares her.
"Don't be, Danny. We're okay. You're okay—you're gonna be okay. I'm okay; I'm gonna text Dr. Bennett when we get to your dad's. The boys will be happy to have a sleepover."
"You know."
She wants to say it's not that bad—that he'd told her the worst of it three years ago—but she doesn't say that.
She gives his shoulder one more squeeze before returning to her both-hands-on-the-steering-wheel driving policy.
"I…love you, Danny. Always. Nothing you…saw or…endured or…were forced to do…in that hellhole…could make me love you less. Okay?"
"'K. Love you more," he whispers.
That's her line, and she wants to kiss him, but she can't, 'cause she's driving, so she reaches over to squeeze his hand. "Love you most."
As she'd expected, the boys are excited for their sleepover, even though they'll have to get up earlier than normal to get to school on time; and Danny even agrees to a quick game of Go Fish with them.
He wins.
When the boys are in bed, she gives Danny the pain pill and his crutches. He swallows the pill without protest, but shakes his head at the crutches. "Will you help me?"
She wants to ask why he doesn't want to use the crutches, but it seems…like a stupid question.
Never mind…she's asking.
"Of course I'll help you, but why don't you want to use the crutches?"
"I…need you near. Not behind me ready to catch me if I fall, but…next to me."
She kisses him—that has to be one of the sweetest things he's said to her lately—and supports him in his slow trudge up the stairs.
When they're ready for bed—his ankle propped up on pillows and covered in two ice-packs, because it's grossly swollen after his dash to the bathroom at Doc's—she lies down next to him, pulls him close, frowns when he tries to pull away. "What's wrong?"
"I don't wanna hurt you."
"You won't," she says, confused.
"I'm going to have nightmares…or worse…after what I told Doc. I don't wanna hurt you."
"You're not gonna hurt me, babe."
"I did before."
She remembers the incident vaguely…
That's the only time she's ever been scared of him.
"Danny, I know what words not to use so I don't trigger you; and once that pain pill kicks in, hopefully you'll sleep through any nightmares."
"Promise me you'll get out of the way if you think I'm gonna lash out."
"I promise," she says, and holds him a little closer. "Now, close your eyes and relax. Happy thoughts only."
"Like what?" he asks around a yawn.
"O…I don't know…our honeymoon," she says, and begins whispering words of love and memories of romance into his ear until he's snoring softly.
She prays he sleeps 'till morning.