Let Me Take Care Of You

After a fire broke out in Danny's apartment complex, Steve takes care of him

Danny had never resented wearing so little to bed in his life. He was sat on the stairs to his apartment, shivering with the cold, while fireman and paramedics ran riot around him. A small kitchen fire had spread in the apartment next to his and the flames were roaring across the entire floor. According to a paramedic, he was lucky; there had been minimal smoke inhalation, he had only suffered only minor burns and his apartment had only been partially damaged.

The blonde Detective had been asleep when the fire started - images of sleeping people suffocating on smoke and carbon monoxide fumes invaded his brain every time he thought of it, making him panic and breathe a little deeper - but the noise and frantic knocking on his door had woke him up. His next door neighbour, an elderly woman called Martha, had made sure to wake him up before leaving, for which Danny was incredibly thankful. There were a couple of burns on his arm from where he had scraped past a metal doorknob on the way out, but other than that, he was unscathed.

The second Danny got the all clear from a paramedic, he sent a text to his partner Steve, asking him if he wouldn't mind picking him up. The blonde tucked his knees under his chin, wishing he had asked his partner to bring a blanket. Sleeping in a pair of boxers and a thin shirt seemed like a great idea when his apartment was so warm, but now he was sat outside in a chilly breeze, and he thought he might actually get hypothermia if Steve didn't get him stat.

"Danny!?" His partner's voice made him lift his head up, and he saw Steve searching for him frantically through the crowd. When he reached Danny, Steve cupped the blonde's face, angling it upwards to get a better look. "Danny, you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…"

"You didn't get burned?"

"Steve, really…"

"You're not having any trouble breathing?"

"Steven!" Danny yelled. "Not that I don't appreciate your concern, but I got out before it got too bad. I've got one small burn on my arm, but I can barely feel it. Please, just tell me you have a blanket or something in your car."

Steve seemed to actually see Danny for the first time, rather than just firing random questions. His hands dropped from the blonde's face to his arms, and he smiled apologetically. He rubbed the man's arms to warm him up, but withdrew when Danny winced as he put pressure on his burn.

Shrugging off his shirt, Steve wrapped it around Danny's shoulders, and kept an arm around him as he walked him to the car. The blonde was genuinely touched by his partner's concern, the way he held the car door open for him, turned on the heating when they were inside, and kept a hand on his bare thigh in strange attempt to keep him warm, or offer comfort.

Danny was trying so hard to ignore the hand on his leg, so incredibly warm on his cold skin, that he didn't notice the car stopped at Steve's house.

ooOoo

Ten minutes later, the blonde was sat with his feet curled underneath him on Steve's couch, wearing a pair of his partner's pyjama bottoms and one of his shirts. A fleece blanket was thrown over his shoulders and a hot cup of coffee placed in his hand.

Steve joined him on the couch, "Warming up?"

"Yeah," Danny nodded, "you know, this is all too much, I'm fine."

Steve glanced down, in something that looked curiously like nervousness. "The thing about shock is that you don't feel it until you let go. It's why people have panic attacks after the fact, why they don't feel pain until they're in the back of the ambulance." Steve paused, taking a deep breath. "I thought I was fine, when I came back from the last mission, but after a few days I woke up in a puddle of my own sweat, breathing heavily and heartbeat quickened."

Danny instinctively put his hand on his partner's arm. "I got a small burn on my arm, in a fire that barely touched me. Don't compare to risking your life."

"It doesn't matter," Steve shook his head vehemently, "because you feel fine now but one night you will wake up to the sound of a car alarm, or you'll be too hot under the covers, and suddenly you won't be able to breathe or think and all you want to do is curl up and pass out." Danny opened his mouth, but closed it again. "Just know, that if you wake up tonight for whatever reason, you know where my bedroom is. No matter what time it is, knock on my door and we'll fix this Danny, okay?"

The blonde stared at his partner, panic setting in because he knew Steve was right. Of course Danny knows the science behind shock and panic attacks, but hearing Steve say it gave it a gravity that it had previously lacked.

ooOoo

Danny didn't know what woke him up. All he knew, was that it was 3:15 am, his chest was tight, his forehead damp and God, he needed Steve.

"You know where my bedroom is… knock on my door and we'll fix this…"

Steve's words came to him with striking clarity, and the blonde ripped the bedcover off of him like it was made of battery acid. One hand on his chest, trying to steady his breathing, he kept his free hand on the wall to stop his legs from giving up.

Making it out of the door, his lungs aching as they struggled to take in the air they needed. Danny was slowly crossing the hall, knocking on Steve's bedroom door. It took a matter of seconds for it to open, and his partner stood, confusion turning to concern very quickly on his face. Steve grabbed Danny, pulling him inside, quickly turning on the light. The sudden brightness left white spots in the blonde's vision, but Steve put an arm around him, pressing him to his body. One hand came between them, and at first Danny thought he was pushing him away, but the arm around his back held him firm. Steve applied pressure to Danny's chest, just above his heart, until his breathing returned to normal and his body stopped shaking.

Even after his panic attack subsided, Steve held Danny to him. The blonde rested his head in the curve of his partner's neck, allowing himself to enjoy the weight of Steve's arms around him, as if he held him together.

"Better?"

Danny nodded. "Sorry about that…"

"Don't be." Steve said firmly.

"Thank you, though."

Danny tried to pull away to go back to his room, but his partner's grip on him didn't falter. When he looked at Steve, he tilted his head at the blonde in a way that suggested he wasn't allowed to leave.

"Danny," Steve whispered, "let me take care of you."

The blonde said nothing, knowing full well that it wouldn't change Steve's mind even if he did. Looking smug at his victory, his partner flicked the lights off, and led Danny to his bed wordlessly. Once he was sure Danny was under the covers, Steve climbed in next to him. The blonde wasn't sure if his heart had been pumping faster during his panic attack or in that moment. Feeling Steve's weight next to him, Danny closed his eyes, pretending to ignore the fingers, tracing soft lines up and down his arms until he fell back into sleep.