Alternate
Chapter 7: Sleepless
A/N: I'm trying to bring this story to a conclusion soon. I may write a sequel if there's enough interest in it.
Dedication: To my wonderful reviewers/repeat customers Wolfhound159, ChristyLoisGilmore17, DaisyDay and megspazzy.
Kate hadn't realized she'd fallen asleep in Daniel's arms until she was shaken awake by an irate nurse "Glad you managed to get some rest," she remarked humorlessly.
Kate looked over at Daniel who appeared chagrined "I didn't want to wake you," he explained.
"Good thing I came here first or I might have started an all out search for you," the nurse continued "Now up, up, up. Those beds weren't designed for snuggling they were made for recovery."
"But she's helping me recover," Daniel protested as Kate reluctantly left the bed.
The nurse laughed "That is one of the lamer excuses I've ever heard in over thirty years of doing this job. Don't worry Doctor Pierce, I'm sure Agent Sneaky here will be back to see you the second I turn my back."
Kate, the chagrined look on her face matching Daniel's expression, allowed herself to be led from the room and back to her own.
"Stay here," the nurse told her "If it had been your doctor that discovered you missing or one of your family members, things could have been a lot more serious. They probably wouldn't think to look for you cuddling up just a few doors away."
Kate sighed and settled into bed a bit grumpily.
"Trust me," the nurse, whose name was Sally, continued "I understand you're worried about him and I can tell he's concerned about you but for the sake of my sanity just stay here for a few hours. You'll both be discharged in the morning and then you can do whatever you want wherever you want whenever you want."
Kate nodded and closed her eyes. She didn't have much trouble falling back asleep. When she did, Daniel filled her dreams. And for the first time she didn't fight against them.
Sally returned to Daniel's room "You try to sleep too," she ordered.
"I was," Daniel defended.
"Don't lie to me Doctor Pierce," Sally scolded "I saw you watching her sleep. It was actually very adorable but you two are going to get me in trouble if you don't stay put."
"Yes ma'am," Daniel grumbled.
Sally snorted at his attitude and left the room.
Daniel allowed his eyes to drift shut. He was still on the natural high that came from finding out that Kate loved him. There were loads of thoughts swirling around his brain, some wonderful, others terrifying. His mind skipped from thought to thought never resting on one longer than a fraction of a second.
There was one certainty that drowned the other thoughts and doubting voices out: Kate Moretti loved him and she wanted to be with him. That made him happy, happier than he'd been in a long time. A sort of peace enveloped him and he began to drift off.
"Way to go man," his younger self appeared to insure he wouldn't be enjoying sleep just yet.
"Come on," Daniel groaned "Couldn't you wait until the sun comes up to congratulate me?"
"Nope," the other him smiled as he took a seat "I'm just really happy for you. Sure you didn't come right out and say it all those times that you should have but better late than never, right?"
"Okay," Daniel sighed "You've congratulated me, now go away," he gestured at his hallucination "Bye, bye now."
"When has that ever worked?" young Daniel smirked "So I don't suppose you want to toast your good fortune with a cup of coffee?"
"I don't drink..." Daniel stopped short as something occurred to him. Donnie, damn it, Donnie hadn't returned from his coffee run. Well not that Daniel or Kate would have noticed. They'd been so wrapped up in each other at the time.
"Shit," Daniel muttered as he got out of bed.
At that moment Donnie was halfway into his second six pack. It was the second time in twenty four hours that he'd gotten completely shit faced. At least this time he had more than a text message to back up his misery. He couldn't even bring himself to return to the apartment. He was sitting in his car in the convenience store parking lot, drowning his feelings with alcohol.
Eventually he just passed out against the steering wheel. He would deal with his emotions later but now he just wanted to hide from the pain. In the back of his mind as he lost consciousness the thought that this was perhaps akin to how Kate felt when he cheated on her during their first marriage occurred to him. But he was far too inebriated to care.
"What...?" Kate murmured sleepily as she stared at Daniel as he stood before her talking at lightening speed.
"I think Donnie saw us together," Daniel repeated. As happy as it made him that his feelings for Kate were reciprocated, he didn't relish the idea of Donnie having come upon them during the intimate time they had shared.
Kate stared open mouthed. She knew she'd eventually have to talk to Donnie but she had hoped she could break the news gently. Coming upon them the way he must have... it must have been like a punch in the gut. "Oh God..." she groaned. She stood from the bed and immediately reached for Daniel for support.
Daniel held her close. He briefly feared that perhaps Kate's regret over Donnie's having seen them might translate into her going back to him. The way she clung to him in that moment did a great deal to ease that fear.
"I need to talk to him," Kate sighed. She tugged on Daniel's arm, directing him to sit beside her on the bed as she reached for the room phone. She dialed Donnie's cell but got no answer. She hung up and turned to Daniel "I hope he didn't go and do something stupid," she sighed.
Daniel couldn't help being worried about Donnie as well. He wrapped an arm around Kate and tried to think of something reassuring to say to her. Unfortunately he couldn't shake the feeling that Donnie had indeed done something stupid. So he said nothing as Kate leaned into his embrace.
Several minutes passed before either of them , sounding bitter, blurted out "He is not allowed to make me worry about him," she reached for the phone and called her brother.
"Hello...?" Joey Moretti sounded as if he'd been woken out of a deep sleep.
"Joey, I need a favor."
"Kate its five thirty in the morning," Joey griped.
"I know and I'm sorry but..." Kate preceded to explain to Joey the entire awkward situation. When she had finished Joey was laughing.
"Serves him right," Joey managed to get control of himself "And you want me to find him and the bottle he's undoubtedly crawled into?"
"If you could," Kate replied timidly.
Joey sighed "And what do you want me to do when I find him?"
"I don't know," Kate admitted "Just make sure he's not dead, okay?"
"If he's not dead can I smack him around a little?"
"Why?" Kate questioned.
"Because once again he's managed to guilt trip you," Joey explained.
"At least this time I was doing something to feel guilty about," she murmured, not noticing when Daniel moved slightly away from her on the bed.
"You didn't do anything to him that was nearly as bad as what he did to you," Joey pointed out. "What was it you told Sandy, you came home and found him screwing your best friend on the kitchen table?"
Kate groaned "Your wife is a real blabber mouth..."
"And you've become a pushover," Joey countered.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me," Joey told her "You never take the kind of shit from anyone the way I've seen you take shit from Donnie."
"Whatever, just find Donnie, okay?" Kate sighed. She didn't want to travel any further down memory lane right now.
"I'll do it but you owe me triple for this," Joey grumbled before hanging up the phone.
Kate hung up the phone and turned to Daniel "Joey'll find him."
"What happens then?" Daniel asked out of curiosity.
"Then I explain that it's over and it should have been over a long time ago," she replied "I wish he hadn't found out the way he had but I am actually kind of relieved that he knows."
Daniel nodded "Kind of surprised that he didn't throw that coffee he went to get in my face," he chuckled slightly.
Kate wrapped her arms around him "If he tried something like that he'd be in a world of hurt," she assured him.
Daniel smiled slightly as he reached out to brush a stray strand of hair from her face. He very nearly kissed her but they were interrupted.
"The two of you, I swear..."
"Busted..." Kate murmured as a very irritated looking Sally marched into the room.
"I've been the supervising nurse for pediatric cancer wards loaded with horny teenagers who weren't as bad as the two of you," Sally declared as she grabbed Daniel by the arm and forced him to his feet.
"Good night Kate," Daniel called as he was led from the room.
"Good night Daniel," Kate smiled softly as she settled back into bed "See you soon."
As expected this last remark elicited a snort from Sally which resulted in a laugh from Daniel.
Joey had begun his search at the twenty four hour convenience store nearest to Kate and Donnie's apartment. He didn't even have to go inside to ask the clerk if he'd seen Donnie. He spotted Donnie's car in the parking lot instantly. He strode over to the driver's side window and tapped loudly on the glass. There was no answer. He took out his cell phone and used the flashlight app to get a better look at the interior of the car.
The front seat was littered with empty beer bottles but there was no sign of Donnie. He wasn't in the back seat either. Joey tried the door and found it unlocked. Inside in addition to the empty beer bottles Joey found a half empty bottle of scotch and an untouched bottle of tequila but no Donnie.
Joey groaned as he wondered how long it would be before a simple favor for his sister would turn into an all out search for a federal prosecutor. If he didn't find Donnie soon he would have to report this to his lieutenant. Though at the moment it didn't look as though Donnie had met with foul play that didn't rule it out as a possibility. As Joey attempted to figure out what directIon Donnie had gone in after leaving the car the first rays of sunlight began to illuminate the sky over Chicago.
Kate found it impossible to fall back asleep. As the sky began to lighten outside the window of her hospital room she shifted positions multiple times but couldn't get comfortable. Eventually she left her bed and, being careful to not attract Sally's attention, crept down the hall to Daniel's room.
She found him sleeping. Rather than wake him she took a seat beside his bed. Somehow it made her feel better just to be near him. Somehow he'd always had that effect on her.
Daniel began to stir in his sleep. A few moments later his eyelids fluttered. The first thing he saw when he woke wasn't Kate but his younger self leaning up against the wall.
"It's a brand new day," the college kid he had once been smiled brightly.
"Uh/huh," Daniel murmured drowsily.
"Why so glum?" his hallucination asked.
"Because," Daniel remarked, too foggy with sleep to bother with preamble "What if it was a mistake, telling Kate how I feel? I don't want to hurt her."
His hallucination nodded sympathetically as Daniel felt a hand alight on his shoulder. He turned and froze. Once again his hallucinations had betrayed him to Kate.
"You won't hurt me," she told him "I'm made of some pretty tough stuff," she leaned in and kissed him.
Daniel reciprocated instantly. When they pulled apart he studied her seriously "Do you have the slightest idea how amazing you are?"
Kate felt her cheeks grow hot. She almost broke eye contact with him out of embarrassment "Flatterer," she murmured.
"When have you ever known me to flatter anyone Kate?" Daniel asked.
This time she did look away. She didn't feel especially amazing at that moment.
Daniel sat up and cupped her face "What's wrong? Was your brother able to find Donnie?"
She shook her head "I haven't heard from Joey yet," she replied.
The conversation would have continued if not for Sally having discovered them again. The nurse sighed dramatically "I'm going to be so glad when my shift is over," she declared.
"Mother hen is back," Kate observed as she stood. She wrapped Daniel in a hug and kissed him tenderly "I'll see you as soon as the doctor gives me my walking papers."
As she pulled away Daniel took her hand in his and squeezed "Love you," he whispered.
She leaned in and kissed him again "Love you too."
"The doctor's making his rounds now," Sally informed Kate impatiently.
On the street after almost forty five minutes of trying to track Donnie's movements and adding to the tally of return favors his sister owed him for this in his head, Joey came upon a large puddle of vomit. While he couldn't be sure that the puddle had been left by Donnie, it seemed like a pretty safe bet.
The vomit was just inside the entrance to a playground. Though it was still early morning there were a few children and their parents milling around. Joey grumbled to himself as he entered the playground. At least the presence of all these children would prevent him from murdering Donnie.
An hour later Donnie awoke to a stick poking him in the face. He reached up to shield himself.
"Holy crap he's alive," he heard a boy exclaim. This was followed by the screams of a handful of children as they fled.
Donnie groaned as he opened his eyes and bright sunlight flooded his vision. When his vision cleared he noticed a girl, about six years old, watching him. He forced himself into a sitting position and smiled awkwardly at the girl. He could already tell this was going to be a rough day.