"Dee Laytner, are you insane?"
"What? I think it looks good."
"Are you blind?"
"What's wrong with it?"
"What's – Just look at it!"
"I think it's nice. I bet Josh would like it too."
"Oh, I'm sure he would."
"What do you think Mr. Breit?"
"Very nice. Sexy."
"Daddy!" Danny stomped her foot, looking shocked. "I can't believe you just said that."
"What? It is."
"Daddy!"
Dee sighed and put the dress, a slinky black number that would probably fit in better in the lingerie section, away. "I think it's a nice dress."
"Should I pick one up for Carol then?"
"…Never mind."
Dirk smiled faintly. He and Dee had followed Danny clothes shopping and were now sitting bored in Bloomingdale's. It was amazing how many clothes a woman could love than reject, for the smallest of reasons. They had been there hours and she'd rejected what seemed like thousands of outfits, finding only three she liked. Even those would randomly be reassessed and pondered over, as she tried to decide if she really still liked them or not. Dee, not used to shopping with women, hadn't developed the patience necessary for enduring the sheer boredom of the more passive male role. Dirk had shopped with his wives and Danny herself often enough that he was rather numb to the experience.
"Dee, if you're that bored why don't you go find something for Randy?"
"He'll hate it. He dresses differently."
"Obviously. Take daddy with you, he has an acceptable sense of taste."
"Thank you darling."
"No problem. It'll keep you from bothering me, for at least ten minutes."
"You invited us." Dee pointed out.
"I invited daddy. You just kind of came along.
"Ooh. Cold."
"Run along Dee. We'll go to dinner after I'm done."
"Tomorrow then?"
"Smart ass."
He just smirked.
"And yes, it is a cute ass. Now, go buy Randy something nice. I'll get you food later. Maybe you can get him to let you back in the house."
"It wasn't my fault!"
"This time. You can save it for the next time he gets upset. I can keep it at my place for the week without any problems."
"Very funny. Very."
"Yes, yes, now hurry along." She pushed him away. He left slowly, seemingly reluctantly. Dirk joined him after kissing Danny's cheek. "…You got kicked out?"
Dee coughed. "Carol, the girl from dinner, was upset over something."
"And that got you in trouble?"
Dee glowered. "She kicked me
out. She thinks Ryo listens better or something, I guess."
"Hmm…Hold up a minute."
Dirk put a hand on Dee's shoulder to stop him and quickly walked over to a
nearby clothing rack. He pulled out a woman's white silk nightgown with red
flowers on it. Dee blinked. "He's definitely going to hate that."
Dirk laughed. "He would. This is for Hilde."
"Oh. That makes sense."
"Indeed. She'd be upset if I didn't bring her something. It's always better to go along with our partners. Or, at least, it's quieter."
"The kids too."
Dirk made a face. "Children are noisier then any wife."
"Amen to that…Does Danny have any other siblings?"
"No, just Alex. Thank god, I couldn't have handled another."
Dee grinned. "I know the feeling. And they aren't even mine."
"Be thankful for that."
"Why?"
"You don't worry as much. That's the hard part."
"Really?…Why'd you let Danny move up here anyway?"
"She wanted to come and Alex needed to be away from Sean."
"The breakup?"
"Partially…How are they doing? Daniella, Sean and that Adams boy, I mean."
"They're doing fine. Danny and JJ have had a couple fights but they make up in time. I'm not sure about Sean, I don't know him well. I wasn't even sure he was gay."
"You're joking?"
"Naw. Makes things more complicated. Before you all came up we all thought he might've hooked up with JJ."
Dirk dropped the shirt he'd been looking at. "What?"
"Well, they've been getting closer the past six months and…"
Dirk picked up the shirt again, thinking as he put it back. "My, how things changed. He hated him even more than…" He shook his head.
"Huh?" Dee blinked at him, curious now.
"Do you know why Alex and Sean broke up?"
"I didn't even really know Danny had a family until yesterday."
"Did you think she was some sort of plant?"
"You know what I mean."
"Mmm, if you say so. Americans."
"Why did they break up?"
"Jealousy, possessiveness, accusations of cheating. The usual."
"Alex thought Sean was cheating on him?"
"Other way around, actually."
"Was he?"
"Of course not. Daniella would never have stood for it, she rather likes the boy and, as with all sisters, enjoys tormenting her brother over any fault."
"Well, what did happen the-" Dee cut off as Danny suddenly popped out from behind a rack of clothes and tossed her cell phone to him.
"Reassure your boyfriend. He's convinced you've been beaten and murdered and are lying alone in a hospital feeling depressed and forgotten."
"If I was murdered-"
"Just talk to him. If anyone else called I'm hurt and murdered and will deal with it tomorrow."
"…" Dee stared at her then did the only thing a sane man could do in the face of a woman's irrational request. He nodded. "OK."
"Good. Come get me after you're done, I'm getting hungry." She stalked off again.
Dirk sighed. "Saved by lack of eateries."
"Huh?" Dee blinked at him, raising the phone to his ear.
"She has my credit card."
Dee's eyes widened. "That is dangerous."
'Dee? Is that you? What's dangerous?'
"Danny's dad gave her his credit card to shop with."
'Oh. That's really…'
'Dumb, yeah."
Dirk frowned at him. Dee just grinned.
'Are you all right? Why haven't you called?'
"I'm fine. You were talking to Carol, remember?"
'…Dee, do you know what time it is?'
"Huh?" Dee looked at his watch. "Yeah, it's…Shit! How long has she been shopping?"
Dirk laughed. "You obviously don't shop with women often."
'Who's with you?'
"Danny's dad."
"Eh?"
"Her father, remember? We met him yesterday."
'Dee, you can't just hang out with him. He's a crime lord!'
"And he wasn't at dinner last night?"
'Yesterday was…that was….last night was just strange.'
"Amen to that."
'Why are you out with them anyway?'
"I got kicked out by the brat, remember?"
'She just wanted to talk to me alone. And she's not a brat.'
"She kicked me out of bed. She's a brat.'
'Dee…'
"So she's fixed now?"
There was a disapproving silence from the other end of the line a minute before Ryo responded. '…She's calmed down, yes.'
"What was wrong?"
'Some of her friends were spreading nasty rumors about her. And she only found out when Bikky believed it and called her on it.'
"Well, shit…"
'Yeah.'
"So she's going to be around for awhile?"
'Yes…'
"Hmm…Danny wants to go out to eat, so I probably won't be home for awhile."
'What? Dee!'
"What? I'm hungry too."
'You can't just-'
"Why not? It's not as if she wants my help, she's made that perfectly clear."
'She could still use your help. When Bikky gets back-'
"You three'll just sit around and argue and yell at me whenever I try to talk."
'That isn't true!'
"Yes, it is. I ain't a father figure, Ryo. Older brother, maybe, dad, no. If you want to play mommy that's fine by me but don't ask me to hang around in the background every time the kids have a fight or get their feelings hurt. I won't be any help and I don't feel like playing third wheel all the time."
'Dee…you aren't…'
"I'm going out to eat. I'll be home later. Call if something happens."
'Dee! Wait!'
"Bye." Dee turned the phone off.
"Somebody's cranky."
Dee turned to Danny, who'd returned carrying shopping bags. "Somebody's spoiled."
"Touché."
"Food?"
"Sounds good. Where do we eat though?"
"Some place with alcohol." Dee replied instantly.
"Some place with cow products." Dirk echoed.
"Cow products?" Dee blinked.
"Beef, daddy."
"Beef, steak, whatever. Cow products. None of that salad or dog of yours." Dirk shrugged.
"Dog?"
"Oriental food." Danny explained.
"Dog. Dirk nodded. "Or sometimes cat."
"Daddy!"
"Definitely no oriental, vegetarian stuff. Cow products and beer all the way."
"Dee!"
* * *
JJ sat at his desk, glaring at the stack of papers in front of him. He was supposed to be done for the day already but Rose had demanded that he stay behind to finish a few reports. He'd fallen behind in the last week after Dee had somehow convinced him to help work though the immense pile of reports he'd built up. It was very inconvenient to have to make it up now though, he'd hoped to be able to go out with Max that evening. Max'd returned to his hotel for a nap while JJ finished, promising to return in a few hours. Grabbing a report from the To Do pile, which was distressingly larger than the finished one, he began to work.
JJ had, over the years, gotten used to various shocks and strangeness in his life. Between his job and friends randomly strangeness was rather common. But the hand that slammed down on his desk in the middle of the report nearly sent him through the ceiling. "Aaagh!...Huh, wha-?"
Alex stood across the desk from him, staring rather intently. JJ immediately turned bright red, stunned beyond speech. Alex looked really, really good when he got all intense.
Alex looked at him a minute longer before speaking himself, voice as intense as his eyes. "I need you-"
Hell yeah! Where do you want me? I know a few comfortable, flat, relatively private surfaces nearby. You can have as much of me as you want as long as you bring that pretty face and perfect as-
"-to tell me about what's going on up here."
What? That doesn't sound sexy. Could it be some weird euphemism maybe?
"I want to know about anyone who might want to hurt Danny. Can you help?" Alex finally finished, though he really hadn't taken nearly as long as JJ thought he had, and pulled his hand back, still watching the other man.
Oh, sister. Definitely not sexy. Tease! "Ummm…" JJ coughed as logic and rational thought returned, knocking hormones and libido out of the way for at least a little while. "Sure."
"Good." Alex turned away to find a chair, giving JJ's heart and breath rates time to return to normal. As he returned with Dee's stolen chair JJ jumped to his feet, nearly knocking all the papers to the floor. "I'm…uh…gonna go get a few files! I'll be right back."
Alex blinked at him. "…OK then. I'll just wait here."
JJ nodded rapidly and fled the room. When he reached the file room he collapsed against the cabinets.
Damn it! Why had he forgotten how incredibly sexy Alex could be? Why had he forgotten how weak-kneed around the other man? Why had he thought that a few years and some rather considerable distance would make him get over that crush he'd had? Although could he really still consider it a crush, considering how powerful it was despite Alex's near complete absence? He hadn't been nearly this overwhelmed before but he'd been distracted then, with his job and Danny and trying to get over Dee and how he ran away… OK, so he wasn't so good at getting over things, but at least he kinda tried. Sort of. OK, maybe not. But that wasn't important! Alex was…
Well, first off, he'd finally been confirmed in his hopes that Alex was gay. He'd pretty much known before, after all they'd spent quite a large amount of times in bars together talking about the various merits of other men, but Alex had always seemed to focus on the women. Or, at least, it had seemed that way to him. Of course, his complete lack of interest in women might've been an influence but… Nah. Anyway! Alex was gay. Alex had been going out with Sean. Sean was gay! That thought, for some reason, didn't excite him nearly as much as Alex's revelation. Of course, he'd pretty much thought Sean was gay from the beginning. After all, he was a models makeup person. Not exactly a manly career choice. Alex, on the other hand, helped run a company and all sorts of criminal enterprises. Definitely a manly sort of trade, though there were a few women who'd made names for themselves. But… Alex was here. In New York. He'd never been up here before, he simply settled for calling Danny on the phone. Maybe he was relieved to have some distance between them? Who knew. But…he was here. And that fact had finally smacked JJ upside the head. Alex was here. Alex, the dark and sexy guy who'd managed to distract him from Dee, if only for a little while. Alex who he hadn't seen, or even talked to, since well before Dee had gotten together with Ryo. He was back and in full Over-protective Brother mode, ready to smite anyone who dared lay a hand on his beloved older sister. He was back, he was still incredibly good looking and he was in a righteous anger. And Dee was gone, out of reach and, for the most part, even gotten over. In other words, Alex was here and sexy as ever, and JJ was finally getting over a rather painful relationship problem, not to mention what'd happened with Laura, and was trying to find someone new, preferably with returned feelings, for him. But…
It was happening again. He could feel it. He'd been overwhelmed by Dee before he could really understand what was going on; his initial interest had rapidly become an obsession so intense he wasn't sure he could handle it. He'd honestly thought that he would die if he couldn't be around Dee, his presence had been soothing and overwhelming all at once. But then Dee had fled, leaving him behind to try and deal with the rejection and soul-crushing loneliness that had threatened to destroy him. So he'd moved too, to get away from all the painful reminders, and he'd run into Danny. An act of extremely great luck that he'd more than paid for, he thought. And he met Alex, her brother. He'd never been interested in Danny, not 'that way' at least, but… Alex was cute and nice and understanding and everything he'd wanted Dee to be. Alex didn't blame him for being obsessed, he just tried to help him get over it. Even after Danny had announced she was leaving, and taking everyone with her, as she'd put it, they'd still been able to talk about pretty much anything. But…but… "Argh!"
"Hey, JJ, what's wrong?"
JJ jumped, surprised yet again. "Huh? Oh! Drake! I thought you went home?"
"Forgot something." His partner frowned at him. "What's going on? There's some guy at your desk, with all your paperwork still undone, and you're back here yelling at the file cabinets?"
"That's Alex, Danny's brother. And I was not yelling."
"Eh? Her brother?" Drake turned to look at the door, then back to JJ. "Oh yeah! You were all talking about that yesterday afternoon, weren't you?"
"Yeah."
"So what's he doing here?"
"He doesn't know who anyone is up here, really. He wants to know about anyone who may have something against Danny."
"And he figured you'd know?"
"I guess."
"Do you?"
"Of course!"
"What about Josh?"
"I think he's busy."
"Hmm….So…What're you going to do?"
"Help him, of course."
"But what about all that paperwork?"
JJ collapsed against the file cabinets. "I don't know! I can't just ignore them but I can't just ignore Alex and Danny either! Why did that ass Rose have to decide he needed these stupid reports today?" JJ spun away from the cabinets to glare in the general direction of Rose's office, suddenly full of indignant fury.
"Uh…Well…" Drake seemed a bit taken aback. "If he hadn't you wouldn't have been here for Alex to interrupt."
"…That's a good point." JJ's fury drained as quickly as it had arisen. "But it's still annoying."
"Of course. Why don't you just write up a list of people who might be involved and send him off to Dee? He's been here longer, he knows everybody."
"Yeah…but…but…" JJ's mind raced for a reason. "He doesn't know why they wouldn't like her."
"Tell him to hunt down Josh and Brett then?"
"They've only known her a few months! They don't know even half the people who might want to hurt her."
"There's that many?"
"Well…She is a crime lords daughter. And she can be kinda annoying, you know?"
"…You just want to talk to him, don't you?"
"…"
"Shit, JJ, don't tell me-"
"Don't tell me what I shouldn't do! I know it's a bad idea, he's Danny's brother, he's a fucking criminal, for god's sake, but he's still the best guy I know! He put up with all Danny's shit for years and he still likes her! How saint-like is that?"
"But you-"
"Don't throw that Dee shit in my face, not again. Yeah, I was stupid, but I was obsessed! Like you'd do better. I can have real relationships, you know. I can do more than just fling myself at someone. I'm not a kid and he isn't Dee!"
Drake stared at him a minute then spoke quietly. "But you like Sean."
JJ deflated, practically collapsing. "Sean…Christ, I don't even know anymore. Yeah, I liked Sean. He's great. But I don't love him. At least, I don't think I do…"
"But you were getting along so well!"
"We were! I mean, we are. I mean…Oh, I don't know. I never even really saw him much before we moved up here, he's always been Danny's work friend and he never really hung around with us in Florida. He was always busy going out with Laura or something. Even up here I didn't see him that often until…"
"Ahh, rebound guy." Drake nodded knowingly, sitting on the floor with his back to the wall.
JJ glared at him. "Thanks for being so sympathetic."
"Well, it's pretty obvious. A nice guy who's friends with your friends who's nice and supporting and was upset at the same time you were, you meet, get attached and bam!, rebound relationship."
JJ frowned. "I'm not that immature!"
Drake managed to avoid commenting on that. "Can you really tell me I'm wrong?"
JJ sighed and sat down opposite him, back against the cabinets. "…No, I guess not."
"What about Alex? I've never heard you talk about him before."
"When did I have time?" JJ threw his hands into the air, frustrated. "I moved up here and then I met Dee like right away. And after all that there was the stuff with Laura and now, well, there's all this stuff starting up. I haven't had time to think about him!"
"JJ…"
"And now Danny's in trouble again! And her family's here! And they're criminals! What'm I supposed to do, ignore it? It's bad enough I ignore Brett and Josh, how I can I ignore them too? I'm a cop, arresting people like them is my job. I'm not supposed to sit around and try to decide if I like them or not or how I can help them or anything like that. They're my enemy, not my friends! What kind of cop am I, just ignoring them like this?"
"JJ…"
"And what is going on now? NO one tells me anything. Someone's going to do something to Danny at sometime, what kind of information is that? It isn't! Vague threats and warnings, that's all they have. What are we supposed to do about it? Go back? Wait until something happens? GO somewhere new?"
"JJ…"
"And what's up with Sean and Alex? They were going out? Why didn't they tell me? And their breakup? When did that happen? And why? Why won't anyone tell me why they broke up?"
"Jamie…"
'And what's with Alex? Why's he so mad at me? I mean, we went out to dinner and he was all glaring at me and he wouldn't say why or anything, he just glared and tried to get close to Sean but I didn't want him to, but did I not want him to because I didn't want him to get close to Sean or because I didn't want Sean to get close to him, and why does it matter that much, cause I haven't seen Alex in a long time and I didn't know about Sean and I'm still not sure about what I think of him and I'm not even really sure of what I think of Alex, just that I like him a lot and-"
"Jamie!"
JJ froze, wide eyed, in mid-rant.
Drake took a deep breath. "Breathe, Jamie…Just…breathe…"
JJ took a few loud breaths, as commanded, still staring at Drake.
"Calm down, Jamie. You're getting hysterical."
"…"
"If you really want to know go ask Alex. He'd know all that. And you've never exactly avoided confrontation before."
JJ sniffled.
"Eh?" Drake gaped. "You aren't gonna cry, are you? I mean, it isn't that bad, no one really knows what's going on in their life and…"
"You called me Jamie." JJ's voice was quiet, barely audible.
"Huh?"
"No one calls me Jamie."
"Danny does."
"She's the only other one."
"Other one?"
"My mom used to."
"Oh…well…I ain't your mom, JJ. Umm… damn, I mean…eh?"
JJ suddenly launched himself at Drake, knocking them over. Luckily Drake was able to shift so they ended sprawled on the floor rather than knocked into unconsciousness by the wall. Drake stared at the ceiling for a minute as JJ clung to him, arms around his neck, head against his shoulder. He eventually recovered his senses enough to start squirming, trying to find a way to free himself. Fortunately, or unfortunately, as it may be, JJ was so lost in his own angst he didn't noticed. Drake momentarily considered putting forth the effort it'd require to get rid of him, but decided that would just make the situation worse. He really didn't want JJ to start crying.
With a sigh he lay back against the floor, trying to get comfortable despite the cold, hard tile. When JJ got upset it could take forever for him to calm down. He blinked as he suddenly noticed, among other trivia, that the door was open. Only partway, as if someone had tried to come in and realized that people were here. Or as if he hadn't quite shut it all the way after entering. He thought he had though… He hadn't heard it opening, though he could've missed it rather easily once JJ got upset. He didn't hear anyone out there now. "Hey, JJ?"
"What?"
"Can I at least sit up? This floor's hard."
JJ pulled back, sitting himself and Drake stood and stretched. "Sorry."
Drake looked down at him and sighed. "Don't worry about it. You were upset." He never could stay mad at JJ long, especially when he used those kicked puppy eyes of his. He reached down to help JJ to his feet then ruffled his hair. "Go home and monopolize Danny. I'll tell Rose that Danny's ravishingly handsome brother swept in and dragged you off."
JJ laughed. It was a quiet but not forced one. "It's half true. He is handsome and he did sweep in here. But you better not talk to Rose that way or he'll star hitting on you and try to sweep you off."
"Me? Nah. I'm not pretty enough."
JJ looked him over, a serious look on his face. "If you say so…"
"Huh?" Drake blinked at him.
JJ walked past him and pulled open the door. "I wonder…"
"Are you sure you're gonna be OK?"
JJ smiled over his shoulder at him. "I'll be fine. Really. I'll see you tomorrow, OK?"
"Yeah." Drake watched him go, looking slightly confused. "Dammit, I just wanted my coat!"
* * *
JJ walked down the hallway back to his desk, face unusually serious. He was almost back to the main room when someone walking around and looking lost spotted him.
"JJ!" Brett called out to him. "You're working late?"
"I was about to leave."
"Oh. Well, have you seen that brat Bikky? He called me down to help him get out of some trouble but he ain't here."
"Bikky's here? Again? Why didn't he call Ryo?"
"Apparently Ryo's mad at him for getting caught so often. Danny's busy and Josh's out. Which leaves me. I think he said you were with a friend."
"I was going to be. He must've asked Danny. What'd he do now?"
Brett shrugged. "Something stupid, like usual. He didn't run off, did he? No one here has seen him."
"Have you asked anyone in the Juvenile section?"
"There are different sections?"
JJ sighed. "Of course."
"I didn't know that…Damn, police stations are confusing."
JJ snickered. "That's just cause you're rarely in one."
"Thank god for that."
"Here, I'll take you down there."
"I thought you were leaving?"
"I can wait a minute."
"Thanks man."
"Let me just reassure Alex I'm still alive first."
"Alex? Danny's brother?"
"Yeah."
"He's here?"
Brett looked confused. "But there's no one there."
JJ froze, door to the main room half open. "Huh?"
"You have a desk with everyone else, right? You don't have an office yet."
"No, I don't."
"Well, there's no one in there right now. Wouldn't have gotten back here if there was."
"Eh?"
"How long were you back here? I've been looking for someone familiar for awhile."
"So you just came in and wandered around?"
"Yeah. Seemed kinda weird to me too. Aren't police supposed to be into security and all that?"
"I guess everyone's busy…" JJ pulled open the door and looked inside. There were now a couple at their desks, working on reports or the like, but no Josh. The only thing at his desk that didn't belong there was a note lying on top of his unfinished reports.
Walking over to the desk he picked it up and read quickly. 'If you had paperwork you should've said something, gay boy.'
"Gay boy?"
JJ jumped. "Brett! You scared me."
"I noticed."
"Why're you reading over my shoulder anyway?"
"Bored."
"You spy on people when bored?"
"How else am I gonna get blackmail material on Josh?"
"You blackmail your own brother?"
"Doesn't everyone?"
"Bit…that's so…so…"
"Screwed up?"
"Yeah."
"Welcome to real life, gay boy."
"Hey!"
"Wanna go get a drink or seven?"
"Huh?"
"Wanna go get plastered?"
"Excuse em?"
Brett sighed and leaned
forward, suddenly making JJ acutely aware that there hadn't been that much
space between them to begin with. "Do you wanna go get fucked-up drunk?"
JJ just gaped at him.
Brett made an impatient noise and grabbed his arm. "Come on, let's go get drunk. You obviously need it."
"That's really not a good idea." JJ just wasn't having any luck with male contact that day. All the wrong guys! "I tend to get…angry…when drunk."
Brett stopped and looked back at him. "You've obviously never seen Josh throw a fit. I'm an older brother, try anything on me and I'll knock you out."
"That'd work."
"Usually does. Now, let's go. You need alcohol and sex, though not necessarily in that order, and I can arrange at least some of it for you."
JJ blinked. "Sex?"
"Umm…no…that you're on your own for. Figuratively speaking, of course."
"Brett!" JJ blushed.
"Unless you've started liking girls now? They don't really have cooties, you know."
"I know that! I live with a girl!"
"One you damn well better not be sleeping with."
"Ew, no."
Brett laughed. "I like you kid. Let's go make sure you feel like shit tomorrow morning."
"Gee, thanks."
"Hey, with luck you'll end up next to a hottie. Give it a chance, at least."
"If you say so…"