Spoilers: Coming Home, Are you now…
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Danny opened his eyes slowly and blinked the last remnants of sleep away. He was in an unfamiliar bed, and his eyes roamed, trying to determine his current location. The IV connected to his arm- the arm that did not feel incredibly stiff, the pain in his chest, and the faint but ever-present antiseptic smell told him that he was in a hospital.
Groaning, he closed his eyes and racked his memory, trying to remember what had happened to bring him to the hospital as a patient. Was it a case gone awry? No, Danny remembered turning his report in to Jack. The last memory that he had was getting into his car, Martin getting into the passenger seat. He remembered hearing the crunching metal and shattering glass. A car accident.
He had vague memories of Samantha, and of Jack and Viviane. Had they come in to see him? God he hated painkillers.
The door to his room opened, and so did his eyes. He blinked a few times, trying to determine if who he thought he saw was really in fact who he saw. "Nicole?"
"Hi Danny." She said quietly, sticking her hands into the pockets of her coat.
"Hell you doing here?" He mumbled sleepily, and meant every word that he'd said.
"I could ask you the same question. I live in New York now. Have since we split." She said, wondering if it was a bad idea to come in to see him. .
"Mmmm. So've I." Danny said, part of him happy to be in the room right now, part of him wishing to be anywhere else, and the rest of him wishing Martin were here. Martin!
"Is Martin okay?" He said suddenly, clearly this time, waking up from the sleep induced by a combination of painkillers and injuries and plain old exhaustion. She smiled.
"Yeah, they'll be taking him off life support in a few hours."
"Life support?!" Danny exclaimed, sitting up. The pain in
his chest assaulted him, and he lay back down, regretting the sudden movement.
"Is he gonna be okay?"
"Yeah, the drunk driver hit his side, remember? It's a miracle Martin survived. But he had a popped lung, internal bleeding, and he has a few broken bones. He'll be fine." Nicole's blue eyes studied him woefully. "I never meant to hurt you Danny." She said softly, changing the topic to a topic that neither had discussed. "I just couldn't live a lie."
"I know." Danny said, and suddenly realizing that he indeed did know. "About eight months ago, we had this case, this guy who had a seemingly perfect life disappears. His wife's eight months pregnant. It turns out that he was gay and he was going to come out to his wife when his boyfriend's wife pushed him over a cliff." He said, drifting back into memory lane.
*FLASHBACK*
"I love you so much." Danny gently pushed onto the bed, kissing her frantically. The beautiful blue-eyed woman tensed up underneath him.
"Danny, I can't do this." She said weakly, pushing him off of her.
"That's fine." He said gently, the look of slight hurt in his eyes not going unnoticed by his fiancée.
"No, Danny, that's not what I mean." She sat up, drew her knees to her chest and buried her head. "God Danny. I can't do this anymore."
He began to rub her back. "Nikki, whatever it is, just tell me. I won't hate you for it. I could never hate you."
"Danny, I…I'm gay." Danny froze as he went into complete shock.
"Gay?" He whispered, his hand coming to a complete stop, but still resting on her back.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner." He said darkly, getting up and leaving the room. Right before he shut the door behind him, he could hear her faintly whisper,
"Because I didn't know how."
He left the small apartment, and went for a walk. He knew it was cliché, going for the walk, but he didn't know what else do to. He just walked and walked. By the time he returned to his apartment, Nicole was gone. He walked into the kitchen, and on the table there lay a letter. On top of the letter lay a simple engagement ring- Nicole's engagement ring.
"Dear Danny,
You're right, I should have told you sooner. I'm not even entirely sure I know why I didn't tell you. At first, I tried to forget about it, convince myself that I was straight, and in love with you.
But the feelings persisted, if not grew stronger. You've got to believe me when I say that I wanted to tell you. But I couldn't bear to break your heart, because that would mean that it was true, I had to accept it first.
It wouldn't be fair to you, to be stuck in a marriage where she couldn't love you the way you loved her. You deserve better than me.
Nicole Garrett"
He lay down the letter, and picked up the ring. The ring sparkled in the light, and it reminded him of the day on the beach when he'd given it to her. They'd been so happy; what'd happened?
*END FLASHBACK*
"I'm sorry Nicole, I shouldn't have left like that." Danny whispered, his chest hurting not from the injuries caused by the accident, but by the regret of past mistakes.
"I shouldn't have told you like that." Nicole argued back. "I was actually surprised at how well you took it." She sighed. "A couple of days later, I tried to call you, 'cause I knew we needed to talk. But you'd already gone."
"I didn't think there was anything left for me there." Danny whispered. "I'd put in for the transfer the next day, and the day after than I came to New York. I've been in Missing Persons ever since."
The silence that formed between them was of the awkward kind, the kind that is there between two ex-lovers who meet again for the first time. The door opening made them both jump.
"Did I interrupt anything?" Jack's gruff voice filled the room, and Danny took deep breaths, trying to slow down his racing heart.
"No. Nicole, this is my boss, Jack Malone. Jack, this is Dr. Garrett, she worked on Martin."
"Right, right." Jack said, and the two exchanged the normal pleasantries. Nicole excused herself and left, leaving only Jack and Danny in the room. "Pretty girl." Jack commented, looking at Danny in a way that made him feel like Jack was seeing clear into his soul.
"Yeah." Danny said uncomfortably. "Have you seen Martin?" Jack shook his head.
"No, only immediate family is allowed, but Sam went in last night, and came out looking a lot calmer, so I'm assuming he looks better than when he was in the ER. She stayed all night; the docs made her go home a few hours ago. Martin's parents drove her." Danny winced.
"Feel bad for her. I certainly wouldn't want to be in close quarters with Daddy Dearest." He said, re-using the term he'd originally used back when Farrell was interrogating them about the Anwar Samir case. Jack laughed.
"Yeah, I thought he was about to find a gun somewhere and shoot me when I showed up in the waiting room last night. Like I'd be able to let one of my agents have life-saving surgery without me being there. You guys are like family…"
"Okay Jack, stop being so sentimental. It's not your strong suit." Danny burst in, a slight grin playing on his worn features. A larger, more confident and more rare smile graced Jack's features. "Hey, why aren't you at work?" It had just occurred to Danny that it was mid-morning, and most people were in work not visiting their subordinates.
Jack shrugged. "It's a slow day." He said. "There are no cases. To be completely honest, I think Van Doren is diverting them. She might confess if you ask her, she'd probably say that there're two agents in the hospital, one in no condition to work, leaving two agents to find missing people. Which, as the Bureau probably knows very well, is no way to find missing people."
Both men turned when the door opened, and saw a doctor there. "Good morning Mr. Taylor." The doctor said pleasantly. "I'm just going to be checking your vitals, you're most likely going to be able to go home now if they're good. Do you have someone to drive you?" The doctor directed the question towards Danny, paying no heed to Jack.
"Yeah, I can drive him." Jack said, sending a look towards the doctor that the doctor couldn't translate, but, due to all the years Danny worked with him, Danny was able to translate it to 'You're lucky, because if I could I'd take my gun out and shoot you for incompetence.'
"Good, good." The doctor said, ignoring the look. Within ten minutes, Danny had been signed out of the hospital and dressed in the sweats that Jack had brought for when he got discharged.
"Hey Jack, has Martin been moved out of the ICU yet? I want to see him." Danny said, sending a look to Jack that spoke volumes.
"Uh, I'm not sure. We can go check, if you'd like." Danny nodded, needing to see him for himself, needing to see with his own eyes that he'd be okay.
The two men traveled slowly through the maze-like hospital, partially due to the face that it was tricky getting from Danny's room to the ICU, and partially due to Danny's injuries.
"Mr. Fitzgerald has actually been moved." The nurse said, when the duo reached the ICU. "He's been taken off life support and is in a private room."
"Can we see him there?" Jack asked, and the nurse nodded, and proceeded to give Jack the number. "Thank you." He said, and keeping a hand on Danny's elbow, left to find Martin's room.
Danny took a deep breath when he saw his friend. Asleep, or maybe unconscious, Martin's face looked innocent, and didn't look like he belonged in the hospital. The blood had been cleaned off, and all the lacerations had been stitched. His right arm was in a cast, as were both of his legs, which were suspended by slings designed for broken legs. An IV went into his left hand. All in all, Martin looked a hell of a lot better than when they'd been brought in.
*FLASHBACK*
Danny slowly blinked his eyes open. The flashing red and blue lights reflected off of the dashboard, illuminating the blood that had spattered and the shards of broken glass.
"Martin?" He whispered painfully. No response. He looked over, and nearly cried out at the sight of his friend, who lay crumpled between the seat and seatbelt. There was blood all over him, and his arm was bent in an angle that no arm should ever be bent. His breaths were short and shallow, and at a quick glance, Martin looked dead.
"Get Martin out." He whispered to the paramedics who then arrived at the crushed car. The paramedics didn't respond, instead two teams worked on freeing the trapped men. As he was loaded onto the stretcher, he heard one of the paramedics ask him whom he wanted called. He gave them Samantha's name, and her cell number.
He kept his eyes trained on Martin, and the men trying to dig him out, and as they loaded him into the ambulance, he slipped back into unconsciousness.
*END FLASHBACK*