Title: Rise and Shine
Author: screaming-poetically
Summary: Danny wakes up, metaphorically speaking.
Rise and Shine
Death. It was what they were surrounded by daily. It was, seemingly, a word thrown around casually- much like "hello" and "goodbye." At the end of the day, what it really came down to was finding justice for the dead. To pick up the pieces of a life lost, and give people closure. Give them answers. Of course, sometimes it wasn't that easy. As if it ever was.
The setting was always so gloomy in New York- the buildings seemed foreboding, as if they were watching the scenes unfold. Sunshine seemed rare, and the people were always hurrying from one place to the next. It seemed to Danny that not caring for their fellow humans and treating each other like complete shit was a New Yorker's God-given right. There was a sense of unity in the city, though. That much he had to admit.
There was courage there, as well. Bravery he had hardly expected to see anywhere- let alone in this city where there was so much death and strife. Hero was such an uncomfortable word. But those everyday Joes, the ones who fought not for the title of Hero, but just for the fellow next for them… Those were the unrealized Heroes. Firemen and policemen, CSI's and coroners… All had a special kind of courage that was expected of them.
Danny Messer knew that. After all, his whole family (except one cousin who was an accountant, but no one ever really talks about him) was involved in law enforcement. Danny, though, was the first to go into criminalistics. But never mind that. It was hard after September the 11th to see the bodies of these men who had gone up, while everyone else was coming down. To see the charred bodies of the brave men of New York, who had given their lives to save everyone else? And it was especially hard to see that day affect someone close to you. Mack had lost his wife, Claire.
That was hard. One thing Danny had learned from that day was life goes on, no matter how hard it is. You don't really want it to, and you don't know how or why it does. But it does. Even if a certain day or event will remain forever ingrained on your memory, you have to move on. One day at a time goes both ways.
After seeing death for so long, Danny knew that life could end at any time. But he had never fully realized it until that day. People always say that death could come at any moment. But we don't realize that it could come tomorrow, or today. Or even in the next few minutes. That's the reason why we have to live our lives to its fullest. What if in your final moments, your life flashes before you eyes, and you don't see anything? Nothing. Just a blank slate filled with monotonous moments and one-night stands, overtime and hangovers. There has to be more to this life than that. You have to let your heart out of your chest once in a while. Some people could live a hundred years and not live a moment. That's why you can't just stand there- you have to do something. You have to live.
Life. Sometimes you wake up in the middle of it.
That's just what Danny Messer did. He woke up.