Chapter Three: Going Home
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"Did you hear the news?" Mike Cannon asked, catching up to Sam and Nessa Holt as they walked through the busy casino floor. "Danny got sent home."
"What?" a surprised Nessa asked, turning her head to look at the bald, African American man beside her. "Why?"
"Puked right in Ed's office." a smiling Mike replied, looking back at the African American woman with straight hair. He shook his head. "Didn't even make it to the trashcan."
"I wondered about him." Sam commented, shaking her head. "He didn't look well when he came in this morning." The raven-haired woman paused as she remembered when she had last seen her co-worker. "And he came in late. Danny's never late!"
"I bet Ed's happy." Nessa remarked with a sarcastic smile. "All this happening on the day that Brunson's visiting."
"Me and Mr. D. have got that covered." Mike replied, "At least, say that we do if Danny calls and checks up on things." Still grinning, he shook his head. "Idiot didn't want to leave because of the inspection."
"Like Brunson wouldn't mark us down for having an employee throwing up every two minutes." Nessa chuckled. Suddenly, she looked at the two people walking beside her. "Has anyone called Mary and told her?"
"I just thought about it, but she didn't want to be bothered unless it was an emergency." Sam replied, shaking her head. "I'm pretty sure that Danny coming down with something doesn't qualify."
As Sam's cell-phone rang in her pocket, she waved a silent goodbye and walked over to the side of a nearby, vacant slot machine before pulling the phone out and holding it to her ear.
"Sam Marquez." she greeted cheerily.
"Please tell me that some sort of emergency has come up." the desperate yet quiet voice of Mary Connell commented on the other line. "I'll take just about anything at this point!"
"Your conference not going well?" Sam asked with a grin.
"I'm only bored out of my mind!" Mary replied as Sam chuckled.
"Well, you're in luck." Sam smiled, sitting down on the black leather stool behind her. "You've got two options for an excuse to high-tail it back here. Number one, Brunson's coming for some sort of inspection."
"If that's the case, I think that I'm better off here." Mary laughed, "What else is going on?"
-
"Feeling any better?" Jillian asked, looking at the passenger seat as her silver sports car came to a red light. A depressed, silent Danny sat there with one arm hugging his stomach, and his forehead resting in his other hand. "Don't feel so bad, Danny. You're not invincible." The older, blonde-haired woman turned her gaze away and put her foot on the gas as the light changed colors. "We all get sick at one time or another."
"It's not that I got sick." Danny replied, looking up and dropping his hand. "It's that I got sick on the one day that Ed needs me the most."
"He's still got Mike and Mitch to help him out." Jillian pointed out.
"I know that, but…" Danny trailed off as he shook his brown-haired head. "I guess that I just don't like feeling like I'm a burden on people is all."
"Like I said, you're not invincible." Jillian comforted with a smile. "We all need help at one time or another." As the silver sports car neared Danny's house, the pair could see a muddy, white pickup already parked in the driveway. "Looks like you've got company."
"My dad." Danny nodded, recognizing the truck. His suspicions were confirmed when the older, brown-haired man walked out of the house upon seeing the car pull in.
"Ed called me from the Montecito." Larry explained, knowing that his son would ask what he was doing there. The elder McCoy also opened the car door for the younger. "Told me that you weren't feeling too good, buddy."
"It's nothing." Danny tried to wave off.
"It always is." Larry nodded with a knowing smile. "Good to see you, Jillian."
"Nice to see you too, Larry." Jillian smiled from the driver's seat. "How's business?"
"Good." Larry replied, "We just landed a pretty lucrative renovation job, so things are definitely looking up."
"Glad to hear that." Jillian replied before turning to Danny. "I've got to be getting out of here, but you get some rest, young man."
"I will." Danny promised.
" Eddie and I will probably both call to check up on you later." Jillian nodded before pulling the car out of the driveway. Larry waved to her as she drove off.
"You don't have to take care of me, Dad." Danny said as the McCoy men turned to go back inside the house. "I mean, I know that you should probably be at the site."
"Nah," a smiling Larry waved off, "I don't need to be there for another couple of hours." He patted Danny on the shoulder with one hand, and shut the front door with the other. "Besides, what kind of parent would I be if I just abandoned you when you were sick?"
"I'm not a little kid, Dad." Danny pointed out with a chuckle.
"No, but I know how you get when you're sick." a smiling Larry replied, "You never think that it's a big deal! You and your mother nearly fought World War 3 over the chicken pox. You would just not stay in bed…"
"And I must have been the only kid to try to run away to school." Danny grinned, remembering the incident quite well. "I made it as far as the school bus stop before Mary and Greg ratted me out." Chuckling, he shook his head. "I don't think that I'll ever forget the look on Mom's face when she found me, or the spanking she gave me afterwards."
"I made sure that you had clean pajamas, and put some fresh sheets on your bed." Larry replied gently, deciding to switch subjects. He knew that any further dwelling on his deceased mother wouldn't help Danny recover from whatever illness he had. The elder McCoy squeezed the younger man's shoulder. "Why don't you go on up and hop back into bed? I'll be up in a few minutes with some water."
"Thanks, Dad." Danny said appreciatively as he headed up the stairs to his room.
-
"Where in God's name did you dig this thing up at?" Danny asked, looking at his father as he entered the bedroom. The tall, brown-haired man was sitting on the side of his bed and in his hand was a battered, old stuffed animal (a tiger wearing a safari outfit, complete with hat).
"This thing?" Larry laughed, setting the glass of water in his hand down on the nearby dresser. "Come on, Danny Boy! Don't tell me that you don't remember his name?"
"Fine." a slightly embarrassed Danny sighed, "Where in God's name did you dig Tugglesworth up at?" The ex-Marine set the stuffed animal down at his side. "I thought that he got tossed out ages ago."
"I couldn't do that." Larry shook his head. "He was one of your best friends when you were little. It would be like throwing Mary out." A strange twinkle appeared in the older man's eyes as he reminisced about his son's childhood. "You wouldn't go anywhere without Tugglesworth when you were younger. You even managed to sneak him into the room while you took a bath once."
"I don't remember that." Danny commented, shaking his own head.
"Well, you were only about 2 and half years old at the time." Larry recalled, sitting down next to Danny. "Your mother just happened to be passing by the bathroom, and heard you talking to someone. She opened the door a crack to investigate and there you two were. You were splashing around in the tub, and Tugglesworth was carefully sitting on top of the laundry hamper." He laughed slightly. "You apparently took every precaution not to get him wet, so your mother wouldn't have to wash him."
"Well, I didn't imagine that the dryer would be very comfortable." Danny assumed with a shrug.
"How does your stomach feel?" a concerned Larry asked.
"Still queasy." Danny sighed, putting a hand to his stomach. "But I don't think that I have anything more in there that can come up."
"You should wait on drinking the water until that feeling goes away." Larry advised, getting to his feet. A smile remained on the older, brown-haired man's face. "I think that I'm going to let you get some rest, kiddo. I'll be right downstairs if you need anything, so just holler."
"I will." Danny assured as he climbed into bed. "Hey Dad."
"Yeah?" Larry asked, pausing in the doorway.
"Thanks again." an appreciative Danny said.
"Sweet dreams, Danny Boy." Larry replied, turning off the light as he left the room.
"Okay, flu bug." Danny said to himself as his father shut the bedroom door. "Get ready for the fight of your life!"
To be continued...