A/N: Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing. I'm sorry this has taken me so long. Anyone else incredibly upset that they actually killed Cassie? Cuz I am. I am of the opinion that if they wanted to kill one of Nick and Sharon's kids, which was a brave move, by the way, they should have killed Noah. Camryn Grimes was an asset to the show, and it's rare for a soap to have one kid play the same character growing up. They don't have that with Noah!

Enough about that though, lol. Here's your chapter. Just about everyone's in it, but not together. Let me know what you think!

Chapter Three

Nick called Detective Webber at Cassie's insistence, a sick feeling in his stomach. They talked for a while; Webber was surprised to hear what Nick had to say, but Nick said he felt it might be true and that Cassie was insisting on it.

"Daniel's car is still in the impound lot," Webber said. "I can dust the steering wheel and the driver's side door for prints; see if Cassie's prints are there. I'll need to get a statement from Cassie about this, if that's really what happened."

Webber sounded doubtful, but the more Nick thought on it, the more he believed his daughter. The more he believed her, the more upset he became over all of it.

For Cassie to get into a car with a drunk driver, and for that driver to crash the car, was one thing. But for Cassie to get into a car that wasn't hers, drive it without a license and without permission from the driver, changed things drastically. He didn't want to believe that Cassie had caused this, that she had done this to herself. She had made a lot of bad decisions lately, but this one had nearly killed her. And even though he didn't want to admit it, her actions had also endangered Daniel.

Daniel's fine, Nick thought bitterly. And if he hadn't been drinking so much then he could have driven them both home and none of this would have happened in the first place. Nick was not about to let Daniel off scot-free; he had still been drinking underage. He still shared in the blame.

When he hung up the phone, Nick looked around the house. Suddenly it was extremely quiet. Nick had sent Noah up to the main house before he had called the detective. Sharon was still upstairs with Cassie. Nick shuddered as he remembered how close Cassie had come to never coming home again.

Sharon came downstairs a few minutes later. They shared a long look and then she took a seat on the couch. "Cassie wants to call Daniel, tell him what she remembered."

"I don't think we should tell him anything until Detective Webber goes to take a look at that car. She might have just been having a weird dream about the accident." Nick didn't know why he said that, because he didn't believe it. Perhaps to offer some sort of comfort to his wife, because he could see she was just as torn up about this as he was.

She looked doubtful at his words. "I… I really don't think so, Nick. We may not want to face it, but I think she's telling the truth. I think she's right. It… it makes more sense."

"Yeah, too much sense," he agreed, running his right hand through his hair.

"She's been wanting to drive, she was desperate to get her permit. And… Cassie knows better than to ride with a drunk driver." Sharon's eyes began to water. "What should we do about this, Nick?"

Nick sighed, at a bit of a loss. "We… see what Detective Webber finds. Before we worry about any kind of punishment, Cassie needs to get better. We focus on that."

The two agreed that was their first priority. Both were relieved to have a distraction from Noah, but they exchanged looks back and forth for the rest of the afternoon. Eventually they would have to face what was going on.

The ambulance pulled up in front of the hospital, sirens blaring. Two doctors and two nurses ran out of the doors to meet it, and the paramedics rushed to help them unload the unconscious teenager. Daniel didn't move as everyone whirled around him; not even an eyelash flickered. His hair was still soaked from the pool water. The paramedics had removed his wet shirt and wrapped him in a blanket to keep him from getting too cold. On his face he wore an oxygen mask, a neck brace had kept his head still during the ride in the ambulance, and an IV line was already in his right arm.

"Vitals are weak," the first paramedic reported as everyone rushed the gurney inside. "Unknown amount of time without oxygen to his brain, potential water in his lungs."

The paramedics stopped as Daniel was taken into a trauma room, their job complete. They went to the front desk to fill out some of their paperwork as John, Gloria and Gitta came in. John questioned the paramedics about Daniel.

"Someone will be out to let you know about your son," one of them replied, and John didn't correct him. Gloria and Gitta both wanted him to sit down on the couch, but he shook his head in refusal. There was a phone call he had to make.

Phyllis' stomach growled, telling her too many hours had passed without eating. She decided to finish up the report she was writing and then go to lunch. She could go back to the Abbotts and eat with her son, and hope that he would talk to her. She could tell him that his father was on his way back, and hopefully that would cheer him up a bit. If hearing that bit of news didn't help, Phyllis didn't think anything would.

Just as she was done with her report, her cell phone rang. Rolling her eyes at the timing, Phyllis reached into her purse and pulled out the phone. "Hello?"

"Phyllis, it's John Abbott."

"Hello, John, what can I do for you?" Phyllis asked, surprised to receive a call from her former father-in-law. Even though she was living in his house, she couldn't think of a reason for him to be calling, unless he was calling about Daniel. "Did Daniel do something?"

"Yes and no. I'm at the ER right now; Daniel has had an accident at the pool."

Her heart skipped a beat. Her brain registered what she had been told, but not a thing more. She found herself choking out words, wanting to know what happened.

"He must have slipped on the concrete and hit his head. He fell into the pool, though, and he was unconscious when I found him."

"I'll be right there," Phyllis said and then slammed her phone shut. For a second she sat paralyzed to her spot. The last time she had gotten a phone call about Daniel being in the hospital, he had been fine. An unwelcome feeling of déjà vu overcame her. Blinking back tears, she grabbed her purse and raced to the door, knowing instinctively that her son was not fine this time.

Lily had tried calling Daniel five times before she finally left a message on his voicemail. Wondering why he wouldn't answer, she thought maybe she should go to the Abbotts and check on him.

He'd been a wreck emotionally ever since the accident. She didn't think he would go so far as to hurt himself, but she did know how frightened he was of jail. Cassie getting out of the hospital should have been one less worry on his mind, but it wasn't. He had almost killed her. Lily wondered if Daniel would ever forgive himself for that.

"I'm not going to let him push me away," Lily said aloud, determined to somehow get through to the withdrawing teenager. That had to be why he wasn't answering his phone—he didn't want to talk to anyone. He'd been pushing her and everyone else away.

She had to make him understand that she loved him. They hadn't gotten far enough into the relationship to exchange "I love yous" but she did. She couldn't let him pull away from everyone, especially not her. She wasn't going to let him feel like he was alone, because he would always have her. He had to know that. Despite what her parents said, she was going to be there for Daniel. Her parents couldn't control who she loved.

She decided to head over to the Abbotts, even knowing her parents would be unhappy about it. She grabbed her purse and left her bedroom, heading for the front door, only to be stopped by her mother.

"Where do you think you're going?" Drusilla demanded.

"I'm going to see Daniel," Lily replied adamantly.

"No, you're not. I don't want you to have anything to do with that boy."

"Well, you don't get a say in it, Mom," Lily snapped, knowing by the expression her mother's face that she would be in big trouble later. "Daniel needs somebody, Mom, he needs me. He's hardly talking to anyone anymore!"

"I don't care about who he talks to so long as it isn't you," Dru said. "He did this to himself, honey. He's going to go to jail where he belongs, and if I have to ground you to keep you away from him, then I will."

"If you ground me, then I will just sneak out to see him," the teenager promised. "Mom, you can't keep me away from him. Please, just accept that I have to be there for him." And before Dru could say anything in reply, Lily was gone.

Danny Romalotti was on his plane heading to Genoa City as fast as he could manage. The rest of his European tour was cancelled. Danny knew that didn't bode well for his career, but he didn't much care at the moment. His fans would just have to understand "family emergency." If they didn't, he would deal with it.

He should have made himself more accessible in case his son needed him. He had second-guessed sending Daniel to boarding school several times, but had thought his son would be okay in Genoa City, what with both Phyllis and Christine being there. Now he realized he shouldn't have made himself so hard to get a hold of.

He tried calling Daniel's cell phone, wanting to talk to his son, but got no answer. He tried Phyllis again, but she didn't answer either. Frowning, he called Christine. She could give him an idea of what Daniel was facing. She, as both his friend and his son's lawyer, would be truthful but also gentle.

Hearing that Daniel had driven drunk and almost killed Cassie Newman had shocked Danny. That didn't sound like Daniel at all. He shouldn't have even been drinking, and Danny supposed that it was his fault that his teenaged son had gotten so drunk in the first place. Being the son of a rock star couldn't have been easy, and in that kind of life, it was hard not to get caught in a partying lifestyle.

Now his son was facing serious jail time. His life could never be the same after that. Twenty years in prison would change him. Danny winced at the idea of his son spending twenty years with hard criminals. When Daniel came out after that, there would be no telling what he would be like, what he would have gone through.

"Don't think about that now," Danny whispered to himself. He had to focus on just getting home.

When Christine answered, she sounded frantic, which he hadn't expected. Upon hearing his voice, she exclaimed, "Danny, thank God!"

The words that he heard from her next sucked the color from his face. Although airplanes were the fastest mode of transportation available, it wasn't fast enough. Danny was suddenly very impatient to get home.

TBC