Okay, I swore this would just be one chapter but you all persuaded me to do a second one! Remember, it may contain Season 4 spoilers…you have been warned!

Chapter 2 – Guilt

"Agent Taylor, how long have you and Agent Fitzgerald worked together?"

How long? A year and a half? No more. Not long enough either. Not long enough to sit here in this hospital room, not long enough to help him forget the sound of his partner's heart stop and the relief of the paramedic who revived him.

Not long enough.

He could still remember that sound of the bullets breaking the windscreen of the car, and yet because he couldn't actually see them, it didn't seem real.

It had been a crappy day, everyting that could go wrong had gone wrong, they were all tense, anxious, worried about Viv, they knew it was a serious operation, knew that she might not survive.

And then Jack had called, not something he would usually do, they didn't even know he was at the hospital.

He's been happy, relieved to hear that Viv was ok. '……Ending the day on an up note'

How could he be so stupid? How could he think that just for once things would go their way, Viv would get better and they would solve this case and then things would go on as normal?

What happened, it was more like a dream sequence than an actual event. There was nothing, just noise, shouts, someone yelled 'GET DOWN' and then he waited for the impact, waited for the sudden jarring of metal against flesh, the initial shock, feeling nothing, not believing it had happened, then sudden realisation, and with realisation, pain.

But first there had been pain, and that's when he knew he really wasn't injured. In the silent aftermath, when the van pulled off and they were left there covered in glass…and Danny Taylor's head hurt, and when he put his hand up there was blood, lots of blood. But not enough blood for anything other than a graze.

And that was all. He was ok, and Martin was still sitting up beside him. They were ok, somehow and for some miraculous reason that was totally unexplainable they had not been badly injured.

Sure a bullet had creased his forehead and it was gonna hurt a lot when it was being stitched, but that was all. Wasn't it?

But if that was all, why was Martin looking at him that way? The expression on his face, disbelief, a strange out of body look, like he was outside looking down on himself. Danny couldn't figure it out.

"Martin?"

He remembered calling his partner's name, putting out a hand to Martin's jacket.

And then he saw the blood.

So much blood, it was creeping down the front of Martin's jacket and there was a little pool of it starting to form on the seat.

Blood, disbelief, shock. Martin.

Shot….

He had to move, he had to get help, he, Danny. He was alive, he was ok, he could help, he need to do something……Jack, Sam, Viv..no wait…Viv was in the hospital…an ambulance, he had to get an ambulance.

Move! He had to move……

"I need an ambulance NOW! Then he remembered his cell phone. Officer down. Officer shot…….can you please contact Agent Jack Malone.

He was calm on the phone all the while trying to get Martin's door open, but he was calm. Tell Jack, Jack would want to know, he would help…why won't the goddamned door open?

And then he was reaching into the driver seat and pulling Martin out, down onto the ground and there was still so much blood. He didn't know what to do but he had to stop the bleeding, Martin was conscious, looking at Danny, but his eyes were vacant, blank.

"…how long have you and Agent Fitzgerald been partners?"

Dammit, long enough to recognise that he was dying. Two bullet wounds, that's why there was so much blood. Two entry points, two shots, both at point blank range, both of them intended to kill.

To kill both of them, Martin and Danny. Someone wanted them both to die, to die there in that car in the rain. Just like that.

A team. Five people. Jack, Viv, Sam Martin, Danny.

Together they could solve any case if they tried hard enough and they could console each other when things went wrong.

Together. But not now, and not earlier when he was kneeling on the ground in the rain with his partner on the ground beside him dying. Not even when Jack ran over and had to pull him away because his legs refused to work and he was afraid to leave, afraid that if he took his eyes of Martin then he wouldn't see him again.

He couldn't. If he left him, he would die. Didn't Jack understand? Didn't Jack see that it was his fault because Martin was the one who yelled to get down, Martin warned him, and Martin was going to die?

It would be his fault, he, Danny Taylor, it had to be. He hadn't seen them in time, hadn't realised. He could have done something, couldn't he? Couldn't he?

And the funny thing is that he hadn't even liked Martin that much. Back in the beginning, he resented him. Hell who wouldn't?

Son of the Deputy Director's who just happened to land prestigious place in probably the most elite MPU in the country, hell, maybe in the world? And the only track record he had was two years in white collar crime? And then there was the Maggie Cartwright fiasco? I mean come on; who did he think he was?

So he didn't trust him, even when Samantha and Viv and even Jack did, Danny didn't. But then time passed, and some important cases were solved, Martin was good, he was good at interrogating people, he was good at mentally retracing people's steps.

And the two of them worked well together, although neither of them would ever admit it…they bounced off each other, maybe it was simple male competitiveness, or each of them had gaps that the other person filled. Whatever.

"….Uncle Danny coming round, shooting some hoops…." Martin and Sam. Probably not the smartest move in the book, what would he say to her? "Yeah I'm fine, Sam not so sure about Marty though."…

Guilt. What a ridiculous emotion. Guilt can eat you up; guilt can take a hold of your heart and freeze it so that you end up allowing no other emotions in and eventually guilt gets replaces with bitterness.

And now he's lying there and I know he's alive. For now.

"How long have you and Agent Fitzgerald worked together?"

Not long enough, so you just hang on Rookie, do you hear me?