DEMONS
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Danny/Mary
Disclaimer: See Ch 1.

Chapter 3

Danny ran through the airport towards the Hertz counter. He'd called Mike as soon as his plane touched down and learned that Mary had rented a car from them and made one call from her cell phone to Baltimore Regional Medical Center.

After an eternity in line at the rental agency he headed for the hospital. He could not imagine who Mary had come to see in Baltimore. He'd asked Mike to run a check on her father and learned that he was living quietly with his third wife in Carson City. Danny felt somewhat relieved that Frank Connell was not the one who had caused Mary this most recent distress, but the relief did little to assuage the sick feeling in his stomach.

As he pulled into the visitor's parking lot he searched desperately for a space. Finally spotting one towards the back, he quickly pulled in and headed towards the entrance. As he made his way through the maze of cars and towards the hospital entrance, something caused him to turn his head to the right. He didn't know how it was possible in the sea of vehicles, but three spaces over from the pedestrian walkway Danny spotted her in a gray Chevy Malibu—her head was in her hands and he could not see her face, but he would know that red hair anywhere. Danny noticed as he got closer to the car that her body was obviously shaking with sobs.

He hated to startle her, but figured it was inevitable considering her current state of emotion. Danny cautiously crouched down so that his head was level with the driver's side window and tapped gently on the glass.

Mary's head jerked up at the noise and the sight of her face caused Danny's heart to shatter into a million pieces. Mary's expression changed from fear to shock and then to relief. She quickly opened the door, almost knocking Danny over, and fell out of the car into his arms. He held her as best he could as he leaned his back against the car next to hers.

"Shhh, baby, it's okay. Whatever it is, it's going to be okay. I'm here."

Mary gasped for air as her sobs became uncontrollable.

"Oh, God, Mary, you're scaring me. Please calm down, baby," Danny pleaded as he cradled her closer.

After what seemed like forever Mary's breathing finally evened out and her body became still. Danny realized she was asleep and carefully stood up from the pavement with her in his arms. He managed to lock the door of her rental car and close it with his hip before heading towards his own vehicle.

By the time they reached the nearby hotel Mary was awake, but she had yet to say a word. Danny helped her through the lobby and up to the room Mike had booked for them. Once they were inside Danny steered her towards the bathroom and found a washcloth which he soaked with water. He carefully wiped her face with the cool cloth, pushing her hair back from her face as she kept her eyes closed, silent tears still sliding down her cheeks. He ran the cloth across her neck and then down each of her arms, hoping it was as comforting to her now as it had been when they were little and his mom would do it.

"Do you want me to run you a bath?"

Mary shook her head from side to side in answer to his question.

Danny took a deep breath and reached out to caress her face. He silently willed her to look at him before finally asking, "What's going on, Mary? Why are you in Baltimore?"

Mary glanced away, unable to see the look in his eyes as she told him, "I came to see my mother," her voice breaking on the last word.

Danny was speechless. Kathy Connell was definitely someone he thought they'd never hear from again. He now understood Mary's torment, but what he couldn't understand was Mary's need to see the woman who'd abandoned her.

"I needed to know. I needed to know why she left," Mary said by way of explanation to his unspoken question.

"Did she give you a reason?"

"She didn't love me."

"Mary…," Danny started to protest, but Mary cut him off.

"She didn't think about me at all, Danny. She didn't care. She just wanted to get away so she did."

"I'm sure that's not true."

"Do you know why she contacted me? I thought it was because she wanted to clear her conscience, but it wasn't. She wanted money. She saw my picture in the paper with Jake and she wanted money," Mary's distress increased as she recounted her visit with her mother.

Mary's resolve was beginning to wane as she neared her mother's hospital room. She tried to ease the butterflies in her stomach as she pushed open the heavy door and stepped inside. It had been 15 years and she wasn't sure what to expect. Mary's mother lay in the bed asleep, her once-beautiful red hair hanging in limp strings past her shoulders, her eyes sunken in and her pallor a sickly yellow brought on by years of nicotine addiction. There was an older man sitting in the chair next to the bed, but he was turned away from its occupant, engrossed in a Nascar race on the television. At the sound of the door opening he turned his attention to Mary.

"You must be Mary. I'm Fred Ricks—your stepdad," quickly standing up, he reached to hug her but Mary recoiled at his touch. Her mother's taste in men had certainly not improved over the years. Fred Ricks gave Mary the creeps and she'd only known him for 30 seconds.

Unsure of how to proceed after Mary's reaction, Fred stuttered nervously, "Well, I'm sure you want to talk to your mom so I'll just give you two some time," he reached over and gave his wife's arm a shake, startling her from sleep.

"Kathy, wake up. Your daughter's here to see you."

Fred was careful to give Mary plenty of room as he exited the room.

"Well, look at you. My baby girl's all grown up."

When Mary didn't respond, her mother continued, "I know you're mad at me so let's just get it all out in the open. I'm sure you have some things you want to say so go ahead—speak your mind."

"Why?" Mary's voice was barely a whisper.

"Why what?" Her mother asked, confused.

"Why did you leave me?"

Kathy rolled her eyes, "Not everything's about you, Mary." Seeing Mary's horrified expression at those words, Kathy tried to explain, "I wasn't happy with your father so I left. It had nothing to do with you."

"How can you say that? I was your child."

"You were old enough to take care of yourself, besides you spent every waking minute at the McCoy's anyways."

"You knew what he was doing to me and you still left. You left me with that monster!"

"Are you still going on about that? You could have stopped him, you know."

"I WAS A CHILD!" Mary screamed.

Her mother looked shocked at the outburst, "Don't you talk to me like that. I deserve some respect."

Mary laughed incredulously, "Respect? What have you ever done to earn my respect?"

"I'm your mother."

"You're not my mother, you're a monster—just like him."

Kathy stared at her daughter, speechless.

"Why did you ask me to come here since you obviously have no intention of apologizing? What do you want from me?" Mary was barely hanging onto her last thread of sanity as she questioned her mother.

"I told you in the letter that I'm sick. I just wanted to see you."

Mary looked skeptical, so her mother elaborated, "I like to keep up with things in Vegas and I saw a picture of you and your boyfriend at some charity event. You did good for yourself. Fred says the Porters have more money than God. I was worried you'd make the same mistakes as me and end up with someone like Danny McCoy."

Mary tried to ignore the sting of the last statement as she processed the meaning of her mother's words .

"I'm not with Jake anymore so if it's money you want you'll have to look for it somewhere else."

Her mother shook her head in obvious disgust, "I should have known you'd screw it up. I thought maybe you'd made something of yourself, but you're still the same clingy little child I left all those years ago aren't you? You probably smothered him to death until he couldn't' wait to get away—just like you did me," the older woman's voice was dripping with venom.

Those were the last words Mary heard as she ran from the room and out of the hospital.

When she finished the story, Danny just looked at her in shock. He couldn't believe someone could be so cruel to their own child. He held Mary's head in his hands and leaned his forehead against hers.

"I'm so sorry, Mary. I don't know what to say except you can't believe any of it."

"I don't think I can deal with this anymore. It's too much." Mary struggled to breathe as the sobs overtook her again.

Danny had never heard her so full of hopelessness and it scared him beyond belief. He carried her to the bed as she continued to cry. After laying her down, he reached for the bedside lamp and with a flick of the switch, the room was bathed in moonlight.

He lay down beside her and held her body tightly to his chest, one hand around her shoulders and the other buried in her hair. He whispered words of love and devotion in her ear and trailed soft kisses down the side of her face until her tears subsided and she fell into a restless slumber.