A/N: I said there would be an epilogue. Can't end without an epilogue.

Epilogue

Danny's right arm seemed the eternal butt of being harangued. It was no longer in a sling – a sling no longer required – but his wrist was in a plaster cast rather than a simple splint. Much of it was his own fault, instigated when he'd beaten the snot out of Jack, then finalized when Jack had stepped on his wrist. In the long-view, it was a small price to pay. In fact, unlike the sling, the cast made him grin, being the reminder that it was.

The stitches were out of his side, but not his back or chest. He would have scars; nice massive scars with a massively amusing story behind them. Bandages still bound his ribs, holding them in place. They, too, seemed determined to forever give him grief.

At least his lungs had been more cooperative, and didn't allow infection a lasting presence.

Danny let out a contented breath from the passenger seat of his dad's car. They were driving through Manhattan, and traffic was being stubbornly slow, but Danny didn't personally mind. As much as he longed for a simple, motionless sit on his dad's couch, watching a game and eating normal food, the warmth of the car was a simple pleasure he wasn't about to brush aside.

Plus, it provided an ample opportunity for a little heart to heart with his pop. Not that staying at his dad's for the duration of his recovery wouldn't, but being confined to a car denied Calvin the excuse to drop a subject by leaving.

Danny had been waiting a long time to be able to talk to his dad. No more drug-induced hazes or short visiting hours to hinder now.

" So..." Danny began. " Off the hook?"

Cal craned his neck, trying to get a better view of the traffic ahead. He glanced at his son. " What?"

" Stella told me somethin' about the Feds and Quinns backin' off. What's up with that?"

Cal shrugged. " Feds got their case, Quinns are layin' low. Jack tossed his own butt in the fire messin' with you." When traffic ground to a halt all together, with horns blaring and people cursing, Cal turned to fully face his son.

" Why'd you run? From Jack, and the hospital? Why'd you risk your butt like that? Danny, you could've been killed. Hell, you almost were!"

Obviously, Cal had been waiting for this opportunity as well.

Danny's mouth turned up in a small smile. He'd been anticipating this moment. Maybe not quite so soon, but soon enough. Then he dropped his grin as he thought back, sifting through the collection of reasons that at one time had sounded plausible. But that was the problem with time, and being allowed time enough to ponder – it forced re-evaluations most would rather not explore.

Or admit.

But Danny was past placating his pride.

" I was scared," he stated flatly, then looked down at his hands, one bound in plaster and the other bruised at the knuckles.

" Of Jack?"

Danny curled the fingers of his left hand in a loose fist. He'd expected a stronger sensation of embarrassment at confessing this weakness. Instead, he felt neutral, as though waiting for the right moment to allow for humiliation.

" Of what he might do to me."

No humiliation, just a strong sense of irony that made him laugh softly. He held up both his hands. " Didn't save my skin, though, did it?"

Traffic started moving again, and Cal's gaze shot back and forth between the street and his son. " Yeah, I'd say so. Did you really think he was goin' to kill you? I mean, I know he almost did..."

Danny shook his head, then sighed, slumping further into the seat. " I didn't think he'd kill me. I knew he wasn't that stupid. I thought he'd – you know – do what he liked to do when we were kids. Hurt the hell out of me. I wasn't really thinkin' at the time, pop. It was kind of a snap decision thing. Last minute, giving into panic, fed up, scared stupid... idiotic action to take. I just... did it, without giving it much thought. I just needed to get away from him."

Danny looked abashedly at his dad, though he wasn't quite sure how the senior Messer was going to respond. He was startled to see his old man's head bobbing in a nod – of understanding?

" I don't blame you, kid. Jack's a sick minded SOB. He's goin' where he belongs; in a cage. Guy's a freakin' animal."

They both fell into silence for several long minutes. But Danny wasn't letting the conversation drop just yet. He'd been trying to formulate his phrasing carefully, but gave up to impatience and went for being blunt.

" Why'd you hand over the evidence?"

Again, silence. At first, Cal appeared to have been deaf to Danny's question. Then a smile slowly crept on the older face.

" Someone tell, or did you figure it out?"

" Figured it out the moment Stella said you were off the hook."

Cal chuckled. " Behold the great Danny Messer; quick as a cat, smart as a fox – and possibly psychic."

Danny smirked. " Come on, dad, I could have figured it out even if I was five years old. Handing that evidence over was the only way to get the Feds to back off. I just want to know why you did it? I mean, yeah Quinn's fate was pretty much sealed, but that wouldn't have stopped the other Quinns from gettin' pissed. Is it a Messer trait to do crazy things?"

Cal chuckled again. " Probably. Your mom always used to say somethin' like that." Then Cal's laughing died, and his smile faded.

" Danny," he began, turning a corner into more mobile traffic, " What I did..." He lifted a hand off the wheel, then dropped it back on. " I guess you could call it a heat of the moment deal. But don't ever say that I wasn't thinkin' straight at the time. I was, believe me. I was... I was sick of it, Danny, all this crap with the Quinns, Feds, evidence, one family goin' for the throats of another family..."

Danny watched his father, watched his expression go from stoicism, to worry, then to sadness.

" I was sick... of all the hell you were goin' through. What happened – almost happened... it was like a wake up call, you know? Hey, Messer, wake up. Forget everyone else and save your kid. There's too many times to count when you needed saving and I didn't do it. I wasn't goin' to let what was happening now be one of these times. That evidence was all I had by way of doin' somethin' about what was happenin' to you. So I said 'to hell with it', thought it over, and found the loop hole to the whole thing – the loop you created with your idiotic act, allowing me to go through with my idiotic act. Simple as that."

Danny stared at his father in alarm. Cal shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny.

" Apple and tree, Danny."

Danny smiled. " More like blood and water."

Calvin's brow wrinkled in confusion. " Huh?"

" You know. Blood's thicker than water? We were in it together, we got out of it together. We were worried to hell about eachother, and we acted because of it... Granted, idiotically. You've saved my butt plenty, pop. And even when you couldn't – and I don't use that term randomly – you were still there. You knew, you realized, you understood. You didn't ignore when the bad stuff happened, and you tried your best to keep it from happening any more. You couldn't always save me, but at least you were around to make it better afterwards. You're makin' yourself sound like a failure pop. You're not. Not even close."

The smile returned. Hesitant, small, but given enough free reign to exist once again on Cal's face.

" You've gotta give yourself more credit than that, dad," Danny said.

Calvin removed one hand from the wheel to clasp it around the back of Danny's neck, giving him a gentle, affectionate squeeze.

" You're a good kid, Danny."

" I'm also too old for you to be callin' me 'kid'."

Cal shrugged. " Hey, you are a kid to me. And you'll forever be a kid – just one allowed to carry a badge and a gun. So, kid, get used to it."

Now it was Danny who shrugged. " It ain't so bad. Better a kid than an old man."

Calvin pointed a stiff finger at Danny. " Hey... low blow, kid."

" Suck it up old man."

Calvin placed his hand back on Danny's neck in a mock strangle. Calvin chuckled, and Danny snickered softly so as not to aggravate tender bones. Cal gave Danny's neck another small squeeze.

" Just do me a favor, kid," he said.

" Yeah?"

" Don't ever scare me like that again. You do, I'm kickin' your butt."

Danny smirked. " Get in line, pops."

The End

A/N: It's over! Wah! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you a million times over for reading and leaving so many wonderful, motivating, and amusing reviews. I hope you liked this epilogue, and that it works. Obviously you liked the story or would have said otherwise, and I'm glad you liked it. It was fun to write. Of course I mostly wrote it for myself since I felt the Danny abuse lacking in my other stories.

But now, I fear, I'm going to take a break from doing long CSINY Danny abuse stories. There may come the occasional one-shot as the fancy strikes me, but for the most part my many muses have lost their mojo for CSI – for now, I promise. In fact I may not be posting Fan fic for a while – for those of you who've read my other works. I have ideas, I'm just taking a break from Fan fic to work on my own stuff. I need to focus on getting published. That's right, I'm going to attempt getting one of my original works published, so I need to get it ready.

Anywhoms, thanks for reading and reviewing. T'was a pleasure to write. TTFN and all that jazz.