Title: Living Life
Summary: Ed hires on a new person to work in Security. Will Danny keep his relationship with her professional, or will the boundaries between co-worker and lover get blurred?
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Las Vegas Characters. I do own Julian 'Julie or Jules' McCarthy.
A/N: There is extreme bad language included in this story
A/N: I know that Las Vegas is not the way I'm portraying it in this story, so I'm making it up for the purpose of my writing. That, my friends, is what they call a Creative License. Please review my stories! I work really hard on getting the chapters out to everyone in a timely fashion, and I'm sick of working hard for people who don't care enough to let me know.
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"Danny,"
"Julie,"
Ed looks back and forth between Danny and I, his mind trying to piece together what's going on. The minute Danny walked into the office, my heart stopped. I didn't know what to say or do. Here was the man that I had loved so many years ago, the father of my child. I had never thought I'd see him again, and now that I would be working with him everyday, things were about to get complicated.
"Do you two know each other?"
"You could say that,"
"Danny and I knew each other when we were younger."
I say, not really wanting to describe our entire past to my new boss.
"Alright, if you follow Danny, he'll show you to the surveillance room, where you'll probably be spending most of your time."
"Okay."
I get up and walk out of the room, still not quite sure of what to do.
"Julie,"
"Danny, I'm strictly here for the job. Let's just keep this professional, alright?"
"So that's how we're going to be?"
"How is it supposed to be? Because I'm just not sure anymore! It's been ten years since you left, Danny, and a lot of stuff has happened. We moved back to Las Vegas, I got my degree, Emma has grown up. Everything is different, Danny, I'm different. Let's just get going, so I can see where I'll be working."
"Fine."
Both of us give up on the fight, not wanting this to be how we were around each other. Danny and I had once been best friends, able to tell each other anything. Now, we were so uncomfortable around each other that it wasn't funny. About five minutes later, we get to the surveillance room.
"Like Ed said, this is where you'll be spending a good majority of your time at the Montecito. Everyone here is pretty cool to be working with."
I just nod my head as Danny talks, absorbing the information like a sponge.
"This guy right here is Mike Cannon, the assistant head of security. Chances are, that you'll be working with him more often than anybody else. Mike, this is Julie McCarthy, she's going to be working security/surveillance with us now."
"That's cool. How's it going, Jules?"
"Pretty good, Mikey."
I finish up my small tour, heading home to spend time with Emma. Danny, however, stayed at work, facing one of the many challenges to come.
"You wanted to see me, Ed?"
"Yeah, come on in and take a seat."
Danny sits in one of the chairs.
"What's going on?"
"It's about the new girl, Julian McCarthy. I figured I'd give you one more chance to tell me the truth. Do you know Julie personally?"
"Yes."
"How do you know her, Danny?"
"We got together when I was eighteen, she was sixteen. We had….well, you know, a few times before I signed up to be in the marines. As it turns out, one of those times, Julie ended up pregnant. When I got back from training, we tried working things out, went to counseling, I mean, we tried everything. We couldn't stop fighting, and split up, figuring that us staying together wasn't going to do our baby any good, you know?"
Ed nods his head, wanting to let Danny get the huge burden off of his shoulders.
"Anyway, Julian was about six and a half months along at the time, no complications or anything. Two months later, she had the baby premature. Emma Rose McCoy, 5 lbs 6 oz, 19 inches long, with her mom's eyes. I looked at those eyes and thought to myself that I was never going to let her go, I wouldn't do to my child what my mother did to me. Julie and I had discussed it though, and with me not knowing when and for how long I would be gone with the service, we decided it'd be best for her to have sole custody of our daughter. I haven't seen either of them since."
"Did she try to keep you away?"
"No, Julie would never do that, not in a million years. I was just…I was just too damn scared that Emma would hate me for leaving her, and that she'd never forgive me."
"So, let me get this straight. You and Julie had a baby, and made the decision to give her a good, stable life, but you've stayed away from her for this long. Emma is your daughter, and she deserves to know her father, I mean, she looks just like him."
"You've seen Emma?"
Danny says, his head picking up, eyes full of wonder. Ed pulls a picture from his desk, sliding it over to Danny. It was taken on her fifth birthday; sure, it was an older picture, but it was my favorite. Emma did have my eyes, but I had been right since she was born; she looked just like her dad. Danny sits in the chair, grinning at the picture, about to start crying. He hadn't seen Emma since she was just a few weeks old, and to see her at one of the milestones in her life, sort of made him feel bad for missing it.
"Daniel, I'm not going to tell you what to do, seeing how as we all know you wouldn't listen to me anyway, but don't screw this up. She's your daughter, and you love her, and I'm guessing at some point you loved Julie, too. Hell, maybe you still do. Don't let this opportunity pass you by."
"But Ed, the police on interoffice,"
"As long as you're not groping each other in my office, I couldn't care less. Here's her address."
Ed scribbles down my address on a small piece of paper, and hands it over to Danny.
"I'm hoping that you'll make the right decision, alright, Danny?"
He takes the paper, and runs out of Ed's office, right outside and into his car, not wanting to let anymore time with his daughter and the woman he loves slip away.