Breaking Point

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Everyone has a breaking point. Even Danny Messer.

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Lindsay Monroe pushed her wavy curls back from her face, and slipped one of Danny's ancient baseball tee shirts over her slim frame before climbing into bed beside him. The moment her head touched the pillow, Danny slipped his arm around the small of her back, and pulled her to him, weaving a knee between her thighs, draping his free arm around her middle and resting his head on her chest.

Flack's injuries had affected them all, but the man lying beside her had been traumatized to his breaking point by the events of the last month. He hugged her tightly, making a faint smile surface across her features as she ran her hand through his short hair rhythmically, and touched his arm across her stomach with her other.

She pressed a gentle kiss to the top of his head, and hugged him tightly as she felt the damp of his tears on her shirt. She felt his desperate attempts to overcome his outward display of emotions as he took in breaths against her side, and it broke her heart that he still tried so hard to keep his feelings to himself. First having to pull the plug on Lou, then having to process Aidan, and now Flack lay in the Trinity ICU, teetering on the barrier between recovery and flatlining.

"My mother always said tragedies come in threes." He mumbled into her chest, pulling her closer still, as he began to regulate his breathing, relaxing against her.

"Mine too." Danny shifted against her, to catch her gaze, eyebrow raised. She smiled, amused. "We have figures of speech in Montana, Detective."

"You're hilarious, you know that?" He laid his head back down on her shoulder, and hand his hand along her side, under the old, worn out tee shirt she had on. She let him lie there for several moments, working through whatever he needed to work through on his own. She had gotten him to strip off his tough guy act, but the way he was working through his emotions was consistent with a Y chromosome. A New York man was still a man. She'd give him all the time he needed. Danny shifted again, pulling her closer again, and she smiled down at him.

"I need to breath, love."

"Sorry." Instantly he loosened his grip, but only just.

"What's going on, Danny?" She sifted her fingers through his hand soothingly.

"I lost Lou, I lost Aidan. I'm on the verge of losing Flack," his voice hitched, and he wiped his tears on her shirt. "I just don't want to lose you as well."

"You'll never lose me, love. I'm right here." She couldn't help but let out the smallest chuckle as he climbed on top of her, and pressed a hard kiss to her lips, running his hand along her hip before breaking away from her. He turned his attention to the gash that had been treated by paramedics earlier in the day. She watched him reach over her, scrunching his features as he examined her injury.

"This is bad, Linds."

"I've had worse. What's that movie you mad me watch? 'Tis but a flesh wound." She grinned up at him as he broke into a much-needed smile. He leaned up, and pressed a kiss to the middle of her forehead, and a gentle one to her lips before laying his head back down against her chest, and hugging her tightly.

"When Mac and I were diffusing the bomb, there was a moment where we weren't completely sure that the wires we were about to cut were he right ones." His voice was softened, but she nodded, waiting for him to continue. "I wasn't thinking about the bomb. Or the wires. I wasn't thinking about the job." He sat up again, propped up on his elbow, staring her straight in the eye. "I was thinking about how I'd never see you again, if the bomb went off, and I died right there in the library." He cuddled up against her, and she wrapped her arms protectively around his shoulders, blinking away the gentle tears that had slipped down her cheeks.

"We're here now, that's all that matters."

"D'you think he'll be okay?" Danny sat up again, frantically searching her expression for reassurance. Lindsay smiled softly, and rolled over, letting Danny press the length of his body against hers, holding the hand he draped over her side tightly, waiting for him to give in and curl up against her, settling down in the bedding. She closed her eyes, feeling him press a kiss to her shoulder.

"If he does anything, he'll fight. We can't fall a victim to optimism, but there's no sense in giving up hope." Lindsay settled against him, smiling faintly as she felt him kiss her shoulder again.

"It's a good thing you're always right."

………

A/N: Poor Danny, these last few episodes. Seriously.