Notes: Thanks for the reviews. JackofSpade, I love your "favorite line" reviews. It's always interesting to see what lines catch your eye. Eloise, thanks for debating the fiction of the fiction. Susan, you're right. They won't be friends if Danny has any say! And this is Danny's story, after all.Lastly, thanks as always to Mariel. You're the best!
As Danny listened to Walter Miller and a few other attorneys talk shop, his mind began to go numb. Suddenly, he remembered his least favorite parts of law school and why there were so many lawyer jokes. While he'd loved practicing litigation and researching court cases, there had also been endless amounts of seemingly useless information that he'd never found interesting. Listening to these men drone on and on made Danny realize that things hadn't changed. While he'd always found the law fascinating, he'd come to realize he was not necessarily the lawyer-type. So, when the opportunity presented itself, he excused himself and went in search of his date. He figured Katie had to be ready to go by now. They'd danced, they'd been there for her father, and now that they'd done their duty, Danny was ready to take her home and continue what they'd started earlier in the evening.
Walking out of the ballroom and down the hall, Danny smiled in the anticipation of seeing her again. The evening hadn't been nearly as bad as he'd thought it would be. He'd actually enjoyed himself. Making a mental note to tell Katie just that, he turned the corner to check the area outside the ladies' room. Stopping abruptly, he caught sight of two people through the double doors leading to the balcony. Katie's back was turned to him, but taking a closer look, Danny was sure it was her and Eric, her ex-husband. Without hesitating, he charged toward the doors and quickened his pace when he saw Eric touch her.
"Get the hell away from her!" he ordered as he stepped onto the balcony.
Danny watched as Katie shrugged out of Eric's grasp and turned toward him. He could see fear and frustration in her eyes.
"Relax, Taylor—," Eric started.
But Danny didn't give him a chance to finish before lunging toward him. Before he could make contact with Eric, Katie grabbed his arm and stood strong between the two men. "Danny, it's okay," she said in a timid, but reassuring voice.
"Just relax, man. We were just talking," Eric said as he raised his hands and backed up.
"Did I not make myself clear the last time I saw you? You don't talk to her. You don't come near her," Danny spatted as he took Katie's hand and backed away.
"She's a big girl. She can talk to whoever she wants to talk to," Eric responded defiantly.
Glancing at Katie, Danny frowned.
"Let's just go. Okay?" Katie pleaded as she pulled Danny towards the door. When they walked into the hallway and closed the door, she said, "He took me by surprise. I didn't know he was here."
"Why--," he started, but then stopped as he ran his hand over his chin. This wasn't the time or place to get into this. "You know what? It doesn't matter. Can we get out of here?"
"Sure," Katie replied in a small voice. "Let me just say goodbye to Dad."
Danny and Katie said their goodbyes before making their way to the waiting limousine. As soon as the car started moving, Katie continued to explain.
"He wanted to apologize."
Frowning again, Danny looked at her. "And what? You want to forgive him?"
"No, I—"
"Because I get you wanting to forgive your father. And I have a better understanding of letting go of the past when it comes to my brother, but for the life of me, I can't imagine you wanting to forgive that son of a bitch."
"I said no, okay? But when I heard the things he said—"
"What? What could he possibly have said to make you question that? He treated you like crap, Katie. He used you and did everything he could to make you feel like you weren't strong enough to leave him. No one who does something like that deserves forgiveness," he said emphatically.
"I did cheat on him, Danny. We slept together while I was engaged to him."
Shaking his head, Danny closed his eyes. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You were nineteen. You never should have been engaged in the first place. He manipulated you."
"Look I didn't forgive him. He just wanted to talk to me. I think it's important to not feel scared anymore. I have nothing to be scared of."
Danny wanted to understand what she was saying and he didn't want to feel angry, but he really hated seeing Eric Matthews so close to Katie. "You're right. You have nothing to be scared of. He can't hurt you now, but I still don't like seeing him anywhere near you. And seeing him again just makes me wonder what you ever saw in him to begin with."
Sighing deeply, Katie rolled her eyes. "We've been through this before, Danny. You know what lead me down that path. And I don't think I have to remind you that you've had your share of unhealthy relationships, too."
Danny didn't have answer to that.
They rode in an uncomfortable silence all the way back to his apartment. Danny was afraid if they talked any more that one of them would start a fight. He still felt irritated about the whole situation even though he knew that Katie had been very honest with him. Sometimes he really hated his relentless, stubborn streak.
After walking up the stairs, Danny let her in to the apartment and turned on the light. As he closed and locked the door, he watched Katie pause at the kitchen counter. He knew she was debating whether she should take off her wrap and stay, or leave because she thought he was still irritated. Deciding to take the ball out of her court, he walked up behind her and slowly took the wrap from her shoulders. As he carefully laid the wrap on the chair, he noticed that she visibly exhaled. To relax her even more, he gently massaged her tense shoulders as she leaned back against him.
"It was one of those moments that you're in, and you don't want to be there. But I thought if I ran away, he would think I still feared him. I didn't want him to think that for some reason," she said in a quiet, pensive tone.
Danny kissed the top of her head as he continued to rub her shoulders. "I'm sorry that I overreacted. I didn't want to make you feel bad. I just don't want him to feel like he has the right to go near you."
As she turned to face him, Danny encircled her waist. Rising up, she kissed him softly on the lips.
"I appreciate the overprotectiveness, but Eric isn't worth the trouble. And I know that I can take care of myself when it comes to him now."
Danny smiled as he saw the confidence dance in her eyes. "I'll keep that in mind," he whispered in her ear before kissing her earlobe. "So I guess since these are borrowed threads, we should be kind of careful."
Laughing, Katie closed her eyes as a shiver traveled down her spine. "This is a ten thousand dollar dress. They'll be no bodice-ripping tonight."
Very gently, Danny started to unzip the dress. "I can handle that."
XXX
A few weeks later, the drama of his and Katie's night out flooded back to Danny's memory as he sat at his desk completing paperwork on Gina Hill's case. Two hours earlier, he'd been out in the field looking for Gina when Jack called telling him to get over the Gina's fiancé's. Minutes later, Jack had called him back saying not to bother. Martin had charged in and taken Gina's kidnapper out. So Danny had returned to the office while Jack, Elena and Sam went over to the fiancé's to process the scene.
As he looked over the pieces they put together to find Gina, Danny found himself feeling sorry for her. Some might say that she asked for what had happened to her. She'd invited the danger into her life, but Danny knew that Gina's tendencies were just like any other addiction. She'd gotten out of control, and when she finally was able to reign herself in, her past had come back to haunt her. No, Danny thought, he really couldn't judge her, but her case did make him worry about Katie. Eric was a dangerous man, just like Vince. At that moment, he felt vindicated in feeling overprotective of her the night of the benefit, and he vowed to do whatever he could to keep her safe.
"I thought Jack said you went home," Sam said as she walked to her desk.
Completely startled, Danny looked up from the paperwork. "I thought I'd get a head start on this," he responded as he watched Sam take her purse out of her bottom drawer. "Martin and Jack back yet?" he asked, and to be honest, this was the real reason why he'd stayed. When Jack had told him that Martin had shot Vince, Danny felt a certain obligation to make sure Martin was okay.
"Yeah. They're in Jack's office. You know, Martin is getting the whole "in the line of fire" spiel."
"I know it well," Danny replied. He'd heard it only weeks ago. "Wasn't Elena with you?"
"I dropped her at home before coming back. She wanted to get home to tuck her daughter in."
"That was Viv's excuse, too. She wanted to make it home for family dinner."
"Well, I don't have any family dinner to get to or a kid to tuck in, but I think I'll head home anyway. After a case like this, I think a hot bath is the only remedy," Sam said as she put on her coat and slung her bag over her shoulder. "You want to split cab fare and forego the cold subway?"
"What about Martin? You think he's okay?" Danny asked, wondering why Sam wouldn't want to stay. He knew she and Martin hadn't been together in a long time, but he thought Sam would still stick around.
"I tried to talk to him at the scene. He wasn't saying much. You know Martin, stoic as ever. It was a clean shoot, even though Jack told him to wait. He made a judgment call, and saved Gina and her fiancé. If I thought he'd want to talk about it, then I would stay. But--"
"I understand, Sam."
"So, cab fare?" Sam repeated.
"Katie's got a late class tonight. So I'd rather just finish this," Danny replied. This was true; Katie did have a class. But Danny also wanted to see for himself that Martin was all right. He'd seen Martin get pretty rattled on that rooftop during Max's case and just want to make sure that wasn't the case tonight.
"Okay. See you tomorrow."
"Goodnight," Danny said as he watched Sam walk out.
Twenty minutes later, the sound of footsteps coming into the bullpen made him look up. Martin nodded to him before retreating to his desk. Jack was following, but stopped in front of Danny's desk. "I thought I told you to go home hours ago," he said gruffly.
"Yeah, you did, but I decided to get my paperwork done tonight. I wouldn't be able to sleep anyway. I'm pretty much done so I'm headed out in a minute," he replied, glancing over at Martin.
Nodding, Jack responded in a less gruff way. "Okay. Good work today. I'll, uh, I'll see you tomorrow." Turning slightly, he addressed Martin. "Don't forget about your 10 o'clock tomorrow."
"I got it, Jack," Martin replied wearily as he zipped his backpack.
"See you guys, tomorrow," Jack said as he walked to the door.
"'Night Jack," Danny said as he stood up from his desk and cautiously approached Martin. "So is that 10 o'clock appointment with Dr Harris? I feel for you, man. I just went through it a few weeks ago."
"It's pretty senseless, you know? We wouldn't shoot people, if it wasn't absolutely necessary," Martin replied in an agitated tone.
"Well, I guess they just want to make sure it was absolutely necessary," he responded with a sly grin.
"Yeah, I guess," Martin replied as he put his bag on his shoulder. "I'm headed out."
Nodding, Danny stepped away to let Martin through, but then reached out to touch his arm. "Are you okay?" he asked, trying to hide the concern in his voice.
"I'm fine, Danny. Just like I told Sam and Jack, I'm fine. I had no choice but to go in that house."
"I know, man. I'm not questioning that. I just…I..." Danny trailed off. He had no idea how to talk to Martin about this. He wanted to tell him that he knew how much more intense these situations were since the ambush, but he couldn't bring himself to say it.
"You what?" Martin questioned in a more than agitated tone.
"Nothing. I just went through it a couple of weeks ago, so if you wanted to talk—"
"Thanks, Danny, but there's nothing to talk about. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Right. Tomorrow," Danny replied as he watched Martin walk out. There was something different about him, but Danny couldn't put his finger on it. He'd seen Martin stressed out before, but there was a tenseness in him now that never seemed to go away, and which seemed to have grown increasingly difficult for him to hide.
