Notes: This is kind of pre/during-Check Your Head. I wasn't going to write another chapter until after the next episode, but this just came to me. I hope readers find these glimpses interesting and not boring or repetitive. Thanks for the reviews. They do encourage me to continue this. Thanks to Mariel for all her help.
Stifling a yawn, Danny resisted the urge to stretch as he approached the coffee area. It was Monday morning, and he wished he'd taken Katie's suggestion to take a sick day more seriously. In retrospect, staying in bed with her a few more hours would have made him feel a whole lot better.
"Keeping you up?" Jack asked as he suddenly appeared beside him.
"Hey. No. I'm fine. Just a Monday, you know?" Danny replied sheepishly. "We finished the paperwork on the Henman case. Sam took it up to Olzyk a few minutes ago."
"Good. How was your weekend? Viv said she saw you at the baseball field."
"I've been roped into helping coach my nephew's team. It was fun," Danny replied as he finished pouring his coffee. "I'm going to get back to work."
"Hey, before you go, there's something we need to talk about. Come to my office for a second," Jack ordered as he finished pouring coffee into his cup and began to walk away.
Sighing, Danny fell in step with Jack back to his office.
"Dr. Harris left me a message last week saying that you've cancelled on her twice," Jack said as they entered his office and he took a seat at his desk.
"Things were busy last week. I saw her once after the shooting. It went fine."
"This time, you really need to complete the three required sessions, Danny. I can't let it slide like I did before. This is the fourth shooting incident in your file in less than a year's time. We have to cover all our bases. I'd hate to have this elevated to an OPR inquiry."
"An OPR inquiry?" Danny replied, slightly taken aback. "Jack, those were all justified and in the line of duty. I didn't—"
"I know. I read all the reports, but I do think that you guys went in a little too quickly in that last case."
Resisting the urge to tell Jack that he agreed and that he'd told Martin to wait for backup, Danny replied, "The kid was out in the open. We made a judgment call to secure him."
"I understand that, Danny. But the fact remains that you shot our suspect and he died. We have procedures to follow. Part of the procedure is to get cleared by Dr. Harris."
"Fine. I'll make an appointment with her," Danny replied, trying not to sound agitated, but failing. "Did you send Martin to Dr. Harris as well?"
Giving Danny a perplexed look, Jack asked, "Why would I do that?"
"He was there that night, too. I just thought—"
"He didn't shoot anyone. You did. You're the one who needs to get cleared. If you don't finish your sessions with Dr. Harris by the end of the week, I'll have to put you on desk duty."
"Right. I'll talk to her today."
"Good. I saw her a few minutes ago. She said she'd be happy to talk to you this morning."
"I'll head there right now, then. Thanks a lot, Jack," Danny said, again trying to mask his agitation and sarcasm.
As Danny turned to walk out, Jack stopped him. "Is something else going on? Is there something you need to tell me?"
This was it. This was his chance. Jack was opening the door, and all Danny had to do was tell him what had happened that night. But he hadn't had a chance to talk to Martin again. What if Martin had gotten help? What if Martin was okay now? Maybe Jack would understand. Maybe he could tell Jack and Jack would give him the leeway to help Martin.
"Danny? Danny? What's going on?"
Taking a deep breath, Danny turned. "I…um…I—," he started, but was interrupted by the ringing of Jack's phone.
"Wait a second," Jack said before answering. "Malone. Yes. Just four hours? That's hardly…Oh….Okay….We'll definitely check it out. I'll send someone over right away."
"What is it?" Danny asked.
"A missing advice columnist. She's disappeared from her apartment."
"For only four hours? They ever heard of going out to grab lunch?"
"She's agoraphobic. She hasn't left her apartment in two years. I'm going to send Viv to check it out."
"I'll go with her," Danny said as he headed for the door.
"No. You stay here. Talk to Dr. Harris. If this case has legs, there will be plenty to do from here."
"Got it," Danny replied, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.
XXX
The moment with Jack had passed so quickly. Danny had wanted to come clean. He was sure that Jack would understand, but that didn't mean that Martin would understand. Sitting in Dr. Harris's office, Danny was once again faced with opening up, but for some reason, he couldn't seem to talk at all.
"You're awfully quiet. That's unlike you. Usually, you talk non-stop even when you're not really telling me anything."
Danny laughed. "You sound like my girlfriend," he said, shaking his head. "Sorry. I just don't have much more to say about this. I was faced with a situation where I had to make a very quick decision."
"It's just happened a little too frequently lately."
"Maybe I just like spending all this time with you," Danny said with a charming smile.
Returning the smile, Dr. Harris shook her head.
Danny continued when Dr. Harris didn't take the bait. "In each of the shootings, lives were in danger. This last time, the guy would have taken out the kid and Martin. I didn't have a choice."
"That's not so much my concern, Danny. My concern is how you are dealing with what happens, and how these shootings are affecting you. Do you think the reason you may react more aggressively in these situations is because of what happened a year ago? Maybe the aftermath of the ambush has caused you to—"
Danny interrupted vehemently. "No. Absolutely not. My first instinct is always to follow procedure. I don't let my emotions get involved. That wasn't my decision," he replied defensively.
Danny stopped. He didn't mean to say that out loud.
"You wanted to wait?" Dr. Harris asked, leaning forward slightly.
Shifting in his chair, Danny stuttered a reply. "No. I mean, Martin and I decided…"
"Did Martin do something? Did he—"
"He didn't do anything."
"You can tell me. It will just stay between us. My focus here is to help you with this."
"Martin tends to take more chances than I would, in general. That night wasn't any different." Technically, Danny knew he wasn't lying, but he also knew that Martin would have been more reasonable had he not been in some kind of withdrawal.
"So Martin took a chance, got into trouble, and that's why you had to shoot your suspect?"
"That's fairly accurate. Yes."
"That's not what your report says, Danny. It says that you and Martin decided to secure the little boy before calling for back up. Is it safe to say that you wanted to call for back-up?"
Rubbing his chin nervously, Danny took a deep breath. "According to our official report, we both agreed. I'll stick to that."
Dr. Harris regarded Danny with concern for several moments. Just as the silence started to make Danny uncomfortable again, she asked, "Do you think that Martin is reacting more aggressively in certain situations since the ambush?"
"You'd have to ask him. He's had sessions with you recently, right?"
"I'm not at liberty to talk about that."
"Well then neither am I," Danny responded matter-of-factly.
"Okay. I think I understand. I'll make a note in your file that clears you. You don't have to come back again, unless you want to."
"Thanks," Danny said, rising from his chair. He hesitated for a few moments before walking toward the door. "I'm sorry if I was difficult. I don't mean to be. It's just—"
"I understand, Danny. You're in a difficult position, but I think you know what you have to do. I just hope that you do it before someone really gets hurt."
XXX
Returning to his desk, Danny saw that Martin was on his phone and Elena was reading through newspaper columns at the center table. After making brief eye contact with Danny, Martin turned away to continue his call.
"So apparently, this case has legs," Danny said as he approached the table and sat down.
"What?" Elena asked in a confused voice.
"Nothing. Do you need some help with this?"
"Yes. Jack said that you could finish this up when you returned. We just need to see if there are patterns in any of these columns. I need to go to meet an evidence tech. He's bringing some of the threatening letters that he found in the missing person's apartment."
"All right. I'll keep going through this. Is it interesting reading, at least?"
"Oh yes. You could probably learn a lot," she replied, rising from her chair.
"I'm sure," Danny replied with smirk.
After Elena left, Danny noticed that Martin had finished his phone call. Without so much as a look back to Danny, Martin left the bullpen. Shaking his head, Danny did his best to re-focus his attention on the columns. Maybe he'd get lucky and this advice columnist would have the perfect column telling him what to do.
