Danny's Apartment – Two Days Later

Danny sat on the side of the bed, taking in the familiar surroundings of his bedroom, scarcely able to comprehend the seismic shift that had occurred in his life over the last three days…………

……..she's not breathing, get me a chest tube……………………

He'd never seen anything like it, the scalpel cutting into her chest, the tube being inserted and then watching as she had started breathing again……………..and Caitlin, so calm, so in control; he didn't think he could have done it; didn't think he could have saved the life of the woman who had kidnapped his daughter, but she had…………….

He still remembered the scream when Rachel had somehow pulled herself free of Martin and Sam so violently that she had crashed onto the small fence outside the Lodge; he didn't think he would ever forget the horrible sounds of her gasping for breath after her broken rib punctured her lung………….

He didn't know how Caitlin had managed to stay so calm when she had been so worried about Molly………

'Daddy, are you ready yet?'

Danny turned and saw his daughter standing in the door with a frown on her face and her hands on her hips; a smile spread across his face; he held his arms out to her and she threw herself into them, giggling as he tickled her;

'Stop Daddy, stop'; he kissed her and she snuggled into his arms, her head on his shoulder and Danny marvelled again at how much he could love this child that he hadn't even known existed three days ago.

She wriggled in his arms and sat up staring at him, a serious look on her baby face; 'Are you ready yet, Mommy said you always take a long time to get ready'

'Mommy did, did she?'

'Hmmm, Mommy did'

Danny looked up and saw Caitlin stood at the door of the bedroom, a smile on her face as she took in the sight of Molly and Danny…………..

Danny threw her a smug look and then whispered into Molly's ear 'I think Mommy is cross with me'

Molly threw her arms around his neck, giggling; 'Don't worry Daddy, I won't let Mommy tell you off'

Danny could see Caitlin roll her eyes and clutch her head in mock horror 'Oh no, I can't cope if the two of you are going to gang up on me'

Molly was giggling uncontrollably now. Danny picked her up and settling her on his left hip walked over to Caitlin

'So, are you ready? She raised her eyebrow, a mock severe look on her face.

Danny slid his right arm around her waist and pulled her to him; he kissed her briefly on the lips and grinned; 'I am so ready'

Their eyes met for a moment and he hoped she understood the double meaning behind his words…..

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Caitlin's Apartment

Danny carried the cases into the apartment and dropped them next to the front door, unsure whether he should take them through to Caitlin's room or whether he should put them in the guest room. He thought about asking Caitlin but wasn't really sure how to ask the question without making the events of the previous night an issue…………………….

Caitlin had headed for the kitchen to make the lunch; one thing Danny was learning quickly was that three year olds, well, Molly, had very set views on when she should eat, and that time was rapidly approaching.

He stood at the kitchen door watching Caitlin pull together the lunch of sandwiches and fruit, his mind replaying the moments after Martin and Sam had grabbed Rachel off him and he had seen how very still Molly was; those minutes, until the paediatrician had told them that Molly would be fine once the sedative had worn off, were honestly amongst the worst of his life.

They had taken her to the local hospital and it had been early afternoon before she was properly awake……………..very confused because she was nowhere she knew but other than that absolutely fine because she didn't remember a thing about what had happened.

Danny smiled to himself as he remembered Molly's face when she had seen him. She had known who he was; he knew the memory of how it had felt to hold her in his arms for the first time would be one that stayed with him for the rest of his life. He had never understood when Jack and Viv talked about how the love you feel for your child is different from any other type of love but he did now; that he could feel like this when three days ago he hadn't even known she existed shocked him to his core but he loved it; he knew he had a soppy smile on his face every time she called him Daddy and he didn't care.

They had kept Molly in hospital overnight and he and Caitlin, both exhausted, had crashed out on the sofa bed in her room. Fortunately Molly had slept from 10pm until 6am the next morning, and for the second night they had slept curled up together.

They had travelled back the next day, arriving in New York in the late afternoon. Danny had taken them back to Caitlin's apartment, slightly stunned when he saw it knowing how much it must have cost, and Molly hadn't wanted him to go, and Caitlin had seemed perfectly happy to have him there………………..

She had put Molly to bed later than normal and then it had just been the two of them; they had sat curled up together on the sofa, the atmosphere thick with sexual tension which Danny, for once, was at a loss to know how to deal with, and that ended up being the problem. He hadn't wanted to push her too far, unsure if she was ready to go beyond the cuddling and the kissing yet, and also not certain whether it was OK to make out on the sofa when Molly could get out of bed and walk in on them at any minute, but it seemed that she had taken that to mean that he didn't want her.

In the end she had announced she was going to bed and shown him pointedly to the guest room where Danny had laid awake for most of the night wanting desperately to go to her but terrified of getting it wrong…………….In the morning he had been up first, even ahead of Molly and had been in the kitchen getting himself some juice when he had heard Molly launch herself into Caitlin's room and then heard her demand to know where he was.

He had wandered in before Caitlin had had time to explain anything with juice for both of them and then the three of them had camped on the bed for a while. Danny had enjoyed that, messing about, a play pillow fight, him tickling Molly until she had demanded that he 'tickle Mommy' which Danny had decided was a challenge and so he had until he had to stop because it left him hot and bothered in a way he didn't think was appropriate for Molly to see. He had known that Caitlin felt it too and was left even more confused.

Then, over breakfast, Molly had wanted to know if 'Daddy lives with us now' and Caitlin had shot him a look under hooded eyes and replied 'Ask your father', which Danny thought was unfair, what was he supposed to say to that? And Molly had looked at him with those big brown eyes and said please, pleeeeease Daddy and he hadn't known what to say and Caitlin hadn't helped at all until she had obviously seen the pleading in his eyes and then she had suggested that 'Daddy could stay with us for a bit and we can see how we all like it' and so here he was, totally besotted with his daughter, finding that he rather liked family life, hopelessly in love with Caitlin again and without a clue as to how to sort out what had happened last night…………..

They sat and ate lunch and then, while they were clearing the dishes away someone knocked on the door. Danny could hear voices in the hallway and recognised them; his heart plummeted;... like he really wanted to see Nick Hollander at the moment………………

He emerged from the kitchen and saw that Nick was looking as thrilled as he was about them meeting; he saw Nick hold a hand out to him and Danny shook it briefly before turning to Jayne; she ignored the tension and kissed on the cheek which caught him by surprise but he managed to cover (he hoped) and kiss her back..

Caitlin had called to Molly who came running to greet them and Danny had to endure the agony of Molly cuddling 'Uncle Nick'; he didn't think that he had ever felt so jealous of anyone, ever. Then the reason for the visit emerged; Molly was going to be the flower girl at Nick and Jayne's wedding in four weeks time and she had a dress fitting that afternoon. Danny glanced at Caitlin, wondering if she would be happy letting Molly out of her sight, and realising that he wasn't wild about the idea……………….he wondered if she was planning on going as well. If she was he doubted he was invited and he certainly wasn't going if it meant he had to 'hang out' with Nick Hollander…….

Caitlin and Jayne were stood a little bit away from them and then he saw Caitlin nod her head and Jayne was smiling; 'Molly, you need to go and get your sun hat. You're going to get your dress fitted with Uncle Nick and Aunty Jayne and then they are taking you to get pizza for tea'

Molly beamed and wriggled out of Nick's arms but then stopped 'Are you and Daddy coming too?'

Caitlin crouched down and smiled 'No honey, Daddy and I have some things to do but when you get back we can have chocolate ice cream and Daddy will read you your story tonight'

Molly looked thoughtful then grinned and held her arms up to Danny who quickly picked her up; 'I want a long story Daddy'; Danny grinned, he would happily read her War and Peace to get just one of her smiles

'You can have any story you want sweetheart, lets go and find your sun hat'; he escaped into Molly's bedroom and they spent a couple of minutes looking for her sun hat with Danny making her laugh by pretending to look in ridiculous places for it.

Sun hat found, he carried her back to the door and received a huge hug and a kiss from her before she took Jayne's hand ready to go and get her dress fitted. He deliberately didn't look at Nick and was relieved when the door closed.

He turned to head back to the kitchen to finish clearing away the dishes from lunch

'Where are you going?'; Danny stopped and cautiously turned around to see Caitlin still stood in the hall, her arms crossed and an unreadable expression on her face.

'Urm, I was going to finish the dishes……….' He stopped at the look on her face

'They'll keep'

'Right…………..so, what do you want me to do?' he was feeling his way cautiously

'I want you to put these suitcases away' there it was; the challenge in her voice, and he realised that this was her way of forcing the issue about last night...

He stared at her for a minute then picked up the cases; 'Sure, where do you want me to put them?'

The sudden flash of anger in her eyes shocked him; he couldn't think of many times she had ever been this angry with him…..well once a couple of months after they had met and the make up sex had been off the scale………………he forced himself to stop thinking about that and to focus on now……..he felt a small flame of anger start to take hold of him; he wasn't a bloody mind reader for gods sake; if he had done something wrong last night then he was sorry but it would help if she would tell him what he had, or hadn't done, that had pissed her off so much……….

The silence lengthened, both too stubborn to break it. He put the cases back down again and raised his eyebrows and saw fire crackle in her eyes as she launched herself at him, thumping him hard in the chest, her mouth a tight line………….

'Put the damn suitcases away'

Danny grabbed her forearms to stop her hitting him again, pulling her close, so that her body was pressed against his and lowered his face so it was inches from hers 'You still haven't told me where'; he kept his voice low but knew the anger was starting to show

He saw tears appear in her eyes but he couldn't decide whether they were tears because she was upset or because she was angry; 'I want you to tell me where you want to put them'

And then he understood; he knew his face was showing the astonishment he was feeling and he saw the anger in hers;

'I told you what I wanted when we were at the hotel but you didn't say anything, all you did was kiss me, but you haven't said anything about what you want from me and I need to know…..'

She stopped and then she looked at him, all the anger gone; 'Last night, I thought…….I don't know, maybe it was too soon after everything that has happened but …………..I don't know, it was like I was your sister or something……………..'

Danny laughed and she stared at him; 'My sister, the last thing I think of you as is my sister, Christ, I lay awake most of last night wanting you so badly it quite literally hurt..'; he saw her try to stop a grin forming at this but fail, he pulled her a little closer 'you think that's funny?'

'Hmm, I assume you believe that honesty is an important component in any relationship?' she had an innocent 'butter wouldn't melt' look on her face, he remembered that look……he looked at her suspiciously

'Yes'

'OK, well then if I am being honest then yes, I do find that funny and I also think it serves you right'

'It serves me right?'

'Hmm, if you had just explained how you were feeling you wouldn't have had to 'suffer' last night, so, in the interests of saving you any further 'suffering' why don't you tell me what the hell the problem is?'

He groaned, released her arms and ran his hands through his hair in frustration; 'OK, I didn't know if you were ready to go beyond the cuddling and kissing thing we seemed to have going and I'm also not sure what the etiquette is for making out on the sofa when there is a three year old asleep down the hall' he looked at her and the expression of incredulity on her face and felt himself get annoyed again

'OK, so what is the etiquette?'

She shrugged her shoulders 'How the hell would I know?'

He stared at her 'What do you mean 'how the hell would I know', you've had three and a half years to work it out'

She stared at him blankly for a moment then a strange expression crossed her face and she looked away for a moment before looking back, 'Danny, the last time I had sex was with you, four years ago…….'

The silence grew and then he shook his head as he stared at her 'I….I don't know what to say, it didn't even cross my mind that you wouldn't have dated…………..'

She looked impatiently at him 'look, we can talk about that another time, are you saying you didn't think I wanted to sleep with you last night?'

'No, I'm saying I wasn't sure and I didn't want to mess everything up by pushing you when you weren't ready. I'm sorry if it seemed that I didn't want you because that is a million miles from being the case'

For a long moment they stared at each other then Caitlin looked at her watch; 'I reckon we have about 4 hours before Molly get's back,' she was looking at him in a way he remembered well and he felt his stomach tighten in anticipation.

Danny grinned and picked up the cases; 'I guess I'll just put these away' he turned and walked through the living room and into her, or was it now their, bedroom, and put them down. He turned around to see her standing behind him, and he reached for her, pulling her to him and kissing her in a way that he hoped would leave no doubt in her mind as to just how much he wanted her………..