Chapter 6

He's in a dark place but he isn't in pain and feels at peace but there is something unsettling about this place. In the distance he hears what sounds like crying. He frowns, he doesn't understand – why would someone cry for me, Danny thought. He notices that the voice is filled with pain; someone is hurting for him. He doesn't want to leave this pain-free place but he somehow knows that he should go to the voice. A white light appears, small at first, and he walked toward it. As he did, the pained voice became louder and clearer; he walked through the light and opened his eyes slowly, to find himself in the hospital. He tried to speak but found it impossible because there was something in his throat. He saw Martin holding his hand and crying and his eyes went wild with fright. He wanted to tell Martin that he was okay but he couldn't. Slowly he was able to move his fingers as he tried to get Martin's attention.

Martin frowned, he could have sworn that he felt Danny moving his fingers; but its impossible Dr. Cassidy said that Danny was going to die. He felt the pressure again, but stronger this time. He looks up and sees that Danny's eyes are open.

"Oh my God! Danny?" Martin exclaimed, as tears of relief streamed down his face.

Danny squeezed Martin's fingers again and smiled in relief as tears of happiness run freely down his face. But there is still something that he can't quite put his finger on.

"Danny! Hold on, brother, I'll call for help," Martin said, but his hand didn't leave Danny's. He quickly and repeatedly pressed the nurse call button and the nurse came quickly into the room.

The Nurse quickly runs in and is shocked to see Danny awake. She checks his vitals; they're good, but that can't be right. "I'll g-g-go get Dr. Cassidy up here right away," she stammered and ran out of the room as if just having seen a ghost.

Dr. Cassidy arrived five minutes later and is shocked to see Danny awake and responsive. "Well, this is certainly unexpected and miraculous. We were sure you wouldn't survive the night. You're a hell of a fighter Agent Taylor; you and Martin both," he said, as he continued to check Danny's vitals.

He was confused, what did Martin have to do with it, Danny thought? Realization hit him as he remembered the ambush and the torture and started panicking. Confusion hit him - what happened? The last thing he remembered was thinking that Martin was dead.

'Oh God! Martin! What happened to you? This is all my fault. You got hurt because of me. I should've had your back!' Danny thought. He starts to panic as he looks for Martin; the heart monitor starts beeping faster.

"Agent Taylor, I want you to calm down," Dr. Cassidy said sternly.

'Calm Down! Martin's dead because of me!' Danny thought. Tears stream down his face. "No! Martin, I'm so sorry. You died because of me!"

Martin grabbed Danny's wavering hand. "Danny, cut that out! Calm down!" Martin said firmly. He grabbed Danny's cheek, forcing him look at him — brown eyes lock with blue ones. "Danny look at me, man. I'm right here," Martin reassured, as if reading Danny's thoughts. He continued in a softer tone, "Danny, I'm okay, I'm right here with you, man. We're in the hospital. Calm down, all right. We're okay. We're safe. It's over."

"Safe?" Danny thought. He looked around and let Martin's words sink in. He began to calm down and so did the heart monitor.

"That's right, brother, calm down. We're safe," Martin sighed. He smiled and winked at Danny. "It's over man, it's over."

"That's amazing. You were the only one who was able to calm him down. He isn't completely out of the woods yet but after what I've seen: him waking up and responding, no complications so far, panicking and then calming down when you talked to him, I believe he'll make a full recovery," Dr. Cassidy said to Martin.

"Thanks, doc," Martin sighed and smiled in relief.

"It's obvious that you two have a great friendship and he's definitely gonna need your help and support to get through this," Dr. Cassidy continued.

"Whatever he needs, Doctor. So, how long does he have to have that tube in him?" Martin asked. He felt Danny squeezing his hand again and squeezed it back.

"Well, if there aren't anymore complications and the tests reveal that he's able to breathe without the tube we'll put him on a nasal cannula. He'll have to stay in the ICU one week. If all goes well, he'll be moved to a private room and he'll be released in two weeks. So he'll probably have to stay about three weeks in the hospital," Dr. Cassidy explained.

Danny's eyes narrowed in anger at the doctor's orders and he squeezed Martin's hand again angrily.

'Forget it, Fitz there's no way in hell I'm staying here three weeks!' Danny thought with an irate expression in his face.

"Sorry, Danny, doctor's orders," Martin chuckled.

'Traitor!' Danny ranted.

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In the ICU room…

He's still trapped in the warehouse where Dornvald had him and Martin. In his nightmare he isn't hurt; Dornvald just has his hands bound. Martin, however, is covered in dark red blood and barely moving as Dornvald pulls him up from the floor by his hair.

Dornvald signaled to his goons to grab Danny. They untie him but hold on to him.

"Say goodbye to your little girlfriend, lovebird. This is for meddling in my affairs," Dornvald sneered as he smiled evilly at Danny. He grabbed a knife and slit Martin's throat.

"Martin! Nooooooo!" Danny screamed. He rushes over to Martin's blood ridden body "Mar…tin!" he cried, with tears streaming down his face.

Martin suddenly opens his eyes and looks at Danny with an accusing stare. "You let me die, Danny! Why did you distract me at the stop light? This is all your fault, Danny! I'm dead because of you. You killed me," he says, before his eyes close again.

"No! Martin, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry!" Danny stuttered, as tears continue to stream down his face.

Martin's sleep is interrupted by the shrill of the heart monitor and other machines that are connected to Danny's frail body. He saw Danny covered in sweat, shaking, crying and struggling to breathe; but his eyes remain closed. It was obvious to Martin that Danny was trapped in a horrifying nightmare. He shook Danny's shoulders. "Danny! Danny, wake up! Look at me, Danny!" he pleaded desperately. He grabbed Danny's face in his hands. "Damn it, Danny, you're having a nightmare…wake up!"

Danny began to panic as he found that he couldn't breathe; because there's something in his throat that's stopping him from breathing. In the confusion, he put his hands up to his mouth and tried to take out the breathing tube.

Martin saw Danny trying to take out the tube and quickly grabbed his hands forcefully - to prevent Danny from hurting himself further. "Leave the tube alone, Danny, it's helping you breathe. Danny, calm down! Look at me, bro!" he said sternly but with fear still evident in his voice. He grabbed Danny's face and forced Danny to look at him in the eyes; brown eyes locking on to blue ones. "That's right, buddy. Just relax," he said as he takes hold of Danny's hand in a brotherhood grip.

Tears run down Danny's face. "Martin, I'm so sorry. I killed you! I never wanted you to die. I'm…so…sorry!" he silently cried.

"Danny, I'm okay. I'm not dead, bro. I'm right here with you," Martin said as he tried to sound confident, but as the words left his mouth he knew that he had failed. He wet a washcloth with cold water and softly pressed it against Danny's face to cool him down. "You just had a terrible nightmare. It's over, bro. We're in the hospital. Do you remember?"

Danny nodded slowly and gently squeezed Martin's hand. He started to panic as his stomach went into convulsions; causing him to puke. Because he is intubated he began to choke on his vomit. Desperate and unable to breathe, he squeezed Martin's hand several times as he tried to take out the ET tube.

Martin suddenly realizes that Danny is choking and completely freaks out as he doesn't know what to do. He frantically clicks the nurse call button and runs out into the hallway.

"Help! Somebody help me please! My partner's choking on vomit! Please help him!" Martin screamed in a terrified voice. "Don't let him die!"

Janice, the nurse who had spoken to Martin earlier, quickly rushed to Danny's side. She hurried to the crash cart and grabbed some tubing off and attached it to a machine.

"Hey, Martin, calm down! Danny's going to be okay. I have to suction him because the tube's blocked. Now get back into bed and calm down," Janice said sternly. "Okay, Danny, I need you to try to calm down; I'm gonna help you," she said as she turned to Danny. She hooked Danny up to a nasal cannula. "Okay, here we go, Danny." She gently pushed a tube into the breathing tube and began to suction out the vomit that was making Danny choke; causing Danny to cough violently.

"Danny! How is he, Janice? Please tell me!" Martin said in a fearful voice, as tears streamed down his face.

"Calm down, Martin. He's gonna be okay. That happens sometimes. I gave him some sedatives to calm him down and I'll call Dr. Cassidy and tell him what happened. Now, do you wanna tell me what happened?" Janice said, as she gave Martin a small sympathetic smile.

Martin takes a deep breath as he tries to regain his composure. "The heart monitor went crazy and woke me up. When I looked at him he was…crying and…anyway, I guess he was having a nightmare. I calmed him down but then his stomach started convulsing," he managed to say as his voice began to break with emotion. "The next thing I knew…he started choking."

"I think he wants to talk to you," Janice said to Martin, as she watched Danny become restless again as he tried to reach out for Martin.

Martin rushed to Danny's side and took his hand in a brotherhood grip. "I'm here Danny-boy. I'm not going anywhere," he said as he tried to sound confident, but failed again. "Are you okay? Are you feeling better?" Martin watched Danny nod slowly and squeezed his hand. "You really gotta stop scaring the shit out of me, brother," he said as he sighed in relief.

Janice smiled at Danny and Martin. "I'll let you two talk but only for a few minutes and then it's back to bed for the both you. Understand?" she said. She watched the boys nod, before she checked Danny's breathing tube and his vitals to make sure everything's okay. She pulled the covers up to Danny's chest. "All right, honey, I'll be back later to check on you." She softly ruffled Danny's hair as she turned to leave.

"You just call me or anyone of these nurses out here if either of you need anything else. I'm going to go call the doctor and let him know what happened. He may want to run other tests on Danny just to make sure he didn't misplace the tube," Janice said to Martin. She watched Martin's eyes widen in horror and gently squeezed his shoulder. "It's okay. It's just procedure. I'm sure he's fine."

"Thanks for everything, Janice. By the way, I'm sorry that I yelled at you before. I just…I just thought that Danny…" Martin said as he trailed off. He gave Janice a small smile for good measure.

"Don't worry about it. You were just scared. I'll be back later," Janice said as she smiled compassionately. With that she leaves the room.

Martin noticed that Danny's meds were kicking in as he began to fall asleep.

"Time for bed, bro," Martin chuckled as he ruffled Danny's hair lightly and made his way to his own bed where they both sleep peacefully for the rest of the night; neither plagued by nightmares.

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Sorry, I know this is a short chapter but I promise that the next one's longer. Please R and R and let me know whether I should continue it or not. Thanks very much for the reviews. They really help. And as always a huge thanks to fans1024.