XIII

Martin had just coincidently looked out of the window the moment the car had turned around the corner into his street. It seemed familiar and therefore Martin had remained by the window, waiting.

But nothing happened. Nobody got out and the longer Martin stared at it the more stupid he felt.

So he tried to distract himself. Being determined to get back to work as soon as possible – no matter what his doctors, his family or even his co-workers might say – he had been making a real effort over the last two days to regain his strength. And even more so since he had spoken to Sam on the phone last night.

She had called to ask him if he wanted her to come and see him that night – she and the team were on a case but she had said she would still be able to make it for half an hour or so. Martin had told her not to worry. She was stressed enough – he didn't want to be the reason for it getting worse.

So they had talked on the phone for a little while. Of course he hadn't been able to stop himself from asking about Danny. Unlike the other times, when they had spoken, Sam seemed hesitant this time, when the subject came up. Martin could still remember her words:

"I think, he's still fighting his own demons, but he seems to be getting better…"

Viv had said something like that, too.

Despite this not being the best of all news Martin could live with it. In fact he preferred this to the overprotective lies everybody had kept telling him before; it was a reassuring feeling to know the truth. And he was going to stick to Sam's advice:

"Leave Danny alone for a bit. He needs to recover from that night as much as you do – if not physically, though. He'll be fine by the time you're back at work, and then you two can try and talk about what happened. But he will need time to recover by himself."

Sam was right. They both needed time.

Yet, before he knew what he was doing, Martin was standing by the window again, feeling a little nervous now. The car was still there and a man had gotten out of it. It was too far away for him to see the person properly but who ever it was, he came walking down the street towards Martin's house.

Judging from height and build it could be Danny – Martin's heart beat a little faster – but the way he moved, slow and hesitant, didn't look like his co-worker at all. The man had lowered his head but he was soon close enough for Martin to recognise him; it was Danny after all!

He stopped a few metres away from the house, hesitated a moment and finally looked up, causing Martin to almost jump away from the window and feeling stupid at the same time for doing so.

Still, he was nervous. He watched, carefully to not be seen by the other man, as Danny just stood there, staring at his house.

"C'mon", Martin said into the silence of his living-room. "I won't go outside to get you."

Just when he thought Danny was going to move on, the other man reached into his pocket and a moment later his hand reappeared, clutching his cell phone. Martin sighed. He had a bad feeling about was going to be next.

And of course he was right.

Pressing his lips together in anger and disappointment Martin leaned his head against the wall and watched as Danny turned around and walked away again. He wanted to call his friend and ask him to come back but then Sam's words came to his mind again.

He needs time to recover by himself.

He would give Danny that time. And himself, too.

………………

Lilly was actually ready to leave. Hours had passed since she had left Malone's office and still she couldn't get herself to sit in her car and just drive away. What was it Stillman had said? Be back in the afternoon? She looked at her watch. What time did he consider afternoon?

She knew quite well, that she was supposed to leave now but before she knew it she was holding her phone in her hand, instead – and was surprised to find it switched off.

Oh – she remembered; she had switched off earlier because she had wanted some time to think without being interrupted. While thinking she had actually planned to go for a little walk through the city's busy streets but when she had returned to the motel she had realised that her walk had taken over two hours!

She was hungry now.

Turning the phone own she noticed two missed calls, and both callers had left messages. One was from Stillman, the other one from a number she didn't know.

Lilly sighed; it wasn't hard to guess who the call had been from – and she wasn't surprised when she listened to the message Danny had left her. She couldn't help grinning when she heard him stammer a little. It was cute.

Cute? - Yeah, that's right, Lilly: cute.

She wanted to call Stillman, but her hand seemed to have other plans. She had no control over it; it dialled the number on its own and soon there was a voice on the other end of the line.

"Taylor."

"Danny, hi. It's Lilly."

"Hey. Where are you?"

"Still at the motel."

Danny didn't answer for a while. "When are you going to leave?" he finally asked, sounding astonished.

"I don't know. I think I'm going to need to eat some lunch first and I was wondering if you might want to join me… maybe you know a good place?"

When replied she could hear from his voice that he was grinning. "Yes, I sure do. But what about your boss?"

Screw my boss, Lilly thought, but aloud she just said: "He'll have to wait."

"Okay, then I'll meet you at the motel in half an hour."

Lilly wondered if until then she was going to be starved. Since she had checked out before leaving for her walk she had no room to stay in, either, but that wasn't too bad; the sun was still shining and it had gotten really warm over the day. She spent the time waiting for Danny in the parking lot, leaned against her car and enjoying what would probably be the last late summer day for this year.

Danny arrived just in time. He parked his car next to hers and told her they were going to walk to the restaurant.

Lilly was relieved when they finally arrived.

"Chinese?"

Danny shrugged. "I thought you like Chinese."

"I do."

"So, where's the problem?"

"There is none."

The place wasn't very busy and they found a table where there was almost nobody else around. They ordered and neither said anything until the food arrived.

"Why do you think she did it?"

Lilly was taken aback. "Who?"

"Dina. Why do you think she did that, murdering the two women who were probably her only friends?"

Lilly shrugged. "Maybe she thought they had a better life than she did. Maybe she wanted their money; both – Amy and Mrs Guerin were quite wealthy. But maybe it's just like you said before, Danny; she crazy. In some cases that's enough."

"Yeah, I suppose, it's sad but it's the way it is."

They ate in silence until Lilly thought of something. "So… do you think it was because of our visit two days ago Dina became nervous and had the body removed?"

Danny shrugged and answered with his mouth full: "Probably."

When they had finished Lilly looked at her watch. "I think, I will have to hurry now. And what about you - don't you have to get back to work at some time?" She reached into her pocket for her wallet.

"No. I have a day off. – No, put that away; I'm paying. You paid last night, remember?"

Last night. Yeah she remembered

Danny paid for their food and drinks and they made to leave. When they arrived at the parking lot Lilly felt strangely sad. But bravely, she put on a smile. "So, I think I have to leave now."

"Not holding you back", he replied, sounding amused.

"Agent Taylor, it's been a pleasure working with you." Lilly grinned as they shook hands for the second time that day. Oh – and sleeping with you, she added in thoughts. As long as you don't count the morning after…

"Have a safe trip", she heard him call after her as she turned and walked towards her car. Suddenly, she felt very dissatisfied,.

C'mon Taylor, can't just let me leave like that…

"Thanks, I will!" she called back.

Come on! Say something! Just something

"Lilly?"

It took all her will-power to not turn around too eagerly, but Lilly managed to keep her cool. "Yes?"

"D'you think it would be okay, if I called you some time? Maybe ask you out on a real date?"

Laughing Lilly answered: "I don't think that would be a problem."

"Great." He came towards her and before she knew it he put his arms around her to pull her into a warm hug. Feeling her dissatisfaction being replaced by satisfaction Lilly wrapped her arms around his waist to return the hug - before finally, they parted, reluctantly, and she got into her car, started the engine and drove away.

The End

Author's notes: Yep, it's done. And I have to say I had a lot of fun writing this story.

Thank you for reading and for all the friendly reviews; it made working on this so much easier. Thank you also for ignoring all the little and the bigger mistakes I made – I know there are quite a few…

I actually planned an open end to that Danny-and-Lilly story from the beginning – to leave it to your imagination if there will be more between them or not. I have, however, also considered the possibility of writing a sequel some time and maybe let them get together. I'm not sure if they would really make a good couple, though. You are, of course, free to give me your opinion on that.

I never understood why there wasn't a 'real' episode that took place between "Showdown" and "Safe", I'm sure it would have been interesting (at least for us Danny-fans) and so I made up my own. I guess, if there had been one it could have been a bit like this.

So again – thank you for reading!