A.N.: Sorry for the delay – here you go!

Chapter 37:

Jack had asked the rest of the team to join him in his private office, without explaining why. He had simply ordered them around. But there had been no need for him to tell them what this was about. Today would be Danny's day of return, his first day of work since the assault and Jack obviously felt the need to advice them about it.

No one of them was particularly comfortable with this situation. It just felt like betrayal to prepare oneself for his return – and this was exactly what this would be about. It felt like they weren't able to act normal around Danny, treat him like always and that wasn't a very pleasant thought after all.

The more unpleasant thought however was, if Jack was actually right doing this. Everyone of them had been wondering if they would be able to get the normality of their every day working routine back, when Danny would return. And everyone of them had been concerned, if not even afraid of this day – not knowing what to say to him. Maybe this advice was actually necessary.

„There are some things I wanted you to be extremely sensitive with. I have been talking to Danny's therapist and she wanted me to tell you about it."

„I thought she considered him stable?"

Vivian interrupted him almost immediately, wearing a frown on her face. She didn't seem to consider this a good idea, as Martin and Samantha probably did, too. Just that they hadn't decided to insist against him in first place. He tried to stay calm, finding some words to defend his statement

„She did – to a certain extend."

„What does that mean - to a certain extend´?"

He was having a slight sensation of frustration and they hadn't even really started talking about this. He had been aware of the fact that his propsal hadn't been very well agreed to, but he at least had hoped for a chance to present it to them. Therefor – for this second interruption within about two minutes – he couldn't keep a slight tone of aggression from his voice.

„Look – it's simply just a security measure. She doesn't want to risk to trigger a breakdown. That's a good thing, isn't it?"

„So, what did she want us to stick to?"

He hesitated for a few moments, remembering his very own discomfort when Dr. Riber had told him. He didn't expect the rest of the team to react any different – especially not after these first few minutes of conversation. But he couldn't help it – Dr. Riber had considered Danny capable of getting back to work and he wanted it that way, Jack had no right to shut him out.

"The first thing she told me, doesn't really need to be said. I was aware no one of you would do it anyway. But she asked me none the less to tell you not to ask him about what happened. Don't question him, don't refer to it."

The looks on their faces told him that there definitely had been no need to ask that from them. It had been – right from the beginning, since they, although just partly, knew what had happened – been out of the question to be curious about this whole incident. They had no right to ask him about it and if he wanted to talk about it, he would do it.

"What about Elizabeth?"

"We won't tell him. At least not right now."

The tone in his voice wouldn't allow any insistence against that decision, although it was plain to see that the rest of his team didn't agree with that decision. They didn't want to lie to Danny and that was a noble reaction, but Jack had too much knowledge in the field of psychology to have them confront Danny with Elizabeth's disappearance. It could very well end up disastrous.

"There are two more things she wanted me to keep an eye on. Don't approach him from behind – at least not without making yourself audible – and... don't touch him."

The reaction was immediate and he hadn't expected anything different to happen. Dr. Riber had received almost the same reaction from him, when she had first asked him – the same reaction he got from Vivian in particular right now – she repeated his words in disbelief.

"Don't touch...? Jack, she should have kept him under her care."

He could understand her worries about this, it was the simple fact of what consequences were emerging from it. Jack couldn't recall a single incident where Danny would have been uncomfortable about being touched. It was a normal reaction around one another, especially after working together for so long.

This however seemed so completely unlike Danny – unlike the person they knew. It wasn't surprising however – the experience had left him traumatized and he had changed because of it. Maybe that was the frightening part of this – they had no idea if they would really get him back, if he was still the same character they had know before the assault.

"She had no right to. From a medical point of view he's stable enough to not have to stay there any longer... and he wanted to go."

"If this is necessary, Jack, he's definitely not stable enough to get back to work. I really don't mean to be hurtful or offending, but he shouldn't push it, not right now. He has been through enough..."

Vivian's empathy – the urgent wish to do the right thing for Danny – was honorable. She didn't want to him to aggravate his already troubled situation by a wrong decision. She didn't want him to get here. But it wasn't up to them to decide – the decision already had been made by Danny. The one thing they could do was trying to support him.

"Let's just wait and see how he is when he gets here, see if this is going to work out... Let's let him have a warm welcome."

He knew it was too late to think about it right now, but he asked himself none the less, if he had made the right decision. He really had no idea how to cope with the situation, how to act around his co-workers. All of them had seen him in the most weakened and exposed state he ever had been in in his entire life and they also knew what had happened to him.

He had no idea how they felt about it, if they were nervous and as unsure about how to react as he was. If they would pity him or if they would blame him for his inability to keep himself protected. Maybe they didn't even want him to return...

Jack's reaction in particular was worrying him. The senior agent knew about the aftereffects of what had been done to him, to an extend he actually had no right to know about. But he did and there was no chance to change it. But that didn't make it any easier to face his superior. He really didn't want to see that first reaction – he was afraid of it.

Well – he could no longer avoid this situation, he couldn't pull away and change his decision any more. He had thought about not facing his co-workers, about staying at home for some more time – but he had known that he couldn't do that. He had assured his therapist that he was okay, over and over again. Staying away from his every day life he had wanted to return to, wasn't an option. It would prove him wrong.

He had entered the building hesitatingly, like he had never been here before and he immediately felt like every last person present, was looking at him. Logically he knew it was none sense. The aftereffects of his injuries weren't visible – at least not to the people around him.

The injuries on his face had healed nicely, not leaving behind any permanent effect and the parts of his flesh, which had build scars were hidden beneath his clothing. The only lasting effect visible – if he moved his arms into a certain position – were the scars on both his wrists, where the steel wire had deeply cut into it. But right now they couldn't be seen. Apart from that it wasn't like the whole department knew about what had happened to him, but still it didn't change his awkward feeling.

When they left Jack's office to get back to work, they managed to do so at the exact same moment Danny stepped out of the elevator. The situation immediately tensed up, for it looked like they had been awaiting him – like a little conspiracy group revealed. Actually it wasn't that much of a bad thing to have him awaited – just that it was completely working against the intention to act as normal´ as possible.

Physically he looked better – a lot better actually. But as Dr. Riber hadn't allowed any visitors for the past six weeks, there was no wonder about that. The awkward feeling hanging above the whole scene however was caused by something that lay way deeper. It was the look in his eyes, on his face, his whole body language, showing that he felt deeply uncomfortable, if not even threatened

Something felt deeply wrong about it – probably because no one of them knew how to react. As they had just been basically forbidden to touch him, hugging him to show him they were relieved and happy he was back, wasn't an option. It was an uncomfortable situation and Danny didn't seem to know what to make of it neither.

The silence between them was ended as Jack addressed Danny right now in a soft tone.

"How are you?"

"I'm fine."

Jack tried to hide back a visible emotional reaction to the answer. He immediately remembered what Dr. Riber had told him, what she had been convinced about to be Danny's reaction to the question. She had predicted Jack would get the exact same answer he just had received.

But he wouldn't doubt Danny's words, not like this, not right now – here in front of all his co-workers, who – although they didn't very well know how to react to him – were relieved to have him back. He would give it some time and keep a close eye on Danny. For now he would stick to his very own advice and try to give him a warm hello.

"Welcome back."