Chapter 43:

When they left the room the coroner had put Elizabeth's tortured body at, neither of them was able to think clearly. This had been an awfully exhausting and horrific experience and it wasn't easy to cope with it. They had known her when she had been alive – how full of life and dedication she had been – and seeing all this being taken from her... it had been indescribably cruel.

But the worst of this whole situation was not yet over. When they left the room, they found themselves face to face with someone they hadn't expected to come here, to even know Elizabeth's body had been found. Danny was waiting for them outside the room, pacing the floor, arms crossed and wearing an absolutely furious expression on his face.

Jack was more than surprised to see him here, actually he was worried. He had – knowingly – kept the information about the discovery of Elizabeth's corpse from Danny, exactly for this reason – because he didn't want him to come here. But somehow the information had reached him none the less and Jack was pretty sure he couldn't talk him into leaving, not after basically lying to him, although it had been for his own good.

„Would you have told me about this? Would you have told me about her?"

Danny was yelling at him – he was certainly not having his feelings under control and it was all too understandable. But Jack wasn't willing to give in, he needed to stay calm – hoping for his own feelings to radiate. Maybe he would at least achieve for Danny to calm down, although he wasn't very sure about it.

„Danny, I..."

He didn't get much further with his explanation about his motivation.

„Would you have told me? Or would you have simply kept on lying, keeping information from me and have her buried somewhere without even letting me know? Would you have done that?"

„Danny!"

„Would you have had enough respect to tell me the truth!"

The situation was getting out of hand – it was getting out of hand and he couldn't seem to get it under control. Danny was angry with him – more than that, he was completely infuriated. He felt betrayed, disrespected and probably embarrassed by Jack's decision and given what he had gone through, that was a very dangerous mix. One that made it almost impossible to have him listen.

„Listen to me..."

But Danny wasn't willing to listen to him – not even for a second. Jack finally asked himself, if Danny was actually completely aware of what he was doing. Of course this was a heated and very emotional situation and Jack had kept information from him, but he had never before experienced a situation where Danny had been yelling at him.

„I want to see her. Now!"

Jack barely was able to keep himself from wincing as Danny expressed his demand. He wouldn't let the other man enter that room, containing Elizabeth's corpse. It had been the exact reason for not telling him – Jack hadn't wanted Danny to see this. He knew he couldn't cope with it – it had been hard enough for him and he hadn't been kidnapped and brutally tortured for three days...

He tried to calm down and get his emotions back under control. Aimlessly yelling at one another wouldn't help clear the situation. He needed for Danny to calm down and listen to him, rationalize the whole incident. He needed for him to understand why he had kept this information from him, why he couldn't go in there. He managed to give his voice a soothing tone when he spoke up again.

„I don't think you should..."

„I don't care what you think! I want to see her – goddamn it, you owe me that much, don't you think? If you didn't have enough respect to tell me, at least give me a chance to say goodbye, for heaven's sake!"

He thought about it for a moment, but just for a moment. He knew he couldn't let him in there. Seeing Beth's bruised, battered, broken, dead body would bring back every last piece of memory immediately and with full force. Danny had been through all this, all the injuries that finally had caused Elizabeth's death and he had been close to this point himself. It was simply dangerous to let him inside the room.

„I won't let you in there!"

„We will see about that."

Danny's reaction came quickly, though not unexpected, but too quickly to leave Jack another chance to react. He was past him and at the door to the room where the remains of Elizabeth Tejar were kept in before Jack even had a chance to grab him by the arm or address him once again.

The coroner hadn't put the cloth back above Elizabeth's body, leaving her exposed and clearly visible to Danny who had just entered the room. Obviously the younger agent hadn't been prepared for that sight, not after all. He stopped in his attempt to get further into the room immediately, staring blankly at the form on the metal table.

„Oh my god... Good lord – no... No..."

He was just standing there, unable to move, unable to do anything after all but just stare at the bruised, battered, broken, disfigured, dead body of Elizabeth and silently whisper a plea for help – for the sight in front of him not being true.

Jack who had entered the room right after him, trying to hold him back from getting inside there, stopped dead in tracks by Danny's reaction. He could seldomly remember to have ever seen him that shook up by the sight of a corpse.

Of course – this were aggravated circumstances. Danny knew the woman who lay dead on that metal table and the injuries, which were visible, were simply just horrible. Jack realized too late that this wasn't about Elizabeth, although he had felt the exact same feeling when entering this morgue.

This was about Danny and about the question what might have happened, what different outcome of events there could have been. As Jack, Danny was very well aware of the fact that he could have ended up in the same way – tortured to death and dumped somewhere, never to be found again.

The physical reaction to the newly aggravated psychological trauma caused by the sight of Elizabeth's death body came that quickly and violently, nobody – not even Jack who had expected some reaction of that kind – was prepared for it.

Danny started to tremble – first in his hands and then the sensation seemed to get a hold on his whole body, like he was running a high fever. He lost balance, but was luckily supported by his superior who helped him sitting down. Danny automatically - as he definitely wasn't able to think clearly right now - pulled his knees to his body and his arms around them, the trembling still not subsiding.

Jack was unable to react for some more moments – looking at the scene in front of him, being forced to see Danny like that – he needed a few seconds to gather his composure. But his mind quickly was back at full strength, telling him what had to be done and that it had to be done quickly.

„Call an ambulance!"

„What is it? What's wrong with him?"

„It's a panic attack, a goddamn nervous breakdown."

He knelt down next to the younger agent, holding him by his shoulders and hoping to get his attention, but he wouldn't look at him. He didn't get any sign of response after all. He was staring past Jack and there was no sign of him actually being aware of the other man in front of him. Jack tried to reach him none the less.

„Danny? Can you hear me?"

Jack was pretty sure his question was pointless – Danny wasn't aware of his surrounding right at the moment and that actually was a good thing. His brain had – as a security measure – shut out the sight in front of him, the sight of Beth's corpse – tortured by the same people who had almost killed him – and had left him completely unaware for the reality around him.