Hey babes! Back again with a new one for ya. Came up with the idea for this one after rewatching an old episode of Leverage. I actually wrote this fairly quickly, but then I had to go back and do some adjusting and figure out the perfect ending, so it took a few days to get it posted. But here it is.

Enjoy!

Three months. That's how long they've been dating. But nobody knows. At least, she doesn't think anyone knows yet. They make sure to keep things professional when they're at work; no hands lingering a second longer than they should, no stolen kisses when they think no one's watching, nothing that could be considered unusual for them. Neither of them feels too inclined just yet to share their relationship with anyone, so they haven't. They've kept it to themselves, the notion of no one else knowing just adding to the thrill and excitement of being in a new relationship.

Every moment they spend together she treasures. She honestly never knows what to expect from him, but at the same time, she does. It's different. But she doesn't mind. She likes being with him, being able to depend on him and trust him with all parts of her. She knows deep down that he'll never hurt her on purpose. There are so many upsides to dating Malcolm Bright, and sometimes she can't believe that so many other women have been scared away by his past and his demons. Because she certainly isn't.

The only downside, though, is that she can't express how she truly feels at every moment. Sure, they trade their usual verbal banter when on a case, and she still rolls her eyes at him and pokes fun at him just for the hell of it. None of that has changed, it's just a little more charged than usual, despite their best efforts.

But right now, all she's feeling is angry and worried and scared, and she can't express any of it. At least, not to the degree that she wants to. Because she wants to scream. And cry. And shout to everyone that approaches her about how unfair this is.

Because Malcolm's missing. Malcolm's missing and none of them have any idea where he could be.

Though, they all have a feeling it's related to their current case. That Malcolm, again, said the wrong thing to a suspect so they'd make a mistake and is now paying the price for it. And she has no idea how to find him, or even where to start.

And it's driving her crazy. She just wants to find him. By whatever means necessary.

"Hey. You good over there?"

Lifting her head from her place perched on the windowsill, staring at the floor of the conference room, she looks to the doorway. "Hmm?"

JT moves further inside the room, stopping at the table that's separating them and leaning against one of the chairs. "I asked if you're good. You've been a little out of it since we found out Bright went missing."

"Oh, yeah." She shifts, dropping her legs down to hang over the edge as she turns to face her friend. "I just...he's a valuable member of the team, you know? I want to find him, bring him back."

"We all do. We're all doing our best to find him."

She nods. "I know that. I'm just…" She breathes deeply, running her hands through her hair, her lips pulling together into a thin line. "You know how Bright is. The longer he is wherever he is, the more trauma he endures, and the more medication and therapy he might have to start taking. And he's been doing really well recently, he's been-" she cuts herself off before she reveals too much.

This isn't how she wants word of her relationship with Bright to get out.

She closes her eyes and takes a few deep breaths, calming herself down again. She opens her eyes and looks up at the man in front of her. "Sorry. I just want to find him."

"Me too. I know I give him a hard time a lot, but Bright's one of us, a member of the team. And we all want to find him."

Before she can say anything else in response, her cell phone goes off in her pocket. It makes her jump. She'd been so focused on just about everything else that she almost forgot she hadn't left it at her desk.

Pulling the device out, she frowns at the unfamiliar number that pops up on the screen. But she decides to answer it anyway. She hits the green button and holds the phone up to her ear. "Powell."

"D...D-Dani?"

She lets out an involuntary gasp and looks up at JT. "It's Bright."

JT's eyes go wide and he nods silently, making his way out of the room in search of Gil.

Sliding down off the windowsill, Dani crosses one arm over her chest as she presses the phone more against her ear. "Hey," she says softly.

"Hi. How are you holding up?"

She lets out a quick laugh. "I should be the one asking you that. We're all doing our best to find you."

"I know you are. And I know you will. But if you don't—"

She shakes her head quickly, standing up straighter. "No, don't talk like that." She fights back her tears, though she knows it comes through in her voice. "We're going to find you. Okay?"

He pauses. "Okay."

Gil enters the room right then, JT following quickly behind him with one of their tech experts carrying a device to trace the call. Gil vaguely gestures to her cell phone as he stops at the head of the table.

Dani nods back, pulling the phone away and hitting the speaker button. She sets the device down in the center of the table, gripping tightly to the back of one of the chairs. "You're on speaker now," she tells him, her eyes locked on the phone. "We're tracing the call too."

Gil leans closer to the phone. "Kid, can you hear me?"

"Gil. Yeah, I can hear you."

"Good. Are you okay?"

"I don't know. My head hurts, I think I was knocked unconscious with something."

"Okay. Do you have any idea where you are?"

There's some quiet shuffling on the other end of the line. "No idea. But it's dark. And I'm lying down. There isn't much space to move around, but I'm lying at my full height, so it must be some kind of long box. And it's soft, some kind of silky fabric."

Gil reaches forward and hits the mute button on the phone. He lets out a heavy sigh. "I hate to be the one to voice it…"

"But it sounds like he's in a coffin," JT finishes with a small nod.

Dani swallows thickly, her hands gripping tighter to the chair. Her legs feel weaker than they were a second ago. He's in a coffin? What the hell?

"Well, if he's in a coffin, what are the chances that he wasn't buried in it?"

JT reaches out and unmutes the call. "Bright. We think you may be trapped in a coffin."

"Detective Tarmel," he says, his voice coming out more breathless than it was before. "I was thinking the exact same thing. It's a very nice one too."

Gil lets out a heavy breath. "Kid, I hate to ask this…"

"But what are the chances I was buried alive in this?" he responds, his voice quieter. "Well, considering that the last three victims were all buried alive, I'm going to say the chances are very high."

"Can you hear anything?" Dani steps in, finally having found her voice again. "Something to give us an indication of where you are?"

"A brilliant thought, Detective," he says and she can almost hear him smiling. "Give me a moment."

There's silence on the other end of the line and each second that passes by makes her more and more anxious.

"I think I can hear water. Wait. It just stopped."

"Could be sprinklers," JT suggests.

Dani nods. "Which means he's not buried that deep and could probably hear sirens."

"But we can't just drive every cop car around the city with their sirens on," JT remarks. "We need to narrow down our playing field. Any luck with that trace yet?" Gil asks the tech.

The tech officer shakes his head. "Nothing. If he is buried, then he must be too deep and the box is too thick for a signal to pass through."

"You can stop bothering with the trace," Malcolm's voice comes through. "The phone I'm using...it's not mine. It's an older flip phone. No GPS or Bluetooth. Of that I'm sure."

Gil's jaw hardens. "Well, we need something to go off of."

"Could be a cemetery," JT supplies with a small shrug.

"It makes the most sense," Malcolm confirms on the other end of the line. "It'd have to be somewhere close by. He wouldn't...he wouldn't have taken me far."

Gil stands up straight and makes his way toward the door, pulling his phone out as he goes. "I'm on it. Dani, send that number to me as soon as you can."

"Gil," Malcolm's voice calls out just loud enough to be heard through the phone's speaker.

Gil turns back. "Yeah, kid?"

"Hurry."

Gil doesn't say another word, just continues out the door and then starts barking orders at the nearest officers.

"I'm gonna go help with that," JT says, gesturing over his shoulder and then making his way from the room. The tech officer follows soon after, taking his equipment with him.

Taking a deep breath, Dani reaches for her phone, taking it off speaker, and holds it to her ear again. "Bright?"

"Dani. I'm not...I'm running low on air."

She closes her eyes for just a moment, needing to keep herself steady. "I know. I had a feeling. Don't die on me, okay? I can't...I can't lose you."

"I'll do my best to stick around a little longer."

Silence encompasses them and she wants to say something else, but she doesn't know what. What exactly can she say in a situation like this?

"Dani…?"

She wipes quickly at her eyes, a few tears having unknowingly escaped. "Yeah?"

"I need to hang up now. Gotta save my air and my energy."

She nods. "Right. I'll uh, I'll see you soon."

"See you soon."

The call disconnects and it takes every ounce of willpower she contains to not break down right there. Everyone knows that she and Bright are friends, but does friendship give her the justification to just break down into tears in the middle of the conference room?

Also, she's a professional. She knows when to keep things together, to keep things locked in a box until she has the time to open it again.

This is one of those moments.

.

.

.

Waiting to find out what happens is excruciating. To say the least. She knew she would be too unfocused to drive, and she physically couldn't sit back at the precinct and wait, so she opted to ride shotgun in JT's car while they searched.

They spent longer than she would have liked driving around the perimeter of one of the nearby cemeteries, hoping it'd be the one. But it wasn't. Gil had been on the phone the whole time with Malcolm, so they'd know when the sirens were heard so they'd know where to get him.

Another team found him, thankfully. And he'd been immediately rushed to the closest hospital to be checked out and have his head taken care of.

The drive to the hospital is much too long for her liking, and she knows she's fidgeting, and that JT notices. But she keeps her eyes focused on the road ahead and prays that JT doesn't say anything.

Thankfully, he doesn't.

When they reach the hospital, they flash their badges at the receptionist and make a beeline toward the elevator bank. Gil had texted them a few minutes ago to let them know exactly where to go. She's highly considering just hoofing it up the stairs by the time the elevator arrives, the quick ding pulling her out of her head. The ride up to the correct floor is just as excruciating.

She's so close. She can almost see him again, can almost hold him in her arms and kiss him and tell him how worried sick she was.

But she's not going to do any of that quite yet. She's going to be patient. She's going to wait until they're alone again. Though, she's unsure of when that'll be. Knowing his mother, Jessica Whitly will likely take it upon herself to oversee as much of Malcolm's recovery as possible. Meaning they'll hardly be able to catch a moment alone until he's healed up enough to not need constant supervision.

When they reach the floor, she's out of the elevator in an instant and heading down the hallway that leads to Malcolm's room. JT's hot on her trail, though he's not moving quite as fast as she is. But she has a reason for moving this fast.

She skids to a stop inside the doorway, her breathing just a bit heavier as she leans against the frame and watches the scene. His mother and sister are already in the room, along with Gil.

JT gently pushes past her and enters the room, approaching Malcolm's bed with a small smile. "Glad to see you still in one piece, Bright."

"Detective Tarmel, is that genuine care and concern for my well-being that I detect in your voice?"

JT scoffs lightly. "'Course not. But we all know you'd become more insufferable if you'd lost a limb or something."

Malcolm laughs and Dani is so relieved to be able to hear that sound again. For a moment she didn't think she'd ever get to hear it again. She'd been so terrified.

The laughter trails off and Malcolm's eyes finally lock onto hers. Those beautiful, crystal blue eyes dig deep into her soul. "Dani."

With that single word, her name, she throws caution to the wind. She doesn't care that there are other people in the room. They're all going to find out eventually. One way or another.

Pushing off the frame, she strides quickly across the room until she reaches Malcolm's bedside. She leans down without any hesitation and cups his cheeks in her hands, bringing his lips up to her own. She pours everything she's feeling into the kiss. Everything she's been holding onto since she realized he was missing.

Quiet gasps just barely register in her ears. But she doesn't pay it any mind. All she cares about is being able to touch and kiss her boyfriend. And clearly he's just as happy about it because he kisses her back eagerly, one of his hands resting gently on her back to keep her close.

She pulls away after a moment and rests her forehead against his, her eyes still closed. "I'm so glad you're okay," she whispers.

"Me too. And I know it already happened, but there are other people in the room right now who just saw that."

She shakes her head. "I don't care." She opens her eyes and pulls back a little more to look at him. "All I care about right now is you."

Gil's voice drifts into the space. "Why don't we give these two some space?"

"But I have so many questions," Ainsley complains as she's mostly likely ushered out of the room by Gil and Jessica.

She doesn't bother turning around to check.

The door shuts a few seconds later and she lets out a small breath of relief. She shifts so she's sitting on the edge of the bed, but stays as close to Malcolm as she can get. She holds onto his hand as tightly as she can without hurting him, needing the assurance that he's there. That he's alive.

"You know, my mom and sister are probably going to bombard us with questions as soon as they can."

Dani shakes her head. "I don't care anymore. It was so hard for me, not being able to tell Gil and JT how I was really feeling while trying to find you."

"Are you sure you're okay with everyone knowing now?" he asks her gently. "We've only been together for three months."

She nods. "And they've been great. But I'm ready for everyone to know. They already do, considering I came in here and kissed you like that. Which was not my plan, by the way."

"I didn't mind it."

She laughs. "Of course you didn't. I'm really glad you're okay, Malcolm." She takes a deep breath, ducking her head for a moment before looking back at her boyfriend. "So, you got more room up here on this bed?"

Malcolm just smiles, scooting over on the bed and lifting the edge of the blanket for her.

Dani returns the smile, shifting on the bed and sliding her legs underneath the blanket. She lies down and curls up next to Malcolm, draping one arm across his midsection and resting her head on his shoulder. She shifts just enough to get fully comfortable and lets out a content sigh, pleased to finally be back in his arms and no longer worried about his safety. For now, at least.

So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Until next time,
Jellybean96 out!