If Danny were honest with himself, he would admit that he was worried about his partner; at times very worried. Word of the incident with Skinner had spread quickly, as these things usually do in a small village, and was all over by nightfall. Skinner had successfully slithered his way out of suspicion and Nicholas was a laughing stock, at least at the station. Worst of all, it had broken him. He was a shadow of his former self and that terrified Danny. Watching him go through the motions at work with dead eyes, the drive and passion that Danny loved all but gone, made him sick to his stomach.
Nicholas refused all invitations to movie nights or to go to the pub and completely shrugged off all Danny's attempts at cheering him up. Even the Andes, relentless in their hazing as usual, failed to get a rise out of him. Luckily for Nicholas, Danny was patient. He would see him through this. Things would get better soon, he believed that; he had to believe that. But things went on this way for the better part of a week and Danny was starting to get desperate. Sandford was all but returned to normal, all routine restored but this time it held Nicholas Angel in its icy grasp as well. To Danny's horror, the haziness that once covered his own life was creeping back in but Nicholas, his light and protection against it, was not able to drive it back. It was as if his hero had been defeated and made to serve the villain that was monotony. This couldn't be the end; Danny refused to let this be the end, but what do you do when your hero needs a hero?
The idea came to him after a particularly bad day at work. If Nicholas couldn't be the hero anymore, maybe Danny could be his hero, yeah? He would just have to rescue his hero and all would be right. Nicholas would shine like an angel (his Angel) again and he would be so grateful to him. Maybe even grateful enough to snog him ( after all, that's what damsels in distress do for their rescuer, hehe) and then they would be heroes together! Danny squirmed in his bed with giddy delight as he imagined it. He had a plan no to finally break Nicholas out of his funk. He just had to find something else for him to fixate on. As he always said, "There is always something going on" and Nicholas could always see the extraordinary in the ordinary so it shouldn't take too long to find something new and exciting. He just needed a little push.
No, no, NO! Damn it, it had been working! Danny's plan had succeeded! Nicholas had been back to his old self. Somehow, and he still wasn't sure what exactly had triggered it, Nicholas had come to and was 'back on the case'. Danny had driven them back to the station as fast as he could at Nicholas' urging. He wouldn't say why but Danny didn't care. It was the first proper action they had seen together in over a week. The car had barley stopped moving before Nicholas had jumped out and ran to Frank's office. When he came out, he looked worse than ever! He had been bad before but he still walked upright. Now he was slumped and utterly defeated, the proud light in his eyes extinguished, replaced with a look of such bewilderment and confusion that it broke Danny's heart.
"Hey, hey! Whas' happenin'? Wha's goin on?" Danny asked urgently, trying desperately to figure out what had stolen the life from Nicholas once again. He looked at Danny like he was honestly surprised to see him.
"Oh... um... nothing," He said in a small, far away voice. "I'm, uh, I'm going to go back to the hotel," Now Danny was more concerned than ever. Nicholas looked so lost and depressed the last thing Danny wanted was to leave him alone.
"You wanna lift?" Danny offered, unable to keep all of the desperation out of his voice as he silently pleaded with Nicholas to come with him, to talk to him, let him fix whatever was so horribly wrong.
"No, no. I could do with a walk," A walk? He looked as though he were barley above staggering. Danny honestly believed he would collapse at any second but he turned to leave without a backward glance. Unconsciously Danny reached for him, wanted to stop him, wanted to help him or at least say something to stop him from leaving but the words wouldn't form. His hesitation cost him his chance so he had no choice but to watch Nicholas go. He almost punched the wall in his frustration with himself. Some hero he was. He should have known exactly what to say and do. He wanted to follow after him but he figured he shouldn't. He hadn't done Nicholas any good so far and dad still wanted him to do some things around the station. Maybe a little space would help.
Danny had a bad feeling and it was getting worse with every passing second. After twenty minutes, he could no longer resist the urge to follow after Nicholas. Whatever else still needed to be done could keep until morning. Dad had his club meeting tonight with the NWA so he wouldn't notice if he just slipped out for a bit.
He took his car to the Swan Hotel. It wasn't far from the station but the feeling of dread was getting worse. He didn't even take the time to change out of his uniform before rushing to check on Nicholas. No one was at the front desk when he entered but it was no matter. Nicholas had told him at one point that he was staying on the second floor in the Castle Suite. He made his way to the proper floor with every intention of dragging his skinny arse out for pints at the pub. It didn't matter what Nicholas said, he was not going to be alone tonight. Danny knew that maybe he was being paranoid and he wasn't even sure what he was paranoid of but it was always better to be safe than sorry. On reaching the landing, he was broken from his thoughts by his partner's voice. It sounded frantic. He ran the remaining distance of the hallway to find the door open, the room destroyed, the peace lily spilled on the floor with pieces of its shattered pot scattered on and around an unconscious Lurch, and and Nicholas pacing back and forth while he shouted into the phone. It was all so out of place that despite Nicholas' presence, he thought he had somehow entered the wrong room. He stared wide-eyed until Nicholas hung up suddenly and made to run out of the room, only noticing Danny when he almost ran head-long into him.
"My god!" Danny exclaimed, finally finding his voice. "What happened to your peace lily?" He asked a little stupidly, the shock and absurdness of the situation making him blurt out the first question that popped into his head. His brain belatedly informed him that he ought to have asked what happened to Lurch, him being passed out on the floor 'n all.
"Danny!" Nicholas cried as he lunged for Danny, grabbing his shoulders and moving him from the doorway. He then started babbling something about being right and calling dad as well as keeping an eye on Lurch, but Danny could barely make out what he was saying. He was staring too intently at Nicholas' face to hear properly. There was a wide oozing gash across his left cheekbone and his bottom lip was split, dribbling blood down his chin. Slowly, two and two came together. Nicholas had been right about everything, obviously, and someone had sent Lurch to kill him because of it. Nicholas was every bit the action hero Danny knew him to be so, of course, he had won the fight but from the state of the room and Nicholas' face, it hadn't been an easy win. Danny's stomach turned with panic at the thought of Nicholas being badly hurt or worse. And then he was leaving. His hands were pulling away from Danny's arms, finally breaking him out of his shock.
"Hey, wait! What're you gonna do?" Danny asked, trying to stop Nicholas from leaving. He turned back with his familiar smirk and replied,
"I'm gonna bust this thing wide open," Danny couldn't help the grin. Nicholas was the best action hero ever but he was still scared for him. The last thing he wanted to do was to let him run headlong into danger like this but he knew he couldn't stop him. There had to be a way to help him. He noticed Nicholas' little black notebook on the floor amidst the shattered glass. Nicholas must have dropped it during the struggle. This thing has saved my skin more times than I can count Nicholas words echoed in his ears giving him an idea.
"Nich'las, wait," He stooped and grabbed the little notebook. "You might need this," He said as he tucked it into Nicholas' breast pocket. It wasn't much but it was something that he could do. Nicholas seemed to understand. He met Danny's eyes and for the second time that day he was frozen to the spot but this time it was by wonder as much as disbelief. The look Nicholas was giving him quite literally took his breath away. It was so open and earnest and filled with affection... No, affection was not the right word. There was only one word for the emotion in his eyes; love, open and unmistakable.
"Thanks partner," Nicholas replied. Without breaking eye contact, he reached out to touch Danny's arm. It started as a pat but turned quickly into a caress, his hand sliding down to his forearm and giving it a squeeze. He only hesitated another half second before running out the door and down the hallway. Danny could only watch him go, his arm tingling pleasantly from Nicholas' touch and his stomach twisting with dread.