***Author's Note***

I have a hard time writing Danny, I feel like he says more with his hands and body language than he ever puts into words. I tried to capture that during this discussion, hope I did ok.

Chapter 2

Catherine jumped when she saw someone standing in the corner of the doorway, hand instinctively reaching for her holstered weapon, which of course wasn't there. She quickly registered who it was and her hand then moved to cover her mouth with her finger signaling both Danny and herself to be quiet as she turned to look at Steve. Oblivious to the exchange that just took place in his bedroom Steve slept on, not moving so much as a muscle as Catherine whisked Danny down the stairs into the living room.

"You scared the shit out of me Danny!" She finally spoke as the moved away from the stairs, "What are you doing here?"

"I scared the shit out of you!?" Danny spit back at her? "What am I doing here? What the hell are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be off saving the world somewhere?" It was cruel, and he knew it, but couldn't find it in himself to care at this moment.

She was taken back by his tone and his uncharacteristically harsh words "Danny… I… "

"You know what Cath? Don't, just don't ok."

Danny raised his hands and started to list questions for her, "Let's start with why you're here? When you got here? And when you're leaving… you know, so I can prepare for how much of a mess I am going to have to clean up this time."

Her immediate reaction was anger, the hair on the back of her neck stood as she felt the adrenaline surge shoot up from her core. She bit her tongue, took a deep calming breath, and moved to sit on the sofa before responding to him.

"I could tell something was bothering you from the second you saw me in Montana. Got something you want to get off your chest Danny?"

"Huh… you could tell something was bothering me huh? That's a.. that's some great detective work Catherine… that something they teach you in the CIA, how to read people? Or just how to screw over your family and friends?"

"That's not fair Danny! You know I love Steve… and you for that matter. Steve understands why I had to do what I did, why I had to leave. We talked about this, you and I years ago!" She was finding it harder to keep her emotions in check.

"Oh yeah… that's right, we did talk about it years ago.. yeah.. pretty sure that was the same conversation that you told me you were staying! You lied, to my face, Catherine!" Danny was pacing now, his arms gesturing wildly trying to prove his point.

"First of all, keep your voice down", she yelled to him in a whisper, "Steve is asleep and if it is ok with you I would like to keep it that way. Second of all, I didn't say I would stay. I said there was nothing I wanted more.."

Danny dropped into the chair across from her, "Semantics? Really? That's your defense here? You have got to be kidding me! Cath look, I know you love Steve, I do, really. But what you're doing now and every other time you popped up is to hurt him… I told you once that he is the best version of himself with you around… but you know what huh? He is the worst version of himself when you leave again."

Unable to contain his emotion Danny got up to resume his pacing. "Catherine, you, uh, you haven't been around… do you even know what he's been through the last few years? It's a lot, ya know, it's Steve, right, so he gets knocked down and he just keeps getting back up again… but I gotta tell ya, this time the getting back up… that's taking a while ya know, after Joe… I just uh… I don't know if he can, I mean how he's gonna take it when you leave again. That's all. I'm just trying to look out for my boy ya know."

"Danny, listen, I know… you don't think I know what it does to him when I leave?" She paused, trying to hide the quiver in her voice. "You don't think it does the same thing to me?" She cleared her throat trying to dislodge the lump that had settled there.

"Then why keep doing it Cath? Huh? Either stay gone or come home… if it's that hard why put yourself, and him, through it?" He resumed his previous position on the chair. His resolve was crumbling. He was furious with her for everything she had put Steve through but as he listened to her, he could see that Steve wasn't the only one suffering.

"Danny…" she started but was unable to finish for fear that she would lose her tenuous grip on her emotions.

"How long?" He asked point blank.

"How long? How long what?"

"How long you staying this time? A week? A month? You leaving today?"

How was she going put this? Was she ready to have this conversation with Danny? It was hard enough to have with Steve… was it even Danny's business? Well now that was a dumb question, she thought to herself. What are the chances that this would be the time that Danny would take the response 'none of your business' as an acceptable answer? A big fat zero she answered her own question. 'Might as well just get it over with' she scolded herself.

"I'm here to stay Danny."

"Oh, really? Sure you don't want to re-phrase that so you can change your mind later and not have to feel guilty about lying to me?" He knew if Steve were in the room his partner would have jumped to Catherine's defense by now and told him to quit with his attitude… but Steve wasn't here… he was upstairs asleep, oblivious to this entire conversation. Therefore, Danny rationalized, he was free to get the answers that Steve for some reason never pushed her for.

His response hurt but if she were being honest with herself, she couldn't really blame him. Steve was his partner, his best friend, his brother and she had hurt him… more than once. She took a deep breath and steeled herself for the rant she knew was coming.

"I resigned my position with the CIA last week, I got in late last night, it was the first flight home I could get. I'm not going anywhere Danny, no semantics, no word games, I'm home to stay." She had been staring at her folded hands in her lap while she spoke, afraid of what she might see in Danny's eyes. When she got no response, she raised her head to meet his eyes. He was speechless and he wasn't moving, if this had been an earlier time in their friendship (although at this point, she wasn't even sure if she could call it that) she would have loved to make a comment about his current state of quiet… now didn't seem the time.

"Ok… so uh no more CIA huh? That's… ah… that's… something" He sputtered once he found his voice again."

"So, why now? Why not last year or the year before? Why not when he was kidnapped by Wo Fat? Why not when he almost died and I gave him part of my liver? Why not when you found out he was going to ask you to marry him?" He was pacing again. He was shooting questions rapid fire at her not waiting for an answer. When he finally stopped to take a breath, he looked her and realized she was staring back at him, the expression on her face made him realize that she had said something and she was waiting for what? An answer a reaction from him? What had she just said? Belatedly he heard the question play back in his mind.

"What did you just say? Did you just say what I think you did?"

"I'm pregnant Danny."