"No it isn't."
"Yes it is. It's all my fault."
He sighed. "No, it isn't."
"Yes it is." His tone was self-recriminating. "I shouldn't have left her on her own."
"What are you? Five? You didn't leave her you switched a light on. The cops should have secured the scene." He was getting annoyed.
"I still shouldn't have left her. I should have insisted…"
"Do you even know Stella?" He was amused.
Danny stubbornly shook his head. "It's my fault. I'm just so damn tired these days." He reached up to rub his eyes. "I must have missed something."
Hawkes looked up from stitching Danny's side. Danny had wanted to avoid getting sent to the ER and so they were using Hawkes's first aid kit and hiding out in Sid's office. "Don't do this to yourself. It was the cop's fault and if I know Mac at all that cop's going to wish he'd never been born." His gentle hands belied his anger as he smoothed a bandage over the stitches.
Hawkes rested his hands on Danny's shoulders and squeezed, exerting enough pressure that he looked up.
"It. Was. Not. Your. Fault. Got it?"
Danny just looked at him with that wretched expression.
Hawkes sighed. You could never get through to Danny when he was in this mood, he knew that much about him. He picked up the torn and bloody top from the bed and handed Danny the scrub top he had pinched from Sid's cupboard.
"I'll log these in with the rest of the evidence. If Mac sees you he'll pitch a fit and cart you off to the ER to join Stella. Just… stay here and wait for me. I'll grab you some medication while I'm gone. You need something for the pain and against infection."
Danny carefully put the top on, trying not to jar his side, which throbbed like a… and sank down onto the bed. He could do with a nap, hell; he could do with any kind of sleep right now. He hadn't been able to sleep properly for weeks. He just had to hope Hawkes was quicker than Sid.
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Hawkes beat Sid back to the office by scant minutes. Enough time to rouse Danny and usher him out of the room as Hammerback came through the doors all tangled up in his lab coat. Hawkes kept his gaze on his disorientated friend and avoided eye contact with Sid, almost dragging the still sleepy Danny behind him as he rushed through the doors, hoping Hammerback wouldn't want to stop and talk. He didn't, just watched them with a raised eyebrow. Then he turned back... And saw the state of his office.
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Hawkes set Danny down in the office he shared with Lindsay and handed over the packets of pills. "I've written the instructions down on the packets. Don't even think about not taking them or I'm going to go straight to Stella."
Danny winced.
Hawkes, who was by now supremely irritated and in no mood to be messed with, decided to take it as assent. "I have to leave. I promised Mac I would go to the warehouse and help him process the scene. We'll be back in a few hours and don't forget - you need to write your report of what happened."
Danny winced again. It was something he was not looking forward to. Damn Internal Affairs rat-bast…
Hawkes chose to ignore that one. "Stella should be back in about an hour. Mac insisted she go to the hospital but you know Stella. Once she's checked out she'll be straight back here. Probably try and barbecue the guy so don't let her anywhere near the bullpen if you can."
Danny looked up at that, surprised. "I thought he would have gone to the hospital?"
Hawkes shook his head. "No. They patched him up and sent him down to interrogation. You didn't carve him up that badly." He paused. "You need to practice."
They grinned at each other.
At Danny's smile, Hawkes relaxed a little. That side of Danny had been missing for quite a while and it was a relief to have it back. Even if only briefly.