"Oh, Danny." Lindsay clung to her lover tighter, sighing. "How awful."

"Yeah, it wasn't exactly the most fun night of my life, I can yell ya that much." Danny's blue eyes were staring at the wall, void of emotion. Lindsay hesitantly reached up to stroke his cheek and he refocused on her, smiling at the worry in her eyes. "But it's just the past right?" He leaned down to kiss her softly, his grin disappearing as he saw her somber brown eyes studying him. "What?"

"What happened after that? I mean, you two must have reconciled, right?" Lindsay shifted slightly to see him better. "There's a reason she's…" her voice trailed off, unsure of how to finish.

"Dead?" There was a bite to Danny's tone and Lindsay flinched. His eyes softened and he closed his eyes, thinking. "Sorry, it's just…"

Lindsay nodded, cutting him off. "Hard, I know." She swallowed, looking away. "Painful memories are never any fun."

"Is that what you're tryin' to block out? Painful memories?" She turned back to see his eyes, deep and caring, watching her. She nodded and Danny recognized the signs of not wanting to say anything further. He sighed and put his arm around her, drawing her closer. "After that night, we had a period of not talkin' to each other. Louie and I went to the funeral, but it was out of obligation, not choice." He cleared his throat, smiling when Lindsay looked up at him in surprise. "You think Louie and I wanted to be there? Him with his part in Mikey's death and me, defendin' my brother?" Danny shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "No one spoke to us the whole time. I wouldn't have minded so much, except that Missus O'Brien came up afterwards to give Louie and me a hug, thankin' my brother for bein' there with Mike when he went. Allie wouldn't even look at me." Danny shrugged. "I figured it would pass, and she'd be sneakin' over the alley to talk to me again." He smirked, biting his lip. "It didn't. For pretty much the rest of the school year she gave me the cold shoulder."

Lindsay shuddered, remembering her own share of block-outs. "Didn't you try to talk to her?"

He surprised her by laughing, resting his chin on the top of her head. "You know how Stella gets when she's mad? There's no point in talkin' to her until you're sure she won't shoot ya?" He could feel Lindsay nod underneath him. "Well, Allie was ten times worse than that. She was angry at a lot of people who went around sayin' Mikey had gone and gotten himself killed, not to mention upset that I had, at one point, been one of 'em. She wouldn't let me get near her, and the one time I cornered her after school before baseball, she gave me a black eye that would put a heavyweight champ to shame." He shook his head. "Nah, I let her have her space. It could have ruined us, but then stuff happened, and we were back on speakin' terms."

Lindsay moved from Danny's arms and turned so she was lying stomach-down on the pillow. "What stuff?"

Danny felt his throat tighten and his fists clench. He glanced at Lindsay warily. "You sure you wanna know?"

A skeptic look from her made him grin and he took a deep breath. "It was in May, after a game. Perfect weather, and the team was celebratin' 'cause we won. So a couple of the guys decided to go out and party and I went with 'em." He swallowed hard. "Things got outta hand, and some assholes crossed the line."

"Danny…" Lindsay's soft voice told him that his explanation wasn't sufficient and he smirked.

"Remember that idiot Tony and his cousin? It was their fault that night went the way it did…"

---

The white lights of the stadium shone so brightly that they blinded Danny as he blinked the sweat out of his eyes. It was a hot night, the last game of the season. He crouched down, feeling the tension run through his body as he watched the batter before winding up and letting go. It was his trademark fastball and he smiled in satisfaction as it sailed true over the plate. The crack of a bat and Danny practically swallowed his tongue in surprise before bolting into action, yelling for the ball. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the runner rounding first and sprinting for second. The ball was still somewhere in left field and Danny cursed silently as the runner hit second and made his way to third.

"C'mon, c'mon, dammit!" Danny cursed silently under his breath, virtually feeling the pounding of the runner's feet on the packed dirt as he crossed over third and sprinted for home. Suddenly, a shout of his name and Danny turned his head to see one of the outfielders throwing the baseball his way. He reached out automatically, catching the small white orb neatly in his glove. The runner saw this coming and turned face, racing back for third. Danny smirked and threw the ball, jumping up as the third baseman caught the ball milliseconds before the runner touched the base. The umpire called him out and the entire baseball team erupted into cheers, running to Danny and Matt, the third baseman. Hoisting the two boys upon their shoulders, the team carried the triumphant duo to the dugout.

---

Allie watched the celebrations with a wary eye, raising an eyebrow when the entire baseball team dumped the cooler of Gatorade on their coach. A faint snort to her left made her glance out of the corner of her eye at Erin, who sat with her arms folded, scowling at the field. "This is such a stupid sport. I don't know why you drag me here if all you want to do is watch the guy you're so pissed off at. After all, it's not like Mikey's playin' anymore…" her voice drifted off as Allie visibly stiffened and Erin bit her lip in silent apology.

Allie sighed and stood after a few moments of silent contemplation. "You're right. Let's go."

Erin clapped her hands and stood as well, smiling. "You wanna go to that party at Mick's tonight?" She shot a deadly glare at the cheering athletes. "The jocks probably won't be there."

Allie smirked. "With this victory, they'll hit every party on Staten Island." She ran a hand through her hair, thinking. "Yeah, we might as well go. It's almost the end of the year anyway." She picked her way out of the stands, making a beeline for the parking lot. "God, I'm ready to get out of this place."

Erin followed silently, knowing Allie was referring to more than just the baseball complex.

---

The music was loud, the atmosphere was pulsing, and Danny didn't know which way was up anymore. He just accepted the beer given to him when he walked through the door and that was it. He shook hands and took hugs, even kissing an extremely drunk girl back when she tackled him in the kitchen. His teammates hooted and hollered, eventually pulling him away from the young woman as her boyfriend realized what was going on. Danny just smiled and followed like an obedient puppy. His eyes immediately scanned the crowd, looking for the one person he was sure he wouldn't see. Though he acted like the champion he was allowed to be for the night, he felt like an idiot. There was no reason why Allie would be at a party. She would be home, finishing homework or spending time with her mom, who had gone off the deep end since they had put Mikey into the ground. Danny sighed and shook his head, taking a swig of his drink.

…And promptly spitting it back into the cup as he saw her. She was sitting on a couch, talking to some girls whose names he couldn't remember if he was paid to. Allie's hair was down, framing her face, and she was smiling. He felt himself grin, and he handed his cup off to some insignificant sophomore, winding his way through the crowd to get to her.

---

"…It's not that the test was hard, it's just that I'm so sick of studying." Allie nodded her head sympathetically as the blonde next to Erin explained her plight, as if the friends really cared. Truth be told, she was bored with the whole damn thing. She wanted to get away from the loud music and the idiots who thought she cared.

She felt Erin's foot connect with her shin, and she jumped, more from the surprise than the pain. "What the hell was that for?" she asked, and Erin motioned with her eyes to a boy standing in front of the group of girls. Allie looked up and stiffened as her eyes met the cool blue ones of Danny Messer. "Hey, Al," he mumbled, slightly slurring. "I hoped you'd be here."

She immediately felt the old longing, the wish that his brother hadn't been involved in her brother's death, but the lack of Mikey kept her from running back into Danny's arms. She narrowed her eyes and stood up, glaring. "Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I'm leaving." She waved quickly to Erin and stalked out of the room, heading for the front door and her car.

Danny began to follow her when he felt a hand on his arm. He looked down to see Erin shaking her head, lips pursed. "That's not a good idea, Dan. She's still not quite back to even slightly normal yet." She sighed and loosened the grip on his arm. "And you're too drunk to even think about trying to talk to her right now."

He brushed her off and cleared his throat. "This is bullshit, Erin." He looked in the direction Allie had left and squared his shoulders. "I'm tired of not talking to her, not being able to see her. I'm gonna go find her, whether you like it or not."

"Danny, no! I already told you, she doesn't want to talk!"

"You ain't my motha! Gerroff!" He ducked through the crowd before Erin could stop him and she stamped her foot angrily before looking around for one of the baseball guys that had arrived with Danny. Her eyes landed on Matt, the other hero of the night, and she grabbed him, pulling the burly senior with her with the determination of a thousand women. "Don't ask questions, just c'mon!"

---

Danny gasped as the cool night air hit his face, feeling the effects of the alcohol start to wear down. His buzz was disappearing, which was good if he wanted to be at all eloquent when he found Allie. He looked for her car over all the other vehicles parked up and down the street. Finding it, he ran towards it, hoping to catch her before she took off. To his surprise, there was no one in the car. He turned, trying to see if he had somehow missed her, when a sound from the alleyway directly across from him made him curious. He cracked his knuckles and started into the darkness, the light from the streetlamp being his only guide. As his eyes adjusted, he saw two figures, standing in the corner farthest from him. He thought they looked familiar, but the alcohol made his brain fuzzy and he could barely think straight. However, he knew who they were the minute the taller one started talking.

"C'mon, just a taste. Just a bit of a try, pretty girl." The voice was silky smooth and more slurred than anything Danny had ever heard before. He smiled, knowing for sure that the speaker was more wasted than he and Danny leaned against the wall, chuckling softly.

"Marza, what the hell d'you think you're playin' at?"

The taller figure whipped around, proving that it was indeed Tony, holding a beer bottle in one hand. He observed Danny scathingly for a moment before breaking into a wide grin that could better be described as a leer. "Well, Messer, I'm only takin' over where you lef' off." He staggered drunkenly to the right, giving Danny a full view of what Tony had been asking for so earnestly minutes before.

Allie's eyes were wide with fear, and she stared at Danny in panic, flinching when a drunk Vinnie came too close. Her hands were clenched into fists at her sides and her nostrils flared, the only other physical signs of her terror. Danny immediately reached sobriety, squaring his shoulders as he assessed the situation. "Let her go, Tony."

"Why? So you can take her back to your place? Not a chance." Tony scoffed and pulled a cigarette from behind his ear. Danny unconsciously reached up for his own smoke that he always carried behind his own ear. Tony smiled at lit his, throwing the match down on the ground when the tobacco began to burn. "I know you know what happens when you don't make the right move, Messer." He took a long drag before grimacing and throwing the cigarette at Danny. "Now, beat it."

Danny shook his head and stepped closer. "No."

Instantly, Tony was in his face, snarling. "You think you're so brave, big bad baseball man, but I know the truth. You're afraid of your own shadow, not to mention your brotha." He smirked and pulled back slightly, observing Danny's shocked face. "Yeah, I know you know about that night at Pelham. You're afraid Louie's not tellin' the whole truth." Tony snorted and stepped back a bit more and Danny saw his chance.

"Patience is the key to gettin' a good run or a good girl. Trust me." Danny could hear his brother's advice echo through his head and he tensed, waiting for the moment when he could push Tony into the wall and get what he deserved. Just another step was all Danny needed. Until then, Danny needed to keep him talking.

"Listen, Tony, I'm sorry Coach benched you two tonight. But there's a party goin' on, which you're more than welcome to go to. Waste your time there, instead of out here with the rats." Danny shifted imperceptibly, almost tasting the tension in the air.

Tony rolled his eyes. "I'm not worried about my baseball career, Messer. I got somethin' better to do with my life than waste four years in college." He smirked. "Sonny's offered me a life of comfort, so long as I do somethin' for him." He motioned behind him, where Allie was still shaking with fright. "Get rid of the O'Brien brats. He never did like Mikey, said he was too nice to be a Tanglewood Boy. Mikey's loss, right?" Tony took another step back and Danny pounced. Though Danny was smaller, he was tougher and quicker. He pushed the bigger boy back into the wall, slamming his occipital lobe into the brick. Danny used the heel of his palm to break Tony's nose, dodging as the blood spurted.

Tony screamed in pain and sunk to the concrete sidewalk of the alleyway. Danny heard Allie's warning of, "Dan, behind you," just in time, turning to lodge a swift punch right between Vinnie's eyes. The cousins lay prone on the ground and Danny smiled, breathing heavily. "They went down like the drunks they were, didn't they?"

Allie nodded and crossed to him, stopping a few feet away. "Thanks, Danny," she mumbled, not looking up at him but continuing to stare at her feet. He smiled and closed the gap between them. Crooking a finger beneath her chin, blue eyes met brown and she offered a watery grin. "I can't believe I let them corner me like that."

Danny shrugged and threw an arm about her shoulders, steering her out of the alley and into the lamp-lit street. "Forget about it. They'll wish they hadn't in a few hours." Stretching, Danny glanced at his watch. "Shouldn't you be gettin' home?"

She leaned against a low wall nonchalantly, nodding. "Yeah, I guess." There was a slight pause in her voice, and Danny waited, knowing she meant to continue. She didn't disappoint him. "Thanks, Dan."

He shifted so that he was leaning next to her and pulled the cigarette out from behind his ear. "You don't gotta thank me. Ever." There was a tone of finality in his voice and she shut her mouth with a snap, smiling sheepishly. He pulled a lighter out of his pocket, lit the smoke, and put the lighter back, taking a drag. Danny didn't miss the reproaching look from Allie and he grinned down at her. He knew she hated it when he smoked. He shrugged his shoulders, as if to show her that his bad habit didn't change the guy he was, but Allie pulled away, shaking her head and looking pointedly at the lit cigarette between his fingers. "That shit will kill you, Dan."

He chuckled and dropped the stick to the ground, extinguishing it beneath his toe. "What a way to go, huh?"

Allie nodded. "Yeah." She took a deep breath and moved so that her body was parallel from his. Her face was hallowed by the orange light of the street lamp and Danny's breath caught. God, she's beautiful. Please, no matter what happens to me, never let me forget this moment. Her hair shone with the artificial light and her eyes sparked with some internal flame that made Danny look again. Was that remorse he saw in her eyes? Not just the kind that came with the loss of a loved one, that was to be expected. This emotion looked almost ashamed, humiliated. He wasn't expecting it and he stood a little straighter, studying her.

"I've been doin' a lot of thinkin' over the past few months, Dan." Allie spoke softly and quickly, as though afraid she wouldn't get to say what she wanted to tell him in time. "And I came to the conclusion that no matter what I'm doin' or where I'm goin', if you're not there, makin' me smile, it doesn't feel like I'm doin' anythin' right." Her breath caught and she heaved an enormous watery sigh, holding back tears. "And I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for the things I said about Louie that night. I was upset and angry and a little bit lost, and I know that if anyone had said that to me about Mikey, I would have socked 'em."

"Aw, shit, Al, you don't have to…"

"Would you shut up and let me finish?" She cut him off, not in anger, but with an amused glance, telling him in the gentlest way possible that she was not done. "Hearing what those idiots said about Sonny and everythin' really made me see where I was wrong, and for that I apologize." She held a finger to his lips as he opened his mouth to say something and Danny felt his stomach plummet to his knees. She was smiling at him again. "You rescued me back there, Dan, and I'd love to forget that we fought and allow ourselves to move on in our lives."

He nodded, too dumbfounded to say much more. She laughed quietly at his expression and stepped away, ever so gently brushing his lips with her finger as she did so.

"Allie!" Erin's voice startled them both back to reality and Danny cursed as the angry girl came into the picture, with a very confused Matt in tow. "I told him not to talk to you, but he's just stubborn and I brought Matt to make sure that he didn't…why aren't you two ripping each other's heads off?"

Allie laughed and shook her head. "You missed it. Sorry."

"I knew it," Matt spoke up, pulling his arm away from Erin. "I told you they were fine."

"But…but….but…." Erin couldn't think clearly and Allie smirked, patting her friend on the shoulder. "Don't hurt yourself, sweetheart." She began to walk in the direction of her house, turning to call over her shoulder at Danny, "I owe you one, Messer!"

"You know it!" He yelled back, laughing as she waved and began arguing with Erin.

Matt looked from boy to girls, confused. "Did I miss somethin'?"

Danny just shook his head and watched Allie walk away. "You have no idea."

---

A/N: So, I know it's been forever since I updated this story, or any story for that matter, but I would still love some awesome reviews! Please?