Disclaimer: If I owned them, I would rent them out to the highest bidder and get really really rich. But since that isn't the case, don't sue me please.
A/N: Thank you for all the lovely reviews!! I find that they are addictive.
Danny jumped up and began pacing with agitation.
"God, I did that, didn't I? I've made good since then, though. Me 'n her, we were good." he said, raking his fingers through his hair. "At least I thought we were. We had this, this … thing, and it made it easier coming back to the job once you were gone, and then Louie and all. We got through it. She got me through it." He hung his head and looked at his feet.
Aiden didn't even try to contain it, she just busted out laughing. Danny's head jerked up in surprise and his eyes narrowed into a glare.
"Just what the hell are you laughin' at, Burn?"
"You, Danny-boy! This has got to be the friggin' funniest thing I ever seen. Who woulda thought, bad boy Danny Messer, in love with tha girl from the country. I knew I liked her." Aiden clutched her stomach, doubling over from laughter.
"Come on, Aid, I'm dying here!" Well, that was a pretty dumb thing to say. Big whoop. Not like I care or anything.
Aiden's laughs subsided as she replied. "Danny, you do care, and that's why you're not done yet. You need to get your ass back there and take care of business."
"If you know all this shit, then you know what happened a coupla weeks back. She doesn't want what I want. I got that whole cliché 'its not you, its me' speech. Since then, it's like I'm working with a polite stranger rather than my friend. Love run cold and all that jazz." he said gesturing at the air with his hand. "When we processed the doctor's lounge at that hospital, I was close enough to her I could smell her hair and that vanilla-y stuff shampoo she uses, but I can't even get her to look me the eye. Plus, you know Mac still doesn't trust me, my family is spinnin' off all directions, nowadays, seems like all the relatives are starting their own families but me. Even Flack doesn't seem to want to have anything to do with any of us anymore. I just don't see the point. I'd rather just be done." He stopped pacing and looked away with a pained expression on his face.
She tossed her hair over her shoulder and grabbed his chin roughly so she could pull his head up to where he was looking at her.
"Daniel Messer, don't go feedin' me that line of bull. I got you're number, and you're just full of it. Did you listen to everything she said when ya talked?"
"Of course I did, she said she couldn't be in a relationship with me, we've been over this," he muttered exasperatedly.
"Followed up by you saying you weren't talking relationship, just spending some time together , having dinner, drinks, a few laughs… Smooth one, by the way, what a way to work that Messer Magic …" She paused for a breath and Danny opened his mouth to retort, but Aiden interrupted him. "No, I ain't done talking yet, so chill. While she was explaining herself to you, she said she couldn't be in a relationship right now, she had some stuff to work out. Nowhere in there did she say never, Danny-boy. You told her she could come to you if needed, but ya didn't just give breathing room, ya gave her a hundred city blocks. You talk about the chilly atmosphere, but did ya try to keep things warm, or friendly even? When's the last time you called her Montana? Nuh-uh, you aren't gettin' away with blaming that one on her," she finished emphatically.
He appeared to be mulling over what she said, he wasn't arguing so she decided to push on ahead.
"As far as Mac goes, Danny, it's not that he don't trust ya, he's worried for you is all. Ya know he doesn't go in for all that emotional bullshit. He's just trying to keep an eye on ya to make sure you're doin' okay." Then she scoffed "Your family is Italian, they're always goin ta be procreatin' and expanding, that ain't gonna change with anything. Maybe if you worked on your Montana more, you could be part of that expansion in the next few years." Danny's head jerked up with that one, eyes wide.
"Me 'n Montana, a baby?"
"Hey man, ya think I can tell the future? I'm just saying you'll never know if you don't go back." She hesitated before adding "Flack needs you too you know. He's got it rough right now, working out some shit of his own, and what with you off in your own pity party…" she shrugged, "he's feeling alone in this, too. Ya need to look out for each other." She looked away. "Ya gotta look out for him for me," she said softly.
Danny sputtered "F-flack? You and Flack?"
"Messer, wipe that damn smirk off your face, it ain't like that. At least, well, it never had a chance to be like that. Back then, there wasn't any way that super-cop Don Flack Sr. would approve of Jr. taking up with the likes of me, so I kinda avoided the issue. I thought maybe in time something could be worked out, but then," she trailed off. "Then it was just too late."
"Aiden, I'm sorry, I didn't know." He placed his hand on her forearm. "God, you shoulda told me sooner."
"Well, you know how it goes. Ya think ya got all the time in the world, but then life happens. I wish I coulda had more time, but since the outcome means Pratt is off the streets, I wouldn't change it; it was worth it. You, though, you still got time. You can go back and make this right. She's your saving grace."
Danny backed away and started pacing again. "I don't know if I am strong enough for this anymore. There has just been too much bad shit happening, it just seems too much, sometimes."
"Beauty for ashes, Daniel." At his confused look, she said "Never mind, it's between me and your Montana. Ya know what's happening right now, while you've been whiling away the time with little 'ol me?"
He turned towards her. "What do you mean? What's going on?"
"After you got your hard head bashed in, Lindsay was a few blocks away, just finishing up at a scene, and she tried to call you. She's getting' tired of this game just like you are. When she couldn't get ahold of you, she asked Flack to give you a call, on the off chance you just weren't takin' her calls. When that didn't work the two of them headed to your place to check things out, 'cause it just didn't set right with 'em."
A/N2: Chapter 3 begins with what happens when Lindsay and Flack get to Danny's apartment. You know the drill, the more reviews I get, the quicker the last chapter will get posted. So review away!