Danny woke up to an ache in his neck, and restless legs. He stretched and rolled over to get more…
"AHHHGGG!"
Martin was startled awake. He could have sworn he heard Danny yell. He stretched and rolled over to get more comfortable with his partner. When he reached over and found that Danny wasn't there, he opened his eyes. They had fallen asleep on the couch again. Where is Danny? Martin moves to the edge of the couch and…
"AHAHAHAHA!"
"It's not funny Martin!" Danny yelled up at his hysterical partner, from where he lay on the floor.
"You-you fell…haha, off the…haha!"
"Yes, I'm fine, thanks for your concern." Danny says sarcastically while pulling himself up.
"I'm sorry, Danny." Martin apologized out of breathe. "Wow, I haven't laughed that hard in so long."
Danny smiled down at Martin. "Are you hungry?"
"Yes!" Martin shouted. "But let's go out. I just want to get out of the apartment for a while."
After eating a large breakfast at the small diner down the block, Danny and Martin each got a coffee to go. Then they took a cab to Central Park where they found a bench under a tree to sit at.
"Wonder why we stopped coming doing this." Martin said. "We used to come here all the time."
"I know." Danny replied. "It's been awhile."
They fell into a comfortable silence; enjoying the cool crisp air, watching families and dogs run around having fun.
"Have you…" Martin started.
"Have I what?" Danny asked.
"Have you ever thought about having kids?"
Danny looked back to the families. He was a little shocked by Martins question.
"I used to. I've known my whole life that I'm gay. I always told myself that I would adopt when the time was right. But then I dropped out of law school, and I was drinking all the time. I used to tell myself that I didn't deserve kids. Now, though. Maybe, someday it would be nice to have kids."
When Martin didn't reply after a few minutes, it hit Danny like a ton of bricks. He just realized that Martin was thinking about having kids.
"Are you thinking about having kids, Martin?" Danny asked looking back at his partner.
"My life was already planned out, before I was even born. I would get A's in every subject, go to the best college. Follow in my dad's footsteps in the FBI. Merry a beautiful women and have a baseball team of kids." Martin answered sullenly. "When I came out to my parents, the plan never changed. They decided to ignore the fact that I found women repulsive when it came to sex. I never thought about actually having kids."
"But you are now? What changed your mind?"
"I would say it was the job, but this case…sitting there listening to Edward repeat everything that's happened to him. I just wanted to wrap him up and bring him home, where I knew he would be safe. For the first time, I thought about the millions of children out there that have crappy childhoods. They deserve better. And I got to thinking that if I could change the life of just one child, it would be worth it."
Martin finally looked over at his partner.
"Do we want kids?" He asked Danny.
"If we were, we would need a bigger place, and I would want them to go to a good school. So, we'd have to find a house in a good school district."
"You'd want to buy a house with me?" Martin asked, shocked.
"Martin, I would love to buy a house with you. I would love to have a family with you. I love you more than life itself."
"I love you, too." Martin said, leaning into his life partner.
"I can't believe we're doing this." Martin said, looking around the large living of the house they were currently viewing.
"I can." Danny said, coming up behind Martin and wrapping his arms around his waist, and resting his chin on Martins shoulder. "I like this one. I can see us living here."
They had viewed five houses in the past two three days. This house was the first one they visited and both men had fallen in love with it. It was a two story house, with four bedrooms and two bathrooms. It had a big fenced in back yard, and was in a nice quiet neighborhood. It was straight out of a magazine.
The realtor came into the room and smiled at the couple.
"Well, that should be all. Your offer has been summited, and we should here back in a couple days."
"Thank you." Martin said. "We really appreciate your help."
"I'm only doing my job Mr. Fitzgerald."
Danny and Martin spent the rest of their day in the park down the street from their hopefully new house. They didn't want to get each other's hopes up, but both wanted it so bad. It never hurts to dream. At least that's what Danny kept telling Martin.
A few days later on Monday morning, Martin and Danny walked into the office together. After a week off, they both felt rested, and ready to jump back into work.
They both sat at the large table in the center of the bull pen, where they exchanged greetings with Sam, and Vivian. All four shared what they did over the weekend. Vivian shared that her son's baseball team won the state championship, and Sam said that she stayed at home and cleaned mostly. She didn't want to admit that she hadn't been home in weeks since she's been staying at Jacks.
Danny and Martin told their colleagues that they were searching for a house just outside of the city, leaving out that they had made an offer on one. When asked why they were buying a house, they just smiled at each other. Then Jack entered the bull pen.
"Welcome back, boy. You're just in time for a new case." Jack said, putting a picture of a man on the white board. "This is Mark Timberpin, 31 years old. He went missing yesterday around 11AM. He's a kindergarten teacher at PS-124. I think the best way to approach this one is to go undercover."
"Why is that?" Viv asked.
"The principle of the school seems to think that a few of the other teachers are responsible for his disappearance. She claims that Mr. Timberpin is gay, and that he has attracted trouble before." Jack answered.
"Are we looking at a hate crime?" Danny asked.
"I'm not sure yet. That's why we're going in. We need to find the truth, without stirring up trouble. If Mr. Timberpin is still alive and someone knows where he is, we don't want to make it any harder on him."
"Does he have a partner?" Martin asked.
"He does, and he's frantic. I don't want him to know that we're FBI. I don't want our cover blown. We've got a man's life in our hands."
"Okay, where do you want us?" Sam asked this time.
"I'd like Martin to take over as the substitute teacher. Now, Martin. For this to work, I need you to let it be known that you're gay. Is that alright?"
"Not a problem, Jack." Martin said.
"Alright, I need you to check out as many of the teachers you can, and maybe the parents."
"I can do that."
"Danny, I need you there as back up. You'll be filling in for a sick janitor. Viv, you're going to be the principles new assistant. Sam, I want you here running background checks. Get started with Mr. Timberpin and his partner."
Once everyone knew what they're assignment was, they headed to the school. Jack pulled Martin aside before he left.
"Are you alright to do this, Martin?" Jack asked.
"I'll be fine, Jack. Danny and I reconnected over the past few days, and I'm letting him in. Everything's good." Martin said.
"I'm glad. I'm proud of you, kid."
Jack patted Martin on the back, and watched him turn and enter the elevator.