Leaving the room, Danny kept his head up, his shoulders straight and his confidence at bay; when the click of the door sounded behind him, he felt himself slowly crumble. His hands began to shake wildly as he struggled to pull his coat on his on, trying to calm his heart, he rested his head against the wall. Holding his hand above his heart he took deep breaths, but nothing helped, he suddenly felt sick. A garbage can sat close by, with shaking knees he collapsed at it's side and emptied his stomach, heaving as sweat broke over his brow. Danny's hands shook so much, he could barely pull his a napkin from his coat to wipe his mouth. Standing up he shook off the feeling the best he could as Flack stepped out of the room connected to the interrogation room.

"You alright?" Flack asked as Danny continued to wipe his mouth clean.

"Would you be?" He asked finally looking at his friend.

"Not a chance in hell." He looked at Danny, waiting for him to respond. "You want to talk about it?"

"No." He said stretching his neck from side to side.

"I'm proud of you Danny, not a lot of people would have the stones to do that. I know I wouldn't." He said taking a breath. "Really, you did good." He said, hoping he would actually listen.

"Yeah, lucky me." He said, looking at Flack with a smile. "Look I think I'm just going to head home, I have to face Mother Messer tomorrow and I think I'm going to need my rest." He said in a nervous tone. "You think I could catch a ride?"

"Sure thing." Flack smiled warmly.

"Alright, just, ah... just let me get cleaned up, meet you out front." Danny said, without looking at him as he walked away.

Flack stood in the hallway watching him go, he knew he was on the verge of falling apart; he was so interested in watching his best friend, waiting for a tell, that he did not notice the small hand on his shoulder. Looking down he found Lindsay staring up at him.

"How's our boy doing?" She asked as Mac joined them.

"I don't know." Flack explained.

"I think we should just be patient. He's been through a lot today." Mac said looking at the saddened faces before him.

"I don't know about you, but I don't think he should be alone right now." Flack said looking at Lindsay.

"I'm going to go check on him." Lindsay said as she walked away to find him.

"What are you thinking Flack?" Mac asked as he watched Lindsay chase after Danny.

"I'm thinking that if we're not careful he could do something stupid." Flack looked Mac in the eyes, his concern was for more then Danny's safety.

"Yeah." He looked away. "I know what you mean."

The water ran cold as Danny splashed it over his face, cupping it in his hands he held the water to his face as he breathed in the cold water. Looking at himself in the mirror took more courage then he could muster; he had gotten stronger in the last couple of months. He was back at the gym and he was working back to the body before his life was disrupted, violently. He rested in silence with no media to flood his ears, he pushed it all away. In the two months he had spent at the hospital under protective custody, he did not have any time for himself. Constantly being swarmed by police and doctors, did not leave him a lot of time to deal with Derek.

The cool water covered the tears that were now falling from his eyes as he continued to run his face in the liquid, the walls he had built over the last couple of months were falling and falling hard.

"Hey." Lindsay said leaning on the door frame of the men's washroom.

"I think you might be out of bounds." Danny looked up at her with a smile as he pulled paper towel down to dry his face.

"Rules are made to be broken." She smiled as she walked towards him, she noticed he wouldn't look her in the eye as he faced the mirror. "How you holdin' up?" She asked, as she began rubbing his shoulder.

"I don't know. It's harder then I thought, you know?" He said, Lindsay noticed his voice was weak.

"Let's go home." She squeezed his shoulder with her small hand.

"You don't have to do this." He said finally making eye contact.

"I know, but I want to." Lindsay said with a smile.

"No, please don't pretend everything is alright just because I almost died, I don't need your pity." He was mad.

"It's not pity Danny. I just want you to know that I'm here." She watched as Danny looked down at his hands, they were shaking. "Danny?" She took a step towards him, his entire body shook.

"I can't do this." His voice was small, like a child. Looking up at Lindsay she found him crying. "I don't know how to deal with this, I don't know what to do." He explained as his brought his hands to his face, burying his eyes away.

"You don't have to deal with it alone, I'm here." Lindsay said as she pulled him into a hug. Holding his head on her neck, she could feel his chest heaving as he finally broke.

"I'm sorry." He cried into her shoulder, without moving his head.

"You don't have to apologize; I've got you." She said softly, pulling him closer; nearly squeezing his body to hers.

"No I do, the day that Derek took me, I was running away. That sounds childish I know, but I had to go." Danny said, pulling away from Lindsay.

"What are you talking about?" She said still holding his shoulders.

"I needed a break from you. I wanted... no, I needed to get away from you." Danny stepped away and turned his back to Lindsay. "I didn't want to end up hating you, so I decided to go."

"Danny." Lindsay was in shock. "You left because of me?"

"It wasn't just you. It was everything. I'm sorry." He spoke low.

"Danny-" Lindsay moved to be closer to him, but this time he pulled away.

"I'm going to go, I'll see you." He pushed past her and left the room, leaving Lindsay devastated in his wake.

Danny walked as fast as he could from the Police Station, hoping no one would follow him. The weather was cold and hard when he left the front doors, his breath froze as it left his lips, and his chest burned as he ran down the street away from the building which held his nightmares. The snow on the ground crunched beneath his feet as he got as far away as possible. Seeing a cab with it's light on, not to far off he ran to it holding his hand up. The cab rolled to a stop as Danny open the door and got in.

"Where to?" The driver asked, as Danny caught his breath.

"Ah..." Danny said deciding on his destination. "Staton Island Ferry." He said, as his head rested on the window.

"Sure thing, Boss." The driver said as he pulled away from the curb. "What are ya runnin' from?" He asked, looking back in his mirror.

"Everything." Danny said, trying to relax into his seat.

"Well I hope it's worth running away from kid." He said putting his eyes on the road. Danny looked up at him as Derek's face flashed before his eyes. 'This has nothing to do with you. You are just in the wrong place at the wrong time, sorry for your luck kid.' He heard throughout his subconscious.

"Stop the car!" Danny suddenly panicked.

"What?" The driver said in confusion.

"I said stop the car! Now!" Danny said as the cab came to a halt. Throwing money through the hole, Danny jumped out as fast as he could. His heart was racing, he could hear his pulse behind his ears as the cab drove away. Standing in the snow in the cold New York Street, Danny grabbed his head. No longer able to control it, he looked up to the starry night sky above and screamed as loud as he could. He screamed for the months in the hospital, he screamed for the bullet that was still lodged somewhere in his chest, he screamed for Lindsay and he screamed for the life he used to lead. He screamed until his voice broke and he had nothing left. Dropping to his knees, he sat in the snow. Breathing deep as his lung began to slowly inflate.

He felt a vibration from his belt as his phone began to ring, looking down he picked it up, the caller ID showed Flack. Answering the phone, he realized his voice was barely there and scratchy.

"Yeah?" He said in a low tone.

"Danny, where the hell did you go?" Flack said, he could tell by his voice that he was scared.

"I had to get out of there." He sat back in the snow, the cold felt good on his body.

"Are you alright? Where are you?" He said quickly.

"I'm fine." He took another deep breath of the cold air. "I'm not coming back, Don."

"That's fine, I'll come to you."

"No, that's not what I mean. I mean, I'm not coming back. There is a reason for all of this; it's a fresh start. Danny Messer is dead." He explained as a tear fell from his eye.

"What are you talking about Dan?" Flack said, confusion in his voice as he slowed his breathing to a near stop.

"I'm dead, and I'm going to stay dead. Good bye Don." Danny said taking the phone from his ear.

"Danny! Danny, don't do this! Danny?" He could hear Flack yelling as he ended the call. Dropping the phone into the snow beside him.

Looking up at the night sky, Danny could feel his heart beating in his chest. His fingers dragged in the fresh snow on the ground as flakes fell down onto his nose. He closed his eyes and smiled at the world around him, as the cold cut into his chest like a hot blade. He felt at peace for the first time in months, he no longer felt fear, dread, or pain. He felt nothing as he looked around at the city he loved. This was his way of saying goodbye, it's his way of letting go. Standing up he walked into the snow ridden dark night of New York City, leaving behind his cell phone in the fresh flakes.