A/N: Okay, here's the second chapter. Remember the warning in the previous chapter? It stays.

I don't own them.

Chapter 2

Danny had no idea how long it had been. He had a terrible headache and felt dizzy. He vaguely remembered that it must mean he had a concussion. He heard some faint noises from upstairs and at first tried to listen more carefully to hear them better but then tried to block them out. He knew what was going on upstairs. It was like some kind of a nightmare. It couldn't be real. His heart was pounding loudly in his chest, causing a ringing in his ears to arise. He didn't want to cry, didn't want to call for help, didn't want to move. He couldn't even flinch. The paralysing worry took hold of him, and he only jumped a slightest bit when some particularly loud sound from upstairs reached him.

Nicholas… Danny didn't want to imagine what was happening to him now. Maybe he had managed to break free though? No, he would have come back to free Danny as well. The sergeant sat with his back pressed against the cold wall and froze up, staring into the empty space in front of him.

Time passed, and soon enough some faint sunbeams began to come into the room from a tiny window right beneath the ceiling. The light was very weak, and it didn't defeat the darkness around Danny. He could see the door Nicholas had disappeared through, what felt like, an eternity ago. However, everything was still very vague and blurry.

Suddenly the sounds stopped. Danny was left in complete silence, which increased his anxiety. He knew it must mean something. Something was going to happen.

It was after another while when the door opened again and he saw a familiar shape of the blond man he knew too well. Only this wasn't how he had ever seen him before.

Nicholas was dragged into the cellar by the two of the crack-heads while the third one kept his gun pointed at Danny. It wasn't necessary though, as the sergeant was so shocked by what he was looking at that he forgot how to move at all. He couldn't see Nicholas that well, but he seemed to be barely conscious, blood pouring to the floor from all the numerous wounds he had.

"That was a good fun," he heard the voice but couldn't look up at its owner, unable to take his eyes off the inspector. "We'll have some rest and then – you are next for the party".

Danny looked at the man sharply, to catch a glimpse of the face he knew he would never forget, before turning back to Nicholas. The two men holding him threw him to the floor and turned to leave, not looking back at him.

Danny lifted his head up to face his captor, his eyes filled with so much rage and pain-induced hatred that the crack-head backed away without realising it. He took hold of himself quite fast though, and soon the cellar was left with only two people in it again. There was silence, disturbed only by Nicholas' loud laboured breathing and some weird coughing noises he was making. Danny couldn't see his face at the moment, as the older officer was lying on his stomach, trying to move his hands to support himself and roll over but failing even at that.

Snapping out of his stupor, Danny rushed to his aid, dropping to his knees by his friend's side.

"Nicholas?..." he called out softly, fighting back the tears that were threatening to fall with more persistence than ever. He took the blond man by the shoulders, trying not to touch the gunshot wound, and rolled him over. "Oh God…"

For a second Danny thought he was going to be sick. Nicholas' face was covered in blood which was escaping the splits in his eyebrow, lip and his broken nose. His skin was mortally pale, and the weak light from the tiny window only emphasized it. He was apparently having trouble breathing, catching air in loud gasps. His entire body was shaking in tremors and his eyes kept rolling in their sockets.

Danny could feel tears streaming down his face as he put his hand onto his friend's cheek and turned his head a bit so that now the older officer could look at him.

"Nicholas," Danny let out a loud sniff, his vision getting blurry because of the tears. He began to gently rub Nicholas' cheek with his thumb, hoping that the motion would be at least a little bit soothing. He didn't know how many times he had called the inspector's name in the past few hours and he didn't really care about that. "It's me…" he sniffed again. "It's Danny".

Nicholas' eyes finally focused on his and the shaking eased a bit.

"Da—" he tried to breathe out but even that syllable came out barely audible and got cut off by some moist sound. He began to cough, and when Danny lifted his upper body a bit, he saw blood escaping the blond man's mouth.

"Don't try to speak, Nicholas," Danny sobbed as soon as the coughing fit ended. He couldn't stop crying no matter how hard he tried. "Everything is going to be fine," saying the words he had heard from Nicholas a few years ago felt so weird. He only wanted to believe that… "Help will be here soon, the others will find us. Everything is going to be just fine".

Nicholas started to cough again, and Danny rolled him to his side, letting a new portion of blood pour to the cold floor. The younger officer was in a state of panic he never knew he could be in. He had seen a lot of movies in which people coughed up so much blood. Usually it meant that the person was a goner. Danny had to literally shake his head to get rid of that thought, making his concussion remind of itself once again. That was just the movies, Danny. And life isn't like the movies… right?

He looked down just in time to see that Nicholas' eyes were closing.

"No-no-no," his voice frantic, he lifted his friend up again. "Look at me. You need to stay awake, it will be over soon, I promise".

He allowed himself a little sigh when he saw Nicholas open his eyes. The look in them, however, made him cringe. There was the understandable pain but also some silent plea. As if Nicholas was begging him to let him go to sleep. Danny sobbed again and grasped his hand, terrified at how cold it already was.

"Sorry, mate. Not gonna happen," he muttered under his breath, not sure whether Nicholas even heard that. But the tone itself made him a bit more hopeful and he took a deep breath, calming down his sobs a bit.

Suddenly, a loud noise made the sergeant jump and turn his head to the door. He watched it open, and the three silhouettes he recognised unmistakably appeared. Danny knew what it meant. They had had rest and were ready to continue the "party"…