Chapter 7

Calleigh showed Danny to the spare bedroom in her 5th floor apartment. The room was nice, not too big, but not too small. The ceiling was classic white, as were the baseboards, door frame, and window sills; while the walls were a light grey with a hint of beige. Danny thought the color probably held some silly name like Sand at Dusk. The main and closet doors gave the room contrast, being a light shade of grayish green. It had massive windows covered by curtains that matched the doors. There was a queen size bed against the wall, opposite the windows, and a huge bookcase. It was a deep walnut and took up most of the only available wall. It was full of books, at first glace, Danny saw many about guns and the law. There were boxes filling the closet and some strays on the un-made bed. It was more than obvious that the room rarely saw guests and had been turned into a storage space.

"I'm going to get some blankets and pillows. If you would, just stack the boxes by the closet." Calleigh said as she headed out into the hall.

"Yeah." Danny answered for no reason in particular.

Calleigh sighed as she opened the linen closet. She knew Danny had been through a lot in the past eighteen hours or so. Then again, so had she. Speed still seemed so real to her, so alive. Then to have his child walk into their lives, it was just so much to take in. Danny's resemblance to her father was subtle, but very much there. Height and slender body, she had his eyes and his hair. Calleigh had loved Speed, not in a romantic way, but he was like family. She wished she could remember the sound of his laugh, and how he used to take things out of her kit without asking, but the vivid memory of him lying on the floor in that jewelry store in a pool of his own blood overshadowed all those memories. Calleigh quivered and pushed the image out of her mind.

Danny had moved the boxes off the bed and was looking through Calleigh's collection of books. She had some of the classics, A Tale of Two Cities, Moby Dick, War and Peace. A stack of newer books sat on a shelf. They had a thin layer of dust and didn't appear to have been opened, let alone read. It just showed how much free time Calleigh had. She thought it was sad that pieces of someone's life filled this room, just tucked away and forgotten.

Calleigh returned and handed the sheets to Danny. Danny started making the bed. She was definitely no stranger to that chore. Within moments she had the bed made and she threw the pillows toward the headboard.

"Wow…made just like in the military." Calleigh realized how stupid that had sounded after it had left her mouth.

"No other way to make a bed when I was growing up." Danny responded, avoiding eye contact.

"Okay," Calleigh sighed. "We need to run to the mall to get you some clothes for the next few days. We can also grab some dinner; it's six o' clock right now."

"I would rather be put in lock-up than go to hell tomorrow." Danny stated as she headed out the bedroom door.

"And here I thought this would be hard." Calleigh said sarcastically as she followed Danny.

"How far away is the mall?" Danny asked when they stepped out into the bright evening sun. They had about two hours before sunset from the position of the shadows on the ground.

"About eight blocks. Why?"

"Can we walk? Don't get me wrong, your Crossfire is a kick ass car, but I've been cooped up all day. And walking will help ease the pain I'll be in tomorrow."

"Sure, we can do that." Calleigh headed off in the direction of the mall and motioned for Danny to follow her.

The first few blocks were silent. Danny finally spoke up, "So, where are you from?"

Calleigh was taken off guard. This was the first time Danny had reached out to make any kind of conversation, especially of a personal nature. "Louisiana."

"Ah. I was gonna guess Georgia."

"That's close." Calleigh knew it wasn't, but she didn't want to discourage her from saying anything else.

"No it's not." Danny laughed. Calleigh was relieved and found she was laughing also.

"Yeah, I know." That just made them laugh harder. By the time they had reached the front doors of the mall, they were both having a great time, which surprised them both. Danny felt safe for the first time in years, and Calleigh, she felt like she had regained something that had been lost.