Black and Blue and Red All Over

Author's Note: Okay, I'm pretty sure now that I screwed up the location of where things went down in this episode. Apparently, Reverend Potter's sanctuary on Lenox Avenue/Malcolm X Boulevard and the West 116th Street corridor where Danny and Jackie were at the beginning of the episode are both locations in Harlem, not Washington Heights. Washington Heights is about forty blocks north. What can I say - I grew up in New York but I wasn't old enough to drive, LOL. Make mine Manhattan! Anyway, in researching my goof I've discovered that if you go on Google Maps streetview and do some nosing around in those areas, you can find the actual filming locations for this episode. It's cool stuff and fun to do on a relaxed holiday weekend. Meanwhile, I've fixed my error in the earlier scenes. Sorry about that!

Here's the next installment in our ongoing series...

Missing Scene #4 - Danny touches base with his father over the day's events.

As it turned out, Frank called Danny first.

Danny had just finished scowling through the replay of the 911 call with Jackie, kicking back in his rickety office chair. "Gotta be a bogus call," he muttered.

Perched on the corner of his desk, Jackie scowled herself. "But who would want to trick the cops into running into a prayer service?"

"I don't know," he sighed, and glanced over at his phone as it began to ring. "Listen, you go ahead and check in on those perps, huh?"

"While you grab a doughnut?" She hadn't missed the treat he had snagged for himself on the way into the precinct.

"I gotta have fuel to work," he protested. She shot him a scoffing look over her shoulder, and he grinned at her retreating back as he picked up the receiver and stuffed the pastry into his mouth. "Reagan," he said around a mouthful of doughnut, wiping his sugar-tipped fingers off on the side of his jeans.

"Did I catch you in the middle of a meal?" His father's deep, resonating voice carried a hint of amusement.

Danny didn't choke, but he came close. "Hey, pop," he managed after a moment, coughing into the back of his hand and clearing his throat. "Didn't expect to hear your voice."

"I can tell."

"Didn't I just see you on TV?" Danny leaned back in his chair again and craned his neck around to the television in the corner of the room. It was tuned to New York One and running the "moments ago" footage of the peaceful detainments at the sanctuary.

"I'm taking a break. You aware of what's going on down here?"

Danny snagged a faded Taco Bell napkin from beneath a potted plant on Jackie's desk. "Yeah, Jack and I were working the subway scrub a couple of blocks away when the call came in. We were able to get on the scene in two." He hesitated, rubbing the edge of the napkin between his fingers before balling it in his hand. "You know Jamie was there."

Twenty blocks away, from the back of the SUV in which he sat, Frank turned his absent gaze away from the tinted windows. Outside, the NYPD officers were continuing their stoic work of controlling the scene, and despite the hell Reverend Potter was continuing to raise across the street with the media and crowd, the mayor himself had followed Frank's example and also slipped into the privacy of his vehicle. It wouldn't do to be out of sight for long, Frank knew, especially for them both. But he was damn well going to take a moment to talk to his eldest son. "I was briefed," he said. "But it wasn't much. Did you see him?"

"Hell yeah, I saw him." A hard, sullen edge entered Danny's voice. "Dragging his TO out of that building, surrounded by a dozen thugs, blood all over the place."

Frank frowned, feeling the unwelcome yet familiar sense of unease crawl across his skin. He looked down at the suit jacket he'd tossed into the seat next to him, and smoothed a hand down the rumpled edges of his waistcoat, trying not to picture the vivid images Danny was painting with his words.

Danny huffed a loud and frustrated sigh into the phone. "I tell you what, dad. It was all I could do to keep from bashing heads together right there on the spot."

"You sound like your grandfather."

Danny's voice turned indignant. "You called him before you called me?"

"HE called ME," Frank corrected. "He saw the whole thing on television and decided I needed to be briefed."

Danny laughed, and the welcome sound eased Frank's anxiety a notch. "Not like you don't have a dozen people to take care of that for you."

"I suppose he was being thorough." Frank glanced idly out the window once more. "And he wanted scoop, of course."

"Of course." He could hear the bustle of Danny's precinct in the background as his son shifted the phone. "Dad, you know Jamie's okay, right?"

"I know."

"Then why are you calling me?"

Frank sighed. He prided himself on being able to read his children, but he always forgot that they were Reagans, too, just as he was. The apple didn't fall far from the tree. "Are you all right?"

"Of course."

"Do you know if your brother was mentioned on television?"

"Nah, not that I've heard. The press has just been mentioning the deal in general. No names. I don't think they have many details."

"Good. I've asked public affairs to keep them both out of the spotlight."

"Yeah, and I made sure Jamie ducked the cameras that were there," Danny clarified. "We gotta keep him off the front page, too."

Frank nodded grimly. "All of the details, including names, will remain confidential. That's as much for Jamie's privacy as for the transparency of the department."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want anyone to assume I'm handling this case differently just because my son is involved."

"Even though you are."

"No," Frank said flatly. "I'm not."

"You are. I know you."

"Then you know how the office of the commissioner responds to incidents such as these."

"Fine, Dad," he said with a smirk, but then his voice took on a more serious tone. "You worried about his cover?"

"I am."

"What else?"

Danny really was his father's son. "I don't want the reverend to seize on him."

He could almost see Danny nodding through the phone. "Yeah," he said. "Potter would have a field day if he knew who his people really shoved down the stairs."

"Well, they shoved cops down the stairs," Frank said grimly. "The situation is rotten regardless, but it would be worse if the Reverend knew who they were. I won't have your brother caught in that kind of crossfire, if I can help it."

"Yeah," Danny muttered again. "I think he's been caught in enough crossfire for one day."

Frank caught the change in his eldest son's tone, and he took in a breath to steady himself. "How bad was it?" he asked quietly.

Danny's silence, long and hollow, told him all he needed to know.

Frank pressed his lips together, gathering his thoughts to speak again, when Danny's voice suddenly filled his ear, soft and dangerous. "I had no idea he was even there, Dad. We just hear that officers are in distress, we go - and I didn't even know. We get there and I look up in the middle of all this fighting, and I see him pulling Renzulli out, and the whole right side of his face is covered in blood. I mean, covered. I mean, he was running around and everything, but it looked... Dad, it looked really bad," he managed, and Frank struggled to keep his composure, swallowing hard. "And I got hold of him, you know, and it was okay, but... that's my kid brother, you know? Nobody puts hands on him but me."

Frank couldn't help a watery smile at that. "And I'm sure those hands are loving and gentle every time."

"You know it."

"Did he have a head injury?"

"No, nothing serious. Just a gash. I think the medics ended up putting a couple of stitches in his head. He was fine, though. Bruised up a little, but okay. Not worried about himself at all." Danny hesitated. "You haven't seen him there?"

"No. They brought him back to the scene to try and ID some of the assault suspects, but I've intentionally stayed away from that."

He could almost hear Danny nodding through the phone. "What's the word on Renzulli?"

"Just a concussion. No bleeding or fractures, from what the doctors can tell."

"Hang on a sec, Dad," Danny said suddenly, and the sound became muffled. "In a minute!" he could hear his son hollering. "Yeah, I know! I'm on the phone! The phone! Shut up!"

Frank arched an eyebrow, and spoke when the sounds returned to normal. "Do you need to go?"

"Sorry about that. No, I have another second. You're probably the one who needs to go, huh?"

"I have another second, too." He turned unseeing eyes on the window, listening to his son's breathing through the phone. "You know this address, don't you? One twenty-two Lenox?"

Danny hesitated. When he spoke again, he sounded years older. "It was the first thing I thought of. You're not hung up on that, though, are you?"

Frank ignored the question. "I have it on good authority that you and Jackie are helping to work the case."

"Yeah. Did you hear about this 911 call?"

"Fake," he said flatly.

"Yeah. It came from Washington Heights, not Harlem." Danny paused. "Jackie was just asking me who would want to trick the cops to running into a place."

"I wish it was the first time it had ever happened."

"But this wasn't like that, Dad. This wasn't..."

"Wasn't an ambush?"

Danny just sighed. "I don't know what games Potter and his people are playing. But those guys in '72, they didn't get out. Jamie... we got him out, Dad."

Frank nodded, letting the father in him cling to those words. "I'll admit, Danny... I'm finding it a little difficult to not think about what might have been."

"You're describing every day of my life," Danny replied wryly. "But you know what, Dad? You're here, and I'm here, and Jamie is too. And he's fine. I had hold of him myself. He's fine. You gotta hang onto that."

Frank took a deep breath. "Thank you, son."

"Sure. The kid wanted me to call you, actually."

Frank's mouth twisted wryly. "He didn't want me to find out about this the hard way?"

"You did anyway, I'm sure. How bad was that?"

Kate Wilson's chalk-white face flashed in his mind, and it was Frank's turn to fall silent. It was a struggle to keep back the memories, not only of the morning, but of a time already two years past. Had it really been so long ago?

"Never mind," Danny said, pulling him away from the dark memories. "Nah, he was worried. He wanted to make sure you knew why he went in there."

"I assume it was because he was doing his job."

Danny's voice was a sudden ray of sunshine. "I told that kid he had nothing to worry about."

"He thought I would be upset." It was a statement, not a question.

"Look at the news, Dad. Yeah, he thought you'd be upset."

Frank took a deep breath. "Keep up the good work on your end, son. Can you come by the house tonight?"

"Uh... yeah, I think so. I'm not sure what time-"

"Doesn't matter. Come by; bring Linda and the kids. Even if it's late."

"Is everything okay?"

"It is," Frank said, his eyes going back to the window again. Garrett had positioned himself just outside the door, his back to it, which was his subtle but clear indication that he needed an audience with the commissioner. "I need to go, Danny."

"All right... good luck, Dad."

"Thanks, son." He ended the call with a click.

Twenty blocks in the opposite direction, Danny dropped the receiver back into its cradle and rubbed a hand over his mouth. The day had been a grueling one, and it was far from over. He closed his eyes, rubbing his fingers over them lightly. He could still see Jamie in his mind's eye, perched uncomfortably on the back fender of an ambulance, a large square of gauze taped on his forehead and traces of blood still smearing his face. The collar of his uniform had been stained with dried splatter, and bits of red had winked from the gold of his 12th precinct pin.

But he was alive.

And just like him, Danny had a job to do, too.

I swear, my author's notes are getting longer than the story, LOL. I promise, more to come on the 1972 incident in the next part.

Also, an important public service announcement! Promotional pictures for the Dec. 2 episode of Blue Bloods, "Moonlighting," are now available on the web. No spoilers here, but let me just say... I need to hurry up and finish THIS story by Dec. 1, because I have the feeling I'll have some new missing scenes to be working on! I pulled the images up last night, and I swear I dropped my phone when I saw them. No lie. I'm such a geek, but JEEZ. Anyway, nothing more to say here in order to avoid spoiling people, but I would love to discuss these with anybody interested!

Next up is the final planned scene in this story, although I will do one bonus scene as well. Later this week, be on the watch for:

Missing Scene #5 - Jamie finally makes it home.

Hope you enjoyed - and remember, reviews make my geeky day!