Author's notes: OMIGOD! TWO CHAPTERS!!! I know, I'm excited too. It's mostly because I had such fun writing these two chapters; I just couldn't wait a whole week to post seven. Anyways, these were fun to write, I hope it shows!!

Warnings: uhh…swearing, Dan torture, and grumpy!Dan. Hooray!

6. Bad Day

When Dan was jolted from sleep at 9:30 (ridiculously early for a costumed hero in Dan's book) and couldn't get back to sleep, he should've been suspicious. When he finally shuffled to the kitchen and discovered that he was absolutely out of coffee, he should've just gone back to bed. Groaning quietly, he slumped back to his room and fumbled into some blue jeans and a sweater. Still groggy, he toed on some shoes and stepped out into the mid morning sun. Trudging down the street, he was in the middle of an invigorating internal rant about how early it was and how sore he was from patrol last night and how the hell had he run out of coffee when a scuffling across the street caught his attention.

A woman and a man were grappling over a purse; the woman was screaming. Dan felt a little like screaming himself. He was sore, dammit! He was sore, in a noncombatative mood, and all he wanted was some coffee. Instead, he just happened across the one broad daylight mugging in the whole of New York City and of course no one else was even batting an eyelash. Except for Dan, of course. Figures. Feeling intense frustration burst from his stomach, he clenched his fists, marched across the street and decked the guy cleanly in the face. Surprised, the guy lost his grip on the purse and toppled to the pavement. Feeling slightly mollified (no wonder Rorschach liked punching so much, it was kind of cathartic), he turned to the woman with a reassuring smile on his face, "Are you all right, ma'am?"

The woman was young and pretty, blonde hair cropped to just above her shoulders and wide brown eyes, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine… I just—thank you so much, I don't know—AAH!" The woman screamed as a foot collided with the back of Daniel's knee, causing him to buckle and fall. Now beyond infuriated, Dan leapt to his feet and punched the guy in the face and twice in the gut. The blows smacked satisfyingly against exposed skin and an unprotected body. Unfortunately, the stubborn little bastard wasn't going down without a fight. He got in two stinging punches to the nose and right cheek before Daniel swung up and kicked him in the neck. The man let out a gasping cough as he flew into the brick wall of a nearby building, finally unconscious.

Now sporting a lovely bloody nose, Dan turned again to see that the woman was gone. She'd clearly run when the fight had started up again. Dan shook his head, "Some people…" he muttered as he left the thief for someone else to deal with and continued on his quest for coffee.

A half a block and a ten-minute line later, Daniel emerged out of the coffeehouse, toting a steaming cup in his hand. Feeling much better, Dan bought a little bag of bread and went to the park to partake in one of his favorite activities: feeding the ducks. While there, enjoying a cool breeze and cheery sunshine, Daniel chided himself for being so grumpy. So the morning was a little rocky, he thought, watching the ducks swarm happily at his feet, but that was no call for being so negative. Somewhere behind him, he heard a man playing with his dog. Dan smiled, if he kept up such pessimism, he may very well end up like Rorschach. He bit back a chuckle, knowing he shouldn't be so amused at the thought of two Rorschachs wreaking havoc on New York. Really, one was quite enough.

Caught up in his musings and the happy quacking of ducks, Dan didn't notice the barking of a nearby dog growing louder. Or the frantic shouting of its owner. Daniel didn't really notice anything 'til a hefty, overweight Dalmatian bowled into Dan, knocking him into the murky green duck-water. Spluttering and blinking, Daniel stumbled out of the pond to see the Dalmatian heartily devouring his bread like he had a right to it.

The dog's owner, a tall, wiry, red haired man, was apologizing before he even reached him. "Oh god, I am so sorry! Joe, you brute, why'd you do that for, you great lug? Listen man, I am really sorry. My dog, he…gets that way around food."

Dan forced a smile, at least the guy was apologetic, "It's all right. No harm done." The man apologized once again for Dan's trouble, and Dan again assured him that he was fine and no, there wasn't anything he could do, Dan was on his way home anyways. Leaving the man to scold his dog who kept indifferently munching on Daniel's bread, Dan went home with the intent of sleeping 'till 7:30.

It was now 8:45 p.m. and Dan was late, late, late. Throwing on his Owlsuit haphazardly, he decided right then and there that he'd never had a crappier day in his life. He was supposed to meet Rorschach by the wharf across town at 8:15. Oh man, Rorschach was going to be pissed. Dan threw on his gloves and his goggles before glancing down at his feel. Christ almighty, where the hell were his boots? He slammed the basement door as loud as he could behind him and dashed up to his bedroom. Grabbing the pair of brown boots from under his bed and wondering how in god's name the got there, he skidded back to the basement door, smashing his feet into the boots. Finally feeling like he could be underway, he pushed hard on the basement door, only to have it creak irritably and stay shut. Dan frowned, twiddling the unmoving handle. Suddenly, realization hit him. The door was locked. The keys were in his jeans. His jeans were in the basement. And Daniel was very much not in the basement. Where his keys were. Cursing violently, Daniel closed his eyes and braced himself. He'd seen Rorschach do this before, when time demanded more than stealthy lock picking. Letting out an enraged yell, he swiveled to the side and swiftly kicked the door between the knob and the doorjamb.

To his intense surprise, the door splintered and he was caught both off guard and off balance (too close to the door, you asshole) and tumbled down the short flight of stairs. Dazed and sore, he lay there staring at the ceiling until he heard a shuffling of feet and a figure that smelled a little like sour milk leaning over him, shaking his shoulder almost nervously, "…Nite Owl?"

Rubbing the back of his head, Daniel sat up and groaned, "M'all right. Sorry Rorschach." He groaned sheepishly at his partner, "I think I just had a ridiculously bad day."

Rorschach considered him for a moment, "You're late." Dan sighed, "I know, I know. Did the guys we were tracking get away?"

"No," Rorschach sounded vaguely smug, "Took care of that before coming here." He straightened up and extended a hand to help Daniel up. Surprised, he seized the hand and hauled himself off the ground, "Well, hell man. What do you need me for?"

Rorschach paused, apparently considering the rhetorical question, "Would've appreciated the Owlship."

Dan laughed, "Thanks Rorschach."

A/n: Aww, Dan gets some love at the end. I guess that makes it ok. Onto the chapter you've all been waiting for!! (and by all I mean me.)