Chapter 14: A Long Road To Recovery
Danny seen Don sitting in the waiting room, and found himself panicking. He walked up to Don and tapped him gently on the shoulder. When Don opened his eyes, Danny sat down and asked, " What are you doing here?"
Don looked confused for a moment and then replied, " You don't know?"
" Know what, Flack?", Danny asked, concern filling his eyes.
" We found them, Danny. We found Nikki and the other women", Flack exclaimed. Danny took the news as good news by the way that Flack was acting. And, for the first time, Danny noticed a sparkle in Don's eyes when he said Nikki's name.
" So, you mean they're alive? That Nikki's alive?", Danny blurted out.
" Yes, Danny. They're alive. The women are alive. Nikki's alive", Don exclaimed.
" Where is she?", Danny asked.
" She was hurt pretty badly, Danny. She's in surgery. She was stabbed. And God knows what else happened to her while she was in that bastard's hands", Don had a look of red-hot fury in his eyes. " He was killed though, Danny. She killed him."
Danny looked surprised, and asked how she looked. Don looked down at the floor, and said, " Not good. She was filthy, she had marks from where her hands had been bound. Her clothes were ripped and tattered. She looked like she hasn't eaten for the past two weeks. The bastard starved them. I'm surprised she had enough strength left to overpower him. She had scrapes and bruises all over her body. She was in a bra and shreds of her shirt were all that was left of her clothes. It was the same with the other women. They're all getting tests done. Full work-ups. Rape kit and everything."
Danny never seen Flack look so sad and well, while Nikki was missing, he looked like crap. But, then again, Danny never noticed that. Don still had the dark circles under his eyes. Danny never realized that besides him, Don had also not slept.
Flack looked up at Danny and asked, " How's Lindsay?"
" She'll be okay. And so will the baby. I'm an idiot, Flack. I made her mad enough that the only thing she could do to blow off steam, would be to drive. She wouldn't be here if it weren't for me, but then, again, neither would Nikki", Danny had tears in his eyes.
" You can't blame yourself, Danny. It wasn't your fault that all this happened. Nikki was the target of a bastard ex-boyfriend. The only reason it happened was because Nikki didn't bother to tell anyone about him. He could've been in jail right now, but he wasn't and never will be. As for Lindsay, she could've chosen to walk it off, but she chose to drive instead. It was that drunk driver that's to blame, not her, not you, but the driver", Don answered. Don patted Danny on the back and they sat there in silence, waiting.
Stella sat by Lindsay, who still hadn't woken up yet. Stella was just glad that Lindsay would be alright. And the baby, too. At least Danny wouldn't have to blame himself for anything. Lindsay would be alright. Then, Don and Danny entered the room. Don looked happy, really happy. There was no task force, she was forced to ask him, " So, where's the task force?"
" Apparently, you haven't heard yet. We found them, Stell. Nikki and the others, alive. Bruised and battered, but alive. Which is a start. Lindsay's ok, the baby's ok, and now, so is Nikki. All the women will need to be taken care of, for the next little while", Don smiled, " But, the main thing is they're alive!"
Stella had never seen Flack so happy. She looked over to Danny, who just gave her a knowing smile. Flack was clearly happy that Nikki was alive. Stella finally solved the mystery, but, she had to wonder if Flack knew yet.
Flack had never felt such an unending joy. He felt so happy that Nikki was alive. He had already volunteered to be the one to take care of Nikki. He had given an excuse to Danny that Danny would need to take care of his wife first. He had said that he had nothing better to do. Stella, of course, had looked at him kinda suspiciously. So had Danny, but Flack didn't care. He finally understood his feelings for Nikki. And he really didn't care if anyone else knew that he was in love with her.
Flack stayed right there. He would wait patiently in the waiting room for the doctor. He knew he wasn't going to leave. After another two hours of waiting, his patience finally paid off. A doctor by the name of Anderson walked up to him. He was a guy roughly mid-thirties, with greenish looking scrubs on. He had black hair and green eyes. The hair looked natural, and so did the eyes. The doctor said, " Det. Flack? I presume. My name is Dr. Anderson. You've been waiting here to talk to a doctor to talk to you about Nicole Messer? Ok, well, you must know that she had some extensive injuries. It's amazing she didn't die. She had some internal bleeding, we fixed that. She had many scrapes and bruises. She was raped many times. We did what we could, but the rest is up to her, or you. Do you happen to know where her brother is? I would like to talk to him a little bit."
" That's good news, Doc. Her brother is with his wife. She was in a car accident last night, and she's pregnant. I can relay a message to him for you. I know it's his sister, but the last thing him and his wife did before she got in the accident was fight, he feels really responsible and is currently waiting for her to wake up", Don explained.
" Ok, well, just tell him what I told you. I just wanted to give him the news in person", Dr. Anderson replied.
The doctor started to walk away but, before he got too far, Don asked, " When can I see her?" The doctor turned around.
" I'll give you some time to tell her brother and the rest of the team. Then you can go and see her. If the rest of team comes, tell them to go in pairs of two. Only for ten, maybe fifteen minutes", the doc explained before turning once again and leaving.
Flack sank back into his chair for a minute before getting up and going to find Danny.
Danny and Stella sat in Lindsay's room watching her. Lindsay looked so peaceful and she looked exactly like that of an angel, her beauty always took his breath away. Stella whispered, " So, Don seemed pretty happy."
" Yeah, and it all started when he found Nikki. He was so down without her around. He still has dark circles under his eyes, but I think they'll disappear pretty quickly", Danny whispered back.
" Yeah, he's been acting strangely since Nikki's been around", Stella tossed Danny a sidelong glance.
" He has, hasn't he? Before she was kidnapped, we had gotten the big break in the case. We were all standing outside the lab and while Flack was making phone calls, they caught eye contact. I almost had to pry their eyes away", he shook his head. Danny tried to keep his eyes on Lindsay. Stella seen that and knew that Danny didn't know that his best friend was in love with his sister.
" Oh? You don't say. That didn't bother you?", Stella blurted out. She didn't mean to say that.
" No, Stell. It didn't. What's got into you?", Danny asked, now clearly looking straight at Stella.
Her eyes went down and she answered, " You have no idea, I suppose. I figured you didn't. You're kinda blind, Danny. I mean, it sure took you long enough to figure out…" She stopped and levelled her eyes to Danny's.
" Figure out what, Stell?", he asked. He felt as if the whole world had gone nuts.
" To figure out that you were in love with Lindsay", Stella replied, quietly. She knew that he would start piecing things together now. She knew that after thinking about it, everything would fall into place. Me and my big mouth, Stella thought. She lowered her eyes away from Danny.
Danny still couldn't believe it. Then, Don quietly came into the room and they both looked up. " What's wrong?", Don asked. His beautiful features created a frown.
Don looked from Danny to Stella, and their faces were both in frowns. " Nothing, Flack. What's up?", Danny replied.
" The doctor said that Nikki will be alright. She has extensive injuries. He said to tell everyone that we can go and see her. But, his orders are that only two people go in at a time, and only for about ten to fifteen minutes. Danny, can I talk to you for a minute?", Don asked. Danny nodded and followed his friend.
They took the elevator to the roof. Flack went to stand at the ledge and Danny followed. " Flack, what's wrong?", Danny asked, quietly.
" She was hurt pretty badly. She's lucky she didn't die. Danny, she has so many cuts and bruises. She was raped multiple times. If that bastard wasn't dead, he would've been by now. She was stabbed, she had internal bleeding. She has many fractures and breaks in her bones. I've never admitted this before, but, Danny, I was really scared for her", Flack said. Tears quietly slipped down his cheeks and Danny finally understood what Stella was getting at.
Danny looked out at the dark horizon in which the sun was just starting to come up from. " You love her, don't you?", Danny asked, quietly, as he bent down beside his best friend. Don nodded.
" It's like a feeling I've never known. It's so strong and powerful. My heart quickens every time I'm near her. I don't feel complete without her. I've been searching for something and until I met her, I thought I'd never find it. I really do love her, Danny. I'm scared that she doesn't feel the same way, though", Flack replied.
" We all feel the same way, Don. We meet these women, we fall in love, and they think that they're the only ones who fear rejection. But, there's one thing we can do, and that's fight for them. Prove to them that we're worthy. I love Lindsay so much and I had to prove it to her, of course, she already loved me back, but she wanted to be sure", Danny whispered.
" She has a long road to recover ahead of her, Danny. I plan to help her every step of the way", Don explained.
" I know that you'll take care of her, Flack. She needs someone to hold her when she has the nightmares that I know she'll have. I know why she never let anyone into her heart now. It was because of him. She needs you, Don. If she's not in love with you yet, I know that she will be", Danny reassured Flack. They both headed back down to Lindsay's room, and found that she still wasn't awake.
Stella seen the guys come back in, smiling. Danny was even smiling. That must mean that Don knew he was in love with Nikki and he told Danny, Stella thought. She found herself smiling. They all knew that Nikki had a long road of recovery ahead of her, and they all knew that Don would be there to catch her and hold her while she struggled.
Don headed back to call Mac and tell him that Nikki was alright. Then, he would go and sit with Danny and Stella until the rest of the team came. He would stay with Nikki as long as it took. He wanted to be there to see her wake up. He wanted to see those beautiful brown eyes that haunted him. He truly loved her, and that would not change.