Everyone is happy Danny's back. Mary is crying, Nessa and Delinda keep hugging him, Mike is already trading jokes and Ed is awkward and only pats him on the back. Sam stands back, observes the whole scene. Danny looks out of place, a bit lost, a bit sad, and Sam wonders what happened there.

He doesn't smile much, but when he does, it's a bit genuine, a bit forced, and it's like there's a ghost shadowing Danny.

When everybody leaves, she grabs his hands, holds them near her chest, where her heart beats fast and strong, and she presses a sweet, tender kiss on his mouth. In return, he kisses her nose, brushes the hair off her face and says, "I missed you the most."

He smiles at her but there's no sparkle in his eyes, no warmth in his lips, and Sam thinks some parts of Danny died over there.


He's not really her Danny. He is what was left of the war, Sam thinks and she bits her lips.

His skin is darker but him, Danny, he's pale. His lips are chapped, his fingers are flayed, she can feel them on her hips because he is holding them, her, too tightly, kissing her too brutally. It hurts. He's hurting her. She wants to tell him but she doesn't want the kiss to stop because she missed him, a lot, and now he's back, and she just needs him close to her, even if it hurts.

She deepens the kiss and he squeezes her harder. She doesn't care if she'll have bruises.


"Ed is looking for you," she says as she closes the door of the storeroom.

"I know."

She hides here sometimes, when her whales are driving her crazy or when her feet hurt too much and she needs to take off her heels, or when she fights with Danny and she's too stubborn to make the first step.

She sits down next to him. "Why are you hiding from him?"

"He wants me to go to sleep."

"He's worried Danny," Sam tells him as she plays with his fingers. They feel rough and callused under her touch and she kisses the palm of his hand. "You look tired."

"I'm not tired."

She lets go of his hand and turns her face to him. "I'm worried too."

"Don't be," he kisses her forehead to erase the crease on her brow, to soothe her concern away. "I'm fine."

"Okay," she says, even if she doesn't believe him.

She leans into his side. He brings her closer to him, and he kisses the top of her head. She hears him let out a shaky breath, she feels him tremble against her but she doesn't say anything.


Danny is acting off and Sam doesn't know how to deal. She wants to smoke but her bad habit, she left it in Prague. So she settles for a glass of wine and she decides to wait a hour before looking for her boyfriend. When she has Mike look for him and he tells her that Danny is not in the casino, Sam turns around and leaves abruptly with no explication.


She finds him at their special place, where they kissed the very first time, where she thought she could love him for a lifetime. Now he looks ten years older, ten times colder, and he's facing away from her and Sam thinks he wants her gone, away from here, away from him.

"I've been looking for you," she tells him.

He doesn't meet her eyes when he replies, "I wanted to be left alone. Could you leave me alone, please?"

He has darkness under his eyes, he has it in his eyes too, and Sam thinks he may need to cry a little but he mostly needs to sleep a lot. But she doesn't voice her thoughts. She just wants to go because it's starting to rain, and she doesn't like having her hair wet but she refuses to leave him alone because she remembers his words "I love you. I don't want to leave you alone and I don't want you to leave me alone".

So she takes off her jacket, lies it out on the grass and sits on it as she waits for him to be him again.


"You're such a stubborn little thing."

He is crouched before her and wipes the rain on her lips. She's wet and shaking all over. Danny finds her extremely beautiful, with her hair heavy with water and the drops of rain on her eyelashes. His heart swells with love for this woman. He really missed her there.

"So I've been told," her teeth are chattering and she lets her head rest against his shoulder. She wants his warmth but he's as cold as she is. Sam hopes that somehow, the rain, all this water washed away his worries and his sadness. Deeply, she just hopes the war didn't break him entirely, she just hopes there's still some bits of her Danny in here. "Can we go home now?" she asks as her arms wrap themselves around his neck.

He doesn't want to, not yet, but her cool lips against his neck have him feel hot all over again and all he can say is yes, we're going home.


He stays in her suite, in her bed, and it's her arms that feel like home. She does most of the talking, and he listens to her carefully as he lets his fingers lost themselves in her long and damp hair. Later, he watches her sleep, counts her eyelashes and caresses the edges of her face. Before the sunrise, he whispers how much he loves her and how important she is to him.

When she wakes up, she is alone.


xxx

AN: I've never apologised for all the typos I've made so far and we'll probably continue making, therefore, I apologise for the terrible typos, dear people. I can't english most of the time because it's not my language. Just tell me if/where I need to fix something and I'll do it.

The previous chapter, about Prague, it's all true. I mean, I was in Prague two weeks ago, and I cried all week about my boyfriend. Prague is beautiful when you're not crying and drinking cheap alcohol. Go to Prague, people. :p