Sand Man……

As the early morning gave way to hotter part of the day, Kevin Tidwell's duties forced him away from the hospital. Other than a short trip to the ICU, after Dani was transferred out of Recovery he really hadn't had much of a chance to see her. Tidwell viewed this as a good thing, because seeing Dani lying there weakened made it hard to remain her Captain and not be the man sharing her bed three or more times a week.

Part of him resented she'd asked for Crews, but then his brain told him he's her partner, they were in this gunfight together it's only natural. He didn't want to think about the alternative. Because the alternative was she was drifting away from him already and recognizing her link to Crews was more than just work.

But as a tired, bloodied and shirtless Charlie Crews stood by Reese's side, holding her hand and whispering unnoted endearments in his sentences, Tidwell accepted the fact Crews crossed the invisible line in the sand. Crews was clearly and unequivocally committed – even if he'd never consciously decided to do it – his heart made the leap for him in those seconds after Dani had fallen.

Part of Tidwell was jealous wanting to warn Crews off, she was his girl. But then Tidwell considered that Crews already knew about Dani and himself, though they'd "not" talked about it in that distinctively male way - many times before. Crews could no more control his reaction than he could stop the sun from rising in the sky each day, Dani Reese could do that to a guy he thought.

Part of him viewed this as inevitable, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt, so he turned to his escape - work and buried himself in the questions and chaos to be controlled there. His personal life at this point was out of his hands.

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Charlie was struggling to stay awake. He would not break his promise to Dani and leave the hospital to get some rest, despite Tidwell's direct order to do just that. Roya watched as Crews' eyes which were full of tears earlier, now seemed full of sand.

He nodded and blinked and shook his head furiously, drinking more coffee than a platoon of soldiers on a weekend exercise, but nothing was going to avoid the crash that was coming. Charlie tried talking to stay awake. It had worked in the car with Reese. "What was Dani like as a child?" he asked Roya.

"Why do you not ask her?" her mother responded answering a question with a question.

"I have" he confessed with a sigh and rubbed his eyes again "she just says 'smaller'"

Dani's mother laughed and he heard Reese's laughter there also. Great I'm now hallucinating or whatever it was when you heard things that weren't there he thought.

"My daughter is difficult to get to know, but she is worth the effort" she told him.

"I know" Charlie smiled at her and then at her daughter, tossing fitfully as she slept. "It's just she seems so…." He couldn't finish the thought because he didn't know what…but something.

"Troubled" Roya supplied the word for him. Charlie nodded as he touched Dani's face and she stilled again.

"Why do you have no shirt with your suit?" Roya asked him.

Charlie looked down at himself. Three thousand dollar suit with no shirt, not exactly they way you wanted to meet the in-laws he thought and his expression changed as he surprised himself. Did he see himself married to Dani? Maybe it was just what Bodner said about meeting his wife when they were partners. He stared down at Reese and realized it was more than the power of suggestion. He wanted her in a lifelong way and had for some time now.

"Detective…." Roya began, then realizing the toll the night had taken on the young man before her softly reconsidered "Charlie…. you too should rest."

"I'm not leaving her. I made her a promise." He said stubbornly.

"No one is asking you to break your promise. Stay with her, but rest." She gestured that he should put his head down like a six year old taking a nap, but suddenly Charlie thought it was an excellent idea.

He pulled his chair closer to the bed, interlaced his fingers with Dani's and rested his cheek on the bed beside her still sleeping form. It wasn't clear if he was asleep before his head hit the bed at Dani's side or instantaneously after, but sleep he did, soundly and for several hours.

When Dani woke again it was late afternoon and the LA sun turned the sky orange - shining through all the way to the ICU where she slept. She could feel it was late. She blinked several times and noticed her mother quietly reading in the corner of the room at the foot of her bed. She couldn't move her right arm and looked down to find it clasped in Crews' hand with his head by her side. She smiled at the long, tall, red haired figure sprawling half in and half out of his chair, but never leaving her side, just as he'd promised.

Her mother knew Dani was awake and spoke softly to her in Farsi. They talked of how long she'd been out and how long he'd been at her side, before Roya switched to English for effect. "This man loves you Dani. I haven't seen any man love you in the ways that he does."

"I know Mom." It was all Dani replied, before extracting her hand from Crews' and stroking his red hair. Her fingers buried in his hair, Dani bit her lip and finally continued with what she needed to say "I don't want to screw this up, he's important to me."

"Then don't Dani. But don't hold back either. You must give this man your whole heart and trust him not to break it. It is the way love works" her mother wise beyond Dani's years counseled.

Charlie stirred as Dani's fingers stroked his hair. He looked as if he'd been on a weekend bender, she thought. "God Crews you look like hell" she said hoarse from the surgical anesthesia.

"You look beautiful" he responded trying to smile. He was a wreck, his hair sticking out at odd angles, his face lined with worry and his face fuzzy from the time since it last communed with his razor. He'd really never looked better to her, she thought as Charlie smiled one of his genuine smiles that reached his eyes, which sparkled despite his tiredness.

"Where's your shirt Crews?" she wondered aloud, causing him to look down again at his bare chest. "Trying out the Miami Vice look?" she ribbed him. His eyes returned to hers and they both laughed softly.

He leaned forward caressed her face and kissed her gently. Dani was slightly shocked but as their lips parted she released a small contented sigh. Charlie stopped, brushed her lips again and whispered "don't you ever listen? I said let me go first… you never listen to me… why don't you ever listen to me?" as he fought the urge to kiss her again.

"Crews?" she questioned and when he stopped talking and opened his eyes continued "you're doing that thing again where you're talking to me, but you're not really talking to me" Charlie smiled slightly and gave into the urge to return his lips to hers. He kissed her slowly, gently, but deeply and with such tenderness, Roya felt like she was intruding.

He did not kiss her for long, but paused as they broke to visit her earlobe and whisper just for her "promise me, you won't ever scare me like that again?" before he pulled back and smoothed her hair.

"I promise" Roya heard her daughter give her word to the young man at her side as tears fell from the corners of her eyes and slid slowly along her temple to her hairline. Dani blinked as Charlie gently used his knuckle to wipe her tears away..

He held her hand and kissed it gently. Roya told them both that she would be sitting with Dani while Charlie went home to rest. At the pronouncement, Charlie shook his head and scowled his disapproval, but said nothing.

"Dani you must make him rest" she told her daughter in Farsi. Dani looked at him and took in the bedraggled and worn out appearance of her usually clean and neat partner.

"Crews…" she softly told him. "Go home, take a shower….buy a shirt" she smiled at him. "Sleep. I'll be okay here." He began to protest but she silenced him. "Remember how we smelled in the car?" He looked at himself sheepishly, sniffing his jacket.

"Bad?" he asked.

"You've smelled and looked better." Dani said smiling. "Mom's here and I'm not going anywhere for a couple days." She offered.

"I don't want to leave you" he began.

"You aren't leaving me are you? You're just taking a break…." When it was apparent he was not going for it, she added "Charlie, please. If you love me…" she paused for effect "shower" she kidded him.

Dani's use of the word "love" stopped Charlie in his tracks. He looked slightly stunned and had this goofy smile on his face. "What?" she asked.

"Math" he answered enigmatically, shaking his head ruefully. "One plus one"

Dani had no idea what he was talking about, but he didn't seem unhappy about whatever it meant. "You're a real nut job, Crews. You know that?" she repeated a favorite phrase of her father's, uttered when people did things Jack didn't understand.

Crews leaned over and kissed her forehead. Dani's hand moved unbidden to his face, encountering the fresh beard there "and shave" she told him. "Okay, honey, but only because you asked nicely" he said in a much huskier tone than she was used to.

"You want coffee when I come back?" knowing her Achilles heel. "I know this hospital stuff won't pass muster for you" he said buttoning his suit coat over his bare chest and straightening.

"You know what I like" she told him.

Her mother moved to her bedside as Charlie Crews left. Dani's expression saddened slightly as he moved away, she felt a tiny bit colder like when the sun goes behind a cloud in the winter.

"He'll be back" Roya said watching her daughter's expression.

Dani looked away embarrassed. "There is no shame in love" Roya told her. "You think you don't deserve it Dani, but you do. This man, despite your father's opinion of him is a good man and he loves you. You must not waste this chance."

"What do you think Dad will do when he finds out?" Dani bit her lip wondering her father's reaction to his daughter with Charlie Crews.

"He will be angry, but your father is always angry now" Roya said sadly.