so i realize that i havent updated this in like, forever...okay, like 3 weeks, BUT STILL. thats forever in fanfiction time, am i right ? anyhow, you guys are the greatest, so i decided that since i was being so uncool and not updating that i would make this one extra extra long. like seriously, this is the most ive ever written. so im SORRYSORRYSORRYSORRYSORRYSORRYSORRYSORRY for not updating in forever ! :(
bad mtc, BAAAADD !
id throw lame excuses at you about having band and having to do homework for 4 AP classes, but i dont think anyone would have any of that bullshit; since when do i do homework ? ahhahaa. anyway, enough of my incessive babbling, on with the show ! eh hem, chapter...
enjoy (:
--mtc.
Chapter 22
She brought her face closer to his, kissing his cheek tenderly before the tears began to fall harder.
"Daddy, please don't leave me again." She closed her little finger around his own and lay her head on his shoulder, her tears falling on his chest as she silently cried, wishing this was all just a dream.
Suddenly, she felt his fingers twitch under her own. She perked up, the tears still falling as she looked up into his eyes. They were still closed, but she could see the effort that he was putting into opening him. As they fluttered open, she got the wish of a lifetime. In a raspy voice, barely above a whisper, he began to speak.
"I'm not going anywhere, baby."
Everything in the room was a blur to him.
Everything besides his daughter.
He faintly heard the beep of the machines that were surrounding him, could see the bright white of the walls around him, but the only image that clearly stood out to him was the tear stained face of his little girl. The only sound he could clearly hear was the sweet sound of his daughter's voice pleading with him to stay alive. It was her words that had pulled him through. It was as if he was trapped inside his own body, metal bars like a jail cell preventing him from escaping. There was no way out and he didn't have near enough power to break through the bars himself. It was her words that gave him the strength to break free from the prison that had encased him; hearing her call him daddy was enough to make him invincible. He felt her warm, tiny fingers clutching his own, and using all of his power and might, he squeezed back, just enough to reassure her that he was still there; there was no way in hell he would ever leave her again. Though his throat was completely dry, he mustered up enough strength to speak to her, leaving her with a promise that he knew he would never break.
He wasn't going anywhere.
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Bailey couldn't believe her ears.
Had she really heard him speak? Or was she making it all up in her mind?
His reassuring touch made it real for her. Her daddy wasn't going to leave her again, and when he squeezed her hand, she knew it was true. She didn't want to leave him but she knew she had to get a doctor's attention. She quickly remembered when she had been hospitalized after her accident, how the nurse had told her that if she needed anything at all that all she had to do was push the call button that was attached to her bed. Frantically searching around her father's bed, her eyes finally landed on the plastic box. Not letting go of Danny's hand for one second, she tangled her arms around each other so that she wouldn't have to release her grip from his. She repeatedly pressed the red button, finally letting out the breath she had been holding when Danny's nurse rushed in, followed by her mother and Flack, all three adults showing panicked looks in their eyes.
"What's wrong, is everything okay, what happened?" the nurse exclaimed running over to check the various machines that surrounded Danny's bed.
"Nothing's wrong," Bailey replied to the nurse as if she was a complete idiot.
"Then why on earth did you press the call button twenty seven times sweetheart?"
"Bailey, sweetie, what happened?" Lindsay asked, now growing more concerned than she already had been.
"He talked to me mommy. He squeezed my hand and he talked to me," she replied, her eyes glowing and her little lips curled up into a smile. That smile was quickly wiped away as the nurse knelt down next to her and placed a rough hand on her shoulder. Glancing over to the man that was peacefully sleeping in the bed behind the young girl, she tried her hardest not to make her upset.
"Honey, I don't want to make you sad, but I don't think he really talked to you, did he? You just got excited and thought he did, didn't you?" As she saw tears welling up in her bright blue eyes, she regretted breaking the little girl's heart, but continued to explain for her mother's sake. "The squeezing was just a reflex; you will see that a lot with comatose patients. His eyes may blink when you talk to him, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's waking up. I'm sorry sweetie."
"NO!" Bailey protested. "He DID talk to me! He told me he was never gonna leave me again, he really did! And he wasn't lying, I know it!" The tears streamed down her face as the nurse tried to calm her down, but they only seemed to fall faster as she shot down all of her stories.
"Sweetie, I am very sorry that you miss your daddy, but we really don't know how long he will be asleep for at this point."
"Not much longer," came a raspy voice from behind them. "Don't you believe my daughter?"
All heads in the room turned. Although his eyes were still closed, they could see the smirk that was spread across Danny Messer's face. He was weak, but he could definitely muster up enough strength to tell off anyone that dare contradict what his daughter said. He squeezed her hand—that was still clutched in his own—reassuring her that he had her back. Bailey smirked her own smirk at the nurse and turned around to cuddle into her father's side as he used the remainder of his energy to pull her into his side.
As she watched on, Lindsay's own tears were now falling from her face. She made her way to his bed, kneeling down and placing a kiss on his forehead as she cuddled into his other side.
"Don't ever scare me like that again Messer," she laughed through her tears as she saw his grin grow a little.
Seeing that he was, in fact, awake, the nurse checked the machines again and began taking notes on the clipboard that was attached to the end of his bed, rushing out to find the doctor as the family of three had their reunion. Don watched on as Lindsay kissed him on the cheek, taking his hand in her own and entwining their fingers together. Although it would be barely undetectable by any other person, she smiled as she felt the smallest pressure of his hand squeezing her own, reassuring her that he would be there for her always and forever. Seeing this tender family moment, Don figured he could wait to see his friend. He smiled, shaking his head at his friend.
"You just gotta make everything interesting, don't ya Danno?" he said to himself as he walked out the door, ready to tell everyone the good news.
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After several hours of rest, Danny was finally able to be fully awake. It brightened his smile even more to open his eyes to Lindsay and Bailey, the only two people he needed in his life. When the doctor had come in the room while he was resting, both girls had refused to leave his side, insisting that they be present when he woke once again. When he blinked his eyes open, they both sighed heavily before hugging him softly so that they did not injure him further or pop his stitches. Although it was still difficult for him to speak, he tried his hardest, wanting to reassure his girls that he was okay.
"What are you two crying for? I'm right here; I'm not going anywhere, promise."
Lindsay held back the slap she had ready for him and hugged him instead. "We were worried sick about you cowboy. You really had us scared."
"But I'm Danny Messer, not even the Green Lantern could kill me." At this, Bailey giggled, kissing her father on the cheek as he rubbed her shoulder with the hand that was already wrapped around it. Lindsay, however, tensed at the word "kill". She could barely cope with the fact that Danny had left her for four years; if he had died, she wouldn't know what to do with herself. He noted the shift in her emotions, feeling the grip her fingers had on his own stiffen. He pulled her face towards his own, their temples now touching. Looking her straight in the eyes, making sure she could read everything that was going on inside of him, he told her exactly what she needed to hear.
"Lindsay, I'm not going anywhere. I'm here for you, you and our little girl. You don't gotta worry about me; I will never leave you again." He kissed her forehead lightly, looking into her deep brown eyes as he pulled away to make sure she understood. As hesitant as she was to believe him, she knew what he was saying was the truth. He would be there for them from now on, and there was nothing that could tear him away from the people that meant the most to him.
Not even a bullet.
"Promise?" she asked, her voice still slightly shaky. He smiled at her and laughed as well as he could, and then untangled their fingers and wiggled his pinky finger in front of her face.
"Pinky promise," he replied as she giggled back, locking their fingers together like kindergarteners would.
"Good," she laughed. "Because I don't know what I would do without you."
"Well you don't gotta worry about that Montana. I'm not going anywhere. I love you too much." He brought his hand up to her cheek and caressed it lightly, smiling as she blushed at his touch.
"What about me, what about me?" Bailey chimed in, wanting attention from her parents who had been too engrossed in their own conversation to realize that she had been mocking them the entire time. Both Danny and Lindsay laughed lightly.
"Of course I love you monkey. You're my baby girl, I wouldn't trade you for anything in the world."
"Good, because there's something I gotta tell you," she replied secretively. She brought herself closer in to his face so that he could hear absolutely everything she was about to say; she didn't want him to miss anything.
"Alright, what is it?"
Sighing heavily, she began her proposition. "I want you to be my daddy Danny." She stared at him, trying to catch his reaction. The warm smile on his face was enough to keep her going. "I want you to be my daddy, daddy. Please say you'll come home with us."
Before she could say anything further, he wrapped both girls up in his arms as best he could; he could feel the love radiating through the room as he stared at their smiling faces. How had he gotten so lucky? Before he could respond, his doctor reappeared in the doorway, charts in hand ready to administer treatment.
Although they would have rather stayed in the room, Lindsay and Bailey followed doctor's orders and exited back into the waiting area where the remainder of Danny's visitors were still sitting, waiting for answers, much as Bailey was still awaiting the answer to her impending question: would her daddy go home with her? Her thoughts were pushed to the backburner as her mother scooped her up in her arms and held her tightly whispering softly in her ear, "He loves you baby girl, he's not going anywhere."
Knowing that what her mother was telling her was the truth, she snuggled closer into her mother's shoulder as sleep quickly overcame her, falling into a deep dream of better days to come.
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As soon as they received the all clear from the doctors, the entire NYPD Crime Lab staff all but stormed Danny Messer's hospital room. They offered him their well wishes, telling him how grateful they were that he pulled through, telling him that they knew he wouldn't give up; a few cracks were even thrown in along the lines of "I would've killed you if you would've given up on yourself." They all shared laughter and jokes as they basked in the joy of their coworker's stability, but were all soon overtaken by fatigue, and one by one, they said their goodbyes and exited the room, leaving him with only the company of Don Flack; Lindsay had gone off to grab coffee and she had brought her sleeping daughter along with her. The dark haired man pulled up a chair and straddled it backwards next to his friend's bed, offering him a grin as the bedridden man began to speak.
"Don, I gotta ask…What happened to Sassone?" Flack fidgeted uncomfortably in his chair, avoiding his friend's gaze.
"I knew you were gonna ask me at some point Mess, I just didn't think it would be this fast," he chuckled. Danny's eyes sought out Flack's as he searched for an answer. Beginning hesitantly, Flack began to answer his friend's impending question. "I shot him Danny. Instinct took over and I gunned that son of a bitch down. He died on the way to the hospital. The way I see it, justice has been served. I couldn't let him get away with hurting you and your family anymore Danny, I just couldn't. He fired first, and I followed suit. He's not gonna bother you anymore Danny. You can go on knowing that that little girl of yours is safe now." His eyes had been down the entire time he had been speaking; he did not want to stare his friend in the face while he told him that he had taken down the man that had brought so much pain upon his life, because he knew exactly what was going through the young man's head. He knew what thoughts were swimming behind his blue eyes without him even having to open up his mouth: As grateful as he was that the bastard was now gone for good, he had wanted to be the one to put the bullet in his skull. He wanted to be the one to show this man just how furious he was for hurting him the way he had, he wanted to take out all of his wrath on this poor excuse for a life and end it just as he had done to Danny's family.
Danny sighed heavily, his eyes falling from Flack's face to the blanket that was draped across his legs. He thought for a moment before bringing his eyes back up to meet his friend's. "Thank you Don. Thank you for lookin' out for me. And thank you for keeping my family safe." As shocked as Flack was, he knew that it had taken a lot of strength for Danny to thank him rather than lash out at him for doing "Danny's job". Deep down, Flack knew that Danny would go to whatever lengths it took to protect his family, even if that meant letting someone else do the dirty work. Danny would be forever grateful to his friend for doing what he had done. Flack rested a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder and Danny smiled back at him tiredly, sleep beginning to overcome him once again. As if on cue, Lindsay reappeared in the doorway, a sleeping child draped over her shoulder, two cups of coffee clenched in her hands, and a tired smile on her lips. She handed a cup of steaming coffee to Flack who nodded his thanks, and set Bailey down gently in one of the bigger armchairs that was in the corner of the room. The little girl would have been too small for the chair if she was normally sitting in it, so seeing her curled up in a ball made Lindsay giggle, the chair seeming to eat her tiny daughter. She set her own coffee down and bent down to give Danny a gentle kiss on the cheek, surprised when he directed her face towards his lips. Even bedridden in a hospital just hours after surgery, he could still take her breath away.
"Damn Messer, you just got a bullet taken out of you chest, easy on the heart," Flack joked, the three laughing quietly so they would not wake the sleeping child in the chair next to them.
"You're just jealous Flack," Danny shot back in a raspy voice. "You wish you could have someone as perfect as Lindsay." He hugged her close as Flack rolled his eyes.
"Danny Messer, I never pegged you a romantic," he said sarcastically back as Danny stuck his tongue out at him. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but the four year old is over there?" Flack replied to Danny's childish action, causing him to do it again, with added emphasis to annoy his friend. Their laughter was interrupted by the reappearance of Danny's doctor, informing them that Danny needed rest, and advising them that they should all do the same.
They gathered their belongings and as soon as Lindsay had repacked Bailey's toys into her backpack, she returned to Danny's side, kissing him softly on the lips.
"Bailey should sleep in her own bed," Danny said softly, shocking Lindsay a bit. Before she could respond, he cut her off. "I'll be fine her Lindsay, I don't want her to have to spend the night here again. Go home, get some sleep."
She smiled at him, hugging him tighter as she whispered softly into his ear. "We'll be back first thing in the morning."
"You'd better be," he joked back, smiling.
"There's no place we'd rather be." She turned around and scooped Bailey up in her arms and returned to her previous place next to Danny's bed. He picked himself up from where he was laying so that he could kiss his sleeping daughter lightly on the cheek.
"I'll see you tomorrow baby girl. I love you." He whispered the words softly into her ears. He knew that she was asleep, but he felt that deep down she had heard what he said. She knew he loved her; he always would.
"I love you Lindsay. Go home and get some sleep. Don't worry about me, I'm not going anywhere," he told her, gesturing to the many wires that were protruding from his arms.
"I love you too Danny." She hugged him once more before seeing the look on the impatient doctor's face and deciding that they should probably leave before the doctor scolded them like schoolchildren.
"I love you too Danny," Flack mimicked Lindsay, bending down to hug his friend obnoxiously.
"I love you too Flackie," Danny joked as his friend laughed and Lindsay rolled her eyes at the two immature detectives.
"We'll see you tomorrow Danno," Flack laughed as he placed an arm around Lindsay. They exited the room, Flack promising Danny that he would see his family home. The walk to the parking garage was silent, mostly due to the fact that all were suddenly overcome by the tiredness that came with lack of sleep. They got the Flack's car and Lindsay carefully strapped Bailey into the booster seat in the backseat, desperately wishing that the child not wake up. She let out a sigh as she closed the passenger side door and glanced back to see her little head slumped over, her eyes still closed, thumb still in her mouth.
"You know, I could always crank the radio up," Flack joked as he saw that Lindsay was pleased with the fact that Bailey was still sleeping. She slapped him in the arm and he began laughing, earning him another slap.
"Don't even think about it!" she screamed in a whispered tone.
"I was only kidding Monroe, calm down," he laughed back at her as she settled back into her seat, glancing back once more to make sure her daughter was still asleep. "She's been through a hell of a lot."
"She sure has," Lindsay replied with a sigh. She was surprised that Bailey hadn't fallen into a traumatic shock after witnessing the shooting, but then again, she wasn't exactly sure of what her daughter had seen. She knew that she and Danny would eventually have to talk to the child about it, but for now, she threw that thought to the back of her mind.
The remainder of the car ride was silent. When they pulled up at Lindsay's building, Flack carried Bailey up to their apartment and helped Lindsay pull her bed down and change the sleeping girl into pajamas, all while trying not to wake her. As soon as they had the tiny child tucked in, they returned to the kitchen, where Lindsay offered Flack a cup of coffee, which he declined.
"You don't need any more caffeine," he laughed, taking the canister of coffee grounds away from her before she could add them to the pot. "Get some rest Linds, he'll be fine. If you stay up all night, you're gonna be tired as hell tomorrow. He needs you fully awake. Although I'm sure he can wake you up himself…"
Lindsay laughed lightly, but then crossed her arms across her chest. "He could've died, Flack. He could have died. I don't know what I would've done with myself if I would've lost him."
Flack wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "You would have continued providing for that little girl, because you know that's what he would have wanted. But you know what? You won't have to find out what that feels like, because he stayed strong for you two. He loves you too much to walk away again. Just remember that Lindsay. He won't leave you again. And if he does, I will personally hunt him down and drag his ass back." She offered him a smile and gave him another hug in return.
"Thanks Don, I needed that."
"No problem," he replied, returning her smile. "Call me if you need anything, okay? I'd offer to stay the night, but I know you would send me home. Plus, Danny would have my ass on a platter if he found out we had a sleepover." He winked at her, earning a laugh. "That's my girl. Now go get some rest. I'll pick you up tomorrow morning around 8."
She smiled at him, nodding in response as he made his way back towards the door.
"Hey Don?" she called after him as he reached for the knob. He found her eyes, signaling that she could go on. "Thanks." He smiled and stared down at his shoes for a second before looking back up at her.
"I've got your back Lindsay. Forever. Life ever throws you something and you don't know what to do, you can always come to me." He smiled at her once more before turning back towards the door, closing it softly so the noise wouldn't disturb his niece that was sleeping a couple rooms over. Lindsay walked down the hall and plopped down onto her bed, gathering one of Danny's shirts that he had left and pulling it close to her. His scent still lingered on the ratty old cloth, and as she lay there taking it in, it was all she could do to keep herself from breaking down. She had almost lost him, and she wasn't sure she would be able to go through losing him again. But Flack's words rang in her head. He was right. She would pick herself up and raise Bailey like he would have wanted her to do. But she wouldn't want to go on raising their daughter without him. From the moment that she had admitted to him that he was Bailey's father, all she could do was picture the rest of their lives together; getting married, taking family vacations together, taking Bailey to her first day of school; the list went on and on. She couldn't imagine him being taken out of the picture. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her cell phone vibrating next to her.
Text Message from Don Flack:
Get some sleep Lindsay. He'll be there when you wake up, I promise. And if he's not, I'm always available ;)
She laughed at the last line, and realizing that he was right, she changed into a pair of sweats and climbed into bed, laying her head on the pillow that Danny used to use and curling up with his old t-shirt. He would be there when she woke up.
He had to be.
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When Lindsay awoke, she expected it to be by her alarm. Instead, she was shaken from her dreams by the prodding of a tiny finger into her nose. Blinking her eyes open, she realized that the finger belonged to her daughter. The little girl stood in front of her in her Dora the Explorer nightgown, her teddy bear clutched in one hand while the other rubbed at her eyes.
"Where's daddy?"
The words that escaped her daughter's lips almost brought tears to Lindsay's eyes as she scooped the little girl up in her arms and cradled her on the bed.
"Daddy had to stay at the hospital overnight sweetie. We can go back and see him in the morning."
"But I wanna see him now. He has no one to talk to at the hopstickle, he's all alone. We have to go keep him company."
"I know you want to see him now baby girl, but we can't. We have to wait until the hospital lets us see him. Besides, he needs his rest. You want him to get better don't you?"
"Yeah, but I want to see him. Maybe if you kissed his boo boo it would make him better."
Lindsay laughed at her daughter's innocence. "I can try sweetie, but I can't try until morning." She glanced at her clock, the LED lights brightly displaying the numbers 3:48 AM, the green numbers seeming to taunt her. "Why don't you sleep in my bed until my alarm goes off?"
"Okay," the little girl yawned, curling up into her mother's side, taking over Lindsay's pillow as she drifted back off to sleep. Lindsay smiled down at her sleeping daughter, watching her chest slowly rise and fall with every breath she took. She moved a curl out of the little girl's face, tucking it behind her ear before she let her dreams overtake her once again.
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Morning came too soon, and not soon enough. On one hand, Lindsay wished she could have slept longer, but the fact that her alarm was annoyingly buzzing in her ear meant she was that much closer to seeing Danny again. She carefully moved Bailey onto her own side of the bed and tucked the blanked around her shivering body, figuring she would let the little girl sleep a while longer while she showered and got ready. As she let the hot water run over her body, she felt the stress leave her body, washing off of her with the soap and swirling down the drain. She didn't see any point in wasting time on her hair or her outfit; she was spending the day in a hospital. Jeans and a t-shirt were the way to go. Throwing her hair up in a messy ponytail, she walked out of the bathroom ready to wake up her daughter when she almost stumbled over something that was sitting at her feet. Smiling up at her was a fully clothed, teeth-brushed, backpack-clad four year old, rearing and ready to go.
"Did you really think I couldn't hear your alarm mommy? It's louder than Uncle Flack's snoring."
Lindsay could only giggle as her daughter grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the front door. As they walked down the hallway, she noticed that Bailey's backpack was unusually stuffed full of oddly shaped objects.
"Bay, sweetie, what's in your backpack?" she questioned, the detective in her exploring all possible options as to what exactly her daughter could have packed.
"Movies," Bailey replied simply as if there wasn't a problem. As Lindsay further inspected the backpack, she realized that they weren't any DVD they had on the shelf in their living room. They were more along the shape of a VHS tape. And they only had one kind of VHS in their apartment.
"Did you dig up the home movies from under my bed?"
"Mhm," the little girl replied with a nod of her head. "I figured daddy's gonna be bored in that yucky hopstickle room, so I thought he might wanna watch some of my tapes from when I was little."
Lindsay smiled, her heart growing inside of her. She couldn't have thought of a better idea herself. Hearing a knock at the door, she grabbed her purse and keys off the counter and allowed Bailey to open to door, revealing Don Flack holding a cardboard tray with two larger cups and one smaller cup. In his other hand, he clutched a paper bag with a Dunkin' Donuts label on it, which Bailey jumped at immediately.
"Is that for me?!" She grabbed at the bag, Don laughing as she continued to jump for it.
"Calm down monkey. Yes, it's for you, but wait until you get in the car. Mornin' Linds," he laughed through the chaos.
"Good morning Flack," she greeted him back, helping him with the packages before he dropped everything. She followed him to the car, getting Bailey situated in her booster seat with her donut and hot chocolate before handing Flack his coffee and buckling herself in. When they arrived at the hospital, Bailey's face was covered in chocolate frosting and sprinkles. Flack giggled to himself as Lindsay rolled her eyes and pulled out her HandiWipes. Before she could get one out of the plastic canister, Bailey had stretched her tongue around her face, leaving only sticky residue left around her mouth. Lindsay rolled her eyes as Flack's laughing grew harder.
"What?" the little girl asked innocently. Lindsay stifled a laugh, trying not to scold her daughter for "not using a napkin" as she often found herself doing. Given the circumstances, she figured she would let it slide, but she wiped the stickiness from the little girl's face anyway, receiving protest in return. Throwing away the used wipe, she grabbed the little girl's hand and they headed into the hospital. The long walk down the hallway was all too familiar for Lindsay; it was so scary to have to be in the same position to visit her four year old daughter for nearly a week, now coming to visit that little girl's father was equally painful. She kept fearing that when they reached his door, the bed would be empty and made up, a nurse standing in the doorway waiting to break the news that he had passed away in the middle of the night or something horrible.
She let out a huge sigh of relief as she saw his figure sitting up in the bed smiling at her through all of the tubes that were coming out of his face. Bailey immediately let go of Lindsay's hand and ran up to his bedside.
"Daddy!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around him.
"Hiya kiddo, I missed you."
"I missed you too! Mommy said we couldn't come earlier because the hopstickle people would yell at us, but now we get to see you! I brought you a surprise, wanna see it?"
He laughed at her excitement as she rummaged through her backpack, not waiting for him to answer before pulling out as many tapes as her little arms could hold.
"You brought me movies to pass the time? Awesome," he replied at the sight of the tapes, still trying to figure out what they were through the black outer casings. He couldn't find any labels, and as he stared at them further, he figured out what they were. He smiled up at Lindsay who returned his smile, lifting their daughter up onto the bed to sit next to him.
"Are those what I think they are?" he asked her, trying to play along.
"They're Bailey tapes!" she answered him excitedly, picking one out of the stack and showing it to him proudly. He saw a small white label stuck to the front of the tape, the words "Bailey's 1st Birthday" written across it. His eyes lit up like a child on Christmas as he stared at the never-ending stack sprawled across her lap. Bailey handed the tape off to Flack who was ready to pop it into the tape player, tempted to wait as he saw the eagerness in Danny's eyes. He put the tape in the player and took a seat in the corner, watching as Danny's eyes lit up at the images on the screen.
There was his daughter, just a baby back then, sitting up in a high chair surrounded by his coworkers. A small cake was set in front of her, close enough for admiration but not yet close enough for her to grab at as Mac lit the number 1 candle that was centered on the cake. As everyone began to sing "Happy Birthday", the little girl couldn't decide who to look at. Her head whipped from person to person, back and forth between all of the familiar faces that surrounded her. She giggled and clapped as the song ended and everyone around her began clapping. Lindsay then proceeded to pick the cake up and move it closer to the little girl, showing her that when she blew on the candle, the light flickered. She spewed spit at the cake in an attempt to make the flame disappear, laughter erupting from all of the people in the room. The light seemed to taunt her, reappearing a second time and flickering before her. Even when she was a baby, she got that determined Messer look on her face, and gathering all her breath, she blew the candle out, clapping as the flame disappeared from the candle. Her mother plucked the candle from the frosting and placed the cake on the tray in front of her daughter, making sure her bib was fastened snugly around her neck before letting her attack it. She was hesitant at first, but once she figured out what was going on, her hands landed in the frosting, giggles erupting from her as she waved her frosting-filled hands in the air for all to see, the giggles being returned to her as she did so. As Danny watched on, he could see that her blonde hair was just beginning to grow in, and that she had a couple of teeth popping up. She was little considering her prematurity, but he could tell that she was fighting to catch up. He could see Lindsay in the background; although she was trying to hide it from the rest of the party, he could see the tired look on her face. There were no doubt bags under her eyes, and her hair simply drooped around her face. This person he saw on the television screen wasn't his Lindsay. He saw her wipe a tear from her cheek and step towards her daughter, putting a little bit of frosting on her finger before poking her in the nose, the baby girl erupting in a fit of giggles as she clapped her hands together, frosting flying from her hands. Once they decided that she had played with the cake enough, Lindsay lifted the cake off of the plastic tray while Flack lifted the frosting covered baby out of the high chair. He soon regretted the decision when she grabbed onto his shirt first, covering the Yankees logo with white frosting, then moving up to his face. She placed a hand on either cheek and left tiny white handprints there. He couldn't be mad though, she was his niece, and quite frankly she was the cutest baby he had ever seen. He placed a kiss on her stomach, causing her to laugh more, clapping once again and sending frosting flying everywhere, including on top of Mac's head. As the white goo covered his hair, the entire room fell silent. No one knew what to say until little Bailey interrupted the silence. She motioned for Flack to bring her closer to the older man and very carefully, she scooped the frosting off of his head, placing a kiss on his cheek and clapping again as everyone in the room began to laugh.
Danny watched the remainder of the video in awe, wishing he hadn't missed out on this. He had missed out on so much of his daughter's life, and he had to live every day regretting that. But when he looked over and saw her head resting in his arm with that smile on her face, he thanked God for every day that he had spent with her since returning. He couldn't imagine his life without Bailey or Lindsay. Glancing over, he grinned seeing that Lindsay's smile was exactly the same as their daughter's. He reached a hand out and rested it behind Lindsay, reaching around and rubbing her arm gently as they continued to watch the video. They spent the day like that, the family of three watching home movies, a doctor coming in occasionally to check up on Danny's status. At one point, Lindsay left to get Bailey a snack, seeing as all she had eaten all day had been a donut. As father and daughter sat in silence, she had to find out the answer to her question.
"Daddy, are you gonna come home with us?"
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Next Week in Come Back to Me...
"So what do you say Cowboy? Come home with us."