Epic by InSilva

Disclaimer: oh, they don't belong to me. Seriously doubt they'd want to.

Chapter Seven: In Deep Water


Terry's smugness was nearly as overpowering as Striker.

"Say so long, Danny," Terry murmured. "A nice little diversion but it's all over now. Time to get back on with the real world."

The real world where Terry ruled and Danny suffocated and in less than twenty-four hours, it would be as if Rusty had never existed and the way things were going, Rusty wouldn't exist…

The kiss still burned on his lips and there had been everything in there: "Be all you can be"…intense and daring him to live his life and such love…such love…

The lifeboat was in mid-air and level with the deck and then it was slowly, steadily dropping down towards the water, away from Rusty, away from Rusty. Danny felt sick to the pit of his stomach. He'd only just found Rusty and he couldn't lose him, he just couldn't. Rusty was slipping away from him like a dreamfade. He stared at Rusty, not daring to blink, using every last second to talk, to connect, to-

"Hey!" Indignant Andrew Lee, finally realising whom they both reminded him of. "Where's my statue?"

There was scuffling behind him and it wasn't much but it was enough to distract Striker, to make him loosen his grip and that was enough for Danny. He pushed forward and away and past Terry and there was surprise and advantage. A foot on the edge of the boat and he launched himself upwards and his hands were reaching and grabbing the railing.

Except that his fingers weren't closing round metal. Rusty was there, his hands gripping Danny's elbows, hauling him up and over and they collapsed on to the deck in front of a few bemused crewmen, still engaged in lowering the lifeboat.

"You know these plans of yours…" Rusty panted, "…you're not covering yourself in glory."

"Think I'm offended," Danny told him in between ragged breaths of his own.

"Jumping back on board a sinking ship? Doubt I'd be alone in ranking that as a bad idea. What were you thinking?"

Danny's smile was warm and broad and instant and reached all the way up to his eyes. Rusty's eyes widened slightly.

"We only met two days ago," he whispered.

The smile didn't fade.

"Oh…oh, you have a sentimental streak a mile wide…"

From somewhere beneath them, came expletive-filled apoplexy.

"Guess Terry's missing me already," Danny grinned.

"Yeah. You. Or this." Rusty pushed the necklace into Danny's hands. "Probably both."

Danny stared stupidly down at the sparkle in his fingers.

Rusty gave an awkward shrug. "Figured Terry couldn't give it to Tess if he didn't have it to give."

Tess. And as much as Danny loved her, as special as she was, she seemed far away and distant and part of a life that wasn't his anymore. Nothing seemed more real than being with Rusty. And it might not be like that but that didn't make it any less powerful, any less vivid, any less core. A tiny part of him was screaming he take a logical view of things and the rest of him was telling logic to go hang.

"Hey."

Some of it must have shown in his face because Rusty was squeezing his hand and blue eyes were saying that they felt it all too. Danny crinkled a smile. Looked like Rusty understood it about as much as he did and cared even less that it made no sense.


Danny had come back for him. Twice in less than an hour, Danny had given up safety and come back for him.

He'd stood and watched Danny disappearing in the lifeboat and he'd resigned himself to the separation and he'd rejoiced that Danny was going to survive even while he was mourning the loss of Danny. Even while the kiss, the last physical contact he'd had was warm on his lips and he'd hoped that Danny had understood everything he'd said and everything he'd wanted to say.

Then he'd seen Danny acting even before Danny realised he was. Instinct had taken over and the flurry of rescue had suppressed any thoughts of what it all meant.

But sitting on the deck and looking at Danny and knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that Danny also felt the strength of what lay between them, that it mattered to Danny as much as it mattered to him, that Danny surrendered to the illogic of it too…

Rusty had never felt more loved.

The tremors grew stronger and the practical and the immediate took over. They scrambled to their feet, Danny stuffing the jewels into his pants pocket.

"Ship's not going to last much longer," Rusty predicted. "We need to move."


"Didn't see Reuben on that boat," Danny said as he followed Rusty once more through tilting ship corridors.

"Well, there's one lifeboat already launched. Willing to bet he's on there."

That made sense. Reuben had been with Terry and the others earlier. No reason to think that he wouldn't have found his way to safety.

Danny wasn't asking where they were headed this time either. They emerged into open air and deck and milling passengers and it was with some surprise that he realised he recognised where they'd ended up.

"This is the back of the boat-"

"-stern of the ship-"

"-this is where we met," Danny said.

"There goes that sentimental again," Rusty grinned.

The deck inclined alarmingly underneath their feet and Danny grabbed Rusty's elbow.

"That to keep me upright or you?"

"Both?"

Rusty forced his way in between frightened people, grasping the railing and dragging Danny's hand on to the metal.

Danny looked round at the others standing with them. A young woman with black eye-liner and black mascara that was absolutely not waterproof: a guy with an enormous girth who kept licking his lips and offering up whispered prayers to whatever god was listening: two guys who must be brothers, shoulder to shoulder, tight-lipped and trembling.

Stars were appearing. The sun was on the last rays of the day. Another time and it might have been a moment of beauty. As it was…

"Ship's going down."

Rusty's words brought him back to himself.

"Nothing gets past you."

"When we hit the water, we're going to get dragged down with it. We need to kick hard for the surface."

Danny couldn't stop the grimace.

"What?"

"Can't exactly swim," he muttered.

Rusty stared at him incredulously and then laughed, free and uninhibited. "Feel I ought to point out that the fall will probably kill you."

Danny joined in the laughter and didn't care about the looks they were attracting. "Had you figured more as Sundance."

"You don't think I'm Butch?" Rusty's eyes were alive with amusement.

"I might want notice of that question."

The ship gave a death-groan, long and loud and deep. They found their hands were linked together: neither of them could have said how or when that had happened: both of them accepted the why.

Danny stared over the side at the fast approaching expanse of dark greeny-grey.

"Good job we had that shower earlier. Bet that water's cold," he murmured.

"Probably full of sharks, too," Rusty suggested helpfully.

"You're such a half-glass full kind of person," Danny pointed out.

Rusty grew serious. "Kick off your shoes."

Danny did as he was told.

"Do we inflate these things?" he gestured at the life-jacket and looked round at other passengers: some had done so and some hadn't.

Rusty shrugged. "Hard to tell the best time. But I think waiting till we're in the water and clear is probably a plan. Don't want to puncture them on any stray bits of metal."

Danny nodded. He tightened his grip on Rusty.

"Don't let go," Rusty told him.

Never.

Rusty's lips twitched. "I meant when we're in the water." He frowned. "In fact-"

The ship shifted suddenly and whatever Rusty had been going to say was lost amid screams and sounds of twisted metal and the onrush of water and darkness.


Ice-cold, wet darkness. All around him. Surrounding him, cocooning him, suffocating him.

He'd taken an automatic gulp of air just before the water had engulfed him and instinct told him to hold on tight to that precious breath because right now, that was all he had.

He still felt Rusty's fingers on his and that was good. He tried to squeeze Rusty's hand but the pressure of the water was immense and he couldn't tell if Rusty felt his touch or not.

Kick hard for the surface.

Rusty's instructions and that would be fine if he knew which way up was. He wouldn't panic. He mustn't panic.

(He couldn't swim! He couldn't swim and he couldn't breathe and he was going to-)

Rusty. The thought of Rusty kept him calm. He could see Rusty's face, eyebrow raised in amusement. He could hear Rusty telling him that death was not an option. They'd only just met and they were destined to do more together than die.

There was a sudden bright red flash somewhere above him as if a storm had started and the lightning was full of blood. Three terrifying realisations hit him all at once.

He knew which way was up and it was so fucking far away.

There were so many people between him and the surface.

Rusty wasn't holding his hand.


Even though the plunge into the water had been expected, Rusty still hadn't been prepared. Next time, he'd do better, he thought grimly as the waters closed over his head.

The pull of the ship was strong and he kicked hard against it, his hand still clutching Danny's. He felt certain he still knew which way he ought to be headed and he focused on battling the darkness and the icy water, twin imperatives bursting through him – don't let go of Danny and get to the surface.

He couldn't see Danny but he could feel his fingers on his and he tried to squeeze Danny's hand, to offer reassurance and comfort. The water was so heavy, he doubted whether Danny would actually realise but still, it made him feel better.

The journey to the surface was going more smoothly than he'd hoped. He felt like he was definitely making progress. And Danny wasn't slowing things down in the slightest. Rusty felt ridiculously proud that Danny was proving such an able learner. He pulled the tag on his life-jacket and felt the rush as he was lifted gracefully upwards.

He broke the surface, taking an enormous gasp of air in time to see a barrage of flares lighting up the night sky like the Fourth of July. It distracted him for half a second from the screaming truth.

Danny wasn't holding his hand.


No fear. No terror. A simple plan. He knew which way to head and he knew what he had to do. Kick hard for the surface. Swimming might be up there with dancing the tarantella but he was a quick learner.

He hadn't let go of Rusty and he seriously doubted Rusty had let go of him. The coldness of the water had numbed the senses and they'd slipped apart and he hadn't noticed. Probably Rusty hadn't noticed either. Probably Rusty was somewhere safe now and wondering where Danny was. Maybe Rusty thought Danny had let go. Danny couldn't bear the thought.

Lungs bursting with the effort of holding on to the air, he kicked hard, the need to explain to Rusty what had happened burning through him as fiercely as the need to breathe.


Swearing freely, he wrestled the life-jacket from his body and dove down beneath the waves, searching for Danny. Another set of flares was launched and the underwater lit up, faces rushing towards him, frightened and desperate and not Danny.

When he could hold his breath no longer, he came back up for a couple of seconds of precious air and then the search began again.


His throat was tight and his lungs were on fire and he drove himself onward, upward, pushing through the water, ignoring the freezing cold, ignoring the pounding in his head, pushing himself to the limit and beyond, because this was about life and death and Rusty and he was damned if he was going to give up until…well…until never…

And the surface was closer - had to be closer…he was pushing blindly through bodies and he just needed a little help…

Life-jacket. Danny's fingers felt and fumbled and pulled the tag.

Immediately, the thing inflated and the shock knocked the last of the oxygen out of him. It also lifted him up through the final raft of people and he hit the surface and tasted glorious, fabulous life for all of three seconds.

Hands grabbed him. Hands grabbed on to his shoulders and held him and his face was forced back underneath the surface. He struggled and fought but the hands locked on to him, climbed on him, were using him to keep afloat.

The water was covering his face and he managed to turn and to bob up and grab a breath and then his mouth and nose were back under the water and his eyes were wide and pleading and surely he hadn't just made it up from the depths in order to drown an inch from safety.

Flares floodlit the scene and miracle of miracles, he could see Rusty. Straight in front of him and his back to him, his head twisting this way and that, looking for him, Danny realised, searching for him… Danny was frozen and it was nothing to do with the water. With every fibre of his being, he willed Rusty to turn round.

The weight pinning him shifted again and he was under the water. With an immense effort, Danny forced his way up to gasp in a huge gulp of air. And then he was under the water, under the water, under the water, under the water...


Danny was nowhere to be found. Rusty could feel the anxiety eating through him.

Not helpful, he snarled at himself. He trod water furiously, scanning the survivors, ignoring the screams and the whimpers and the moans that surrounded him.

He heard a noise behind him that had sounded like Danny and he turned and saw the fat man who had stood next to them on the ship, primal fear in his face, holding on for grim death to some poor soul, using them to keep himself afloat.

Danny.

Oh, God, Danny.

He tore his way through the water, pushing people aside until he reached Danny's side.

"Let go of him!" he bellowed and he pulled at fingers that were locked tightly on Danny.

The man stared at him, his face blank and terrified and not loosening his grip in the slightest.

Danny's head was under the surface. There was no time…

The water was cold but the fury was blazing. He punched the man hard. Once. Twice. Three times. The man let out a sharp moan and put his hands up pathetically to protect himself. In that instant, Rusty grabbed Danny.


Suddenly, the weight disappeared and he was free and he had to get to Rusty, he had to get to-

"I've got you," Rusty muttered in his ear. "I've got you…just relax…"

The ache of survival running through him, Danny lay back in the safety of Rusty's arms and allowed himself the luxury of breathing, promising himself he would never take air for granted again. Rusty had him. He could relax.