Danny stared at the wall. He could hear Sonny shouting in the other room. The soft whimpers of a woman could barely be heard above the yelling, and Danny couldn't stop himself flinching when hear heard a loud thud against the wall. A short moment later, his door opened and Jess walked in. The look on her face was carefully blank, and anyone but Danny would have missed the anger simmering in her eyes.

"What happened?" Danny couldn't believe how small his own voice sounded.

"Maria went out last night without telling Sonny." Danny cursed under his breath.

"Somethin' happen to her?" Jess sat down heavily on the bed.

"She got stopped by a cop with the take money from this weekend. Cop asks for ID, which obviously she doesn't have. If one of the boys from the bar hadn't been close; she'd be in lockup right now." Danny sighed softly.

"You want me to check on her?" Jess took a deep breath and stood up.

"Yeah. I gotta go calm Sonny down before Mac gets here." Danny forced himself not to react.

"Mac's coming?"

"Yeah, they got some details to finalise about the deal. Sonny's getting more and more jumpy about this whole thing."

"If it's worth anything, Mac seems like an ok guy to me." Jess smiled softly.

"You always were a good judge of character, Dan." Danny tried to smile as Jess turned and left him alone. Taking a deep breath; Danny stilled himself for what he was about to do. Slowly, he stood up and made his way to the door.

It was a short walk to the next room, and Danny took another breath before opening the door and going inside.

Danny's heart leapt into his throat when he entered the room. Maria was sitting on the floor, crying for all she was worth. Her mascara was smeared down her cheeks; hair falling out of her tight bun, and a bruise blooming on her cheek. Sighing sympathetically, Danny knelt down next to her.

"Hey," He whispered. Maria looked up jerkily, and Danny's heart sank as he remembered the fear she was feeling. She relaxed when she saw it was Danny; tears still rolling down her face.
"C'mon," Danny's voice was soft, and he reached down to help Maria to her feet. She leaned heavily on Danny, who led her over to the bed and sat her down carefully.

"M'sorry," She whispered; voice hoarse. Danny shook his head.

"Got nothin' to be sorry for," Danny assured gently. "You know how Sonny overreacts. You just happened to be in the firing line this time. Coulda been me. Usually is." Maria looked up; genuine fear in her eyes.

"He wants to put me to work," She whispered desperately. Danny pulled her in immediately; hugging her gently.

"It'll be ok," Danny whispered; kissing her forehead softly. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to you." Danny continued his soothing litany as Maria broke down again.

(~*~)

Mac could hear shouting coming from inside the penthouse. Opening the door slowly, he tried not to be noticed.

"No, Sonny. I don't care what you say. You're gonna calm the hell down before you make any decisions!"

"Is that so?" Mac could hear the false bravado in Sonny's voice as his sister laid into him.

"Yeah, it is. I'm sick of you trying to run everything around here. You pulled me in to take care of things, remember? I was gettin' out. Goin' to college. You told me you needed me, and now you wanna do my job?" Mac didn't need to see Sonny to know that the younger brother was faltering by now.

"She almost got herself busted, Jess. What do you expect me to do?"

"I expect you to stay out of it. I'll deal with Maria. You can't just decide that pimping her out is gonna fix things. For Christ sake Sonny, she's 17!" Mac heard the sigh that meant Sonny had lost.

"Alright," Sonny's voice was small and chastised. "But if she goes off like that again, I swear to God…" Mac decided to make his presence known. He opened the door before shutting it loudly. A short moment later, and Jessie appeared around in front of Mac.

"Hey," She smiled. "Sonny's just through there." She indicated behind her. Mac smiled pleasantly; he recognised the fire in her eyes and knew he should just smile and nod. If there was one thing he was familiar with, it was women scorned. Mac watched as she walked briskly past him, towards a nearby bedroom. Mac walked further into the room, seeing Sonny at the bar; downing a row of shots.

"Bad day?" Sonny looked up as Mac spoke. He gave a bitter smirk before continuing to drink. "I could come back," Mac offered.

"No need," Sonny spoke shortly. "I just wanted to say the plans have changed." Mac forced himself to remain calm.

"How?"

"Gotta move things up. I got business out of state, so we need to do this next week."

"Shouldn't be a problem," Mac agreed amicably.

"Good." Sonny's tone was clipped as he finished up his drinks. "Danny's in the back if you wanna see him. From what I heard, you two had a good time." Mac stopped himself from reacting; the grim smirk Sonny was displaying causing his fists to clench. Turning slowly, Mac walked towards the back where he'd seen Jess go.

Danny stopped dead when he saw Mac round the corner. He could feel the tension radiating off the older man. It lessened a little when he saw Danny.

"Mac." Danny breathed. Mac's lip quirked upwards and his shoulders relaxed completely.

"You wanna get outta here?" Mac asked; exhaustion barely concealed from his expression. Danny smiled, looking a little relieved, and nodded.

"Lemme just tell Jess we're leaving." Mac nodded and waited while Danny retreated to the bedroom.

(~*~)

Mac looked at Danny from across the diner table. The younger man was very quiet, and Mac could see the tension in his shoulders. The same anger he'd seen in Jessie's eyes was rolling off Danny in waves.

"What's wrong?" Mac asked; deciding a straightforward approach was best. Danny looked up briefly; flashing an insincere smile.

"Nothing," He answered.

"Don't lie to me," Mac countered easily. "You're pissed. You and Jess both, I could feel it back at the penthouse." Danny faltered; looking into his coffee.

"I don't wanna say," He started. "Sonny…"

"There's nothing you can tell me about Sonny that'll make me think less of him." Danny looked up curiously. "It's not possible for me to think any less of him than I already do," Mac explained with a wry smirk. "But business is business." Danny nodded slowly before speaking.

"One of the girls got into trouble. Maria…"

"The one who doesn't look twenty two?" Mac guessed. Danny nodded slowly.

"It's because she aint." Mac nodded; not letting on about what he'd already heard. "Anyway, Sonny slapped her around pretty good about it. And he's talking about putting her to work. I promised I'd keep her safe, but I don't know how I'm gonna do that." Danny closed his eyes. He shouldn't be saying any of this. There was nothing to say Mac wasn't in Sonny's pocket; and everything would get back to the boss. Nothing except for the look in Mac's eyes. The look that now said he wanted to kill Sonny, and make sure nobody every found the body.

"I can help," Mac said through gritted teeth. "As soon as this business with Sonny is through; I promise I'll help you. Both of you." Danny released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and nodded.
"It's getting late," Mac sighed. "We should be getting back."