Burn
By
Landon Richardson
Official Disclaimer
The characters of Lieutenant Commander Steven 'Steve' McGarrett, Chin Ho Kelly, Kono Kalakaua, Adam 'Toast' Charles, Mary McGarrett, Governor Patricia Jameson, Detective Meka Hanamoa and Deborah 'Debs' Landon (McGarrett in canon show) do not belong to me in any shape or form. I am merely using them for my own entertainment purposes.
The character of Detective Sergeant Danielle 'Danni' Williams probably can be considered to be mine by now. Although she was originally based on male Danny, she soon evolved becoming her own person. She has her own background, her own family, her own history and her own distinct personality. This isn't to say that the Danny Williams we all know and love is completely gone, he still emerges through her at times. I like to think of female Danni as what Danny could have been if everything in his life had gone his way. As in full custody of Grace and a decent relationship with his ex.
The character of Grace has also changed slightly due to the change in Danni. Her surname is Taylor as this is her father's surname and was Danni's married name (Danni reverted back to her maiden name when she was divorced). Her parents also are amicable which has also impacted Grace but never fear, she's still the sweetheart we know and love, if anything she's more a sweetheart now.
The character of Supervisory Special Agent Jack O'Connor, Detective Abraham Lee, Martin Chen. Rita Chen, Doctor Rosie Lange, Michael Landon, Karen Landon, Tyler Landon, Morgan Landon, Dean Landon, Kent Deacon, Ross Hall, Sasha Hall, Nicole Hall, Brent Cox and Special Agent Walker Humphries however do belong to me as does any other character who you do not recognise from the show. Please do not use them, or my version of Danni and Grace without first asking for my permission to do so.
Author Note
Welcome to what is technically the Eighth chapter of 'Burn'
Please enjoy!
Overall Summary
Fire, fire burning bright, which member of Five-O will you try to claim tonight… When Five-O are tasked with hunting down an arsonist who has graduated to murder, they didn't expect themselves to become potential targets. Now it's a race against time to find the murdered before it's too late.
Chapter Summary
Steve sighed, staring at the computer screen in front of him with a frown on his face before he lowered his eyes down to his watch, thankful to see that it had finally turned seven in the evening,
Overall Romance
Hints of Steve McGarrett / Danni Williams (McDanni)
Mentions of past Duncan Taylor / Danni Williams (Dunni)
Hints of Ryan Moore / Danni Williams (Rynni)
Meka Hanamoa / Amy Hanamoa (Mekmy)
Chapter Romance
Hints of Steve McGarrett / Danni Williams (McDanni)
Warning
This story features a female Danni Williams in place of a male Danny Williams. Although in some stories I write, Danny does exist, he does not exist in this one.
If this is not your cup of tea then please hit the back button.
Another note
I do not have a Beta so please forgive any mistakes which may creep in, I always do my best to edit the story and check it but sometimes mistakes do creep in.
The places I've mentioned in Hawaii are ones which come from google, including the addresses. I've never been to Hawaii myself in person so I apologise for any mistakes which I may make, these are not intentional.
Chapter Eight
A much-needed talk
Monday 4th October 2010
The Governor's Taskforce Headquarters
3rd Floor
Ali'iolani Hale
417 King Street
Honolulu
Oahu
Steve McGarrett's point of view
Steve sighed, staring at the computer screen in front of him with a frown on his face before he lowered his eyes down to his watch, thankful to see that it had finally turned seven in the evening,
It was finally time for him to log off and leave the office so he could drive Danni's Camaro back to her home and pick up his truck which he knew she had since his spare key had been missing from his drawer, just as he had expected it to be.
He hadn't spoken to his partner since that earlier conversation over the ear pieces which was officially the longest he had gone without speaking to her on a work day. The added fact that she had only replied to his various texts giving her updates on the cases with single worded answers indicated that she was pissed off with him and that he should get used to being in the dog house for the foreseeable future.
He pulled a face as he leaned back in his chair, mulling over the fact that Danni's cold treatment towards him bothered him as much as it did though he couldn't pinpoint why it did.
It wasn't as though she was the first person within his life to be annoyed at something which he had done in the heat of the moment. God only knew that he had given the cold shoulder treatment by women before, both in and out of work and had learnt to simply ignore it, waiting until whoever it was had gotten over what had initially bothered them in the first place, knowing that giving them the distant they needed before attempting to speak to them again was the right thing to do but he hadn't of been able to do that with Danni.
He couldn't deny the simple fact that he had spent the majority of the afternoon when his mind wasn't on the case, thinking about her and the situation between them and the fact that he had managed to piss her off so much by simply taking her car.
He found himself wanting to be able to talk to her, to have her beside him so he could run things about the case past her to get her own opinion on it. The longer the time between them went without speaking, the more he experienced the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, a feeling he knew, if he was being honest with himself, would probably have dispersed if he could have seen a flash of her reluctant smile or heard her voice.
Shaking his head again, he looked at his watch for a final time before he gave up and leaned forward, saving his work and logging off of the system before he powered down the computer. A glance out of the glass panes showed that the rest of the office was dark. The others having left the office a couple of hours earlier at a more reasonable time, all of them with plans for the evening if the earlier overheard conversation he heard were any indication to go by.
Chin and Kono were heading out to grab a quick dinner with Kono's older brother Mekhi at a nearby restaurant though both had assured them that they could easily leave if something urgent with the case came up that needed them. Toast was heading off to a rehab meeting before he went on to do whatever it was, he was planning to do while Jack would have been at the airport awaiting the arrival of his family from LA.
Steve blinked when his cell phone suddenly went off, breaking the silence in the room. He picked it up from the surface of his table and answered it without looking at the caller ID on the screen.
"This is McGarrett"
"Tell me big brother, do you always answer your cell that way. All curt and obey me now in tone or am I just one of the special people in your life who you use it on." A familiar voice asked him. Steve blinked again, this time in surprise before he answered.
"Mary? Why are you calling me? What do you need?" he demanded, ignoring her comment about the way he answered his phone, innocent comments like that one somehow always ended up with the two of them arguing and not speaking to each other for months at a time and it was something which Steve didn't have the patience for, not with everything else going on in his life at that moment of time.
"Are you saying that I need a reason to call my older brother, that it just can't be a simple casual call to see how things are going with you?" She asked him with a hint of curiosity and annoyance flavouring her voice in equal measure. Steve raised an eyebrow, a million responses on the tip of his tongue though he bit down on them and remained quiet, listening to the sound of her sigh over the line. "I'll take your answer as a no, you don't believe that can be the reason for my call." She muttered, the annoyance becoming more pronounced in a way which Steve was very used to hearing. "The reason why I am calling you Steve is because I've heard from Aunt Debs who heard from Uncle Mike that you've decided to suddenly leave the branch of the Navy that you were in and instead you've transferred to the reservists and live in Hawaii, running some sort of taskforce for the Governor of Hawaii, while living in Dad's house? Is that actually right or did she get the wrong end of the stick?" Mary demanded.
"Aunt Debs heard right." Mary replied, tapping his fingertips against the surface of his desk waiting to see where she was going with her line of questioning.
"Okay, god knows that I'm normally not the sensible sibling out of the two of us but don't you think that it's a bit crazy for you to be staying in Dad's home at the moment? I mean it is the same home where he was violently murdered nearly two weeks ago? How can you stand to be in that house let along be sleeping in there?" She asked him in concern. Steve could almost picture the way she would be pacing the room in her agitated, one hand probably pulling at her red hair as she spoke to him, though that image depended on whether she still had red hair of whether she had already dyed it to another colour. Mary had never stayed with the same hair colour for longer than a few months at a time.
"Where else would I stay when I'm here in Hawaii Mary?" He asked her pragmatically. "At least with me staying here I don't have to worry about paying rent or mortgage payments. The place was paid off years ago according to the paperwork which I found locked away in Dad's desk. It belongs to us so it makes sense to live here."
"It makes sense?" Mary repeated the words as though she could hardly believe her ears. "Are you actually listening to yourself Steve? You're not just talking about a normal house; you're talking about the house where our father was brutally murdered by some crazy psychopath with a grudge. You staying there cannot be healthy for your mental health. I mean come on, If I can see that then surely you can as well?" She asked him.
Steve took the cell phone away from his ear for a moment, staring hard at it before he brought it back and spoke.
"I appreciate your concern for my mental health Mary but I'm fine, I'll be redecorating the place soon and making it into my own." He assured her.
"You're planning on redecorating it? You?" Mary responded making no effort the disbelief which had returned to her voice at his comment. "No offence Bro but you have absolutely no talent or sense when it comes to decorating things. The stories I heard about the time you tried to redecorate your bedroom at Uncle Mike's and Aunt Karen's is enough to convince me of that fact."
"Firstly those stories which you heard no doubt came from Ty and Morgan and both of them are known to greatly exaggerate everything, if you want to actual true story then it's Dean who you need to ask and secondly I won't be doing the project alone because Danni is going to help me with it." He told her as he leaned back in his chair, raising an eyebrow when she remained silent as though she was running his words through her mind.
"It was actually Dean who told me the stories about it." Mary remarked, the comment causing Steve to frown as he made a mental note to speak to his younger cousin about the information, he gave Mary in the future. "But that is not whats important Steve, what is important is who is Danni exactly and are they actually aware that you have volunteered them for this job or are you just planning on springing it on them?" She asked him.
"She's my partner Mary." Steve told her after a moment.
"Your partner." Mary repeated. "As in she's your girlfriend because if you have a girlfriend already then you work really fast considering you've been in Hawaii for what? Two weeks at the most and you're already in a relationship. I thought you were anti commitment and relationships because of your job."
"Danni isn't my girlfriend Mare" Steve answered with a roll of his eyes. "She my partner and second in command at work on the taskforce."
"How did the two of you meet or was she assigned to you by the Governor?" Mary asked him, sounding genuinely interesting in his response.
"Danni was one of the lead Detectives working on Dad's case. I looked into her record and she's impressive. She has a great closure rate on cases and she worked well with others regardless of how they may treat her in return. She had this way about her Mare which make people around her want to confide in her so she was exactly what I needed when it came to a partner so I handpicked her myself." He explained.
"Wait, what did you say her name was?" Mary asked him suddenly.
"Her name?" He repeated, momentarily confused before he answered. "Danni Williams."
"Danni" She said on a shaky sigh. "I know her, or rather I don't know her but I've spoken to me. She was the one who rang me to tell me that Dad had passed away, she stayed on the phone with me for forty minutes just listening to me and trying to comfort me. I know that she worked with another man called Meka and had a job with HPD so how did you get her to give those both up to come and work with you on a brand-new taskforce with no guarantees that it was a stable job?"
For a moment Steve remained silent, his mind fixed on the fact that Danni had taken the time to provide his sister with support before she had even known who he was or had been partnered with him before he cleared his throat and spoke.
"Well…" He began, stopping for a moment as he thought about his words before continuing. "I rang the Governor in front of her boss and insisted that she made her my partner. She sent over the paperwork and the Captain had to sign them while I was still there so I could be certain it was done."
"So, what you're telling me is that you pretty much kidnapped her and made her your partner without actually giving her a chance to consider whether it was something which she wanted?" She questioned him. Steve remained silent, somehow when Mary said it like that, it made what he did sound bad. "You know she sounded young on the phone when we spoke, like she was about my age. Is she pretty?" She asked, sounding almost innocent which instantly placed Steve on guard.
He blinked at the question.
"Danni?" He repeated, bringing up a mental image of his partner in his mind. "Well, she's…" He began to say before he stopped. "I've actually got to go Mary; I've got another call coming through and it could be to do with the case we're currently working." He lied, ignoring the sound of her laughter coming down the phone.
"What excellent timing whoever it is calling you has." She remarked sounding as though she was grinning. "Just so you know I'll be coming back to Hawaii for a visit soon, it's been too long since I was last there and I now want to meet Danni in person. I'll speak to you later Steve." She stated.
Steve opened his mouth to speak before he closed it when he heard the sound of a click followed by the dial tone which indicated that his sister had already terminated the call on her end.
Growling out loud, he ended the call as well and came to his feet, slipping his cell phone into the pocket of his cargo pants and left the office, taking a page out of his partner's books and locking the door behind him. He headed out of the building and towards the parking space where Danni's Camaro was parked. He unlocked it, climbing in and started the car up, glancing over his shoulder and reversing out of the spot, heading out of the car park in the direction of Danni's house, a place he had only been one time before.
It took him fifteen minutes to reach her home, his eyebrow rising when he noticed that she had left the gate open for him before he drove in and parked the car beside his own truck. He climbed out, taking a look at the truck over the roof of the car before he sent Danni a quick text to let her know that he was outside.
He made his way up the garden path and came to a stop next to the front door, content to simply wait, his eyes moving around him trying to take in as much detail as he could. He looked back towards the door as he heard the sound of the lock being turned before it was opened revealing his partner.
"Hey Danni." He said, meeting her grey eyes for a moment before his eyes dropped down to take in the rest of her, widening in surprise when she was dressed simply in a black vest top and back shorts. He swallowed, bringing his gaze back up and taking in her thoughtful expression with a hidden wince. He could detect the hint of displeasure linger beneath it meaning that she was still annoyed with him for the car incident.
Danni tilted her head to the side, staring at him for a long moment before she twisted around and picked up the keys to his truck and home from a bowl to the side of her and held them out to him. He reached out and took it from her, putting them in his pocket before he held out her own keys for her, remaining where he was even after she took them from him and dropped them into the bowl.
For a moment he thought that she was merely going to close the door in his face but instead, after a brief pause, she stepped to one side, using her head to indicate that he should come in. He breathed out as he moved past her into the house and took his shoes off, watching from the corner of his eyes as she closed the door behind him and locked it, no doubt out of habit. She turned to Steve and held her finger up against her lips to indicate for him to remain quiet before she waved her hand at him for him to follow her. He did, moving through the house and glancing around the kitchen, taking in the room for the first time and the fact it was clearly used before she spoke to him, breaking the silence between them.
"Have you eaten anything this evening yet?" She asked him, keeping her voice low. He blinked at the question, surprised by it before he shook his head and spoke, pitching his voice low, following the example she had set.
"Nothing since lunchtime, there hasn't been the time for it." He told her with a shrug. Danni nodded slowly, searching his eyes before she waved her hand to the back door.
"Wait for me outside, I'll join you in a moment." She told him
He frowned before walking past her into the garden, his eyebrow rising at the size of it before he noticed the good-sized swimming pool. He resisted the urge to head over to it and instead moved over to the three seats swing he could see situated near the porch. A large hutch took up the corner of the garden nearest to him which he assumed was where Mr Hoppy now lives. The rest of it seemed to be made up of flowers and a large vegetable patch.
He looked back towards the house in time to see Danni walk out from within and head over to him, a bowl in her hand which she held out to him.
"Danni" he said in confusion as he looked at her.
"Eat that." She informed him. Steve reached out and took the bowl from her, looking down at the contents. It smelt delicious and seemed to be some kind of stew thick with a variety of root vegetables and what looked to be beef.
"Thanks" He said, watching as Danni say down on the swing seat beside him, her feet curled up beneath her as she reached out and took a file from the pile which he could see stacked up beside her on a small table. He glanced back at the bowl again before he picked the spoon up and took a bite of the stew, his eyes widening at the taste of it. It tasted as delicious as it smelt. "This is really good Danni; did you make it yourself?" He asked her.
Danni glanced towards him, her eyes softening for the first time as her mouth curled up into a half smile, easing away some of the unease churning away in his stomach.
"Yeah I did, Grace has a lot of foods she's intolerant to so it's easier to simply make her food from scratch then risk her getting sick from it." Danni explained to him. "Duncan cooks for her as well, I mean it's time consuming that's for sure but its better than the alternative." Her eyes narrowed at him. "How did the interviews with Chen go this afternoon?" She asked before looking back at the file.
"There is no doubt that they are involved in it someway." Steve told her after he took a few more bites of the stew, actively fighting against the desire to simply guzzle it down in one go. He shot her another look, waiting and wondering about when she would bring the issue about the car up with him.
"Toast called me earlier once I was out of the DA's office and told me that the warrants had come through from the duty judge in regards to both of their phone records. Did we have time to go through them yet?" She queried.
Steve swallowed his mouthful and spoke with a single nod at her.
"O'Connor went through them after he finished up with his interview. There was a number on there which called Rita Chen constantly, especially before the fires happened. We traced the number of it back to a burner phone."
"Great" She muttered on a sigh, looking at him when he held up his hand.
"That's what I thought as well but O'Connor was able to use his database to tell us from the barcode where the phone had been shipped to and more important the shop's name. We're in the process of getting the security footage from the store, using a warrant, to see if anyone in it stands out. According to what Chin was saying the brand of phone the number belongs to isn't a popular make so it will limit the amount of people we have to look at since not many people would have bought it." He told her.
"That was good work by Jack." Danni remarked with a smile. "What about the actual interviews? Did they say anything in it which we could use?" She asked, her smile dropping away when Steve shook his head at her in response.
"No, O'Connor and Kono took the lead with Rita Chen and got some basic information out of her but the minute they mentioned that we could place her at three of the crime scenes, the crime scenes where the murders took place she clammed up and asked for a lawyer. Her husband did the same with Chin and I as well."
"That is to be expected when they clearly have something to hide." Danni remarked on a sigh.
"We've got them locked up in custody overnight so we can take another crack at them both tomorrow morning. You and I can speak to Rita Chen while Kono and O'Connor can try their hand at Martin Chen, perhaps looking at it with fresh eyes will help." Steve commented.
"What are you going to have Chin do while we're down interviewing?" Danni questioned, flipping the page which she was reading.
"I'm going to have him help Toast work through the phone lead. If we haven't received the footage from the store by ten tomorrow morning then I'll ask Chin to go and retrieve it from the. He can take Toast with him and if it saves time then they can review it there." He told him. Danni made a humming sound as she nodded before they both fell silent for a moment before Steve spoke up again. "Some more files arrived for you this afternoon, Toast said they were dropped off by CSU so I placed them in my office for you."
Danni raised an eyebrow at him, looking thoughtful before she nodded.
"Thanks for doing that for me." She stated.
Steve focused on the bowl in his hand, finishing off the stew and resting the bowl in his lap. It was surprisingly peaceful in the back garden. The only noise breaking through the silence was the sound of the wind rushing through the surround trees and the occasional noise from the hutch which indicated that Mr Hoppy was still awake and exploring his surroundings. He glanced towards Danni before sighing silently, unable to put up with the suspense anymore.
"Danni, look, about earlier I…" He began to say, stopping when her cell phone suddenly went off. She held a hand up to him, indicating for him to stop before she picked the handset up from the small table which the files were on and answered the call, her voice coming across as cool and professional.
"Detective Williams." Steve frowned, trying to hear the other side of the conversation but whoever was speaking to Danni was speaking quietly enough that he couldn't catch it. It didn't help that Danni wasn't speaking either, just making little sounds of acknowledgement at the back of her throat which he found frustrating. He raised an eyebrow at her when she looked over at her before she finally spoke. "Okay, that's not a problem. I'll come by first thing tomorrow morning, okay… okay..., yeah don't worry about it. Thanks, bye." She stated before she hung up the phone and placed it back on the table before turning back to him and talking. "That was Doctor Lange from the ME's office. She's found something that she wants to show us first thing tomorrow. I'll can take care of it and then meet you once I'm finished at Headquarters, that way you can let the others know what you want them to do. The sooner we interview the both of the Chen's the better it will be for us. We don't want to give them enough time to come up with a story which could explain their presence at the scenes. We need to keep them off balance as much as possible." She stated with a slight frown on her face. "So, if you drive yourself into work tomorrow then that will be good, that way I can go straight to the morgue as soon as I drop Gracie off at her breakfast club."
Steve remained silent for a moment before he spoke.
"Look Danni about today and the issue with the car I-" He began to say stopping again when she interrupted him.
"Look Steve, what is done is done." She remarked flatly, the tone of her voice making it clear that she wasn't pleased. "In the future, if I'm not with you then don't use my car unless I've actually given you permission to take it. I don't appreciate someone taking my car without asking first. You know I was late to the DA meeting because I couldn't figure out how to work the stupid chair controls in your truck and because I was late to that it meant that the meeting ran over and I was then late to pick Grace up from school. I have never been late before to pick her up and I don't plan to be again. I get that what you did was a mistake but it's which under no circumstances can happen again." She told him fixing him with a hard stare. "That's why I think it's best that you drive your truck into work from now on rather than me picking you up from your place like I've been doing, at least on the days when I need to pick Grace up."
Steve remained quiet for a moment before he shrugged at her.
"If that's what you want then that is what we will do for the time being." He answered her. "I understand where you're coming from and I am sorry that you were late for Grace. It won't happen again."
Danno nodded, searching his eyes for a moment before she sighed, her shoulders slumping down as though all the tension she had been holding in them had simply melted away.
"Good, I'm glad we're on the same page." She said. "This is just for picking you up, when we're at work during the day then we'll take my car since it's faster than your truck which would make sense since half our job is meant to be catching the bad guys." She commented, her mouth finally tilting up into a proper smile which he returned, the unease in his stomach loosening at the sight of it.
"There is nothing wrong with my truck Danni" He told her, watching as she got to her feet and leaned towards him, taking the empty bowl from him.
"You keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better." She teased him before she straightened with a sigh, here free hand coming up to rub at the back of her neck. "I just realised I never asked you if you wanted a drink?" She asked him curiously.
"I'd love a beer if you have one Danni." He answered. Danni nodded disappearing inside with the bowl leaving Steve to breathe out a sigh of relief that she had seemingly forgiven him for his mistake. A moment later Danni reappeared holding a cool bottle of beer out to him, he took it from her, raising it in her direction in a silent salute before he took a long swig of it. He lowered the bottle, resting it against his thigh as he leaned back in the swing chair, surprised by how relaxed he felt.
He couldn't remember the last time he had felt this way with another person around him, he looked towards her, noticing for the first time that she had poured herself a glass of wine and was now sipping at it.
"I haven't seen your daughter, is she inside or with her Dad tonight?" He asked her curiously
"Grace?" She said in surprise before she shook her head. "No, she only stays with Duncan on a Wednesday night and every other weekend. She's inside sleeping at the moment; her room is upstairs but
I don't want to risk her waking up because she always struggles to get back to sleep which is why I needed you to be quiet when we were inside."
"Roger that Danni" He said as he took another swig of his beer. "So how did it go earlier with the DA for you? Did you get everything sorted with them?"
"Doran is a slam dunk case, it's safe to say that with all the evidence that Ryan and his team collected, he is going to be going away for a long, long time. If he ever gets out then it will be a miracle and not until he is an old, old man. The Sang Min case is looking good as well though Mia wants us to focus on decoded his ledgers as well. If we can figure out who he's brought into the country then we could get a lot more convictions based on them, she'll offer him a deal if need be but she would rather we tried first before she has to do that. I'm going to ask Jack to help me with it when this case is over as well as Toast and Kono like you suggested, hopefully this time we'll find out the information we need. We also need to send our reports to Interpol in regards to the Lowry case. We've handed them one international Criminal which can easily lead to more and they need the paperwork to start their own investigation." She explained to him. "Which for the record also includes your various reports as well. I know they would have taught you how to complete then when you were in the Navy so stop dragging your feet over them and please just do them." She remarked with another smile which grew when Steve purposely rolled his eyes making sure she saw the action.
"Fine, I'll get them written up but it's going to have to wait until after this case is concluded. The Arsonist is out there somewhere and he is probably already targeting another family. We've got to find him before he can kill anyone more." Steve told her.
"Nothing is more important at the moment then ensuring that, that doesn't happen." She agreed quietly. "It looks like we've got some good leads on the case so all we have to do is follow them and see where exactly they lead us."
"What are those you're working on anyway?" He asked her, using his bottle to point at the files she had been looking through, she glanced towards them and sighed.
"These are the files which Toast created on the names which were mentioned in Lee's files. Jack dropped them off to me on his way to the airport because Toast had somewhere, he had to be that he couldn't be late to. I'm just looking through them trying to see if there is anyone in there who leaps out at me as suspicious. The Chens are involved, we know that but we also can't become blinded on them. There could easily be more people involved and they could be in these files." She said.
"Do you want me to have a look through some of them as well while I'm here?" He offered. Danni glanced at him quickly before she looked down at the watch on her wrist and pulled a face.
"I would take you up on that offer but I'm expecting a call in ten minutes." She said with an undertone of regret to her voice.
"I see" Steve said with a nod. "Anyone I know?" He probed casually.
"No, it's just my Mom and Dad, they ring every other day to see how me and Grace are getting on and they always call me at eight PM on the dot without fail and I tend to end up talking to them for a while. I'm going to turn in after I've spoken to them, it's been a long day and I'm feeling tired from it." She admitted with a shrug. Steve smiled, hiding his surprise at the relief he felt at her answer.
"You got a lot of files there Danni, how about I take half of them home with me, it means that we get through the names quicker and I don't have any plans for this evening." He said, watching as her face brightened at his offer.
"Yeah? That would be good if you're serious about it?"
"I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't Danni." He pointed out, softening his words with a smile at her. He drained the rest of his beer and placed the bottle on the side table before coming up to his feet in a fluid motion. He reached past her and grabbed a stack of the files from the pile. "I'll head out now and leave you to your call, if I find anything then I'll let you know tomorrow." He told her watching as she nodded at him.
"Okay then, that sounds like a plan." She agreed as she stood up as well, curling her hand around his wrist and led him back into the house and to the front door, she let go of him so she could unlock it and stepped backwards holding the door open for him. "Thanks again for the help with the files, I'll see you tomorrow at work, I'll let you know when I'm finished with the ME" She stated with a smile at him.
"Sounds good, I'll see you tomorrow Danni, thanks for the food and the drink." He said with a smile as she slowly closed the door behind him. He stayed there for a moment watching it before he sighed and headed towards his truck, pulling the keys from his pocket.
It was going to be a long night.
Author Note
Thanks for taking the time to read. An especially big thank you if you have left me a review, favourite the story or decided to follow it.
I really appreciate it