********

When It Comes:

We're gonna go kill that Son of a Bitch.

Danny remembers telling Jack this after Jack forcibly pulled him away from Martin's bleeding body. It sounded rough to his ears, spoken through gritted teeth. It was said in a litany of other meaningless words that were sputtered from Danny's lips as he explained what had happened.

They sounded so uneducated, his Cuban accent shining through a little more than necessary. The paramedics were loading Martin onto a board at the time and Danny just said it not caring if Jack heard it. Not caring if Jack took it the wrong way because it was true.

They were going to kill that Son of a Bitch.

Danny didn't care how they found him. He didn't care much if he got shot in the process because Martin was shot and he shot Martin and because of that he was going to die.

It was simple mathematics really. The second he pulled right in front of their car in that blue van, he had signed his own death certificate with a number of people. Danny just wanted to get there first.

Because he was going to kill that Son of a Bitch.

They had checked him out at the hospital. He knew he was fine, but he couldn't stop looking at Martin and the doctor took that as a sign that he was unresponsive or something.

He ordered some fancy test like Danny really needed a fancy test. He just needed to get out of the hospital. He just needed to get back on the case and find Emil Dornvald.

Sam called his phone. He really didn't have time to hear her talk about whatever it was she wanted to talk about. She wanted information on Martin.

Well, Danny didn't even really have any new information on Martin and if he did he certainly wouldn't tell Sam about it. Not at the moment. He was to concerned with get a clean bill of health and getting back out there.

Because when he found Emil Dornvald, he was going to kill that Son of a Bitch.

Jack had looked at him nervously. Whether it was out of the corner of his eye or a full on stare, it was nervously. Like he knew Danny shouldn't be out in the field in his condition.

Danny knew it, but that wasn't going to stop him from being out on the case. It was easier than being at his empty apartment with nothing to keep him busy except for the bottle of booze he kept under the sink. His sponsor always said that he needed to get rid of it and Danny had always said he'd get right to it.

Right now that bottle of alcohol was looking mighty good. So being on the case was much better than going back to his apartment.

And if he pulled risky maneuvers and shot when he shouldn't shot it wasn't entirely his fault because he wanted to get Dornvald. He had to get Dornvald. He'd made a promise to himself and to Martin while he was sputtering and choking that he was going to make sure that the people responsible for Martin being shot.

And that meant that he was going to have to kill that Son of a Bitch.

Jack had made him go on desk duty after shooting through the door and possibly killing the helpless doctor inside.

Danny had gone with much protest, but he had gone. When he got there he was confronted with a grieving Sam. It was clear she was distraught that she wasn't getting and new information on Martin.

It was one of those moments where Danny was glad he knew how to charm anyone because he was getting regular updates on Martin from a nurse that worked in the hospital where Martin was in surgery.

Danny felt bad for Sam. He really did after he had calmed down a bit. She still thought that there was a chance for her and Martin.

Clearly that old saying of not knowing what you have until you lose it was applying heavily to her. Danny felt bad, but he always wanted to laugh in her face. He wanted to laugh so hard that she'd look at him funny.

But he didn't have time to laugh at Sam and her misguided feelings. He had to help with the case. Even if he was tied to a desk, he still had to help on the case because the more information he got the closer they got to finding Dornvald.

And then they could kill that Son of a Bitch.

Danny had seen suspects die before. He'd seen people, innocent people, die before, but he'd never taken as much satisfaction in watching them die as he did in watching Emil Dornvald die, gunshot wounds making the blood spurt away from his body.

Maybe Danny should have been worried that he found death so satisfying, but it wasn't just any death. It was the death of the man that almost took Martin away from him. It was the death of the man that had made his life a living hell for the last forty-eight hours and would probably make his life a living hell for even longer than that.

And the fact that it was going to last longer. That the pain wasn't just going to magically float away because Dornvald was dead made Danny want to run for that bottle even faster.

Because Jack had killed the Son of a Bitch and Martin still might die.

Danny heard the tail end of Sam's conversation with an unconscious Martin. He wanted to grab her pretty blonde hair and throw her across the room, but he didn't. It wasn't her fault that she didn't know he was dating Martin now. That he had been dating Martin ever since he had dumped Sam.

"Hey." Danny said.

Sam looked over at him startled. She probably didn't think anyone was listening to her conversation.

"What are you doing here?" She asked like Danny had no right to be there.

Danny had more right to be there than she did. And Danny was letting his jealousy get the better of him at that moment. He was letting his irrational, Martin's word not his, jealousy of Sam get the better of him.

"I heard that Martin was out of surgery and doing better. We killed Dornvald so... case is over." Danny said walking inside to the hospital room.

"Oh, that's... what do you say in a situation like this?" Sam asked.

"You say it's a good thing we killed the son of a bitch and move on." Danny said.

Sam nodded. She stood up from her seat and paced a bit. Danny tried to pretend that she wasn't there as he walked over to Martin. He let his fingers card through Martin's hair a bit before turning back to Sam. She had a confused look on her face.

"What if that isn't enough? I mean... he's not... he's still."

"He's not dead Sam. It's gonna take a lot to kill Martin Fitzgerald." Danny said his fingers still messing with Martin's hair.

"How'd you get past Victor and Nancy Fitzgerald?" Sam asked.

"Wasn't hard. Just pretended they weren't there. The nurses like me." Danny said with a grin.

"And Danny Taylor charms yet another heart. So you just walked right past them and they didn't say anything. I got the third degree when I tried to get in here. And I don't think Victor likes me very much."

"I don't think Victor likes anyone that messes with his little boy. He may have had a detached relationship with Martin, but you don't just... when it's your kid... he's just like a big old protective papa bear." Danny said.

"You certainly know a lot about Martin. He tell you what exactly it is he told his parents about me?" Sam asked.

"Just that you two dated for a while and that it didn't work out. His mom was a bit upset."

"That we broke up?"

"That you were together in the first place."

Sam looked affronted by that commented and Danny sighed.

"She's heard about you through Victor. You know your little... thing with Jack. Anyway she was more mad that he was dating you and that he didn't tell her than she was that he was dating you." Danny said.

"Wow, you do know a lot about his life." Sam said.

"I know enough." Danny said a little cryptically.

"You know more than me."

"Martin's my friend." Danny said, but he wondered if Sam could tell that the fingers that were running through Martin's head hadn't stopped yet.

Or the fact that Danny hadn't looked at her once since their conversation started. His eyes were still on Martin and he just couldn't look away.

"Friend... right." Sam said.

She started laughing. She started laughing like how Danny had wanted to laugh at her earlier, but Danny couldn't fault her for laughing. It was not everyday you found out that your ex sort of boyfriend was in a relationship with a guy. A guy that you had to see everyday at work. Of course it didn't help that you had to see your ex sort of boyfriend everyday as well.

"Should I have seen this happening?" Sam asked.

"You'll have to ask him. I... I always had hope." Danny said.

He finally looked over at Sam. There was a puzzled, humorous look on her face. Maybe she'd back off now, Danny thought.

"He... I... I guess I'm happy for you." Sam said.

She looked very puzzled now and Danny was starting to feel sorry for her again.

"Do his parents know?"

Danny snorted.

"No, they don't. Martin said they'd freak if they knew. Course it doesn't bother me much. I've been waiting for him for so long that it doesn't matter. Besides we've only been dating since that thing with Raffi." Danny said.

Sam nodded. Perhaps that made her feel better about herself because that meant that nothing had been going on while she was still with Martin.

"You really care about him." Sam said.

"Yeah, yeah I do." Danny said.

They were quiet for a moment. Danny's eyes went back to Martin and Sam continued to pace.

"You care about him more than I do." Sam said.

"That's not true. You just care about him in a different way. Now, I don't know what exactly you feel for him, but I know what I feel for him and it's really strong. We're sharing socks so that has to mean something." Danny said with a smile.

He looked over at Sam who was trying to give a supportive look, but it was falling short.

"Yeah, I guess. I... I should probably go." Sam said, but she didn't stick around to hear Danny's reply.

Danny suspected it was just as well.

~*~

Two days passed. Time went on as usual and things at work got a little tense between him and Sam, but for the most part things went fine. He stopped by the hospital as often as possible. Martin was still unconscious, but he was supposed to wake up soon.

Victor and Nancy Fitzgerald were still in New York. They didn't seem to be leaving any time soon. That didn't bother Danny at all. He still stopped by and he didn't care if Martin's parents were looking at him weirdly. He had to make sure that Martin was alright.

And then on the third day, Danny walked into the hospital room and Martin was awake. Not really sitting up, he was still very weak, but he was awake and the doctors were poking and prodding him and he looked like he wanted to escape, but he was awake. Danny had never felt so relieved in his life. Martin was awake.

He stayed to the back, letting the doctors work. He could see Martin's pleading looks and he wanted to get the doctors away from him. He wanted to tell them to stop bothering poor Martin, but he knew they had to do their jobs.

When the left, Danny smiled at Martin and Martin tried to smile back.

"Hey." Danny said.

"Hey... how long have I been out?" Martin asked.

"About three days give or take. Your parents are still here. They're really worried about you."

"Yeah, I guess they would be. Have they asked you any questions?"

"They've wanted to. I know they've wanted to, but they haven't."

"Oh... that's good. So... what happened with Dornvald? He's the one that shot us right."

Danny nodded.

"Jack killed the son of a bitch."

"Hmmm... and you don't seem to be too happy about it." Martin said.

Danny sighed and walked over to the seat next to Martin's bed. He sat down and pulled Martin's hand into his hand. He kissed the top of his hand and smiled.

"I thought I was going to feel... I don't know... good about it. Then I thought about it and I realized that just because he was dead... I mean he was dead, but I didn't feel any better. You were still shot. I still had this big gash in my head. It didn't mean that you were suddenly going to be better. It didn't mean anything but the fact that there was one less criminal in the world." Danny said.

"He's killed people, Danny. He almost killed us. It's okay that you wanted him dead. And it's okay that you didn't feel better because he was dead. It just means that you're mature enough to realize that and eye for an eye just doesn't work as well as it used to." Martin said.

Danny nodded. He squeezed Martin's hand tighter and sighed.

"I almost lost you." Danny whispered.

Martin turned his head to look directly at Danny. He smiled softly and closed his eyes. It was a while before he opened them again.

"You didn't lose me Danny. I'm still here. It's gonna take a little more than a gunshot wound..."

"Two gunshot wounds."

"What I'm saying is, it's going to take more than that to get rid of me. Life's not cruel enough to just rip us apart right when we got together." Martin said.

"Yeah. I guess your right. I mean... we're both still here."

"We're both still here. And I'm gonna be here for you."

Danny smiled and he knew it was the truth. He knew that Martin was going to be there for him.

Because that Son of a Bitch was dead and it hadn't meant that Martin wasn't shot and that Martin wasn't going to be in pain for awhile, but it meant that he was dead and never going to interfere in their lives.

But all that didn't matter. It didn't matter one bit because Martin had said that he was going to be there for him. And he meant it.

FIN

Home ||| Spuffy Fan Fiction ||| Spander Fan Fiction ||| Spangel Fan Fiction ||| Harry Potter Fan Fiction |||Without a Trace Fan Fiction |||CSI Fan Fiction ||| Stargate: Atlantis Fan Fiction ||| Stargate: SG-1 Fan Fiction |||