Danny And Baez

Chapter 4

                              Five Years Later 

Maria steps outside her front door on her way to work. After she shuts her door, she looks around and sees two dead bodies on the street outside her house. She walks over and sees two familiar faces. 

Her ex and her ex-husband. 

Lettig out a dry sob, she runs back to her front door. She must have dropped her key because she couldn't unlock her door, and what was going on, why had this happened, she hadnt seen them in years. Why now?

Shaking, she dialled Dannys number. When Danny answers, it all comes tumbling out but not in coherent sentences. He stops her and asks where she is.

"At home," she tells him. 

"On my way," he disconnects the call. 

Five minutes later, he pulls up outside her house. He spots the bodies and walks around them to Maria, who is sitting against her door. She's shivering, her coat lying abandoned on the pavement.

"Are you okay?" he asks, giving her his coat. 

"No," she says truthfully. 

"Im going to call a bus, is that okay?" 

Why wouldn't he call one? Oh goodness, he thought she 

"I didn't do that to them, Danny,"

"I know," he looks at her. "You're in shock, Im explaining everything so I dont cause panic,"

He calls the squad while Maria focuses on not looking at the dead men. 

He turns to her, and she's still cold. He reaches for her arms and pulls her up. She tries not to look at the pavement. Danny sees that shes reluctant to pass them again, but the bus is going to be a while. 

He picks her up gently into his arms and steps carefully over the bodies and to his car. 

He lifts her into his car and sits her down in the drivers seat. 

She looks up at him. "Thanks," 

The police car rolls up a second later. The officers ask Danny and Maria questions separately, and when the crime scene has been documented, the bodies are taken away. A medic examines Maria and says she's in extreme shock and advises talking to a therapist. One of the officers gives her back her keys, and Danny and Maria go back into her house. Maria makes them tea. 

"Are you going to get a therapist?" Danny asks. 

"Im still paying for the last round of medical bills. The therapy is expensive," 

Danny didn't need to ask what she had needed the therapy. He had been with her when her world had changed when Javier had died. Losing her brother had sent her into a spiral. 

"I know our wages aren't amazing, but what therapist are you going to?"

"It's not the therapist, I found out that my ex-husband, Darren, never signed the divorce papers, so the bank never split our shared account. He was a drug addict and he needed his fix. He drained the account last year,"

"Im so sorry. I never met him, so i dont want to press judgement,"

"You just did," Maria states. 

Danny stares at her. "That was him out there?" 

Maria nods. "And my ex-boyfriend, Richard."

Danny grabs her hand on the table. "Im so sorry. It must have been hard to see them dead after all these years,"

"Yeah, it was. Richard and i were engaged, the ideal match, everybody thought. We broke it off when his violence became too much for me, and I realised he was abusive. He didn't take it well." she shows him a scar on her arm. "I lost it, and we both ended up in hospital. Im not proud of it, but i got out of the relationship. We agreed never to report it because i did hurt him, and if he reported it, i would have told them about everything he did. He hurt me mentally and physically, and i never realised that he took the most precious parts of life from me without asking. First date, first kiss, first proposal. He nearly pressured me into other things, but i held him off by saying, "Wait till marriage." One day, he wasn't happy, and he took it out on me, and i kind of just let him. He was violent, and I couldn't stop him. He made me do it and took something else from me."

Danny starts to get up to hug her but then realises that considering what they had been talking about, he decides against it. She notices his hesitance and smiles. "You can hug me, you know. It would probably make me feel better,"

"I'll save my hug until you've told me about the second guy," he says. 

She grins at him. "You want to know about Darren?"

He nods. 

"Okay then. I arrived in New York from North Carolina, just after telling my family I won't be marrying the stable man next door. I joined the police academy and went on a few dates, and im clearly not ready for a relationship, and i meet Darren. I start dating him, and i like him. I realise he has a bit of a drinking problem after six months. I pay for his treatment, and he gives up halfway. He proposes, and i say yes. After we marry, he finds out considering my past, i dont want much of a physical relationship. A week later, he's in a bed with his secretary, and i divorce him. Or so i thought. And of all the men i met before him, all really sweet, i chose him? I judged them by their apperances, which of them would be interested in having an open and spiritual relationship. And i haven't dated since. You know, i met you the same year i met Darren. I met the second worst relationship and the best man I've ever met in a space of months."

"Im your favourite man?" he smirks. 

"Maybe. I can trust you anyways,"

"Okay, pack your bags," he says. 

"What?" she exclaims.

"You trust me,"

Still looking confused, she walks to her bedroom and starts to throw her clothes in a case.

Danny empties the cups out and rinses them. Gazing out at her small back garden, he realises that when sean leaves next year, he will be alone in his house that was really designed for a big family. Maybe he should move. 

"Ready?"

He turns. Maria is standing by the door. 

"Yeah," he says, grabbing his keys. 

"And im sorry for telling you that long rant about two men." Maria says. 

"I dont mind, i kind of enjoyed it,"

And as they walk to the car, Maria thinks he might actually mean that.