When The Rain Washes You Clean. (You'll Know.)

Chapter Twenty One.

Ana's body was distraught, her emotions were drained - and Danny was livid.

His hands are tight on the steering wheel, the death grip turning his knuckles white as he pulls out of the Sawyer family house. His eyes are focused heavily on the dirt road in front of him, trying to calm his mind down the best he could; so he could focus solely on driving them home, and not crashing into anything.

It's just hard for him right now to try and keep his head straight, when Ana is sitting beside him now; her voice is almost broken as she whispers words to herself. And Danny was afraid to turn his head to look at her, unsure of what he would do if he saw tears rolling down her cheeks. It makes his blood boil the more he thinks about the situation that just unfolded, and even though he doesn't know the full story as of yet; he's always on Ana's side, and will be there for her no matter what.

So seeing, hearing her this putdown from what Leland has supposedly done; is ruining him in more ways than one.

His own heart feels like it's going to break the more he thinks on it, and it's like a cloud of sadness is hovering over him as well; because there's nothing worse, then seeing the one you love be in so much pain. And you're unable to do anything to ease it, or lift it off their shoulders. Danny was stuck in his own crossroad right now, one hand wanting to reach out and touch her; while his mind is telling him it's not the time right now.

He's been stuck in this loop for as long as he can remember, wanting to cross the line and tell her what he feels. While wanting to hold back, and hope that one day she will see him in this light. He's never done anything to cross any boundaries, always knew how to keep his distance - while still being close to her. But now he's in this tango of sadness, and the lines are starting to blur the more he thinks on it. Because he just knows that he could treat her better, would never put her in a situation that's got her feeling like this. He doesn't understand what Leland could have possibly done, to make her be this way and want to be away from him.

Because for as long as Danny can remember as well, Leland was all Ana could see. He was her whole world, and she never wanted anything else but to call him her man. So he doesn't understand why this has happened, and it hurts him even more; because he wants nothing more than to just reach out to her, and tell her - hey, I'm here, I would never do anything to you to make you this way. I love you.

He knows he can't, knows it's not appropriate to do anything along those lines with her right now. But he wants to, god, does he want to.

"What did he do to you Ana?" Maria's voice snaps Danny out of his head, and he looks at the rear-view mirror, quickly glancing at her before looking back to the road.

"I don't want to talk about it, not yet." Ana's voice is soft, it's miserable and Danny wants to scream.

"I'll beat him up," Maria continues on, and Danny can just feel the fire in her passion right now, "I don't care that he's taller, and wider than me. I'll take him down, and I'll fuck him up for hurting my little sister."

"Thanks," Ana let out a soft laugh, but it wasn't all there, "I'll be okay, I just... I need some time, I need to clear my head."

Danny wants to push, wants to ask for more information on this. But he knows he can't, would never do anything to put her in an even worse position. So instead he keeps his eyes on the road, his grip still hard on the steering wheel and he focuses on just driving.

"I just don't get it," Maria continues on, not seeming to care too much about her sister's actual wishes right now, "He's never done anything that's hurt you this bad before, so what could it possibly be? Did he forget an anniversary? Did he not appreciate you coming to visit him?"