Faces From The Past

Making a habit

"Hey, did Voight fire you already?" Adam teased as Dani reappeared in his hospital room.

"The opposite." She Said, showing him the badge she had clipped onto her belt.

"Congrats, what are you doing here then? They catch the guy?" He Asked.

"They've just gone to arrest them." Dani Said, sitting in the seat by his bed. "Do you still have the keys to grandads cabin?" She Asked.

"Yeah, they're at my apartment." Adam Said.

"I'm gonna go up there for a bit." Dani Said.

"So Callum didn't make it?" Adam Asked, taking her hand in his as a tear began to fall. It was quickly wiped away.

"No." She said, her voice shaking slightly.

"The keys are in the top draw next to the oven, I'll come up for a couple days once I'm out of here if you want?" Adam said, gently squeezing her hand.

"How much longer do they recon you'll be in here for?" Dani asked.

"A few days, just over a week at the most." Adam said. "Then I'm off work for a few more weeks."

"You do realise you won't be able to drive?" Dani asked.

"I'll get someone to give me a lift." Adam said, clearly not having thought about that.

"I'm gonna go first thing in the morning so I best go and pack." Dani said, standing back up.

"Take care of yourself." Adam called after her as she left.

About an hour later, Dani had finished packing and was sat on the couch in silence until there was a knock at the door. Initially it made her jump and she had reached for her gun before going to see who it was.

"Hey." She said opening the door, pleasantly surprised.

"Hey." Atwater said, hugging her small frame that felt like it was getting smaller and weaker by the day. "Just thought I'd swing by and check on you."

"Who sent you? Was it Adam?" Dani asked, pulling away from his embrace.

"No one sent me. I just wanted to see how you were doing." Atwater said, looking at her bloodshot eyes and tear stained cheeks. "And don't tell me you're okay because it's obvious you're not and no one expects you to be." He added.

"You've spent too much time around us Ruzeks, we're not normally that easy to read." She joked as she lead him through to the living room.

"You going somewhere?" Atwater asked, noticing the suitcase that was sat in the corner.

"It's not permanent." Dani said, correctly knowing that was where his brain had gone to. "I'm gonna go spend some time at my grandads old cabin, Voight and Adam know so I'm not just disappearing again."

"You want me to drive up with you?" Atwater offered.

"No, I'll be okay." Dani said. "Could you drive Adam up once he gets out of hospital?" She asked.

"Sure." Atwater said. "Your brother's never mentioned your family." Atwater said as they fell into a silence.

"I wouldn't blame him." Dani said. "We inherited the cabin from our mums dad, he was our last living relative. Well... I don't know about dad or any of that side of the family. Dad was arrested when I was 10 and Adam was 14 and I haven't heard anything from that side of the family since." She explained.

"What's he in for?" Atwater asked, "If you don't mind me asking."

"No, not at all. I was only ten at the time so this might be wrong but I think it was DUI, multiple counts of manslaughter, attempted murder and some sort of abuse." Dani said.

"That's one hell of a rap sheet for the father of two cops." Atwater said as Dani's eyes flicked to the floor.

"Yeah." Dani said, not looking up. "He was drunk and made us get in the car, me, Adam and mum. We knew he was drunk and Adam tried to protest but dad hit him and shut him up. We ended up causing a four car pile up, a few people died in other cars, me and Adam ended up in hospital." Dani said, a few tears beginning to escape from her eyes. "He was absolutely fine and mum..." She paused as the few tears turned into streams. "didn't make it, she was DOA."

"Dani, I'm so sorry, I had no idea." Atwater said wrapping his arms around her and holding her to his chest.

"Don't worry." Dani said,  laying her head on his chest. "You couldn't have known, Adams shut that night completely out of his memory." She sat for a few minutes crying into Kevin's chest. "I need to pull myself together, I'm making a habit of crying into your chest today." She said with a smile, pulling away.

"It's okay." Atwater said, taking his thumb and wiping the last tears from her cheek.

"Did you catch the guys?" Dani asked.

"Yeah, they all turned on each other pretty fast." Atwater said. "The D.A. recons they'll all get 25 to life." He added.

"That's good." Dani said, they sat in silence for a few moments before Atwaters phone pinged.

"That's Jay, I said I'd meet them at Mollys, they want to know where I am." He said quickly reading the message.

"Go." Dani said, unconvincingly.

"Do you want to come?" He offered.

"No, I'll pass." She said.

"So will I then." Atwater said quickly sending a text to his friends and sitting back in the sofa and draping an arm over her shoulders.

"Thanks." Dani said, laying her head on his shoulder.

"Anything for mini-Ruz." He said, lightly placing a kiss into her hair. Dani felt the gesture and looked up so their eyes could meet and raised her head slightly and gently placed a kiss onto his lips. After she pulled away they stayed looking at each other for a few seconds.

"What am I doing?" Dani asked herself. "My fiancé died today." She said, moving away from Kevin and dropping her head into her hands.