Me, Myself, & I--A Prodigal Son Fanfiction

MARDUK

Dani was still fast asleep until her phone rang. She picked it up and answered, eyes still half-closed. "Hello?" "Dani. I've called seven times. I was about to send someone over, " Gil answered. Dani glanced at the clock. "Sh*t. Sorry, Gil. I slept through my alarms." "Well, get dressed. We have a new case. A body, or at least some of it." "Oh, great. Perfect way to start the morning." "Right. Have you heard from Bright?" "What? He's not at work? I thought he'd be all giddy about another body." "I can't reach him, " Gil said with a strand of worry in his voice. "I can stop by his house on my way over?" "That'd be great. Thanks, Dani." "No problem. See you in a few." Dani hung up, already turning the shower on. She quickly showered, threw on clothes, mascara, and grabbed her keys from off the hook and got in her car.

She sighed as she pulled out and drove to Malcolm's house.
W

hen she got there she buzzed the door then held the speaker down. "Bright. It's Dani. Gil's worried about you." Another minute went by and still, no one answered.
"Bright?" She questioned over the speaker again. She sighed and felt around for a loose brick. She finally found one and pulled it back revealing a key. She took it and fiddled with the doorknob until she finally got it unlocked. She went up a flight of stairs and unlocked yet another door. The second the door shut behind her she was pinned up against the wall. Malcolm had a tight grip around her neck. "Malcolm, " she wheezed. He was still asleep, his eyes moving at incredible speed behind his eyelids. "Malcolm-" she tried to get words out but the tight hold around her neck was quickly cutting her oxygen off. Malcolm began to yell and suddenly his body dropped to the ground. Both Dani and Malcolm began to heave deep breaths of air into their lungs. Curled into a ball, Malcolm's eyes flung open and he slowly tried to control his breathing. In a second Dani was right next to Malcolm. "My gosh Bright. Are you alright?" He flinched at the sound of her voice not having seemed to notice her. "Dani. What-What are you doing here?" "I-you don't remember what happened during your episode?" She glanced down at his hands. The restraints were still tight around his wrists and the chains dangling from them, having obviously been ripped from the wall. "No, I can only remember the dre-" Malcolm's eyes found Dani's neck and they widened in horror. "Dani. What did I do?" Panic rose in Malcolm's chest and when Dani didn't answer immediately he asked again, "Dani. What did I do to you?" She grabbed his hand but he flinched away, standing up from the floor and moving to his bed. He sat down, horror-struck. "It's not your fault. You couldn't have known." Malcolm began muttering a series of No's under his breath and his breath began to quicken at an unhealthy pace. "Bright. Look at me! It's not your fault, " but he was hardly there. Dani sighed and tried one of her favorite tactics... A blow to the face.

Malcolm looked up, stunned out of his panic. "It worked last time. Thought it might work this time too, " she said with a slight smirk because she got to punch Malcolm Bright. "Now get your *ss out of bed and come to work. We have a body."

With that Dani left with a smile on her face because JT would be so jealous when he found out she got to punch Malcolm Bright... Again.

"I would give you an estimated time of death but um-" Edrisa looked down at the pieces of body. "Once I get back to the lab I might be able to run some tests and-" she cut herself off as Malcolm walked onto the scene. It was a small area of woods in upper New York. She was going to give him one of her usual comments, but he looked terrible. "Wow. You look-" "Thank you, Edrisa, " Malcolm cut her off, smiling and handing her a lollipop, making her eyes fill with delight. Malcolm turned and handed a lollipop to each of his coworkers but when he reached Dani he handed her three. "Um-Thanks?" Dani said in response.