The Locker Room

Who: Jackson & Danny
Where: Police Station
When: Morning

Gluuuuhhhh, was pretty much all Jackson was capable of thinking at this point. He wasn't hungover, but he'd gone to bed far too late and had got up ridiculously early so he could call in on Jenny before work. Ahhhh, work. That glorious ramshackle building of grey brick and rust and leaks. Yeah, the station was a fixer-upper alright, but Jackson still loved it. Not this morning, though. This morning he was starved for caffeine and preparing for the usual "back from suspension" ball busting he was going to receive. His first stop was the Super's office to get yelled at - which Jackson appreciated, at 8am, really massively - and told he was off street work until he caught up on paperwork and learned that there were "repercussions for not cooling your god-damn heels, Haas!"

Leaving the SUper's office and making his way towards his own, Jackson nodded a sleepy greeting at several people, avoided the leaky spot in the hallway (rusty water on his jacket would not improve his morning, especially with the need for caffeine) and made his way to his desk. The pile of paperwork that had been festering just for him over the past week made him blanch slightly. He should've figured it'd be endless. He asked Lu on the front desk to get him a strong-ass coffee, she was a sweet blonde girl and seemed pretty fresh out of typing school because he was sure that the old front desk girl had been a lot snarlier about being sent for refreshments, and settled himself down for some serious bureaucracy. So much for protect and freakin' serve.

Lu brought him his coffee and an envelope that'd been dropped off for him the morning before. The thing had a handwritten note in it telling him about a tip on some trafficked girls, and to meet tonight at One More Round. Shady as hell, but he'd probably still look into it - couldn't be too careful. He thanked Lu, downed half the coffee in one massive gulp, and set his brain into autopilot for the joys of fact checking and report typing.

Danny slammed through the side door of the station house pissed as hell. More than pissed really. He was seething and it wasn't just anger that Hollis had sent him back to the station house, but also anger that he'd let something like this happen to Stella. That guy from the bar the night before was right, he was useless, even with his badge. Why hadn't he gone looking for her? Or stopped by her mom's house? They were things he'd never think of doing on a normal night but now that she was dead he couldn't believe they'd never crossed his mind.

Dead. His beautiful, young and lively Stella was dead. Danny slammed his hand into a wall and glared at anyone else in the office who looked like they might considered telling him to stop. The bystanders gave him his berth as he made his way into the locker room closing the door behind him but it barely muffled the sound of violence being taken out on the metal lockers.

Jackson looked up when he heard the sound of something hitting the wall of his office. He continued to look up as he heard the pounding of metal coming from the locker room several doors down. Walls in this place were paper thin.
"Aw what the fuck is it now" Jackson hissed to himself, and stood up - actually rather glad to be leaving behind the paperwork. He stormed through his door glowering, and moved through the pit where people were giving the locker room curious glances and wincing slightly when some of the louder crashes sounded. He ignored them, and pushed his way into the locker room.

"Hey some people are tryna WORK, what the fuck is..." Jackson trailed off as he realised the person knocking ten bells out of the walls was in fact, Danny. His tone became more bemused than angry (although the anger had been pretty much for show anyway)
"Danny? What the shit are you doing? Have you lost your tiny mind? Quit it, man!"

Danny had stopped thinking a while ago. Now he was just mindlessly punching a mangled locker, not sure if the tears in his eyes were from Stella or the fact that somewhere he'd cut his hand. Look up at the sound of Jack's voice he just stared, blank. Somewhere in the back of his mind he registered that only Jackson would be stupid enough to walk into a room with a crazy person. But at his request Danny stopped, moving away from the locker and dropping onto a bench, face in his hands. How the hell was he going to explain this to his friend who for some reason expected Danny to be the moral compass of his life?

Jackson scratched his head and looked completely baffled. What the hell was this? Not something Jackson knew how to deal with. The best he could do was an awkward clearing of the throat and a few steps toward where Danny was slumped. Danny looked pretty fucked up, and Jackson had no idea what could have happened.
"Are you....crying? What the fuck?"

Crying wasn't what was going on. He'd felt like he might, but in the end he just bit down the tears like always. Danny had cried twice since he turned eighteen. Once when they lost the first baby and once when his dad died. Both times he felt the tears had come more from relief rather than sadness. Danny pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes and then looked up, without tears, at Jackson. "Go fuck yourself Jack. I don't fucking cry." Standing up, Danny pushed past Jackson, hard, and moved over towards a sink to wash off his hand.

Jackson's relief was audible, and his posture relaxed somewhat - but he was still confused. And he didn't take kindly to being shoved. He grabbed Danny's shoulder and forcibly pulled the man around to face him - Danny was stocky, but he was shorter than Jackson and there was no way Jackson was going to let him get away with being a massive jerk for no foreseeable reason. "Hey, don't talk to me like I'm the jackass in this situation, you're the one doing rounds with a fucking inanimate object. What's your problem?"

Danny gripped the egdes of the sink, hard enough that his knuckles turned white. "They found another one. That sonofabitch killed another girl." He looked up in the mirror over the sink. The edge was cracked, but he could still see his reflection and he watched his eyes grow dark with hate. "And I knew her." This time he looked at Jackson, his dark eyes burning with anger.

Any retort Jackson may have been about to spit at Danny died in the air. He took a step back and simply stared, pulling his hands through his hair. Shit. Jackson's mind instantly jumped to a dark fucking place - seeing how Danny looked so white hot with rage, seeing how furious and fucked up he was.

"Danny.... fuck... I.... not, not Janey? Oh Fuck."

Jackson's voice was small, which sounded odd considering he never usually went below "loud" on the noise scale. He knew Janey too. Small, quiet, good girl. Cooked him dinner more than once. He was getting ahead of himself, sure, but to Jackson it was the only person who could bring forth such an eruption in his friend.

A slight amount of Danny's anger evaporated with Jackson's fear. It would make sense the first jump the man would make would be to Janey. Especially with the way she doted on Jack, making dinner, offering to introduce him to nice girls from church and generally just trying to mother him. Janey probably knew more about Jack's family problems than Danny did, having added his family to her prayer list. "Not Janey, she's fine." Danny's voice was still gruff, he was still hurting, still fucking pissed off, but relieved his wife was safe. "Someone else. You don't...I..."

Jackson sighed, relief flooding through him, sweeter than oxygen. He was still pale though, still felt like his hands would start shaking if he wasn't careful. Janey was a real treasure, Danny was lucky as hell to have found such a sweet girl to take care of him. If she was dead... he couldn't bear the thought. Nothing would be right again. Jackson was trying to think of other women Danny knew, but his mind was drawing blanks.

"Thank the Lord for that. You scared the fuckin' shit out of me. But who Danny? Who'd that sick bastard get this time?"

Even though he could hear the relief in Jackson's voice it didn't calm Danny down any. "Thank God, yea." He looked back the mirror, trying to focus on his own reflection to keep the horrors he'd seen first hand out of his mind. The fucker was going to die. No matter what happened. "She's someone you don't know. She and I were..."

Jackson had a severe case of never knowing what to say in emotionally hard situations. He wanted to find the Ripper and do a little ripping of his own. If they put that fuck in the chair it'd be too good for him. Jackson's fists were clenched hard. He caught Danny's eye in the reflection, and his usually cocky expression softened to one of sympathy.

"Danny - I dunno what the hell to say. But smashing the place up and tryna start a fight with me ain't gonna bring your friend back. Who's heading the case? Talk to them. Get out there and do what you're good at, bein' a cop, get that poor girl some justice."

Jackson could be the King of being slow on the uptake. He didn't know what the right thing to say was, he didn't know how he should be reacting for the sake of his friend, and he definitely didn't know what Danny was trying to get at. Jackson was in fact, completely A-grade oblivious.

"I was on the case Jack." God you're an idiot, Danny thought. "Hollis sent me back here, due to damned protocol. Because I could ID her on the scene. She was still wearing the bracelet I gave her as a gift. We'd been together six months." This time Danny looked at his friend again. The news wouldn't go over well, but maybe the guy would finally figure out why Danny wanted to break through a wall. "I have to wait for my name to be cleared before I can do a goddman thing besides look at fucking files."

Jackson blinked stupidly.
"What?"
The statement didn't quite sink in. He heard the name "Hollis" which instantly set his teeth on edge regardless, he hated that slime bag, but the rest of the comment? Not so much with the comprehending. It sounded like Danny just admitted to having an affair with a girl he was now suspected of murdering. Which was completely fucking impossible.
"You might wanna run that by me again?"

"Stella. We were having an affair. After you and I split off last night I went to see her, but she'd left for home early. My favorite bartender wasn't in and I wound up elsewhere." Danny rubbed his hands over his face again. "I'll be cleared, but her body was fresh, and that fuck is out there and that ass sent me here."

Jackson's jaw was clenched, now, along with his fists. Yeah, Danny just used the word affair. Just dropped it like it meant nothing, like he was telling the weather. Jackson got that he was cut up about this girl he'd been seeing getting...well...cut up. But Jackson couldn't even focus on that small plot detail. It was hard to feel anything for some dead homewrecker he didn't know...although that was unfair. No-one deserved what that creep did to those girls. No-one. It was horrible. But that wasn't what was stinging Jackson.

"Yeah. I got the part about that dick Hollis sending you back here to cool off. Wasn't so much interested in that part of the story. Was more interested in how you just let it slip all casual, like some baseball result, that you've been cheating on your wife for 6 months." Jackson's voice was quiet, hard. He felt like he was waiting for a punchline that wasn't going to come. Danny was a good man, and Janey was a perfect doll. This... it just didn't sit right.

Danny knew this wouldn't go well. "It's been longer than six months." There wasn't a point in lying to Jackson about this sort of thing. He'd be even more pissed if he found out that Danny hadn't clued him in on everything. "And yes, but it's not like that. Janey, she's not. Look that's not important. Stella's fucking dead. Like mutilated dead."

"It's not important?" Jackson said, incredulous. He couldn't find the words to describe how important it fucking was to not cheat on your wife. He couldn't believe it was something he'd have to explain to Danny of all people. He wanted to be spiteful, and ask questions like 'does your wife know that while she's cooking your dinner you're out screwing some slut?' but he couldn't. That wouldn't be right. And Danny was suffering, he obviously was, and maybe it had all just been a mistake. And now some poor girl was dead and tortured, which of course, was all different kinds of wrong. It was too much to take in all at once. And to say it wasn't important? No. That wouldn't fly.

So Jackson did the only thing Jackson really knew how to do in a situation like this. He grabbed Danny once more, forcing him to face him, and then threw one mean motherfucker of a punch.

Danny's idea of a good punch was nothing like Jackson's. Jackson's hit hurt enough though and would leave mark, but pushing Danny was never a good plan. In an instant he had Jackson's shirt in his hand, holding the guy despite the height difference. Two steps later he'd pushed Jackson against the wall. "You really want to start that with me? You didn't learn the first few times you'd tried?"

Jackson snorted. Being that close and face to face with a very furious Danny wasn't exactly party-times. He was strong, and when he got mad he was like the fucking Hulk. They hadn't fought for years, of course, since way back in the academy, but Danny was obviously pissed and pulling his hard man bullshit. Jackson didn't want a fight. He wanted things to make some fucking sense. The punch had just been a gut reaction.

"Somebody's gotta do it, don't they? I don't see Janey givin' you a beat down for your stupidity. Now get the fuck offa me"

Jackson pushed Danny's arms away and glared hard at the man. He wasn't even angry. He was disappointed and confused, and frustrated. But angry? With Danny? No. He couldn't be. His tone said as much. There was no venom in it. As much as he wanted to rail against Danny it wouldn't do any good.

"What the hell were you thinking? Just...what the hell"

Danny shook Jackson off, taking a few steps away, turning his back to Jackson. "I could say I don't know what I was thinking, but I do. She was beautiful." He glanced over his shoulder and then back forward. "She was wanted me. Janey's been... I don't know how to explain it. Right before I met Stella, damnit Jack, we'd lost another baby. I didn't even know she was pregnant. I just came home and found her on the bathroom floor, sobbing. She didn't leave the house for weeks. She's been different ever since. So when Stella...I dunno. It just happened."

Jackson knew about the baby. Of course he did. That had been yet another situation where he had been fundamentally useless and unable to do or say anything that would help. What was he gonna do, arrest Janey's ovaries? Come on. But Danny's excuse did not abide well for Jackson either. It made it worse

"So what, you thought you'd just leave your sick wife sobbing on the floor and go have fun with some pretty young thing? And you say Janey's not the same? I'm sorry if I don't feel particularly sorry for you, but that's probably the worst god-damn thing I've ever heard come from your mouth, Danny. You're supposed to look after her. Not just... run and find something easier when it gets painful"

Jackson sounded as disgusted as he felt. He wasn't yelling, but it was pretty obviously still a lecture. And Jackson didn't feel innocent, either. Danny drank a lot, Jackson knew that, he drank a lot with Jackson most of the time - but Jackson'd just figured they found time to be together. Danny and Janey. That was what you did when you were married. That was the point of loving someone, being devoted, no matter what. He thought of his little sister. It was a perfect example. You made sacrifices when you loved someone. You didn't abandon them so you could go and get laid. You didn't betray their trust like that.

"Does she know?"

"I do look after her! I've been looking after her since she was sixteen. The same way I grew up looking after my sister and my mom when my dad in the mood to bust skulls. And I've been looking after Stella too. I loved her. Just like I love Janey, only different." Danny was rubbing his eyes again in frustration. "I'm not saying it was the Jackson Haas moral thing to do, but it felt right." He looked back at Jackson with a look of shock. "Does she know? Of course she doesn't know. What the hell kind of question is that?"

Jackson resisted the urge to punch Danny again. Resisted hard.

"Don't compare taking care of your fucking family to having some on the side action, not if I can fucking hear you, do you understand? What you had with that poor girl was just a fucking frivolity. So don't you fucking dare. Family's your duty, no matter what. " now Jackson sounded angry. Threatening angry. It was remarkable how quick the change came. A quiet, pale faced anger where every muscle in his body seemed coiled. He would've liked nothing better than to wail on Danny. But there was no point. It would solve absolutely nothing. So Jackson reigned it in as best he could.

"And it's a honest fucking decent person question. She ought to know. You ought to sit down and talk to your doll of a wife 'bout how dumb you've been and fix your fucking marriage. She's got a right to know, you shouldn't treat her like some sort of idiot just because you've been acting like one. I'll tell her my god damned self."

"Now you're giving me advice on how to fix my marriage? 'Cause you're the expert on healthy relationships eh?" Danny didn't comment that whatever family shit and duty Jack had going on it sure as hell beat a dad who used you for target practice. "And if you talk to her, they won't find you until after I'm dead and you're a rotted corpse."

"I never got married because I knew it wouldn't be fair to put someone through having to wait around for me at home while I worked every waking hour, among other things. You know that. Doesn't mean I don't know a thing or two about being a decent human being. Used to be I'd have said the same thing for you, but now you're cheating on your wife and threatening to kill your best friend? What the hell is that?"

Jackson threw up his hands in disbelief and paced away from Danny, not trusting himself to look at him properly without punches being exchanged. He breathed in deeply through his nose, held it, and then released. Didn't feel calmer but at least he'd gone through the motions.

"Tell Janey. You know it's the right thing to do. And speaking of right things to do, I assume you gave your report? Or were you too busy punching holes in the wall? Only the slightest thing'll help put that maniac in jail. Surely that should be your priority over killing me because I give a fuck about seeing you and your girl happy. You fucking meat head."

"I told Hollis where I was all night. The girls at the club will vouch for me and they'll remember me at One More Round. But if you figure she'd already left work by the time I got the Kitten Club, my alibi lies in your hands. I told Hollis I was with you." Danny had watched Jackson stalk away and knew the younger man was pissed. "What am I supposed to tell Janey? She'll convince the church to have me stoned."

"Then maybe you should just take the stoning like a man, Danny boy. You can't tell me your conscience is clean on this one." Jackson turned back around and looked at Danny, but still didn't move closer. He was irritated that now he was going to have to have a conversation with fucking Hollis, but he'd vouch for Danny. He didn't even need to say that, it would be known. He was still angry, but his tone softened marginally. Jackson hated fighting with people he cared about - even if they were monumentally in the wrong and being huge assholes.

"I mean come on Danny, make all the excuses you want - but imagine if it was the other way around. If she had someone young, tall dark and handsome, I don't know. How'd you feel? It's gonna get out, Danny. It'll be in the Echo, because they'll chalk it up to this fuck screwing around with the cops rather than it just being some freak coincidence. So get to Janey before the vultures do. Tell her the truth, tell her that you''re sorry and that you love her, and beg for forgiveness. Just... fix it."

Danny glared at Jackson. He understood that his friend was just trying to help but he didn't understand. Danny had loved both women. Hell he'd risked his life and career for both women, agreeing to help out the family. It would figure that he'd find himself in this situation. Begging Janey for forgiveness would be hard, she knew when he was lying about that sort of thing and he wasn't wracked with guilt about the whole issue. Still if it got leaked in the papers, well then he'd probably wind up sleeping here or at Jackson's for a week or so before she calmed down. Giving in somewhat to at least appear as if he was making an effort Danny waved Jackson off. "Fine, yea I'll fix it." He just wasn't specific how.

"You just sayin' that to shut me up, or d'you mean it?" Jackson asked, arms folded, sounding cynical, although his anger was subsiding - Jackson never stayed mad for long. He could be righteous forever, but angry? Not so much. It was tiring and made him feel bad.
"Anyway, look. I am sorry. I'm sorry that this girl died, of course I am. It's disgusting. But don't let it hinder you doin' your job - if Hollis is on this now then work with him best you can. He's a slimeball but he's not dumb - he can probably get the guy. Just make sure he stays above level. Don't trust him as far as you can throw him."

He nodded, letting Jackson choose which answer he wanted. Knowing Jack he'd choose the "doing the right thing" answer anyway. He want Danny to fix all this, to make it all better. "I've got no beef with Hollis, I just hate being sent back to the barn when we know he's out there. We were so close and Hollis is probably out there acting all high and mighty instead of chasing the bastard down."

Jackson rolled his eyes and attempted a half-hearted grin, he moved back over to Danny and jabbed him lightly in the arm. He was trying to reconcile. It was kind of lame considering they'd been close to some pretty massive blows 5 minutes previous.
"Don't let him get to you. He'll do his job. You'll do yours. Goin' out guns blazin' for revenge is a sure fire way to fuck everything up. Not that I wouldn't love to see that guy fry - but it's gotta be done the proper way. We ain't vigilantes, we're cops."

The irony of this coming from his mouth of all people's was pretty much lost on Jackson, but there it was. Maybe it was hypocritical of him of all people to talk about losing the gung-ho attitude. But Jackson had never killed anyone, and he never would, and if he could help it? Neither would anyone he cared about.

Danny doubted that it was because Jackson knew nothing of pain, but how could he be so blind. Even if they did catch the guy he'd get to sit on death row until he was old and eventually he might even have his death sentence pardoned by some liberal governement agent who's tainted by the mob. Or cut because they couldn't afford the electricity bill. No, this guy would do best being gunned down in a corner. Actually that was too good for him. He deserved to be tortured. "Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll shoot first."

Danny was out for blood, then. Well, there was nothing Jackson could do here in a locker room. He didn't do heart-to-heart conversations. Lectures were no problem, that was just spouting a doctrine, but when it actually came to saying something that meant something? Jackson was hopeless. So, he'd just have to add Danny to the list of 'poor unfortunate souls' that was getting bigger every day of people he had to watch out for. Keep their backs safe in the field. Protect and serve.

"Okay, well look, you're obviously suffering me about as gladly as you do any fool, so I'm gonna go finish my mountain of paperwork and let you have your thinkin' space. Just don't go crazy on any more city property, okay?"

Jackson still didn't sound his usual chipper self, but he was attempting to fake it. For Danny's sake. He had to appreciate that as much as Danny had done something horribley wrong he would work for his forgiveness. And someone he claimed to love had died. That was hard. Jackson decided to bury his own issues for now about some of the rawer things Danny had said and just... let his friend brood for a while.

"Oh and uh, sorry I punched you. But you did kinda deserve it for being an almighty jerkass," he quipped, winking slyly as he made his way towards the door. No hard feelings. Not really.

"You were always a shitty learner," Danny told him, rubbing the side of his cheek where Jackson had punched him. For the most part he'd cooled down enough to not break things. "One day you'll figure out that I can take you down without trying too hard." Danny looked away without much else to say. Well there was one thing even if Jackson was being a high and mighty pain in the ass and didn't really deserve it. "Thanks." It was a little mumbled, and Danny didn't look up when he said it, but it was out there nonetheless.

Jackson flapped a dismissive hand at Danny as he walked out, letting the man have his moment of bravado. The tension wasn't cleared, that much was obvious. But with Jackson there were always things left unsaid - if you couldn't work out the touchy-feely crap with a sound punching (which in this case, he couldn't) then you might as well just walk out the door and try your best to forget about it.
"See you later, Danny. And don't forget what I said, okay?"