repurcussions

Who: Danny
Where: ECPD
When: late afternoon

Danny had been angrily going through the files from the murders in the park again, reading the same words over and over again in hopes that something might change. He’d gotten barely any sleep and was running on nothing but fumes and nursing a hangover most of the morning. Now the headache was waving, but he was still running in circles. They were all running in circles chasing their own goddamn tails.

“Lieu wants to see you McKinnon.”

Glancing up, Danny eyed the uniform in front of him, waiting for an answer for what the lieutenant might want him for. The guy just shrugged and Danny rolled his eyes, taking another pull off his flask before tucking it in his desk and heading into the office he’d been summoned to.

“You wanted to see me sir?” Danny gruffed towards the older man behind the desk. There was a long moment where Lieutenant Graves made him wait before set whatever he was looking at aside.

“Not gonna beat around the bush with you McKinnon because I know you hate bullshit as much as I do. You’re off the park case. And the gallery.” Graves went back to the pages in front of him, as if he was waiting on Danny to leave.

“Excuse me?” Danny asked instead, tilting his head to the side as if he hadn’t heard the man properly the first time. There was no way he was being pulled off the case. They were the two biggest cases they had running right now, no one was going to pull him off of it. He was one of their best.

“You heard me,” Graves said without looking up from the file in his hands. “It’s over. You’re on whatever comes up on deck next, but not those two cases. Get out of my office.”

“I’m not in the mood for games sir,” Danny demanded, leaning on the desk trying to get Graves to look at him.

Graves finally did look up, leaning back in his chair. “Nor am I McKinnon. Which is why you aren’t on the case anymore. You’re losing your shit. You don’t think I didn’t hear about what happened with that kid in interrogation?” Danny’s face twitched into a scowl and he opened his mouth to speak about it. “Don’t say anything, I don’t fucking want to hear it. You’re a damned loose cannon. You’re too fucking close to things. I know what happened to you. I know you spent hours looking for your wife the night of the park massacre.” Graves paused, pressing his fingers to the bridge of his nose while he Danny continued to flinch. The flinches ran across his features and up his arms. Anger was rippling off of him.

“I don’t fault you for being upset McKinnon. But you aren’t going to bring my department down with it. Either I take you off the case, or you get a week at home to think about what you’ve done. I know full well that week won’t do shit for you. Wouldn’t do shit for me either. So you’re off the case.”

Danny was fuming now but with nowhere to put it. “You’re making a mistake. You know it.” Graves shook his head and waved his hand again.

“I hope so, but I have to do it anyway. Get the hell out of my office.”

Danny twitched again. He had nothing left to say. He didn’t ever have anything to say. It was the same silence that gripped him in front of Brett and December. Fuming he left the office, stopping for a moment by his desk to get his jacket and then he left the precinct all together. Seemed he didn’t have anything else to do for the rest of the day.