Someone to stand by

Who: Danny and Sam
Where: EDPD Station / St. Mary's Hospital
When: Late morning

Danny was at work when his phone rang. Just as he had for the past few days since he'd been shot he was working his way through paperwork for just about everyone in the station. It was tedious and boring, but after the church picnic and how miserable an experience that was, Danny was just relieved to be at work. Work he understood. Church politics baffled him.

Picking up the phone, Danny was barely paying attention when he answered and at first it took a full minute before he actually put together the words Janey, accident and hospital to mean something. He was on his feet in an instant, practically growling at the pain from his shoulder but still managing to demand from the officer that was on the line just what the fuck was going on. Once he had some semblance of an idea he hung up the phone with a crash. He needed to get to the hospital. Now. And he couldn't fucking drive. He didn't even want to think about what he'd see when he got there, but he needed to go now.

Looking around the station, it only took a moment to realize that almost no one was around. Most of the patrolmen were out on their beats, the detectives were off doing whatever the fuck they did on Monday mornings and mostly it just left the secretary. And a shock of blond hair. "Tyler, car. now," Danny called to her without actually saying much else and already heading towards the door. His voice left no inclination to doubt him, he was scared out of his mind, but like everything else it came out sounding like pissed to hell and back.

Sam had been working on the files, cross referencing names from the area of One More Round when Danny yelled at her about a car and now. She had a bit of a headache from hanging around Dutch's garage that morning, from allt he fumes and she didn't really appreciate being talked to like she was just meant to follow him. Especially in that commanding voice of his, which Sam didn't appreciate even when she wasn't being yelled at by him. "Excuse you?" she called back, not getting up from her desk because she wasn't a dog.

Danny already had his good hand on the door when he heard Sam calling back at him. Turning around he pointed to the door with the bad arm. "Car, come on. You have to drive 'cause I can't and you're the only one here. Let's go Tyler." Danny looked impatient, practically bristling with an urge to get the fuck out of here and make sure his wife wasn't dead. Not sure how bad it is. That's what the cop on the phone had said.

She frowned, looking down at her files but Danny was freaking out and while the guy might be generally kind of an ass, he was ordered to desk duty. So whatever was going on had to be an issue. Scribbling a note for Jakob (Taking McK somewhere. Turns out a couple of these folks were regulars at the Round) and a few directive notes, Sam grabbed her keys and headed over to him. "Wanna tell me what's going on?" she asked as they headed through the door and down the steps to the garage. "I get the antsy but you're not giving me much."

Relieved she wasn't continuing to be a pain in the ass Danny followed her closely, moving quickly despite the pain. "St. Mary's," he told her with a terse, gruff voice. This was all sorts of not good. There's been an accident. Why? Why now? They had to have the wrong woman. Just a mistake. He'd get down there, find out it was someone else and he'd bitch out the cop that gave him a goddamn heart attack for no reason.

Sam rolled her eyes although Danny wouldn't be able to see it and was glad that she'd gotten the car fixed up that morning. But if they were heading to the hospital... "Your wife?" Sam asked as they got into the car. She had never met Janey McKinnon personally, but her mother knew the woman and from what she knew, Janey was a saint. Had to be, if she was married to Danny.

Danny cringed had, both from what Sam was saying and the sparks of pain through his shoulder as he got into the car awkwardly. "Yes," he answered through gritted teeth. "I got a call from a street cop who was at the scene." His fists were clenched and it was all Danny could do to keep from trying to run to the hospital himself.

Shit. That wasn't good. Well, of course it wasn't good, but by the sounds of it, Danny didn't have much information to begin with. At least it was late enough that the usual morning traffic wasn't as bad, so they didn't have to deal with traffic jams and she wouldn't have to worry about Danny getting so fed up that he decided to run through traffic to get to the hospital. "Do... you want me to come in?" Sam asked. She really hated hospitals. Correction, she loathed doctors. She could not handle dealing with doctors one bit, but she could at least stand around and help with paperwork or something. She could do that, right? She could so do that.

His eyes had been squarely on the road, concentrating on one thing at a time, concerned with their progression to the hospital and much less with whatever else was going on in the car. If he'd been able to drive he would have taken the squad car, siren blaring and drove on the sidewalk to get there fast enough. She'll be fine, he told himself with nothing to base it on. When Sam asked if she should come in he'd barely heard it, eyes on the looming building of the hospital in front of them. "No," he said at first, then glanced at her and back to the street again. "Actually yeah. You should come in." Danny had one emotion, anger, and that didn't get results well. And if Janey was hurt, then... Well it wouldn't be pretty.

Sam nodded, but inside she was freaking the fuck out. Doctors. She did not want to deal with doctors. Nope. No sir, no doctors. "I don't do too good with doctors, McKinnon," she said, because no way was she talking to any. They could stay far away from her. Her palms were already sweating as she made the turn onto the street the hospital was on. While she didn't have sirens blaring or anything, they'd still made good time. Why did I agree to come? Why am I doing this? Doctors. No way. Nope. No doctors. She could talk to nurses. Doctors were no.

Danny had no idea what 'too good' meant but at the moment he really didn't give a shit. "Don't hit anyone Tyler, I don't have time to arrest you," he told her assuming that her problems were similar to his and his propensity for beating on people who pissed him off. He already had the car door open as they rolled to a stop in front of the building, not waiting for her to put the car in park before he was already climbing out of it.

"Dammit, McKinnon! You're going -- nevermind." Idiot thinking it was a good idea to get out of a moving car. But he was freaking out about his wife. She got it. And there he went off for the entrance. Fine. She'd catch up with him. She put some change into the meter, but figured she was going to have a ticket by the end of the day anyway. Sam looked up at St. Mary's, trying not to run in the opposite direction but Danny was already heading inside and someone needed to keep an eye on the guy before he started punching people and she took off after him, following him into the building.

All Danny could see was the door, but he had a feeling Tyler was at his back, just like she'd been at the shipyard. He pushed through the door with his good arm, headed for the front desk and the nurse there without looking around him at all. "Janey McKinnon," Danny demanded of the small woman as soon as he saw here, voice still gruff and angry. She didn't look pleased with his attitude at all.

Sam was indeed behind him and heard the way he addressed the woman at the desk and she suppressed a sigh and pulled out her badge. "Janey McKinnon was brought in not long ago. Something about an accident." Her hands were clammy and she looked around for any men in white coats and stethoscopes hanging around their necks. She did not like hospitals. Nope. But she could do this. She had to be able to do this.

It figured that the nurse gave Danny little recognition and once Sam showed up she was helpful with an understanding nod in the other woman's direction. Fucking women. "Third floor," the nurse told Sam and not Danny. "Room 317." There were words that Danny could have given the nurse but he let them fall into the ether as he stormed away, headed for the elevator.

Sam kept reminding herself that Danny's wife was in the hospital after an accident. That he was frantic with worry, but the annoying thing was that Danny's behavior wasn't entirely different from the way he usually acted. She managed to slide into the elevator after him, frowning but not saying anything. What was she supposed to say, anyway?

As the elevator started to move upward, Danny felt himself lurched into an internal struggle. Part of him wanted the elevator to jump upwards like the missiles they showed in the news reels about the war, and another part of him wanted time to slow all together so he wouldn't find out what was waiting for him on the third floor. When the elevator chimed and the doors open he found himself hesitating, not sure if he wanted to step out.

Sam was halway out the door before she realized she wasn't trying to catch up to Danny. He was still behind her against the back of the elevator. The immediate area wasn't busy, so Sam went back into the elevator and pressed the button to close the door. "So doctors scare the shit outta me," she said, breaking the tense silence that surrounded the guy. "Ever since I was a little kid and they brought me in 'cause I had the measles. I lose it. Well, used to lose it. I can make myself stand near a doctor but as soon as the fucker turns away, I'm bolting."

Danny was still cursing his immobile feet when the door to the elevator closed again. Again he was slow to react to Sam speaking but this time when he looked at her he was listening. He knew what she was doing. She was putting them on level ground, sharing something so he would as well. It was standard interrogation good cop technique. "I don't..." Danny started, not sure what to say or how to say it. He wasn't a talker by any means. "What if...She's my whole world." It was a rare admission, and though he didn't sound angry it didn't sound fueled by emotion either. He wasn't that type of guy.

"I know," Sam said and came over to stand next to him. "We're cops. We know. But Janey's gonna need you to keep it together and you getting in everyone's face like you've been already isn't going to help. So, just breathe, alright, McKinnon? Step away and be the good cop that you are. Keep your wits. Janey needs you to keep your head on." Because she had no problem imagining the guy ripping doctor's heads off if he didn't get the answers he wanted.

Danny felt a lump rise in his throat, knowing that this full well could be the end. He could walk down that hall and they'd tell him it was all over. His reason for living was gone. Swallowing back the lump he set his jaw against whatever emotions were building in him and punched the button on the elevator to open the doors. When they opened this time he set off without hesitating. If it was over it was over. There wasn't a point in living without her anyway. He could manage all the miscarriages, all the hours of praying and church, all the concern and worry if she was still in his life. None of that mattered if she was there, alive and real.

Sam had absolutely no idea if what she said had sunk in or was being applied, but at least McKinnon was moving with a purpose and Sam followed him a few steps away, growing antsier and antsier as they headed into the ward. There were doctors around but they were at least not right up next to her and she really didn't want to cause any kind of scene. Count to ten, Tyler. Count to ten again and again, she kept reminding herself. Janey better be alive. If she wasn't, well, Sam was going to have to call for back up because she was pretty sure that McKinnon was going to bust some heads open. The guy had issues.

Danny didn't notice anyone on the hallway, just the numbers on the doors as he walked to the right one. He hesitated for just a breath, hand on the door handle before turning it and pushing his way into the room. It was dim in the room, ideal for resting, but that didn't mean it was comfortable. Janey was there, laying in the bed, just as he'd been days ago, surrounded by machines, though she wasn't awake like he'd been when she showed up. Danny stopped, dead in his tracks, still too many feet away from the bed.

She came up behind Danny, watching the guy step into the room and sort of just stand there. Sam didn't follow him in. She felt like she was intruding and she wasn't exactly sure what to do. "I'm... just going to wait out here," she said quietly.

Looking back at the sound of her voice, Danny just nodded, not really registering what Sam had said. Turning to Janey again he started that long slow trek to her bed side, reaching for her hand once he was there. "Oh babe." The words were barely audible, but there, soft and full of hurt.

Sam skulked in the hallway and wondered exactly what the hell it was she was meant to do. Did she stay? Did she go? And where was the cop who was -- "Marks!" she barked, taking her stress out on someone. "What happened?" she jerked her head to the room where Danny was, fixing the cop with a look. "I've had to deal with him getting ready to pull a Clark Kent the entire time over here." She meant that the lack of explanation he gave on the phone? Hadn't helped one bit.

Marks had been waiting since the ambulance drove them in. He'd ridden over in the damn ambulance because he knew Danny and Janey made the best pie of all the wives on the force including his own, hell better than his own mother. He wasn't just about to leave here there alone. Now here was that chic cop Tyler, chewing him out for going on a damned piss break. "You bring McKinnon over?" he asked, finishing buckling his belt as he walked up. He looked past Sam briefly but saw that the door was closed. "She was in an accident. Some fucker hit her as she was crossing the street," he explained, making sure to look down at Tyler while he talked to her.

It was an attitude Sam was used to and she took it in stride with a nod. "Did the docs tell you anything?" she asked. Now that Marks was back, she thought that maybe she could get out of here, but she didn't want to go in and tell Danny that without having some information to give him when she went in.

Marks shrugged, rolling his shoulders so he didn't look so pathetic. "Not much. She's got a few bruised ribs, hit her head pretty bad. They did what they could, but she's still out of it. They won't know until she wakes up."

Sam nodded and looked around again to see if any doctors were showing up. "I'll go let Danny know. How about you go get a doctor he can talk to." Sam had the detective voice on, trying to get through the anxiety and she thought she was doing a pretty good job of it too.

"I can do that," Marks said, turning to leave Sam with Danny.

Danny had finally found a chair, falling into it with one arm propped against Janey's bed, eyes on her closed eyes, waiting for her to wake up. She had to wake up, minute now. "Janey, Janey, Janey," he whispered her name over and over. "Wake up baby. Come on."

Sam knocked on the door before poking her head in. "McKinnon?" she called quietly, seeing him sitting by the bed but she didn't want to just go in.

It took a moment but he did eventually glance around, spotting Sam at the door. Danny waved her in, assuming that if she hadn't wanted to be in the room before she probably didn't now, but there had to be something important going on. "What is it?"

"Marks came back, he's getting the doctor. But um, he said that she bruised up her ribs but she hit her head pretty hard, I guess." She came in just a little while she talked, not wanting to intrude a whole lot. "So they're just waiting for her to wake up to see if there's any other problems." She felt like she was intruding.

Danny nodded, though the news was not good. Normally he would have been angry, but at the moment he all he could do was turn back towards Janey, watching her sleep peacefully, without any indication that she'd be waking sometime soon. "That mean you're leaving?" he asked without turning back around.

"Do you want me to stay?" she asked back. She didn't know what she'd do and she was absolutely getting ready to start crawling the walls. She did not do well in hospitals. Not at all.

"Up to you Tyler. I'm not going anywhere. Tell 'um where I am if you go back." Danny propped his elbow back up on the bed, watching his angel of a wife, sleeping like the angel she was.

"Alright. Call and let me know how things go," she said, because frankly, that answered nothing for her and she told him how she felt about hospitals. "I'll... be praying for her," she said. She could already hear Marks coming back and she quietly ducked out of the room and headed back to the elevators. She felt bad, she did, but she didn't do hospitals.