Surly McSurlypants

Who: Danny, Janey, and Maddy
Where: St Mary's Hospital
When: Morning

Roy had work that day, so Maddy was left mostly to her own devices and she ended up just staring at the vault ceiling trying to think of other things she needed to do. She'd go back to the theater tonight, then she'd go to the Round to see Pepper. Thankfully she didn't have to work -- something about some people coming in and her being underage and all that -- and Maddy didn't mind too much, but the loss of money was hard. That went into the box of Things Not To Think About Right Now.

There was one thing she kept meaning to do, ever since she saw it in the paper. So she wrote Roy a little note. Easy to read 'Back Soon M' and headed to the theater to change into some nicer clothes. It was one of the dresses Elle had bought for her. Blue plaid and smart, with little cinches at the waist and up top and although Maddy was a twig, it made her feel her age more than dressing up in her work uniform. Her hair was looking a mess too. She hadn't been able to wash it in a few days, so she pulled it back and tied it up with a blue ribbon and set out to St. Mary's Hospital where Janey McKinnon was.

She bought a couple of daffodils from the flower shop and, along with a couple dollars to cover the bottle of cough medicine she stole, she hoped it would be a decent enough gift that wouldn't have them calling the police or the orphanage on her. Maddy got some looks on her way in. Looking presentable usually meant you should be in school, but other than that, she was relatively unbothered by the time she went in and asked which room her 'Poor Aunt Janey' was staying in. So she headed up the elevator. That was a new experience and Maddy was loathe to admit that it made her nervous, and headed down the hallway before coming up to the room that was supposed to be Janey's. The door was closed, but if she pressed her good ear against it, she could hear something going on. Taking a deep breath, Maddy lifted a hand -- little white gloves today -- and knocked.

Danny had gone to work the day before, but he was useless there, even more useless than usual with his messed up shoulder. In fact the hurt arm was back in the sling because he'd over done it the day before. He'd slept at the hospital, a night full of dreams that left him longing, reaching for a voice that seemed familiar, but he couldn't place. Both he and Janey were awake when Maddy knocked, discussing when she'd get to go home, even if it seemed like it might not be right away like Danny hoped. Unsure of who might be visiting, though he assumed it'd be someone from the church, Danny opened the door, surprised to see the little blonde girl standing there. "Um, hello?" he said, though it sounded like a question instead of greeting. He glanced over her head into the hall, but he didn't see anything out of the ordinary, so he stepped aside letting her in without another comment.

When Danny greeted whomever was at the door he sounded uncertain, and Janey wondered if it might be Zhen. She hadn't visited or been in touch, not since leaving the gift, and Janey knew if she did, Danny would be wary. She wasn't sure what he had against her, but she could tell there was something there. To her surprise, however, when she looked up it was not Zhen coming into the room but a blonde-haired girl she barely recognized. After a moment, she realized who it was, and felt a flood of relief. "DG! You look so different!" It was true. She certainly looked healthier, if a bit tired, but she was also clean and wearing a dress. She hadn't been on Janey's mind much since the accident, but the relief she felt at knowing the girl was doing well was immense.

Maddy eyed Danny warily over her shoulder as she came in. While he'd been nice to her while she stayed with them, Maddy didn't trust him. But she looked back at Janey and smiled a little bit. "I was going to come earlier, but I had a lot of things to take care of. I brought you these." She held up the three daffodils but wasn't sure what to do with them. "And I brought some money to pay you guys back for the cough medicine. I'm sorry I took it, but I had a friend who was really sick too so..." She cleared her throat a little bit and ended up coughing into her arm but she tried to hold as much of it in as possible. When Maddy got closer, it was a little more obvious that really, Maddy didn't look a whole lot better, but it was more from stress and lack of sleep than anything else. She tried to cover up the dark circles under her eyes, but she was pretty pale, so they'd stand out regardless. "Yeah, my friend Elle got this for me. We went shopping last week."

Danny met that look from her over her shoulder with one of his own, but dropped it as he closed the door and focusing on his wife. The relief was evident on her face, even if it made Danny nervous that she was so damn attached to the child they'd essentially kidnapped. But the girl coughed and Danny found himself moving towards her, sliding the chair he'd been in closer to Janey with his good arm so the girl could sit. At mention of Elle though, he couldn't hide the twitch. Elle. The sweet girl from the Round who looked like a grown up version of the little girl standing here. He'd stared at Elle like he was seeing a ghost, like the poor thing was his future if DG had stayed with them. What a pair they must have been, shopping together. Instead of saying anything he reached for the flowers, taking them and finding a place for them in a vase that had been emptied of dying flowers that morning.

"Elle?" Janey said with surprise. That was the other girl she'd met at the cathedral, the one who'd asked if God answered prayers. What a contrast to picture her in a friendship with feisty DG, but Janey was glad nevertheless to hear she had friends. "I think I've met her once. A sweet blonde girl who doesn't speak?"

When Danny came closer, Maddy jerked away from him and kind of stayed still when he took the flowers from her. She still eyed him warily as she moved away to lean against the wall a safe distance away. He made her uncomfortable, that was definitely clear. She just couldn't bring herself to trust him, even when he'd fed her. But she looked back at Janey with a little smile and nodded. "Yeah, I met her at the theater. We hang out sometimes." She crossed her skinny arms over her chest and cleared her throat a little. At least there wasn't any coughing this time.

Danny couldn't help but frown at her jerking away like that, but he gave her space, moving to the other side of the room and rubbing at his sore shoulder a little. He didn't intend to scare her, she'd know if that was what he was going for, and she was here to see Janey. Danny knew how important this was to his wife, which meant he wasn't going to ruin it for her. Silent and stoic, he watched the two women, trying very hard not to imagine them in a more everyday situation. He didn't need those ideas in his head too.

"I'm glad to see you're doing well, then," Janey said. By 'doing well' of course she meant 'still alive'. She didn't know much about life as a street kid, but she did know enough to realize just surviving from one day to the next was sometimes a feat. "You gave us a scare with that disappearing act of yours, you know. I've been keeping you in my prayers to try to keep from worrying," she said. She reached out and gave Danny's good hand a gentle squeeze as she spoke, hoping to calm his nerves a bit. She could tell he wasn't happy about the situation.

"I had people who were worried about me," Maddy said. "I'm sorry I didn't leave a note or anything. I'm sorry for taking the cough medicine. That's one of the reasons I came by. Was to say thanks." Maddy knew she'd been deathly sick and had Janey not taken her home, she'd be dead. "I would've come by earlier but I've had a lot of stuff." She bit her lip some, trying to think of what else to say. She was nervous too and Danny standing there still made her kind of nervous and she fidgeted, tugging at the sleeves of her dress. "I'm sorry about your accident. Are you going to get released soon?" Janey didn't look too bad, and she sounded fine, but Maddy didn't know much about what happened when you got hit by a car except 'dead'.

We were scared? Danny didn't remember a scare besides the one where the girl turned them in for kidnapping. He squeezed Janey's hand back, but then moved to pull the chair a safe distance from the girl and sit. If she wasn't going to, he sure as well was. Sleeping in a hospital chair for nights on end wasn't good on his back and shoulder, but that hadn't stopped him yet. "What kind of stuff?" he asked going for gentle, but Danny didn't have a gentle setting. He just had less gruff than usual.

Janey was surprised to see Danny showing any interest at all, and asking the question she'd been wondering herself but probably wouldn't have asked. The girl seemed anxious and uncomfortable, and she wasn't sure if it was Danny or the whole situation. "Yes, hopefully today or tomorrow," she said, answering her question. Then she waited, hoping in her response DG would include an answer to Danny's.

Maddy's eyes flicked back to Danny, still looking wary of him. He didn't sound gentle at all. If anything, he felt vaguely demanding. "Stuff. Looking for work. Boy troubles. Regular stuff," she said, but it was to Janey, not Danny. Her smile came back a bit as she looked back at Janey. "Glad to hear you'll be out soon. Hospital doesn't seem to be very fun."

Danny noticed she wasn't talking to him, but she answered, somewhat at least. That was a good sign. "What kind of job?" he asked again, surprisingly managing to sounds something a little closer to gentle this time. He wasn't hitting it, but he did sound like he was trying.

Janey was uncertain whether Danny was trying so hard for her benefit, or for his own, but boy was he trying. Unfortunately his questions sounded like hardly-veiled interrogation queries, and she could tell the girl wasn't feeling any more trustworthy of him. "You're a little young to be needing a job, aren't you?" She was distracted by trying to protect Danny, so she didn't even think about the question until it had already been spoken. DG was a street kid. Of course she needed a job. She wondered what she'd done before for money and food, and what had changed that she needed a job now.

She appreciated Danny not talking down to her as much, but she was still uncomfortable. It wasn't entirely his fault though. "I'm 16," she said. Or she would be in a couple days anyway. "I'm old enough." As for where she was working... "Well, it's better than the first idea I had. People got pretty mad about it. But I'm doing some paintings for this charity auction." Which made Dodge's gifts of canvas and new paints kind of necessary. Now she didn't have to ask for any and risk her wages getting cut. And then thinking of Dodge caused her small smile to falter slightly. Jerk. Stupid boys.

Danny couldn't help it, when her smile faltered like that, he found himself reaching for her, though she was well out of arm's length. Flinching he frowned at himself. "The first idea?" he asked. "What's wrong?" he added, ignoring the fact that he suddenly seemed to actually care.

For a moment, Janey wondered if it was even her husband sitting there, his brow creased with worry, reaching out to comfort DG, whose face had darkened. She was afraid to even speak and ruin the moment, so she didn't, but she all but held her breath in expectation.

"Nothing's wrong," Maddy said, her frown now more concious than unconscious. When he reached out for her, even though he wouldn't be able to reach her from where she was, she stepped away towards the door. She wasn't bolting, but she wasn't taking it easy on him. "First job was just me being stupid. It was awhile ago, doesn't matter. I'm bussing tables now. Make some tips so it's all square. My friend is singing at the Round now, and I'm going to help her with that. She's really good." Maybe it was time for her to leave and Maddy glanced over her shoulder at the door, but she didn't exactly want to leave Janey. She'd forgotten how comfortable she felt around the woman, that she'd be taken care of, but the amount of uncomfortableness she felt around Danny wasn't making it easy to acknowledge and Maddy would rather leave than stick around him, even if he had fed her and hadn't kicked her out. "You're not used to young people, are you?" she asked Danny pointedly. "You think I'm off stealing or something, don't you?" It was the only way she could explain how gruff and stuff he was being. It wasn't that she thought he was going to hurt her, but he was a cop. There were a lot of other things about him ot be worried about.

The Round? They didn't even like cops in that hellhole. Not that it kept him from going every so often, but he still kept a low profile. Her questions though, that caught him off guard, especially since it was the first statement she'd actually directed at him. "No?" he answered slowly. "We have nieces and nephews, on her side," he said gesturing towards Janey. "But no, we don't spend a lot of time with them." Danny even less than Janey. There were the kids he arrested, but he guessed she didn't mean them either. "You're going to hold that against me I guess." It wasn't a question, just a statement, matter of fact and in something close to his cop voice.

Janey reached for Danny's hand again. "He's really trying, though. You may find it hard to believe, but this is gentle, for him." Janey couldn't help the tender smile that crept across her face as she said this. Despite being a little rough around the edges, Danny really did have a soft heart, especially for people he cared about. And she could tell he cared about the girl, or at least was concerned about her more than he would be about just any stranger.

"So that whole cop look and talking down voice is him being gentle?" Maddy asked and there was a bit of a bite to it and when she realized it she looked away, clearly having not meant that. "Sorry," she said quietly to Janey. "I should, um, get going." Yep, she should definitely get going.

Danny took his wife's hand but gave her a bit of a look at being called 'gentle'. That was what he'd been going for but he'd had gentle beaten out of him when he was kid. There wasn't any of that left in him. "No," he answered Maddy even if she'd stopped speaking to him again. "It's a cop thing. I've been a cop as long as you've been alive remember?" He was stating facts again, not wanting to acknowledge that he was probably going to lose sleep over this silly little girl with an attitude problem. "If you'd rather stay, I can leave. I could use a cup of coffee," he said standing. Janey wasn't in any position to take the girl home again, so Danny wasn't exactly worried about leaving them alone.

"I'd love to chat for a bit, if you'll stay," Janey said to the girl. "It gets boring in here, so a fresh face is always good news." Janey was hoping she could get a little more information out of the girl about herself, but even if not, she genuinely meant what she said about new faces. And DG's was certainly one she didn't mind sticking around.

Maddy shifted back towards the wall when Danny stood and crossed her arms across her chest and nodded. "I'm fine with that," she said, just as gruff as Danny sounded. It was a pretty good imitation actually, and she even matched his look, that gruff no nonsense cop face, just to see what that would do.

Danny held her look for a moment, keeping his face while she matched it, but eventually he let it slip giving her the slightest crack of a smile. Not much, but a small something there at the corner of his mouth. He leaned in and kissed Janey lightly before leaving the room.

With Danny gone, most of the tension seemed to seep out of the room. Janey and the girl were left to themselves in the silence. She wasn't sure she wanted to be the one to break the quiet--maybe she should let DG do the talking. But what if she didn't talk, thought Janey had lost interest and decided to leave? Janey said the first thing that came to mind. "Have you been by the cathedral recently?"

"Um, no?" Maddy said, confused. "I don't go to church. And I've been busy with stuff anyway so if I did, I wouldn't have the time," she shrugged. It wasn't harsh. It was very much the teenager wondering what their parent must be thinking.

Janey felt herself blush a little at the tone of incredulity in the girl's voice. "Ah. I mean, I wasn't saying I expected you to, or anything, just...I met you there, and Elle there, so..." she trailed off, uncertain of what to say. "Well, you said you've got boy troubles. Want to talk about it? I mean, I may not know much, but if it makes you feel better, they don't go away even once you're married," she said, trying to keep her tone light.

"Marrying Dodge was never, ever going to happen," Maddy grumbled a bit, but she came back over to the bed and hesitantly sat on the edge, her legs swinging in the air. "Things got good, then they got bad, then they got worse and then they were over. Not really much to say." She looked at her fingernails for a moment, then sent a sidelong glance at Janey. "How long have you and Mister Grumpy been together?"

"Sorry, I didn't at all mean to imply that you were near marriage," Janey said quickly. And there was that question again, for the second time in as many days. Only this time, the tease in the girl's glare as she said "Mister Grumpy" helped Janey smile as she answered. "It's been twelve years for us, if you can believe it."

Maddy frowned, a little confused. "Why are you sorry? I didn't think that's what you were trying to say. It's just... kinda happened not that many days ago is all." She didn't understand why Janey seemed to be sorry about that. "Twelve years is a long time to put up with someone."

"Okay, I just wanted to make sure you hadn't misunderstood me. I think it's healthy, you know, to be in different relationships and situations before settling. Even though I can imagine it hurts. I didn't really get a chance at that," she explained. But then she added, "However, I don't just put up with him. Most of the time I enjoy his company."

She raised an eyebrow and looked at the door Danny had left through just a moment ago, then back at Janey. She clearly didn't buy that. "Surly McSurlypants can be enjoyable company?" she asked and hopped onto the foot of Janey's bed, careful not to bump anything.

Janey laughed loudly at DG's nickname, laughed even though it made her chest ache. She needed someone a little more humorous in her life. Didn't they say laughter was the best medicine? "Believe it or not, he can be," she said, still chuckling. She shifted a bit to make room on the bed for the girl.

"Eh, I think I'd have to see it to believe it," she said, grinning when Janey laughed. She liked hearing her laugh, especially since she seemed to be sad all the time (at least, when Maddy had been around her). "Has he always been like that?"

"Like what?" Janey asked, uncertain of what exactly the girl was referring to. Danny's gruffness, probably, but she wanted to be sure of the question before offering an answer.

She was going to say 'jerk', but she didn't want to upset Janey so she ammended it. "Standoff-ish," she tried, pursing her lips as she tried to see if that word worked. Yeah, Danny seemed like the standoff kind of guy.

"Well...I guess so," Janey said. "The thing is, he was never really that way with me--he was very forward in pursuing me and I fell for it pretty quickly." She could feel herself blushing as she remembered. "But yeah, with most people he is."

Maddy nodded, not really being able to reconcile that, although she supposed it made sense, because you acted differently around people you liked because you liked them. "Did he ever... do anything to scare you?"

Janey shrugged. "He can be scary when he's angry, but I've never felt personally threatened. Why'd you ask?"

"Just wondering..." She cleared her throat and fiddled with a loose thread on the hem of her dress she was wearing. "I'm glad you're okay and everything but I should get going." She thought that maybe she could talk to Janey but realized that no, maybe she really didn't want to talk about it anymore. Just forget about it.

Janey's smile softened a little when the girl said she was leaving. She'd been enjoying the company. But it was no one's responsibility to keep her entertained just because she was bedridden; of course everyone had other things to do. "Okay." She reached out and took the girl's hand, cautiously, and gave it a squeeze. "I really appreciate the visit."

Maddy couldn't help but squeeze back and she nodded a little. All of a sudden she felt bad for leaving and promised herself that she would try to visit or something in the future. Something like that... "Make sure he waits on you hand and foot. Make him clean the apartment and stuff," she ordered with mock-seriousness.

"You're right--I should take advantage of this and boss him around a bit," Janey replied. "And you take care of yourself, okay? Come and see us again sometime." A pang of anxiety shot through her chest at the thought of the girl going back into the streets.

Maddy nodded and held back another coughing fit. She'd wait until she was in the hallway to do that. "I'm always alright," she said primly and hopped down from the bed. "Remember, take advantage," she said in that mock-serious voice again and then waved, giving Janey a smile before poking her head out the door to make sure the coast was clear. Deeming it safe, Maddy gave another wave and left, making a quick break for the elevators.