When it Comes Down to Her

Chapter 3

Malcolm arrived at Claremont, and after telling Mr. David he needed to speak to his father, he waited while Mr. David moved Martin from solitary confinement back to his cell. "I hope you know that I'm gonna have to stay in his cell with the two of you while you talk. Just as a precaution." Mr. David said as he let Malcolm into Martin's cell. Malcolm stepped into Martin's cell and when he looked at the floor, he could still see the stain of blood on the floor from where Dani laid after being stabbed. "My boy, how is Dani doing?" Martin asked, bring Malcolm's attention away from the bloodstain on the floor of his father's cell. "HOW'S DANI? ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?" Malcolm yelled at Martin, "DANI IS IN THE HOSPITAL AFTER BEING STABBED BY YOU BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T STAND THE THOUGHT OF ME IGNORING YOU AND BECAUSE YOU KNEW IT WAS THE ONLY WAY YOU COULD TRY TO TAKE MR. DAVID'S KEY CARD!" Martin looked towards the bloodstain on his floor before looking over at his desk that no longer had the bible that hid the green and blue key cards. "Stabbing Dani wasn't my only option for attaining that key card, my boy." He said as he looked at Malcolm again. Malcolm shook his head and let out a laugh of disbelief. "You really want me to believe that you had other ways of attaining Mr. David's key card?" Malcolm asked as he looked towards Mr. David who sat in the chair that he always sat in when Martin would call Malcolm to talk to him, "You like Mr. David too much to stab him, hell, you said you missed him when you were at Rikers. As I recall when I was here after Jerry was murdered, you were really excited to learn about the gold key card, even tried to steal it." Martin put his hands up in surrender as best he could with his hands handcuffed to the belt the tethered him to the wall. "Alright, you caught me, again. So maybe I did have two reasons to stab Dani, but I knew what I was doing. I knew exactly where to stab her so that she would survive. I wasn't trying to kill Dani." He said and Malcolm shook his head, clearly still angry. "IF YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN CONVINCE ME TO CONVINCE THEM NOT TO HAVE YOU IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, YOU'RE WRONG! NOTHING YOU CAN SAY TO ME WILL GET YOU OUT OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT BECAUSE YOU HURT THE WOMAN I LOVE JUST BECAUSE YOU WANTED TO ESCAPE!" Malcolm yelled at Martin as he pointed a finger accusingly at Martin. Malcolm could see a smug smirk starting to form on Martin's face as Malcolm yelled at him. Martin was enjoying knowing that Malcolm was mad about the situation and it angered Malcolm even more. "My boy, I knew you loved Dani. It only took you long even to admit it, though you should really be telling her that you love her, not me." Martin said and Malcolm looked at Mr. David to let him know he was done talking to his father. "Enjoy your time in solitary, you'll be there for a while," Malcolm said as Mr. David opened the door to let Malcolm out.

Once Malcolm left Claremont, he went back to the hospital to be with Dani. By the time he got to the hospital, JT had left to go back to working the case with Gil leaving Dani alone in her hospital room. "How are you feeling?" Malcolm asked Dani as he walked into her hospital room. "I feel like I want to escape this place," Dani groaned as she moved over in her hospital bed so Malcolm could join her, "How did seeing your father go?" Malcolm sat down next to Dani who snuggled into his side as he wrapped his arms around her. "I might end up with a sore throat later from all the yelling I did, but I'm satisfied knowing that he'll be in solitary confinement for a while," He said as he kissed the top of Dani's head, "How about after we cuddle for a bit, I check to see if you're allowed to be discharged." Dani sat up and looked at Malcolm. "Or you can see if I can be discharged now and we can go to your place and cuddle there." She suggested as she practically shoved Malcolm off the bed. Malcolm chuckled as he stood up, "Okay, I'll go do that." He said as he kissed Dani's forehead before leaving the room.

Once Dani was discharged from the hospital, she and Malcolm went to Malcolm's loft where Malcolm made tea for the both of them while Dani sat down on his couch. As the water for their tea boiled in the kettle, Malcolm walked over to his closet and pulled out his Harvard sweater. "Hey Dani, why don't you put this on so you don't have to wear the shirt the hospital had to give you since they threw out your shirt." Malcolm suggested as he handed Dani his Harvard sweater. Dani nodded as she took the sweater from Malcolm. "Do you think we could change my gauze first?" Dani asked as she reached for the gauze she had placed on Malcolm's coffee table that the hospital had given to her upon being discharged. Malcolm nodded as he took the gauze while she removed her shirt so that Malcolm had better access to her stab wound to change the gauze. Malcolm quickly got to work changing her gauze, and when he finished, Dani pulled his Harvard sweater on. "You look nice in my sweater," Malcolm said as he got up to finish making their tea. Dani blushed as Malcolm walked back over to the couch with the two mugs of tea. "Your sweater is really warm, I may have to steal it from you," Dani said as Malcolm handed her one of the mugs of tea. Malcolm chuckled as he sat down beside her and wrapped his arm around her. "If JT and Gil ever saw you wearing my sweater, what would they think?" He asked as Dani snuggled into his side and took a sip of her tea. "Who said I would wear it to work?" Dani asked as she rested her arm on Malcolm's leg, "This sweater would be comfortable to sleep in on cold nights or wear during a rainy day spent indoors." Malcolm smiled at the idea of Dani wear his Harvard sweater a lot and took a sip of his tea as he thought over how to answer. "Dani, I um... I have a question to ask you." Malcolm finally said as he placed his mug down on the coffee table. Dani raised an eyebrow at Malcolm as she handed him her mug so he could place it on the coffee table. "What would you like to ask me?" She asked curiously as she moved so that her whole body was facing Malcolm. Malcolm loosened his tie as he cleared his throat, "I was wondering since we now know how we feel about each other, would you maybe want to go on a date with me sometime?" He asked as he continued to fiddle with his tie. Dani removed Malcolm's hands from his tie and held them in her hands. "As soon as I'm fully healed from getting stabbed, we can go on a date." She said with a smile which helped Malcolm to relax and smile as he nodded.

~ End ~