McDanno stuff

Short: Morning (1)

Danny was woken up by the warm rays of sunshine falling through the window. This was a good day. He didn't exactly know why, but this was definitely a good day.

When he stretched, his arm hit something beside him. Correction, someone.

His smile turned into a confused frown when he recognized the person lying next to him. Then the memories of the day before came crashing in.

They had worked a number of dangerous cases, but this one felt too real, too scary.

In a moment of desperation, when Danny thought they were going to die, he poured his heart out. "I'm scared, Steve. What if only one of us makes it, how are we supposed to go on?"

"We're not gonna die, Danno. Not today. Not you, not me, not anyone." Steve tried to calm him down.

But Danny wouldn't listen. "Can- can you do me a favor? If you make it out of this alive, will you look after Gracie?" He looked like he was about to cry. "And tell her... tell her Danno loved her."

Steve shook his head. "No, Danny, we're gonna-"

"Stop it, Steve. Stop pretending we're going to get through this. Just... promise me. Please." Danny put his hand on Steve's arm, squeezing it tightly, his face contorted in pain and fear.

The SEAL nodded, putting his hand on top of his partner's. "Okay. Okay, I promise. But you gotta understand..." he took a deep breath, "you gotta understand that I have to keep pretending we're going to be alright. Okay? I have to." He closed his eyes. "I-... I don't even want to think about losing you. About Gracie losing her Danno, your parents losing another son."

Steve had never talked about his feelings like this. Sure, he'd talked about some stuff on some very rare occasions, but... never like this. It scared Danny how real all of this was. Every word felt like a stab in the chest; this was not a good time to realize how much he meant to his partner.

For a couple of moments, neither of them said anything.

Steve inhaled deeply. "I love you, buddy. You know that. Now let's get this over with."

When he felt Steve grab his hand, Danny found his speech again.
"Alright. I love you too, let's go."

The rest of the day was kind of in a blur.
They somehow both made it out alive and as soon as the situation was under control, Danny went home to see Grace before dropping her off at Rachel's place in the evening.

As he sat on his couch, trying to process what had happened, his doorbell rang.

A part of him was expecting the girl from the bar who had given him her number a couple of days ago. But deep down, he knew who was actually standing at his door, which he opened with a big warm smile on his face.