Opening up (Danny, open to Rachel, Cai and Zoe)

[daniel_marlow]

Since waking up, Danny hadn't allowed anyone other than his mother and Zoe in to see him. He did feel guilty keeping his girlfriend and his brother out, but there was a part of him which just didn't want to see the pity and pain on their faces when they finally laid eyes on him.

Zoe had been there to see what Greg had done to him firsthand, though there was more to it too. Danny saw Zoe as fiercely strong, whether she saw herself that way or not. He worried that he might have to pretend to be okay for Cai and Rachel, while he knew he didn't have to act for Zoe and he didn't have the energy to try anyway.

He had to face them sometime, however, especially since he was fairly sure Cai and Rachel had been waiting outside his room from time to time, as if keeping some kind of silent vigil for him. Danny was still struggling with whether he wanted to stay alive or not, as well. Could he really leave them without giving them a chance to see him? He didn't think he could.

Hesitantly, Danny told the nurse his friends were allowed in. He told his mother he wanted to see them on his own, however, though he had a feeling she was going to hover right outside his door. He was really okay with that. Then he steeled himself for their reactions to the state he was still in. He knew he looked terrible. He felt terrible. His hopes were that they felt better than he did.

Comments

[lightningseed.insanejournal.com]

"Shit. Goddamn cops," Zoe said, her face twisting into a disgusted grimace at what the officials were putting Danny through. Danny knew her feelings about official policy well; she loathed them. She loathed that police could use the evidence found at the scene to convict Gregor but still insisted on re-traumatising Danny. She loathed Deirdre and Peter for getting the police involved. If it had been up to Zoe he would have been swept under a rug in the hospital and left in solitary till he withered away and died.

Zoe handed the cardboard tray to Cai, careful not to touch him (or even look at him) and took two of the cups for herself and Danny before sitting on Danny's other side. "You don't have to drink this," she said. "But it's there if you want it."