CH. 19: Thicker Than Water

Sometimes having a close family was hard. At least it was when your brother was hurt and your mother insisted you help take care of things. Danny already knew how he was destined to spend the week, and that included work, Devon and Joe. Jamie on the other hand, was still on Christmas vacation and he didn't find it all that amusing in helping with the daily task of his brother instead of spending time with his friends. What all three Reagan brothers were about to find out however, was that blood truly was thicker than water.

It was almost 3:00 am the night of Joes accident. They had only been in bed for two hours and everyone was sleeping soundly, all but Joe that is. The pain medicine he had gotten at the hospital was still in his system, so he wasn't in any pain, but he had awoken from sleep thirsty and decided to got down to the kitchen for a glass of water. Unfortunately, he had forgotten about his injured knee and was still near the top of the stairs when he tumbled down the majority of the rest. He stopped when he reached the middle landing, an in between, between the two floors.

Jamie's bedroom was the closest to the top of the stairs and he was awoken by the noise. He considered ignoring it, thinking it was a dream and going back to sleep, but he changed his mind when he heard a moan. Remembering Joe, Jamie hurried out of bed in search of his brother.

"Joe, what are you doing?" Jamie found him holding his knee.

"What's it look like I'm doing? I fell and landed on my hurt knee," Joe grumbled, obviously in pain.

"I'll see if I can get you up by myself," Jamie hurried down the rest of the stairs.

Taking him by the arm, Jamie strained to get him to move. It didn't do any good however, at least with the pain his brother was now in since the tumble.

"It's not going to work," Jamie shook his head reluctantly. "I'm going to go get Dad."

"No," Joe stopped him. "Don't wake Dad up," he moaned again. "Go get Danny, but don't wake up Devon."

"Don't want to do that," Jamie wasn't by any means interested in listening to his niece cry when it was time to go back to bed. That is if they ever got to that point.

"Danny wake up," Jamie nudged his brother awake.

"You better be waking me up for a life and death situation," Danny moaned. "Otherwise your going to die."

"Joe fell," Jamie replied in two words.

"Great," Danny said sarcastically, climbing out of bed and hurrying out of his room, being careful not to wake his sleeping daughter.

"Joe, what are you doing?" Danny repeated his brothers question from just moments ago, when he found him sitting on the floor.

"Who cares what I'm doing, just get over here and help me up," Joe growled.

"I think we should just leave him here," Danny turned to Jamie. "He doesn't sound very grateful that we got out of bed."

"Okay with me," Jamie agreed.

"Danny, Jamie," Joe called them back.

"Fine, but you owe us," Danny pointed at him as he got on one side of Joe and Jamie took the other.

The started to lift him up and had made progress of getting him somewhat off the floor when Danny stopped lifting.

"Are you putting on weight?"

"Shut-up Danny," Joe had just got back up on his good leg when he tried to put a little weight on his injured one and started to waiver again. Fortunately, Danny was there to hold him up, so they wouldn't have to start all over again from getting him completely off the floor.

"Joe if your not going to be able to help us, you're going to have to sleep down here." Jamie told him what he already knew.

"Yeah suck it up Joe, it's a knee fracture, not a broken leg." Danny started in on him.

"Would you both shut-up and just leave me here if your not going to do something helpful."

"Fine, Jamie, go get Dad," Danny knew that if they were having this much trouble getting him standing, he could only imagine what it was going to be like getting him completely up the stairs.

"You go get Dad, he's a bear when you wake him up," Jamie complained.

"Just go get him."

"What's going on down here?" Mary was the first one to join them.

"Just helping hop along Cassidy here," Danny slapped his brother on the back.

"Is your pain medicine wearing off?" Mary could tell his knee was bothering him.

"I didn't think so, at least not until I fell on it."

"Let's get him back to his room," Frank interrupted. "He's supposed to go easy on it the first couple of days."

"I think he blew that one when he fell on it," Danny admitted.

"Defining going to increase the swelling," Frank figured.

"I'll go get the ice," Mary started down the stairs while her husband and sons helped her injured son to his room.

They had just gotten Joe back to his room, who was moaning and groaning almost the entire time when they heard Devon cry.

Danny let out a moan himself, and then turned to his brother. "If you survive this, I'm going to kill you."

XXXXXXXX

After the long night, most everyone slept in, including Devon.

Frank on the other hand had a meeting he had to get to and left the rest of his family sleeping while he went to work.

It was hard to tell who the next one awake was, Mary was sitting up in the kitchen with a cup of coffee in her hand and Danny was up with a fussing baby hungry for her breakfast. What made her fuss even more was the fact that she was having to go through a diaper change first, her diaper being soaked since the last time it was changed during the night.

Mary took the baby from him so he could make the bottle a bit faster, but she was still determined to show her frustration.

"I'm getting your breakfast Devon!" Danny told her. "You just have to have a little patience. What am I saying?" He questioned himself. "Your a little over a month old."

"I didn't get to ask you last night? But how did Devon do on the trip?" Mary wondered, volunteering to feed her granddaughter.

"Let's just say I'm not planning any lengthy trips in the near future. According to her, the car seat is torture. Which I don't understand, I mean I'm trying to keep her from dying in a car accident, but apparently, based on how she was acting with all that screaming, wiggling, and flailing, she thought I was trying to kill her with all the straps and clips I was buckling around her.

"I'm sure she'll outgrow it," Mary said assuredly. "You did after awhile."

"How long did it take?"

"A year, maybe," Mary trying to recall the exact amount.

"That long?" Danny's face dropped.

"More or less," she nodded.

"Hopefully she won't take after her father," he left the kitchen after hearing Joe holler for him to help him down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"How's the knee feeling this morning?" Mary asked her middle son, once they reached the kitchen.

"Better than it did last night when I fell on it."

"Just do what the doctor said and stay off it today."

"Haven't had this much restriction since I got hurt in high school."

"You can help take care of Devon," Danny volunteered him.

"And that may be the best part of this whole thing," Joe reached to take Devon form his mother. "That and I'll have time to catch all the games on the sports channel."

"And help me fold clothes, you can sit on a chair and organize the book shelves for me, then you can help your brother with his science experiment. It has to be done ready when he returns to school." Mary named a few of the things she had thought of for him to do, to show that this was not a vacation, yet it wouldn't hinder his recuperating process.

"Ugh," he moaned.

"And there's a lot more I can think of when your feeling up to it," she added.

"She sure told you," Danny said once his mother left the room.

"Oh well," Joe shrugged. "I'm going to hear a lot more later."

"That reminds me, what did," Danny started to ask about how the car ride home went between he and their father when Joe interrupted.

"Hand me the ice cream out of the freezer."

"Your going to eat ice cream now?" Danny looked at him puzzled.

"Why not?"

"In that case give me my baby so you don't make her sticky of you drop some on her," Danny took her in his arms.

"She wants some too," Joe grinned, obviously taking his role as being the fun uncle seriously.

"I think she's fine with whatever's in this box," Danny pointed at Devon's formula that was sitting on the kitchen counter.

"More for me," Joe dug in. "You want some?"

"I think I'm just going to have a cup of coffee," Danny reached for a mug. "That is if Dad left me any. He didn't get much sleep and is probably operating solely on this stuff."

"Ugh," Joe moaned again. Knowing a lack of sleep was definitely going to make his fathers mood worse, and probably the lecture.

Interrupting her sons conversation was Mary when she returned to the kitchen and observed her middle son.

"Joseph Connor Reagan! What are you doing eating ice cream for breakfast, and out of the container?" Mary went behind him and smacked him in the back of the head.

"Danny gave it to me," Joe threw his brother under the bus.

"Hey!" Danny glared at him.

"Your acting like you don't know any better!" Mary continued, not missing a beat. Despite her sons attempt to pin blame. "Who raised you?

"You did," Joe replied just as Mary smacked him again.

"Come up with a better answer."

"But you?" Joe looked at her confused.

"Don't make me smack you again," she threatened.

"Mom, I'm grown," Joe tried again.

"Which means you should know better," she added.

"And here I thought I was going to get tender love and care while I was here

"I'm still your mother Joseph," Mary pointed at him warningly. "And I'll tell you something when you forget the manners I struggled with teaching you."

"Sorry," Joe could tell she was upset about something.

"Why did you do this Joe?" Mary looked at him intently.

"Why did I slam my knee into a snow covered stump?" Joe clarified the question.

"I know that was an a accident. What I want to know is, why didn't you wait until a more appropriate time to take vacation."

"Your going to lecture me now and not wait for Dad?" Joe sounded surprised.

"Oh your going to get an earful from him I can assure you. But I want a few answers myself."

"I don't know what to say Mom," Joe admitted, now that he had time to think about his decision a bit further. "Angela had a free trip so we took it."

"That's not a very good answer," Mary admitted.

"It's all I got

"Well for sake, you better come up with something better before your dad gets home."

"You want me to lie?" Joe looked shocked.

"You know better than that Joseph Reagan."

"In other words Dad will kill you," Danny interrupted.

"I don't need help Daniel Xavier!" Mary turned on him.

"I'm out of here," Danny knew that when she used their middle names she wasn't playing. "Time to get." He told Devon as he left the kitchen and made his way upstairs and into the nursery.

"Sit tight baby girl," Danny told her as he set her down on the changing table while he gathered a few things.

Devon started to whine shortly after he set her down, but he found himself letting her cry it out, at least partly, while he found something for her to wear, as well as a dry diaper.

XXXXXXXX

That day, Devon fussed and cried almost every time she was put down. They tried the swing, the crib, the bassinet and even on the floor with a blanket where she could look around. But nothing seemed to help and the only time she was content was if she was in somebody's arms.

"What is wrong with her?" Danny wondered aloud. "She's never been this bad."

"She's probably just tired after last night," Mary figured.

"You'd think she'd enjoy being set down so she can stretch out instead of being restricted after being in the car seat for so many hours."

"It could also be because her schedule got messed up yesterday with having to stay up so late and out of her comfort zone making her sleep in this morning. Considering some babies get there days and nights confused." Mary explained another possible reason for her granddaughters behavior.

"I blame you," Danny pointed at his brother.

"I didn't do anything to her," Joe tried picking up for himself.

"It's your fault for getting hurt and ruining her schedule," he said pointedly.

"Like I wanted to get hurt and have Dad find out I blew off the academy," Joe protested before turning to his mother. "Is it about time for a pain pill?" Joe asked his mother, trying to make himself comfortable as best he could, considering the pain he was starting to notice.

"Should be fine," Mary checked the time on the wall.

"I think I'm going to go upstairs and lie down," Joe managed to get up off the sofa on his own, but it wasn't with the help of a stifled moan.

"Danny can you?" Mary started to ask him to make sure his brother made it up the stairs without any further injuries, but Danny already what she was about to ask.

"Okay, but I'm going to have to put Devon down, so prepare yourself for a very unhappy baby."

"She'll be fine, she's just going to have to learn that she can't be held all the time."

"I'm sorry Dev," Danny apologized. "But I can't devote all my time to you today like you want. I have to help Uncle Joe too."

Danny wasn't sure if she heard his excuse over fussing but at least he tried. She was kicking her little feet in protest and flailing her arms in a similar manner and the family was having trouble ignoring her cries.

With the rest of the family downstairs, Danny finally got the opportunity to question his brother regarding the night before. "So what did Dad say last night?"

"Not much," Joe shook his head. "Said last night wasn't the time, but I could be sure that he would have plenty to say today."

"Mmm," Danny moaned.

"Your telling me, I'm going to get an earful."

"I just hope that when he yells, he takes in account how much my baby hates loud voices."

"Maybe you should take her somewhere," Joe suggested, obviously not trusting his fathers ability to refrain from an elevated tone of voice.

"But then I wouldn't be able to enjoy him yelling at someone other than me," Danny smiled.

"If you're going to stay, you want to at least help me out?"

"Oh no, I'm staying out of of this one," Danny backed away.

"Come on Danny," Joe tried again.

"Not going to happen little brother," Danny shook his head. Now I got to go check to see why Devon suddenly stopped crying." He said leaving the room in a hurry, knowing it wasn't like her to stop so suddenly.

"Where's Devon?" He looked from his mother to his brother, who neither one of them were holding.

"Settled herself down like I predicted," Mary replied. "She's playing in her swing."

"I can get use to this," Danny passed the swing to stoke the fire in the fireplace. Unfortunately, Devon saw him and started to cry all over again.

"Now what?"

"She knows you pick her up anytime she cries."

"Not anymore," Danny decided to make a change. "But it isn't going to be an easy adjustment."

"Never is," Mary shook her head. "Your father and I had to do the same thing with you and your siblings."

"Which one of us was the hardest?"

"You," Mary smiled. "Then again, you had colic so that made things a bit differently on both our parts."

"So does Devon," Danny nodded.

"Yes, but as long as she isn't hungry, needs to be changed or is hurting, then she has to learn to self soothe. At least to some extent."

"I'm glad you have experience," Danny placed another log on the fire. "Because I'm at a loss."

"You learn something new everyday when you become a parent."

"Are you still learning?"

"I'm on my fourth teenager, but each one of you are different in your own way. On top of that, I'm learning how to be there for my adult children, so I'd say I am."

"Does it ever end?"

"Not that I've seen."

XXXXXXXX

That evening, and things were better, at least as far as Devon was concerned.

"Hey baby," Frank kissed his wife after coming through the back door. "How was your day?"

"Hectic," Mary said truthfully. "Devon's fussy, Danny wants to go back to work. Joe needs help going up the stairs, he needs help coming down the stairs and just about everything else. If that's not enough, there's Jamie, who wants to go out with his friends but can't because I need his help. Now how was your day?"

"Apparently not as hectic as yours," Frank smiled. "Where's Devon now?"

"With Joe," Mary took the dinner she had prepared out of the oven.

"Speaking of Joe, we need to talk to him."

"After dinner," Mary nodded. "Jamie's setting the table."

"Sounds like somebody was missing Grandpa today," Frank took Devon from Joe so Danny could help him hobble to the table.

"You can spend all day with her Saturday if you'd like," Danny turned to him. "I have to work."

"You just make sure your at the banquet at 7:00 sharp," Frank pointed at him.

"Dad I know," Danny wasn't interested in listening to a warning regarding something he already knew.

"This is important to your grandpa and he expects every one of us there."

"Dad, please."

"Alright, alright," Frank let up. Knowing his wife wouldn't be happy if they were cross with one another at the dinner table.

Joe was relatively quiet throughout dinner, knowing it was only a matter of time before he received a lengthy lecture including yelling and all.

Joe's quietness was made up though with Jamie's questions and complaints along with Devon's fussing and Danny's attempts to reason with her.

"Mom said I can go out with my friends Saturday if you don't have to go to work," Jamie started.

"I don't know Jamie."

"But are you off?"

"Yes."

"Then can I go?" Jamie pushed the question.

"What are you going to do?" Frank asked his own question.

"We're going to the movies?"

"What time?"

"2:00, I think."

"You can go," Frank relented. "You just make sure your home by 5:00 so you can get ready for the banquet. We have to leave at 6:30."

"I'll be here," Jamie shook his head quickly. "I promise."

"You better," Frank looked at him sternly. "Or the last movie you go see will be the last one for awhile. Because you'll be grounded."

"I'll be here," Jamie repeated.

"What about you Joe?" Frank turned his attention to his middle son. "Much pain in the knee today?"

"Off and on," Joe took a sip from his water glass.

"You follow the doctors orders?"

"To the letter," Mary answered for him.

"Doing what the doctor says is what's going to get you up and moving, remember that."

"I know Dad."

Frank heard for about the third time that evening from almost every one of his sons in the past hour.

"After dinner, we need to have a talk."

"I know," Joe mumbled, already knowing it was coming.

"How about you Miss Devon?" Frank turned his attention to his youngest granddaughter who was sitting in her daddy's lap. "Grandma says you've been fussy.

"She doesn't like being out of my arms. Which is the reason I'm holding her, so we can eat dinner without listening to her cry."

"You better start behaving yourself," he grinned when she gave him a cute smile.

"Alright let me have her," Frank couldn't help but take her after that.

"He's going to need his hands free to clean the kitchen," Mary looked from Danny to Jamie.

"Just what I wanted to do today," Jamie mumbled.

"Devon," Danny looked at his daughter. "While your with grandma and grandpa news the perfect time to have a dirty diaper."

"You can stop cleaning the kitchen long enough to clean your baby," Mary laughed. "I do it when your at work."

"Yeah but Dad doesn't," Danny had a point.

"I've changed more than my share," Frank said pointedly. "I had four, you only have one."

"For now," Mary looked from Danny to Frank. "He can have more later."

"Keep waiting," was all Danny had to say. "Because your probably going to be doing it for awhile. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get a jump start on the cleaning. I don't like where this conversation is headed."

It was about thirty minutes later when Frank approached his middle son who was sitting in the den holding Devon. Figuring he gave his other two plenty of time to finish up in the kitchen.

"We need to talk son," he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"You wouldn't yell at a guy with a baby would you?" Jack tried to lighten the mood, getting the feeling it wasn't going turn out to be a very quiet night.

"Danny come get your kid and take her upstairs!" Frank hollered for his eldest. "Your mother and I need to talk to your brother." He said when Danny came out of the kitchen where he and Jamie were washing the dinner dishes.

"Let's go get ready for bed Devon," Danny took the baby from Joe and headed for the stairs.

"You too Jamie," Frank nodded for him to follow his brother.

"Why is Dad so uptight about all this?" Jamie asked once they were upstairs.

"Seriously Jamie," Danny looked at him dumbfounded.

"Yes," Jamie nodded.

"Let me see if I can put it in PG terms," Danny said thinking about it a bit further.

"Let's say you skipped school for a basketball tournament and mom and dad found out. And I use a basketball tournament as an example because if mom and dad caught you, still being in school with a girl, they'd kill you and both of them would go to prison. Which would leave you an orphan, because your not living with me."

"How mad do you think he's going to be?" Jamie changed the subject back to Joe.

"You know Dad, and Joe skipped training for a dangerous job to be with a girl that he's going to say may go in just a couple weeks. How do you think he's going to react?"

"I'm glad I'm not in Joe's shoes," Jamie said his eyes wide.

"Me and you both," Danny started for the bathroom. "Come give me hand bathing Devon," he said over his shoulder.

"You know how to do it," Jamie started to walk away.

"The more noise in the bathroom the less chance there is for my baby to hear her grandparents yell at her uncle. Now get in here," Danny grabbed him by his shirt with his free hand and pulled him in.

"So why do you think Joe went skiing instead of going to the academy anyway?" Jamie asked.

"Because he wanted to spend some time alone with a pretty girl," Danny replied. "Now if you don't understand that one golden boy, then I don't know what to tell you."

"I got you," Jamie laughed.

Meanwhile downstairs, Frank zeroed in on his middle son.

"Do you even know what you did?" He started on the boys behavior. "Because you certainly haven't been acting like someone who's got the potential to be one of New York"s finest.

"I only missed two days," Joe tried picking up for himself. "We're allowed that and a few more."

"Well your going to need them now that your hurt, and probably won't be able to graduate."

"I'll talk to my training officers about what kind of physical activity is next. If it's only book work then I'll be fine. But if it's not and they don't think I'll be able to continue, then I'll drop out and return next semester." Joe explained his plans.

"This has got to be one of the stupidest stunts you've ever pulled." All Frank could do was shake his head.

"Dad, it's going to be fine," Joe tried to ease his fathers mind. "I already told you I have everything figured out."

"That still doesn't tell what you were thinking!" Frank started to yell again. "The academy is preparing you for a career where you need all the training possible."

"I understand that," Joe started again.

"Do you have any idea of the kind of things you are going to come up against?!" Frank ignored him.

"Dad, I've been sitting at the Reagan dinner table for how long?"

"Well your certainly not acting like it! Are you sure you want to be a cop?"

"Yes Dad," Joe sounded annoyed.

"Well your not showing me that! Choosing some girl over your job training!"

"Now Frank, he's young and just didn't think," Mary looked directly at her son when she said the last few words.

"What do you want me to do?" Joe sighed, finally accepting that he was wrong.

"Think!" His parents said simultaneously.

"I'm sorry," Joe apologized. "It won't happen again."

Taking Devon out of the tub, Danny carried her into his bedroom where he started to get dressed in a pair of warm pj's. Then again, it wasn't like those would be the ones she would wear to sleep in that night anyways. Figuring it was only a matter of time before she spit up all over them, her diaper leaked or something else along those lines.

Just as Danny figured, as soon as he finished getting her dressed, Devon started to whine.

"What's the matter with her?" Jamie wondered.

"She clean and she's dry. So she's probably hungry or wants to be held." Danny was beginning to understand his baby a lot better than he had at the beginning.

Jamie picked up Devon, while Danny went back to the bathroom to clean up the mess he made in the bathroom with Devon.

When Devon realized she wasn't getting what she wanted, she turned to fussing instead of simply whining and eventually let out a full fledged cry and continued to do so for more than a minute.

"Being held isn't helping!" Jamie hollered for his brother. "Now what do we do?"

"I think she's hungry," Danny mentioned the one other thing he could think of to make her cry like she was doing.

"Well I'm not going down there to make her one," Jamie shook his head, his eyes wide.

"I'm going to," Danny said reluctantly.

Leaving Devon with Jamie, Danny made his way down the stairs. "Don't mind me," he said walking in during the lecture. "Just getting Devon a bottle."

"We're about done here," Mary placed a hand on Frank's arm.

"I'm done," Frank agreed.

"You can come down now Jamie!" Danny yelled up the stairs, so he could bring Devon down. "Mom and Dad are done yelling!"

Danny turned around, and saw both his parents staring at him.

"What?"

"We're about not to be done yelling," Mary was the one to reply. "And your going to be on the receiving end."

"We're going to need to hold off on that," Danny said as he heard his baby crying while his brother brought her down the stairs. "My baby's going to be yelling at me enough if I don't get her a bottle." Danny left them standing in their place while he continued on to the kitchen.

XXXXXXXX

The following day, and things weren't much better for the Reagans, at least not for Jamie and Danny.

"What happened to my kitchen?" Mary stopped in the doorway when she saw a mess of wet towels, a couple sets of dirty baby clothes, burp cloths and baby bottles spread about both the kitchen table. And that didn't even include the baby soap that was left on the counter and the wet diapers that were left on the floor.

"Daniel!" Mary called for the son she knew had to be responsible for the disarray kitchen, that had been clean before she went to bed.

"I'm going to clean it up," Danny already knew what she was about to say.

"What happened?" Mary moved a few things aside so she could get to the coffee pot.

"Devon," Danny answered her question with one word. "And the coffees already made," he enlightened her. "I've been up for awhile."

"What happened with Devon?"

"First she woke me up crying because her diaper leaked and she was wet. So I brought her down here to clean her up in the sink so she wouldn't wake anyone up crying. By the time I got her dresses she was hungry and wouldn't go to sleep without a bottle. After the bottle, she spit up all over her clothes and I had to change them again so that made her upset. By the time I got her back to sleep it was almost time for me to get ready to go to work." Danny picked up the diapers and dropped them in the trash can.

"I'll clean it up," Mary volunteered. "You go to work."

"Hope she's better for you than she was for me," Danny started to tie his tie.

"She'll be fine," she assured him. "Where is she now?"

"Still sleeping."

It was almost as if Devon had a way of hearing her fathers words downstairs and the second he started for the door, she started to cry.

"Good luck," Danny smirked.

"If I handled you, I can handle your daughter," Mary had the last word as she made her way up the stairs.

She had just reached the top of the stairs when she saw Jamie.

"I'm going to the park to play basketball," Jamie announced, hurrying out of his bedroom.

"No, you're not," Mary stopped him.

"Why not?"

"Because Joe might need help and I'm busy with Devon."

"But Danny, he can take care of Joe," Jamie voiced an alternative solution.

"Danny had to go to work. Now take the dirty clothes hampers downstairs so I can get started washing clothes.

Jamie was upset but he knew he didn't have a choice but to listen to his mother and decided to remain silent.

"Jamie," Mary stopped him before he returned his basketball to his room.

Jamie turned, but remained silent.

"Your father already said you can go out Saturday, just look forward to that."

"But it's not all day," he grumbled as he returned to his room.

XXXXXXXX

"How's your brother doing?" Danny's partner officer Baker looked at him. Knowing the last time they talked was when he got the call from Joe and had to leave work suddenly.

"He seems to be getting around better and better each day now that he's getting use to it."

"And Devon?"

"Devon's another story," Danny shook his head. "We're in the middle of an adjustment period of her learning to self soothe."

"And how's that going?"

"Uphill battle, at least when she sees me."

They were in the middle of a long strand of traffic when a call went over the scanner.

'Attention all units, please be on the lookout for a.

"Was that the description of the car we just heard?" Baker pointed at the scanner.

"We're about to find out," Danny pulled out into oncoming traffic before hitting the accelerator. He wasn't sure how many accidents he caused behind him. But he would explain to his CO about that later. Right now he had a robbery suspect to apprehend.

"You got any other ideas or are we just going to follow them all day?" Baker said after the followed the suspected vehicle for more than five minutes.

"Hang on," Danny hit the accelerator once more before speeding pass them and turning directly in front of them, causing the suspect to slam into the passenger side of the patrol car.

"Ugh," Baker lurched. "Next time let them hit your side of the car!"

"You keep complaining, I'm going to apprehend our suspect." Danny hurried out of the car before the suspect had a chance to escape. Then again, he figured that would be a little hard considering they had just been slammed by the airbag.

"My mom didn't understand why I wanted to come to work so bad," Danny looked at his partner after he cuffed them and placed them in the backseat of the patrol car. "But this is why," he said grinning, probably enjoying his job a bit more than he should.

"Next time I drive," Baker replied, opening the car door. "So I can put you in the path of oncoming traffic."

"In that case I'll let you practice by telling the CO about the car damages," he smirked in response.

"That's not what I meant!"

That night, after working late found Frank and Danny back home, Joe watching TV, Mary upstairs putting Devon to bed and Jamie in his room.

"Nice job today," Frank nodded at Danny.

"You heard about that, did you?" Danny grinned.

"Not much a Reagan can do without it getting back to another member of the family," Frank responded.

"Has that ever gotten in your way? With Pop, I mean?"

"A few times," he said truthfully.

"Guess we're stuck with it," Danny shrugged.

"Guess so," Frank handed him a beer from the fridge.

"Thanks," Danny took it before going in search of his daughter.

"What's the matter with you?" He stopped by his youngest brothers bedroom when he observed him sitting on the edge of the bed sulking.

"I'm stuck having to spend my Christmas break at home all the time and taking care of my brother. I wanted to go play basketball with my friends today but mom said I couldn't because Dad was having to work late and wouldn't be able to help you with Joe."

"Don't let mom hear you complaining about having to help family," Danny warned. "It's a Reagan rule."

"I know," Jamie mumbled.

"Now come on," Danny pulled him up off the bed. "Dad and Joe's downstairs and Devons asleep, maybe we can catch a game."

"Is there one on?" he asked as he and Danny made their way down the stairs.

"Should be something good on," Joe overheard him and reached for the controller to switch the channel.

A few minutes later and Mary found all four of her Reagan men settled in front of the tv passing the popcorn around. Yelling at the referees from time to time while they watched the football game. It was late, but she didn't say anything, knowing it was very seldom that Frank got to spend time just his boys. All together that is.

XXXXXXXX

By the time the day of the NYPD banquet arrived, Joe was beginning to learn how to get around with his crutch and minimal help. At least until it came to stairs where he had to struggle to keep from bending his knee.

It was the day before the banquet, and Danny couldn't help but dread the coming event. At least considering he was going to be attending alone. His mind had been on the matter all morning long and he was beginning to consider coming up with ideas to get out of it. Then again, the only way he figured that was going to happen was if he was deathly ill or his daughter was sick. And he really didn't see that happening, at least not in that matter of time. He was just about to give up when he had a thought.

Maybe he didn't have to go alone. He had had his share of dates, but he hadn't had much time to do any dating since he became a father. And it wasn't like he could just call one of them up, knowing they would be suspicious of him, thinking that as soon as they saw Devon, they would think that he was only looking for a mother to dump his child on. On the other hand, there was Linda, and she already knew about Devon.

He knew that he and Linda weren't in a place to date, they decided that weeks ago. Then again, who said they had to classify this as a date. They were friends after all and they could classify it as a friend helping another friend out. And that thought, is what made Danny make a decision. As soon as he got off work, he would go by the hospital and hope with everything in him that she was working.

Danny stood near the front desk in the emergency room for several minutes, thoughts regarding how he was even going to get the words out of his mouth running through his head. He was still pondering these thoughts, when he was interrupted.

"Danny," Linda came up behind him.

Danny spun around and completely lost his train of thought when he saw her.

"Is everything okay?" She sounded concerned.

"Yeah," he managed to get out.

"Did you need something?"

"Do you have a break coming up?" Danny really didn't want to say what he had to say in front of her coworkers.

"Ugh yeah," she turned from him to the other emergency room nurse she was working with. "I'm going to take my break."

After leading him to a more secluded area outside the hospital, the two found seats on a nearby park bench.

"So," Linda said when he didn't say anything.

"I know we both decided that now wasn't a good time to date," Danny said once he got up the nerve. "But I have this NYPD New Years Banquet I have to go to and I really need a plus one."

Linda was about to reply, when Danny continued.

"So do you want to go?"

This time, Linda hesitated and Danny shook his head.

"Never mind, I'm sorry. It was a bad idea," he covered.

"Danny, I," Linda started.

"I know, it's a terrible idea," he said again. "And I don't really want to go, but my grandpas the PC, so my family has to attend."

"I was going to say yes," Linda interrupted.

"Really?" Danny sounded surprised.

"Yes, as long as you go with me to the hospitals New Years party," Linda bartered. "My coworkers are always trying to set me up with someone, so I really need to show up with a date."

"Don't you hate it when that happens?" Danny agreed.

"It's the worst," Linda laughed.

"So I'll pick you up at your place at 6:30?"

"I'll give you my address," she smiled.

Wearing his dress blues, Danny arrived at her apartment door at exactly 6:20 on the dot.

Opening the door, Linda had to struggle to keep from wowing when she saw him, but even she couldn't keep herself from widening her eyes. Thankfully, Danny didn't notice, and she covered herself by turning away and reaching for her jacket.

What Linda didn't know was that Danny was feeling the same as she and was struggling to move when she saw her in her sleek red dress.

"You like nice," he said without thinking.

"So do you," she complimented.

"It was a struggle keeping it clean with Devon. She got hungry just as soon as I got dressed."

"Babies certainly have a schedule of their own."

"I know Devon does," he agreed as the two walked out of her apartment and he escorted her to the car.

The two had a wonderful evening, both enjoying each others company and Linda didn't want the evening to end. The evening did however come to an end and before Linda knew it, Danny was walking her back to her apartment door.

"Thanks for going. I hope it wasn't too boring for you."

"I enjoyed it," Linda smiled.

"So I guess I'll see you the same time Sunday evening?" Danny clarified.

"If you don't mind going and leaving Devon on your day off," she said carefully.

"As long as I'm there for family dinner, my parents said they would keep her."

"Thank you," she sounded grateful. "I really didn't want to go alone."

"I'll be here," he promised.

Linda didn't know what happened after that, she lost all train of thought when she felt her lips touch his. It wasn't a long passionate kiss, but it was longer than a simple peck between friends.

Danny was quick to take his leave after that, and Linda couldn't help but lean against the closed door inside her apartment as she struggled to catch her breath and remember the evening.

More than once throughout the night she had to refrain from staring at him. And she found it getting more and more difficult as the night went on. He was just so handsome in his dress blues that she couldn't keep her eyes off him. Even now that he was going, she could still see him in her mind.

"Stop it Linda," she chastised herself. "So what he's smoking hot. Now isn't the time to fall in love. You need to focus on you and no one else. And that includes gorgeous Danny Reagan.

"Augh," she moaned again.

"Why does he have to be so cute? And why does this have to be so hard?"

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JusticeStandsTRUE