Takes place starting at the end of 'Run silent, run deep' (S2E2). I edited all the chapters. I will update soon but I want incentive! review please!

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Danny walked out of the hospital, breathing deeply and trying to maintain control. He looked up at the sound of footsteps and froze, as he saw Mac walking towards him. Danny's felt several things upon seeing Mac, the first of which was anger. He was still pissed that Mac had doubted him, but the anger was short lived. He couldn't stay mad at Mac. Second to the anger he felt fear. He was worried that Mac was still mad at him for never having mentioned his connection to Tanglewood before. However on top of everything else, he felt relief. He was safe with Mac. He just hoped that he could pull himself together enough to talk to Mac. He didn't wanna lose it in front of Mac. He had his pride to worry about after all. He didn't want the man he most respected, the man he loved, yes loved, to see him cry.

"Hey." Mac said.

"Hey." Danny replied, walking in a nervous little half circle before leaning up against the wall of the building.

"How's your brother?" Mac asked. Danny fought back tears. Finding himself unable to speak, he shook his head. He wasn't sure whether he was trying to say 'not good' or 'I don't wanna talk about it.' Either way Mac seemed to understand. "Lindsay said you, ugh... listened to the tape." Mac said. "We did everything we could forensically but in the end it was Louie who saved you." Danny nodded, fighting tooth and nail to keep it together. He opened his mouth to respond only to clamp it shut as the tears fought harder to come out. "You OK?" Mac asked.

"They beat my brother pretty bad." Danny said, only let out a small scoff at the stupidity of his statement. Obviously they had. But those had been the only words he had been able to get out. With that scoff Danny lost the battle with his emotions. The tears won and he began sobbing. "They... They beat him really bad Mac." He sobbed. The next thing he was aware of, his head was on Mac's shoulder accompanied by the warmth of one of Mac's hand at the back of his neck, and the pats and soothing circles being rubbed on his back by Mac's other hand. He felt so safe in Mac's arms that he was disgusted with himself. His brother had a tube down his throat, and he as thinking about how good it felt to be in Mac's arms. He began sobbing harder, causing Mac's arms to tighten around him. Danny raised his own arms and clung to Mac for dear life.

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Mac was disgusted with himself. Danny's brother was lying comatose in the hospital, and all Mac could think about was how good it felt to hold Danny in his arms. Danny began sobbing harder. Mac's arms automatically tightened around Danny's smaller frame. Danny's arms came up from his side and wrapped themselves around Mac's waist clinging to him desperatly.

"Shhh.... it's ok." Mac whispered in Danny's ear, He stroked Danny's hair "Come on, let's get you home." Danny nodded against Mac's shoulder.

"I just wanna tell the nurses that I'm leaving." Danny said very slowly into Mac's shirt. It was as though he was scared that speaking too fast would cause him to lose it again.

"I'll do it." said Mac, "you just wait he-" he stopped, feeling his shirt move as Danny shook his head slowly but vehemently.

"Together." Danny muttered, only trusting himself to say one word this time.

"Allright then." said Mac, smiling, "Let's go." As Mac began to release Danny he felt the younger man tense. He kept one arm around Danny's shoulders. As they started walking Danny put his hands in his pockets, which Mac had learned from working with Danny was something he did when he was nervous to keep himself from fidgeting. The walk up to Louie's room passed in silence. After stopping at the floor's nursing station, the walked into Louie's room. Danny leaned over his brother, saying "Mac's gonna take me home now, kay buddy. I'll be back soon." He patted Louie's shoulder softly, straightened up and looked up at Mac expectantly.

"All right Danny let's go." They walked down to street and Mac hailed a cab. They climbed into the backseat, Danny surprising Mac by taking the middle seat and leaning slightly against Mac. Mac placed his arm around Danny's shoulders once again. "I want you to call me this weekend if you need anything." Mac said.

"Thanks Mac but I think I can manage on my own."

"I don't know... maybe I'll have Flack tail you, just to be safe."

"Yeah, whatever. Like I couldn't lose Flack." Danny said, allowing his head to fall onto Mac's shoulder. The rest of the trip passed in silence. When the cab pulled up in front of Danny's apartment Mac had to stifle a laugh. Danny had fallen asleep on his shoulder. Mac slid out of the cab pulling Danny with him. Once he got himself out of the cab, he reached into Danny's pocket and grabbed his keys, and lifted him out of the cab. While is was not easy Mac managed to carry Danny up into the apartment. Going into Danny's bedroom Mac carefully lowered Danny down onto his bed. He then got Danny out of his clothes, leaving him in only his boxer-briefs. Mac placed Danny's glasses, wallet, keys and cell phone on the night stand, ran a hand through Danny's hair and the sighed turn to leave. He did not get far though, for as he took the first step toward the door a cool hand closed loosely around his wrist.

"Stay please...safe...with you." Mac froze, feeling torn. He wanted nothing more than to crawl in with Danny and keep him safe, but Danny had asked him half asleep. How would he feel about sharing a bed with Mac when he woke up in the morning?

"Mac..." Danny said in a whine, transforming the name into a plea. That was all that it took to make up Mac's mind. He himself stripped down to his boxerbriefs and crawled under the blanket behind Danny. Still asleep Danny shuffled back until he was pressed up against Mac. Mac gasped, shocked that he was now spooning Danny. Afer the initial shock wore off, Mac relaxed, draping an arm over Danny and enjoying the the unexpected sense of rightness that the physical contact brought. Mac smiled. He couldn't help it. It felt so right and Danny looked so cute and peaceful...did he did just call Danny cute? On an impulse Mac leaned and kissed the back of Danny's head, enjoying the feel of the soft brown hair against his lips. Wait....did he just think of Danny as cute and kiss him? Too relaxed to care Mac mentally shrugged this off and lay there watching Danny sleep. After a little while Danny began stirring restlessly and let out soft whimper. Mac tightened his arms around Danny and leaned to kiss the back of his head again, but at the last minute Danny's head twisted around as he let another whimper and Mac's lips found themselves kissing Danny's unresponsive ones. Mac's mind reeled, not at the fact that he had kissed Danny, but at how it had good it had felt kissing Danny, at how soft Danny's lips were. It had felt... perfect. Still to relaxed to be kept awake by it, he filed away the thoughts for later and allowed himself to drift off to sleep. Still holding Danny close, guarding him from the world.

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When Danny woke the next morning, he immediately realized that something was different. His body began taking stock of things. He was warm, he was in his own bed, his underwear was still on, and there was an arm wrapped around him. Danny's brain caught up with his senses. Mac. Mac had taken him home last night, and Danny had asked him to stay, not wanting to be alone that night and wanting to feel safe. Something else nagged at Danny's brain. Mac had kissed him... wait, no. That part had been a dream,hadn't it? It must have been. It had to have just been wishful thinking on his part. Danny was distracted from his thoughts as his bladder made it's presence know. He carefully slid out from under Mac's arm, and made his way to the bathroom. When he walked into his bedroom he couldn't help but smile. Mac had sprawled out taking up more of the queen sized bed than should have been possible for his lithe frame. Danny glanced at the clock, silently thanking whatever gods that He and Mac actually had the weekend off, along with the rest of the team. It was ten o'clock, just early enough for a late breakfast. Danny sighed and headed for the shower, grabbing clean underwear and a pair of navy blue track pants. As he showered he tried to think about what he would say to Mac, but that whole kiss thing was still bugging him. The more he thought about it, the less sure he was it had been a dream. He finished his shower, brushed his teeth and walked back out into his bedroom, where Mac had not shown the slightest sign of movement. Danny smiled again, enjoying the view he had of Mac's finely toned chest.. Danny gathered Mac's clothes and put his shoes, belt, wallet, keys and cell phone on the chest at the foot of his bed. He then took Mac's clothing and put it in his washer, and then walked back into his room. As much as Danny would have enjoyed seeing Mac walking around in nothing but his underwear, or better yet naked, he figured that Mac probably would have not have appreciated it. He grabbed a pair of sweat pants and put them by Mac's stuff on the chest, placing a post-it with Mac's name on it on top of the sweat pants. He then headed into the kitchen, put on a pot of coffee and grabbed the morning paper.

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The smell of coffee tickle Mac's nose. Mac inhaled deeply, enjoying the scent, then sat up, alarmed. Who was making coffee in his home? Then his memory caught up with the rest of his brain. He was at Danny's, in Danny's bed, and Danny was the one making coffee. Good coffee too from the smell of it. Rolling out of the bed, Mac's attention was caught by a bright yellow square at the foot of the bed. It was a post-it, and his name was written on it. Danny had a out a pair of sweat pants with his name on it. Along the bottom of the post-it Danny had written: I threw your clothes into the washer and hung up your jacket. Mac smiled at how thoughtful Danny was being. Mac then noticed his wallet, keys, cellphone and other affects where also the chest. After checking that there were no urgent messages on his phone, Mac picked up the sweat pants and called out, "Hey Danny, mind if I use your shower?"

"Nah, go ahead."

"Thanks" Mac went in and rinsed off, using his time under the hot water to collect his thoughts. He loved Danny there was no doubt about that, the question was in what way did he love Danny. Mac was just hoping that Danny had no memory of being kissed so that Mac would still have more time to process his thought and emotions. Mac got out of the shower dried off, and threw on the sweat pants. He then notice a second post-it lying on the counter. Danny had snuck in during his shower and laid a brand new toothbrush on the counter. The post-it read: had it lying around, thought you might want to use it. Also feel free to use my razor in the medicine cabinet. Mac's eyebrows raised, the attention to detail of Danny's thoughtfulness impressed him. After making use of the toothbrush and of Danny's razor, Mac walked out into the kitchen.

"Hey Mac." said Danny from his seat at the island counter.

"Hey," Danny got up, poured a mug of coffee and handed it to Mac.

"Mmmmm," Mac said after taking a sip, "this is really good, thanks."

"Aww it was nothing, I mean if you can take me home and then spend the night with me so that I didn't have to be alone, then I can sure as hell make sure you have some decent coffee in the morning."

"All the same thanks."

"I do got a question though Mac." Danny said now looking a little nervous.

"Shoot." said Mac.

"Did you, uhh... kiss me?"

"Uh.." Mac set down his mug and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, kinda. Right after I lay down with you I kissed the back of your head. About five minutes later you started acting like you were having a bad dream so I leaned in to kiss your hair again but you kinda twisted and I ended up kissing your lips... sorry."

"No need to apologize, to be honest it woulda been nice to be have been a bit more awake for it, I mean how often can you say I was kissed by my boss. Anyways I should be apologizing, it can't have been too great for you" He smiled, only to replace it with an anxious look.

"Nah... it was actually a pretty nice kiss ." said Mac, smiling. His face fell as he seemed to realize what he had said.

Danny could not believe his ears. He acted before he lost his nerve. "It probably woulda been even better with me awake." He got up and walked over to Mac. "Here, let's find out." he placed a hand on Mac's shoulder and kissed him slowly and tenderly. Mac stood shocked. His shock was short lived however and he quickly began kissing back. As the kiss deepened Danny's lips parted a fraction. Mac licked Danny's lips in asking and Danny's mouth opened in invitation. Danny felt Mac's tongue on his and began trying to taste every part of it at once, causing the ex-marine to moan, and kiss even harder. After a few blissful moments Mac broke the kiss and wrapped his arms around Danny's waist as Danny said, "I really like you Mac, have since I met you. I've known I was bi since high school, but I've never been as attracted to anyone as I am to you." As he had said this his gaze had shifted to the floor by his left foot.

"Danny," said Mac placing a hand on Danny's cheek and drawing his gaze back up, "I don't know if I am straight, gay or bi... but I also don't care. All I know, all I need to know is that this..."he held Danny closer running his thumb over Danny's cheek and pressing their foreheads together, "and this..." he kissed Danny softly, "feels good, and feels right. I'm willing to try."

Danny sighed, nuzzling Mac's neck, enjoying the feel of Mac's bare chest against his. "That's all I can ask Mac...That's all I can ask."