Fandom: Without a Trace
Disclaimer: Please don't sue. I don't own *insert fandom name from above*... All I own is an overactive imagination.
Summary: Sometimes the job gets to you and when it does, you look for someone who understands, sometimes you find more.
Warning(s): slash
Pairing(s): Danny/Martin
Word Count: 1,099

A/N: Day 17 of "22 new fandoms in 22 days." Calendar link up in my profile. I'd like to say I defeated my writer's block, but I actually really haven't. You can tell by the lateness and length of this fic (are they getting shorter? T.T)
Story note: Probably OOC-ness. I've only seen episodes from the earlier seasons (so sorry if there's information that I don't know about). It really shouldn't be a huge problem though.

o.o.o.o

It Starts with a Call
By: Lucifer Rosemaunt

o.o.o.o

Sometimes, Danny didn't know how he made it through the day when at night, all he could manage to do was drop into bed.

During a case, he was energized, focused. He was always ready with a grin and a wry comment to his coworkers or to interrogate a suspect with sarcasm and a glare. Doing so actually wasn't very difficult. It came as second nature to be that responsive during the day. After all, someone's life was depending on his performance. He had to be able to notice small details and tell when someone was hiding something. It helped that he had his coworkers to work off of. Their energy helped him get through the day.

At night though, everything seemed to crash down on him. The job got to him, mostly because sometimes they failed. Sometimes, no matter what they did, who they interviewed, where they went, it didn't matter. He was almost certain he could recall every case that had ended unfavorably – the downside of having such a good memory.

Even though he tried to maintain professionalism, it was impossible not to take some of them personally. He had to become involved in their lives and more often than not, the drama of their lives. So that even in the cases they did manage to solve, there was always a new way to be disappointed with people.

At times, it was difficult to see the good in people when most of what he encountered was lying, deceit, and secrets. Every case had those three main attributes to the point where it was almost as though even their loved ones didn't want them to be found.

So, when he returned home, all their lies seemed to follow him, weighing him down. Exhausted, he'd drop onto his couch, never quite ever able to make it all the way to his bedroom in the already small apartment.

When it became particularly bad, he found himself making a phone call. At first, it had been to Viv, but even as she made him feel better, he couldn't help but feel guilty that he was taking her away from time with her family. So, he'd stopped calling her. He didn't want to call Sam since he never knew if she and Jack were together – and that was something he wanted to remain in the dark about. So, that left Martin. To say he'd been reluctant would be an understatement. After all, the man was a Fitzgerald; from what he'd seen and heard, they were possibly the most repressed people in the bureau. However, he did have to admit that Martin was nothing like his original expectation of him. He did get very involved in the cases, sometimes more so than Danny himself. All that emotion was there in his eyes and his earnestness in the field.

Despite his original reservations, he'd needed to talk to someone who could understand, so he did and it became rather consistent after a particularly difficult case. What was nice was that their phone calls were never brought up once they were back at work. It was almost as though they were different people altogether on the telephone and when they were back in the office, not much changed. Well, perhaps they worked better as partners and managed to become closer rather quickly.

Then, the calls became more frequent, from twice a week to once every night whether it was just to make sure that the other had gotten home alright or whether it was to talk about what had happened that day or what they noticed about the case.

Eventually, the phone calls became visits just to hang out. He would've thought that he'd get tired of seeing Martin with all the time they spent together at work then at home. Instead, he looked forward to seeing him after work because he could immediately see the difference between the Martin at work with the relaxed one at his home. He rather liked both, but he liked more that he was the only one who saw the latter. Danny had to admit that he almost thought Martin was only ever comfortable in his suits, but he'd been pleasantly surprised to find he'd been wrong.

Visits turned into overnight stays. And Danny was beginning to really hope that overnight stays turned into permanent residence. It wasn't like office romance was off limits. God, with all their group's history, obviously Jack wasn't going to have any problems. And what would really change after all? What had changed since they'd become partners in more ways than one; they were still doing their job well. It wasn't as though he stared too long at Martin or they snuck off into the nearest empty room to make out for a few minutes. Perhaps, that did happen, but it wasn't really affecting their work.

The door to his apartment opened then closed. Danny didn't even bother looking up. He smirked knowing that he never needed to make those phone calls anymore. Martin just came after work; enough times that Danny had pretended to reluctantly give him his own key.

"Where were you?" He turns his head to ask, realizing his voice sounded a little petulant, a little whiny, but he liked it when Martin's already on the couch waiting for him to fall there.

He could hear the rustling of a plastic bag. "Food" came the answer. Danny could hear the amusement in Martin's voice.

The food was placed in what Danny could only assume was the kitchen. It was only when Martin walked towards him that he even bothered to make the effort to look up.

They talked less now. It had started out like that, not knowing what to say on the phone. Then, for a while, they couldn't shut up, as though they were trying to fill every second up with words. Now, they were back to the silence, to the beginning. Except not quite.

Martin braced himself on the back of the couch before leaning forward to kiss him lightly on the cheek once before focusing on his lips.

Danny smiled into the kiss. He pulled Martin down on top of him, their bodies already knowing the perfect position so that they could fit on the couch without having any falling accidents. They'd had their fair share of that already. As Martin settled half on top of him their bodies pressed as close as humanly possible, he couldn't help but be thankful that sometimes the days were hard because it had helped make the nights so much better.

o.o.o.o

End ficlet

A/N: Don't forget to R/R (Read and Review)!
Story Note: Uh, yeah. That's that and there's so many seasons of Without a Trace I don't even know where to begin, but here's my contribution to this pairing. ^.^ I'm in a weird mood, and you can kind of see it in some of the wording. T.T