Well hello again everybody. It's been about a year since I've posted anything here and to tell you the truth, I'm a bit nervous about it. I'm pretty rusty at this, but that last episode sparked something in my mind and this is what came of it. It takes place in the middle of the episode.

Enjoy!

Braver in Twos

Standing in that hospital room watching the two most important people in his life sleep side by side, Danny Messer wanted nothing more than to join them, but he knew that he couldn't. Lindsay would be out of it for the rest of the night and a hospital was really no place for a child to spend more time than absolutely necessary. Kissing his wife gently on the forehead, he pried Lucy off her mother and hoisted her into his arms, not surprised when she remained asleep. He quietly made his way from Lindsay's room to the elevator, and from there to the truck Mac and Jo had left in the parking lot for him, knowing he'd need it to get. There was no carseat for Lucy, but since it wasn't very far to their apartment he just belted her in as-is, using his jacket as a pillow so the seatbelt wouldn't cut into her neck. After checking to make sure that Lucy was still asleep, Danny closed the door as quietly as possible and pulled out his cellphone, dialing a familiar number.

"Hello?"

"Hi Ma." He'd called his mother quickly this afternoon to tell her what happened and to ask if she would be able to take Lucy the next day if needed. He'd promised to call her back when he left the hospital.

"Danny! How is Lindsay?"

"She's OK. She's got a hairline fracture on the left side of her skull, but the doctor said she's going to be fine. They're keeping her overnight as an extra precaution." He tried to sound as upbeat and positive as possible, but he still heard his mother gasp at the news.

"Oh Danny. How is Lucy handling it?"

"When I handed her off to Jo so I could ride in the ambulance with Linds, I think she was still kinda in shock. Lucy was right beside Lindsay when she got hit, but she didn't see what happened. When I saw her again at the hospital she was really upset and not being able to see Lindsay right away didn't help. We had to wait for an hour for the doctors to finish with her and when Lucy saw all the machines and Lindsay's head wrapped up, it freaked her out. I explained it as best as I could, telling Lucy that Mommy hurt her head and needed to take an extra long nap to feel better and that the machines were there to make sure she was getting better, and Lucy seemed to get it then. I took her out for dinner while they moved Lindsay up to a room and Lucy drew her a picture while we ate. She gave it to Linds once we got back and passed out on the bed beside her not long after. She's still asleep right now, thank God. It's been a long day for her."

"It's been a long day for all of you Danny, but you'll be OK. Your girls are strong, and you're just plain stubborn."

"Yes Ma," he replied, letting out a brief chuckle. Normally his first instinct when his mother started nagging him was to roll his eyes and ignore her, but he quickly realized that she wouldn't have said anything like that if she wasn't completely sure everything was going to be fine. She might drive him crazy most of the time, but his mother always knew the right thing to say when he needed it the most.

"Do you still want me to take Lucy tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I can't bring her back to the hospital again, it's too much for her. I'll drop her off tomorrow morning before I head back there. I don't want Lindsay to wake up all by herself."

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow then. You take care of my little girl. I love you Danny."

"I will. I love you too Ma. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

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Danny managed to get Lucy back out of the car and up to their apartment with little fuss. He considered leaving her in her clothes and putting her straight to bed, but he decided to risk waking her up so she could be as comfortable as possible. The socks and shoes came off easily, but trying to get her shirt off and the pajama top on jostled Lucy awake.

"Daddy?"

"Yeah baby, it's me. You can go back to sleep, I'm just trying to put your PJs on for you."

"Where's Mommy?"

"She's still at the hospital, baby. She had to stay there, remember?"

"I wanna go see Mommy again."

"I know you do, but we couldn't stay there with her."

"But I miss her!" Lucy threw herself into Danny's chest and started to cry. It broke his heart to see her like this.

"I miss her too, sweetie, but she'll be back home tomorrow, I promise. Just think of it like one of your sleepovers with Noni and Nona – you stay with them for one night and then the next day you come back here with Mommy and me. We always miss you when you're not here, but we know you're safe and that you're coming back so Mommy and I can be brave for the night without you. Do you think we can be brave tonight, you and me, while Mommy isn't here?"

"Uh huh," Lucy replied with a sniffle after a minute, slowly pulling back to look up at her father.

"Good girl." He gave her a squeeze and leaned down to kiss the top of her head. "Do you think you can finish putting on your PJs by yourself and then go to the bathroom and brush your teeth?"

"I think so." Then in a hesitant voice she added, "Will you still tuck me in after?"

Danny wasn't sure where this was coming from, but he quickly put her at ease. "Of course I will, I wouldn't let you go to bed without a tuck in, now would I?"

"No Daddy." Lucy smiled at him then, not a big one but it was enough to make him believe that she was going to be alright.

"I'm going to go put my PJs on, but I'll be right back, OK?"

"OK." Lucy got up from her bed to head for the bathroom, but quickly turned around and launched herself at Danny, tightly squeezing her arms around his neck. "I love you Daddy."

"I love you too Lucy," Danny replied back, fighting against the lump in his throat. After receiving a sloppy kiss on the cheek, he watched her head off to the bathroom , as awed as ever by the little girl whom he was lucky enough to call his daughter.

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Danny took longer than he'd hoped to change into his pajamas, standing in front of the mirror and seeing his wife's engagement and wedding rings dangling on the chain with his grandfather's dogtags. He knew that they'd take her jewellery off as soon as they got her into the ER, so he politely asked the paramedic if he could take them off himself. The paramedic didn't see any harm in it, so he told Danny to go ahead. Danny had put her watch in his pants pocket, but he couldn't bring himself to put her rings there too. If they couldn't be in their rightful place on her finger, he needed them to keep them close so he slipped them onto the chain he always wore around his neck. Seeing them there just reminded him that Lindsay wasn't there with him like she should be and it made Danny want to for back to the hospital and be at her side. It took him a few minutes to get his thoughts back under control, needing to remind himself that Lindsay was in safe hands and that she'd kill him if she found out he'd let Lucy spend the night in her hospital room. Even though Lindsay was the one who was hurt, he knew that Lucy would still be her number one priority and deep down he knew that it was the right call.

By the time he finally made it back into Lucy's room, the little girl had passed out on her bed. He lifted her up and pulled back the covers, putting her down and then tucking the comforter up around her chin just as she liked it. Her eyes fluttered open for a second and she smiled up at him before she fell back to sleep. He briefly pressed his lips to her forehead before backing away, ensuring that her nightlight was plugged in before dragging himself back to the bedroom he shared with Lindsay. As he collapsed on the empty bed, finally starting to feel the exhaustion of the day's events set in, Danny hoped that he could just fall straight to sleep, but his mind wouldn't shut off, replaying what happened at the plaza over and over again in his head.

He and Lindsay had decided to stop by the political rally on a whim, knowing that Lucy would be excited to see her Uncle Don, who was helping with the security for the event. When Lucy lost her balloon, he'd gone to get her another one without a second thought. The plaza was a little more crowded that he'd expected, but he knew Lindsay could handle Lucy just fine on her own. Just after he'd taken the new balloon for the guy behind the table, the gunshots started. Instinctively, he reached for his gun, forgetting that it was his day off. Danny felt his cop training start to kick in then, trying to get him to assess the situation and zero in on the shooter, but he purposely ignored it. In that moment, it didn't matter that he was a cop. He needed to find his wife and daughter and get them to safety. He pushed his way through the frenzied crowd until he caught a glimpse of Lindsay lying on the ground. Rushing to her side, he immediately picked her head of the ground and saw the blood on her forehead and now on his fingertips. He quickly checked to make sure she had no other injuries and looked over Lucy too, careful not to touch her with his bloodied fingers. He tried to get Lindsay to open her eyes for him, but whatever had happened to her must have knocked her out. He could hear the sirens getting closer and closer to the plaza, so he realized that there was nothing else he could do but keep Lucy calm and wait for the paramedics to arrive.

As the events looped through his mind, Danny tried to figure out what he could've done differently. If he hadn't gone to get another balloon for Lucy, maybe Lindsay wouldn't have been hurt. And why did they even bother going to the rally in the first place, because both he and Lindsay knew that Flack was going too busy to have any time to talk with them?

Somewhere in the midst of his self-reproach, the exhaustion finally took over and Danny dozed off. He started to dream that he was back in the plaza, pushing his way through the crazed crowd to get back to Lindsay and Lucy, but this was different from his rememberings. He ran through the entire plaza without finding them and he started to panic. He called out to them and got faint responses back, but he couldn't figure out where they were coming from.

"Daddy?" He heard Lucy's voice call out to him again and he started to turn in circles in the middle of the plaza, desperate to find her. "Daddy?" Hearing it again, Danny realized that the voice wasn't coming from his dream at all. Willing himself to wake up, he opened his eyes and turned to the doorway, finding a teary-eyes Lucy standing there.

"What's wrong, baby?"

"I had a bad dream about Mommy hurting her head." She paused and drew in a shaky breath before continuing in a much quieter voice. "I don't know if I can be brave Daddy, not even for one night."

Danny didn't need to see Lucy to know that her eyes were pleading with him to go back to the hospital. The idea was really tempting, but he knew that he couldn't give into it. He needed a third option. "I'll let you in on a secret: I'm not feeling very brave either right now, but I always find it easier to be brave in twos. Come here, Luce."

Not needing to be asked twice, Lucy hurried to Danny's side of the bed and he leaned over to pick her up. Putting her down on Lindsay's half of the bed, he grabbed Lindsay's pillow and put it down in the middle of the bed, moving his own pillows out of the way so he could put his head on it. Once he was settled in, he moved Lucy until she was tucked into his side, her head on the pillow beside his. Lucy shifted her face so it was half-lying on Danny's shoulder and looked up at him.

"I think you're right Daddy, I feel a bit braver now."

"So do I Lucy." He leaned down to kiss her forehead and he watched as her eyes started to flutter shut again. "Go to sleep sweetie. I'm here, you're safe."

Finally giving in, Lucy was in a deep sleep in a matter of minutes. Danny truly felt better having her there with him in lieu of Lindsay and within a few minutes, with Lucy's warm weight at his side and his wife's scent filling his nose, he fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

Well, there you have it – a little father/daughter bonding over missing Lindsay. I do have another fic – a post-ep this time – that I'm working on too, and I hope to get that out to you within the next couple of days.

Until then, thank you for reading!

unlikelyRLshipper