Dane

When they'd finished filming Dane sat for a minute with his head back against the seat rest, just trying to get his shaking under control. "I need you to call Harry now and get him out here."

​​

"How do I do that?"

"Tell him the truth. Just do it discreetly."

"He won't believe me."

"Tell him… tell him I told you to say that all the ducks are in a row, and I can hand them over."

Chris stared at him. "Seriously."

"Seriously."

Chris sighed, but got the number up on his phone and dialed. It took a few minutes to get Harry on the line, but when he did, Chris put it on speakerphone before he spoke, staring at Dane the entire time. "Hello, Detective Quinn. This is Chris Daniels. I'm assuming you know who I am."

"I'm aware of you, Mr. Daniels. How can I help?"

"I'm aware that you're very busy Detective, and that things are particularly tight today, but I'm calling to let you know that our mutual friend now has all those ducks in a row and he'd like to hand them to you."

There was a pause on the line. "Say that again, please?"

"I said that the person we both know and are interested in has asked me to tell you that all his ducks are in a row, and he'd like to pass them to you. One by one," he added, rolling his eyes. Dane nodded.

Harry didn't answer immediately. "Today?"

"Right now, if possible. You understand that there are… extenuating circumstances."

Harry snorted on the other end of the line. "Of course there are." He cleared his throat. "I was led to believe that our mutual friend was… off the grid."

Chris was about to answer when Dane broke in. "I was. But that needs to change. And I think I need your help to make that happen."

"What the—!" Harry cut himself off. When he spoke again it was obvious he was trying to keep his voice down so as not to be overheard. "Mr. Daniels, there is an ongoing investigation—"

"And once you get the ducks and hear the story, if you want to arrest me you can, but give me that, Harry. I promise, you won't regret it. It is, quite literally, life and death."

A string of muttered curses bled down the phone, but they could also hear drawers slamming, and things being moved around. "Where and when?"

"As soon as you can, like now. And…" Dane looked at Chris, then swallowed. "The roof of the work building."

Chris frowned, but didn't interrupt. Harry sighed. "Not going to work. Too many… observers."

Dane swore. That left only one other place, and he was going to need Chris on board otherwise everything was going to fall over. "Are you familiar with the apartment where my wife was abducted?"

"Yes."

"Half an hour, there."

Chris's mouth fell open, but his eyes narrowed. "I thought you said—"

"The thing you'll need to do, Harry, is not mention to my wife why you need to go there. She won't know that I'm there. I'm trying to keep her out of this."

All noise on the other end stopped. "Are you fucking joking?"

"No, I'm not. I want her hands clean if this goes to shit."

"Dane, if she's there—"

"She won't be. Just… just give us half an hour. On the dot."

"This better be worth it. I'm going to catch hell about disappearing right now. If you're fucking with me, I'm arresting you."

"Don't mention my name to anyone, Harry. There's some big stuff that's gone down. I'll fill you in so you can be first to discover it, okay? But you have to keep this entirely under your hat."

Another string of curses, but he agreed to do as Dane asked, throwing in another warning about arresting him. Then Chris tapped the phone and hung up the call.

"The Penthouse, Dane? So you are going to talk to her?"

"No. I'm going to hide while you go talk to her and she's not going to know I'm there."

Chris looked like he wanted to explode out of his own skin. "Are you fucking insane?"

"No. She can't… she can't know. And no one's likely to look for me there."

"And if the cops show up to do another search warrant?"

"I'm hopeful Harry will be able to warn us ahead of time."

"But… but… you can't go there and not talk to her!"

"I don't want to!" Dane growled. "But I have to keep her out of this until the cops either clear me, or arrest me. I can't take her life down too!"

"Then you can't go to the Penthouse. No sane person is going to believe you're there and she doesn't know!"

"No one's going to know, Chris, because you aren't going to tell them. We're only going to communicate by phone and I'm not going to move, so if it ever comes down to it, the phone will show I never moved, and Lila never joined me, and you thought I was… travelling."

Chris braced his arms on the steering wheel and looked like he wanted to yank it off the car. "I can't believe you're… you're insane. That's it. You've lost your fucking mind. I just shot your Dad and now you're nut. I'm losing my fcuking mind over here—what about your wife, Dane? Your fucking heartbroken and injured wife? How can you just leave her hanging like that?"

"You think I don't want to be with her right now? You think I'd rather be here with you, or with Harry Quinn?"

"Then why are you doing this? Fuck the potential charges—the lawyers will get her off anything. Doesn't marriage cover her from incriminating you anyway?"

"It won't matter if it's gotten into the press—but you know what? I don't answer to you about my marriage, Chris."

"Well, maybe you should! I can't believe you'll just leave her alone right now! Do you have any idea how lost she is?"

"YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT?"

"Then stop being a fucking pussy coward and face her! You're just running because you cheated!"

"I did not cheat!" Dane snarled, his hands clenched to fists and yearning, aching to throw at his brother. But before Chris could speak, he jumped in again. "And don't give me this shit about you being such a stellar boyfriend—you're upset because you want her for yourself. Admit it—I've seen the way you look at her, Chris. Even Dad knew. You're not mad at me for being careful about her, your mad because it kills you that she's mine!"

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah."

"So, you're going to tell me you didn't blow your load with that chick from Dad's office?"

"That has nothing to do with this!"

"That has everything to do with this. I saw the video, Dane. If you were really into her, how did you get there."

Dane trembled from head to toe. He shook his head and turned to face the dashboard, breath hissing through his teeth. "I'm not talking to you about this. This isn't about you. You aren't the one I owe that explanation to."

"Of course not. Fucking pussy. Fucking cheater. Fucking INSANE PERSON." Chris threw the car in gear and shoved his foot down on the peddle, reaching behind Dane's seat to brace himself looking backwards to reverse out of the space. "You're going to regret this, and you know it," he spat as he jerked the car back into gear and squealed the wheels getting moving towards the ramp to the street. "And guess who's going to come in again and clean up your messes?"

"Why? So you can be the hero? So she'll run into your arms when she's gotten sick of me?"

"Too late," Chris muttered.

Dane snapped his head around to gape at his brother. "She… she did not. You're… shut the fuck up."

"You so sure about that, Dane? Isn't easy wondering about stuff, when the person hasn't talked to you, is it? Kinda torturous."

"Shut the fuck up."

"But it doesn't matter, because you weren't cheating. You just got your jollies from your father's fucked up mind games, right?"

"I am not talking to you about this. The only person I owe answers to is Lila."

"Are you fucking kidding me? I just killed your father. For you!"

They were back on the street and Dane had a hand on the door grip to keep himself from falling into the door when Chris took the corner too fast. But in that moment, with that mental image of his father's body and Chris standing over him, shaking, all the anger and explosive rage he'd been feeling just… deflated.

Chris looked at him a couple times, shot him glares, but Dane just stared out the window. "You're right," he said finally. "I mean, not about Lila, or what happened there. I'm telling her that story, not you. But… you're right about Dad. You… you gave me a gift there, Chris. So be pissed with me if you want. I don't care. Just please don't tell Lila where I'm going to be because… I'm doing this for her. For real. I can't let her get caught any deeper in this. I just can't. Even though…" he made a noise in his throat and Chris sighed, let the car slow a touch. "I really am grateful, Chris. You helped me keep a promise to her today. And… thank you. I know what you're carrying now. I'll always be grateful for that, regardless of anything else. I'll always be grateful for that.

"Anything else? What the fuck, Dane." But Chris's heart wasn't really in it. He looked as tired as Dane felt.

A minute later when they pulled into the apartment building and began the climb up the parking lot ramps, Dane's heart began to race. She was going to be so close. So damn close.

His hands twitched with the desire to reach for her, but he swallowed it back. He had to step so carefully now. So fucking careful.