Chapter Text
Danny wakes with a startle, he looks around and realizes he’s hunched over, his head nestled into Maria’s bedside.
Their hands somehow found each others through the night, his on top of hers, her hand wrapped around 4 of his fingers. Danny looks up and sees she’s just starting to wake up herself, her eyes squinting from the sun coming through the windows before they focus and find him.
She smiles warmly at him. “You didn’t have to stay all night, you know.” She teases gently and he shakes his head “On the contrary. I feel like I needed to stay and make sure nothing happened overnight.” He counters before he reaches into his jacket and looks at his phone.
7:10AM
“My dad called last night. He sends his well wishes and actually wondered if you would come over for family dinner today. If that’s too much I totally get it-”
“Danny.”
He stops and looks up at her, his head not moving much from its spot near her knees. She nods once, her eyes sparkling with love as she files his sleepy turn to genuine happiness face away for later giggles. “Dinner with the Reagan’s sounds chaotic and exactly like what I need right now.”
Danny’s head completely lifts from the bed as he looks into her eyes, his face never faltering. “Yeah?” He asks gently and she barely nods her head again. “Yeah, Danny.” She replies, the last remnants of her pain medication easing off and she winces slightly at the pain that begins throbbing from her knee.
Danny gets up quickly and cautiously, grabbing another pillow and gently propping her knee up on it as best he can. She lets out a relieved sigh when the throbbing starts ebbing, but she chuckles. “Think it’ll be too much if I show up doped up on pain killers?” She asks with a short laugh. Danny smiles gently at her and shakes his head, “I think they’ll make an exception for you.” He says tenderly as he sits back down, taking her hand in his again.
~~~~~~
A few hours later, the nurse comes in with some discharge papers, painkillers and notes for Maria to look over.
“Now I don’t know if you’ll be staying with your boyfriend or not, but here’s some instructions on how to clean the wound and what to use. Also no sexual activity for at least 3 weeks. You'll get the stitches taken out in 2 and that appointment is already set up. A follow up is also scheduled for 4 weeks.” The nurse explains as she looks between Danny and Maria.
Maria is already feeling loopy from the drugs and doesn’t bother to correct the nurse, the term boyfriend almost makes her giggle a little bit, but she bites back a laugh.
Danny is too intent on reading the instructions and listening to any orders to correct her himself, so she nods her head once and leaves them with a wheelchair.
~~~~~~
On the car ride to the Reagan family house, Maria giggles.
“She called you my boyfriend.” She slurs ever so slightly, and Danny has to check the passenger seat to make sure that it’s still Maria Baez — his Baez that giggled and said that. He tries and fails to bite back a smirk at her giggle “Oh family dinner is going to be horrendous if you’re this far gone.” He can’t help chuckling at her and she slaps his arm. “I’m hurt! Don’t make fun of me!” Then she begins to actually pout at him.
“Oh boy, dad, you really do know the perfect moments.” He says to nobody in particular.
When they get to the house, they walk in hand in hand.
Of course Nicky notices first thing, her smile widening at the sight of them.
“Danny. Maria.” Frank acknowledges.
Danny points to Maria and smiles “She’s a little loopy on painkillers, I’m making sure she doesn’t fall over.” He then pulls out her chair for her and lets go of her hand for her to sit, then sits himself.
“He insisted on holding my hand! What a gentleman.” Maria quips, her speech still the slightest bit slurred.
Nicky smiles into her drink, “Sure, let’s go with that.”
Erin elbows Nicky then coughs politely. “I’m sorry about my daughter, she’s a little invested in partners in this family. Maria, I hope you’re doing better and that my brother didn’t bore you to tears while you two were stuck together.”
Maria nods and smiles at Erin. “Like Danny said, little looped up on drugs, so I feel ABSOLUTELY fantastic right now! Little moody, but great! The experience of being stuck with Danny? Eh, he was alright. I would consider it again.” She finishes by patting Danny on the back comically and the table laughs lightly at her state.
“Thanks for the bode of confidence there, Partner.” Danny says while pouring himself some wine, making sure to skip Maria and pass it onto the next person.
Dinner proceeds as usual; politics, the rights and wrongs, Nicky’s school drama.
Then Nicky can’t help herself anymore.
“So, like, are you two together yet uncle Danny?” She asks innocently and Danny nearly chokes on his wine.
“No, Nicky, we’re not.” He says hoping that’s the end of it.
But Nicky can’t back down.
“Oh come on. We all see the way you talk about her. How your eyes sparkle with something extra anytime her names brought up. They’ve been sparkling this whole dinner!” She protests.
That gets Maria’s attention.
“They do?” She asks, feeling herself suddenly sober up at the revelation, her head turning toward Danny who is trying to cover his tracks but fails miserably as he stares back.
Nicky nods.
“Nicky, I really don’t think-” Erin tries to interject, but Nicky still doesn’t stop.
“Every time his eyes sparkle and he gets this smile on his face that I haven’t seen since aunt Linda. I assumed after being in the basement for so long, something’s bound to have come from it.” Nicky concludes.
Danny sees the moment disaster is about to strike from Maria, but before he can stop her-
“I told him I love him and he said it back.” She blurts out faster than she can stop herself. She realizes her mistake 0.1 seconds later as the whole table stares, some forks drop and Nicky lets out a triumphant “I KNEW IT!”
“So…you are dating then?” Henry asks with a knowing smile, other voices are now being heard with cheers and Danny finally had enough.
“NO! WE ARE NOT DATING!” He shouts and suddenly the whole table is quiet again.
Maria feels her throat tighten at the feeling of rejection and she lowers her head to not show that she’s on the verge of tears. She makes a little noise and suddenly stands up, “Excuse me.” She says, trying her best and failing to stop the emotion from coming out in her voice.
A few seconds later they hear the bathroom door close.
“You didn’t have to yell, Danny.” Jamie pips up faintly as he watches where Maria had just disappeared to.
Danny rubs his hands over his face.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
He then looks at his family and speaks.
“Listen, I’m sorry. The past 48 hours have been incredibly stressful and I didn’t mean to yell. Nicky wasn’t listening to me and I needed to get my point across.” He then runs his fingers over the back of his head and sighs. “The truth is; yes, I love Maria. Yes, she knows I love her. Yes, I know she loves me. She said it first. No, nothing is happening between us. We haven’t kissed, we haven’t discussed it beyond saying we meant what we said in the basement. I still firmly believe in not dating your partner, even though Jamie and Eddie have proven that it ends up working out sometimes. It sucks being in love and not being able to do anything because I’m so set in my ways. Who knows, maybe in a few weeks when she feels better we’ll talk about it and I’ll have opened up to the idea of it, or maybe we’ll realize we love each other and want to give this a chance, but can’t be partners anymore. Fact is, I want Maria to heal before anything. That’s my main priority right now and should be her main priority.” He slumps back in his chair, then he stands up. “I need to go check on her.”
When he gets to the hallway, he gently knocks on the door. “Maria, it’s me. Can I come in? I’m sorry.” He says softly, then he hears her choked sobs and his heart breaks even more. “Danny, I locked myself in and I don’t know how to get it unlocked.” She says in a panicked tone. He quickly grabs a spare key from the light fixture across the way and unlocks the door and slowly opens it to find her sitting on the toilet.
She gets up and bolts for him, wrapping her arms around his neck and sobbing into his neck. He reciprocates the hug immediately and gently soothes her. “Shh, it’s ok. You’re ok. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell. I’m so damn sorry, Maria.” He says gently in her ear, his hand rubbing gentle circles around her back.
Maria immediately calms down, her sobs and hiccups start to lessen and she presses her forehead to his shoulder. “Fuck these pills, I’m never taking them again.” She softly says after a few more moments, and Danny can’t help but chuckle. “Yeah, maybe we should lay off the drugs.” He agrees before he starts to peel her off him so she can look at him.
He hates the sad look, the bloodshot eyes from crying and the smear mascara she’s giving him.
“Maria, I’m so sorry. Nicky wasn’t listening to me, we’ve both had stressful days and I just… I snapped. I need you to know, I’m not saying no to you or to the idea of us,” He then looks down at her injured knee, then looks back up at her and gently cups her cheek with his hand. “Just, not right now. Not while you’re still injured.” He then touches his forehead to hers and just breathes in their shared space for a moment before speaking up again. “You have no idea how badly I want to kiss you right now, but I don’t trust myself to just kiss you.”
Maria’s face lights up at the confession and she nods slightly. “3 weeks then?” She asks, hoping Danny would catch on and he smiles and kisses her forehead. “Yeah, I can do 3 weeks.” He says gently before she pulls away to check herself over in the mirror and fix her make up before rejoining the family table.
~~~~~~~~
After dinner, Danny drives Maria back to her place and helps her up the stairs (much to her displeasure because ‘she can do it herself’) and helps her in her bed, taking her boots off and gently tucking her in.
When he’s done he leans down, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. Maria smiles gently and leans up, catching Danny by surprise as her lips touch his in a sweet, gentle kiss.
There’s no heat in the kiss, and it doesn’t deepen. It’s just enough to show she’s committed to this.
To the idea of them.
When they pull away, Maria smirks at Danny’s now beet red face and shrugs lightly. “Just because you don’t trust yourself with kissing me doesn’t mean I don’t trust myself. I know how to draw a line.” She jokes with a small laugh. Danny feels stunned for a few seconds before he smiles brightly at her, “Yeah, apparently you do. Get some sleep.” He says before he gets up and starts to head for the door.
“Danny?” Maria asks, a little confused on where he’s going. He turns around, a question on his face. She pats the bed next to her, her cheeks blushing. “Stay? I don’t want to be alone right now.”
Oh, you’re opening a can of worms here. Danny thinks to himself before he walks towards the bed, toeing off his shoes and sliding into the bed next to her. Her body immediately leans towards him and she situates herself comfortably in his arms. “Much better.” She sighs contently, feeling his lips on the crown of her head, she looks up and kisses his cheek before getting comfortable again.
They fall asleep within minutes, both content and being exactly where they want to be.