by Danny
Danny Hearn, still feeling weak and bruised, stumbled through the wreckage of what had once proudly stood as the team's headquarters. Now, well, it needed some work.
After leaving the cave, he'd slept for what seemed like forever. It seemed like the deepest sleep he could remember. It was great. He remembered someone telling him that he'd slept for almost twenty-four hours when he woke up at the makeshift hostel. A whole day's rest. The thought pleased him for some reason.
"Hey Danny," came a voice from behind him. He turned to find Grimm and Grissom Montag approaching him, walking over the rubble.
"Hey guys," Danny replied, standing still and waiting for them to join him.
"Are you feeling okay? You sure you should be up and about?" Grimm asked.
"I just need to check on one or two things. I'll be okay," Danny replied.
"No offense, but you look like shit, mate," Grissom said.
"Feel even worse," Danny replied, looking down at his broken arm and body covered in bumps and bruises.
"To be honest... we were surprised you're still alive," Grissom added.
"So was I..." Danny said quietly, as something in his peripheral vision grabbed his attention.
Limping over a block of concrete, he saw what the object was: a brown leather briefcase wedged beneath a steel beam. He knelt down and wrenched it from its hiding place. He snapped open the lock.
"What's that, then?" Grissom asked, walking up behind Danny and peering over his shoulder.
"A briefcase. I think..." Danny said, opening it up. "I think it's Sam's."
"Oh," Grimm said, standing beside Danny. Grissom remained silent.
Danny sifted through the case's contents. He found inside the papers that Sam Dawson had left the team: the deed to the building, architectural plans, that sort of thing. Danny was relieved to find that they had survived the storm. But relief was soon overwhelmed by a sense of loss at Sam's sudden departure.
"I don't think I knew him as well as you did..." Grimm began, and paused. "You two... you were pretty close, weren't you?"
Danny nodded softly without words in reply. If there was anyone in this world that could truly be called his best friend, it was Sam. And now, now he was gone, suddenly, mysteriously, without explanation.
"We haven't had much time to really deal with it, have we? What with the storm and all. But... I guess we'll really miss him, won't we?" Grimm said. Danny nodded again.
"Yeah. We will," Danny said.
They stood silently for a moment, the three teammates. Grissom hadn't even met Sam, and he stood back, giving the other two their moment.
Danny looked down again at the open briefcase, and something else caught his eye. It was a white card that had the words "Me and Michelle!" written on the back, and encircled by a heart shape. Danny realized that it must be a photo of Sam and his ex and turned it over.
He realized with a sudden horror that he recognized the girl. It was Sam's Michelle, his ex, the love of his life, the girl he could never quite get over. It was also the girl that Danny had slept with after he saved her life, the day before Sam left. Danny remembered Sam acting strangely around him on the evening before he left.
Danny closed his eyes and swore to himself.
Hal said, "Hey... isn't that...?"
"Yes. She is."
"Wow. Now that is a huge bloody coincidence..."
"I know. You don't think Sam knew...?"
"How could he?"
"I don't know. He was just... acting so weird... you know, before he left."
"I remember."
Grimm and Grissom were about to ask Danny what the hell he was talking about before they realized he must have been talking to Hal. Danny then just dropped his head and crouched there silently, next to the open briefcase.
Grimm picked up the case from next to Danny and looked at the papers. "Well, at least these are okay," Grimm said, rifling through them. He picked up the photo. "Hey, was this Sam's girlfriend? She's pretty." Grissom peered over his shoulder to look at the photo.
"Yeah. That... that's Michelle," Danny said quietly. He stood up, then yelped in pain and grabbed his chest as he did so.
"Bloody hell. We've got to get you over to that new building and lying down. Piper's over there right now, sorting it all out," Grissom said, as he and Grimm helped to steady Danny.
"Right..." Danny said through gritted teeth. He rubbed his chest with his good arm.
"That vampire put you through some rough shit, hey?" Grissom said. Danny just nodded.
"And you killed him," Grimm said.
Grissom laughed out loud. "Yeah! You could barely stand up straight, and you killed the bastard!" Grissom exclaimed.
"We figured poison..." Grimm added. Danny nodded.
"Couldn't stab him with a poison or anything. His hide was too tough... so I introduced a poison into my bloodstream, and let him bite me..." Danny said.
"Crazy blighter..." Grissom said, and laughed out loud again. "How'd you know you wouldn't die?"
Danny looked his teammate in the eye. "I didn't," he said. "I just had to hope the poison would kick in before he killed me."
Danny shrugged off their help and attempted to stand on his own two feet. "And now... I have somewhere else to be," he said.
"Bullshit. You need to get some rest. You can barely walk."
"I made a promise," Danny replied.
Several minutes later, Danny was standing outside one of the island's apartment buildings. Amazingly enough, aside from a few broken windows and all the balcony gardens, the building had survived the storm. Danny pressed the button labeled 2B and cleared his throat.
"Hello?" came the voice through the intercom.
"Rachel... it's Danny."
"Hi, Danny."
"You wanted me to meet you here. For lunch. You said, when I woke up at the hostel..."
"I remember. Come in."
At the buzzing sound, Danny pushed open the door. Moments later, he was standing at her door. He knocked, and Rachel Johnson opened it. He stepped in, and she closed the door shut behind him.
"Uh... hi," he said.
"Hi," she replied. They stood in silence.
"Back... at the cave. You... survived... a bite from that thing, that vampire, or whatever it was."
"Yeah..."
"And it... it called you a meta."
Danny nodded.
"You're... are you...?"
He nodded again. "It's a long story," he said.
"I want you to tell me," she said. "I know we don't know each other that well, and you probably don't really owe me anything, but--"
"I think I should. Tell you, I mean. The whole story," Danny said.
And he did.