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FIC: WaT - At First Glance - Martin/Danny - 4/5
Part 4 of my AU Martin/Danny.
Read these first or you might be a little lost:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
I don’t think the Danny in my head likes me. His sections always seem to end up so much shorter than Martin’s.
Feedback is always welcome.
SERIES: At First Glance
SHOW: Without A Trace
RATING: PG (for language)
PAIRING: Danny/Martin
Author: Melanie
DISCLAIMER: Jerry Bruckheimer, Warner Bros. and CBS own everybody. I own nothing at all.
At First Glance – Part 4
Danny had never expended this much energy on someone before. He’d never had to; normally people (men and women alike) fell over themselves to spend time with him. He certainly had never had to go searching for them when they didn’t show up where they were supposed to be.
And the thing was that he couldn’t say that he was expending all the energy because the sex was good… because they hadn’t even gotten that far yet.
Sometimes he didn’t think they would. Because really how interested could Martin be if it took two weeks for him to finally call Danny for a second date?
But he was. He had to be.
Because their second date had ended while Danny had been sleeping and no one else had ever tucked a blanket around him, done up a weeks worth of dishes and cleaned his counters and table. He’d even fanned out the magazines on the end table and he couldn’t be sure but he thought that he’d maybe started alphabetizing his bookcase so Martin had to be interested on some level because those were killing time because he didn’t want to go home moves.
They hadn’t seen each other again immediately after that, but they’d talked every night (except for Thursday… he’d been out of town on a case, although he had actually dialed the phone, he’d hung up because he couldn’t decide if they’d actually known each other long enough that he could call while out of town. That was a boyfriend thing and while he wasn’t sure where they stood he didn’t think they’d gotten there, yet.)
Then there was Friday, and their third date and if he hadn’t listened to Jessie’s speech about how Martin could get so caught up in what he was working on that he’d forget the world went on around him he would have thought he’d been stood up.
But he’d remembered, sighed and went to drag Martin out of his office. He’d heard the palm pilot beeping as soon as he’d walked in, an annoying tweeting sound and it would figure that Martin would have an alarm that made him want to kill something, Martin probably because they’d definitely missed their reservations. He’d glanced around the office and swore he’d apologize if it wasn’t Martins palm pilot making that annoying sound.
Only to find Martin’s palm pilot in the drawer, merrily beeping away and he was momentarily gratified to see the message (MEET DANNY AT 6:45!! DINNER) because that meant that Martin hadn’t meant to stand him up.
He’d walked into Martin’s office, turning the alarm off and found Martin bent over his desk absorbed in whatever he was working on.
Some day he wanted Martin to be that absorbed in him.
Their third date was at Martin’s. Sitting on a couch, watching TV, eating Thai food and trying to ignore the sexual tension that continued to build between them.
Sexual tension that he didn’t think Martin was as oblivious to as he’d originally thought, because he’d caught Martin staring at him three times and he’d blushed every time.
Danny hadn’t thought grown men could still do that, he certainly hadn’t thought he’d find it so adorable and want to lick Martin’s bright red ears.
Hadn’t anybody ever made a pass or something at him?
Their third date was the landmark date because it was also their first kiss.
Tentative, gentle, Danny had definitely not wanted to leave after that.
He’d wanted to curl up with Martin on the couch.
He wanted to cuddle under the afghan that Martin had flushed and told him his aunt had made for him and kiss the night away. And it was saying something that his first thought hadn’t been to get Martin naked as soon as possible. He still wanted that, but maybe it was worth it to take things slow.
Especially since if he screwed this up there was every chance that Jessie would make his life a living hell. Not to mention Martin’s father, who Danny had met twice and while he hadn’t been scared of him he didn’t think that he was a man that he wanted to piss off.
Papa bear could be just as vicious as Mama bear in protecting his offspring. And since Mama bear was dead all the protecting fell to Papa bear in this instance.
He didn’t think Victor Fitzgerald disapproved of him… not as agent at least, as the man dating his son well he supposed they’d see. And he knew that nothing happened within their office that Victor didn’t know about immediately so there was no way in hell that Victor didn’t know that he was seeing Martin.
Since he hadn’t been reassigned to Alaska or someplace equally horrible he figured Victor had to approve of him on some level. Because he was still in the same city as Martin after all and if Victor hadn’t liked Danny to some extent than he had no doubt that Victor would have hired movers to get him out of the city.
It was what Danny would have done if he’d been in Victor’s shoes after all.
******************************************************************************
Monday morning found Vivian and Sam already at their desks and Danny smiling widely at them as he entered the work area.
“Good morning,” he knew his voice was bright and cheerful and even as he sat at his desk his back to them, sipping at the coffee that he’d met Martin for before coming into work, he knew they were staring at him.
He waited to see which would approach him first, he’d put even money on Sam but every so often they threw him for a loop and sent Vivian or god forbid (and he barely repressed that shudder) Jack once.
A glance over as Sam perched on the side of his desk, her face open and inviting begging him to share his secrets with her so she could share them with the rest of the office.
“Morning Sam,” he grinned at her.
“Danny,” Sam cocked her head studying him with an expression that he couldn’t place. Sort of like worry but not really and he wondered if something had happened to somebody. He’d just left Martin (no kiss in public because he’d done that Sunday night and he’d thought Martin was going to burst into flames he’d turned so red) at the entrance to the building.
“Sam…”
“Danny, good you’re here,” Jack’s voice sounding slightly annoyed and Danny wondered what was going on. He wasn’t late (he surreptitiously checked his watch to make sure) no he was early for the first time in four months by ten minutes and he blamed that totally on Martin.
“Morning Jack,” he turned and wondered if he was still smiling, he didn’t think so because standing directly behind Jack was Victor Fitzgerald with a stern expression on his face and that was enough to totally ruin his day.
Martin could have at least warned him.
******************************************************************************
Danny fought the urge to fidget on the sofa in Jack’s office. He felt like a fucking teenager again, sitting uncomfortably in the Principals office awaiting his punishment for some prank he’d pulled.
He wondered if Martin had ever had to go the Principals office, he wondered if Martin had gone to a school where they had Principals.
At least Victor looked just as uncomfortable as he felt and that made him a feel a little better.
They’d been sitting; Danny on the sofa, Victor behind Jack’s desk for five minutes just staring at each other and Danny wondered if Martin’s father had come to New York just to stare at him.
Victor cleared his throat and Danny arched a brow expectantly. Here they went. But Victor just linked his hands together on Jack’s desk and remained silent. Danny wondered if he was supposed to go first.
“You’re not what I expected,” Victor finally said and Danny looked at him with surprise. “Jessie told me a little about you when she told me she’d arranged the blind date with Martin and I did some research on my own.”
Danny buried the snort, because of course he had. Victor had probably had an entire department devoted just to unburying the secrets of Danny Taylor and he wondered if this was when he was going to be offered a check to walk away from Martin. He didn’t think they had known each other long enough where buying him off would even be necessary on Victor’s part. All Victor would have to do would be express disapproval and Martin would probably end it.
“My son has been through a lot in the last year,” Victor was going on and Danny forced himself to pay attention. “I don’t want to see him go through that again.”
“Mr. Fitzgerald…” Danny began, Victor held up a hand and Danny subsided. Hands’ resting on his knees and his back was starting to hurt from sitting so straight.
“If I’d had a choice you’re definitely not who I would have chosen for my son,” Danny almost felt sorry for the man, even though he really had no idea what he was trying to say.
“I promised Martin years ago that I wouldn’t interfere in his relationships,” there was almost a roll of the eyes and Danny somehow knew that Victor had been tricked or manipulated into making that promise.
“Then why…?” are you here? Danny finished silently. Because Victor may have promised Martin to not interfere but that didn’t mean that he actually didn’t interfere. He was here, in New York after all, talking to Danny and that was definitely interfering.
Especially since he was almost positive that Martin had no clue that his father was even in the city.
“My son is an excellent judge of character,” Victor eyed him and Danny had the sudden realization that this whole meeting had been a test of some sort. What kind he wasn’t sure, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. But Victor was smiling at him now so obviously whatever the test had been he'd passed, although Danny still had no idea what the questions had been or if there was going to be an essay question before he left.
“Don’t make me regret not interfering this time.”
******************************************************************************
Read these first or you might be a little lost:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
I don’t think the Danny in my head likes me. His sections always seem to end up so much shorter than Martin’s.
Feedback is always welcome.
SERIES: At First Glance
SHOW: Without A Trace
RATING: PG (for language)
PAIRING: Danny/Martin
Author: Melanie
DISCLAIMER: Jerry Bruckheimer, Warner Bros. and CBS own everybody. I own nothing at all.
At First Glance – Part 4
Danny had never expended this much energy on someone before. He’d never had to; normally people (men and women alike) fell over themselves to spend time with him. He certainly had never had to go searching for them when they didn’t show up where they were supposed to be.
And the thing was that he couldn’t say that he was expending all the energy because the sex was good… because they hadn’t even gotten that far yet.
Sometimes he didn’t think they would. Because really how interested could Martin be if it took two weeks for him to finally call Danny for a second date?
But he was. He had to be.
Because their second date had ended while Danny had been sleeping and no one else had ever tucked a blanket around him, done up a weeks worth of dishes and cleaned his counters and table. He’d even fanned out the magazines on the end table and he couldn’t be sure but he thought that he’d maybe started alphabetizing his bookcase so Martin had to be interested on some level because those were killing time because he didn’t want to go home moves.
They hadn’t seen each other again immediately after that, but they’d talked every night (except for Thursday… he’d been out of town on a case, although he had actually dialed the phone, he’d hung up because he couldn’t decide if they’d actually known each other long enough that he could call while out of town. That was a boyfriend thing and while he wasn’t sure where they stood he didn’t think they’d gotten there, yet.)
Then there was Friday, and their third date and if he hadn’t listened to Jessie’s speech about how Martin could get so caught up in what he was working on that he’d forget the world went on around him he would have thought he’d been stood up.
But he’d remembered, sighed and went to drag Martin out of his office. He’d heard the palm pilot beeping as soon as he’d walked in, an annoying tweeting sound and it would figure that Martin would have an alarm that made him want to kill something, Martin probably because they’d definitely missed their reservations. He’d glanced around the office and swore he’d apologize if it wasn’t Martins palm pilot making that annoying sound.
Only to find Martin’s palm pilot in the drawer, merrily beeping away and he was momentarily gratified to see the message (MEET DANNY AT 6:45!! DINNER) because that meant that Martin hadn’t meant to stand him up.
He’d walked into Martin’s office, turning the alarm off and found Martin bent over his desk absorbed in whatever he was working on.
Some day he wanted Martin to be that absorbed in him.
Their third date was at Martin’s. Sitting on a couch, watching TV, eating Thai food and trying to ignore the sexual tension that continued to build between them.
Sexual tension that he didn’t think Martin was as oblivious to as he’d originally thought, because he’d caught Martin staring at him three times and he’d blushed every time.
Danny hadn’t thought grown men could still do that, he certainly hadn’t thought he’d find it so adorable and want to lick Martin’s bright red ears.
Hadn’t anybody ever made a pass or something at him?
Their third date was the landmark date because it was also their first kiss.
Tentative, gentle, Danny had definitely not wanted to leave after that.
He’d wanted to curl up with Martin on the couch.
He wanted to cuddle under the afghan that Martin had flushed and told him his aunt had made for him and kiss the night away. And it was saying something that his first thought hadn’t been to get Martin naked as soon as possible. He still wanted that, but maybe it was worth it to take things slow.
Especially since if he screwed this up there was every chance that Jessie would make his life a living hell. Not to mention Martin’s father, who Danny had met twice and while he hadn’t been scared of him he didn’t think that he was a man that he wanted to piss off.
Papa bear could be just as vicious as Mama bear in protecting his offspring. And since Mama bear was dead all the protecting fell to Papa bear in this instance.
He didn’t think Victor Fitzgerald disapproved of him… not as agent at least, as the man dating his son well he supposed they’d see. And he knew that nothing happened within their office that Victor didn’t know about immediately so there was no way in hell that Victor didn’t know that he was seeing Martin.
Since he hadn’t been reassigned to Alaska or someplace equally horrible he figured Victor had to approve of him on some level. Because he was still in the same city as Martin after all and if Victor hadn’t liked Danny to some extent than he had no doubt that Victor would have hired movers to get him out of the city.
It was what Danny would have done if he’d been in Victor’s shoes after all.
Monday morning found Vivian and Sam already at their desks and Danny smiling widely at them as he entered the work area.
“Good morning,” he knew his voice was bright and cheerful and even as he sat at his desk his back to them, sipping at the coffee that he’d met Martin for before coming into work, he knew they were staring at him.
He waited to see which would approach him first, he’d put even money on Sam but every so often they threw him for a loop and sent Vivian or god forbid (and he barely repressed that shudder) Jack once.
A glance over as Sam perched on the side of his desk, her face open and inviting begging him to share his secrets with her so she could share them with the rest of the office.
“Morning Sam,” he grinned at her.
“Danny,” Sam cocked her head studying him with an expression that he couldn’t place. Sort of like worry but not really and he wondered if something had happened to somebody. He’d just left Martin (no kiss in public because he’d done that Sunday night and he’d thought Martin was going to burst into flames he’d turned so red) at the entrance to the building.
“Sam…”
“Danny, good you’re here,” Jack’s voice sounding slightly annoyed and Danny wondered what was going on. He wasn’t late (he surreptitiously checked his watch to make sure) no he was early for the first time in four months by ten minutes and he blamed that totally on Martin.
“Morning Jack,” he turned and wondered if he was still smiling, he didn’t think so because standing directly behind Jack was Victor Fitzgerald with a stern expression on his face and that was enough to totally ruin his day.
Martin could have at least warned him.
Danny fought the urge to fidget on the sofa in Jack’s office. He felt like a fucking teenager again, sitting uncomfortably in the Principals office awaiting his punishment for some prank he’d pulled.
He wondered if Martin had ever had to go the Principals office, he wondered if Martin had gone to a school where they had Principals.
At least Victor looked just as uncomfortable as he felt and that made him a feel a little better.
They’d been sitting; Danny on the sofa, Victor behind Jack’s desk for five minutes just staring at each other and Danny wondered if Martin’s father had come to New York just to stare at him.
Victor cleared his throat and Danny arched a brow expectantly. Here they went. But Victor just linked his hands together on Jack’s desk and remained silent. Danny wondered if he was supposed to go first.
“You’re not what I expected,” Victor finally said and Danny looked at him with surprise. “Jessie told me a little about you when she told me she’d arranged the blind date with Martin and I did some research on my own.”
Danny buried the snort, because of course he had. Victor had probably had an entire department devoted just to unburying the secrets of Danny Taylor and he wondered if this was when he was going to be offered a check to walk away from Martin. He didn’t think they had known each other long enough where buying him off would even be necessary on Victor’s part. All Victor would have to do would be express disapproval and Martin would probably end it.
“My son has been through a lot in the last year,” Victor was going on and Danny forced himself to pay attention. “I don’t want to see him go through that again.”
“Mr. Fitzgerald…” Danny began, Victor held up a hand and Danny subsided. Hands’ resting on his knees and his back was starting to hurt from sitting so straight.
“If I’d had a choice you’re definitely not who I would have chosen for my son,” Danny almost felt sorry for the man, even though he really had no idea what he was trying to say.
“I promised Martin years ago that I wouldn’t interfere in his relationships,” there was almost a roll of the eyes and Danny somehow knew that Victor had been tricked or manipulated into making that promise.
“Then why…?” are you here? Danny finished silently. Because Victor may have promised Martin to not interfere but that didn’t mean that he actually didn’t interfere. He was here, in New York after all, talking to Danny and that was definitely interfering.
Especially since he was almost positive that Martin had no clue that his father was even in the city.
“My son is an excellent judge of character,” Victor eyed him and Danny had the sudden realization that this whole meeting had been a test of some sort. What kind he wasn’t sure, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. But Victor was smiling at him now so obviously whatever the test had been he'd passed, although Danny still had no idea what the questions had been or if there was going to be an essay question before he left.
“Don’t make me regret not interfering this time.”
no subject
Seriously though, words can't express how much I love this AU. It's cute and sweet and so much fun to read. In case I haven't thanked you for writing it, thank you. Cause yeah, just lovely.
no subject
I hate that, y'know ;)
OTOH, what you've conveyed here really fits in with the story. Compact in that it can be seen as part of Danny's character. While he's wondering just what the hell is going on with Martin, he's still confident enough in himself not to brood too much.
Also, he endured The Parent Appraisal quite well. Heh. Enjoyed that much!
Because their second date had ended while Danny had been sleeping and no one else had ever tucked a blanket around him, done up a weeks worth of dishes and cleaned his counters and table. He’d even fanned out the magazines on the end table and he couldn’t be sure but he thought that he’d maybe started alphabetizing his bookcase so Martin had to be interested on some level because those were killing time because he didn’t want to go home moves.
I really enjoyed this paragraph a lot. Can't tell you precisely why, but... I just did. Wow.
Cheers --