When Darkness Part Six

***author's notes***

In stories (slash and het) you very rarely see a "morning after" scene in which the characters are anything but cuddly and content. Sometimes you come across an angst scene that is all, "What, in God's name, have I done???" Not that there is anything wrong with either of those scenarios (I happen to be a sucker for reading both!), but I am rather proud to say that this next chapter doesn't really fit into either of those categories. In my opinion, it blends a certain amount of cute snuggle action with a nice dose of reality. Hope you enjoy it.

DARREN'S POV

It was warm�very warm. Very toasty, smothery warm--much more so than I was used to being upon waking. As usual when awakening, I was confused for a moment, lost in the groggy in-between stage of asleep and alert. Coming back to full consciousness, I realized that I was lying tangled in the bed sheets with a solid mass lying half-draped over me, radiating heat. With a smile, I reached over to prod the sleeping lump that was Danny and listened to him make a disgruntled noise as he shifted in his sleep. He murmured something that sounded suspiciously like my name, then rolled over to burrow down beside me rather than on top of me. I sighed at the new freedom and moved to stretch out languidly.

My sigh turned into a brief hiss of pain as old injuries and new aches made themselves known. Though mentally I had no qualms about what had transpired last night (I was reveling in it actually!), physically�that was another story entirely. Muscles I wasn't even aware I possessed were cramped, and though Daniel had been so very gentle in his ministrations I was still sore beyond belief.

But in the scheme of things, those pains were tolerable and hardly seemed worth thinking on in comparison to the pleasure I had gotten out of the night before. No, those pains I could handle, but my shoulder--which had only yesterday been dislocated and popped back into socket by a man with all the tenderness of an ox--was now stiff and throbbing with every slight motion that I made.

As for my head--well�head injuries and late night exertion don't mix well come the next morning. It felt as if Karl had set up his drum kit just behind my eyes and was practicing drum lines with the all enthusiasm he was known for. I seriously wished that he would stop--the bass drum feeling reverberating through my skull was something that I could very well have lived without. And I had the niggling feeling that it would turn into a migraine of epic proportions.

I ended my mental cataloguing of aches and pains, and attempted to slowly stretch out once more as a last-ditch effort to alleviate some of the pain in my cramping muscles. No dice. As soon as I so much as moved an inch, my body started screaming in renewed protest. I hissed rather loudly at the discomfort and my movements jerked to a halt�

�Which disturbed my slumbering bedmate. Daniel shifted beside me then moved to snuggle up against my body. All thoughts of pain were forgotten as his bare skin brushed mine. An arm draped itself over my chest, his fingers rubbing in lazy circles. I smiled when I felt him resting his cheek on my shoulder--the sound one, not the hurt one-- and his warm breath ghosted across my skin causing chill bumps to rise.

A sleepy Danny, it seemed, was a very cuddly thing. Soft lips smoothed over my skin in a drowsy kiss which was followed by a muttered, "Mmmph�Daz?"

A sleepy Danny was also a very cute sounding thing.

"Hmmm?" I returned, just as lazily.

"You 'wake?"

The grin on my face grew wider. "It seems so," I replied, leaning down a bit to nuzzle my face against his head. Pressing a kiss into the tangled mess of his hair I continued, "The same can't really be said of you though, now can it?"

Daniel laughed, the sound deeper and more throaty than usual, heavy with sleep and disuse. Then he shifted against me again, his arm sliding across my torso to wrap securely around me. With a contented sigh he pulled me to him in what was intended to be an easy embrace. Unable to stop myself, I cried out at the unexpected movement as my body yelled in agony.

Beside me Daniel went rigid, and when he spoke again his voice was completely alert--as if he had been shocked into full wakefulness.

"Darren?" he demanded.

I moved my head to the side so he couldn't peer into my face, and bit my lip as the pain faded back into a hollow aching.

"Darren, what's wrong?" Daniel's voice was edged with worry. He let go of my side, but his arm remained across my chest, muscles tensed. "Tell me."

I opened my mouth to deny that anything was wrong, but I was cut off by a muted growl and a gentle hand turning my face. "Darren," he repeated. "Tell me what's wrong."

Not being able to fight him and the pain off at the same time, I gave in. "I hurt�"

"What hurts?"

Stupid question, that one.

With eyes clamped shut and gritted teeth I forced out the word, "Everything."

Daniel's gentle hands wiped moisture away from my cheeks; tears�I didn�t even realize that I was crying. "What hurts you the most, love? What can I do to help you?"

Okay, that was an easy question--the headache had gotten much worse. "Head�" I muttered trying to bury myself in the mattress and pillows in order to find some relief. "My head."

"Oh, Darren," Daniel sighed. "What can I�Painkillers! Didn't your doctor give you some sort of pain pills yesterday? Now where in the hell did Leonie put�" his voice trailed off as I felt his weight leave the bed, and then heard him quickly travel over to the other side of the room. One of the lamps in the room was turned on, judging by the small "snick" that was made. This was followed by the sounds of papers rustling and several objects hitting the floor with muffled thuds. The entire time Daniel was muttering to himself, "Where are they? Where�?"

Under normal circumstances I would have found the entire situation rather humorous, what with Daniel running about like a mad man whilst talking to himself, but as it was, I was a bit too distracted to pay him much mind. His footsteps retreated into the bathroom and I could hear the clicking of the light switch being flipped. Finally, Daniel's voice rang out with a triumphant, "Aha!" and he walked back into the room rattling the bottle of pain medicine. Seconds later, those gentle hands were propping me up against his warm (still naked) body. "Darren, here. Take this." A pill was pressed into my palm; I popped it into my mouth without hesitation. Then a glass was placed in my hand; I took that, too, and downed its contents greedily.

With a gasp, I tore myself away from the water glass and sat back breathing heavily. The glass was immediately removed from my lax grip and set down on a nearby surface with a dull clunking sound. Then Daniel was moving me to recline against him.

"Settle back, Daz�just relax and let the meds work." Daniel's wonderful hands began soothing my tense back, muscles un-knotting under the magic of his fingers. His touch brushed lightly over my injured shoulder and, unbidden, another hiss escaped my mouth. He kissed my neck in silent apology then said, "That shoulder is pretty well-bruised�it looks rather bad."

"Thank you," I muttered. "I wanted to hear that�really."

He ignored me. "I think I might have some salve or something that could make you feel better."

That piqued my interest--feeling better was quite high up on my "To Do" list at the moment. "Have you, now?"

"Yeah�shall I get it then?"

I nodded then cringed. "T'would be lovely, I think�really lovely."

I sat up a little and with a parting squeeze on my good shoulder, Daniel was up off of the bed again and back into the bathroom. After many moments of rummaging around he returned to slide back into his position behind me. The muffled sound of plastic scraping against plastic was followed by a familiar scent wafting into the air.

"That smells like�tea tree oil and eucalyptus!" I stated in surprise after sniffing a bit, wrinkling my nose in distaste.

Daniel chuckled. "Yeah, it�s a home remedy--don�t knock it until you've tried it!"

A moment later I jumped forward in shock as a gelatinous glob of smelly salve was smeared over my injured shoulder. "God! That shit's cold!" I cursed, squirming in an attempt to get away from the hand that was spreading the mess liberally over my back.

"It'll get better," Daniel assured me, pulling me back within range. "Now sit still!"

I did as I was told and let him gently massage the fragrant muck into my bruises. As the salve was worked into my skin, it grew warmer and soothing. Soon I couldn't even feel the pain, only the sensation of the massage remained. The combination of the stroking and the medicine soon had me relaxing to the point of bonelessness, practically melting backwards into Daniel. Ah�that was nice�

"Better?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.

"Mmmhmmmm�" I just about purred in return.

Things got heavily silent for a few moments before Daniel spoke up again. "Darren?"

"Yeah?" Sentences with more than one word were suddenly too complicated to be bothered with.

"Your pain," he began quietly. "Is it�my fault? You know, because of�well, last night?"

That got my attention. "Of course not!" I exclaimed, feeling a bit of energy creeping back in to color my words. "Why would you ever think such a thing?"

Daniel paused a moment before answering. "Because you were already hurt." His voice simmered with guilt. "I just came to the conclusion that all of our�extra activity might have added to it, hurt you even more."

Oh, lord� "No. Never!" I turned my head so he could see the earnestness written on my face, even if there was nothing to be read in my eyes. "You didn't hurt me, not in any monumental way at least. I'm only a little sore, but if anything, you make the rest of the pain go away."

He seemed hesitant to believe me. "If you're certain."

I shook my head. "Danny, I'm more than certain. Trust me on this, okay?"

He rested his head against mine and nodded in affirmation so that I could feel it. "Okay," he said at last, sounding more sure of himself than he had before.

"Good," I replied, then shifted to settle back more comfortably against him. Now that was squared away, there was only one other thing that I cared about at the moment. My energy gone again, I yawned and groggily muttered, "What time's it?"

"Too damned early to be awake," was the reply.

"Daaaaaannnny!" I wailed in frustration, but without any real heat behind it. Teasing me wasn�t nice�even if it did make him feel better.

"Okay, okay," he laughed. "It's�a quarter after six."

"In the morning?" I deadpanned.

"Unbelievable, I know. We have to be up in a couple of hours anyway to see the others off, but you may as well go back to sleep for the time being."

That suggestion earned him a half-snort from me. "That seems to be all I have done for the last two days," I replied. "There are so many painkillers and other pharmaceuticals running through my system that I no longer know what it feels like to sleep normally."

"I'm guessing that's a 'no' to going back to sleep, then?"

"I don�t want to�"

"But you're tired," Daniel protested.

"No�I'm drugged. There's a difference."

Daniel's sigh gusted past my ear. "What do you have in mind to do instead?"

I drew in a deep breath as I took a moment to think on it. My thoughts were rather fuzzy, but soon a clear idea emerged. "Well�" I began at length. "What would you say to a nice, relaxing bath--as you and I both happen to be in appropriate bathing attire at the moment. Then I was thinking we could follow that up with a nice breakfast in here, just the two of us. Once we've finished with that it should be just about time to meet the up with the rest of the troupe, yes?"

"That sounds like a plan," Daniel agreed. "If you feel up to it. Are you sure you wouldn't rather rest?"

I waved that idea off, tired as I was. "I can sleep the rest of the day away, if I so wish," was my reply. "But I can't think of a nicer, more comfortable way to start the morning. Can you?"

He gave a half-laugh in return. "No, I suppose I can't."

I smiled, reaching back to wrap my good arm around Daniel's neck and knead at the muscles my hand encountered. "Besides," I continued, letting him hear the smile in my voice. "I promise I'll take it easy--no water aerobics or anything of the sort. Just you, me, a tub full of warm water and bubbles, and a sponge�how does that strike your fancy?"

Daniel leaned forward and kissed along my neck before stopping. "Lovely," he replied whispering into my ear. He placed one more kiss in the little hollow behind my ear before de-tangling himself from me and sliding out of the bed. "I'll go run us that bath�" he stated, voice low and bordering on sultry, causing me to shiver at the sound.

Oh�I couldn't wait�

TBC