| Flowers for Danny By Kasey Summary: Danny recounts relationships, memories, and endings. My post-ep for La Forza del Destino. It�s from Danny�s PoV. I think that�s about it...oh, the song in here is �The Rose� by Bette Midler. I�ve recently become obsessed with it, and it sounded really perfect for this story I was doing, so, voila! ~*~*~*~ The name brought back a flood of memories and emotions - and a realization. R. W. Rebecca Wells. I dropped the glass I was holding. The sound of shattering didn�t phase me, nor did the concerned and confused look on the face of the woman whose envelope I�d just autographed. I breezed past her to go outside and just stood there, staring up at the building across the street. Our building. The one I shared with Dana and Casey and Jeremy and Natalie and Kim, my non-secretary, and Elliot, who wouldn�t send me flowers...and Rebecca. I was so deep in thought that I didn�t notice it had started raining. Almost as hard as on the night when Oscar Perish was defeated by the Austrian and Dana found religion again and Jeremy fought his girlfriend, the porn star. As I watched, a leaf, still green as though it had been plucked off by a little boy and dropped, floated by in a rivulet of rain water, running down the gaping crack in the sidewalk. Some say love, it is a river That drowns the tender reed. I no longer saw the tiny, trickling stream as water, but as blood in the ghastly image I�d created in mind. Rivers running down the pale white forehead of my love, Rebecca, created by Steve. Some say love, it is a razor That leaves your soul to bleed. I walked slowly across the street to the building and went inside. With it being after 1:30, there was no one there except a few security people and Sally�s crew. I stepped onto the elevator and punched in 37, not knowing the reason why. I just stood there for the longest time, feeling an overwhelming urge to cry. Some say love, it is a hunger, An endless, aching need. Gathering up all my strength, I began to walk toward her office. I stopped just outside of it as I saw a bight red rose lying, half smashed, on the carpeted hallway floor. I picked it up and studied it. She�d probably dropped it, taking the arrangement from her office to me, upstairs. I say love, it is a flower, And you, its only seed. Walking back to the elevator, I rode up 12 more floors to the floor I�d called my home for almost three years. Walking through the newsroom, I could almost see Dana dancing on the table with Casey watching, intrigued, and Natalie and Jeremy making out in the corner, and the rest of the crew dancing like they didn�t have a care in the world. It�s the heart afraid of breaking That never learns to dance. As I passed the office I shared with Casey - which technically wasn�t his office at all, it turned out - I could remember the morning I proved my theory. He was sleeping on the couch in our office. He�d looked so peaceful when he slept, a far cry from the older, sadder, lonelier look divorce and custody battles had brought on. It�s the dream the dream afraid of waking That never takes the chance. The image of Casey sleeping on the couch was replaced by a memory of being punished by Natalie. Standing in our office in our underwear for not sharing information. She prided herself on knowing everything that went on in our office, and she got very angry when someone had information she didn�t have. It�s the one who won�t be taken Who cannot seem to give. My wandering led me to Isaac�s office. I�d taken him for granted before his stroke. I realized that later. I�d just assumed he would always be there, acting like my second father. But the stroke made me see he wasn�t invincible. And neither was I. And the soul afraid of dying That never learns to live. I sat down in my chair at the desk. right next to where she�d told me she was going back to Steve. The studio seemed to be bad luck for relationships. Rebecca and me, Dana and Casey, Jeremy and Natalie in the hallway next to it...And then, inevitably came the task of doing a show when your heart was broken, shattered into a million pieces, followed by the tearful ride home, during which you almost missed your stop because you were hip-deep in pie and agony. When the night has been too lonely, And the road has been too long... I�d broken my promise to her, I realized as I meandered back to my office. I�d sworn to her that I would tear down the wall of pain, with the bricks of pain and the mortar of tears and the third thing we weren�t sure existed. The wall was still standing. She was hiding behind it. She�d hidden when I asked her out 17 times, she�d hidden when I tried to get her to watch the Orioles game, she�d hidden when she�d taken the safer route by going back to Steve, and she�d hidden when she didn�t sign her name, only her initials. ...And you think that love is only For the lucky and the strong... I stood and stared at the large arrangement of flowers on the table. R. W. She was the only one I knew personally who had those initials. And I knew in my heart that it was a sign. A sign to start again trying to sell her. To try and convince her to leave Steve, if she hadn�t already. It was my mission, and I knew I would die before I gave it up. After all, I had to have something to keep me going. And if my show wasn�t there, then it would be Rebecca. Actually, it would be even if the show was there. ...Just remember, in the winter, Far beneath the bitter snows, Lies a seed that, with the sun�s love, In the spring becomes a rose. |