Full Circle
Part 2
By Erin
Danny didn't know I was coming.
That much is obvious the moment I walk in the room.
His head snaps up and something flickers in his eyes for too brief a moment for me to tell exactly what it is. Shock? Anger? Happiness to see me? I don't know. His cold, detached mask falls again.
Carmen isn't surprised to see me. She's angry and is glaring at me, but there's no surprise on her face. Just hate. I fell about two inches tall.
There was a time when Carmen's evil eye didn't scare me. Once upon a time, I had Danny at my side, ready to leap to my rescue.
Now my "knight" sits in one of the two leather chairs opposite Ben's desk, not meeting my eyes and affecting an air of utter boredom.
Ben sneers, "My, what a lovely family portrait this makes."
I glare at him. Jerk. He kept my arrival a secret from Danny on purpose. I'm his "wild card." I should have seen it coming.
Ben notices my glare and his smile widens. "I think Mrs. Santos should have a seat," he says and points to the leather chair beside Danny.
Danny thaws a bit and sits up straighter. "No, I don't think Miss Bauer should have a seat." he says harshly.
Miss Bauer.
God, that hurts.
"In fact," Danny says, anger rising in his voice, "I think you should tell me just what the hell is going on, Warren."
Ben takes my arm and forcibly leads me to the chair. He all but shoves me into the seat as he says, "Daniel Santos, meet your Get Out Of Jail Free card."
For the first time, Danny actually looks right at me. He gives me a lingering perusal before looking back at Ben and saying, "Ok, so you got her all dressed up and polished and perfect. Why, so the jury will be impressed by my pristine Bauer bride?"
My hand itches with wanting to smack that smug look off his face and my throat aches with wanting to scream, "This isn't you, Danny! Why are you doing this?"
But I don't.
I sit quietly in my chair and twist my wedding band around my finger.
Ben chuckles as he sits down behind his desk. "You just hit the nail on the head, my boy. Juries love nothing more than a stable family man. And while you are a ....family man, it's not the kind of family a jury wants to see. But a nice young man with a loving, new bride by his side..."
Danny lets out a hollow laugh and rubs his eyes. "So I'm back to pretending she's my wife?"
She. Not Michelle. Not the hated Miss Bauer.
She.
Danny correctly assumes Ben's silence to be an affirmative and swivels to face his mother. "Did you know about this?"
Carmen fixes me with another glittering stare and grinds out. "Yes. Unfortunately, it's the only way."
Danny then turns eyes as black and cold as onyx on me. "Why the hell would you agree to this?"
"I...I just wanted to help you, Danny."
I hate how meek I sound.
"With Michelle here by your side, Danny, how can the jury not acquit?" Ben asks.
Danny throws up his hands and rises from his chair. "I don't believe this!" he cries.
Danny swings back to face me. "Just when I thought I was rid of you-"
"Rid of me?" I cry out, tears of anger and hurt dangerously close to the surface. "Danny, how could you say-"
"Children, children!" Ben says, coming from around his desk to put his arms around mine and Danny's shoulders. "Let's not argue, shall we? After all, you two are newlyweds. Now kiss and make up."
I doubt Ben is an easily cowed man, but the look Danny gives him makes him release us and take a step back.
"Ok, ok." he says, holding up both hands. "So no one's exactly happy right now. But the two of you had better get over this real fast. We leave for Chicago in the morning."
"Chicago?" I ask, confused.
Danny answers me without looking my way. "Yeah. Ben requested a change of venue, so the trial's going to be in Chicago."
"That's right." Ben says as he helps Carmen, who seems to be ignoring all of us, into her coat.
"So I suggest the both of you make nice. I'm not paying for a trashed hotel room because of some lovers' spat, understand?"
"Hotel room?" My voice is little more than a squeak.
Ben leeringly replies, "Of course. How can you two be the happy couple you're supposed to play if you sleep in separate rooms?"
My head is spinning now.
"You spent two months in the same bedroom with Danny." I silently lecture myself. "You can do it again. Nothing's changed."
But I watch his long fingers button up his coat and know that things have changed.
Have they ever.
"Shouldn't...shouldn't he-" two can play the no name game - " be in jail?" I finally sputter.
"Ever heard of a little thing called bail, my love?" Danny sneers, making the endearment sound like a curse.
I turn to him with anger filled eyes and in a voice dripping with false sweetness say, "Oh, that's right, I forgot. The Santos family just buys anything it wants and if money won't work, hell, you just take it, isn't that right, darling?"
Danny looks at me with murder in his eyes and I'm glad.
I want him to be mad at me. Anything's better than the Arctic stranger he's been lately.
"I'm not too thrilled about this either, Michelle." Danny says between his teeth. "I'd gotten used to actually sleeping in a bed."
Ben chortles at that comment and opens the door for Carmen who is now watching her son and I with interest.
"We'll let you lovebirds have some privacy." Ben says with a wink. "Maybe if Carmen and I leave before you, we can distract the reporters."
"Reporters?" God, I'm beginning to sound like a broken record.
Questions, questions, questions.
"That's right, Michelle." Danny says with another cold little smile. "You're part of a big news story now. Exciting isn't it?"
Fury roars through me and I spit out, "Go to hell, Danny."
Ben laughs again as he escorts Carmen out. I think I hear him mutter, "Ah, young love," as the door shuts.
Danny and I stand in silence for a long while.
Finally, he says, "Well, it looks like were right back where we started. Faking it yet again."
Does he know how much he's hurting me? Does he care?
When I don't rise to his taunt, he sighs and opens the door for me. "After you, my wife." he says with an exaggerated bow.
I give him another "drop dead" look as I stride out into the hall.
"I thought we were going to wait for the press circus to die down." I say as we make our way down the long corridor out of Ben's office building.
"Oh no." Danny says shaking his head. "I want you to see exactly what you're getting yourself into."
I open my mouth to fire something back at him, but he surprises me by slipping an arm around my waist, his hand resting on my hip.
I instinctively sway towards him.
Damn him for this pull he has on me.
I grab the back of his jacket to keep from tipping over and he looks down at me and smile.
"Nice. Maybe they'll actually buy this devoted wife act."
I grind my heel into the top of his foot just as he opens the door to the barrage of reporters. He winces, but manages to shake off a limp. "You'll pay for that." he mutters through a smile as flashbulbs go off in every direction and reporters nearly kill one another to get close to us.
I watch him as he gives short answers to all their questions.
I really hate him like this.
This is the Danny I first met.
Cold, slick, unflappable, unfeeling.
This isn't the man that I was falling in love with.
I wonder yet again if this wasn't a mistake.
Suddenly, a reporter calls out to me. "Mrs. Santos, what are your feelings on all of this?"
Danny ignores the man and tries to steer me towards the waiting limo, but I hold my ground. Giving my best smile, I look directly into the cameras and say, "I have no doubt my husband is an innocent man. I plan to stand by him during this trial and I will be the first one by him when he's found not guilty."
With that, I turn, look adoringly up at Danny, and lay a soft kiss on his lips.
The photographers love it. Seemingly hundreds of flashes go off.
Danny's eyes grow very dark and something unreadable is in them.
He turns to the reporters, gives a fake smile and says, "Well, you couldn't ask for more than that, huh boys?"
The reporters all kind of laugh and Danny opens the car door for me.
I slide in a breath a sigh of relief when he shuts the door on the chaos outside.
"Not bad." I say, sliding off my shoes. "Not bad at all."
"It'll get worse." he says, staring out the window.
I begin pulling off my suit jacket. "I can handle it."
Danny snorts. "We'll see."
"Fine. Be pessimistic. It's your ass on the line." I shoot back as I take my hair down.
"I'm not being pessi-"
I look up from my task of untucking my blouse to find Danny staring at me.
"What?" I ask and I know I sound belligerent.
"What-what are you doing?" he asks in a strangled voice.
I sigh again and lean my head back against the plush cushions of the seat. "Danny, it's an hour's drive back to your house. I'm just getting comfortable, ok?"
He doesn't answer.
I open my eyes and sit up to find him still watching me.
That's when I see it.
The Danny I married is back.
Desire is shining in his eyes and it seems to be radiating off of him.
His hands, clutched in front of him, are shaking. Everything about him seems to soften and I know that this is my chance. My chance to get my husband back.
I keep my eyes down for a moment, trying to conceal to smile I know is in them.
Slowly, I slide across the seat towards him. "Danny-" I begin in a husky voice.
The mask falls again.
"Look, Michelle," he says in that distant voice that I am really starting to loathe, "I have enough on my mind without dealing with your pathetic seduction attempts, ok?"
"Bastard." I mutter and slide back to my seat.
I stare out the window.
Chicago is going to be hell.