Living Without
Part Twenty-Two
Michelle adjusted herself in the bed to give Danielle some space to sit beside her and her son, who had found his way into her lap. He reclined against Michelle's chest and his little sneaker enclosed feet causally resting at either side of his mother's crossed legs.
Michelle watched Danielle as she stared down into her lap and said nothing.
"Dani, start the stowy," Michael said absent-mindedly, keeping himself busy with the cover of a pen he had nabbed from atop the night stand.
Danielle glanced over at her brother and then up at Michelle before quickly averting her eyes elsewhere.
"So, what about this fairy princess?" Michelle decided to break the ice herself. "Does she have a name?"
"It fay-wee pwincess," Michael replied.
"Her family calls her Fairy," Danielle finally spoke.
"Really?" Michelle remarked, pleased that she was responding. "Where is she from?" she asked and Danielle nonchalantly shrugged. Michelle knew her wall was down again.
"Cwinkle Spwings," Michael again replied.
"It's Crystal Springs, you dummy!"
"Hey! Don't speak to your brother that way," Michelle scolded. "That isn't nice."
"She evil meany!" Michael exclaimed.
"You're just a cry baby!"
"No, me not!" he argued as he wiped at his face to clear the tears that had fallen from his eyes.
"Listen!" Michelle intervened. "The two of you should stop this! She is not an evil meany and he is not a cry baby," she told them respectively.
"Yes, he is," Danielle mumbled under her breath.
"Why are you so mean to your brother?" Michelle asked.
"I'm not mean to him..."
"Uh huh! You evil like bad man and he mommy!"
"No, I'm not!" Danielle screamed. "No, I'm not!" she repeated as tears filled her eyes.
"Sweetie..." Michelle draped her arm around the girl's tiny frame and pulled her close as she began to wipe away her tears. "Baby, he didn't mean it. Mikey, did you mean it?"
"Yes..."
"He doesn't know what he's talking about," Michelle dismissed him as she lifted her daughter's chin so she could look her in the face. "Honey, you're not evil," she tried to comfort her. "Neither one of you are and I don't ever want you believing that. You are a very good, very beautiful young girl who is sweeter than all the different kind of candies combined," she said. "Do you believe that?"
"My daddy says that I'm his princess..." Danielle remarked just above a whisper and Michelle smiled.
"You've always been his princess. That will never change," Michelle told her. "And you need to watch your mouth," she said, now addressing Michael. "You know she's your big sister. No more 'evil meany' stuff. Is that understood?" she asked and the boy slowly nodded. "And you'll stop calling him a baby?" she asked her daughter and with some hesitation, she nodded as well. "Great," Michelle exhaled after a moment.
"Fairy was from Crystal Springs," Danielle took the initiative to start again. "And she had this grande familia who loved her mucho más que otros personas y..."
"Hold it, Speedy Gonzalez," Michelle stopped her. "Did your Daddy tell this whole story in Spanish?"
"Yeah..."
"She lying!" Michael interjected.
"Danielle..."
"She had a really big family who loved her more than anyone else in the world and she..."
"Danielle!" Michelle cut her short and the room went cold. "What is this about?" she asked and then sighed when her daughter remained mute. "Honey, I know you must have a lot of questions about what you overheard earlier, and..." her words held her by the neck as Danielle slid away from her. "I...I just want you to know that it's okay if you do," Michelle continued despite the cracking of her voice. "Don't be afraid to ask me anything. You don't have to tell me your secret story if you don't want to. If your Daddy said for you not to tell a soul, then you shouldn't-"
"Did you used to be my Daddy's girlfriend?" Danielle abruptly asked.
"Um," Michelle paused. "Well, uh...sort of," her voice came out soft and low. "Didn't Danny talk to you about me?"
"No," Danielle simply said.
"What exactly did you hear him say when we were talking earlier?"
"Nothing."
"You must've heard something," Michelle remarked. "You did have a lot to say to him. I don't know a lot of Spanish, but I do know that you were talking about me," she said. "Honey, look. I've told you before that if you have any questions whatsoever about this, do ask me! I won't tell Danny and you won't get in trouble. I'll try my best to tell you what you wish to know," she told her and the room went quiet again. "Dani?"
"I want to go back to my Daddy," she spoke stiffly.
Michelle sighed and shook her head for lack of anything to say and she looked down at her son to find that he had quietly fallen asleep. She laid his body down on the bed and proceeded to unlace his sneakers. She pulled them off and then dropped them to the floor.
"Okay," Michelle agreed as she picked up the phone nearby and punched in four digits. "Gracie? Is Danny there?"
"Nooo!!" Danielle cried and Michelle instantly covered the receiver with her hand.
"What is it?"
"You can't tell Daddy," she replied. "You said you wouldn't tell!"
"I'm only asking him to come get you," Michelle told her. "I'm not letting you go back out there alone. I would take you myself, but I'm not disturbing Michael from his sleep," she said. "Would you rather have your aunt or uncle come for you?" she asked and her daughter shook her head. "Huh? Yeah," Michelle removed her hand from the mouthpiece. "No! No, don't bother. I'm fine. Really, I am. I'll just talk to him in the morning. I did, thank you. I promise, I will. Okay! Good night," she concluded, chuckling as she hung up. "So," her attention returned to Danielle. "Are we having a sleep over?" she asked as she climbed out of bed to pick up all the pillows she had thrown to the floor.
She dropped them to the bed, arranged neatly them, fluffing each one as she placed them in no specific order. She was just about done when she heard her little girl sniffling.
"Sweetheart," she started as she sat down on the bed in front of Danielle. "You don't have to stay here, okay? I'll take you back to the house if that'll make you happy..."
"I wanna go with Mikey," she mumbled.
"Okay. Fine!" Michelle gave up. "Fine. Just wait here. I'll be right back. I'm just going into the next room," she said as she stood from the bed and headed out, pulling the door with her, not fully closing it.
Once alone, she looked heavenward and bit down on her bottom lip that uncontrollably trembled with the sob that threatened to escape from within her, and she immediately covered her mouth to stifle the cry that had made it out. Her tears were quick to follow and she held onto the sofa to keep herself from falling as she silently cried.
Every part of her throbbed with such pronounced pain and anger. Her daughter -- her little girl -- her Danielle Cristina couldn't even stand to be around her, let alone talk to her. One door would open and twenty more would slam in its place. The child must think that she was some kind of monster, an enemy coming to ruin her perfect little previously stable world.
If Michelle were to make any assumptions based on what she's observed over the length of the day, she'd come to the conclusion that Danielle was a Santos in every way possible. Cold. Calculating. Evil. But she knew better than that. At least, she hoped that wasn't the case. Her Danielle could NOT be little Carmenita in the making.
God forbid the thought! Her daughter had something completely unexpected and incredibly huge that she had to digest, and still without a proper explanation, one could only guess what was going through her mind. The poor thing must be beyond the point of confusion. Michelle could see the shrink bill now.
She went into the bathroom and splashed some water on her face to prepare for what she may have to deal with back in the bedroom. She grabbed a nearby hand towel and wiped her face dry and then stared at herself in the mirror. She looked pathetic.
She drew in a chest full of air and slowly let it all out. "She wants to go back to the house, then she goes back to the house," she said to herself as she stepped out of the bathroom and walked towards the room. She took one more breath before going in.
"Come on, Dani. Let's...go..." Michelle was saying as she was walking in, her words trailing off when she saw that Danielle was curled up under the sheets next to her brother.
Michelle quietly stepped closer to the bed and peered down at them. They were both fast asleep. She looked down to see what she was stepping on to find that they were her daughter's pink and white Velcro Barbie sneakers. She reached down to pick them up and rounded to the other side of the bed to put the shoes together with those of Michael.
She proceeded to check if any of the windows were open and then returned to them to gently pull the covers up over their bodies. She climbed into the bed on the side that Michael was sleeping and then adjusted herself in a manner that she could see them both. She kissed their foreheads and sunk further down to the sheets.
Finally, she had her angels with her. It wasn't a dream. It wasn't wishful thinking. They were really there and regardless of their current status, Michelle couldn't have wished for anything better.
She was getting emotional and she made sure to keep herself quiet or she would ruin one of the many perfect moments she had envisioned having with her babies for the longest time.
Michelle wiped at the tears that were streaming down the sides of her face and smiled as she settled further down onto the bed.
"Thank You," she mouthed up to the ceiling. "Thank You."
**
September 9th, 12:15am
After staying awake for more than 24 hours straight, Juan was taking a much needed break from the madness Danny had dragged him into and finally got the chance to rest his eyes. He had been laying on the sofa since he turned his laptop over to Danny, who at this point could barely stay awake. His attempts at cracking the stupid code were just as fruitless as those of his predecessors. The task was frustrating to say the least, and that, coupled with his exhaustion and the never ending thoughts of Michelle and their children, made it downright impossible.
Reminiscing over all that had occurred the day before his trip, Danny still couldn't figure out so much regarding this set up. His mother's flunky and her boy toy want to gain control of the business. Fine, so what did Michelle or Diego have to do with it? His cousin was murdered and then Michelle framed for it. Why? What was the point in doing that? If she didn't kill him, who did?
And what did Dr. Bauer do that was so astronomical that he'd agree to aid Ben Warren in this plot and put his sister's life in jeopardy? Was what he was so willing to keep secret more significant than Michelle? That didn't sound like Rick at all, even after hearing it from the horse's mouth.
Danny pushed the laptop aside and rested his head against the table, closing his eyes. His thoughts wouldn't stray from the set up. Carmen must be a part of the equation somehow. He couldn't figure her into this already mangled mess either, but he could smell a hint of her rottenness in there somewhere. She of all people hated Michelle more than anyone.
Not to leave anyone out, but Danny wouldn't put it past Escobar Ramírez to be his mother's partner in crime. Pun intended. Michelle wasn't exactly on his 'people I love' list, not that he ever loved anyone. After all, Michelle did take his daughter's place in Danny's heart and as his wife.
Danny raised his head and yawned while stretching. He was definitely reading too much into this. His mind was most certainly warped and adding another player into this already deranged situation was just going to make it all even more complicated. He had to make all else irrelevant until after he dealt with what was more important, and that was explaining to his children who Michelle truly is.
Danny was just about to lay his head down again when the laptop suddenly shrilled with a constant, annoying buzz that jolted him back up, forcing his eyes open and putting his senses on alert.
"What did I do?" he asked Juan, who had also been disturbed from his slumber by the noise, but it didn't appear to phase him. It was as if he had never slept, he literally leaping over the coffee table and chair to get to Danny.
He turned the laptop around and tapped rigorously on some keys until he got to the screen he was searching for and in the process shut off the buzzing.
"Shit..."
"What?" Danny looked up at him just as he was raising his pant leg to pull out a gun he had strapped to his calf. "What the hell is that for??"
"We have company," Juan replied as he pulled out the clip from the grip of the gun to check if it was loaded before jabbing it back in with a crack.
"So what are you going to do?? Shoot 'em up?!" Danny asked and Juan turned the laptop around so his friend could see exactly what they were up against.
"You know any of your uncle's friends that come climbing over his back fence, toting guns in the middle of the night for a late visit?" Juan asked while picking up a nearby phone and pressing a button. "Yeah, they're here," he spoke and then hung up.
"Who was that?" Danny asked.
"You need to stay here," Juan said.
"I need to stay here?? There were about five to eight men in that shot!" Danny argued.
"I can handle them," Juan told him as he rolled up his sleeve to reveal a smaller semiautomatic and he checked that one as he did the previous and returned it to its place.
"You can handle them. Of course. Juan Carlos, the man who sleeps with his toys every night can handle anything," Danny remarked when the door opened and Gustavo came in with weapons of his own. "Uncle, you too??" he asked, giving the elder Santos a look of disbelief before turning to Juan. "You are not...!"
"I would like to stand here and argue with you about this, but we just don't have that kinda time!" Juan said to him as he pulled a third gun out from behind him, where it was tucked in the waist of his pants.
"I didn't ask you to be my bodyguard, Juan! Those guys are here for me and they are here for my family! I'm not going to just sit on my ass and do nothing!"
"Daniel, we can handle this!"
"As much as I hate to admit it, he's right," Gustavo said and Juan glanced over at the man with incredulity.
"He can't shoot paper that's a millimeter away from him right!" Juan argued.
"He's coming with us, Alvarez, and that is the bottom line!" Gustavo put his foot down and Juan's argument ceased. "The more we stand here, the closer to us those men get! We can't be fooling around like this!"
"Fine," he reluctantly agreed. "You want to protect your family, I won't stop you," he said as he tossed Danny the gun.
**
Juan had managed to slip out of the house undetected and as Danny and Gustavo were trying to do the same, shots rang out and the three hit the ground with a swiftness. Bullets spewed out from every direction, hitting parts of the cement in front of them and the walls of the house. Glass from the windows shattered upon bullet impact and its pieces noisily fell to the pavement on which they were laying.
Juan rolled out of the way, firing blindly in the general direction in which the shots were coming from. He heard one of the intruders growl in pain and the rain of bullets stopped temporarily.
"Agh!!"
"Tío!" Danny made his way over to his uncle who had a large piece of glass stuck in his arm. "Damn it!" Danny exclaimed as he quickly took off his shirt and used it to pull at the object.
"Aaaggghhh!!!" Gustavo shrieked when Danny yanked the glass from his flesh and tossed it aside. He bandaged the bloody wound with his shirt and kept a hand over it, applying pressure to control the bleeding.
"Daniel...." Graciela was crawling carefully over to the patio doors.
"Tía, go back inside!" he ordered.
"Gustavo!" she cried, leaping for her husband but Danny held her at bay.
"Stay inside!" he yelled at her. "You can't come out here!"
"Oh, mi Dios..." she held a hand over her mouth, watching from the corner of the doorway as Danny pulled his uncle into the house. Once they was safely inside, Graciela pushed Danny away from Gustavo.
"What is going on??" Graciela wanted to know, her face completely wet with tears as she stared down at her husband. "Mi corazon..."
"I'm okay," Gustavo assured her, flinching in pain as he tried to adjust himself.
"Keep pressure on that," Danny told her.
"Where are you going?" she asked him.
"To take care of business," he replied and he turned to his uncle. "Tío..."
"Daniel, be careful," Gustavo said and his nephew nodded before heading back out with gun in hand.
"Juan!!" Danny purposely yelled out in a bold voice and he was instantly bombarded by another shower of bullets. He dodged at the corner of the house, the barrels hitting the adjacent wall, sending chips flying in every direction.
"I guess our guests are still here," Danny said to himself. He fired back once and a slew of bullets followed. "Juan!!" he called again, but he got no answer. "Where the hell are you?" he asked as he shot back at the intruders and he was hit. He cursed incessantly under his breath as a wave of pain swept through his arm to the rest of his body.
Now he was mad. He had become angry and gone crazy in the same instant. Once the shots came to a halt again, Danny could hear running and he used that as his cue to go after the intruders. Alone.
They must have split themselves up, for Danny was chasing after one person. He jumped on the man and the two got into a scuffle, one punching on the other, banging each another against walls, trees, cars. Both were bleeding generously from the cuts and bruises they had inflicted on one another and in time were worn out. They laid on the ground breathing heavily, but soon started back up again when the intruder went to grab for his gun that Danny had knocked out of his hand.
They both fought to gain possession of the weapon, but Danny got a hold of it and smacked the man across the face with it, sending him back to the ground. Danny then straddled his waist and pointed the gun at the man's head, cocking the weapon.
"Don't move," he warned as the guy tried to get up. "You thought you had me there, huh?" Danny asked through ragged breath. "Who the hell are you?! Who are you?!! I asked you a question!!"
"¡No hablo inglés! ¡No comprendo!"
"¿No? How very convenient. Fortunate for you, ¡sé cómo hablar español!" Danny told him and then decided to humor him by continuing in Spanish. "¿Quiénes son tú?
"None of your fucking business," the man replied and Danny pulled him up by the shirt and wrung the cloth until it was tight around his neck.
"For someone who 'no comprende inglés,' you seem to have mastered the vulgarity of the language pretty well. And that was in...two seconds flat! Must be some kind of record."
"I try."
"Who are you?" Danny questioned. "I'm not going to ask again."
"I'm your worst nightmare..."
"Actually, I'm about to become yours if you don't tell me who you are!" he told him and when the man refused to talk, Danny pulled out his gun and positioned it at the man's shoulder while holding the man's gun at his head. "Care to try me? I will blow your shoulder right out its fucking socket if you don't get to talking!" his eyes flashed.
"Fuck you," the man mumbled and his response was followed by a bullet to his shoulder and he howled like an animal in distress.
"Shot for shot," Danny remarked with a wicked smile. "I get a bullet you get one too. If you want, I can make it two," he was saying when he heard the cocking of more than one gun. "Ward your army off or I'll pump you full of lead."
The man stared at Danny for the longest time, searching his face and decided that he didn't want to take the chance of going against him.
"Déjelo solamente, por favor," he ordered. "Él es Daniel Santos. Él no debe ser tocado."
"Smart man," Danny said. "Now, I hope we can cooperate."
"I'm Hector Julía..."
"Carlito's brother? Who hired you? Answer me!!"
"Escobar Ramírez," Hector replied and he could see Danny's face tighten up.
"What the hell are you doing working for him?" Danny inquired. "As far as I know, the Ramírez and Julía families do not share any ground. All they share is bad blood."
"Your family lead my brother to his death," Hector spoke. "I would join forces with the devil if it meant avenging his murder!"
"You're attacking the wrong people, estúpido! We had nothing to do with Carlito's murder! You have been lied to!"
"I don't think so..." Hector breathed. "I came here for a job and I intended to finish it!"
"If you go anywhere near my children..."
"Your threats are meaningless, Santos. What is done is done," Hector said to him. "Your family is already dead."
"Danny!!" Juan shouted as he ran up to the scene and two of the other intruders turned on him with their weapons to his face.
With an elbow to the stomach of one fellow, followed by a chop to the shoulder, Juan snatched the two semiautomatics away from him and dropped kicked the other. His two guns went flying in the air, landing some distance away and the men scrambled for them, but stopped when they heard Juan behind them.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he told them. "I'm an already pissed off son of a bitch. Don't make me get uglier out here."
"Where have you been?" Danny asked him with the guns still positioned on Hector.
"Chasing after two others of these pussies," Juan replied. "They got away," he added, quickly glancing over his shoulder. "You're bleeding. Are you okay?"
"It's just a wound," Danny remarked.
"Would you mind getting off of me?" Hector asked. "I'm losing feeling in the lower part of my body."
"I don't care if you're losing the feeling in your balls!" Danny said to him. "I'm not done with you yet."
**
After Juan had properly disposed of the unwanted visitors with the assurance that they would take a message back to their boss and leave the Santoses alone, he and Danny headed back to the estate. He aided his friend who was walking sluggishly and gripping at the part of his arm where the bullet had pierced through his skin. As they neared the house, Graciela came running out towards them.
"Tía, what are you doing out here? Where's my uncle?" Danny asked the instant she was within earshot.
"He's okay. He's fine. He's with Ana," she replied. "It's just that...oh my goodness!" she exclaimed upon getting a good look of both Danny and Juan. "Oh, God! Daniel!"
"You shouldn't be out here," Danny said to her as she barely touched this face, her hands quivering. "It's not safe."
"Oh, my..." tears ran from her eyes. "Daniel..."
"I'm okay," he told her. "Please, don't cry, Tía."
"This is not the only reason for my tears, mi sorbino," she forced the words out of her throat. "It's...it's..."
"What?" Danny asked, his eyes following her as she quickly headed up the steps and towards the house. "Gracie!!" he called after her and he broke away from Juan to follow his aunt.
"Please, Daniel-"
"What has happened? My uncle is okay, right?" he asked and she nodded.
"It's not Gustavo. It's Michelle and the children," she finally told him and his heart fell to the very pit of his stomach.
"W-what do you mean? They're fine, right?!"
"I couldn't find them. They weren't anywhere," Graciela said. "The kids weren't in their rooms and Michelle wasn't in the..." she paused to gain some composure. "I didn't see her either. She wasn't in the guest house."
"What do you mean you couldn't find them?!" Danny yelled. "I put my kids to bed myself! And no one came into the house?!"
"No, no one came in."
"Then you just didn't look right!" Danny shouted. "You didn't look right..." his voice trailed off as he raced up the staircase, hollering his children's names. "Michael!? Danielle?! Dani!! Mikey!! Come on, baby. It's daddy..."
Danny jumped from one room to another, opening closets and pulling clothes from their hangers in search for his kids. He looked behind doors, in piles of clothes, under beds. Nothing. He rushed back down the stairs just as Juan was coming up from the basement. He didn't find them either.
"Michelle..." Danny whispered to himself before dashing out towards the guest house with such speed that Juan could barely keep up with him.
Danny was praying that he would not only find Michelle, but their children as well. He also hoped that he'd find the three still alive. His heart thumped with an intensely uncomfortable, agonizing impatience and as he got closer to the guest house, his anxiety only grew.
Upon reaching the quarters, he burst in and went off like a lunatic. He frantically searched for his family, yelling and screaming -- desperation radiating from each uttered cry. To his discontent, no one was answering him.
"Michelle?! Michelle!!" he called more forcefully, but still nothing. "Danielle?! Michael!!" he carried on as he rushed towards the bedroom. He stopped dead in his tracks upon his entrance and his breath was caught.
Juan came after his friend and too stopped in the doorway. "My God..." he breathed upon the sight.
Danny stood momentarily frozen in place, unable to move. His breath was caught. His heart was still. The back of his eyes burned with tears that soon rushed to the forefront. His legs gave out on him and he fell to his knees.
Juan crouched down to him, placing a comforting arm around his shoulders. "It's not how it looks..."
"They got them," Danny spoke softly as he looked up at his friend. "They got them."