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Chapter 2:

Martin walked into the courthouse. It was his first real big case. He'd been working at the Missing Person's branch in New York since September and he found he liked it for the most part.

There were only a few cases that still left a bad taste in his mouth, but he was working on that. Of course Martin's idea of working on it meant bottling everything up inside until he exploded and drank until he passed out.

But Martin didn't like to dwell on that. He couldn't live his life and do his job if he caught himself thinking about the bad cases. This case had been one of those bad times. It was a forty-year-old man who kidnapped, tortured and killed a young child. Martin found that cases with kids involved were a sore subject even for him.

It wasn't that he hated kids, he didn't, but he never thought of himself as a kid friendly person. Maybe it was his nieces and nephews who ran rampant that made his opinion of children low. Or maybe it was the fact that he had thought he'd never had children and so he never really wanted them.

Jack had worked the case with him, but he was busy hunting down a ransom of a wealthy banker with Vivian and couldn't come into give his deposition. The prosecutor thought it was better to use Martin anyway seeing as Jack's credibility in court was less than perfect.

Martin was always honest and great at testifying. The state's attorney seemed to like Martin too, which grated on his nerves a bit. She was a nice person, but Martin just wasn't interested in her that way.

He walked to the now familiar office. He had been in New York for a little over three months now and had accompanied Jack to the courthouse a few times now. He knocked on the door and heard someone say 'Come in'. He opened the door and saw a man sitting at Ms. Rossi's desk.

"Hi." Martin said in a confused tone. The man smiled. It was a nice smile, Martin thought. It showed off only his top row of teeth, but some how managed to reach his eyes.

"You must be Martin Fitzgerald." The man said smile still firmly in place. Martin smiled back at him though he wasn't sure why. He should be asking who he was.

Of course Martin was too busy looking at him. Studying him really if Martin was honest. His hair was dark brown and styled in a somewhat unprofessional manner. His eyes were also dark brown and they seemed to sparkle in the light.

He had three-day-old stubble on his face. His skin was a nice bronze color and Martin guessed he was of some Hispanic origin, Cuban maybe. He was wearing a tie, loosely fitting around his neck, a white shirt and brown slacks.

"Yeah that's me. And you are..."

"Oh, right." The man said with a nervous laugh. He stood up and walked over to Martin, rubbed his hands on his pants and held out a hand.

"Danny... Danny Taylor. I'm the new ADA here." Danny said.

"Well, you already know who I am." Martin said shaking his hand.

Martin noted that Danny's hand shake was nice and firm and his fingers were really long. Martin shook his head at that thought. He had to get serious about this. So Danny was nice looking, Martin had to focus on the case.

"Yeah, I was expecting you." Danny said pulling away.

"Why don't you sit down?" He said as moved back to the desk chair.

"Sure... but I wasn't really expecting you." Martin said taking a seat.

"Oh, right, well I just got the job a little while ago. They've been handing me off cases for a little while now." Danny said looking through some papers.

"Is this still Christina's office?" Martin said deciding to make small talk.

Danny looked up from his papers one eyebrow raised. He smirked slightly different from his previous smiles and looked at Martin with questioning eyes.

"Ms. Rossi moved to a different office. This is mine. Haven't really had time to put any touches on it yet, but I'm still settling in." Danny said.

"Oh, well, I wouldn't know about that. I don't have an office, per se, but I do have a desk. It's nicely decorated." Martin said. Danny smirked again. He seemed to like smirking.

"Anyway I don't see what office design has to do with the case." Martin said.

"Well, you're pretty eager. That's a good thing though. Makes my job a whole hell of a lot easier."

"I just want to put this guy away. He's a hazard to society."

"Yeah, I know, I've looked over the case. I gotta tell you it's pretty much a slam-dunk here. The evidence is all there. The guy confessed and there's nothing that would turn over the confession. Just a matter of appearing in court."

"Good, he deserves to get the death penalty." Martin grumbled. He almost missed Danny's wince.

"You don't believe in it?" Martin asked noticing how uncomfortable Danny seemed by his attitude.

"No, I mean capitol crimes yeah, but something has to get to a certain point for me to be able to condone it."

"Not everyone can see eye to eye on everything."

"No they can't." Martin nodded and was about to speak again when he was interrupted by a girl, a petite blonde wearing a very short skirt and pink sweater walked in carrying some files.

"Here you go Mr. Taylor. Those are the files that you asked for." She said sweetly as she put the files on Danny's desk. Martin rolled his eyes at her. Could she be any more obvious? She was even winking at Danny blushing and giggling like a little school girl.

"This is everything?" Danny said looking up at her with a charming smile. She smiled back at him.

"Yup, that's everything. Just let me know if you need anything... anything at all... and I'll be happy to do whatever." She said her voice taking on a more sultry tone as Danny flipped through the files she had brought him.

"Hmmm... that's very nice of you..." "Sophia." She said readily.

"Sophia. I'll... be sure to keep that in mind." He said smile still in place.

She stood there for a few moment shifting from side to side before leaving the office chipper bounce in her step.

"Huh." Martin hmphed. He was surprised she hadn't found a reason to bend over.

"Oh, I know. She's been flirting with me ever since I got here." Danny said as if he were put off by it.

"You were flirting with her too you know." Martin said. Danny shook his head and laughed a bit.

"Marty, Marty, Marty, that was not me flirting with her." "Really it sure seemed like it."

"Trust me, I wasn't flirting with her."

"Sure seemed like you were flirting with her."

"Well, she is pretty. Nice to look at certainly, but she's not my type."

Martin raised an eyebrow at him.

"So what is your type?" Danny looked taken aback by the question, but quickly regained his composure. He leaned back in his chair placing one foot on his wooden desk and it looked like he was thinking really hard.

"Well, for starters, she's a bit young. I like 'em a bit older than that. Too much like a teenager. Thinks a short skirt is going to entice me. I like the people I see to be a bit older than me." Danny said.

"Nothing wrong with older women." Martin said. Danny smirked at him.

"And she seems too much like a goodie two shoes. You know, pink shirt, probably part of a sorority. I like someone who's daring. Maybe carries a gun." Danny said with a smile.

"Really, chicks with guns, huh." Danny continued to smirk at him.

"And the final nail in the coffin, she's a blonde. I don't do blondes. Never have never will. Brunettes are really more my style."

"So you like older women who carry guns and aren't blondes." Danny's smirk widened.

"Who said anything about women, Martin." He said that mischievous smirk still on his face. His eyes were filled with laughter and Martin cleared his throat.

"Um... so the case."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Martin! Martin!" Martin looked up from his desk to see a pissed off Sam standing a few feet away from him.

"I said, that Jack wanted me to come and see if you were done with the family. Something about needing a new set of eyes down at Mr. Taylor's apartment." Sam said in a clearly irritated voice.

"Oh, sure, just got done with them a little while ago." Martin said.

"Did they have anything useful to offer?"

"Not really. They hadn't seen him in quite some time. Apparently he was really busy."

"I bet." Sam said and Martin really shouldn't be thinking of strangling her. It was just the way she said it like she didn't like Danny. Martin hadn't exactly curbed his defenses.

"Anyway, they couldn't offer anything useful. They seemed pretty rattled so I let them go home."

"Well, he didn't have any other family than his brother who he couldn't spend any time with so I guess we're going to have to talk to friends. Though I don't really think he had any." Martin gritted his teeth.

"Shouldn't we getting back to his apartment?"

"Oh, right. I'll drive." Martin winced.

He really hated Sam's driving, but he wasn't really in a state of mind to drive anyway. He couldn't believe he had let his mind wander. He should have called Jack the minute he was down with Rafi and Sylvia instead of Jack having to send people to retrieve him.

It had been five years. Five years since he first meet Danny. Since Danny had so blatantly stated he liked guys that it had frazzled Martin into focusing on the case. He still remembered everything about that moment. He could close his eyes and picture exactly how Danny looked.

He didn't care about his hair being brushed right or his face being clean cut. Didn't care if his tie was straight or if his clothes were wrinkled or stained. He was Danny Taylor and he commanded an audience even when he didn't know he was commanding an audience. Natural born flirt. Rafi had had a field day telling Martin stories of how Danny had always been that way. How he'd been a natural born charmer always charming the neighbors.

"You're really letting your mind wander today. I'm driving and you're not saying how crappy I am or holding on to something." Sam commented.

"I've got a lot going on right now." Martin said.

"Sure you do. So... want me to fill you in on what we found so far?" Sam asked.

She just couldn't sit in silence. She was one of those people that had to make noise and had to have people talking or it felt too suffocating to her.

"Sure."

"Well, I can tell you it isn't much. We didn't find a lap top, but you're right it could be in his office. Seems he doesn't have any friends. He's like isolated. He does have MLB directv ticket though. Seems he's a Mets fan." Sam said. Martin smiled, but didn't say anything.

"Anyway, we found lots of work at his place. We're not sure if anything is missing in that respect, but we were going to ask when we went to his office. Maybe somebody didn't want one of his cases to go any further. There's a whole lot of possibilities with this one." Sam said.

"Yeah I figured there would be. The family seemed under the impression that he might have a lot of enemies." Martin said. He didn't say that he already knew that and could probably list some of those enemies.

"I guess. I mean I could understand someone wanting to get back at a guy who lets criminals walk free."

"He doesn't let the criminals go free. A jury lets criminals go free." Martin said fully aware that he was spouting of second hand Danny wisdom. Wisdom he had scoffed at and spit at when he knew exactly where Danny was. He knew Sam was looking at him weirdly, but he didn't really care.

"Sure if you want to look at it that way. Still... we both know that guy was guilty as sin. And yet he's walking around living his sad miserable existence until the next time he decides it might be fun to kidnap a little kid. Almost makes me wish we didn't have to find Mr. Taylor."

Martin wanted to strangle her. He had never wanted to strangle anyone as much as he wanted to strangle Sam. The way she said Mr. Taylor with such venom... it made Martin want to scream.

"It's not our job to distinguish who deserves to be found. We just find them." Martin said.

"You sound like Jack." She said.

"He's right." Sam sighed, but said nothing for a little while after that.

"There was a dog. Pretty big dog. Some kind of Labrador. Kept snarling at me. Anyway it wouldn't let anyone go into the bedroom. Gotta wonder if there was a dog like that hanging around the apartment why it was so easy for whoever grabbed Taylor. It's a pretty vicious dog." Sam said as she pulled up in front of Danny's apartment building.

"It's an old dog." Martin muttered.

"Huh?" Sam said.

"Nothing." Martin said walking past her and into the building.

They walked up the stairs in silence Sam fidgeting slightly with nervous energy. It was amazing that she could be so composed at the drop of the hat, but fidgeted when there was silence. Martin tried not to dwell on it. He had to get his mind on work. He pushed open the door and walked in spotting Jack pacing around the living room.

"Martin, get anything out of the family." He asked.

"Nope, nothing that would help. Sam said something about a dog." Martin said trying to sound like he had just barely heard about the dog. He knew about the dog. Had known about everything Sam had told him.

"Yup, thing won't let us past the bedroom door. Kind of a hassle. Figured you might..."

"I'll try my luck." Martin said. Jack smiled at him secretively and began to walk down the hallway.

"This way." He said.

Martin followed him looking at the various pictures on the walls as he went. Martin was right most of the pictures were of Danny's nephews. It wasn't a big shocker. Even when Martin was living with Danny the pictures had more or less been of Nicky and Joseph.

Jack opened the door to a room and Martin saw as a big yellow Labrador picked up its head from where it was lying on Danny's bed. It looked like it was going to bark, but when Martin came into view it merely put it's head down and made a whining noise.

"And it goes from a snarling beast to a tame puppy. I'm assuming you know this dog." Jack said.

"Danny had him before... yeah anyway I know him. Isn't that right Spot?" Martin said walking inside the room.

Spot didn't move from the bed as Martin inched closer to him. When Martin made it to the bed, he pet Spot behind his ears. The dog leaned into his touch and made a keening noise. Martin smiled.

"Still liked to be pet behind the ears, huh." Martin said.

"You certainly have a way with him."

"Huh?"

"Spot, he doesn't usually like anyone. In fact he still doesn't even like Rafi." Danny said kissing Martin lightly on the head. They were curled up together on Danny's bed on what was their fifth date and the first time they had gone to Danny's place instead of Martin's.

"Can I ask why you named you're dog Spot when he doesn't have any spots. And even if he did have spots why would you name him Spot. It's a boring name." Martin said.

"Because that was his name. He just responded to it. Haven't you ever had a dog before?"

"Oh... no I've never had a dog before. I'm not even a dog person." Martin said with a smile.

"How could you not be a dog person. They're so loveable." Danny said his fingers tracing small circles on Martin's back. Martin moaned slightly.

"Well... you've been to my house. You've seen my cats. I'm not a dog person... is he going to sleep on the foot of the bed with us?" Martin asked.

"Yes, he's gotten used to me not having anyone around. Scares off most people too. It's kind of funny. And I can't believe you have cats. I mean women have cats, Martin."

"I like my cats. I've had one since I was a little kid... course my dad never liked that, but I've always liked cats. They're... they're independent creatures."

"Yeah, but dogs. They'll always love you no matter what you do. Cats seem so temperamental."

"Well they aren't. They're very loveable when they want to be. You're just too much of a dog person to see it."

"Oh so my love of dogs clouds my judgement from seeing just how great cats are." Danny said teasingly.

"Yup, precisely." Martin said. Danny smiled at him and leaned down to place a small kiss on Martin's lips.

"You know it's your undying love for cats that makes you so special. Others would find it weird, but no not me. Just one of the things that makes me like you even more."

"Oh so you're a saint because you can put up with my odd quirks. It's not like you don't have some of your own you know."

"Yes I know, I'm not perfect... pretty close though right?" Danny said smugly. Martin rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, whatever Mr. Ego."

"You know I'll turn you into a dog person. You just watch."

"Sure you will. And maybe pigs will fly."

"Martin? Are you listening to me?"

"Shit..." Martin muttered. "Yeah Jack?"

"Just wondering if it's safe. Cujo's not going to try and bite my head off is he?" Jack said cautiously.

"No, Spot's a good dog aren't you boy." Martin said.

"Nice of you to put the dog at ease. So, this is Danny Taylor's bedroom... seems a little..."

"Sparse." Jack gave Martin a look.

"Yeah, sparse. There's a bed." Jack said pointing to Danny's bed.

"Old looking too. Like he's had it for a few years..."

"Four." Martin answered knowing Jack was giving him another look.

Jack didn't comment.

"Then we've got some drawers... filled with clothes. And a closet... filled with clothes." Jack said as he walked around the room.

"Nothing to do with work or anything. Just a room with a bed and some clothes. Not entirely too homey. The office was a pigsty. This place is clean. The bed's even made."

"Trust me. He used to leave everything dirty and messy. Sheets thrown here and there. Socks and towels on the ground."

"Looks like you taught him something."

"Doesn't that always happen." Martin said with a smirk. Jack arched an eyebrow at him, but went back to looking through the room.

"I wouldn't know. So, tell me, Martin. I'm Danny Taylor. I've got something of value to hide... where would I hide it?"

"Danny always liked to keep stuff under the bed." Martin said. Jack nodded and knelt down. He lifted the blanket to get a better look at what was hiding underneath the bed.

"Boxes. Why am I not surprised?" Jack said as he grabbed the medium sized box out from under the bed and onto the bed.

"Lets see if this helps us get into Danny Taylor's mind." Jack said taking off the lid. He looked at the stuff and closed the box quickly looking over at Martin who was looking through the drawers of the nightstand.

"At least he's predictable." Martin muttered as he closed the drawer.

"Nothing in there, but condoms and... so did you find anything in the box?" Martin asked. Jack noticed that he was turning red and didn't ask what else was in the nightstand.

"Here." Jack said handing Martin the box.

"What? Jack why are you giving it to me."

"There's some... stuff in there. Stuff that I don't think anyone has the right to look at."

"What... what are you talking about?"

"Seems Danny kept hold of some... mementos from when the two of you were together."

"Jack... what are you..."

"Just look in the box Martin. Sam and I'll be downstairs looking at his car." Jack said practically running out of the room.

Martin tried to think about what could possibly be in the box that made Jack bolt like that. He sighed and sat down on the bed Spot getting up and settling in next to him. He took a deep breath and opened the box. There were pictures and ticket stubs and napkins and all sorts of things each one having there own story that Martin knew about. It was obvious what made Jack bolt.

"Jesus Christ, Danny."

"Hey, would you stop that. Some of us are trying to sleep." Martin grumbled as he turned away from Danny and his insane morning cheerfulness.

He pulled the covers up to his chin and sighed as he closed his eyes to go back to sleep. *Click* Martin sighed.

"Danny I'm serious. Do you really need to do this? So early in the morning when I'm trying to sleep." Martin said his voice muffled by a pillow.

"Yes! I got up this morning and I was looking at you and I thought 'I wish I had a camera so I could get a picture of how great you look sleeping in my bed, which is now our bed'. Then I remembered 'Danny boy you've got that great new expensive camera you spent beaucoup bucks on'. Figured I've got about eight rolls of film left." Danny said and Martin could here another clicking noise.

"It's five rolls. Remember you took a whole bunch of pictures at Joseph's first birthday last Saturday." Martin said groggily.

"That's right. I did. Should get those developed and send them over to Sylvia. I'm sure she'd appreciate that." Danny said.

"Yes, you do that. In fact do that right now. I'm sure if you wait in the parking lot of the store you'll be the first one there." Martin said.

"Oh, don't be so sarcastic, Fitzie. You never were a morning person."

"Yes, you should know this after a year of dating. Yet here you are flashing that bright flash in my eye at seven o'clock in the morning after we spent all night moving in my stuff and... other things." Martin said and he didn't even need to turn around to know that Danny was smirking just like he knew he had to be blushing even though it was so early in the morning.

Martin felt a dip in the bed and rolled closer knowing Danny was lying next to him. "Say cheese."

"What?" Martin looked up in time to see a flash.

"Shit! Danny that fucking light is bright." Martin whined.

"It's high powered. Best camera out there." Danny said.

"I think I'm blinded." Martin said as he rubbed his eyes. He heard Danny giggle a bit and would have hit him if Danny hadn't been kissing his neck.

"Poor Marty. Blinded by the big bad camera."

"It wasn't the camera's fault. It was the insane man using the camera."

"Yeah, but you love the insane man using the camera so you'll forgive him from blinding you." Danny said kissing Martin's neck again.

"Hmmm I don't know. The insane man using the camera also woke me up at such an early hour. And I was having a really nice dream." Martin said, but he couldn't deny that he was enjoying Danny kissing his neck.

"Martin, I think your dream would be better if it was a reality." Danny said.

"Oh, and how do you know I was dreaming about you."

"You were making that noise."

"What noise?"

"That noise. I don't know how to describe it exactly, but it's... it's like a moan, but a drawn out moan... kind of a... mewling sound."

"And from this noise you're absolutely positive that I was dreaming about you? I could have been dreaming about someone else." Martin said mischievous tone in his voice.

"Oh so you're cheating on me, is that it." Danny said in mock anger.

"It's not cheating if I'm sleeping." Martin said turning around to face Danny.

"Hmm... you should know Fitzie that you're all I ever dream about." Danny said placing a small kiss on Martin's nose.

"You seriously think I was dreaming about anyone else. You must be crazier than I thought." Martin said pulling Danny's face close to his own.

He looked into Danny's eyes before he pressed his lips against Danny's. The soft press of lips nothing more than gentle kisses. No hurry behind the movement whatsoever. *click*

"Danny! Would you stop it with the camera already." Martin said clearly irritated.

"Sure thing. That was the last picture anyway."

Martin closed the box with shaky fingers. He looked over at Spot who seemed sad. The dog really loved Danny. Martin sighed and got up from the bed.

"Wonder when the last time he fed you was? He was always pretty forgetful. Come on I'll feed you and then I gotta get back to work." Martin said as he stuffed the box back under the bed. He watched as Spot jumped off of the bed and licked his face.

"Okay, stop that." Martin said softly with no maliciousness behind his voice. Spot obeyed him and Martin wanted to break down and laugh hysterically. The dog still remembered him. It was odd to say the least.

"Fine, let's go feed you." Martin said as he walked to the doorway Spot following his every move. He took one last look around the room before turning off the light and closing the door.

Chapter 3

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