********

Chapter 6:

"Are you sure this is such a good idea."

"Martin..."

"I'm not very good with families."

"Martin..."

"Especially brothers. I remember this one time..." Martin paused to let out a nervous chuckle.

"This one time, I was dating this guy and his family was okay with him being gay, but his brother went ballistic. Nothing I could do would make him like me. That's not how your brother is going to be... right."

"Martin, my brother will love you, just like I do."

"We've been together for over a year and your just barely taking me to see him. I'm thinking there was something you were trying to hide." Martin said.

"Well, he was in jail before now." Danny muttered.

"Jail! Danny are you... are you serious?"

"Martin, it... it doesn't matter okay. He's... he hit a rough patch, but he's okay. He's certainly not going to jeopardize his freedom by getting thrown in jail because his little brother is gay." Danny said.

He fidgeted slightly and Martin blanched. Defense attorneys may not be able to pick up on Danny's tells, but Martin prided himself on the fact that he'd been dating Danny for over a year and pretty much knew his habits.

"Danny..."

"Look, if you don't want to meet him then..."

"No, let's just get this over with."

Danny smiled at him and knocked on the door. It took a few moments before a tall man with Danny's ears and eyes holding a boy of about five in his arms who was giggling slightly answered the door.

"Danny, come in, come in." The man said.

"Hey, Rafi." Danny said as he walked into the apartment.

Martin took that as a cue to follow.

The night had gone pleasantly well. Martin had talked with Sylvia about lots of things and playing with Nicky had been great fun. Rafi had been strangely silent for most of the meal only talking about things with Danny, cars and such.

Martin wasn't entirely sure that Rafi had liked him and when Rafi had told Danny that he was talking his new boyfriend outside for a talk, Martin wasn't sure what to think.

"So you're an FBI agent. How long have you worked for the FBI?"

"Um... almost three years. I've only been here in New York for a year and a half or so." Martin said.

"So right when you got here, Danny jumped you?"

"Um..."

"Relax, Martin. I think I've always noticed that Danny was different. Not just because he was smarter than any Alvarez, but because he was just... different. It never bothered me that he was gay."

"So you've known?" Martin asked.

"Oh of course. I may have been a shit ass big brother, but I did notice. And I saw him making out with another guy when he was younger and I was still in charge of him. He probably thinks that I don't have a clue, but I do. And I like you."

"Really because I was under the impression that..."

"Yeah I don't say much, but I don't have to. I don't need to know about you to know that you make Danny happy and that's really enough for me."

"So why were acting a little standoffish?"

"Oh, well that's for Danny. Stupid little prick waits a whole year to tell me that he's in love. I'm just letting him sweat."

"Yeah well it's making me sweat."

"Well now that you know I'm sure you can help out." Rafi said smirking.

Martin smiled at him.

"Oh, of course."

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

"My name is Daniel Luis Taylor..."

"Hold up I said your real name. None of this fake name bullshit. Tell 'em your real name."

"Daniel Luis Taylor is my real name."

"Are you gonna argue with me?" The figure said waving around an object, most likely a gun.

"Alright, alright, my name is Daniel Luis Alvarez and I was taken hostage last night. I'm... I'm a... I'm a..."

The figure moved in front of the camera and, though Danny couldn't been seen, his loud scream of pain and the kicking motion from the figure was enough to indicate what was going on.

"Say it. I want you to say it."

"Alright, alright... please stop. I'm a cock sucking piece of shit that doesn't deserve to live."

The figure moved away and back to the camera.

"Keep going."

"I... I'm a worthless man who has done terrible things in his life." Danny continued.

"So, this is about his job." Jack said breaking the silence of the room.

Sam shook her head.

"Wait for it, Jack." She said.

"I... I've been taken by my... well of course you're my captor who else would you be?" Danny muttered.

Martin had a moment to think about the absurdity of Danny bad talking his captor before said captor walked over to Danny and started kicking him again.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry... please stop... I didn't mean it... some times my mouth just says things and my brain doesn't stop me."

"You seem to do that a lot." The guy said backing off.

"Keep reading."

"I've been taken by my captor because of a case I worked along with the FBI about four years ago. A case involving three kids and a man... a man desperate to keep his kids." Danny said odd look on his face.

Martin knew that look. It was the look Danny had reserved for people he knew were guilty, but couldn't do much about it. It was his old prosecutor look, the one he'd get when he couldn't get the verdict he wanted. It meant he knew who had him and why and Martin was starting to figure it out as well.

"Jack turn it off." Martin whispered.

"Martin, the tape isn't finished. The guy makes him go on and on about this case he worked and these kids he supposedly depraved. The guy wants his kids back in exchange for Taylor's life." Sam said.

"Then you've told us everything we need to know that's on the tape." Jack said.

"You don't want to see the rest. Maybe there's something on there that will help you figure out who has him. I mean he said he worked with the FBI on this case. Maybe it's one of the ones that you guys worked with him when he was a prosecutor."

"Oh it's definitely one of the ones we worked with him as a prosecutor." Jack said.

His eyes lingered on Martin before he turned off the tape.

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

"Hey." Martin said to Danny leaning in to kiss him softly on the lips.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Danny asked looking up from his work.

Martin smiled at him, his glasses were slightly askew and he looked a little dazed.

"You're new secretary, Marlene, called and said you were over working yourself. You know I like her a lot better than your other secretary."

"Yeah you would. Sophia was transferred to another ADA here. To be honest her constant flirting was getting on my nerves a little."

"Hmmm, well Marlene is nice. I like here."

"I can't believe she called you to tell you I was over working myself."

"Well, she worries about you, like I do. Maybe it's time to think about heading home, Danny." Martin said.

"Can't, it's this case. I'm trying to find... it's just this guy is so guilty and I can't make heads or tails of the evidence."

"What's the case?"

"It's one of yours strangely enough."

"One of mine?"

"Yeah, Carl Metcalf. Guy accused of killing his wife because she stood up to him for beating there kids then disappeared with their kids for a few days before you guys found him in a motel room with them."

Martin jaw twitched.

"I remember the guy."

"Yeah well, I can't make a case against him for the murder of his wife. There just isn't enough evidence. And I can't get him on kidnapping charges because he claims that he was just taking the kids out for the day and that they'd had this planned."

"I talked to the kids Danny."

"Yeah, and they said that this was planned and they don't even know if he did kill their mother because he did it in front of them. All I could get out of them was that their dad hit them a couple of times."

"And that's not enough to put him away for a long time?"

"It's one word against another. There's no evidence that he beat his kids. The only thing I can solidly bring him up on is for assault on one of your agents. Maybe an assault on his oldest kid Bobby, but that's it. He'll get maybe five years."

"That's it?" Martin asked.

"So you see my dilemma." Danny muttered.

Martin sighed. He wanted to nail Carl Metcalf for what he did. He knew the guy killed his wife and from the looks of things Danny knew as well.

"Come on, Danny. You can figure this out later. If you don't come home now you're gonna fall asleep here in your office... again." Martin said.

"Like you never have."

"I have, but you're not going to tonight. You'll figure it out Danny. We both will."

Danny sighed and looked up into Martin's eyes. He smiled.

"Yeah. You're probably right."

Chapter 7

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