Endgame
        Chapter 1
 

What kind of love is this that keeps me hanging on despite everything its doing to me? What is this love that keeps me coming back for more when it will all end in misery.--Sarah McLachlan

"Michelle, it’s called a lock, use it," Danny complained as he barged through the door to Michelle’s room.

"It’s called knocking," she said after nearly jumping out of her skin, "use it."

He froze. Fire within the form of an angel, Danny thought as he narrowed his eyes and then broke into a huge grin that vanished as quickly as it arrived. And this was Danny; darkness and light in a package only God could have imagined.

He never knew a woman could look so beautiful wearing simply a pair of faded jeans and a shirt. A shirt he recognized as one of his own. Pretending not to notice, he continued,

"You should know by now that you-"

Besides," she said, cutting him off, "I’d sooner lock the doors to our room at Casa Santos than here," knowing, as she said this, how completely foolish and naive it sounded. But Michelle couldn’t help it. Until Danny, there was no place safer than the Bauer’s. Now, there was simply no place safe.

He took her by the elbow, "Let’s go."

"What?"

"We’ve got to get out of here, Michelle."

He was practically dragging her down the steps outside to a running, waiting car, already facing the road.

"Why? Wait - stop! What’s with the Corolla?" Then she saw someone behind the wheel. "Is that Ray? Why is he your driver? She forced herself to appear calm and turned to face Danny, searching his eyes for a clue. "What is wrong?"

"Did I say anything was wrong?"

She thought she noticed a playfulness to his voice, in his eyes. She relaxed somewhat.

"So we have to get out of here, but where are we going?"

"Out of the country."

Michelle’s lips slightly parted as she stared at him, incredulous.

"Why? I thought you said you couldn’t leave your family right now. Not to mention that you didn’t want me anywhere near you." Michelle wanted that to sting, but seeing that it had, she immediately wanted to take it back.

Grabbing her squarely by the shoulders, Danny lowered his head to look her in the eyes and said firmly, "Michelle, I was wrong."

For some reason, when Danny said this she found it more frightening than comforting, "Excuse me? Could you please repeat that for-"

Danny’s lips cut her off. So fierce and tender. And this was Danny. An extention of his apology. Apology definitely accepted. She knew that he was hoping such a kiss would make her a little more compliant now as he opened the back car door to let her in.

"Wait a minute, Danny." Her rationality returned. "I need to at least leave Rick a note, a letter."

"We need to go, Michelle," he implored. "You can call him on my cell phone while we ride to the airport, all right--leave him a message."

The playfulness she had witnessed moments earlier had retreated. The urgency now evident unnerved her. But she knew she could not leave Rick like this.

"Yeah, right, Danny. And say what? ‘Hey Rick. It’s Michelle. Uhm, the man you think’s gonna get me killed is taking me out of the country. I don’t know where, and I don’t know for how long. I guess I’ll see ya when I see ya.’ On voice mail, Danny? Come on."

Without hesitation, "Do you trust me Michelle?"

Sometimes, looking into his eyes was like staring directly into an eclipse, so intense that she was often forced to quickly avert her gaze.

"Of course I do, Danny. Just please let me leave Rick a decent explanation. It’s the very least I can do."

Danny knew she was right, yet again. He knew she was wanting to do only what she always innately did; put another’s feelings before her own, doing what was right. What it must be like for that to come as breathing, he thought. For him, she truly was the truth enslaved, and she was his. This made him smile as he stroked her face, removing a stray curl,

"OK, but hurry up. I don’t want to miss our flight."

"What? First, no Beamer and, now, no private jet? " She flashed him a knowing smile over her shoulder as she walked back towards the house, and he smirked back.

"Nice," was all the retaliation he could muster. Michelle’s smile had a muting effect on him. He watched her go in the house. He would die for her.

As he climbed into the rear seat of the car, Ray asked, "What is she doing?"

"She’s going to leave Rick a note."

"Oh, yeah, I’m sure that’s going to make everything OK."

"Yeah, I know. I guess I’m glad she’s not going to do what I first told her to and leave him a message at work. I’m thinking if Rick got it anytime soon, he’d have Frank and the rest of Springfield’s finest blocking the runway before we were off the ground.

"Can you blame him?"

"No."

"Did you tell her?"

"I told her I was wrong. It’ll have to do for now. I’ll explain everything to her once we are out of here." Danny extended his arm and laid his hand on Ray’s shoulder. "Thanks for doing this, Ray. I couldn’t turn to anyone else."

"No, you couldn’t. No one told me how crazy things were getting. If I’d known, I’d’ve come back a lot sooner."

"Oh, what, you mean my mother didn’t come to confessional and tell you, "Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. I tried to kill Michelle so Danny would have no more distractions and come back to me and my unconditional love; instead, I inadvertently got him nearly killed in a car wreak. When that plan failed, I put a contract out on myself, shot up my house, nearly had my daughter slaughtered, blamed the hit on my lawyer, and expected my son to murder, once again."

It tore at Ray to witness the violent anguish in Danny’s eyes, the sarcastic, forced smile as Danny spat out these words like so much poison from his lips. Ray thought Danny to be a better man than himself. They had grown up, side by side, with Danny treated like royalty. But Ray was the one who got to choose his life, or had he. Ray knew that not all the sins laid upon him since becoming a priest could compare to the weight his cousin had been bearing since age 14. Ray would have been dead by now if their roles were switched, he was sure of it.

"I’m so sorry, Danny." Taking time to choose his next words carefully, Ray sat silent for a few more minutes before finally asking, "What are you expecting from all of this, Danny? What will you do once you’re at San Cristobel with Michelle?"

"I am going to beg her forgiveness for not believing the truth, for not believing in her. I am going to tell Michelle that I love her more than my legacy, more than my life. I’m going to ask her if she’ll marry me, again. No shotguns this time," Danny said half smiling.

"That’s the easy part, Danny. I mean after that. You know your mother will move heaven and earth to find you, and she won’t be the only one."

"I know."

"Have you thought about the FBI, witness protection program, you know?"

"Yeah, but I hate the thought of placing my life, more importantly, Michelle’s into the feds’ hands. From what I’ve seen, if the FBI thinks you’ve got no more to offer, you’re as good as dead. I know for a fact they’ve got moles in there. We’ve paid them off, found our rats, and terminated their federal partnership," Danny explained way too matter-of-factly.

Ray held up his hand, "That’s a little more info than I needed."

"Do you see now why we’re not catching a Greyhound to FBI headquarters?"

"Yeah. But you know, Danny, you know you’re going to be hunted from both sides."

"Yes, I know," he said quickly, quietly, as he lowered his head, running his fingers through his hair. His mind’s endless play of tug-of-war had been exhausting.

"That’s why we’re starting off this way, Ray. Michelle can’t tell Rick where she’s going because she doesn’t know yet. You can’t tell because you’re a priest, and this is my confessional time, OK. Since you’re driving, there won’t be a car left at the airport." As if on cue, " I know, I know - airport security cameras. All I’ve bought us is a little time. That’s all I need to get everything set up. I don’t think my mother will consider the house in San Cristobel anytime soon, and even if she does, there are a lot of places for us to hide there."

"Yeah, but forever? Have you thought about the danger those of us left behind might be in? Pilar, Rick, Abby, Bill - Danny, I could go on and on."

"Well please don’t. Just stop.... You know I have, Ray." He paused, "But I don’t think Michelle has or I know she wouldn’t leave," his voice falling.

Remembering, Danny looked at his watch as Ray asked, "Speaking of Michelle, what in the world is she doing in there. She’s been writing that ‘note’ for nearly a half hour."

"What the-

The explosion deafened the last of Danny’s sentence.