dann_0 | PSL: Sentinel AU

When Danny sits next to him, there's no way Steve can not lean into him. The static he was starting to feel in the hall is almost instantly calmed when he takes the hand closest to him.

Leaning forward, he meets Eliot's eyes and realizes that the start of this is on him. Taking a moment, he squeezes Danny's hand and he huffs out a breath and decides to just get right to it. "Danny, remember yesterday when I was holding Charlie? There's... He..." Okay this is actually harder than he had expected and considering he expected it to be damn hard...

Pausing a moment he starts again with a different tactic. "Danny, how sure was Rachel that Charlie wasn't yours? I... we..." he looks again across at Eliot, "Charlie smells like you. We're running the DNA but we don't have any doubt."

Danny holds Eliot's hand until Steve starts explaining. Then he goes very still and frowns. "She said he was Stan's. That she was further along than she first thought. That..." He blinks and looks between them. confused and hurt but not by them. "I... you sure? You really sure? I have a son?"

Then almost as an afterthought he looks at Eliot. "You smelled him?"

Edited 2017-06-20 20:46 (UTC)

Eliot almost lets go of Danny's hand when he stills, frowns, but instead looks down at their joined hands for a moment, jaw working.

"Yeah." He looks up and meets Danny's eyes steadily, and keeps his grip loose in case he wants to pull away. "Steve called last night, lookin' for ideas on how t'handle it and-" He shrugs, expression tense but wry. "Caught the first flight out an' did some recon this morning. He's yours, sweetheart. No question."

Steve squeezes Danny's hand, but then releases it in favor for putting a hand on his shoulder instead. The loss of skin-on-skin connection is felt immediately but right now it's about comforting Danny, not him. "We're assuming you'll want to confront Rachel so we're getting evidence you can use - the DNA sample, Charlie is running it. And Eliot has some ideas on how to present the problem to her so that she sees our solution as the one to follow." He squeezes Danny's shoulder. "But if you want to handle this differently, we'll back your play and do whatever you need us to do." He looks over at Eliot again for the other man's confirmation.

Danny blinks. He's not even following all of Steve's explanation. Instead he just stares at him. "I... Charlie is mine." He smiles, intense happiness washing over him but worry chasing after it seconds later. "I should talk to Rachel." He has no doubt. If his Sentinels tell him Charlie is his then he trusts them, completely and without hesitation. He leans into Steve's hand on his shoulder at the same time as he gives Eliot's hand a squeeze. "I have a son."

Eliot feels a faint, sweet buzz of pleasure at the way Danny's scent spikes with happiness, the way his heart is rabbiting not in anxiety but in excitement. He can't keep from smiling in reaction, warm and open and happy because Danny's happy.

"Yeah." He squeezes Danny's hand back without hesitation, then leans in, because he can't not, and presses a soft kiss to Danny's cheek. "You do, darlin'. You got a son. An' Steve's right, I got some... information that might come in handy when you talk to her, but we'll play this however you want."

Steve grins at Danny. The feeling of happiness coming off the other man is hard to ignore and he truly is happy for Danny in return. He's worried too though. The way things happened, what he knows about how they happened, he suspects Rachel knows that Danny is Charlie's father and he's not looking forward to Danny coming to that realization as well.

Right now however he lets Danny enjoy his happiness and he squeezes the other man's shoulder. His worry pushed down and away so Danny doesn't pick up on it from him. "You do. And he's a beautiful boy, Danny. Perfect in every way."

Danny beams and just enjoys the happy moment. Then something starts to churn ever so slowly in his head. "How did you get his dna? And when did you smell him?" He turns to Eliot. "Steve makes sense but..." He glances over at Steve. "What did you do?"

This is the other shoe he'd been waiting to drop, but that sharp spike of happiness was almost like a high, making it hard for Eliot to focus past it to anticipate this. At least for a moment. But this... this is why he'd known they had to talk before Danny pulled him any further into his life. If this is going to blow things to hell it's better it happens now.

"Steve called me for help... an' I figured you'd need more'n a suspicion you couldn't admit the source of to take to her if you were gonna get anywhere. So Hardison helped me set up a con t'get into their place--nothin' dangerous for anyone--so I could get a sniff of him too, an' grab an old diaper t'get DNA for testing." He wrinkles his nose a little at the last, but only a little. Because he's mostly worried about just how pissed Danny will be at the violation of his ex-wife and daughter's home, no matter fuckin' awful what his ex has done is.

Squeezing Danny's shoulder again in attempts to both reassure and calm him, Steve meets his eyes when Danny glances at him. "We did nothing that would put anyone in any danger. Just a little white lie to Rachel in order to get some of Charlie's DNA so that you'd have some real proof to present her with. Fong doesn't know who the samples belong to, just that I needed a quick and confidential test to be run." Steve's watching him closely to see how bad this reaction might be.

"A con? What are you? Some sort of criminal?" Danny's about to chuckle when his eyes go wide. "You are?" Then he looks over at Steve. "You know? How?"

He blinks, trying to process all the information he is getting right now and then he looks between them. "You broke into Rachel's house? I... What the fuck?"

"No! I didn't break in!" Not that he wouldn't if it had seemed like the best way to go about it... and he didn't think Danny would absolutely lose his shit over it. Not that he expects him to take this much better, and he draws his hands away and forces himself to rest them both loosely on his knees rather than curl them into tense, anxious fists. And though he positively reeks of anxiety now, he manages to look calm and relaxed. For the moment.

"Their security system just... happened to need servicing this morning." That Hardison had arranged for it to need. He shrugs. "Went right up to the front door an' knocked, checked all the cameras an' alarm contacts, ran some diagnostics... lifted a stinky as hell diaper an' left them safe an' sound."

"What?! No. Of course not, Danny. You know we wouldn't have done anything like that to Grace or Rachel." Grace may be at their house right know but thinking her house got broken into, should that ever be revealed, is not something Steve would put her through again. "Nothing we did was harmful."

There's a small pause. "And yes I know but it's not what you're thinking."

"Then what is it Steve?"

He turns to look at Eliot. It is a hard look, but he reaches out to place a hand on his back. Even now he doesn't want to risk pushing him away. "Did it really need fixing?"

Eliot lets out a held breath at the touch, at least marginally reassured by it. Though he's still steeling himself for what feels like an inevitable rejection... which was one of the reasons he hadn't told Danny what he and the team do in the first place. If (when) things go to hell there's no reason for him to know that about them. Except now there is.

"No, it didn't. Hardison hacked into the company systems an' set up an error message so they'd call in for a service," he explains, as blandly as he can manage. "Then he intercepted the call an' I went in instead. They were never in any danger." And if Rachel never meets him she'll never have any reason to know what happened. "An' if it comes to it, Hardison's got me in their system as a short term employee fillin' in for a couple days with all the proper credentials." It's the biggest security company on the island, there's a good chance that even if Rachel tried to pursue it anyone she talked to would just accept he'd been okayed by someone else and move on.

It's difficult hearing the angry tone in Dann's voice directed at him right now, but at the same time he'd rather have it aimed at him than at Eliot. "Danny, we did what we did for you. You can't tell Rachel you know he's yours based on my senses and how else where we going to get a DNA sample? This way, in a couple hours, you'll have physical proof that you can present to her." He pauses unsure if he should continue but then decides it's best to get it all out there. "Then when she denies it or refuses to let you be part of his life, we have a solution to that too."

"How am I going to explain to her how I know?" He seems to be mostly pacified by Steve's explanation. "Why didn't you tell me then?" He takes a deep breath. Then he looks over at Eliot. "Were you ever going to tell me? About that or for the fact that you were in Hawaii?" Mostly he just seems tired, and confused. There are some hurt and betrayal but at least the anger is gone.

"I... Shit. Can we deal with this later? I really can't when you two just have gotten out of a zone."

Eliot shrugs. "She's hopefully gonna be so wrong-footed by being caught out lyin' to you that she won't put up too much of a fight." Or she'll fight twice as hard because of that, but he's trying to be optimistic. "But either way, well... we've dug up some leverage that'll probably help you either way."

He makes himself look back up and meet Danny's eyes at the question, expression just as blandly stoic as before, though he feels like every muscle in his body is vibrating at low frequency. "'Course I was. We were just waitin' for the DNA results."

Eliot sighs and looks away again, still forcing his hands to sit loose at his knees. "Yeah, it's all up to what you want from here," he answers quietly. "I'll have Hardison forward you all the information, for whenever you want to look at it. If you do."

"And if she does you can say you suspected and needed confirmation that it wasn't true and was shocked when the test came back positive." Now that Danny had evidence he didn't think there would be too much focus on why he doubted her enough to look into it further. "This was never meant to be a secret. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to stress while you had Grace. I figured I could have physical proof for you when I told you. Put you one step ahead. That's on me Danny. Eliot said he'd come to help out and had some ideas on how to do what needed to be done. I would have brought him back to the house last night, but with Grace..." Steve shrugs, it's not his call when Danny introduces him to Grace.

He glances over at Eliot and then back at Steve. "I want him to meet Grace." He sighs. "Right now I just want to take both of you home and think about what to do next, I can't talk to Rachel tonight anyway." He takes a deep breath. "We should go home soon anyway. Kono should be allowed to enjoy some of her weekend." He stands and holds his hand out to Eliot. "You're coming?" He really really hopes Eliot doesn't say no.

Eliot doesn't move for a moment, other than to blink in surprise, when Danny says he still wants him to meet Grace. He'd been preparing himself to find a flight home and forward Danny and Steve the information from the airport, and it takes him a moment to make the mental adjustment.

He manages not to look as stunned as he feels when Danny stands and he finally looks up at him. At his extended hand. "You sure you wanna do this?" Because he has to give him one more out, no matter how much he wants this.

Leaning over, Steve claps Eliot on the back. "He's sure. We both are. The big question is, is this something you want? Are you willing to put up and work with this messed up arrangement? 'Cause if you are, we're both committed to making it work as well."

Danny walks close enough to run his hand through Eliot's hair and then under his chin to get him to look up at him. "I am. If this -" With his other hand he motions to the three of them. "- is something you are willing to try then there is nothing I want more than to take you home."

Eliot can't resist the touch even if he wanted to, but he's known he was screwed since the first day Danny walked out the door of the pub and he realized he had a completely irresistible, compelling need to follow him. To know where he was and that he was safe, and that dying to keep him that way was a perfectly acceptable option. So he shudders a little at the hand in his hair, breathing out softly through his nose as he lets Danny tip his head up.

"Told you from day one, sweetheart, you can have whatever you want outa this." He reaches to curl his fingers around Danny's hand and lets him pull him up. "If this is what you want, I'm not gonna say no."

Smiling as Eliot gains his feet, Steve nods, satisfied that Eliot is joining them, at least for now. "Good."

Watching them for a moment, all his senses report back their attraction to each other. He can hear it in their voices and just as easily smell it in the air, as see it on their faces. His skin even tingles in anticipation of what he expects will be a kiss. If they aren't feeling the pull to bond already, Steve would be surprised. It aches in him, knowing he can't and he pushes that feeling away, fast enough that it barely registers. He wants this, and he is happy for them.

Smile still on his face, he looks away and gets to his own feet. Prepared to give them some privacy if they wish to become more intimate. It may be what he logically wants, but he doesn't think he can sit in the same room and watch them make out either. He's not even comfortable being the one doing the kissing if others are present, let alone being the interloper.

Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out

Re: Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out

Re: Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out

Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out

Re: Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out

Re: Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out

Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out

Re: Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out

Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out

Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out

Re: Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out

Re: Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out

Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out

Re: Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out

Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out

Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out

Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out

Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out

Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out

Re: Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out

Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out

Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out

Re: Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out

Re: Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out

Danny, Steve and Eliot. In the office. Ironing things out