“ you think I’m so clumsy that I need someone to watch over me ? ”
We make quite the team. It’s what he’d said to them during the Midland Circle fiasco, back when they were all working together by necessity. Danny, Luke, Matt, Jessica… They could have been a hell of a team, if any of them had been willing to go for it. Danny believed that then, and he believed it now.
But… maybe that wasn’t why he was trailing behind her now. She was on some case or another, one of the ones that promised to be dangerous, and Danny had insisted on helping her out. You need someone to watch your back, he’d claimed, but honestly? He wasn’t sure if he was here for her or himself. His leg, no longer confined in a boot or cast, ached just as much as it had before, and Danny wanted a distraction. He wanted movement, wanted action, wanted anything to keep his mind off why his leg ached or what Colleen was up to tonight or how much longer Tony might have. Following Jessica around like a lost puppy provided him with that, even if she wasn’t happy about it.
He snorted at her question, trying to play it off as if watching over her was the only reason why he was here. “I don’t think you’re clumsy,” he replied, “but you are a little drunk. Probably. And two heads are better than one, right? Come on, Jess, let me help. Please?”
She’d only mentioned the case because Danny looked like he was going to cry when she said she had to leave. She hadn’t expected him to insist on coming with her -- but he was so goddamn earnest (and again, looked like a sad puppy) that she relented.
It was kinda nice, knowing that he was there. She’d never goddamn say it aloud, but it was at least refreshing to know that she was with someone who didn’t hate her guts. And someone who could still sound so goddamn innocent no matter what the world threw at him.
That didn’t mean she wouldn’t complain about it the whole time.
“Probably?” she said, smirking at him. “Definitely, Rand. This isn’t the kind of case you tackle sober,” she said. “Or with a sidekick,” she added, giving him a pointed look. “Usually. Come on, this way,” she said, leading them around a corner.
As they approached the spot, Jessica grabbed his sleeve and tugged him into an alley. “Lookouts,” she explained, nodding to the kids on the corner. There were four on this end, five on the other. Three out of four were jumping rope, but the last kid kept his head on a swivel. Jessica’s eyes traveled farther down the block, to the stoop of a run-down apartment building. “There’s a guy inside there,” she explained, pulling a piece of paper out of her pocket. “He needs to be served with this, a summons from his ex to a child-support hearing. He’s not gonna be happy about it,” she said simply. “Drug dealers do not like parting with their cash,” she murmured, glancing around the corner. “We’re gonna pretend to be buyers, unless you’ve got some moral objection to that?”
