Work Text:
Family
by Sam-Tony
A member of the NYPD, Danny Messer knew better than most, just how much of a nightmare Grand Central could be on the holidays. Especially on Christmas Eve, with everyone and their grandmother rushing to catch a train, piled high with kids, luggage and presents; that last brought along for the various aunts, uncles, cousins and miscellaneous other relatives they had promised to visit this year. It was loud, it was hectic; it was confusing, cramped and crowded.
In short, it was organized - and sometimes not - chaos at its best.
Sitting on a somewhat out of the way bench in the corner, Danny sighed, looking on the rushing, milling, chaotic crowd with a sad smile. This was what Christmas should be about - family. Gathering together, meeting them; turkey, stuffing, gravy and presents while the little kids ran around like the little terrors they had tried all year not to be or else Santa would see and there would go the presents.
But not all families were alike - and not all families embraced the spirit of the holidays, even with their own kin.
Still, not all families were like his, where only the name mattered, and living up to it. Not doing the right thing. Not being who you were. The only thing that mattered in the Messer household was living up to the family name as put forth by the mob-loving patriarch, who would rather find a way in with the Sassones than protect the young son who had wanted nothing to do with the 'family business'.
And still, not all families fought for position like a pack of wolves; willing to sacrifice everything, even blood, for the chance to scrabble for a perch at the top of New York's criminal syndicate.
Sighing again, Danny fought back the wave of self-loathing that filled his chest as tears filled his eyes. No, not everyone was like his father. To some, family actually meant something. Like these people all rushing through crazy crowds and awful, frozen weather, just to spend their Christmas Eve with their loved ones. Like Flack's father who was willing to accept that the lover his son was bringing to Christmas Eve dinner was, not only a man, but a member of the notorious Messer family. Cops families and mobsters sons really shouldn't mix.
But, for some reason, they did. At least Don Flack Sr wanted Danny to come to the family dinner. Not only sent the invitation - via Don and one to Danny's home address - but made an effort to call Mac and remind him that, unless a case came up last minute, Don and Danny had somewhere to be tonight. And that was why Danny was trying to calm his nerves in a sea of frantic, milling people waiting, patiently and not, for their trains. That was why Danny sat in the midst of the chaos that was Grand Central station, during a late Monday rush hour trample, trying not to either get his pocket picked by the three suspicious punks standing just behind and off to the side of him or his brains smashed in by the elderly grandma herding three young kids and a veritable pack train of bags through the crowd.
Because this is what family was supposed to be about. Sacrifice.
He wanted to go to dinner. He just wasn't sure he wouldn't mess it all up and start a damned terf war over the Christmas Goose. Not all of Don's family was as open-minded and forgiving as Don's dad. Another patriarch, only one who clearly loved and valued his son enough to want his lover over for the holidays.
Two sides of the same coin. To the Flacks and the Messers, family was everything. The only thing was, the devil was definitely in the details...
Danny was just about ready to beg for a case to come up to spare his frazzled nerves when a hand fell on his shoulder, causing his to jump a foot. Looking up, he was sure with eyes as wide as saucers, Danny tried to calm his wildly beating heart as Don looked down on him with a gentle smile.
"Thought I'd find you here," he said, taking a seat beside Danny on the bench. "Planning on catching a train out of Dodge?"
The mild teasing washed over him and, as suddenly as that, everything just fell into place.
Don loved him; Don Sr loved his son. No one was going to start a war, objecting to Danny's presence with the formidable Mrs Flack standing over the family table, passing the mashed potatoes. Danny would be fine and Don would finally be able to introduce his family to his lover, something Danny had known for a while now that Don had been wanting to do for months, only Danny kept on stalling, hoping to put off the inevitable. Only the inevitable was here and Don wasn't running for the hills, screaming, so then, neither would Danny. Whatever happened, they would face it together. That, too, was family.
Taking a breath and casting a sideways smirk in Don's direction, Danny shook his head. "Nah. Just tryin' to acclimate myself to the Flack Family Atmosphere - all chaos, all the time."
He chuckled as a shoulder nudged his, threatening to tip him over.
"Not funny, Messer. Now say you're sorry." Don demanded.
"Hey, man, I just follow the evidence," he denied. "Aunts, uncles, all the Flack siblings and their batch of rugrats. Tell me I'm wrong."
Don chuckled himself, standing and pulling Danny up off the bench. "No, you're not wrong. Organized chaos at its best, that's us around the dinner table."
"That," Danny promised firmly, placing a quick kiss on the smirking lips, "I can deal with. Ca'mon - I want to get there before pops cuts the turkey." Danny smirked to himself as the taller man let himself be towed through the crowds towards the entrance.
"Danny, you - you not to call him pops, right? Danny? Aw for - Messer, c'mon!"
End