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Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
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Published:
2020-11-05
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2012-07-29
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33,767
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12/12
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Fix You

Summary:

Sequel to 'Break Me Down, Build Me Up' - After his imprisonment and psychological abuse at the hands of Victor Hesse, Danny finds himself on the rocky road to recovery. But is he willing to be fixed?

Chapter 1: Chapter 1

Chapter Text

Danny stared stubbornly out of the window, hunched down in the back seat of the van, avoiding any movement that caused his eyes to meet Steve's that he knew were constantly roving to watch him in the rearview mirror.  Zip ties itched at his wrists, the seat belt kept sticking every time they went over a rocky part of the path but he ignored the discomfort because he didn't want to speak to him either.  They hadn't spoken for hours, not since Steve had manhandled him into the van and drove away from Victor's.

Danny glanced down at his hands, he'd washed them of the blood he'd gotten on them from Victor's body but his fingernails were still stained slightly.  He looked away, following their route, wondering where Steve was taking them.  In front and behind there were other cars, escorting them to their destination.

He heard a noise, a cell phone ringing and then Steve's voice cutting through the silence as he answered.

"Chin - yeah, we're okay," Steve said in pauses.  "I'm taking him directly there -.  Dead -.  He's, well, it's going to take some time, but he's safe now, that's what matters."

Danny scowled and refused to look round even though he knew Steve was talking about him.  Safe? How was he now safe?  Steve was taking him back into all the chaos and craziness his life had been before Victor had shown him different.  He hunched down lower, leaning against the door and wondered what was going to happen to him now.

~

The car pulled up to a small, picturesque cabin.  It was large and homey, surrounded by jungle and set up in the mountains overlooking a steep valley.  The path leading up to it had been pretty rocky and Danny felt brusied from the ride as Steve parked and got out of the van.  Danny watched him go to the door and knock on it before turning round to look at him.  Danny averted his eyes and waited for him to let him out, unable to manouvere much with his hands tied.  Steve eventually came to the door and he sat up, Steve leaning over him to undo the seatbelt and helping him step out.  He produced a knife and cut through the zip ties binding his wrists but kept a hand on his arm as he led him towards the cabin.  A man stood on the porch with a watchful gaze and soft smile on his face.  He was older, maybe early fifties, greying hair, black still dusting through the silver.  His eyes were a bright blue and held a gentle expression, skin wrinkled around them, as well as his mouth.

"Hello Danny," the man said as they approached him.  "I'm Al Wade, let's get you settled in."

Danny didn't reply or take his hand when he held it out as he welcomed him.  Instead he looked away, well aware Steve had a hand on his arm and for the moment he wasn't going to be able to do anything but what they wanted him to do.  He glanced around, one of the cars that had been escorting them had followed them to the cabin, but nobody had exited the vehicle.  He felt Steve give him a small push and reluctantly followed Al inside.

"I've arranged for you to have a room upstairs," Al explained lightly and they went directly upwards. "There's an adjoining en-suite.  I hope you two don't mind sharing."

He led the way into a large spacious room, two single beds, wardrobe, chest of drawers.  Wooden floor, the en-suite just off to the left.  Floor to ceiling windows with a balcony beyond, the view looking over the valley.

"Thanks Al," Steve said and Danny realised he was standing alone in the room as Steve shook hands with the other man.

Al nodded with a smile and checked his watch.  "We'll serve supper at seven out on the lanai.  Maybe you want to freshen up, I know it's been a long day.  We unpacked the clothes that were sent along, you'll find everything in the wardrobes and drawers and there's fresh towels in the bathroom.  Tonight you can rest and tomorrow we can talk properly.  See you at supper."

Danny watched Al leave, turning away as Steve turned his attention to him.  He listened to the door shut and Steve moving about the room.

"You want to shower first?" Steve asked.

"Where are we?" Danny asked in reply.  "What is this place?"

"It's a retreat," Steve answered honestly, coming up to him and standing in front of him.  "Al works here."

"He a doctor?" Danny asked.

"Sort of," Steve replied with a shrug.  "Why don't you ask him yourself later."

"I'm not going to supper," Danny shook his head.  "And I don't want to stay here.  I want to go back -."

"Back to Oahu?" Steve cut in before he could continue.

"You should have left me back at Victor's," Danny said, giving him a small shove.  "I didn't ask for any of this.  You can't keep me here against my will."

"Victor kept you against your will," Steve retorted quickly.  "I didn't see you put up much of a fight there."

"I wanted to be there," Danny snapped back.

Steve looked hurt but didn't retaliate and Danny looked away again, wrapping his arms around himself.

"Get showered," Steve told him before he moved away, taking out his phone to make a call.  "We'll go down soon."

~

Danny wrapped a towel around his waist and looked in the mirror, wiping away the condensation that had gathered.  He looked dog tired, it had been a long day and the mornings events seemed like days ago and not mere hours.  He stood for a long time before there was a tap at the door and it pushed open a little.

"Danny? You okay?" Steve asked from the doorway, looking at him carefully.

Danny ignored him, opening the door wider and walking past to get himself fresh clothes.  He frowned when he opened the wardrobe door to find shirts, trousers, t-shirts hanging inside, all recognisable.  They were all his from before Victor.  He was a little surprised to be faced with them and paused, reaching out to touch them.

"I told you there was a plan Danny, once we got you out," Steve explained from accross the room.  "We had a suitcase of your stuff sent here, along with mine.  There's other stuff belonging to you around the place, just to make it a bit more like home for you.  Get dressed, I'm going to take a shower."

Danny didn't reply, just stood for a long while looking at his old clothes before he pulled out a pair of jeans and grabbed an old faded t-shirt from the pile of folded clothes on a shelf inside.  He dressed quickly, finding shoes, boots and trainers in the bottom of the wardrobe and socks in the chest of drawers.  He worked fast, glancing at the bathroom door which he noticed Steve had left open.  Rolling his eyes he went to the bedroom door, planning on leaving but he found it locked, a keypad on the door.  He couldn't even lift the key from Steve's belongings if he'd taken it.  Grimacing he walked over to the balcony doors finding a similar lock on those also.  He gave a grunt of annoyance and shook the handle in frustration.

"Don't even think about it Danno," Steve said lightly from behind him and Danny turned quickly to find him crossing the room to get clothes of his own.

"So, I'm a prisoner now?" Danny yelled.

"Where you planning on going?" Steve replied quietly as he dressed.

"Anywhere but here," Danny shouted.  "I want out.  Now."

"Well, you go out over the balcony, there's a fifty foot drop to a crevice in the valley, if you're lucky to hit it and not just fall all the way down," Steve said matter of factly, pulling on a t-shirt.  "Or you use the that door and we can go down for supper.  Your choice.  Personally it's been a long day and I've built up an appetite."

"I told you, I'm not going too supper," Danny told him, storming over to him in a rage.  "I don't want to be here, I don't want you.  I want to be as far away from you as possible.  This is all your fault. If you'd just left me alone, none of this would be happening.  Victor would still be alive and I'd be safe, away from all of this, from you."

"You don't want to eat, you don't have too," Steve told him without retaliation.  "But you're coming downstairs so I can keep an eye on you.  You can't be trusted to be alone right now.  They don't have screens and hidden camera's here to watch your every move."

"Are you even listening to what I'm saying?" Danny said, laughing at the absurdity of the situation.  "I don't want you.  I hate you, do you understand that Steven? I fucking despise you."

"Good," Steve said in reply, leaning right into him.  "Hate me, despise me, I don't fucking care Danny.  All it tells me is that you still at least feel something.  If doing this to you means you hate me for it, then I don't care.  Because I'm doing the right thing.  Right now you have two choices.  You stay here with me, we go have supper and you see what happens in the next few days that may change your thinking about what's happened in the last few months.  Or, I take you back to Oahu and have you signed over to the court where you'll be put under twenty four hour supervision, put into a mental institution and pumped full of drugs until you don't know what you want any more and don't think it's an empty threat Danny.  Either way, you're coming home with me, not back there."

Steve turned to the door and punched in a code, shielding the view with his body so Danny didn't see.  As he opened the door he looked over his shoulder.   "And fucking stop calling me 'Steven'."

~

Danny sat silently at the table.  Al joined them as well as a woman he introduced as Laura, who was his wife.  Apparently they ran the retreat and were very happy to be accomodating them.  Laura was a smiliar age to her husband, hair still a rich dark mahogany, olive complexion, soft brown eyes and a permanent comforting smile.

"Won't you eat something Danny?" Laura asked, holding out the salad bowl to him. 

"Not hungry," Danny said even though he was.  He'd barely eaten save for the bits of bacon Victor had fed him that morning at breakfast.

"You haven't eaten all day," Steve pointed out.  Danny pressed his lips together and looked away.

"It's okay," Laura said with a smile. "The fridge and cupboards are kept stocked up, so whenever you feel like it, just help yourself, day or night.  I know what it's like to get the munchies at midnight."

"Kinda hard to help yourself when you're locked in a room," Danny replied snidely.

Nobody replied and the others made small talk over their meal as Danny sat, twiddling his fingers and feeling his stomach gnawing at him to eat.  He poured himself a glass of water and sipped from it, looking out over the view.  He wondered if what Steve had said was true.  Why would they lock him up in a mental place?  Why couldn't they understand he just wanted to be left alone?  He felt someone nudge his arm and looked round to see Laura leaning into him with a small smile and holding out a bowl to him.

"I know you said you weren't hungry, but try a slice of my cherry pie," she said in a low voice, like she was conspiring with him and pouring a helping of cream over the slice.  She held out a spoon and nodded over the lanai to a swing seat.  "Go on, go eat over there.  I know you don't want to be here.  Well, you can't leave, but you can have some space and that seat is great for thinking."

Danny didn't reply, but the sweet smell of the pie assaulted his senses and Laura lay the spoon down, pulling away from him and leaving him be.  He picked up the spoon, bowl and glass and left the table without a word, making his way to the seat she'd reccommended.  Sitting down he set the glass on a table and took a mouthful of the pie.  It was warm, sweet, thick round cherries bulked out the pastry and he forced himself not to hum in satisfaction.  He swung back and forth gently, eating his way through the slice which had been generous and focused on the changing colours of the sky as the sun began it's slow descent.

As he sat he realised it was the first sunset he'd watched alone for a long time.  Bowl empty he set it aside and curled up on the seat, mind beginning to reel over what was going to happen now.  Steve seemed insistent on taking him back to Oahu, but what was there for him?  All the shit and crap that he'd been taken away from all this time, why would he want to go back to it?

"Mind if I sit down?" Steve's voice interrupted his thoughts and Danny glanced up at him.  Al and Laura were gone and they were alone together.

Danny didn't reply, looking away with a sharp shake of his head.  He figured Steve would sit any way, it was something he did.  Got into your space whether you invited him in or not.  The seat shifted from the added pressure, giving a small lurch as Steve settled beside him.

"Been a long day," Steve mused quietly. 

Danny ignored him.  He didn't want to talk, he was used to silence, to being left alone.  Solitary had become part of his life and having it taken away irritated him.  Steve should understand, Victor tried to show him the same way of living.  But Steve hadn't wanted it, it had all been a trick, a lie, to get to him even though Danny hadn't asked for his help.  He remembered what Steve had told him, that he wanted him back.  It all came down to jealousy, Victor had taken him away and Steve hadn't liked it, like a child whose toy had been taken away by another child, only Danny was the toy.

"You can't ignore me forever Danny," Steve said gently.

"I just want to be alone," Danny retorted, honest enough.  It wasn't about ignoring him, it was about being left alone, to exist without having to think or converse or deal with everything crazy in the world.  "You want to talk, go find Al or Laura."

A hand settled on his arm and he shivered a little from the touch.

"Look I know you don't want to be here," Steve said to him.  "I know that what's happened today has been tough but you'll see Danny, we did what we needed to do to get you out."

"I didn't ask for your help," Danny told him, jerking his arm away from the touch.  "Why can't you understand that? I never asked to be rescued."

Steve's hand moved and rested instead at his neck, Danny stilled under the touch.  Victor used to touch him there, soothe him with fingers brushing up into his hair, a gentle petting that made him feel safe.

"You trusted me once Danno," Steve said quietly, leaning into him.  "Not that long ago.  All I'm asking is that you trust me again.  Please."

Danny listened, relaxing as Steve's palm warmed his neck, darkness was settling in now and the porch light shone dimly nearby.

"Where are we?" Danny asked, needing some answers.  "Why did you bring me here?"

"I told you," Steve explained patiently.  "If I'd taken you back to Oahu, chances are they'd have taken you away and I wouldn't have been able to get you back.  Not for a long time any way""

"You've got me back," Danny said, turning to look at him.  Steve sat back a little, but kept his hand cradling his neck, like he needed the connection.

Steve gave a small shake of his head, "Physically yeah.  But up here," he lifted his other hand and pointed to Danny's temple.   "The real Danny, my Danny, is in there somewhere.  I want him back.  Victor didn't know you, not really.  If I'd taken you back to Oahu right away, I may never have gotten you back at all and I can't lose you Danny, not again.  You want me to be honest about where we are?"

Danny nodded mutely, watching Steve closely.  A big part of him still suspected Steve's actions, but deep down inside, he felt the stirrings of trust he'd once had for the man.  Steve could be unpredictable, had his own way of doing things, but he'd always been honest.  Even when Victor had taken him in Steve had been honest with him, he'd told him straight his plans of 'rescuing' him.

"Al's a counsellor -  of sorts," Steve told him, looking him straight in the eye.  "He deals with people who've been taken out of situations like yours, where they've been controlled and manipulated so much they don't think for themselves, they don't believe they've been under someone else's control."

Danny rolled his eyes but Steve's fingers tightened on the back of his neck, holding him steady.  "This place, it's a safe place for people to readjust.  Just give him a chance okay, to talk to you.   It may be we get to the end of this and you still don't believe me, him, or any of this and you want to live the existence Victor created for you, that's fair enough.  All I'm asking is you give this a chance too okay? Please?"

"Okay, fine," Danny sighed, a wave of tiredness washing over him.  Steve was crazy if he thought some shrink could help change his mind.  Victor's way had been simple, what could be better than that?