Breakeven

Chapter 47

Mark immediately phoned Danny while I ran to get my car keys.  We were in the car within seconds and headed to Leroy's flat, somewhere I never thought I would go to of my own free will.

Mark kept Danny on the phone for our whole journey ensuring that he didn't give in now, Mark was very reassuring of Danny, encouraging him that he had done the right thing by contacting for help when he felt weak and never questioning how Danny had found himself at Leroy's place.

"Ok, we're nearly there now, you need to come to the end of the street Danny..."

"I can't see you, where are you?....."

"Ok, I see you now...."

I pulled the car over to allow Danny to get in but as soon as he saw me, he turned to walk away.  Mark jumped straight out of the car and ran over to Danny.  It looked like they were arguing over something.  I switched off the engine and also got out of the car, heading over to the pair of them.

"Danny, just get in the car" I heard Mark say as I approached them.

I looked at Danny, he had clearly been crying a lot and he was shivering, I'm not sure if it was from the cold or from the situation he was suddenly in.

"Danny, I don't want to do this in any street, but I especially don't want to do this here.  Please, get in the car." I pleaded.

"I'm sorry Kay, Mark shouldn't have got you involved in this.  I can't believe he'd ring you." He said.

"Danny, just get in the car" I said as I rubbed my hand up and down his arm to try to reassure him that everything was ok.

He nodded and turned to walk back towards the car, still shaking and with tears streaming down his face.

Danny opened the passenger door and climbed into the car, I looked at Mark for some sort of guidance as to what we should do next.  "Get him back to the centre, we'll sort this out there"

I got back into the car and started the engine quickly, knowing that Danny couldn't change his mind about being in the car once we were actually moving.  Mark got in the back but continued to reassure Danny that he had done the right thing in reaching out for help.

I drove steadily to the centre and as I pulled up in the car park I noticed the look of terror on Danny's face.  I stopped and just looked at him for a short while, not really sure what to say.

"I nearly threw all of this away." He said in disbelief as the tears flowed down his face.

I wiped his tears with my thumb.  "But you didn't, and that's what matters in the end"

"Thanks for still being there for me" Danny said as his eyes locked on mine.

"Always" I whispered with a smile.  "Are you ready to go back in?" I asked, unsure how Danny would feel about being brought straight back to the centre.

He nodded in agreement to going back in.

"I'm going to see if I can find Sharon" Mark said as he opened the door and got out of the car "You take your time and come in when you're ready"

"Who's Sharon?" I asked Danny, suddenly realising that I knew nothing about his treatment and without Mark, I wouldn't have had a clue what to do.

"She's my support worker, she does most of my counselling sessions, she's really nice Kay, you'd like her." Danny said as he stared straight ahead.

"I think I met her yesterday, didn't catch her name at the time but yeah, she seemed nice"

Danny didn't respond at all, I could see his mind working overtime.  I wondered what he was thinking right now, what got him to a place where he was stood outside Leroy's flat and why he thought I was seeing someone else.

"I best go in" Danny said as he took a deep breath and unbuckled his seatbelt.

I too unbuckled my belt ready to go with him.

"You don't have to come in you know, if you need to get back" Danny said to me.

"No Danny, nothing is more important than you right now" I said without a second thought.

He smiled before we both got out of the car and headed back to the centre.

I found it slightly disturbing as I watched Danny being taken to a side room for a drugs test, apparently this was standard procedure when someone comes back to the centre after having any time off the grounds.  Mark explained to me that it was to ensure that nobody was using in the centre but I just thought they could maybe put Danny's needs first, I mean of course he hadn't used, he called Mark when he felt as though he was going to use.

As Mark and I sat waiting for Danny to finish his drugs test, the staff member I spoke to yesterday came along the corridor.

Mark went straight over to her and explained about Danny contacting him this morning and that we had picked him up from Leroy's street.  He also showed her the text message that Danny had sent.

"I'm so sorry to ask this Kay, I know I said that I wasn't here to judge you but are you seeing someone else?" she said to me after reading the text.

"No" I answered immediately. "I've no idea why he would think that I was"

"Ok" she said as she processed what she had been told.  She glanced at her watch. "I'm going to take him straight in for an emergency counselling session once he's done his drugs test, provided it's clean, we'll work through this." She said in a very reassuring tone.

Danny came out of the room that he had been ushered into on his arrival closely followed by a nurse.

"He's clean" the Nurse said to Sharon before turning to go back into her room.

Sharon walked over to Danny, "Shall we go for a chat?" she asked him as she put one arm around him and gently guided him to a counselling room.  I sat there hoping that Sharon had some kind of magical powers that would suddenly put everything right again but wondered if maybe our relationship is toxic, could it be the case that me and Danny are just not good for each other?