You're Not Alone

You Deserve Better

Linda paced up and down in the foyer of her home. She couldn't believe what he had did. She wanted to scream and yell at him; she wanted to hug him and kiss him. She almost jumped when the door opened.
"You're okay!" She ran into his arms, kissing him passionately. She wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing him as close as possible.
Danny's arms went around Linda's waist, as his tongue fought for dominance in her mouth. She moved her hand to his face, caressing it as the hot kiss intensified. Suddenly, she pulled back and slapped him across the cheek. "How dare you! How dare you go away like that! You can't just up an' leave like that! You're becoming those men you swore you wouldn't become! You yell at us all the time, you spend all your time in the basement, and you're doing such a shitty job at work, that they're gonna fire you! You swore to me you wouldn't become one of those men! You can't readjust to civilian life, and you're making us all pay for it. You don't give a damn about anything anymore! Not about the house, not about Jack or Sean, not about the family.... certainly not about me! Why can't-"
"I do give a damn!" Danny interrupted. "I do! That's why I'm going away! Because I actually give a damn about Pops and Dad and Mom and Erin and Joe and Jamie and little Jack and Sean and, hell, even Jack! And you. Especially you. You deserve so much better, Linda. That's why I'm going away; to give you a better life with Tom." He saw that she was about to ask, "or Dick or Harry or whatever his name is! You don't deserve someone so broken. Someone who cares but can't show it." He hung his head and whispered the last part, "someone who hits you."
Linda's heart broke into a million pieces for her husband. "I deserve Daniel Fitzgerald Reagan. Sure, he's not the same man I married back in '96, but, hey, I'm not the same woman I was..... I know the Danny Reagan I married is down there somewhere. Because I know as sure as I'm standing right here in front of you, the man who swung at me wasn't Danny Reagan. He was a man fighting someone for something, or someone. And he was trapped in his mind. I know this, cause the Danny Reagan I married would never hurt even the teeniest, tiniest, minuscule molecule on my body.... by hitting and punching, y'know?"
He shook his head, the tears slowly falling, "you don't deserve someone so useless, so scarred, so broken."
"No matter how broken you are, I'm gonna be out here somewhere, and I love you enough, that I'll put all the broken pieces back together again. I'll do it fifty times over. I'll do it a hundred times over! Hell, I'll do it a million kazillion times over! Because I love you, Danny Reagan. With my entire being I love you. I love you so much it hurts. And it's killing me that I can't help you. It's tearing me apart that I let you suffer this long..... And the only man I deserve, is the man that I married. He may be a little more tough, a little more introverted, but I'm gonna love him to infinity and beyond." Linda reached up and wiped the tears off his cheeks with her thumbs. "We're gonna go through this together." She hugged him tightly.
Danny hugged her back, letting his emotions flow over. He had fallen more in love with her in those last few minutes. She still wanted him more than ever, and that made him feel so relieved.
"I love you, Danny."
"I love you more."
"I love you most."