Title: When It Rains
By: crazywriter10
Pairing: Danny/Mac
Rating: PG
Summary: Snow Day only set in the same universe as Family Matters. (Might be helpful to read that first, but this does stand alone.)

***

Mo was taking her lunch break with Fiona in the back of the café where she worked. It was the little Italian place on the corner of the street where she lived and, really, she liked her job. She worked with good people, she didn't have far to walk, and sometimes Danny and Mac stopped by when Mac didn't feel like cooking and they all ate dinner together. And speaking of Mac's cooking, that was her lunch; cheesy rice and chicken from dinner the night before. She adored Mac's cooking almost as much as her Grandma's. Danny's left something to be desired. The man burnt toast for crying out loud.

"Whatcha got, Fiona?" she asked, stirring the contents of her small, portable and microwavable Tupperware dish.

"Turkey and lettuce," Fiona said with a wince, pushing her light hair out of her eyes.

"Least you can have a cannoli," Mo said with a smile. They ate in silence for a few more minutes, Mo barely noticing when Fiona turned on the radio because it was something she did every day. What she didn't expect to hear were the words "hostage situation" followed by "NYPD members" and "Crime lab."

"What?" she said, confused and slightly in disbelief. She reached over and turned up the volume.

"--- and it's reported that there are a group of Crime Scene Investigators in the building with armed assailants. Names haven't been released, wait, I'm wrong, we do have some names ---"

Mo dropped her fork on the table as she listened, pausing for a moment to realize and wonder why Danny's name wasn't included in that mess, nor Lindsay's, and then gripped the edge of the table so hard her knuckles were white. Inside she was freaking out, completely hysterical. To the outside world, she looked like she was simply very angry instead of scared. Fear had exploded in her chest, her heart thumping hard. She looked over at Fiona. Fiona simply stared at her and then said, "I'll cover for you. Get outta here."

She didn't need to be told twice. She slapped the lid on the Tupperware container, grabbed her sack pack that she used for a purse, reached around inside for her phone and then slung the thing on her back, jogging for the door. She tried to dial Mac's number from memory but her fingers and her mind weren't properly working, so she ended up hitting the speed dial button. She was surprised when he didn't pick up. Hailing a taxi, she automatically went through her list, calling Danny next. He didn't pick up either. Sliding into the backseat, she had enough grace to tell the cabby the address and then sank back into the seat, taking deep breaths and hitting Don's speed dial.

"Flack."

Thank somebody that he answered. "Don!" she might have yelled it, just a little, but he probably didn't mind. Hopefully. "What the hell is going on!"

"What?"

She looked up ahead at the traffic in front of her. "What is going on, Don?" She sounded pissed off, scared, and a little hysterical; the cabby looked at her in the rearview mirror. "I heard about some sort of, uh, hostage situation? There are armed assailants in the Crime Lab? What is going on!"

"I..I can't exactly," she heard a rush of static as he let out a breath. "I can't exactly tell you, but everybody's outside and Mac, Sheldon, and Stella are inside, I don't know right now." He paused. "Where are you?"

"In a damn taxi, where do you think I am?" She took a deep breath and told herself to calm down. It was a Messer thing to swear when she was upset, but that didn't mean that she wouldn't pay the price later. And man, did she hate dish duty. Washing them, that is. Drying was fine.

"Don't you have a job?"

She wanted desperately to say "Don't you?" but she didn't. She bit her lip and looked out the window, noticing the mob of people on the sidewalk. "I'm here, where are you?" It took some time to count out the cab fare in ones from her apron, and she tipped him and scrambled out of the car, phone still pressed to her ear. "Where are you?"

"Near the front. Mo?"

Snapping the phone shut, she started to push her way through the crowd, nodding to the people who recognized her from the photo on Danny's desk. She found Don still in his vest by a squad car, his phone still on his ear. She whacked him lightly on the side.

"Oh," he said, flipping the phone shut. He looked at her in her black pants, white button-down shirt and apron. "Have a nice shift?"

"Yeah, it was great," she said with a sarcastic smile. "Right up until the point where I heard about this over the radio." She swallowed. "Where's Mac?"

"Still inside, I'm afraid," said a woman to her right and Mo looked over. British accent, dark hair...Peyton. Mo knew about the crush that Peyton had had on Mac up until she'd found out that he was involved with Danny.

Biting her lower lip, she looked back at Don. "Where's Danny? I tried calling him, but he didn't answer."

"He went with Adam," Don said.

That's when the window on one of the upper floors blew out.

Don grabbed Mo on instinct and turned her so that he was protecting her with his body, arms wrapped around her. After a few seconds, he straightened and slowly spun her back around. Her eyes were overly bright and scared, but her lower lip didn't so much as quiver.

"Mac, right?"

He smiled tightly. "Yeah. Hopefully." His radio crackled on his belt. Most of it was jargon that went over Mo's head, but Don seemed to understand it and Mo knew it was bad because Don's body language changed completely. He went from semi-relaxed because the situation was under control to a tightwire of controlled energy.

"Don?" she asked as he walked around to the drivers' side of the car. "Don?"

"You stay here and wait for Mac," he said, pointing at her. He only pointed when he meant business. "I'll call."

Confused even more, Mo watched half a dozen more squad cars pull out. Playing with the tie on her apron, she looked back toward the door, her stomach tightening painfully. Shouldn't have Mac been out by then? Shouldn't somebody have walked out already? She looked up where the window was gone and tried not to think that Mac had been in the same room when that had happened. She tried not to think that he was possibly...possibly...She swallowed hard and closed her eyes. She didn't want to lose anybody. Her family was Danny and Mac, the two that kept her safe. She'd been the unwanted cast-off of the family and Danny had taken her, as per his brother's last wishes. But this was more than duty. Danny loved her like a daughter. Mac loved her as though she were his own child, and she got along with Reed, too.

She opened her eyes and stared at the door. Mac walked with Stella and Sheldon, all of them soaked to the bone. Mo didn't care that he was soaking wet, she ducked under the arm of a uniformed cop that was supposed to keep people back and sprinted straight for Mac. He saw her coming and opened his arms. She flung her arms around his neck in a deathgrip and tried to keep her tears back. He rubbed her back soothingly, murmuring to her.

"Nice explosion," she said, stepping back after a moment. She wiped her palms under her eyes and gave him a slightly watery smile.

"How did you know that was mine?" he asked, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and walking toward the sidewalk.

"Please," she said, looking up at him. "If anybody can MacGyver something in his own lab, it would be you."

Mac chuckled and his phone went off. He answered it. "Taylor." Mo stepped away and in front of him to watch his reaction. It was not a good one; color left his face and Mo saw for the first time fear in his eyes. Whatever had scared him was scaring her by osmosis.

"What is it?" she asked, fearing the worst.

"Danny."




She didn't remember much of the ride to the other crime scene, the scene of the drug bust. Mac was speeding, his lights and siren on while she clutched at the door handle, fear tightening her chest until she thought she wouldn't be able to breathe. Danny and Adam had been part of a hostage situation with mobsters and from what she could gather, both of them were hurt in some way.

They came to a screeching stop and Mo jumped out, immediately searching for Flack. She couldn't find him so she started to follow Mac.

"Stay there," he ordered and she flinched. It was the voice he used when he wanted no argument, only this time it was laced in fear. She looked; he wanted her to stand by the ambulance. Shaking slightly, she walked over and sat on the edge of the deck after making sure no one was actually in it. She didn't care that her pants were getting dirty, didn't care she probably looked like hell. All she cared about was having everybody she loved safe and sound.




"Danny!"

Danny slowly turned his head, his broken wrist and hand pulled protectively into the shelter of his body. He couldn't see much because they'd taken his glasses and/or probably smashed them somewhere, but he'd know Mac's voice anywhere.

"Mac?"

Mac's face slowly came into focus and he breathed a sigh of relief. "Mac.."

"Easy, Danny," Mac said, placing a comforting hand on the younger man's shoulder. It was really all they could do, so out in the open and surrounded by other police officers. Flack and the rest of the crew they worked with was one thing, but everybody else in the precinct was quite another. Keeping a hand on Danny's shoulder under the pretense that Danny was blind as a bat without his glasses (true), he slowly walked the other man out of the building and toward the ambulance. He saw a dark blob stand up, too skinny and not dressed right to be an EMT.

"Is that Mo?" he asked, looking at Mac.

"Yeah," Mac said and Danny flinched a little. "What?"

"I..I just...don't," he stammered and Mac got the drift. Danny was supposed to be her rock, her strong point. He was there for her as a parent and a friend when she'd gone through a rocky phase in her life shortly after moving to the city, and he wasn't sure he wanted her to see him like this, so beaten. He also knew she'd coddle the hell out of him as best she could.

"Danny?" she said in a small voice when he was near enough to hear her, but not see her. She didn't want him to see the tears in her eyes.

"I'm not gonna break, Mo," he said, holding out his one arm as an invitation.

"Danny," she said with a hitch, and carefully plastered herself against his side, arms around his waist and head over his heart so she could reassure herself that he was still living, that his heart was still beating. Mac had one hand on Danny's shoulder, the other on Mo's back, and the EMT slowly approaching wanted nothing more than to turn around and walk away from the scene before him, but he knew that Danny needed to be checked out.

"Excuse me? Detectives?"

Mac looked up and stepped away from the two Messers. Mo looked over her shoulder and then took a few steps back, her hand finding Danny's good one and squeezing.

"I just need to make sure that Detective Messer is in one piece before he goes to the hospital," the EMT said as Mo and Danny sat on the deck of the ambulance.

"I don't need a hospital," Danny said, which Mac and Mo both knew was an automated response.

"Yes, you do, so shut up and go with it," Mo said, glaring sidelong at her uncle because really, she was amazed she hadn't had a heart attack with all the stress she'd put her body through that day. She was tired and Mac looked exhausted. Danny might have been running on adrenaline, but when that wore off he was going to crash hard.

Danny knew when to give in. He looked over at Mac, or the blob that was Mac, and sighed. "All right. Let's get going."



Mo hadn't gone to the hospital but with Don instead, who'd dropped her off at the café where she worked. It was still open, the manager less than pleased at her sudden disappearance, but once Don had spoken to him he'd gotten the message and told her to take some time off with the reassurance that she'd have a job when she came back in a few days. She ordered off the menu to go and, strangely, didn't argue when Don escorted her to her apartment. Once inside, she put the food on the counter and just stood in the kitchen, looking around. Don was standing by the coffee table.

"I'm fine, you know," she said, moving to get a glass out of the cupboard and trying not to notice the way her hands shook.

"Mo," Don said, "cut the crap. Mac could have been killed today, Danny likewise. Thankfully Danny's the only one in the hospital, but you could have lost both of your 'parents.' You can't possibly be fine."

She sucked in a deep breath and shook her head. A tear leaked down her cheek. "You're right. I'm not fine. I'm scared." She looked at him over the counter. "I almost lost both Danny and Mac today. Both of them, Don." She sniffled but kept most of the tears at bay. "I know their job is dangerous, but, it still scares me. It scares me every day. One, eventually I could live without, but..." She looked him in the eye. "I can't do this without both of them."

"You don't have to."

Both Mo and Don turned to look at a bruised Danny. Neither had heard him and Mac return. Mo walked calmly to her uncle, wrapped her arms carefully around him well aware that he might have some broken/bruised/fractured ribs and then lost, crying into the front of his borrowed hospital scrub. Mac nodded thanks to Don as the detective left and then shut the door. He then moved to Danny's side, resting his forehead against the younger man's shoulder and rubbed his hand up and down Mo's back to comfort her. Mac, at that point in his life would agree with her; he could possibly live without one, but not two. From the way that Danny looked like he was going to fly apart, he most likely agreed with it, too.

Finally, after Mo had cried herself out, she stepped back. Danny gently took her face in his hands, the fingers on one bandaged together and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"I promise you," he said, looking into eyes they both shared, "that I will do all I can to come back to you, and Mac. 'K?"

Mo nodded; Danny kissed her forehead and Mac took her hand, promising the exact same thing. Eyes red-rimmed and wide, Mo wiped her nose on the back of her sleeve and took a deep breath. She looked at both men. "There's food."

"Thatta girl," Danny said, heading in the direction of the kitchen.

Despite everything, Mo had to smile. Danny could eat anything at any time, today being no exception. She smiled wider when Mac told Danny that under no circumstances was he going to be eating his dinner in the living room, feet on the coffee table, beer in hand and watching the Yankee game. She outright grinned when she heard Danny rifling through the Styrofoam containers. Untying her apron, she heard soft murmurings from the kitchen and the sound of something crunchy.

"Daniel Messer, don't you dare touch my cannoli," she said, turning and heading for the kitchen. Some things never changed.

***