We’re Not So Different

Summary: AU. It turns out that Danny was at the academy for a different reason than Anson claims
Warning(s): Spanking; spoilers for the movie; AU; references to violence and canon character death
Author’s Note: Major spoilers and massive AU for the above-mentioned movie! What can I say? I like the idea of a bad guy really turning out to be a good guy. And I thought that twist could have worked for the movie

###

“Shit, Danny. What was your plan, huh? You can’t tell me you were expecting your own brother to shoot you in the back.” Anson stood in the doorway of the hospital room, his arms folded across his chest. “You are so lucky that I found out what you were really doing before any more damage was done.”

Danny sank back against the mattress with a low groan. He was fairly sure that he should have been in pain, but he just felt high as a kite. The slow, steady beeping of the machine he was hooked up to reminded him that he was still alive. “Did Cam save Will?” he whispered. “You know that she shot him. He was trying to save her, trying to save both of them, and she shot him. Fuck.” He forced his eyes open and focused on Anson. “Should have been above your pay grade. When did you find out?”

“When you were bleeding out on the floor. The call came through.” Anson shook his head and walked over to the bed. “You need another shot of morphine? And, yeah, your brother’s alive,” he added. “He’s gonna be in a spot of trouble, but with a good lawyer, his sentence might even be commuted.”

“Good.” Danny closed his eyes and sighed. “He doesn’t deserve to go down for all this.”

“And you do?”

Danny forced his eyes open again to focus on Anson as the FBI agent sat down on the edge of his bed. “Wasn’t really expecting to survive, after everything went to shit like it did,” he admitted. “Pretty sure I’m gonna be the fall guy for all this. We took out the rest of them.”

“The evidence in the warehouse will back up your story,” Anson said.

“What story?” Danny returned. “That I’ve spent the years since leaving the Academy infiltrating the largest criminal gangs here in LA, just to ultimately bring them down in a major car chase, stuck in an ambulance trying to keep a fucking police officer alive?”

“But that wasn’t your plan,” Anson said. “You had to adjust. You did what you could to lessen the effects of what you were doing.” He paused before saying, “I wish you could have told me what you were doing.”

Danny half-lauged, half-snorted. He couldn’t help it. “Yeah, tell you that you were wrong about me? That I’m really on the side of the angels?” He shook his head. “No way you would have believed me.”

Anson made no attempt to refute that claim. Instead, he asked, “You weren’t going to shoot her, were you? Cam?”

“Honestly?” Danny shrugged and looked away. “By that point, I figured there was only one way out for me. Didn’t expect it to be Will who shot me, though.” He gave a pained laugh. “That’s good for him, though. Means he can take a plea bargain. You’ll make sure of that, right?” He focused fully on Anson. “That they know it was me and only me who did all that. You make sure they know that,” he ordered.

“I knew you’d say that.” Will’s voice sounded from right behind Anson.

“Hey, you’re awake.” Danny peered past Anson, grinning happily when he saw that his brother was stood there. Will looked tired and worn, but he was standing. He was alive.

“And recovered enough to talk to you.” Will looked towards Anson. “Mind giving us some privacy? I need to talk to my brother.”

Danny watched as Anson nodded and opened the door, stepping out into the corridor and closing the door behind him. Then, he focused on Will. “That sounds ominous.”

“You in any pain?”

Danny shook his head. “Feels like I should be, though. I feel like I’m flying high. What do you think, little brother? Do my pupils look blown?”

Will looked at him for several long moments before saying, “I think you’re not up for this conversation right now.”

“Why?” Danny closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “You gonna tell me we’re finished? We’re through? That you hate me now. Cause yeah, I pulled you into all this. I got you shot. Lied to you and manipulated you to do what I wanted.” He took another deep breath, fighting the moisture that filled his eyes.

“You’re a hero.”

“You don’t believe that,” Danny whispered. “I don’t think even I believe that,” he confessed. He remembered everything he’d done. The people who’d been hurt. He knew he wasn’t a hero. That was the very last thing he was.

“Why didn’t you tell me the truth?”

Danny closed his eyes and breathed in deep, preparing for the pain he was certain to come. The pain that would be so much worse than any kind of physical pain, because it meant that he’d lose his brother. “Does it matter?” he whispered hollowly. “I know that you’re going to leave. That you’re going to walk out of my life for good. And I know I deserve it. But please don’t drag it out and pretend you actually…”

“Amy wants you to move in with us.”

Danny froze, opening his eyes to stare at his brother. “No she doesn’t.”

“Yeah? And what makes you the expert on my wife?” Will asked. “You think Anson kept this to himself when he found out? No. He told me. And I told her. You should have handled this so much better, but I’m not cutting you out of my life. I’ll never cut you out of my life.”

Tears blurred Danny’s vision and he made no attempt to stop them. Will’s words, hearing that his brother wasn’t going to abandon him and that he was even offering him a home, felt so good, it nearly hurt. He couldn’t see through his tears, but he felt it when Will wrapped his arms around him and he hugged his brother back, tight and fierce.

They stayed like that for a long time; long enough for Danny to lose track of how long he clung to Will. It was long enough for his tears to dry up and for him to be able to whisper, in a dry, almost dusty voice, “I’m so sorry.”

“I know.” Will wrapped his arms tighter around Danny as he said, “But once you’re fully healed and out of the hospital, we’re going to have a deeper, more personal conversation about what you did. About you lying to me and hiding things from me, when you knew I would have supported you. A lot of things wouldn’t have happened if you’d just told me the truth from the start. People wouldn’t have been hurt, wouldn’t have been killed, if you hadn’t made the choices you did.”

Danny nodded slowly. It wasn’t like Will was wrong. He should have trusted his brother. He should have been honest with him. “So when you say we’ll be having a conversation….”

“I’m going to be tanning you,” Will said seriously. “Soon as you’re recovered. Soon as you’re home. We’re dealing with this and then moving past it.”

Danny looked into his brother’s eyes for several long moments before he asked, “And then you’ll forgive me?”

“And then I’ll forgive you,” Will agreed.

“Great.” Danny flopped back against the bed, unable to help the grin that spread across his face. “You’d better make sure you get plenty of rest, so that your arm is as strong as it needs to be.” He let his eyes close.

“You sound pretty happy about all this,” Will said.

“Yeah? Well, you’re offering me forgiveness and a home,” Danny replied. “That’s worth getting my ass tanned.” He forced his eyes open, focusing on his brother once more. “You got anywhere to be right now?”

“No.” Will moved over and sat down on the edge of the bed. “I can stay with you.”

###

Danny was recovering. The doctor had told him to take it easy and Danny had responded with a normal flippant reply. Yeah. Got it, Doc. No more high speed car or ambulance chases. It was his brother who had taken the prescription for pain meds and antibiotics and promised that Danny would follow every direction exactly.

“You know, I’m still the older brother,” Danny commented, as he followed Will into the apartment. “Should really be the other way round, me making sure you take care of yourself.”

“Yeah?” Will closed the door behind them and then turned to look into Danny’s eyes. “When I’m the one who almost gets killed in friendly fire, then you can be the one taking care of me.”

“Yeah, okay.” Danny looked around, head cocked to one side, listening intently. “We the only ones here? Or are Amy and my nephew hiding from me?”

“Neither.” Amy walked out of the main room, carrying her son in her arms. “We were waiting for you to get here.”

Danny grinned at his sister-in-law, his grin softening and becoming sad as she carefully deposited his nephew into his arms. Swallowing hard, he held the baby close, one hand cupping the back of his nephew’s head protectively. “Thank you,” he whispered, his voice growing hoarse with emotion. “You have no idea what this means to me.”

In answer, Any wrapped her arms around Danny in a tight hug, cocooning her son between the two of them. “Will told me the truth as soon as he found out,” she said softly. “I’m sorry I made you stay away for so long.”

Danny shrugged and tried not to show just how much that had hurt. “It’s not like I told anyone about it. Kind of defeats the whole idea of working undercover if I talk about it.” He smiled as his nephew cooed at him and gently bounced the baby in his arms. He didn’t even realise there were tears in his eyes until they were falling down his cheeks. He clenched his eyes tightly shut, trying to stop himself from sobbing outright, and managed to whisper, “Thank you.”

“How long have you been alone for?” Amy’s voice was soft in sympathy.

Opening his eyes again, Danny focused on the woman and answered honestly. “Long enough to know I don’t want to be alone anymore.”

Will’s hand on his shoulder had Danny glancing up at his brother’s face. “I’m okay.” He moved the hand that wasn’t holding onto his nephew to grip onto Will’s. “Just relieved it’s over and I don’t have to pretend anymore.”

Will nodded slowly, gripping Danny’s shoulder a fraction tighter before he spoke to his wife. “Can you take Kevin for a walk? I need to have a private conversation with Danny.”

Danny forced a smile to his face and handed his nephew back to Amy. “I’ll see you later,” he promised.

“No more bank heists. Okay?” Amy kissed Danny’s cheek, then walked over to her husband and shared a long, deep, lingering kiss with him before she headed to the apartment door.

Once Amy had left the apartment, closing the door behind her, Danny took a deep breath and turned to his brother. “Where do you want me?” he asked. “Bent over the couch or the bed? Over a chair? Hands against the wall?”

Will held his hand up to forestall anything else Danny might say. “None of those,” he replied. “We’re going to go into the main room and I’m gonna sit down on the couch. You’ll take your pants and briefs down and position yourself over my lap. Then after I’ve warmed your ass with my hand, I’ll use my belt to make sure this is something that sticks in your head.”

Danny didn’t try to argue or protest. His brother had chosen to give him another chance; to accept him into his home and into his life. Getting a spanking might be painful and it might be embarrassing…but compared to everything he could have lost, submitting to his brother and allowing Will to spank him was a small price to pay for being able to be with his family. So he followed Will into the main room and moved towards the couch, wasting no time in pushing his pants and briefs down and then positioning himself over Will’s lap when his brother sat.

Instead of starting the spanking straight away, Will rested his hand on Danny’s back and rubbed for a few moments, speaking in a low voice. “I nearly lost you, Danny. You could have died.”

Shifting slightly, Danny muttered, “You were the one who shot me.”

“Because you’d convinced me you were about to turn into a murderer!” Will’s voice was hoarse with emotion. It sounded like he was close to tears.

“I’m sorry,” Danny whispered. Hearing the pain in his brother’s voice, knowing how his actions had hurt Will…he hadn’t been resistant to the punishment at all, but his body slumped over his brother’s lap and he waited for the spanking to start.

When the first smack landed, it was firm and solid and Danny couldn’t help but jump, hissing out a breath at the sting. He settled as Will moved into a pattern of swats, working over every inch of Danny’s bottom and upper thighs. It wasn’t unbearable pain…certainly wasn’t the worst pain he’d ever had…but the position and the repetitive sting from his backside being smacked served to break more barriers down than anything else in his life ever had. 

“I nearly lost you, Danny.” Will’s voice was low and intense. Hitched, like he was going to start crying at any moment. “I know you were working undercover, but you can’t seriously expect me to believe you couldn’t have clued me in some way.”

Danny drew in a deep, nearly shuddering breath. The sting from the smacks was slowly turning into a burning ache. He wrapped his hands around Will’s ankle, because if he didn’t, he knew he’d throw his hands back to try and block the spanking. Not because it was unbearably painful, but because if it continued on for much longer, the sting of loving, caring discipline and the knowledge that his brother loved him would cause Danny to break…and start crying like a baby. “I couldn’t…put you at risk,” he gasped out. “If you knew, it’d put a target on your back. A bigger one than normal.”

“And by not telling me, you put both of us in even more danger.”

Danny opened his mouth to protest, to argue…maybe to apologise. He didn’t know which, because then Will was smacking his sit spots and upper thighs harder and faster and Danny was too focused on the throbbing ache to find his voice.

By the time Will stopped the spanking, tears were running down Danny’s cheeks and his bottom and upper thighs burned like he’d sat down in a fire. His sobs increased in pitch as he heard his brother removing his belt. “I’m sorry.” He fought to get the words out through a suddenly tight throat.

“I know.”

When the belt landed across his already sore backside, Danny yelped. He couldn’t help it. His fingers clenched around Will’s ankle as the leather left a scorching stripe across his bare skin.

The second stripe landed with just as much force as the first and Danny slumped over his brother’s lap, sobbing without ceasing. All he could do was lay there and shudder each time the belt landed, each stroke landing just below the first.

By the time the belting stopped, Danny was crying so hard, he couldn’t see. His backside burned, from the crest down to mid-thigh. He didn’t know how many strokes of the belt Will had given him, but he felt well and truly punished.

After a few moments where Danny just cried, Will helped him to stand and wrapped him in a tight embrace.

Danny quickly clung to his brother, hugging Will hard and fierce in return, and took several deep, gulping breaths, trying to calm his tears down. By the time they died down to mere sniffles, he felt hot and flushed and his face felt dried out from the tears.

“I got you, brother,” Will whispered. “And we’re not going to have a repeat of this. Right?”

“You got it,” Danny muttered. “No more undercover work. I’ll go legit now.”

“Yeah. Maybe working together, we’ll be more successful in an entirely legal venture.” Will sighed.

“Hey.” Danny pulled back enough to smile at his brother. “You’re a hero now. They’d damn well better give you a job, after you gave your blood to keep that officer alive.”

“Yeah? Well, we’ll see.” Will shook his head. “There’s one thing I know for sure, though. Whatever happens to us next, we’ll handle it together.”

“Yeah. Together,” Danny agreed. “Wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

The End