The text had eased some of Daniel's fears; they had agreed that Ethan wouldn't send it until he was safe and actually headed home. He had the police scanner playing on his laptop, listening for the report of a robbery to come in.

It still hadn't been reported by the time Ethan got home to find Daniel pacing the small apartment. He paused in his pacing as soon as he saw Ethan, his eyes narrowing as he looked him up and down. He didn't expect him to be injured, but… well, better safe than sorry.

"How did it go?" Daniel asked. "Was it just a test? I haven't heard any reports come in yet."

"Yes and no," Ethan replied as he toed off his shoes by the door. "Michael went out with me and watched my every move, so it was a test in a way. There was someone home, so I recommended calling it off and he listened, so it didn't actually happen. But he said he had men standing ready to break in, and I believe him." He sighed as he sank down onto the couch. "I didn't even do anything and I'm exhausted."

"It's the adrenaline," Daniel said with a crooked smile. "I'm tired too, and all I did was sit here waiting. I'm not used to not being the one in danger," he said, frowning. "I don't like it." Ethan laughed.

"I'd happily trade places with you, trust me. I'm no do-gooder like you." Daniel looked over, saw Ethan rubbing at his neck. He stepped behind the couch and replaced Ethan's hands with his own, smiling with Ethan sighed in pleasure.

"I think you give yourself too little credit," Daniel said, digging his fingers into a stubborn knot on Ethan's shoulder. "I think you're plenty brave." Ethan shook his head.

"Nope. You're the knight in shining armor, I'm happy to play the damsel in distress." He flopped his head back on the back of the couch to grin lazily up at Daniel. "But you'll save me, right?" Daniel smiled and dropped a kiss on Ethan's forehead.

"When all this is done, we'll just get you your own armor," he promised. He saw something unidentifiable flicker through Ethan's eyes, but didn't have time to decide if it was worth asking about before he spoke again.

"Yeah, maybe. I'm going to head on to bed, though." Daniel frowned in confusion; it was fairy early for Ethan, barely 9:30, but he had had a stressful day. He shrugged off his concerns and closed his laptop, following Ethan to bed.

The next morning, Ethan revealed the envelope he'd been handed, and counted it out on the coffee table next to his half-eaten bowl of cereal.

"A thousand dollars," he said when he was done, leaning back heavily on the couch. "That's more money in two weeks than I made in a month at the other job. Almost more than I made in two months," he added with a snort. He glanced up at Daniel. "See why crime is so tempting?" Daniel frowned. He didn't like where this was going.

"No," he said shortly. "Money shouldn't be enough to sell out your morals." Ethan snorted.

"That's easy to say when you've never had to worry where your next meal was going to come from, or try to figure out how to tell your kid brother he was going to have to put his dreams on hold because you were too useless to find a real job." Daniel opened his mouth to reply, but Ethan waved it off. "No, I get it. Really." He stood and grabbed his jacket, swiping up a decent amount of the money off the table to stick in his pocket. "I have some things I have to do before work today. I'll see you tonight." Within seconds, he was out the door, and Daniel was left staring at the closed door, wondering what just happened.

He didn't mean to follow Ethan into town. He had his own things to do, and just figured he may as well do them this morning… and if he happened to see Ethan while he was out and about, all the better for it.

He got more than he bargained for.

As he was coming out of the bank, he happened to see the back of a patched leather jacket disappearing into the small alley between two buildings across the street.

It's probably nothing, Daniel thought to himself. ...unless it isn't.

Cursing under his breath, he trotted across the street, raising a hand in thanks to the car that stopped to let him pass. He walked at a normal pace past the opening to the alleyway, and glanced to the side to see Ethan speaking to two hooded figures. He only got a glimpse at their faces -- both young, male, otherwise nondescript. Once past the mouth of the alley, he pretended to stumble, then knelt to 'fix his shoe'. Focusing all of his concentration on hearing what was being said just a few feet away in the alley, he heard some mumbling, then felt his blood run cold when he heard a familiar voice.

"Just don't fuck it up, alright? There's five hundred there, that should be enough to cover it." There was some low murmuring again before he was able to pick out Ethan's voice once more. "Yeah, I know. You know the drill, you never saw me." Figuring that signalled the end of the meeting, Daniel stood, making his way hastily to the next cross-street and taking the turn, ducking into the first shop he came to.

His breath came quick, and he struggled to get himself under control. What did it mean? He knew the obvious answer -- Ethan was involved with more criminal elements than he was letting on. It shouldn't come of as much of a shock as it did. He knew Ethan's history, knew relapses were common. Just this morning, he'd heard Ethan trying to justify his criminal activities. His fists clenched at his side, and he had to force himself to smile at the shop clerk who paused by him to stock an item on the shelf.

It was his own fault, really. He'd gotten emotionally involved with Ethan, even knowing the risks, and now he was paying the price. He knew leaving behind a life of crime wasn't as easy as just saying it, but he'd chosen to trust, and would likely regret it. He couldn't help but think back to the crippling heartache he'd suffered when Ethan had left him the first time, and hope time, age, and experience would help him weather this second time better.

Once about ten minutes had passed, Daniel left the shop, going straight to his car and heading home. He felt ill, and he knew he had some thinking to do.

Ethan stopped by the warehouse mid-afternoon, and after speaking briefly to Michael, found he had no new assignments just yet.

"You did well last night," Michael said, a slick, business-like smile on his face. "Take a couple days off. You've earned it." Ethan nodded his thanks, then headed home. His mind was on the money he had left after his morning's excursion. He was making so much more now, he'd already paid his rent and cell phone bill for the month -- maybe he could take Daniel on a date with what was left over. It only seemed fair, and he liked the idea of spending his money on the man he…

His mind shied away from the obvious word. It was too soon, and their disparate backgrounds still drove a wedge between them from time to time. But sharing space this past week had been surprisingly nice, and Ethan couldn't help but start to hope it might actually work out this time. He cared for Danny, that much he could admit to himself, but he wasn't ready for the "L" word. Not yet. The thought of possibly being ready for it soon was both terrifying and exhilarating.

He trotted up the stairs to his apartment door and stepped inside, smiling at the sight of Daniel sitting on his couch.

"Hey!" he said, closing the door behind him and leaning over to pull his shoes off. "I have a couple days off, so maybe we can actually do something fun." He straightened, brows drawing in confusion when he saw Daniel hadn't moved. "Hey, everything okay?"

"Maybe." Something about the tone of Daniel's voice made the hair on the back of Ethan's neck stand up. "Anything happen today?" Ethan walked forward slowly, pausing by the end of the couch.

"Noooo," Ethan replied, drawing the word out. "I ran some errands, then went by the warehouse, and Michael told me to take a couple days off. That's it."

"Personal errands or 'work' errands?" Daniel asked, the audible quotes around the word clear in his tone.

"Personal," Ethan replied, his voice growing clipped. "What's up with the interrogation, Danny?"

"I was in town for some errands today myself," Daniel replied, looking up slowly. The look on his face made Ethan take a step back. It was… cold, impersonal. It was the same face he'd worn that first day he'd stepped into the interrogation room at the station. "As you might imagine, I was a little confused when I saw the man I'm… staying with," he said, looking away with the awkward pause, "stepping into an alley with two shady-looking characters."

"Shady-looking characters," Ethan repeated flatly. Daniel, nodding, didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah. So, again," Daniel said, looking up at Ethan this time. "Personal errands or work errands?"

"Personal," Ethan repeated. Daniel clenched his jaw and looked away. "If you're done interrogating me, you wanna tell me why you were following me?" Ethan snapped.

"I wasn't following you," Daniel replied, looking up with a glare. "Though it's kind of starting to look like it might have been warranted if I had." Ethan scoffed.

"Right. I'm sorry, I talked to someone, how awful of me. How dare I have any human contact outside of you," Ethan said. He was seething, his emotions wavering between angry and betrayed, and he wasn't sure which was worse. "I trusted you, Danny! Can't you return the favor?" Daniel laughed, the sound high-pitched and almost manic, and stood to face Ethan.

"Trust? Ethan, I'm putting my career on the line, on your word alone. If you're not doing as you say, if you're stringing me along, my career is done. Everything I've worked for for ten years is gone." Ethan felt heat rising in his face and clenched his fists at his sides.

"Right, of course," he said snidely. "My apologies for making you risk your job while I'm working with people who have threatened to kill me. How unthoughtful of me. It would be just awful if you couldn't get back to arresting petty criminals who haven't actually hurt anyone."

"Laws don't just apply to violent criminals, Ethan. We can't just ignore crime because no one's getting physically injured."

"Well, of course not," Ethan retorted. "You obviously can't even allow -- how did you word it -- the person you're staying with to even leave the apartment without following them, so I guess I certainly can't expect any sort of leniency for anyone else." Daniel huffed out a sigh.

"I didn't follow you, I just happened to see you while I was running errands," Daniel said, speaking very slowly, as if explaining something to an idiot. Predictably, that only made Ethan angrier.

"So you happened to see me talking to a couple people and thought that was worthy of some kind of intervention?" Ethan demanded. "What exactly are you accusing me of?" Daniel made a frustrated noise.

"I'm not accusing you of anything, I just-" Ethan cut him off with a humorless laugh.

"Don't," he said. He kept his voice cold, hiding the undercurrent of hurt that thrummed in his chest. He should have known it would go this way. Like getting involved with a cop could ever end any other way. "In my line of work, I know when I'm being accused. So why are you having such a ridiculous reaction to me speaking with people I happen to know?" There was a long, tense silence as Daniel stared across the few feet between them, as if assessing what he saw in Ethan's eyes.

"You have to know," Daniel finally said, "that fully trusting you is… a little difficult, in our situation."

"That's not my problem," Ethan said firmly. "I'm not putting my ass on the line for the sake of your precious station, anyway, or for your career. I'm doing this to get my own ass out of the fire, so if you want to work with me without trusting me, fine." He stepped forward, planting a finger in Daniel's chest. "But if you want me to be more than someone you're staying with, that's another story." The pause after those words was so heavy it seemed to fall over the room like a blanket.

"I want to trust you," Daniel said, his voice soft.

"Then do it." Ethan ignored how his voice wavered. This wasn't up for debate. He couldn't live knowing Daniel was trailing him, watching his every move. "Make the choice to believe me, or not. My past is what it is, so if you can't trust me, I get it," he said, feeling each word like a blow even as he said it. "But I'm working to leave that past behind, and I can't handle that kind of negativity coming from someone who should have my back." He set his jaw when he was done, and internally braced himself for the emotional blow he knew was coming.

I should have known, he thought, his mind spiraling with despair even as he kept his face stony and neutral. I should have known better than to think I could have something like this.