#betterthansinatra

Donny wasn’t a delicate kind of guy. He knew he was very direct and a little rude, and that while he’d come a long way over the year, he still had a long way to go.

But it was easy to be tender with Julia. She was a tough cookie, but she could make any man melt in her arms.

One night, the night before the tour, their old friends at Oliver’s and the Blue Wisp had treated them to the same generous gift a year ago: a train ride to New York City and an overnight stay in a hotel. It was already pretty late, and he and Julia were dozing in the rumbling train car. So, in the light of the setting sun, he leaned over, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and pressed a gentle kiss to her temple.

Julia had been staring out the window for a long while now. 

The last thing she had expected was a couple of friends to send her and her love back to New York, the city Julia deeply loved. After all, that one city had changed her whole life. Well, perhaps it was less of the city and more of the man that had dragged her along to that city. 

@betterthansinatra

“It’s nothing,” Julia said, shaking her head. She avoided making eye contact with Donny, afraid that if he could see her eyes, he would know why she couldn’t sleep. It was, more or less, why he couldn’t sleep- she kept dreaming about Michael- but she had no business troubling him with the worried dreams (she wasn’t sure if they were, to any extent, nightmares) of a gold star wife. “Go back to sleep.”

“I’m dying, Wayne.” The confession felt like pulling teeth. Wayne had probably noticed. Meticulous Wayne, guarded Wayne, who always clocked a room before he went inside. His hands weren’t as steady, his focus was lost.

“Don’t say anything to the guys. I’m trying–I’m doing research. I’m doing what I can.”

“Shit, Private...I’m sorry.” Wayne didn’t know what he was supposed to say. Him and Donny weren’t always close, and they didn’t tend to get along, but this was still something hard to process. He was dying. He was here now, but God knows how long before he wouldn’t be. 

“I got you. I got you.” He pulled Julia into his arms and brushed her tangled hair out of her face. “It’s okay. I’m right here. It was all just a dream.”

He’d had enough nightmares to know how to help someone just coming out of one. He knew how oppressive the darkness of a bedroom could be, but he wouldn’t risk pulling away from her to shed a little light.

She clings to Donny with strong arms, as if he would slip away if she let go. Normally she is the one holding Donny, comforting him after a rough night of being back in the trenches, but today the roles have been reversed. Julia doesn't know why, but she knows that at least Donny got some sleep tonight.

“One of each?” he murmured, stunned at the beautiful babies settling in his arms. “Who would think we could get so lucky?”

Their babies, his babies, were so small, but now they occupied the entirety of his being. His world belonged to them now, no question.

He sat at Julia’s bedside, moving inch by inch so he didn’t disturb his children. “We make some pretty beautiful kids.”

She nods, looking at the both of them. The pain of delivering two babies on the same day is soon forgotten. They’re beautiful.

She watches Donny handle their little girl, him being ever the father. The idea of him being a horrible dad is lost with the gentleness he displays for one of his children.

“Sorry to scare you,” he replied, his hands finding her waist. “I forgot you were coming this way.”

His clients had him tailing folks all over the city, and this one’s winding path brought him right into Julia’s way. And he ought to get back to tailing her, but Julia had him held fast.

“Are we still on for tonight?”

‘ Of course we are. ’ She places her hands on his chest, glaring at him slightly. ‘ Aren’t you working or something right now? It doesn’t seem like you’re doing much. ’ She teases, not wanting to be a distracting to him during work. God knows what he does during the day, but investigation was not a career in which you can stop to talk to your girlfriend.