Sweet Sorrow

This was inspired by two things, firstly Myriad 13's story 'Man and his dog' which is excellent, and then after reviewing, Myr kindly pointed me in the direction of a clip of Flack with said dog from the series. So a big thank you to Myriad 13 for the inspiration! It will contain relatively few glimpses of CSI:NY life, and focus on Flack outside work, and of course, his dog. The team will make appearances. Hope you enjoy! Ohhh how I missed Flack :)

…...

Chapter 1

Detective Don Flack stretched and yawned, scratching at the stubble on his chin. Blinking blearily he felt the body next to him stir and roll over and he smiled.

"C'mon" he grumbled "No eggs benny this morning, quick trip around the park and then I'm gonna have to go to work"

He winced as a wet nose snuffled in his ear and he sat up, petting the dog on her side as she sprawled next to him.

"An' no tellin' anyone I let you share my bed" he told the dog as he swung his legs over the side of the bed "Messer will have no end of witty one liners"

The dog yawned and sneezed in response and then bounded from the bed next to him, jumping about in anticipation of her early morning walk.

…...

Don leaned down and unclipped the leash from his medium sized dog of indeterminate breed by his side and fastened it around his neck. Watching her take off onto the grass and roll around he was torn between happiness at her simple joy for life and concern about what she might have found to roll in.

Setting off along the path at a half hearted run he once again considered his decision to get a dog. His job and lifestyle didn't exactly lend itself to commitment of any type, and as he'd discovered, dogs could be tying. And expensive. But he didn't regret it. The name, one she'd come with, was something he eagerly shared with the running shorts adorned girls that seemed to appear from all angles in the park, it seemed to earn him lovely smiles. He had however, avoided telling anyone at work, or the lab, that his dog was called Sweetie...oh he could almost hear Danny Messers laughter already.

Loping along it took him a few moments to notice that Sweetie wasn't in her habitual spot next to him and he glanced around as he ran, to no avail. Frowning he stopped running, turning a full circle and calling her name.

He spotted her a few metres across the park, nose to nose with a huge German Shepherd dog, it all looked quite friendly from where he stood. The big dog was wagging his long tail high and Sweetie was wagging her whole back end, in much the same way she did when he came home from work and she greeted him at the door. And that he realised, was exactly why he had got a dog.

He whistled and called a couple of times, but apart from turning her head in his direction, Sweetie continued her perusal of her new friend.

"Typical woman" he sighed, setting off across the grass towards them "Somethin' better comes along an' they forget you exist...Hey!" he called "When you've finished I got a job to get to! Oh no don't …...oh God that's disgusting..."

Don grimaced as the dogs inspected each other more intimately, picking up speed he jogged towards them.

"Hey, get your nose out of his butt...geez I arrest people for shit like that...Stop it!" he said trying to grab Sweetie's collar but she eluded him, bounding around the larger dog, barking in excitement before the two dogs took off in a high speed game of chase.

"Well that's lovely you made a new friend..." he sighed in defeat, looking around for the owner of the German Shepherd in the vain hope they might be able to exert more influence over their dog than he could his. Trying to think of any excuse he could use for being late for work that didn't involve dogs and their peculiar ways of introducing themselves...

"Sampson!" Don looked in the direction of the voice and squinted through his aviators he wore to protect his eyes from the already blazing sun. A woman ran towards him in the measured strides of what he called a 'jolly jogger', a pace designed not to dislodge make up or hair with the unfortunate business of sweating. It didn't detract from the amount of smooth bronzed skin on show as she bent to clip the leash onto the apparently obedient German Shepherd and tut to herself as Sweetie didn't get the hint and followed him.

"Hey Sweetie...c'mon" he wheedled, stepping closer "I don't think Sampson has time to play..." he fixed the blonde with a killer smile "Sorry" he apologised "Sweetie just loves to play..."

The blonde smiled back "Sweetie suits her" she purred, as Sampson sat stock still beside her watching as Don and his dog engaged in a dance of human-makes-grab-for-collar-dog-leaps-out-of-way.

Score 1 Don thought as he finally succeeded in clutching the dogs collar and holding her squirming body still enough to clip the leash back on.

"She came with the name" he smiled back "But it sure does suit her"

"She's very cute" the blonde told him, with eyes as wide and blue as he could remember seeing in a long time, directed at him anyway "Did you rescue her then? If you didn't name her yourself?"

"Yeah" Don tried not to yank too hard on the leash as Sweetie's antics were barely contained by his hand on it "I'm a sucker for a pretty face"

The blonde smiled again "I know what you mean" she purred again "But I like the protection and safety of a big guy like Sampson at my side"

"Sensible" Don nodded sagely, not taken in for a second. This apparently, was a great upside to dog ownership.

"Well, I'm sure that Sweetie and Sampson will get the chance to play again soon" she said, biting her lower lip slightly as she finished and fixing him with a look that made him think he was sure they would too.

"I think they'd like that" he replied.

"'Bye" she smiled and set off jogging away from him again.

Don watched her go for a moment or two and then looked down at his dog.

"You're totally forgiven for that" he told her "Just make sure that before you run after another dog, the owners a hot girl, OK?"

Sweetie barked her answer and Don set off a little faster on his way home, hopefully to make up enough time that he could blame any lateness on traffic.

…...

It was almost 2am before Don turned the key in his front door again, and he was exhausted.

Sweetie greeted him with slobbery delight as she usually did and Don stooped to fuss and pet her, as he always did. He saw the note on the counter from his sister, who'd stopped by to give Sweetie a quick walk and feed her when it became apparent that he was going to be tied up for most of the night.

When am I going to be asked to babysit your kids instead of your dog?

Was all it said. It was a standing joke between them after they had started to become close again. Despite both of their parents no longer being around, their grandmother never failed to mention her distinct lack of great grandchildren from them, and to remind them that age waited for no man nor woman.

Sam had once made the mistake of thinking that the old lady was talking of her own advanced years and that she may not live long enough to see their off spring. Gran, in her time honoured fashion had put her right in her place.

"I didn't mean me Samantha!" the old lady had admonished "I mean you two! You have a biological clock that's ticking away and you don't get to wind it up again my dear!"

Don had almost choked in his haste not to appear to be laughing at his sisters expression.

"And as for you..." he'd looked innocent as she turned her assault on him "You may be able to father a child until the day you die, but my boy, who's going to let you if you don't marry a nice girl now? You're not getting any younger and looks don't last forever"

And Sam had her revenge.

Don crumpled the piece of paper up and tossed it into the trash, opening the refrigerator he saw nothing desirable and closed it again.

"Bed" he said to the dog.