AUTHOR: LaneIA
SUMMARY: The Christmas season brings heartache and hopes for Flack and company
SPOILERS: General
PAIRING: None, although friendship abounds
RATING: T- just in case I feel a damn coming on.
DISCLAIMER: Will it come to anyone's surprise that I don't own CSI:NY or anything else for that matter. I'm doing this for fun and if you want to sue me, have at it.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
: Not really a sequel, but it does mention my original character Ash, who made her debut in Running to the Edge . The inspiration of this story came from the beauty of the sky coming home from Wisconsin after a weekend get away. Also, I couldn't find the name of the bar the group went to in Heroes,

so unless someone can help me out I'm calling it Joe's. I've also added an extra week or two to the calendar, since I wanted it there to be a little more time between his injuries and this story. Flack is a superman, but I don't think a gunshot wound would have you up and going full speed again that quickly. Also, I don't know much about the Catholic Church, only what Wikipedia told me, so if I've gotten something wrong, give me a heads up.

It had been a very rough day, a double homicide involving a mother and her child had started out the beginning of his shift. The initial take on the scene had been a car-jacking gone awry. Once the CSI's had ran the scene the evidence started to point in another direction. By late afternoon, after missing lunch, Flack had a suspect in the interrogation room and was asking some very pointed questions. Danny accompanied him in, holder a folder of evidence that tied the man to the gun. After almost two hours of asking the same questions over and over, going over what the evidence was showing, the man finally confessed. There were no tears and no remorse as the husband finally admitted to shooting his wife and 7 month old son while the car sat in the family's driveway. He claimed that his new girlfriend didn't want the baggage of an ex-wife and child. In his mind that necessitated the need for elimination.

Flack and Danny shared a pained look as the man related his story. The contempt in his voice was thick as Flack informed the man that he would be going to central booking and would be a quest of the State of New York for the rest of his life. The paperwork took several more hours to wrap up. Another red-letter day for humanity, he thought.

He was setting at his desk thinking about how messed up a person had to be to do something like this when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking up he saw Danny looking at him quizzically.

"Hey Flack, a couple of us are talking about going and grabbing a few drinks down at Joe's. Want to come along?" Danny pushed his glasses back up his nose and looked at his friend.

He deliberated for a few moments. It had been a long day and he still wasn't feeling 100 after being beaten and shot last month. Plus he was still holding out hope that Ash, a young lady who had helped him out when he had been attacked, would turn back up. Her disappearance and suspected return to the street had disappointed him. On the other hand, a couple of beers, hell a lot of beers, would make this lousy day fade in his memory a little. He gave a small smile to Danny, "Sure, give me about 10 more minutes and I'll be ready to head out."

"Sounds like a plan, I'll go grab my coat and meet you back here." Danny turned and headed back to the lab.

Picking up the paperwork and taking it over to his supervisor's box, Flack tried to work the tired kinks from his back. He had been back to work for two weeks; riding the desk for the first and now he was back in the field. With Christmas only 12 days away he wished that the idea of peace on Earth and goodwill towards men would filter down to the lowlifes that made up an ever increasing segment of the New York population. Shaking his head at the memory of the murdered mother and child, he picked up the items cluttering the top of his desk and slid them into a drawer, making a mental note to put things away better the next shift.

"Ready to go Flack?" Danny called as he walked into the almost deserted room.

"Yeah. You buying the first round?" Flack made the decision to start pushing the horror of the day out of his mind. "I've got a powerful thirst."

"You know that I'm pretty sure I've bought the first round and second round the last two times we went out." Danny picked up on the light hearted tone the Detective was aiming for. "Your problem my friend is you are afraid of commitment."

The dark haired detective shot Danny a questioning glance.

Danny continued, "Yes, you're afraid of committing some of that bankroll you've got to paying for beer."

"Keep it up Messer." The two men walked down the steps to the street level and turned towards Joe's Bar and Grill, the hang-out for many of the precincts men and women. "Of course if you didn't have to spend so much on hair products each month, maybe you wouldn't be so short on cash. But I'm sure the ladies so love running their fingers through those lovely locks." Flack reached out and rubbed his hand over Danny's head, messing up his hair.

"Damn it Flack, I spent 20 minutes this morning getting that just right." Danny joked as he ran his own hand across his hair, trying to smooth it. "It wasn't too long ago you had hair issues of your own. Remember those side burns? Complete metro sexual." He peeked at the man beside him. "Still using moisturizer?" Danny moved quickly out of Flack's arm reach and the man went to punch him good naturedly.

"It wasn't mine I tell you. Lindsay left it there when her apartment's water heater broke last year."

"Not in a hurry to get it back to her I see." Danny continued the teasing.

"I'm leaving it there so if she ever takes me up on my offer, she'll want it in the morning." Flack looked for the reaction he knew it would create.

Danny's face turned an even darker shade of pink, the cold air already making both men slightly flushed. Flack had known of his friend's interest in the female CSI, but he also knew that that Danny hadn't worked up the courage to make anything more than friendly overtures to her. "Flack!" Danny's voice held a hint of warning in it.

Holding up his hands in protest, Flack spoke to Danny. "Easy there. I'm just joking and you know I'd never say anything around her. Of course, if you want me to write her a note and ask her if she likes you, you know, that way, I will."

"Ha ha, ha, ha. You are so funny." Danny pulled on the door the Joe's, the warm blast of air greeting the men. "Seriously, I think I'm going to talk to her about going on a date or something." He scanned the room looking for their co-workers. Spotting Sheldon and Lindsay talking at a table across the room, Danny started threading his way through the crowd.

"Or something. You're a chicken Messer." Flack reached up and loosened his tie.

"Don't see you going out on too many dates. Pot calling the kettle black if you ask me." Danny stopped and turned slightly. "Don't do anything that will let on ok?"

"You should know me better than that Danny." Flack gave him a little push, "Come on, I'm thirsty."

Three hours later the group, now expanded to include Stella and a few others from the lab, was still going strong. Joe's served a pretty good burger and the beer was always ice cold, so many off duty cops hung out here. The conversation had ranged from the case that many of them had helped work that day and then evolved into dozen other stories and tales. Don had limited himself to just a couple of beers. His head had told him with that first light buzz to keep drinking, pound them down, forget this shitty day, forget everything. The rational side however had interjected that alcohol never solved anything. Don had to agree with that, too often in this line of work he had seen men who crawled into a bottle to forget and then forgot to crawl back out. How many of the victims they worked with were also impacted by too much booze and not enough courage to face what they had to do? Besides, he took to much pride in his job and the way he did it to let his weaker nature take control. The men in Flack's family were cops and he knew that he better not mess that up.

Flack sat back and watched his friends and colleagues, Danny had positioned himself closest to Lindsay. Often their heads would dip together as they had private conversations. Sheldon and Jacob, a technician from the lab, were keeping Stella in stitches with their never ending supply of dirty jokes. At one point when a punch line took her off guard Stella had even snorted beer out her nose, which had broken everyone up. Glancing at his watch he decided he should shove off. He was working another early shift tomorrow and he had thought about stopping off quickly on his way home.

Exchanging goodnights, Flack put on his jacket and headed out. He caught the train home and instead of his regular stop, he got off one station sooner. Descending the metal platform, he made his way down the block. He stopped momentarily and looked up at the building looming before him, the grey stones of the Church of St. Gregory offering a comforting sight. Growing up his mother had taken him to services every Sunday. Don had been a good boy, learning his catechisms, becoming confirmed and had even considered becoming an alter boy, but did not due to his love of sports filling his extra hours. He found that even though he was not able to attend mass often, he still found a certain sense of comfort in his religion.

Since 9-11, many of the churches that had begun locking their doors to ward of vandalism or theft had again left them open, so Don was not disappointed when he found the doors open. Entering in, he dipped his fingers into the holy water and crossed himself. He moved up the aisle and genuflected as he entered a pew. He then bowed his head and began to pray. He thought of the woman and her child and offered up prayers to them and the family, he also prayed for the husband, trying to rid his heart of the hate that had threatened to overwhelm him earlier. He was so intent on his praying that he wasn't sure how long the noise had been there, but suddenly he noticed a whimpering sound towards the back corner of the church.

Looking up and around, Don didn't see anyone in the sanctuary. That of course didn't mean that someone had come in and was hunkered down in a pew. The sound began to get a little louder and Flack moved to his feet and tried to draw a bead on where it was originating. Now the sound had changed into a more recognizable form and the look on Don's face was that of disbelief. It couldn't be. Moving to the sound, he bent over and confirmed what he had already known.

Thinking nothing of the scene or the evidence that he might disturb, Don reached over and picked up the small baby dressed in a lightweight snowsuit. The infant's eyes were clenched shut and the mouth worked as the crying continued. Placing the baby to his chest and patting it lightly Don made calming noises as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket. It didn't look like his shift was over yet.