Based on episode 6-17 Pot of Gold
A/N – This is my first published story, so please be gentle. I started thinking of this story when Mac was talking to Reed and Cam about the murder and Cam said that it was a police officer – I thought, "Oh my gosh! Danny's badge!" I was kind of let down that once again we had an episode that totally ignored all the D/L storylines that had been hinted at earlier in the season (especially in Criminal Justice and Flag on the Play – Danny's back and his missing badge). Pot of Gold was still a very exciting episode, but I thought that this would have been a great opportunity to re-introduce the plot of Danny's missing badge and set up for the season finale showdown with Shane Casey. Ah well. I am sure that TPTB have something awesome up their sleeves… but here is what I would have liked to have seen happen in Pot of Gold.
Oh, and of course, I own no one.
"The guy was a freaking cop, Mac" said Reed.
Mac stared at Reed for a moment. "What? How did Cam know he was a cop? Did the guy ID himself?"
"Yeah, he said the guy ID's himself said he was NYPD. Name was Master? Mercer? Messer? Something like that. He said he found these guys trespassing and they attacked him, so he had to take them out. He said he was investigating some gold fraud and that these two were a part of it."
Mac was staring very intently at Reed. He spoke very slowly. "Reed, I need you to think very hard. What did Cam say the officer said his name was?"
"I – I can't remember Mac. I'm sorry. I really can't. Cam said that he flashed his badge, and he got a good look – he thought the numbers were like 8-5-7-1. Something like that. Why? What's the big deal? You know somebody by one of those names?"
"Hey Mac," came a familiar voice, laced with a thick New York accent. "What do you need us to do here?"
"Yeah, Danny. Hang on one minute." Turning to Reed, Mac continued in a low voice, "Stay here, and keep out of the way. I want to talk with you some more."
"Sure thing Mac. I'll be right here."
Mac turned and walked over to where Danny and Lindsay were standing with Flack.
"What's going on, boss? Where do you want us to start" asked Danny.
"Lindsay, I want you to start over there by the chain-link fence – that's where Cam was standing when we were talking. See if you can find anything there that would help us out. Flack, take some uni's and canvass the area – see if you can find anyone that might have an idea where Cam went after he ran off."
"Where do you want me, boss?" asked Danny.
"You? I need to talk to you. Come with me," said Mac, turning and walking away.
Danny gave Lindsay and Flack a worried glance before turning and following Mac away from the crowd of people now milling around the crime scene.
"Mac, what's going on…"
He was cut off by Mac. "Danny, what is your badge number?"
"My- my badge? What? Why?" stammered Danny. "Why do you need to know my badge number?"
Mac raised his eyebrows. "I just need to verify something. So, if you don't mind. What's your badge number, Danny?"
Danny glanced nervously around him. "Mac, you know my badge number. You had it sitting on your desk for over a month after I was shot. It's 8-5-7-1. Why?"
Mac contined to stare at Danny with his eyebrows raised. "I thought so. I just needed to confirm that number with you. I have another question, if you don't mind."
"Nah, go ahead Mac," answered Danny.
"Where were you at around 7pm on March 10th?"
Danny's eyes went wide as he stared back at Mac.
"What? Mac, seriously, you're starting to freak me out here. What's going on?"
"Danny. Where were you at 7pm on March 10th?" he repeated.
"I was at home. With my wife. Putting our daughter to bed," said Danny.
"And Lindsay can confirm that?"
"What?" Danny's voice was raised in anger. "Of course Linds can back me up. What the hell is going on here? You actually think that I did this? That I would murder two kids?"
"Calm down Danny," said Mac. After Danny's outburst, people were starting to look at the pair. One pair of brown eyes especially lingered worriedly on Danny. Mac continued, calmly. "If you were at home, and Lindsay can verify that for you, can you please explain to me why someone attacked those two guys in the warehouse the other night dressed as a police officer, identifying himself as 'Messer' and carrying your badge? Number 8-5-7-1, right?"
All the colour drained from Danny's face. This was one of his very worst fears, coming true right before him. He felt his legs start to tremble under his weight, and bile start to rise in his throat at the thought of some scumbag murderer carrying around his badge. He wanted to vomit. He wanted to sink into a crack in the ground and hide from the steely glare of Mac Taylor. He stared shamefully down at his feet.
"Danny? How did this happen? How did this creep get his hands on your badge? And why is this the first time I've heard about this?"
Danny looked up and met Mac's steady gaze. "I'm sorry Mac. I should have told you sooner. I just, I thought I lost it, and that I would find it somewhere at home or at the lab. I just, was holding out hope that it would turn up."
"Well it did, Danny. Just not the way you had hoped," said Mac. His held Danny's forlorn gaze, then shook his head. "I thought that we were past all this stuff Danny. I thought that you had grown up. Matured. That you were smarter than this."
Danny withered at the disappointment clearly evident in Mac's words. His face was burning with shame and he could feel his throat constricting. "I'm so sorry Mac," he choked out. "I was having some problems with my back, and I tried everything. Linds recommended that I try an acupuncture place. So I go, and while I'm in the treatment, some jerk went into my locker and stole my wallet, my dog tags, and my badge."
"And did you report the theft? Did you tell anyone else?" Mac asked.
Danny carefully considered his answer. He was not the only person aware of his current situation. He had called Lindsay to tell her about his missing wallet and dog tags, and while he was on the phone with her was when he had realized that his badge was also missing. Flack had found out when he and Danny had found his dog tags for sale in an upscale pawnshop. However, Danny had no intention of ratting out his best friend and his wife. This was his burden to bear.
"No, Mac. I didn't," said Danny. " I told Linds about my wallet so that she could help me to cancel my credit cards and stuff, and Flack was with me when I recovered my dog tags at a pawn shop while we were investigating a case."
Mac's eyes widened as realization hit him. "Danny, tell me you don't mean the pawn shop you and Flack went to when we were investigating the Kristin Melvoy murder? Danny! That was over a month ago!"
"I know, Mac. I know!" said Danny. "I'm sorry. I just, I thought that if I could find it, then it would be no big deal, you know? No point in getting freaked out if it was stuck between the cushions on the couch."
Mac stared at Danny in utter disbelief. Danny could tell that Mac was carefully trying to control his emotions, but underneath his mask of relative calm, Mac was furious. And he didn't even know the full story. Yet.
Mac closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes, he looked at Danny and said, "As soon as you realized that your badge was not stuck in the couch, or under the front seat of your car, or in a drawer in your desk at work, you should have reported it to someone. Immediately!" Mac's voice started to rise in anger and frustration. Once again, people were staring at the pair. "Danny, what the hell were you thinking? You should have at least told Flack, or Lindsay. I'm sure that they would have told you to do the smart thing and report it. What the hell is the matter with you?"
On hearing her name bellowed into the conversation, Lindsay's head snapped up and she quickly caught the gist of what was going on between her supervisor and her husband. Mac knew.
"Mac!" Lindsay called out, as she walked quickly over to the two men. "What's going on? Why all the shouting?"
"Lindsay, stay out of this. It's not your concern," said Mac fiercely.
"Like hell it's not! You're standing in the middle of a crime scene, chewing out my husband in front of everyone, and it's none of my concern?"
"Linds, its fine. It's not any of your business. We're fine. Everything's fine. Just walk away," said Danny quietly.
Lindsay looked at him with confusion in her eyes. "You are not fine. Everything is not fine. And I will not walk away. Now will someone please tell me what is going on?"
"Linds. Please. It's fine."
"No, Danny. It's not! It's…""Montana. I said I'm fine," said Danny in a dismissive voice. "Thank you for your concern. Now will you please just go back to work."
Lindsay felt stung by Danny's comment. Danny would never, ever physically hurt her, but she felt as if she had been slapped. She was his wife! She had every right to look out for him, and to be concerned when he was in trouble. She could feel angry tears welling up in her eyes. She was about to tell him exactly what she thought about his suggestion, when she looked up at him and saw the worry behind his eyes. Almost imperceptibly, he shook his head. Lindsay blinked, not sure if she had really seen it. But it had been there. He was trying to tell her something. He didn't want her to be part of this. Then realization hit her. Mac didn't know that she knew about his badge. Danny was trying to protect her - to keep her from giving herself away. He didn't want her to be implicated in this. Keeping this in mind, she tried to make sure her face looked very stern as she looked at Danny and spoke.
"Fine. Have it your way."
She could see the relief flooding Danny's face as she turned to walk away. She felt like a traitor. She had known about Danny's missing badge and told him that they would deal with this together. And now she was walking away – leaving him stranded – bearing the entire burden for both of them. Lindsay was just as guilty as Danny in whatever was going on. However Mac had found out about Danny's badge, Lindsay was as much to blame as he was. She mentally kicked herself. She should have told him to report it sooner. She should have insisted. She hazarded a quick glance back at Danny over her shoulder. He looked so small and alone, hanging his head with his hands shoved deep in his pockets while Mac stood glaring at him.
The entire interaction had not gone unnoticed by Don Flack. He too had heard Mac shout his name, and it caused his ears to perk up, as he tried to listen intently to a conversation not meant for him, all the while trying to keep up the appearance of paying attention to the task Mac had set for him.
He saw Lindsay Messer look up from where she had been working, intent on examining a tiny piece of evidence, and glance at her husband. He also saw the worry on her face. He watched as she carefully sealed the evidence she had been examining away into a plastic evidence bag, then walked over to where Mac Taylor was talking, none-too-quietly, with Danny.
He noticed that while Lindsay, Danny and Mac were having a verbal conversation, Danny and Lindsay seemed to be having a completely separate, silent conversation of their own, carried out solely through glances and almost imperceptible gestures. Danny looked worried. Lindsay looked like she wanted to cry, and Mac looked generally pissed. Fortunately, he was too busy pacing to notice the soundless exchange between the married couple. When Lindsay finally turned on her heel and stalked away, Flack saw the relief wash over Danny.
"What the hell is going on here?" Flack thought to himself. As Lindsay moved past him to return to her previous task of collecting evidence, Flack took the opportunity to find out more.
"Hey, Monroe."
"Don," Lindsay sighed, "It's been almost a year since I've been a Messer."
"Right. Sorry Linds," said Flack. Glancing over his shoulder, he could still see Mac pacing back and forth in front of Danny, who looked about ready to crawl into a hole in the ground. Mac and Danny had both lowered their voices, so he could no longer hear what was being said, although he had a sneaking suspicion he knew the cause of the argument.
"It's okay Don. Did you want something?"
"Nah. Just seeing how you're doing. What's up with Danno and Mac over there?"
Lindsay looked up at Flack and gave a tiny, half-hearted smile before turning back to the evidence. She wasn't sure how much Flack knew about the situation, and she certainly didn't want to be the one to get Danny in deeper trouble. "I don't know Don. I…" she sighed and looked worriedly over at Danny again. Flack noticed her hesitation. He could tell that she was debating with herself about whether or not to open up to Flack. She was probably wondering how much he knew already. He decided to make this easier on her.
"Linds," he said gently, "I know about Danny's badge."
She stopped examining the small white rock she had been looking at and closed her eyes for a brief moment. When she opened her eyes again and looked up at him, he could see relief. "Don, I – I don't know what to do…" The relief that had made a brief appearance on her face quickly melted away as worry took over once again.
"Hey, Linds. It's okay. You're doing just fine," he reassured her. Looking away from her face, he nodded towards Danny and Mac. "What happened to get Mac all bent out of shape this morning?"
"I haven't really had a chance to talk to Danny yet," sighed Lindsay, "but from what I heard of their conversation, that guy from last night told the Vandemann kid that he was a cop, identified himself as Messer…"
"And he had Danny's shield," finished Flack.
Lindsay nodded. "I heard Mac shouting that Danny should have told someone, and I heard my name. That's when I went over. I wanted to tell Mac that I knew. And I didn't do anything… I should have made him report it. Or I should have reported it myself," she hung her head in shame. "But I didn't do any of those things. And when I tried to tell Mac, Danny basically told me to get lost and mind my own damn business."
"What?" Flack was shocked. He knew that Danny had a mouth on him at times, but he knew that he would never talk to Lindsay like that. Unless… "He was trying to protect you, wasn't he Linds?"
Still looking at the ground she nodded her head sadly.
"Don't beat yourself up Lindsay," said Flack. "He told me a few weeks ago. We were investigating the Kristin Melvoy murder and we ended up in this pawn shop. While I was talking to the owner, Danno got real excited about some dog tags that he found. I guess they got stolen at the same time as his badge. Anyway, I kind of dragged it out of him, and instead of offering to help, or doing something myself I just got really pissed off at him." Flack shook his head sadly. "And now this – and I feel like a complete jack-ass, Linds. I'm his best friend and I feel like I threw him under a bus."
Lindsay looked over to where Danny was still standing, shuffling his feet nervously, trying to avoid any and all eye contact with Mac. While Lindsay was watching him, Danny peaked at her out of the corner of his eye and when he noticed that she was looking at him, he gave her a tiny half-smile, then turned his attention back to the ground.
"Jeez. Mac is so pissed. I don't think I've ever personally seen him this mad before," said Lindsay.
"Well I have, and let me tell you it is no fun at all being on that end of the wrath of Mac Taylor," said Flack, remembering back to the day Mac had found him at Terrence's apartment and torn a strip off of him. He remembered Mac saying that he had sent Danny to all the hospitals to check and see if he'd turned up dead. A wave of guilt passed over him. Danny, still recovering from a gunshot wound, had traipsed all over New York City, looking for him. And when he had needed a friend, needed some advice, Flack at yelled at him and stormed off.
Lindsay sighed and looked back in the direction of her husband. "I can only imagine how he'll react when he finds out the whole story," she said.
"Huh? The what?" asked Flack. "What do you mean 'the whole story'?"
Lindsay's eyes widened in horror as realization struck her. Crap! Don didn't know! She mentally kicked herself. Of course he didn't know. He said that Danny had told him about the stolen badge, wallet and dog tags. But it wasn't until much later that same day that Danny had discovered whose fingerprint was on his dog tag. Flack's voice brought her out of her reverie.
"Lindsay? Lindsay? Come on. What did you mean by 'the whole story'? What don't I know?"
Lindsay started to pack up her evidence kit. When she had finished she stood up and glanced quickly over to Danny. Then she turned and looked at Flack. "Walk with me," she said and turned and strode away.
Flack's long strides meant that he could easily catch up to her.
"What…"
He was interrupted by Lindsay before he could get the whole question out.
"Don, did Danny tell you whose fingerprints we found on his dog tags?"
Mac was stunned. He was absolutely stunned. He was so shocked by the events of the past few moments, that he was finding it hard to register the information he had gathered. He just could not wrap his head around what was happening. First, against all of his better judgement, he agreed to Reed's idea of a secret meeting with Cam Vandemann. Then the revelation of the attacker from the previous night being a cop – or someone posing as a cop – and now this. Everything else he could have handled. But this? Mac sighed.
He had thought that Danny was passed all this crap. Had this happened four or five years earlier, Mac probably would have had an easier time of it all. Back then, he expected Danny to be irrational and to make snap decisions based solely on his gut instincts. However, over the past few years he had seen the once painfully impulsive young man grow into a mature and thoughtful investigator who he trusted implicitly to make smart decisions. His gaze drifted toward the young brunette woman working quietly on the opposite side of the crime scene. He almost allowed himself a small smile at the immense change that had come over Danny Messer since his beloved 'Montana' had become a part of his life.
Mac knew that they complimented each other. Lindsay was a calming influence on Danny. She encouraged him to think more carefully about his decisions, especially now that they had not only each other, but a young daughter to consider. And Danny allowed Lindsay to let her hair down, so to speak, and to not take everything so seriously. They made a good team. And frankly, it surprised and - if he was honest – deeply troubled Mac that Danny would have kept something so major from his wife. He was under the impression that they had no secrets, and this worried him.
And then there was Don Flack. Mac sighed again. Where to begin. For years it had always been Don digging Danny out of various scrapes he had gotten himself into. However, he was concerned about the turn their relationship may have taken. When he had sent Danny on his errand to Flack's house to see whether he had completely self-destructed, Mac hadn't counted on the after-affects that something like that would have in store for the two best friends. He could only assume that Danny, knowing what his friend was going through, had not wanted to burden him further with his current predicament.
Mac stopped his pacing and looked up at Danny again.
"I just don't get it, Danny," he said. "You know that you can come to me about anything. Yes, I am your boss, but I like to think that we're closer than that. That we're also friends. I'm hurt that you wouldn't trust me with something like this. I could have helped you. But now it's too late. It's been over a month since your badge went missing, and now my hands are tied. Whatever happens, happens. And there's not a damn thing that I will be able to do to help you out of this one."
Danny stopped shuffling his feet and looked up at Mac. Mac could see the stress of the entire situation in Danny's eyes. But Danny had gotten himself into this mess by not following proper procedure and reporting the theft as soon as it had happened. He hadn't even reported it after a reasonable amount of time had passed.
"Well?" Mac said loudly – much more loudly than he had actually intended. More quietly, he continued. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
Danny ran his hands through his messy hair and sighed. His hand moved from his hair down to the back of his neck and started to rub. He looked up at Mac sheepishly and let out a long, slow breath.
"Mac," he started, tentatively, "I'm so sorry. More sorry than you will ever know. I just wasn't thinking, and I just hoped that everything would turn out alright. But that was stupid. It really was. I thought I could handle it by myself, but obviously, I can't."
"Danny, I know that you're very independent, and that its hard for you to ask for help. But we're all here for you. You know that," said Mac. "That's why this is so hard for me to understand. You have people in your life that want to help you and support you. And you do them a great disservice by underestimating how much you mean to them, and how much they want to be there for you."
"I know Mac. I know. I guess I was just trying to protect them," said Danny. "This is so hard, and I just didn't want anyone else to get into trouble, or feel responsible for something that was my mistake."
Mac looked at Danny. He saw Danny take another deep breath, hold it for a few seconds, then release it slowly once again.
"Mac, there's something else you need to know."
Mac looked at Danny and saw that the usually fidgety man in front on him had gone stock-still. Danny looked Mac in the eyes, and then turned and looked away, towards where his wife and best friend were talking quietly in the far corner of the crime scene.
"What is it, Danny?" demanded Mac.
"I told you that Flack and I recovered my dog tags at a pawn shop, right?"
Mac said nothing, only nodding his response to Danny's question.
"Well, I wanted to find out who the jackass was that stole it from me. So when I got back to the lab, I checked for prints, and I found one," said Danny. He looked at Mac, who was staring at him intently. He continued. "Figured it would just belong to the guy at the pawn shop, but I ran it through AFIS just to be sure. And I got a hit."
Mac noticed that Danny was looking everywhere but at him. He was avoiding eye contact with Mac absolutely and completely, which was very un-Danny Messer.
"And?" prompted Mac. "What did you find, Danny? Whose print was it?"
Danny continued to stare off into space for a minute and Mac could tell he was collecting his thoughts. "Danny!" he shouted. "Whose prints did you find?"
At his words, several heads around the crime scene snapped up. Out of the corner of his eye, Mac saw both Lindsay and Flack turn their attention back towards himself and Danny. They both looked incredibly worried, and Lindsay looked like she was about to throw up, or cry, or possibly both. And this worried Mac. A lot.
More softly this time, he repeated his previous question. "Whose prints did you find, Danny?"
Finally, Danny brought his eyes up to Mac's face. Steely grey eyes met terrified blue ones. Then he said two words that made Mac's head spin.
"Shane Casey."
A/N So, please tell me what you think. Should I continue? I have other ideas for where this should go. Please read and review! Any and all feedback will be appreciated!