Title: First Day's a Bitch
Author: Katelynne
Rating: PG-13, for violence and possible future adult themes.
Characters: Flack, Mac, Danny, Stella, Hammerback, and OC Anna Lee Teague
Disclaimer: The characters from CSI: NY are not of my creation, but I use them with only the utmost respect.
Description: Flack gains a new partner who has some commonalities with him. They work their first case together and she's introduced to some of the CSI team. Anna has some personal issues.
Category: General
Feedback: yes, please!
By the time she arrived at the 12th Precinct, Anna Lee Teague was cursing the fact she'd put her hair up before leaving the apartment that morning; it was going to dry funny. The rain had begun falling in thick sheets of silver before she'd made her way to the subway platform. It had continued its assault on the trip between her stop and the building which housed her new employer. The Homicide Division was located on the 25th floor, just below the two floors occupied by CSI and its many labs, offices, and one autopsy suite.
As she stepped off the elevator, Anna noticed one wet strand stuck firmly to her cheek and made an attempt to force it into submission, just as the voice of her new boss rang down the hall. Sergeant Adam Stiller was a formidable looking man in his mid fifties. His grey hair was cut in a military style and his eyes appeared as if they could cut through steel with laser precision. "Note to self," Anna thought, "don't piss him off."
As she stepped into Stiller's office she noticed a man already waiting there. He was tall, dwarfing her 5'6" frame easily. His short dark hair was gelled fashionably, and looked none the worse for wear, even with the rain. His blue eyes assessed her and she wondered who he was and what he was thinking. Stiller cleared his throat and said, "Don Flack, I'd like you to meet your new partner, Anna Lee Teague. She comes to us from to 34th."
Flack nodded at her, "Youngest cop to be promoted to detective, huh? Until recently, that was me."
Anna plucked nervously at the wayward strand of hair, and smiled awkwardly. What was she supposed to say to that? Was it a challenge of some sort? Flack sat down and propped his ankle up on his knee. He smiled up at her, "I'm impressed."
Anna breathed a sigh of relief and took the seat next to his, across from the Sergeant. "Well, Teague…" Stiller began, "there's not going to be no time for you to get settled this morning. We've got a murder for the two of you. Taylor is already heading there now, so you might want to hurry."
Flack shot up and headed for the door, Anna right on his heels. Between her newness and his height she felt like a Chihuahua obediently following its master. She sighed inaudibly at that thought. Once in the elevator, Flack slumped against the handrail and remarked, "So… you're dad is Carl Teague? He's kind of a legend around here."
"Yeah… that's my dad." She told him.
"Kind of big shoes to fill." Flack smiled, "I know what that's like." He smiled wider at her, glad to have someone who would understand the pressures of living up to expectations set by someone else's reputation.
Before Anna had a chance to say anything, the elevator pulled to a stop and the doors slid open. "You don't mind if I drive, do you?" Flack asked, pulling the keys from his leather jacket pocket. They stepped into the garage, and Anna chuckled, "Be my guest."
Flack drove expertly through the torrent of rain and sea of cars. He pulled their sedan behind an SUV with the letters CSI stenciled on the doors. Its engine was still warm, indicating they'd made good time, considering Mac Taylor had left some time before them.
Mac looked up from the body and said, "Looks like Flack finally got here." Danny Messer looked up from where he was taking pictures as Mac continued, "And he brought company." The two detectives looked past Don to the girl behind him. She was a slight blonde who looked like something cat had drug in the night before. "What's she… like 14?" Danny snickered.
Mac pulled off his latex gloves and walked down the alley to meet them. He held out his hand to Anna and introduced himself. She returned his grip, firmly and nodded, "Anna Lee Teague." Mac's eyebrows rose, "So your Carl's daughter?"
Anna allowed her lips to turn up slightly at the corners, "I would prefer to be called, Anna … or Detective Teague."
Mac smiled and nodded, "Duly noted, Detective. But, I must say, your father was … is a great man." He noticed Anna's face pinch slightly at his correction. "How is he?"
"He's doing well, sir. Keeping good spirits." She answered.
"Well, tell him we're all thinking about him." He said before showing the two cops over to the crime scene.
The body was a male in his mid to late 30s, who'd had his stomach cut open. His guts spilled out onto the pavement and blood mixed with rain. Mac filled them in that the coroner had already taken the liver temp and that ETD was approximately 12 hours ago. Anna looked at the body and noticed that the cold from the previous night hadn't kept the animals away. Bile rose in her throat and she ran quickly down the alley and threw up at the side of the building.
Mac, Danny, and Flack all watched her and Mac quickly turned his head, giving her some modicum of privacy in this public setting. Danny cocked his head and softly said to Flack, "You're new partner has a weak stomach." He clucked his tongue and walked over to his evidence bag to return to evidence collection. There wasn't going to be much. The rain had taken care of that.
Anna stood, doubled over with her hand on the brick wall next to her. "I can't believe I just threw up on my first day." She thought to herself. She swore out loud then spit the acrid taste out of her mouth. Suddenly a hand, with a white piece of cloth was in front of her. She took the handkerchief and looked up to thank the person who'd offered it, "Thanks Detective Taylor."
He nodded, "Its fine. Call me Mac, by the way."
Anna took a deep breath, feeling the queasiness subside. "Look… Mac… sorry about the smart ass attitude earlier… I just…"
Mac cut her off, "Don't worry about it. I'm sorry about my poor wording."
Anna shrugged, "Its okay… I guess I should get used to hearing it…" she trailed off.
"You feel ready to go back?" Mac asked, returning to business. Anna nodded. They walked back to the scene and Flack and Anna went to interview the owners of the adjacent buildings.
Back at the lab, Danny huddled over a microscope and turned dials, clearing up the image before him. Stella leaned against the table next to him, "What've you got?"
"Besides a soggy mess?" Danny nodded to the bag of wet evidence, collected at the crime scene. "Right now, I'm looking at some fibers that were under the vic, couldn't be washed away by the rain."
Stella grinned, "That's always good news."
"Yeah, still wet as hell, though." He sighed.
Just then, Anna and Flack waltzed into the lab. Stella turned to say hi and raised her eyebrow at the sight of this new face. "So, Lindsay's not the new girl anymore?" Stella asked of Danny, who looked up with a smirk on his face. To Anna he said, "You sure you wanna come in here? There might be, you know, blood and stuff."
Anna flashed him a death glare and then turned her attention to Stella. "Damn, everyone around here is tall," she thought. Unconsciously, she straightened her back, trying to make herself a little more eye to eye with the woman; an admittedly impossible task. Flack introduced them to each other, and then asked how the evidence was coming along.
Danny groaned from behind the microscope, what sounded like curse words. Flack smiled, "Well, hopefully you'll find something soon… rookie here is itching to bust some heads." He winked at Anna, who just gave him an odd look. She once again tried to control the loosened tendrils that had escaped in the rain that morning. They were now turning into a frizzy mess. She'd had it.
"Where is the ladies room?" She asked Stella, who pointed down the hall. Anna smiled gratefully and headed in the direction Stella had indicated for her.
Flack leaned over and looked at what Danny was doing. Stella headed down the hall to the autopsy suite and ran into Anna coming from the restroom, her hair much more orderly. "Hey, I'm heading to the autopsy of your John Doe. You want to come?" Anna glanced down the hall and then back to Stella, "Sure." She promised herself she wouldn't throw up this time.
They entered the large sterile environment, each grabbing a pair of latex gloves and sliding them on. The two women approached the table, where Dr. Sid Hammerback was studying the corpse and waxing poetic, to himself, about what he'd be having for dinner later that evening. Anna got a distinct Hannibal Lecter vibe from him.
Stella grinned and said, "Tell me the good news doc!"
"Aaah… Stella, and a lovely young compatriot" He smiled warmly at Anna, "Come closer, and look at this." He waved to Anna indicating she should step up to the table next to Stella. Anna came over and looked down. This time everything inside her body stayed where it was supposed to and she breathed a sigh of relief as Sid began pointing out items of interest. "The wound was definitely made with a serrated blade..."
Anna's eyebrows furrowed and she cut him off, "Like a bread knife?"
Hammerback nodded, "Could be."
"Weapon of opportunity, maybe?" Stella suggested. Anna nodded, still sickened by the idea of being ripped open by anything, much less a kitchen utensil such as that. Just then her cell phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and excused herself, exiting to the hallway to take the call.
A few minutes later, Flack caught up with her, where she was still on the phone. Leaning against the brick wall, she looked grim. "Mom, the nurse said this was normal… yeah, I know it seems bad, but it's… mom… calm down." She glanced up and saw Flack trying not to listen, "Mom… I've got to go… I'm working." She flipped the phone shut and put it into its holder, next to the badge at her hip. "Got something?"
"Yeah," Flack nodded, "Some of the materials that were found at the scene were a type of plastic used in bakeries."
Anna bit her lip, "Bakery… bread knife… I guess we need to find the closest bakery to the crime scene." She pushed away from the wall and headed down the hall at a good clip. Flack caught up to her and they walked in silence.
Hours later, they had a suspect in custody and the shift was over. Looking tired, Anna approached Flack, "Hey… can you give me a ride somewhere? The subway takes too long and I'm in a hurry." Flack nodded genially, "Sure… where?"
"Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center." She sighed.