CSI NY – From the Sidelines

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Characters: Mac, Stella, Hawkes, Danny, Lindsay, Adam, Sid and Aubrey

Genre: Pre-romance, hurt/comfort, angst, friendship

Spoilers: Point of View, gap filler

A/N: In late season 6 something happened, Aubrey Hunter came into Mac's world and in my opinion they were made for each other. And before you ask, yes I admit I am a Mac/Aubrey fan. And I realize there aren't many out there but I can't help it.

I really wanted to see Mac recuperating those seven days that the episode skipped, so here is my take on that.

This is has not been betaed so please don't be too hard. As always I'd love a review, feel free to tell me if I am doing good or bad, what to improve and so on.

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Chapter One

Zero Hour

"Mac!" Someone was calling out his name from a great distance. "Mac!" He heard it again but there was something wrong, he couldn't answer.

'Where was he? What was going on?' He thought. Then it hit him hard, the pain surged through his body from every direction. It felt like his head was going to explode as a deep agonizing feeling spread through him and his chest constricted. It was almost like he couldn't breathe.

"Mac!" He heard someone call out again and, although he wasn't sure, he thought the voice belonged to Flack.

"Mac!" Detective Flack shouted, as he was running as fast as his legs would carry him, toward his fallen friend and mentor. He crashed through the service stairwell door and onto the floor he had seen Detective Taylor end up on.

Enraged by the suspect Flack had followed the man out in the service stairwell but wasn't fast enough and lost his prey to two of his men waiting at the bottom floor. Thankful that the man had been taken care of, he rushed back in again, a tight knot forming in his stomach. 'What if Mac was dead?' Don wasn't sure he could cope with that.

He kneeled beside his fallen friend and reached out with shaky fingers just below Mac's jaw to check for a pulse. 'Why wasn't Sheldon Hawkes here when you needed him the most?' He thought bitterly.

"Mac?" He said, desperately wanting to hear the other man's voice. 'Where the hell was that ambulance anyway?' Flack thought angrily as he reached down in his pocket, with his other hand, in search for his phone. The younger detective breathed a sigh of relief as he felt a steady beat from under his fingertips; at least Mac was still alive.

Then suddenly, in the corner of his eye, he spotted movement. It was very little in fact, but it was a sign of life.

"Mac?" Don questioned as relief flooded through his body and a slight smile formed on his face. "Yeah that's good; there you go, open your eyes," he encouraged, holding his breath.

The Head of the NYPD crime lab stirred and looked up at him but there was no recognition in his blue eyes and Flack's joy suddenly turned to fear.

Through the haze that surrounded his brain, Mac tried and get two and two together. 'Why on earth was Flack sitting beside him on the floor? And…wait there was three of him? Definitely not a good sign, he thought.' He closed his eyes again, trying to clear his mind, but the only thing he managed to accomplish was to aggravate his head ache.

"Come on Mac," Don said with worry in his voice. "Mac, the ambulance is on its way."

Mac tried to move his head but even that slight movement caused pain to shot out from his skull. He could hear the sirens wailing in the distance. "Flack," he whispered.

"It's all right Mac, just lay still; you might have broken something. Where does it hurt?" Don asked unable to keep the worry out of his voice.

However Mac wasn't listening anymore, he closed his eyes to rest for a little bit, at least that's what he kept saying to himself. He heard indistinct voices drawing near and then he felt hands on him, hands checking his pulse again, gently turning him on his back.

Mac hissed as the movement triggered another wave of pain to surge through his beaten body.

"Detective Taylor?" A new voice said, probably belonging to the EMS. "Detective Taylor can you hear me?"

"Yes," he managed.

"Good, I am going to cut your shirt open and my partner here is going to attach a nasal canula, is that okay?" The man asked gently.

Mac nodded, opening his eyes again, seeing a very worried Don who had backed away to give the EMS some space to work. It was suddenly hard to focus on things, hard to keep the eyes open. 'Why was it hard to keep the eyes open?' He wondered.

Another jolt of pain took him by surprise as he was lifted onto the stretcher, then Don appeared at his side again. "We got him; we got the son of a bitch Mac."

He couldn't get all the pieces of the puzzle to fit in his head but Don was obviously happy with it and he didn't feel up to even ask, instead he just faded away to a blissful darkness, his head lolling to the side.

"Mac?" Don looked up at the closest paramedic. "What's going on?" He demanded.

"Detective Flack please step aside so we can load Detective Taylor into the ambulance, it is important that we leave immediately."

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To be continued