Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize, anything you don't is mine.
A/N: Completely ignores the final scene of the finale.
Contains spoilers for season 5 episode 25 'Pay Up'
Unbeta-ed therefore all mistakes are my own and apologies in advance.
Déjà-Vu
She was glad that Mac had sent her back outside almost straight away to gather whatever witness statements they could, the minute she'd seen the blood pool her stomach had dropped to nothing but a heavy pit in the bottom of her body.
She'd been here before, only there was a lot more blood before, in the back of her mind she heard the barrel of a shotgun being pulled back, the face of Daniel Cadence jumping to the forefront. Closing her eyes against the image she thought she'd erased from her memory back when he'd been convicted and sent to jail, she forced herself to take deep breaths, mindful not to breathe in through the nose.
Thankful for Stella taking control she began collecting casings, placing them in evidence envelopes separately to avoid contamination, she forced herself to think of Lucy back at home with Danny's mom, but with every breathe she smelt blood, Jess's blood, and it wasn't good.
They could only hope Stella was right, that Angell was strong enough to survive.
She knew from the look on Danny's face when he returned from the hospital, they all knew they'd lost the fallen Detective.
Lindsay was grateful for Danny being next to her when Mac made the formal announcement to everyone at the scene, she needed to be near him, the small part of her self conscience kept niggling at her, reminding her that the last time he'd experienced a loss he'd pulled away from her. His hand on her shoulder as he walked away to take the call from uniform assured her that this was different.
With all hands on deck the scene was cleared quickly, pictures and sketches documenting what the mind would eventually forget, this was one of those cases that no one wanted to forget, this was too close to home. The NYPD were a family of their own, sure there was the occasional banter where it seemed as though uniform didn't like the scientists behind the scenes, but when one of them was taken down, it became a family affair.
Danny had summed it up for her once before, "it's like having a brother or a sister, it's OK for you to pick on them, but the minute someone else did, it was all hell let loose"
He'd found her in the locker room, sat on the bench, her head in her hands, forcing herself to take deep breaths, he quenched his desire and wrapped his arms around her.
"I keep seeing them" she whispered into his chest "it keeps morphing into that diner"
He'd forgotten all about the diner shooting, it was hard for them all, but they weren't harboring the additional guilt about diner shootouts. Standing up he pulled her with him "come with me"
She obeyed albeit slightly confused. A short stop at lost property ensured that he had what he needed.
The tires were held secure by chains, the collection sheets were in the process of being laid down to gather whatever trace they'd collect, like Mac had told them, everything little thing counted, the smallest thing could break the case.
Standing behind her, he positioned her hands on the baseball bat, holding them in place with his own; leading her tightened grip he forced the bat against the large rubber tire.
With just a few swings she'd picked it up enough to swing on her own, letting her anger, fear and hurt travel from her heart, down her arm, through the wood of the bat and into the wheel hanging from the ceiling. Within seconds she was exhausted and her arms were numb, she watched as her husband picked up the discarded sporting object and ejected his anger the same way against the three remaining tires, the sound of the mud hitting the paper offered a small comfort.
Neither one smiled or spoke as they emptied the evidence into the Petri dishes ready for analysis, for now silent comfort was enough.
They'd gotten them, well Flack had gotten the actual killer, now residing in the morgue, Sid had placed him in the rusty drawer, the one that rarely got used because it still harbored the smell of a decomp suicide victim, there was no chance in hell Sid was giving up one of the newer drawers for the scum bag.
If he hadn't been passionate about his job he'd have made the blade of the scalpel blunt to make the 'Y' incision, but the quicker this guy was off his table the better.
Venturing up to the lab with the autopsy results in hand, he couldn't hide the small smile as Danny waited while Lindsay closed her computer down for the night before slipping on her jacket, oh yeah; Danny Messer definitely had more than a crush on his wife. Lucy Messer was evidence of that; he'd been one of the last to see the baby girl thanks to a hit and run victim, but holding the then nameless baby girl in his arms made the world seem a somewhat lighter place. The look of pure elation made their struggle for love worth it.
"We need something in place for Lucy if something happens to the both of us" Danny stated once his mother had left, their daughter laid against Lindsay's chest.
Lindsay nodded in response as he sat beside them, his head on her shoulder "It feels weird y'know, knowing I'm going to bed only to wake up and know that we'll never see Jess again" Danny voice hitched as he spoke, his fingers shook before they steadied while they stroked Lucy's cheek. A tear slipped down Lindsay's cheek, Danny caught it before it dripped from her face.
"We promised it wouldn't be a tear fest, we aren't mourning her passing, we're celebrating her life"
Lindsay nodded in agreement "Why Lucy?" she asked suddenly "Why did the name Lucy mean so much to you?" she clarified.
"It means light" he informed her "Ever since you'd told me you were pregnant, everything seemed better, brighter, the world didn't seem such a bad place anymore" Lucy had only won because they'd found out one of the cats in the building had been called Lydia. "I didn't feel like everyone was out to get me anymore, even after a day like today she still brings a smile to my face"
"You think Flack will be OK?" Lindsay asked, shuffling further down into the cushions to get comfortable.
"I think Angell will haunt his ass until he is" despite the morbid tone of the conversation, neither one of them could hide the smile at the thought of Angell haunting Flack until he smiled once more.
Bit of a rubbish ending but i couldn't think of another way to wrap it up.
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