Note From The Author— After season 5, after Angell death. I hope imagined Flack would need someone to comfort him, and how Stella's life outside the work. I don't know if' I'm doing well or not, but.. read and review please…
Disclaimer—I don't own the characters of CSI: NY, or any plot in CSI series. Like all said, I wish I had…
Chapter 1
Don't seem what it's like
Flack had just finished his shift. Today, he arrested another criminal, thanks to Hawkes and Lindsay who did a great job in processing the evidence. The arrest went smooth, no running or increased in adrenaline level like what he usually had when he forced to point his gun to the culprit. The culprit was already depressed enough, so he decided to make a confession. Sometimes, he was sick with the realization of there were scumbags out there. New York seemed never got less criminals to screw up.
He drove his Explorer slowly over a silent area. He was passing a black SUV when he suddenly aware that the driver was pushed someone who was in passenger seat. He stopped his car to watch carefully. He heard a loud bang, and he heard a muffled sound, he was quite sure that it had nothing to do with something romantic. He got out from his car, walked in a rush to the passenger's side, and saw a red-hair woman was pushed to the window; her mouth seemed covered by the driver's palm. She was desperately tried to push her attacker.
Flack banged the top of the car. "NYPD, get out of your car. Put your hand where I can see them."
The driver ignored him. Flack moved to the driver door. He banged the driver's door this time. He's never like being ignored. "NYPD, get out of your car, or I'll break this door open."
Finally, the driver unlocked his car, when he was about to walk out from his car, the auburn woman opened her door as well and ran toward Flack.
"What's up?" asked the driver. He was actually a good looking guy, he had this smirk on his face which made Flack wanted to punch him on his face. 'What's up' he said. Damn, didn't he realize that he was just doing an assault?
"What did you do to her?" Flack shrugged his shoulder to the woman, now stood behind him.
"We're just playing around, aren't we, honey?"
"No! He's lying. He tried to rape me." The woman answered. For a moment, Flack glanced at the woman. He was taken a back for a moment. This woman, despite she looked pale, looked very attractive, not in sexy way, but… in someway he even didn't know how to describe.
Flack decided to cuff this guy, and forced him to go with him to the police station. Another bastard in New York, he thought. He asked the woman to follow him to the police station to fill in the report. The woman just nodded, she entered the car to take her purse, and slowly followed Flack to his car, sat in passenger's seat as Flack ordered her to do.
***
"Hey, I thought your shift was ended 2 hours ago." said a familiar voice. Flack turned around only to face Stella, who brought several paperworks.
"Yeah, but you know what New York is, I was driving home when I…"
"Minerva?" Stella shouted in shock, not letting Flack finished his sentence.
The auburn woman (or girl? She looked so young) raised her head from the file report she had to fill in.
"Stell? Thanks God, I meet you." She stood up and hugged Stella, who returned the hug.
"What are you doing here? Don't tell me… you've got into trouble?"
The now calm woman gave Stella a weak smile and told her story of almost being raped by her friend. Stella watched in disgust, and forced to meet the guy to give him a punch or two, in which Flack objected to do, caused her more upset.
"It's okay, Stell. I'm alright now. Thanks to Detective Flack. He saved me. I can't never thanked him enough.", She said while smiling at Flack.
Something inside him suddenly felt warm, like he had drunk a hot nice chocolate. He cleared his throat to response her words. Stella hugged her friend again, and then said that she'd drive her home. She just nodded and finished her report.
***
"Morning, Flack!" said Stella. It was 2 days after he met with Minerva Watson, Stella's friend. They were in a crime scene at 4 AM.
"Too morning, to be exact." he said in grumpy voice.
"Drop that attitude, detective." said Lindsay who came behind her.
They started processing the crime scene. When Stella packed the evidence and brought them to her car, Flack, didn't know what made him did that, approached her and asked casually. "So, how's your friend doing?"
Stella raised her eyebrow, tried to suppress the urge to burst out laugh. Flack's been asking about Minerva every single time he met Stella. Stella didn't know whether he did that consciously or not.
"Which friend?" Stella asked back innocently.
"Um… Minerva Watson." answered Flack, almost in whispered as Lindsay came closer.
"She's fine. Why didn't you ask her, yourself? Or does this charming detective start to lose his charm?"
Lindsay chuckled as she heard Stella. "I don't know, Stell. Maybe you're right. Danny said he hasn't have date in 2 days. And for Flack, that's unusual."
"Haha… I was just busy." defended him.
"Oh yeah… sure you are. Or you just fall in love to someone." said Stella again. "Danny acted the same way back then" she continued, winked to Lindsay, awarded her with a grin.
"Really? Who's this girl?" asked Lindsay with enthusiasm as if she found an important piece of evidence.
"Stop it, will you. Pack your evidence and get anything that will help me solve this case, will you?" said Flack defeated, made both his female co-workers burst in laugh.
***
Minerva Watson had just finished her night shift from the hospital. Tired as always, she walked to her apartment's door in 5th floor. She rummaged her bag, took her pencil case and drew out her door key. She opened her door and surprised by what she saw in front of her. She dropped her purse and her groceries, pulled a pair of latex gloves from her purse, put it on as she placed her mobile phone between her check and her shoulder, tried to reach 911.
She moved to the laying body on the pool blood, a knife was stabbed on his back. Her knife. She checked his carotid, tried to find his pulse. No pulse. She reported the emergency to 911 operator calmly, thanks to her experience in emergency ward. She gave her address. The operator asked her to wait outside her door. She was about to check the pupil of the guy, when she realized that he was Leo, her neighbor. The same guy who was about to rape her 3 nights before. She was shock. Very shock. She finished check the pupil, was sure that he had died less than an hour before due to his rigor mortis. She just stepped outside her door when she heard siren down her apartment. She felt she was about to collapse, but she braced herself, told herself that she had to give some information. She closed her eyes, gathered her things and stood against the door, tried to relax herself, calming her heart rate. She pulled out her gloves, packed it as it should be, then dropped it in a plastic bag. She knew the police will need her gloves.
"Minerva?" a familiar voice greeted her by her first name.
She looked up just to find her gazed met into a friendly detective who saved her from the guy who's now lying dead on his apartment floor. "Detective Flack." she was finally able to greet him back.
Flack nodded. He looked at her apartment, quite taken aback with what he saw. He called Mac and reported the situation, asked his team to come up and process the scene. He let the other officers to search the area in case anything out of place. He walked toward Minerva, who now looked very tired and shocked, but managed to remain calm.
She told him what was happened. How she was found the dead body after she opened her door. She told him that she went inside and tried to checked whether he was alive or not, she gave him the plastic bag with her gloves inside it. She didn't have any idea why the guy was there. Flack asked her to wait in the ambulance. She just nodded.
Lindsay and Danny arrived. Flack greeted them with, "Man, why I got this happy couple? You two can't get yourselves far from each other, can you?" with a grinned on his face.
Danny just wrapped his hand on her wife's shoulder and replied, "Nah… Mac knows that we are a perfect team, in crime scene, and in bed." he chuckled, when Lindsay glared at him.
"Drop it, Messer. I don't want to hear you brag about how perfect your life. How's Lucy?" he asked Lindsay.
"She's with Danny's mum. Thanks to her, we are able to come on time. I really have to find someone who can look after her properly. Danny's mum is incredible, but we can't always rely on her. The babysitter can't make it if we both on call, like today."
"Where's Mac then?" Danny asked Flack. He had opened his kit and put on his gloves, same as Lindsay. God, they were really a perfect team, groaned Flack to himself.
"Not here yet. Told me he was still in another crime scene with Stella. He said he'll meet me in department with our witness."
"So, what do we got here?" asked Lindsay. Ready to work.
"Well, our victim is Leo Boxer. He lived in the 7th floor of this apartment, room 713. 2 floors right up this apartment. Stabbed by a kitchen knife on his back."
"Who found her?" asked Danny. He surveyed the area. A clean apartment, he noted. Nothing's out of place, except the quilt which placed near the victim, soaked with blood on the corner, nothing out of place. He smelled vanilla scent in the room.
"The occupant of this apartment. Her name is Minerva Watson, 24 years old. She just came back from her work, opened the door, found the victim there. She called 911, tried to check the pulse, when she was about to checked the pupil, she noticed who the victim was. Victim's already dead when she arrived; she assumed he's been dead for less than an hour."
Danny raised his eyebrow. What kind of witness who could tell them the details? Even the time of death, despite it was just an assumption. "That detail? Man, you know what they said about first arrived in crime scene?"
"Do you think she's the killer and just pretend to find the body?" Flack asked Danny. "No way." he said, even before Danny answered.
Lindsay turned around. Well, this is new. Flack usually opened up to any possibility. It was accustom that they suspect anyone, even the witness. Until the evidence told otherwise, they remained as suspects.
"Well… well… so how can our witness guess the TOD?" Lindsay asked while taking crime scene photos. She made a mental note of how girly this apartment was. There was a vase of roses on the coffee table, a pile of magazines near the telephone table. All about hospital and nursing. The living room floor was covered by a nice warm light pink rug. The white sofa with two flower-shaped cushions remained untouched. No sign of battle here.
"She is a nurse." said Flack short, confirmed Lindsay's assumption based on the magazines.
Suddenly, it made sense to Lindsay. "Minerva? Nurse? Is she a friend of Stella?"
Flack raised his eyebrow, the nodded. Glared at her, told her with his eyes, "Don't tell anything stupid you heard from Stella, not in front of Danny."
"If this apartment wasn't his apartment, what the hell was he doing here?" asked Danny, collecting the blood sample. Flack shrugged his shoulder.
"What was the relationship between our victim and our dear witness?" said Lindsay, trying to find anything unusual.
The phone rang suddenly. The three of them froze. The phone went to the voicemail. They heard a friendly male voice, "Hey Minerva, this is Clark. I just wanna tell you about the condition of the Keyton boy you helped. He'll be fine. Your hard work was paid off. As usual, the number of death happened in our emergency ward decrease when you are here. Have a nice day. Oh, and by the way, you still owe me a dinner."
"Well, looks like that explain the grocery bag on top the cabinet near the door." said Lindsay.
"You two can process this crime scene? I need to bring our witness to department."
"Don't forget to ask her fingerprints and DNA." said Danny. Flack nodded.
"And her telephone number, maybe she'll need to cancel her date with this Clark guy and this Flack guy over here can get a chance or two." Lindsay shouted as well. Flack was about to say something, but canceled it. Lindsay grinned in pleasure.
"You know the witness?" asked Danny when Flack leaved.
Lindsay shook her head, she told him that she knew Minerva was Stella friend. She informed him about Stella's story how Flack met Minerva.
"Wait, you said that this Leo guy ever assaulted and tried to rape our witness?" Lindsay nodded.
"You know what that's called?" asked Danny.
"Motive." Danny nodded.
"But the question is, what was he doing here? Flack said that Minerva just got back from her work. If she just finished her shift, we need to know how long she need to get home, since it will only takes her 30 minutes to arrive from hospital. She found him on 11 AM. Her shift was finished at 9 AM, she had 2 hours. The man was dead no less than 1 hour, I agree with her for the TOD."
"If she bought the grocery first, that'll make sense." Lindsay defended her. Something in Stella story said this kind of girl couldn't do anything like killing someone.
"Yeah, sure." Danny said, but he wasn't going to drop his suspicion, until his instinct told him otherwise.
"Maybe she didn't kill him on purpose, maybe he came here, she freaked out, and stabbed him."
"In the back?" Lindsay raised her eyebrow. Danny just shrugged.
Danny moved to the kitchen. "Hey babe, come here."
"What, what you've found?"
"Nothing. Just wonder, how can anyone be so clean and neat like this? Look. She even has three different trash cans, for plastic, organic, and paper. Then the other one with yellow plastic bag. Infectious?"
"That's normal for woman. My apartment was almost like that, when I was single. Sharing house with you made it impossible for me to keep anything in the right place." She winked at Danny.
Danny kissed her forehead. "But you like it, don't you?" he smirked.
Lindsay rolled her eyes. "She is very tidy and well-organized. She arranges the content in her fridge. Let's search the other rooms, I'm sure we will notice anything out of place immediately, if she really organize other rooms like this."
Minerva's bedroom and bathroom were also neat and well-organized. She even put new towel and bath robe in the bathroom cabinet. She put the bottles of soap, shampoo, conditioner, and any other toiletries on the shelf. Lindsay found a contact lens solution. She had a first-aid kit in her room, a very advanced first aid kit. She put a set of minor surgery instrument in the small shelf near the bookshelf.
Her bed was covered in pink and white sheet, no wrinkles at all. It looked as if you could throw the coin on the bed and the coin would bounce easily.
"I doubt our victim even manage to get to her bedroom." Danny said. Nothing unusual from this place.
"Yep, nothing untouched. But Danny, you're right. She is very neat. I'm impressed." Lindsay said while opening her drawer next to her bed.
"Danny!" she said in alarmed.
She pulled out a berretta from the drawer. "Does she have license for this?"
"Let's bag it. We can ask her about that."
***
Stella rushed to the interrogation room. She pushed the door open and face to face with Mac and Flack.
"Stella?" Minerva greeted her.
"Are you all right?" she asked her eagerly, ignored both men.
"Relax, Stell. I'm okay. Don't worry, I'm not the one that was hurt. they just asked me about what happen this morning."
"I want this case." she said straight to Mac. Mac stared at her. She held her gaze.
"Stella," Minerva touched her arms. "You don't have to do this. I do okay. I really am." Flack watched her and Stella.
"Besides," she smiled, "I wanna talk to you later, as a friend. Shared my experience today, ok? You know, in hospital we have an ethic not to take care someone we know, relatives or friends. We try to keep our work professional. I'm sure you have to same ethic too here. These gentlemen are very kind. They didn't push me like I'm a criminal."
"That's because you're not." Flack said before he could think of anything, rewarded him with a glare from Mac, "I meant… now we questioned you as witness."
"I'll stay here then. As her friend." said Stella. Mac nodded.
"Do you know why Leo was in your apartment?"
"Honestly, I don't know. I don't even know how he could get into my apartment in the first place. I never gave him access to my apartment. I had spare key, but I put it in my drawer."
"You reported him for assault, three nights before, right?"
"Yes. He was about to…" she gulped. "… mm… rape me. But then I was helped by Detective Flack. Then he asked me to fill in a report."
"After that, had he came to see you."
Minerva nodded. "He lived 2 floors up stair. He tried to talk to me, but I didn't want to. He banged my apartment door sometimes. I ignored him. I thought I was just hurt his pride."
"What exactly is your relationship with him?" asked Flack. Stella watched him.
"He was a friend of mine. I've been lived there for 2 years since I arrived from Australia. He helped me move in. We used to have lunch and do shopping together. I thought he was gay, but then he introduced me to his girlfriend. 3 nights before, we just came back from Rita's house. She held a birthday party back then." She stopped. Looked up at the guys, then share glance with Stella. Stella nodded, approved her testimony.
"We need your prints and DNA to rule you out from the suspect." Mac said.
Minerva nodded. "Where will you go? You can't go back to your house, it's an active crime scene now." asked Stella.
"I'll stay at the hotel." she said.
"You can stay at my place." offered Stella.
"Thanks, Stell. But I think I'm doing fine. I just need to pack something. My work uniform, my violin. Can i?"
"I'm afraid no." said Mac.
"But I have to use my uniform to work." she insisted.
"I'll accompany you. Is it okay, Mac?" said Flack. Mac frowned, but he nodded.
Mac phone beeped. A text message from Danny.
"Miss Watson, one more question. You own a gun?"
"Yes. A Berretta. I have a license for that." She opened her purse, pulled out a license card from her wallet.
Mac nodded.
***
"Stella, I can't say I appreciate what you did back then."
"I know. Sorry. I just can't let her be a suspect, Mac." she added. "She's my friend. A good friend of mine."
"Care to share the story?"
Stella then told how she met Minerva almost two years ago in the gallery hall. Then they met again in Hospital when Stella helped a girl who crashed her car in accident. She watched as Minerva worked to save the girls. She thanked Stella, and remembered her.
She was a good listener. She was the one who Stella shared her feeling with after the HIV incident. They seldom met, but she always helped her when she needed to, by phone, or by email. She had ability to sooth others. Minerva knew better that just by simply talking about the problem will help.
For a long time knowing her, Stella never saw her cried or upset, or lost control. She always managed to remain calm and under control. Her work in emergency ward seemed had something to do with her attitude. But Stella knew, that she was trembling back then. Even she managed to make her voice calm and steady.
"And do you know why she didn't want us to swab her cheek cell, instead she asked for her hand's epithelia?"
Stella shook her head. She confused too, why her friend offer the DNA from her hands, well… DNA result will came back the same from one person, so she just thought that maybe she just didn't wanna taste the swab in her mouth. No big deal.
***
The team worked hard processed the evidence. The knife used was Minerva's. Her prints the only one found on the knife. If there's another suspect, they might be used the quilt to hold the knife. A shred of wool was found on the knife's kilt. It matched the quilt. No defense wound on the victim, he was stabbed on his back. Never saw it coming. His blood alcohol was high. The stabbed wound was deep. His COD was shock; he lost a lot of blood. His TOD was less than 1 hour, same first TOD assumption from Minerva. No sign of toxic substance.
Mac and Danny questioned Rita Dixon, the victim's fiancé. She said she never in that apartment. She accused Minerva was seduced Leo. She said she had no doubt that Leo was cheating on him, and Minerva killed him because Leo didn't want to break up from Rita. Lindsay had to hold Stella before she could storm out the room to slap the woman who called her friend 'bitch'.
The affair thing was new. They need to question Minerva again. Lindsay was sent to question her.
***
Lindsay knocked the room 311. She heard the door unlocked and met Minerva for the first time.
"Hey," she greeted friendly. Lindsay couldn't help to return her smile. Stella was right, this girl was something, thought Lindsay. This girl could arise the sisterly feeling. Like she has known her for a long time.
She realized something odd. She didn't even realize that she stared to her eyes, unable to blink. She had different eye's color in each eye.
"I'm a heterochromia." she answered while offering Lindsay a drink. Lindsay was embarrassed. She knew about heterochromia, but hadn't met one.
Minerva said lightly, "This is what happens if your parents argued what eye color their daughter will have." she giggled. "I hope you and your husband didn't have argumentation like that."
Lindsay chuckled and said, "Sorry. And no, you're right. We didn't have a debate for eye's color. But we do have a debate about our daughter's name."
She grinned and asked, "As much as I'm curious to know why you finally agree with your husband's choice, I do realize that you're here because you wanna ask about something related to the case, am I right?"
Lindsay cursed herself for getting carried away. Wait until Danny found out about this, she thought. "Yes, actually, we questioned Rita Dixon, and…"
Lindsay explained to her. Minerva swore that she never had affair with Leo, she repeated her story about when she thought Leo was a gay. She even innocently said that she was confused about the reason why Rita thought Leo was cheating on her with Minerva.
"He ever tried to rape me, yes. But that's not mean he was interested in me, right?" she stated.
Lindsay now knew what might caused Flack had a thing for her. This girl is something. She couldn't explain it by words, but… Stella was right. She was perfect for Flack. Flack was always gloomy after Angell's death. He was still a player as before, but his co-workers knew that he suffered from Angell's death. No one could imagine how it liked to lose someone you love. Lindsay knew the feeling, she ever thought that she would lose Danny too, when he pushed her away. But in her case, they ended up married, while Flack wouldn't be able to have Angell's back.
He never showed a serious attitude to girls, like he did to Angell. But his concern to Minerva, seemed a little bit different. He was sincere. He started to be someone he was before he lost Angell. And Lindsay would do anything to get her best friend back. But at this moment, she had to prove that Minerva was innocent, before Flack fell for her.
***
It's been 2 days since the case happened. The DNA from the quilt belonged to Minerva, which is not weird as she said she knitted the quilt herself, and unknown donors. Minerva said that it might be belong to her friends who sometimes came over to her place. They all came back positive, except for one unknown female donor. Rita Dixon objected to give any prints or DNA since she insisted never been in Minerva's apartment. Another odd thing was there's no finger prints in the inner door's handle. The killer must have cleaned that. Until now, the team hadn't found out how victim could enter the apartment.
Leo Boxer seemed to stalk Minerva. He had an agenda with Minerva's schedule. Minerva never knew that before. Unfortunately for her, She didn't have strong alibi. She just had a receipt from the grocery store, at 10 AM. She said that after that she went to the park near her apartment and feed the doves. She wasn't sure if there's even a witness who can support her alibi.
Flack and Danny were in the park Minerva said before. He tried to find anyone who can support her alibi. Danny said they were wasting their time. No one would remember about her. Besides, it happened 2 days ago. When they started to talk about the baseball game, Danny stopped, and motioned Flack to silent. He heard a sound. A violin sound.
"Maybe a street performance." said Flack.
"It's illegal here." said Danny. "Let's go and see, at least we do something today."
But they were amazed when they found out that "the street performance" was Minerva. She played her violin, with children and their mothers around her. She continued playing, not noticing the two detectives were watching her. She finished playing, then realized that she got two more audiences. She smiled politely at them. Both the detectives came closer.
Danny greeted the children, remembered her daughter who was in lab with his wife. Lucy had been very demanding lately. She was whining a lot.
"I knew you can play violin, but I don't know you can play this well." complimented Flack. Danny rolled his eyes.
Minerva blushed a little, said a thank you. Then she asked about their purpose on coming there. Always to the point, exactly like Stella said.
"Who are you, and what you want from Minnie?" asked a 5 year-old boy to Flack. He stood between Flack and Minerva. Minerva giggled while the boy's mother came forward to take him, he rejected and stood still, glared at Flack.
Danny chuckled. Flack was challenged by a toddler.
"I'm a detective. See?" Flack showed his badge. "I just asked her a few questioned."
"I heard about what happened in her apartment." The boy mother's said. "That was a terrible thing. We saw you when you were here, we were going to visit my mother, and the Terry said that he saw you here."
Minerva heart dropped. She had a witness? She even didn't hope to.
"What time did you see her here?" asked Flack, rather hurry.
"M… we left home at 10, so it's about 10.30. Oh, and we got back to our home because I forgot to lock the gate, I think it's about 10.40 or 10.45."
"And was she still here?"
"Well, of course she was. Terry even begged me to go and greet her, but you seemed lost in thought, Minerva. You don't even realize that the doves were trying to get your attention."
Minerva was relieved. She thanked Terry's mum over and over, she kissed and hugged Terry, caused the boy giggled.
"Don't get jealous by a 5 years old boy, Don." Danny said.
She sat there even after the children had gone. Danny went back to department. Flack said he'd go later. He sat beside her.
"Lost in though, huh?" he said. Couldn't stop himself, "Thinking about you dinner date?"
Minerva looked at him, looked ready to argue, then swallowed her argument. "Is that related to the case?" she asked him instead.
"So, how is it like to have a witness?" he asked, changing the topic.
She glanced at him, and smiled sincerely. "It was miracle. I never thought I had one. God, I'm so grateful. How…" she suddenly stopped. Her eyes fixed on Flack's arm.
"What's wrong with your arm?" she asked?
"What do you mean?" Flack confused.
"Did you hurt?" She asked again. Flack did hurt. His arm was bleeding from the knife sliced on his arm while he tried to arrest a drug seller.
"Oh, it's ok. It was nothing."
"When did this happen?" she asked again, ignoring the fact Flack was trying to avoid the topic.
"This morning."
"You didn't bandage it?"
"It's just a small wound."
"Wait here. I'll be back soon." she said before she rushed.
Flack got no choice but waited until she returned. She got something with her when she came back.
"Roll up your sleeves" She commanded.
The wound was deep. There's trail of blood. She put on the gloves, then started to clean the wound. "You can't let the wound like this. It might get infection, and need long time to recover. You should have known that. This wound is quite deep. It didn't need to stitch, thought, but you still need to clean it. Since you're wearing long sleeves, you should bandage it." She said while she started to apply the gauze neatly. She fixed his sleeves back. Then she commented again.
"Do you have girlfriend?"
Flack surprised. "Why you asked that? Are you trying to flirt with me?"
"Oh, nothing special. Your sleeves' button was loosening. You will lose it, if you didn't fix it. Wait…" She rummaged her pursue and brought out a mini sewing kit. She fixed the button in no time.
She suddenly stopped, then looked up. "I'm sorry… I shouldn't do that before."
"What?" Flack confused. "You did nothing wrong. I should say thank you."
She smiled and replied his thanked.
"You do love your job, don't you?" Flack asked. She nodded.
"Why you do this job?" He asked her again.
"Maybe because I'm pretty good at that. And perhaps I'll be lousy if I do another job." she said soft.
Flack chuckled, then cleared his throat, tried to hide the funny feeling.
"Something's wrong?" she asked, raising her eyebrow.
"No, nothing's wrong. I like your answer." he said.
"Then why you laughed?" She demanded.
"I wasn't." she rolled her eyes. "Ok, I almost laughed. Believe it or not, I was once said almost the same thing."
Her grey eyes widened. Flack knew about her eyes, but he hadn't seen them yet. "Really?" she amused. Flack nodded.
"Why do you hide your real eyes' colors?" Flack asked, spontaneously.
"I don't even have to guess where you found out about that," she continued, "not all people are welcome to difference thing. I might have freak someone's out, especially kids, and my patients in hospital. So, when I get to work, or meet with people I don't really know yet, I wear these contacts."
"You know, about this case," Flack tried to be professional again. "We still haven't found anything yet."
"Is it okay with you?" again, Flack was surprised by her question.
"That should be my lines, right?" Flack said. She let her girlish giggle out.
"I mean, is it okay with you, staying with me here? I'm your primary suspect, right? The only one who got my apartment key was me. No one else. I could be the one who let him spent the night, then in the morning I got upset and ended up killed him. Then I pretended to…"
Flack covered her mouth with his hand. He didn't know why he did that. He just didn't like to hear her accused herself being a murderer. She touched his hand with hers, slowly pulling his hand from her mouth.
"How could you be so calm? You didn't mind being a primary suspect? I never met a prime suspect like you." He said.
"Because I believe in you, and your team. I know Stella. She said that her co-workers always try to find the truth behind the crime. It may rough, it may take a long time, but in the end, you will always find it. Then, I trust you all. I believe that you will have the answer for this case. I can't do anything to help. I just can wait here, stay still and pray. I believe that you will find the real killer and I will be free from being a primary suspect. You're not making a mistake, you're just doing your job, then do it. Do whatever you should do. Don't be sorry for that, be proud because you all know that you've protected us here."
Flack admired her more and more now.
"Thank you." he said. "I should go now."
Minerva just nodded. "Say hi to Stella from me, will you. Oh, and tell Danny and Lindsay, that they daughter just suffer from teething. She'll be fine in no time, meanwhile they can give her rubber toy to bite. She may feel her gum's itching, and it is normal if she has a slight fever. And, please, give it to them for me. Thank you." she said, handing him a booklet about teething in a six months baby.
***
"Danny, look what I've found." said Lindsay, turned the monitor to her husband.
"What?" he studied the file reported in that monitor, "that's Minerva's license for her Berretta. Yeah, Mac said that too. What's wrong with this file?"
"She always renews her license. But, never fired a single bullet ever since she got her license for the first time…" she trailed off.
"When she was 12 years old." Danny finished.
"What kind of 12 years old girl had a license to hold such weapon?" she asked him.
"You already learn how to shoot since you're six, right?" Danny scolded him.
"Danny…" she scolded at him.
But she was right, thought Danny. What kind of girl should protected herself by carrying a gun, from the age of 12, but never shot a single bullet from her gun?
"Let's keep the information for ourselves. This finding is not related to the case." said Danny.
"There's another one…" said Lindsay.
"I'm listening."
"She's a chimera."
"A… what?" asked Danny, confused.
That's when Flack came in and told them about what Minerva message.
***
Stella phone rang. Minerva's hospital. She picked it up quickly, then stormed out.
"Hawkes, I got to go. I'll be back later. Tell Mac for me." She yelled.
She almost bumped to Flack in the elevator.
"Hey, what's up with the rush? You solve your case?"
"Not yet, but you gonna lose your primary suspect."
"What d'ya mean?" he confused. He only had one prime suspect at this time.
"Oh, Minerva said hi to you."
"You met her?" asked Stella.
"Yeah, I was just got back from break room, spoke to Danny and Lindsay. She asked me to send message about Lucy…"
"Where did the last time you met her?" demanded Stella.
"Stell, you scare me. What's going on?"
"She's in hospital now. Hit and Run."
"I'll drive." said Flack immediately.
***
Stella showed her badge at the front door. The nurse who opened the door glared at them, they said nothing. She just left. Then the wise-looking woman came out. Her uniform told that she was the Head Nurse.
"I'm Stella Bonasera. I'm a friend of Minerva. I heard…"
"Do you come here as her friend or a police officer?"
"What's the difference?" asked Flack, impatiently.
The Head Nurse said nothing.
"As her friend." Stella said.
"Then I need you to put your badge for yourself. You know, here, that badge means nothing for us. Especially when you suspected one of us as a killer."
"I'm so sorry Mrs…" Stella glanced to her name tag, "Mrs. Mallory. I really am. Now, can I see my friend?"
"We only allow one visitor, and you'll need to wear the ICU's scrub."
Stella looked at Flack. "I'll let her know you're coming." Flack just nodded. He sat on the chair outside the door. Stella stepped inside.
"Hey, Minerva." She didn't give any response. Stella never remembered saw her weak like this. The ventilator near her beeped constantly.
"Remember what you've told me before about how it felt to breath not by your own? You got that now, you know that? If…" Stella stopped, "When you awake, you have to tell me how it feel?"
"How's she doing?" She asked Mallory.
"She was hit pretty bad. It may be a small car, she had incomplete femoral fracture, her head hit the road, fortunately, she covered her head with her hands. Smart girl. This tiny body wasn't design to get that kind of damages. But, somehow, she managed to lessen the effects. She never woke up since she brought here by an ambulance."
"She's gonna be alright. She is a fighter. She can't lose here."
"Her head didn't suffer great trauma because she protected it."
"Then, why she's in coma?"
"Maybe that's what she chose. Stay in peaceful. Away from accusation from the police and victim's fiancé about being a murder. The bitch showed up almost everyday to the emergency ward, accused her to kill Leo. She forced to take days off, to avoid a ruckus at work."
"How did she deal with that?" Stella never knew that. She called her yesterday, and the day before, she sounded like her usual being.
"What would you feel when you're suspended in a case just because you had a connection with that, even though it's not your fault?" Mallory asked her back.
"I would be depressed." She answered.
***
Stella's been quite since she left the hospital. She even ignored Flack. She met Mac in the lab.
"Stella, how's she doing?"
Stella just shook her head. "I'm going to process my evidence."
"Danny and Lindsay are in the crime scene. They process it. Hope we can find the driver."
Stella nodded.
***
"Hey Flack, how's she doing?" asked Lindsay.
Flack just shrugged his shoulder. "What we've got here?"
"You were from the hospital, right?"
"Linds, not now, please." Lindsay was about to argue when Danny put his hand on her shoulder and shook his head.
"Well… we got tire marks, blood and lamp fragments. But, the most important thing is, we've got surveillance camera there. The driver forgot that every junction in New York has surveillance camera."
"And we got witnesses. A lot of them." added Danny.
"What are we waiting for, then? Let's bring this criminal in."
***
"We got her. I'm sorry it took a while until we got enough evidence to catch her. Until…" Stella cleared her throat, "until she's been careless and hit you."
"I…" she fought her tears now, "I slapped the bitch, you know. I know you wouldn't let me if you were there. Lindsay said she wanted one too, but Danny held her tight."
"Do you know you've got a lot of new friends now? Lindsay and Danny were curious to ask you about how you found out that they were worried about Lucy. You didn't even meet her yet. Mac asked me to say 'Hi' to you. And Flack…."
"I think he got a crush on you. I told you that he once loved Jess, right? He's never been the same again since she died. But after he met you, well… he started to act like Flack that we missed."
"And I need my friend. I need my friend who would listen to my complaints at work. Someone who can laugh at my bad days. So please, wake up. Oh, did I tell you already, the nurses here started to become friendly once I told them I caught the real killer. They didn't glare at me like I glare at the scumbag in my interrogation room. Your friends and co-workers, they love you. Oh, and I'll wait for the story about Doctor Clark. How could you never tell me about him?"
"Come on, Minerva, I know you're curious to know how we got the criminal. You want to know why Leo was in your apartment? There were many unanswered questions, but now I have the answers. I know you can't stand to know that. So, wake up, and I'll tell you all. I'll tell you anything you wanna know."
"Stell, do you know that you shouldn't ask too many questions to sick people?"
Stella surprised and looked up, staring into her different color's eyes. "Oh God… You awake?"
"I couldn't sleep with such noise, could I?" she smiled. "Well, Ms. Detective, you should have recognized that I'm no longer attached to ventilator, I used this oxygen mask."
"But when?"
"Just a couple hours ago. And when I tried to sleep, you kept asking me questions. You are so mean…" She tried to laugh, instead she coughed.
"Easy there, sist. I'll let everyone know." then she stopped. "Do you hear all the things I said?"
"Just some, about you need me to hear your complaints and about you have a crush on Doctor Clark." she smiled.
"That's not what I said."
"Really? Caused I heard it different. Must be the anesthetics." She raised her eyebrow.
"Oh, shut up." Stella smile. Hugged her for the last time then walked to the door. "I'll meet you again tomorrow." she stopped before opened the door, "and, oh, I took your belongings from the hotel to my apartment. You will stay with me until you're fine. No buts." as she was about to argue.
Minerva just nodded.
***
Stella almost bumped into a man with a white-hospital coat. She saw the name tag, Clark Sanders.
"Doctor Clark?" she called before she could help it.
"Yes?"
"Oh, uh… nothing." she said.
"Do I know you." he asked again?
"Not yet." said Stella while walking away. Not yet, but I'm gonna make Minerva told him whoever he was, because he's a potential rival for Flack.
***
1 month later…
Minerva just put the salad into the fridge. She glanced toward the dining table and saw everything's ready. She just needed the cake ready, then a couple minutes to decorate it, then put it in her fridge.
She heard the door bell rang. She pulled out the wire phone, "Yes?"
"Stella's here." replied the familiar voice.
"Wait a second." Minerva rushed to the front door and opened it just to meet not only Stella, but also The Messers, Mac Taylor, Flack, and one man she hadn't met yet but she knew him from Stella's story, Sheldon Hawkes.
"Well, I thought I heard 'Stella's here' not 'Stella's and her team are here', if I knew all of you already came, I would have prepared myself well." she grinned awkwardly.
"That apron suits you well," said Flack. She smiled lightly at him and invited everyone to come in.
She kissed Lucy's forehead, "I really wanna touch her, but I guess I better get my hands clean first." she said.
"We brought you this." said Mac, gave her a nice red wine.
"Oh, you shouldn't have to," she said. "But thanks anyway." she said and hugged Mac.
"Thanks for the invitation, we haven't met in person." this time Hawkes offered his hand.
"My pleasure." she answered and shook the offering hand.
"So, why don't you guys wait here until I finished the stuff in my kitchen? And no, Stella, I can do this alone. Don't worry. I want to thank to you all for helping me back then, and since I can't think of anything better to show my gratitude, all I can do is just invited you to the once-crime-scene, and offered you a dinner. Can't guarantee the quality of the food, though." She smiled to them all.
"You know you shouldn't have to do this," said Stella. "And don't be modest about your food. Your cooking skill is another reason why I try hard to keep our friendship."
"Oh, trust me, I know how a simple thank you can motivate you. I deal with life, and sometimes, when I'm tired and overwhelmed, a simple thank you from my patients or their family can boost my mood." she answered and walked through the kitchen.
"You've got a good friend out there, Stell." said Mac.
Stella nodded. "Yeah, but I'm afraid that I should get used to share her with my team." she said jokingly.
"Guilty." said Lindsay, awarded her a question look from everyone but Danny. "What? I just asked her a couple questions about baby. She's good at that, you know."
"Something's telling me that we will get in touch with her more often," stated Mac.
"Dinner's ready…" they heard her voice from the kitchen. They all walked there, deep inside their heart, they thought about Mac's words.