Danny vs. IAB

Juliana pushed her way through the crowd, she wasn't slowing for anyone and delivered a curse that turned the air blue when someone vocalised their annoyance.

"NYPD, what you going to do about it?" She barked, flashing her badge, which she held high up above her head.

Flack caught the commotion out of the corner of his eye and quickly moved to the edge of the crime tape, which he now had held up for the IAB investigator.

"Yo, Paige!"

Spotting the tall detective in the throws of the crowd she quickly changed course and ducked under the yellow tape.

"Flack, what's happening?"

"The undercover officer who was shot was ID'd as Rodney Minhas. Third grade detective."

Juliana watched the ME as he left the scene. "And Danny?"

"Being looked over down there. You here in an official capacity?"

She shook her head, turning her attention back to the detective. "I've not clocked on yet, I don't start my investigation until Burns turns up. Until then, I'm here to make sure Danny doesn't go and do anything stupid."

"You think he's gonna listen?"

She shook her head as she fell into step with the detective, "No. But maybe I can crack a little sense into him."

Juliana had joined the force a year after Flack, and in the same academy class as Danny. They'd even walked the same beat for several months before she was offered to deflect to IAB. At a petite five foot six the demure green eyed brunette detective looked anything less than frightening – her soft features were deceiving, which she often used to her advantage when dealing with members of the NYPD who were less than willing to talk to IAB.

Flack moved out of her way, "Good luck Paige."

"I guess I'm gonna need everything I can get. Is Mac down there? I'm gonna need to talk to him first."

Flack simply nodded, offering her a wave before she disappeared down the steps to the subway.

…

When Juliana got to the bottom steps of the subway she ran straight into Danny who'd been pacing the short length of the area that hadn't been taped off as part of the crime scene.

Upon seeing the IAB officer Danny stopped mid pace, he made a swift move to intercept her on her way to Mac.

"Jules, Juliana! Paige!"

She stopped, turning on her heel she looked around making sure no one was watching.

"Danny, I've got to speak to Mac."

"I want to make my statement Paige."

"I understand, but don't go making a noise here Danny. Don't force me to have to put something down on paper because you're making a scene."

"There's no scene Jules, I didn't shoot that guy." His arms started to flail as tried to explain his actions, "He ran down here, I don't know where Minhas came from. He didn't say he was undercover."

"Okay Danny." She rubbed at her forehead to dull her headache, "Do me a favour."

"What I gotta do Jules? Just tell me!"

"Just shut up."

"What?"

"Shut up Danny, do me a favour and keep your mouth quiet. Until we know what really happened here, ok?"

"I just told you."

"Danny, they're your words off the bat. If you want to do this, I suggest you think things over first, get it straight and then bring yourself in to give your statement."

She was trying to lead him but he wasn't following. In his need to explain, he was blind to her indiscreet attempts to help.

When Mac caught sight of the brunette IAB officer talking to Danny, he promptly cut short his conversation with Aidan and marched the short distance to the pair.

"Danny, I thought I told you to head to the hospital."

Danny was ready for another argument, "Mac, I told you–"

"I don't care Danny, go!" As Danny stormed off Mac turned his irritation to the IAB officer at his side. "What I don't expect is IAB to come down here and start talking to my CSI's without passing it by me!"

Julian scowled, "I don't clock on until Burns turns up, I got a heads up on this one."

"Contrary to what you say, you still should have come to me first."

"Danny stopped me Mac, not the other way round. You know as well as I do I can't ignore anything Danny brings to me. I have to put it on record, he's the last person I want to see at the moment."

Mac drew in a deep breath, "What's going to happen Juliana?"

Both knew well enough what was going to happen next but Mac needed confirmation from source outside himself as his mind was swimming with far too much to keep a straight track of thought.

"Burns is on his way down, he's going to want a statement from Danny."

"He's got forty eight hours."

Juliana clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth as she shook her head, "That's the rule for officers Mac, Danny's a detective. He doesn't get the same grace period. Burns is a good guy, but he'll want a statement straight away. Danny'll do well to put it off."

"I've told him to head over to the hospital."

"Good. It'll buy some time for him to get his head straight."

No sooner had the words come out of her mouth her partner arrived on scene, "Paige!"

Juliana shot Mac a warning look, she knew he wouldn't drop her in it but needed to know she'd made a point.

"Over here Burns." She called back, not taking her eyes off of Mac. "Mac." The tone of her voice was enough show she was appealing to Mac's better nature.

"You want to bring me up to speed?" Burns asked once he reached the detectives.

"Detective Paige here was just explaining what's going to happen in regards to your investigation." Juliana gave Mac a discreet nod, "I assume you'll allow us to make sense of our crime scene first before you start asking questions."

Burns shifted, his posture now straighter giving him a taller appearance, "We need to open our investigations with statements from all involved. Detective Messer?"

"Is on his way to the hospital." Juliana explained.

"We're still going to need to speak to them, Paige get a statement from the reporting officer and back it up with the statements from the assigned detective."

She nodded, "I'll get a run down from Flack. If you'd excuse me."

Both Mac and Burns watched as Paige weaved through the crowd as she started her investigation alongside the CSI's.

"I don't think I need to remind you about the current climate around IAB at the moment Taylor."

"I'm fully aware."

Burns ran a hand down the side of his face, "Then lets not get off the wrong foot then detective, I want to speak to Messer. I'll be up top speaking to the officers, then I'll want to speak to you."

Mac nodded, "You know where to find me."

Unfortunately, despite both Mac's and Juliana's best efforts, Danny had made no attempt to make his way to the A&E and would be walking directly into Burn's line of sight the moment he came up from the subway entrance. Luckily, Mac hadn't been too far behind, but he wouldn't be there to stand between Danny and his unrelenting stubbornness at every turn.

…

Juliana's cell phone rang for the fourth time in as many minutes and she didn't need to look down to know who it was. It was the same person who'd rung the last three times before that.

Danny had been ringing her on and off all morning, though it was hard to ignore his calls she did it nonetheless.

Having known Danny coming on five years and then some, she felt herself in a moral bind. On one hand she was tied to the conduct surrounding her job, in many circumstances she would have been taken off of the case due to her friendship with Danny, but the higher ups were willing to look this discretion over for a fast and tidy wrap up. A death of an undercover cop never looked good on the NYPD. Then on the other side of the ethical scales she felt she was teetering between was her loyalty to her friend.

She felt like she was between a rock and a hard place and Burns was already pushing her to try and get Danny in for his statement.

"We need this wrapped up as soon as possible Juliana, we can't afford to leave threads hanging." Those had been his words to her once they returned to the station and when he'd left her to the confines of her office.

Fortunately for her, IAB were housed within the same precinct that Flack operated out of. The pair had met briefly between floors. Flack running up while she was running down.

"Hey Don, how's Messer doing?"

Flack sighed, "He's Messer, what do you expect?"

She nodded, tapping the folders in her hand against her open palm. "You seen him since the shooting?"

Flack shook his head, "Nah – he's left me messages though, word is he turned back up at the crime scene."

Juliana didn't hide her annoyance, "Man, what will it take to get it through his thick skull?"

"Tell it to me straight Jules, do you think Danny did it?"

She shrugged, "I know as much as you do and that's with the updates I get hourly from the crime lab. So far, it's not looking good. Everything's such a mess that I wouldn't trust anything until we can get a definitive answer through from the evidence."

He nodded, "Not good then."

Sadly, she shook her head, "Sorry."

He made moves to leave and Juliana fought over whether to pass a message on to Danny through Flack.

"Flack."

He paused on the next step up and looked back at the IAB detective who looked to be in as much conflict, if not more over the shoot out than he was.

"Yeah."

She took two steps at a time until she was a step below the detective, "If you see Messer, just tell him to keep quiet. This doesn't go further than you and I okay?"

"Jules." He warned, not wanting her to see any trouble from revealing details of an ongoing case to him.

"IAB has got nothing, everything is leading cold but what is there is not looking good on Danny. No one's looking to hang him from a short rope, but that's only because there's nothing strong to confirm what really went on. Just tell him to trust the system, because if things carry on the way they are, it could be deemed a clean shoot." Flack raised an eyebrow, "But you did not hear this from me, okay Flack?" She warned.

He gave a nod of understanding and not waiting for him to leave first, she took off back downstairs to the main floor of the precinct where Burns was waiting for her.

…

Flack was sat opposite from Danny in the downtown café that the pair frequented at on the rare occasion that they had more than five minutes to grab lunch between leads on live cases.

"You speak to Jules?" He asked cautiously.

"What's she gonna do?" Danny spat, long given up on the idea his friend would be the support he needed.

Flack drew a deep breath as he ran a hand through his hair; "She's got your back on this one Danny."

He stabbed at the air in front of him, venom in his voice. "She's IAB Don, she's out for a closed case."

"Nuh uh Dan, don't forget she's a friend here! She's looking out for you!"

"She walked away from me at the crime scene Flack! She don't answer my calls! You call that a friend?"

Flack leant forward, ensuring Danny was looking at him. "Why'd you think that was Danny? Anything you say she has to put down on record, something you say without thinking could go down against you."

Danny shook his head, "Nah, I can't do this."

"Trust the system Danny, you gotta trust the system!"

Flack had continued to argue with him, but Danny was hot headed and once he had an idea in his head that was it, black and white and at that moment Danny believed he'd been abandoned, not only his work colleagues and peers, but by his friends too. No matter how many times Flack said it, whichever way he put it, it wasn't going to make any difference.

Flack shook his head, he knew there was only one way this was heading and it wasn't going to have a happy ending no matter what the outcome.

…

She had been filing paperwork on another case when Danny stormed into IAB's offices that afternoon.

Fortunately, for him, she had been the first to see him; discarding her filing, she made way to intercept Danny on his path to Burns at the opposite side of the office.

"Whoa there Messer, where do you think you're going?"

"I want to give my statement."

"I don't think that's such a good idea at the moment Danny. Have you called that number Mac gave you yet?"

"I got nuthin' to hide Paige, I told you that! It was a clean shot, Minhas did not make himself known and I was firing in self-defence after he fired the first shot. I–"

Juliana pinched the bridge of her nose, "Do you know what the hell you're making me do Danny?" She hissed, "Do you?"

"I want this down on record!"

"Danny!" She tried to level her voice to stop her from loosing her cool. "This has to go down on file, I can't ignore this request! Or what you're saying for the matter!"

"Juliana–"

"Think I've been chasing down Mac for nothing? For the good of my health?" She shook her head, "I was first making sure you didn't do something stupid and second of all making sure things were followed by the book!"

Her attempt at keeping his presence discreet failed when Burns spied the pair from his position at the opposite end of the office.

"Paige, what's going on here?"

Before she could open her mouth, Danny beat her to it.

"I want it down on record that I'm co-operating, and that I got nuthin' to hide!"

Burns took a while to think it over, he had been trying to respect both Mac's and Juliana's wishes in how the case was being handled. But as he'd told them both, if it was brought to him, he wouldn't ignore it.

"Ok Messer, I'll go get the appropriate paperwork."

"Danny!" She seethed once again when Burns left, "Have you not been listening? Burns is going to take down what you're saying as your official statement! Have you even thought about it? Have you told Mac you're here?"

Juliana already knew his answer before he shook his head; she'd not long got off the phone with the CSI to discuss the latest movements.

"I don't need Mac, I want to go in there and tell it like it is."

Burns returned, a file containing the documents for Danny to sign in his hands.

"Juliana, I think it would be best if you didn't join in on this statement." She nodded in agreement, he then turned to Danny. "When you're ready detective."

He was about to follow him in when she grabbed his arm, stopping him from walking in. With her free arm, she reached up, forcibly turning his face to ensure he was looking right at her.

"I don't think you do understand Danny, do you know what I put out there for you? What I've risked? I stuck my neck out for you! Anyone else Burns would have had in that room hours ago. Why else do you think he's hung back?" Juliana began to get more heated the longer Danny stood silent in front of her.

"What does it take for you to keep your goddamn mouth shut? For Christ's sake Danny! I told you to keep your mouth shut for a reason! I know how this is going to work, if they want to make an example of you they'll happily lay the blame and hang you swinging from a short rope for all to see."

There was nothing he could say, he couldn't go back on his request to give a statement – nor would he. He wanted to ensure everyone knew, those who were whispering behind his back, talking about him where he couldn't defend himself to know he'd walked in there and told it straight as he witnessed it.

Deflated she left go of his arm and allowed him past into the interrogation room where Burns was waiting for him. She could only watch from the two-way mirror and hope that there would be some saving grace in his statement. But as he gave his statement, it was obvious to see it didn't match the actual turn of events.

Unable to watch anymore she pulled her cell phone from her jacket pocket she rang the one person she hoped would be able to help.

"Mac, it's Paige… Uh huh, he's in there now. I did everything I could."

…

It was two weeks later when Juliana pushed the door open to the layout room where Danny was processing evidence. In her hand was his transcript. She dropped it in front of him on top of what work he was organising.

"Hey!"

"It ain't a good shoot Danny." Juliana said as she delivered his transcript. "It's our polite way of saying all our leads have gone cold and we can't come to a conclusive answer. But I'm sure you already know that." She added, the ferocity of her annoyance dripping off her words.

"Jules." He began, but she wasn't going to let him finish,

"What Danny? I was trying to help, help you. You know as well as I do what kind of hit IAB took when Markoni went down, which meant I was being watched, as was Burns and as is everyone else in IAB. That was why I had to take a backseat Danny, not because I didn't care. Plus how would it have made you look speaking to an IAB detective before you gave your statement? You may like to see things in black and white but there's an awful lot of grey between which you seem to have a habit of ignoring."

She was just about to leave when he spoke, "Thanks." She paused at the door, turning around to face him, running a hand down the side of his tiered face he looked up at the IAB detective. "I mean it, despite it all."

Juliana thought it over for a moment as she chewed at her lip. She could only give him a courteous nod, "You need to sign those and get the duplicates back to us within forty-eight hours. Any discrepancies, you need to notify us of them immediately or we will take the transcript as your word."

With those parting words, she left the lab.

He only hoped that their friendship was salvageable – his stubbornness was not worth loosing her as a friend.